George’s twenty ninth birthday was an eventful occasion. Of course, the celebration had never been the same since Fred’s death, but overtime the family had grown accustomed to celebrate the occasion rather than concentrating solely on the loss of Fred.
This year, as the clock struck midnight, the Healer passed Ginny her newborn baby.
“It’s a girl,” The healer said, kindly.
“Huh?” Ginny gasped, weeping and beaming as she cradled her daughter.
“You’ve got a baby girl,” The healer repeated, smiling down at her.
“That’s amazing,” Ginny whispered, pulling back the blankets to show her daughter’s perfect face. “Oh, do we know what time she was born? I’ve completely lost track...”
“Er, Gin,” Harry said, grinning at the Healer. “A slightly more important question is what date.”
“Why?” Ginny said, confused. “What do you mean?”
“She was born dot on midnight, by my watch,” The Healer said.
“And mine,” Harry added.
“Oh,” Ginny said slowly, comprehension dawning on her. “So she’s got the same birthday as Fr- as George.”
“Yeah,” Harry said, a lump in his throat. “Speaking of which, I expect we’re going to have some visitors later on in the day.”
“Oh, great,” Ginny said sarcastically.
Harry smiled at her, bent down, took her head in his hands and kissed her.
“Well done baby,” He whispered.
*
Unlike Albus’, Lily’s birth had been relatively trouble free, so Ginny and Lily were allowed to return home later that same day.
Ginny was overwhelmed and happy as Harry stepped back to let her through the threshold, carrying Lily in a carrier. She had a perfect, baby daughter with soft, chocolate eyes and a few tufts of red hair.
Ron and Hermione greeted them as they entered their home in Godric’s Hollow – they had been looking after Teddy, James and Albus whilst Ginny and Harry had been at the hospital.
“Congratulations!” Hermione squealed, as soon as Ginny stepped into the hallway. She ran at her best friend and bent down to look at the baby.
Ginny laughed. It was true, Lily was much, much smaller than either James or Albus had been. Her ‘newborn’ pink baby grow was slightly too big for her and she seemed to disappear in it when she wriggled around in the cradle.
Ginny glanced up from her daughter to look at Hermione, who was watching Lily wistfully.
“Do you want to hold her?” Ginny said, smiling so that her tongue stuck out of the side of her mouth.
“Yes please,” Hermione grinned, biting her bottom lip.
Ginny laughed as she bent down to unstrap Lily and hand her to Hermione, who rocked her gently as she smiled and talked to her.
“You’re gorgeous, you are,” She cooed. “You’re going to be an amazing, beautiful girl, aren’t you? Yes you are, yes you are!”
Ron rolled his eyes behind Hermione’s back and Harry smirked as he picked up a small bag Ginny had taken to the hospital in case she had to stay overnight and dodged past Hermione to the kitchen where he could hear Teddy and James.
Albus and Rose were both sitting up in a cot, playing with some stuffed centaurs and unicorns, giggling every now and then. James was sitting in the middle of the carpet, his legs crossed as he watched Teddy in awe as he flew around the kitchen on his ‘my first broomstick’.
“Hey guys!” Harry said, announcing his presence.
“Daddy!” James cried, his eyes leaving Teddy as he jumped up to hug his father.
“Hello, little man,” Harry grinned, ruffling James’ hair. “Hey, do you three want to come and meet your baby sister?”
“Yeah!” Teddy said eagerly, jumping off the broom so suddenly it crashed into a cupboard. He too, ran over to Harry.
“Okay,” Harry grinned. “Wait here a minute,” He said, as he walked over to the other side of the kitchen and scooped Albus out of the cot. As he hoisted his youngest son on to his hip, Hermione entered the kitchen.
“Ginny’s in the lounge,” She told him. “I’m making her a cup of tea, do you want some?”
“Yes please,” Harry said gratefully, winking at Ron as he took hold of James with his spare hand and directed Teddy into the lounge.
“Now,” He whispered, pausing outside the door. “We need to be very quiet because she’s only very little and if you’re too loud and start jumping around you’re going to scare her, okay?”
James and Teddy nodded fervently whilst Albus stuck his thumb in his mouth.
Smiling, Harry opened the door to the living room to reveal Ginny sitting on the far sofa, cradling Lily. She looked up as the door opened and beamed when she set eyes on her sons.
“Hey boys!” She smiled at them. “Come and meet your sister!”
Glancing up at Harry, who nodded encouragingly to them, James and Teddy stepped cautiously over to Ginny and crawled onto the sofa next to her, James curling into her lap.
“She’s pink!” James said, incredulously.
“Shh!” Harry reminded him.
“Sorry,” James said quietly, looking ashamed that he had forgotten to keep quiet.
“That’s okay,” Ginny smiled, ruffling his hair as Harry crouched down in front of her and lifted Albus on to the arm of the sofa so he could see the baby.
“He seems impressed,” Ginny laughed, watching as Albus’ eyes bored into his sisters, his thumb still placed firmly in his mouth.
Harry grinned as his family sat, looking both bewildered and amazed at the newest edition, when Ron and Hermione entered.
“Sorry,” Hermione said quickly, realising they were intruding. “Here’s your tea, we’ll come back in a minute-”
“Don’t be silly,” Harry said, welcoming his friends into the room. “Hermione, you need to sit down,” He said, gesturing to her stomach; Hermione was seven months pregnant.
Looking grateful, Hermione sat down as Ron put Ginny’s mug of tea on the table next to her.
“Thanks,” She smiled.
“That’s alright,” He shrugged. “By the way, Gin, Mum and Dad were wondering if they could pop in – if you’re up to it. And I think George might like a birthday visit too.”
*
Mr and Mrs Weasley, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Teddy, James, Albus and Rose were all crammed into the Potter’s living room admiring Lily when the doorbell rang.
“That’ll be George,” Ron said, jumping up to answer it.
“Evening all,” George’s voice sounded from the hall. He bounded into the living room and over to his younger sister, who was holding a baby.
“Evening,” Ginny said, grinning at her brother. “Happy birthday!”
“Merci beaucoup!” George said, “And bonne anniversaire to you too, little Lily,” He said, reaching out a finger to tickle his niece’s chin.
Lily’s large, round, soft, chocolate eyes searched George’s face, then fell back to her mother’s.
“Do you want to hold her?” Ginny asked, whilst George laughed.
“Go on then,” George winked, making himself comfortable between Harry and Ginny.
“George!” Angelina hissed, but he didn’t seem to notice her.
“Sorry, Angelina dear, have a seat,” Mr Weasley said, gesturing to the spare space next to him.
“Thanks, Mr Weasley,” Angelina said gratefully, holding Roxanne in one arm and trying to keep a desperate grip on Fred, who looked like he would make a beeline for George at any moment and potentially scar Lily for life.
“So what’s her middle name?” George asked, looking fondly at Lily.
“Luna,” Ginny smiled.
“Oh, yeah,” Harry said suddenly. “I should probably let her know we’ve named our child after her...”
Ron snorted. It was at that moment that Fred finally escaped from his mother’s grip and charged across the room towards his father.
There was a shriek from Mrs Weasley as Fred jumped on his dad, laughing hysterically.
“FRED!” George yelled. “FRED, get off!”
Harry, who had been temporarily paralysed out of shock, suddenly jumped up and grabbed Fred’s arms, and pulled him off the sofa, setting him down on the floor.
Lily’s loud, piercing cries filled the room as Ginny scooped her off George’s lap. It was too late, she was bawling and Ginny’s comforting voice was doing nothing to stop her. As she tried to keep her daughter quiet whilst checking she was okay, Roxanne decided to join Lily in screaming.
“Oh God,” Ron said, as Rose and Albus, too, started to cry and Fred’s lip started to quiver. He jumped up and ushered Rose, Albus, James, Fred and Teddy into the kitchen before anymore tears could break out, whilst Harry took Lily from Ginny and went upstairs to try and calm her.
“Ginny-” Angelina was saying. “Ginny, I’m so, so sorry, I-”
“It’s fine,” Ginny said briskly. “It’s honestly fine.”
“No it’s bloody not,” George said, following Ron into the kitchen. “FRED! Come here now!”
“Are you okay, Angelina dear?” Mrs Weasley asked, watching as Angelina struggled between apologising endlessly and trying to silence Roxanne.
“Here,” Mrs Weasley said kindly. “I’ll take Roxanne.”
“Thank you, Mrs Weasley,” Angelina said, looking somewhat imploringly at her mother-in-law. “Ginny, really, I’m so sorry!”
“Really, Angelina,” Ginny half laughed. “It’s okay, James would have done the exact same thing – they’re boys!”
“Still...” Angelina said. After a moment’s pause, the silence was broken by the sound of George shouting at Fred from the dining room.
“Well,” Angelina said, almost brightly, “It seems like he’s going to learn his lesson...”
Slowly, the sound of crying children died out and the family departed until only Ron, Hermione and Rose were left with Harry and Ginny.
“Do you want a tea?” Harry asked. “Coffee?”
“No thanks,” Hermione said, “We’d better be leaving soon.”
“Coffee please,” Ron said eagerly, sitting up on the sofa.
Hermione tutted as Harry grinned and went into the kitchen, brandishing his wand.
“What?” Ron asked, narrowing his eyes.
“Ginny had a baby today!” Hermione hissed. “I wouldn’t expect you to comprehend just quite how much energy that takes out of you! She’s currently trying to put four young children to bed because Harry’s down here with us because you want your bloody coffee!”
“Sorry,” Ron said simply, shrugging.
“Listen, Harry,” Hermione said, standing up as Harry entered the living room a minute later, carrying Ron’s coffee. “We’re going to go now, leave you lot alone...”
“Mmm, yeah,” Ron nodded, getting up too. “Rose is nearly asleep, so...”
“Oh, okay,” Harry said, setting the coffee down on the table. “See you soon then, I guess.”
“Definitely,” Hermione said, Ron nodding fervently at her side.
“Bye, Harry,” She said, hugging him. “Congratulations!”
“Congratulations, mate,” Ron said, clapping him on the back.
“See you later, guys,” He grinned, waving and shutting the front door behind them before ascending the stairs to check on his children and sliding into bed next to his wife, who was fast asleep.
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