Chapter Thirteen

Return of the Long Absent

Harry Potter stumbled into his house and looked around, hoping to find his wife ready to greet him. He had just Apparated in from dealing with the Ministry, and he hoped to see Ginny again as soon as possible. His once happy little home looked unused and dirty, though. No one, and no signs of people were in evidence.

Next, Harry tried the Burrow, but the scene was much the same. Starting to worry a little, Harry pulled out his wand and tried the new Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, hoping against hope he would find his wife and family their. When he Apparated into the kitchen, Harry was greeted by a wealth of happy noise, so he knew that he had at least found people, but Harry had the sneaking suspicion that Ginny wasn't here either.

"Harry!" cried Molly Weasley, running to hug her surrogate son.

"Hi, Mrs Weasley," said Harry with a bit of a blush.

Harry looked around the now silent room, noticing most of the Order members, and a large amount of Weasley hair, but not his wife. He did see Hermione however, and went to hug her next. But before he could ask her where Ginny was, Ron had come up to speak to him. "Are you still sore about Egypt?" asked Harry.

"Nah, though I wish you hadn't of snuck off on your own. I was all for coming after you, but Nate thought we should come back to England. I've had an easy few years here. I only had the Death Eaters to worry about, and not their master." Ron told Harry with a grin.

"Good, that's what I wanted for you lot," Harry replied with a grin. "Now, where's-"

But a solid hour of speaking with people, swapping stories and hugs passes before Harry was able to ask his question. Finally he simply dragged Ron and Hermione off into another room by their arms, determined to get his answers. He didn't quite know what was going on, but he felt his two best friends were keeping something hidden.

"Where the hell is my wife?" he burst out.

"The thing of it is, Harry…" began Ron.

"We don't precisely know," Hermione told Harry after Ron trailed off. "We think she's at whatever house she's been living in since a few months after your disappearance, but we don't know where that is. Er, we know she's alive because she receives her letters, but she doesn't write back…"

"WHAT?" Harry screamed the question. "Why the hell won't she answer letters or tell you where she lives?"

"We don't quite know…" Hermione offered weakly.

"You're disappearance hurt her terribly, mate. They thought we were dead," Ron took over the conversation. "When Nate and I turned up, and she found out we weren't, she was shocked. Then there was the huge misunderstanding, and I said some very stupid things to her because I hadn't a clue what I was talking about."

"What did you say to her?" asked Harry quickly.

"Well, it's hard to explain just now. There's something Ginny will have to tell you before anything makes sense. I promise I'll tell you everything I said the moment Ginny's explained, and I'll even stand still so you can hit me after. Right now though, I think it's more important that we find your wife."

"Yeah, I'd say," Harry said wearily, wishing that for once, something could have been easy. He'd been dreaming of coming back to Ginny for so long, and he had so hoped to just fall into her arms the second he arrived home.

"Mama!" cried Jamie Potter as she raced towards Ginny, her dark hair falling in messy waves down her back. Her green eyes sparked with delight as she offered a flower to her mother.

"Thank you, sweetie," Ginny smiled as she took the slightly squished dandy lion from her three year old. "Why don't you pick a few more and we'll take them into to Dobby to put in a vase. We'll put them on the kitchen table."

"Okay, Mama." The little girl smiled and ran off, grabbing handfuls of weeds as her mother pulled the wash down from the clothes line. Ginny was only half done when Jamie returned, so she left her basket to escort her little daughter inside and to ask Dobby to help the girl arrange her flowers.

With that, Ginny returned to the wet clothes. As she hung them up, Ginny hummed, enjoying the bright sunshine. Suddenly from behind her, Ginny heard a soft gasp. As she was turning to investigate, she heard her name cried out in a devastatingly familiar voice. "Harry!" she cried as she turned to see him.

And there he stood. More muscled than before, and with a new scar that wrapped around his neck, but there he stood. Her Harry had come home to her. Ginny and Harry flew together, mouths meeting in a hot and desperate kiss. His lips on hers were demanding, but Ginny could only be glad. She opened her mouth to him, revelling in the once familiar sensations of being in his arms.

Soon his hands found the buttons on her shirt and the pair sank to the grassy ground of Ginny's back garden. As each pulled off the other's clothing, happy tears added a salty touch to their kisses. Harry dipped his head to catch one nipple softly in his teeth as his hand reacquainted themselves with every inch of her, and she did the same. Then Ginny became impatient. Leaning up so her moist lips were beside his ear, Ginny began to whisper. "I want you inside me. Deep inside."

Then Ginny grabbed a hold of him and pulled him to her entrance. As he eased into to her velvety depths, Ginny moaned with pleasure. When he was in her fully, he slowly pulled out, and Ginny began to whisper again. "Faster Harry, I want you to go faster. Harder and faster, Harry."

He complied and soon they were both climaxing powerfully. When they were through, they couldn't long hang in the afterglow because they were outside and naked. They quickly and sloppily dressed again, and Harry tried to pull her towards the house. Ginny stopped him, though, and realized that the time for confession had come. "Harry, wait a second, honey. I have to tell you something."

"What is it, love?" asked Harry as he turned to wrap his arms around his wife.

"Well, some things have changed in the time you've been gone. You have to meet someone," Ginny took a deep breath, and looked up at the love of her life, "And Harry, love, know that I never meant for this to happen."

Harry was utterly confused as Ginny pulled away from him and headed for her house. At the doorway, she paused and called out, "Sweetheart, come here! Jamie, come out back!"

Harry utterly froze. Who was his wife calling? Had she married again when she thought he was dead? Was some bloke going to come out and tell him that Ginny was his now, and Harry shouldn't have gone off to war and left her behind?

The person who followed Ginny out of their home was both a great relief and very shocking at the same time.

"Harry, this is your daughter, Jamie. Sweetie, this is your daddy." Ginny bent down to scoop the little girl up and then stood so that Harry's emerald eyes met his daughter's. She was a tiny pixie of a girl, with his black hair and emerald eyes, but a few of Ginny's freckles and her petite frame.

"Jamie?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, Jamie. Jamison Lilia Molly Artemisia Weasley-Potter, I named her for our parents. Jamie, tell your daddy how old you are," Ginny prompted, though she wasn't sure that Harry would even hear. He was looking at their daughter with eyes full of wonder and happiness.

"I'm three, Daddy," Jamie said quietly. "Mommy gaveded me a dolly and a toy broom for my birthday, and Dobby gaveded me socks."

"Did he? That was nice of him. Dobby always liked socks," Harry said, voice a little faint.

"Jamie, why don't you go get your dolly to show your daddy," Ginny suggested, sending her daughter back into the house, knowing that Dobby would help her as she spoke with Harry.

"We have a daughter," said Ginny, hoping that the happiness she had read in Harry wasn't just wishful thinking.

"You named her Jamie," Harry replied with a smile.

"Well, when I thought you were dead, I tried to come up with a name that left no one out. Jamison for you and your father, Lilia for your mother, Molly for me and mum and Artemisia because that was a close to a female version of Dad's name as I could get. I'm not really stuck on the Weasley-Potter bit, I just thought that it might be nice to mention both her families in her name." Ginny explained.

"I like it all," Harry said, turning to look at his wife. "Oh, Gin, I'm so sorry for being gone so long! If I'd known about Jamie, I-"

"You might not have been able to do what you did to make her world safer. The important part is that you came back to us now," Ginny said, then she asked timidly, "You have come back to us, haven't you?"

"Of course! How could you even ask?" Harry said, scooping her up.

"Oh, just something Ron said a long time ago. He thought you'd be upset…" Ginny trailed off.

"If you'd maybe read one of his letters, you'd know that he was acting on faulty information. If I had to bet on it, I'd say Ron thought 'Jamie' was a guy you'd fallen in love with, not our daughter. Unless he met her…" Harry trailed off.

"No, he didn't!" Ginny laughed, "What an idiot!"

"Do you forgive him, then?" asked Harry.

"Yes," Ginny said, to happy be angry with anyone.

"That's good, because he'll likely be at the family dinner your mother invited us to tonight. They've missed you, Gin," asked Harry, "Will you come with me to visit them tonight?"

"I suppose so," sighed Ginny, a twinkle in her eye, "But that may cut into the plans I had for you and I tonight, after Jamie goes to bed."

Harry through his head back and laughed, then carried his wife towards their home, "Then we'll just have to make up for that right now!"

And they did.