Harry Potter and No Trace Of You

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Chapter 1:

Ginny sat on the grass, a few yards off the path to Hagrid's cabin, late on a warm spring afternoon. She sat hunched over, her knees pulled up, her eyes closed, listening to the tinkling and splashing of water cascading in the fountain behind her, and to the cooing of two doves perched in the rowan tree growing next to the fountain.

A happy thought filled her mind and she lifted her head. Harry was striding towards her. He waved and she smiled and waved back.

He plopped down next to her and she leaned over and kissed him. "Hey, sweetie, did they set the date?"

He grinned. "July 1 next year. Ron's promotion will be the same day. He and Hermione are coming over Friday for dinner to celebrate."

"Oh, Harry! We can start to make plans."

"Right, and I talked to Stan before I came, and he doesn't see any problem with buying the inn next summer. Harriet's due in October, so by the summer they'll be able to handle it."

Harry meant The Hog's Head Inn, which he himself had bought six years ago, two days after the Battle of Hogwarts. He had wanted a place for him and Ginny to be together. He had renovated it, of course, being that it had been a dump and a hangout for shady characters, unfit for habitation let alone a love nest. Stan Shunpike became his barman, and after Harry joined a new Auror training program at the Ministry of Magic, Stan took over running the inn. He later married Harriet Smythe, a waitress at The Three Broomsticks.

The renovations included a three-room flat on the second floor, and during the first year that Harry lived there it had been a place of refuge and romance for him and Ginny. They had intended to move out after their wedding the following summer, but life has a way of changing even well-laid plans.

Harry was being groomed to become Head Auror, and became engulfed in all the political and administrative intricacies of running a department in the Ministry. Ginny had successfully tried out for the all-witch Holyhead Harpies Quidditch team, and her role on the Harpies grew with each match as her skills blossomed and her passionate spirit infused the whole team. Her popularity with fans grew too, and soon, as one of the best Chasers in the British and Irish League, she became as well-known and maybe even more popular than her husband.

Weeks, months, and years slipped by, and the small flat over The Hog's Head became cozier and more comfortable, if a little crowded with the accumulations of five years of marriage. Moving out did not seem as urgent, and besides, as Ginny often said, she liked being as close as possible to her sweetie.

Now, sitting on the Hogwarts lawn at the end of a lovely day, listening to the sounds of the fountain, Ginny was silent. She looked up at the doves; they had built their nest on a branch a dozen feet up, and the female was sitting in it. Ginny knew from Hagrid, who checked the nest every day, that there were three eggs.

She leaned her head on Harry's shoulder and he put his arm around her. "I knew you'd be here," he said.

Ginny sighed. "I wanted to spend some time here alone. It will be too crowded on the second."

Next week would be the annual memorial ceremony for the Battle and the fountain, which marked the spot where Elizabeth Derby, a fifth-year Ravenclaw, had died. Ginny had found her here, horribly wounded, her face mutilated, her limbs broken, and had held her hand in the last moments of her life. The fountain was a memorial to Elizabeth and all students who had been killed. It was magical, filled with colorful fish and beautiful water lilies. Water fell out of two cupped hands held aloft above the basin. Flowering vines grew up around the white marble pedestal and around the basin. The fountain and the rowan tree had been created by Ginny and her Hogwarts professors, and the fish, the flowers, and the doves would live there as long as Hogwarts stood.

Ginny liked to come here when the weather was fine. The sounds of the water and the doves were soothing. Sometimes Hagrid or another professor or a curious student would stop by and they would sit in silence for a while, but mostly she sat or lay on the grass alone. She didn't even want to be with Harry at those times.

Today he had expected her to be at the flat when he got home from work because he was bringing news: the date he would officially become Head Auror, the job he had been preparing for these past five years. But he could tell that something else was on Ginny's mind, something that Harry couldn't see clearly. He knew it was not Elizabeth, but Ginny was not letting him see what it was.

They shared a connection, a link between their minds and their hearts that opened up every thought and every emotion; it allowed them to be with each other in total, engulfing intimacy. They often did not have to speak in order to communicate, especially about strong feelings or an important thought.

But along with total intimacy came the need to hold back, to keep from hurting the other with a sudden, uncontrolled emotion, or when they needed privacy. Minor annoyances were not a problem; after five years of marriage they knew each other well enough not to be bothered by a tub of ice cream left to melt on the kitchen counter, or a wad of long red hair clogging up the shower drain. They handled problems like those with magic. But right now, sitting on the Hogwarts lawn in front of the magical fountain, something more important was bothering Ginny, and Harry sat quietly without trying to intrude.

Her hand rested on the grass, and he put his over it. She looked at him, and instantly he knew what she was thinking. A fraction of a second passed, and Harry looked away.

"I don't like the idea. In August you could be three months along and still playing."

"You don't know that."

"You will be playing. There's no way they won't pick you. And what if you got hit with a Bludger? Can't we wait three months?"

Ginny frowned. "I only got hit in my middle once, ever, and that was five years ago at my tryout."

They looked at each other and were silent again as the conversation went back inside. Another fraction of a second ticked, and Harry stood; they had decided. He gave his hand to Ginny and pulled her up into a hug.

"April is a good month to have a baby," Ginny said as they walked away from the fountain, their arms around each other. "But if we don't start trying until July we'll have to go at it hot and heavy."

He smiled down at her. "Maybe you'll finally wear me out."

"What are you talking about, Potter?" Ginny pulled away from him. "Don't you remember Paris last year? You couldn't walk for a week."

Harry laughed and pulled her back. They strolled through the tall pillars of the castle gate and continued on past Hogsmeade Station, up the High Street, past The Three Broomsticks, the post office, and Honeydukes. Passing Zonko's Joke shop, they glanced in the window but didn't see George or Angelina. They went around The Hog's Head and up the back stairs to their flat.