Lunar Eclipse

Chapter Thirty Five

Somehow, even after having two other children, Ginny and Harry forgot how terrifying the first few nights out of the hospital with a new baby were.

It was surprising, because theoretically they had practice with James and Albus, but it was in some ways scarier now than it had been with them.

Because, shit, now they were responsible for three other lives and not just two.

"Harry! Albus is calling for you, can you go get him please? Lily just latched, and it took forever so I'm not going to do anything that might disrupt her," Ginny sighed, looking down at Lily who was watching her lazily as she drank. She knew that her daughter would be asleep in a matter of moments.

From where he was laying face down on the floor beside the bed, Harry groaned, but grudgingly rose to his feet.

Eyes mostly closed, Harry stumbled out of their bedroom and down the hall to James and Albus' room.

Ginny let her head fall back on the pillow as Lily fed, closing her eyes briefly and savoring the sweet moment of silence.

Until...

"Shit! Albus!"

Ginny's eyes shot open, and her head turned towards the bedroom doorway. Craning her neck a bit, Ginny attempted to look down the hall, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever was wrong. Sighing when that failed, she carefully began to get up.

Lily's eyes popped open and she turned her head away from Ginny's breast, beginning to whimper fussily, before the whimpers turned into full fledged sobs.

"Shh, you're alright. I'm sorry baby girl," Ginny whispered, cradling her daughter's small, red-haired head.

Mashing her lips together in frustration, Ginny carefully carried Lily down the hall to Albus and James' room.

As soon as she stepped through the doorway, however, something came flying straight towards her. Instinctive magic kicked in, and stopped the sippy cup midair, making it freeze and drop to the ground.

Ginny's eyebrows raised as she looked towards the culprit, who was angrily standing on his bed with his arms crossed.

"Albus Severus Potter," she spoke, voice slow and quiet. Albus' eyes widened, but he remained standing, defiantly.

Harry was standing on the other side of the room, rubbing his temple where a red spot was beginning to form. Between the second sippy cup on the ground, and the angry and injured Harry standing feet away, it wasn't difficult for Ginny to put two and two together as to what happened.

"Sit. Down," Ginny drawled, voice choppy and terrifying. Albus' cheeks flushed bright red, and he sat down on the bed. Ginny turned to Harry, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Do you want to take Lily while I handle this, or do you think you've got it?"

"Erm," Harry sheepishly stopped rubbing his temple and tried to play it off like he had been running his hand through is hair.

"Nevermind. Just go back to the bedroom. I'll be there in a moment," the redhead huffed. Not knowing whether he should offer to take Lily, or follow Ginny's orders, Harry hesitated for a moment before slowly turning and retreating down the hall.

"Albus," Ginny's voice was low and warning. "You do not throw things, do you understand me?"

"Yes mummy," all of Al's previous confidence had disappeared, and he was now looking at his hands in shame.

"You could have hurt Lily or I, and you did hurt your daddy. You owe him an apology," she continued, taking a seat on the bed next to Albus and angling herself so that she was facing him.

"I'm sorry mummy," Albus murmured, looking up at her with big green eyes. Ginny couldn't help but let out a small sigh.

"I know you are. What happened that made you so upset?" Ginny questioned, knowing that if she got straight to giving him a punishment or chastising him further, he would shut down and become frustrated, and she would never know the reasoning behind the tantrum.

"You love Lily more than me," he pouted, the word 'than' coming out more like 'dan'. Ginny sighed, and closed her eyes for a moment.

"Al, that's not true. Yes, Lily is a baby right now, and babies need a lot of extra attention that big boys like you don't need anymore. But that doesn't mean that we love you or James any less."

"Lily take some of your love for me," Albus' bottom lip popped out in a pout, and his eyebrows furrowed together. Ginny's heart ached as she imagined the feelings that Albus was facing right now. As the youngest child, Ginny didn't know how exactly Albus was feeling, and she made a note to herself to ask any of her brothers tomorrow to talk to Albus about his feelings. But for now, she would have to explain it to him herself, and hope that he would understand.

"Al, Lily isn't taking any of mine or Daddy's love for you and your brother. It's like how you don't love James, Daddy or I any less now that Lily's here. Instead, you get extra love in your heart that you give Lily. Daddy and I don't lose any love for you or James, but instead, we gain even more love to share with you, your brother and your new little sister. Does that make sense?"

Albus scrunched his lips up in thought, before giving Ginny a small nod in response.

"Okay. Now, it's late and you better get some sleep. You're not in trouble this time, but if you ever throw something at someone again, you're going to face some consequences, alright?" Ginny rose to her feet.

Albus nodded seriously, climbing under the covers and pulling them back up to his chin.

"Goodnight mummy. Goodnight Lily. I love you," he spoke, toddler voice and the pronunciation of 'love' as 'wuv', making Ginny's heart swell.

"Goodnight Albus, I love you too," she replied, before turning to the other bed in the room where she knew James had been watching and listening to everything go down, just like she and her brothers would always do when someone else in the house was getting a lecture. "Goodnight James. I love you."

"Goodnight mummy. Goodnight Lily. I love you too," he spoke softly, voice tired and sounding as though he were already half asleep.

Ginny flipped off the light in the boys' bedroom and padded back down the hall where Harry was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching her while his hands nervously fiddled with his wedding ring like they always did when he was nervous or thought he was in trouble.

"I don't even have enough energy to scold you right now," Ginny rolled her eyes, plopping back down on the bed and unfastening her shirt once more and coaxing Lily to latch. Thankfully, her daughter decided to be easier this time, and latched almost immediately.

Almost immediately, Lily's eyes fluttered shut as she nursed lazily. Ginny let out a sigh of relief, letting her head lull back on to the pillow behind her.

Soon, her own eyes were closed, and she found herself in a hazy spot between being awake and being asleep.

Yes, they had definitely forgotten the terror and difficulty that came with bringing home a newborn.

*

(A/N: Was that a terrible ending to this chapter?? I'm really sorry if it was, and I'm sorry that the chapter wasn't longer for you. I had been working on It Only Takes a Second, but then I lost all motivation to write it, and decided to pop on here and update. But now I've lost all motivation for any other writing, so I tried to tie it up with a pretty bow. I'm sorry about how long it's taken to update anything, but man oh man have I been busy and just so tireddddd. I feel like I just started my summer and my job, but also I feel like I've been there forever, and I cannot wait to leave. Anyway, that's a really long winded way of trying to excuse my procrastination, and it's probably too much information, so sorry. Thanks for reading, and I hope you're still enjoying! Thanks for hanging in there while I take forever to update, and stay safe and healthy everyone!!)