The telephone her husband had insisted they install rang on the table beside her. She had expected this call, been looking forward to it all day, but it still gave her a shock.

"Hi babe!"

Every couple of months, Harry went away on business. It could be a week, or just a few days but she always missed him dreadfully and eagerly awaited his nightly phone call, the reason they had purchased the telephone in the first place.

Ginny Potter smiled the smile that she reserved just for him and settled down to talk to Harry.

"How are you? And the kids?" He had a tone of relief in his voice as he spoke to his wife of seven years.

"We're all fine, I miss you, the children miss you too." She chuckled thinking about them. "They want their stories and baths from Daddy, not boring old Mummy"

She thought back to the night before Harry went away. The bath was overflowing with bubbles, Harry using his wand to create even more. Splash fights were raging and she could have sworn she heard pirate noises. Then came the screams of laughter from lily's room; James and Al went in there every night to hear the stories of their parents and their escapades. Harry was telling them their favourite tale, The Day Daddy Kissed Mummy.

"..and then Uncle Ronny tried to hex Daddy but Mummy whipped her wand out and Uncle Ronny turned to a pile of goo on the floor…"

If only her brother knew about the stories told in the Potter household. The children worshipped him though, he was their big brave uncle Ronny that gave them sweets and played hide and seek with them. Well, until Auntie Mione came back from work and then he turned into a puppy dog, following her around.

She had tried to embellish the stories and make them exciting but she just didn't have the same knack for storytelling as the man of the house.

"I miss them too." It had only been two days, yet it felt like weeks.

This was what the conversations were like between Harry and Ginny when he was working away. Short and sweet. They only needed to speak to each other, the words didn't matter. They could talk about anything and everything, but mainly they just needed to see that the other was okay and any frustrations they were feeling simply melted away.

"I love you."

"I love you too, can't wait for you to get home" Ginny meant every syllable.

They had a very close relationship. People were always commenting on the fact that they couldn't keep their hands to themselves. It could be something as simple as holding hands or placing a hand on the other's knee, they just had this urge to be as close as possible to each other at all times. If they were apart, at a meeting or sat at opposite ends of the dinner table, there were still looks. Deep, meaningful looks full of love that no other was party to.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" Harry asked even though he knew the answer.

For Harry to be away was heart-wrenching for both of them. They had never been able to sleep well when apart. Even after the war, after they had reunited, she had refused to let him go. The fights with her mother were thunderous but she would not give in. She had to sleep in the same bed as Harry, to know that he was still there. Her mother had finally relented after Ginny had confessed to having been plagued with nightmares since Harry's sojourn into the forest. After witnessing the aftermath of one of these nightmares, her mother had not bothered them and let them continue with whatever made her youngest happy.

"Well, erm, I'm trying" Ginny said with a laugh, "it's not easy sharing your bed with three children!"

Ever since they were tiny, the children instinctively knew when their Daddy would be away. They would creep in, one by one to snuggle with their Mummy. Albus was usually the first to crawl in, her sensitive second son loved to be held and didn't mind people knowing it. The smallest noise would wake her only daughter up, so she was quick to follow. James tried to pretend that he was too old and didn't need to any more, yet after one morning of walking into his parents' bedroom and seeing his siblings cuddles up, he relented and joined in too.

Harry laughed. A deep, happy laugh that echoed through the handset and still gave her butterflies.

"Well you will spoil them." He said with a chuckle.

She knew that he was only joking with her, the children were his light and he would do anything for them. Even when Harry was home, many a night she had woken up with at least one child between them.

"How was your day?" Ginny loved hearing about Harry's work. As much as she loved being at home with the children and writing for the Prophet; she still had a yearning to be out there with him.

"Not too bad, we have some good leads that should tie it all up quickly. And yours?" Harry never liked to talk in much detail about the cases he was working. Not until they were finished and he knew he had caught the bad guy.

Ginny perked up instantly. The sooner he wrapped up his case, the sooner he could come home.

"It's been good, the boys wanted to go to Diagon Alley for ice cream and Lily went to play with Rose and Hugo."

"O-o-okay," Harry said, failing to stifle a yawn. "Sorry Gin."

"That's fine, you go get some rest and I'll speak to you tomorrow night." Ginny could picture her husband, still in his work robes sat on the bed of the hotel, trying to not to show how tired he was.

She could see it clearly as it happened so often when he arrived home after a long shift. He would come in, kick his shoes off, greet his wife and get comfortable. He would try to keep up with the conversation but eventually would drop off to sleep on the sofa, glasses askew and hand holding hers.

"Night Gin, love you."

"Night Harry, love you too."

The next night, Ginny had bathed the children and put them to bed. She had tried her best with the story yet she just couldn't make the tale of Uncle Ronny and Daddy's trip in Grandpa's flying car as exhilarating as her husband.

She was exhausted from lack of sleep and running around after three kids all day, so she made herself a cup of tea and read for a while. Some time later, she noticed that the time had passed for Harry to call. This surprised her, but she wasn't worried. He was Harry Potter! He could look after himself. Maybe he was still out working, she would try and contact him in the morning.

Ginny waited a while longer, then decided to try and get some sleep. She chuckled when she reached the door, her three beautiful children were a big tangle of limbs in the centre of the bed. After a few gentle moves, the pillows were covered with red and black and Ginny climbed in.

Surprisingly, she soon dropped off. She didn't murmur when the door to the bedroom opened.

Lily did though.

"Daddy!" She jumped off the bed into her arms, Harry telling her to be quiet so as not to wake her brothers.

He silently padded out of the room and into her nursery. He laid his angel onto her bed and gently smoothed her forehead until she dropped back off to sleep. Harry stood at her door, eyes fixed upon the beauty of his daughter.

Creeping back into his own room, he picked up James and carried him to his snitch patterned bed. As he was about to place a kiss on the boy's forehead, he awoke. After promises of flying lessons and trips to the Burrow, James succumbed to slumber again. Harry loved this room, he thought as he picked his son's toy broom off the floor and placed it on the dresser, it was exactly how he would've wanted his as a child. Although his would'nt have been orange.

"Bloody Ron." He thought with a smile.

He grinned as he walked back towards his bed. Now for the hard part. Albus. He would have to do this carefully. Harry gradually made his way over to his second son and gathered him into his arms. Where James was like his father with his love of quidditch and penchant for trouble, Albus was like his mother. Very loving, sensitive and quite temperamental. Harry moved to his son's room and placed him into his bed. With the skills of his years of auror training, he backed out of his room.

"Daddy!" Harry smiled despite himself. He went up to Albus and held him. Within minutes, he was asleep once more and Harry carefully unwrapped his son from his arms and crept back to bed.

He undressed silently and gazed upon the wonder that was his wife. He still found her to be the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and idly wondered how he ended up so lucky.

He gently lifted the covers and climbed in behind his wife. He slid one arm underneath her and brought her closer to him with the other.

"Hi babe." He whispered. "I'm home"

She smiled the smile that was only for him and turned to kiss him. She snaked her arms around his neck and crushed her lips to his.

They both slept soundly that night, and when they awoke they were separated by a beautiful mix of red and black.