Firewhisky Advice

Harry woke up early one Sunday in May. Ginny had thrown off everything but the sheet at some time in the night. She didn't even sleep in proper nightclothes anymore, just one of Harry's t-shirts. Everything else was too hot, she had told him. Harry tried to slip out of bed without waking Ginny. He pushed his glasses on his face, and the room swam into focus. Ginny was sprawled on her back, the t-shirt rucked up under her breasts. Harry leaned against the wall, and reveled in being able to look at Ginny's body. She hadn't gone totally shy on him yet, but she was getting a little self-conscious about it.

Shaking himself, he went to the kitchen, where an owl waited with the Sunday Prophet. Harry paid the owl, and took the paper and a mug of tea to the balcony. The sun was just rising and the air was still cool in London. Harry stretched his feet out in front of him. It was the twenty-third, and Ginny had fifteen more weeks to go. Katie was due any day now. Poor George was a wreck. Every sound, every move that Katie made, George was convinced Katie was about to give birth.

Harry had been at the joke shop last week, and Katie had been sitting behind the counter, frowning at a piece of parchment in front of her.

'Hi, Katie!' he said brightly.

'Hi,' she said distractedly.

'I thought you were supposed to be resting?' Katie had been told to stay off her feet, and had taken a leave of absence from Witch Weekly.

Katie looked up at him irritably. 'I am resting,' she growled. 'See? Sitting on a stool and everything.'

'Oh, yeah. Right.' Harry nervously rubbed a hand over his hair, and looked around the shop. 'George and Ron around?'

'They're in the back.' Katie jabbed a thumb at the magenta curtain.

'Thanks.' Harry started for the curtain, and stopped as he passed the counter. 'What are you doing?' he asked curiously.

'Trying to pick a name for one of the Twin Terrors in there,' she said pointing to her stomach. 'Will you please not use Mummy's bladder as a trampoline?' she said desperately. 'Oh, bloody, effing hell,' she grumbled. 'I'd really like to go longer than ten minutes without becoming acquainted with the loo again, you know,' she muttered to her stomach. As she slid off the stool, Katie shoved the parchment toward Harry. 'Could you take a look at these? We just need one.'

'I take it one will be Fred, no matter if they're boys or girls?' Katie nodded and disappeared up the stairs to the flat over the shop. The door upstairs slammed and George poked a cautious head through the curtain.

'She go upstairs?' At Harry's nod, George eased out from behind the curtain, nervously looking up toward the ceiling.

'George?'

'Huh?' George's head snapped toward Harry.

'Is everything okay?'

'Oh, yeah.' George seemed distracted. Katie emerged from the stairs, and slowly waddled back to the stool. George stared at her intently.

'Will you stop?' she sighed. 'I'm not in labor!'

'Are you sure?'

'George, I promise, when I go into labor, you will be the first person I tell, all right?' Katie hauled herself back on the stool. She pulled the list back toward her. 'George?'

'Huh?'

'You're doing it again.' Katie propped her head on one of her hands, and glared at him. 'Why don't you and Harry go get something to eat?' When George still stared at her, Katie added, 'Somewhere that's not here?'

'I can't leave you alone!' George protested.

'I'm not alone,' Katie sighed, bringing her head to rest on the counter. 'Ron's here.' She rolled her head to the side and looked at Harry pleadingly. 'Please, Harry? Just get him out of my hair for an hour?' Gulping, Harry nodded. 'And take the list with you. I can't look at the effing thing anymore.'

Harry took George by the elbow and propelled him to the door. 'She used to be such a nice pleasant kind of person,' Harry mused. He raised an eyebrow and looked at George sideways. 'I blame you, you know.'

'So do I, mate.'

'Hey.' Ginny's sleepy voice brought him back to the present. Harry looked up from the folded paper in his lap. He pulled his wand from the pocket of his pajama bottoms, and waved it gracefully, conjuring a chair for Ginny. He had mastered Dumbledore's knack of conjuring comfortable chairs. 'Thanks,' she said, sinking into it.

'Nice outfit,' Harry commented. 'I think the lack of knickers just ties it together, you know?'

'I could have sworn I went to bed wearing some,' Ginny said thoughtfully. 'They were pink. I'd bet my life on it.' She pulled the hem of the t-shirt down toward her knees.

'I have no idea what happened to them,' Harry muttered into his tea, turning slightly pink around the edges.

'Are you sure? They had little Snitches and hearts printed on them,' Ginny prompted.

'Oh, those knickers,' Harry said in mock-comprehension. 'Right, I think they're under my pillow or something.'

Ginny closed her eyes. 'I don't even want to know...'

Harry snickered. 'Says the woman who attacked me when I got into bed last night.'

'It's the hormones. Can't control it.'

'What happens when you don't have the hormones to blame anymore?'

'Erm...' Ginny flushed a bright red. 'Take it while you can, mister. After the beginning of September, you'll probably be in for something of a drought.'

Harry made a face, then shrugged. 'If you say so.' He scrambled to his feet, and ducked back inside for more tea. 'You hungry?' he called through the large window.

'Do you need to ask?' she answered.

'Eggs? Cereal?'

'Cereal's fine. And some toast. And strawberries. And tea.'

'One cup,' he said threateningly.

'Fine,' she grumbled. She'd sneak some at the Burrow anyway.

Harry conjured a small table next to Ginny, and levitated two empty bowls, a carton of milk, a plate of toast, and a large bowl of strawberries. Ginny craved them, and he would be lucky to get a few of them. Watching her eat them was nearly unbearable. He could swear she did it deliberately, goading him, just like she had when she came to the Ministry a couple of weeks ago. Not that he needed much of a push in that direction anyway...

Harry shook his head and poured a large mug of tea for Ginny. The Healer said one or two a day would be okay, but Harry wanted to play it safe. He knew she would change the chamomile or mint tea that he insisted on at the Burrow into regular tea anyway. 'Here, Gin.' He held out the mug through the window, and passed a box of cereal out to her. Refilling his own mug, Harry climbed back out to the balcony and settled on the floor, setting his mug next to him. 'So George was looking antsy last week.'

'Can you blame him? Katie looks like she's about to pop.'

'She's looked like that for a month,' Harry retorted.

'You're not going to be like that with me, are you?' Ginny pegged him with a beady-eyed look.

'Only after I hide your wand.' Harry grinned cheekily up at Ginny. 'I prefer to keep things where they are,' he said, resting a protective hand on the front of his pajama bottoms.

'Git,' she muttered, biting into a strawberry. She ignored Harry's sharp intake of breath, and licked the juice from her fingers. Just for that, she was going to eat the whole bowl of strawberries. Ginny picked up the bowl, put her feet on the table, and settled the bowl on the bulge that was getting to be more and more pronounced.

Harry reached up for a strawberry, but Ginny slapped his hand away. 'If you want a strawberry, you have to earn it,' she informed him loftily.

'Define "earn it",' he challenged her.

Ginny doled five berries into her empty cereal bowl. 'You can have those,' she said. 'If...'

'If?' he prompted.

'I haven't figured that out yet.'

Harry's hand snaked up her thigh and vanished under the hem of the t-shirt. 'What if I'm a very good boy?'

'That's for me to decide, isn't it?'

'How 'bout I show you what a very good boy I can be?' Harry rose to his knees, nuzzling Ginny's neck, before his hand pushed up the hem of the t-shirt. 'I'd lose that bowl right now, if I were you.' Then his hair brushed against the skin of her thighs. Ginny hissed, her hands lacing into Harry's hair, scooting closer to the edge of the seat of the chair.

*****

Harry grinned smugly at Ginny, before he took a bite of his strawberry. She cracked open an eye, and squinted at him. 'That's all nice and good for me, but what about you?'

His grin got wider. 'We don't have to be at your mum and dad's until one.' Harry checked his watch. 'It's barely eight now. We've got time.'

Ginny raised an eyebrow in response. She slid bonelessly off the chair, and landed in Harry's lap, straddling him. She picked up a strawberry, and held it to his lips. 'Your reward...' she murmured. Harry's eyes stared into hers, as he nibbled the strawberry, then pulled her fingers into his mouth, sucking the juice off them. 'You're in so much trouble,' she gasped, reaching into his boxers.

Harry groaned as he slid into Ginny. 'My favorite kind,' he rasped.

*****

Ginny pulled the dress over her head, and adjusted the top. 'And you wonder why Lynch hit on you,' Harry mocked gently from the doorway, a towel wrapped around his waist. 'You're quite the sexy mummy.'

'Why does that not sound pervy coming from you, but oh-so-pervy coming from him?'

Harry pulled on a clean pair of boxers, and rummaged in the wardrobe for a clean t-shirt. 'Maybe because I'm not using it as a cheesy pick-up line?' Harry's head disappeared into the depths of the t-shirt, before his head popped through the neck. 'Besides, how could you not be sexy?'

'If I wasn't sleeping with you, I'd swear you were trying to get into my knickers,' Ginny commented dryly, putting on a pair of sandals.

'I'd have much better pick-up lines than Lynch, I promise,' Harry laughed. He pulled on a pair of jeans, and quickly tied the laces of his trainers. 'Ready to go?'

'Yeah.' Ginny pushed herself out of the armchair. 'Let's go.'

*****

They Flooed to the Burrow, only to be met with the sounds of... Nothing. It was totally quiet in the house. 'This can't be good,' commented Ginny.

'I don't smell lunch,' added Harry. 'So not good.'

'Check the back?' Ginny asked. She was getting slightly worried. 'D'you think Katie had the twins and nobody told us?'

Harry let out a bark of laughter. 'Not bloody likely in this family.' He took Ginny's hand and they passed through an eerily silent kitchen and went into the back garden. The whole family was out there, gathered around something.

'Ginny! Harry!' Molly hurried over to them. She grasped Harry's arm tightly. 'You have to try and talk some sense into Arthur!' she hissed in Harry's ear. 'He says he's going to cook on that thing!'

Mystified, Harry turned to ask Ginny what was going on, but she had a puzzled look on her face too. 'What on earth has Dad picked up this time?' she asked in an undertone to Molly.

'Merlin knows,' Molly sighed.

Arriving at the knot of Weasleys, Harry looked over Ron's shoulder. 'It's a barbecue grill!' he exclaimed.

'Oh, so you know what it is!' beamed Arthur.

'Yeah.' Harry gulped. He could feel Molly's laser-like glare on the back of his head. He sent a desperate look to Hermione for help.

'It's like cooking over the campfire at the World Cup,' Hermione helpfully added.

'Oh, marvelous!' Arthur clapped his hands together and briskly rubbed them together. He lowered his voice conspiratorially, 'Do you think we could use magic to get it started?'

'Don't you need charcoal, Dad?' asked Charlie.

Arthur bent and heaved up a bag. 'I've got some,' he said brightly. 'I went to the village yesterday and bought a bag,' he said, pleased with this foresight.

'Fine,' sighed Molly. She turned to go back inside. 'I'll make some sandwiches, just in case...' she muttered.

Arthur shooed the women away from his precious grill. With Hermione's help he got the charcoal lit, and read the instructions on the bag. 'It says we need to wait until they're grey.' He peered at the layer of charcoal in the bottom of the grill, expecting it to be grey instantly.

'It'll take a while, Arthur,' Hermione told him. 'About twenty minutes.'

'Oh, all right then.' Arthur Summoned a chair from the tables set up outside and sat close to the grill, waiting impatiently.

Ginny patted Harry on the arm. 'Why don't you stay here and do the chest-pounding thing with Dad?' she suggested. 'I'm going to go sit down.' Harry absently nodded and plopped down in the grass. He was just as fascinated with the grill as Arthur was. Aunt Petunia had never let Uncle Vernon have one. She felt they were too dirty.

Ron folded his lanky frame next to Harry. 'So...'

'So?'

Ron gestured back at Ginny. 'She's doing all right?'

Harry twisted his head to look at Ginny, who had just sat next to Katie in the shade. 'Better than Katie, it seems.' Katie looked preoccupied something. Not to mention a little pale. Harry stretched out on his back, and closed his eyes.

'You all right, mate?'

'Yeah, it's just... Ginny... I don't know if it's the hormones or if she's always been like this, but she's bloody insatiable.'

Ron made gagging noises. 'Ugh. I'd really prefer to not hear about you and my baby sister.'

Harry opened his eyes. 'Fine, then. When Hermione gets like this, don't say I didn't warn you.'

Ron ripped up a few pieces of grass and began to shred them. 'How long did you and Ginny try before she...?'

'We weren't,' Harry admitted. 'It just happened.'

'You're joking!'

'Nope,' Harry admitted sheepishly. 'The one time in over four years we didn't use a condom.' Harry nudged Ron's foot. 'Don't worry about it. It'll happen.' Ron sighed moodily. 'And don't rush things. I got plenty of on-the-job training with Teddy. Believe me, getting up three times in the middle of the night, changing poopy diapers, and trying to figure out how on earth they get porridge on the ceiling is not something you want to rush into.'

'Yeah,' agreed Bill, who had caught the tail end of the conversation. 'Then she'll want to have another, and when she does, she'll have a string of days where she doesn't get out of her pajamas, the older one won't let go of her long enough so she can go to the loo, and the baby won't stop crying. And you, in all your glory, saunter into the house, expecting to be greeted with dinner, get handed a squalling baby, have a three-year old attached to your trouser leg, and be told in no uncertain terms that she is going to go upstairs, and have a long hot bath without interruptions for at least an hour. And not to bother asking for help, because she is putting a Silencing charm on the door.'

'Did that really happen?' Ron looked a bit queasy.

'Just once,' Bill assured him. 'When Maddie was about two months old and Victoire got into a clingy stage.' Bill patted Ron on the head. 'Usually it's not that bad.'

'Is George okay?' Harry asked suddenly. 'He seems tense.' Bill and Ron swiveled their heads, to see George hovering uncertainly over Katie.

'Katie? Do you need anything? Glass of lemonade? Water?' George was getting scared. Katie hadn't eaten breakfast, and she kept rubbing her stomach.

'Water would be great. Thanks.' Katie leaned back in her chair and shifted uncomfortably. It seemed like no position she sat in was comfortable. She hadn't slept much last night, either. George set a glass of cold water on the table in front of her. Katie reached up and touched the side of his face in thanks, and took a few sips. Not that she wanted the water, really, but it would make George feel better. She shifted again, trying to find a position that didn't make her back hurt.

'Katie, are you sure you're okay?' George asked.

'I'm fi - ' Katie's face scrunched as her hand found George's and grasped it. Hard. George flinched. It felt like Katie was trying to grind the bones together. After a few seconds - although they felt like hours to George - Katie relaxed.

'What the bloody hell was that?' George demanded.

'I think we need to go,' Katie panted.

'Go? Go where?' George asked stupidly.

'St. Mungo's, your great prat!'

'Why?'

'Do you want me to give birth on the kitchen table?' Katie asked menacingly.

'Uh, no, of course not,' George stuttered. Trying to calm his whirling thoughts, George helped Katie out of the chair and tried to herd her to the sitting room. Unfortunately, his busybody family got in the way, offering advice and generally impeding their progress to the fireplace. 'All right. Enough!' George shouted. 'Get the hell out of my way. We,' he pointed to Katie, then himself, 'are going to St. Mungo's right effing now.' He glared at the rest of the brood. 'You can follow us, but for Merlin's sake, get out of the way!'

The entire family was stunned into silence and George and Katie disappeared in a burst of green flames.

Charlie cleared his throat. 'Before we go, someone needs to go throw an Aguamenti on that grill, eh?'

*****

George paced outside the room. The Healer had made him leave while they examined Katie. He hated this. He hated waiting. Patience was not really a Weasley virtue. And if anything happened to Katie, he wasn't sure he'd be able to come out of that. Losing Fred nearly killed him. Losing Katie would finish the job, George thought. They hadn't even decided on a name for the other twin. George pulled the list from his back pocket. Katie had circled a few of them. Trevor... No, that was what Neville had named his toad in school. Tristan... Too... Just no. George ran his finger down the list. Jacob? Maybe. George tried the phrase out in his head. Jacob Weasley what do you think you're doing with your baby sister? he thought. That worked.

'Mr. Weasley?' The Healer's voice broke through George's thoughts. 'You can come back in, now.'

'Thanks.' George pushed himself off the wall and went to stand by Katie's bed. 'How do you feel about Jacob?' he asked

'I like Jacob.' She tensed for a few moments gripping the edge of the sheet tightly, then relaxed as the contraction passed. 'No girls' names?'

'Nope. I have a feeling.' George gave her a mischievous grin.

*****

'How come you can't hear anything?' Harry asked idly.

'They put Silencing charms on the doors,' said Bronwyn. 'Makes it easier for everyone.'

'Oh.' Harry fidgeted in his chair restlessly. 'How long will it take?'

Bronwyn shrugged. 'Depends. Could be a few hours, could be a lot of hours.'

Harry eyed Ginny, who was sitting across the room. 'What happens if it's a lot of hours?'

'We try not to intervene unless we have to,' Bronwyn said gently. 'And giving them something for the pain is up to the mother.'

'What about something for the father?' Harry asked, a crooked grin on his face.

Bronwyn chuckled. 'Sometimes a Calming draught. But most seem to be all right.'

*****

Several hours later, George held out his arms. The Healer placed a squirming bundle in them. 'Hi, Fred,' he whispered, kissing his new son on the downy curve of his head. He looked at Katie, who was propped up on pillows, cuddling Jacob. 'Good job, Mum,' he said, sitting on the edge of the bed.

'Thanks.' Katie smiled up at him wearily.

'Want to let everyone in?' George asked, his face set in seemingly permanent lines of contentment.

'Yeah,' Katie whispered. She nuzzled Jacob. George nodded to the Healer who returned in a few moments with the rest of the family.

Harry stood behind Ginny, his hands resting on the curve of their unborn child, watching wide-eyed as the babies were passed around and cooed over. Fred landed in Ginny's arms. Harry ran a trembling forefinger over the baby's petal-soft skin. He'd been around when the others were born, but this was a lot different. He hadn't been three-and-a-half months away from becoming a father, then.

Harry released Ginny, and took a step back, just watching Ginny croon to the baby, who blinked at her in a bemused sort of way. Was it him, or was the room spinning, and why wouldn't it stop?

Harry swayed, then dropped like a rock, landing gracefully at Ginny's feet.