Finding the Old Fire

A/N A post-Deathly Hallows Harry/Ginny fluff story. One-shot. Cannon compliant. Rated T. Everything belongs to JKR.

He walked through the door to find what sounded like mild chaos. This was becoming a normal welcome as Al had realized he could pull up on just about everything and Jamie had started his first bits of minor accidental magic. Noise was the most consistent sound in the Potter home these days.

"I'm home!" Harry called and he could here Jamie running to the front door and Al crawling along behind him in response. "Daddy!" Jamie yelled throwing himself at Harry. Sweeping each boy up in his arms, and kissing them fondly, he headed into the living room to find his wife.

Ginny was in the living room looking like she'd endured the last windstorm outdoors. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, her shirt, once a favorite, covered in baby food, markers, and other assorted messes, her second favorite jeans on, which meant the boys had burned through her three pairs of "kid jeans" as she called them, and she knelt on the floor picking up crayon wrapper paper pieces. Jamie had reached the paper tearing stage at the same time Al had reached the stage that everything had to go into his mouth. And so one of Ginny's daily goals was to keep Al from eating all the paper pieces Jamie provided.

"Hi hun." Ginny said as he walked in, not bothering to get up or look at him.

Harry looked at his wife for a long moment. This had been the norm for the last couple of weeks and it finally occurred to him that his wife had gotten lost somewhere in the word "mum". Harry loved that Ginny did her very best to raise their boys, but this didn't appear to be easy on her, and it was showing. Carefully setting the boys back on the floor he walked over to Ginny and helped pick up all the little paper pieces. Then kissed her hair giving her a brief hug.

"Let me make dinner tonight." He said as she jumped up to keep Al from banging his head on the corner of the coffee table.
"Are you sure?" Setting Al further away from the table and handing him a toy. "I know work has been rough lately. I wouldn't want to stress you with dinner." She said trying to hide the relief from her voice.
"I'm sure." He smiled at her. "Give you a chance to breathe before bed time starts."
"Thanks." Ginny said with a small and grateful smile.

Harry got to work making one of Ginny's preferred meals that he knew Jamie would eat too. He could hear his little family in the living room and the latest children's telly program the boys were into. The strain in Ginny's voice as she asked Jamie to share a toy told Harry that she was doing her best not to scream. They had learned that Jamie's response to being yelled at was to completely shut down and continue whatever negative behavior he was being yelled at over until physically forced to stop it. It was definitely time for his wife to have a bit of a break from the title of mum.

Dinner was the usual theatrics of feeding a toddler and teething baby. And by the end of it Ginny looked more dejected than she had before as she observed the mess.

"Just take Al to bed love. I'll get things cleaned up." Harry reassured her. She nodded gratefully and pulled a very messy Al from his high chair. Harry made quick work of the mess while Jamie ran around the main living area with his toy dragons that magically hovered about a foot in the air and blew imitation flames. Moving to the living room Harry called his oldest son to him.
"Hey Jamie! How about a bit of a game?"
"Okay Daddy!" Jamie said as he ran to his arms.
"Great! Do you know what bin each of your toys belongs in?"
"Yes!"
"Good! Daddy will give you a toy and you show me what bin it goes in, yeah?"
Jamie happily agreed and though it definitely took longer than him just throwing the toys where they went, Harry hoped the little exercise would encourage Jamie to start cleaning up on his own and less because Ginny was telling him to for the fifth or sixth time.
"Ok buddy, now that that's done, how about a bath?" Jamie squealed in delight and went running towards the bathroom.

10 minutes later, bathed and in his pjs, Jamie sat curled up on Harry's lap reading his favorite stories before bed. Ginny walked in and a look of relief crossed her tired face.
"Ready for bed kiddo?" She asked, arms outstretched.
"Daddy come too!" the little boy responded, grasping Harry around the arm.
"Oh sure, because Daddy is much better than Mummy. I only gave you life!" Ginny joked sticking her tongue our at their son. Harry thought that was a good sign. It had been a while since he'd hear Ginny actually joke around like she used to.

After getting Jamie down Harry took Ginny in his arms and held her for a long minute.
"You're having a rough time of it aren't you Gin?" He took her hand and led her to their bedroom as she answered.
"Oh you know, just trying to keep up." She lied. Harry suspected she was lying more to herself than to him.
"I think you're doing an amazing job! But I think you're losing yourself, Gin. You haven't been acting like...well like you."
"I'm sorry." She responded sitting on the bed, turning away from him, her whole body starting to shut him out.
"No! I'm sorry." He hadn't wanted to make her feel bad, he was trying to be understanding! He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. "I guess what I mean is that we've had you so focused on being mum that we forgot to let you be Gin. Does that make sense?"
She turned back towards him. "Actually Harry, it sounds exactly right."
Relieved Harry decided to keep going. "I was thinking we could plan on doing some things to help you. We could plan some time to go flying on my days off. Leave the boys with your mum or Andromeda. And I'll make more time for nights out just the two of us. Would that help?"
Ginny nodded, not looking at him so much as past him, her face unreadable. "Gin?"
She took a deep breath before looking down at her hands, fidgeting in her lap. "Are you still attracted to me?" She asked quietly.
The question caught him off guard. Ginny was normally so head strong and sure of herself. The thought that she might doubt her allure was startling. "Of course I do! Why on earth would you need to ask me that?"
"Well, it's just been a long while since you've been intimate and I thought that maybe it was because I was losing my appeal..."

Harry sat a bit dumbstruck staring at his wife as he contemplated her words. She was right, it had been long enough that he honestly couldn't remember the last time they'd done anything more than say goodnight and roll over, let alone what they used to get up to before they had Jamie and Al. He'd been caught up in a case for the last month or so, and she always seemed so exhausted when he got home that he didn't want to push the issue. Now he was seeing that maybe it wasn't that she was exhausted, but feeling uncared for and dejected. Silently cursing himself he wrapped Ginny in his arms.

"I'm so sorry Gin. None of my excuses are even worth mentioning. I've neglected you and I'm sorry."
Ginny sighed into his chest, snaking her arms around his waist. "You've been busy and stressed and I'm sure you thought that you were somehow making life easier on me. But part of me being 'Gin' is the part of me that used to sneak around with you, hiding in your office or the Harpies' locker room, or"
"Or George's store room!" Harry added laughing.
"Or the kitchen counter." Ginny said finally looking at him with a small smile, and with the spark of her old fire back in her eyes.
"Or the field behind the Burrow." Harry said gently releasing her hair from her ponytail.
"Or the beach when we went to the Virgin Islands." Ginny laughed, shaking her hair loose.
"Or that home we looked through when we were trying to pick a place to raise the boys." Harry kissed her neck, and Ginny purred in response.
"Or the Jacuzzi tub at our hotel during our honeymoon." She ran her hands under his shirt.
"Every inch of my old flat in Birmingham." He ran his hands up her back getting Ginny to arch and giving him better access to her neck.
"The majority of Birmingham." Ginny chuckled, a low sultry sort of laugh that made Harry realize how much he missed this side of his gorgeous wife.
He brought her lips to his and with a kiss filled with hunger, they didn't seem to need to talk anymore.

Much later, in a tangle of sheets and blankets, Ginny's head on Harry's chest, his arm draped across her stomach and a hand idly playing in her hair, Harry broke their contented silence. "Gin?"
"Harry."
"From now on we focus on not losing this. I know the boys are important and they'll take up a lot of time, but I don't want to lose us either."
Ginny rolled her head to look up at him. "Damn straight Potter." And she reached up to kiss him again. Just as their lips met, they heard Al start to cry. Ginny sighed, laying her forehead against Harry's.
Harry smiled and slipped a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "I'll wait up."
Ginny smiled as she stood and grabbed a robe. "I'll be quick."

Harry lay back against the pillows, and smiled. Life wasn't easy being married and having children. But he was sure that with Ginny by his side, they'd figure out how to make it as much fun as possible, like that time on the muggle train they took in France.