Love's Battle Revisited

Chapter 16 - Two Years Later

Truly, it hardly seemed possible that two years had already gone by and that it was nearly time for the older children to start Hogwarts--in fact, Rose, Helen and Lily, as well as the boys David and Daryl, had all received their letters, book lists and all that. It was on the Saturday which was a week before they had to report for their first year that Harry and Ginny took the girls to get all the necessary accoutrements for their magical schooling (not including wands; they had gotten them the year before), including brooms which they could use for Quidditch if they chose--the newest model, of course, the Nimbus 3000, just as Harry had had a Nimbus 2000. He and Ginny had agreed not to get the girls Firebolts until they were older ... or at least not until they were as old as he had been when he got one, at any rate. He and Ginny had also taught the girls all they possibly could up to this point, magically speaking, up to and including Quidditch.

Upon getting home with all of said accoutrements, Harry and Ginny helped the girls pack their trunks and told them what to expect as first-years, including the Sorting into the various Houses, and most impor-tantly, what to expect of those Sorted into each. The girls found it difficult to believe that the Sorting Hat could possibly be so knowledgeable, but both Harry and Ginny knew that it was. It was near the end of the indoctrination that the girls asked if the boys had been told all this.

Ginny personally wouldn't be at all surprised, knowing Draco, just as she suspected that he would tell them all kinds of derogatory propaganda regarding the other Houses and tout the praises of Slytherin House. That was to be expected, one supposed, but the boys deserved to be able to make their own decisions and have friends from each House if they chose, not limit themselves to one House. Certainly both Harry and Ginny had had friends from two of the other Houses in Hogwarts, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, as well as their own Gryffindor. Why shouldn't their children be the same?

They had also gotten the girls each their own owls, but allowed them to pick them out themselves. The very last thing they had told them was how to get to Platform 9¾ at Kings Cross Station on September 1 at 10 a.m. to board the Hogwarts Express and what to expect once on board. Just the same, both knew it would not be easy to let them go, because Hogwarts was a boarding school and the girls would be gone for nine months out of every year. The most contact parents would have with their children during that time would be occasional owl posts.

* * * * *

Of course, since they had had at least some preparation, Harry and Ginny wouldn't find it nearly as difficult to see their girls off as would most wizarding parents. Just the same, when the time arrived, they drove there in a flying car much the same type as the old Ford Anglia the Weasleys had once owned, but a far newer and more sophisticated model which comfortably accommodated Harry, Ginny and their girls. Fortunately, September 1 fell on a Saturday that year (2007), so they were able to go see them off.

However, shortly after Ginny had become pregnant for the third time (she had had a son which they had named Jonathan Arthur, who had Harry's green eyes but otherwise, he had the Weasley red hair and freckles), they had bought a house halfway between the Burrow and Hogwarts, and the young parents had lived there with their little son and the girls when they weren't working at their teaching. If it weren't for Ginny's latest pregnancy and little Jon, however, they would have been unable to endure the girls' absence even for a short time, much less for months on end as would be required for the seven years they would attend Hogwarts.

It wasn't until they actually had to say goodbye to their own children that Harry and Ginny realised just how difficult it was to let go of them, even for a short time. They now definitely understood why the Weasleys had acted as they did when they (the younger Weasleys) themselves and Harry had been attending the school. The four Houses of Hogwarts had specially painted cars on the Hogwarts Express; Harry soon spotted the red and gold one for Gryffindor, but could not have said just which House the girls would be Sorted into.

For the time being, they had to all go in a neutral-coloured car which would accommodate all the first-year students for each House. As per tradition, the Sorting would not take place until the first-years had reached Hogwarts and everyone was in place for the Welcoming Feast. Harry had also told the girls about his old friend, the gentle half-giant, Hagrid, the groundskeeper of Hogwarts, who usually greeted first-years and conveyed them across the Black Lake to the school.

Harry couldn't help but smile knowingly at the way Ginny clung to their girls and cried buckets before he almost literally peeled her off each of them and put them onto the train. It was very difficult for him not to do the same, of course, but he had to be strong for his ladies, so he merely gave them loving hugs and kisses on their foreheads and wished them the best of luck, admonishing them to contact him and Ginny immediately if they had any questions, either by owl post or Floo. They all assured him they would do so, but Rose and Helen in particular. Harry had also owled Hermione to tell her that the girls would now be at Hogwarts for most of the year after this. By this time she and Viktor had married, and in fact she was even pregnant again. Harry could only hope that Viktor would not end up raising the child as he had been obliged to do with Lily and Helen.

* * * * *

A week later Helen wrote her parents to tell them about how the Sorting had gone, not to mention the Welcoming Feast and the first-years' meeting with Hagrid and company. To no real surprise on anyone's part, two of the girls had been Sorted into Gryffindor and Helen, the child most like Hermione, had been Sorted into Ravenclaw. Nor was there any surprise when both David and Daryl had been Sorted into Slytherin. Ginny had hoped that their Weasley blood would have been more of an influence, but obviously their Malfoy blood had been dominant; just the same, she had admonished them--if only for her sake--to treat their half-sisters decently, even if they were in different Houses. There was no guarantee they would do so, of course; she could only hope. For the time being, however, all she could do was concentrate on having a healthy baby.

* * * * *

The following week Helen wrote to tell her parents that all of them had tried out for Quidditch. Both David and Daryl had made the Slytherin Quidditch team, as Seeker and Keeper, whereas she and Rose had made the Gryffindor team. The other Lily hadn't made the cut for that sport, just as Hermione had never been one for the sport--but the latest reports from her indicated was that she seemed to be following in her namesake grandmother's footsteps and becoming very good in both Potions and Charms. Harry was truly thankful that Snape wasn't doing Potions anymore, if only for his girls' sakes, and that he himself was the DADA instructor and Ginny was the Charms instructor--but only for second, third, and sixth years. In which case, they wouldn't be able to teach them until next year.

Even at that, he had told them to feel free to ask him or their mum any questions on either subject they deemed necessary if there was something they didn't understand. He was also glad to hear that at least so far David and Daryl were treating the girls all right, but he couldn't be sure how long that would last. If he heard of any problems, he would have Ginny discuss it with Draco and see what he could do; after all, he was Head of Slytherin House, having earned an honorary professorship after having given a substantial financial contribution to the school in the name of his children, both natural and adopted.

While waiting to hear more from the girls, Harry spent at least part of his leisure time inquiring as to the possibility of a family home specifically for Potters in Godric's Hollow, although there was no guarantee there would be one...at least not there, mainly because Godric's Hollow was a very small place, little more than a village. It was more than likely that any large house would have to be in one of the larger surround-ing towns, if not one of the neighboring provinces or even London itself. He wished Sirius was around to ask questions of, but Remus was all he had, so he had to owl him and ask what he knew, if anything, in regards to the possibility of the existence of a family home specifically for the Potter family...ask if James had ever mentioned anything to him or Sirius about it. If that was the case, he would appreciate it if he would tell him, Harry, at his earliest convenience, since he was looking into the possibility of purchasing it for his growing family.

* * * * *

The following week brought yet another missive from one of the girls, this time from Rose, who pleased her father immensely by informing him of a new ruling (and spell) which would lessen the possibility of serious head injuries to Quidditch players, an invisible shield around their head which would act like a helmet. Harry couldn't have been more pleased to hear of such a development; it was definitely long overdue. He certainly could have used something like that; would have saved him a lot of time in the Hospital Wing, that was for sure!

Rose had even mentioned times in practice where she had found it necessary to use the Sloth Roll, which involved turning upside down to keep from being struck by a Bludger aimed at her by one of the nastier Slytherin team members. She had been pleased to see that it was one of her half-brothers who had taken the culprit to task and warned him that he would answer to him if he ever did anything like that to his sister again...or even tried to do so!

Of course, that didn't stop him, so she reported after the next practice that the three Gryffindor Chasers, one of which was Rose herself, formed a Hawkshead Attacking Formation, which involved the three players, one in the center and slightly ahead of the other two. They had zeroed in on the persistent opponent and eventually ran him off the pitch. Naturally other nasty Slytherins tried to stop them from doing it, but David and Daryl had not been among them and warned them not to try if they knew what was good for them. The Gryffindors had also reported the incident to Madam Hooch, who had taken 50 House points from the student in question, which put him in negative figures, since he had only earned about 40 up to that point.

Harry couldn't help but think that the goodness had to be at least partially due to the boys' Weasley blood, although since Draco had mellowed out, the rest would have to have come from his side. He had first shown that goodness was possible for him since he had been unable to kill Dumbledore as originally instructed in sixth year. It wouldn't have surprised Harry one bit if Draco had been severely punished for it and therefore not allowed to become a Death Eater. Voldemort had probably even considered himself generous in allowing him to live! In the end, of course, there would have been no point in being one since Voldemort had been vanquished years ago.

Of course, he, Ginny and other Aurors (when they weren't teaching, she and Harry did part-time Auror work for the Ministry) knew they would have to keep vigilant in order to make sure that another Voldemort never arose. The only reason she wasn't working as one right now was because of her pregnancy, although Harry kept her informed of what they were doing, all the latest developments. He had even heard from Rose that David and Daryl were becoming most proficient at casting disarming spells, hexes and jinxes like the Jelly-Legs, if not combining them as he and his friends once had in order to vanquish Draco, Crabbe and Goyle once on the Hogwarts Express.

He chuckled nastily under his breath upon recalling that they had looked like giant slugs stuffed into Hogwarts uniforms, and from the sound of it, felt sure that both the boys and girls were well on the way to being able to defend themselves in battle should it ever become necessary again. For the time being, though, all Harry wanted for his children was to have a normal childhood--or at least as normal a childhood as was possible under the circumstances.

Even his and Gin's three-year-old son, young Jon, was already showing signs of magical ability, since he had already somehow been able to turn his hair blue, not to mention inadvertently vanish the large front window of the house, which had necessitated Harry replacing the latter, whereas Ginny had had to restore the boy's original hair colour, which had been the classic Weasley red, accompanied by the traditional freckles. The only physical thing he'd gotten from Harry was the green eyes.

Harry could still recall when he had vanished the glass in the snake cage at the zoo once, so he wasn't surprised upon hearing that his boy had managed to do it as well. He could only hope that the boy wouldn't turn out to be as big a prankster as his uncles Fred and George, much less like his grandfather James. Getting it from one side was bad enough; both sides would likely be a disaster. Harry could only hope that his and Ginny's good traits were dominant and kept the bad side in check; otherwise once Jon started school, he would likely be in constant trouble with either his professors or the headmistress. Even McGonagall could only overlook so much. The main reason he hadn't been in trouble a lot more often than he was while in attendance at Hogwarts was because of his friendship with Dumbledore and McGonagall's love and respect for the gentle and wise, yet at the same time extremely intelligent and canny, old wizard.

Harry had even considered telling the children about the Marauders' Map, how their grandfather James had been one of the makers, but Ginny had managed to talk him out of it--at least at this moment in time--since they were likely to get in enough scrapes without it. He finally promised that he wouldn't tell them until they became teenagers...and if they managed to keep their grades up to an "Acceptable" level at minimum, but preferably "Exceeds Expectations." Of course, considering the fact that Lily and Helen were his and Hermione's girls, it wouldn't surprise Harry if at least one of them turned out to be even more of a bookworm than she and ended up with twelve O.W.L.s in her fifth year.

That would even beat out her mother, who had had ten "Outstandings" and one "Exceeds Expectations", for a total of eleven O.W.L.s. He had been pleased enough to get as many as he had in his own fifth year--seven, as he recalled. And even then, quite a bit of it had been due to help from 'Mione. Of course, he had even beat her in at least one class, in DADA...but that was to be expected, considering all the experience he had had learning defensive spells and battling the forces of Darkness virtually every year of his magical schooling.

Of course, there was one thing he was definitely considering once the girls got old enough and if they managed to keep their grades up--getting them each their own Invisibility Cloak. He would definitely have to admonish them to use it only when absolutely necessary and even then not for frivolous things. He debated as to whether or not to tell them what he had used his own for, then decided against it; surely they would come up with their own ideas as to how to use it without his help. Well, he'd better get his

mind back on his work. He didn't want Gin to lecture him for daydreaming again, since they were both Legilimens and Occlumens, necessary talents for Aurors. Which reminded him...what was she doing right now?

He concentrated hard and eventually heard in his mind the sound of water running and hitting tiles; she must be showering. In that case, it was time for him to join her; they hadn't gone at it in the shower for some time...and Jon was asleep anyway, so neither he nor they wouldn't be disturbed, especially if they put a Silencing Charm on his door and both a Locking and Silencing Charm on the bathroom door. He Apparated to the upstairs hall, so it was just a matter of a few steps until he reached the bathroom door and entered it to find her already in the shower, delightfully wet and deliciously naked, which prompted an almost immediate arousal on his part. He thought a nonverbal vanishing spell to quickly rid himself of his clothing and joined her.

Ginny was used to his doing such things by now and was only momentarily surprised; a moment later he whispered to her to wrap her arms and legs around him and yet another tenderly passionate interlude transpired. Of course, they wouldn't be able to do it face-to-face much longer once she got big enough with her latest pregnancy, but Harry intended to enjoy every pleasure his wife's body could possibly afford him for as long as possible, and this one was his all-time favourite.

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