Making Mistakes

'When are you leaving?'

'When it gets dark, I suppose.'

'Why?'

'I'd rather not have anyone see me land on my arse in the back garden.'

'Don't you have wards and charms around it?'

'Yes, but I'd rather not take any chances.'

'Isn't Kingsley expecting you earlier?'

'It's fine. I saved the damn world, so the least they can do is let me spend a few more hours with you and Albus.'

'How much longer...?'

'I wish I knew.'

'I'll show James your photograph every Sunday. So he doesn't forget you.'

'Oh, ha-ha.'

'Did you get everything packed?'

'I think so. If I forgot anything, I suppose that's just too bad, then.'

'I suppose. Shanti left something for us.'

'It's Albus...'

'His first photograph. You take it.'

'When did she do this?'

'A few days ago. She gave it to me while you were eating breakfast yesterday.'

'Thank you.'

'I want to go home.'

'Me, too. Here, I brought this for you. I forgot about it earlier.'

'Think I'm going to need my wand here?'

'Couldn't hurt. Oh, and here... Brought these, too.'

'I need my wedding rings? Here?'

'Couldn't hurt.'

'Thanks. I had to stop wearing them three weeks ago. Fingers were too swollen to put them on. Made me feel naked. What's that? CXVI?'

'We've been married for almost six years and you've never looked inside your wedding ring?'

'Have you?'

'Uh...'

'That's what I thought. What does that mean? CXVI?'

'Sonnet One-Hundred Sixteen. You know... "Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments..." Ever heard of it?'

'No. Go on.'

'Do I have to?'

'Yes. Consider it an early anniversary gift.'

'Fine... "Let me not to the marriage of true minds/Admit impediments; love is not love/Which alters when it alteration finds/Or bends with the remover to remove/O, no, it is an ever-fixèd mark/That looks on tempests and is never shaken;/It is the star to every wand'ring bark/Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken./Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks/Within his bending sickle's compass come;/Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks/But bears it out even to the edge of doom./If this be error and upon me proved/I never writ, nor no man ever loved." Happy?'

'Very.'

'I mean it, too.'

'I know you do.'

'I nicked a bottle of your shampoo before I left last time.'

'I thought I was missing the bottle I took to Mum and Dad's. I had to go back to the house and get another one.'

'If it makes you feel better, it makes me smell like a girl.'

'I pinched a few bars of your soap, when I went back to the house, so we're even.'

'I guess so.'

'Are you sure you don't want to go to lunch with the family?'

'I'm sure. I'd rather be here.'

'Feels a little silly, doesn't it?'

'What?'

'With the sheet pulled over our heads like this.'

'Maybe a bit. Feels like the hammock.'

'Under the Invisibility Cloak, maybe, when we didn't want Mum to find us.'

'That was a little pathetic. Both of us of age, and we were hiding from your mum.'

'Please. She would have made us tidy something.'

'True.'

A soft hum interrupted their conversation. Ginny sighed and pulled the sheet down. 'Back to reality,' she quipped.

'Ginny...'

'I'll be back in a bit.' Ginny slid out of the bed and padded out of the dimly lit room.

Harry rolled over onto his back, and stacked his hands under his head. Ginny had awakened when he got into bed. They had stared at each other for a few minutes, before Harry pulled the sheet over them. It shrouded them in semi-darkness. If Harry closed his eyes, he might be able to picture them in the hammock under a leafy elm tree.

Sighing, he turned his wrist and squinted at his watch. It was nearly one in the morning. Both of them would have to go to sleep at some point. His eyes closed and he dozed lightly, waiting for Ginny to come back to bed. It was still taking a good while to get Albus to eat any sort of significant amount in less than an hour. Shanti assured them repeatedly it was normal for a premature baby.

His eyes flew open when the door opened, and the blurred figure of Ginny approached the bed. 'All this magic and not a bloody thing they can do about my eyesight,' he sighed, holding the bedding back for Ginny.

She settled into the bed, pulling the sheet over them again, casting them into cool green shadows once more. 'Did you know Mum left Dad?' she asked without preamble.

'No.' Harry was startled. Molly and Arthur were his role-models for marriage.

'When Bill was five.' Ginny was silent for a moment, listening to the sounds of Harry's slow breathing. She swallowed. 'I won't ever leave you,' she promised.

'That's good to hear.'

'But just because I love you, it doesn't mean I like everything you do.'

'I'd think you were Imperiused otherwise,' Harry said dryly. 'There's plenty you do I'm not terribly fond of.' He twirled a lock of Ginny's hair around his index finger out of habit. 'But nothing I'd ever pack it in over.'

'That's good.'

'Go to sleep, Gin. It's going to be a long day tomorrow.'

*****

Arthur and Jane Granger gathered up all the children, save for Rose, and corralled them into the back garden after lunch with Teddy and Victoire's help, promising them a trip down to the village for ice cream. Arthur had had a taste for ice cream since his talk with Ginny the day before. Taking charge of the children afforded him a perfect opportunity.

Molly sat at the head of the table with a piece of parchment in front of her. With Harry leaving that evening, they would need to take his place helping Ginny with the overnight feedings for the time being. She looked around the table at her sons and the women she considered her daughters, sitting amidst the remains of lunch. She met Andromeda's dark, sober eyes. 'Right, then,' Molly said briskly. 'Shall we divvy up each night into two shifts, or just do the whole night?'

'Whole night's less disruptive overall, I would think,' Bronwyn offered.

'Does anyone have a problem with that?' Molly glanced around the table. A few heads shook in the negative. 'Good.'

'I'll take Friday,' Andromeda volunteered. 'If someone will watch Teddy Friday night and Saturday.'

'We can mind Teddy,' Hermione said.

Molly nodded and wrote Andromeda's name in the block under "Friday".

'I'll take tonight,' Charlie spoke into the pause. 'I don't have a shift until Tuesday at the reservation.'

'Monday,' Katie said. 'I'll do Monday.'

'I will sit wiz Ginny Tuesday,' Fleur said, with a glance at Bill. 'Do not worry,' she said in an undertone. 'I will be all right.' Bill merely shrugged and frowned with slight displeasure.

'I'll take Saturday, Mum,' George piped up, giving Bill and Fleur a questioning look. 'Can't promise I'll be the life of the party next Sunday, though,' he added wryly.

'Wednesday.' Percy looked up from his cup of tea.

'Guess that just leaves Thursday.' Bill looked at Ron. 'I'll flip you for it,' he said, digging into his pocket for a Knut.'

'Don't bother. I'm used to getting up with Rosie. I'll do it.' Ron caught George's attention. 'We'll have to get David or Sasha to come down from Hogsmeade on Friday to cover for me.'

Molly scribbled Ron's name in the last block. 'That'll get us through next week, at least.'

Charlie got to his feet, and stretched. 'I think I'll go upstairs and have a kip, if I'm to be up tonight. I'll just go to St. Mungo's from here,' he told Bronwyn.

'No use in going back to Holyhead,' she agreed. 'I'll take Isabella to Dad's in the morning, so you can get some sleep.'

Penny pulled the chart closer to study it. 'What about meals? You've been doing those by yourself, Molly. We can help out with that, too.'

'Good idea,' Fleur murmured.

'I can do lunch on the weekdays,' Ron said. 'Just take over some of what we're having at the shop.'

'I will take dinner.' Fleur frowned a bit at the chart. 'Zursday, Friday, and Saturday, I zink.'

'I'll drop some dinner off on our way home later,' Katie said. 'Can you manage the boys' bath?' she asked George.

'Piece of cake.' George grinned at her. 'I'll even clean the water off the ceiling.'

'Thanks ever so,' she muttered, rolling her eyes.

'Not sure when Harry's leaving, so take enough for them both,' Molly suggested.

'We can do Tuesday and Wednesday,' Bronwyn said. 'The infirmary's got a Floo connection to St. Mungo's.'

'I'll do tomorrow, then,' Penny said, feeling slightly guilty that everyone else had volunteered for so much more than she and Percy.

Molly looked down at the chart. 'You don't have to do this,' she said softly to Andromeda.

Andromeda tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, shaking her head. 'It's the least I can do after all those two have done for me. I just hope Ginny accepts our help.'

Molly snorted. To describe Ginny as stubborn was quite an understatement.

*****

Harry bent over the cot, his hand curved around Albus' head. 'Next time I see you, try to make it at home. In your own cot,' he whispered. He brushed his lips over the downy curve of they boy's head and held his wrist out to Shanti. She tapped the bracelet, but to his surprise, it didn't disappear, but changed colors.

'The alarm's off,' she informed him. 'But this will get you back through the hidden entrance if you come back before he goes home.'

'Thanks.' Harry left the room and met Ginny in the hallway. She handed him his knapsack and walked with him to the double doors.

'How are you getting back?' she asked.

'Ginny...' he warned.

Ginny sighed in resignation. 'Right. Can't tell me.'

'Walk with me out front?' he asked.

'I was planning on it.'

They slipped out of the hidden entrance and out to the darkening street. Harry cupped Ginny's face in his hand. 'Kingsley will know where to find me if something happens,' he reminded her. He kissed her gently.

'Be careful,' Ginny whispered.

'I will.' Harry stepped away from Ginny and lifted her hand to his lips. He brushed a kiss on the palm, before releasing her hand, and turning.

He was gone again.

*****

Harry Apparated in the atrium of the Ministry. He glanced at his watch and crossed to the fountain in the middle. It had been one of the first things he helped restore after the war, but without the insipid statues. This one was almost stark in its austerity, with the names of the dead and missing inscribed on the bottom of the pool. All coins thrown into its water still went to St. Mungo's. Harry searched a side pocket of his knapsack, and found a money bag he had placed there last month. He opened it and upended it over the pool. He didn't want to go up to his office to wait for the end of the interminable minutes to his departure, prearranged with Shacklebolt last week.

Harry dropped to the rim of the fountain, his knapsack sagging against his ankle. He pulled his glasses off and let them dangle from the fingers of one hand while he rubbed his gritty eyes with the other. He was exhausted - physically, emotionally, and mentally.

'You look like you could use some coffee,' a voice chimed above him.

Harry shoved his glasses back on his nose, and looked up. 'Yeah, I could.' It was the Obliviator that had been on the lift the morning he left.

'We ought to stop meeting like this. People will talk,' she said deprecatingly.

'Wouldn't be the first time I've been an object of gossip.' Harry looked at the woman thoughtfully. 'I'm sorry; I'm rubbish at names...'

'Shannon,' she muttered. 'After some singer my mum liked.'

Harry let out a short chuckle. 'I've heard worse.' He rolled his head, sighing in relief as his neck popped several times. 'Where would I find coffee in the Ministry at this hour?'

'You've never been in the Obliviators' office, have you?' Shannon grinned. 'It's like a common room at school. One of the Gryffindors swears the Gryffindor common room puts it to shame, though.' Shannon headed for the lifts. 'Come on. We've usually got a pot of coffee on or something.' She punched the button for Level Three. 'I'll have to warn you, though. It's rather, um, strong. The boys upstairs like to chew their coffee at four in the morning.'

They rode in silence until the lift doors opened. Harry could smell the scent of coffee wafting down the corridor. It nearly slapped him in the face. 'I've only got a few minutes,' he warned.

'No worries. You only need a few sips of this stuff if Cassie's been at the coffee. She never sleeps. And you'll find out why,' Shannon smirked. She waved Harry to a sagging sofa and picked up a cup, pouring some of the strong, black coffee into it. 'Milk?'

Harry eyed the brew in the cup. 'I think I'd better.'

Shannon handed Harry the cup. 'If you don't mind me saying, Mr. Potter, you look like hell.'

'It's Harry. And it's been a somewhat trying week.' He took a cautious sip of his coffee, grimacing at the taste. 'That's bracing,' he muttered. Shannon's face wore an expression of inquiry. 'New baby,' he explained, reaching into his shirt pocket for the photograph Ginny had given him last night.

'Awfully small, poor kid.'

Harry tenderly replaced the photograph inside his pocket. 'He was early.'

'Rather something of a strain, isn't it?'

'You could say that,' Harry demurred. He checked his watch and set the cup down. 'I've got to go,' he said. 'Thanks for the coffee, Shannon. Next time there's an incident where the Aurors need some help from you lot, bring some of that in a vacuum flash, eh? Keep everyone up for days.'

Harry went to the lift and went to Level Two. He strode down the corridor, and tapped the doorknob with his wand. The door clicked and swung open a bit. Harry slipped inside, and reset the lock. He set the knapsack on his desk, and rummaged inside for the battered trainer Arthur had unearthed from a wardrobe in Ron's old room for him yesterday. Harry tapped it with his wand, breathing, 'Portus.' It glowed brightly blue, then faded. He closed the flap of the knapsack and fastened it. He picked it up, slinging it over his shoulder, as he grabbed the trainer. His stomach lurched at the familiar jerking sensation behind his navel.

*****

Harry landed in a heap in the back garden of the house in Inverness. I'm never going to learn how to travel by Portkey, he mused. Shacklebolt could land standing on one foot. He picked up his knapsack and trudged to the back door. He could see Shacklebolt's outline through the window.

Harry stopped short at the sight that greeted him. Four of the trainees were clustered around the table, wearing remorseful expressions. 'What happened?' he asked, wearily, wanting to skip the debriefing, take an unbearably hot shower and sleep through the night.

'We had her,' Brianna admitted.

'Then we lost her,' Andre grumbled.

'What the bloody hell happened?' Harry nearly shouted.

'I... I'm... I'm not s-s-s-sure,' stuttered Kathleen, her normally calm demeanor shattered. 'She was right there. I was about to Stun her, and then...' She shook her head. 'She was gone,' she whispered, shamefaced.

'It wasn't her fault,' Iain defended. 'It happened outside the Muggle house, too. She was there, then... Not. I don't know how to explain it. It wasn't Apparition or Disillusionment.'

'We did try to look for her,' added Brianna. 'Both times.'

Andre traced the grain of the tabletop. 'Animagi can't change their form, can they?'

'Not generally,' Shacklebolt answered from his position by the window. 'But there are more things in heaven and earth...'

Harry sank into an empty chair. 'Tell me everything,' he demanded.

*****

Charlie pulled his wand from his pocket and gave the straight-backed chair a contemptuous glare. He flicked his wand at it, and the chair stretched into something resembling an overstuffed, oversized armchair. 'That's better,' he said quietly. He dropped his old schoolbag into the seat of the chair, and went back into the hallway. The door to the baby's room was open, and Ginny sat in the rocking chair, nursing Albus.

Charlie blinked, and his fingers curled, as if around a pencil. He had initially left the room to give Ginny some privacy, and he hadn't wanted to view that much of his baby sister on display. Not that she's showing much.

Charlie's hand began to impulsively move through the air, lightly sketching on paper that wasn't there. He turned on his heel and went to his bag, pulling out a pencil and his sketchbook. Charlie began to sketch the curves of the baby's head, cradled against Ginny's shoulder. It was full of soft flowing lines. When he finished it, Charlie scrawled a careless 'CW' in the lower right corner. He ripped it out of the book, and left it on the table next to the book it appeared Ginny was reading. He checked the time, and sank back into the embrace of the squashy chair. He reckoned he had a few more hours left before it was time to take his turn at the vigil next to the cot.

Charlie looked over at the sketch sitting in a pool of dim light. He wondered, not for the first time in Ginny's lifetime, how she could handle everything her life had thrown in her lap.

Because if it had been him, Charlie wasn't sure he would have been able to deal with all as well as she had. He would have been reduced to a quivering heap in the corner, experience with Horntails notwithstanding.

'Charlie?' Ginny stood in the doorway.

'Yeah, Gin?'

'Thanks. For coming to help out.'

Charlie let the corner of his mouth quirk up in a half-grin. He shrugged and rubbed at a smear of graphite on the side of his hand. 'Not a problem, Gin.'

Ginny climbed into the bed with a slight pang. As narrow as it was, it felt as vast as their bed in Godric's Hollow without Harry. She picked up the book on the table, and the letter Harry had placed inside its pages slid into her lap.

24 June 2006

Dear Ginny...

As Ginny's eyes traveled down the angular scrawl that was the hallmark of Harry's penmanship, her eyes filled with tears. She blinked several times, and one fell down her cheek to land with a soft plop on the parchment, blurring the ink.