Making Mistakes

Kathleen sighed and shifted to a more comfortable position. She was in the garden behind Ron and Hermione's flat. She reapplied the Warming charm to her socks and pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders. She saw the shrubbery by the building rustle, but it was a windy day. Kathleen never saw the woman who appeared out of nowhere on the stairwell.

******

Andre was in the hallway outside the door of the flat under a Disillusionment charm. He jumped up when he saw the letter zoom up the stairs and land neatly on the doormat. He crept to the stairs and silently went down them. He didn't see anybody. He went back to the doormat and picked up the letter. Andre put it in his pocket, so when they all met at the end of their shift to make the report for Harry, he could add it to the rest of the paperwork.

******

She waited in the shadows until she saw the faint distortion that was a witch or wizard under a Disillusionment charm vanish back up the stairs. She knew eventually, the Aurors would start watching the flat. But they had been careful. Nobody knew her secret. Well, nobody important, she sneered to herself. She slipped out the back door, avoiding the notice of the witch in the back garden. When she had put enough distance between herself and the building, she Disapparated.

******

Harry looked over the notes the trainees had sent him earlier that afternoon. They had intercepted another note from Ron and Hermione's flat. It was more of the same threats, but so far, it was just that. Threats. Whoever this was hadn't done anything else. Just sent these bloody notes. Harry was nearly tempted to take Hermione's attitude and just ignore it, but whoever this was had gone to an awful lot of trouble to stay anonymous. And while it was one thing to attack Percy or Hermione - involved as they were in trying to upend centuries of convention - it was quite another to threaten Penny, Parker, or Hermione's unborn child. That was sick and twisted in a way Harry hadn't seen since the fall of Riddle. That alone kept Harry from chalking the whole thing to some nutter who didn't like change. There certainly were several people who had written letters to the opinion page of the Prophet about the plans Hermione had for standardizing treatment for house-elves. But none of them had been threatening - just the usual complaints about how the Ministry was going downhill for allowing this to happen. Harry had gone to the Prophet himself to speak with the editor. They hadn't received any letters like the ones in this file. Peter Manderly, the editor, had assured Harry if they had received anything of that ilk, the Ministry would have been notified immediately.

Harry pulled the most recent note out of from under the pile of parchment from the trainees. Like the others, the words were made up of letters cut from magazines, stuck to the parchment. Harry tried to pry one off, but like the others, it was attached with a Permanent Sticking charm. He stared at the note, hoping something would stand out and the answer would just show up. 'Like magic,' he snorted ironically. Harry was starting to get a feeling they might have to wait until this person - or people - cocked something up. Most of these types eventually did. Hubris, mostly.

It was quiet in the house. Ginny had put James to bed an hour ago and stayed upstairs to take a bath. The past week had taken a toll on both of them, but especially Ginny. It didn't help that both of them were in stroppy moods. Between people threatening to kill family members, and Ginny's first trimester, the past week hadn't exactly been a smooth ride for either of them. She was sick all the time with this one. With James, once her day got going, she was fine for the most part, but this one was making her nauseated all day. Plus, his rather ungracious initial reaction to her hair cut and the way he was being so tight-lipped about this case around Ginny wasn't helping. He had never been this quiet about a case in the last eight years he'd been an Auror around Ginny. He wanted to tell her. His stomach twisted in knots when he thought about how he had shut her out. He'd all but slammed a door in her face last Sunday evening. Even Ron, who would normally back him up in this, felt Harry's decision to keep Ginny out of the loop was wrong.

******

Harry trudged to the shop for lunch. The shop was empty and silent. Neither George, nor Ron was in the back room. He went up to the flat and found Ron alone in the tiny kitchen, dishing up two bowls of stew. 'Hey. Where's George?'

Ron handed Harry a bowl and spoon, and then took a seat at the table with his own lunch. 'At home with Katie and the boys. Both of the twins are sick.' Harry grunted in sympathy. James had a terrible cold right after Christmas. He and Ginny had been up for nearly three days, taking turns with him. James got more than a bit cranky when he wasn't feeling well.

Ron stirred his stew a few times. 'Harry, can I be frank with you?'

'You always have been before.' Harry dipped his spoon into his bowl.

'It's about Ginny.'

Harry stiffened. 'What about Ginny?'

'Is she feeling all right? She didn't look very good Sunday.'

'She's fine,' Harry said noncommittally.

'Are you going to tell her? About the notes? Hermione and I reckon you should.'

Harry shifted uncomfortably on his chair. 'I was going to.'

'When?'

'Later.'

'How much later?'

'Later, all right? Jeez, Ron, lay off me, will you?'

Ron picked at his lunch. 'Harry, I don't want to interfere, but... Ginny, she sees the three of us with our heads together and she's going to feel left out.' Ron tore a slice of bread to pieces. 'You haven't done that to her since we were... Making plans before Bill and Fleur's wedding.' Even after all these years, Ron still couldn't say it.

'I know.' Harry shoved his bowl away irritably. 'I just can't. Not yet.'

'Is it worth it? What it's doing to you and Gin?'

'I can't make her a target!' Harry shouted. He pushed his chair away from the table and paced around the sitting room angrily.

'She already is one, mate.' Ron's quiet words fell like raindrops into the silence. 'Even you've said it. Everyone in this family is a target for these nutters. And just because she's your wife. Even if the people getting these barmy notes weren't relatives, she'd still be a target.' Ron paused. 'She can take care of herself, you know.'

Harry's eyes closed. 'I know. But it's not just her. If something were to happen to her...'

Ron got up and stood next to Harry. He put an arm around Harry's shoulders. 'I know.'

******

Harry put the pile of parchment back into its file and threw it in his desk drawer, locking it when it closed. He needed to talk to Ginny. The quasi-silent treatment was giving him headaches. He walked up the stairs, each step echoing loudly in his ears, even though they were muffled by the carpet runner.

Harry stopped to check on James. He was sprawled across the cot, sleeping soundly, clutching his battered stuffed black dog. Harry bent over the cot and kissed his sleeping son's flushed cheek. He left the room and partially closed the door. Harry pushed open the door to his and Ginny's bedroom. She was lying in bed, reading one of his Muggle novels. 'What'cha reading?' he asked, keeping the tone of their conversation light and superficial, like it had been all week.

Ginny turned the front cover over. 'Oh, uh... Sense and Sensibility.'

'I liked that one.' Harry had read it when she was pregnant with James.

'It's all right so far. Just started it. I'd like to slap that sister-in-law of theirs, though.'

Harry fidgeted with the hem of his shirt, searching for something to say. 'Long game last night.'

'Yeah, it was.' Ginny's eyes dropped back to her book. 'Got to be a bit boring, really.' The Harpies killed the Cannons.' She chuckled. 'Poor Ron. They ought to make a mercy rule for those poor sods.' She grew silent as the book claimed her attention again.

Harry sighed and crossed the bedroom. He sat on the edge of the armchair, and unlaced his boots. He wrinkled his nose in frustration. It had been years since he'd been this tongue-tied around Ginny. 'Gin, can we talk?'

Ginny looked up, surprised. 'That doesn't sound good,' she observed.

Harry walked to the foot of the bed, and wrapped his hands around one of the bedposts and leaned against it. 'Do you trust me?'

'What kind of question is that?'

'Do you trust me?' he repeated, his voice soft, but the level of intensity was unmistakable.

Ginny slowly closed the book, and traced the letters of the title, before she answered. 'Yes,' she said, her voice just as quiet and intense as his.

Harry's shoulders slumped in relief. He nodded, not trusting himself to speak just now. He wasn't expecting the next words to come from Ginny's mouth. 'Do you trust me?' she asked, looking down at the book cover, her hair swinging forward to hide her face.

'Of course I do!' he exclaimed, stung.

'Then why won't you tell me what's going on?' she asked evenly. 'I know there's something. You haven't shut me out this badly since we were in school.'

Harry lowered himself to the foot of the bed. 'I can't tell you everything.'

'But you can tell Ron and Hermione?' she spat scathingly.

'Yes. Because it involves them.' Harry clenched his hands into fists. He hated conflict and he loathed fighting with Ginny. 'Ginny, please,' he beseeched her. 'Someone's threatening Hermione. Percy, too.' Ginny's mouth dropped open. 'And that's all I can tell you right now,' he added quickly, before she could say anything. 'When it's over, I promise, Ginny, I will tell you everything, like I always have.' He was going to say more, but he heard James snuffling. 'I'll go,' he said, when Ginny started to get up.

Harry went into James' room. James was sitting up in his cot, whimpering, but he hadn't gone into all-out crying yet. 'Hey, mate,' Harry crooned. He lifted James from the cot and cuddled him.

'Dahdee.' James sleepily rubbed his face in Harry's shirt.

'Bad dream, James? It's okay. Daddy knows all about bad dreams.' Harry patted James' back, talking softly. 'Thank Merlin; yours are just dreams, though. They can't hurt you.' Harry slowly rubbed James' back until he relaxed back into sleep. Harry continued to hold James for a few more minutes, then carefully laid him back into the cot. Harry tucked the stuffed dog next to James, then spread the blanket over him

He went back into his bedroom. Ginny was lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling. 'I don't completely understand why.' Ginny spoke to the ceiling. 'I don't like it. In fact, I hate it. But you're going to do what you think you have to do. And right now, I have to accept that.' Because I know I can't win this one.

'Ginny, if there was any other way to do this...'

'It's done, all right?' Ginny interrupted. 'Is James okay?'

'He's fine. Just a dream.' Harry sat next to Ginny. 'Are you happy? About the baby?' His hand rested over her stomach.

Ginny laid one of her hands on top of Harry's. 'Yeah, I am. Doesn't really seem like it though, does it?'

'Bad timing.' Harry shrugged.

Ginny snorted. 'Just a little.' She brought his hand to her mouth and turned it over, pressing a kiss to the palm. 'Really, I'm happy about it. It was just something of a surprise.'

Harry slid his fingers through Ginny's hair. 'I'm sorry about the way I reacted to your hair.' He twirled a lock of her thick, wavy hair around his finger. 'Why'd you do it?'

'I don't know,' Ginny confessed. 'It was kind of an impulse. Having another baby when James isn't two yet, and wanting something a little more practical.' She took a deep breath. 'And not wanting to be Gin-Gin anymore.'

'Gin-Gin?' Harry looked at Ginny quizzically. Gin-Gin was something her brothers called her. He had always thought it was an affectionate pet name.

'Yeah. My hair's always been long, and it was making me feel like I was eleven years old again. The baby of the family. The one nobody tells anything to,' she said pointedly, looking at him.

'I didn't mean to make you feel that way,' Harry told her. 'I know you can take care of yourself.'

'One day, you're going to have to do something about that saving people thing of yours.' Ginny ran a hand through her hair. 'I just wanted something different.'

Harry looked down at her. It was still something of a shock to see her hair fanned around her head on the pillow, and not bound into a loose plait. 'It looks good on you shorter. I like it.'

'Thanks.' Ginny gave him a wan smile.

'I'm sorry, Gin. About the whole week.'

Ginny shrugged. 'This isn't a fairy tale. Or one of my fluff Muggle novels, no matter how much the society page of Witch Weekly wants to believe.' Ginny curled up on her side. 'G'night, Harry.'

Harry watched her for a few minutes before he got up and went into the bathroom to shower. Ginny quietly sighed in relief. She just wanted to forget the whole week had ever happened. She put her hand over her stomach. 'Hi there, little one. I hope you're not getting the wrong idea. We both love you, your dad and me. Your brother James... Well, you won't be his favorite person for a while. But he'll get over it. Maybe by the time you finish school.'

******

The next day at lunch, Ginny walked into the Burrow, with James on her hip. The chatter dwindled to a stop as everyone got their first look at her hair. 'What'd you do, Gin? Get in the way of a Severing charm?' Charlie teased.

'Back off, Charlie,' she muttered, kneeling on the floor to take off James' coat.

'I think it looks great, Ginny,' called Katie. She elbowed George sharply in the ribs. 'Doesn't it, George?' she added, giving him a narrow-eyed look.

'Yeah, it's spiffing, Gin-Gin.' George nodded vigorously.

'Don't call me Gin-Gin,' Ginny said mutinously.

George blinked. 'Uh, okay.' He looked at Katie. 'Who pissed on her Cheerios?' he grumbled.

Harry sat next to George on the sofa. 'Don't ask,' he advised.

'What did you do?' Bill called from across the room.

'Who says I did something?'

'Harry didn't do anything,' sighed Ginny. 'Merlin's pants, Bill, I'm twenty-four. Can you blame me if I don't want to be called Gin-Gin?'

'I guess not.' Bill took a quick swig of his butterbeer before he could say anything else.

'And while we're on that topic, if I want to cut most of my hair off, I'll cut my bloody hair, all right?' She sent a withering glare at her brothers and went into the kitchen, muttering under her breath.

'Somezing wrong, Ginny?' Fleur asked.

'Oh, the usual. My idiotic brothers are all gits.'

'Ah.' Fleur held up a hand. 'Say no more.'

Molly maneuvered things so she was standing next to Ginny. 'How are you feeling, dear?'

'I'm fine. Just tired.'

'Still planning on keeping things quiet until after...?' Molly tilted her head toward Ron, who was stirring a sauce on the stove.

'Yeah.'

Molly looked at Ginny. 'Are you sure?'

'I'm sure, Mum.'

******

Ginny set James in a booster seat between her and Harry. James was being unusually fractious today. He was normally a good-natured child, if a bit rambunctious. Charlie caught James' attention, and started to play, "Who's That?" - a game they had made up when Teddy was a baby to help him learn everybody's name. It wasn't a bad idea, especially since the family kept growing as it did.

Charlie started with Teddy, Victoire, Isabella, Parker, and Maddie. 'Okay, James, who's that?' Charlie asked, pointing to Bronwyn.

'Ahn' B'rwyn,' James dutifully replied.

'And that?' Charlie pointed to Harry.

'Dahdee!' James crowed in delight.

'And that?' Charlie indicated Arthur.

'Gandahd.'

'Who's that?' Charlie's finger moved in Molly's direction.

'Ganmum.'

Charlie pointed to Ginny. 'Who's that?'

'Mummy!' James leaned to the side and patted Ginny on the stomach. 'Baybee,' he added.

Charlie laughed. 'No, James. There's the baby,' he corrected, pointing to Hermione.

James frowned. His head twisted to look up at Charlie. He patted Ginny again. 'Baybee,' he repeated. James leaned closer to Ginny's middle. 'Hi, baybee,' he sang.

Charlie looked from James to Ginny, and back to James. He got up from his chair and came to crouch next to Ginny. 'Who's this?' he asked James, his hand hovering a hair's breadth over Ginny's stomach.

'Baybee,' pronounced James. 'D'ere baybee in Mummy.'

Bill paused in the act of dishing roast potatoes on his plate. 'Is that true, Ginny?'

Ginny looked down at her son, who was beaming, chanting, 'Baybee, baybee,' softly, while everyone else gazed at her.

Ginny nodded. She looked down the table at Hermione, and mouthed, 'I'm sorry...' her eyes filling with tears. 'I wanted to wait until you...'

Hermione smiled at her in return. 'It's wonderful news, Gin.' She shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position. 'When?'

Harry cleared his throat. 'Early August.' He reached for Ginny's hand.

'Hey, he'll be in the same year as ours!' Ron exclaimed.

'Or she,' Hermione reminded Ron.

'Yeah, whatever,' he said, waving off the possibility that either theirs, or Harry and Ginny's child, would be a girl.

The talk around the table swirled around Harry and Ginny. Harry looked at Ginny, and grinned apologetically. 'I guess that's done.'

Ginny have a half-laugh. 'It's what I get for telling James.'

He gently squeezed her hand. 'Are we okay?'

'Yeah, we're okay.'