Love's Battle Revisited

Chapter 14 - Honeymoon

While on the way there on Harry's broom, Ginny engaged him in conversation for what was likely to be one of the few times they would wish to do so during their honeymoon. "Did you see Pansy at the wedding?"

"No. Why?"

"You wouldn't believe how pregnant she was. Maybe that was the surprise Draco mentioned. I don't remember being that big when I was carrying the boys, much less Rose."

"If so, why didn't he show her off? Usually that's the first thing he does if he wants to brag about something he did."

"Maybe he thought it would be too stressful for her to have too much attention. After all, she's got to be at least six months pregnant, and he doesn't want to jeopardise his new child in any way."

"As big as she is, I'll be surprised if she doesn't have twins at least. Did you happen to see any fancy ring on her finger, like a ten-carat diamond or something?"

"No, but I wouldn't be surprised if Draco has one all ready for her."

"I also can't help wondering if the boys have met her yet, and if they have, if they know that she's pregnant."

"With Draco's ego, it wouldn't surprise me a bit if he wants to build himself up as much as possible in the eyes of his sons. After all, he can't let half-bloods and blood traitors like us beat him. He needs to have at least three children himself to feel equal, at least on that score."

"Huh! We're more than equal to him, even without children!" Ginny huffed, squeezing her husband's slender waist to prove her point. "You're certainly better in bed, that's for sure. At least when we shag, you don't act like you've got to prove something to me every time. When you've got it, you don't have to prove it--and you've got it, luv ... in spades!"

"Glad that somebody thinks so. Frankly I can't remember the last time 'Mione praised me on that score. We hadn't shagged for six months before coming back here." Really not something Ginny needed or wanted to know, especially not on her own honeymoon with Harry, but at the same time, she sensed that Harry had a lot of things he had to get off his chest and this was just one of them. Friend or not, Hermione should never have made Harry feel inadequate, especially not in bed ... and then turn around and cheat on him.

He had more than enough of that kind of treatment from other quarters without getting it from his then-wife. Well, this now-wife would see to it that she praised him to the skies--enough to make him feel like the reincarnation of Casanova and then some ... the greatest thing in bed since the pillow, which he very definitely was--at least to her, and her opinion was the only one that mattered since she was the one who was married to him.

Of course, there had naturally been times that Ginny technically could have called Harry's bedroom performance less than adequate, but it was generally when he was preoccupied with something or stressed out. Generally, making love was a great stress reliever, but Harry's life had had an overabundance of stress, to put it mildly, and it didn't always work. Just the same, she had always done her best to be there for him when he did desire physical/sexual closeness.

She had always made sure to mix tenderness with passion, told him how handsome his chest was, how beautiful his eyes and hair were, how delicious his tongue and lips tasted, how sweetly rounded his bum was, how wide his shoulders and narrow his waist, how sexy he was when he ran a hand through his gorgeously messy hair ... Most of all, however, she loved telling him how large and hard he was (not to mention delicious, especially when she took him in her mouth) where it counted, not to mention that it felt like warm velvet over steel and that next to his lips, hands and tongue, that part of him had given her incredible ecstasy more times than she could ever have counted.

And she definitely liked to think that she had also given him incredible ecstasy innumerable times as well ... and fully intended to go on doing it just as long as she possibly could--and she would redouble her efforts, starting today!

She came back to reality once she realised he was descending toward what looked like a thick grove of trees and green grass, dotted here and there with spots of blue, which she surmised to be ponds, lakes or whatever, depending on their size. There had even been one with a waterfall which looked to be at least twenty feet high falling into what she was sure was a reflecting pool. It would be great if that was their destination, but Harry hadn't said one way or the other, so she would just have to wait and see.

Within fifteen minutes they were on the ground, right next to the very same reflecting pool with the waterfall, and he waited for her to release him and dismount the broom, then followed suit. She stretched like a cat, then headed for the pond, knowing he would follow her and frankly hoping he would suggest they go skinny-dipping. They had done lots of things in the Prefects' bathroom at Hogwarts after renewing their romance, but not that. The showering together in their quarters usually sufficed. Well, with any luck, that would soon change.

She stopped when she was about five feet away from the water, just taking in the natural beauty surrounding her. It was hard to believe anyplace this beautiful still existed, untainted by so-called civilisation ... and that it had actually managed to stay this way for at least thirty years, since the time of James and Lily Potter's own honeymoon.

"Oh, Harry, I can't believe how beautiful this place is! Hardly seems real--and you say you believe your parents came here on their honeymoon?"

"One of the places, anyway," he returned with a smile, loving how happy Ginny was to be surrounded by such incredible natural beauty, happiness which only made her seem all the more beautiful to him.

"Oh, luv, let's go skinny-dipping. We've never done it before, and this would be a perfect time and place to do it," Ginny enthused.

"Oh, I fully intend for us to do that eventually, but first, I have something else in mind ... and it's also something we've never done before," he crooned.

She turned around at the tender passion in his voice and the mixture of softness and fire in his beautiful eyes as they gazed upon her. "Just what sort of debauchery have you got in mind this time, Mr. Potter?"

She had to laugh at the innocently aggrieved expression on his face upon hearing that. "Debauchery? I declare, dear wife of my heart, I'm shocked! How can you possibly think I would ever have such a low, base thing on my mind as that? Our love is sacred ... and I intend to treat it as such, whatever I have to do!"

"Come on, Harry, I know you better than that. You're a sex maniac extraordinaire! Now, tell me--what have you got in mind?"

It was then Harry finally reverted to his usual expression whenever she caught him in a moment of pretense--a sheepish grin. "All right, lady, you've got me. I was simply thinking that we undress and make love in the grass, in the sunshine under the blue sky, while the cool breeze blows and the birds sing!"

"Why, dear husband of my heart, whoever thought you could be so poetic?" Ginny teased. "But it sounds great nonetheless. Let's get to it."

"Thought you'd never ask," Harry returned with a sly wink and a sexy purr to his voice as he approached
her, then drew her close and kissed her passionately. With that first kiss began a literally indescribably wonderful, totally and thoroughly memorable experience. Of course, he made sure to have a blanket they could lie on, but otherwise they would be touched only by the sunshine, followed by their lips, hands and bodies. They had always loved to undress each other, kissing and caressing from one end of the body to the other, starting at the top of the head and going down to the soles of the feet--and there had been many times that each had declared that that the other had made them come "right down to their toes!" Well, if she had anything to say about it, this moment would end in the same manner ... and for both of them!

However, there was also one thing both had forgotten (and conveniently or not was a matter for debate), which was a Contraceptive Charm--until it was too late to do anything about it.

"You realise something, don't you?" Ginny remarked as she cuddled close to Harry, her head on his shoulder and one hand stroking the light fur on his bare chest, their legs intricately entwined as they lay on the blanket he'd conjured up some hours before. They had only recently finished making love on the grass, in the sunshine, yet again ... and this after the skinny-dipping Ginny had mentioned earlier.

"No, I'm afraid I don't, luv. What should I realise?" Harry replied, one hand running through his wife's silky red-gold hair, the other on her slender, bare waist. However, if what Ginny suspected came to pass, it wouldn't be slender for too much longer.

"We didn't use any contraception. You know what that means," she threw back.

"Of course I know what it means. You could get pregnant," Harry countered with affectionate exasperation.

"Nice to see you taking it so well," she retorted dryly. "Am I to assume that this means you're okay with our having another child?"

"Of course I am. You know I've still got plenty of money from Mum and Dad, not to mention Sirius, and to a lesser extent, Dumbledore. We could handle a large amount of children--seven, for instance, like your Mum and Dad."

"I hadn't planned on getting pregnant again this soon," she informed him.

"So what do you intend to do? Abort? Give it up for adoption? Can you imagine the headlines if that happened? 'Wife of Boy-Who-Lived Gives His Baby Up for Adoption' or something like that?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Harry. You know I'd never give up any child of yours. I'm simply saying that--"

Harry then put a finger to his wife's lips, which promptly kissed it. "You hadn't intended on getting pregnant again, I know. Well, whether you intended it or not, it's probably happened, so we'd better just accept the idea now and make the best of it ... check when we get home and go from there. You ought to know that sooner or later, no matter how careful we are initially, that there'll come a time when we'll forget the contraception and another little miracle begins."

"Oh, you! I swear, if it was possible, I'd make you carry the baby, if only to make you see that pregnancy is nothing to sneeze at. It's morning sickness, bloating, backaches, your belly swelling until you look like a baby whale, strange food cravings, labour pains ... why, do you realise that when I carried Rose, I had insatiable cravings for Chocolate Frogs and treacle tart for three solid months?"

This prompted Harry to squeeze his wife and kiss her hair. "Come on, luv, you should know I was just teasing, not trying to make fun of you. Remember, I experienced a pregnancy, too. Vicariously, perhaps, but I know every aspect of them. In fact, almost from the time 'Mione became pregnant, she started reading books on the subject and began reciting them to me day and night, chapter and verse, until I wanted to scream. I'm thankful for it now, but at the time, all I wanted to do was vanish all those bloody books into thin air. Either that or set them on fire! I had enough of books while attending Hogwarts to last me a lifetime."

"And now you're--we're--back at Hogwarts to subject a whole new generation to the same thing."

"Well, that's a teacher's duty--to drive the students crazy while at the same time, making sure they learn what they most need to learn. And it's for sure that Snape perfected the duty to a fine art!"

Ginny couldn't argue with that, but still maintained her own personal viewpoint as to all the myriad difficulties of pregnancy. Harry knew it was useless to try to change her mind, so he suggested they have a rematch in the pond. However, Ginny shook her head. "As lovely as that sounds, luv, I'd rather sleep right now ... and it's best to sleep in the shade so we're not as likely to get sunburned in the wrong places. Maybe after we wake up from our nap."

However, just after they'd awakened from said nap and were intending to head for the pond and another interlude there, Ginny called out, "An owl's heading this way! A brown owl!"

And what's more, the brown owl headed straight for Harry and landed on his outstretched right hand, an envelope in its beak with very familiar writing ... Remus! Only Remus could have tracked them down here. Well, he'd better see what Moony wanted as long as the letter had arrived. Harry conjured up some treats for the owl and sent it on its way, then opened the letter and scanned it. Ginny watched him read, wondering what he could possibly be thinking until he looked up and smiled.

"It's from Remus. He wanted to let me know when the next Order meeting is so he can induct us into
it."

"But how did he possibly find us? We told no one where we were going."

"Probably his heightened senses. He's a werewolf, you know. They can find and sense things and people that most others can't."

"Do you know whether or not 'Mione has been inducted yet?"

"No--and I feel sure that she'd say so if she was. But maybe Remus owled her too and told her the same thing he told us about the Order meeting."

"Maybe. We'll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile, we have better things to do than talk shop." With that, Harry gave his wife a sly wink, pulled her close and began passionately snogging her ... which naturally progressed to equally passionate caresses and lovemaking--but this time, Ginny had no arguments with him whatsoever for doing it ... and lack of contraception be damned!