albus
After the victory of England's Quidditch team, the whole team went to celebrate together. Ginny also went to the Leaky Cauldron, but renounced alcohol. The partners of the team were also allowed to accompany them and that's why Harry and Ginny enjoyed going out for the first time since James was born a little over two years ago, while James slept at his grandparents' house. George and Angelina came with them, as the latter worked in management for the English team. Both of them let Freddie spend the night with his favorite cousin at Molly and Arthur's.
When Harry and Ginny came home well after midnight, they continued the party privately and fell asleep when the sun was almost up again.
The next day Ginny was again celebrated by her family at the Burrow, before a final press conference was held on Monday and Ginny finally started maternity leave.
~
Less than two months after the final of the Quidditch World Championship, Ginny sat exhausted in the living room of her and Harry's house with her friend Lizzie. She had now arrived in her fortieth week of pregnancy and thus in the final weeks of pregnancy. Ginny could hardly believe how she had managed to be so fit two months ago when she was already exhausted before noon now.
Harry had to continue working and could only take time off as head of the Auror department from the time the birth began. Luckily, they had already finished the big case, which had brought him some sleepless nights, and so they didn't have much to do in the department. However, Harry had a lot of paperwork to do and had to brief his deputy, Auror Wade, on everything so that he could take over Harry's place for the next few months after the birth so that Harry could go on paternity leave.
“That’s why Ramona and I don’t want children. None of us want to be pregnant," said Lizzie, who was sitting on the floor with James and playing with him. Ginny was happy for everyone who came to visit her these days and played with James, as it was getting harder and harder for her to chase after him. Luna had only visited her the day before, after she had returned from a long trip where she had met a nice man, whom she told her friend about.
"You could adopt, too," Ginny rebuked, leaning back a bit as she stroked her abdomen with one hand. “Besides, it’s only bad in the end. In between, it's really nice to be pregnant."
"This time you could enjoy your pregnancy a little more than last time," Lizzie remarked, handing James a component for his toy railroad (a Muggle gift from his grandpa for Christmas). “And Moni and I love kids, but I think having one 24/7 would be nothing for us."
Ginny smiled. “It is your right to decide against children. I'll bet you if I didn't want one, I'd have gotten pregnant one day anyway."
That made Lizzie laugh. "Why? Because of the well-known Weasley or rather Prewett fertility?"
"That's right. But I tell you, Harry would be also to blame. I mean, after all, he alreay knocked me up two times unpla-" She stopped in the middle of the sentence, which made her friend look up.
"What is it?"
Ginny looked down at herself and then at Lizzie. “My waters just broke."
~
She hated these white, sterile rooms about as much as the Tutshill Tornados. But at least there was a spark of joy in her, which overlooked the fact that she was in such a room. In a few hours, if everything went smoothly, she could leave the St Mungos again with a freshly baked potter in her arms.
She was in the hospital for about half an hour when there was a knock on the door, and shortly after Harry entered and breathed a relief when he saw her sitting smiling on a gymnastics ball and looking at him.
"Hey Gin, I got here as fast as I could," he said and sat down on a chair that was in the room so he could look at her. "How are you?"
'I can't complain yet,' she replied. “Everything is still relaxed. I'm already in labour, and they come every ten minutes or so. And," her eyes glowed, "I'm already four centimeters dilated!"
Harry's eyes widened. "Seriously?" he asked in disbelief. With James, they had to wait 20 hours for that to happen.
Ginny nodded euphorically. “If everything keeps going that quickly, Baby Potter will be here later tonight and we can get out of here tomorrow." Then she pointed to a bag that was in the room. “I just packed a few things for you. I thought you'd like to get out of your work clothes and put on something comfortable."
He almost laughed. "You are wonderful!" he said instead, kissing her briefly on the mouth. "Where is James anyway?"
“Lizzie was with me when I my waters broke and looks after him. She's taking him to my parents' tonight."
As it seemed, everything was ready for them to become parents for the second time.
~
"I'd really forgotten how much this hurts!" Ginny moaned, leaning her forearms on the bed as she knelt on the floor and Harry massaged her lower back.
It was now after midnight and the baby was still not there. But it would not be long to wait.
"Not long now and we will have another baby," said Harry, looking at his watch. It was after 2:00 in the morning. "Are you sure you don't want me to call your mum?"
Ginny shook her head. "No, I just want you here this time," she replied, taking a deep breath.
"Okay," Harry whispered, rubbing his hand over her lower back.
After a few minutes the door opened and healer Wilson entered. She gave them a broad smile. "Then let's see how much dilated you are, Ginny," she said, as Harry helped his wife to lie down on the bed to be examined.
Ginny grabbed Harry's hand and looked at him tensely. He calmly squeezed her hand and returned her look of hope.
Wilson got up from her stool and stripped off her gloves. Her smile hadn't slipped a bit. “Are you ready to hold your baby in your arms in just a few moments? 'Cause you are fully dilated."
~
Harry looked intrigued at his son, who was lying on Ginny's chest, slowly opening and closing his eyes. In spite of the few seconds his eyes were open, he realized that they were just as green as his own – as his mother's had been.
"We have a son again," Ginny whispered with a smile.
"And he has green eyes," he said with a broad smile on his face, looking at his wife.
Ginny had closed her eyes and put her head back. "Hmm," she replied absently.
"Ginny?" asked Harry, and all his attention turned from his son to her. He saw her hand wandering from Albus' back to her belly.
"Ow," she whimpered, and when he looked into her eyes, he recognized her pain.
"Gin?" he repeated more anxiously. "What's going on?"
Her eyes closed again and she seemed absent. His gaze moved back to her hand, which was on her lower abdomen. He could still perceive Healer Wilson entering the room again as his gaze slid further down. Harry wasn't an expert on childbirth, but with the birth of his first son, things had gone a little differently and had not ended up with Ginny having trouble talking and in so much pain. And then there was...
Harry swallowed and turned to the healer. "Is this much blood normal?"