| Firecrab
Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: melbourne
Posts: 887
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Chapter Thirty Six
She sat by the cot looking in,
“Ginny we’d better go, Faith is waiting”
“Ok”
“She’ll be ok; they said she’ll be ok”
“They were wrong before, they told me I was fine and then I nearly miscarried”
“This time they’re right, she’s stopped crying, she’s sleeping, they said we come back tomorrow and we can probably take her home”
“I’m coming” she wiped her eyes, and leant down to kiss Patience’s forehead. Harry hugged her, keeping his arm around her and they walked out before apparating to the house,
“Is that you guys?” She called out, they walked in and Ginny went straight to Faith sleeping in the pram, “What’s happened?”
“She’s staying in hospital over night” he rubbed his forehead “A tummy bug she can’t deal with, her immune systems not as good”
“But she’ll be alright” she watched Ginny take out Faith and sit on the couch holding her in silence,
“Yeah, they’re sure she’ll be fine”
“Harry can we go home now?” she didn’t look up from the baby in her arms,
He nodded “We’ll see you later” Harry hugged Sophia,
“Don’t worry brother” she whispered in his ear “She’ll be alright”
“I’m more worried about her” he replied glancing at Ginny now standing by the door holding the baby and Harry moved to pack everything up,
“See you guy’s later, let me know what happens”
“We will thanks for looking after this one, she wasn’t too much trouble?”
“Nope, all fine had a bottle, changed her nappy and she went straight to sleep” She said moving to Ginny, opening the door for her, “Bye guys”
They apparated home and Ginny put Faith in the crib but didn’t move from it, Harry came up after an hour and she was still in the nursery, sitting in the rocking chair staring into it with red eyes,
“I brought you something to eat honey” he came in and sat on the window seat putting a plate of sandwiches beside him,
“Not hungry thanks”
“Ginny they’d send us a message if there was anything wrong”
“I know, I don’t want to leave her alone tonight I’m going to stay in here”
“We could move the crib into our room”
“Ok”
“I’ll move the draws – eat something please” he left the plate, stooping down to kiss her forehead as he passed. She smiled for a second feeling his lips against her skin, knowing he was worried just as much as she was but he was trying to be the strong one.
She reached out for a sandwich, ham and tomato, her favourite. She’d munched three by the time he’d come back in,
“Not hungry hey?” he said with a grin,
“Yeah, yeah, so you were right” she smiled back, “Let’s move her”
“Ok – you eat another sandwich while we walk” he levitated the crib floating it through the door and into the bedroom as she munched on another sandwich walking behind him,
“Love you Harry” she smiled moving to sit on the bed as close to the crib as possible,
“Love you too” He sat beside her, taking her hand with a smile “She’ll be fine, so will Patience”
“I believe you; I just don’t think I can sleep tonight”
“I’ll knock you out if I have to” he chuckled nudging her shoulder with his own,
“You might have to” she sighed “I can’t help thinking it would be better for them - I mean what could have caused her to get sick but me, I’m the one that feeds them, it’s me that’s done the damage, what have I done that’s poisoned our little girls?” she started to cry,
He pulled gently and enveloped her in a hug,
“Ginny, it’s not you that’s done this, it’s more likely to have been me not sterilising a bottle properly or something, if anything you should be hitting me and shouting at me for not doing it right”
“You wouldn’t hurt them, I’ve already managed to show I’m capable of that, I was thinking about why I haemorrhaged and I’m sure its’ because – because I did that – because of me, forget Hermione just saying it, I actually tried”
“Don’t”
“It’s me isn’t it; I’m no good for them”
“Ginny stop it, there’s nothing wrong with you, non of what happened was your fault, you love them, you love them too much for there own good sweetheart, your not to blame for this, it’s just something that happens, babies are vulnerable to little things, simple things they get sick all the time and this is just another one of those times”
“I’m their mum, I’m not supposed to make them sick and I manage it, they weren’t safe inside me now there even more at risk outside”
“It’s not your fault”
“I shouldn’t be allowed to have babies, I just hurt them”
“Stop it Ginny, don’t talk like that – whatever has happened has not been your fault, you love them, you’re their mother and you love them, your sitting here staring at your baby to make sure she’s ok, you nearly didn’t leave the hospital, you’re just worried you’re not guilty of anything”
“I’m so sorry Harry”
“There’s nothing to be sorry for” he squeezed her gently and kissed the top of her head “We’ll go and see her early”
“Could we drop Faith at mums, I don’t want to take her to the hospital in case she get’s something else”
“What ever you want”
“Please”
“Alright – I’ll send a patronus now” he took out his wand
“Wait – don’t – she’ll ask why we’re only dropping off Faith – can – can we ask Sophia?”
“I’ll go and see her – she can’t reply via patronus yet”
“Don’t go yet please”
“Ok” he shrugged “But not too late – I’ll ask Hermione about the potions while I’m there”
“Yeah – I forgot about that”
“I forgot about it too, we’ve had other more important things and Soph knows that so it’s ok”
“Hmm”
“Ginny, I think it’s time for you to sleep”
“You’re going to trust me with Faith?”
“Ginny, you are not a danger to your daughter, I trust you, I love you and I don’t believe that anything you have done has hurt your babies”
He moved to lay her down and gently took off her shoes, he lifted the quilt and tucked her in, before lying beside her, “I’ll wait until you’re asleep and then I’ll go”
She closed her eyes,
“Hmm”
“Don’t think about anything” he whispered in her ear “Just sleep”
She nodded weakly against the pillow. He sat watching her for over an hour as she drifted off, as she slept and then stood up apparating to Grimmald place.
“Is there something wrong with-?”
“- fine” he replied cutting her off as Ron and Hermione came down the stairs,
“Harry!” they smiled “We haven’t seen you in a bit mate” Ron added,
“When you have kids” he smiled “Soph can I talk to you for a minute”
“Come on in” she led him from the front door to the living room, he closed the door but said
“Stay there I want to ask you something” to Hermione and Ron’s waiting faces,
“I want to ask you if you’ll sit Faith tomorrow morning – Ginny doesn’t want to take her to the hospital in case she catches something else”
“Sure, what time?”
“About nine, she wants to get there for the first visiting hours to see if we can take her home”
“Ok, how is she holding up?”
“Fine” he shrugged,
“Harry come on, your foreheads doing that wrinkly thing again, you’re my brother I know when something’s wrong”
“She’s blaming herself for it, she’s gone right back to where she was when she first realised she was pregnant and saying the haemorrhage was her fault – it wasn’t, the healers just didn’t see the things that were wrong until it was too late, the fall was her ribs anyway and they told her it wouldn’t have done anything but she’s intent on blaming herself”
“Do you know what it was?”
“The healers say it’s a common thing to happen, babies immune systems are weak as it is, Patience’s is just a little weaker then other babies and hasn’t taken it well, I know it’s not her but she thinks because the milks from her – I’m trying to tell her it was probably me not sterilising a bottle but she won’t listen”
“She will, once she has Patience back she’ll forget all about it”
“She asked me if she trusted her with them – the thing is I nearly – I nearly picked up Faith and brought her with me now, I know she wouldn’t hurt them in a million years but her asking me that, it could have changed my mind”
“She wouldn’t hurt them and you don’t believe she would for a single moment or you wouldn’t be here admitting it to me Harry, you trust her, you love her and she trusts and loves you, you’re married, you have children together and nothing will hinder that”
“Hmm” he mumbled and stood up “Time for love potions”
“Go home, it can wait”
“You might be in danger it can’t”
“Can to, I’ll see you in the morning”
“Hermione, Ron” he called ignoring Sophia’s protests “Come here”
They both walked in “Is everything ok Harry?” she said sitting down,
“All ok, erm – I’d better tell you two but don’t tell your mum alright” he added looking at Ron,
“Ok”
“Patience was admitted to hospital this afternoon, but before you say anything else, she’s fine, we can get her tomorrow morning”
“What’s wrong with her?” Hermione asked,
“Stomach bug but it should be cleared up” He replied “Now I want to ask you something before I go” he tagged on trying to avoid talking about it more “I need to know about love potions – I think George might be under one”
“What how did you get to that conclusion?”
“He was here today, trying to – to persuade Sophia” he worded the sentence carefully “I had to fight him off – he was the same way you were when you had the potion and went after Romilda like a fruit cake”
“Right and you don’t think it was just because he likes her and she hasn’t done anything to tell him otherwise”
“Ron” Hermione said angrily “Sophia has told him time and time again to leave her alone when it comes to Charlie; we’ve heard her tell him she’s not interested and he just gets worse”
“That’s what happened today only I had to wrestle him off of her”
Sophia looked to the floor, “He wouldn’t take no for an answer, he wouldn’t let me go”
“He wasn’t himself” Harry added “We need to be sure of that before we do anything else”
“And you think a love potion is behind it?” Hermione said “It could be possible but for this kind of infatuation – he’s not administering it himself and the ingredients would have to be top quality”
“Harry said something about him using my hair – the strength increased and the similarities it would have to a polyjuice, so all he’s focused on is me”
Hermione spoke “We can make an antidote if we know the ingredients, there’s going to be a lot in there, someone’s buying in bulk and it would have to be someone that knew what they were doing”
“What about her?” Ron muttered looking at Sophia,
“Why would I do it, why would I give him a love potion so he attacks me when I’m in love with someone else hey?” She replied angrily,
“We all know your some freaky genius when it comes to potions what if your just trying to make Charlie jealous and its gone wrong and now you want a way out?”
“IT’S NOT HER RON AND DON’T YOU EVER ACUSE HER AGAIN” Harry shouted “I WAS THERE, SHE WAS SCARED OF YOUR BROTHER AND IF IT TURNS OUT IT’S NOT A POTION I’M GOING TO HIT HIM BACK HARD THIS TIME”
Ron went quiet, Hermione sighed and Sophia wiped away tears with one hand as Harry held her other,
“Hermione, I would like to ask you a favour would you check out the apothecary and see who’s been buying, in bulk the basic ingredients for love potions, because I have a feeling that Malfoy is behind this”
“He’ll have been paid to keep his name quiet”
“Then you pay him to open it and I’ll give you the money back”
She nodded “I’ll go tomorrow”
“We’ve all agreed not to tell Charlie about this and we have two weeks to figure it out before he comes back”
“Why would it be Malfoy?” She asked, “I mean I’m his cousin and he hates me for taking his money but a love potion?”
“George was desperate, so desperate he would do anything, I don’t think he was going to give up that he would hurt you if you didn’t give in-“
“– but that, I mean, he wouldn’t make someone infatuated enough to kill me”
“It’s Malfoy; he’d do anything he could think of”
“I think – I’m going to stay with my mum for a few days to get away”
“Stay with me and Gin if you don’t want to go back there”
“Are you sure?”
“Nice spare room, the girls sleep through the night when there not sick” he smiled,
“Ok – but Gin?”
“She’ll be glad of the company that’s not me or babies and she’ll be glad to know your safe”
“My brother is not dangerous” Ron muttered,
“Right now he’s not your brother” Harry replied coldly, “You pack some things and I’ll talk to them”
She nodded and stood up leaving the room,
“You didn’t see the look in his eyes, he asked me to wipe his memory clean of meeting her, he wasn’t himself and if someone’s feeding him a potion to make him like this I know that him trying to physically assault my sister wasn’t his fault”
“You’re talking like he tried to – to rape her or something” Ron muttered
“She was shouting at him to let her go Ron and he ignored it”
He put his head in her hands “So we don’t tell Charlie, it’s still going to be weird between Soph and George once we give him the antidote”
“I can wipe that specific memory” Harry replied standing up,
“The twins will be ok won’t they?” Hermione said “I mean Patience is going to be ok”
“Fine, I hope I just didn’t want to make it so Molly is worried, the healers said she’ll be ok and there hasn’t been any messages, when we left the hospital she was asleep and she hadn’t been sleeping and eating all day”
“A good sign right away, we’ll be thinking of her ok and we’ll come and visit when she’s back at home”
“Yeah, erm don’t send an owl since there are ministry and order members watching the house in case well in case he finds where we are so send a patronus if you find out anything about the potions”
“Alright” she nodded as Sophia came back down the stairs, “I’m ready”
“Ok – see you guys later” they walked to the fireplace and he threw in floo powder going first, he stepped out to Ginny lying on the couch, Faith in her arms sleeping just as peacefully against her chest. Sophia stepped out talking but hushed as soon as she saw them,
“Aww” she smiled,
“I know right” he took a camera from the draw “Disposable for things like this” he grinned taking a picture “She doesn’t want to miss a thing, we’ve gone through about a hundred of these already, there all around the house”
He leant down and took Faith who stirred and handed her to Sophia, Harry leant down again and kissed Ginny softly, “Gin”
“Your back” she yawned,
“Uh huh, why are you on the couch”
“She wanted to wait up for you, we fell asleep then”
“Yes, Sophia’s come to stay for a few days”
She sat up looking around and seeing Faith in her arms, “Good, I need grown up company” she yawned again as Sophia laughed,
“What am I?” Harry asked with a smile,
“You’re a big kid honey” she leant up and kissed him, Sophia chuckling, “And you’re a boy, I need a girl as much as I love the twins they can’t talk back yet”
“Just you wait till they can, it will be no this, no that – and hey Harry they’ll bring boys back to meet you when there really grown up” Soph said with a grin,
“Oh no, no boys until there twenty one” Harry said unsmilingly
“And on that note I think it’s time to go back to bed” Ginny said getting up and stretching “Before he decides there both grounded until there twenty one too, just in case” she said with a smile, “See you in the morning” she kissed Harry, took Faith and hugged Sophia before wandering up to bed.
“Where’s my room then brother?”
“I’ll show you” he led her up, “You’ve got the far room, the one that faces the garden”
“So the girls are in the bigger one, what does the nursery look like now, it wasn’t painted until after they were born as I recall”
“They slept with us that week; Ginny couldn’t pick what shade of purple she wanted”
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RIP JD Salinger |