Chapter Text
Ginevra Molly Potter (neé Weasley) was incredibly sick and tired. Sick of the Ministry of Magic’s consistent need for her husband on the front lines fighting evil. Tired of Harry James Potter’s consistent absence and disregard for self protection.
He had been gone for two entire months, and she had received news from the Ministry that he was due to return home at noon. She frowned as she gazed at the approaching horizon outside the kitchen window, resting a hand on her slightly protruding stomach, the comforting aroma of Harry’s favourite treacle tart enveloping her very senses. She initially cooked up a small roast for the two three of them for lunch, only for the food to go cold. Resigned with his unpredictable work hours as the Head Auror of the Ministry of Magic, rather than making him another meal for supper, Ginny decided to bake Harry’s favourite treat instead.
Along with a bun in the oven.
The kids were coming home from school tomorrow, so Ginny made some extra treacle tart, but she didn’t intend to announce anything until after Harry got home.
The oven pinged.
Ginny sighed and got up from her lone seat at the dining table.
She felt…or heard a loud pop.
It was then when a sudden bout of dizziness overcame her senses.
She felt a sharp pain in her stomach and heard herself gasp.
Then, cold wetness in her legs.
She fumbled for the floo powder by the fireplace, grasping onto consciousness with all her might.
Just as her hand closed around the flower pot, she felt her body go numb and heard three crashes.
And everything went black.
**********
To say that James Sirius Potter was furious when he discovered Mason Morton had been secretly dating his crush, Alexander Delaney for months…starting basically a few weeks after he confessed he liked her to Mason in the first place, would be an understatement. Heartbroken and backstabbed by the one person he trusted who wasn’t family in the godforsaken school that was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the only reasonable reaction for any seventeen year old teenage boy walking in on his best friend holding hands with his crush in the Great Hall at supper when he was initially supposed to be at Quidditch practice, was inevitably to punch said best friend square in the face.
He was not, at all, in a good mood to start with. With Easter coming around the corner, so were the final Quidditch matches of the season. As the Quidditch Captain of Gryffindor House, James was determined to win the House Cup this year. So far, they have been on a consistent winning streak.
As for today’s practice, it was a disaster. Within moments of taking to the skies, two out of three Chasers (James being the third) had idiotically landed themselves in the hospital wing for recklessly trying a new move near the Whomping Willow behind James’ back. There was no point in continuing practice after that, so the team retired to an early supper…only for James to discover he had been brutally backstabbed.
If it was anyone but Mason, James wouldn’t have acted so rashly. After all, being Harry and Ginny Potter’s eldest son was never an easy thing. But he had been the one person James had ever trusted at Hogwarts. Excluding his two siblings, that is.
Mason jumped up from his seat, having the decency to look guilty as he wiped his bloodied nose. Alexandra gave him a dirty look and held Mason’s free hand. Professor Longbottom ended up docking 15 points from Gryffindor as James continued to scream at Mason for making a fool out of him for so long. Lily Luna Potter eventually had to briefly stun her brother to stop him from beating Mason into a pulp, only to receive James’ wrath.
“I don’t care whatever the fuck happened, but you better get yourself together or I will ruin your Easter,” Lily said, wavy cherry red hair flaring out from behind her deep glare behind oversized glasses, lips in a displeased curl. Freshly thirteen years old and as terrifying as Ginny Potter herself.
James scowled, turning away from his sister. “I’d like to see you try,” he mumbled.
Albus Potter, having seen the commotion from the Slytherin table, had been silently and quietly walking over since Lily got involved. “She won’t need to try. She just needs to tell Mum about it and you’ll be dead,” he gleefully whispered into James’ ear, green eyes glinting underneath dark black bangs, making James jump in surprise.
James rolled his eyes and spun around to glare at Albus. “Whenever did you get here?”
“He’s been lurking since you threw that first punch,” Scorpius Malfoy—Albus’ best friend whispered into James’ other ear , catching him by surprise once again.
Annoyed but no longer seeing red, James huffed and stalked his way out of the Great Hall without grabbing anything to eat.
“Please don’t actually tell Mum, Professor Longbottom,” Lily said, biting her lip in James’ direction. “I’d rather die than deal with a sulking James all of Easter.”
Neville laughed. “You have my word. Just make sure he’s alright.”
Lily nodded and followed her older brother.
No one noticed Albus and Scorpius poke Mason in the shoulder and direct him to the courtyard. No one saw Albus throw an Invisibility cloak over their shoulders and silently petrify his older brother’s ex-best friend.
Scorpius cast a silencing charm and returned to eating supper.
No one heard the crack that sounded when Albus’ fist connected with Mason’s nose.
**********
Harry was pissed. Pissed at his team, pissed at himself and pissed at his best friend Hermione Granger-Weasley, who just so happened to be his boss and the Minister of Magic.
It was around eleven at night. As Harry stepped out of the floo into Hermione’s office, he felt nothing but anger. “Three days Hermione! Just three more fucking days and the case is closed!” Harry paced, his feet on fire, on the verge of ripping his own salt and pepper hair out.
He had been tracking down and following a trail of illegal unicorn blood dealing for months, and had gone undercover with a few colleagues as buyers. Only to be singularly called back to the Ministry by Hermione and replaced by Teddy.
“We need you here Harry. The new trail of Muggle murders in Ireland has been traced to Dark Magic and potentially past Death Eaters. No one knows them as well as you do. I can’t trust anyone else to deal with this. It can turn into an international issue,” Hermione looked up from her desk, concern etched in her face as she passed Harry a stack of papers from the Irish government to review.
Harry took a brief look and shook his head. “The unicorn blood exchange has gotten to Knockturn Alley with consuming intentions Hermione! Teddy could’ve started on this case in my place, and I could’ve joined him later. By contacting me out of the blue and taking me out of action, you risked the lives of everyone! Our cover could’ve gotten blown then, and Teddy might blow it anyways. People act differently.”
“I trust Teddy. And he’s a Metamorphmagus. He can easily take the same disguise you did under Polyjuice.”
Harry scoffed. “Metamorphs cannot imitate personality and you know it. Neither can Polyjuice.”
Hermione pursed her lips. “I know, but we really do need you.”
Harry took his glasses off in resignation and did not reply.
“Go home to Ginny, I told her you would be back around noon, but it’s almost midnight now. She’s probably worried,” Hermione said, the energy draining out of her. She was exhausted, Harry knew.
“Does she know I’ll be gone again tomorrow morning?” Harry asked, roughly rubbing his hand across his face.
Hermione’s face fell. “No,” she confessed. “I’m sorry.”
Harry shook his head and grabbed a handful of floo powder. He glanced at the calendar. It was the day before the kids returned home for Easter break. He frowned in displeasure.
“The kids will be pissed,” he muttered, before stepping into the fireplace.
“Potter Manor!”
**********
Sometimes, Lily wonders why she had been cursed to be a Potter. Why her brothers were Potters. She wasn’t able to catch James before he entered Gryffindor Tower, and was left pacing outside the Fat Lady’s portrait with great frustration.
“You’re a pretty one,” the Fat Lady said. “Just like your mother. Too bad you’re not a Gryffindor.”
It was the same comment every time, about how much Lily looked like Ginny. Except she did not. Sure, she had her mother’s nose and mouth and ears and unfortunate height, but her hair was too dark a shade of red. She was freckle less, and she had Harry’s almond eyes instead of Ginny’s round ones, although they weren’t green. Still, Lily didn’t have Ginny’s exact brown like James did. They were lighter in colour, and flecked with green speckles. She also inherited her father’s unfortunate vision.
The second comment was another she heard often. Two out of the three Potter children didn’t make it to Gryffindor house, and the entire world somehow decided there was something wrong with it. Alas, Lily was fortunate enough to wear Ravenclaw blue. As a Slytherin, Albus had it bad. Really, really bad.
Lily rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Can you let me in?”
“Password,” the Fat Lady predictably said, and shook her head.
“I’ve got it!” A gorgeous girl said, with a mystical voice. “Lily Potter is it?”
Lily raised an eyebrow and didn’t say anything.
The girl was very tall, probably just half a head shorter than Albus. And she was jaw dropping gorgeous with waist-length hair a darker black than James and Albus combined, long lanky legs flashing underneath Gryffindor robes, and carrying an elegance every girl would envy. “Melody Fawley,” she said, putting a hand out, voice soft and airy and as musical as her name. “Pleased to meet you. You look like James. Less like Albus but I can see the resemblance.”
Instantly Lily took a liking to this mysterious new girl.
People always compare her with her mother or father, but never with her brothers. And for some reason, she liked that very much. “Yes, I am Lily Potter,” Lily said, a smile gracing her lips.
“I’m friends with James,” Melody said. Then, she hesitated. “At least, I hope that he sees me as such.”
Lily scowled, her impressions of Melody instantly shattered. Perhaps she wasn’t all that different from everybody else.
“Thestral,” Melody said to the Fat Lady, and led Lily inside. “Please don’t misunderstand me. I genuinely hope I can make a friend out of James. A true one, not like most people in this school.”
Lily huffed. “That’s what they all say.”
Melody led her to the door of the boys’ dormitories. “Except I mean it.” And Melody’s blue eyes glowed with a passion Lily recognized to be love. And Lily believed her.
“Thank you,” she said. And Melody nodded in understanding, knowing it was for much more than letting Lily into the Gryffindor Common Room.
**********
With the vanishing of green light, Harry stumbled out of the floo into the dining room of Potter Manor, only to accidentally crunch some ceramic underneath his feet. Harry frowned. It was unlike Ginny to leave broken vases lying around. Then, his brow furrowed. The overwhelming smell of burnt sugar and smoke clouding his vision setting off alarms in his head. “Ginny?” He called into the dark. “I’m home!”
No response.
“Lumos.”
And the first thing Harry saw was his wife’s body sprawled across the floor directly in front of him, a puddle of blood soaked through her clothes.
“Ginny!” Harry screamed, getting down onto his knees next to her, heart thumping thunderously in his chest.
The instincts of Auror procedures took over. He surveyed the scene. The pot of floo powder lay shattered on the ground, right next to the fireplace. A single chair was sprawled across the floor, Ginny’s hand caught on a leg. Other than the smoke, all other furniture appeared to be unmoved. He cast a quick spell, to quickly check for traces of dark magic around his wife, and then another to remove all potential hazards in the house.
He knew.
There was no battle involved.
The only hazard was an oven containing burnt sweets of some kind.
Ginny had not been cursed.
Ginny was not wounded.
Then where did the blood come from?
Knowing his wife was safe to touch and move, Harry placed a hand on her pale, limp wrist.
She had no heartbeat.
Her skin was ice cold.
She wasn’t breathing.
“Gin, don’t do this to me,” Harry said, his spare hand shaking in sheer terror. Years of experience on the front lines of battle screaming at him.
She was dead.
She couldn’t be dead.
No resuscitation spells he cast did anything.
She can’t be dead.
Harry was no Healer.
St. Mungos.
In one swift, fluid motion, Harry draped Ginny over his shoulder.
It was as easy as carrying a ragdoll.
Harry’s mind screamed.
Before the sensation of spinning had stopped, he was already yelling for help.
Ginny was rolled into an operating room.
And she was rolled out within minutes.
“We’re sorry Mr. Potter,” Harry heard a Healer say.
And his world turned upside down.
**********
It took hours for Lily to drag James out of bed. “We all know you’re not fine so stop pretending you are.”
“Just leave me alone.”
“No.”
The Astronomy Tower at midnight was one of the best places for private conversations without getting caught out of curfew. Albus was already there, standing next to the telescopes, his silver and green tie gleaming underneath the reflection of the moon. His Prefect badge ensured that nobody would receive punishment of any sort if they happened to be caught out of the dormitories at this hour.
“Took you long enough,” he said, green eyes glaring at his siblings. “I’ve been waiting for hours.”
The dynamics between James, Albus and Lily had always fascinated their cousins. Rose especially, never really understood how they consistently knew everything about each other without ever speaking about it. “It’s creepy, really,” she once stated, mildly envious because she has tried and failed to have that same kind of relationship with her younger brother.
No one ever thought to wonder that maybe it was because Hogwarts wasn’t a place meant for any one of them to survive without each other.
For a long while, nobody said anything to each other. They just stood by the telescopes and looked onto the grounds outside. An owl hooted in the distance, breaking the comfortable silence they fell in.
“You’re not really upset about Alexandra, are you?” Albus asked, gaze distant.
James shook his head. “I really thought…” he trailed off, the unspoken disappointment and hopelessness overwhelmingly evident.
Lily scoffed, voice bitter and resentful. “I told you he wasn’t a real one ages ago, did I not? Look who didn’t listen.”
Albus nudged her in the shoulder.
James smiled in a self deprecating way. “I didn’t really want to listen.”
Lily let out a low breath. “Don’t get me wrong, I love Mum and Dad and wouldn’t change them for the world, but…I really hate being a Potter sometimes.”
“Yeah,” Albus breathed.
James simply nodded in agreement. Then, grinned and wrapped his arms around his two younger siblings. “On the bright side, we have each other. Isn’t that all we need?”
Albus laughed too. “Sure, and we’re going home tomorrow,” he said, letting out a small and rare grin of his own.
Lily raised an eyebrow.
James tried to rub her head.
She ducked.
Albus successfully rubbed her head, messing up her hair.
“Hey!”
“Hey sis.”
“You two are dolts.”
“Only in your eyes.”
**********
It felt as if the world just played a big fat joke on him.
Maybe his entire life was just a big, fat, fucking, joke.
“Uncle Harry?” A gentle but familiar voice prodded for his attention. It was Victoire Lupin (neé Weasley), his niece and his godson’s new wife.
“Victoire,” Harry whispered, lifting his head up from his spot against the wall in some random hallway at St. Mungos, his voice scratchy but steady.
Victoire Lupin handed him a tissue and brought him to her office. He took it silently and wiped his face with it. He didn’t realize he had been crying.
“Healer Smith just told me about Aunt Ginny,” Victoire said, her hands shaking as she took out a clipboard and handed it to him. She was crying too. “I’m sorry.”
Harry shook his head. “I’m sorry too,” he croaked, and buried his head in his hands.
He felt his niece wrap her arms around him, and felt her shake as she cried too.
After a while, as they both calmed down, she sat down at her desk and went over Ginny’s files with him.
“She was four months pregnant,” Victoire told him shakily. “And approaching forty, it’s considered high risk.”
Harry nodded numbly and clenched his fists in his lap. He didn’t know. If he knew, he wouldn’t have gone anywhere. He wanted to throw up.
“Cause of death, hemorrhagic stroke.”
Harry nodded.
“It’s when a blood vessel in the brain ruptures. Often without any previous signs or signals.”
Harry nodded.
“The risk increases with age and in Aunt Ginny’s case, pregnancies.”
Harry nodded.
**********
Albus lay wide awake in his four poster bed, contemplating what happened to James during the day. He sat up, looking across the room to where Scorpius was sleeping.
Would there be a day in which Scorp betrays him too?
He shook the thought away before it could form into anything more. Scorpius would never. Scorpius and Mason were not the same. Scorpius was loyal to him down to the bone.
Scorpius, like him, was an outsider tied to his name.
Unexpectedly, Professor Longbottom had charged into the room. “Albus!” He called, his typical warm, calmness replaced by pure panic. “Come with me!”
Albus jumped out of bed and ran to follow the Deputy Headmaster’s footsteps. “Is it James? Lily? Professor, what happened?” He asked, alarms going off in his head.
Longbottom shook his head. “It’s not for me to tell, but I’m sorry,” he said sadly.
Albus swore he saw Neville wipe a tear away just as they approached the Headmistress’ office.
Heart in his throat, he entered the office and turned to face James and Lily, both looking equally as terrified as he felt.
Professor McGonagall was crying.
Lily held onto James, shaking like a leaf.
Something has happened to Dad.
Professor Longbottom got into the floo. “Potter Manor!” He said, and vanished.
James brought Lily forward and helped her into the fireplace, following her as soon as she was gone.
Albus stood as still a statue. McGonagall’s gentle hand on his shoulder was painful and scalding hot. “Go on,” the Headmistress said, nudging him forward.
Albus took a deep breath, and entered the flames.