Chapter 10

2nd May 2006

The light shone through the small gap that had been left between the curtains. It was tiny, really; only big enough to light a small portion of Ginny's red hair, which was lying all over the white pillow under her head, but it still left Harry in awe. How could a simple ray of light give that red hair so much life and colours? He couldn't even say what the colours were...there was obviously the vibrant red, but there was also some orange, and some golden highlights that made her look like an angel.

It was funny, Ginny hated her hair. Well, maybe she didn't hate it, but she had told Harry in many occasions that it made it looking decent all the more difficult; however, Harry didn't just like it...it made him crazy, almost in an obsessive kind of way. The prince was completely incapable of resisting his girlfriend when she let her voluminous hair down.

"You're staring at me again, aren't you?" Ginny's voice came quietly from under the pillow she had been facing.

Harry chuckled slightly. "Not you, your hair. It looks amazing when the light shines on it like this."

Ginny, slowly and with huge sleepy eyes, turned her head to look at the man who was lying next to her.

"You're seriously starting to worry me, Potter...the obsession you have with my hair is not healthy; really, you should probably see your royal doctor or something," she mocked him with a small, tired smile.

Harry shuffled a little closer to her and tucked most of her hair, which was covering her face, behind her ear. He smiled back at her before pecking her softly on the lips.

"Why would I ever need a doctor when I've got you?" he asked her before kissing her again, this time with a little more passion.

Ginny laughed as she pulled back, knowing full well that, if she didn't, they'd be horizontal in a matter of seconds. "It's quite late, you know? Almost 12 pm. Don't you have some meetings or social commitments today?"

Harry looked at her offended. "Why are you in such a hurry to get rid of me? You didn't seem to want me to leave last night..."

Ginny couldn't help the blush that invaded her face as she threw a pillow at the prince. As he defended his face, she wrapped the second blanket tightly around her naked body and got up from the bed, walking towards the window and letting all the light in.

"It's sunny," she spoke with a surprised smile. Sunny and London didn't tend to mix all that much.

Harry laughed, and couldn't help but smile and how gorgeous she looked wrapped in that white blanket.

"You look beautiful in white, you know?" He told her as he lay back on the head board. "You'd make one beautiful bride."

Ginny shook her head and laughed as she slowly walked back to the bed.

"I wish I could say the same, but I don't know if the dress would suit you," she mocked him.

He gasped in fake horror as he moved forward and grabbed her hips, pushing her back down on the bed and pinning her beneath him.

"You really would look beautiful as a bride," Harry whispered as he looked her in the eye. "I really can't understand how that idiot let you marry him in a pair of jeans."

Ginny rolled her eyes as she moved to the side and sat up on the bed, still looking at him. "Don't call Dean an idiot," she warned him. "We've gone through this...it was a rebellious act of two teenagers who thought they were in love and who wanted to get back at their families for treating them like the kids they were, but in the end we both knew it would never work out, that's why we married like that...when I think of it now, I don't even consider it a true wedding, it was almost like a kids' game."

Harry shrugged. "Maybe if I had gone to Hogwarts you wouldn't have even dated him...you'd have fallen for me instantly."

Ginny laughed as she hit him playfully on the arm.

"I don't doubt it but, would you have fallen for me? I can almost imagine it...You would probably have been a Gryffindor and maybe even friends with Ron. You'd have had to stand him and Hermione fighting all day long, but you would have loved them like family and, then, there would be me...your best mate's little sister who had this huge, annoying crush on you while you were too busy following Cho Chang or one of those girls around."

Harry smiled and put his forehead against hers. "Until one day you would get over your crush and maybe start dating a git like Dean Thomas, because I was too busy dating stupid silly girls, and you'd sit beside me and tell me loads about Quidditch or some cool spells and I'd look at you and it would just click."

"What would click?" Ginny asked with red cheeks and a small smile.

Harry leaned down and captured her lips in a kiss as he pulled back he gave her his best smile. "That I was talking to the girl I would end up marrying."

Ginny sighed. "That's like the twenty-thousandth time you've commented on marriage in two weeks."

Harry shrugged as he took Ginny's hand and played mindlessly with her fingers. "I can't wait to see you walking towards me in a beautiful white dress."

Ginny rolled her eyes once again and took one of her hands up to Harry's hair, laughing at just how much it resembled a rat's nest, especially after waking up.

"I'm not going to answer you back, you know? Not until we decide what is going to happen...I mean, you haven't even asked," she said and, before he could do something silly like asking, she continued. "And that doesn't mean that you should...we've been dating for five months, it's not like we're in a hurry. Besides, there's a long way ahead of us in that department, so maybe you should slow it down a little."

Harry shook his head as he shuffled on the bed and sat opposite her.

"I guess," he confessed. "But, do you know how long I've waiting for you, Gin? I know we have to take our time, but I don't really want to wait a lot longer than necessary."

He leaned in and kissed her once again, making it last a little longer this time.

"That's why I need to ask you a favour..." He spoke slowly as she pulled back.

Ginny bit her lip. "This is going to be bad, isn't it?

Harry shook his head. "No, not bad...maybe a bit of a challenge but you love challenges."

The redheaded woman raised her eyebrows. "I like challenges I can overcome but, either way, speak up, you've got me intrigued."

"Dinner at mine, on Thursday..." he said slowly.

Ginny now looked confused. "Just like we do every weekend?"

"Yes," Harry nodded. "Except for the fact that...well, my parents will be there"

As Harry entered the dining room that day, he was expecting to find only his father eating at the table; surprisingly, he also found his mother, his brother, Sirius and his wife and his youngest daughter, who was talking animatedly with Max.

"Hi," Harry said as he entered the room where everyone was already eating. "Can I join you?" he asked politely.

Lily smiled. "Of course, Harry," she told him before looking over at one of the waiters. "Could you please bring him a plate, Lionel?" the queen asked with her sweet voice.

Lionel nodded as he headed into the kitchen for a plate.

"Harry," Henrietta, who had turned 16 a few months ago, spoke up.

Harry turned to look at the girl who was the perfect mixture of both her parents. She had her father's thick black hair, just like the rest of her sisters except for the eldest, but she also had her mother's striking grey eyes and lips...which Catalina did have. She was still meant to be in Hogwarts, but Harry guessed she had got a pass for the weekend.

"Catalina told me to tell you that she's waiting for the reply to the owl she sent you two weeks ago..."

Harry laughed as Lionel put a plate of pork in front of him and he thanked the man.

"I've wanted to get round to that, but just reading the letter took me two days," he replied as he looked at Sirius and his wife, Katie. "I really don't know how Sirius Black's daughter can write so much and so well."

Katie let out a laugh. "Did she tell you about the incident with the giant squib?"

Harry nodded. "She told me everything, every single little detail about everything that has happened since she arrived. It sounds like she's really enjoying assisting Minerva, though, and she's dying until she gets to start teaching herself."

Lily smiled. "It's great she got to do that, it must be a wonderful job, even if it does make things for her and Richard a little bit difficult."

Sirius sighed. "Who even cares about Richard? All the better for her if he leaves and she can live her life as a calm Hogwarts professor."

James laughed slightly, although through his smile you could see he was in his serious attitude. "And by calm, you obviously mean 'single', don't you, Padfoot?"

Sirius growled. "You should know better than to start this fight with me, Prongs; you know I always win...I've still managed to keep them all innocent."

Harry couldn't help but laugh at the thought that Sirius truly believed his daughters were innocent; the Black sisters were the most dangerous women on this planet; they had managed to bring any guy to their feet since they were 13. All 4 of them.

"Talking about single and innocent people, where were you last night, Harry? I wanted to run over the summer schedule with you, but you were nowhere to be found," Lily asked her son.

Harry hesitated for a second. "I went out with Ginny last night and spent the night at her place."

Lily couldn't help but blush slightly and James looked at his son disapprovingly; however, it was hard to take it seriously when Sirius winked at him.

"Good one, Prongs Junior," he laughed as he shared a look with his godson.

Katie nudged her husband.

"What?" Sirius spoke up and then looked at his best friend. "You can't tell me you still don't approve! That girl is amazing and Harry's obviously head over arse in love with her."

James shook his head. "That girl is also divorced and Harry has a habit of falling in love with anything that moves."

Harry shook his head. "That's not fair, Dad..."

"What's not fair is you bringing this up now, it's not the time or place, Harry," James spoke with authority.

Harry ran a hand through his hair and stood up. "I'm trying my best to be responsible here, but I'm not going to stop talking about Ginny as if she was some kind of taboo subject...in fact, I had come here thinking you'd be alone to ask you something, but maybe the social pressure will help me out at least once..."

"What do you-?" Lily started before being interrupted.

"I want us all to have dinner," Harry stated. "I mean you, Dad, Ginny and me...on Thursday. I checked your social calendars, you have no commitments."

"Harry..." Lily started.

"I'm not asking for your blessing, Mum; I'm just asking you to meet her so you can see for yourselves why I'm acting like this and so you can see she's no Cho Chang."

James didn't say anything.

"I've already said it so you know I'll be waiting for you at my place at about 7:30..."

Having said that, Harry left.

3rd May 2006

"You're killing me here, Weasley, you really are," Gwenog spoke as she walked around Ginny's flat, while the younger woman made some pasta. "Meeting the king and the queen? How long before you're ejecting little royal redheaded brats left and right?"

Ginny looked up at her friend and shook her head at her. "For a start, 'ejecting' is not what you should call giving birth, that's wrong even for your standards... Secondly, I'm meeting my boyfriend's parents, which is a completely normal thing to be doing when I've been with him for five months and we're talking about making it really official, so I don't know why you're overreacting."

"For a start," Gwen started, imitating the other woman. "This is not a normal situation because, even if you don't seem to remember, your 'boyfriend' is not just any guy, he happens to be the bloody Prince of magical England and, apart from that, you're talking about truly being with this guy forever. I'm sorry to break it to you, Sweetheart, but you are not Queen material! You're a divorced Quidditch player who plays on the only team where every single player, even if it couldn't be further for the truth, is considered a "scarlet woman", and you don't even know what the word 'protocol' means."

Ginny bit her lip. "You don't think I know that, Gwen? Of course I know that! But what do you want me to do if it turns out that the one guy who's perfect for me is also the one with whom I have the least perfect circumstances? Let me tell you something, Gwenog, this is your fault...you pushed me to him at that bloody awards show when I wanted nothing to do with this because I knew something like this would end up happening! Besides, just two weeks ago you were trying to make me doubt myself about letting him go and now you're punishing me for giving it a chance? Will you please make up your mind? You're supposed to be a helpful best friend, not a confusing conscience."

The ex-beater sighed. "I'm sorry, Red," she spoke softly, sitting on one of the chairs at the table. "I know I wasn't all that enthusiastic when you said you were letting him go because I can see the change in you since you started this thing. I mean, look at you! You won't be playing Quidditch for nearly a year because of the damage done to your leg and, still, you're smiling and barely even thinking about the sport. I can see you're happy, Ginny, and that's probably why I haven't been completely opposed to this; but, isn't this going a little too far? I thought the prince was that kind of guy that makes you believe in love again so you can go find your real prince charming, not the kind that you marry."

Ginny sighed and walked over to Gwenog, sitting opposite her. "I do miss it, Gwen, don't let the smile fool you. I mean, how could I not? It's been my life since I was old enough to play properly... But now I realize it was only a substitute for all those failed relationships and all that feeling lonely and excluded because I was the only girl, and the youngest one. I mean, maybe not only a substitute, you know I feel passion for Quidditch and, no matter what happens, I'll never stop playing it; but I can't deny that having Harry next to me makes it pale in comparison.

Gwenog was about to say something when Tonks, who was holding Teddy's hand with her left one and carrying David in her right arm, came into the flat.

Ginny smiled and walked up to Tonks. She hadn't been expecting them but she always loved their visits. She hugged Tonks and took David from her arms.

"What are you doing, little one?" Ginny asked the small child with a laugh. She then leaned down and ruffled Teddy's hair, which turned bright red as she touched it. Ginny couldn't help but laugh.

"We were having ice-cream with mummy and we wanted to come," the small Metamorphmagus told Ginny in a small voice.

Ginny looked at Tonks with a questioning expression and she then walked towards the table again, sitting down with David sitting on her lap and playing with the loose hairs that fell out of her braid.

Tonks smiled. "I'm sorry for interrupting, girls, but I needed to rest for a second. These two were driving me crazy. What are you two up to?"

"Gwenog's just trying to convince me that I'm making the worst mistake of my life by going steady with Harry," Ginny informed the woman.

"Well, I happen to think it's wonderful," Tonks stated. "You're perfect for each other. And the fact that Harry is taking you to meet his parents should be a clear sign of how in love he is with you."

Ginny, who had been making faces at David and Teddy, looked up.

She turned to Tonks with raised eyebrows. "How do you even know that? I was only telling Gwenog now and I haven't spoken a word to anyone else."

"Remus told me," Tonks said. "I think Harry asked them in front of Sirius and Sirius told Remus and... well, this is what happens when you and your boyfriend are linked by family friends."

Gwenog. "I thought you said they had asked him?"

Ginny bit her lip angrily. "Sneaky little git...I'm going to kill him. He's doing that thing where he uses all of Moody's strategy lessons to twist me into thinking everything's okay."

"So, he's not only a git who's destroying your life? He's also a big fat liar?" Gwen asked mockingly but Ginny took it seriously.

"I love him, Gwenog...whether he's a liar or ugly or annoyingly stubborn," Ginny let her know.

"Oh,mummy!" Teddy exclaimed. "If Ginny loves Harry then they can get married and then Ginny will also be my godmother!"

"Now even the kids rooting for them..." Gwenog spoke in her typical sarcastic manner.

"Gwen, it's enough...You can't understand why I would give everything up for love but I'm sure Tonks can..."

Tonks smiled. "I can, but wait until you have kids... that multiplies this love by a hundred."

Ginny offered her a smile. "So, yeah, I am meeting the King and the Queen and I'm in love with Harry, and this is all a huge mess, but nothing you say is going to change my mind."

"This is the fifth time we listen to the same song," Ginny laughed as she waved her wand once again.

She was lying on the sofa with Teddy cuddle by her side while they both listened to an old Muggle song and Ginny fed the boy pizza for the first time.

"It's just really nice...all the music Mummy plays is always really noisy," the boy moaned, making Ginny laugh as she imagined Tonks playing the Weird Sisters' music to her sons. "And Daddy's always too busy to show me songs, but I can tell he hates Mummy's noisy music too."

Ginny smiled at Teddy sympathetically as she leaned down to kiss his forehead. Before she could comfort the boy with words, the noise of someone Apparating came to her ears.

"Is that pizza I smell?" Harry's voice sounded. She turned around and saw how he smiled at her and took his robe off, leaving behind a pair of blue jeans and a black t-shirt. He just loved his Muggle clothes. "What a busy day, I couldn't stop for a-"

But he was interrupted by Teddy running off the sofa and into his arms.

"Harry!" He shouted as he jumped onto Harry and the man lifted his godson into the air, ruffling his hair with a loving and surprised expression on his face. Within a second, the kid's hair had gone from red, which he had used since his Mum had left, to black.

"What are you doing here, mate?" Harry asked with a laugh as he walked to the sofa and pecked Ginny on the lips, with the five-year-old thrown over his shoulder and laughing.

"Tonks came over before and she mentioned she had her hands full with David and this little monster, since it's a full moon, so I told her I'd keep the snitch for the night...I didn't know you'd be coming along, I thought you had an important meeting early tomorrow morning..."

"I did," Harry started as he made his way to sit on the other side of the sofa. "I mean, I do...I thought I could sleep over here and then head there in the morning."

"Are you going to come to our sleepover too, Harry?" Teddy asked while he sat on the carpet and listened to the song once again.

Harry smiled. "Would you mind, Teddy? I haven't seen Ginny all day and I haven't seen you in a while either..."

Teddy nodded quickly but stayed quiet as he pressed his ear to the speaker of the wireless.

Ginny laughed. "One would say that it's strange that, having a huge palace, you always seem to rather sleeping in my tiny bed."

Harry smiled at her and shuffled closer so that their legs were touching. "Well, you are completely opposed to the idea of sleeping over at the palace and, if I'm truthful, the mornings I wake up without you make the whole day ahead look so bad..."

The redhead smiled widely. "I was telling Gwenog the same thing today. She was pretty sure I was going crazy by going forwards with this..."

"What did did tell you?" Harry asked, worried.

Ginny shrugged. "The typical...that this is a chaos, that I've lost it, that, even if your parents do accept this, I'm not queen material...that if you have to abdicate, you'll always secretly resent me for it..."

"What did you tell her?"

"Well, at first I told her to stuff it and then, well...then I told her that, even though our options are going to have bad consequences, none of those consequences compare with not being with you...oh! And talking about consequences..." she said before smacking him on the arm with force.

"Hey!" Harry shouted, making Teddy look their way.

"Ginny! You hit Harry!" The five-year-old stated in awe. "Mummy says you can't hit people!

Suddenly the image of Tonks beating a retired Death Eater up came to both Harry and Ginny's mind, but they didn't say a word about it.

"This time, and only this time, he deserves it, Teddy," she said, turning to look at Harry. "Because, even though we should never hit people, do you know what's even worse than hitting, Teddy?"

Teddy shook his head and Ginny smiled at him.

"Lying," she spoke strongly. "As in, for example, telling your girlfriend that your parents want to meet her when it turns out he's the one who's planned it all and the King and the Queen probably don't even want to be within a 100 metre radius of her..."

Teddy made a confused face. "I don't have a girlfriend, Ginny. Well, Victoire always says she's my girlfriend, but she's just a baby."

Ginny laughed slightly while she caught Harry looking at her with an apologizing facial expression.

"I'm sorry I lied," Harry spoke when Teddy had gone back to the wireless and Ginny was looking at him again. "But it was only a small tiny white lie, it doesn't count..."

The young woman nodded. "Yes it does, Harry. You made me think that they wanted this when it turns out you're forcing me on them."

"I just want them to meet you. Come on, Gin, I've met your parents..." Harry tried.

"Oh, yeah!" Ginny belted sarcastically. "Because meeting a lovely couple who didn't even throw a bad word your way is exactly the same as meeting the co-founders of the 'Harry-and-Ginny-shouldn't-be-together" club!'"

Harry sighed. "You're exaggerating. Mum does want to meet you even if she's a little hesitant and Dad...well Dad will grow fond of you the minute he sees you talk."

The redhead shook her head as she put her legs under her body and leaned in closer to Harry. "I'm not only the woman who is dating their kid, Harry, which already tends to make parents uncomfortable. I'm also the woman who could make you leave them and the monarchy behind."

"That's their problem, not ours," Harry spoke softly. Before Ginny could rectify, however, a small snore was heard coming from the floor and they both looked down to find Teddy had curled up on the carpet and fallen asleep in a matter of seconds.

"Just stay there for a minute while I set up the cot," Ginny told Harry, who was standing beside Ginny's bed, holding Teddy in his arms.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Set it up the Muggle way?" He asked. "Why don't you just transfigure the nightstand into a small cot for him?"

Ginny bit her lip. "You see, I was never McGonagall's best student...I...I kind of suck at transfiguration and I don't want him to hurt himself, so..."

Harry smiled and moved Teddy so that he was only holding him with his left hand. With the right he pointed at the nightstand and, in a second, it had turned into a small cot where he put the little boy down.

Ginny stared at him with wonder as they both walked out of the room and closed the door beside her.

"It always surprises me when you do those things," she spoke as they made their way to the sofa once again. This time Harry sat first and Ginny leaned her back down on his chest and rested her head on his shoulder, with both their legs laid out in front of them.

"What things?" Harry asked as he kissed the top of her head, taking a sniff of the flowery scent of her hair.

Ginny shrugged. "When you do wandless magic or hard spells without any difficulty. It's crazy to think that royals don't go crazy with all that power, you'd think some of them would end up worst than Voldemort."

The man wrapped his arms around her a little tighter. "It can't really happen, though," he told her. "When the other three founders of Hogwarts died, they left their power with Godric and he spelled it to never die with anyone, but to always belong to three people...first the actual King or Queen, who would have the most, then the heir to the throne, who would have the same but would only be able to use it to its full capacity once the king died or abdicated and then, if the royal is a King, his wife would get the power, mostly so that she can carry such a powerful heir...All the King's children are born with the capacity to gain the magic but they don't get it until they're officially the heir to the throne. But there's a catch, because the power cannot be used on anyone who is not a threat to us. As in, if I wanted to kill you right now, I wouldn't be able to do it, not with my magic... It's actually even more complex than that, it took me years to start understanding it and even now I can't wrap my head around it completely."

"What about Elizabeth and Max, do they have heightened powers too? And other monarchies, do they work the same way?" the redhead asked curiously.

Harry ran a hand through his hair and tried to explain. "It depends of each Monarchy... I mean, for example, the Danish one has power, but it's not in the monarchs, it's like a resource they can go to if they need it. The Mexican magical monarchy, the only one in America, manages their power from the ancient tombs where they live; when they abandon them they are just as common as any citizen. Then there are a few others that also work in similar ways and finally there's the Spanish and the French, which were created where Godric's grandchild had three children with three different women and almost the same time...none of them got any power until Baltarius died, but, when he did, the three of them had great power; specially Teobletor, who had been the first to be born...he stayed in England, while the other two took over Spain and France and then, with similar situations, they expanded to Bulgaria, Togo and most of the other magical monarchies. However, because Teobletor was the one to stay here, we are still the most powerful ones, but also the ones who have the biggest restraints on their power..."

Ginny nodded slowly. "Wow...this makes me wish I hadn't slept through so many History of Magic classes. So, then...your siblings...?"

"Well," the messy-haired man started. "Growing up they've always been more powerful than normal wizards and then, when Liz married Federico, she gained the power from the Spanish royal line. Max has always been great at magic, but he doesn't use it, he doesn't really particularly like it...If he was the heir it would be hell for him."

"Well, he could abdicate, couldn't he? I mean, even if it is really painful..."

Harry shrugged. "Well, yeah... but he can only abdicate once my dad dies so..."

At those words a small silence took control of the room as Ginny looked at Harry with raised eyebrows. "What do you mean? I mean...you could abdicate right now, couldn't you, if you wanted to?"

Harry shook his head. "Not unless my dad died or abdicated...I'd have to get the power before giving it up, those have always been the rules..."

For another second Ginny looked at her boyfriend in silence, working out a formula in her head.

"So..." She started. "If, let's say, we decided to get married and your parents weren't okay with it and we went away, you'd still be Prince? You'd still have power?"

Harry nodded. "And so would you..." He then proceeded, making Ginny's jaw fall a little. "Whoever I married would get the power my mum has, since she doesn't need it anymore...and when I abdicated then it'd go to Max and his wife, if he had one...and so on..."

The redhead stood up and tried to breathe. "So, whether I want it or not, magic is going to recognise me as a Princess, as a royal, if I marry you?"

Harry stood up and took hold of her shoulders, steadying her and making her look into his eyes. "I thought you knew this."

That, however, instead of comforting her, made her all the angrier and she pushed him away, walking towards the kitchen. "How would I ever know that? I barely even knew monarchs had more power than commoners! And... And what about any child we have, Harry? Does he or she have to lose their power too?"

Harry tried to calm her. "You're making this into too much of a big deal, it really isn't, Ginny...it's just magic, we all have magic, it doesn't make us different to who we would be without it."

He walked towards his girlfriend and tried to hug her. "Answer the question, Harry...if we had a kid? Would he be born with power and have to give it up?"

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "It really all depends...if you were pregnant right now, since we're not married, our child would be powerful but only like Elizabeth or Max...he'd only gain the power to be as powerful as me when his mother was truly a royal; however, that situation is far from ideal when it happens after being born, since it would be painful to receive power that his body is not prepared for. It's one of the main reasons that I'm so hesitant to sign the abdication rights...the power will have to flow into Max and he'd be hurt by it. If we ever have a baby, he or she would be born with the power, but wouldn't have access to it until I became king; the minute my father died, though, our child would feel the magic rush into him and then, when I abdicated he'd feel it leave him...unless of course, he was over 21, in which case, he or she would take my place as King. If we were married, that is...if we weren't, he wouldn't have a right to the throne."

Ginny shook her head, trying to digest it. "You didn't tell me this, Harry, this is important..."

Harry looked at her with a worried expression. "I'm sorry I was too busy trying to get you to be with me! I wasn't about to tell you something that might take you even further away."

The young woman looked at him in disbelief. "This is important, Harry, this was important for my decision."

"Why?" Harry asked. "You told me you'd give up everything too if my parents accepted you, isn't it still the same? The only difference is that you get some power which won't even hurt you if you lose it and that, if we have a child, he'll have the right to be king if he wants to... but, Ginny, don't you see? It'll be many years before my dad dies, the only change is that, when we get...well, okay," he said as he saw her roll her eyes. "If we got married, you'd feel a little more powerful, that's it!"

Ginny was quiet for a second as she thought about it and she knew he was right...she hadn't agreed to be with him only if he abdicated, she had agreed to be with him for whatever the outcome.

"Harry, I'm..." she started to apologise, but he took it the wrong way and stepped towards her, putting his arms around her, making her look up at him.

"Okay, wait a second, I know this is hell and I know it's so far from perfect that it's not even funny, but please, Gin...I need you to be in this, I need you to stay with me. I can't go back to meaningless dating; I can't really love anyone again after you, and I've lived enough to know that for sure. If you leave I'll have to give in, I'll have to marry a stupid, silly princess and be stuck in a loveless marriage for the rest of my life and I won't be able to have beautiful redheaded kids and..."

But Ginny cut him off with a kiss. "I was going to say I was sorry. I was making a big deal out of something that really isn't a big deal with all we've got going for us."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, making Ginny laugh.

"You know, for someone who isn't good with words, you sure as hell know how to say far too many..."

Harry leaned in and kissed her again.

"I need this to be it, Gin...I can't go on if you leave; I really can't. It's you or no one..."

Ginny smiled as she ran a hand through his hair.

"What about those princesses?" She asked, mocking him.

"Those princesses are worse than no one, trust me...but, even if they weren't...even if one of them was a perfect 5 ft 8, blonde, beautiful and smart woman, I wouldn't care...I only want you, all of you, with your wild red hair, and your amazing legs and your 5 ft 2," he told her.

"I'm 5 ft 3," Ginny told him with a small glare.

Harry laughed and kissed her once again. "Sure you are."

Ginny rolled her eyes and sighed. "So, back to how this started...we're still meeting the Queen and the King? I mean, your parents?"

Harry tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ears. "I told them to be there, it's really up to them...but I think they'll show. I'm sure they will show and, maybe...just maybe...they might realise there is no one better than you for this country."

The young woman took a step back and gulped slightly. "I said I'm in, Harry," she told him with as much of a smile as she could manage. "But please consider I'm in because I have fallen in love with you, not because I want to be queen of this country or because I want to get married...I know both those things come with being with you, but we're both still young, there's no point in rushing this. How about we get them to think I'm perfect for you and then, slowly, make our way up from there?"

Harry smiled and kissed the top of her head. "Done."

A/N: Hope you liked it. Review and I'll send you the preview the minute that the chapter is finished.