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All Roads Lead Back: Take2 by pandiesboxx
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All Roads Lead Back: Take2

pandiesboxx

TITLE: All Roads Lead Back

KEYWORDS: Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Draco and the rest of the gang. Primarily H/Hr, but a slew of various ships as well. Post-HBP.

SYNOPSIS: Harry Potter always figured that once his destiny was fulfilled he could finally have a happy, normal life. Unfortunately for him, he fell in love with his best friend...and everything went straight to Hell! A very gradual, slow moving H/Hr love story told through multiple canon character perspective as well as several flashbacks. Set 7 years after the final battle.

SPOILERS: All six books.

WORD COUNT: 5,341

RATING: NC17 for language and later sexual content.

BETA: Padfoot & murphsmine

WARNING: As you've discovered by now Harry is married to Ginny at the start of this story. If that bothers you I would kindly suggest that you get the hell out of Dodge. Trust me; things get worse before they get better. You have been warned.

DISCLAIMER: If it looks like it's JKR's, well, that's because it is. She's provided me with the canvas and I'm truly enjoying painting on it.

Wednesday, 05/25/05

Ginny Potter liked to fool herself. Those extra five pounds she put on from this past winter? It was merely baby fat. The brand new pastel pink dress robes that Lavender bullied her into buying just two weeks ago? They went so well with her dark blue eyes. The theory that her husband didn't love her anymore...nonsense! They would soon be coming up on their six year anniversary next spring.

Never mind the fact that she was a 23 year old woman, so any trace of baby fat was simply a figment of her imagination.

Never mind the fact that she was a redhead whose skin tended to turn a thankless shade of gray whenever she deigned to wear anything even remotely resembling pink.

And never mind the fact that for the last few months she and her husband had been sleeping in different beds; Ginny Potter liked to fool herself. How else could she explain the fact that her marriage, that appeared so strong and fruitful in its inception, was now dry and barren only a few years later?

Her husband was unhappy and Ginny simply felt at a loss of what to do to remedy the situation. She mulled over these dark thoughts as she sipped her cup of tea, her breakfast remaining untouched on the table before her. What do you do when your husband is unhappy and you're the cause, she murkily wondered.

It was times like these that Ginny desperately longed for someone she could talk to, confide in; like a mother. But that was simply not an option. Ginny got cold chills down her back at the thought of having to tell her beloved mother that the "Dazzling Duo", or so Witch Weekly had labeled the Potters, were on rocky ground.

No one could have been happier for Ginny and Harry when they got married than Molly Weasley. Her daughter had landed the prime catch of the wizarding world, and she was now finally free to claim the little boy she'd loved long before even laying eyes on him as one of her own bulging brood. No, Ginny could not go to her mum with her problems. Her mother would probably not understand the question. Ginny could just see it now...

"Uh...mum, my husband doesn't seem to want to touch me anymore. What should I do?"

Molly would probably look at her daughter as if she had lost all of her senses.

"Unhappy husband? What's that dear? Is it something like jumbo shrimp?"

Ginny had a strong suspicion that any woman who had borne her husband seven children would not be able to understand the concept.

It was a wash thinking she could talk to any of the male members of her family. Her dad, though sweet as could be, would probably keel over in a dead faint if she brought up the matter of her sex life to him. He doted on her, thought her perfect and pristine, and Ginny was loath to change his opinion on the subject.

Her two oldest brothers wouldn't react much differently. She was more than a decade younger than Bill and nine years separated her and Charlie. To the two of them Ginny was as much their own child as she was their sister. In her mind she was a grown-up, sophisticated woman of means. To her two oldest brothers she would always be the too skinny baby of the family.

Then there was Percy. Percy was nowhere near the list of possible outlets. The last time Ginny had seen him was when their mother threw a birthday party at the Burrow for his three year old triplets. By the end of the night Molly was in tears, Ron's ears were a frightening shade of magenta, and the twins had threatened to forcefully remove Perce's pointy nose from his face and stick it up his arse. At that threat Penelope Weasley hastily gathered up her three toddlers as well as their older sibling, grabbed her husband by the collar, and nervously made her goodbyes as she headed towards the door. Luckily they had come by portkey, a darling paisley parasol, so their exit was speedy. Penelope had after all been a student at Hogwarts when the Weasley twins were there. She knew not to take any threat from them lightly.

Ginny smiled as her thoughts turned to her twin brothers. In school they had both played the position of Beater on their house Quidditch team. She always found that so appropriate since she saw the two of them as synchronized Bludgers crashing their way through life. A pair of redheaded, freckle faced, mischief making Bludgers. If she could compare herself to any of her siblings she was most like Fred and George she believed. So it should have been simple enough to talk to one of them, one would have thought.

Unluckily for Ginny, George was too busy living the single and fancy free life of a bachelor these days. He shared a flat in Diagon Alley with their brother Ron, and Ginny hardly ever got a chance to speak to him alone. George never seemed to come by the Burrow when she dropped in, and asking him to visit her in the Potter's palatial home in Wiltshire was like pulling teeth from a doxy hopped up on sugar quills. And no matter how important her own troubles seemed to her, she knew she couldn't be so insensitive to bother Fred with any of them.

Fred. Her heart seemed to sigh heavily at the mere thought of Fred. Her knavishly brilliant brother Fred. Her grinning, five jokes a minute brother Fred. Her barrel of laughs Fred. Ginny wouldn't trouble him. The way she saw it, the disappointment in a rapidly deteriorating marriage in no way compared to the heartache of having a sickly child.

So that left Ron, her overly protective big brother. Ha! Ginny snorted into her cup. Even though Ron was one whole year, 5 months, 10 days, 16 hours, and 3 minutes older than herself (he irritatingly enough had done the math once), Ginny always felt like the older sibling in their relationship. Ron never seemed to quite get it. Sometimes Ginny felt like she had to explain things to Ron slowly and with small words. Not that Ron was dumb; his learning curve was just a tad...slanted. How else to explain the fact that Lavender Brown-Pye had already agreed to be his wife, booked the honeymoon, and sent the wedding announcement to the Evening Prophet by time the poor boy realized he had even proposed?

Ginny had to admit, she admired the woman's moxie if not her actual follow through.

No, Ron would not make a good shoulder to cry on. He was too tangled up in "The Wedding" to even concentrate on her little heartbreaks. She was sure that Lavender probably had every moment of Ron's day planned for the next few weeks until the ceremony in June. The engagement party was only in 4 days! Ginny would stand a better chance of getting into the Department of Mysteries again than getting near her own sibling if Lavender had anything to say about it. Furthermore, knowing her brother, he would probably end up defending Harry to her anyhow. That was just Ron's way. Whenever she and Harry had a falling out, Ron without fail took Harry's side.

And therein lay another problem for Ginevra Potter. To her parents and brothers Harry couldn't be any more a member of the family if he dyed his hair the famous Weasley red. Sometimes it really seemed unfair that her own family loved her husband as much (maybe even a little more) than they loved her. She half-suspected that if it ever came to it, Harry would get the Weasleys, the Burrow, and the whole kit and caboodle in the divorce.

Divorce? Ginny cringed at the very idea as soon as the meddlesome thought entered her head. Divorce was NOT an option. Divorces simply were not done, at least not in her family. When you married a Weasley, you married a Weasley for life!

Once again Ginny wished she had someone she could talk to about her hurts, her fears, her insecurities.

Her suspicions.

Ginny's closest female friend was her best bet. Luna always seemed to see every situation in a...um...unusual light. However Ginny hated Luna's "Lover" (Luna's wording, not hers), so that cut out any idea of visiting the Lovegood home in Ottery St. Catchpole as the git was shacked up with her.

That only left her brothers' various wives and girlfriends. Penelope was sweet, yet useless. Glinda, Fred's wife, seemed to have a good head screwed on her shoulders. However she was a Muggle, and as such just didn't understand the importance that came along with being the wife of one of the most powerful wizards in the world. Fleur was simply out of the question! Although Ginny long ago decided to get along with the beautiful French woman for the sake of the family, she never warmed to her fully. Even in her expensively tailored robes, with her good looking, extremely rich husband by her side, Ginny always felt like secondhand goods when standing next to Mrs. William Weasley. It also didn't help that she and Bill seemed intent on breaking her parents' record for most Weasley children under a single roof. After only seven years of marriage they were already on child number four, with number five on the way any day. Bill walked around with a serious case of perma-grin all year long. Yeah, Fleur was really going to empathize with her plight.

With Charlie and George being confirmed bachelors; that only left Ron's fiancée. Although in school she and Lavender had never been close, despite being in the same house, Ginny had developed a real friendship with the pretty blonde woman once she and Ron began to date seriously a few years ago. Ginny had to admit that Lav wasn't half-bad once you got to know her. She almost regretted not hanging out with her back when they were younger. Of course back then Hermione had been the closest thing she had to a best friend but Hermione was...

Stop it Ginny! No use going down that road now is there, she scolded herself.

Ginny had Lavender now; delightfully gossipy Lavender. Sex crazed, air headed Lavender, who felt that all relationship problems could easily be solved by placing an order in the American lingerie catalog, Morgana's Mysteries. Ginny really needed to get some new friends! As if sex could solve all problems.

"ARG!" Ginny grumbled aloud in frustration. She pitched herself from her chair at the table and threw her tea cup into the sink. It landed with a loud *thonk*. There went another good piece of china down the drain.

Ginny smiled as she thought of the last teacup she had broken. She had thrown it at Harry's head as he innocently strode into the kitchen calling her name one evening.

They were supposed to meet some old school mates for dinner in Hogsmeade that night. She had even bought herself a new dress in a Muggle boutique in London for the occasion. Harry liked it when she wore Muggle clothing. She had laid out a pair of khaki trousers and a gorgeous navy jumper (she loved the color on him, it made his hair look even thicker and near blue black) on the bed for him. She had been fit to burst all day over their little "date". Ginny relished every single chance she got to show off her handsome, dashing husband. So of course Harry showed up home over half an hour past the time they were supposed to meet the Lee Jordans at the Three Broomsticks. Ginny didn't even bother to listen to Harry's explanation as to why he was late. She was sure the names Kingsley, Hanes, and Moody would come up. She didn't want to hear it; she just chucked the cup in his general direction.

"HEY! THAT WAS A GIFT FROM MINERVA!" he shouted as he came up from his crouched position near the floor.

"No it wasn't, Harry. That came from my great-aunt Matildhe," Ginny replied just as normally as if they were having a conversation about buying new curtains. "Minerva gifted us with the crystal wine flutes that always keep your drink chilled."

"Whatever," he exclaimed incredulously. "You nearly took my bleeding head off!"

"That, my dear husband, was the point."

After that she began screaming at Harry like a demon possessed. Harry, who usually let her vent her anger on him until she ran out of steam, must have had a rough day because he didn't back down from the fight for once. She was frustrated, he was frustrated and they both took out their aggravation on each other. The passion that had been ever present at the beginning of their relationship seemed to ignite all around them suddenly, and Ginny shortly found herself making-up with her husband all over the kitchen table. She ended up replacing the table the very next day and sent a very apologetic note to Angelina by lunchtime.

Ginny blushed at the memory as she felt a tug at her wrist.

"Missus Harry Potter, miss, is you needing Dobby to re-heat the breakfast?"

Ginny looked down into the overly large green eyes that were staring up at her. Ever since Harry and Ginny moved to the new house, dubbed the Palace by the twins, Dobby had lived with them. Ginny had wanted more house-elves, but both Harry and Molly felt that Dobby was enough.

"You don't want to get spoiled now dear, do you?" her mother had clucked at her.

Of course she did! What in the hell kind of question was that, Ginny had incredulously wondered. With time she eventually came to agree with Molly, though. Dobby expertly took care of Harry's every whim and by extension her own needs as well.

"No, Dobby, thanks. Harry needs to learn to appear at breakfast at a decent hour."

The poor house-elf looked forlornly at the cooling plate of eggs and rashers. Ginny knew that if she even turned her back for a second Dobby would send a heating charm at the plate so fast it might actually scorch the table. Dobby would rather take a month long vacation than give his precious Harry Potter sub-par service.

"Dobby," Ginny began making the house-elf turn his attention back to her, "is Harry finished up there yet?"

"Missus Harry Potter, miss, good Young Master Harry was just finishing his wash when Dobby went to turn down the bed."

"Just finishing?" she asked, barely hiding the shock in her voice.

"Yes, miss."

Ginny rolled her eyes towards the ceiling as if she could magically see through it. If she could she would then be able to see exactly what Harry's fascination with marathon long showers these days was, though Ginny had a hunch or two. It was a pity that the kitchen wasn't located directly under the Master bedroom suite. Ginny would have known exactly what charm to cast then.

"Very well then, Dobby. You may go."

Dobby once again turned to look at Harry's plate.

"YOU MAY GO, DOBBY!" Ginny snapped.

The house-elf did not miss the note of steel in her voice. In a blink, he vanished.

Ginny exhaled softly as she turned her back and leaned her body against the corner of the kitchen counter next to the sink. She hadn't meant to be so cool towards poor Dobby, but lately it seemed like she couldn't help herself. Her temper seemed to flare up without the slightest provocation these days. The giddy, tingling feeling she had been feeling only a few minutes ago as she remembered the night Harry had her for dinner on the breakfast table was now gone. It was replaced by the pitiful knowledge that their, oh so wonderful moment of ecstasy happened almost four months ago. Four months! That was the last time Harry had shown any remote interest in her. The last time they had been intimate.

Of course she and her husband were still affectionate with one another. They shared kisses so sweet that she almost felt herself the 15 year old girl again, sitting by a lake, snogging her boyfriend into a goofy stupor. And every now and then Harry would still take her hand in his. If he saw her brow creased in anxiety or sadness he would even give her dainty fingers a small squeeze and smile down at her reassuringly. It was in those moments that she remembered why she had fallen in love with this boy...this man when she was just a child.

But if she was being honest with herself she knew that there was something missing from Harry's attentions. Even the few scant times they had made love within the last year she could tell that something was just...off. It was almost like Harry was just going through the motions, doing the things that were expected of him as a dotting husband.

Maybe she should talk to Neville again, she contemplated. Get a male's perspective on the whole situation. But as quickly as the idea came into her head, Ginny dismissed it. That wouldn't really be fair now would it Ginevra, she ruefully thought.

"Err..."

Ginny looked up to see Harry standing in the archway of the kitchen door. He was dressed in his Auror uniform, his regulation black dragon hide work boots peeking from underneath the robes, and Ginny's breath momentarily hitched in her throat. Sometimes it almost made her head dizzy looking at her husband. That shockingly ebony hair that hung well past his collar, those serious clear green eyes, that perfect complexion of his no longer marred by that blasted scar of his youth, and those pouty pink lips that were almost too sexy to be believed; Harry was a dream! He had always been an attractive kid, just pale and slightly on the skinny side. But with maturity, Harry grew into his looks. At 15 he was a rather cute teen aged boy. Now, just a couple of months away from being 25 years old, he was a tantalizingly gorgeous man. Ginny trembled to think of the stunning creature he would be in ten years time. All that Auror training didn't hurt either. He had a slim, yet muscular build that went well with his 5 foot 11 inch frame. In a word, Harry Potter was simply delicious!

And he's all mine!

"Um...Gin?"

"Don't call me Gin!" she snapped, the dreamy look that had been in her eyes quickly fading.

Harry looked from his wife, to the food on the table, and then to the fireplace. Ginny could practically read the thought process in his head. Argument, bacon, escape route. It was almost comical and Ginny would have laughed if she wasn't so sure that she was what Harry wanted to escape from. She sure as hell wasn't the bacon!

"I'm sorry, Harry."

Harry quickly turned his eyes away from the floo access and looked at his wife, surprise working itself on his face. His eyes look as huge as Dobby's, she amusedly thought. This she did chuckle at. Harry looked at his wife as though she were growing a spare head out the side of her neck. The picture that created in her head sent Ginny into another fit of giggles.

Harry was definitely perturbed by how frighteningly fast her mood seemed to change.

"Ginny...you alright?"

"Yes, yes Harry," she said as she brushed a tear from her eye. "I was only apologizing for being so hateful to you earlier."

Once again Harry gave her that "gee Honey, you have two heads", look.

Ginny just shook her head and drew her wand out. She cast a heating charm on Harry's plate and then dropped the wand back into her pocket.

"Eat your food Harry before it gets cold again," she told him.

Harry ambled over towards the table and set himself before his plate. As Harry began to eat, Ginny turned back to the sink and fixed her forgotten tea cup with a Reparo. It was lovely being a witch. Of course the value of the china did go down with each consecutive repair spell that was performed on it, but that didn't matter to Ginny. It was a wedding gift. It was tangible proof that she was Ginny Potter. That made it special to her.

"I just wanted to make sure you got to work on time."

Harry looked up from his plate, his mouth stuffed to the brim with toast.

"Wha-?"

Ginny snickered at this.

"I said that I just wanted to make sure you got to work on time. That's why I was so impatient with you this morning."

Ginny walked back over to her chair across from Harry and sat down.

"I know you said that Hanes has been on your case as of late. I just didn't want to give him more ammunition against you."

Harry paused from trying to down his whole breakfast in one gulp. He looked her in her eyes and she noted that he was truly touched by the gesture.

"Thanks, sweetheart," he softly whispered before returning to the meal at hand.

Ginny felt soft warmth spread through out her body. He called her sweetheart! He hadn't done that in ages. At that moment she felt closest to Harry than she had in months. The only sounds that could be heard was the clinking of Harry's fork hitting the china as he ate ravenously, Hedwig's merry hoots from her perch out in the hall, and Dobby's humming as he started his daily chores. To Ginny's ears these were the sounds of a contented life. So of course she had to go and ruin it.

"What were you dreaming about?"

*clink*

Ginny looked down at the fork Harry had just dropped on his plate. She then turned her eyes to his face. Harry looked at her as if she were Dolores Umbridge raised from the dead, playing the piccolo. Starkers!

"W-w-what?"

"This morning, what were you dreaming about? I heard you moaning and groaning halfway down the hall."

Harry picked his fork up and returned to his meal.

"Nothing. I forget," he mumbled between bites.

But he didn't look at her when he said it.

"Oh."

She hated it when he lied. Her whole body felt like an iceberg had just crashed into it.

"Aren't you going to eat, Ginny?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"Not hungry."

And as if to prove her point she pushed her plate a few inches away from her.

"You know pretty soon I won't have to worry about Hanes ever again," Harry began as he gulped down his steaming black coffee in one swallow. "Minerva said that Professor Lermontant definitely would be heading back home to New Orleans after term ended and with-"

"Guess who stopped by the Burrow the other day?"

Harry paused in mid-action as he was placing his coffee mug back on the table. He looked at Ginny's face searchingly. She returned his stare with a stubborn lift of her chin. He sighed resignedly.

"Who stopped by the Burrow?" he asked.

"Tonks and the baby!"

Harry glanced up from his plate as a real smile formed on his face.

"You saw little Wolfie Lupin?"

"Harry," Ginny chided him, "his name is Wolfgang Romulus Lupin."

"Heh. Never let it be said that Remus and Dora don't have a sense of humor."

"You better not let Tonks ever hear you call her by that name."

"Remus does."

"Yes. And Remus also rubs her feet and picks up her monthly potion from the apothecary."

"Ginny!"

Ginny smirked at Harry's reaction. Men could be such babies about some things. Sure a bloke could go off and fight evil and fulfill prophesies, but mention a woman's monthly and they fall all to pieces.

"Ginny, is there any more bacon?"

"Harry, don't you think you've had enough? What about your girlish figure?" she scolded him in good humor.

"Aww Ginny, I'm a growing boy!"

She smiled at him genially.

"You're going to be late."

"What will a few minutes hurt?"

Ginny shook her head and gestured towards the oven.

"Let me," Harry stated as he withdrew his wand from its holster under his robes. He pointed it at the oven door and made it pop open.

"Win-gar-dium Levi-o-sa!"

The plate of bacon began to float across the room and softly landed in front of Harry.

"An oldie, but a goodie," he affectionately remarked as he tore into a strip of meat.

Ginny had no idea what he found so amusing, but she smiled at him indulgently anyways.

No matter how many ways Ginny dissected it the results always remained the same, she still madly loved Harry Potter! But somehow she feared that if asked, he wouldn't be able to say the same about her. At the very start of her marriage she had been blissfully sure of his devotion. From the moment Harry proposed to the second she said "I do" there was no question in her mind that they both were happily and deliriously in love. Sure all of that had taken place in the short span of one month, but as the newly wedded Potters enjoyed their cruise to Australia and then New Zealand, Harry proved his love every night in their large stateroom. Every morning too! Sometimes in the afternoon as well if they really didn't have anything else planned for the day. When did things change?

Of course when they got back to the Burrow there was the whole "Hermione Drama" that had to be dealt with. Circe! But after the dust had settled from that, everything seemed to be alright.

Like in any marriage there had been a few minor squabbles. Ginny wanted a huge castle on a hill; Harry wanted to settle down at his parents' old cottage in Godric's Hollow. Thankfully she won that battle. When Harry wanted to leave behind his promising career as a Seeker for Puddlemere United and go into Auror training she hadn't thrown that big a fit. Of course she still missed sitting in the stands with all the other players' wives, and having her every move tracked by all the papers and tabloids, but she soon recognized that being the wife of a highly decorated Auror came with its own perks and prestige.

The only big issue that stood between them now was when they would start having children. The first few years after they got married Ginny loved the care free life she and Harry shared. If they wanted to Apparate over to Nice for a few days there was never anything standing in their way. Thanks to Dobby's assistance, the Palace was always spotless. Her figure wasn't that much different from when she was a girl. When people would joke and ask when she and Harry would start having some sprogs he would always say that the two of them loved their life as is too much to change it at the moment. Besides, they were far too young. Ginny would always be there to give an agreeing white toothed smile to go along with his statement.

But as the years went on, and Fleur and Penelope began popping out baby Weasleys left and right, Ginny had to wonder was this still true? Did she really not want change? The answer came soon after Fleur had little Rosemary. As she held her small niece for the first time, Ginny suddenly realized the answer to her question. She did want change. She wanted a baby. She wanted Harry's baby! Ginny thought that it was really that simple. She and Harry had been married over two years at this point. Now was the time to get with the baby making. Harry, however, didn't seem to agree.

"Sweetheart, don't you love our life the way it is? Why change it? We have years to have kids."

Now days Ginny couldn't muster up that same agreeing smile.

Of course they had their accidents. The time after the kitchen table encounter had almost ended up as one. Ginny had been off her contraceptive potion for months and neither of them had their wands handy at the time. Luckily for Harry it turned up as a false alarm. Other than that one time, Harry had previously never failed to cast a charm on himself. He really seemed adamant about not being a father before he was good and ready. And of course since then Ginny hadn't really gotten herself in the position to get pregnant, so to speak. During her darker moods Ginny often wondered if Harry just didn't want to be a father to any child she would have.

"Ginny, I think I should leave."

Ginny looked up into Harry's face, startled. Was he using Legilemency against her?

"WHAT?"

"I said I think I should leave. You know, go to work."

Ginny released a sigh of relief. There she was being silly yet again. As Harry stood up from the table, she did as well. She noticed that the table was clean of the breakfast dishes. She looked at him questioningly.

"While you were off in lala land I sent them to the sink," he said with a smirk. "Don't worry about them; Dobby will attend to it. Why don't you go and have a day at the salon or something?"

He walked around the table and gave her a goodbye kiss on the cheek. As he made to walk towards the grate, Ginny caught his hand and pulled him back to her.

"I have an even better idea," she grinned naughtily. "Why don't I go out and buy us a new kitchen table."

Ginny snaked both her arms around Harry's neck and pulled him down more to her level so she could flirtatiously murmur in his ear.

"That is...after we ruin this one first."

Harry pulled back from her, and before he could drop his usual perfect husband mask over his face, Ginny caught a quick glimpse of what lay in the depths of his green eyes. They were full of disinterest.

"You know I'd love to, Gin, but I'm late."

"What will a few minutes hurt?" she asked working hard not to make the question sound like a plea.

If he heard the near begging tone in her voice he didn't let on. He simply kissed her chastely on her forehead and unhooked her arms from around his neck. He looked her straight in the eyes.

"Seriously, Gin, Hanes will kill me."

With that he walked towards the fire place while removing a little brown pouch from inside his Auror robes. He reached inside it and gathered up a handful of floo powder. He then shouted his destination and disappeared in a hale of green smoke. His wife watched all this as if removed from her surroundings.

Ginny slowly sank back into her seat, her hands clutched together painfully in her lap. After a few moments she seemed to come back to herself. She realized she was still in her kitchen and that the annoying droning tone she was hearing was just Dobby, perched on a step ladder, humming a scratchy little tune as he washed up the dishes in the sink.

"Harry is right. I should go to the salon. I wonder if Lav has any plans for the day."

Although Ginny was speaking to no one in particular, Dobby turned from the sink, his cute little "KISS the ELF" apron streaked with dish water, and smiled at her.

"Why yes, Missus Harry Potter, miss! A day at the salon sounds like a splendid good idea."

"Yes it does, Dobby," she concurred as a single tear made its way down her cheek. "Yes it does."

Ginny Potter liked to fool herself.

A/N: Next up is Harry's POV. Things to look forward to: office politics, Harry's partner, an intro to his big case, and how Hufflepuff's Cup fell into the Order's hands.

A few more points of interest...

1) All characters other than Glinda Weasley, great-aunt Matildhe, Vervain Lermontant, and Wolfgang Lupin are canon.

2) Morgana's Mysteries lingerie mail-order company is original to this story.

Tell me if you like it. Tell me if you hate it. Just tell me something. Please review.