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In one of Molly’s efforts to keep them all busy that summer, she had decided to clear through all their childhood possessions and find what could be chucked and what could be handed down to Teddy. She had roped in Ginny, Harry, Ron and Hermione to help, though none of them could have realised quite how much stuff could be accumulated through seven childhoods. They rifled through old boxes and trunks, filled with toys and clothes that felt, to Ginny, to be from another life.
‘I mean, we don’t need to keep this, do we?’ she said, holding up a little seaside bucket and spade.
‘That was my favourite,’ said Ron stubbornly. ‘You’re not getting rid of that.’
‘Ron, have you honestly thought about it in the last few years? Ever gone up to the attic and got it out.’
‘No,’ said Ron. ‘But I’m thinking about it now and how much I liked it.’
Ginny was going through a box of clothes, pausing for a moment over some dungarees that she had forgotten she had owned but now remembered, vividly, wearing as she waded through the pond looking for frogspawn. She put it aside with a strangely painful feeling, and looked over at Harry as she reached into the box again.
He was sitting with a box of old storybooks – their favourite bedtime stories and fairytales. He had progressed slowly, looking at each one with interest and creating a large pile next to him, apparebtly for Teddy, but there was a strange expression on his face. He must have felt her gaze, because he looked up, and caught her eye.
‘What?’ she asked, for his face was achingly close to a smirk, his eyes glinting in amusement, focusing on her with a kind of mischief she would have usually associated with Fred and George. ‘What are you smirking at?’
The others were glancing over too now, pausing as they held bears and faintly wriggling toy dragons. Harry still sat by the box of old bedtime stories, clearly pressing his lips together in an effort not to laugh. He looked down at the book he was holding – she could see it was thin, but with brightly coloured glossy pages… it seemed to spark a very long lost memory…
‘Once upon a time, in the little village of Godric’s Hollow,’ he began.
‘No!’ she shrieked, lunging towards him as Mum gasped in horror and clapped her hands to her mouth. Ron let out a hoot of laughter.
Harry stood, lifting the book out of reaching of her grasping hands. ‘There lived a little boy called Harry-’
‘Give it to me!’
‘You can’t read that!’ Mum was squealing, as Hermione cottoned on and started laughing in shock. ‘I didn’t buy it – it was a gift-’
Ron scoffed. ‘Well that’s not true.’
‘He lived with his Mummy and Daddy,’ Harry continued to read, holding the book aloft as Ginny jumped helplessly beneath it. ‘And even though – is that meant to be my mum? Why is she blonde? – even though it was a dark and scary time, they were happy together. But a very bad man – Merlin, this was for bedtime?’
‘Ginny’s favourite,’ chipped in Ron.
‘It wasn’t!’ yelled Ginny.
‘It seems so insensitive now!’ said Mum, flapping her hands slightly. ‘Oh, Harry, don’t-’
‘One dark and spooky Halloween – blimey, straight in there – there was a knock at the door – well that didn’t happen-’
Ginny leapt up and managed to seize the corner of the book, wrenching it with the skill of a chased out of his hands. ‘Ha!’
‘Hey! I want to find out what happens!’
Ginny held the copy of ‘The Little Boy Who Lived’ against her stomach to try and resist his tugging. ‘I can’t believe you found this.’
‘Give it back, I want to find out how they made true crime toddler appropriate.’
‘It was meant to be a way to explain it all to children,’ said Mum helplessly. ‘It all seemed so distant and huge.’
‘I always liked the pictures, which is really odd now that I think about it.’
Harry tugged it out of her grip once again, and before she could wrestle it back, he has skipped to the end. ‘And even though he is now completely alone in the world – Jesus! – he will know forever that he saved the world. You’re welcome,’ he added teasingly as Ginny snatched it back.
‘Are you keeping it for Teddy?’ she asked sarcastically.
‘No, I think that one can be chucked,’ Harry said, looking down into the book. ‘I’ve just seen ‘The Exciting Adventures of Harry Potter-’
‘No! That one’s all bollocks!’ Ginny shouted, racing him to the box.