Title: Into Each Life…
Author: eeyore9990
Characters: Harry/Ginny
Rating: Light R
Warnings: Depression, Epilogue-compliant
Themes/kinks chosen: Castration, in the sense of "the removal of the ovaries"
Word Count: 1855
Summary: Into each life a little rain must fall. Harry doesn't know what to do to make Ginny feel better, but he's going to try something anyway.
Author's notes: I just sort of felt the need to write this. Apologies for the Epilogue compliancy.

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At nine o'clock in the morning, three months after Lily's birth, Ginny went to bed. When she didn't come out from under the covers by midafternoon, Harry went looking for her. In place of the vibrant redhead he'd married, he found a pale, withdrawn woman, tears making messy tracks down her freckle-strewn cheeks.

"Ginny!" Harry climbed into the bed with his wife, lying on his side so that he'd be face to face with her. Pushing her damp hair back from her cheek, he looked into her eyes and whispered, "What's wrong?"

Eyes filled with sorrow, Ginny whispered back, "I don't know."

At the broken sound of her voice, Harry's heart clenched. Then a thought struck and fear such as he'd never known raced through him. "Do you need me to fetch a medi-witch?"

"I don't know."

"Gin—"

"Harry… what's wrong with me?"

"I don't know. I don't know, love, but I'm going to find out, okay? I promise, Ginny. I promise we'll find out what's wrong and we'll make it better. I promise."

Ginny closed her eyes and nodded, shivering down under the covers as new tears began to fall.

;_;

Harry escorted the medi-witch to the Floo, his heart heavy at the diagnosis.

"You'll have to give her time, Mr Potter. It can be severely traumatizing for women, even—and sometimes especially—when it was a choice they made themselves." The witch patted his hand and said, "You could try cheering charms, or potions, but that will only put off what she's experiencing now. She really just needs time to work this out. She'll be right as rain soon enough." But something about the small flash of pity that the witch couldn't hide made Harry realise that she was simply telling him what she assumed he needed to hear.

"Thank you." The words were hard to say, but he knew that there would come a day when he would appreciate all the woman had done. Just… today was not that day.

As soon as the flames turned orange again after the witch Floo'd back to St Mungo's, Harry threw in a pinch of Floo powder and Fire called the Burrow. Molly's concerned face appeared almost instantly, telling him she'd been waiting rather impatiently for word.

"What is it, Harry? Oh, it's bad news, isn't it? You look horrible. Oh, God, I can't—"

"Molly," Harry broke in. "It's not anything dangerous. It's…" He paused, blinking around the kitchen as he tried to find the words to describe what his wife was going through. "Do you know what depression is?"

Molly blinked at him. "She's sad?"

"That's… yes, sort of."

"But why?"

Harry sighed before hunching his shoulders. "I don't really know how to explain it. The medi-witch said it's because she elected to have her ovaries removed after Lily was born."

"The procedure went wrong?"

"No. No, nothing like that. It's just… eating at her. Listen, Molly. If you could keep the children for the remainder of the afternoon, I'm going to go sit with Ginny and see if there isn't some way I can help. I just know if the kids are here, I won't be able to give her the time and attention she needs."

"Of course, Harry! You know I love having them, the dears."

Harry smiled tiredly. "I do know. Thank you, Molly. I'll keep you posted on Ginny. Right now, she's just not up to visitors. But I know you'll be the first person she asks for when she's feeling more herself."

Molly looked at him with an expression that blended pride and loss. "No, dear. She'll want you and the children first. That's as it should be."

Reaching through the Floo, Harry grabbed for Molly's hand and pressed a brief squeeze to it before pulling free of the fire on his end and closing the connection. Standing, he rubbed briefly at his knees before turning to walk out of the room. Pausing at the doorway, he cast a spell to douse the fire completely and lock the Floo. He didn't want anything disturbing the next few hours.

;_;

"Ginny?"

It took several long moments for Ginny's eyes to open and the hopelessness in them nearly crushed him, but Harry pushed that aside and said simply, "Hey."

Ginny's lips trembled for a moment before she gave up and simply slid her hand across the body-warmed sheet to grasp feebly at his hand.

"I love you."

Ginny's forehead crumpled at his statement and her eyes squeezed shut. "Why?"

"Because."

Ginny drew a shuddering breath and looked at him again. "I honestly don't know why anymore."

"I do. Can I kiss you? Would that be all right?" Harry hated that he felt so unsure, but he didn't want to rush his wife in any way, especially when she was feeling so vulnerable.

A tiny nod of her head sent a relieved breath whooshing out of Harry. He edged closer to her, tightening his hold on her hand before he leaned up on his elbow and angled his head, brushing his lips lightly across hers.

"I've missed you," he murmured against her mouth.

Laying his head back down on the pillow, he stared into her eyes and ran his free hand down her side soothingly. "What can I do?" he asked.

"Touch me."

Harry's hand stilled. "Are you sure? I don't want you to think I'm pushing for…"

Ginny's eyes darkened before she looked down, screening her gaze from his. "You don't have to. I understand. I'm not…" She shrugged one shoulder, pulling her hand away from his.

He tightened his grip before she could slip her hand free, however, and pressed the tips of his fingers under her chin, lifting it slightly. "Ginny, there is nothing I this world I want more than to touch you. But if at any point you become uncomfortable, just tell me and I'll stop. Promise me you'll tell me."

"Promise," Ginny whispered, her eyes gleaming with gratitude.

Harry smiled, letting everything he felt for her show in his expression as he slid his fingers lightly along the curve of her jaw, over the shell of her ear, and into her hair. "You're beautiful. I know you don't see it, and I don't say it as often as I should, but you're the most gorgeous woman I've ever seen. Your hair is…"

"Weasley hair."

Harry laughed softly and shook his head, his gaze going back to lock with hers. "Beautiful. You know I'm not good with words, but… your hair is prettier than Bill's and you know how vain he is." Harry sucked in a breath when that surprised a small smile out of Ginny. Emboldened, he went on.

"I used to lie awake when you were sleeping trying to count your freckles." His fingers moved carefully out of her hair to smooth across her cheek. Leaning forward, he placed a small kiss on the tip of her nose and said, "I never made it very far trying to kiss them all. Always got distracted. But I thought that, surely, I'd be able to concentrate and map them all out if you were asleep."

Grinning at her, he whispered, as if in a confessional, "That's why I woke you so often in the middle of the night for sex those first two years."

Her eyes widened at that and Harry went on. "It isn't just your beauty, you know. Beauty is just… not that important. It helps, but it's not who you are. You're so strong. So loving and courageous. So many times, it was the thought of you, of getting to come back to you and hold you again, that kept me going. Not just with the war, but when I became an Auror and thought the training was going to kill me. I'd think of you and suddenly I'd have a bit more strength, a bit more energy.

"I love kissing you. Your lips are so soft." Leaning forward, Harry pressed his mouth to hers again. "Do you see what I mean?" he murmured, then chuckled. "Of course not. You can't feel what I feel."

Bringing their joined hands to her mouth, he pressed the back of her curled fingers against her bottom lip, rubbing it back and forth. "There. Now do you see?"

Ginny gave a small shrug. "They're just lips."

"No, they're not just lips." Harry frowned slightly before shaking his head. "Not just lips at all."

Harry scooted forward, opening his mouth over hers as he indulged in a long, slow kiss. It was then that inspiration struck. Pulling away gently, he said, "Can you roll over? I want to try something."

Ginny stared at him for a long moment before rolling toward him until her back was flush against his front. Harry grabbed her hand again and, lacing his fingers between hers, began a long, slow journey down her body.

"Do you feel how silky your skin is?" he asked, dropping a kiss onto her shoulder. "It tastes lovely, too."

Cupping her breast with their hands, he murmured, "So beautiful. I've watched you feed all three of our children with them. So lovely and giving. So nurturing. So very much a mother. And yet, at the end of the day, it's all I can do to wait until you're in bed with me before I start making a nuisance of myself to touch them. To kiss them. To roll the nipples between my fingers and pinch or to bite them… you've always liked the biting."

"Mmm."

With a slow smile, Harry continued down her body with their hands. "I love this part most of all." Their fingers were twined over her belly now. "So firm and strong now, but I've seen it all big and round with our children."

A harsh breath from her and a trembling in her body alerted him to her distress.

"We have beautiful children, Ginny," he whispered. "We love them with everything we have. We are a perfect, complete family. If you ever decided that you want more? I'll do everything in my power to ensure we have more. But that will have to be your decision. I'm perfectly and completely happy with the children we have. I'm content. I'm… blessed. I have been blessed with three happy, healthy children and a loving wife. That is all I need."

It took several long minutes before Ginny's body relaxed again.

"Are you all right?" Harry asked, sliding his lips over what he could reach of her throat.

A shaky sigh preceded her soft, "Yes."

"Good. Because now it's time for the fun part."

Grinning wickedly, Harry pressed their joined fingers between Ginny's thighs. As he murmured huskily about the many treasures to be found there, he used his grip on his wife's hand to bring her to a slow, powerful orgasm.

"I love you, Ginny," he said when her breathing returned to normal.

"Love you, too," she murmured sleepily.

Harry had no idea what tomorrow would bring, but he was hopeful now that whatever it was, they'd find a way to face it. Together.