#domestic hinny

[booksforevermore13]

Late night cravings

Summary: Midnights are the ideal time for Ginny to realize she loves brownies. And bananas. And the need for Harry to make her some. Pure fluff.

A/N: A short something I wrote after a highly stressful week. Plotline suggested by the all-wonderful @chef-hagrid.

...

“Life was a willow and it bent right to your wind

Head on the pillow, I could feel you sneaking in.”

...

This was the second night in a row, she couldn’t sleep. Midnights, she decided, were positively more tiresome than the mornings.

Ginny turned around again, careful not to roll over on her belly. She huffed, frowning as she felt the cold absence of her husband beside her on the bed.

She was hungry, she realised. Which was odd. It hadn’t been even three whole hours since she had eaten. 

Ginny wasn’t even really hungry, she realised. She just…she was just hungry for brownies. And bananas. Especially bananas. Ginny groaned, then got up, her back cracking as she sat up on the bed. 

“Fuck it,” she cursed, as she put on her slippers and headed towards the kitchen. She hated it when Harry was off on his night missions, leaving her all alone in the house. Especially now, when she was so satirically lonely.  And hungry.

Come to think of it now, Harry really had been going on quite a few night missions lately. This week alone, he had not been home at all during the nights.

Ginny brought out a pan, turned on the oven, then left everything on the counter and gazed at the clock. Four more hours and he’d be back home. Before he’d have to leave again.

She huffed, then set to work. While she didn’t know, per say, how to make brownies, Ginny figured….it wouldn’t be that hard. Flour, eggs, cocoa, milk, how hard could it really be?

She had never even cracked eggs before though. Something about a glob of slimy things coming out of a cracked shell irked her. She’d seen Harry make eggs before, seen her mum too. Last time she was at Hermione and Ron’s, she’d helped Hermione make dinner, and Hermione had made eggs too. Eggs weren’t hard.

Obviously.

One and a half hours later, Ginny rethought her statement. 

Eggs were hard. So was flour, cocoa, and the weird bitter tasting powder that Ginny had measured up in a small bowl and left aside. 

She stepped back, her clothes lathered in egg whites and flour, frustration clouding all rational thoughts in her head.

“When the hell is he going to come back?” she muttered angrily, throwing her apron aside, as she switched off the now hot oven. In a fit of rage, she scooped up some cocoa into her mouth and then grabbed a banana, biting into it to lighten the bitter feeling in her mouth.

“Brownies can go to hell,” she muttered, stomping back into the bedroom, flinging the banana peel into the bin. 

And as Ginny got back into the bed again, she glanced once again at the clock, noting the time until he’d be back beside her.

It wasn’t even something she tried to hide, but she missed him.

Terribly.

…

…

As luck would have it, as would the sun, when Ginny woke up, she was tucked against his side. 

Even without opening her eyes, his mere scent comforted her, nearly lulling her back to sleep. 

Ginny opened her eyes, looking up to see the sleeping form of her husband. 

His hair lay messily on his forehead, his eyes crinkling once in a while as he slept. Ginny smiled, all her frustration towards him the previous night vanished in a trace. 

“Staring’s considered rude, you know,” Harry said softly, and Ginny smiled, lightly brushing her hand through his hair.

“Well, excuse me for staring at my husband,” she quipped and Harry opened his eyes, gazing down at her with those bright green eyes.

“Three years and I still can’t believe it sometimes,” he softly said.

“Believe what?”

“That you call me husband.”

Ginny laughed, her laugh echoing through the room, the sunlight trickling in through the gap in the curtains. She placed her hand on her belly as if by instinct, then looked up at Harry, a smile on her face.

“So..” Harry smirked, “you want to tell me what happened in the kitchen last night?”

The smile vanished. Ginny made a face, and then frowned up at him. “I was hungry -���

“I figured.”

“- for brownies.” 

Harry lightly chuckled, then grabbed his glasses from the bedside table, putting them on before turning to face his wife.  

“It isn’t even just brownies,” she went on. “Bananas. I have an inhuman, unexplainable craving for bananas, and old me would just be.. borderline revolted, but I can’t stop thinking about banana puddings, and banana chips, and -”

“- bananas in general,” Harry finished. “You know there could be a dozen more interpretations of that,” he smirked, raising an eyebrow suggestively, laughing as Ginny lightly smacked him on the arm.

“Anyway,” Ginny rolled her eyes, “I, yes I, was trying to make banana brownies last night, but as you already saw, that went exactly as I wanted it to.”

Harry laughed, bringing Ginny closer to his face, before kissing her gently on the forehead. Then, as if deep in thought, he buried his face in her hair, inhaling deeply. 

“You want me to whip up a fresh batch?” he said, his voice muffled by her hair. 

“Really?” Ginny grinned, her eyes lighting up almost immediately, “you up for that?”

“Always, madame,” Harry smiled, rolling out of bed, and bowing gallantly, smiling at Ginny’s laughing figure. 

In the morning, she realised, all was well.

…

...

It clearly wasn’t, she thought, as she waddled over to the kitchen. 

Harry hadn’t left for work. Which was odd. He hadn’t even jumped at the chance of getting in some more sleep, which was even odder. Yes, it was very Harry-like to get up in the morning and get to making brownies at Ginny’s request, but after a long night of work, she’d thought he’d at least get in a few extra hours in the morning.

In fact, she’d be the one to tell him to stay in bed, because even under the smiling face, and bright green eyes, Ginny knew that he was, to an extent, exhausted.

Except, he wasn’t now. Heck, he was even whistling some distinct tune she could swear she’d heard somewhere before.

Unlike her frenzied self last night, Harry held a natural control of the kitchen, whipping batter into bowls, mixing in the eggs, and also, weirdly using the bitter powder she’d left aside last night.

He stopped momentarily, looking up as Ginny entered the kitchen. 

“You want them to be extra chocolatey, or just bananas and plain chocolate?” he asked.

“Umm.. just bananas and chocolate please,” Ginny said as she carefully sat herself beside the counter. She observed Harry manoeuvring swiftly around the kitchen, a little envious about the ease with which he was doing things she was struggling with last night, before she cleared her throat. 

“You don’t have to go to work?” she asked hesitantly. 

“I was wondering when you were going to ask that.” Harry turned around, a wide smile on his face. 

Ginny wondered what was going to come next.

“Well,” Harry kept aside the bowl, wiping his hands on his shirt, “I’m taking a break.” 

“What?” Ginny frowned.

“Not a break, saying, I’ll not go to work, not like that,” he said. “A break meaning, there will be no more night missions, no staying at work too late; I hope, even more days off. At least, until the baby comes.”

Ginny stared at him in disbelief. “Are you serious?” she said, voice full of hesitation. “I mean, it’s just been four months and -”

“I know, Gin. But, you might think I haven’t noticed, but I know I’m gone more than I should be.”

And it was true, he was. And she worried about him. Especially nowadays, as he left for his missions, it was as if she held in her breath before he returned again. So, she simply nodded at him, as Harry tucked in a stray lock of hair behind her ear. 

“I mean, you’re pregnant,” he smiled. “In a few months, we’re going to be parents, and I have absolutely no idea how we’ll do that, but we’ll do that together too.”

He put his arms around her chair, pressing his lips on her forehead. “I know I’ve not been home much the last few months, but I will now. I promise.”

“I’m glad,” Ginny said, resting her forehead against Harry’s chest. “I really have been missing you tremendously the past few weeks.”

“I’ll make you banana brownies to cover up for it,” he whispered back. 

“You better.”

Harry chuckled, bending down to kiss her. Then, he lightly placed his hand on her belly, looking up at her as she placed her hand over his. 

Ginny gazed into his eyes, the warmth in them comforting her, in the same way she had always been comforted when she looked at him.

“I’ve been thinking of names,” she said.

“That’s dangerous,” Harry quipped, “the last time you named something, you named it after a pig.”

“I did not,” Ginny said indignantly. 

And it was the little tell-tale signs that made her realise as they argued that everything was really going to be okay, even if she developed an unflinching love for brownies, even if they named their first child after something horrendous, everything was really going to be alright.

[beckym29114]

The Gift

Ginny stands in front of the gift wrapping supplies with a diary in her hand. It is violently pink and covered in unicorns and glitter. She even bought it at the same muggle store where she always buys gifts for her dad. So why can't she bring herself to wrap it?

"Do you need any help?" Harry asks as he enters the room, quickly closing the door behind him. He walks over to Ginny, taking the diary from her hand. Pulling out his wand, he points it at the diary. She knows that he is saying the spells out loud for her benefit.

When he's done, he hands the diary back to Ginny. She kisses him on the cheek and starts wrapping the diary.

[di-daynamic]

@fluffbruary Day 9

Harry was home.

Lightheaded relief filled her entirely, and even her son seemed to settle against her stomach. She laid a hand on it, trying to breathe through the sheer joy of having her husband back home safe. She knew he had to do it, she loved him for it, and she supported him through it, but it was still a nightmare every time he left for more than three days, especially when he couldn’t communicate.

Harry came to the couch, pale as a ghost, the lost expression he always had after a particularly bad mission fading away as he caught sight of her. Ginny beckoned him over imperiously.

“Dada!” Jamie cried, waving his fat little fists around. Harry picked him up and spun him around, his entire face softening.

“Hey, my baby,” Harry said, pressing a kiss to his hair. “Were you good for Mummy and Aunt Luna?”

“No, he wasn’t,” Teddy called from beside the fireplace, not taking his eyes off his book. The eight-year-old grinned anyway. “He screamed the roof off at bath time.”

“And I suppose you were a lot better?” Harry asked, sounding amused, an eyebrow raised skeptically.

“I was!” Teddy nodded enthusiastically.

“Uh huh. How about you tell me what you did?”

Jamie and Teddy gabbled on cheerfully, Harry nodding solemnly as though he could understand every single word. Ginny smiled at the sight, feeling tears sting at her eyes.

Oh no. She hated pregnancy hormones.

Harry set Jamie next to Teddy, who instantly abandoned his book in favour of entertaining his little brother. Jamie laughed gleefully when Ted tickled him.

Ginny raised her arms tiredly when Harry came over to her, and they kissed languidly, for once not being interrupted by children or her annoying brothers (though she often thought and said those were one and the same).

“And how is my amazing daughter?” Harry asked, hand coming up to caress her belly.

Ginny rolled her eyes. “I’ve told you, Potter, he’s a boy.”

“Yes!” Teddy called. “I want another godbrother!”

Harry had that exasperated, withering look which struck fear in the hearts of criminals and made his family laugh at the snark to follow. “What, so you have someone else to blame for stealing cookies from the jar when you do it?”

“He could just as easily blame Surtiyem for it even if they were a girl,” Ginny said amusedly as Teddy’s hair turned pink in confession.

Harry rolled his eyes. “Okay, whichever gender the baby is, we’re not going to name them Surtiyem.”

Ginny smirked. They both knew she had no intention of actually using that name. “And how are you going to stop me? I’ll have the name on the birth certificate before you know it.”

“As I recall, you were high on pain potions when Jamie was born.” He grinned. “No way you’d be able to write something legible.”

She huffed. “It’d be more legible than your chicken scratch—”

“Mama!” Jamie called, and both adults’ attention immediately went to the children. “Eddy!”

“He wants my book,” Teddy grumbled. “But what if he tears it? What if he—” He caught himself. “It’s mine.” He insisted fiercely.

Ginny caught Harry’s eye. The book had been found by Harry in Remus’ cottage, which had been left to him in the will. It was a children’s story book, and Teddy had been fascinated with it ever since learning whom it had belonged to. She certainly couldn’t fault him for it. But how was she to explain that to a barely three-year-old?

Harry went over and crouched in front of the boys. “Jamie, would you like it if Teddy suddenly just wanted one of your toys?”

Jamie shook his head stubbornly.

“Then can you understand why Ted doesn’t want you to touch his book?”

There was a pause, and the infant reluctantly nodded.

“Good boy.” Harry ruffled his hair. “But Teddy, you can hold it and still let Jamie see, yes? It’s yours, and so you don’t have to agree, but sharing things with your brother—”

“Is necessary,” Teddy completed resignedly. “’Kay, Harry.”

He reluctantly showed Jamie the pictures, and when he cooed over them excitedly, Teddy began to warm up to the idea of showing James the book. Harry stayed for a couple of minutes, watching carefully for any trouble, eyes full of affection, before pressing kisses to both of their heads and coming back to Ginny.

“Well well, Mr Potter,” She murmured. “You as a dad is hot.”

Harry grinned. “Thanks, Mrs Potter.” He frowned suddenly. “I heard something like that in the office. DIFF, or something?”

Ginny pressed her lips together in an attempt to stifle her laughter. “DILF, you mean?”

“Yeah!” He said proudly. “What does that mean?”

Leaning over, she whispered the full-form in his ear, careful to make sure the kids weren’t eavesdropping. Teddy had developed quite the vocabulary of swear words from the lot of them, and Jamie worshipped the ground he walked on and would definitely copy.

“What?!” He exclaimed. Ginny completely lost control, subsiding into giggles. “Who – I – in the office—” He looked flustered.

“You know, it’s sad that you still think you’re not the most desirable person alive—” she said conversationally. “You’d think after winning Witch Weekly’s Sexiest Wizard and Winner of ‘Wish He Wasn’t Married’ twice in a row you’d know that—”

“Hey, I had Undesirable Number One plastered across my face everywhere for a year, that takes its toll,” Harry said indignantly. “I found one of those old posters in Gawain’s office recently, hilariously enough. It brings up memories!”

She clicked her tongue. “Stop making excuses, Potter. You just keep making them one after the other—”

He laughed throatily, pressing his forehead to hers. “Well, I’ve always been a one-woman man, Weasley. Reason enough?”

“Just another excuse.” But she couldn’t help smiling, and she leaned up with difficulty to kiss him.

“Is this one of the things where Uncle Ron pretends to gag and vomit when he sees you?” Teddy asked interestedly.

They broke apart, smiling wryly. It was very hard to get a good romantic moment with kids needing attention every other minute.

“Something like that, Ted,” he said.

“Unca Ron?” Jamie asked, looking excitedly around for his godfather.

“Jamie,” Ginny said solemnly. “Promise me you’ll never listen to stuff Uncle Ron says and betray me like Teddy did.”

Jamie looked confused. Teddy crossed his arms and pouted. “Not a ‘trayal!” He insisted. “Harry said it was sorta right! The real betrayal would’ve been wearing Cannon orange instead of Holly green,” he said, pointing at his dark green hair, pleased.

“Oh yeah. You ever do that, you’re disowned, Teddy Bear.” Ginny said gravely.

Teddy looked supremely unconcerned. “You might, but Granma won’t.”

“Besides, that’s your hair colour, Gin,” Harry pointed out idly, his arm around her waist. “Would you say having ginger hair is a betrayal? Now,” his voice dropped very low. “What we did in your locker room last year on the other hand. . .”

“Harry James Potter!” Ginny shrieked, trying to hide her laughter. She remembered the locker room fiasco. Her teammates were a bunch of voyeurs.

James looked up inquiringly. “Not you, Jamie. Your dad’s just being an idiot.” Ginny told him.

“And you’re both being disgusting,” Teddy said, in an amazing reproduction of Percy’s loftiest tone.

Ginny could pick out in Teddy so many tiny bits of the people she loved: there was the way he laughed, tilted his head when he thought and sat, exactly the way Remus had; seeing the way he scrunched his nose up was like seeing Tonks again; his questioning eyebrow raise, the covering of a smile as though it weren’t allowed and scornful look were exact copies of Harry; and the way he furrowed his eyebrows together when he read was all Hermione.

Even in physical appearance. Whatever colour his hair might be, it was always the wild Potter hair. His eyes were perpetually the same shade as Harry’s. His nose was long and freckled like Ron’s. His aristocratic Black jawline was identical to Tonks’, Andromeda’s and Sirius’. His giant ears were ditto to George’s. The thing was that Ginny didn’t think any of those were on purpose. There wasn’t much study about metamorphmagi, but she thought they subconsciously based looks (other than eyes and hair which were obvious) on the people they looked up to. And Ginny found it both happy and indescribably sad that his looks were such an amalgamation of different people rather than majorly Tonks and Remus, the way it should have been.

Still. She had learned since the war to take the small joys where they came, even if it was with bittersweet sadness.

Harry checked the old grandfather clock across the hall. “Sure thing, big guy. Bedtime’s soon. Go get your overnight bag from Andromeda’s.”

“Bedtime?” Jamie asked in a whimper, sounding like all the horrors of the world were contained in that single word. “No! Wanna stay.”

Ginny kissed Harry’s cheek and went and scooped her son up in her arms. “Sorry, kiddos. When we say it’s bedtime, it’s bedtime.”

“We’re the bosses,” Harry added, throwing his legs up on the couch.

“TYRANNY!” Teddy howled like it was a deeply moving war cry.

“Are you and Hermione doing that advanced reading thing again?” Harry said, sounding exasperated. “Didn’t we decide to pause on that?”

“But the school story books are booooring,” Teddy whined.

“And I’ve told you, once you get your science grade up to the mark, we’ll reconsider the—”

“Harry,” Ginny interrupted, Jamie yawning in her arms. “Maybe tomorrow?” She nudged her head toward the calendar and saw realization flit across her husband’s face. It was the full moon. Effects on Teddy varied from moon to moon, but he always became easily irritable and incredibly tired. It wasn’t a good day for this confrontation, though she certainly agreed Teddy couldn’t be allowed to skip ahead in one subject while ignoring all the others.

“Good idea,” Harry let the topic go, instead jabbing his wand at the fireplace to make the flames go higher and crouching next to Teddy. “Hey, how about we cuddle on the couch and you read to me until you fall asleep? We can continue the discussion tomorrow.”

“I’m a big boy, I don’t cuddle,” Teddy insisted, though he clearly wanted to. Ginny watched, smiling.

“But I need it. Mission was hard, Ted,” he said, and though it was playful, she saw genuine exhaustion on his face. She made a note to coax a rant out of him later. That always made him feel better.

Teddy stared up at him with wide eyes. “Okay. You got the bad guys?”

“Every single one of them,” Harry promised, the words coming across a lot heavier to her than to Teddy. He looked up and smiled softly at her, breaking the solemnity. “Gin? Joining us?”

Ginny hesitated. She ought to put Jamie to bed and set up the monitoring charms.

“Pwease, mumma?” Jamie said beseechingly.

“Maybe just this once,” she conceded, and all three males cheered. She sat on the couch, putting her legs up. Jamie crawled from her lap to Harry’s, and Teddy snuggled against her shoulder. Harry wrapped an arm around her waist, and the two of them exchanged a happy look over their sons’ heads.

“Ever thought you’d get here?” She asked in a whisper, as Jamie and Teddy argued about the story choice.

He laughed. “Never,” he confessed. “But I couldn’t be happier.”

She blinked the happy tears from her eyes, resting a hand on her stomach. An amazing career. Her incredible infuriating and yet reliable family. Her many friends. Her three beloved boys, plus another child coming.

She remembered watching Luna play the piano once. Her friend had commented that the harmony of the way she played matched her mother’s – that there was no better peace than with the memory of someone you love.

Ginny felt that harmony every time she looked at Harry. And she couldn’t be gladder for it.

He put it pretty well.

“Neither could I,” she agreed, and they settled down for story time.

[honeydukesheroine]

Hush 🧑🏻‍🍼

This began as a @hinnymicrofic for prompt 9: Bounce. But turned into a little one-shot.

Summary:

Ginny helps Harry sooth baby Teddy during his first overnight stay with his godparents.

[beginningl1fe]

alive

'avada kedavra' 'expelliarmus'

Over.

It was finally over. Harry dropped to his knees as Ron and Hermione reached him and hugged him fiercely. Not daring to believe it was over. Never once letting this possibility cross his mind. All of his life he had ben waiting, preparing to die , fighting for this moment and finally it was here. This was a new start , and as his eyes met ginny's from across the bodies of several people hi could not care to comprehend, he felt like everything would be okay. It would be fine.

Because for the first time ever did he truly feel alive.

[souptastical]

though i have my other ships ive always been such a big canon shipper like romione & hinny have been so close to my heart since i was a little kid & just FFFFSSSS I LOVE THEM SO MUCH😭

thinking about their relationship dynamics post war tho, with clearly having PTSD just fills my angst meter and then the domestic fluff when the kids are born??? GIVES ME LIFE

[pebblysand]

Why was Ginny raped. It ruined it for me

I try and ignore it and actually kept on reading.

I like their family life looking forward to the next chapter.

you said you would hopefully be updating by the first weekend of June

you know what anon? this is gonna fall on you and i'm sorry. i suppose you caught me on a bad day.

but let me say this: i've fucking had it with DMs like these. the "why was ginny raped. it ruined it for me" kind.

it's been Three Years. Three Fucking Years. this plotline is announced, trigger-warned and flagged everywhere. in the tags. in the general A/N. in the A/N of that chapter in particular.

that is notwithstanding the dozens of tumblr posts i've written about this, which are mostly all linked in my pinned post. notwithstanding, either, my continued presence over multiple discords where i regularly answer questions about this. that is also notwithstanding that five minutes of googling will pull up a gazillion of reddit posts, going on and on about how "awful" and/or difficult a read this fic is, or how bad and Not Canon it is, or how unfortunate the plotline is, or whatever else someone in the hinny fandom has decided i've done wrong. at this point, i do not Fucking Understand how i'm still getting these anons. how did you not know this was what you were getting into? does the writer of Manacled still get these??

for the love of god, there's a million sweet, domestic!fluff hinny fics out there. there's also a million angsty-but-not-too-much or angsty-but-as-a-romantic-trope hinny fics out there. Go 👏🏼 Read 👏🏼 Something 👏🏼 Else! 👏🏼 this isn't the happy-ever-after domestic life vibe you want! i've never sold it as such! Leave Me Alone!!!! 🤣😅

also, babes, you're not even going to like next chapter. because as also previously announced, next chapter deals with the #MeToo movement, where obviously ginny's experiences will be discussed, and where once again, i will inevitably be getting these people in my DMs. like: why was ginny raped? because rape is a weapon of war. because violence against women is a weapon of war. because this fic has chosen to depict that.

i got so many DMs and anons like these in the early days of castles that it almost convinced me the fic was so hard to read, it was absolutely unbearable, and thus unreadable. i understand that this type of story is uncommon in the hinny sphere, and i understand the idea that ginny might have been assaulted is shocking and surprising to a lot of people, but i also think we need to all take a deep breath and recognise that castles is By Far not the most shocking or surprising thing to have ever hit the internet. it's a good story. it's a reasonable story. it's a story written with empathy and care, and respect for this journey.

yet, there was a period of time where these messages got so bad i wouldn't even dare mention it by name on discord or anywhere outside of my tumblr because i was so afraid of the very thought of it would trigger people. all that talk made me feel like a bloody criminal for ever daring to write this, daring to think this was even a possibility. but you know what, actually? these things happen in Every 👏🏼 Fucking 👏🏼 Armed 👏🏼 Conflict! the fact that ginny got assaulted is, actually, statistically, not that surprising. and maybe, if we talked more about it, and read more about it, it fucking wouldn't be as common. if we didn't put our heads in the sand because it's not fun entertainment to think about.

and, to be clear: i'm not forcing anyone to read castles. if the contents are triggering for you (or if you simply don't like stories that deal with SA, or if you simply don't like my writing, or Literally Any Other Reason), then by all means, don't read it! but don't come and tell me the SA plot "ruined" it for you when you've been forewarned all other that this was what the fic was about and there's millions of other fics for you to read out there. angst has a right to exist in the hinny fandom. controversial discussions of war have a right to exist in the hinny fandom. you don't have to like them, you don't have to read them, but don't blame people for writing them.

and this anon angers me even more cause you rage-baited me into responding right away even though i have dozens of super kind and nice DMs and anons pending, which i've put on pause these past few weeks to focus on writing. you're wasting everyone's time here. and, also, don't come and tell me "english is not my first language", it's not my first language either, and yet i'd never have sent this anon to anyone, even in my wildest dreams.

as for the update, i'm late, i know. i'm working on it.

love,

p

[seriouslysam8]

thank you for another amazing chapter. we all appreciate you and your writing so much, and we’re so lucky you take the time out of your day to create something so great.

i started reading this for hinny and i’m hooked because of blackinnon, idk how you did it but you’ve made me a fan of a ship i hadn’t even given much thought to before.

but this chapter!! i feel like sirius does respect tegan and obviously feels warmly towards her, and like he said she’s the perfect woman, but not for him. and he’s staying with her out of a mix of needing a sense of comfort, guilt because his hearts not really in it, but also maybe as a barrier between him and marlene. because he wouldn’t be able to justify not being with marlene if tegan wasn’t in the picture, and like you delved into in the chapter he’s scared to be with her because he cares about her. and that shows to me that marlene is the one for him because he doesn’t feel that way with tegan (at least not to the same extent). also the whole part where was thinking about how marlene is the person he wants to share all the parts of his life with had my whole heart because in my mind that’s one of the most important things to have in a relationship. someone who you not only trust to tell stuff to but also want to.

but ahhh the way you described it all was amazing. as a blackinnon fan (bc of you) i adored this chapter but also i cant wait for hot girl christmas not only bc of jealous sirius but honestly marlene deserves to have her own fun too.

and the scene at the end with cepheus and harry and sirius was so domestic and sweet i loved it

You know, when I started writing Brumous, I very much wanted it to be primarily a Hinny story. It still is. There's still a lot of Hinny. But I'm a thirty-something year old lady so I gravitate and find writing adults way easier than I do teenagers nowadays. So I find myself gravitating to more Sirius POVs and more Sirius centric storylines. The more I wrote Sirius' little love triangle, the more I just loved it.

Anyway, I'm really glad people are enjoying the Blackinnon aspect of the story and I've converted some people to ship them. I find giving Harry two loving godparents just makes me happy because I want that cute little cabbage to be happy, you know?

I'm not going to lie, I have the itch to write more Blackinnon centered stories and/or one-shots in the universe but I don't have any ideas right now.

[hp-fruit-fest]

For the Snarry lovers...Check out these tasty treats created for this year's Fruit Fest!!

And a personal, very enthused thanks to Scarlet and Dandelion for helping me on my Snarry Fruit Smut agenda!!!! You are both the very best and I adore you both.

FIC. Fruit: Orange. Rated: G. Words: 162. Fluff. Kissing.

Harry and Severus share an orange.

Read on AO3

FIC. Fruit: Mango. Rated: M. Words: 340. Blood Kink. Knifeplay. Food play.

Severus laid bare on the white bedsheets. He was on his back, and the cold ceramic plate rested on his stomach. "It has been a good year," said Harry. He had a paring knife in hand as he sliced the mangoes before setting them on the plate.

Read on AO3

FIC. Fruit: Mango. Rated: E. Words: 383. Blood kink. Knifeplay. Food play.

The ceramic plate smashed against the hardwood floor. Harry paused his movements — the mango half peeled in his hands. He placed the fruit — all its juices and flesh — onto the soiled bed sheets. “You shouldn’t have done that. What a waste.”

Read on AO3

FIC. Fruit: Banana. Rated: E. Words: 1,393. Established relationship. PWP. Post coital snack. Spitroasting.

Harry and Severus have some fun with bananas.

Read on AO3

FIC. Fruit: Apple. Rated: E. Words: 3,469. Mpreg. Pregnant Severus. Domestic Bliss. Fluff & Angst.

Severus' life is ruined. Can be read as a sequel to Choice but can also be read as a standalone.

Read on AO3

FIC. Fruit: Plum. Rated: E. Words: 1,939. Series: Love, Your Enemy. Secret relationship. Cheating. Background Hinny. Fruit smut. Language of Flowers. Fluff & angst. Fruit smut.

There is no room for beauty here. Still, Severus covets.

Read on AO3

[evesaintyves]

The Night of the Brown Bananas

@hinnyfest prompt #11: Nightmares

Harry/Ginny, Rated T, 2973 words, domestic fluff and domestic angst

Ginny and Harry finally move into their first flat together, but their new life isn't exactly what Ginny expected. A postwar Hinny slice of life.

i started this as a gift for the lovely @hinnyfied (hbd), but it got a bit out of hand 🫠 read it here (it's long lol) or on AO3 💛🤎🖤

All that was left was Ginny's old canvas school satchel and her overnight bag. She stood next to them in her empty room, chewing her thumbnail. She and Harry had wrestled her old trunk and her cardboard boxes downstairs together by hand, which had earned Harry a snivelly hug from Mum and an equally-snivelly handshake from Dad. Ginny was sure she was in for a whole rainstorm of crying when she showed up downstairs with her bags on her shoulders.

Strange how much bigger her room looked without all her things in it. A spiderweb waved loose in the corner where it had once been attached to her desk lamp. Dark shapes on the walls where pennants and posters had shielded the wallpaper from the sun. Those were all in a box now, rolled into neat cylinders by a charm and a funny whipping motion of the tip of her mum's wand. Mum had tried to teach her how to do it but Ginny had only been half-listening so eventually Mum had done that frustrated little huff of breath through her nose and rolled them all up herself.

The place on the baseboards where Ginny had once, seven years old, scratched I HATE FRED AND GEORGE was still there. She thought about charming it away so her mum and dad wouldn't see it—she even took her wand out—but it felt like erasing a memory. Fred and George had transfigured her Harpies scarf to show a bad word and she'd gone to three errands with mum before anyone noticed. Her mum had been so red that even her dad had seemed alarmed at her fury. She'd sent Ginny and the twins to their rooms, even though Ginny hadn't even known what the word meant (until Fred and George, delighted, had explained it to her over breakfast the next morning).

Harry pushed the door open with a slow creak and Ginny hid her bitten thumb behind her back. 

"Ready?" he said. "I've got everything set up outside so we can just grab it and apparate."

He always stood in the hallway unless he was invited, as if they weren't about to be sharing a flat, a bedroom, a bed.

"Yeah." Ginny gave him a faint smile. "Just give me a minute."

He lingered there for a few seconds like he wasn't sure if he should go, then turned and clomped down the stairs.

This was the last minute she'd still live in the house she'd shared with her brothers. The next time she came she'd only be visiting. That felt like it should make her feel something, but all she had were sore arms, the buzz of excitement in her stomach, the prickly emptiness where some deeper feeling should be.

She shouldered her bag and went downstairs to face her mum's stupid tears.

-----

That first night in their little flat, they were too tired to do anything but flump down on their too-hard new mattress and fall asleep. Ginny dreamt she was signing a contract with the Kestrels, big ridiculous ceremonial quill in her hand, the fluff of it tickling in her nose, eyes watering from all the sports-reporter flashbulbs. She touched the quill to the big scroll of parchment and signed her name.

Good evening, my dear, the contract wrote back. It's been such a very long time. Are you still wondering if you'll ever learn to do a Cuban Eight on your broomstick? Is your brother still nasty to you about it?  I know—

She woke with a hiss of breath and cramps shooting up her calves. Panic hammered through her veins—dark. I'm hurt—until she remembered where she was and that she'd made about twenty trips up and down the stairs with boxes yesterday, thinking it'd be nice to get a leg workout in before tryouts.

She rolled on her side, rested her head on the crook of her arm, bit down on her middle fingernail and watched the slow swells of Harry's breathing. They hadn't hung the curtains yet and the bare bedroom wall was stained with the swapping colours of the traffic light outside: green, yellow, red. She took a breath and held it to slow her heartbeat. Tonks had taught her how to do that. She crammed that useless thought down into the dark cellar storage inside her, along with the sick lingering unease of the dream.

This view of Harry, the narrow shoulders in silhouette and that mess of black hair against the pillow: she'd seen it before, but today in their flat it was exhilaratingly new. This was going to be her every morning, this was going to be her middles-of-the-night. She was going to get used to it. How absolutely mad.

Later, in the faint blush of sunrise, Harry took a long deep breath and stretched his arms over his head. When he turned to face her, his skinny legs tangling in the sheets and that slow squinty smile spreading across his face, Ginny forgot all about the panic and the cramps and my dear and just climbed on top of him, thinking only this is how it's supposed to be, you and me, every day.

------

Ginny felt silly getting so excited for their first big shop. She was uncomfortable amongst all the muggles in the plasticky brightness of Sainsbury's, but Harry pushed the trolley down the overstimulating gauntlets of every-colour packets and tins with a bored confidence that looked weird on him. 

"Yeah," he shrugged. "Aunt Petunia used to drag me along and make me carry the big thing of serviettes that wouldn't fit in the bags."

The muggle snacks were nasty-looking and there weren't even any pumpkin flavours, but Harry grabbed boxes of biscuits and crisps and assured her she'd understand when she tried them. He piled the trolley with fruit and veg, spinach and carrots and apples and bananas.

"You know I can't cook like Mum, right?" Ginny huffed.

"Yeah, I dunno—you've got tryouts and I've got the Auror Academy physical coming up—thought we could try making smoothies or something—you know—grown up, healthy—" He shrugged and ruffled his hair with his hand.

Making smoothies for breakfast with the boy who lived, in their bright little flat that smelled of his cedar trunk and soap. Ginny was stricken, for an instant, by an idea that seemed stupid but dizzyingly true at the same time—that she'd never understood before what it must have been like for Harry to suddenly find out he was a wizard when he was eleven, but maybe it was something like these last few days: the buoying relief of having survived her old life long enough to see her new one, and the unmoored thrill of all the future discoveries unknown, undreamt-of. 

She pressed a kiss to the crescent of skin behind his ear as he counted out the strangely-coloured muggle banknotes, and she could feel the warm flush in his skin where her lips touched him.

------

Of course the smoothies never happened.

Harry was in meetings with Minister Shacklebolt and his transition team most days, and Ginny spent afternoons practicing for tryouts with Bill, swooping over the seaside cliffs like starlings and hurling his battered old quaffle over the peaked roof of Shell Cottage. 

The spinach wilted in the cupboard and the bananas sat unbothered in the fruit bowl, mottled with brown spots. Harry and Ginny ordered pizza and ate it in knackered silence. All the singing nerves of the day they'd moved in together had subsided under the heavy disappointing drone of the neighbour's telly through the wall. Harry would rub Unknotting Unguent into Ginny's spasming back and then she'd crawl into bed and fall asleep listening to the scratch of his quill as he revised for the Auror Academy exams. It wasn't anything like she'd imagined. It wasn't anything. It was like the time just before winter holidays or her birthday, the dragging, drudging lope of days spent waiting for something exciting—but what? This was it. This was supposed to be it.

Her mum and dad dropped by while Harry was out, and while Molly managed to hold her tongue at the stack of pizza boxes next to the bin and the gnats buzzing round the fruit bowl, Ginny could see on her face that she wasn't impressed. She looked so old, all of a sudden. Arthur did too, but at least his face lit up with a boyish glee when he wandered through the flat flipping all the lightswitches. Ginny pulled the chain of the the ceiling fan for him and he giggled like a little kid.

"Has Angelina been round lately?" Ginny asked them over chipped mugs of tea. She knew better than to ask directly about George.

"She's in Freiburg, actually, consulting with Ellerby and Spudmore," Arthur said. That sounded dead grown-up. Ginny couldn't even imagine. With a cautious glance over at her mum, he added, "I gather they're on a bit of a break. George has been... in one of his moods, I think. We don't hear much."

He was speaking in that hushed, apologetic tone he'd been using ever since all the funerals.

"Oh," Ginny said.

"I've been to the Tonks house this week," her Mum cut in. Her dad pressed his lips together until they went white.

"Did you see Teddy?" Ginny asked, setting down her half-eaten shortbread. She and 

Harry hadn't been to visit him in the last few weeks, with the way all their time was eaten by moving out and practice and exams and just everything, every thing.

"He was having a little kip—" Molly started, but then she stopped and took a big slurp of her tea, the way she always did when she was about to deliver hard news. 

A brand-new understanding thumped in Ginny's chest: that steadying tea-slurp was her mum's need to soothe herself, the way Ginny would peel off slivers of fingernail with her teeth. Somehow it was both startling and obvious. She'd been watching her mum do it for almost nineteen years.

"He's been having a bit of trouble—er, sleeping and that—" Arthur filled in for Molly with a weak chuckle.

"He won't sleep in his bed," Molly blurted out, "he's afraid something's underneath and trying to get him. Andromeda tried to make him tell her what he thinks is under there—you know, he's barely two—and all he would say was 'Mummy and Daddy'—"

Another slurp of tea. Arthur reached out to stroke Molly's upper arm.

Hours later, when Harry came home, he didn't ask why Ginny was lying on the sofa with her eyes all swollen. He just sat next to her and laid his hand on her cheek. She didn't start crying again, but it was a weird comfort to just lie there and throb with his quiet warmth at her side.

------

The neighbours downstairs had a party so loud Ginny could feel the bass vibrating in the mattress springs. She and Harry cast every muffling and white-noise charm they knew, but the beat pounded through the very frame of the building. It invaded Ginny's head like a commanding voice and made her legs twitch with electric, frustrated rage. 

"I'm going to go downstairs, curse the door off the hinges and hex every single one of them and their—their muggle—music box or whatever—"

Harry turned over and squinted at her in the dark.

"You can't get arrested, they'll disqualify you from tryouts," he croaked.

Ginny kicked all her covers off and rolled in a ball on her side, clutching her stomach.

Harry managed to fall asleep with his head sandwiched between two pillows, but Ginny laid there in spiraling despair until the police came to break the party up. The curtains were still in a wrinkled lump on the bedroom floor, so the flashing lights made a red-and-blue lightshow on the bedroom wall. Harry didn't even move. When the music finally shut off, Ginny closed her eyes in exhausted relief, but it seemed like the moment she fell asleep the sun was shining red through her eyelids and the pipes were groaning with Harry's morning shower.

The browning bananas curved like a smirk in the fruit bowl. Ginny blankly spooned Harry's weird muggle cereal into her mouth. Her thoughts were the same slow pointless drip as the broken tap in the kitchen. Harry leaned down to kiss her neck on his way out the door. He followed her gaze to the bananas.

"They're getting almost as freckly as you," he murmured into her ear, smacked another kiss on her cheek, and left. Ginny sat in the abrupt calm of the flat for a moment, blinking, then threw her spoon into the bowl with a clink and flooed over to Bill's, where she slung the quaffle so hard and so wildly it broke the weather vane off the roof and sent it spinning into the kitchen garden. Fleur came running out the back door at the noise, wiping her hands on a tea towel and cursing in French. Bill pulled his broom up alongside pinkfaced, panting Ginny and gripped her shoulder with his big rough hand.

------

Harry sat up in the dead of night with a gasp like he was coming up from underwater and touched his fingertips to his scar.

Ginny sat up too, so fast it made her abs twinge. "What is it? Does it hurt?"

"No," Harry said, "not really. Only in the dream."

He sat there blinking for a moment, red traffic light painting his face, then flopped back on his side and pulled the covers up to his neck. Ginny felt suddenly very alone in their bed.

"I have weird dreams too," she whispered.

She didn't think Harry had heard her at first, but after a moment, muffled by the duvet, he said, "Do you?"

"Yeah."

He turned over to face her. "Like what?"

"I dunno," she said. She didn't know why she'd even said it, because she didn't really want to talk about it now. "Like I made it on a Quidditch team but I don't want to play anymore."

Harry was quiet for so long she thought he must have gone back to sleep, but then he slid over and rested his forehead against her thigh. It had taken him so long, when they'd first begun seeing each other, to start giving her little touches like this. She didn't suppose the Dursleys had been touchers. She wove her fingers into his hair.

"I haven't felt like myself lately," she blurted out. "I mean—not just lately—but especially—I dunno—"

She took a breath and the hitch in it repulsed her.

Harry didn't say anything, but she could feel his eyelashes blinking against her leg. The light from outside turned green and painted the rumpled sheets that pooled around the both of them.

"I just—we never even made smoothies. The bananas are all rotten now. The curtains are still over there on the floor. How long is it going to be like this? How long can I not feel like myself before I have to admit that this is just how I am now?"

She shoved her thumbnail in her mouth. Warm stupid tears were leaking down her face and dripping all the way down her neck to her collarbones. She'd normally have scrubbed them away with the back of her hand and gone somewhere to collect herself, but she wanted them, weirdly, to prove how pathetic this dumb fucked-up feeling was. Mum's coppery hair was coming in white, poor Andromeda had to think about dead Tonks crawling out from under the bed, George was aching alone in his filthy bedsit, Fred was in the ground turning into something unrecognisable, and Ginny was sat here crying like an idiot over some fucking brown bananas.

Harry sat up and looked at her. "The bananas went bad?"

Ginny laughed through her noseful of snot.

"They're nearly black now," she sniffed. "Its so stupid, I just hate to waste—"

Harry suddenly swung his legs out of the bed and walked in his stiff morning way out of the bedroom.

The traffic light was yellow now. Ginny got up and followed him into the kitchen.

Harry was holding the bunch of bananas betwen two fingers. A tenacious fruit fly looped circles around them. He broke one off the bunch with a nasty squishing noise.

"I'll eat them right now," he said. "Zero waste."

He pulled the black peel back from the banana. A fermented smell came off it and stung the back of Ginny's nose. Webby strings of goo stretched between the fruit and the skin, and they caught the light from outside and shone with it like tiny filaments of neon.

"Er—" Harry started, his brow furrowing.

"You don't have to eat it," Ginny said quickly.

Harry stared at her for a moment with such intensity that she thought he might take a bite just to shock her.

Then he turned around and chucked them into the kitchen bin.

"We'll go to Sainsbury's in the morning," he said. Ginny's face was itchy with drying tears. Harry wiped his hands off on the seat of his pyjamas and brushed past her into the bedroom.

"Come on, I'll rub that stuff on your back if you want," he called over his shoulder.

Ginny didn't, but she followed him back to bed. In the morning, she woke to the quiet rustling sounds of Harry putting up the curtains. The flat still reeked of rotting banana. When she sat up, Harry turned around to look at her, grinned, and accidentally bashed the curtain rod into the window frame. Ginny felt a sleepy little flicker inside: this is it. You and me.

[beckym29114]

Family

Day 4 of @hinnymicrofic - Family

Harry closes the case file on his desk. The case has been horrible, but it's finally closed. He looks at his watch and realizes that he needs to leave now if he wants to get to the Burrow in time for lunch. He apparates as close to the Burrow as he can. As he walks toward the house, he notices that everyone is outside enjoying the beautiful spring weather.

Teddy runs full speed at Harry as soon as he sees him. "Look what I can do!" Teddy exclaims. The young boy then opens his mouth and wiggles one of his front teeth.

"Wow Ted! That tooth is really loose. It's definitely going to fall out soon."

"Yup! Uncle George said he could pull it out, but that seems like cheating. Guess what else Harry."

"What Ted? " Harry asks as he smiles at the boy.

"The baby kicked me earlier."

Before Harry can say anything, Teddy runs off to show Victoire his loose tooth. Harry chuckles as he walks closer to the house where Ginny is sitting in the shade with her feet propped up. He leans down to kiss her and then kisses her bump.

"I hear you've been kicking people. That's not a nice thing to do," he says to the baby growing inside his wife.

"I've been telling him that for months, but he won't listen to me," Ginny says as she tries to scoot over to make room for Harry.

Harry snuggles close to Ginny and he watches the Weasleys as they start setting out lunch. Even now, after all this time, it's hard to believe that he is part of this amazing family.

[whinlatter]

reading | listening | writing | spring 2023

wanted to share just a few of the incredible fics i've enjoyed reading in the past few months, some songs i'm loving writing to, and share some writing updates (including a sneak peek of Beasts chapter 4...)

Reading...

perimeter walks by @evesaintyves (remadora, completed multi-chapter, DH) 🦊

truly some of the most artful, delicate and tender fic writing i've ever read - a series of exquisite portraits exploring family and domesticity told through remus and dora's experiences in hiding. let me tell you i will rec this until i am blue in the face (bonus mention to the author's equally excellent it's just what you do to get by, a remus-pov oneshot about his experiences living among the werewolves during HBP, that floored me)

Animals by @turanga4 (remus and firenze friendship oneshot) 🌲

thought this was such an inventive conceit for a piece, beautifully executed, framed around a series of meetings between these two characters throughout remus' life, including in the forest.

something so tender (i can't explain) by @incalculablepower (Romione, oneshot) 💭

'is this the moment?' - man i loved this. it's about daydreams and different ways romione touch before the kiss, and just attends to hermione's hopes and imagination and fantasy life through a series of HBP-DH missing moment vignettes (aka my favourite things ever). there are turns of phrase all over this that made me gasp. huge huge fan of this piece

Lux Aurumque by @saintsenara (Sirius POV, oneshot) 🌅

'Seven dawns that change Sirius Black.' this is a really excellent, moving, driving character study that hollowed me out and has stayed with me long after that first read. a must-read, honestly

Surrender by @greenhousethree (Ginny POV, oneshot, set during DH) 🛏️

ohhhh how I loved this - it explores ginny's experiences of torture and trauma during DH, with some gorgeous hinny moments in there too. this fic has seared into my brain i swear

Birds of Paradise by eldritcher (Dumbledore and Fawkes friendship oneshot) 🪺

i know i've got beasts on the brain at the moment, but this fic blew me away - it's told from fawkes' pov, and it's just this completely brilliant exploration of dumbledore and fawkes' bond but also the politics of revolution. go with it, it's so so worth your time

She Thinks by @mightbewriting (Romione, twoshot, post-DH) 🏡

ron and hermione, building and rebuilding after the war, thinking about families and futures - i'm late to this one but this is just exquisite. also the smut is like strangely moving, can't explain it, just beautifully done and integrated into the arc of the fic. officially obsessed with this

Listening...

desire, i want to turn into you (album) - caroline polachek (whole album is a knock-out, smoke is song of the year fight me. also a dido feature!!)

the record (album) - boygenius (not strong enough is the other song of the year)

today (can't help but cry) - gretel hänlyn (and this is the song of the summer)

boyhood - the japanese house (every time i play this it makes my heart hurt)

free - florence & the machine (it picks me up/it puts me down ❤️‍🔥)

Writing...

wrote a couple of procrastination microfics, then smushed em together edited a smidge and put them up on ao3 as think / hope, a sad lil hinny post-breakup dual pov oneshot. thank you so much for the love for this funny lil fic, i had so much fun putting these together & felt good to work different muscles!

(...and a sneak peek)

now... about these Beasts...

chapter four is very very nearly done (whisper it). unusually for me i am really excited to share this chapter (you know, mixed in with the usual dread, let's not get ahead of ourselves). not to sound too cloying and sincere but spending time in ginny's head is just making me feel so energised and fulfilled at the moment, having a ball writing this. anyhoooo i've put a very small sneak peek below. don't wanna give away too much good stuff but just wanted to share a taste... spoilers below the cut!

‘We tend to think of ourselves like that, don’t we?’ At the window, Graves looks out across the grounds, to the crumbling dry stone walls guiding the empty paths up the mountains. ‘We think we’re the same person forever. We say: this is who I am, this is how I think, this is typically how I behave and respond to the world around  me. We believe, fundamentally, in the fixed and stable self - that we are one person for the duration of our mortal life.’ He turns back to the class.  ‘But what do you all think? Are we just one person in a lifetime? Is there some great, immutable core to a person that dictates who we are throughout the course of our lives? Or might we change, or grow, or be somehow altered by our experiences? Might we be many things? I wonder whether we lack a clear sense of just how much we can change in one lifetime. Perhaps we are the least well placed to track the trajectory, the journey of our own soul, after all. I am not so convinced we see ourselves, our own souls, very clearly — though, of course, it matters that we believe we do.’

[hp-flowers]

Prompt Challenges and Events for May

Here are some other monthly challenges or events to combine HP Flowers’ Spring Round prompts with, should you need some more inspiration for your flowery works: >> Microfic May- a May HP multi-ship daily microfic prompt challenge, all prompts are up! >> Sapphic Microfics- HP Femslash daily microfic prompt challenge, and all May prompts are up! >> More HP Microfic communities by ship (Drarry, Wolfstar, Jily, Hinny, Prongsfoot, Marauders era femslash, etc.) >> HP Coffeehouse- monthly prompts for coffee or tea based works >> Liquid Luck Drabble and Art Challenge- bi-monthly prompts for fic and art works >> Wood You Rather- Oliver Wood-centric prompt challenge (the event may be over after April, but late submissions are welcome)! >> HP Fruit Fest- low-key, chill fest that runs until June 21st for all the fruity goodness! >> House of Snarry- This Discord releases monthly prompts for creators to make Snarry content. May prompts have been posted up! >> Domaystic- a May multi-ship and multi-fandom daily prompt challenge based on the domestic trope, all prompts are posted up! >> Ageplay May- a May multi-ship and multi-fandom daily prompt challenge based on the ageplay trope, all prompts are posted up! >> Whumpay- a May multi-ship and multi-fandom daily prompt challenge based on all the whumpy and painful things, all prompts are posted up! >> Play the List Bingo- a multi-ship and multi-fandom bingo challenge inspired by songs and music; see all the bingo cards and prompts available >> May Mixtape Challenge- A May writing challenge where you can grab a playlist and let the music guide you! >> Year of the OTP- a multi-ship and multi-fandom event designed to encourage creators to make more content for a particular ship they love and end 2023 with 12 new works for an OTP. Prompts for the whole year have been posted! If you know of other challenges that should be added to the list, send an ask. :) Cheers, and have fun!

[sweeethinny]

Hinny Fest - Day 10

I'm so lucky to be able to live this life with you"- day ten

didn't know what to write, I admit, but it came out easily I think it's the best domestic hinny I've ever written

@hinnyfest

-----

He was at work and that seemed to be the topic of the day.

''It's easy to say you love when it's okay,'' he heard someone say. ''I want to see when everything is a mess, children screaming and running, messy house, dirty dishes, bills to pay... That's when we see true love.''

''That's why she left me,'' Cecil said, still looking sad but now a little angry. ''We wanted to have kids but as soon as our little one was born and things got tough, she dumped me for a new woman.''

''Sorry, sweetheart,'' Someone spoke, compassionate tone and low voice.

''Alright, we're getting through it.''

''But what I said is true, look when you get home, tell them you love them even when the biggest mess is happening, you'll see how their reaction is different from when everything is perfect and we are having the most romantic time together .''

Harry continued to do his work, silently in his office, until it was time to leave. He as usual closed everything, ensured that nothing had been left behind, made sure he hadn't forgotten anything…

The usual routine.

He stopped by the kids' school to pick them up, went to the bakery to buy some bread, cheese and some chocolate cookies that Ginny asked for, tried to keep the kids from sleeping in the backseat like they always did, and went home.

As soon as he arrived, he had already started to set the table for dinner — he had left a potato and chicken pie ready in the freezer — and was still trying to prevent them from sleeping without eating. Harry put them to feed Khaleesi and Sir, their cat and dog, and then made them open all the windows and curtains - it was an absurdly hot summer - and water the plants around the house. They made a mess, of course, they weren't tall enough yet and they fought over who would do what, but at least they were staying awake.

Harry and Ginny had already made the mistake of letting them sleep too early a few times, and the price they paid the next morning wasn't low.

When she arrived an hour later, Harry had already finished making dinner and was trying to settle a fight between Lily and Albus over the flavour of the juice they wanted to drink, sleep making them a little angry with each other, but he was doing a good job.

''Hello,'' Ginny walked over to him, giving him a quick kiss and then bending down to hug and kiss the kids. ‘'How are we?''

Lily and Albus went back to talking about the juice fight while James talked about what he had done at school. The three of them followed Ginny upstairs, while she went to change clothes and wash her hands, Harry finished putting all the food on the table and squeezing some oranges to put with the pineapple juice, putting together Albus' and Lily's wishes.

''No Khaleesi,'' Harry took the cat off the table, who meowed angrily at him and headed out into the garden, a place she loved to hang out during the summer.

While everyone else didn't come downstairs, Harry made sure the dirty dishes wash themselves, as well as the clothes in the laundry room, remembered telling James to put away his toys that were scattered in the living room, put away the things that were out of place around the house and took the dry clothes off the line, folding them and leaving them in a pile, later Ginny was going to take each one to its proper place, but now he just wanted to sit down and eat.

''Yummy, it looks great,'' Ginny set the kids up in the chairs and Harry served them, they were both hungry and tired so dinner was always quieter, everyone concentrated on the food.

James was almost asleep on top of his plate at the end of the meal, which indicated that it was bath time.

Harry and Ginny took turns, while she helped with the children's baths, he made the beds and sorted out the pyjamas. As long as they could still get the three of them to bathe in their big bathtub – one of the first things Harry bought with his first paycheck, and he would never regret it – they wouldn't waste time in the shower, having already experienced it. It was faster, yes, but with three kids who loved a mess, it became a very difficult process for a Wednesday.

He helped them dry one by one, wearing only Lily, who was the youngest and still had some difficulties putting on her clothes.

It was Ginny's turn to put the children to bed, so Harry kissed each one good night and left the room, heading for theirs.

They used to sleep late before they had kids, but then during the week, Harry and Ginny were passed out in bed before eleven at night. It was a tiring routine, they would wake up early, Ginny would drive them to school not far away (after a lot of silly arguing between the kids, as their moods were so bad in the morning), they would have breakfast together, go to work, and they only saw each other again during lunch, and that was only sometimes. He wished he could stay awake with her longer, but it was eight-thirty and Harry could barely stand it with his eyes open as he showered, looking at himself in the mirror inside the shower and trying to find the strength to shave.

One more day, that would be for later, he decided, putting down the razor he was using and just washing his face.

When he came out of the shower, Ginny was walking back to the bedroom, a tired smile on her face. ''They didn't even fight today, Lily barely drink her milk,''

''She'll stop asking for the bottle soon,'' Harry hung up the towel and went to their closet, looking for a pair of underwear in the drawer. ''It was like that with the other three too, remember?''

''Yes,'' Ginny hugged him, her warm hand touching his cold skin and making him shiver. ''This weekend, Mum will take them,''

''Hm,'' Harry smiled. ''What do you want to do?''

''Today, if I had to decide, I'd tell us to do nothing, just sleep, no interruptions,'' They laughed, but Harry might have agreed with that. ''But then I thought we could do something. Go out a little, I don't know, it's been a while since we've done anything, just the two of us, outside the house.''

''We can do it,'' Harry took her hand, kissing her ring, as he always did. ‘'I'll think of something. Now go take a shower, I'll make the kids' lunch tomorrow,''

''Let me do it,'' He denied.

''I'd rather you handle the clothes,'' Ginny groaned in frustration, leaning her forehead against his bare back.

''Urg, I hate storing clothes,'' He knew, and that's why he always preferred to spend more time in the kitchen.

She left, went to the bathroom and Harry finished getting dressed, only old trunks and flip-flops, so he went back downstairs and into the kitchen, starting to pack the children's lunch boxes. After a few years of experience, Harry and Ginny realised that losing a few hours of comfort in bed at night was far more worth it than having to get up early to cook; it was a double-edged sword, but this was a less painful stab.

James ate everything, so his lunch box was never a problem; Harry made a sandwich he had already asked, put in two pieces of cake, some fruit, and a granola bar that he loved to eat while waiting on the way out or in the car back home.

Albus didn't like to eat sandwiches like that, so for him, Harry would knead the slices of bread until they were thin, and fill it the same way, but then roll the bread, as if it were a Japanese food that Albus loved. He only got him a piece of cake, as he wasn't eating as much as James. For him, instead of the granola bar, Harry added some more fruit, which he also liked to eat in the car.

Lily was the most selective. For her, at the age of five, everything needed to be more beautiful to the eyes than necessarily to the taste. Harry was more dedicated to hers, with star and bunny cutters, plastic flower sticks and paper towels decorated with her favourite characters. It was the same food, but it took Harry a lot longer to arrange everything beautifully than anything else. She also only got one piece of cake, but less fruit, as she wasn't eating much.

By the time it was all over—and after Ginny had finished putting away the clothes—it was close to ten o'clock. They were talking while she in the laundry room folded the clothes and hung up the ones that were clean now, and Harry made sure the kitchen was clean by tomorrow morning. When they went to bed, they were already too tired to do anything, so he just gave her a kiss and hugged her.

''I'm so lucky to be able to live this life with you" He said, kissing her forehead once more, remembering what he was listening to at work earlier. Ginny laughed softly, hugging him tighter.

''Hm, that took me by surprise,'' she said, smiling. ''I feel that way too,'' She kissed him. ''I love you.''

''Love you too.''

[devotedtomarvel]

I'm doing it again!!! Limited Time Harry Potter Requests!!!

Soooo here's the rules dudes, dudettes and everyone else -

Pick one from each category (ship, trope and location) and any extra requests for your fic and either drop in in a private message or a comment on the post! All of the fics will be posted on my ao3 and I'll post on tumblr, tagging you as soon as I've posted it. Because I'm back at school in a couple weeks, I can't really give a time frame of how long it will take for me to write it but I'll aim for about a week. The fics won't be incredibly long (3000 words +) unless I get super inspired!

Now for the ships!

Drarry (Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter)

Wolfstar (Sirius Black/Remus Lupin)

Dramione (Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy)

Ronmione (Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley)

Jily (James Potter/Lily Evans)

Snarry (Harry Potter/Severus Snape)

Hinny? (Ginny Weasley/Harry Potter)

Jegulus (James Potter/Regulus Black)

Snamione? (Hermione Granger/Severus Snape)

Hermione Granger/Harry Potter (couldn't think of a ship name so make your own 😂)

Remione (Hermione Granger/Remus Lupin)

If there are any other ships you want for a fic other than the list, just drop me a message and I'll see whether I can do it!

The tropes -

Any AU (Give as many details as you can in the request!)

Getting together

Domestic Fluff

Friends to lovers

Enemies to lovers

Only one bed (I had to include it!)

Hurt/Comfort

Established relationship (If you don’t say that its a getting together fic, I’ll assume that its established relationship anyway)

Mutual pining

Letter writing (as in, the fic’s in the form of letters between one another)

Enemies to friends to lovers

Omega verse

Pregnancy

My level of spice (as in, not a lot but as far as I’m willing to go with your specific story)

I know that some of these tropes aren’t to some people’s taste, and I am open to other suggestions, like I said with my ship list. However, if something that you want makes me uncomfortable writing and posting, I will message you and let you know that I am uncomfortable with writing that, and you can choose another trope!

The Locations -

The Forbidden Forest

The Gryffindor Common Room

The Slytherin Common Room

Third Floor Girls Bathroom (Moaning Myrtle’s Bathroom)

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

Privet Drive

Classrooms (whichever one is appropriate)

Teacher’s office (again, whichever one is appropriate)

Again, I'm open to more suggestions in requests, because I want to be able to write things specifically for you and I want you to enjoy it! If you want a fic to actually happen in Draco Malfoy's walk in closet, I'll try my hardest to write that for you!

I'm hoping to do more of these little request things in the future, with more specific themes, so look out for them after this one!

Deadline - 24.9.23

[danpuff-ao3]

Or: all the drabbles I wrote for House of Snarry's Drabbles & Drawbles challenge in February. For Team Bee, of course. (Who WON, I might add.) (As all good Queen Bees should.) 🏆 🐝

Valentine's Victor

Snarry. Rated: G. Words: 46. Mentions of Hinny. Letters. Poetry. Pettiness Humor.

Severus is the Prince of Petty. I mean Poetry.

Washes & Wishes

Snarry. Rated: M. Words: 300. Domestic fluff. Romance. Bathing.

Harry and Severus take a bath.

Amortentia

Snarry. Rated: T. Words: 300. Potions. Dreams. Student/teacher crush. Pre-slash. Sixth year.

Harry dreams of love.

Killer's Caress

Snarry. Rated: T. Words: 300. Pre-slash. Student/teacher.

Potter’s magic is a killer’s caress.

Kiss and Control

Snarry. Rated: M. Words: 400. Kissing. Erotica.

Part your lips a bit more, I'll swallow your fear.

Amor Aeternus

Hermione POV. Snarry. Rated: T. Words: 500. MCD. Underage. Student/teacher. Tragedy.

Harry and Snape belong together.

Bonus: little image I threw together in honor of the top 3 winners of the challenge! Cuz I'm not just a busy bee, I'm also a silly bee. Also shoutout to my fellow Team Bee peeps! 😘

@houseofsnarry thanks for being awesome! 💝