Laurie

Speaking of the devil, the baby in her arms made a small sound and sneezed. Her eyes slid down to her three-day-old son lying in her arms. Ginny and George both laughed as James sneezed again.

'Bless you, sweetie,' Ginny said softly, taking James' small hand in her own and stroking the soft skin.

'I don't know if it was because I'm more hormonal when I'm pregnant - and even now. But again, I feel guilty that I'm so happy now that the little one is here, even though my brother, whom I love very much, is dead,' she continued, shrugging her shoulders. Again her eyes turned to the distance.

George reached out a hand and stroked his nephew's silky black hair on his little head. 'But that was exactly what Fred wanted. He fought because he wanted to give the people he loved a future. That's what he died for. And he would never be disappointed or angry that you're so happy, Gin-Gin,' he assured his sister. 'By Merlin, he probably would have laughed at you for getting pregnant so early.'

'Of course he would have,' Ginny agreed with a grin, 'And I would have gladly put up with that. I wish he could meet Jamie, hold him in his arms and be a wonderful uncle to him.' She paused for a moment. 'But instead you're here,' she joked, to which George laughed.

James made another sound and stretched his little arms as his eyes slowly closed. Without thinking twice, Ginny passed her son to her brother. It was the first time he had held his first nephew. George's hand wandered to the baby's cheek and stroked it soothingly as James slowly drifted off to sleep.

'I wish he could meet my baby too,' George murmured then, his gaze still fixed on James.

Ginny looked at him in surprise. 'You know Angelina's pregnant?!'

Her brother laughed softly. 'She left the bloody pregnancy test in the bathroom. Of course I know she's pregnant. I also know you know.'

'How?'

'Because you looked at me really emotionally charged after you nursed Jamie and Angie was with you,' he countered with a grin.

His sister looked at him indignantly. 'How can you look emotionally charged. Besides, it might as well have been my hormones. I just had a baby three days ago,' she defended herself.

Laughing, George put an arm around her and gently pulled her to him. 'Admit it, Gin-Gin, I've just known you for far too long.'

'Why didn't you tell Angie you knew?'

'Because it's really funny to see her always pacing around me, trying to get up the courage to tell me,' he replied, shrugging his shoulders.

Ginny shook her head. 'You're incredible!'

For a while there was a comfortable silence between the two siblings, broken only by James' soft baby noises and the still warm October wind. Then George looked back at his sister.

'If it's a boy, I'd like to name him Fred, if Angie is okay with that,' he finally said.

Ginny nodded and thoughtfully placed one hand on her still round belly; a habit from her pregnancy that she still hadn't given up. With her other hand she propped herself up on the grass behind her. 'I assumed you would,' she replied. 'Harry and I had briefly considered naming Jamie Fred. Or choosing Fred as a middle name. But we didn't want to because we're leaving the name up to you and not going on a 'first come, first served' basis.'

'I would never have been mad at you guys for calling him Fred - first or second name. I never thought I'd have a kid of my own one day anyway. Oh shit, Mum's going to freak when she finds out Angelina's pregnant without either of us being married,' George realised.

'Mum should just be happy that she's having another grandchild! She's really still living in the last century. You've been together for a long time, you both have a job that pays well and you're in your mid-twenties. There are no better conditions for bringing a child into the world. What the fuck does it matter if you're married on paper or just happily in a relationship,' Ginny interjected, to which George grinned. 'Besides, Mum knows that all of us, except Percy, are living or have lived in sin. As if we wait until marriage to have sex,' she said with a snort.

'And it's because of comments like that from you that I love you, Sis!'

Ginny grinned cheekily at him. 'Thank you! And since you love me so much, dearest brother, you like changing Jamie's nappy, don't you? I smell he's left a big surprise in there for you,' she said as James slowly woke up and became restless.

After the two were spotted holding hands in Diagon Alley and the rumours gained momentum, we asked the eighteen-year-old directly. He did not comment on it, but did not deny the rumors either.

Both are said to have had a relationship in 1997, but ended it before Harry set out to overthrow the dark wizard. Shortly after the war, however, they are said to have got back together, although some rumour that they were never apart.

We will see what the future holds for the two of them and wish them all the best.

The girl on the cover looked familiar to him and he knew why. Of course he knew Harry Potter; they had both been participants in the Triwizard Tournament and competed against each other there. Then he had seen him again about two years later at the wedding of another participant in the tournament, Fleur Delacour. And there he had also seen this girl.

He had actually realised then that she had to be a Weasley. If the red hair wasn't enough of an indication, the numerous freckles would have given the proof. She was incredibly pretty and he could understand Potter all too well that he had chosen her.

He himself had not been at the battle. He had been in Bulgaria, his home country, at the time. But he had heard a lot about it, from all sorts of sources, who also reported many different things. But if there was one thing he knew, it was that Potter deserved to be happy.

He folded up the newspaper and put it aside. His gaze turned to the woman across from him. "Are the rumours true?"

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked, smiling knowingly.

"Tell them both from me that I wish them all the best".

She smiled again. "I will"

Then a thought occurred to him. "Tell me Hermione, were they already together or still together at Bill and Fleur's wedding?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"Because at the wedding, when I noticed how good looking she was, someone told me that the Weasley girl had a jealous boyfriend. They meant Potter, didn't they?"

"You're quite nosy Viktor, but yes. Very likely they referred to Harry. Don't you dare make a pass at her though, because he wouldn't like that at all. And then you'd have to take on not only Harry, but Ron as well," Hermione warned him, but kept smiling.

"Don't worry, I won't mess with Potter, I have too much respect for him for that. And I don't want to mess with your friend either. It's already a great honour for me that he allowed you to meet with me at all," Krum replied and he smiled slightly too. "It's been a long time between us and I want you to know that I am happy for you too. You deserve the best and Weasley is a good guy!"

"Harry and I aren't together anymore!"

"It will only be a matter of time before you are together again. It won't be that long. Besides, I wouldn't say you're separated either. Officially yes, but neither of you really want to let the other go and if you could, you would spend 24/7 together. There are still little jealous monsters lurking inside both of you that could never bear the thought of either of you getting together with someone else."

Ginny didn't reply, but stroked Teddy's head, who at that moment changed his hair colour from dark blonde to red. She smiled.

"Even if all this lasted another hundred years, you'd never get over each other," Tonks continued.

"Oh come on, what was between Harry and me was just a 'stupid fling between two teenagers who don't know what they want out of life and think they're madly in love with each other'," Ginny repeated the words she'd had to listen to many times and from many different people over the past few months.

"Let the others talk," Tonks retorted, making a dismissive gesture with her hand. "Only you two know how deep your feelings are for each other and no one can take that away from you. No one knows how much you really love each other. They're all just jealous that they don't have that. No one believed me at first either, how much I love Remus."

"But you're older," Ginny said.

"So what?! Even if we'd been younger, we'd have had to listen to all that stuff. How could you fall in love with a werewolf? How could you be with a man so much older than you? Age doesn't matter. Neither how big the age difference is between two people nor how old the two people are. Love is love," Tonks said, shrugging.

"I hope everything goes well and I can be with Harry again," Ginny whispered.

Tonks smiled at her. "You will!" she assured her, "And then you'll marry him eventually and then you'll have children together."

Ginny laughed.

"Trust me, your kids would look really cute. And you'd have lots of them! Four, five, maybe even six. And all of them would be incredibly talented at Quidditch, handsome and stubborn. Just like Mummy and Daddy."

Ginny was still laughing. "That's weird, thinking that far into the future."

"Then stop wondering what will be in the future and live in the present."

~

Only five and a half years later, the future Tonks had been talking about seems to be here.

Ginny turns her head to the right and looks at the black haired man beside her. There is a big smile on his face and tears are running down his cheeks.

Their eyes meet and they both grin at each other. Harry leans forward and gives her a kiss. Then their eyes turn back to the baby in Ginny's arms.

Fred was the next. He doesn't look exactly like Angelina nor like George. He has brown hair and tanned skin with some freckles spread over his nose. He is very much like his name sake which makes George more than proud.

Then Rose was born. She has so much of Ron in her. But her red hair has the same structure like her mother's hair. Just like Hermione, she is very smart but also loves quidditch a lot.

Albus was next. No need to mention that he looks a lot like Harry but without glasses. He is rather calm (I imagine his personality to be similar to Remus's). He is very close to Rose and was his whole life an easy child (I don't see CC as canon 'cause I just can't imagine Harry to have such a f*cked up and toxic relationship with any of his children).

Molly was the second and last cousin who got named after a Weasley. Her grandma cried when her dad announced her name and cried again when she held her. She is just like Percy smart and calm and she definitely prefers a book over everything.

Roxanne is the second child of George and Angelina. She looks like her older brother but has a calmer personality, though she is definitely not calm or shy.

Louis looks like Fleur. His blonde hair is not as long as Bill's but longer than his male cousin's. He is again more like Fleur but you can see that he is Bill's son.

Lucy is much like her sister. She is smart and doesn't get into any trouble. She looks more like Audrey (I imagine both to have brown hair and Idk... probably blue eyes). She is kinda close to Hugo and Lily 'cause they're in the same year at Hogwarts but I imagine that Percy and Audrey (though Percy sorted everything out with his family) prefer to be a bit more seperated and aren't as close to everyone as his other siblings, nieces, nephews and in-laws are.

Then came Hugo. He is definitely Ron's son. Though he looks more like Hermione, his personality is so like Ron's.

Harry's eyes widened. He gulped. "You- what?!"

"I AM PREGNANT" she pronounced every little word clearly.

"How?"

"You know how."

"Yeah, 'course I do. But when did we forget-?" He trailed off.

She didn’t reply. “How should we do this” she wispered instead. 

“Hey Gin.” Harry took a step forward and pulled her in his arms. “It’ll be alright. We can manage it - we have money, we have time.”

Ginny snorted. “Time?! We are both working!”

“If you want, I could work from home. Which you can, by the way,, as well. We are not bonded to the office.” Harry’s face lit up. “Merlin, we are having another baby!”

“You are honestly excited?! James is sixteen by the time the baby is born. Al is thirteen and Lily eleven - that’s such a huge age difference!” she exclaimed.

“Who cares? Lily will be over the moon when we tell her that  she will become a big sister. Al will probably just shrug it off and James will first hate us but then love the idea to have a little one around who is not his own.”

Ginny laughed at that. “And Teddy will be happy that my mum will be distracted and doesn’t ask him every few minutes, when he’ll get married or become a father.”

“And your mum will be so excited and start knitting little jumpers and hats for our little one. Does it sound so bad?”

She shook her head. “No, it doesn’t. But Merlin, I feel 21 all over again.”

Twenty-one. When she fell pregnant with James - unplanned.

He was going to reply when they heard footsteps and first the bedroom and then the bathroom door open. 

“Mum, Dad-” James frowned when he saw the look on his parents’ faces. “What’s up?”

“I’m pregnant” Ginny blurted out.

James’ eyes widened. “By Merlin’s pink knickers! And there I was, innocently walking upstairs with the intention to ask if you come down for breakfast. And now there is an extra person invited!” He pointed at his mum’s stomach and walked out of the bathroom while shaking his head. 

Percy was the one who taught her ambition. Though his nerdiness annoyed her multiple times in her life and it took some fair time for her to forgive him after the war, she admired his ambition. He never gave up, something that Ginny didn’t as well. She fought for a better future, a future with Harry.

Fred and George were her favourite brothers. She only admitteted it to George a month after the war when they were talking about Fred on a hill near the Burrow during sunrise. Fred and George always made her laugh and cheered her up when she was sad (after the chamber of secrets, after her and Harry’s break-up, etc.) and they always let her participate in their pranks. The twins taught her that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel even if it’s a train (they definitely said that exactly at one point in their life).

Ron was the one she cared about the most. Of course, she never admitted it to him but just as much as he cared about her, she cared about him. They were only 17 months apart and shared the same friends. And though Ron annoyed her sooooo many times in her life by beeing overprotective, it showed her that she was important to him. Just as important as he was to her.

“It’s too late, anyway. And I’m not talking to Harry. I’m talking to my distant cousin Barny. So distant that no one would think it’s awkward if we snogged in front of everyone,” Ginny replied smugly.

“I intend to live a little longer.” Harry laughed. “You did a good job of distracting us from the real topic of conversation. I never thought, your name was Ginevra.”

“What did you think? Please don’t tell me you thought my name was Virginia. Merlin, everyone thinks my name is Virginia and I swear, if anyone asks me again if my name is Virginia, I'll bat-bogey hex them!”

Harry laughed again. “I never thought your name was Virginia.” A satisfied smile spread across her face. She turned towards the couples on the dancefloor. “I just assumed that your name was simply Ginny.”

She gave him a sideways glance. “I wish by Merlin it would be like that. My full name is Ginevra Molly. I am surprised you never heard my mum shouting my full name through the burrow. The name Ginevra is dreadful, but my name combination is lethal!”

“I think your name is beautiful,” Harry said. Ginny turned to him again and looked at him unbelievingly.

“You can talk. Your name is very normal.”

“I think I will call you Ginevra from now on.”

“And I think, that if you do so, I will make sure, you won’t be able to make children, so you can’t give them dreadful names. Because your taste in names is dreadful,” Ginny replied feisty.

“First of all: ouch. And don’t tell me you have a good taste in names. You’ve named an owl Pigwidgeon.”

“Actually, I have to punch you right now.”

“Attention, Ginevra! We don’t want Viktor Krum to lost interest in you only because you battered your poor cousin.”

“Krum?” she asked, and Harry noticed with satisfaction that she said this name in disgust.

“He asked me a few hours ago, who this good-looking girl is. He had pointed at you.”

“And what did you say?”

“That you have a very jealous boyfriend you'd rather not mess with.”

She looked at him in shock. “You didn't agree with him that I was really pretty?!”

“Unfortunately, I'm in my 'Cousin Barny' form right now, otherwise I would show you my right hand. But I think you remember what it says. In case it slipped your mind, I'm happy to quote it: I mustn’t tell lies.”

“I was serious about the 'make sure you can't make kids to give them horrible names later' thing, so watch your mouth!" she said, grinning dangerously.

Harry smiled. "You know perfectly well that I think you're incredibly pretty."

So many unspoken words, hung in the air.

But they didn't need to say it. They knew what each other would prefer to say and they also knew that just because they didn't say those things didn't automatically mean they weren't true.

Harry was her 'very jealous boyfriend you'd rather not mess with', even if they were actually separated.

Ginny wasn't just pretty in his eyes. She was beautiful, smart, brave and so much more that he couldn't sum up in one sentence.

They both hoped that the children with the probably dreadful names Harry could give them would later be their children. Even if it seemed an unrealistic future scenario at that moment.

And instead of telling each other exactly that, they both merely smiled at each other. With the smiles that were only meant for each other.

They enjoyed the comfortable silence for another moment until Harry looked around. "As much as I hate to say it, you'd better go. Ron's coming back there. But if you want to get beat up, you're welcome to stay," Ginny said with a grin.

"See you," he said, continuing to smile at her. Then his face turned serious, and he looked at her. She understood what he was trying to say even without words. I'm sorry.