Step Two
Author unefleurdelis (fic journal at i_phianassa)
Title: Step Two
Challenge: Harry and Ginny are married and their children have grown up, but their new adventure together is being grandparents.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 741
Note: The names for Lily’s husband and children come from major works of ancient literature (Hector from Homer’s Iliad, Antigone from Sophocles’ Three Theban Plays and Orestes from Aeschylus’ Oresteia). Each name is associated with honour, glory and familial loyalty.
Harry likes watching children grow up.
He’s sure people whisper that it’s because he was so neglected as a child. That even at Hogwarts he never had a normal childhood. To be honest, he doesn’t care what people say. When he and Ginny have their own children, he spoils them rotten. He was sometimes on the receiving end of disapproving looks--mostly from Molly Weasley--but he doesn’t care. The night James is born, Harry tells Ginny passionately that he wanted their son to have the happiest childhood anyone had ever had.
Ginny looks at him tenderly for a moment before replying, ‘he’ll be loved, Harry. When he’s with us or when we’re apart, he will be loved. That’s all anyone can ask. And when he goes to Hogwarts he will make his own way, like the rest of us. And we can hope that he only gets into the normal sort of trouble--’
‘--like run-ins with Flich?’ Harry interrupts, grinning.
‘Like run-ins with Flich,’ his wife agrees, and the two of them fell asleep side by side cradling their son between them.
-
The births of their next two children are no less special. But there is hardly time to dwell, to reflect. There are always little hands pulling to demand attention, little mouths crying to be fed. Harry and Ginny give these things gladly. Simple things now, Harry thinks.
-
Years pass, and one day Harry is sitting at home reading the Evening Prophet with Ginny knitting beside him (he wonders when they became so conventional) when the fireplace bursts into flames and his only daughter’s head appears in the fire.
‘Dad?’ she quavers, and Harry realises she is crying.
‘What is it?’ he demands, suddenly alert. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘I’m pregnant!’ she beams. And he understands that they are happy tears.
Ginny gives a little scream of delight, and Harry stands open mouthed for a second before the largest grin he can remember having since Lily’s own birth bursts onto his face. He feels like a teenaged Ron as he puts one hand behind his head to ruffle his hair and says, ‘well how about that.’
-
When Lily gives birth to Antigone and Orestes, Harry thinks his heart will burst. He has watched a dozen or more Weasley children come into the world, including his own Potter-Weasley babies, but these are something different. These are grandchildren. They are a new kind of special, a novel joy.
As Lily takes some time with her growing family, Ginny joins Harry for a cup of coffee in the abandoned lounge of St. Mungo’s.
‘Aren’t they beautiful?’ Ginny sighs.
‘They’re perfect,’ Harry agrees. ‘Almost as good as ours.’
Ginny laughs, ‘they look a little like you,’ she says.
‘Yeah, Orestes coming out of the womb with those spectacles sure was a shocker,’ Harry smirks as his wife hits him playfully on the arm.
‘Yes, let’s hope your eyesight is one thing he didn’t inherit,’ she teases.
Harry gives a little laugh, and takes his own glasses off to clean. Ginny waits until he puts his wand away to ask, ‘is everything alright love? I was just kidding about the eyes.’
Harry doesn’t even grin, just asks, ‘do you reckon…do you reckon they’re sort of ours too?’
‘The twins?’ Ginny replies. ‘Of course, Lily and Hector know that we’ll always be there for them and the babies, whatever they need.’
‘Well there’s that, but…I don’t know, I’m not really sure what we’re supposed to do as grandparents. When we had our kids I knew what to do--just give them everything I never had, or that I found later in your parents or even in Sirius, Dumbledore. But grandparents? I never had any, but I never missed them either. I don’t want to be so insignificant in these babies’ lives,’ he finishes.
‘My parents were always involved in our kids’ lives! Remember what a blessing they were when we’d just want a day or two alone together and they’d take them for the weekend?’ Ginny asks.
‘That’s true,’ Harry says slowly.
‘Of course it’s true,’ she says firmly. ‘This is just the next adventure in our lives and I, for one, am looking forward to figuring this one out with you.’
‘You’re right,’ he agrees. ‘We can figure it out together.’
He takes her hand and they go back to their daughter’s room, where they find Lily and Hector sleeping peacefully, their babies cradled between them.
Title: Step Two
Challenge: Harry and Ginny are married and their children have grown up, but their new adventure together is being grandparents.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 741
Note: The names for Lily’s husband and children come from major works of ancient literature (Hector from Homer’s Iliad, Antigone from Sophocles’ Three Theban Plays and Orestes from Aeschylus’ Oresteia). Each name is associated with honour, glory and familial loyalty.
Harry likes watching children grow up.
He’s sure people whisper that it’s because he was so neglected as a child. That even at Hogwarts he never had a normal childhood. To be honest, he doesn’t care what people say. When he and Ginny have their own children, he spoils them rotten. He was sometimes on the receiving end of disapproving looks--mostly from Molly Weasley--but he doesn’t care. The night James is born, Harry tells Ginny passionately that he wanted their son to have the happiest childhood anyone had ever had.
Ginny looks at him tenderly for a moment before replying, ‘he’ll be loved, Harry. When he’s with us or when we’re apart, he will be loved. That’s all anyone can ask. And when he goes to Hogwarts he will make his own way, like the rest of us. And we can hope that he only gets into the normal sort of trouble--’
‘--like run-ins with Flich?’ Harry interrupts, grinning.
‘Like run-ins with Flich,’ his wife agrees, and the two of them fell asleep side by side cradling their son between them.
-
The births of their next two children are no less special. But there is hardly time to dwell, to reflect. There are always little hands pulling to demand attention, little mouths crying to be fed. Harry and Ginny give these things gladly. Simple things now, Harry thinks.
-
Years pass, and one day Harry is sitting at home reading the Evening Prophet with Ginny knitting beside him (he wonders when they became so conventional) when the fireplace bursts into flames and his only daughter’s head appears in the fire.
‘Dad?’ she quavers, and Harry realises she is crying.
‘What is it?’ he demands, suddenly alert. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘I’m pregnant!’ she beams. And he understands that they are happy tears.
Ginny gives a little scream of delight, and Harry stands open mouthed for a second before the largest grin he can remember having since Lily’s own birth bursts onto his face. He feels like a teenaged Ron as he puts one hand behind his head to ruffle his hair and says, ‘well how about that.’
-
When Lily gives birth to Antigone and Orestes, Harry thinks his heart will burst. He has watched a dozen or more Weasley children come into the world, including his own Potter-Weasley babies, but these are something different. These are grandchildren. They are a new kind of special, a novel joy.
As Lily takes some time with her growing family, Ginny joins Harry for a cup of coffee in the abandoned lounge of St. Mungo’s.
‘Aren’t they beautiful?’ Ginny sighs.
‘They’re perfect,’ Harry agrees. ‘Almost as good as ours.’
Ginny laughs, ‘they look a little like you,’ she says.
‘Yeah, Orestes coming out of the womb with those spectacles sure was a shocker,’ Harry smirks as his wife hits him playfully on the arm.
‘Yes, let’s hope your eyesight is one thing he didn’t inherit,’ she teases.
Harry gives a little laugh, and takes his own glasses off to clean. Ginny waits until he puts his wand away to ask, ‘is everything alright love? I was just kidding about the eyes.’
Harry doesn’t even grin, just asks, ‘do you reckon…do you reckon they’re sort of ours too?’
‘The twins?’ Ginny replies. ‘Of course, Lily and Hector know that we’ll always be there for them and the babies, whatever they need.’
‘Well there’s that, but…I don’t know, I’m not really sure what we’re supposed to do as grandparents. When we had our kids I knew what to do--just give them everything I never had, or that I found later in your parents or even in Sirius, Dumbledore. But grandparents? I never had any, but I never missed them either. I don’t want to be so insignificant in these babies’ lives,’ he finishes.
‘My parents were always involved in our kids’ lives! Remember what a blessing they were when we’d just want a day or two alone together and they’d take them for the weekend?’ Ginny asks.
‘That’s true,’ Harry says slowly.
‘Of course it’s true,’ she says firmly. ‘This is just the next adventure in our lives and I, for one, am looking forward to figuring this one out with you.’
‘You’re right,’ he agrees. ‘We can figure it out together.’
He takes her hand and they go back to their daughter’s room, where they find Lily and Hector sleeping peacefully, their babies cradled between them.