The balmy early morning breeze sifted in through the partially ajar window and drifted through the room, the slumbering couple however did not stir.
A screeching wail broke through the calm air and both awoke with a jolt, Harry reached for his wand instinctively and Ginny snatched hers up off the nightstand.
A muffled sound, from somewhere outside the bedroom and then a soft thump,
“Harry go and look.” Ginny whispered and Harry nodded, throwing back the covers when a small shadow begin to emerge on the wall.
“Oh Merlin they’re outside! Harry do something.” She muttered, Harry tightening the grip on his wand went to get up when the bedroom door begun to creep open.
His wand pointed directly at the place where, whoever it was, would have to appear, the figure entered and both Ginny and Harry relaxed as light flooded the bedroom. The small frame of Albus met their eyes. Tears running down his cheeks, his tufts of black hair even messier than usual from where he had been sleeping, he looked so fragile in his Chudley Cannon pyjamas, given as a gift from his uncle Ron of course. He tottered over to the bed and held up his arms to signify that he wanted up.
Harry feeling relieved that he had paused before sending a curse, replaced his wand back onto the small table beside the bed and scooped up his son and let him snuggle into the middle of him and Ginny.
“What happened?” She asked her son who cuddled into her,
“Bad man.” Was all he said as Ginny wiped his damp eyes with her sleeve, he didn’t have to elaborate both his parents understood their youngest son had had a nightmare, they also had no doubt as to who the ‘bad man’ could be.
“Shleeeep with mama and dada.” He yawned and within moments had curled down under the covers and was asleep all memories of his nightmare and the ‘bad man’ forgotten to him.
“Mummy! Daddy! Time to get up, bweakfast.” James cried leaping onto his parents bed, it couldn’t have been too long since Harry and Ginny had been awoken by their youngest son, except now the sun had risen and was casting a golden glow across the master bedroom. Untangling themselves from the mass of bed sheets and being careful not to wake the peaceful sleeping form of Albus, his parents clambered out of bed, stifling yawns and stretching.
Ginny, followed by James made her way down to the kitchen, the clock on the wall read half past ten, she wondered why she, who was usually wide awake by eight thirty, would have slept in. Shuffling slightly in her slippers she made her way over to the cupboard where she pulled out a small bowl with a ‘J’ printed onto its side, surrounded by broomsticks and snitches which whizzed around energetically.
With a flick of her wand several boxes of cereal flew from their respectable cupboards and onto the table, James’s eyes filled with amazement as he watched, he was accustomed to magic being surrounded by it everyday but still his young mind could not fathom exactly how it was done and why he could not manage to do it.
“You need a wand honey.” His mother laughed, as with another wave of her wand a jug of ice cold milk joined the boxes of cereal on the table. James cocked his head to the side clearly confused,
“Vitty can do it, wifoot wand.” He said matter of factly and once again his mother chortled as she carried over her sons bowl.
“Victoire’s magic is different, she doesn’t mean to do it she just does, she can’t control it yet.” She explained and her son nodded, although, knowing James, he would just pretend he understood but really had no idea what his mother had just said. “Now what cereal would you like?” She asked and James begun to investigate each box, taking a handful from each and testing them.
Ginny took the moment during which her son was occupied to turn and look at a calendar hung on the wall behind her, she ran her finger over a day exactly three weeks away, a day that, just like her, everybody else in her family had marked on their own calendars.
“Ginny’s due date.” She read under her breath and a smile broke once more across her face. She allowed her fingers to linger on the much anticipated date several moments longer before running to a date several days before her own. A date that also like her own was etched onto the calendar of everyone in the family.
“Hermione’s due date.” She muttered, a small blue dot had been drawn beside the writing along with a short list of names. She looked over at a scrap of parchment that was spellotaped next to the calendar and ran her finger down each word.
“Molly, Abbey, Katharine, Lily…” she trailed off, rubbing her stomach, “What are you?” She asked. Naming the boys had never been this much trouble, James was easy as that was the name that ran down the Potter family, it was tradition for the eldest Potter males to have the name James somewhere in their given name, as Harry had discovered when he had finally gotten the chance to trace his family line.
Her family weren’t making things any simpler either, as much as she loved having their input she sometimes wished they would leave her to make her decision, but that just wasn’t how things worked with the Weasley’s, especially her brother’s, they had always been used to growing up together and interfering with each others business and that was just something they had all gotten too used to, to change. Her attention was brought back from the baby growing inside her and all possible names, to her eldest son who had decided that he would help himself to his own breakfast and although the cereal had reached its destination without much chaos ensuing the milk was proving to be more of a challenge.
Ginny wheeled round as the crash echoed through the kitchen, the white liquid spreading rapidly across the floor and James looked close to tears,
“Not my fault!” He whimpered, his brown eyes staring up at her watery and full of fear, Ginny sighed, she couldn’t shout at him, it had been an accident after all, if she hadn’t have been so absorbed in her stupid calendar and list of names.
“Let mummy clear this up.” She rolled up her sleeves and pulled out her wand once more, “Reparo.” She said clearly, the broken pieces flew back together and the jug was good as new, for several moments, there was a cracking sound and the newly mended jug shattered once more. Confused as to why her magic hadn’t worked she tried again and got the same result.
Suddenly finding herself frustrated she turned to James,
“Would you go and get daddy?” She asked nicely and James nodded, climbed over the table to avoid the mess and shot off up the stairs as fast as his little legs would carry him.
Harry appeared less than a minute later a now awake Albus in his arms, he cast his eyes over his wife,
“The jug broke and my magic isn’t working.” She explained, “ Could you do it for me, I’d do it the Muggle way except I can’t bend down.” She sighed, she hated being so useless and relying on Harry for pretty much everything, but every time she tried to do anything helpful somebody would automatically tell her she should be resting and they would take care of it for her. Harry nodded and handed Albus to her before taking out his wand and in a moment the jug was sitting back on the table as good as new.
“Bwek-bwek!” Albus squealed squirming in his mothers arms, his little hands reaching for the cereal boxes.
“Alright Al, just a second.” Ginny said placing Albus in his highchair and fastening him in before he could make to wriggle out of it.
She reached into the cupboard and pulled down yet another bowl, like James’s it had Albus’s initial marked on its side, except that instead of being ceramic it was plastic. She set it down in front of her son who smiled, his hands made little grabs for the nearest cereal box.
She left Harry to sort out Albus’s breakfast and made her way upstairs to get ready, she was having a late lunch with Hermione that day and had promised she wouldn’t be late.
Upon entering the bedroom she shared with Harry the first thing she noticed was a small, badly made and slightly rushed handmade card, a little scribble on the front, a woman with red hair and a prominent bump, she took that to be her and a little boy also with red hair was smiling widely, she guessed that was James. Curiously she opened it up and there in her three year olds childish scrawl were the words, hastily written, and she had to concentrate to read what it actually read, ‘I’m sorry Mummy. James. xxxxxx’ She smiled, James must have thought she was angry with him for spilling the milk.
Carefully she propped the card on her nightstand and begun to get dressed.
James, who was absorbed into a large and rather soggy, as he was shoving cereal into his mouth at the same time, colouring book, when Ginny re-entered the kitchen to find a fully fed Albus who was now bouncing around happily in his baby walker, James sidled off his seat and instantly ran towards his mother throwing his little arms around her legs which she took for an I’m sorry hug. She ruffled his hair playfully and he grinned up at her before patting her stomach gently and hurried off back to his colouring book and his awaiting breakfast.
She sidled over to the cupboard and pulled out a saucepan before turning to the fridge, she was about to bend down to rummage through when Harry placed his arms around her waist and heaved her away, which was no easy feat considering her temporarily hefty stomach.
“You are not going to be lifting a finger today, all you have to worry about is relaxing and your date with Hermione.” He smiled snatching the egg box from her grasp, she opened her mouth to argue, to say that she didn’t mind making breakfast but shut it again, knowing it was useless.
“Alright but at least let me do something, can I at least make some toast?” She asked giving him big puppy dog eyes, he paused for a moment as if attempting to think of the stress involved with making toast but unable to think of anything nodded as he filching the saucepan from her hand, she shut the fridge door and leant across the counter for the loaf of bread but before her fingers could reach it Harry already had it in his hand.
“I can take care of myself you know!” She muttered in a sharper tone than she intended and Harry did look taken aback, “I don’t need you running around after me like a lapdog, I’m pregnant not retarded.” She said her voice though not as sharp as it had been still quite glassy. Harry nodded as he handed the loaf to his wife, he had become quite accustomed to her mood swings by now and he knew she could be a lot worse, he had been on the wrong side of a pregnant Ginny more times than he was willing to count during her last two pregnancies.
She pulled the bread out of its wrapper harder than intended and ripped it in half, for a moment she looked about ready to snap as she stared down at the half of bread in her fist, she crumpled it as she clenched her hand causing it to ooze out between her fingers and just as Harry was expecting begun to cry. He sighed to himself as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, her hormones were playing up again. He knew that within a few minutes she would back to her old cheery self so rather than trying to comfort her, knowing from past experience that his voice would just aggravate her more he rubbed her back soothingly.
“I am useless. I can’t even make stupid toast.” She sobbed, Harry kept his mouth clenched tight, the one thing he had to ensure was James and Albus didn’t spot their mother upset because they usually tended to get upset, which in turn would make Ginny more upset that her mood swings had caused them upset. Carefully he turned her slowly so that her head was resting on his shoulder, that way if the boys asked he could just say ‘mummy and daddy were dancing’. Luckily enough James was completely absorbed into his colouring and Albus who had somehow discovered his stuffed owl, Lux, mainly because it was the only word he could say properly, and was now making it ’fly’ around the room by throwing it high in the air and then bouncing over merrily to wherever it landed.
Ginny pulled her head back and blinked, wiping her eyes on her hand, “Thank Merlin, I had the sense to put on waterproof mascara.” She muttered and cracked a smile, Harry laughed lightly. “I’m sorry, it’s the hormones.” She said and Harry shook his head,
“I know, don’t apologise” He murmured into her ear as he planted a small kiss on her tear stained cheek.
She checked her watch and frowned,
“Oh Merlin’s oversized pants.” She cried so suddenly Harry took a step back alarmed, “I’ve got to get going, it’s almost half twelve and I’m meeting Hermione at one.” She kissed Harry lightly and then ruffled James and Albus’s hair due to the fact she couldn’t get down to their level that easily.
“Bye mama.” James said waving at her and then turning back to his coloring, Albus waved his pudgy fist, which was clenched around Lux and she felt herself grin with pride as she hurried into the living room to Floo over to Hermione and Ron’s place.
Ron and Hermione lived in a fairly modern house not far from her and Harry, as both Harry and Ron worked as Aurors the Ministry it was easier if they lived nearby to each other, especially with little Rose as Hermione had insisted that she attend Muggle nursery and then primary school, so that she would have some basic knowledge when it became time for her to go to Hogwarts, Ron always turned rather green at this prospect, either because of the thought of his precious little daughter being introduced to the opposite sex long before he would have liked or mainly because he would have to admit she was growing up too fast.
She stepped out of the fireplace and into the kitchen of their home, it was roughly the same size as her and Harry’s house but substantially neater, mainly due to Hermione’s clever knack of being able to perform those slightly more complex cleaning charms.
Ginny found herself being ambushed by a heavily pregnant Hermione, her bushy hair flailing wildly around Ginny’s head practically suffocating her.
Ginny hugged her back, as much as she could and with their, conflicting, heavily pregnant stomachs that wasn’t much.
“Ready?” Ginny asked, half hoping she wasn’t, some soot had gone down her throat causing her to have a coughing fit and she knew that some of her make-up had run, she may have had the common sense to apply waterproof mascara but her eyeliner hadn’t proved as efficient in the past.
Hermione shook her head, “Just need to find my keys, Rose has hidden them again, I swear she thinks it’s a game, I blame Ron he’s always playing ridiculous games with her.” She shook her head disapprovingly and Ginny excused herself to use the bathroom so she could check the damage.
Several minutes later, Hermione had recovered her keys and they were off. The two women found themselves inside a quaint looking Muggle restaurant called ‘Ophelia’s’, there were a few official looking business men who clearly didn’t wish to be overheard sat in a rather secluded booth in the far corner, two elder women who were talking so fast their mouths looked like blurs were in a booth on the far side of the room and what looked like a young single mother was sat at a small table nearby, her head absorbed in a gossip magazine whilst a small boy and girl were wrestling rather noisily in their pram.
Table for two please.” Hermione said politely to the host who nodded, gathered up two menus and led them to a booth as far away as possible from the single mother as if scared that the stress of having to watch to kids wreak havoc might send them into early labour.
“Just one of the perks of being pregnant I think.” Hermione joked as she opened her menu, he had placed them in a booth overlooking the beer garden, it was quite scenic, relaxing.
The two women were soon immersed in deep conversation, discussing their husbands work, the perks and drawbacks of having children which led Ginny onto the topic of Albus’s nightmare the previous night.
“And he said it was a ‘bad man’ but the only person, if you could call him that, me and Harry could think of was,” She lowered her voice substantially, “Voldemort.” Despite the fact the Dark Lord had been defeated a decade before speculation was still rife about whether once again he was indeed just biding his time, although that was deemed highly unlikely as hundreds of witnesses had seen his body, had witnessed his downfall. The bigger threat however was where the remaining Death Eaters who had avoided Azkaban where, and what they were doing.
“Where do you think he could have heard about that?” She asked and Hermione paused racking her brain,
“You know I’m sure Rosie mentioned something along those lines a few days ago, and your mum said something about Teddy reading up on Hogwarts a few weeks ago, have you seen much of him lately?” She asked desperate to change the subject.
Ginny nodded, “He was over for dinner on Thursday, we let him read the boys a bedtime story.” She broke off her face suddenly pale as realisation dawned over her, “So that’s where he got it, oh that boy is in trouble, wait till Andromeda hears about this one.” She shook her head.
“Ready to order?” Came a voice which startled both women, a waiter had appeared a notepad in one hand, a pen in the other and an eager smile on his face.
“Erm I’ll have the Caesar salad.” Hermione answered politely and he jotted it down, Ginny scanned over the menu, she was in one of those moods where everything made her feel physically sick. But seeing as she had skipped breakfast knew she had to eat something.
“I’ll have the soup of the day and a Cornish pastie.” She replied smiling at the waiter who jotted it down, nodded and shuffled away leaving the two women to immerse into their conversation once more.
The waiter returned, laden with food and two steaming coffees they couldn’t recall ordering but decided they must have asked for when they where escorted to their seats.
After one bite Ginny grimaced, there was nothing wrong with the food she was just worried about being able to keep it down, it didn’t matter what it was if the baby didn’t like it she had no say in the matter. Hermione munched her way through her salad happily, she had just taken her seventh mouthful when her face contorted and she looked like she was about to choke, Ginny dropped her spoon with a loud clatter, every head in the restaurant, which had grown fairly crowded since they had arrived, was now turned toward the two heavily pregnant women.
“I know the foods not that great but there’s no need to choke.” One woman muttered to her companion who nodded, Hermione whimpered something inaudible, whether it was about the food, the woman or herself Ginny could not tell all she knew was something was wrong with her best friend.
She opened her mouth to ask if everything was okay when there was a rather faint whooshing sound and the whole ground was suddenly damp. Ginny’s eyes widened in realisation, she didn’t need Hermione’s loud scream to tell her what had happened,
“Oh merciful Merlin!” She cried looking down, “My waters just broke!”
a/n: i know this chapter is a little longer than you're all accustomed to for this story, it was originally three individual chapters but i couldn't bear to seperate them so i kind of merged them together, this might mean my next update might take a while longer than expected and that is also why this chapter took a little longer to update than the others have but i hope you enjoy it and do not worry i assure you Teddy will make an appearance in the next chapter you have my promise.
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