Making Mistakes

little_bird

Story Summary:
The events leading to the birth of Albus Severus Potter.

Chapter 24 - Ray Of Sunshine

Posted:
05/08/2009
Hits:
909


'No, Ginny. He'll be home soon,' Percy repeated, hoping she would understand what he was trying to tell her.

Ginny's eyes widened, and before Percy could do anything, she launched herself at him, her arms around his neck. 'Thank you, Percy,' she whispered.

Percy awkwardly patted her back. 'My pleasure.'

*****

Ginny sniffed a few times, and used the sleeve of her pajamas to wipe her nose. With a sigh, Percy dug a clean handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. 'Here. Use this,' he said gruffly.

Eyeing it with a bit of suspicion, Ginny asked, 'Isn't this the one you use to clean your glasses?'

With a straight face, Percy replied, 'That one's in the other pocket.'

Ginny goggled at Percy for a moment before she let out a watery giggle. 'Did you just make a joke?'

'It's been known to happen from time to time,' Percy said with a slight smile. 'Don't get used to it.'

Ginny toyed with the slightly damp handkerchief and gave Percy a look from the corner of her eye. 'Perce? I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but why are you here?' She felt Percy's jerk of surprise.

'Would you like to me to leave?' he asked stiffly.

'No, I don't, it's just...' Ginny shrugged. 'This isn't usually your kind of thing. If I had a mountain of paperwork to handle or research into Ministry precedent, you're the go-to man in the family. But spending the night, in an armchair, in a hospital, to take a turn feeding a baby...?'

Percy shifted, adjusting his glasses again. 'Because I didn't do anything like this for you before.'

'I haven't needed anything like this before.' Ginny settled into the armchair, leaning against Percy. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, like he had when they all had dragon pox, and he read to her to keep her from scratching at the welts.

'Did anybody ever tell you what Dad told us before you started school?'

'No.'

'He told us that we needed to watch out for you. That you were our baby sister, and it was our responsibility to make sure you were okay.' Percy caught his hand drifting upwards toward his glasses, and he checked the movement, quickly moving his had to the arm of the chair. His fingers unerringly found a loose thread, and he picked at it. 'I didn't do it very well. I didn't do it all,' Percy said in a low voice, not looking at Ginny. 'None of us did. If we had, you wouldn't have...' Percy swallowed hard.

Ginny stiffened. 'Don't,' she blurted. 'It wasn't your fault.'

'We should have taken better care of you. All of us. Me, Fred, George, Ron... And we failed you.'

Ginny twisted the handkerchief in her hands. 'Percy, please...' she whispered painfully. 'Can we not talk about that?' She felt tremors move up her arms, and ran a hand through her hair, as if she could feel the gummy ink marring its strands.

'Sorry,' he murmured. 'I never came to see Dad, when... When...'

'I know.'

'You have no idea how much I hoped he would recover.'

'You don't have to keep making up for that, Percy. We've forgiven you. A long time ago.'

'But I haven't forgiven myself.'

*****

The trainees huddled together in the girls' room. 'Why do we always meet in here?' grumbled Iain.

'Because it doesn't smell like burnt crisps,' retorted Kathleen. She looked at Kevin and Iain. 'Wash your socks occasionally, why don't you?'

'So how much longer do you think we'll be here?' Brianna interjected.

'Why? You have a hot date waiting for you back in London?' teased Iain throwing a pillow at Brianna.

'That's none of your business,' she said loftily, dodging the pillow. 'We've been here for six weeks already.' She wrapped a finger in the cuff of her pajama bottoms. 'I'm just ready to go home.'

'So are we all,' sighed Kathleen. 'We just need to wait for her to come out and play,' she added with a near feral smile.

'Okay, Kath, you have to stop that. You remind me of my gran's cat that used to play with mice until they were too afraid to move.' Lucy shuddered dramatically.

'It's amazing how exhausting it is to sit and watch something all day.' Iain stretched and rubbed his eyes. 'I'm going to go to bed. Any of you ladies want to join me?' he asked with a slightly lascivious leer.

Brianna eyed him critically. 'Not with the way you snore.'

'I don't snore!' Iain protested. 'That's Andre and Ben!'

Lucy snorted. 'Right. Andre and Ben are on the overnight shifts, so how in Merlin's name are they going to snore here in the next several hours, eh?'

Iain glared down at the younger trainee. 'You're too bloody smart for your own good.'

'Iain, face it. You snore.' Harry appeared in the doorway. 'You lot need to go to bed. It's not over yet.'

'You might want to edit those brochures they put out at school,' Kevin commented. 'None of them ever said there would be this much tedious staring at houses,' he said matter-of-factly.

'I'll look into it,' Harry said dryly, before he turned and went back into the kitchen. He had overheard their conversation. They hadn't been complaining, but he knew how hard it had been for them. They hadn't been allowed to send messages home, and he knew exactly how mind-numbing the waiting could be. They needed to blow off some steam. He was grateful their ire was directed at their last suspect, and not him. He supposed it was because he was out there with them, enduring the seemingly endless days of numbing rains, where the chill seeped into your bones. There were nights where he thought he'd never get warm, and huddled under the scalding spray of a shower for nearly an hour. And if they complained about what they had left behind at home, all of them knew what he'd had to sacrifice to be here.

Harry wasn't looking for pity, nor was he asking for it. It was part of the job, but like them, he heartily wished it was over, so he could go home and spend a month with his wife and sons, with no outside intrusions.

It was a lovely dream.

*****

Percy took the first morning feeding, giving Ginny an opportunity to take a hurried shower. She took an extra few moments to wash her hair. It was getting rather manky. She rinsed the scummy lather from her hair, and decided to repeat the whole process again.

Today was the day Shanti was going to try and take the Warming charms off Albus and see how long he could maintain his body temperature. It made Ginny slightly nervous, considering Albus was only a few ounces heavier than he'd been at birth. He had dropped to just under four pounds after birth, and it had taken the last eleven days for him to regain the weight he'd lost, then to begin to add to it. Shanti had initially said they wouldn't let Albus go home until he hit five pounds. At this rate, it would be a couple more weeks. Ginny wasn't sure she would be able to handle it much longer. As much as she kept telling everyone she was fine, she wasn't. She appreciated the family coming by nights to help, but it wasn't the same as having Harry with her. And she hated seeing what her prolonged absence did to James. He had cried so hard when she left the Burrow the day before, she thought he would make himself sick. Ginny knew that if Al was going to be in the hospital much longer, she was going to have to make a few difficult choices. Especially if Harry was going to be gone for much longer.

She shut the water off, and out of habit, quickly dried herself, and with the same speed, pulled on her clothing. Percy was sitting in the chair, drooping with weariness. 'Please tell me you're going to go home for a bit of a rest before you go into the office,' she said. 'Because I know you're not going to take the day off.'

Percy gifted Ginny with a wan smile. 'I think I might go in after lunch.' He stood with a muffled groan, and stretched. 'If you need something, just ask, Ginny.' He started to leave, but Ginny's hand caught his sleeve. She surprised him by rising on her toes and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

'Thank you, Perce.' Percy ducked his head in acknowledgement and left. Ginny followed him out of the room, and watched him stride down the corridor. Here they were, nearly a decade after the end of the war, and they still carried so many hidden scars and unhealed wounds. Some of us more than others, she reflected, thinking about Percy and his inability to forgive himself.

Sighing, Ginny continued into Albus' room. Shanti was already there, her enormous cup of coffee at her side. 'Good morning, Ginny,' Shanti said with a smile. 'I'm going to remove one charm at a time and see how he does, starting with the one on his blanket. If he handles it well, I'll take the one off the cot itself. That's the major one.' Shanti could see Ginny's body tense in concern. 'Don't worry; we'll be here the entire time. Nothing will happen to Albus.' With a terse nod, Ginny settled on the rocking chair, and waited.

*****

-'Bonjour, Ginny!' Fleur came into Ginny's room, bearing a basket of food. 'I hope you are hungry.'

'I am. And if you can figure out a way to keep it from tasting like antiseptic, I'll name my next child after you.'

Fleur laughed and set the basket on the table. 'I wish I did. Even my maman does not know how to do zat.' She opened the basket and began to unpack the meal.

Ginny fiddled with a fork for a moment. 'So... how's Bill?'

Fleur answered with a one-shouldered shrug. 'He hasn't said much since he came home ze ozzer day.'

'Oh.' Ginny set the fork down

Fleur didn't miss the worry on Ginny's face. 'What ees eet?'

'We, uh... Had a small disagreement.'

Fleur's face darkened ominously. It reminded Ginny unpleasantly of the Veelas she had seen at the World Cup before her third year. 'About?' she asked pointedly.

'It was nothing,' Ginny said, not knowing of Fleur's admonishments to Bill before he came to the hospital Tuesday night. 'He was just worried about me doing this alone.' She filled a glass with water. 'He has this barmy idea that I'm going to end up raising the boys alone.'

'Oh?' Fleur's silvery brow arched and she muttered a few choice words in French that Ginny was sure weren't meant to be terms of endearment. Fleur took a deep breath before embracing Ginny. 'I must go. Ze girls will need a bath soon, and Bill lets zem play and water ees all over ze ceiling.' She kissed Ginny's cheek and swiftly left the room.

Ginny was sure she didn't want to be Bill when Fleur got home, and though she wasn't entirely certain, she had a feeling it had nothing to do with Victoire and Maddie's baths.

*****

Fleur marched into the kitchen, swearing angrily in French, grateful that the girls couldn't understand her yet. She slammed the empty basket on the table and stomped upstairs. Bill was in the front garden with the girls, helping them scalp her flower beds. Fleur managed to stifle her growing rage into something resembling a simmer before she exploded. She slammed the door shut of her bedroom, and paced the room, feeling like a caged animal.

The rest of the evening, Fleur managed to speak civilly to Bill, not wanting to argue with him in front of the children. It was only after they had put Victoire and Maddie to bed, did Fleur allow some of her simmering rage to appear. 'I must speak wiz you,' she informed Bill icily. 'Now. Downstairs.' She strode out of the room, leaving Bill to follow in her wake.

Confused, Bill trailed after Fleur, wonder what it was that had her knickers in a knot. It didn't take much when she was pregnant. He went into the kitchen, and sat in a chair at the table. He pulled the basket closer to him, and frowned at the broken weave. He pulled out his wand, and murmured, 'Reparo.'

Something in Fleur seemed to break at the sound of Bill's voice. She whirled around, seething. 'What did you say to Ginny?' she hissed.

'What?' Bill blinked.

Fleur breathed heavily through her nose, and throttled her voice down to normal speech. 'I go to take Ginny some dinner, and she asks how her bruzzer is doing, and zen tells me zat zey have had a disagreement about zomezing.' She glared at Bill. 'Would you like to guess what zat disagreement was about?'

Bill closed his eyes. 'Bloody hell,' he muttered. He slumped deeper into his chair.

'What did I say to you?' Fleur demanded angrily. 'What were you not to speak of wiz Ginny?' She resumed her path around the kitchen. 'She doesn't have enough worries, and zen you have to talk about Harry!'

'Fleur, chéri, I...'

'Do not call me -chéri!' Fleur shouted. 'What did you say to her?'

'I - ' Bill stammered. 'I told her I thought she was going to end up raising the boys alone, because Harry would be gone all the time,' he said, in defeat. 'That I didn't want them to wake up and find her crying, because he was gone.' He stared at the weave of the basket on the table in front of him. 'I was just trying to help...'

'By making assumptions about her marriage?' Fleur spat. 'Eet ess not your place!'

'That's what Mum said.'

Fleur turned her back to Bill. 'I zink you need to go,' she said calmly.

Bill's head reared up, and he gaped at his wife's back. 'What?'

'I am so angry wiz you right now, zat I cannot look at you,' Fleur said softly. 'I zink you need to go.' Bill rose to his feet. 'Fleur...' He reached for her shoulder.

'Do not touch me.'

Bill walked to the back door of the house. 'Uh... I'll just...' He walked out of the kitchen and Apparated to the entrance of the Holyhead Dragon Reserve.

*****

Charlie sank into the sofa, pulling Bronwyn down with him. 'She's finally asleep,' he said, referring to Isabella. 'I swear, she fights it more than you do.'

'I do not,' Bronwyn yawned, blinking owlishly.

'You're ready to fall asleep right now,' he teased.

'Am not,' she mumbled.

Charlie didn't say anything, but grew quiet, and in a few moments felt Bronwyn's hand do its tell-tale twitch that signaled she was falling asleep. 'Are you asleep yet?' he said softly into her ear.

'Nnnnnnnnnmmmmmmmmmmmm.' Bronwyn's head jerked upright. 'Mmmm aw'ke...' Her voice trailed off again, and her head slowly rolled to one side. Charlie chuckled softly and settled against the sofa. He didn't mind when Bronwyn fell asleep on him like that. She often did when she had the morning shift in the infirmary. He had gotten quite skilled at being able to read one-handed.

Charlie picked up the book lying on the back of the sofa, and managed to open it at the scrap of dragon hide marking his place. One of the other dragon keepers had loaned him some Muggle adventure novel. The bloke in the book always had a bird in his bed, when he wasn't chasing spies. 'Mental,' Charlie murmured, smiling in amusement and the outlandish puns the writer liked to use for the ladies' names.

A knock on the door made him look up. Most of the others on the reserve didn't come calling after eight-thirty. Their difficulty in getting Isabella to sleep at night was notorious, so most of the people they knew tended to leave them be after Isabella's bed time. Charlie carefully eased off the sofa. Bronwyn sighed and murmured in her sleep, as he transferred her head from his chest to the sofa. He opened the door to find Bill standing on the porch. 'Can I come in?' Bill asked. Charlie nodded and opened the door a bit wider and stepped back to allow Bill to come inside. He laid a finger over his lips, cautioning Bill to be quiet, jerking his head at Bronwyn sleeping on the sofa.

'I'm going to take her upstairs,' Charlie said softly. 'Go in the kitchen and make some tea.' He gave Bill a once-over and added, 'There's a bottle of firewhisky in the cupboard by the pantry.' Charlie went to the sofa and hefted Bronwyn into his arms. She woke a bit when he laid her on the bed. 'Ssshhhh. Go back to sleep.'

'W'as goin' on?' she mumbled sleepily.

'Bill's here.'

'Mmm-kay,' Bronwyn yawned, before turning over and going back to sleep.

Charlie went back downstairs to the kitchen, and found Bill sitting at the table a large bottle of firewhisky in front of him, as well as a pot of steaming tea. Charlie lifted the lid off the pot, and sniffed the steam. Judging by the way it seared his sinuses, Bill had added a significant amount of firewhisky to the tea. He dropped into the chair across from Bill. 'So?' he asked in his taciturn way.

'Fleur and I had an argument.'

'And?'

'I think I need to sleep on your sofa tonight.'

Charlie poured himself a cup of tea. 'All right.' He didn't press Bill for details. Unlike Charlie, Bill could be more garrulous than a grannie when he wanted to be.

Bill slowly turned his cup in a circle. 'Did you ever think about what it would be like if Mum and Dad separated?'

'Get on with you,' Charlie scoffed. 'They'd never do that.'

Bill swallowed the tea in his cup in one gulp. 'They did. When you were three. Before Percy was born. Mum told me.'

'What?' Charlie felt a cold tendril of denial wend through his veins. Everything seemed to be unnaturally loud. He jumped as Bill pulled the bottle of whisky across the table, making the glass scrape against the wood.

'Mum left Dad. She wanted to join the Order, he said no, so she left.'

'But she went back,' Charlie pointed out.

'Yeah.'

Charlie raised his cup to his lips, wincing as the whisky burned its way down his throat. 'Doesn't explain why Fleur's sentencing you to a night on my sofa.'

'I went to stay with Ginny Tuesday, instead of Fleur.'

'Oh.'

'I watched Ginny writing in some journal or something, and I kept seeing Mum. I don't remember much about it, but we went to Grannie Prewett's and I saw Mum crying one night. I kept seeing Ginny doing that and James or...' Bill struggled to say Albus' name. 'Albus... Finding her like that, because Harry's off gallivanting about the country.'

Charlie set his cup down with a soft click. 'First of all, this isn't the same situation.'

'Why does everybody keep telling me that?'

'Because it's not, and you have to realize that. Harry's not making her stay home. Harry doesn't make her do much of anything. If Gin doesn't want to do something, you and I know she won't do it.'

'He's been gone for six weeks,' Bill retorted.

'Five. He was at the hospital with her last week.'

'Still. He's been gone too long.'

'Do you really think he wants to be gone this long?' Charlie asked incredulously.

'No,' Bill admitted reluctantly.

'This isn't about Harry. Or Ginny,' Charlie stated.

'Yes, it is,' Bill insisted.

'No, it's not.' Charlie shook his head. 'You keep saying it is. But it's just brought all those memories of Mum not being with Dad up.' Charlie picked up his tea and took a sip. 'You're scared.'

'I am not!'

'You've always had Mum and Dad on this pedestal,' Charlie explained patiently. 'You think they've had a perfect marriage. And the idea that they could possibly have split up makes you question everything. Your marriage. Mine. Ginny's. All of ours.'

'I do not.'

'Didn't you just question Ginny's marriage two days ago?'

'So?'

'And you're trying to tell me that finding out this information about Mum and Dad hasn't made you take a second look at yours? Or anyone else's in this family?' Charlie refilled his tea. 'You've gone barmy in your old age.'

'What if Fleur does something like that?' Bill whispered.

'She won't. Although, if you keep acting like you've got your head shoved up your arse like this, she will.'

'Dad didn't have his head crammed up his arse,' Bill muttered. 'He was trying to protect us!'

'By smothering Mum?' Bill's head jerked up. Charlie smiled thinly. 'They used to practice dueling after we went to bed, even after Voldemort disappeared the first time. I used to sit on the roof over our window and watch. She won four out of five times. Telling her not to join the Order smothered her.'

'She didn't have to leave him, though,' Bill argued.

'Maybe, maybe not,' countered Charlie. 'But when Mum gets her temper up, she doesn't think clearly. She needed a good reason to basically turn tail and go back. Otherwise, she'd have had to admit Dad was right.' Bill snorted. 'Mum's got a lot of pride, Bill. You should know that. If she went back to Dad, it wasn't because she forgave him all of a sudden. She went back for us.' Bill started to say something, but Charlie raised a hand. 'And she wouldn't have stayed with Dad for thirty-six years, if she didn't love him.'

Charlie pushed his chair back. 'I've got an early shift tomorrow. Just think about it, all right? Ginny and Mum are two separate people, and what Dad did and what Harry's doing now aren't even remotely the same.' He clapped a hand on Bill's shoulder. 'You need to have a talk with Dad. You've gotten Mum's side. And I'll bet he wants to talk to you, too.'

Bill shrugged, gazing morosely into his tea. 'I just...' He shrugged helplessly.

Charlie looked at Bill. 'Because we weren't around when she was younger?' he guessed shrewdly.

'I suppose.'

'Ginny doesn't need older brothers fighting her battles for her,' Charlie sighed. 'Helping her, absolutely. But not telling her what to do and how to do it.'

'I guess.'

'Go to sleep, Bill. Fleur'll calm down by morning, and you can go talk to her. Just tell her what you've told me. I'm sure she'll understand.' Charlie paused, one hand on the kitchen door. 'Why did you bring up Harry to Ginny, anyway? Not exactly a good time to do that.'

'I just couldn't keep it to myself anymore,' Bill confessed. 'It's something I'd had in my mind for over a month.' He traced the rim of the cup. 'Fleur even told me not to say anything.'

'Fleur's a wise lady. Remember that when you go grovel tomorrow.' With that Charlie disappeared through the kitchen door.

Bill folded his arms on the table, and laid his head on them. Every man in the family had married a woman like Molly in some way. Even Percy. If he had told Fleur unequivocally not to do something she believed in, like fighting Dark wizards, she'd have hexed his balls into oblivion. Bill shook his head. Maybe Arthur had gotten off lightly after all, by having to eat his own cooking for two weeks.