Disclaimer: If this was mine, I'd be awfully rich, and we would be happy for HHr happening.
A/N: My reply to the "You can't take my child" challenge by Natsky, you can find it here: http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?showtopic=26363&st=0 . I hope you'll like the story, and I feel I need to alert you, Ginny won't be particularly likable here. I don't think that's a problem, but anyhow, I told you beforehand, ok? lol. Now, on with the story…and please, remember that H/G makes me want to puke just like it does for you, ok? But this chap needed to be done.
Credit for the original plot of the story goes to AnasellaEmm, who wrote the story A Wonderful Caricature of Intimacy on fanfiction.net.
Fight for Custody
Chapter One: Shocking News
It was a bright sunny day in England, and Harry Potter, eighteen years old, was happily zooming in the sky on his Firebolt, along with his seven years long best mate, Ron Weasley.
The two of them were playing a one on one Quidditch match behind the Burrow, enjoying the freedom of the few weeks of vacation from Auror training. Ginny was coming home today from school, finally graduated, and Harry couldn't wait for the moment he would see her again, which led to him being quite preoccupied while playing.
Ron was taking his only chance at beating him, and was currently leading the match 70-20. He didn't have a girlfriend to wait for, as he and Hermione had broken up six months before.
It had actually been a mutual decision, one of the few they managed to take without biting each other's head off in one of their famous arguments. The redhead was currently single, and happy about it, thank you. At least, he didn't have to worry if one night he got drunk at the pub and ended shagging a random girl, which he admitted had happened some times.
After all, he was still quite famous and sought after by lots of witches, being part of the Golden Trio. Speaking of which, the only member missing was Hermione. They expected her to come there in few days time though, after she finished the last session of exams at the Muggle university she was frequenting.
It was only few hours later that Arthur and Molly did come back from the station, Ginny in tow, and Harry was mesmerized by her. In the few months since Easter, when he had seen her last, she had become even more beautiful. Harry could swear she was actually glowing.
"Hi Gin" he said, landing in front of her.
"Harry!" she squealed, hugging him tight. She hold on him like her life depended on it, but Harry didn't mind.
He kissed her hard on the mouth, a proper greeting since he had been wanting to do that forever, while secluded in Auror training. Not seeing her was the hardest part of it, the studying, the duelling, the physical training he could handle, but he found himself missing Ginny quite a lot.
"I missed you" he breathed into her ear after breaking contact with her lips, leaving them swollen and her breathless.
"I missed you too, Harry" she said, a couple tears sliding down her cheeks, and he gently wiped them away. He felt his heart swell, he didn't expect her to miss him so much.
"Sorry, I've been a bit emotional lately" she sniffed. "I guess I should go inside and settle my things…"
"Ginny, dear, you stay here with Harry and catch up. You've got a whole summer to settle your things" Molly suggested, having unwillingly overheard them.
"Thanks, Mum" the redhead girl said, with a smile. Then she turned toward Harry again. "Actually, I think we should talk, Harry" Ginny said.
"Ok, Gin. Why don't we go near the pond? It's a bit fresher there, with the tree shadows and such" he suggested, taking her hand into his own. She nodded, and followed him there.
Once they settled under a tree, her back on his chest and his arms wrapped around her, Ginny sighed.
"Harry, do you remember Easter hols, when we met here?" she started.
"Yeah" He said with a goofy grin. It had been months since they had seen each other last, he had had to skip Christmas holidays because he was behind with his training and needed to study for some tests they would have to take at the beginning of the new year, so it was since the previous summer they hadn't seen each other. Easter holidays had made up for that, and they were almost joined at the hip. But more than anything, those days had brought them some pretty heated shags. Harry still got flustered when thinking about it.
"Well, I don't know exactly which day, but in the heat of the passion we must have forgotten about the spell" she said, turning in his embrace to look at him, and he was still dumbfounded about what she was getting at.
"Honestly, Harry!" she snapped, seeing he wasn't going to get it on his own. "I'm pregnant"
Harry looked at her in shock. Bloody Hell, she was pregnant! He was going to be a father!
A stupid grin spread on his lips at the thought. "I'm gonna be a father" he whispered, and Ginny could see he wasn't freaked out, just surprised, but deep down happy about it. That reaction both eased and raised her worries.
Eased, because he didn't hate her for getting pregnant with his child. She honestly didn't know when they had forgotten the charm, she had always made a point to cast it before they got too distracted, so it wasn't like she planned this.
Raised, because she was just out of school, it was damn bloody early to be a mother. If she started so early, she might even beat her own mum and get more than seven kids! It wouldn't do. Not when she had her twenties still to live with her figure at her best, partying and having fun.
She had thought she and Harry would have kids together, of course, but much later in life.
"How long have you known?" Harry asked then.
Ginny looked at him sheepishly. "Since the end of April. I was late, and so I went to see Madam Pomfrey, and she told me"
"Why didn't you tell me sooner, then?" he inquired, a bit hurt.
"I wanted to tell you in person, not by owl" she explained, and Harry seemed satisfied enough, because he pulled her close, kissing her quite thoroughly.
"What that for?" she asked, dazed, when they finally parted.
"For giving me my biggest dream, a family" he said, looking at her almost adoringly. The pregnancy had made her pretty emotional, and she hugged him tightly.
"Oh, Harry, what I'm going to tell my mother? She will hate me for getting knocked up so young! And out of marriage!"
Harry soothed her, rubbing her back gently. "That's not a problem, Gin. I'll marry you, that's out of question. I'm not going to be a bastard and leave you alone to deal with this, you can be sure of that"
"But what about your training?"
"I'll find a way. After all, I'm going through it just because I wanted to, they would have put me directly in the Auror ranks, so I'm sure they will allow me a bit more freedom" he said with a shrug. He hated using his name to obtain things, to be honest, but at times it was necessary, and this was one of such. "I just wish I could have proposed to you in that romantic way you usually see in romance books, with a sparkling ring, you know, lots of champagne, an expensive restaurant or a breathtaking view, but I guess what really matters is that we are going to be married" he said, then he realized she still hadn't told him she wanted to marry him. "If you want us to marry, that is" he added then a bit self-consciously.
"Oh, Harry, I've wanted to marry you since I was ten years old, how could you think I would say no?" she smiled at him, kissing him briefly on the lips. "As for the romantic proposal, you can always make an official one, maybe in front of the whole family so that you shock half of them to death" she giggled, and he chuckled, pulling her close.
He could see she was still a bit scared. "It's going to be ok" he reassured her, and she wanted to believe him, but deep down she felt it was too early. She didn't want a baby so soon. However, if that got her to marry Harry, it couldn't be completely bad, could it?
--
Later that day, Harry decided he wanted to share the good news with Hermione right away and not wait for her to come to the Burrow in few days time before telling her. So he Apparated to her flat, just to find it completely empty. Not even the furniture was there, nor a short note telling him when she had left, why, and where for.
Worried, he Apparated to her parents, guessing they might know something, but they told him they hadn't heard from her in a couple months, something he could relate to. His letters, as sparse as they were because he was pretty busy himself, always came back unopened in the last month or so. He guessed she didn't have time, with her studies and such, to reply, even if that hurt more than he let on.
The idea that she might leave all of them without even a word never crossed his mind, not after all the three of them had shared.
Frowning, Harry Apparated back to the Burrow.
"Ron, mate, I need to have a word with you" he said, and the redhead agreed to follow him outside, eager to stop helping his mother in the kitchen.
"What got your wand in a twist, Harry?" he joked, but Harry didn't chuckle.
"Hermione's gone"
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