Now and Forever

Chapter 12

Remus opened the door and let them in. Harry and Ginny were spending Christmas Eve with Remus and Tonks, Christmas Day with the Weasleys.

"Come in, come in!" Remus said, leading them into the house and taking the overnight bag Harry was carrying. "Let me take your cloaks. We're so glad you could come!"

"Thanks for having us," Ginny said as she handed the bag of presents to Remus, then unwrapped the scarf from around her neck.

"If Matthew was older, we would have been happy to accept your mother's invitation to spend Christmas there," Remus said as he hung up their cloaks, "but he's so young, Tonks doesn't want to take him out in this cold weather very often, or around very many people."

"That's probably wise," Ginny said. "Fred and George would spoil him silly, and he might catch a cold or something. I can't wait to see him! Harry can't stop talking about him."

"Really?" Remus chuckled and gave Harry a teasing look. "I would imagine Harry had other things than Matthew on his mind when he's around you."

"Too right!" Harry grinned at his godfather as he draped his arm around Ginny's shoulders, then followed Remus into the kitchen to visit with Tonks and Matthew.

"If you'll excuse me for a few minutes, I'm nearly finished marking essays," Remus said. "I'd like to finish while they're fresh in my mind." He disappeared into the small room he used as his office, leaving the others to visit.

After greetings and hugs were exchanged, Tonks took Harry and Ginny over to Matthew's cot in the living room. The baby waved his arms madly when Harry came into view.

"He's glad to see you, Harry," Tonks said, standing back and smiling as Harry leaned over her child. "He missed you."

"He's so young, how can he know Harry well enough to miss him?" Ginny said.

"Harry spends a lot of time with Matthew." Tonks smiled as Harry picked up the child with the expertise of frequent practice. "Matthew adores his big brother. Harry's already started explaining Quidditch to him."

Ginny laughed. "That doesn't surprise me."

After playing with the baby for a few minutes, Harry offered him to Ginny. "Do you want to hold him?"

"I don't know how. I've never been around babies. I've always been the youngest."

"Sit in the rocker and I'll hand him to you. That's the easiest way to learn," Harry said.

Ginny sat down as instructed and put her elbows on the chair arms, bracing herself to hold the baby.

Harry laughed. "If you're that tense, you'll make him cry. Relax. You'll be fine."

Ginny gave him a nervous smile, but shook her hands out and tried to relax.

"That's better." Harry kissed the baby's forehead and looked at Matthew very seriously. "This is my fiancée, Ginny. Don't flirt with her too much or I'll have to hex you. She's taken."

Ginny and Tonks laughed.

Looking quite pleased that he'd amused them, Harry placed the baby gently in Ginny's arms. "Be sure you support his head," he instructed, getting her arms arranged just so.

"He's so tiny!" Ginny said, smiling down at the baby. "Look at that. His fingernails are so small." She, Tonks and Harry talked in quiet tones while the baby stared at Ginny, apparently fascinated by her red hair.

"He likes redheads too," Harry said, nodding his approval. "Wise man."

Ginny held the baby happily until he began crying. "Oh no! What did I do?"

Tonks had returned to the kitchen to oversee dinner, and Remus was still working, so Harry took the child from Ginny. "His nappy needs changing, that's all. Come on, Matthew, let's get you dry."

"Do you need some help, Harry?" Tonks called from the kitchen.

"No, we're fine."

"I thought you would be," she replied.

Ginny followed Harry into the nursery, where he changed the baby's nappy as if he'd done it all his life. "You amaze me," she told Harry.

He looked at her in surprise. "Why?"

"You're so comfortable with him. I thought you'd be scared to take care of a baby, but here you are, even changing his nappy!"

"It was necessary." Harry wrinkled his nose he tossed the soiled nappy into a bin, which belched as it swallowed the nappy, then coughed a couple of times before settling down.

"The bin doesn't seem too happy," Ginny said.

He shrugged, then picked up the baby and held Matthew against his shoulder. "It wasn't always a nappy bin. I don't think it likes its change in station." Harry rubbed Matthew's back affectionately as he headed for the door.

"That baby can't be your brother. He doesn't look like you at all," the mirror said as Harry passed it.

"Shows what you know," Harry said mildly, shaking his head at the judgemental nature of the mirror.

"Does the mirror know you're not really his brother?" Ginny said as they left the nursery.

"I don't know. Doesn't matter. He's as much of a brother as I'll ever have." Harry leaned his cheek against the baby's downy head and breathed deeply. "I didn't know babies smelled so good until he came along."

Ginny grinned. "Except when their nappies need to be changed."

"Well, yeah."

* * *

"Good dinner, Tonks!" Harry said, carrying the last of the dishes to the sink.

"Thanks, luv!" Tonks said, tapping the sink and smiling in approval as the dishes began to wash themselves. "And Ginny, you were a great help with the potatoes. I was sure I'd ruined them."

Ginny smiled and hung up the dishcloth she'd used to wipe off the table. "No problem!"

Tonks bent over the baby in his portable cot. He seemed to be happy watching the toy Snitch Harry had given him for Christmas, which was flying in different patterns over his bed. Tonks adjusted his blanket, touched his cheek, then sat on the couch beside Remus, stretched and yawned. "Oh, sorry. I'm tired all the time these days. We miss you, Harry."

"Or at least you miss me picking Matthew up in the middle of the night," Harry teased.

"Yeah, there is that," she agreed.

The baby began crying. "I'll get him," Harry said, rising from the chair he'd been sharing with Ginny and crossing the room to pick up the baby. "Nappy's dry. You just fed him a little while ago. What do you think he needs?"

Tonks sighed. "I don't know. Bless him, he's such a dear, but he often fights going to sleep. He should be tired. He was awake a long time today."

"Maybe having company is too stimulating for him," Harry said as he carried the baby to the rocker.

Tonks nodded. "He was so excited to see you, Harry, and he likes Ginny, as well. I guess he just doesn't want to miss anything." She grinned. "I can't blame him for that. I'm the same way."

"Too right," Remus said, wrapping an arm around his wife and pulling her close.

Harry chuckled at their comments, then sat in the rocker with the baby in his arms. "You need to let your parents get some sleep, you know?" He started rocking and began telling Matthew about various Quidditch moves in a soft voice.

Remus smiled. "If that child isn't mad for Quidditch, it will be a miracle."

Harry glanced up and raised an eyebrow at his godfather. "And your problem with that is?"

"Not a thing. He'll be Gryffindor's next well-known Quidditch player, and he can say he was trained by the great Seeker, Harry Potter."

Ginny watched Harry holding the baby, having a long, involved but one-sided conversation with him, having switched from the subject of Quidditch to girls. She blinked back the tears that pricked her eyes. She'd never seen Harry like this. Yes, he was silly, tender, gentle and loving with her, but for him to be so sweet with a baby, especially considering the horrors he'd faced in his life . . . well, it was just another sign of the tremendous amount of love in his heart.

Harry glanced up at her just then. "You okay?"

"Yes. You just make such a picture, holding him." She got up and stood beside the rocker, rubbing his shoulders and watching the baby. Someday this will be us with our own baby. She smiled at the thought.

* * *

The next morning, Harry and Ginny flashed to the Burrow, sacks full of presents in hand.

"Happy Christmas!" Molly said, pulling each of them into a hug. "I'm so glad you came!"

"We wouldn't miss Christmas, Mum!" Ginny said, putting her bag down to take off her cloak.

They were soon engulfed in the usual Christmas morning mayhem at the Burrow. Through an unspoken agreement, no mention was made of Bill, Percy or Hermione's parents. They'd all grieved enough over those terrible losses. It was time to enjoy being with the family they had. Presents were handed out over breakfast.

"Here you go, Ron, Hermione," Molly said, passing out presents. "Charlie, this red one's for you. Fred, George, these are--no, wait, they go the other way round." She laughed and swapped presents between the twins. "Harry, dear, this one's yours. And Ginny." Molly stopped behind her daughter and hugged her tightly. "This is yours. And Arthur." Molly sat down and watched her family open their presents. As usual, they all had newly knitted jumpers. Harry's had a pattern of brooms and Snitches all over, with the Lions logo knitted in on the outside of each shoulder.

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley," he said, admiring the jumper. "It's beautiful." He pulled off the jumper he was wearing and tugged the new one over his head. It fitted him quite well, and his shoulder muscles filled out the lions' heads on the sleeves.

"Wow, Mum, that's really nice," Ginny said, admiring Harry's jumper.

"I found a new knitting book that helped me improve my pattern work," Molly said, beaming at the praise.

"Nice, Mum," Ron said as he looked at his jumper. His had the Lions logo on the shoulders like Harry's, but there were goal hoops on his jumper where Harry's had Snitches.

Fred and George sat with stunned expressions on their faces. "Mum? How did you do this?" George said. Fred's jumper was blue, George's green, but both had moving patterns of fireworks splashed across them, with some of the fireworks forming the triple-W logo of their joke shop.

Molly smiled. "That book included a spell to animate the pattern. I've tried to do animated patterns in the past, but I just never got them right. I think the new knitting needles I bought with the book helped a good deal, too."

Charlie's jumper was blue with a green and gold dragon on the front. Small puffs of smoke came from its nostrils every so often. "Nice job, Mum. Thanks."

Arthur opened his present, and managed to smile when he saw one of Molly's usual designs on his brown jumper. A big "A" adorned the front in gold. The jumper was as lumpy as any she'd made in the past.

"Sorry, dear. I made yours before I got that new book," Molly said, patting him on the arm. "I'll make you a new one soon."

"This is lovely, dear, just lovely. Thank you." Arthur leaned over to kiss her.

Everyone exchanged presents after that. Hermione was pleased with the new Never-Splotch Parchment Harry and Ginny gave her, and did her best to smile tolerantly at the twins when she opened their present to find a box labelled "Marriage Enhancing Daydreams."

"Erm, thanks," she said in a small voice.

"Latest product!" Fred said, leaning back in his chair and grinning. "We think it will be a huge seller. Let us know what you think of it."

Hermione and Ron exchanged a glance, their cheeks flaming with embarrassment before Ron said, "I don't think we need this, actually."

"Aw, have a go with it anyway," George said. "You never know."

Ron shrugged and eyed the box warily. "What'll it do?"

"Just follow the instructions. Then give us a full report. You're our test subjects."

Laughing, Ron shook his head. "Gee, thanks."

Charlie was trying to stifle his laughter and not succeeding very well. "What's the matter, Fred? Don't you two know any other married people?"

"Not that we can impose on this way, no," Fred said with a show of dignity.

"Besides," George added, "it should be fun to see their faces after they've used it."

Harry and Ginny eyed their presents from the twins warily. "You didn't give us one of those, did you?" Ginny demanded, giving her brothers a look worthy of Molly.

"No! You're not married yet," Fred said, looking a bit indignant.

"And we owe too much to Harry--" George added, equally annoyed.

"And we don't ever want to cross either of you!" Fred finished with obvious sincerity.

Harry grinned at them. "Cheers!"

Ron shoved a present across the table to the twins. "Here ya go."

"Aw, Ronnie, you shouldn't have!" Fred chortled as he and George attacked the large box with glee. Inside the box was an urn-shaped vase with wide handles on each side. The twins frowned at it, then at Ron.

"Go on, then," Ron urged, a grin tickling the corners of his mouth.

The twins looked at each other and shrugged, then each grabbed a handle and lifted it out of the package.

"Looks like something for Mum, Ron," George said, but no sound came out of his mouth. He looked at Fred in shock, because his words had come out of his twin!

"What the bloody hell?" Fred said, but, although his mouth was moving, the sound came out of George's mouth.

"Language, George!" Molly said absently as she dished up some more food for Arthur.

Acting wounded, George said, "It was Fred!" but the sound came out of Fred's mouth, which made everyone laugh but Molly, who merely looked puzzled.

The twins looked at each other, wide grins on their faces. "Wicked!" they said together, then turned to Ron. "How does it work?" George said in Fred's voice.

Ron was laughing too hard to answer for a while. When he caught his breath, he replied, "Some kind of charm, I guess. Try something else. One of you eat something. It's supposed to work in a lot of different ways."

George picked up a piece of bacon and put it in his mouth, chewing slowly.

Fred gasped. "I taste bacon!" he said, but the sound came out of George.

"Your turn," George said, his voice coming out of his twin.

Fred picked up a piece of toast, spread it with a thick layer of marmalade and took a huge bite, then nearly choked when George's voice came through his body. "Tasty! I do so love marmalade!"

Everyone was laughing hard now.

"How does that work?" Arthur said. "It's marvellous!"

"Two people have to touch it at the same time for the charm to work," Ron explained.

"Where did you find it?" Charlie said, laughing as George turned his back to Fred and bit into a lemon he'd Summoned from a bowl on the counter, which made Fred's face crumple in reaction to the sour taste.

"I saw it advertised in a book," Ron said.

"A comic book, no doubt!" Fred said, his voice emerging from George whose mouth was now full of jam.

Ron shrugged. "Yeah."

"Are you still reading those Mad Muggle comic books?" Charlie said.

An aggressive look came into Ron's eyes. "Yeah. So what?"

"I think they're funny," Hermione said loyally.

"This is great," Fred's voice said.

Ginny leaned across the table toward George. "Can I borrow that?"

George shoved the urn across the table, careful to remove his hand before Ginny touched it.

"Look out, Harry, she has plans for you!" George's voice said while both twins grinned madly.

Harry turned to look at Ginny. "What are you up to?"

"I think it looks like fun. Let's try it!"

Harry frowned, thinking of the sometimes-awkward consequences of spells he didn't understand. "I think we should find out how to end the spell before we use it."

"Excellent point!" Fred's voice said. "Ron, how do you end it?"

Ron nodded toward the open box in front of the twins. "There should be instructions in there."

George turned the box over. No parchment fell out. He rummaged around inside the box and gave Ron a dirty look. "C'mon, where are the instructions?"

Ron frowned in confusion. "It's supposed to be in the box!" He pulled the box toward him and dug in it himself. Then he tore off the wrapping paper and dug through that. "Oh no! They're not here!"

"Were they with the urn when you got it?" Molly said.

"I only glanced inside to make certain it wasn't broken. I didn't look for the instructions," Ron admitted.

"It can't be that hard to end," Hermione said, practical as ever. She pointed her wand at Fred. "Finite Incantatem." Once she lowered her wand, she said, "That should take care of it."

Fred and George looked at each other. "Do you feel any different?" Fred's voice said, coming out of George's mouth.

"It didn't work!" George's voice said. "And I didn't feel any different before--did you?"

"Nah."

"If a Finite won't work, what will?" Charlie said, scratching his head.

Soon the whole family was casting spells on the twins trying to end the enchantment, but nothing worked.

"Harry, you haven't tried yet," Hermione said. "Have a go."

Harry had watched in amusement at first, then with a bit of worry. If it came down to him using his Refiner's Fire power to end this spell, he was afraid he might hurt the twins. He'd hoped someone else could manage the reversal, but now it was down to him.

"Erm . . . What haven't you tried? Seems to me you've tried every reversal spell I know of," he said.

"Make one up," Molly suggested. "You can do it, Harry."

Fred and George stared at Harry, looking more alarmed by the moment. "Uh, I think we'd rather live with this until it wears off than be hexed by Harry," Fred said.

"Yeah, what he--no, I--no, he said. Whatever," George agreed.

Harry grinned. "And I don't want to hex you."

"Can you sense what kind of spell it is?" Ginny asked Harry.

Harry pulled out his wand and passed it above and around the urn. "I can tell it's some form of Transference Spell," he replied. "We learned those in Auror School this term," he explained to Charlie, Arthur and Molly. He and Ron usually told the twins about the spells they were learning at school as they learned them, since they saw the twins so often at lunch time. "But Ron's already tried the reversal spell we know for it."

"Go on, Harry," Ron said. "You try it. Maybe I was laughing too hard for it to work."

Harry pointed his wand at George. "I'll be careful, mate, don't worry."

"Thanks!" George's voice said from Fred's worried face.

Harry cast the reversal spell and waited for the twins to react.

"Thanks, Harry!" Fred's voice said. His face fell when he realized his voice was still coming from his twin.

"Damn," Harry muttered. "Okay, I'll use more power this time."

"No!" Ginny cried, pushing his wand arm down. She reached across the table and hit George on the shoulder with her wand three times as she cried, "Stop! Stop! Stop!"

"What are--" George began, then beamed as the words came out of his own mouth. "Ginny! You're brilliant!"

"Did it work for me, too?" Fred said, then grinned. "You're one powerful little witch," he told his sister. "We've always said so." George nodded.

"How did you think of that?" Hermione said, leaning around Harry and Ron to look at Ginny.

Ginny shrugged. "I knew Harry didn't want to hurt them, and if he used more power, he might've done. This was the only thing I could think of. I thought it would have to be something simple, since it's a joke product."

Hermione nodded. "Yes, and we were trying more and more complex spells. We should've kept it simple. How silly of me! I should've thought of that."

"At least we know how to reverse it now," Fred said.

Harry wrapped his arm around Ginny's shoulders and hugged her. "Well done."

Ginny leaned over and whispered, "I wanted things to move along more quickly so we could try it," then giggled.

Harry raised his eyebrows and chuckled. Trust Ginny to have her priorities straight. He enfolded her in his arms, pulling her head into the hollow of his neck, then leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Did you take the instructions out of that box?"

She snorted, answer enough to suit Harry. He grinned and murmured against her hair, "Just had to torment them, didn't you?"

She lifted her head to kiss him. "Just a small repayment for years of tricks and teasing."

"No snogging at the table!" Charlie said, throwing a piece of toast at Harry's head.

Harry's Seeker reflexes kicked in and he caught the toast with barely a glance at it. "Thanks, Charlie. I needed more toast."

As everyone laughed, a loud crash announced an owl hitting the kitchen window.

"Oh dear. There was such a cold wind earlier, I closed the window. I do hope the poor thing isn't hurt," Molly said. She opened the window and the bird flew straight to Ginny.

"Another present?" George teased. "Do you have a secret admirer?"

"Only Harry," Ginny replied, untying the package from the owl's legs, "and this isn't from him. Wonder who sent it?"

Harry looked at the messily-wrapped package. "Isn't there a tag?"

"No. I expect it's from Luna," Ginny said as she started to undo the ribbon holding the paper together. "This wrapping job looks like her style."

The wrappings were newspaper clippings glued together. Harry frowned as he studied them, then pushed Ginny's hands away. "Stop. It isn't from Luna."

Ginny looked at him in surprise. "What? But these wrappings--"

"Are from the Quibbler, yeah, but look what they say," he insisted. Everyone leaned toward the package trying to make out the type. Harry glanced up at Ginny. "It's from that nutter, see? The words are cut out to make new sentences."

The rest of the family leaned toward Harry and Ginny to get a better look at the package.

"This one says, 'Wedding cancelled,'" George read.

"This one's about a funeral," Charlie said, looking at his sister with worried eyes.

"And the others are equally bad," Harry said, pushing his chair back carefully and getting to his feet. "Everyone just stay still. I'll take it outside and dispose of it."

Fred and George exchanged a look, then got up and began to move around the table toward Harry. "Do you think it's explosive?"

"Possibly. You lot need to stay back."

"I'll go and unload it while you explain," Fred told George, then Disapparated.

"Wait for us, Harry. We have a blast-containing box. It'll be safer if you use it when you dispose of it," George said, Disapparating as soon as he finished speaking.

"Harry, be careful!" Ginny cried, frightened both by the package itself and by the determined look on her fiancé's face.

Harry was concentrating so hard on Levitating the box outside without jarring it in any way that he didn't hear her.

"Don't worry. We've been trained for this kind of thing," Ron called over his shoulder as he followed Harry outside.

Molly turned to Arthur, wringing her hands anxiously. "But they're still in their first year of Auror School."

Arthur sighed, wiped his mouth with his napkin and stood up. "I know, dear. I'll go and see if there's anything I can do to help them."

"Be careful, Arthur!"

Charlie, Hermione, Ginny and Molly started to follow the others out to the back garden. Harry sensed their movement and turned to face them. "Stay back! We don't know what this will do!"

"Let the Aurors take care of it, Harry!" Ginny said. "You can send for them. Mum has an owl here."

Harry blew out a nervous breath as he looked at her. He didn't want to be hurt, nor did he want any of these people he loved so much be injured, either. "I don't think there's time to wait for them. It's ticking."

Fred and George returned just then, carrying a large crystal box between them. "Here you go, Harry."

"How strong is it?" Harry said, eyeing the box warily.

"Top of the line. We use it to test new products," Fred said, setting it down near the back garden fence.

"Worth a try, mate," Ron muttered.

"Yeah. You get the box, I'll do the package."

"Right."

While Ron Levitated the box, Harry used a Locomotor spell to move the package under the box's open bottom. Ron lowered the crystal box gently over the package.

"Wait," Fred said. He pulled out his wand and cast a spell on the box.

"What's that?" Harry said.

"A Containment Spell. It activates the box to hold in whatever happens inside it," George explained as Fred finished the spell.

"It's ready, Harry. You can blow it up now, or whatever you're going to do to it," Fred added.

"I just want to open it for now. Once we know what's inside, I'll send it to the Aurors to try to track down who sent it." Harry took a deep breath and blew it out, steadying his nerves. He pointed his wand at the package and cast a spell that opened it as gently as possible.

When the lid of the box was lifted, a gasp went through the family as absolutely nothing happened.

Ginny laughed nervously and started to approach Harry. "I guess she fooled us, huh?"

"Stay there," Harry said in a voice that stopped her cold.

"What--"

"I'm going to see what's inside it. Just stay there." Harry kept his wand pointed at the box and muttered another incantation. A moment later, something long, thin and pale floated above the box. Something else small and round, with a length of something red attached, followed. Then a red envelope emerged. Harry pointed his wand at the red envelope, a Howler, and winced as a voice shrieked, "Die, Ginny Weasley, die! You don't deserve him! You can't have him! DIE!"

An ugly green cloud of some kind flowed out of the Howler and filled the crystal box. Harry created a Sphere Shield Charm around the box as he asked, "Is your box gas-proof too?"

Fred and George looked worried now. "No, it's for explosives," Fred said.

"Good one, Harry, getting that sphere around it so quickly," George added.

Ron walked to the edge of the sphere and looked at the things now lying on the ground inside the crystal box. "It's a doll. A doll with long red hair. Her head's been pulled off."

Harry looked at Ron. "We need to send a message--" Harry would do it, but he had to hold the sphere until the Aurors came to take possession of the crystal box and the evidence inside it.

"Onto it," Ron replied as a silvery Adfero message spell left his wand.

"Did you warn them about the gas?" Harry said.

"Yeah."

"Good." Harry saw Molly holding Ginny in a tight embrace, fear plain on both of their faces. "It's okay now," he told them. "It won't hurt anyone. The Aurors will bring the right equipment to contain the threat."

"Why haven't they caught this girl yet?" Molly cried.

"She's been careful to leave as little evidence as possible," Harry said. "This time, we may have her, though."

"I hope so," Ginny said, her face very pale. "But Harry, if this is my stalker, and she wants you, wouldn't she know you'd be with me when I got that package and that the gas might hurt you as well?"

"Probably."

Ginny frowned, trying to puzzle things out. "So why would she want to hurt you, then?"

Harry shrugged. "Dunno. We'll know more when the gas is analyzed."