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A Secret Love: Chapter 15
In Her Father's Arms
“Are you quite finished?” Petunia snarled at the boy.
For his part, Harry seemed taken aback at his aunt’s harsh tone. He’d stormed into her home in a rage and had demanded the return of his infant daughter. He’d hurled accusations and threats of violence at her, but she’d stood her ground. This was nothing more than Lily’s whelp having a temper tantrum and she wouldn’t let that frighten her.
“Sit!” she commanded and Harry sat. “You disgraceful boy! I knew no good would ever come of you! You dare come into my home, a home in which you took shelter for most of your worthless life, and lecture me? After all of the ghastly things you’ve done? Ravaging that poor young girl and leaving her to fend for herself with your child in her belly! Running off to fight your duels, but never paying any mind to the girl you callously used and cast off. You aren’t a man; you’re nothing but a silly boy who thinks he’s the centre of the world. Ginny thought beyond herself. She loved you, though I certainly hope she’s grown out of that. She sang your praises even while she had to hide away because of the vile things you’d done to her?
"So you went off and battled evil wizards? Ginny bore your child. I know you have no concept of what that really means, but she gave birth to the most beautiful creature on earth and then she walked away. My heart broke as I watched her leave. She knew that both you and the baby would be safer if she kept everything secret, but it tore her apart to walk away from her child. Of course, I wouldn’t expect you to understand such selflessness. I’m told Lily died to save you and Ginny sacrificed both her childhood and her rights to motherhood for you. They both gave up everything they had for you, but why should you show anymore gratitude to either of them for their gifts than you’ve ever even showed to me for giving you a home.”
Petunia took satisfaction in the stunned look which now graced his features. He wasn’t a cruel boy, just a stupid one.
“Gwendolen is perfectly well cared for. Ginny has seen to that. You waltzed in here demanding that I hand over your child, but I won’t do it. I will not hand over the responsibility of my great-niece to a bumbling oaf such as yourself. You need to take responsibility for your crimes against Ginny before you’ll ever be worthy of being a father to her child.”
The boy stared at her pensively for a long while before asking, “May I see her?”
Petunia pondered over his words for a moment. He’d lost his steam. He had a tendency towards swift anger, but once his rage had passed, he often saw reason. As she led him up to the nursery she wondered if that was a trait of his father’s. Lily had always been calm, dangerously so.
~ : ~ : ~
Harry walked through the silent floors of Grimmauld Place. It was strange for it to be so empty, but with the demise of Voldemort only he and Remus continued to inhabit its cursed walls. The Order of the Phoenix had quietly disbanded and the members had all left to put the remains of their former lives together. Harry had thought he’d stay at The Burrow for a while before venturing out on his own, but he no longer felt welcome there. The darkened rooms of this soulless house seemed a fitting tomb for his worthless carcass.
He wasn’t so far gone into his own reflections that he hadn’t noticed the hollowed look in Remus’ eyes. The older man seemed just as aimless and... damaged as Harry felt. Harry had wandered into the study to see his father’s friend sitting by an empty fireplace with a bottle of Ogden’s Best on the side table. Voldemort was gone, the Death Eaters disbanded and imprisoned, the lives of their fallen loved ones avenged. They should both be out taking advantage of the freedom from fear that they had carved for themselves and yet here they were, haunting an empty mansion.
Harry picked up the bottle and took a swig of its burning contents as he sat on the hearth facing Remus. It wasn’t quite noon yet and his stomach turned a bit at being fed such poison so early. He ignored the faint nausea and took another drink before handing the bottle back to Remus.
“Why did we live, Harry?” asked Remus candidly. Harry coughed, uncertain how to answer such a question from a mentor.
Remus ignored Harry’s spluttering and pressed on. “If we can’t be happy now that we’ve rid the world of that awful tyrant, then why did we live? No one is stopping us from going out there and taking what we want, but we still sit here, dying a little more every day.”
Harry watched in awe as Remus stood and threw the bottle at the fireplace. He was too stunned to react as Firewhiskey splashed him and bits of glass stuck in his skin.
“What the hell are we doing!” raged Remus. “We paid for our freedom with the blood of our hearts! We’ve earned it! We deserve our happiness!”
Remus was breathing quite heavily and Harry wasn’t certain how to respond. He’d never seen this side of his former professor before. Remus was talking to him like he was James or Sirius; like he was an equal. Perhaps he was an equal now. They seemed, at the least, equal in their despair.
“Do we? Do we deserve anything, Remus? After men the likes of Sirius and my father and Charlie Weasley had to die? How are we more worthy than them?”
Remus slumped back down into his chair. “I don’t suppose we are more worthy, Harry, but I know they loved us. They loved us at least as much as we loved them.”
They both sat in silence, each pondering their own dilemmas. Harry welcomed the sting of the scratches on his arm. They didn’t bleed but the whiskey had seeped into them and the burn made him feel.
“Isabelle is pregnant,” whispered Remus.
“Oh,” gasped Harry. Suddenly a lot of things made sense.
“She’s six months along. She’s been using potions to hide it. She didn’t want me to worry and she wasn’t sure how I’d take it.”
“And you didn’t take it very well when you finally found out, did you?” asked Harry.
“No,” sighed Remus, “I didn’t.”
“Yeah,” said Harry, “we are quite the pair of fools, aren’t we?”
“Hmmm?” mumbled Remus, confused.
Harry sighed deeply. He had thought that Remus would surely have heard about all of this. It’d been a week since he’d visited Privet Drive. Wouldn’t everyone know by now what an arse he’d been?
“Last summer, when Ginny and I… well… I’m a new father myself, Remus.” It felt strangely wonderful call himself that. After a week of moping silence, the words tumbled easily from his mouth and he told Remus about Gwendolen.
“So,” began Remus, softly, “what you’re telling me is, we’ve both got wonderful women who are desperately in love with us and bearing our children and rather than going out and building a future with them, we’re moldering here in this crypt.”
Harry nodded. “That about sums it up.”
~ : ~ : ~
Ginny sat on the bench in the garden and watched the sunset. It had been a week since Harry had stormed off. She hadn’t had the courage to go down to Privet Drive to collect the baby that she was sure Harry had already taken off with, so her mother had gone down instead. Petunia and Molly had chatted for a long time. Apparently Harry had been there, but his aunt had not allowed him to take the baby. Ginny’s mother had returned home with her granddaughter in her arms. Her mum had said that Petunia had still been shaking from her encounter with Harry. Ginny wondered what he’d said to her and she was still in awe over Petunia’s fierce refusal to hand the baby over to him.
It had been a week full of difficult questions, but Ginny had weathered them as best as she was able. Her brothers had all been quite vocal in their fury, but it was her father that scared her the most. He hadn’t looked at her since that morning when the truth had come out. She wasn’t sure what to think about that, though she hoped it was simply because he didn’t know what to say and not because he was ashamed of her. Tears welled her eyes. She’d been a disappointment to everyone.
The cracking sound of someone Apparating behind her caused her to turn around. She gasped at the sight of Harry standing there in the twilight. She eyed him warily. He didn’t seem outwardly angry, but she wasn’t taking any chances. She waited for him to speak first.
He bowed his head. “I’m sorry, Ginny.” When he lifted his head, she saw the tears glistening in his eyes.
“What?” she murmured in amazement.
He stepped closer and reached out to grasp her shoulders. “I’m sorry.” He pulled her into a tight embrace and she let herself melt into his arms.
“Well, that was a good place to start.” Ginny and Harry jerked their heads up at the intrusively angry voice. Ginny’s father stood by the door of the house, watching them with a look of barely contained fury.
“Sir?” said Harry, cautiously.
Arthur Weasley took a few steps towards them and Harry tightened his grip around Ginny. She thought that was a bit foolish of him. Faced with her father’s anger, she thought it might have been prudent of him to release her.
“I said that was a good place to start, but I think you have some more talking to do.”
“Yeah, I do,” said Harry in a steady voice. Ginny angled her head so as to see the look on his face. He looked… determined.
He turned her away from her father and continued on as though they hadn’t been interrupted by a very irate parent. Harry rubbed his hands up her back to her neck and threaded his fingers into her hair. Applying a gentle pressure, he drew her in for a kiss. His lips were equally demanding and desperate, but she accepted him fully. She had no ability to deny this man anything he wanted.
He ended the kiss gently and murmured, “I love you,” against her lips.
She felt giddy and strange and not just a little mortified at having given such a display in front of her father. “I love you, too,” she giggled.
She watched in amazement as Harry slid down on one knee before her. “Then would you do me the honour of marrying me?”
Ginny blinked dumbly at the ring he held suspended between his thumb and forefinger. She held out her hand at let him slip it on her finger. “Yeah,” she whispered. “I think I could do that.”
She looked up to where her father was standing. He gave a curt nod and went back into the house.
~ : ~ : ~
Molly pushed away from her post at the window as her husband walked through the door. She was glowing, he was fuming.
“Did you just see what that boy did?” he asked angrily.
“Yes,” placated Molly. “He just -”
“He just kissed Ginny!” Arthur interrupted. “Just like that! As though I wasn’t standing there! What cheek! The two of them, snogging as though they had any right -”
“Arthur!” Molly interrupted before he had a chance to say anything else foolish. “What I just saw was our daughter being proposed marriage by the man she loves. The man who also happens to be the father of her child. Of course they had a right to kiss, they’re in love and they’re going to be married!”
Arthur pulled her close to him and held on as though his life depended on it. Molly turned her head up expectantly and he rewarded her with a kiss that showed just how inexperienced Harry and Ginny were.
“Ew! Mum, Dad! Do you have to do that where everyone can see you?”
Molly broke away from her husband and looked over to her twin sons who were feigning disgust.
“Oh, go outside and pester your soon to be brother-in-law!” she teased.
It took a moment for the meaning of her words to sink in, but then Fred and George scrambled over one another to get out of the kitchen. Yes, she approved of the union between Ginny and Harry, but that didn’t mean she was above punishing him for his transgressions via her twin terrors…
~ : ~ : ~
Harry swayed in the rocking chair with his infant daughter lying against his chest. Her soft breathy snores tugged at his heart like nothing else ever had. He was in awe of the enormity of his feelings for this little creature. That his life was now irrevocably different was beginning to sink in. He pressed his lips to Gwendolen’s soft head and breathed in the scent of her. Tears leaked from the corners of his clenched eyes. Just two months ago the greatest accomplishment he could conceive of, was defeating Voldemort. Somehow, creating this little being seemed bigger.
In the dimming light of the smoldering fire, he watched Ginny toss fitfully on the settee. It’d been a difficult evening; they’d had to wait for everyone else to go to bed before they could really talk with each other. Harry was still unsure of his new place in the Weasley family. Mrs. Weasley treated him as lovingly she always had, which made him feel guilty as hell. He suspected that may not have been completely unintentional on her part. But, there was no denying that their perception of him had changed. He was no longer Ron’s friend and “that poor boy”. They didn’t hate him, but he’d hurt Ginny and that was going to take a while to heal.
For her part, Ginny had been instantly forgiving and understanding. She’d even apologized for her deceptions, though he no longer felt that she’d done him any wrong. Harry had asked if she wasn’t a little angry, her weary sigh had cut into him very deeply. She’d said, “Harry, this year has been so awful. I don’t think I can ever really impress on you just how difficult it was to walk away from Gwendolen and trust that she was safest with Petunia. I don’t think there’s anyway for me to understand what you’ve been through either. I guess I just don’t want to think about it anymore. We’ve both paid more than we owe. I’m ready to just be happy, and if that means letting you off the hook… I don’t mind.” She’d ended that with a grin and he’d kissed her soundly for it. With Mr.Weasley gone to bed and Fred and George gone home for the evening, it’d been quite a nice kiss.
With a popping sound so soft that Harry barely noticed it, Ron appeared in front of the fire. Harry shook his head with a little bit of self disgust. He’d learned to Apparate faster but Ron had eventually learned to do it more quietly. His friend didn’t say anything for a long time, but just stood there taking in the quiet scene. He used his wand and voicelessly performed a switching spell on Ginny’s clothes. She looked instantly more comfortable in the soft plaid nightgown than she had in her day clothes.
Ron gave Harry a look of censure for not seeing to Ginny’s comfort. Harry sighed. Not to be outdone he concentrated on a mental image of her bed and performed a rather complicated transportation spell with little more than a whisper and a quick flick of his wand. Ron raised his brow with admiration at Harry’s one-upmanship. With Ginny snuggled safely in her bed, he took her place on the settee.
“So,” Ron whispered softly, “you’ve finally come to your senses?”
Harry looked down at Gwendolen, who was mewling softly in her sleep, and said, “What has sense got to do with it?”
Ron gave a soft chuckle. “Good question. I’m sure Hermione has an answer; we’ll have to ask her.”
Harry grinned. Perhaps the transition from best friend to brother-in-law wouldn’t be so difficult after all. In the end, it was Ron and Harry who spent the uncomfortable night on the living room furniture while Ginny slept peacefully in her bed and Gwendolen enjoyed her first of many nights in her father’s arms.
Isabelle belongs to Lycanthropist aka Profoundly_Grey. I highly recommend reading her Remus/OC fic as it has some of the best characterisation of our dear Lupin that I have ever seen! It is posted on MNFF and OWL.
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