Parents 4

Seconds later, Harry and Ginny appeared back in the kitchen of the Burrow, each carrying the sleeping form of one of their children. They smiled each other in the dim light; it was apparently quite late.

"Feels good to hold them again," said Harry, pressing a soft kiss on James' sweaty forehead.

"Ummhmm," agreed Ginny, smiling down at her daughter, almost a perfect miniature of her mother, particularly with her eyes closed.

"I'm glad James is feeling better. He certainly got the other me good, back there."

"He certainly did," Ginny said. "And if I'm not mistaken, your younger self handled it a lot better than you did, the first time Lily got sick all over your lap."

"Yeah, that was rather disgusting, if I remember correctly."

Harry was quiet for a second.

"What is it, Harry?"

"I just, feel a little sorry for them — our younger selves, I mean. I almost think, given the chance, that that Harry and Ginny might have started dating each other years earlier — I mean, you and I would have started dating earlier. You know?"

"I think I do. You needed something to help make you see me in a different light," mused Ginny.

"Something other than watching you snog Dean Thomas," said Harry wryly.

"Prat."

"Where do you think your mother is?" asked Harry.

"Oh probably having a nice cup of tea with her other self or something. I'm sure she'll be here soon."

"I wonder what she's going to say," said Harry.

"If I know my mum, quite a lot. Let's get these two to bed before she gets back."

Harry and Ginny carried Lily and James up to Ginny's room, where the same magically expanded bed awaited them. As Ginny bent down to tuck Lily under the covers, the little girl woke a bit and smiled drowsily at her mother.

"I'm glad you're back, Mummy."

Harry and Ginny looked at each other in surprise. Neither Lily nor James had given any indication while in the Pensieve that they did not believe the younger Harry and Ginny were their parents.

"What do you mean, I'm back, honey? I never left."

"You had sharper bones, before. Now you're nice and soft again."

Harry smiled at Ginny. "I like you nice and soft too."

Ginny swatted his arm. "Again, you're a prat, you know that?"

"But I'm your prat."

"That you are. Let's let these two sleep and go find my mum."

As Harry and Ginny walked back into the kitchen, the air around the Pensieve shivered and Molly emerged, no longer Disillusioned. She took one look at Harry and Ginny and shook her head at them, sighing.

"I should have known I couldn't trust you," she said.

"What do you mean?" asked Ginny, somewhat indignantly. "We stayed under the Cloak the whole time! Well, until the end, when it didn't matter anymore. So how can this be my fault? Or Harry's?"

"Not you two, the other Harry and Ginny." Molly looked at Harry. "Given what I just witnessed, I have no idea how it took you until the end of Sixth Year to let my daughter know you fancied her."

"What do you mean?" Harry squirmed a bit under his mother-in-law's gaze.

"I mean," said Molly, "that it only took the younger two of you five minutes on a couple of broomsticks to start making googly eyes at each other and get all mushy about the thought of being able to take care of Lily and James! Neither of you even blinked when they screamed in your ears and put their sticky hands all over you and treated your bodies like their own personal jungle gyms. You even managed to make getting thrown up on look like . . . like . . . like some kind of foreplay!"

"Actually, I think for some couples, that is foreplay," commented Ginny dryly.

Her mother gave her a withering look.

"How in the name of Merlin's saggy shorts am I supposed to show this memory to the students at Hogwarts as an example of how difficult it is to be a teen parent, when your own two teenage selves seemed to enjoy themselves so much they practically started snogging each other in the middle of it! If everyone see this, they are all going to want to run out right away and get a couple of kids of their own — which, may I remind you, is definitely not the point of the sex education class I am supposed to teach."

Harry and Ginny both tried to look ashamed. They failed.

"And I certainly can't accuse Lily and James on being too easy on either of you — they were just wonderful — so natural!" Molly got all misty for a moment. "Although I am sorry that Jamie got sick. I certainly didn't mean for that to happen, although it was a nice touch. Is he feeling better?"

Harry and Ginny assured Molly that James was fine, and she picked up her rant where she had left off.

"I mean, really. Couldn't one of you at least have made a comment about how hard parenting is, or how you suddenly have a new respect for what Arthur and I go through? Oh, no, not the two of you, you had to have a blast flying the twins around on your brooms and then getting all sentimental about how much you loved them already! I'm surprised Harry didn't just get down on one knee and propose right there in the kitchen!"

"Mum!" protested Ginny. "Being with them meant a lot to Harry and me. I mean, the younger Harry and me."

Molly sighed. "I know, dear. And it really was rather sweet to watch, if I hadn't been thinking in the back of my mind that I could never show any part of it in my "Wait until Marriage" lecture. You two really were quite good, you know."

"Face it," said Harry cheekily. "Ginny and I were just meant for each other from the start, not to mention the fact that we are superior parents."

"Hmmphf," said Molly. "I assume you're all staying here tonight? If you'll excuse me, I need to go revise my lesson plan."

She left the room, muttering to herself that everything would have worked much better if she had chosen Rose and Hugo instead.

Harry grinned at his wife. "Oh, I hope she does send Rose and Hugo. Can you just imagine the look on your brother's face when he realizes that he is going to end up married to Hermione?"

Ginny giggled. "And I bet Hermione runs straight to some parenting manual to make sure she does absolutely everything by the book."

"They wouldn't last an hour," agreed Harry.

"If I remember correctly, that's what you said about me, Potter."

"Oh yeah, the bet. It seems to me that we tied, as neither of our alter-egos crashed and burned at the whole 'teen parent' thing."

"True, although, seeing as you were the one that got vomited on, I am willing to declare you the winner." Ginny smiled up at her husband and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You really were quite an extraordinary father, even at fifteen."

Harry gently touched his lips to hers. "And you were a spectacular mother. But you know, I don't think I want to win the bet. Suddenly the thought of not giving them baths or dealing with bedtimes for two weeks doesn't sound so appealing." He grinned at his wife. "I know you're already pregnant, but how about we go upstairs and practice for the next one?"

"Harry, I like the way your mind works, not to mention several other parts of your anatomy."

Harry took Ginny's hand and led her to the stairs. "Let's just check on the twins first, okay?"