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The White Sundress | ||||
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Category: Post-Hogwarts, Post-DH/AB, Post-DH/PM Characters:Harry/Ginny, Lily Potter Genres: Fluff, Romance Warnings: None Story is Complete Rating: G Reviews: 12 Summary: Three summers in the life of Harry and Ginny, spread out over 2.5 decades and a few large changes in their lives. Hitcount: Story Total: 6373 Disclaimer: Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R. Note the opinions in this story are my own and in no way represent the owners of this site. This story subject to copyright law under transformative use. No compensation is made for this work. Author's Notes: This was for dorotdsz as a part of hg_seasonsfest (summer was the season) on LJ and I highly recommend checking out the whole community, because there was some lovely fic and art that came from it. Her requested general elements were: next generation, jealous Harry(with fluff and no angst), Harry, Ginny at parenting. and requested summer elements: sun-dress, hat. I was super-nervous about this one, since it was a gift for someone, but the prompts really just inspired me, considering that my husband and I just had our first baby (a girl) in January. So this was sort of my way of channeling that amazing real life experience into how a couple would change over the years, and after a few children. As a result, I would have to say I'm very personally attached to this story, even more than usual. |
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The White Sundress I. Reunion T he summer after the war came on quickly, in a flash of unexpected heat and mugginess. In some ways, Harry couldn’t believe that it had been nearly a month since the battle of Hogwarts. In others, it felt like an entire lifetime had passed in that time. The dead had been buried and Hogwarts was well on its way to being rebuilt. On June 25, George had announced over dinner that he planned to reopen Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. “I figure Fred would say that we all need a laugh right now,” he’d said, with a strained smile and without the characteristic twinkle that he used to have. All the same, it was a start. Harry stopped by the Burrow the day before the grand re-opening, hoping to find Ron. No, that was a lie. He’d been over to the Weasleys for dinner every night in the last week since he’d returned to England after spending most of June rebuilding Hogwarts. Every night he’d hoped to catch Ginny alone, and every night he had been thwarted by something, whether it was Ron wanting to commiserate over the pressure he’d been under from Mrs. Weasley to return to Hogwarts or Mrs. Weasley sobbing over dessert, or Mr. Weasley wanting to discuss the state of the Ministry with him, every night he had missed out on the chance to talk to Ginny. They’d worked side by side in rebuilding Hogwarts for the first week after the battle and then she’d returned to the Burrow with her parents to help with the funeral arrangements for Fred. Since then, Harry had thought of little else but talking with Ginny. He couldn’t allow himself hope that they would just pick up where they’d left off, with the interrupted kiss on his birthday. He couldn’t hope for anything, but for the first time in his life, he wasn’t a marked man. He didn’t have a destiny, which meant he was free to pursue a life of his choosing. And he had realized over the last year that the life he would choose over all other lives was one with Ginny. As he’d hoped, Ron wasn’t at the Burrow. In fact, the house itself seemed deserted. Harry searched the backyard, the barn, the garden, and the field where they’d played two-a-side quidditch a few summers back. He wasn’t about to give up. Not this time. After nearly an hour of searching, Harry was about to give up when he remembered the pond down the road from the Burrow. The summer sun had all but scorched his skin by now. Sweat trickled down the sides of his face, but he merely swiped it away with his hand. At the very least, he could take a dip in the pond if she wasn’t there. It didn’t take long to reach the pond, which was just at the outer edges of the Burrow’s anti-apparition protection. Harry pushed his way through the brush that blocked the view of the pond from the road and stopped short. His breath caught in his throat as the person he’d been hoping to see came into view. Her back was to him, but the sound of him pushing through the brush must have distracted her. She turned and caught his eye. Tendrils of her vibrant red hair clung to her face, still wet from where she must have splashed water on her face. Her white sundress seemed to almost glow against the dark greenery surrounding the pond. Her lips curved up into a small, inviting smile. His feet took a step forward seemingly of their own accord. Harry cleared his throat, fumbling for the right words now that he’d actually found himself alone with her. “Hi Harry.” Ginny’s brown eyes held his gaze. She didn’t move from her spot, almost as though she’d been waiting for him here. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. Harry suddenly realized how stupid it was of to hope that she’d be there for him at the end of everything. His cheeks burned as he thought of the fact that it had been nearly a year since the kiss on his birthday. She could easily have found someone else by now. And really, who was he to expect someone like Ginny to wait around for him? Her face fell, and she ducked her head. “I suppose I’ll leave you alone then. The water’s nice and cool. You should probably dive right in” The path through the brush was just wide enough to allow her to pass without touching him, though it didn’t stop her sundress from brushing against his hand. The contact with that fabric beckoned him and all doubts suddenly flew from his head. This was his chance. If he didn’t take it now, he would regret it for the rest of his life. Flashes of Ginny in a white dress, getting married to an unpleasant stranger ran through his head. Of attending the wedding and keeping his silence for her happiness. Harry’s hand caught Ginny’s. The contact sent a ripple effect up through her body and she turned towards him. The space of a breath separated them. He looked down at her for a moment as the fear crept in once more. And then there was nothing left between them. Ginny’s lips were both familiar and new against his. He kissed her with everything that had been building up since the last time he’d seen her, as though the one kiss could communicate everything that had happened in his time apart from her. They broke apart after awhile and her hand found his, the grasp warm and moist in the humidity, but Harry didn’t care. “Took you long enough,” Ginny said with the first genuine smile he’d seen on her since long before the Battle of Hogwarts. The rest of the summer flew by in a haze of lazy, hot days with Ginny by his side and working under the hot sun together, coupled with stolen moments by the pond. For the first time in his life, Harry was disappointed to see the end of the summer. All of the years spent at the Dursleys, he’d counted down to the end of the summer. As he watched the Hogwarts Express leave the station on that particular September 1st, taking with it the last remnants of that one perfect summer, he realized that, for the first time in his life, he would spend the year counting down to summer. II. Closet Cleaning The white sun dress remained a constant in the subsequent summers spent with Ginny. Harry never grew tired of seeing Ginny in the dress, and kissing her never stopped feeling new and even more exciting with each kiss. Six years after that first summer, Harry caught Ginny packing the white sun dress away in a box. Ginny whirled around as he entered the room, the ruddy sunburn on her cheeks deepening. Harry’s eyebrows rose but he remained silent. Ginny had been on edge for the past month and had been prone to fits of inexplicable behavior. Cleaning out the closet, which had been magically enhanced to allow for storage of all the clothes they could possibly buy and then some, was only the latest in the series of strange events. Harry could not remember a single time when either of them had cleared out the closet. Ginny’s gaze travelled down to the sundress and then back up to meet Harry’s. “It won’t fit me next summer.” Harry studied her face for some clue as to what she was on about. He was sure that there were a lot of wrong things to say here and perhaps, if he was lucky, one right thing. He was equally sure that he had no idea what that was. “Ginny, what…?” he asked, hoping to get more explanation. Her eyes welled up with tears, but oddly enough a slow grin spread across her face. “I just found out. I was going to make a nice dinner and tell you tonight. But I guess you caught me.” Harry blinked, still lost. Ginny crossed the room and covered his hand with hers. Warmth raced up his forearm as she moved his hand to her belly. She looked up at him expectantly. Slowly, it dawned on him. “You’re-?” He couldn’t even say the word. He didn’t dare believe that he was right. A child. A family. “Pregnant,” Ginny burst out, more tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. Harry realized with a start that it must be true, as Ginny very rarely cried. A joyful laugh escaped Harry’s lips. He pulled her toward him and kissed her, the white sundress forgotten. III. The Sundress Revisited Harry had less and less time to think on the white sundress over the coming years, even if it lived on in his early memories of Ginny. Soon, his summers were filled with trips to the beach, sun hats, sunscreen, and sandcastles. The white sun dress didn’t make another appearance in his life until two decades after Ginny had packed it away. After a half-day at the office, Harry apparated to the beach, where he was to meet Ginny and the children, though they really couldn’t be considered children anymore. Not really, though he wasn’t sure he would ever get used to that idea. Lily had just turned 16, and James and Albus had already left Hogwarts. And yet, to Harry, they were still his children and always would be. Ginny’s face lit up when he apparated a few feet from her. He crossed the hot sand and swept her into his arms. They only broke apart when Lily’s voice interrupted the embrace. “Mum, Dad, that’s just gross!” she squealed. Harry released Ginny and turned to his daughter. The smile slid off his face at the sight of her. The white sundress that had kept him spellbound when Ginny wore it suddenly seemed to be nothing more than a few scraps of material that didn’t cover his daughter well enough. He glared at Ginny, who merely quirked an eyebrow. Lily kissed Harry on the cheek. “I’ll leave you and mum alone. Please get that out of your system before Colin gets here.” As Lily strolled away, Harry turned his attention to Ginny, unsure of where to start. “Colin is Lily’s boyfriend,” Ginny said in a matter-of-fact tone. “She’s two years older than I was when I had my first boyfriend. And a year older than you were when you first started dating Cho Chang.” “You knew about this?” Ginny smiled impishly. “I didn’t want you grilling Lily about Colin. He’s a nice boy, and she wanted us to meet him. She also wants us to be nice.” She met his gaze with a hard look that told Harry he wouldn’t win this argument. “Colin and Dean should be joining us soon, so please try to give him a chance.” Something clicked into place in Harry’s mind. Dean. And Colin. He remembered receiving the birth announcement for Dean Thomas’ son, named after their fallen friend, Colin Creevey. He also remembered that Dean’s wife, a muggle, had left him after Colin had started at Hogwarts. “Dean Thomas?” Harry emphasized. Memories of Ginny at sixteen, locked in a kiss with Dean in a hidden corridor at Hogwarts surged forward, unbidden. The long-hibernating monster in Harry’s stomach roared to life. “Yes, Dean Thomas. He only gets Colin for one week each month during the summer I thought it was only polite to invite him along.” Harry glared in the direction of Lily. “I can’t believe you let her wear that,” Harry said. Ginny laughed. “You used to love me in that dress.” Harry turned to her and held her gaze. “Exactly,” he emphasized the word. That was precisely the problem, and he had no idea why Ginny couldn’t see it. Ginny kept her hand on Harry’s arm throughout the picnic. Her touch reeled in the impulse to hex Colin for the way he looked at Lily and to hex Dean for the way he used to look at Ginny. She remained at his side until the day was over and they returned home. It was only once they were sitting on their covered porch as the summer rain splattered on the grass around them when Ginny looked up at him with an expression that could only mean that she was about to reason with him. Harry had fallen victim to that expression too many times before, but this time he just wouldn’t stand for it. “You know Lily’s starting her last year at Hogwarts in September.” Harry grunted. “Colin’s a nice boy, and I know he cares very deeply about her.” Colin looked too much like his father, Harry thought, but didn’t say anything. Besides, Lily was still too young to date. “Lily’s nearly a year older than I was when I knew, without a doubt, that I would love you for all my days.” Harry looked at Ginny in surprise. His muscles relaxed and warmth flooded through him. “You never said…” he began. She smiled. “You were off to fight Voldemort. You had a destiny waiting for you. Would that really have been the best time?” Harry stepped towards her and folded her in his arms. She leaned into him and he closed his eyes, breathing in the faint scent of sea air that still lingered on her hair. “I suppose not.” He pulled back enough to look at her. “When did you know that?” “Well, a part of me always knew. But I realized it just before I broke things off with Dean,” she said. Harry’s stomach clenched at the name. He released her and took a step back. “Yeah, did you really have to accept that invitation for dinner next month? Couldn’t you have said we were busy that weekend?” Ginny glanced up at him with an expression of mingled exasperation and amusement. “I didn’t realize we were busy that weekend.” Harry sighed. “We’re not but still…” Ginny’s lips curved into a smile. “Harry Potter. You’re just as much of a clueless prat as you were when I first met you. You’re jealous of Dean.” Harry turned his back on her, focusing on the rain drops as they splashed the nearby broom shed. “That’s completely off the point.” Ginny’s giggles filled his mind with images of a pigtailed eleven year old, excited for her first year at Hogwarts and blushing every time he looked her way. “Harry Potter, you are almost as much of an ignorant prat today as you were 28 years ago.” Her touch sent warmth up his arm that had nothing to do with the balmy summer air. He turned to her, his cheeks glowing as he started to realize how silly he must sound. “If I didn’t prefer Dean over you then, what makes you thing I would suddenly change my mind now?” Ginny grinned. “All the same, it’s good to know that you still feel the same way.” She leaned into him and Harry closed his eyes and drank in the feel of her skin against his, her hair tickling the bottom of his chin, and the weight of her head on his shoulder. It was going to be another ideal summer, he realized with a smile. |
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