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Category: Post-DH/AB Characters:None Genres: Romance Warnings: Mild Sexual Situations Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 94 Summary: Now that the Final Battle is over, Harry wants to pick up the pieces of the life he left behind, starting with Ginny. Hitcount: Story Total: 28555; Chapter Total: 4425 Awards: View Trophy Room Author's Notes: Plot bunny that refused to shut up. Hope it’s enjoyable. Extra special thanks to my betas rosiekatriona, and sassyfrass. Constructive criticism cheerfully accepted. Praise greatly enjoyed. Flames haughtily ignored. |
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The bright red light of the Stunning spell flashed across the Gryffindor Common Room, its aim as true as one would expect, seeing who cast it. And Ron, caught two steps away from Hermione, slumped bonelessly to the ground. Ten seconds later, George also slumped to the ground. But his excuse was inability to stand. He laughed, and laughed, and held his stomach, and laughed some more. Molly and Arthur, their attention caught by George’s hilarity, stared down at him. And as they watched, and gaped, George’s laughter turned into sobs. Molly, of course, was the first to the floor, to hold her baby. Arthur wasn’t far behind, everything else forgotten--no, not forgotten, but set aside for the needs of the moment. But almost as quickly, and a lot more surprisingly, was Percy. Percy, the lost sheep, returned to the fold, knelt down next to his brother, and held him, and supported him. Molly was slightly hurt by George’s turning to his brother. But, as mothers find out, sometimes their kisses don’t heal skinned knees, and sometimes their spit doesn’t clean away the dirt. And sometimes their almost-suffocating hugs don’t bind up broken hearts. Arthur put his arms around his wife, and held her close, and they, in turn, kept a close watch on George and Percy, hoping that this would be the first step in the healing process. They weren’t naive enough to believe that this would be the end of the tears, but the fact that he was crying gave them hope. Harry and Ginny left the relative safety of the stairwell to join the rest of the family, and Hermione stood indecisively about halfway in-between Ron’s crumpled form and the knot of Weasleys, and Harry and Ginny, around George. Finally, she decided that Ron would keep and crept around to Harry’s other side. “Hey, Hermione,” Harry whispered, wrapping an arm around her. “Hi. Listen--I didn’t tell Ron anything, but he’s been getting a little suspicious. You might want to explain to everyone else while he’s stunned, so that they’ll be on your side when he gets woken up.” Ginny turned to Harry in shock. “I thought nobody knew! You told me that it was our secret! When did you tell her?” She instantaneously turned her ire to Hermione. “When did he tell you? He promised me that he wouldn’t tell! I can’t believe--” Harry interrupted her before she could get too loud. “Gin!” he whispered, as loud as he could. “Do you want to just tell the whole family right now? ‘Cause you’ve just about got everyone’s attention!” Ginny stopped her diatribe, to find that her parents were staring at her in unabashed curiosity, as were Charlie and Bill. Percy was still talking quietly with George, thankfully, but they, and the unfortunate Ron, were the only ones not listening in. “Um, hi, everyone!” Ginny chirped, in a higher-than-normal voice. “We--” she indicated Harry and herself, “--need to have a quick chat, okay? Then we have something important to tell you.” She turned quickly to walk towards the stairs again, but a growl from Charlie, and a very determined, “You are NOT going up there alone, young lady!” had her changing her route and dragging Harry, and by extension, Hermione, into the far corner of the Common Room. The other Weasleys watched as the three held a rather furious, albeit whispered, conversation. Charlie made to get up off the couch, preparatory to sneaking closer, but Ginny caught the motion out of the corner of her eye, and her glare was enough to keep him from rising. “Okay, Harry, start talking. How did Hermione find out about the wedding?” Harry stammered a bit, and his voice chose that moment to ascend into the higher registers. “I don’t know, Gin! I promise, I didn’t tell anyone!” Ginny stared at her apparent husband, who looked back at her, willing her to see the truth. Satisfied, they both turned to look at the other girl. “Okay, Hermione. Spill!” Harry whispered, forcefully. Not coincidentally, Ginny let her hand drop to her wand. “Well, I didn’t really know for sure,” Hermione started, speaking softly, but as quickly as she could, “until I overheard Harry the night Ron left us.” “What!” Ginny shrieked, then quickly ducked, as if she could hide from the gimlet stares of her family. “You haven’t told her that?” Hermione questioned Harry. “Of course I did--I told her that night!” Harry responded. “What all did you overhear?” Ginny asked, intently. “Nothing!” Hermione protested. At Ginny’s incredulous look she deflated. “Well, not nothing, I mean, I heard Harry call you on the mirror. It must be one of the mirrors that Sirius had given him, right? I thought you broke one, Harry.” Seeing the look on Harry’s face, she blushed slightly. “Right, I can ask later. Anyway, I heard him call you, Ginny, and he said something like, ‘How’ve you been, Mrs. Potter?’ and I just kind of freaked out. Remember, Harry, there was that dent in the teakettle? I dropped it when I heard that. And then I heard Ginny say something about wishing you were there to keep her warm, and I decided I really didn’t need to hear any more.” Ginny looked decidedly relieved at finding out the limits of Hermione’s knowledge, but Hermione wasn’t done. “What I can’t figure out is when you had time to do something--I mean, I’m happy for you and all, but when could you get married? And how? Ginny would have had to be only fifteen, right? And even then you would have had to sneak away from the school. And we were always together for Hogsmeade weekends, and then there was the funeral, and I thought you had broken up with her!” She turned towards Harry, accusingly. Harry flinched, but a quick squeeze from Ginny’s hand fortified him. “All right. Hermione, you’re right, we got married secretly. But I’d rather just explain it all at once.” Ginny squeezed his hand again, and he looked at his wife. She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head towards the other girl. Harry questioned her with his gaze, and she nodded quickly. Harry looked back at his best-girl-friend-who-wasn’t-his-wife, and said, “Thank you, Hermione, for covering for us. We can’t tell you how much we appreciate that.” And the married couple enclosed the other girl in a giant hug. The other Weasleys noticed that the conference seemed to be over, and perked up as the trio came back towards them. George had subsided by now, and was watching them, too, with red eyes, although his mouth held a small smile. Charlie and Bill sat up a bit more in their respective sofas, and the Weasley parents motioned to everyone else to take a seat. Well, except for Ron, who was still Stupefied on the floor. Harry sat in one of the big chairs, and Ginny promptly took a seat on his lap. This drew a rather disapproving look from Percy who repeated, “I assume you have an explanation for this!” Ginny looked impertinently at her brother and said, “Of course, Percy dear. I love Harry, and his lap is much more comfortable than any of those chairs.” Harry blushed slightly at this, but the real reaction came from Arthur. The patriarch of the family frowned at his, apparently rather forward, daughter, and said, even more forcefully than the last time, “Ginevra Molly Weasley!” “Potter, Dad,” came the forthright reply. Silence. Then, “What, dear?” came Molly’s voice. The softness of her voice was belied by the stern look in her eyes. “I said that my last name is Potter, Mum. Harry and I are married.” Not silence. In fact, the complete opposite of silence. Percy, from his seat on the floor next to George, was trying to be sentenciously offended, which was rather hard--sitting on the floor was obviously not something the always-proper Percy was used to. Of course, George’s presence was also rather a hindrance to Percy’s ploy--George had fallen over onto Percy’s shoulder, and was once again laughing, although it also looked like he was trying to speak. Eventually, he managed to calm himself enough to, much louder this time, call out, “Way to go, sis!” Bill and Charlie were stunned by this revelation, but that didn’t stop them from jumping up and shouting out random complaints about underaged-ness, stupid girls who got pregnant before they should, and imprecations towards Harry if he had done anything improper with their sister. Molly and Arthur stood up too, whether to rein in their two oldest or to get more freedom for wand motions, if needed, was unclear. Hermione, hoping to protect Harry, which she’d been doing for what seemed like forever, and Ginny, who had become her best girl-friend, also stood and backed up to keep everyone in sight. A sudden explosion from Molly’s wand, accompanied by a rather bright burst of sparks, drew the attention of everyone in the room. “Quiet!” she shouted, and the room fell silent. Molly glared sternly around at her children, and then spoke very deliberately. “We will all sit down and discuss this like the adults that we, hopefully, are.” She took a seat, and pulled Arthur down next to her. Bill and Charlie grumbled, but then sat as well. Hermione was left as the only other one not seated--well, Ron wasn’t, technically, seated either, but he probably didn’t count. In fact, most everyone had forgotten that he was still lying on the floor, peacefully dreaming, and drooling. Hermione chose a close armchair, and they all turned their attention to Molly. “Now, Ginevra,” Molly continued. “Would you care to explain?” Ginny took a deep breath, and Harry pulled her back against him for a quick hug. “Well, you see, Harry and I ended up dating last year.” Charlie scoffed, and said, “What do you mean ended up? It’s not like you accidentally tripped and fell into a relationship!” Ginny turned and glared at her brother. “No, but it was almost as unexpected. But if you’d rather discuss semantics, I certainly don’t mind delaying the important stuff.” Charlie blanched, looked at his mother, and blanched even more. He sat back and motioned for Ginny to continue the story. “Anyway, when Dumbledore was murdered, Harry decided that he was going to have to find the. . . I mean, that he was going to have to go after Tom himself. After the funeral, he took me aside and gave me this long speech about how he didn’t think he could handle my being hurt. Then he said that we would have to break up, to protect me.” This time it was Bill who spoke up. “Finally! Something intelligent in this whole thing. Harry’s much too dangerous--well, he was, at any rate. Good on you, Harry, for doing what was right.” Ginny smirked at Bill. “Do you really think I would have let him do that to me? After all, the whole school knew we had been dating, so it’s rather obvious that Tom would find out sooner or later. And it wouldn’t make me any safer--the whole world knows that Harry would drop everything to rescue any of his friends--even a putative ex-girlfriend." “So,” Ginny continued, “when Harry tried to break up with me, I gave him a different option. I mean, yes, it would be good if I couldn’t tell anyone where he was. And I could pretend pretty well that he and I weren’t together any more. But the problem was that I wouldn’t know what was happening to him.” Harry took up the narrative. “It seems I found myself a rather brilliant girlfriend, even if I do say so myself.” He took a moment to plant a kiss on Ginny’s head. “So, she suggested that we get a pair of mirrors, like the ones that Sirius and Remus and my dad had. That way we could talk to each other. Well, that made a lot of sense, especially because since Ginny’s so smart, she could help doing research on how to destroy Riddle once and for all.” “But that wasn’t all,” Ginny interjected. “I wanted him to know how much I loved him and wanted him to come back. So, after I persuaded him to keep in contact with me, I asked him to marry me.” Molly looked rather scandalized. She had been engrossed in the story, seeing what kind of life the two of them had had back in the previous year--something that she hadn’t heard even a whisper about before. But the idea of a girl proposing! That was preposterous! Arthur noticed his wife getting ready to denounce the brazen ways of kids nowadays, and laid a gentle hand on her arm. “Molly, dear, let them finish the story. Nothing we can do about it now, is there?” Molly subsided with a grimace, and then nodded for the couple to continue. “Well, when Ginny proposed, I was rather shocked. I mean, I had hoped that, one day, I’d be able to get married, and have children. But I had pretty much given up on the idea, since I knew I had to kill Riddle, and I couldn’t see myself surviving. But then Ginny asked me to marry her, and all of a sudden I could see a future for myself--with a beautiful red-headed wife, and children. . . and a nice little house in the country, perhaps close to Devon. And I found myself wanting that so much--finally, a family to call my own!" “And so I said ‘Yes’.” “Yelled it, more like,” Ginny said, an impish smile on her face. “Anyway, to make a long story short, we finally decided that the only option was to try the Room of Requirement. We went up there late one night, when we were supposed to be in bed. When we went in, there was a beautiful altar, with white crocheted lace on the top, and a book lying there.” “The book was entitled Ancient Betrothal and Binding Rituals. Ginny picked it up, and found one that didn’t require an officiator.” “It also didn’t make mention of an age limit,” Ginny explained. “So, we knelt at the altar and repeated the vows. When we finished, the altar glowed white like the book said it should, and we figured we were married.” Bill nodded his head at this. “Yeah, that sounds right--most magical bondings have some sort of glow that shows they were successful.” He shook his head. “I’m still not sure I like this. But there’s not much we can do about it now.” He quieted for a bit, then looked up and smirked. “I can’t believe you got married before I did. I thought I was the first.” Ginny smiled at her big brother. “Well,” she said, slowly. “You were probably the first married Weasley child to shag someone. . .” Everyone’s head snapped around to stare at the couple on the couch, which resulted in Harry blushing rather like a Weasley. “You mean. . .?” “You didn’t. . .?” “But. . .” The Weasleys all tried to speak at once, but even through the confusion it was obvious what they were trying to ask. “No,” Ginny replied. “We didn’t. I wanted to, but it was getting rather late the night we married, and we didn’t want anyone guessing what we’d been doing. We made plans to sneak off together before coming home, but there was so much going on that we couldn’t carry them out.” “And stupid Ron,” Harry muttered. Ginny blushed at this, but refused to elaborate to her family. Hermione was smiling--not knowing the details had just about driven her mental during the past year. Molly and Arthur exchanged looks that were rather information-rich, then turned together towards their only daughter, and their only son-in-law. “Well,” Arthur said. “I can’t say we’re happy about having missed our only daughter’s wedding--” Ginny jumped in. “Dad, don’t worry. We want to have a reception at the Burrow. We could even do a sort of a mock ceremony so that everyone can see us get married. Besides, who am I to deprive Mum of making another wedding cake?” Molly laughed softly. She couldn’t deny the love she saw between her daughter and Harry, but still wasn’t too sure about their having snuck off and gotten married. “So, was it worth it? Being married and having to stay apart for so long?” Harry looked down at the girl in his arms. “Yes, Molly. A million times yes.” He looked back up, with tears in his eyes. “When I went into the forest to meet Voldemort, I just knew I was going to die. I had to, see? I had the last Horcrux inside of me, and if Voldemort was to die, the Horcrux had to die too.” Bill and Charlie both choked at the mention of Horcruxes, but Harry continued on. “After I was killed--” everyone else gasped, “--I had the choice to go on and be with my parents and Sirius, or to come back. And I knew I could be happy having gone on. But Ginny, she was even more important. I hadn’t been able to fulfill my dreams yet, and I so desperately wanted to spend a lifetime with Ginny. I told Dumbledore--he had met me after I died--that I couldn’t leave my wife behind. So, you see, it’s really Ginny that saved everything. She was my wife, and I wasn’t about to give up on that.” Ginny pressed back against her husband, holding his arms closely around his waist. This was the first time she’d heard of this, and it scared her to realize how close she had come to losing her husband. The rest of the room was rather silent too, as they all pondered what they’d found out. Hermione finally broke the silence. “Um, Mrs. Weasley? Do you think it’d be okay if we woke Ron up now?” Molly blushed, and nodded her head. “I think so. I probably shouldn’t have stunned him like that, but I knew that Ron would react badly, and didn’t want to have to clean up Bat-Bogeys if Ginny got to him first.. Reenervate!” she called, and Ron’s eyes opened. “What. . . what did I miss?” |
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