Who: Harry, Ginny, and Jamie Potter Where: Their flat When: Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - dinnertime What: Chinese food and baby names Rating: C for fucking Cute as hell
Ginny was having a good day, the first one she'd had in a while. She'd managed to make it to work on time and spent the day at her desk. She spent a few hours actually working, proofreading memos about changes to cauldron thickness regulations and sending letters out to remind apothecaries to have their cauldron's inspected. The rest of the day was filled with an activity she'd been doing more and more lately, combing the paper for any job offerings that might suit her, and deliberately ignoring those that would suit her best, namely anything in Magical Games and Sports. Ginny couldn't be around Quidditch. She couldn't even listen to it on the wireless since the accident. Not being able to play broke her heart, and she couldn't bear to be reminded of it day in and day out. Being on a broom had been her life, but it was a part of her life that was over and something she didn't want to have to face.
But again, she was having a good day. Being pregnant meant she couldn't take the pain potions she'd been relying on to live a normal life, which in turn meant she had good days and bad days. That weekend had been one long bad day, where even just turning over in bed to adjust her growing belly meant immense pain through her back and legs, and tremors so pronounced in her hands that she had to use a DictaQuill to write in her journal. The worst part had been not being able to play with Jamie. The poor little boy was only three and didn't understand that sometimes Mummy just couldn't play dinosaurs or trains or whatever his sweet little heart had become obsessed with. She wanted to play with him so desperately, but on a Bad Day, it was all she could do to make it to the loo and back.
Thank Merlin for Harry. Ginny didn't know what she would do without him. He was everything to her, and though it was a miserable experience, she was so happy to be giving him another child.
Good day or not, she was still moving slowly, but it didn't stop the smile on her face when she opened the door to their flat, a big bag of Chinese takeaway in her arms. "Mummy's home!" she called out, closing the door behind her and slowly making her way down the entrance hall. "Mummy's home and she brought dinner! You'd better hurry out or she's going to eat it all herself."
At the volume of her voice, the little baby growing inside of her kicked out, likely having been woken from a nap. "I'm sorry, sweet one," she cooed, rubbing the side of her stomach where she'd felt the kick. "Back to sleep with you."
---
Harry was sleeping on the couch, James sprawled out on top of him. The toddler had so much energy, Harry had quickly found that the easiest way to get him to take a nap was if he told him that Harry was going to as well. Then James would agree, as long as he could lay on Daddy. It made Harry smirk, but he certainly wasn't going to argue.
His eyes snapped open when he heard the door, and when Ginny called out, James' perked up, looking in the direction of the front door before sliding off of Harry to go barreling down the hall. "James," he warned, quickly followed the three year old. He'd told him about trying to tackle Ginny.
He caught the boy a few steps away from Ginny, and quickly swept him up, tucking him under his arm as the boy giggled. He paused for a second to rub at his eyes and yawn, before he leaned forward to press a kiss to Ginny's lips. "Chinese sounds great. Right, Jamie?" The boy squealed something that sounded like a mixture of yeses and chattering about noodles, and Harry shrugged.
"How was work?"
---
Ginny was still rubbing her belly when she saw her son tear around the corner, and she quickly placed her hand on the wall, bracing for any impact. She didn't let it show on her face, not wanting James to think she was afraid of him, but she knew if he knocked into her, her Good Day might be over in an instant.
Thankfully, Harry caught him just in time, and she breathed a sigh of relief as she leaned in to press kisses all over his face while Harry rubbed at his eyes. "I seem to be waking everyone up today," she said with a grin, returning the kiss of her husband.
Rolling her eyes, she started to walk again, towards the kitchen. "Work was as usual, awful. But I saw a few promising adverts in the paper I might look into."
---
"Well, I wanted to make sure he was well rested to terrorize you when you got home," Harry replied automatically. A grin pulled at his lips as she walked to the kitchen. He followed her, Jamie still tucked under his arm. The boy had giggled all throughout Ginny's kisses, and was now trying to become dead weight so that Harry would put him down.
As tempting as it was to just make the toddler continue dangling in his arms, Harry plopped the little boy in his chair. "Which positions?" Harry hadn't looked at the paper today, though he knew he should have. They weren't exactly hurting for money, and after being dismissed from being an auror, Harry was hesitant to go into something he would hate. It was bad enough that Ginny felt that she had to do that. He remembered how numb and lost he had started feeling about being an auror, years ago. He wasn't eager to repeat that.
He shot a look at Jamie to make sure the boy was behaving and then went to help Ginny. "Go, I'll get plates. He missed you today," he said, pausing to brush a kiss over her forehead.
---
Ginny smiled softly when Harry put Jamie in his chair, and set the bag of food on the table, though far from his reach. They'd made that mistake more than once, and she wasn't about to pay for another bag full of food after this one crashed to the floor. "Well there's a couple of Ministry positions open," she began. "Though that's always the case. Misuse of Muggle Artifacts, the Portkey Office, and I hear the Accidental Magical Reversal Squad might have a position opening soon. Other than that, there's just some shops in the Alley looking for help. The usual."
Sitting down next to Jamie, Ginny reached out and smoothed back his black hair before leaning in to kiss him again. "Did you miss Mummy today?" she asked, touching his nose gently with her finger.
"Uh-huh!" the little boy said excitedly, before pointing to Ginny's belly. "And baby!"
"And the baby?" she responded with a smile, laying her hand on her stomach. "You missed the baby, did you? Well, I'll bet the baby missed you too. Would you like to help Mummy read her a story after bath time?"
"YES!"
Ginny winced slightly at her son's shout, having not expected it. "Well be a good boy and eat all your supper and you and Mummy will read to the baby tonight."
Looking over at her husband, she smiled. "We've still got to name her, you know," she said. "Mum brings it up every time I see her. I think she wants to add it to a blanket or something."
---
Harry pushed the bag further along the table as he passed, just in case Jamie decided to grow extra long arms or show signs of magic far too early. As soon as the thought occurred to him, he was struck with a mild panic of a toddler with magic and his mind ran wild with it for a few seconds before he pushed it away. It was an amusing thought, but...terrifying.
He went and got plates and everything else they would need for dinner while thinking about the jobs she listed. He could hear her and Jamie talking, and just happened to walk back to the table at his yell, causing him to jump slightly as he put everything down on the table.
"You know, there's a part of me that thinks you should work in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office. Your dad would love it," he teased, starting to make a small plate for James.
"As for her name...do you have any thoughts?"
---
"Oh I'm sure Dad would love it," she smiled. "But I might wait and see about the Reversal Squad. It's not like I can really change jobs right now anyway, though. Not with the days I have to take off and maternity leave coming up. I'll look again after she's born." It was going to be torture, spending the next few months in Cauldron Regulations, but she couldn't just sit around the house, and it was the least terrible option at the time she was looking for a new job after the accident. Of course there had been plenty of positions open in the League, and just in Games and Sports in general, but she couldn't. She could barely handle anything even remotely Quidditch related. It was still too fresh. It still hurt too much.
While Harry readied a plate for their son, Ginny pulled her wand and flicked it towards the kitchen for their drinks. A moment later, their drinks floated into the dining room, causing Jamie to clap his hands and laugh. The little boy loved watching his parents do magic, and Ginny looked forward to the day he would join them, though she would be happy if that didn't happen for a few more years. "Cut his noodles up, will you love? Small pieces."
Grabbing the glass of apple juice she'd summoned herself - one of her cravings through this pregnancy - she took a sip and kept rubbing at her belly. Their daughter was still stirring around, though thankfully she wasn't kicking out very much. "Nothing I'm very attached to," she said, shaking her head. "I thought we could pass some names back and forth. Do you have any ideas?"
---
Harry nodded at what Ginny said. It made sense to wait, but he knew that she wasn't thrilled with her position. It was boring and a waste of her many talents, but... it had been there. Waiting a few months until after the baby was born would be best, he knew. Until then, he would just have to do whatever he could to make her happy. At her suggestion, he nodded again and grabbed a knife to start cutting the noodles into smaller pieces so that they were safe for Jamie.
"A few," he admitted. "Jamie has some suggestions too." Harry glanced up at her with a smirk, letting her know that most of them weren't serious. He opened his mouth to continue speaking, but James cut him off.
"Steggy!" the little boy cried out, his feet swinging in his chair. Harry raised an eyebrow and nodded, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing.
"Believe it or not, that's actually one of the better ones. Because he really likes stegosauruses."
---
She smiled at her son and handed him his little fork, pleased he was learning to feed himself properly. There was still a terrible mess when he was finished, but he was getting there. "I think that's a beautiful name," she grinned. "But why don't we use that for a nickname, hm? We can call her Steggy as our special name for her, okay?"
"Okay Mumma!" Jamie said, grasping his fork in one hand while reaching for Harry with the other. "Daddy! Noodles, pweeeeeease!"
Ginny smiled again, her heart filling with warmth at her family. "Well he's saying please, so we're doing something right."
---
Harry let out a small chuckle as he continued cutting the noodles. James was the cutest toddler. He may be a little biased, but still. He dared anyone to try to change his mind.
He brought the noodles over to James, giving his hair a ruffle as he did so. "Eat slowly, alright? You don't want a stomach ache." James looked up at him, his mouth already stuffed. He couldn't help but let out a sigh as he looked at Ginny. "We have a toddler with manners. I thought those were just a myth."
---
"We just got lucky, I guess," she smiled fondly. Ginny took a sip of water, then pointed to the containers on the table. "Load me up, my love," she grinned.
One hand was still on her belly, rubbing gently at the baby growing inside. She barely took her hand off her daughter these days, just an easy habit to fall into. "Hopefully having the perfect first child doesn't mean the next one will be a terror."
---
Harry grinned and nodded, going back to containers to fix them both a plate. He watched Ginny out of the corner of his eye, a small smile on his face as he noticed how she kept rubbing her belly. Sometimes they both would, when they were lying in bed together, and he knew that it didn't really make any sense, but it was a comfortable thing, and as close as Harry could get to his daughter right now. "Oh, I don't think that's the case. Look at your family. Charlie can't have been that bad growing up, yeah?"
---
"You're forgetting what happened after Perfect Percy," Ginny said with a raised eyebrow. "Mum was cursed with the twins."
Looking down at her stomach, she patted it gently. "You be good, understand?" She laughed gently then, and waited for Harry to finish putting her plate together.
---
Harry let out a laugh and brought their plates over so they could eat next to James. He put Ginny's plate in front of her, handing the chopsticks that had come with the food, before picking up his own. "That's a good point. I'm sure she'll be fine, though," he said, looking at Ginny's belly.
"So. Names!" Probably best to bring the conversation back around. "You let me suggest James', so I'm want to know what you're thinking for her. I would like to have Lily in there somewhere, though," he said softly, his eyes on his food now.
---
"Mmmm I like Lily," she smiled, poking at her food with the chopsticks. "I think it's lovely." honoring Harry's parents seemed to be the best thing to do. The previous James and Lily had been heroes, and deserved every accolade awarded them. The very least they could do was honor them in their grandchildren.
After a nice bite of pork that hit just the right spot, she looked over at their son and smiled softly. The little boy was bouncing along to some tune playing in his head while poking at his noodles. "What do you think of that, sweetheart? Do you Lily is a pretty name for the baby?"
"Mmhmm," he nodded, shoving noodles in his mouth. "I tink Lily is pwetty name," he said through his food.
Ginny had to laugh. "I agree. I think it's beautiful."
---
Harry felt his smile grow as he looked between Ginny and James. His perfect family, and they were about to get another member. Lily. It was perfect. "Hopefully she looks like you," he said between a bite of chicken.
"What about a middle name? Part of me wishes we could do Molly, but that would sound a bit weird with Lily, yeah?"
---
"I hope so too," she smiled. "The world can always use another ginger. Besides, you've got your mini me, I should have one too." Really she didn't care what the baby looked like. Lily would be theirs, and she would be loved. That's all that mattered.
Pursing her lips, Ginny shook her head. "No, Molly wouldn't be right at all. Lily Molly? Sounds too strange. Do we still want to honor someone with her name or think one up ourselves?"
---
Harry let out a laugh and looked over at James, nodding a bit. "Is mummy right? Are you my mini-man, Jamie?" The little boy looked up, in the process of shoving another forkful of noodles in his mouth and nodded enthusiastically. "We'll have to get you glasses then."
"Noooo," Jamie cried, throwing his face over his hands dramatically. After a few seconds he giggled, and went back to his noodles.
"Yeah, I think Lily taking after you would be best," he replied to Ginny, raising an eyebrow at her. "We can think of one ourselves? Or we still have that baby name book from before James was born. We can look through that?"
---
A soft smile on her face, Ginny watched her husband and son fondly. Even after everything that had happened, with the accident, losing Quidditch, and the Bad Days, they still brought her joy. Harry and Jamie, and now Lily, were the only things that made her life worth anything anymore, and she would work any shitty job she had to, as long as it meant still getting to come home to them.
"I'm sure the book can give us some ideas," she said, picking her wand up off the table. "Accio!" she said, giving it a flick.
A moment later they heard rustling coming from the other end of the flat, and soon the book was flying through the air, landing neatly next to Ginny's plate. "Merlin I love being a witch," she laughed, flipping it open to the first page in the girl's section.
"Oh Harry, some of these are terrible."
---
Jamie immediately perked up as he heard Ginny say the spell, and he watched as the book flew across the room. Harry's eyes were on Jamie, though. The toddler loved magic. Even with both his parents casting spells nearly every day, for simple things, the boy was still fascinated.
"Best to pick a letter first, I think. I can't imagine too many A names sound that great?" He looked over at Jamie, and raised an eyebrow at the smile on the boy's face. "Do you have a letter in mind?"
"P!" Jamie grinned and looked at Ginny expectantly.
---
"We'll start with P then," Ginny grinned, taking another bite as she flipped to the correct page. It was nice, sitting around the table as a family, having dinner and talking about the baby. She'd be with them soon, and their little family would be nearly complete. Ginny had always wanted to have as many children as possible. To her, that was as many as they decided they wanted, be it two or ten. But with the effect pregnancy had on her body now, she didn't know if she could handle another pregnancy. It would mean long talks with her Healers about other treatments that wouldn't be harmful to a growing baby. Another baby would be a few years off, though, so who knows what would happen by then.
"Let's see. Penelope, Petunia, Persephone, Polly, Paris. My there are a lot of P names."
---
Harry choked slightly as she listed off some names. Once he was able to breathe again, he put a hand over his mouth to stifle a laugh. "Lily Petunia? That's a bit, uh, well, hilarious," he explained with a shrug. He noted James confused expression, and just shook his head. He recognized that Petunia had done a lot for him, but went about it the wrong way. That was the part he couldn't look past. He got it, he felt like he understood her, but he couldn't forgive her.
"What are some of the other P ones? I kind of like the sound of it, but not... Not Petunia."
---
Ginny had to giggle. She'd only thrown in Petunia as a joke, to see what his reaction would be. It hadn't disappointed. "Only joking, love," she grinned, scanning through the page once more.
"Hmm, well. Patricia, Pandora, Piper, Priscilla. Definitely not that one. I don't want any excuses for people to call her Prissy." Pursing her lips, she listed off a few more name, then cocked her head to the side. "What do you think of Lily Pearl?"
---
Harry tilted his head slightly at the names she listed. "I have to agree with you about Priscilla. I kind of like Piper, honestly?" He took another bite, shaking his head slightly at Pearl. "Sounds weird?"
---
"Lily Piper isn't bad," Ginny said, gathering a large bite of noodles with her chopsticks. Her cheeks were full as she chewed, and Jamie giggled when she made a face at him.
After she swallowed and took a sip from her glass, then drummed her fingers on the table. "How about Paige? Better than Pearl?"
---
Harry smirked at the face she made and thought about the options. "Lily Paige. Lily Piper," he said them quietly, but still loud enough for his family to hear.
"Paige!" James cried, grinning at his parents. Harry could tell that he was happy to be included, and he raised an eyebrow at Ginny in a silent question.
---
Ginny smiled when her son spoke up, and nodded at her husband. "If Jamie likes Paige then I think it's perfect," she said, setting her chopsticks down. Reaching across the table, she opened her hand for her husband to take.
"Does our baby have a name then?"
---
Harry grinned and nodded, giving Ginny's hand a squeeze. "Yeah I think we do. Lily Paige Potter," he tested, his eyes twinkling a little as he glanced down at his wife's belly. "I think it's perfect."