Wands, Wishes, and Weasleys

Chapter 18: The Aftermath

Harry POV:

I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in about seven months. Raising a baby seems so easy because they can't drive anywhere, they don't have shady friends, or girlfriends that you have to worry about when they come to your house. They don't eat solid food so you're not even cooking for them! But NOOOO! Parenting is NOT easy! And whoever says anything different is crazy. Today is Christmas eve, and Domonique's birthday.

This morning I awoke to the sounds of James crying, like usual. I heard Ginny groan, "Harryyyyyy! It's your turn!"

I grumbled and then got out of bed and headed to James' room. I picked him up and rocked him in my arms as I sat down in a rocker next to his cot. "Hey buddy, why don't you try to sleep through a whole night before waking Mummy and Daddy up, huh? Doesn't that sound fun?" I checked my watch and saw that it was already 6:49, "You almost made it, if you only cried once per night, that would make it easier. But hey! It's your first Christmas! And I should probably start getting ready, we're supposed to be there around 8 am for some reason- maybe 'cause last time everyone met at noon, Fleur's water broke. Of course no one's bloody pregnant, but that won't stop Mrs. Weasley!"

"Harry!" I turned and saw Ginny leaning in the door frame; watching us, "You shouldn't use that language around James! He's already bad enough because of his namesake! We don't need more Marauders! Look what happened to all of the Marauders before him! Four of them died fighting, one died a servant to Voldemort, and one is still alive and insists that his son is a vampire."

"Ok, ok. I'll give him his bottle, you go shower and get ready."

"Thank you! I won't be too long, you should have time for a quick shower before we have to go."

"How long will it take you to get ready?"

"Not too long," She called over her shoulder as she rushed back to our room.

I sighed then faced James, "She's going to let me have the shower for one minute and then I'll have five to get dressed, won't I?" James just looked up at me with an amused expression, sucking on his little fist. "Oh, well. This is what I get for marrying her. She's lucky that she's your Mum, and that I'm head over heels in love with her, because if I wasn't-"

"Harry, have you seen my Crimson dress?" Ginny poked her head in an hour later. Her hair was in perfect waves in a waterfall down her back and her makeup was perfectly done so you could almost think there wasn't any. She was standing in a dressing gown looking stressed.

"Yes, you asked me to set it out earlier because you didn't want your gold dress getting stained."

"Oh thank you! You're the best husband I could ever ask for!" She hurried off to find the dress.

"See you later James," I said as I placed him back down in his cot. I stood up and walked off to my room so I could take a super quick shower and get dressed before we had to go to the burrow.

I ran into the shower and washed off super quickly before I jumped out and grabbed my black trousers and a red sweater to match with Ginny. I slipped on my shoes and met Ginny in James' room as she was getting him ready.

"Ready to go?" She asks.

"Yep! Let me get James," She paces James to me and I wonder, "D'you think your mum will make a jumper for James?"

Ginny giggled at the idea, "I don't know, I know that she made one for Victorie last Christmas, but I'm not sure about before then."

"Well, he would look super cute in one, don't you think?"

"He would, wouldn't he?" She places her arm on my free one and we feel the sensation of apparating. We appear right inside the burrow, and Mrs. Weasley runs up to us and gives us all a hug before taking James into her arms and walking away with him. We didn't say it, but I had a feeling that Mrs. Weasley knew we were very thankful. We went over and sat next to the other adults, and I could imagine that Mrs. Weasley had all the grandkids in the kitchen and she was super happy to have kids in the house again. Even though it was early in the morning, everyone was already dressed for the Christmas Eve feast.