Chapter 3 The Birthday Party


Ginny had barely had time to show the girls the decorated kitchen when people began to Apparate into the parlor. The sounds of cracks, one following the other like gunshots, and the hearty greetings from the Weasley men, filled the air and sent the girls into peals of glee as they ran from uncle to uncle, grabbing away their wrapped gifts and asking, "What did you get me? Can I open it?"

And this is before they even get any sugar into their systems! Ginny thought fondly, shaking her head. She hoped Bill would let them stay up late; it was a very special day, after all. She left her nieces to be fawned over by her brothers and their wives or girlfriends and went to help her mother set the table.

“How many tonight, Mum?” she asked, pulling cutlery out of the drawer.

Molly turned and began to count. “Bill and the girls, Charlie and Luna, Percy and Penelope and the baby, Ron and Hermione, and the twins with Angelina and Alicia...how many is that?”

“That’s thirteen, not counting the baby,” Ginny answered. “Isn’t Harry coming?”

“He said he’d try, but you know how erratic his schedule is,” Molly said shaking her head. Ginny nodded, but didn’t speak. She knew she didn’t have to. She worried about Harry, but her mum would articulate her thoughts on this matter quite accurately.

She wasn’t disappointed. “I wish he could get a schedule with some regular hours,” Molly began, fretting as she spooned vegetables from the pot into a serving bowl. “He doesn’t get enough sleep, and he never takes a day off. I know he’s not eating right, I can just tell, but he’ll never ask for help, that one…What he needs is a good woman to make sure he's taken care of...” She trailed off, muttering about Harry’s unsatisfactory lifestyle. Ginny sighed; she had often thought the same things, and on nights when she wasn’t at evening practices, she had to fight the temptation to pop over to Harry’s flat with a covered dish.

She never did, though. For one thing, she was afraid of interrupting him on his few days off. What if he was sleeping, or with a woman? No way. She smirked at herself as she laid out fourteen place settings, making sure to omit sharp knives at the places of honor. A lesson they’d all learned the hard way. Besides, she thought, returning to the subject of Harry, she could admit to herself that she harbored a fear that he would still think of her as that irritating kid who had a crush on him. Like she was making excuses to show up and monopolize his attention.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft pop from the parlor, followed by the delighted shrieks of the twins. “Uncle Harry! Uncle Harry! You came to our party!”

Harry’s deep voice answered them. Ginny smiled at the teasing laughter she could hear even from the kitchen. “You’re having a party? You’re kidding! Is it a party for me?”

“No!” the girls laughed, and at that moment, Harry walked in the kitchen door, one girl held high in each arm. Ginny was laughing along with them, but when she turned and saw him like that…something seemed to twist in her belly and it took her breath away for a moment. He looked so good like that. Well, not the black bruise on his face, but with children in his strong arms. The sensory perfection of it all washed over her…giggling children, loud brothers, the smell of roast, the feel of cutlery in her grasp, orange and pink streamers, and the man in the doorway with her precious girls in his arms. Tears sprang to her eyes. Both contentment and a deep longing welled up in her, and she turned away on the pretext of finishing setting the table.

“You’re not having a party for me?” Harry said, pretending to be confused. “But what’s it for? Orange and pink are my favorite colors!”

“It’s our birthday!” the girls chorused, then collapsed against Harry’s shoulders in a fit of renewed giggles.

“Oh, brilliant!” Harry said. “Then you’ll give me a present, right?”

“No,” said Victoria, placing her small hand on his cheek and turning his face toward hers. “You have to give us presents, Uncle Harry!”

“I do?”

“Oh, yes!” said Claire, her tiara shaking precariously on her blonde head. “It’s the law, Uncle Harry.”

“Oh, well, if it’s the law…I guess I have to then, don’t I?” he said. “Otherwise I’d have to put myself in Azkaban!”

More giggles, then Harry kissed their cheeks and set them down. They ran into the parlor, orange and pink blurs.

“Hey, Mrs. Weasley,” Harry said, kissing Molly on the cheek. “Dinner smells great.”

Molly smiled at him and said, “Five minutes until we’re ready, dear. What did you do to your face?”

Harry gave her a mock scowl. "I didn't do it! It was the bad guy!"

Mrs. Weasley frowned and gave a great sigh, but she limited herself to merely shaking her head and muttering into the potatoes.

Harry turned to Ginny. “Hey, Ginny. How’s Quidditch?”

Damn. She’d actually managed to go an hour without thinking about Quidditch, about the choice she would have to make soon. “Er…it’s good.”

Harry stole a bit of icing from the edge of the cake, and raised his eyebrows at her with his finger in his mouth. A strange tingle went through her at the sight, but she shook it off.

“You sure?” he asked around his finger.

“Yeah,” she smiled. “I’m sure. How’s Auror-ing?”

“Er…” he said, wiping his finger on his robe. “It’s good.”

She looked at him a moment longer, wondering if there was as much hidden meaning packed into his “it’s good” as there was in hers. She didn’t have time to think about it, though, because at that moment Molly yelled, “Dinner!” and the stampede of Weasleys began.


An hour later, Ginny collapsed back into her chair, taking a moment to rest in the deserted kitchen while she cuddled Percy's sleepy son against her shoulder. She had tried not to be grabby with the baby, knowing that in the hierarchy of things Molly had first rights to all babies. Ginny had finally offered to Penelope, in the most nonchalant voice she could manage, to hold the baby while Penelope and Percy finished eating, pretending as best she could that her arms weren't aching for him.

The kitchen was empty, but squeals and cheers came from the garden. Ginny's gifts to the girls, a miniature Firebolt for Victoria and a miniature flying carpet for Claire, were being tried out with enthusiasm by all involved. The last Ginny had looked, Fred and George were placing bets on which girl would win a race around the yard, and whispering loud suggestions in the twins' ears on how to cheat.

Ginny looked down at little Christopher. He had her family's trademark red hair, and Penny's blue eyes. She bent down and kissed his soft forehead, then nuzzled the soft skin beneath his ear. He smelled so sweet and fresh, she thought, inhaling his scent. He felt different than the girls had, solid and chubby, and the girls had felt frail and delicate. Of course, that had proved to be deceptive; there was nothing delicate about her girls.

Harry stepped inside the door with a handful of empty butterbeer bottles. He was still smiling at the spectacle of Fred and George trying to ride the girls' gifts around the yard and ending up on their backsides on the ground. When he saw Ginny, he stopped short. She was holding the new baby, and as he watched she bent her head and placed a kiss on his forehead. Something tightened in Harry's belly; she looked so right like that. He felt a surge of something unfamiliar--if it hadn't been Ginny, he might almost have called it possessiveness. Or perhaps, protectiveness. But whatever it was, it felt right, too.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and continued into the kitchen. "Hi," he said softly.

Ginny looked up. Harry blinked and caught his breath at the expression on her face. He had seen her in battle and in Quidditch; he had held her as she wept after her father had died. He knew Ginny's face as well as he knew Ron's or Hermione's, but he had never seen her face like that. Soft, content, almost glowing.

"Hi," she said back, shifting the baby a bit. "You're missing the fun out there."

Harry smiled and held up the butterbeer bottles. "Just cleaning up a little," he said.

Ginny waved her free hand. "Don't worry about that. Mum and I will get it all later."

"I don't mind," he said, disposing of the bottles and pulling out a bottle of ale. "Want one?" he asked. She nodded, and he grabbed another one and handed it to her. He tapped the tops with his wand, then leaned back against the counter and took a drink.

"Seeing anyone these days, Weasley?" Harry asked. He knew that between Quidditch and helping raise the twins, she didn't have much time for a social life, but that had always seemed wrong to him. She was so young and pretty, she should be going out with lots of blokes. Then he frowned. For some reason he found he didn't like that thought one bit.

"No," she said, "not really. Zabini keeps asking me out, but I don't think he'd be so interested if I didn't keep beating him in scrimmages." She took an absent drink of her ale.

Harry scowled. "Blaise Zabini? He was a Slytherin. You can't go out with him." He said this last part so firmly that Ginny raised her eyebrows.

"I can't?" she said in a challenging voice.

Harry flushed. "Er, well, I mean...you can do better than that, is all."

"How about you, Potter? Got a girlfriend?"

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Nope, no girlfriend." He took a drink of his ale and gazed out the window for a moment. "Neither does Kingsley."

He said this last without thinking, and Ginny laughed. "Thinking of asking him out, then, are you?"

Harry scowled and turned even redder. "No! Of course not. It just--it just came up in conversation is all."

Ginny was about to answer when the family started pouring in from the garden. Fred and George were smiling and wiping grass and dirt from their robes. Penelope followed them in and made a beeline for Ginny, gathering her son from her arms. Ginny reluctantly let him go, and watched as the rest of her brothers and her mum came in, replenished ales or butterbeers, and made their way to the parlor. Ginny finished her ale and followed them restlessly. Maybe it would be nice to get some time with her sisters-in-law or Ron before everyone split up for the night.

Bill stoked the fire, helping to ward off the chill that had settled as the sun went down. Everyone found places on the couch or in one of the many battered chairs crowding the room. Ginny plopped down on the floor and gathered Claire up in her arms. Harry heard the little girl say, "I'm not sleepy..." but she didn't argue when Ginny shushed her and pressed her head against her shoulder.

Something tugged at his shirt and Harry looked down. It was Victoria, still dressed in her Cannons' robes. She held up her arms and Harry lifted her up.

"I'm a Seeker like you, right, Uncle Harry?" she said on a yawn.

"That's right," Harry murmured. He shifted Victoria's weight and leaned against the doorjamb. The little girl rested her head on Harry's shoulder.

Charlie stood up in the center of the room, causing Harry to look up over Victoria's head. Luna was watching her husband with a dreamy smile, but then, that wasn't unusual. Luna always looked at Charlie that way. But Charlie's face was growing pink, and his ears had gone bright red, and that was rather unusual.

"Er...'scuse me..." Charlie stammered. Then, as the noise level failed to abate, he yelled, "Oy! Over here! I have an announcement!"

The conversations died away as everyone turned to look at Charlie. "I have something--er, I mean, Luna and I wanted to-- that is-- well, we're going to have a baby!"

A loud cheer went up in the room, but over it all Harry heard another shriek. Hermione had jumped up and run over to Luna and flung her arms around her.

"Me, too! Luna! Me, too! We're having a baby, too!" Luna gave Hermione a brilliant smile and returned her hug. Molly burst into tears and the Weasley men gave each other one-armed hugs while Harry stepped forward to shake Ron's hand.

"Congratulations, mate," he said sincerely. He ignored the little burn in his gut. He was happy for Ron and Hermione. There was no reason to go outside and sulk on his own, as he suddenly felt like doing.

Ron blushed, but couldn't suppress his grin. "Thanks, Harry," he said, shaking his head. "It's still a bit hard to believe."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ginny make her way to Luna and give her a warm hug, maneuvering around Claire's sleeping body. She turned to Hermione and did the same thing. Harry stepped past her on the way to shake Charlie's hand, and noticed that while she was smiling, here eyes were very bright. Nobody else seemed to notice, though.

Harry clapped Charlie on the back and stooped to kiss Luna's cheek, balancing a dozing Victoria as he did. Babies were always a welcome addition at the Weasley house, and Harry felt a pang that Arthur wasn't there for this night. But speaking of babies, he thought he'd better get the one in his arms into her bed before the normal Weasley raucous woke her again.

He looked around for Bill, who was now holding Claire. Ginny was nowhere to be seen.

"Oy, Bill," he called, shielding Victoria's ear as he shouted. "Shall we take them up?"

"Yeah," Bill answered. "Thanks, mate."

He and Bill carried the twins up to their room, which was Ginny's old room on the second floor. Harry took just a moment to squeeze the little girl to him and kiss the top of her red head. Victoria and Claire, he thought as he opened their door. Victory and Light. They would probably never know how their birth had changed things. The newspapers wouldn't report that everything had changed, for Harry and for the Weasleys, when they had looked into those pink little faces and seen the future.

"Just lay her on her bed," whispered Bill, nodding toward the twin bed with the orange comforter. He laid Claire on the pink satin one and began to remove her fancy beaded shoes. Harry unlaced Victoria's Quidditch trainers and her black leather gloves, then unzipped her orange robe. She even wore the regulation shorts and jersey underneath, Harry thought in amusement. Across the back of her jersey was her name, "V. Weasley," and the number 4.

Bill was slipping a pink nightgown over Claire's limp body. Harry made sure that Victoria wouldn't fall off the bed, then turned to Bill and whispered, "I'll let you take care of the rest, all right?"

Bill nodded as he tried to stuff one of Claire's arms into her sleeve. "All right, then. Thanks for the help."

Harry bent and kissed each of his girls, then left the room, trying hard to ignore the ache in the region of his heart.