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Ginny’s eyes were wide as saucers as the Potter family took their seats. “This is amazing!”
Harry didn’t bother trying to hide his grin. “We saw the hall when we came to look around, Gin.”
“I know. But look at what they’ve done with it! It’s like Christmas exploded in here!”
Even accounting for Ginny’s obsession with Christmas decorations, Harry had to admit she had a point. The teachers at St Grogery’s in Little Whinging hadn’t put in half as much effort when it came to decorating the school for the festive season. The tree in the back corner stretched almost to the ceiling, and was covered with decorations made by the children. The ceiling was swagged with criss-crossing paper chains that Harry was sure his wife would fully appreciate, and the walls were covered with bright pictures showing Christmas traditions from around the world, created by each class. Harry made a mental note to hunt down and admire James’s picture amongst the reception class creations before he left.
Ginny, however, was staring at the front of the hall. “How have they made the stars appear on that curtain? Without magic, I mean,” she asked.
Harry let his gaze fall on the temporary stage constructed in front of them. It was edged around the front with black velvet, and there was a matching backcloth hanging from the wall behind, punctuated with little pinpricks of light to look like a starry night sky.
“Electricity, Gin. It’s just lots of tiny little lightbulbs, poking through the fabric,” he explained.
“Really? Take a picture! Dad will love it!”
Harry rolled his eyes, but did as she asked, raising the camera to take a picture of the empty stage, taking care not to disturb his infant daughter, asleep in the baby carrier strapped to his chest.
Albus, seated on Ginny’s lap, seemed just as taken with the school hall as Ginny, wriggling around and pointing as different things caught his eye. Then, the reception class filed onto the stage, and he was mesmerised. Harry searched the line of small children for his elder son, pointing him out to Albus and Ginny as soon as he spotted him.
James stood to the side of the stage, wearing his Wise Man costume (expertly constructed by Nanna Molly), cardboard crown sitting crooked on his wild hair, dark eyes wide and searching the crowd. As soon as he saw his parents and brother, his face split into a huge grin.
The nativity was predictably adorable - though with twenty-seven four and five year olds in homemade costumes, none of them standing in the right place, half of them forgetting their lines, and most of them stopping to wave at their parents, how could it be anything else?
James aced his line, shouting it at full volume (“ I BRING THE GIFT OF GOLD TO HONOUR THE NEWBORN KING! ” ), Ginny cried, Harry took about a billion photos, Albus demanded snacks roughly every thirty seconds, and Lily slept through the whole thing.
That evening, when the kids were finally all in bed asleep, Ginny handed Harry a glass of red wine and flopped down on the sofa beside him. She was uncharacteristically quiet. With the experience of several years of marriage, Harry waited silently for her to marshall her thoughts.
“I’ve been worrying about putting James into Muggle school for months, you know,” she said eventually. “Questioning whether it really was the right thing to do.”
Harry’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “I didn’t realise. You should have said something.”
“No,” she sighed. “There wasn’t any point. Realistically, we didn’t have much choice, given neither of us wanted to stop working. I just… didn’t have any frame of reference for what it would be like. I don’t know anyone else who’s done it. Mum was so shocked, Bill and Percy’s kids are learning at home. I just felt so guilty.” She took a sip of wine, then turned to look at him, brown eyes dancing with flames reflected from the fireplace. “But after today, I don’t. Not any more. It was so wonderful. I… I wish I’d had the chance to do that.”
“The play?” he asked.
“Yes - but all the rest of it too. Being with the other kids. Learning together. Playing with their friends. They just all looked so happy.”
“I dunno, Gin. I’ve always thought your childhood sounded pretty perfect.”
“In a lot of ways, it probably was. We didn’t have a lot, but I know how lucky we were. It’s just that it… it could be lonely. Me, Ron and the twins were this little unit, but I was the youngest and the only girl, and I got left out a lot. Then, when the boys got older and started leaving for Hogwarts, it was just me and Mum.”
Harry took a sip of his wine. “I would have loved having what you had.”
Ginny turned to face him, looking earnest. “That had nothing to do with how you were educated though, it was because your Aunt and Uncle are evil child abusers! It’s going to be so different for our kids, to what either of us had.” She turned to face him, and something about her expression reminded him of a fierce mama bear protecting her cubs. “They’re going to get the best of both worlds. Love and magic at home. Play and friends and learning at school. And the fact that we get to choose this for them makes everything we went through for this to be our future seem more worth it than ever.”
Harry nodded. “Sounds pretty idyllic, now you come to mention it.”
“Yeah, it really does, doesn’t it?” She snuggled back against him, cradling her wine glass, as he put his arm around her. “I’m sorry it took me a while to realise it.”
He dropped a kiss onto the top of her head. “They’re lucky kids.”
They were quiet for a moment, until Ginny looked at him with a grin. “I think so. But tell that to James next time he’s complaining about the school dinners!”