Summary: AU H/G fluff. Ron forces Ginny to go to a boring Department dinner to make up numbers. She realises it's a set up. Unfortunately for Ron, Ginny enjoys the company of a lovely black-haired man, not the man Ron wants her to talk to.
Rating: PG-13
Categories: Alternate Universe, Post-Hogwarts
Characters: None
Genres: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Published: 2011.12.12
Updated: 2013.12.03
Index
Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Chapter 2: Chapter 2
Chapter 3: Chapter 3
Chapter 4: Chapter 4
Chapter 5: Chapter 5
Chapter 6: Chapter 6
Chapter 7: Chapter 7
Chapter 8: Chapter 8
Chapter 9: Chapter 9
Chapter 10: Chapter 10
Chapter 11: Chapter 11
Chapter 12: Chapter 12
Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Author's Notes: I have always been a bit of a fan of stories where Harry doesn't go to Hogwarts and then meets up with everyone else later on. I have ideas for a few of these stories. This is the first. I think I've been convinced that I should make this longer than a one-shot!
“Ginny...please?” Ron pleaded.
“Ron, I just got home from Hogwarts yesterday,” she replied. “Why would I want to go to some boring Department dinner? I just want to relax or go and celebrate finishing school with my friends.”
“Oh, you can do that any old day. It’s not like you’ve got a job lined up yet,” Ron said from his spot at the kitchen table where he was munching on an apple.
“Thanks for reminding me about that, Ronald,” Ginny said acerbically. “’That’s why I won’t have time to relax and celebrate. I’ll be out looking for a job.” She wasn’t about to tell her brother that she already had a job lined up. She wanted to wait until her whole family was together before telling them.
“You have to, Ginny. We’re one short for the table,” Ron said.
“Why don’t you get Neville or Seamus to go?” she asked.
“Because then we’d have more blokes than witches. That’d be just wrong and embarrassing,” her brother replied.
“Hang on, who’s going, then?” she asked.
Ron wriggled in his seat a little and looked around the kitchen before answering. “Well, there’s me and Lav, and Terry and Padma…and then there’s three other blokes you don’t know — Andy, Harry, and Stuart. Harry and Stuart have dates, so we just need one more.”
Ginny looked at her brother intently. “You’re setting me up, aren’t you?”
“No,” he said quickly.
“You are,” she said pointing at his chest, making Ron scoot back on his chair, with a fearful look on his face.
“No, I’m…oh, look, Ginny. I’ve asked a few girls that I know. Lav and Padma got Parvati to come. Neville would kill me if I asked Hannah…”
“What about Hermione?” Ginny asked.
Ron looked at her like she was crazy. “Not a chance.”
“She’s lovely.”
“She’s scary,” Ron said emphatically.
Ginny shook her head. She thought it was tremendously amusing that Ron thought that Hermione Granger was scary. She had seen Ron sneak glances at his classmate during their time together at Hogwarts. He seemed to be put off by the girl’s knowledge and her ability to use it. So instead he asked Lavender Brown, of all girls, to be his girlfriend.
“Come on, Ginny. I promise that I’m not setting you up. We just need another girl. You don’t even have to pay,” Ron said.
“Even for drinks,” Ginny stated.
Ron sighed dramatically. “Okay.”
“You’ll still owe me,” she said.
“How?” Ron asked carefully.
Ginny pretended to look thoughtful. “Hmmm…I’ll decide later.”
Ron groaned in reply and Ginny walked out of the kitchen and up to her bedroom to try and get organised.
oooOOOooo
Ginny lagged behind Ron as they walked through the Ministry of Magic. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement was having their dinner in a ballroom off the main hall. It was quite strange walking through the quiet Ministry dressed up, Ginny thought. She had been to the Ministry a few times with her father or to see him and it was always busy. Now it was eerily quiet. The only sounds to be heard were their footsteps and Ron's huffing as they were running a bit late.
As soon as they turned a corner they could hear voices and music and other sounds. Very soon they were at the elegant double doors. There were about eighty people standing around in small groups chatting and taking sips from their drinks. Ron sighed with relief beside her, as they were obviously not as late as he had thought, and then he started walking to a small group off to one side. Ginny recognised a few of the faces from school.
“Ron!” Terry Boot exclaimed as they approached the group.
Terry’s exclamation made Lavender Brown turn, squeal, and race into Ron's arms. She then proceeded to make a bit of an exhibition of herself and Ron by pulling his face down to hers, and snogging him very enthusiastically.
Ginny sighed and walked away from the group to the bar where she helped herself to a glass of butterbeer. She then took a chance to survey the room. In the middle was the current Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones, who had taken over the job after both Cornelius Fudge and Rufus Scrimgeour were killed during the war. With her were a group of well-known Ministry heads of department, who were key during the war against Voldemort. Just away from them were some groups of middle-aged men and women who looked uncomfortable in their finery, but were happy talking with each other. Then, off to the edges were the groups of younger witches and wizards who were looking around cautiously at their elders. Just as she thought to look for faces she recognised from the younger crowd, a gong sounded and everyone started moving towards the tables set at one end of the room.
Ginny quickly moved to find Ron. He was standing at one of the tables at the back, well away from the podium. She was glad to see he was sitting between Lavender and Parvati meaning that she wouldn’t have to sit beside her brother. She hung back until all the chairs, bar one, were filled and then walked closer.
“About time, Ginny,” Ron said from his spot on the opposite side of the table. "Where did you disappear to?"
Ginny shrugged and sat down in the empty chair between a black haired man, who was talking to a platinum blonde on his other side, and a brown haired, handsome man, who was smiling at her.
"Hi there, I'm Andy. You must be Ron's sister. He has told me so much about you," the smiling man said, holding out his hand ready to shake hers.
Ginny shook his hand and then tried very hard not to immediately wipe her hand on her dress. Andy's hand was soft and clammy, and his handshake was weak, which turned her off just a little. She preferred stronger handshakes and hands that had seen some hard work. She glanced at Ron who smiled and nodded at her. This was exactly the situation she didn't want to be stuck in - a set up with a man who just didn't attract her.
Andy immediately started chatting away about going to school in France and his many beautiful French girlfriends. Ginny very quickly tuned out to what Andy was saying and looked around. The platinum blonde witch was looking at her curiously.
"You're Ginny Weasley, aren't you?" the blonde witch asked.
Ginny nodded.
"I thought you were, but it's been years since I last saw you," the blonde witch continued.
Ginny looked at her curiously. She could not remember this woman from when she was younger.
The man sitting between them chuckled. "I think you've confused her, Tonks."
"Tonks!" exclaimed Ginny.
"Yeah, it's me," she replied. "Sorry, I went for a different look tonight."
"I haven't seen you, since you and Charlie..."
"Yeah...I was a bit upset that he was moving to Romania, and I didn't come back to the Burrow," Tonks said a little sheepishly.
"You seem to have got over it, though," Ginny said looking at the man between them.
"Oh, we're not together," said Tonks, waving her hand between the dark-haired man and herself. "Harry is just a friend."
"Heavens, no. Tonks is too high maintenance for me," Harry said rolling his eyes. "Plus, she has a thing for older men, not younger ones."
Tonks swatted Harry and he elbowed her back, causing Ginny to laugh. Maybe this wasn't going to be as bad an evening as she thought. She had always liked Tonks when she was little and Tonks had been good friends with her brother, Charlie. And any friend of Tonks should be okay. It helped that he was fairly easy on the eyes.
Harry was looking at her intently. "I take it that Ron is your brother?"
She nodded. "One of them."
He nodded. "I think I've met them all at some stage."
"Really?" she asked.
"Yeah, at some time or other," he replied. "How come you have to be here getting tortured tonight?"
"Ron coerced me," she replied. "He pleaded and pleaded. I suggested some other girls he could ask but he said no, so I finally gave in."
"I find it hard to believe that you had nothing better to do on a Saturday night,” Tonks said.
Ginny rolled her eyes. “Especially as I only got home from school yesterday. You’d think that there would be a huge party, seeing that we’ve just finished school forever, but no,” she said, sighing for a bit of added effect.
Harry laughed at her. “I agree. What are your classmates thinking?”
Tonks and Ginny joined Harry’s laughter.
“At least Ron owes me now,” Ginny said with a cheeky smile. “I love having something to hold over my brothers. It makes life so much more fun.”
Their laughter caused Ron to look towards Ginny. He gave her a pointed look to tell her she was talking to the wrong person. Ginny thought he was about to say something, too, but their food appeared on their plates, which, of course, distracted her greedy brother. During dinner, Ginny happily talked with Tonks, filling her in on the happenings in the Weasley family over the past year and a bit since the wizarding world had returned to peace. Apparently Tonks had been so busy with Auror work that she hadn’t seen anyone from her family except Ron, and he hadn’t been very forthcoming with family news.
Harry joined in the conversation occasionally, but tended to just sit and listen. Every so often she would look at him to find that he was looking at her, as well. He even winked at her a couple of times. Ginny found herself playing up to this and starting flirting with him, even though it was something she didn’t generally do.
After they had finished the main course, Harry turned to Ginny. “How are you standing up to this night of excitement?”
“Oh, it’s not too bad, actually. I was dreading it quite a bit knowing what Ron was up to,” she replied.
Harry glanced between Ron and Ginny. “What’s Ron up to?”
“It’s a set up,” she replied.
“He’s setting you up? With…Andy?” he asked with a laugh.
“That’s what I’m thinking,” she replied
“Why would a girl like you need to be set up?” he asked looking a little shocked.
“A girl like me? What…”
Harry held up his hand to stop her. “I meant that you are obviously not hideous and can hold a conversation well enough…”
“Gee, thanks!” she said sarcastically.
He gave her a frustrated look. “Let me finish, would you. Surely all the boys at school weren’t blind and silly. Some of them must have asked you out,” he said.
“Is that a roundabout way of saying that I’m attractive?” she asked cheekily.
He blushed a little before replying. “Yes, you’re attractive, which I’m sure you have some realisation of. You’re also fun and easy to talk to. I’m just surprised you don’t have men beating down your door or some six-foot muscular man by your side. Why do you need your brother to set you up?”
“Oooh, what a compliment, Harry,” she said laughing. “I don’t.”
“Don’t what?” he asked.
“Have men beating at my door, or a six foot muscular boyfriend, or need my brother to set me up,” she replied.
“Oh, okay,” he replied. “So why are you here?”
“Ron caught me in a moment of weakness and occasionally I do nice things for my brothers,” she replied. “Plus, as I said before, I can use it against him at a later date.”
Harry nodded.
“So…Harry. After all those lovely compliments…are you trying to tell me something?” she asked smiling sweetly.
He looked down at the table and played with his spoon a little before looking up at her again. “Maybe,” he said shyly.
“Why only maybe?” she asked.
“Well, you said that you don’t have a six foot muscular boyfriend. That doesn’t mean you don’t have a five foot skinny one, or a…I don’t know, a five foot five solid and plain looking one,” he said.
Ginny burst out laughing. Everyone turned to look at her so she shook her head and waited until everyone had resumed their conversations. Though, she thought that Tonks was actually listening, but was pretending to talk to the man on her other side.
“You could just ask if I’m seeing anyone,” she said eventually.
Harry looked at her carefully. “Are you?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Well that’s lucky for Andy, then,” he said.
“What!” she exclaimed.
Harry started laughing. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”
Ginny swatted him with her napkin.
“All right then. Ginny, would…”
Unfortunately, the gong sounded again and everyone turned towards the podium. Ginny glanced at Harry and he mouthed ‘afterwards’ and nodded at the Minister standing at the front of the room. Ginny nodded and then was surprised to see Harry stand and walk towards the podium. She looked enquiringly at Tonks to see what was happening.
“He hates this part of the night, but he’s always called upon to say something,” Tonks said.
Ginny was still a little confused. “Why?”
Tonks looked at her strangely. “Well after the war and everything, everyone expects to hear from him at these Ministry events.”
And suddenly it clicked. Harry was Harry Potter. How had she not realised this before? Oh, good Godric, she had been flirting with Harry Potter. She dropped her head into her hands and shook her head.
Tonks started laughing. “You didn’t realise, did you?” she asked.
Ginny looked up at her older brother’s childhood friend and shook her head. “Oh, Merlin! He must think I’m a…a…”
Tonks moved to the chair next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “You know, it won’t bother him at all.”
Ginny looked at Tonks curiously.
“It won’t,” Tonks repeated.
Ginny nodded, hoping that Tonks was right. She then tried to listen to the speeches but found it difficult until Harry took his turn. She listened to his short yet inspiring speech about working together to build a happy and united wizarding world.
After the speeches, a band appeared on the podium, ready to play. The tables cleared and moved to the sides of the room, leaving a large, clear area, which Ginny guessed was for dancing. She noticed Ron was talking to Andy, so she took herself to the bar, got a drink, and then moved to a quiet spot where she could observe. Ron and Terry were now talking to some other men, Tonks was talking to Kingsley Shacklebolt on the other side of the room, and Harry was surrounded by a collection of witches and wizards.
“There you are, Jenny,” Andy said beside her.
“Ginny,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Oh…okay,” he said. “Now I don’t know if you heard me before at the table, but when I lived in France…”
“Excuse me, Andy,” Harry said from behind Ginny. “I need to talk to Ginny.”
Andy looked at Harry in confusion. “Er…okay. Come and find me when you’re finished, Jenny, and I’ll tell you about my Quidditch games.”
Ginny tried to smile politely at Andy but she was sure it was more of a grimace. Harry took her elbow and led her over to the quiet area at the side of the bar.
“Thanks,” she said when Harry stood in front of her. “He is…”
Harry chuckled. “He’s very self-centred, but luckily he’s really quite harmless. He’ll find someone else to talk to, don’t worry.”
“I’m not that worried, really,” she said. She then looked up at Harry and for the first time she noticed the very faint scar on his forehead. She felt a little self-conscious under his gaze.
“I wondered where you had disappeared to,” he said, still staring down at her. “What’s wrong? You look worried.”
"I'm just feeling a little...silly," she said.
"Silly?" he asked. "Why would you feel silly?"
Ginny shuffled her feet around a little and dropped her gaze from his for a moment. Harry gently lifted her chin so that she was looking at his concerned face once again.
"I didn't really realise who you are until you had to go and make that speech," she said quietly. "I should have recognised you, and I feel silly about how I was talking to you during dinner..." she trailed off what she was saying when she saw the smile on Harry's face.
"Hey!" he said. "I honestly don't mind at all."
"Tonks said you wouldn't, but I still feel..."
Harry's finger over her mouth stopped her from saying any more. He was smiling down at her and had a cheeky glint to his eyes. "It's fine. I like that you like me for me, not for who I'm seen as."
Ginny took a moment to think about that and then smiled. Harry was still looking down at her and he seemed closer. She lifted her chin and his lips seemed awfully close to hers. She brushed her tongue over her dry lips and he made a small noise before he started to close the gap between them.
"Harry," a voice came from a little way behind Harry.
They quickly jumped apart and Harry turned to face the person who had greeted him.
"Oh, hi, John," Harry said to the man who had called out.
"I just thought I'd say hello," John said. "It's been a while."
"It has," Harry said. "We should catch up for a drink sometime."
John looked at Harry and then past him to Ginny. A half smile appeared on his face and he quickly shook Harry's hand and said, "That sounds grand. I'll leave you be."
Harry turned and faced her again. "Sorry about that. There's always someone who wants a chat at these things."
Ginny shuffled around on the spot for a bit. Was Harry trying to make a subtle hint? "I can go, if you want," she said, waving her hand a little, not really sure where she would actually go. Finding Ron would be an option, she guessed.
"NO!" Harry exclaimed quickly. "No, please don't. I meant that I'll probably be interrupted a lot here. It's not the best place for...what was happening," he said, looking a little embarrassed.
She smiled at him. "And what was that?" she asked cheekily, knowing that he wouldn't mind her teasing.
He groaned. "You're going to make me say it, aren't you?"
Ginny laughed and nodded.
He gently grabbed her arm and led her to a doorway. He subtly cast a few charms around them and looked at her. "Just so that no one overhears," he said to her curious look. "So what did you want to know?" he asked.
"You know," she replied laughing. "Don't pretend you don't."
"Ah, that's right...what was happening," he said. "Well, Ginny, I think I was about to kiss you," he said as he gently caressed her cheek and tucked a tendril of hair behind her ear.
"Mmm," she said, covering his hand with hers. "That's what I thought."
Harry started to lean towards her again. She closed her eyes as his lips got closer...and then they were pushed apart.
"Oh, sorry, mate," said a slightly intoxicated man as he ran into them.
Harry groaned and grabbed her hand. "Let's get out of here," he said, looking at her questioningly.
"Where?" she asked.
"Anywhere away from here," he said.
Ginny looked at him for a moment. "Can we Apparate from here?"
He shook his head. "We'll have to go out to the main hall."
"Okay," she said.
They casually walked side by side across the room to the door. Harry greeted a few people on the way but did not stop and chat. Once they were out of the ballroom, Ginny suddenly became a little nervous. Here she was walking alone with Harry Potter, something she had definitely not expected in her wildest dreams. And not ten minutes ago he had said he wanted to kiss her. And where in the name of Merlin were they going?
"Uh, Harry," she said as they walked. "Where are we going?"
Harry stopped and looked at her. "You know, I hadn't really thought about it. I just wanted to get out of there."
Ginny laughed.
"Where would you like to go?" he asked. "Do you want to get a drink or something?"
"I wouldn't mind a hot chocolate or something like that," she said eventually.
"Shall we go and find a Muggle place near here?" he asked. "Or we could go over to Diagon Alley..."
"You know, I make really good hot chocolate, but that would mean you'd have to come to my place, the Burrow, for me to make it," she said.
Harry looked at her curiously and then smiled. "Is it as good as your mum's?"
It was her turn to look at him curiously. "You've had Mum's hot chocolate before? When?"
He laughed. "I have, and I'd guess it was probably while you and Ron were at school." He paused for a bit before continuing. "You see, I wasn't allowed to go out and help with Order business when I was younger, so your mum used to come over and stay with me. I guess she was there as someone to report to, but I think she was a bit of a babysitter as well. Though, I didn't mind. She used to cook for me and it was so much better than what Sirius could ever produce."
"I never realised that Mum knew you. She never said anything about it," Ginny said as they continued walking to the Apparition point.
"She probably couldn't say anything. It was all Order business, so she couldn't talk about it to anyone else," he replied and stopped walking.
Ginny stopped beside him and readied herself to Apparate home. "Have you ever been to the Burrow?" she asked.
He shook his head. "No, but I've heard all sorts of stories about it."
"Do you know how to get there?" Ginny asked. After he shook his head she continued, "We could Floo, I guess, or I could side-along Apparate with you."
He gave her a cheeky smile. "I think I'd prefer the side-along Apparating."
She gave him a knowing smile and reached out to lightly grab his elbow. He smiled, shook his head, and wrapped his arms around her. She sighed at the wonderful feeling of being held by him, and he smelled absolutely delicious. She was totally caught up in that moment that she forgot why she was actually standing in Harry's arms. It took his laughter for her to come back to reality.
"Sorry," she said, a little embarrassed, and then she Disapparated to just outside the kitchen door at the Burrow.
Harry kept his arms around her after they landed, and Ginny found herself looking into his eyes in the half-light from the moon and the light inside. He lowered his head towards hers and she felt the softness of his lips just touch hers before the door opened, causing them both to jump apart.
"Ginny?" her mum asked. "Is that you? I thought I heard someone Apparate."
"Hi, Mum," she said stepping into the light. She pulled Harry into the light behind her. "I brought someone home for some hot chocolate. I hope you don't mind, Mum."
"Harry!" her mum exclaimed, before pulling him into a hug. "It's been too long since I last saw you. Let me have a look at you."
"Hi, Mrs. Weasley," he said.
"It's Molly, Harry," her mum said. "Come on in. I was just about to head upstairs. I can make some..."
"It's fine, Mum. I'll make it," Ginny said.
"Yeah, Mrs. We...Molly. Ginny is going to prove that she can make hot chocolate better than you," he said with a sly glance at her.
"She is, is she?" her mum replied, chuckling. "I'll leave you be, then. Let me know the verdict, would you, Harry."
"I will," he replied.
Ginny watched her mum leave the kitchen and then turned to the stove. She busied herself with the hot chocolate while she came to terms with the fact that Harry Potter was here in the kitchen of the Burrow, with her. And he was a down-to-earth, easy-to-get-along-with person who apparently wanted to kiss her as much as she wanted to kiss him. A few hours ago she wouldn't have contemplated something like this happening.
"What are you thinking about?" Harry asked from just behind her.
She looked over her shoulder and smiled. "I was thinking about the fact that maybe I shouldn't hold Ron to ransom over this evening after all."
He moved closer and stood right behind her. She could feel his warmth behind her, and she was getting lost in his scent. She couldn't help but sigh as his arms encircled her.
"I take it that you've enjoyed this evening, then?" he asked.
She turned in his arms and he lowered his head to hers. Once again, just as his lips were brushing hers, they were interrupted, this time by overflowing hot chocolate on the stove.
"Shite!" she exclaimed, quickly moving the pot and cleaning up the mess with a flick of her wand. Harry was shaking with laughter behind her and she glared at him. "You do realise this is the fourth time we've been about to kiss and something or someone has stopped us."
"Oh, yeah. I hope this isn't some kind of bad karma meaning we aren't meant to kiss or...or..."
"I don't believe in Divination or that kind of stuff," she replied, filling two mugs with hot chocolate. She put the mugs and some treacle tart on a tray and carried it through to the sitting room with Harry following close behind.
They sat side-by-side on the small, shabby sofa. She took her mug and sat back in the chair. Harry, on the other hand, was staring down at the plate of treacle tart.
"Are you okay, Harry?" she asked a little amused at the look on his face.
"Mmmm. Treacle tart is my favourite and I haven't had any in so long," he said.
She couldn't help but laugh at him. He picked up a piece and absolutely savoured every mouthful. When he had finished, he sat back next to her, sighed, and turned his head to look at her.
"I guess you enjoyed that," she said staring into his brilliant emerald eyes.
He nodded and kept eye contact with her. They gradually moved towards each other and just as their lips were about to meet, they paused, looked around and then laughed.
"I guess we're safe, then," Harry said with a cheeky smile.
Ginny nodded and Harry gently pulled her head closer allowing his lips to meet hers. She sighed as they were finally able to kiss. Her hands found their way up into his messy black hair and her lips parted to allow his tongue to tease hers. He groaned as their kiss deepened and pulled her closer to him so there was no space between them at all. Ginny's hands were drifting down to cover Harry's bum when the door to the sitting room burst open.
"What the hell, Ginny?" Ron yelled. "When did you leave? You were supposed to be there with Andy, and you just up and left."
Ginny jumped to her feet, not caring how dishevelled she looked. Somehow Harry had managed to remove all the pins in her hair and it was falling in a riotous mess down her back. "You said it wasn't a set up."
"Yeah...well...I..."
"...Lied?" Ginny suggested. "You said it wasn't a set up, so it didn't matter to whom I talked, when I left, or with whom I left," she said loudly pointing viciously at her brother.
"Who did you leave with?" Ron asked in a dangerous voice.
Harry stood up behind her and looped an arm over her shoulders.
"Ha...Harry...I didn't see you there," Ron said looking a little frazzled.
"Right, now that you've seen him, you can leave," Ginny said matter-of-factly.
"Hang on. What's going on with you two? Does Mum know what you're up to? Are you sure that...argh, GINNY!"
Ginny had hit him with a Bat Bogey Hex and Ron was desperately trying to swipe the bats off his face. She walked over to stand over her brother and pointed her wand at him again. "You will never interfere in my love life again, do you hear me?"
When Ron nodded she lifted the Hex and Ron looked up at her. "Fine," he said, then stood, and left the room.
Ginny turned to see Harry shaking with laughter and one hand covering his mouth.
"Please tell me you're going to join the DMLE. It'd be fantastic to see you in action against some of those wankers out there," he said looking at her eagerly.
"Sorry," she said. "I have no intention of working at the Ministry."
Harry looked at her curiously. "So what do you intend to do with yourself, besides spending lots of time with me, that is?"
"Hmm, I like that idea, but I'll have to find something to occupy myself while you're busy at work with my prat of a brother," she replied in a teasing voice.
Harry came closer and put his hands on her shoulders. "And what might that be?"
"Weeeell," she drawled before looking at him pointedly. "Hang on. Were you trying to ask me something just before?"
Harry looked at her and smiled. "Oh, you noticed," he teased. "All right, Miss Weasley. I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me?"
"As in...a girlfriend?" she asked.
"Yes, Ginny," he said.
"Ask nicely, Harry," she teased.
He shook his head a little, but smiled wryly at her. "Will you please be my girlfriend, Ginny?"
"I'd love to," she smiled.
"Right then. I guess I need to know what my girlfriend's plans are for the future," he said.
"Weeeell," she drawled again. "How would you like to go out with the new Chaser for the Holyhead Harpies?"
"Really?" Harry said sounding a little surprised.
"Really. I found out two days ago," she said with a little squeal.
He chuckled and pulled her into his arms and kissed her soundly. When they eventually pulled apart, he looked at her curiously. "Does this mean I can get free tickets?"
"Prat," she said, hitting him on the shoulder and then pulling his head back down towards hers.
Chapter 2: Chapter 2
Author's Notes:
Thanks to Stephanie O for checking this for me.
Sorry about the wait for this.
Ginny wandered into the kitchen on a Friday morning, a few weeks after the dinner when she had met Harry, to see her mum and Ron sitting at the table eating breakfast. She quickly glanced at the clock, the one that told the time, not the family one, to check how early it was. This was the first morning that week that Ron had been at the table when she had made it downstairs.
“Morning,” she said cheerfully.
“Good morning, my dear,” her mother said as she stood to fill another plate.
Ron glared at her, grunted, and then went back to eating his bacon.
“What’s put your wand in a knot?” she asked her brother.
“Oh, you’ll never guess what’s happened!” her mum said excitedly.
Ginny gave her brother a strange look before turning to her mum, who had placed a plate of bacon and eggs in front of her, before sitting down again. Her mum was obviously excited about something; her eyes were shining and she had a bubbly look about her. Her hands were also twitching like she was itching to start planning something.
“What’s happened?” she asked as she started to eat her breakfast. She had no idea what could possibly have put her in this state.
“Bill Flooed earlier,” her mum gushed. “He’s coming for dinner tonight and he’s bringing someone with him. He’s even got Charlie to come home, and he’s told me that he wants the whole family here tonight. It must be something important.”
“Bill and Charlie are coming home!” Ginny said excitedly. She missed her eldest two brothers. She was very close to them when she was little but hadn’t had many chances to see them in recent years.
“You would be excited,” Ron said grumpily.
“Why can’t you be happy that the family is getting together tonight?” Molly Weasley asked.
“I told you that I had plans tonight. Lav, Dean, Seamus, and I were going to the Weird Sisters concert," Ron said. "Do you know hard it was to get those tickets?"
"Maybe you could meet them there after dinner," Ginny suggested.
"What a wonderful idea, Ginny," her mum said, giving her a huge smile. "Will that be okay, Ronald?"
"I suppose," he said half-heartedly.
"Why aren't you at work?" Ginny asked her brother.
"I have an exam this morning," he replied. "My last one and I'll be finished training."
"Will you be working with Harry then?" Ginny asked.
Ron groaned. "I really wish I hadn't taken you to that dinner. All I hear about from you is Harry. It's dead annoying. I have to see him at work; I don't want to hear about him here." Ron then stood, walked over to the Floo and disappeared.
"Why doesn't Ron like Harry?" Ginny asked her mum.
"I don't think it's that, dear," Her mum said. "You know how hard he worked over the last two years of school to get into the Auror programme. And he gets there and Harry is younger...
"Not by much," said Ginny.
"Even so. Harry is younger and he didn't have to go through training, so Ron is a little jealous.
"But from what Harry's told me, he spent years training. That's why he didn't go to school. He was trained by his dad's friends to beat You-Know-Who," Ginny said quite passionately.
"You know that and I know that. Ron probably does deep down, but won't admit it," her mum said. "You know what he can be like."
"Too well," Ginny said before finishing her breakfast. "Hey, can I invite Harry tonight?"
Her mum gave her an inquisitive look. "What is going on between you and Harry? You've seen him nearly every night since you met him."
Ginny sighed. She knew her mum was going to ask her this at some stage. She just wasn't sure how to answer, because she didn't think her mum would like some of the answer. "I told you that he asked me to be his girlfriend after the dinner."
"Yes. I'm just worried. You've only just met him and you're spending a lot of time together. Shouldn't you be looking for a job or training in something?" Her mum was looking very stressed with her. "I just don't want you to rush into things, Ginevra. You're still so young with choices in front of you. Don't spoil things by..."
"Mum!" Ginny exclaimed. "Good Godric! What do you think we've been doing?"
"That's what I'm asking," her mum said sighing.
"We've been talking, eating, flying...we get on so well together, Mum. I like spending time with him. He's like my best friend as well as my boyfriend. We've been here a couple of the nights. Surely you saw that we weren't doing anything...overly bad," she sad.
"What do you mean by overly bad?" her mum said looking a little scandalised.
Ginny sighed, rolled her eyes, and shook her head. "We snog, mother, if you must know. Nothing more than that," she said and added 'yet' in her mind.
"Good!" her mum said. "And, yes, you can invite Harry."
Ginny spent her afternoon after training helping her mum organise a huge dinner. While she was cooking she planned on how she would tell the family about playing for the Harpies. She knew that Bill was going to share some big news, but she didn't think he'd mind that she was taking some of the limelight as well. She had enjoyed the training sessions so far, but had not told anyone other than Harry about playing for the Harpies.
Late in the afternoon, after she had set up tables out in the garden, her brothers started arriving. Charlie was the first. As he walked up from the lane she barely gave him a chance to put down his bag before she jumped into his arms. He spun her around and then pretended to hold his back in pain.
"I'm not heavy," she said, swatting him.
"Ginger," he said with a smile. "Not even a hello for your big brother."
"Hi," she said giving him another hug.
"Wow, look at you," he said to her as they walked towards the house. "I can't believe my little sister has finished school. Oh, I'm getting old."
She laughed. "Do you have any idea why Bill has called us all together?" she asked.
Charlie shook his head but she could tell by the look in his eye that he was lying.
"You do!" she exclaimed.
"I promised him that I wouldn't say anything," Charlie said.
"Fine," she said looking at her brother with big wide eyes that always helped her get what she wanted when she was young.
"Oh, Gin-Gin," Charlie said. "Don't pull that look. It doesn't work any more."
Just as Ginny was going to pretend to be upset, two pops were heard and Fred and George appeared in front of her.
"Oh, no, George," Fred said.
"What?" his twin asked him.
"Don't look at Ginny. It's the face," Fred continued.
"The face?" George asked shielding his eyes.
"Oh, cut it out all of you," Ginny said but she couldn't help laughing. She loved teasing and playing around with her brothers.
The back door opened and her mum, her dad, and Percy appeared. They levitated plates of food and trays of drinks in front of them and deposited them on the table she had set up earlier in the garden. Molly Weasley then saw her second oldest child and enveloped him in a hug and fussed over his hair. Ginny, George and Fred sat down at the table and laughed at Charlie's discomfort. Eventually, her mother calmed down a little and they sat around the table sipping butterbeer and chatting while waiting for Bill, Ron, and Harry.
A little later Ron appeared near the gate and stomped his way across the lawn towards the house. He grunted at everyone and kept walking inside.
"Well he's a right ray of sunshine," Charlie stated. "Not even a hello."
"What's up his...
"Fred," Molly said warningly.
"...arse?" finished George.
Ginny laughed at her mother's face and her twin brothers as they put looks of absolute innocence on their faces.
Ron soon came outside, dressed for the concert later that evening and settled into a chair with a bottle of butterbeer.
"Ron," Charlie said.
"Hey, Charlie, I didn't see you there," Ron said, looking a little happier.
"I don't think you saw anyone," said George.
"Yeah, what's got your wand in a knot?" Fred continued.
"Bad day at work, Ron?" Molly asked.
Ginny remembered her conversation from that morning. "Oh, Ron, was your exam bad?"
Ron gave her a smile. "No, it was fine."
"Congratulations, then," she said.
"Thanks, but I have to wait until it's marked until I'm really finished," Ron replied.
"But you said it went well," Arthur said. "Who's marking it? Someone tough?"
Ron sighed. "Oh he's tough, but fair."
"So what's the problem, then?" Charlie asked.
"Harry's marking it, isn't he?" Ginny asked knowing the answer before she asked the question.
Ron let out a low growl and rolled his eyes.
"Harry?" Fred asked curiously.
"Potter?" George continued.
"Yes," sighed Ron.
"He's an Auror, right?" Charlie asked.
"A good one, I've heard," Percy stated.
Ron sighed again and Ginny rolled her eyes at him.
"Don't you like him?" Charlie asked.
Ron shook his head but didn't say anything.
"What I don't understand is if you don't like him, why were you sitting at the same table as him at the Department dinner?" Ginny asked.
"How do you know that?" George asked her.
"He tried to set me up with one of his friends," Ginny replied.
"What were you thinking, Ronnie," Fred said. "You don't want to subject your poor mate to our little hell raiser of a sister."
Ginny pulled her wand as her brothers all laughed. She threatened them with it and their laughter died down quickly.
"So what was this fellow like?" Charlie asked.
"She hardly talked to him at all," Ron said, sounding annoyed. "He was very keen to meet her."
"What in Godric's name did you tell him?" Ginny asked. "He just started harping on about himself and everything he did at school in France, including telling me about his beautiful French girlfriends. And his handshake was all soft and...ewww."
Ron started laughing.
"Ron did you tell him to do that?" Arthur asked. "That's not a particularly nice way to treat your friend or your sister."
"Dad, he's not a friend, really. He sort of latched onto Terry, Stuart, and me and we can't get rid of him," Ron said.
"So you were going to use Ginny to help?" Molly Weasley said, sounding aghast.
Ron looked at Ginny with a grin. "I hoped she'd Bat Bogey him and he'd not want to be around us any more."
Everyone laughed at that comment, including Ginny.
"Did she?" Charlie asked.
"No, I didn't," Ginny said proudly.
"So the set up didn't go well, then?" Fred asked.
Ron growled and Ginny smiled.
"Oh, I had a wonderful night," she said. "I was talking to Tonks, Charlie."
"Yeah? How is she?" Charlie asked sounding very interested.
"She's great. Fun to talk to," she replied.
Just then a sound of someone Apparating made everyone turn their heads. Harry was walking towards the group holding onto some flowers.
"Is that Harry?" Charlie asked.
"Why is he here?" Ron asked Ginny, at the same time.
"Harry, dear. We're so glad you could come," Molly Weasley said standing up and moving to greet him.
"Thanks Mrs. W...Molly. It was lovely to be invited," Harry said, at the same time handing her a bunch of mixed flowers.
"Oh, they're beautiful, but you didn't have to," Molly said, hugging him.
Harry then joined the rest of the family and sat next to Ginny, giving her a lily and a kiss on the cheek. At this, everyone, except for Ron and her parents, opened their mouths in shock and stared at Ginny and Harry. Ron groaned.
"What?" Fred and George asked at the same time.
"When did this happen?" Charlie asked at the same time as his twin brothers spoke.
Percy looked backwards and forwards between the pair of them and then eventually shrugged and smiled.
Ginny reached over and grabbed Harry's hand. "I did say I had a wonderful time at the dinner."
"So I'm guessing that you talked to Harry here instead of this other bloke," Fred said.
"I did. And we got on really well. It was definitely better than talking to Andy. Harry and Tonks were much more tolerable," Ginny said.
"Gee, thanks, Ginny," Harry said sarcastically, but the smile on his face belied the tone of his voice.
Ginny patted Harry on the knee and winked as everyone else laughed.
"Hang on. Harry, were you there with Tonks?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah, I was," he said.
"But..."
"Tonks is a friend. My godfather and she are cousins and as I didn't go to school we became close. She was the only one around that was sort of close to me in age," Harry said.
"You became close, huh?" Fred said with a smirk.
Ginny rolled her eyes and then watched the flush spread across Harry's face. She knew it was because of embarrassment. Harry had told her that there had never been anything between him and Tonks.
"Not in that way," Harry said, shaking his head. "That would be weird. Anyway, she likes someone else."
"Really?" Charlie asked, looking a little intrigued.
Harry's answer was cut off as Ginny's mother exclaimed and pointed to the lane. Everyone's heads turned to see two people, a man and a woman, walking towards them. Molly Weasley was out of her seat like a shot and heading towards her eldest child. The group watched the three people embrace, talk, and make their way towards them.
Ginny was torn between racing to greet her eldest brother and the woman by his side, and staying near Harry. She stood up to watch what was happening, as did everyone else, and Harry stood behind her, encircling her in his arms. It was so tempting to just lean back into his embrace and forget what was going on around her. But she was keen to find out who the woman was with Bill and what the big news was. Obviously it had to do with the woman who was walking beside him holding onto his arm.
As Bill approached, Ginny got a proper look at the woman. She was slim, blonde and extremely beautiful. Her beauty seemed to engulf everyone around her. She looked around to discover everyone was staring.
"Wow," Ginny said quietly. "She's beautiful."
Harry tightened his arms around her. "Depends on what you like," he replied, kissing her just above her ear.
She turned to look at Harry. He was staring down at her, smiling. He pressed a kiss on her forehead and then turned her again to face Bill who was now standing at one end of the table looking extremely nervous. The rest of her family was looking at the two newcomers enquiringly. Ginny decided to break the ice and she moved from Harry's arms and gave Bill a hug and said hi to the blonde woman. Her other brothers and her father then came and shook hands and said hello. Once the greetings were over, everyone sat around the table and looked expectantly at Bill.
"Well hi, everyone," he said nervously as he reached over to grab the blonde woman's hand. "First of I'd like to introduce to Fleur..."
In between the hellos, Fred spoke up. "You were in the TriWizard Tournament. I thought I recognised you."
"Zat I was," she replied, with a charming smile.
"Right," said Bill, stopping Fred from saying any more. "Fleur, this is my dad, Arthur," he said, indicating his dad with is hand.
"Pleezed to meet you," she said.
"And my brothers, Charlie, Percy, the twins, Fred and George, and Ron," Bill said, pointing at each of them as he said their names.
Fleur smiled and said hello to each of them. Fred and George engulfed her in hugs and kissed her outrageously before Bill pushed them away good-naturedly.
"And this is my sister, Ginny," Bill said looking at her and taking in who she was standing in front of. "And she seems to be standing with...Harry? Merlin, it is Harry." Bill walked over and stopped in front of Ginny and Harry.
Harry reached out to shake Bill's hand, which Bill quickly accepted. "Pleased to see you again," Harry said to Bill.
"You remember me, then," Bill said. "We only met a couple of times before the battle. I thought you would have been too busy to take much in."
"It was a horrible time, really," Harry said. "But I tried to remember those who fought alongside me."
Bill looked a little amazed and then smiled. "I don't mean to be rude, but how in Merlin's name do you happen to be standing with your arm around my sister?"
The crowd of Weasleys, who had watched the brief exchange between Harry and Bill quietly and with interest, all laughed at Bill's question.
"Ask Ron?" Harry replied with a smile.
Ron groaned when Bill looked at him enquiringly. "I took her to a Ministry function in the hope off scaring off this guy I work with. Instead of doing that, she got all chummy with Harry and they've been inseparable since."
Bill looked between Ginny, Harry, and Ron and decided not to say anymore.
"Right, then," the family matriarch said. "Now that everyone is here, let's eat. Ginny, come and help me."
Ginny sighed. It was always her that was asked to help. She was a little worried about what her brothers would be saying to Harry while she was inside. She knew he could look after himself, so she wasn't worried about him being threatened. Ginny was more worried about what they would say about her. But as she helped her mum levitate the remainder of the food, she realised that she had nothing to worry about. It seemed that Bill was telling everyone about Egypt.
Dinner was lovely, Ginny thought. She was able to sit near the man with whom she was rapidly falling in love, and she had her family around her. The conversation was entertaining and relaxed, and Harry's leg, resting against hers, sent shivers through her whole body.
"Um, Mum, Dad," Percy said nervously.
Ginny looked over at her most serious brother. He had finished his food very quickly, more like Ron would, and now he was nervously rubbing his hands together.
"Yes, Percy?" Arthur replied.
"Well...you see...I've been seeing this witch lately and I was wondering if I could bring her over for dessert," Percy said quietly.
Everyone around the table sat silently. Percy had not even mentioned a girl since his relationship with Penelope Clearwater ended, years ago. The silence was soon shattered when Fred and George started cheering and wolf whistling, causing Percy to blush.
"That's fine, son," Arthur eventually said.
"I don't have to," Percy said, looking worried. "It's just the fact that Ginny has Harry here, and Bill has Fleur..."
"It's fine, Percy, really," Molly said with a smile. "We'd love to meet her."
Percy nodded and Apparated away.
"What's that all about?" Harry asked Ginny quietly. "Everyone seems shocked."
"I guess we are. Percy hasn't had a girlfriend, or told us about one, for years," she replied.
"Ron!" George yelled, interrupting Harry and Ginny's conversation. "Why didn't you bring Lavender this evening?"
"Yes, Won-Won. Where is the lovely Lavender?" Fred continued.
Ginny laughed at the look of loathing on Ron's face. He was never going to live that nickname down.
"Yes, you should have brought her," Molly said. "You don't bring her home enough."
"It's fine," Ron muttered with a very red face. "I'll see her later."
Ginny leaned over to Harry. "Personally, I think her days as Ron's girlfriend are numbered."
"Yeah?" he asked.
"Mmm hmmm. They're not suited at all. One of my friends really likes him and I think they'd work well together."
"Where are your girlfriends, Fred and George?" Bill asked.
"Oh, brother dear," Fred started.
"We don't like to limit ourselves," George continued.
"Especially when there are so many fine women out there," Fred said, grinning.
"Waiting for us," George said, smiling widely.
"We're just like our dear brother, Charlie," Fred said.
"Sharing the Weasley loving around," George said. "Isn't that right?"
Charlie had turned very red. Ginny wasn't sure if it was from laughter or embarrassment, though. Harry was shaking with laughter beside her, as was Ron. Her mother, however, looked very displeased. Just at that moment, as if the twins had ordered it, two Apparition pops were heard, causing everyone to stop and turn. Percy had his back to everyone and seemed to be talking to and calming the girl in front of him.
"That was lucky," Ginny said.
"How?" Harry asked curiously.
"Did you see Mum's face? She was about to Hex the twins or yell at them. Believe me, you don't want Mum to look at you like that," Ginny said emphatically. "I guess Percy and his mystery girl are their salvation," Ginny said.
Harry turned to where Percy was still talking. "Do you recognise her?"
"Not at the moment," she replied. "Oh, look. They're coming over now." Ginny sat up straight and tried to see who Percy's new girl was. So far she could only tell that she was slim and of average height, with brown hair pulled back tightly from her face.
"She looks like she'd suit Percy," Charlie stated.
"Mmmm, she is dressed quite plainly and neatly," said George.
Ginny watched the pair come closer and gasped as they reached the table. She glanced at Ron, whose mouth was wide open
"Hermione!" Fred exclaimed.
Ron groaned and slid down in his chair.
Ginny jumped up and walked quickly to Percy and Hermione. Hermione was looking a little awkward, not knowing what to say. Ginny gave her a hug and then asked curiously, "When did this happen?"
"A few months ago," Hermione answered.
"You'll have to tell me all about it," she said.
"Later, Ginny," Percy said. "I need to introduce her to our parents."
Percy led Hermione away and Ginny returned to her seat to find Harry talking to Ron who was in her seat. Ron was looking a little bemused. Ginny sat on Harry's lap and his arms wrapped around her.
"Are you okay, Ron?" she asked.
"Of course I am," he replied.
"But..."
"Ginny, I don't fancy Hermione. I really don't," he said.
"Anymore," she said.
Ron glared at her.
"I saw you stare at her at school," Ginny said.
"Maybe in fifth year. After that she was scary," Ron said.
"How can a girl like that be scary?" Harry asked. "She looks like she'd be too timid to scare anything."
"Maybe to you," Ron said. "I know you've battled dark wizards, but let me tell you, if you were at school with us, I'm sure she would have scared you...unless you followed the rules all the time."
"Yeah, that's not me," Harry said with a laugh. "You never know, we may have all been friends."
"You and me, maybe. Her - I don't think so," Ron said.
"Hello, Ron," Hermione said as she walked over to them.
"Hermione," Ron said, giving her a slight wave. "I hope you and Percy are happy together."
"Why, thank you," Hermione replied before looking pointedly at Harry and Ginny.
"Oh!" Ginny exclaimed, knowing exactly what Hermione wanted. "This is Harry."
Harry removed a hand from her stomach and stretched it towards Hermione. "Hi, Hermione. Nice to meet you."
"Hello, Harry...Potter," Hermione said with awe as she shook his hand.
Ginny sighed and Harry groaned. He hated to be greeted like that.
"I guess you have some things to tell me, too," Hermione said.
"All right," Molly said loudly, stopping all the chatter. "It's time for dessert."
Bill stood up quickly with Fleur's hand grasped in his. "Mum, Dad, before that, there's something I need to tell you all..."
"You're engaged!" Molly yelled, clasping her hands together.
"Not quite, Mum," Bill said smiling. "Actually, it's a little more than that. You see Fleur and I got married about six weeks ago..."
"What?" Molly exclaimed. "Without all of us?"
"Now, Molly," Arthur said in a calm voice. "Just hear them out."
"But..."
"Mum," Bill said. "We would have loved you all to have been there, and Fleur's family, too. We decided that we wanted to get married straight away, with no messing around waiting for a suitable date for everyone."
"You're expecting, aren't you?" Molly asked.
Fleur blushed and Bill grinned.
"We are, actually," he said. "But that didn't happen until after the wedding. We only found out yesterday and were advised to come home."
"Is everything okay?" Arthur asked, looking worried.
"Ze 'eat of Egypt does not agree with me," Fleur said. " Ze 'ealer zaid zat we'd be better 'ere."
Molly was out of her seat hugging the pair. Everyone else was calling out their congratulations. Ginny looked over at her dad and saw a tear trickle down his cheek and a huge smile on his face.
"Dessert," Molly stated, a little later after she was prised away from her eldest son and his wife.
Ginny stood up. "While we're sharing news," she said looking around at her gathered family. "And don't worry. It's totally different news to Bill's." She could see her mother relax at this and some of her brothers stopped glaring at her and Harry. "Mum and Dad, you've probably thought that I've been out job hunting these past few weeks, but I've actually started my new career." Everyone was looking at her in anticipation. She paused for a little before continuing. "I've started pre-season training with the Holyhead Harpies."
"What?" her mum exclaimed.
"No way," Ron said.
"Wow," Fred and George said together.
Charlie came up and gave her a huge hug. "Well done, Ginger," he said. "I'm glad one Weasley ended up playing professional Quidditch."
Congratulations came from the rest of the family after that. When she looked around she noticed that her dad's smile hadn't gotten any smaller.
Molly stood up. "Is there any more news, or can we have dessert now?"
When there was no reply, Ginny stood up and walked into the kitchen with her mum following her.
"Mum?" Ginny asked once they were both in the kitchen. "Are you okay?"
"Of course I am," her mum replied, grasping Ginny's hands. "I always thought Charlie would be the one playing Quidditch, not my daughter. But I guess it was inevitable with you stealing broomsticks at such a young age. I can see how much you want to do this and I know how much you love flying."
"I do and I'm so happy," she said, hugging her mum.
"That's good. Now let's get these outside."
Ginny followed her mum back outside. As she passed Harry she waved the dish holding the treacle tart under his nose. He licked his lips and made to take the dish from her. She laughed and darted away to put the dishes on the table.
After everyone had finished eating, Ginny surreptitiously grabbed the remainder of the treacle tart and gestured to Harry to follow her. Harry clasped her hand in his as they walked through the garden to the clearing where the makeshift Quidditch rings were set up. They found a suitable spot at the far end and sat on a blanket that Harry conjured. Ginny placed the pie dish in front of them and conjured two forks.
"Mmmm," Harry said as he broke off some treacle tart with his fork and ate it. "This is delicious. Your mum makes the best food in the world."
"She does, but she didn't make the treacle tart. I did," Ginny said as she helped herself to more tart.
Harry groaned, leaned closer, and kissed her. "I am never letting you go," he said, smiling. "You make my favourite dessert the best out of anyone in the whole wide world."
She laughed. "Glad to be of service."
Once the tart was finished, he moved the dish to one side and lay down on the blanket and pulled her down to join him. He pulled her against his body and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"Your family is fabulous, Ginny," he said. "It must have been great growing up here."
"It was mostly," she said. "Though, being the youngest and only girl had its problems."
"Mmmm," he said, rubbing his hand up and down her arm. "Tell me about Hermione and why Ron was so stunned."
Ginny rolled on her side so that she could see his face properly. Harry copied her so that they were almost nose-to-nose.
"Hermione is very smart and a little overbearing with it. It's not that she rubs it in your face; she just can't see why others don't get things like she does. Plus, she loves rules and really hates when people don't follow them. She was a fabulous prefect and Head Girl because of that. Well...not to the rule breakers," she said with a wry smile. "She was in Gryffindor like Ron and me, and in Ron's year. She used to get so frustrated with Ron because he wouldn't do much work, and then when Ron started working his arse off in sixth and seventh years, she started getting worried that Ron might be better than her at some things. Hermione never really annoyed me too much. I get along with her okay, though Ron hasn't in recent years."
"What made Ron start working hard?" Harry asked curiously.
"He wanted to be an Auror," she replied.
"Ah," Harry said nodding. "And Ron fancied her?"
"I think he did, at one stage, but then she got so competitive with him over school work. I think that might have put him off her," Ginny said. "She's perfect for Percy, though."
"I've only met Percy a couple of times," Harry said. "And he came across as quite serious and a little pompous."
"That's him," Ginny said, chuckling.
"And what makes you think that Ron and Lavender are going to break up?" Harry asked suddenly. "They seem quite happy together."
"She's happy," Ginny replied. "She loves fawning all over him, but Ron really isn't like that. He's putting up with it for now, and I really don't want to think why. But he'll get fed up with her soon."
"And you said your friend likes him?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, Demelza. She was on the Quidditch team with Ron and me. She's got another year of school, though, so maybe this time next year I'll try to get them together," she said.
"Trying your hand at matchmaking, are we, Miss Weasley?" Harry said, laughing. "I hope you do a better job than Ron."
She chuckled. "Yeah, well he didn't really want me to go out with Andy. He just wanted me to Hex him and scare him away."
"Are you that scary?" Harry asked.
"I can be," Ginny said. "Ask my brothers."
"Oh, I believe you," he said. "I just hope I never have it directed towards me."
"And so you should, Mr. Potter," Ginny said cheekily.
Harry grinned and moved closer to kiss her.
A little while later, Ginny pulled back and sighed. She then remembered what Bill had announced earlier. "I'm going to be an auntie," she said happily.
"Auntie Ginny," Harry said. "I bet you'll spoil him or her."
"I'll definitely be introducing him or her to Quidditch," she said. "More Weasleys, how exciting."
"You have a great family, Ginny. You should be excited," Harry said with a little bit of envy.
"Oh, Harry," she said. "I wish you had your parents around."
"Me, too," he said quietly. "But, I do have Sirius and Remus."
"And Tonks," Ginny stated.
"Yes, Tonks, too," Harry said. "Actually Sirius will be home from America in the next few days. I've told him about you and he can't wait to meet you. Remus, too."
Ginny felt a little nervous at the thought of meeting Harry's family.
Harry gently ran his hand across her cheek. "You have nothing to be nervous about. They'll love you."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," Harry replied. "How in the name of Merlin did no one in your family know about the Harpies? Why did you keep it a secret so long?"
"They never asked," she said. "I was a little afraid that I wouldn't be good enough and get chucked out, so I wanted to settle in before I said anything."
"You're a brilliant flier. I love flying here with you and I can't wait to see you out on the pitch," he said.
"I'll be a reserve for a while, so it won't be that often to start with," she said.
"I don't mind. I'll be there watching no matter what," he said.
"What if there's some big Auror emergency?" Ginny asked.
"I'll send Andy," he said laughing.
"Not Ron?" she asked.
"No, he'll want to be at the Quidditch, too," Harry said.
"He'll appreciate that. He loves Quidditch," Ginny said.
"I've heard him. Can't believe he supports the Cannons, though," Harry said laughing.
"And who do you support?" Ginny asked.
"The Harpies, of course," he said.
"Sweet talker," Ginny said leaning closer.
Harry lips were just about to touch hers when he paused. "Did I hear Charlie call you Ginger?"
She groaned and pushed him onto his back and leaned over him. "No," she said and stopped him from replying by kissing him.
Chapter 3: Chapter 3
Author's Notes:
Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed. I hope you keep enjoying the story.
Ginny walked out of Holyhead Stadium after a rigorous training session, and readied herself to Apparate home, when she saw a familiar figure leaning against a pole. She stopped dead and stared at the very welcome and very much missed sight of her boyfriend. As she stood still, he pushed himself off the wall and slowly started walking towards her with a wide smile plastered across his face. As he came closer, she regained the use of her legs and started moving towards him, slowly at first and then gradually faster. Instead of running into his waiting arms, she stopped short and looked up into his shining emerald eyes. He didn't seem concerned that they weren't hugging. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying staring at her in her training clothes.
"Miss me?" he asked cheekily.
"Oh, have you been away?" she asked teasingly.
"So, I take that as a no," he replied frowning.
Ginny knew he was only pretending to be upset. The frown didn't extend to his eyes, which still had a happy glint to them.
"Oh, well," he said. "I must have the wrong girl. I was sure my girlfriend said she was a Harpy. Maybe I should try the Arrows or United."
"Prat," she replied elbowing him in the ribs with a laugh.
"Ow," he replied doubling over. "Watch it."
"Did you get hurt?" she asked, suddenly concerned.
Harry stood up and smiled. "No, but I had you worried for a moment."
"Of course I'm worried about you, you great git. Don't scare me like that," she replied.
Harry looked at her sheepishly and opened his arms. She stepped into them and enjoyed the feeling of his strong arms around her again.
"I did miss you," she muttered into his chest.
"Me, too, Gin, me, too," he replied against her temple. "Three weeks was too long."
"How did it go?" she asked.
"Good. The first week was training and then we got called in to help with a kidnapping," he said.
"Oh, I saw that in the Daily Prophet" she replied, looking up at him. "Is it all over?"
He nodded.
"The boy? Did he...was he..."
"He's fine now and back with his mum and dad," Harry said grimly.
"Good," she replied, knowing that it wouldn't have been as easy as Harry tried to make it seem. "Were you there when he was found?"
He nodded again. "I can't say any more until after the trial, though. Sorry."
"No, I understand," she replied.
Harry moved his hands up to cup her jaw and lowered his mouth to hers, pressing short, soft kisses on her lips. Her hands moved into his hair and she deepened the kiss.
"Hmmm," Harry said a little later. "Maybe we should move away from here before we get spotted."
"Don't you want to be seen with me, then?" she teased.
"I have no problem with that, but I don't want a picture of this plastered on the cover of a magazine. Your mum would never let me visit ever again," he said.
She laughed. "That's if my brothers leave you whole."
He chuckled and waved his hand in front of him. "Pffft. They don't scare me."
"Good," she said laughing. "Do you want to come to the Burrow with me?"
"I guess, or you could come back to my place with me," he said. "I haven't been home yet. I came straight here after they let me go."
She looked at him little stunned. He had mentioned his home before but had never actually invited her there. She had mentioned it once and he'd replied that he didn't want to offend her mum by luring her to his place. Apparently he was over that.
"Okay," she replied.
He smiled at her. "Are you ready?" After she nodded, he Apparated with her to a quiet lane. He then clasped her hand and led her around the corner to a quiet neighbourhood. He stopped at a wrought iron fence and turned to her. "Harry Potter lives at fourteen Green Street."
"What?" she asked, looking at him in confusion.
"Turn around," he said quietly.
She turned and behind her was a house that was not visible before. She spun back to look at Harry. "A Fidelius?"
He nodded.
"You live here?" she asked. "Wow. It's a house, not a flat, Harry."
"Yeah, I know. It sounds a little...pretentious saying my house. It's actually a Potter family home. The city one. There's a country one, too," he said looking a little embarrassed.
"Like a manor house?" she asked.
"No, not that big. It's a big house, but it is just a house. Though, no one has lived there since I was a baby. Everything is covered and Charmed for protection. It's way too big for one person. I prefer this. It's a little more manageable."
"Did you grow up here?" she asked, full of curiosity.
"No. I lived with Sirius in his family home. It has better protections," he replied as he opened the gate. "Come on in and we can...talk...in comfort," he concluded as he looked her up and down with a glint in his eye.
Ginny chose not to say anything to his emphasised 'talk'. Instead she followed him to the red door where he surreptitiously waved his wand causing the door to swing open. They walked into a bright hallway lined with pictures. Off the hallway were three doors as well as a flight of stairs.
"Welcome," he said waving his arm wide. "Alright. A quick tour. That door is to the sitting room. This one is to the formal lounge, where I don't go too often. The door at the back goes to the kitchen. Downstairs is a study and guest room. Upstairs is the bathroom and bedrooms."
"Wow," Ginny said looking around. She couldn't think of much else to say so she turned to the pictures. There were several landscapes on one wall, and on the opposite wall were photographs. She looked at one of a young couple holding an almost toddler, who had to be Harry, squirming on their laps.
“My parents,” he said, coming up behind her and resting his hands on her shoulders. “James and Lily. It was taken a few months before they were killed. They were so young.”
“They look lovely, Harry. It’s sad that they had to die so young,” she replied emotionally.
He turned her so that she was facing him and pulled her into a hug which she returned almost forcefully, trying to show him how much she cared.
“Come on,” he said eventually. “Let’s go and get comfortable.” He led her into the sitting room which was decorated in deep red and cream, with two large comfortable couches facing a fireplace.
Ginny dropped her training bag behind a couch and sat down next to Harry, who was staring at her.
“What?” she asked feeling a little self-conscious.
“I’m just…admiring your training gear,” he said, with a quirky smile.
Ginny smirked as his eyes took in the short shorts and the sleeveless shirt that clung tightly to her.
“I’m very glad there are no blokes at the Harpies to see you like that,” he said.
“And why’s that?” she asked.
“Because they’d probably be flying into the stands all the time from not concentrating on the game, and that would definitely not help their chances of winning. I can’t have my favourite team not training well,” he said with a cheeky smile.
“Oh, you,” she said poking him in the ribs.
Harry winced at her touch and she was suddenly concerned again.
“You did get hurt, didn’t you?” she asked.
“It’s nothing. I’m fine. It’s just a bruise,” he said.
“Show me.”
“Are you trying to get my shirt off?” he asked with a grin and a wink. “You know, when I suggested coming here, there was a vague thought in my mind of me trying to get that far too fetching shirt off of you. But, no, you’re trying it on me.”
She blushed a little before looking at him sternly. “Harry, if you’re hurt, you need to show me. It needs to be fixed.”
He stared at her for a moment before reaching behind his neck to pull the shirt over his head.
“Sweet Merlin, Harry!” she exclaimed when she saw Harry’s side from just below his armpit all the way down to his waist.
“I can’t imagine that my body is that impressive,” he joked.
“Prat,” she said as she moved closer to him. She gently rubbed a finger down the purple bruise, causing him to flinch. “Sorry, does that hurt?”
“Not really,” he replied with a slightly choked voice.
You should have seen a Healer,” she said.
“I have. It’s fixed,” he said defensively.
“But the bruise…I can get some bruise paste for it and it will be better in a day,” she replied as she gently ran her hand over his side.
“I didn’t want the bruise healed.”
“Why ever not?” she asked in amazement.
“To remind me not to be stupid,” he said firmly.
“Stupid?”
“Yeah, not to step in the way of stray wand fire.”
“Oh!”
“Uh huh. Stupid. I can defeat a dark lord, but get cut down by an Auror graduate,” he said, sounding quite embarrassed.
“It wasn’t Ron, was it?” she asked. That would not make Ron any happier and more fond of Harry, she thought.
“No, Ron was fine. He can follow instructions,” Harry replied. “It was Andy. He seems to believe that he knows everything.”
“Ah…”
Harry nodded and grabbed her hand which had been gently brushing over his bruise. “That is so distracting.”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to annoy you.”
“Oh, Ginny, you didn’t annoy me,” he said, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. “In fact, it was quite a pleasant distraction.”
“Yeah?” she asked, shivering under his gentle touch.
“Yeah,” he replied, cupping the back of her head and pulling her even closer to him. “You make me just want to do this.”
Ginny’s eyes closed as his lips met hers. His lips were demanding and she felt his tongue rubbing across her bottom lip, causing her to open her mouth and let her tongue play with his. Her hands were pleasantly occupied running up and down his bare back. His hands were under her training shirt circling across her stomach and ribs. After what could have been minutes or even hours, Harry pushed her back so that she was lying on the couch and he lowered himself over her without taking his mouth off of her at all. As his mouth found its way down her neck towards her collar bone, her hands moved from his back to grasp his taught backside and pull him even closer, so that he was resting between her thighs.
“Well, well, well,” a voice said from nearly above them.
Both Ginny and Harry looked up to see the smirking, handsome face of a man who was standing next to the couch. Neither she nor Harry had heard him come in.
“Nice to see that your priorities are in order, Harry,” the man said with a smile. “Snogging should definitely come before telling your godfather that you’re safely home after being away on a dangerous mission.”
“It wasn’t that dangerous, Sirius,” Harry replied, not moving from his position above Ginny.
“That bruise seems to tell me otherwise,” Sirius said. “Though, it’s obviously not bad enough to stop you from…enjoying yourself.”
Ginny could feel her face getting redder and redder. She wanted to hide away from Harry’s godfather. This was not the way she planned on meeting him. Harry wasn’t moving from where he was lying on top of her and as Harry was intimately close to her, she knew exactly why he wasn’t moving. That would be an awkward way to greet anyone.
“Sirius, could you just give us a few minutes?” Harry asked with a sigh. “You could maybe put the kettle on and once we’ve…sorted a few things, we’ll come and join you.”
“I can,” Sirius said with a smirk before heading towards a door. “Nothing like a cup of tea to settle raging hormones.”
“Sorry,” Harry said when the door closed behind Sirius. He sat up, found his shirt, and put it on. “I should have realised that Sirius would hear that I was back.”
“It’s fine,” she replied. “A little embarrassing, I guess. Thank Merlin you hadn’t quite managed to get my shirt off.”
He chuckled and smiled as he stood up. “Mmmmm. I guess I’ll have to wait for that pleasure.”
“Yes, you will.”
Harry grabbed her hands and pulled her up to face him. “At least you’re not dead against that idea. It gives me hope.”
“Oh, you,” she replied. “I didn’t say when.”
“You also didn’t say no,” he said with a grin and then pulled her into a hug.
“Please tell me you two have moved off the couch,” Sirius said after opening the door a small amount.
“We’re coming,” Harry said. He leaned down and kissed her tenderly and then led her into the kitchen.
Ginny looked around the kitchen as she walked in. It was bright, airy and surprisingly clean for a kitchen of a young, single male. Sirius was leaning nonchalantly against the bench and had a gleam in his eye as she and Harry walked in. She decided not to be intimidated by Harry’s godfather, so she walked over to him and held out her hand. “Hiya, I’m Ginny. I’m sorry I couldn’t say hello properly before. I was a little preoccupied.”
“Ah, so that’s what they call it,” Sirius said winking. “It’s lovely to meet you, I must say. It would have been even lovelier if Harry had mentioned something to me about a girl…”
“Sirius,” Harry said, making the name sound like a groan.
“Well it would have been nice to know,” Sirius said.
“I haven’t seen you in a few months. You were in America when we met and then I went away just before you came back. So I’m telling you now. Sirius, this is my lovely girlfriend, Ginny. Ginny, this is my charming godfather, Sirius,” Harry said.
Sirius put on his most charming manners, bowed, and kissed her hand. “Ever so pleased to meet you, Miss…”
“Weasley,” Ginny replied, laughing at Sirius’ antics.
“Oh, of course. You’re Arthur and Molly’s daughter,” Sirius said. He then turned to Harry. “You’re brave. Doesn’t she have quite a few brothers?”
“Six,” she replied.
“Good luck with that, Harry,” Sirius said.
“Oh, I’ve met them all already,” Harry said as he pulled cups out of a cupboard.
“You have?” Sirius asked sounding amazed. “How long has this been going on? It’s not that I mind. I just feel a little out of the loop.”
“Harry and I met just after I finished school,” Ginny said.
Sirius looked thoughtful for a moment. “But that was about a month and a half ago.”
“To be fair, I’ve been away for the past three weeks,” Harry said.
“Yeah. You didn’t let me know about that either. Moony and I get home from America expecting a warm homecoming and all I get is a short note saying you’re away on training,” Sirius said.
“Robards sprung it on everyone. Training and then that kidnapping,” Harry said. “Honestly, I’d have told you if I had known.”
“It’s fine, Li'l Prongs, I believe you,’ Sirius said as he poured the tea. “So when did you do the whole meet the family thing, then?”
“A couple of nights before I went away,” Harry said as he sat at the table. “I had met most of them before, though.”
Ginny sat at the table and added milk and sugar to her tea. She was most intrigued by the interactions between Harry and Sirius. It was almost like father and son, but a lot more friend like. It was very interesting.
“When?” Sirius asked.
“During the war I met Bill and Charlie. I met Fred and George at their shop. Percy works in the Ministry, so I had seen him around before, and Ron has just finished Auror training,” Harry said. ”And of course I met Molly when you lot were off doing Order stuff and I was left at Grimmauld Place.”
Ginny groaned. “Grimmauld Place? I had to spend a whole summer there and we weren’t allowed out. It was dreadful.”
“You did? When?” Harry asked.
“The summer Moony and I took you away to Spain,” Sirius said quietly.
“Oh!” Harry said.
Ginny looked back and forth between the two men curiously. She was a little confused with Harry’s reaction to her having stayed at Grimmauld Place.
“The Order used Grimmauld Place as headquarters that summer and the Weasleys stayed there,” Sirius said to Harry. “Grimmauld Place is my family home,” he then said to Ginny.
“Oh…I didn’t mean…I’m sorry…”
“You’re sorry? I had to grow up there. It was dark and depressing then, too. I was ever so glad to escape it when I tuned sixteen and ran away to the Potter’s,” he continued.
“So you don’t there now?” she asked curiously.
“No, I live in a cottage that belonged to my uncle. It’s in a country village and is nice and peaceful,” Sirius said.
“That’s where I grew up,” Harry said.
Ginny nodded. She was extremely glad that Harry didn't have to grow up in that dark house. It would have been horrible for a child.
"So, Ginny, are you a fanatical Harpies supporter?" Sirius asked as they sat around sipping tea.
"Well, yes, I have been a Harpies fan since I found out what Quidditch was," Ginny said happily. "Though, that's not the reason why I'm covered in the logo. I won a spot on the team in the latest trials. I've been training all day."
"A Harpy!" Sirius said sounding impressed. "That's going to throw your allegiances up the wall, isn't it, Harry?"
"What?" Ginny asked, turning to her boyfriend. "Is there something you haven't told me Mr. Potter?"
Harry gave her a cheeky grin and then glared at Sirius.
"Haven't you told her who you support, Harry?" Sirius asked with a grin.
"I support the Harpies," Harry stated.
"That's news to me, Li'l Prongs," Sirius said.
"Harry, please tell me you're not a Cannons fan," Ginny said.
"Good Godric, no," Harry replied, looking quite put out.
"Who was it then?" she asked.
"Puddlemere," Sirius stated.
"Seriously?" she asked. "I suppose it could be worse. They have some good players. You know that Charlie was Oliver Wood's captain at school."
"That's right," Harry said nodding. "He was a Gryffindor, too. You can blame Sirius, actually, for me liking Puddlemere. I was young and impressionable when he took me to see them. It was the first game I ever saw."
"Why them and not their opposition?" Ginny asked.
"They won the game by over four hundred points, so I thought they were great," Harry replied.
"That's a good score line," Ginny said. "I can see why..."
"They were playing Chudley," Sirius interrupted.
"Ahh...of course. At least the Cannons didn't have one of their extremely rare wins that day. Then you would have been another Cannon's tragic. Though, you and Ron would have had something to bond over," Ginny said.
Harry laughed and coughed tea all over the table.
"Harry!" exclaimed Sirius.
"Sorry," Harry replied. "How's Moony?"
"He's good. He seems much happier since we got back from America. He's been off doing more research. He'll be back for your birthday, though," Sirius said.
"When's your birthday?" she asked. "You didn't tell me that it's your birthday soon."
"It never came up..."
"I can tell why after what I saw as I came in. If that's the way you spend your free time, I wonder if you have told her anything," Sirius said with a sly smile.
Harry glared at his godfather. "It's on the thirty-first."
"Of July?" Ginny asked and after he nodded in reply she continued. "That's not long before mine."
"Yeah?" Harry asked, looking more interested. "When is yours?"
"August eleven," she replied.
"You know what we should do this year, Harry?" Sirius interrupted. "You need a birthday celebration. You've never had a decent one before."
"Like what?" Harry asked.
"Hmmm...I know, a dinner. We'll get Moony to come, and Andromeda, and Tonks," Sirius said. "Ginny, you can get your mum and dad to come. I haven't seen Arthur and Molly in ages. Who else?"
"Harry?" Ginny asked, looking at him curiously. He was looking a little worried.
"Any of Ginny's brothers and their partners, I guess," Harry said shrugging. "That will do."
"Surely you have some friends from work that you'd like to come," Ginny said.
Harry shrugged again and quickly glanced at Sirius. "Gin, I don't really have a lot of friends. I didn't go to school like you. I'd done all of the Auror training that was needed by the time I started at the Ministry, so I didn't have to go through official Auror training, so I didn't make friends in training. And this past year I've had to be a teacher to the trainees, so I couldn't be overly friendly with them. Tonks is the only other Auror close to me in age."
Ginny was stunned. She hadn't really thought about how lonely Harry's life had been. She had just assumed that he had the same sort of childhood as she did - playing with nearby friends and her brothers. But, of course, Harry didn't have any brothers and sisters, and she guessed Sirius didn't have any children. She really didn't know what to say to him. "Oh, Harry," she said quietly.
"I'm sorry, Li'l Prongs," Sirius said at the same time as Ginny. "I wish I could have given you that kind of childhood with school and friends..."
"It's okay, Padfoot," Harry said quietly.
"No, it's not," Sirius replied sounding quite upset.
"I understand why you think that, but what else could you do?" Harry said. "It was too dangerous. We knew that Voldemort was trying to get to me, and the school, and was targeting that teacher to do that. And Wormtail could have been anywhere. It wasn't safe for me and all the other students. Albus was right. We had to keep the school a safe area for the students, so I couldn't go there."
"So that's why you didn't go?" Ginny asked. "Dumbledore kept you away to keep the rest of us safe."
Harry and Sirius nodded.
"And it worked," Sirius said. "Voldemort didn't go near the school. He knew there was no point. Of course, that didn't stop Lucius Malfoy from trying, but after we thwarted one of his plans, he wasn't game to try again."
"Wow," Ginny said. "I didn't realise how much was going on that I didn't have a clue about. It must have been so difficult for you on the outside, in the middle of everything."
"Ginny, I wasn't in the middle of things much at all. I wasn't allowed to do much until later on when I was close to being of age and trained enough. Up until that point I was left with your mum, but that was after he reappeared," Harry said quietly.
"How did he reappear?" Ginny asked. "I was never really sure how that happened."
Both Sirius and Harry dropped their heads and looked quite white. She quickly understood that it was something they didn't like thinking about.
"Erm, Harry. I know some other people you might get along with. How about I get some of my friends together one night so that you could meet them," Ginny said, trying to change the subject.
Harry looked at her gratefully. "That sounds good, Ginny. I'd love to meet your friends."
Sirius took a little while to look himself again and then gave her a brief smile. "That sounds like a great idea, Ginny. He needs to find some people his age to spend time with." Sirius then stood up and placed his cup in the sink. "I should go."
Harry stood and gave his godfather a hug and whispered something in his ear to which Sirius smiled and nodded.
Sirius then walked over to Ginny and kissed her cheek. "I'm glad he's met you. Look after him for me."
Ginny smiled and nodded and watched Sirius pat Harry on the shoulder before leaving.
Harry then turned to Ginny and smiled, though it wasn't a bright, cheerful smile. He still looked a little down.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have asked that."
"No, it's fine. You didn't know. Sirius has a lot of guilt about that, even though it wasn't his fault," Harry said.
Ginny nodded. "Okay, I won't bring it up again."
"You can ask about things, Ginny. And I will answer you the best I can," he said.
"Only if you want to," she said. "I don't want you to feel forced into telling me things."
"I want to tell you, I really do. Some things might just take a while," he said.
"That's fine, Harry. I understand."
"Come into the sitting room and we can talk in comfort," Harry said.
Ginny followed Harry into the sitting room and they sat on the same comfortable couch as before. Harry turned to face her and reached for her hand and laced his fingers through hers.
"I was kidnapped," he said suddenly.
"When?"
"When Voldemort was returned to his body," Harry said. "He managed to get a Portkey to me and I was taken to a graveyard and he used my blood as part of a ritual. Sirius was out at the time and he felt if he was around it wouldn't have happened."
"How did you get away?" Ginny asked, horrified at what Harry had to go through.
"He gave me my wand back, to duel with me. I managed to Summon the Portkey and luckily it took me home, but by that time Sirius and Remus were really worried. It was a long time before Sirius left me alone again."
Ginny sat quietly taking in what Harry had said. She knew there would be more to the story, but she was quite glad that Harry didn't tell her any more. She pulled her hand out of his grip and brushed his hair back from his face tenderly. He turned his head and kissed her hand as she moved it up his cheek.
"Can I ask you something completely different?" she asked a bit later.
"Of course," he replied with a smile.
"Why does Sirius call you Li'l Prongs?" she asked.
Harry grinned. "Ah, I was wondering if you'd say something about that. When Sirius was at school, he, Remus, my dad, and their other traitorous friend, Peter, called themselves the Marauders. They all had nicknames to do with their Animagus forms - well, all except Remus."
"They could transform to animals while they were still at school?" Ginny asked, with wonder.
"They could, and no one knew about it, either. Sirius has registered his form now that the war is over, but before that they were all illegal Animagi," Harry said, still grinning. "Sirius is a dog; my dad was a Stag, and Peter was a rat - and he really lived up to that, let me tell you."
"And their nicknames?" Ginny asked eagerly.
"As you probably heard, Sirius is Padfoot, Remus is Moony, Peter was Wormtail, and my dad, Prongs," Harry said. "Sirius started calling me Little Prongs when I was small 'cause I look so much like my dad. Over the years, he got a little lazy and Little became Li'l."
"And are you an Animagus, too?" Ginny asked, feeling very curious.
"I am," Harry replied with a cheeky smile.
"And?"
"And what?" he teased.
"And I was wondering what animal you are?” she asked, a little shyly.
“Well, I’m not Prongs,” Harry said, teasingly.
She almost growled in frustration and he laughed at her response.
“Are you going to tell me?” she asked.
“I need some encouragement,” he said with a wink.
“You do, do you?” she asked. After he nodded she leaned over and kissed him quickly on the lips.
“I think a little more encouragement is needed,” he teased.
She tried to glare at him but she spoilt it by laughing at him. This time when she leaned closer, he grabbed her arms and pulled her against his body so that she couldn’t escape — not that she really wanted to. Her hands found their way into his hair again and his hands moved from her arms to rub her back. This kiss was not as passion-filled as their kissing was earlier. It was, however, extremely enjoyable and Ginny found herself lost in Harry’s kiss and the feel of his hands travelling across her back.
A long time later Harry rolled her so that they were lying on their sides, face-to-face. “I think that might have worked,” he said.
“What?” Ginny asked, a little dazed. She had totally forgotten why she had started kissing him in the first place.
He laughed and kissed her nose. “I’m a jaguar.”
“Really?” she asked, amazed. “Can I see?”
Before she had finished speaking, a jet black jaguar was standing over her purring. She reached up and rubbed her hand over his head and he pushed into her hand as she rubbed, causing her to laugh. He soon transformed back to himself and she found herself back with her hand in his hair.
“That’s amazing, Harry,” she said “I’ve only ever seen Professor McGonagall transform and that was in class. How old were you when you first transformed?”
“I was about thirteen…”
“What?” she asked amazed. “So young.”
“I started learning when I was young. I’ve had my wand since I was eight. I was allowed to start early — Albus organised it for me so that I wouldn’t get in trouble with the Ministry. And I pestered Sirius to help me learn from about the age of ten. He thought it was great. It took a while seeing I was so young, but I managed it eventually. Of course, I wasn’t a full grown jaguar straight away,” he said.
“Why were you so keen?” she asked curiously.
“I wanted to help Remus like Sirius did,” Harry replied.
Ginny looked at him curiously, not quite understanding what he meant.
“Oh, I haven’t mentioned it to you, have I. How did I forget that?” he said, more to himself. “Remus is a werewolf.”
Ginny felt her eyebrows lift as far as they could go.
“That’s why he’s called Moony,” Harry continued. “Sirius and Dad became big animals so that they could spend full moon with him. These days Remus takes the Wolfsbane Potion but we still transform when he does and spend the full moon with him — if we’re together, that is. Are you okay, Ginny?”
She realised that he must have noticed her reaction. “Yeah, I am now. It was a little bit of a shock, I guess. The only werewolves I’ve heard about are horrible and worked for You-Know…Voldemort,” she said, changing the name as she remembered how much Harry disliked hearing him called that.
“Remus is nothing like that. He was bitten as a child by the most horrible of werewolves, but never went and joined them. He’s now trying to research a cure, or a better option than Wolfsbane.”
“Wow, that’s wonderful. Has he had any success?” she asked.
“Not really, but he only started after the last war,” Harry replied.
“Have you got a nickname?” Ginny asked.
Harry shook his head. “No, Sirius was stuck on Little Prongs and didn’t feel like changing it.”
“Remind me to show you something I got given by Fred and George,” she said. “I think Sirius might like it, too.”
“What is it?” Harry asked curiously.
“I’ll show you later,” she said. “It’ll be easier to explain.”
“What do you plan on doing just now?” Harry asked.
Ginny looked at her watch. “There’s about an hour until dinner time. I guess I could find something to do here until then.”
Harry grinned and pulled her close.
Chapter 4: Chapter 4
Author's Notes: Sorry about the wait - in apology I give you some H/G fluff.
Also, thank you all those lovely people who voted for this story in the DSTAs. I'm overwhelmed and in shock.
Chapter 4
Ginny barged through the kitchen door of the Burrow and dropped herself into one of the chairs around the table. She had spent her afternoon walking up and down Diagon Alley searching for a birthday present for Harry, but had come home empty handed.
“What’s that sigh about?” her mum asked from the laundry door.
“What can I get Harry for his birthday?” she asked. “I have just walked up and down Diagon Alley about four times and I still have no idea."
“What does he like?” her mother asked.
“He likes Quidditch, but he’s already got a broom, Quidditch books, and subscriptions to Quidditch Quarterly and Which Broom. He likes reading, but I don’t really want to get him a book. He has lots already. He likes going to watch Muggle movies, but I can’t really give him that. He loves chocolate, but that’s not the kind of thing I had in mind.”
“What about clothes?” her mum suggested.
Ginny looked at her mum thoughtfully. Suddenly an idea popped into her mind and it would be something easy for her to get. “Thanks, Mum,” she said happily. “I believe I know what to give him.”
“What’s that?” her mum asked curiously.
“It’s going to be a surprise. You can find out on Friday night when Harry opens it,” she said.
“Do you think they would mind if I brought some food along with us? I know Harry said we don’t have to bring anything, but I thought I’d make some of those pies that Harry likes and a treacle tart. I’ve made some chocolates for him for his gift, too.” Molly Weasley was looking at her daughter with a worried look.
“Mum, that sounds wonderful. I’m sure Sirius won’t mind you bringing some food. Harry will definitely appreciate the treacle tart. In fact, he’ll probably hide it from everyone else. So you can relax about it all and be ready to have a night out, away from having to cook and clean,” Ginny said, trying to reassure her mum. She could tell that her mother was a little anxious about visiting Harry’s godfather’s place. Her mum and dad didn’t go visiting a lot, especially to dinners and parties, even now that the war was well and truly over. Ginny really hoped her mum would be calm on Friday night and enjoy herself.
“Maybe you should make the treacle tart, Ginny,” her mum said with a glint in her eye. “ I told you that learning to bake would be a good idea. And it's a skill that will come in handy in the future. After all they say a way to a man's heart is..."
“Mum!” Ginny exclaimed warningly.
“What?” her mother replied blithely. “I see how you two are together. You both look so happy and relaxed and in love.”
“Mum, I’m nearly eighteen, and we’ve only been going out for not quite two months,” she said feeling dumbstruck. “We’re not…I haven’t…he hasn’t…we’ve not said…”
Her mum stopped her ramblings by putting her hand up. “Ginny, ever since you brought him home that night, you’ve been like one of those Muggle bubbly drinks. You’re so happy, always smiling, and you both get along so well. Now, I don’t want you to rush things, but I can see that you two have something special, and all I have ever wanted for you is to find the person who makes you happy. I think you may have found him, Ginny.”
Ginny looked at her mum feeling a little shocked. What she had said was true. The last two months had been the best of her life. She couldn’t remember ever being this happy. And it all came down to Harry. She felt totally comfortable with him. She could tell him anything and he would listen. And she wanted — no needed — to see him every day. To be totally honest, she couldn’t imagine not having him in her life. Shouldn’t it take longer to feel this way about someone, she pondered? Perhaps not, she soon decided. If things were going to keep going like this, she’d be well and truly happy. Eventually she looked at her mum and smiled. “I think you’re right, Mum.”
Ginny walked away from the fireplace after Flooing to Sirius’ house. She was really looking forward to helping Harry celebrate his birthday. As she looked around the spacious kitchen where she had arrived, she brushed the fine soot from her shoulders and checked her new midnight blue dress. Just as she was about to call out, Harry walked into the kitchen and very quickly stopped dead with his mouth open.
“You’re here,” he said after he had looked her up and down a few times.
“I came early. I hope you don’t mind,” she said, feeling a little self-conscious.
Harry took a step towards her. “I don’t mind at all. You look gorgeous. That dress is…something else,” he said with a mischievous grin.
“You like it?” she asked happily.
“I more than like it,” he replied, moving to stand a few steps away from her. “I like it so much that I really want to take you away from here so I can be the only person to look at you. You look beautiful…amazing.”
Ginny found herself blushing as he spoke, but at the same time, Harry’s words made her feel like the loveliest witch in the world. “Maybe you can do that later, after the party,” she said winking.
Harry groaned and quickly closed the space between them. He took her in his arms and lowered his mouth to hers in a very possessive and quite demanding kiss. Ginny didn’t mind, though. She returned the kiss in a similar manner, and it was only the sound of someone clearing their throat that made them stop. Ginny found it extremely difficult to tear her eyes away from Harry and look at who had distracted them. The sound of laughter eventually helped her do that and she turned to see Sirius and a tired, yet friendly looking man standing just inside the door.
“Good evening, Miss Weasley,” Sirius said with a smirk. “I see you’ve greeted the birthday boy.”
“Hiya, Sirius,” she replied cheerfully. “Good to see you again.”
Harry slung his arm around her shoulder and pulled her tightly against him. He then kissed her head before indicating to the man standing next to his godfather. “Ginny, this is Remus, who’s basically my other godfather.”
Ginny smiled at Remus and moved forward to greet him. “It’s lovely to meet you. Harry talks about you a lot.”
“Pleased to meet you, Ginny,” Remus replied. “I’ve heard quite a bit about you, too, though not from Harry.”
“Sirius?” Ginny asked with a laugh.
Remus smiled and his weathered face changed to look quite handsome. “He’s quite impressed with you.”
“He is?” Ginny asked amazed.
“Oh, yes,” Remus replied with grin. “He’s quite taken with you…”
“What!” Harry exclaimed staring at Sirius. “You’re taken with my girlfriend?”
“Not in that way, Harry,” Remus said quickly. “He said he really loved the way she wasn’t wary of him when they met.”
“Oh,” Harry said.
“What I’m really amazed at is the fact that you two took some time out from snogging to talk to each other,” Sirius said, smirking. “Just hearing Ginny say that she’d heard quite a bit about Remus shocked me. Especially when you think of how I discovered the pair of you.”
Ginny laughed and Harry picked up a nearby tea towel and threw it at Sirius.
“Okay, okay,” Sirius said, holding his hands up. “Harry, why don’t you show Ginny around the place. Remus and I have some things to finish in here before everyone arrives.”
“Oh, Sirius, Mum is bringing a couple of plates of food over. She just can’t help herself from trying to feed people,” Ginny said.
“That sounds great,” Sirius replied. “Molly’s cooking is out of this world.”
“Merlin, Sirius, you sound like a girl,” Harry said. He then looked at Ginny. “Did she make treacle tart?”
Ginny smiled and nodded.
“Excellent,” Harry said, rubbing his hands together. “I know what I’m eating tonight.”
“You’re not going to share?” Remus asked.
“Nope,” Harry said cheekily. “It’s all mine.”
“My godson, the treacle tart tart,” Sirius said causing everyone to laugh.
“Ginny, my dear, please make yourself at home. Harry, make sure you show her where everything is so she can make herself at home.”
“Thanks,” Ginny replied.
Harry led her out of the kitchen into a bright hallway. He stopped and turned to face her and very quickly lowered his head to kiss her again and at the same time pull her against him. Ginny felt herself melt against him and responded to his kisses enthusiastically. When he eventually pulled away from her she was almost disappointed. She was quite ready to take Harry up on his offer of taking her away someplace where they could be alone.
“Wow,” he said quietly as he stared at her with his passion filled emerald eyes. “That has to be my favourite birthday present ever.”
“You mean I didn’t have to get this,” she replied, pulling out his gift from her bag.
“Well, no, you didn’t have to. More of those kisses would do me.”
“Oh, well,” she said, sighing dramatically. “Maybe I should give this to someone else. Maybe Sirius would appreciate it.”
Harry chuckled. “That he may, but seeing you went to all this effort for little old me, I guess I should accept it.”
Ginny leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “Happy Birthday, Harry,” she said, handing him the parcel.
Harry took the present with one hand and grabbed her hand with the other and led her down the hall, up a flight of stairs and into a bedroom. Ginny looked around curiously once they had stopped. A large bed dominated the room and there were other matching pieces of furniture against the walls. There were books on the shelves and pictures on the wall giving the room a comfortable, lived in look.
“This is my room,” Harry said as he sat on the bed and indicated to Ginny to join him.
“This is basically where I grew up.”
“It’s great. You must have been happy here,” she replied.
“As happy as I could have been under the circumstances,” Harry replied.
Ginny felt a little embarrassed as she remembered the conversation she had had with Sirius and Harry a week or so earlier about Harry’s childhood. “I’m sorry…I shouldn’t…”
Harry gently touched her arm. “Ginny, listen to me. I was happy growing up here. Things could have been a lot worse. I could have been in Grimmauld Place or with my horrible Muggle relatives. It’s lovely here. I’ll take you outside shortly and you can see that it was a good place to grow up. Don’t worry about saying things like that to me, please, Ginny.”
Ginny nodded and leaned against him and was happy to feel his arm wrap around her. After staying against him for a short while, she pulled away and took the present off the bed, where Harry had placed it, and handed it to him again. “Are you going to open this?”
He smiled, put the present on his lap, and started to remove the Spellotape. When he pulled the wrapping paper away to reveal what was inside, he started laughing as he held up the green shirt.
“Do you like it?” she asked him, feeling a little nervous.
Harry turned the shirt around and grinned when he saw WEASLEY across the back above the Harpies logo. “Love it,” he said with a huge smile. “This is exactly what I wanted. Now I can support my favourite team and player properly.”
Ginny smiled happily at Harry’s enthusiasm.
“In fact,” Harry said. “I think I should wear it now.” He then stood up and quickly removed his shirt.
Ginny’s breath caught as she watched Harry. She had seen him shirtless before, but for some reason she found herself reacting to the sight in front of her more than she had previously. As he stretched up and pulled the Harpies shirt over his head, Harry’s jeans slipped down on his hips and Ginny could see the line of hair drifting down from his belly button. Ginny groaned and closed her eyes as all kinds of thoughts crashed through her mind.
“How does it look?” Harry asked, obviously not realising the state that Ginny had gotten herself into.
Ginny gulped and smiled at him. “It looks great.”
“Is everything okay?”
Ginny nodded and stood up so that she was standing right in front of him. “Everything is great,” she said, reaching up to run her hand through his hair. “Though, we might want to go back downstairs before I’m tempted to take you up on that offer from before.”
“Which offer?”
“You taking me away from here to somewhere we could be alone,” she said, smiling cheekily.
Harry’s eyebrows rose and he smiled back at her. “Really?” he drawled. “And what, may I ask, brought that on?”
Ginny could feel herself blushing under Harry’s gaze. Instead of answering, she grabbed his hand and led him out of his childhood bedroom. As they walked down the stairs she turned to look at him. He was looking at her with a knowing glint to his eye and she knew that she was in all kinds of trouble, especially seeing her parents would be there that night. They walked through the kitchen and out into the garden, where tables and chairs had been set up. Harry led her around the garden and pointed out various things that had been part of his childhood years, like the trees he climbed and the stream he swam in.
Ginny looked around the back garden of Sirius’ house a few hours later. Sirius, Remus, and her dad were talking with the Minister of Magic. Her mum was talking with Tonks’ mother, Andromeda and sipping cups of tea. Tonks was chatting with Charlie, but at the same time was taking discreet looks towards Sirius and his companions. Harry was sitting in a corner of the garden with Fred, George, and Ron. Bill and Fleur had gone home just before as Fleur was apparently tired, though Ginny knew it was for other, more amorous reasons. She walked across the grass towards Harry carrying the remains of the treacle tart and more bottles of butterbeer and ale.
“Ah, here she is. The beer wench,” Fred exclaimed with a cheer.
Ginny glared at Fred as she placed the drinks on a nearby table and sat down on the bench that Harry was already sitting on. She took a piece of treacle tart and offered Harry the remainder.
“Thanks, Gin,” he said quietly, taking the dish from her hands with a huge smile. He placed the pie dish on his lap and pulled her against him with one arm.
“Are you going to share that?” Ron asked, looking at Harry.
“Nope,” Harry replied cheerfully. “There’s a heap of other desserts over on the table if you’re still hungry.”
“Yeah?” Ron asked. He then quickly stood up and strode over to the food.
“Merlin, does Ron ever stop eating?” Harry asked.
“No,” Ginny, Fred, and George replied together.
“He ate three helpings of dinner and had a huge bowl of dessert and some birthday cake. How can he be hungry?” Harry asked amazed.
“That’s Ron,” George said. “Charlie’s the same.”
“He’s huge, though and works with dragons so I can understand why. But Ron does the same sort of things that I do,” Harry said.
“I just like my food,” Ron said as he sat down. “I must be lucky and burn it all off.”
“One day you’re going to be the size of a house,” Fred stated.
Ron just shrugged.
“What’s the plan for the rest of the night?” George asked suddenly.
Ginny looked at Harry and shrugged. She knew what she would like to do, but she didn’t think that her brothers would like to hear that.
“Are you meeting up with Lavender, Ron?” Harry asked.
Ron shook his head.
“What’s she going to do without her Won-Won for a night?” Fred said with a smirk.
Ron’s response was just a shrug and to keep eating his cake.
Ginny looked at Ron carefully. Something wasn’t quite right. He was eating as normal but he didn’t react to the thought of his girlfriend as per usual. “Is everything okay, Ron?”
“We broke up,” Ron stated.
“Really?” she asked.
“What?” Harry said at the same time as Ginny.
George reached into his pocket and pulled out some gold and handed it to Fred. Fred took it happily and patted Ron’s shoulder reassuringly.
“Are you alright?” Ginny asked.
“I guess so,” Ron said. “I’m surprised she stayed with me for so long, actually.”
“Right!” Fred said, rubbing his hands together. “We need to take Ron to the pub.”
“Yeah,” George agreed. “And you and I can find us some gorgeous girls at the same time.”
“Good idea, my good looking brother,” Fred said nodding. “Oi, Charlie, are you coming to the pub?”
Charlie turned and walked towards them with Tonks following behind him. They sat down on a spare bench and looked at the twins curiously.
“We’re going to the pub, are we?” Charlie asked.
“That we are,” Fred said. “We need to help Ron drown his sorrows.”
“Why?” Charlie asked.
“Ron and Lavender broke up,” George said.
“When?” Tonks asked.
“Last night,” Ron answered.
“Was it nasty?” Tonks asked.
Ron shook his head and shrugged. “No, not really. She…we…it just wasn’t working any more…even when we were sha…”
“Ahhh, too much information,” Ginny said putting her hands over her ears.
Harry and the Weasley brothers laughed at Ginny’s distress.
“Are we all going?” Charlie asked.
Ginny looked at Harry, who was looking at her. She raised her eyebrow at him to see if he was interested in going out with her brothers. He smiled and nodded. “We’re in,” she said, thinking that this may give her the opportunity to spend some alone time with Harry, if she was lucky.
“Where to, then?” Ron asked, looking a little more enthusiastic than he was a little earlier.
“Three Broomsticks?” George suggested.
“No,” Ron said. “That’s where Lavender likes to go.”
“Right, so not there,” Fred said. “The Leaky?”
“No,” Ginny said. “Gwenog told me that there’s a trial game between the Wasps and the Falcons tonight. The Falcon’s supporters will head there after the game. It won’t be pretty.”
“Whoa — that wouldn’t have been good. They can be quite nasty,” Ron said.
“How about that new place in Newcastle?” Charlie said. “I heard it was alright.”
“Yeah, for you dragon handlers maybe,” Fred said.
“Well, where are we going then?” Tonks asked sounding a little frustrated.
“We could go to Holyhead,” Ginny suggested. “There could be a few witches there.”
“Ginny, our saviour,” Fred said.
“Is there a good pub there?” Charlie asked.
“I’ve been told it is,” she replied. “I’ve never been there, though, so I can’t guarantee anything.”
oooOOOooo
Ginny sipped her drink and looked at Harry and her brothers enjoying themselves. The pub in Holyhead was extremely busy and there were a lot of witches there much to Fred’s and George’s delight. Fred, George, and Charlie were talking to a large group of young witches. Harry and Ron were chatting to each other as they stood at the bar with pints of ale in front of them. This made Ginny very happy. She really wanted Harry to get along with her brothers, but even more so she wanted him to make some close friends of their own age and she thought that Ron and Harry would get along quite well.
“So, Ginny, what’s happening with you and Harry? You pair seem quite close,” Tonks said as she sat next to Ginny.
Ginny smiled and winked at Tonks. “We’re going out. What do you think is happening?”
Tonks groaned. “That doesn’t tell me much at all.”
“What’s going on with you and Charlie?” Ginny asked in return.
Tonks shook her head. “Nothing, honestly. We were just catching up. It’s been ages since I last saw him.”
“Well, that’s a shame,” Ginny said. “You would be good for him, Tonks.”
“Nah, we’re better off as friends and he’s going to go back to Romania anyway.”
“Is there someone you like?” Ginny asked curiously. “Didn’t Harry mention something about older men?”
Tonks shook her head and glared in Harry’s direction. “Bloody Harry, can’t keep his mouth shut.”
“So it’s true?”
Tonks shrugged. “I was into Remus for a while,” she admitted.
“Yeah?” Ginny asked, amazed. “What happened?”
“You know about his…condition?” Tonks asked and Ginny nodded. "Because of that he's decided that he can't be with anyone -- ever. Sirius and Harry have tried to talk him out of that idea but he won't budge. So I basically had to give up on that."
"That doesn't sound easy," Ginny said, feeling dreadful for Tonks.
"It was extremely difficult for a while, but I managed to get over it," Tonks replied.
"Is there anyone else?" Ginny asked.
"No," Tonks said firmly.
Ginny didn't quite believe Tonks but she didn’t want to make a point of it. She turned to the corner where Harry and Ron were sitting to see a number of young women standing near them and very obviously pointing and giggling in their direction. She knew it wouldn’t be Ron that they were interested in. She sighed feeling slightly frustrated.
“What’s wrong?” Tonks asked.
Ginny pointed over towards Harry.
“Ah, fangirls,” Tonks said nodding. “This hasn’t happened much recently. He was constantly surrounded by them after he defeated You-Know-Who, but it eased off after a while. He also stayed out of the public eye a lot too. Don’t worry about it. He doesn’t like them.”
“Oh, I’m not worried at all. I know Harry wouldn’t do that to me,” Ginny said. “I just want us to have a fun night. And I’m really happy that Ron and Harry seem to be getting along.”
“Yeah, Harry could do with knowing a few people his age,” Tonks said. “Even though I’m so brilliant and lovely, he needs more friends than me.”
“I’ve got plans to do something about that,” Ginny replied.
“Really?” Tonks said curiously.
“I thought I’d have a big party for my birthday and invite my friends from Hogwarts and some of Ron’s and the twins as well,” Ginny said.
“Great idea,” Tonks said. “Can I come?”
“Of course you can but the men will be younger than you,” Ginny stated.
“That’s fine. I’m not having much luck with the older ones so maybe I should check out some younger ones.”
Ginny started laughing loudly and Tonks joined in.
“Now do you want me to do anything about those girls?” Tonks asked. “I could make myself look like a vixen and scare them all away.”
Ginny smiled at Tonks idea. She knew that would work a treat but she wanted the chance to scare them away herself. “No, it’s fine. I think I’d like that job.”
Tonks handed Ginny a fresh drink and clinked glasses with her. “Excellent idea.”
Ginny took a gulp from her drink, fluffed up her hair, and adjusted her dress before sashaying across the bar, right past the fangirls to stand behind Harry and her brother. There were a few growls and complaints from the girls behind her so she turned around and gave them a sly smile. She then tapped Harry on the shoulder and he slowly turned around.
“Thank Merlin, it’s you,” Harry said. “I’ve been trying to pretend they’re not there. Ron’s not even that keen to talk to them.”
“That’s because they have no interest in me what so ever,” Ron said with a grin. “Not that I’m complaining. I recognise a few of them from school and they were all giggly and annoying back then. They’re the ones who drooled over Cedric Diggory when he was still at school.”
Ginny turned and looked at them again and she realised that she did recognise one or two of them but she had never been friendly with them. She turned back to Harry and leaned down to kiss his cheek, which the girls behind her seemed to really dislike. Harry then wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to him.
“Thanks for coming to save me, Ginny,” Harry said rubbing his hand up and down her ribs.
“Tonks offered but I decided it would be much more fun to do it rather than watch her have all the fun,” Ginny said.
“Well if you want to have some more fun, we could give them something to think about,” Harry said with a wink.
Ginny looked over her shoulder and smirked. “Sounds fun.”
Ron groaned. “If you two are going to start snogging, I’m leaving.”
“Go and join your brothers then,” Ginny said, pointing to the other side of the pub where they were gathered.
Harry pulled her onto his lap and burrowed his hand in her hair at the nape of her neck and pulled her lips towards his. She happily let herself be kissed senseless by Harry and when she eventually pulled back from him, the group of girls had diminished greatly. She gently rested her forehead against his and stared into his beautiful green eyes.
“I really wish we were somewhere alone,” she whispered.
“Do you want to get out of here?” Harry asked.
Ginny nodded.
Harry stood up, gently placing her on her feet as he stood, and clasped her hand with his. They slowly made their way through the crowd towards the door where they ran into Tonks who was smirking at them.
“Disappearing so early?” she asked.
Ginny grinned and Harry gave Tonks a pretend shove in the shoulder.
“Oi!” Tonks exclaimed. “Do you want me to go and tell her brothers that you’re whisking her away?”
“Tonks!” Harry said warningly.
“It’s fine, Harry. I don’t care if they know we’re going,” Ginny said.
“Hey, I won’t say anything, you should know that,” Tonks said.
“Hmmm,” Harry said pretending to glare at Tonks.
“Off you go,” Tonks said with a little wave.
Harry reached for Ginny’s hand again and they made their way out of the pub.
“Remember the charm,” Tonks yelled as the couple walked out of the pub.
Harry shook his head, pointed his wand at Tonks and muttered something as they left. The last thing Ginny heard was Tonks squealing.
oooOOOooo
Ginny sat herself on Harry’s comfortable couch while Harry disappeared into the kitchen. Now that her earlier wish had come true, she was feeling a little nervous. She knew that Harry wouldn’t force himself on her. Up until now they had only snogged and let their hands wander a little. The furthest they had progressed was interrupted by Sirius a few weeks ago. But the feelings caused by Harry stretching to pull on his shirt earlier, made her worry a little about what she now wanted to happen.
Ginny’s thoughts were interrupted by Harry returning to the room with a plateful of chocolate biscuits and two steaming mugs of hot chocolate.
“Hey,” he said, sitting next to her. “You okay?”
She nodded and picked up a chocolate biscuit and dunked it into her hot chocolate before looking carefully at Harry.
“Are you sure? You look a little…nervous,” Harry said, looking at her intently.
She started to nod her head again and then half shook it instead.
Harry quickly moved to kneel in front of her and placed his hands on hers. “Ginny…”
“It’s nothing awful, Harry, I promise,” she said staring into his brilliant emerald eyes which were looking quite concerned. “I just…earlier…when you…that shirt…I felt…”
“Ginny, just say it. You can tell me anything. I’ll listen and do what I can to help,” he said.
She laughed at that thought. She was sure that Harry would love to help her sort out her predicament, though probably in a way that would cause her head to go fuzzy. “Okay, then,” she said with a nervous laugh. “Earlier, when you changed shirts, I felt a little more…attraction…than I have ever felt before.”
“Ahh,” Harry said raising his eyebrows and giving her a cheeky grin. “So that’s why you were tempted to whisk us both away.”
Ginny could feel herself blushing.
“Did it bother you? The way you felt about me, I mean.” He asked.
“No…not really. It’s just that I’ve never felt anything like this before, with anyone. And these feelings are a little foreign and scary,” she said, tangling her fingers through his. “I guess I’m just worried that I’ll get caught up in the moment.”
“Ginny, I would never force you to do anything,” Harry said reassuringly.
“I know that, but I’m a little worried about my own self-control,” she said with a smile.
“Look, Ginny, I’m just as new to these feelings as you are, I promise. I think we should just take our time and see where we end up. But I can tell you that I really like where we’re heading and I’m very keen to keep this going,” he said passionately.
“Oh, Harry. I love where we’re heading too and I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do than to be with you,” she said.
He smiled, squeezed her hands, and moved closer so that his lips could close over hers. Ginny happily let him kiss her and allowed her hands to travel across his body.
A while later they pulled apart from each other, but stayed in the position they had ended up in - face-to-face on the couch. Harry gently brushed her hair out of her eyes.
“Did you enjoy your birthday?”
“Best one ever.”
She grinned. “I’m glad.” She glanced at the clock and sighed. “I should go home.”
“You could stay here,” Harry said cautiously.
“I don’t know…”
“There are spare beds, Ginny.”
“I know and that’s not the problem. I know you wouldn’t try anything. It’s just I don’t think I want to have that conversation with my parents just yet.”
“Okay,” Harry said. He rolled off the couch, stood up, and then helped her to stand.
Ginny found her bag and slowly walked over to the fireplace. Harry pulled her into a hug and kissed her tenderly. “Will I see you tomorrow?”
“Yeah. I’ll come over after lunch,” she replied.
“Excellent,” he said and kissed her again.
Ginny eventually found the determination to leave instead of taking Harry up on his offer of staying, and she Flooed home.
Her mum and dad were sipping cups of tea at the kitchen table when she arrived home. They looked at her curiously.
“I didn’t think you’d be home tonight,” her mum said.
“What?”
“We thought you’d stay at Harry’s.”
“Mum!”
“Ginny, we were young once, too,” her dad said.
“We’re not…I’m not…Harry asked me to stay, but I didn’t think you’d like that,” she said, feeling very embarrassed.
“You’re just about eighteen and an adult. I know I said not to rush things, but we do trust your judgement and Harry’s as well. Plus you are so in love with each other…”
“Mum!” she exclaimed again.
“You are, even if you haven’t figured it out yet,” her mum stated.
“So you don’t mind if I stay with him?”
“We don’t mind,” her parents said at the same time.
Ginny felt shocked. It was the last thing she had expected. She nodded and walked towards the stairs. “I’m going to bed.”
“Night, Ginny,” her parents replied.
Ginny walked upstairs, readied herself for bed and drifted off to sleep thinking about Harry and the fact her parents had given her permission to stay with Harry.
Chapter 5: Chapter 5
Chapter 5Ginny sat at the kitchen table staring at the cup of tea in her hands, pondering the shock her parents had given her less than twelve hours ago. She was shaken from her reverie by her mother coming in with a basket of eggs.
“No training today?” her mother asked as she put the eggs in the pantry.
“We have the weekend off,” Ginny replied without looking at her mum.
“Are you alright?” her mum asked.
Ginny looked up and met her mum’s eyes. Her mother was looking at her carefully. Ginny answered with a shrug of her shoulders.
“What’s troubling you?” her mum asked, sitting down across the table from her. “Is it something with Harry?”
Ginny shook her head and sat quietly for a few moments before looking straight at her mother. “Why did you and Dad say that last night?”
“Ahh,” her mum said with a wry smile. “I was wondering if you’d say anything.”
“Honestly, Mum, that’s the last thing I ever imagined you’d say to me.”
Her mother chuckled. “A few years ago I probably wouldn’t have said that.”
“So why now?”
“Because I’ve had time to think and reflect on things,” Molly said quietly. “The war changed things for many families and it’s made me think how lucky we are. We all made it through — a little battered maybe, but we’re all here. And I’ve been thinking about how proud I am of all my children. You’ve all worked so hard and generally have made good decisions over the years. I really feel that your dad and I have done a good job raising you all.”
“And that includes the twins!” Ginny said with a chuckle.
“Yes, it does,” her mum said definitely.
“So you’re saying that you trust me.”
“I trust you to make sensible choices and make them wisely. I think we’ve instilled enough values into you that will help you to make those choices,” her mum replied. “We also like and trust Harry. We know he’s not going to mess you around.”
“You really don’t mind me staying at Harry’s?”
“I don’t mind you staying there. Though, I’m not encouraging you to rush into anything, either.”
“Okay,” Ginny replied looking at her mum strangely.
“I’m not silly, Ginny. I know you don’t need to stay the night to have sex…”
“Mum!”
“What? Ginny, I have seven children. I know what sex is.”
Ginny dropped her head to the table and tried to pretend she hadn’t heard her mother’s last sentence.
“Ginny, as I’ve told you before, I can see the way that you and Harry look at each other and treat each other, what you have is special and I know that you two have or will…”
“We haven’t…yet.”
Her mum nodded. “That’s what I’m saying. You’ve had plenty of opportunities, I’m sure…yet you’re waiting until you’re ready…”
“Good Godric, Mum,” Ginny said, feeling her face redden. “This is really not a conversation that I’d planned on having.”
“Yet it’s one that we should be having. The last thing that I want is you sneaking around behind your dad’s and my back.”
“I understand, Mum. It’s just a little awkward. I’d always thought that you would be dead against me staying with a boy before I was married,” Ginny said quietly.
“I did, too,” her mum replied. “That is until I saw you and Harry together.”
Ginny nodded. “I understand. I’m not rushing anything, but I also really like Harry…”
“You love him,” her mum stated.
Ginny looked at her mum and glared.
“You do.”
“Maybe I do, but I’d prefer to talk to Harry about that,” she said.
Her mum nodded and Ginny sat at the table looking across at her mother. Her mum was sitting quietly, looking happy that she had got her point across. Ginny took a sip of tea before deciding to change the subject.
“Mum, do you mind if I invite some friends over for a bit of a party for my birthday?”
“When?”
“I was thinking of two weeks from today, the Saturday after my birthday. I want Harry to meet my friends. He doesn’t know many people our age, so I thought that this would be a good chance for him to make some friends,” Ginny said.
“That should be fine,” her mum replied. “What do you need me to do?”
“Erm…would you mind helping me make a few things?” Ginny asked
“I can do that.”
“Thanks Mum.”
oooOOOooo
Ginny woke on the morning of her birthday to see Harry’s beautiful white owl, Hedwig, sitting on her windowsill. The sun was shining in from behind the owl, causing Ginny to smile at the thought of having a lovely sunny day for her birthday. She hopped out of bed and walked over to the window where Hedwig was waiting patiently beside a white box that she had obviously brought with her. Ginny reached out and gently patted Hedwig's head and received a gentle 'hoot' in return. She then turned to the box. It was long and fairly narrow with a small envelope attached to it.
"Oh, Harry, what have you sent me?" she said quietly to herself as she took the box and sat back on her bed.
She opened the envelope and pulled out a small piece of parchment with Harry’s scrawl across it. Happy Birthday, Ginny. Have a great day. I’ll see you tonight. Love Harry.
“Love, Harry!” she exclaimed, rereading the message again with a huge smile.
Ginny then carefully opened the box to find a single lavender rose. She lifted it out of the box and she breathed in the wonderful aroma coming from the flower. After spending a few minutes with the rose under her nose, she conjured a vase and put the rose in it with some water, and then placed it on her dresser.
“Ginny?” her mum said from outside her bedroom. “Are you up?”
“Yes.”
The door opened and her mother walked in smiling. “Happy birthday, my dear.”
“Thanks, Mum.”
“Breakfast is ready,” her mum said and then turned towards the door, stopping when she saw Hedwig. “Harry’s owl?”
Ginny laughed. “You know she is. You’ve seen her before.”
“She’s beautiful,” said her mother. “Did she bring you something special?”
Ginny nodded and indicated towards her dresser.
Her mother walked over to the dresser and sniffed the flower. “Gorgeous.”
“Isn’t it?” Ginny replied.
“You know there’s a lovely vase downstairs that was your grandmother’s. It would look even better in that. You’re more than welcome to use it,” her mum said. “While you’re there, you should check the book on flowers and their meanings.”
“What?”
“Just have a look,” her mum said, smiling as she walked out the door.
Ginny didn’t get a chance to look at the book her mother had mentioned. She had a full day of training and then had to rush when she got home to get cleaned up before her brothers and Harry arrived for dinner. She had just walked out into the garden when Harry and Ron appeared at the gate and started walking towards her.
“Hi, there, birthday girl,” Harry said when they were closer.
Ginny grinned and walked into his open arms. She heard Ron groan as Harry’s lips met hers and she couldn’t stop herself from laughing.
“Ron, I had to see you snogging Lavender all the time, so you can just put up with this,” she said before dramatically pulling Harry’s head towards hers again. After they kissed again, she looked at Ron and smiled. “Plus, it’s my birthday. You’re supposed to be nice to me.”
Ron shook his head and laughed. “Happy birthday, little sister.” He gave her a brief hug and then disappeared inside.
Ginny turned back to Harry and smiled.
“Have you had a good day?” he asked.
“Training was full on, but went okay,” she replied. “I have to say the best bit so far was waking to a lovely present delivered by a beautiful white owl.”
Harry pulled her into his arms again and grinned down at her. “You liked it?”
“I love it,” she replied. “It smells gorgeous. My whole room smelled beautiful when I went in a little earlier. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I actually got it from the garden at Godric’s Hollow, where my parents lived when I was little. The house has gone, but the garden is still lovely. Sirius said that my dad gave my mum the rose bush when they moved there. I thought it was appropriate.”
Ginny looked at him curiously. “Has this got something to do with its meaning? Mum said I should look it up, but I haven’t had a chance.”
Harry smiled. “It might do.”
“That doesn’t help me at all, Harry.”
He grinned and pulled a small package out of his pocket. “Here, this is for you. Happy birthday.”
Ginny took the package and smiled happily at her boyfriend. “Come and sit with me so that I can open it.”
They walked hand-in-hand over to a bench under a nearby oak tree. Harry pulled her against him as they sat, and Ginny enjoyed the feeling of his arm around her. It had been a few days since she had been able to spend some time alone with Harry. She rested her head against Harry’s shoulder and started to carefully unwrap her present. Ginny was left with a jewellery box once the wrapping paper had been removed. She looked at Harry carefully, hoping that he hadn’t spent a lot of gold on her. She carefully opened the box and gasped.
“I hope you like it,” Harry said quietly.
“It’s beautiful,” Ginny replied, kissing Harry on the cheek.
“I know you don’t like over-the-top, flashy stuff,” he said. “When I saw this I thought of you straight away. It’s so delicate looking but also seems so strong — if that makes sense.”
Ginny looked up at her boyfriend and nodded. She carefully pulled the necklace out of the box and held it up. The thin gold chain had a pendant hanging on it which flashed in the late afternoon sunlight. The pendant was an intricate knotted Celtic design and Ginny could tell exactly what Harry had meant by being delicate but strong. The individual strands on the pendant were so fine, but all together, in the never-ending design, it looked anything but fragile.
“Thanks, Harry,” she said quietly. “It’s so beautiful. Will you put it on for me?”
Harry nodded and she turned so that she was facing away from Harry. She handed him the necklace and pulled her hair out of the way. After Harry had secured the chain around her neck, he softly brushed his hands down her back causing her to shiver. He then kissed the back of her neck and just below her ear.
“I love you, Ginny,” he whispered next to her ear.
She spun around to look at Harry and enveloped him in a hug. “Oh, Harry, I love you, too.”
“Really?”
She nodded. “I do. I didn’t want to believe it at first. I didn’t think it would ever happen so quickly. I’ve only known you for two months.”
“Sirius said that my dad knew he loved my mum the first time he saw her,” Harry said.
“Yeah?”
“I think I knew it deep down the night we met,” Harry continued.
“You did?”
He nodded. “We just clicked and I knew I couldn’t not have you in my life.”
She smiled at him and rubbed her hand gently across his cheek. “I feel that way, too. It just took my mum pointing it out for me to realise what I was really feeling.”
Harry smiled and leaned towards her pressing his lips to hers. His arms pulled her against him and she found herself melting against him as their kiss deepened. She ran her fingers through his silky hair and moaned as Harry started kissing his way down her neck towards her collar bone.
“Oi, lover birds!” George yelled across the garden.
Ginny reluctantly pulled away from Harry and groaned.
“Time for food,” Ron yelled.
Ginny was tempted to yell out that she wasn’t hungry and would prefer to stay right where she was. Harry’s forehead was resting against hers and he was trying to steady his breathing.
“Your brothers have bad timing,” Harry stated.
“That they do. I’d love to tell them that I don’t want food, but then they’d come and find us. That would be worse.”
Harry nodded. He stood up, offered her his hand and then led her across the garden to where her family was waiting to celebrate her birthday.
The rest of the evening was a daze for Ginny. She could not remember what she had eaten, what she had talked about with her family, or even what gifts she had been given. Harry had told her he loved her. That was all she could think of through dinner and right up until she was lying in her bed looking at the lavender coloured rose — which she had discovered meant love at first sight.
oooOOOooo
“Ginny!”
She turned to the voice coming from the gate. “Demelza!” she replied enthusiastically and then walked quickly towards her friend.
Demelza greeted her with a big hug and then looked at her in mock anger. “You’ve already forgotten about me.”
“I have not,” Ginny replied quickly. “I’ve been busy training.”
“I know. I’m just kidding. So how is it being a Harpy?” Demelza asked. “I’m so excited that you’re playing for them. When I got your owl telling me, I was jumping up and down for ages. My mum thought I’d gone mad.”
Ginny laughed at her friend’s excitement. “You’ll have to try out next year.”
“I’ll never make it.”
“You could,” Ginny said trying to encourage her friend. “I’d love to have you there with me.”
“I’m not that good, Ginny, but I’ll see when the time comes,” Demelza replied. “I have to get through my last year of Hogwarts first.”
“Good.”
“So — the Harpies have been keeping you really busy, have they?” Demelza asked.
“Well...,” Ginny said with a small smile. “I do train a lot, but, I have met someone…”
Demelza grabbed Ginny’s hands and gave a squeal. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Is he here?” Demelza asked, looking around.
“Not yet. He’ll be here soon.”
“You’ll have to tell me all about it,” said Demelza.
“I will,” Ginny replied. “But, it’ll have to wait. Neville has just arrived. I should say hello.”
“Okay,” here friend replied. “I’ll go and find someone to talk to.”
“You do that.”
Ginny then walked over to the gate where Neville was talking to a few others that had just arrived.
“Happy Birthday, Ginny,” Neville said, handing her a parcel.
“Thanks, Neville. I’m glad you could come. There’s someone I really want you to meet a bit later.”
Neville looked a little curious but nodded.
“Ron’s over near the food,” Ginny said.
Neville laughed. The others behind Neville joined in.
“Hi, Seamus, Dean,” Ginny said as Neville moved away.
“Happy birthday,” the pair said at the same time, causing them all to laugh.
Seamus handed over a gift, pulled her into a hug, and kissed her cheek. Dean smiled at her from behind his friend.
Ginny quickly pulled away as she saw Harry appear behind the two young men. Harry smirked at her quick movement from Seamus. He then came over and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and brushed a kiss across her lips. Harry then offered his hand towards Seamus.
Seamus looked back and forth between Ginny and Harry and then winked at Ginny. He then shook hands with Harry. “Hi, I’m Seamus.”
“Harry.”
“Nice to meet you,” Seamus said. “This is Dean.”
“Hi, Dean,” Harry replied.
Dean shook Harry’s hand a little quickly and gave half a smile.
Ginny chuckled a little at Dean’s reaction to Harry. Harry looked at her curiously.
“Old boyfriend?” Harry asked as they walked slowly behind Dean and Seamus.
“Not really,” she replied.
“How does that work?” Harry asked looking at her curiously.
“He asked me out heaps of times and eventually I gave in and went to Hogsmede a couple of times with him, but that was it. I could tell he wasn’t right for me,” she replied.
“Oh, okay,” Harry said. “Will there be many ex-boyfriends here?”
“Jealous?”
“No, not really. I didn’t know you then. I wish I did,” Harry said hugging her close. “I’m just curious. You’ve never said much about past boyfriends.”
“That’s because they are few and far between. Fred, George, and Ron made sure of that,” she said, resting her head against Harry’s shoulder.
“They didn’t mind Dean?” Harry asked.
“Fred and George weren’t at Hogwarts then, and Ron was just starting out with Lavender so he wasn’t as vigilant in his scare tactics.”
Harry laughed. “Ah, I see.”
Ginny and Harry stopped walking and Ginny looked around at the group in front of her. Ron was talking with Neville, Dean, and Seamus. Demelza was looking a little awkward standing with Hermione, Luna, and two of Ginny’s Gryffindor classmates, Jescinta and Andrea. Fred and George were talking animatedly with their good friend, Lee Jordan, as well as Ginny’s old Gryffindor team mates, Angelina, Katie, and Alicia. Off to the side, Ginny saw Hannah, Padma, Parvati, Lavender, and Susan. Hannah was watching Neville shyly, Padma was staring at the gate, obviously waiting for Terry to arrive, and the others looked as if they were trying to calm Lavender down. Ginny was surprised that Lavender had actually come.
“So these are all your friends?” Harry asked as he looked around.
“Yeah, though a lot of them are probably closer friends of my brothers, but I get along with them,” Ginny said. “A few haven’t arrived yet. Do you know anyone here?”
“Just your brothers and Hermione...oh, and Seamus and Dean.”
“Okay, then. Time for you to meet them all,” Ginny said before whistling loudly at the group.
“Alright, you lot,” she said loudly once everyone had quietened. “I’d like you to meet someone. This here is Harry. He works in the Auror office like Ron. I’d run through everyone’s names but that would just get far too confusing. So introduce yourself when you get the chance.”
Ginny then led Harry over to where Ron was standing. A happy looking Ron immediately shook hands with Harry and gestured to his nearby friends.
“Have you met any of these gits yet?” Ron asked Harry, causing Seamus to light heartedly punch him on the arm.
“Ginny introduced me to Seamus and Dean,” Harry replied.
Ginny wrapped her arm around Harry’s waist and swung him to face Neville.
“Hi, I’m Neville,” Neville said, introducing himself before Ginny had the chance.
Harry shook Neville’s offered hand. “Harry Potter.”
Ginny watched the boys’ reactions to Harry’s introduction and laughed. “I think you shocked them.”
“It’s great to meet you,” Neville said.
“You’re really Harry Potter?” Seamus asked.
“I am,” Harry replied.
“Somehow I thought you’d be much taller,” Seamus said.
Harry laughed. “I hear that so often. Sorry to disappoint you, Seamus.”
“Oh, I’m not disappointed. I always thought you’d be some tall, strong hero type. You’re just like us, really,” Seamus said.
“That I am,” Harry replied, with a smile.
Ginny leaned against Harry and he smiled down at her. She could tell that he was starting to relax a little and she was glad. She wanted Harry to get along with her friends.
“So you and Ginny are going out?” Dean asked.
“We are,” Ginny replied.
“You’re brave, Harry,” Neville said.
“How’s that?” Harry asked.
“She has six older brothers who made it their duty to scare away potential boyfriends. I saw first-hand what they could do,” Neville said.
Ginny groaned. “They wouldn’t dare to do that to Harry.”
Ron nodded. “Yeah. I’ve seen him wield a wand. I don’t want to be on the end of that. Plus, Harry’s an okay bloke, except when he’s attached to my sister’s lips.”
Neville, Seamus, and Dean laughed. Harry slapped Ron on the arm and muttered “Thanks, mate” while Ginny just smiled at the boys getting along.
Ginny heard a loud groan a small distance away and turned to face it. Lavender and Pavarti were staring at the gate with furious looks, and Ginny could understand why when she looked at the gate. One of the few girls from Gryffindor that she truly disliked was standing at the gate with a look of distain across her face. She then noticed who she was standing with. Why is Colin Creevy here with Romilda Vane?
Ginny quickly excused herself to Harry, who looked perfectly happy chatting with Ron and his mates. She walked over and found Demelza and pointed out the new arrivals.
“Why is she here?” Demelza asked.
“No idea…well, she appears to be here with Colin. I certainly didn’t invite her,” Ginny replied. “Come with me and we can find out.”
Demelza nodded and they both walked over to Colin who grinned when he saw Ginny. “Hi, Ginny. Happy Birthday.”
Thanks, Colin,” Ginny said, before turning towards the uninvited girl. “Romilda, what a surprise seeing you here.”
“Mmm,” Romilda replied. “Colin told me that you were throwing a huge party and everyone was coming, so I offered to be his date. It would have been horrible for him if he had to come alone.”
“Sure, because Colin knows no one here,” Demelza said sarcastically from beside Ginny.
“I couldn’t turn down such an invitation,” Colin said with a smile.
Ginny sighed. She had a small idea that Colin thought he’d be getting lucky by bringing Romilda along. Ginny shook her head at the thought.
“You actually grew up here?” Romilda asked looking at the Burrow in disdain.
“I did,” Ginny said. “And it was great. We had the paddock, the forest and the pond to play in and explore. What more could you want as a kid?”
Romilda sneered as she looked around. “If you think so?”
Ginny gritted her teeth. “I do,” she said sharply. “Have fun. I have people I need to see.” Ginny then grabbed Demelza’s arm and the both stalked away.
“I can’t believe…”
“Please, Demelza, I don’t want to think about it.”
“Okay, Ginny,” Demelza replied, before smirking. “Tell me about Harry, then.”
Ginny grinned. “That’s definitely something much more pleasant to talk about.”
oooOOOooo
Ginny Levitated trays of drinks into the garden of the Burrow and looked around. Her party had been going for a few hours and everyone looked happy. The rest of her friends had arrived not long after Colin. They had gone through numerous plates of food and countless bottles of Butterbeer. Fred and George had produced a few bottles of Firewhiskey once her parents had retired inside, so quite a few of the partygoers currently had cups of Firewhiskey in their hands. Once she had placed the trays on the table, Ginny walked towards Luna who was standing by herself and staring into the heavens.
“It’s a great party,” Luna said, without looking away from the sky.
“Are you having fun?”
“I am. Venus is bright at this time of year,” Luna said dreamily.
“Is it?” Ginny said and at the same time tried to remember if Venus was even visible at this time of year.
“Harry is lovely,” Luna said, suddenly. “You’re meant for each other.”
“Thanks. Did you get the chance to talk to him?”
“Briefly, but Ron pulled him away to meet someone not long after we started talking,” Luna said.
“Oh, sorry about that. Ron can be…”
“I understand,” Luna said, finally taking her eyes away from the heavens. “I’ll let you go. I’m going to go and talk to the gnome family over there.”
Ginny shook her head as Luna walked away. She and Luna were great friends, but she found Luna as odd as everyone else did.
“Ginny!”
She turned around to see Tonks striding towards her, dressed outlandishly in ripped and studded orange pants and a violet skin tight shirt. Her hair was turquoise and clashed horribly with her shirt and pants, but for some reason Tonks made it look good.
“Tonks! Are you having fun?”
“Oh, I am, but I have to apologise. I just upset a friend of yours and made her leave,” Tonks said sheepishly.
“What? Who?”
“Erm…I can’t remember her name, but she was wearing a very short skirt and a red low necked shirt…”
“You made Romilda leave?” Ginny asked, amazed.
“I’m so sorry, Ginny. She was annoying me so I just told her a few truths about girls like her and she stomped her foot and took off,” Tonks said.
“Really? Oh, Tonks, don’t worry. You did everyone a favour by getting her to leave. She wasn’t invited.”
“Oh, thank Merlin. I was wondering about you and her being friends, but you never know,” Tonks said grinning. “I guess that’s why some of the girls over there cheered.”
“Definitely,” Ginny said smiling. “Oh, Tonks you’re a legend. Hey, have you seen Harry around?”
“He’s over there with Percy and Bill.”
“Really?” Ginny said in amazement.
“Yeah. Fred got Percy pissed and he’s telling jokes. They’re not at all funny, but it’s hilarious listening to him going on and on.”
“Sweet Merlin! I should go and rescue him.”
“They’re actually trying to get everyone to go into the Leaky Cauldron to keep the party going without annoying your parents. Are you up for it?” Tonks asked.
“I guess so,” Ginny replied. “If Harry wants to go.”
“It seems like he’s been having fun tonight. He’s been happily chatting with your brothers and their friends all night,” Tonks said. “It’s so good to see him like this.”
“I’ve barely seen him at all tonight, but I don’t mind because the main reason I had this party was for Harry to meet people our age.”
“And he has, so it’s all good,” Tonks said.
“So, Tonks, have you met anyone that takes your interest?” Ginny asked, thinking back a couple of weeks at the pub after Harry’s birthday.
“Oh, there’s plenty of fresh meat here, some of it is a little too young, but it’s fun to window shop,” Tonks said.
“So you really do like older men?” Ginny asked.
“Yes, she does,” Harry said from behind her. “Don’t believe her if she denies it.”
Ginny leaned against Harry as his arms wrapped around her from behind. “Do you still like Remus that much?” she asked.
“No, I’m over him,” Tonks said.
“No, she’s not,” Harry said. “But she keeps telling herself that daily in the hope that one day it happens.”
Tonks glared at Harry and sighed.
Harry let go of Ginny and pulled Tonks into a hug. “Sorry, Dora. One day he’ll realise what he’s missing. Maybe you should just help him realise it.”
“How?” Tonks asked as she pulled out of Harry’s hug.
“Maybe you need to flaunt some different men in front of him. Nothing else Sirius or I have said has made a difference,” Harry said.
Tonks sighed. “Maybe…”
“Try it, Dora,” Harry said. “You won’t know otherwise.”
Tonks nodded and then set her shoulders. “Good thing there are a few young men around here to start with.”
Harry and Ginny laughed as Tonks strutted away towards Seamus and Dean.
“Oh, Godric. Seamus is going to love that,” Ginny said.
Harry pulled her against him and kissed her gently. “I’ve barely seen you tonight.”
“Have you had fun?” Ginny asked.
“I have,” Harry replied, smiling. “Your friends are great. I had a great time chatting with Neville, Dean, and Seamus…Ron, too.”
“That’s great. Did you talk to Luna at all?” Ginny asked with a smile.
“She’s the one with long blonde hair and vegetables as earrings?” Harry asked.
“That’s her. She’s a little out there but is lovely,” Ginny said.
“She started telling me something about…Nargles, and then Ron came and took me away,” Harry said.
“That sounds about right. Luna believes in the oddest things. Watching her and Hermione talk is hilarious. They are so different.”
“I could imagine. Hermione always seems to be so factual,” Harry said.
“She is.”
“But enough of them,” Harry said quietly and then kissed her on the nose. “How about you and me? Do you want to go to the pub for a while?”
“That sounds fun,” Ginny said.
“And then we could have some extra time together before you need to be home,” Harry said.
Ginny grinned. She hadn’t told Harry about what her parents had said the night of his birthday. She decided that she would see what happened while they were out and then decide about where she would sleep that night.
oooOOOooo
Ginny leant against the bar and watched Colin and Demelza dance closely on the dance floor. Demelza seemed to be over her idolisation of Ron, which was probably a good thing, though Ginny would prefer to see him going out with someone likeable — like Demelza.
“What is Tonks doing out there?” Harry asked from beside her, where he stood talking to Neville.
“Dancing,” Ginny stated.
“With three men, though?”
“She seems to be taking your advice,” Ginny said.
“But Remus isn’t here,” Harry said.
“Someone may tell him, or maybe she’s just practising,” Ginny said.
“She does look like she’s having fun,” Neville said. “And Seamus and Justin look like they’re having fun.”
“Seamus would prefer to be dancing with three girls,” Ginny said.
“That he would,” Neville replied. “If you two would excuse me, I’ve acquired enough courage to ask Hannah to dance.”
“Have fun,” Ginny yelled as Neville walked towards the object of his affection.
“Do you want to dance?” Harry asked her as he pulled her against him.
“How about we get out of here?” Ginny suggested.
“You want to go home?” Harry asked looking a little surprised. “I thought we could spend some more time together. It’s not that late.”
“Oh, I don’t intend to go home,” Ginny said. “I just want us to be alone.”
Harry pulled her tight against him and kissed her deeply. “That sounds like a great idea. Let’s get out of here.”
They walked carefully out of the Leaky Cauldron so that they didn’t get waylaid by any of their still partying friends. As soon as they were in the quiet alley, Harry pulled her against him and Apparated them to his doorstep.
As soon as they were inside, Harry’s mouth was on hers and Ginny’s hands were roaming across Harry’s back and into his soft hair. He pulled her tight against him as he kissed his way across her jaw to the tender spot just below her ear. Ginny’s hands clutched at Harry’s shoulders as his mouth worked its way down to her collar bone, causing her to moan.
“Gin,” Harry groaned. “We should go somewhere more comfortable.”
“Where did you have in mind?” she asked as she kissed the triangle of skin at the base of his throat where his shirt was undone.
“Couch?” Harry asked rubbing his hands over her bottom.
“Bed?” Ginny replied, moving her hands to a similar spot on his body.
“Ginny, if you come upstairs with me, I’ll find it very, very hard to take you home tonight.”
“I don’t have to go home, Harry,” she said, looking up through her eyelashes at Harry.
He groaned. “Your parents will kill me, so will your brothers.”
“Mum and Dad told me that they trust me to know what I’m doing. They will be fine with me staying.”
“What?”
“They actually expected me to stay here after your birthday.”
“Really?” Harry asked, stunned. “And they were okay with that?”
“They said so.”
“And are you comfortable staying, Gin?” Harry asked, looking at her tenderly.
“I am, Harry,” she replied.
“Oh, Merlin, I love you, Ginny,” he said leaning down to kiss her again.
“Love…you…too…Harry,” she replied between kisses.
Harry reached for her hand and led her up the staircase.
Chapter 6: Chapter 6
Author's Notes:
Thanks to Stephanie O for checking this chapter for me.
Sorry about the wait!
Chapter 6
Ginny woke to find the sun shining in the window and onto the bed and she also found herself in the foreign position of having an arm wrapped around her. It took a moment before she remembered the previous evening and whose bed she was currently sharing and then she couldn’t help but smile. She soon realised that it wasn’t just Harry’s arm around her. His whole body seemed to be curled around her. His bare chest was resting against her back, his legs were entwined with hers, and his hand was splayed across her stomach. She could feel his breath blowing gently and evenly on her ear. He was still asleep.
She carefully rolled in his arms so that she could look at his relaxed face. He looked a lot younger in his sleep. His hair was falling across the faint scar on his forehead and she itched to brush it away, but she didn’t want to wake him. As she watched him sleep, she thought back a few hours to when they had arrived at Harry’s home.
Harry had led her straight upstairs and into his bedroom. As soon as they were in the room, his mouth had met hers again and they had kissed desperately and passionately. Hands had roamed across each other’s bodies and had gradually moved to under their clothing. They had eventually made their way onto his bed and had laid there kissing and touching tenderly for quite a while before Harry’s and then her shirt had been removed.
“What a lovely sight to wake up to,” Harry said, breaking her from her memories.
“You’re awake.”
“Mmm,” Harry replied, brushing her hair back from her face and cupping her jaw. He then pulled her towards him to kiss her.
“What a lovely way to say good morning,” Ginny said, smiling.
“You seemed to be lost in thoughts just then,” Harry said.
“I was just thinking about last night.”
“Really?” Harry drawled. “Which bit?”
“The last bit,” Ginny said, grinning cheekily.
“You enjoyed that, did you?”
“I did, but I didn’t quite get up to remembering how it ended.”
“That’s a shame. Maybe we could remember together — or relive it,” he said winking.
Ginny grasped Harry’s shoulders and pulled him so that he was above her. “That sounds like a great idea.”
oooOOOooo
“Are you alright?” Harry asked just after they had arrived at the Burrow.
Ginny looked up at Harry and nodded.
“Are you sure? You look a little…worried…scared…”
Ginny shrugged. “I guess I’m a little nervous. I know Mum and Dad said they didn’t mind me staying with you, but now that I’m here walking in, it seems like I’m flaunting it in front of my family.”
“Are you ashamed?” Harry asked worriedly.
“No, not at all,” she replied quickly. “I love you, Harry. I love what we did together. I just don’t want my brothers making life difficult for us.”
“Ginny, what happened last night is between us. No one needs to know what we did — or didn’t do. They can make assumptions all they like. We know the truth. I love you and you love me and what we share is our business, no one else’s.”
Ginny moved so that she was right next to Harry and engulfed him in a hug. Harry rested his chin on top of her head and rocked her gently.
“We’ve done nothing wrong, Gin,” he whispered.
“I know. I’m just being silly. My brothers have always been so protective of me. I don’t want them to butt in now,” she said, still leaning against him.
“They won’t bother me. I can look after myself,” Harry said as he gently kissed her forehead.
Ginny nodded and looked up at her boyfriend. He quickly leaned down and kissed her. Ginny wrapped her arms around his neck and managed to prolong the kiss. Minutes later they pulled apart.
“We should go inside,” Harry said quietly.
Ginny nodded and grabbed Harry’s hand. They walked up to her family home and through the kitchen door.
Ginny was expecting the room to be full of her family. Instead she found her mum and Ron sitting and sipping tea.
“Hello, dear,” her mum said.
“Hi, Mum.”
“Hi, Mrs Weasley.”
“Harry, you know you can call me Molly, don’t you?”
Harry nodded as they sat side-by-side at the kitchen table.
“Where’s Dad?” Ginny asked.
“He’s out in his shed. He’ll be in for lunch,” her mum replied.
“Is everyone coming for lunch?” Ginny asked curiously.
Ron chuckled. “Doubt it.”
Molly Weasley clucked disappointedly.
“What’s happened?”
“Apparently most of your brothers are feeling the after effects of their evening,” said her mother.
“What?”
“Fred, George, and Percy are still hung-over,” Ron said.
“Isn’t there a potion that would help?” Harry asked.
“There is,” Ron replied.
“But they’re in no shape to make it themselves and I’m not doing it for them. They can suffer,” Ginny’s mum said.
Ginny, Harry, and Ron laughed.
“How are you feeling today, Ron?” Harry asked.
“Fine. I left fairly early.”
“With?”
“No one,” Ron replied. “I’ve decided to enjoy my freedom for a while.”
“Good,” Ginny said. “So did anything scandalous or exciting happen?”
Molly Weasley stood up and started walking towards the door. “The last thing I need to hear is the love dramas of your friends. I’m going out to get your father.”
“Well…it’s hard to say. I can’t remember you two leaving. I’m assuming it was fairly early,” Ron said with a wink, after his mother had left the room.
Ginny looked directly at her brother, not taking any notice of his subtle teasing. “Did Neville dance with Hannah?”
“Whoa — you two did leave early. They were dancing for ages,” Ron said.
“What about Tonks?” Harry asked.
“Oh, she danced a lot and drank a fair bit and then just left,” Ron said.
“Alone?” Harry asked.
“Yeah. Seamus was bitterly disappointed. He thought he was in there.”
Ginny and Harry laughed.
“Like he’d be that lucky,” Ginny said.
“What about Fred and George? They didn’t look that pissed,” Harry said.
“They were still there when I left. They met two witches from somewhere overseas and were trying to impress them — bought them lots of drinks and played pranks on everyone,” Ron said.
“And?” Ginny asked.
“Well they’re home at their flat. I don’t think anyone else is there. Mum Flooed them and she didn’t say much,” said Ron.
“What about Percy?”
“Oh, Merlin!” Ron exclaimed. “He was so pissed that he was trying to snog Hermione in the middle of the pub. She didn’t look impressed with him, but they did leave together. Mum tried Flooing him but she couldn’t get hold of him.”
“So he’s either still passed out, or he’s not there,” Ginny stated.
“Please don’t make me think of Percy shagging Hermione,” Ron wailed, covering his face.
“Does that bother you?” Harry asked.
“No,” Ron replied.
“You sure about that?” Ginny asked.
“Positive,” Ron replied. “I don’t want to think about Percy shagging anyone. Actually, I prefer not to think about any of my brothers shagging. Oh, and my sister…so I’m not saying anything about you two leaving early and not arriving here until lunch time. I don’t want to know — at all, ever.”
“Good,” Ginny said. “Because it’s none of your business — at all, ever.”
“Fine,” Ron said and then looked at Ginny curiously. “What I don’t get is why Mum is so calm about it.”
“She told me a few weeks back that she trusted me to make my own decisions and was okay with me staying at Harry’s.”
“Really?” Ron said. “She jinxed me the first few times I stayed out with Lavender.”
“Yes, well, she didn’t really like Lavender. She knew she wasn’t right for you,” Ginny said. “On the other hand, she’s been telling me for weeks that I love Harry and he’s the one for me. There’s the difference.”
“Really? You two have said that to each other?” Ron said looking at both Ginny and Harry.
“We have,” Harry said, grasping Ginny’s hand and squeezing it.
“Wow,” Ron said. “That’s serious.”
“Ron, I wouldn’t be staying with Harry if it wasn’t serious and we didn’t love each other,” she said.
“Good to hear,” Ron said slapping Harry on the back.
“Thanks, mate,” Harry replied.
“No problem,” Ron said. “Let’s get some food.”
oooOOOooo
Ginny should have been paying attention to her teammates as they ate lunch, but she was too busy thinking about Harry. In fact she was focused mostly on Harry’s lips and the magical things those lips could do. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn’t notice that her fellow Harpies had stopped talking and were all looking at her curiously.
“Oh, look, she’s re-joined the land of the living,” said Katarina, one of the Beaters.
The rest laughed and Ginny blushed.
“Now she’s blushing. That must have been some daydream, Weasley.”
“I think she’s been keeping quiet about a man.”
“So are you having nice daydreams about shagging your man?”
Ginny’s teammates fired statements and questions at her, causing her to groan with embarrassment. They also failed to notice that their captain was standing right next to the table where they were all seated.
“Alright, you lot. Leave her alone. I don’t care if she’s shagging Harry Potter himself, I’ve got news,” Gwenog said.
Ginny dropped her head onto the table and felt her cheeks heat up even more. Her teammates were still laughing at their captain’s statement but fell quiet when they saw Ginny’s position.
“Ginny?” Liana, another Chaser, asked. “Something you want to share?”
Ginny shook her head where it rested on the table.
“Hang on,” Marian, the Seeker, said. “She dropped her head when Gwenog spoke.”
“Are you actually shagging Potter?” Katarina asked.
Ginny groaned. She really didn’t want or need them to find out like this. Especially with all this talk of shagging.
“You are,” Meagan, one of the reserves, stated.
Ginny slowly sat up and glared at them all.
“Oh, leave her alone,” Gwenog said. “You’re all just jealous. She’ll tell us about her love life when she’s ready.”
“Thanks,” Ginny said to her captain. “But seeing it’s come up, I am going out with Harry. That’s all I’m going to say. You said there was news, Gwenog?”
Gwenog smiled and nodded. “Yes, the news. We’ve been offered a pre-season game on the tenth of September.”
“Excellent.”
“Against whom?”
“Against the Arrows,” Gwenog said. “So we’re going to change our training a bit. As well as all the fitness work, we’re going to have more tactical trainings. I know it will be more time consuming, but this is what you’re getting paid for.”
oooOOOooo
Ginny was tired, so very tired. The match against the Arrows was just over a week away. After that, they had two more pre-season games against the Cannons and Puddlemere before the regular season started. Training had been almost doubled since they’d found out about the first pre-season game. Ginny had been told that this was as bad as it would ever get. Gwenog and the other trainers believed that fitness levels still needed to be improved so they needed to do fitness, flying drills and strategy training — all separately. Once the season had started properly, the flying and fitness training would be done together. Ginny found she couldn’t wait until that happened and she hoped it would happen before the season started. She had never felt this tired ever before. And she was eating like Ron to keep her energy levels up. Her mum’s face was quite funny the first night she had eaten three servings of dinner after a twelve hour stint at Holyhead. She thought that Ron must have taken up a challenge to keep eating more than her. Every time she went for another serving, he did too. He said that the Auror office was busy at that time, but surely he wasn’t doing as much as she was.
Not helping her mood was the fact that she had barely seen Harry over the past two weeks. Ron was indeed right about the Aurors being busy. Harry was working longer hours than Ron was. He had said that he was leading an investigation into illegal and harmful potion ingredients being smuggled into the country and sold in abandoned buildings. He wasn’t allowed to tell her how things were progressing, but she imagined it was going slowly and there was a lot of legwork and then meetings and paperwork to be done.
Harry had sent her messages with Hedwig and she had replied to them, but it wasn’t nearly the same as spending time with him. He had told her that he’d been staying at Sirius’ place a fair bit so that he didn’t have to cook or clean as much. Basically when he wasn’t working he was eating and sleeping. She really wished that she wasn’t so busy and tired and could help him at home. It would mean they could see each other a little more. They had been able to spend two glorious hours together the previous Sunday, but her brothers were also there. They’d sat together in the garden but had been in everyone’s sight, so their actions had to be a lot more chaste than they had wanted them to be.
Every night in the few moments between lying down and falling asleep, she hoped that the training sessions would calm down and Harry’s investigation would finish so that they could be together more often. She did realise that the professions they were both in were time consuming and didn’t have regular hours which made relationships difficult. She prayed that they would be able to get through these busy times so they could enjoy their time together.
oooOOOooo
Nerves were starting to set in. The game was one day away and Ginny knew she would be playing at some stage unless the Snitch was caught very quickly. In pre-season games they were able to call more time outs and substitute players more often so that combinations could be tried out and hopefully perfected.
She was sitting on her bed reading over the list of plays that Gwenog insisted they put into practise during the game when someone knocked on the door.
“Yeah?” she said half-heartedly.
The door opened slowly but she was still reading through the plays so she didn’t look up. There was no noise at the door and she thought that whoever had knocked had disappeared without saying anything. A light chuckle made her look up. There, leaning nonchalantly against the door frame was Harry. He was still in his Auror robes and looked tired, but Ginny also took the time to admire his eyes and messy hair as well as his lean figure, which was unfortunately hidden by his work robes.
“Harry!” she exclaimed happily, jumping off her bed and moving quickly towards him.
“Hi there, beautiful,” he said and opened his arms so that she could be engulfed by them in a very welcome hug.
“I am so glad to see you,” she said against his chest. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too,” he said,
He put his hand under her chin and gently tilted her head up so that they were looking into each other’s eyes. His mouth soon met hers in a very gentle kiss. Ginny moved her hands up his back to rest behind his head and slowly increased the intensity of the kiss. Their tongues were teasing the other’s and their hands started wandering across the other’s bodies. Ginny started slowly moving backwards towards her bed, pulling Harry along with her. Just as she felt the bed frame behind her, Harry pulled back.
“Gin,” he said huskily. “Not here. Ron and the twins are downstairs. So is your mum.”
Ginny reluctantly nodded her head.
“Hey,” he said. “Don’t be sad. I came here to kidnap you for the evening. I thought we could get some take-out and relax together at my place.”
Ginny grinned. “That sounds fantastic. It’ll help me relax a little.”
“Are you nervous about the game tomorrow?”
She nodded.
“You’ll be great,” he replied, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. “And I don’t have to work until Monday, so I’ll be there cheering you on, as promised.”
“Really?” she asked excitedly. She’d been wondering if he’d be able to make it or not. The thought that he’d be there supporting her made her feel miles better.
“Yep,” he replied, grinning. “You can’t play your first game for the Harpies without having your number one fan there watching, can you?”
“Thanks, Harry. I already feel better.”
“Great. So, what do you think about coming with me tonight?”
“It sounds great. Can you let me get changed and grab a few things?”
“I can,” Harry replied. He then looked at her cheekily. “Are you planning to stay tonight?”
Ginny grinned at him. “I do need a good night’s sleep, but I also don’t have to be at Holyhead until three o’clock, so…”
Harry looked at her and smiled. "You can stay if you want, but if you want to stay here and get a good night's sleep, that's okay, too."
She leaned closer to him and hugged him tight. "I think I'd probably sleep better if I had your arms around me all night," she whispered.
Harry groaned and pulled her against him. "I think that can be arranged."
Ginny tore herself away from his hug and started packing clothes and the gear she would need for the game into a bag. She then gave Harry a wink and slowly pulled her shirt up and over her head. Once the shirt was lying on her bed, she looked at Harry and grinned at the lust-filled look in his eyes as his gaze roamed over the top half of her body.
“Er, Ginny…I think I might wait downstairs,” he said, pointing at the door but not taking his eyes off of her.
She chuckled and watched the colour rise across his face before he quickly left the room. She quickly finished changing, grabbed her bag, and raced downstairs to join Harry.
He was talking to her mum, Ron, Fred, and George when she walked into the kitchen. Her mum was finishing making dinner, and her brothers were sitting at the table expectantly. She could almost see drool in the corners of Ron’s mouth as he waited for food.
“Are you and Harry staying for dinner?” her mum asked as she walked across the room.
“Ah, no,” she said. “Harry and I are planning on getting something in London.”
Her mum gave her a knowing look but didn’t say anything.
“I hope you emptied your vault, Harry. She’s been eating like a Hippogriff lately. I’ve been having trouble keeping up with her,” Ron said rubbing his stomach.
“No one said you had to keep up,” Ginny replied.
“That explains the belly,” Fred said, poking Ron’s stomach.
“What belly?” Ron asked, looking down at his not-so-flat stomach.
“This one,” George said, grabbing hold of a small roll of fat on Ron’s belly.
“Hey!” Ron exclaimed.
Harry laughed. “Be careful, Ron. You’ll be made to do extra training at work.”
Ron looked at Harry in horror. “Really?”
Harry nodded and then laughed. “You should be okay. You’ve seen some of the older Aurors. They’re hardly what you would call thin.”
Ron sighed with relief and then looked towards the oven, smiling. “Thank Merlin for that. There’s no way I’m cutting down on Mum’s cooking.”
“Alright, we’re off,” Ginny said. She walked to her mum and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“Have fun and be careful,” her mum said quietly.
“We will,” Ginny replied before walking towards Harry. She ruffled Ron’s hair as she walked past. “Good news, Ron. You can have my share of dinner.”
Harry took her bag as they walked out through the kitchen door. They walked to the edge of the garden and Harry Apparated them both to a lane in London. From there they walked to a nearby street with their arms around each other.
“So what do you fancy eating?” Harry asked.
“I don’t really mind,” she replied.
“That Chinese restaurant over there is pretty good, or there’s a great Indian place down the road,” he said. “Or we could get pizza or fish and chips.”
“Chinese would be great.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes, let’s go,” she said, taking his hand and almost dragging him down the footpath.
“You’re so hungry that you don’t care what you eat, aren’t you?” Harry said laughing. “They must be working you extremely hard if you’ve been eating like Ron. I’ve seen him eat.”
“Training has been merciless,” she replied as they walked into the Chinese restaurant. “But I’ve been assured that things will calm down a lot in the next week or so. Mer…cy, this smells divine,” she continued, stopping herself as there were lots of Muggles around.
They quickly ordered a meal worthy of more than two people and walked to Harry’s house which was close by. As soon as they were in the door, Ginny took the bag of food from Harry and walked into his sitting room. She sat on the rug in front of his fireplace and spread the containers out in front of her. Harry leant against the doorway and watched her with a smile.
“Come on, Harry,” she said. “I’ve got a picnic happening here. I need company.”
He didn’t move from his spot in the doorway.
“Hurry up, Harry. I’m starving here. Gwenog made us fly for eight hours today non-stop. I haven’t eaten a lot at all.”
He pushed himself off the doorframe and wandered over to the kitchen door. “You get started. I’ll get us some drinks. What do you want?”
“Do you have any of those Muggle drinks in the cans?”
“Yeah.”
“One of them, please.”
Harry soon joined her on the rug and they ate in companionable silence. Ginny managed to eat her way through four different dishes — two more than Harry. As she finished eating, Harry sat quietly watching her.
“Everything okay?” she asked between mouthfuls.
He nodded. “I’m great. I’ve missed this. We haven’t been able to spend a lot of time together lately.”
“Well, as I said before, my training will be settling down very soon so I won’t be going straight from training to bed every night.”
“And all I’ve got to do is get this case sorted and my life will be a little calmer, too.”
“How’s it going? I’m surprised that you have the weekend off.”
“It’s getting there. That’s all I can really say. Hopefully it won’t be too much longer.”
Ginny smiled. “Excellent. I’m looking forward to things being a little less time consuming.”
“Me, too.”
oooOOOooo
Ginny found her wand and vanished the empty containers and Levitated the small amount of left-overs onto the coffee table. She then looked over at Harry who was leaning back on his elbows with his legs stretched out in front of him. She could see the tiredness in his face, but she could also tell that he was happy and relaxed.
Ginny moved so that she was kneeling across from Harry and looked up and down his body. She could see the strength in his arms and chest under the polo shirt he wore. She also could visualise his taut stomach, the line of his hips and his lean legs. She swallowed thickly as those thoughts made her heart race and her body tremble. She locked gazes with Harry and slowly started crawling towards him and then up the length of his legs. As she got closer to him he groaned softly, sat up, and ran his hands down the side of her body to rest on her hips. She stopped crawling when she was straddling his thighs, but moved her mouth to cover his. As soon as their lips touched, Harry wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly against him. At the same time he rolled them so that they were lying face-to-face on the rug.
“Ginny,” Harry groaned and started kissing his way down her throat.
She lifted her chin to give Harry access to her neck. As she moved she noticed the fireplace behind him.
“Harry,” she said quietly. “Harry, is the Floo open?”
“What?” he asked, lifting his head up from her collar bone.
“The Floo?”
“Huh?”
“Is it open? Could someone come through?”
“Only Sirius or Remus,” he replied. He then sat up. “Good thinking, Ginny. Sirius would come through if we didn’t want him to.”
“Should we go upstairs?” she asked, not really wanting to move, but definitely not wanting to be interrupted, especially by Sirius.
Harry quickly found his wand and waved it towards the fireplace. “It’s all good.”
“Excellent.”
“Now where was I?” Harry asked, running his hand up her body to cup her neck.
oooOOOooo
The game had been a success. The Harpies had narrowly beaten the Arrows by thirty points. Ginny had played for forty minutes and scored five goals before the Harpies Seeker caught the Snitch. As soon as they had returned to the changing rooms Gwenog had commended her on her effort in the game. It was once she had taken to the air that the Harpies had started catching up.
She found the feeling of playing in front of a large crowd, on an amazing broom, against quality players to be totally amazing. When the Harpies had been introduced to the cheering crowd, she had tried to find Harry and her family in the crowd but had found it an impossible task. But she knew he was there watching her. It was almost like she could feel his eyes following her. But once the game had started, she had forgotten about finding Harry in the crowd and had concentrated on the game.
The team had a quick meeting after the game before the players showered. The main analysis would be done the following afternoon once everyone was rested. Ginny showered and gathered her belongings quickly and made her way out of the changing rooms. As she walked through the door, she was surrounded by fans, reporters, and her family. She quickly signed the pieces of parchment that were thrust at her, a little amazed that people actually wanted her autograph. As she was signing, some of her teammates came out and joined her and reporters started asking questions and taking photos. She answered a few questions that were aimed her way and then moved to her family while the reporters targeted Gwenog.
She was greeted with a chorus of congratulations and back slaps from her brothers. Her dad pulled her into a hug before her mum engulfed her in one of her usual forceful hugs and showered her in kisses. Once her mum released her she found herself face-to-face with Harry. She jumped into his arms and their lips met in a serious kiss. They only pulled apart when she realised that a few of her brothers were making loud coughing noises. When they turned to look at her family, Ginny realised that as well as having her family looking at them, the fans, reporters, photographers, and Harpies were staring as well. A flash indicating a photo had been taken made her groan. She should have been more careful about snogging Harry in public.
Harry encircled her waist with his arm and led her away from the crowd. The rest of her family followed them towards the Floos and the Apparition points at the stadium.
“You were brilliant out there, Ginny,” Harry said as they walked.
“Thanks. It felt great. I kind of didn’t want the snitch to be caught. I’d have loved to play for longer,” she said.
“Well, we need to celebrate your first game,” Harry said. “Where do you want to go?”
“I don’t mind. Shall we see if the others want to come?”
“Definitely,” he replied.
Ginny turned to talk to her brothers but was distracted by a silver flash appearing next to her.
“Auror Potter, report to the Auror Office immediately,” the lynx shaped Patronus said.
“Oh, shit,” Harry said. “That’s Kingsley. It must be important.”
Another Patronus appeared and spoke straight away. “Auror Weasley, report to the Auror Office immediately.”
Ginny turned to Ron who had a mixture of fear and importance on his face. He also looked like he was stuck to the spot and couldn’t move.
Harry pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry, Ginny. This is important. I have to go.”
“I know. I understand,” she replied against his chest.
“Hopefully it won’t take too long,” he said and then kissed her head. “We can celebrate after this is done.”
Ginny nodded and looked up into his shining eyes. She pulled his head down and gave him a short, passionate kiss. “Be careful, Harry.”
He nodded. “I love you. I’ll see you soon,” he replied before turning to Ron. “Come on, mate. We’ve got to go.”
Ron broke from his trance-like state and followed Harry to the Floos.
Just before Harry Flooed away, Ginny called out. “I love you.”
Harry smiled, blew her a kiss, and then Flooed away.
Chapter 7: Chapter 7
Author's Notes:
Thanks to Stephanie O for her help with this chapter.
Chapter 7
Ginny woke slowly and stretched. She was pleased that she was feeling no after-effects of the game the previous evening. She rolled over, looked at her bedside clock, and discovered that it was nearly midday. Her stomach was telling her that she needed to get up and eat, but she decided to stay in her cosy bed and rest for a while longer. It’d been quite a few weeks since she’d been able to have a sleep in like this. The day before she had been able to have a lie in, but with her being at Harry’s there wasn’t a lot of sleeping involved. If only Harry was here with her now — not that her mother would let her have Harry in her room for the night. She would love to feel his arms around her and his lips on hers right about now.
“Okay, Ginny. Time to get up before you start dreaming too much,” she muttered, forcing herself to move from her comfortable bed.
She quickly showered, dressed, and headed down to the kitchen. As soon as she entered the kitchen her mother stood and tried to cover that morning’s paper with some of her cook books.
“Morning, Mum.”
“Morning, indeed. It’s the middle of the day. It’s only because I know how hard you’ve been working lately that I’ve let you stay in bed this long,” her mother replied. “Are you hungry?”
“Oh, yes, I am,” Ginny replied.
“Sit down then and I’ll get you something, her mother said as she lifted the pile of books and the paper beneath them.
“Leave the paper, Mum,” she said. “I want to see the report for the game last night.”
“Oh…er…”
“What’s wrong, Mum?” Ginny asked as she held out her hand for the paper.
“It’s just that there’s something in there that…”
“Please, Mum. Can I just see it? Did they say something horrible about how I played?” Ginny asked, feeling a little perplexed. She thought that she had played well.
“Oh, they were quite complementary on how you played,” Molly Weasley replied.
“Then what in the name of Merlin…” It was then that she remembered kissing Harry outside the Harpies change rooms and the fact that there were reporters and photographers there. “Oh, no. What does it say?”
Her mother handed over the paper, turned to face the stove and busied herself making Ginny something to eat.
Ginny looked down at the paper in her hands. The back page was facing up and there were a few photographs of the Harpies and the Arrows with the title claiming that the Harpies had beaten the Arrows in a fluctuating game. Ginny read through the article and was pleased that the reporter had complimented her flying and Quidditch abilities. Overall the reporter had been positive about the Harpies game and their chances for the coming season.
Ginny then closed her eyes and slowly turned the paper over. When she eventually opened her eyes, she saw a huge photograph of herself and Harry on the front page. The only thing she could be grateful for was that it was one of them standing side-by-side with their arms around each other and not one of them kissing. She then looked at what had been written.
Rookie Harpy Chases Boy Who Lived
“Oh, good Godric!” she exclaimed. “Who comes up with these dreadful titles?”
Her mum didn’t turn around but she could hear that she was laughing softly.
Rookie Chaser, Ginny Weasley, showed the fans more than her Quidditch talents last night. After proving her worth as a recruit, Weasley, 18, spent some time signing autographs and talking to the fans before answering questions about the game. It was after talking to the public that she revealed the most surprising secret. Miss Weasley was seen hugging and talking to her family and then was observed in a tight clinch with Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. The pair hugged and kissed for a lengthy time and then walked away from the crowd with their arms around each other.
How long that these two have been an item is unclear. Harpy management refused to answer any questions about the pair when asked, and no one could enlighten the Daily Prophet on the matter.
Miss Weasley graduated from Hogwarts in June with eight NEWTS and was Gryffindor Quidditch Captain in her seventh year. Where she met Mr Potter is not known, but our one and only war hero appears to be enamoured with the Rookie star.
Only time will tell if this is a serious relationship, but there are sure to be a few devastated witches now that the war hero and eligible bachelor is off the market.
More pictures on page 3.
Ginny turned the page to see two more photographs of Harry and her. One showed them snogging and the other walking away from the cameras.
“I guess I should be happy that they weren’t too horrible,” she said.
“Yes, dear. They at least got some of the details correct, though I have no idea how they know how many NEWTS you got,” her mum said.
“I guess the Ministry has all that information,” she said, flicking back to the front page. “I actually like this photo. I wonder if the Prophet will give me a copy.”
“I wondered how you would react,” her mother said. “It could be a lot worse, that’s for sure. At least Rita Skeeter wasn’t there.”
“I’m sure she’ll be devastated that she missed out on this,” Ginny said, grinning. “What a shame. That makes up for her calling Bill a long-haired pillock when he wouldn’t answer her questions about the strike at Gringotts.”
“Just be careful, my dear. She’ll be after her own story about the two of you,” said her mother.
Ginny nodded. “I hope Harry doesn’t mind all this. I wonder how they are doing. Has Ron come home yet?”
“No, I haven’t seen or heard from him,” replied her mum.
“Maybe their investigation has come together,” she said. “That’d be brilliant. Harry and I have barely seen each other lately. Once this is all over and done with and my training calms down, life will be great.”
Her mum turned to her and smiled. “I presume that everything is going well with Harry.”
“You know that it is,” Ginny said, still looking at the picture on the front page of the paper.
“Well I’m not totally sure as you haven’t talked to me too much in the past few weeks,” her mum said, sitting across from Ginny at the table.
“You know that training has been totally unbelievable lately. I haven’t had time to talk to anyone.”
“I know and that’s why I haven’t said anything before this,” her mum replied. “But I just want to make sure…that everything has gone well…with Harry. He looked after you, didn’t he?”
Ginny looked at her mum blankly for a few moments and then she realised what her mum was trying to ask her. Her face then immediately changed to a shade of bright red and she covered her face with her hands. “Mum!” she exclaimed loudly.
“Ginny, it’s important that he looks…”
“Mum,” Ginny said. “Oh, I can’t believe I’m saying this to my mother…”
“Ginny, love. I just want everything to go well for you and Harry. I know in a perfect world you would wait, but in reality it happens. I just hope it was a wonderful experience for both of you,” Molly Weasley said tenderly.
Ginny looked at her mum closely and eventually smiled. “It was, Mum.”
“Good,” her mum said. “Now what are your plans for the rest of the day?”
“It depends if Harry gets finished soon or not,” she replied. “If he doesn’t get away from work then I’m just going to relax here, I think.”
oooOOOooo
Ginny was enjoying the late afternoon sun when she heard the sound of someone Apparating. She looked to the gate, where the noise came from, in the hope that Harry had finished working and had come to see her. As soon as she looked up she knew it wasn’t Harry. This person was taller and broader than Harry. It wasn’t one of her brothers either. The new arrival started walking towards the house and Ginny eventually recognised the man as Remus Lupin. She wondered what he was doing here at the Burrow. Remus walked up to the kitchen door and knocked. Her mother soon opened the door and let him in.
Ginny stayed outside for a few minutes and then curiosity took over. She quickly went inside and found her mum and Remus sitting at the table with cups of tea in front of them. They both looked at her as she walked in. Remus took a deep breath before speaking.
“Ah, Ginny,” he said.
“Hi, Remus,” she replied. “How are you?”
“I’m okay,” Remus replied carefully.
Ginny examined the man’s face. He didn’t look okay. His eyes were a little bloodshot and his posture was tense. “Are you sure?”
Remus sighed and then rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and first finger.
“Is everything okay, Remus?” Molly Weasley asked in concern.
“Come and sit, Ginny,” Remus said.
Ginny knew that she was not going to like whatever Remus was about to tell her. She slowly took the few steps over to the table and sat down carefully. Her mum obviously knew something was wrong, too, as she had started to wring her hands.
“Merlin, Remus, you’re scaring me,” Ginny said. “Has something happened to Harry?”
Remus took another deep breath and nodded.
“Is he okay? Where is he? What happened?” Ginny asked quickly.
“I don’t know the full details,” he said. “I was with Sirius when Kingsley arrived. He came to let us know that Harry had disappeared.”
“Disappeared?” her mother asked quickly. “From where?”
“Kingsley told me that the Auror office received a tip in regards to the investigation that Harry’s been working on,” Remus said quietly. “On Saturday night, Harry and his Aurors made their way down to a cave on the south coast. They were told that the people involved were going to deposit something in the cave early on Sunday morning. So they went early and lay in wait.”
“Was Ron with them?” Ginny asked, suddenly remembering that her brother was a part of Harry’s team. “Is he okay?”
“From what I’ve been told, everyone else is fine,” Remus replied.
Both Ginny and her mum breathed a sigh of relief for Ron, but Ginny was still extremely anxious about Harry and she was sure her mum would be too.
“What happened, then?” Ginny asked. “Did the people come? Did they take Harry?”
“Four men arrived as they had been told they would. They were captured reasonably easily and then when the Aurors were finalising everything, Harry disappeared. That’s all I know.”
“So what’s happening now?” Ginny asked. She was starting to feel sick to the stomach. She wanted to go and help find him, but she knew that she wouldn’t be any help whatsoever.
“Kingsley took Sirius down there to find out exactly what has happened. He hadn’t heard the full story when he came to tell Sirius. Apparently Tonks was sent there to help, too. Sirius asked me to come and tell you.”
“So all we can do is sit around and wait?” Ginny asked.
“For now, yes,” Remus replied.
Ginny sat quietly and let Remus’ news float through her mind. Harry was missing. This was something that she had not let herself think about since she had met Harry. His job was a dangerous one and there was always a chance that something could happen to him. She could feel tears welling and fought with herself to stop them from falling. But she couldn’t help it — one lone tear slipped down her cheek and then was followed by more. Her mum must have been looking at her as she made her way around the table and engulfed her in a hug. Ginny burrowed her head into her mum’s neck and let the tears fall. Her mother rocked her and made soothing noises as she cried and Ginny couldn’t stop herself from showing her grief.
Many minutes later, Ginny pulled away from her mum. She could feel that her eyes were puffy and probably red as well. Her mum Conjured a cloth and dampened it before giving it to her so that she could make herself feel a little better.
Remus leaned across the table, placed his hand on top of hers and patted it reassuringly.
“Harry will be okay, Ginny,” he said. “He’s been through worse than this before and come through it.”
She nodded and gave Remus a small smile.
“Why don’t you go and lie down, Ginny, dear,” Molly Weasley said. “I’ll come and get you when we get some news.”
Ginny shook her head. “I don’t think I could sleep, Mum.”
“Are you hungry? I could get you something…”
“I’m not hungry, Mum,” Ginny replied.
Remus stood up suddenly. “I know. I just need to go and get something and I’ll be back. May I use your Floo?”
“Of course, Remus,” Molly replied.
Ginny watched as Remus Flooed away and then walked over to the window. She pretended to look at the garden but she was actually hoping that Harry was okay and trying not to think about what she would do if the worse happened. She then remembered a Muggle story that she had read where the heroine prayed for her lover’s safety. The Weasleys, the same as most Wizarding families, were not particularly religious; however Ginny thought that it wouldn’t hurt to pray for Harry’s safe return. So, as she peered out the window, she prayed and tried to think positive thoughts.
“Ginny,” her mother called, interrupting her thoughts. “Remus is back.”
Ginny turned away from the window and walked back over to the table where Remus was sitting with a box in front of him. She slid into the chair next to him and looked curiously at the box.
“I can’t imagine that Harry has shown you these,” Remus said.
“What’s in the box?” she asked.
“Photos,” Remus replied.
“Of Harry?”
Remus nodded. “A few from when his parents were alive and then a lot as he grew up with Sirius.”
Ginny smiled widely. “He’s only shown me the photos he has in frames.”
Remus took the lid off the box and pulled out some albums. He opened one and placed it in front of her.
Ginny opened the cover to see baby Harry with his mum and dad. She ran her finger gently across the page and turned to Remus.
“Thanks, Remus. I think this will help. Can you tell me about the photos?”
He nodded.
The three of them sat and looked at the photos. Remus filled them in on milestones, holidays and research trips overseas. Ginny loved looking at the photos of Harry at different ages — the skinny little boy, the lanky teenager and the young man who saved the Wizarding world. She would have loved to be doing this with Harry, but she had a sneaking suspicion that Harry would have taken a lot of coaxing to show her some of the photos and would have glossed over some of the more exciting stories. She planned to get Harry to look through them with her at some stage, though. Time passed by reasonably quickly once she was distracted by the photographs and stories.
Her dad arrived home from work a while later and was filled in on all the details of Harry’s disappearance. The news was being kept quiet as Arthur hadn’t heard anything about Harry at the Ministry that day other than whispers about the reports from that morning’s Daily Prophet. As Ginny and Remus told her dad what they knew about Harry, her mum started making dinner. It was from her position at the bench that overlooked the garden that Molly Weasley exclaimed.
“Sirius.”
“What?” Ginny and Remus said together.
“Sirius is walking through the garden,” her mother said.
Ginny and Remus jumped up from the table, scattering some loose photographs, and rushed to the kitchen door. As Ginny opened the door, Sirius stepped up onto the step.
“Is Harry okay?” she asked.
“Any news?” Remus asked at the same time as Ginny.
Sirius shook his head as he walked in the door. “Greetings, Arthur. Molly,” he said as he walked into the kitchen and sat at the table next to Arthur.
“Have you heard anything?” Molly asked as she sat down.
“I found out what happened,” Sirius said.
“How did he disappear?” Remus asked, sitting down.
“First of all, Ginny,” Sirius said reaching out for her hand and drawing her next to him. “Are you alright?”
Ginny leant against his shoulder and sighed. She told herself not to start crying again. Crying would not help find Harry or help Sirius feel any better.
Sirius looked at her. “He’ll be found and he’ll be okay. He’s been through worse than this and come out okay.”
“Remus said that too,” she said quietly.
“Good. You can believe us, you know. We’ve seen him get in and out of plenty of scrapes.”
“So what happened?” Ginny asked as she slid into a chair next to Sirius.
“Well…it’s quite a strange story really. Apparently the suspects were apprehended easily with no dramas at all. Harry had bound them and then activated the Portkeys to send them back to the holding cells at the Ministry. He was about to start gathering all of the evidence together. One of the other Aurors saw him move to the back of the cave and then he just disappeared.”
“How?” Remus asked.
“There was a hidden hole in the back of the cave. They believe he’s down there,” Sirius said.
“Was he taken down there by someone?” Arthur asked.
“They don’t think so,” Sirius said. “There’s no magical trace of anyone else.”
“So he fell down then?” Ginny asked.
“That doesn’t sound like Harry,” Remus said. “He’s not usually clumsy.”
“Well it’s either that or he was pushed,” Sirius said.
“Are you saying that one of the other Aurors deliberately pushed him down?” Molly asked, amazed.
“I don’t think so,” Sirius said.
“How many Aurors were with Harry?” Arthur asked.
“I believe there was Ron and three others. Ron and one of the others were new graduates from Auror school and the other was a witch that Harry has worked with over the past year. One of the other graduates saw Harry go to the back of the cave and he followed him back there. He turned around and Harry was gone.”
“So what’s happening now?” Ginny asked.
“Tonks, Kingsley and Robards are there at the moment. They’ve sent numerous detection spells down the hole. Nothing bad has registered and they have received signs of someone alive down there. So Tonks was preparing to go down the hole just as I was leaving,” Sirius said. “Ginny, she told me to tell you that she will bring Harry back to you safely.”
Ginny nodded.
“Tonks is going down there by herself?” Remus asked suddenly. “Is that safe? Shouldn’t there be at least two of them?”
Ginny turned to look at Remus and was almost pleased to see the look of concern on his face. Remus was worried for Tonks’ safety.
Sirius started chuckling beside her. “Worried about Tonks, Moony? She’ll be oh so pleased to hear about that.”
Remus almost growled in reply. “I’m just…she’s…we’re…friends,” he stuttered.
“Sure Moony. Keep telling yourself that,” Sirius replied.
Ginny found herself laughing at the two friends, despite her worry over Harry.
“Anyway,” Sirius said. “Kingsley told me to come and talk to you and he told me to tell you, Molly, that Ron’s fine but he will be held up at the Ministry debriefing. He also told me that I could bring Remus back to wait and see what happens.”
Ginny felt her heart sink a little. She was glad that Sirius had come and kept her up to date with what was happening with regards to Harry, but she didn’t want Remus and Sirius to leave. Sirius and Remus leaving meant that she wouldn’t be kept up to date on Harry as easily.
“That would be good,” Remus said. “But…”
“You should both have something to eat before you go,” Molly interrupted.
“That sounds wonderful, Molly,” Sirius said. “It will take Tonks a while to get down into the lower parts of that cave.”
“Good,” Molly replied, getting up from the table and starting to organise plates.
“Will you send me word as soon as you hear anything?” Ginny asked Sirius while her mother was serving dinner.
“Of course we will,” Remus replied.
“Actually, I think it will be okay if you come with us, Ginny,” Sirius said.
“No,” Molly said as she Levitated plates onto the table. “That’s not a good idea at all.”
“But, Mum, I need to be there. I need to know what’s happening.”
“No.”
“You know how much he means to me, Mum. I wouldn’t hear until much later on…”
“I’m sure that Remus or Sirius will send you word…”
“Molly, let her go,” Arthur said quietly yet firmly. “She loves Harry and I’m sure he’d love to see her once he’s found safe and well.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Ginny said, feeling a little happier.
Her mother nodded but did not look overly happy. “You had better eat up, Ginny. You might have to wait around in that cave for a long time. You’ll need your strength.”
“Yes, Mum,” Ginny agreed.
They all ate their dinner quietly and as soon as they were finished Ginny excused herself and went to find some warm clothes. When she returned to the kitchen Sirius and Remus were standing near the door getting ready to leave. Her mum gave her a hug, handed her a bag and then Ginny crossed the room to join Harry’s godfathers.
They left the Burrow after saying good-bye to her parents. Sirius produced a Portkey from his pocket and gestured to Remus and Ginny to take hold.
“How did you manage this?” Remus asked.
“Kingsley,” Sirius replied. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
The Portkey took them to a beach at the bottom of a cliff. Ginny looked around at the pale sand and rocky cliffs. On any other day she would have taken some time to look around at the pleasant view, but right now she was eager to get as close to Harry as possible.
“Where is he?” she asked.
“The cave is up there,” Sirius said, pointing half way up the cliff. “There’s a path we can walk up.”
“Why don’t we just Apparate?” Ginny asked.
“The Aurors placed anti-Apparition Wards. We’ll have to walk.”
Ginny followed Sirius up the narrow winding path with Remus following her. Ginny was glad that she had a head for heights, as the cave was deceptively high up. She hadn’t realised how high the cliff was on first inspection.
The cave was quite large at the front and it narrowed and darkened at the back. Ginny recognised Kingsley Shacklebolt straight away. He was standing in the middle of the cave. Behind him was a shorter and broader man who was kneeling near a well-lit hole.
“Ah, Sirius, Remus,” Kingsley said as they walked into the cave.
“I hope you don’t mind, Kingsley, we brought Ginny Weasley with us. She’s quite anxious and I’m sure Harry will be more than pleased to see her,” Sirius said.
Kingsley looked at her thoughtfully and then smiled. “Yes, come on in, Miss Weasley. I gather that the Daily Prophet has actually got some information correct then,” he said and gestured to that morning’s paper lying on the floor.
Ginny nodded and blushed a little under his gaze.
“Is Tonks down there?” Remus asked as he walked towards the reasonably large hole at the back of the cave.
The kneeling man nodded. “She’s fine. She’s sent her Patronus up every half hour. Her last message mentioned that she had found Potter’s wand.”
“Tonks found Harry’s wand,” Sirius said. “Let’s hope he’s not too far away from it.”
“That’s what we’re hoping too,” Kingsley said.
“Do you know how he fell down there?” Ginny asked curiously. “I can’t imagine that Harry would be clumsy enough to trip or accidentally fall.”
“Oh, he didn’t,” Kingsley said.
“What happened then?” Remus asked.
“We got word from the Auror office just before,” Kingsley said. “He was accidentally knocked down there by one of the other Aurors.”
“What?” Sirius said. “Which idiotic fool managed that?”
“Oh, please tell me it wasn’t Ron,” Ginny said.
“Oh, you’re Weasley’s sister then?” the other man said from beside the hole. “Gawain Robards, Miss Weasley.”
“Pleased to meet you,” she replied.
“Likewise, though I wish it were under different circumstances,” Robard replied. “Don’t worry, it wasn’t your brother. It was that other graduate — the brown-haired pretty-looking one.”
Ginny looked at the Auror for a moment while that piece of news sank in. “Andy?” she said in shock.
“Yes, that’s the one,” Robards replied. “Do you know him?”
“I met him at a dinner,” Ginny replied. “Actually it was the same night I met Harry.”
Sirius and Remus looked at her curiously.
“Was he the one that your brother tried to set you up with?” Sirius asked with a laugh. “The one you turned your back on to flirt with Harry.”
Ginny laughed along with Sirius. “That’s him.”
“Maybe he’s trying to get back at Harry for stealing you from under his nose,” Sirius joked.
“What?” Kingsley and Robards said together.
“I was joking,” Sirius said.
“It’s not a joking matter,” Robards said. “We’ll have to investigate this.”
“Yes, we will,” Kingsley agreed.
A noise from the hole interrupted them. Tonks’ head could be seen in the opening.
“I’ve found him,” she called.
Chapter 8: Chapter 8
Author's Notes: Thanks to Steph for checking this for me
Chapter 8
As soon as Tonks had spoken from the hole, everyone else in the cave gathered around her. Four of them spoke at once in reply to Tonks’ statement.
“You’ve found him?” Sirius asked looking a little relieved.
“Where? Is he far down?” Kingsley asked.
“Is he…okay?” Ginny asked, still feeling worried.
“Tonks, are you okay?” Remus asked.
Tonks climbed out of the hole and raised her hands to stop the questioning. She took a few moments to catch her breath before she spoke.
“I’m going to need some help to get him out,” she said.
“Tonks, is he okay?” Sirius asked.
“He’s alive and he has some injuries. It’s hard to tell what they are though,” she said.
“What do you mean?” Kingsley asked. “You should be able to see his injuries, Tonks.”
“It’s a little hard. They’re covered,” she replied.
“Remove what’s covering them, Tonks,” Robards said fairly forcefully. “I know you’re friends, but when it comes down to treating him and keeping him alive, you need to forget about modesty.”
“They’re not covered by clothes,” she said.
“What’s covering them then?” Kingsley asked, sounding a little confused. “Rocks? Water?”
“Well…”
Ginny could tell that Tonks was trying not to give away something. She couldn’t imagine what it was, though.
Sirius suddenly made a sound as if he had made an extraordinary discovery. “Is he conscious, Tonks?”
“He seems to be coming in and out of consciousness. His eyes opened for a while and then he appeared to fall asleep again,” she replied.
“Did you talk to him at all?” Sirius asked.
“Of course I talked to him,” she said.
“Did he reply?” Kingsley asked.
“He didn’t say anything. He just kind of gr…oaned,” she said staring at Sirius.
Remus was looking between Sirius and Tonks curiously and then he smiled. “Tonks, is he…um…”
Ginny watched Remus. She could tell that he was trying to ask Tonks a question without giving away anything.
“What are you lot on about?” Robards asked.
Kingsley looked at them all. “Look, you need to tell us if it’s something important that could affect how we treat or rescue him.”
Sirius sighed and rubbed his chin. He held up a hand towards the two male Aurors and focused on his cousin. “Tonks, is he in his…other…persona?”
It suddenly dawned on Ginny what they were thinking and talking about. Harry had a secret that obviously none of the Aurors, bar Tonks, knew about. In fact, she was sure that the only people that knew were in this room. And it was a secret that could possibly get him in a bit of trouble with the Ministry. Harry was in his Animagus form down in that hole. And from the way Sirius, Remus and Tonks were evading the other Aurors' questions, he wasn’t a registered Animagus.
Tonks only response to Sirius’ question was a nod of her head.
“Other persona?” Robards asked curiously. “What are you on about? How can he have another persona?”
Sirius and Remus looked at each other silently, obviously asking each other what they thought. After about a minute of silent communication, Harry’s two godfathers shrugged at each other and nodded.
“If we tell you this, you have to promise not to tell anyone else, no matter what you think or what the Ministry asks of you,” Sirius said seriously.
Kingsley and Robards eventually nodded.
“Alright, Harry is an Animagus and from what Tonks has insinuated he’s in that form down there,” Sirius said.
“He is,” Tonks interrupted. “I’ve talked to him and he’s purred or growled at me a little when he was awake, but he did go in and out of consciousness a lot.”
“Where is he injured?” Remus asked.
“There’s a wound on one of his back legs and on his front shoulder, and a bit of a gash on his forehead. I can’t tell if he has any bruising or internal injuries. I need him to change back to check everything else. I asked him to change but he either couldn’t or didn’t hear me properly.”
“I can change him back,” Sirius said. “I had a lot of practise when he was learning.”
“We can’t let you down there,” Robards said. “It goes against every rule and guideline.”
“We’re not going to get him up here without him changing,” Tonks said. “Can either of you two change him?”
“We could, yes,” Kingsley said slowly. “But, we’re both larger men; will we fit down there?”
Tonks looked at her two superiors. “It’d be a tight squeeze. Sirius is a lot thinner than both of you. So is Remus, for that matter. Either of them would find it easier and would be a lot quicker.”
“We’ve wasted a lot of time talking. We should get back to him,” Remus said.
“I’m going down there,” Sirius said, striding to the hole.
Ginny watched as Tonks and then Sirius lowered themselves into the hole. The other Aurors did nothing to stop Sirius from going. She watched as the wand light slowly disappeared down the hole. Once there was no sign of Tonks or Sirius, she moved next to Remus and sat down beside him.
“Are you okay?” Remus asked as he gently patted her on the shoulder.
She shrugged in reply. “I know he’s alive, but we don’t know how badly he’s hurt. I guess I’ll be worried until I see him coming out of that hole.”
“He’ll be fine, Ginny, don’t worry,” Remus replied.
“So will Tonks, Remus,” Ginny said in return with a small smile.
Remus looked at her with surprise. “I…er…I don’t…”
Ginny laughed softly. “Sure, Remus. You keep thinking that.”
“Merlin, you’ve been spending too much time near Sirius,” Remus said with a grimace.
oooOOOooo
Two hours later Ginny heard movement from the hole. She had been on the verge of sleep but the sound of movement made her forget how tired she was. She quickly stood up and took a few steps towards the hole. Remus had obviously heard the noise as well as he joined Ginny close to the opening. At the same time that she had moved, Kingsley and Robards had moved to kneel beside the hole.
“Have you got him?” Kingsley called out.
“Yes,” Tonks called out.
Ginny expected to see Harry being brought out of the hole on a stretcher. She was surprised to see him being helped out by Sirius and Tonks. As soon as he was out of the hole, Harry rolled onto his side and groaned.
“Tonks, he should be on a stretcher,” Robards said loudly. “Have you no regards for protocol, girl?”
“It’s fine,” Harry said. “I’m fine.”
Remus sighed. “You always say you’re fine, Harry.”
Harry carefully and slowly moved so that he could see Remus. “I am fine, Remus.” He then caught Ginny’s eye and smiled. “Ginny, you’re here too.”
She smiled. “Sirius and Remus brought me here. Are you really okay?”
Harry nodded. “I will be.”
“We need to get him to St Mungo’s,” Tonks said. “I patched up his leg and face, but his shoulder should be looked at and he’s got some bruising.”
Harry groaned. “I hate St Mungo’s.”
“You need to go, Li’l Prongs,” Sirius said.
“I’ll go as long as you, Remus, and Ginny come too,” Harry said.
“We’ll be there with you,” Sirius said as he brushed dirt off his clothes.
“Me, too?” Ginny asked.
“Yes, Ginny,” Sirius said with a smile. “You, too. I’ll send a message to Molly and Arthur once we get to St Mungo’s.”
"Really? I thought I'd have to go home," she replied.
"Great. I really want you to be there. I need you there, Gin,” Harry said almost pleadingly.
Ginny moved closer to Harry and gently rubbed his arm. “I’ll stay as long as you like.”
“Okay, folks,” Tonks interrupted. “We need to get moving. You can chat to your heart’s content later.”
Ginny and Remus moved away from Harry to give the Aurors some space. Robards Conjured a stretcher and Tonks helped Harry onto it and then Kingsley placed a quill on Harry’s chest.
“Tonks, you go with Harry and the others while we stay here and make sure we’ve got everything that we’ll need for the trials,” Kingsley said.
“Potter, we’ll come and get a statement from you tomorrow,” Robards said, causing Harry to nod in reply.
Tonks nodded and knelt beside Harry on the stone floor of the cave. She placed her hand on the quill and looked over towards Ginny, Remus and Sirius.
“Come on, you lot. This is a Portkey. It’ll take us straight to St Mungo’s. You need to be touching it,” Tonks said.
Ginny, Remus, and Sirius quickly moved over to Harry and knelt around him. Ginny placed one hand on part of the quill and with the other hand she gently grasped Harry’s closest hand. He caught her eye, smiled and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze back.
“On three, “Tonks said. “One, two, three — Transport.”
Ginny had only travelled by Portkey a handful of times and didn’t particularly like it. This trip was no different. The feeling of being hooked from her belly, the wind rushing through her hair as they travelled, and bumping into Tonks, who was beside her, as well as Harry’s stretcher were all annoying. Luckily it was a short trip and very soon they fell onto the ground at the hospital.
Straight away, two Healers were pushing the four of them away from Harry and waving their wands over his body. After a minute or two diagnosing his condition they Levitated the stretcher and started moving down a nearby corridor. Sirius immediately followed his godson and the Healers, and Ginny and the other two followed Sirius.
The Healers took Harry into a room at the end of the corridor. Sirius made to follow them in, but they stopped him, said a few words, and closed the door leaving Sirius in the corridor.
“They said they need to go over him and treat him in private — it’s policy,” Sirius said as Ginny, Remus, and Tonks reached him. “We can wait here. They don’t think they’ll be too long.”
Ginny sat on the low wooden bench that ran against the opposite wall from the treatment room. She rested her against the wall and closed her eyes. She was happy that the day had ended on a positive note — Harry had been found, he was alive and didn’t appear to be gravely injured. It had been a long afternoon of worrying and she was extremely glad that it was over. With that thought she fell asleep leaning against the wall.
oooOOOooo
“Ginny…Ginny…Ginny…”
She woke up with a start. Her neck ached from sleeping in an odd position. Her bottom and legs were numb, and her eyes were feeling gritty. She looked up to see Sirius standing above her.
“Sirius…Is everything alright?” she asked.
“Sorry to wake you,” he said. “They’re moving Harry.”
Ginny sat up with a start. “Have they finished treating him?”
“They have. He’ll be just fine — like we told you. He’ll have to stay here for another night, though.”
Ginny stood up and stretched and at the same time the door opened and Harry was wheeled through the door. He was awake and looking a little grumpy but when he saw Ginny and Sirius his eyes lit up and he smiled. She could then feel his gaze drift down her body as she continued to stretch. His smile turned into a cheeky smirk and he raised his eyebrows as his gaze drifted down to her exposed midriff.
“Just what I needed to see after being poked and prodded and dosed with potions,” Harry said as they started down the hallway.
“What’s that?” Sirius asked. “Your loving godfather and your beautiful girlfriend?”
Harry smiled. “Uh huh. And seeing my girl’s sexy stomach just makes it better.”
“Harry!” Ginny exclaimed, blushing.
Sirius groaned. “You’re definitely on the road to recovery, or extremely doped up with potions.”
“The potions that we gave him won’t affect him like that,” the Healer said.
“Definitely getting better then,” Sirius said.
“I’m fine,” Harry said. “I’m sure I could go home.”
“We need to observe you for a day or so,” the Healer said. “You’ve had a major shock today. We need to make sure you haven’t inhaled or ingested anything that could harm you. Merlin knows what lives in the bottom of those caves.”
Harry growled in response. “I don’t feel sick.”
“We don’t believe you are,” replied the Healer. “But we need to be careful. And we don’t want the Auror office complaining that we’ve missed anything with one of their top Aurors.”
“It’ll pass quickly, Harry. You can get some rest after all the extra hours you’ve been putting in,” Sirius said as he followed his godson into a private room.
Harry was moved onto the more comfortable bed and the Healer made sure he was comfortable and knew how to contact a Healer before he left the room.
Ginny sat in a soft chair on one side of Harry while Sirius sat across from her. Harry reached out a hand to her and she wove her fingers through his.
“Thanks for being here,” Harry said. “Hey, where are Remus and Tonks? Please tell me they’re up to mischief.”
“They went down to get something to eat,” Sirius said. “Tonks had hardly eaten today and Remus insisted she had to eat.”
“Oh, Harry, you should have seen how worried Remus was about Tonks when she was down there looking for you. He was worried about you, definitely, but he did not like the thought of her being down that hole by herself at all,” Ginny said quite excitedly.
“Really?” Harry asked looking quite delighted. “Tonks will love to hear that. Have you said anything to her?”
“No, not yet,” Sirius replied. “But Remus insisted that they were just friends. I think she may have worn him down at long last.”
“You’ve got to let her know that’s she’s making progress so she doesn’t lose heart,” Harry said. “She’s been trying to get his attention for so long.”
Ginny squeezed Harry’s hand and laughed. “You’re really excited about this, aren’t you?”
“They would be great for each other,” Harry said.
“I agree, but we’ll save that news for later,” Sirius said. “What I’d like to know is how you ended up down that hole. Do you remember what happened?”
Harry lay quietly for a few minutes before he spoke. “I’m starting to remember more now. It was a little hazy for a while.”
Ginny pulled her hand away from Harry’s and gently brushed his hair away from his forehead. “Just relax, Harry. It will come to you. If you feel up to it, just tell us what you remember.”
Harry covered her hand where it rested against his head and linked their fingers again. He pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed it lightly before smiling at her. Ginny leaned over and gently kissed his lips. Harry then peppered little kisses across her face.
“Please, you two,” Sirius said with a groan. “Please remember that I’m here and don’t need this display of affection foisted upon me.”
Ginny pulled away from Harry blushing a little, but also laughing.
“You just need to find yourself your own witch, Padfoot,” Harry said.
Sirius sighed and shook his head but had no reply.
“Come on, Padfoot. It looks like Moony’s finally worked out what the opposite sex is about. Surely you can, too. Or do you prefer the sa…”
“You can just hold that thought,” Sirius said. “I know perfectly what the opposite sex is about.”
Harry laughed at his godfather’s reaction.
“So, Li'l Prongs, what happened?” Sirius asked.
“Well, I remember moving to the back of the cave. It was pretty dark back there, but I knew the hole was there and I could see it reasonably well. I didn’t realise how deep it went, though. I was standing there going over some things in my head — just making sure I’d gotten everything covered before I put all the evidence together — then one of the guys came towards me and I remember being bumped. I stepped back to get my balance but the hole was there and I stepped into it. It was pretty slippery and I slid a fair way down. I managed to cast a Cushioning Charm at one point and that worked for a bit, but after I had stopped I stepped on some loose gravel and it gave way so I slid down further. I managed to transform and then I lost my wand. I must have bumped my head, shoulder and leg as I fell. I don’t remember how long I was there, but I vaguely remember hearing Tonks. Then, you and Tonks were there, Sirius.”
“Do you remember who it was that bumped you?” Sirius asked.
Harry took a while to think. “Um…I think it was Andy.”
“Okay…and do you remember how he bumped you?” Sirius asked.
“What? Why?” Harry asked looking a little confused.
“Kingsley and Robards are going to ask you all of this as soon as they are allowed by the Healers, kiddo,” Sirius said. “You need to try and remember so you can answer them.”
“Is it that important?” Harry asked.
“Yes.”
“Why?” Harry asked. He then turned his head sharply towards Sirius. “Do they think Andy pushed me?”
“It’s one of the things they’re contemplating,” Sirius said.
“Why would he push me?” Harry asked in wonder.
Sirius looked directly at Ginny. Harry turned his head from his godfather to her and his eyes widened.
“Really? Because of Ginny? Because of that dinner? You’re kidding, right?” Harry asked.
Ginny shrugged. From the little she saw of Andy at the dinner, she wouldn’t have thought that he’d be that vindictive, but then you never did know.
“I’ll have to think about it,” Harry said. “It never crossed my mind that he pushed me on purpose.”
“Try to remember, Harry,” Ginny said. “Your first impression is really important. It may be very close to the truth.”
Harry nodded and grimaced a little.
“It may not be either,” Ginny added with a wry smile.
“That’s great help, Gin,” Harry said yawning.
“You need to sleep, Harry,” Ginny said.
He nodded.
“Close your, eyes, my love,” Ginny said. She rubbed his hair away from his face again and brushed a kiss across his brow. “I’ll stay with you.”
“You don’t have to,” he replied. “Go home and sleep in a bed. Be comfortable.”
“I want to be with you. I have just spent the past twelve hours worrying about you. I’m staying so that I can see you are okay and are getting better. Then I can take you home and use my nurturing skills to make sure you make a full recovery,” she said quietly.
“I’m sorry I made you worry,” he said.
“It’s not your fault, Harry.”
He nodded and yawned again.
“Go to sleep, Li’l Prongs,” Sirius said. “I’m sticking around, too.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I do, kiddo,” Sirius replied. “Go to sleep. I’m going to go and see what Moony and Tonks are doing and then I’ll be back.”
“I hope you find them in a compromising position,” Harry said sleepily.
Sirius laughed and nodded. He patted Harry’s shoulder and headed out the door.
Harry turned back to face Ginny. He entwined his fingers with hers and smiled. He then pulled at her hand to get her to get her to move closer. Their lips met in a gentle and loving kiss. Harry’s eyes closed as she pulled away and very soon he was fast asleep.
oooOOOooo
Ginny groaned as she woke up. Her body felt all stiff and sore like she had slept in a chair or something as equally uncomfortable. She slowly opened her eyes and then quickly sat up straight. The happenings from the previous day came to her in a rush — Harry falling down a hole, being rescued, coming to St Mungo’s. She turned quickly, feeling her muscles scream in protest, to look at Harry. He was asleep and was looking fairly peaceful. The sheet had slipped through the night and she could see that his bare chest was covered in bruises. She slowly stood up and took the few steps to stand next to his bed. She reached out to run her hand over the bruises but pulled away at the last moment, not wanting to hurt him at all.
“He’ll be just fine, Ginny,” Sirius said from the doorway. “The Healers are happy with him. He might be able to go home later this afternoon.”
“Really?” she asked enthusiastically.
“He’ll need someone with him for a few days,” Sirius continued. “I think it would be best if he came to my cottage for a few days.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” Ginny agreed.
“I want to go to my home,” Harry said sleepily.
“Harry…”
“Sirius…”
Ginny chuckled. The two men were going to be extremely stubborn, she could tell. It would be interesting to see who won that battle.
“We’ll decide later,” Sirius said.
Harry nodded before turning to look at Ginny. “Did you stay?”
She nodded in reply.
“You didn’t have to. It can’t have been comfortable,” Harry said.
“I wanted to stay,” she replied as she gently rubbed her hand down his arm.
Harry captured her hand and squeezed it gently. “Do you have training today?”
“This afternoon,” she replied.
“Will you be okay to fly?” Harry asked with concern. “You haven’t had much sleep at all.”
She ran her fingers through his and smiled at him. “I’ll be fine and if there are any problems, I’ll explain to Gwenog what’s happened.”
“Okay. You take it easy, though. And I want you to have a proper rest before you go. I don’t need you falling asleep on your broom and ending up in here too.”
“Worrywart,” she replied. “Don’t worry, Harry. I’ll be fine.”
Their discussion was interrupted by Remus and Tonks walking into the room side-by-side.
“Oh and where have you two been hiding?” Sirius asked with an evil smile.
Remus looked a little flustered at his friend’s question. “I…we…I was just with Tonks.”
“Really?” Sirius drawled.
Tonks gave her cousin a shove on the shoulder and walked towards Harry. “Wotcher, Harry. How are you? You don’t look too bad, even with the pretty colours across your chest.”
“I’m fine, Tonks,” Harry said.
“Of course you’d say that,” Tonks replied. “By the way, Kingsley will be here in a bit to get a statement from you. Do you remember what happened?”
“Pretty much,” Harry replied.
“So how did you end up down the hole?” Remus asked, walking over to join Tonks and Sirius at Harry’s bedside.
“I was bumped and I stepped back to get my balance. Unfortunately the hole was there,” Harry said.
“Do you remember who it was?” Tonks asked.
“It was Andy but I’m not sure if he bumped me accidentally or pushed me,” Harry said.
Tonks shrugged and then rifled through the bag she was carrying. A moment later she pulled out a pile of newspapers and a couple of magazines and plonked them on Harry’s chest.
“Oi!” Harry exclaimed. “What’s all this?”
“Just some light reading,” Tonks said grinning. “I thought you might want to keep up with your latest press. There are some new ones from this morning, Ginny, that you won’t have seen. Personally, my favourite is the latest Witch Weekly.”
Ginny groaned and dropped her head onto the bed beside Harry’s chest. Harry’s hand rubbed her head.
“What’s wrong, Ginny?” he asked.
Ginny looked up into Harry’s eyes and sighed. “Do you remember what happened after my game?”
Harry looked at her thoughtfully for a few moments and then groaned. “Merlin, they saw us snogging, didn’t they?”
“They sure did, Li’l Prongs. And they got some great pictures,” Sirius said. “So now it’s not just me who’s getting tortured by seeing you two snogging — everyone is.”
“How bad?” Harry asked.
“The Prophet wasn’t too bad yesterday,” Ginny said. “They had a few photos. The one on the front page was actually quite a good photo.”
“The front page?” Harry asked sounding a little dismayed.
“You’re on the front of Witch Weekly too,” Tonks said, pulling out the magazine from the pile and holding it up.
Harry took the magazine from Tonks’ hand and glared at it. Ginny leaned over and looked at the photo — one of them snogging — and then read the caption.
“The Chosen One has been Chosen,” she read. “What a load of dragon dung. Who makes up this crap?”
The others all laughed.
She grabbed the magazine from Harry and opened it to the article. She scanned through it and threw it back onto the bed.
“What?” Harry asked. “Is it that bad?”
“It’s definitely a load of dragon dung,” she replied. “It’s not too bad, I suppose. They just haven’t got anything right at all.”
“Like what?” Remus asked curiously.
Tonks chuckled. “Oh, Ginny has Harry in her seductive powers and he got her the spot on the Harpies.”
“What?” Harry and Sirius said simultaneously.
Ginny nodded.
“Did that Skeeter bint write it?” Sirius asked.
Ginny checked the article and then nodded.
“She’s a nightmare,” Sirius said. “She’s written stories about Harry before that have been worse. I paid her a visit then and I think I might have to do it again. You don’t want her hassling you.”
“Mum said she’d be after a story about us,” Ginny said. “She missed out on seeing us after the game so she’s made it up.”
“Well that’s how she writes all her stories — all fiction and no fact,” Sirius said.
Ginny was about to say something about Rita Skeeter’s article about Gringotts and Bill when the door to Harry’s room opened and Kingsley Shacklebolt walked in.
“Harry,” Kingsley said. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” Harry replied.
Sirius, Remus, and Tonks groaned at hearing Harry’s reply.
“Heard that before,” Remus said.
“I am fine,” Harry repeated forcefully.
“Good,” Kingsley said. “Because I’m here to get your report on what happened. I know the basics, but this is going to be a formal investigation so I need every detail.”
Harry groaned.
“I can do it now with a self-writing quill, or you can do it by hand when you return to the office,” Kingsley said.
“Fine,” Harry replied.
Kingsley sat down next to Harry. Everyone else, including Ginny, stood around the bottom of the bed and listened to Harry go over the mission — from when they arrived at the cave to when Tonks and Sirius helped him out of the hole.
“So you can’t recall if it was an accidental push or not?” Kingsley asked after Harry had finished talking.
“Honestly, I really can’t remember,” Harry said.
Kingsley sat quietly for a moment and then looked at Harry. “Would you agree to me taking a look at your memory of the incident in a Penseive?”
“That’s fine, Kingsley,” Harry said. He took his wand from the bedside table and put it up at his temple and brought a silvery strand away from his head.
Kingsley Conjured a vial and Harry placed his memory into it.
“I’ll take this back to Auror headquarters and take a look,” Kingsley said. “I’ll get back to you as soon as I’ve got some answers.”
“Thanks, Kingsley,” Sirius said.
“You’re welcome,” the Auror replied. “Tonks, you’ve been given the day off. I’ll expect you tomorrow and you can finish all the reports.”
Tonks groaned and then nodded in reply.
After Kingsley had left his room, Harry turned to Ginny. “Ginny, love, you need to go home and rest.”
“I’m fine, Harry,” she replied.
“No, really,” Harry said. “Please go home and rest. You’ve had barely any sleep. I’m really glad that you stayed with me but I don’t want you hurting yourself because you’re tired. Please, Gin, go and rest properly.”
Ginny sighed. She really wanted to stay with Harry but she knew he was right. She did need to rest properly, at home, in a bed. “Alright, Harry. I’ll go and rest — just for you. But you need to rest too.”
Harry reached for her hand and smiled at her. “I will,” he said.
Ginny leaned down and gently kissed him. Harry placed his hand at the nape of her neck and prolonged the kiss. They were stopped by Sirius coughing and groaning at them.
After one more, brief kiss, Ginny stood and walked to the door. At the door she paused, turned and smiled at Harry. “I love you.”
Harry returned her smile. “Love you, too.”
Chapter 9: Chapter 9
Author's Notes:
I'm really, really sorry about the long wait on this chapter. The winter flus and other nasties took hold of my family over the past month. Hopefully it is gone now and I can have some free time. Also - a big thank you to Stephanie O for checking through this for me. :)
Chapter 9
Ginny walked through the slightly overgrown grass at the back of Sirius' cottage. She had just finished training and was eager to see Harry. He had been released from St Mungo's the day before, but Ginny had been unable to visit him because she had been taken to St Mungo's after a training accident. Her corked thigh was healed easily, but she had to sit around for a while before the Healer treated her which meant that by the time she was allowed to leave, it was too late to visit Harry. Just as she was about to knock on the kitchen door, she heard Harry and Sirius talking inside.
"For Merlin's sake, Harry," she heard Sirius exclaim. "You're supposed to be in bed resting."
"I'm fed up, Padfoot. I feel fine and I'm only sitting on the couch reading. I'm not out flying or something like that," Harry replied, sounding completely fed up.
"You can read in bed. The Healer wants you to be lying down for another day or two," Sirius replied.
Harry made a growling noise. "How about I lie on the couch. How does that sound?"
Ginny chuckled. She could imagine how agitated Harry was at having to rest for a few days and also have Sirius fussing over him. She could also understand why Sirius was fussing over him. She would be tempted to fuss over him too.
She knocked on the door and waited. Sirius soon opened the door and pulled her into a hug.
"How is he?" she asked.
"He's driving me nuts," Sirius replied. "He won't stay in bed. He's constantly complaining and I'm ready to scream at him."
Ginny laughed and patted Sirius reassuringly on the arm. "Why don't you go out for a while or go and relax. I'll look after him if you like. You need a break."
Sirius looked at her carefully for a moment and then nodded. "That'd be great."
"Who's here?" Harry called out from the sitting room.
"Ginny," Sirius replied.
"Brilliant," Harry responded. "I'll be right there."
"Don't you think about it," Sirius said and at the same time grabbed Ginny by the arm and led her to Harry.
Harry was half sitting up when she made her way towards him. He gave her a huge smile and continued to move into a sitting position.
"Harry, you need to lie down," Sirius said firmly.
Harry glared at his godfather and sighed and then lowered himself back to a lying position.
Ginny kneeled beside Harry and gave him a brief kiss before rubbing her hand across his forehead. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine," Harry replied. "I'm sick of lying down, let me tell you."
"I can imagine," she replied. "Well, the good news is that I'm here to keep you company for the evening."
"Brilliant," he said.
"Will you behave for Ginny?" Sirius asked.
Harry gave Ginny a cheeky smile and then nodded to his godfather.
"You'd better," Sirius said and then turned to Ginny. "He needs to stay lying down and is supposed to stay calm. There are two potions he needs to take with his dinner. They're in the kitchen. I'll leave them on the table for you. I'm just going to go and visit Remus so you can Floo me there if you need me…"
"Sirius, we'll be fine," Harry said.
"What about dinner?" Sirius asked. "I could get…"
"It's fine," Ginny said quickly. "I have a bag of food here that I picked up on the way."
"Are you sure?"
"Sirius, just go," Harry said firmly. "You might even find that Ginny can persuade me to go back to bed."
Ginny blushed at Harry's cheekiness.
Sirius glared at him. "L'il Prongs, I don't think that comes under the stipulation of staying calm."
Harry laughed. "Sorry, Padfoot. I couldn't help it!"
Sirius shook his head and walked to the door. He gave a wave and disappeared from view. A minute later they could hear the Floo activating.
"Finally," Harry said. He reached out and pulled her head down to his and captured her lips in a soft and languid kiss.
Ginny eventually pulled back and sat so that her eyes were level with Harry's. "Are you okay…really?" she asked sounding slightly worried.
Harry grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. "I'm fine…really," he replied smiling. "Sirius has kept me in bed since I got here. I managed to sneak out of bed just before. I was going crazy."
"How are all the bruises and cuts?" she asked as she ran her hand across his forehead where there was a faint scar from a gash.
"They're pretty good. The cuts are all healed and apparently the scars won't take long to disappear. My shoulder and leg are still a little sore but it's bearable," Harry said.
"Good. You were really lucky, Harry," she said.
"I know, Gin," he replied. "I'm usually so careful. I can't believe I fell down that hole."
"Did you fall?" Ginny asked. "Has Kingsley gone through the memories already?"
"I'm not sure, and, no, I haven't heard back from Kingsley yet," he said.
Ginny nodded. "When will you know?"
Harry shrugged. "Honestly, I'm not too worried about it at the moment. Though, I'm a little worried about you. Is your leg okay? What happened? Sirius didn't say much at all."
"I didn't get a chance to tell Sirius much when I Flooed. My leg is fine…"
Harry raised an eyebrow at her as if he didn't believe her.
"It is fine," she replied. "I'm not quite like you saying that everything is fine even if you have to be hospitalised."
Harry rolled his eyes and gave her a wry smile. "Fine! So what happened?"
"It was just a training accident. I was dodging a Bludger and Katarina was trying to chase it and she ended up flying straight into my leg. It hurt like crazy and the team medic decided I would be better to go to St Mungo's. That took forever, let me tell you," she said.
Harry reached down towards her thigh. "Which leg?"
She pointed at her right thigh and Harry gently ran his hand down her thigh causing her to shiver.
"Does it still hurt?"
"Not really?" she said. "The bruise is pretty, though."
"Yeah?" he said looking at her curiously. "You want to show me?"
"Only if you show me that shoulder of yours," she replied with a chuckle.
"You're trying to get my shirt off, aren't you?" he asked laughing.
"And, you, Mr Potter, are trying to get my pants off," she replied joining in the laughter.
"What's this about pants and shirts off?" Sirius said as he walked into the room.
"Why are you back?" Harry demanded. "I thought you were going to visit Remus."
"I was," Sirius replied with a cheeky grin. "But it seems that Remus already has a visitor and he seems to want her company more than mine."
Harry sat up quickly and smiled. "Is Tonks there? Did you interrupt them mid snog or something?"
"Good Godric, Harry. Would you lie down," Sirius said. "I won't tell you anything if you don't lie down."
Harry groaned and lay back down. "Okay, Padfoot, spill."
Sirius sat on the armchair opposite Harry and rubbed his hands together. "I Flooed in and couldn't see Remus anywhere inside, so I went up to the roof of his building and found him and my cousin making goo-goo eyes at each other."
"That's brilliant," Harry said. "I'm so glad she managed to wear him down. They will be great together."
"It's not that brilliant," Sirius muttered.
Ginny gave Sirius a curious look.
"Why?" Harry asked.
"Well now I'm surrounded by couples. You two are always touching and snogging, and now Moony and Tonks will be the same…"
"That's hardly surrounded," Harry said. "That's only two couples."
"But they are the people I spend most of my time with," Sirius said.
"You'll just have to find yourself someone special," Ginny said.
Sirius growled.
"No?" Harry asked.
Sirius shook his head and stood up. "I'm going to go and do something away from you two. But please, do me a favour and keep the clothes on."
"We were actually just comparing injuries," Ginny said.
Sirius gave them both a suspicious look and then nodded. "I'll believe you this time. Yell if you need me."
"I'm so glad that Tonks and Remus are together," Harry said. "They will be great together."
Ginny squeezed Harry's hand and smiled. "You've wanted this to happen for a while, haven't you?"
Harry nodded.
"Are you hungry?" Ginny asked. "I picked up some food from the Burrow just before I came here."
Harry leaned over and peered into the bag that Ginny had placed beside the couch. "What do you have?"
"No idea," Ginny replied. She opened the bag and the smell of roast filled the room.
"Your mum is brilliant," Harry said as he took in the mouth-watering smell.
Ginny pulled the coffee table over so that it was positioned next to the couch. She then pulled out the containers her mum had packed and placed them on the table and served the food onto two Conjured plates. Harry quickly Conjured some cutlery and dug into the food, causing Ginny to shake her head.
"Hasn't Sirius been feeding you?" she asked.
"He doesn't cook anywhere as good as your mum does," Harry replied between mouthfuls. "This is divine."
Ginny laughed and started to eat her own dinner.
oooOOOooo
Ginny woke to find her nose pressed against Harry's chest. His arm was wrapped around her shoulders and he was still fast asleep, snoring slightly. She tried to stay as still as possible so that she didn't accidentally bump Harry in spots where he had been injured. The previous evening Harry had insisted that she should stay with him overnight because he would sleep better with her nearby. She was a little concerned that she would annoy him or delay his healing by staying with him, but Harry had told her not to be silly. So she had stayed and had the best night's sleep that she had had in weeks — even better than her sleep during the weeks of hard training. Being next to Harry was apparently just right for her. She hoped it was the same for Harry.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Harry stirring beside her. He rolled over so that he was facing her and kissed her softly on her forehead.
"Good morning, beautiful," he said as he smiled at her.
"You definitely need your glasses on if you think that I'm beautiful when I have just woken up and have a horrid case of bedhead," Ginny quipped.
"I don't care whether you have just woken up, or are wearing your best robes. You, Ginny Weasley, are the most beautiful woman in the world," Harry said.
"That knock on your head must have been a little worse than we thought," she replied.
"Very funny," Harry said giving her a playful shove. "You're gorgeous, Gin. Don't doubt me on that. What I wonder is why you want to be with a skinny, near-sighted git like me."
Ginny rubbed her hand up his arm and cupped the back of his head. "Because you are an amazing and handsome man, Harry, and we just connect so well." She then gently pulled him closer and kissed him.
She would have loved to have stayed in bed kissing Harry all day but that wasn't possible. She had to get ready to go to Holyhead for training and she knew that Sirius would be appearing soon with Harry's potions and he wouldn't be overly happy to see them snogging, especially seeing that Harry wasn't supposed to be getting worked up.
As if he had been reading her mind, Sirius opened the door not long after they had started kissing and walked in with a number of vials of medication.
"All right you two," Harry's godfather said. "Enough of that. You are supposed to be staying calm, L'il Prongs. Somehow I don't think Ginny being in your bed is going to help that."
Harry rolled away from Ginny and sighed. "Padfoot, how many times do I have to say that I'm fine?"
"You have always said that and would if your arm was hanging off," Sirius said.
"What a charming thought," Harry said.
"You know what I mean. We'll wait until you get clearance from your Healer to do more physical things," Sirius said as he placed the potions on the bedside table.
"You mean I'll wait — you don't need to do any waiting, Sirius," Harry said.
Ginny chuckled at the byplay between Harry and his godfather.
"I'll leave you to take those potions, Harry, and then I'll see you both downstairs. No more hanky panky until further notice, okay?" Sirius said waving his finger towards them both, before walking out of Harry's room.
"Hanky panky?" Ginny asked, laughing. "That sounds like something my mum would say."
Harry laughed with her and then rolled himself over and sat up. "Excellent! No head spin this morning."
"Good," she replied.
"See — you being here is good for me. Why were you so worried you'd hurt me during the night?" he said as he reached for the vials.
Ginny moved so that she was kneeling behind him. She gently rubbed her hands over his back, kissed the top of his head, and then hugged him carefully. Once he had taken his medication, he leaned back into her hug and they stayed like that until Sirius' yell from the kitchen made them move.
As they were eating their breakfast, an owl arrived and flew straight to Harry. He removed the message, gave the owl some bacon rind, and then opened his mail.
Ginny watched Harry's face as he read his mail. When he first started reading, he looked a little anxious but by the time he had finished he looked quite calm.
"Harry?" Sirius asked, sounding quite concerned.
Harry looked up and moved his gaze from Sirius to Ginny and back again. "It's from Kingsley."
"And?" Sirius asked.
"He wants me to come into the office to see the memories in the Pensieve," Harry said calmly.
"Did he say if they found anything?" Ginny asked.
"Not really," Harry said. "But he did say that I would find it interesting to watch and that I shouldn't be too concerned about the findings."
"What does that mean?" Sirius asked.
Harry shrugged. "There's only one way to find out, though."
"Do you think you've recovered enough to do that?" Sirius asked.
"If you're asking me that, the answer is yes," Harry replied. "If you didn't think I was fit enough, you'd tell me I couldn't go."
Sirius gave a wry smile and nodded.
"Kingsley said that you can come and see the memories as well," Harry said.
"Good," Sirius replied.
"Gin, you can come too, if you want," Harry said to her with a smile.
"When? I have training this morning and then a strategy meeting at five," she replied.
"We'll make it whenever you can fit it in. I want you to be there with me — both of you that is," Harry said quite seriously.
Ginny reached over and squeezed his hand. "We'll be there with you. It's okay."
Harry gave her a grateful smile. "So when are you free?"
"I've got time between one and five," she said.
Harry turned to his godfather. "Does that suit you?"
Sirius nodded. "Should I see if Remus is free?"
"Yeah. I'll ask for Tonks to see it as well. She should be there too and I want to see her and Remus together," Harry said.
Sirius chuckled. "They'll be staring into each other's eyes. They won't see what happened."
Ginny laughed.
"Okay, I may be over-exaggerating a little," Sirius said.
Ginny and Harry laughed in response to Sirius' statement.
Ginny looked at the clock and sighed. "I have to go. Training starts in twenty minutes."
Harry nodded and smiled at her. "That's okay. Shall I meet you at the entrance to the Ministry at one-thirty?"
She nodded and stood up. She gave Harry a lingering kiss before walking to the fireplace and Flooing away.
oooOOOooo
Once training was over, Ginny showered quickly and ignored the playful jibes from her team-mates about who she was rushing off to see. She then raced to the Floos and made her way to the Ministry of Magic. She looked around as she exited the Floo and smiled when she saw Harry, Sirius, and Remus gathered to one side of the foyer. Harry caught sight of her almost straight away and strode over to her. Ginny waited for him to reach her and wrapped her arms around him. He gave her a brief kiss and then led her over to his godfather and Remus.
"Thank Merlin, you managed to control yourselves," Sirius said cheekily as they arrived. "This is a public place after all."
Ginny chuckled and Harry shook his head.
"You're just jealous, Padfoot," Harry said.
"We've been through this, Harry. I'm not going there," Sirius replied.
"We'd better get moving," Remus suggested. "Isn't Kingsley expecting us shortly, Harry?"
Harry looked at his watch and nodded. "Let's go. Tonks will meet us there."
Harry reached for her hand, gave it a squeeze and guided her to the lifts.
A few minutes later they walked along the corridor to the Auror office. Tonks was waiting at the door and she greeted Remus first with a brief yet intense kiss. Ginny caught Harry's eye and they exchanged a smile. She knew Harry had been keen to see how they interacted. Tonks then said hello to Sirius and then gave Harry and Ginny hugs.
Tonks led everyone into the meeting room where Kingsley was waiting for them. A Pensieve had been placed on a large table and Ginny could see a silvery substance inside it.
"Good to see all of you here," Kingsley said. "The memories are waiting to be viewed. I think you may be a little surprised by what you see, but it is fairly conclusive. I won't say any more than that. I want you all to see it and let me know your feelings."
They all nodded.
"Is there any one of you that have never used a Pensieve before?" Kingsley asked.
Ginny was the only one that nodded.
"That's okay, Miss Weasley. Nothing in there can hurt or affect you in any way, no matter what you see, "Kingsley said. "Not that you will see anything traumatic. You just need to touch the memory and you will be pulled in. It might be a good idea if you go straight after Harry."
Ginny nodded and looked at Harry. He smiled reassuringly and then walked over to the Pensieve. He touched the silvery substance and she watched him disappear inside the circular bowl. She then walked over to the table. She looked into the Pensieve and could see shapes moving in it.
"Go on," Remus said. "It'll be okay."
Ginny nodded and carefully touched the silvery liquid. She felt herself being pulled in to the memory and landed right next to Harry who reached out and hugged her. The others soon appeared next to her and she started to watch what was happening around her.
She found herself standing in the cave where she had been a few nights previously. The area where she had waited for Harry was well lit and she could see Ron and a female Auror there placing equipment into various bags. Off to one side of the cave she could see Andy collecting vials and placing them into stands, and on the other side was another Auror she did not know writing on some parchment. Memory Harry was at the back of the cave and looked deep in thought as he surveyed the cave.
The memory did not change much at all for the next minute or two. Every one of the Aurors in the memory were hard at work doing what Ginny imagined they were supposed to be doing.
"This looks very ordered," Kingsley said. "You did a great job with the group Harry."
"Thanks," Harry replied.
Sirius made to say something but Kingsley interrupted him. "Here we go."
Ginny watched the memory carefully. Harry hadn't moved. He was standing near the hole, but not scarily close. Andy turned and started to carry the stand of vials across the cave when the Auror who was writing looked up and yelled out Andy's name sharply. Andy jumped in mid-walk and made the vials wobble violently. The other Auror glared at Andy and yelled at him to be careful.
"I forgot about that," Harry muttered beside her.
Andy's response to being yelled at was to jump half a foot off the ground and then quickly take about five steps backwards, in the process bumping into an unsuspecting Harry who fell backwards bottom first into the hole. The memories quickly changed as Harry fell, slid, and tumbled down the hole.
Ginny gasped and grabbed hold of Harry's hand as she watched him fall down the hall. Suddenly the memories stopped and everyone looked at each other.
"I suspect that would be when Harry blacked out momentarily," Kingsley said.
Harry wrapped his arm around Ginny's shoulders and pulled her against him. "I'm fine, Ginny. It's okay."
"What?"
"You're crying," he said, brushing some tears from her cheek that she didn't realise were there.
"I…it…"
"It looked bad, I know — the memory of me falling down the hole," he said quietly as he pulled her into a full hug. "But I wasn't hurt too bad; you know that. I don't remember much of it, really, and I don't remember it hurting too much. And it wasn't too long after that that I changed into my Animagus form."
Ginny nodded against his chest. "It looked so bad," she whispered.
"Gin, let's get out of here," Harry said.
Ginny pulled away from Harry and looked around. While she and Harry had been occupied, the others seemed to have left the Pensieve. She nodded and allowed Harry to help her leave.
Once they were back in the meeting room, they were surrounded by everyone else.
"What do you think?" Sirius asked.
"I'm glad," Harry replied.
"You are?" his godfather replied, a little surprised.
"Yeah. I'd hate to think that I had someone on my team that was that vindictive," Harry said.
"True," Tonks said. "That wouldn't be good for the Aurors."
"It wouldn't," Kingsley said. "If that had been the case we would have had to check our entire recruitment and screening process."
"What happens now?" Harry asked.
"We'll need to do some work with Andy. After looking at the memories, he seems a little nervy. We can't have that in the field," Kingsley said.
"That's for sure," Tonks said.
"He was fine before that," Harry said.
"What was he carrying in those vials?" Remus asked.
"Some ingredients that were a little volatile," Harry said.
"What kind of ingredients?" Ginny asked.
"They were bringing dangerous and illegal ingredients into the country. They were illegal for a reason. Some of them could self-combust if they got too hot; another would emit toxic fumes in direct sunlight. They were nasty. We put them in vials with a special potion that keeps them stable," Harry said.
"Wow," Ginny said. "We never were told about anything like that at school."
"For good reason," Remus said.
"And Snivelly would never make anything interesting or informative if he could help it," Sirius said.
Remus shook his head at his good friend and Tonks giggled.
"Harry, are you happy if we do some extra training with Andy to help his reactions in tense situations?" Kingsley asked.
"That'll be fine," Harry replied.
"Good, I'll notify Gawain," Kingsley said.
"Is there anything else that needs to be done?" Harry asked.
"No, you can go and rest some more," Kingsley said with a wry smile.
Harry groaned and everyone else chuckled.
Ginny kissed Harry's cheek and whispered, "I still have a couple of hours until I need to get back to Holyhead. How about I come and supervise your resting?"
Harry grinned and pulled Ginny from the room. "We'll see you later," Harry said as they walked away.
"Keep calm," Sirius yelled in return.
Harry looked at Ginny and grinned. "I'm sure we can try."
Chapter 10: Chapter 10
Author's Notes: I'm very sorry about the long long wait on this chapter. I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter 10
The weeks following Harry’s accident passed reasonably quickly — well, for Ginny they did. She trained nearly every day and played in two more pre-season games in which she managed to have a decent amount of game time and scored plenty of goals.
When she wasn’t training or playing, she was with Harry. He was allowed to go back to his own home a few days after they viewed his memories of the accident and Ginny spent most of her free time there with him. He had not been cleared to return to work as of yet and he said that he was going crazy being stuck at home alone during the day. When she was able to, Ginny kept him company during the day as well as in the evenings. They spent a lot of time visiting the parks around London, having picnics and generally just relaxing together. Ginny thoroughly enjoyed spending her free time with Harry and the easiness of being around him really cemented the feelings that he was the one for her. She very much doubted that any other man could come close to Harry.
One Saturday, Ginny was walking through Diagon Alley alongside Harry. They were both bundled up as the weather had changed from pleasant early autumn weather to almost winter weather. Harry’s arm was wrapped around her shoulder and her arm was equally as wrapped around Harry’s waist. Ginny had played against the Cannons the previous evening and the Harpies had won easily and in a short time, so Gwenog had given them the rest of the weekend off from training and meetings as a reward. Seeing that Harry was still on sick leave from work, they intended to use the free weekend for some fun.
“What did you need to do here today?” Harry asked her as they walked away from the Leaky Cauldron.
“I need to visit Gringotts and then see Fred and George,” she replied.
“At least it looks fairly quiet,” Harry observed. “The foul weather seems to have kept a lot of people away.”
“Good,” Ginny declared. “That means we can get this done quickly and then get out of here.”
“Are you in a rush for some reason?” Harry asked with a cheeky smile.
Ginny bumped her shoulder into Harry’s “Seeing that the weather is so delightful…”
Harry chuckled.
“…I thought we might just have to stay inside all day and all night…alone.”
“I hope you have some good ideas to keep ourselves entertained,” Harry responded. “I’d hate for us to get bored.”
Ginny laughed and flashed Harry a sly smile. “Oh, Harry, I’m sure we can come up with some ideas.”
“I’m sure we can,” Harry answered. “And if all else fails, I hear there are some good new movies playing at the moment.”
“Who told you that?”
“I read some reviews in the Muggle papers,” Harry stated.
“Mr Potter, it really makes me sad that you have to resort to reading those papers. Don’t you like reading about the Magical world?” an affected woman’s voice lamented from behind them.
Ginny and Harry spun around to see a face that they both didn’t want to see at all. Ginny groaned and she could hear Harry muttering beside her.
“It’s such a shame, Mr Potter, that you would prefer reading Muggle nonsense when there are such riches in writing available in the Daily Prophet,” Rita Skeeter agonised as she held her notebook and an evil-looking quill in front of her.
“Oh, have they replaced you at the Prophet then?” Ginny proposed, giving the reporter a glare.
“Why…no…that’s…” Rita Skeeter stuttered.
“Ms Skeeter,” Harry drawled. “I would love to read insightful and entertaining articles in the Daily Prophet and I will when I see them there. While the Prophet prints a large amount of social propaganda that defames my friends, family, and co-workers, I’d rather read anything else.”
Ginny watched the reporter’s face change from a sickly smile to a look of pure loathing and she started to regret saying anything to the evil woman. She and Harry should have just turned away and kept walking as soon as they saw her, she decided.
“Actually, no,” Harry continued. “I’ll read the articles in the Prophet that are written by good journalists who report what is actually happening in our world. So in other words, I’ll read anything by most writers besides you.”
Rita Skeeter squawked in indignation when Harry finished speaking. Ginny chuckled to herself at Harry’s bravery in confronting the slippery journalist.
“And if you think you can make up some lies about me for the next edition, you can think again,” Harry announced. “I have plenty of ways to make sure that you would never write ever again.”
Harry then grabbed Ginny’s elbow and set off towards Gringotts at a fast pace.
“Alright, Harry. I think we can slow down now,” Ginny insisted once they were a good distance from Rita Skeeter.
Harry ran his hands through his hair and groaned. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
Ginny stopped and gently pulled Harry so that they were standing against the stone wall of a shop near the wizarding bank.
“Are you worried about what she might do?” Ginny inquired. “I thought you were brilliant.”
“I’m a little concerned,” Harry admitted. “I know she’s going to write something horrible — after what I said, that’s to be expected.”
“And?”
“If — when she does write something, I’m going to have to do what I said,” Harry observed.
“What will you do?” she queried.
“Oh, I know Sirius has some ideas and I have a great idea on how to prank her,” Harry said, with a sly smile.
“Good,” Ginny replied. “But let’s not worry about that just now. Let’s enjoy this weekend and we can worry about her on Monday.”
“So we’ll just have to hide in my house for the weekend and not look at any papers,” Harry suggested, smiling cheekily.
Ginny chuckled. “I hope you have some ideas on how to keep ourselves occupied,” she said, copying Harry’s comment from earlier.
Harry groaned, shaking his head at her. “Good on ya,” he responded and then grinned. “I’m sure my plans are somewhat similar to what you’ve been thinking, though.”
Ginny stood up on her tiptoes and lightly kissed Harry on his lips. “Come on then, Harry. If we don’t keep moving, you won’t get to find out all the wonderful things I have planned,” she whispered before grabbing his hand and leading him towards the bank.
“Promises, promises, Miss Weasley,” Harry joked as he followed her.
She stopped to face him and gave him a sultry smile. “Oh, Mr Potter, those are promises I fully intend to follow through with.”
Harry groaned, dropping his head back and then grabbed her hand and almost sprinted with her up the stairs to the wizarding bank.
“In a rush for some reason, Harry?” she giggled as they ran.
oooOOOooo
Ginny woke up slowly and glanced at the window. In some ways she wanted it to be raining and miserable outside so that she could just stay in Harry’s bed with him all day. In other ways, she’d love it to be fine outside so that they could spend the day together walking through a park, or wandering through Muggle London. After they had left Diagon Alley the previous morning, she and Harry had returned straight to his house and spent the day on the rug in front of his fireplace — with the Floo warded to prevent unwelcome interruptions — and in his bed. She slid from underneath the covers and walked over to the window. She pushed back the curtains to see a clear sky.
“What’s it like out there?” Harry asked from the bed.
“It’s a lovely looking day. The sun’s out,” she declared, turning around to face her boyfriend.
“It’s lovely looking in here, too,” Harry commented as his gaze travelled up and down her body.
“Prat,” she laughed, picking up a cushion from the floor and throwing it at him.
“The prat you love,” Harry said as he moved his arms to rest behind his head.
“Yes, you are,” Ginny declared as she walked across the carpet floor and back to the bed.
Harry patted the bed beside him and she sat down beside him.
“So what have you got planned for today?” Ginny asked.
“Not up to a repeat of yesterday?” he joked.
“It’d be a shame to waste such a lovely day. It may be the last one we get this year,” she replied. “We could go to the park or look in the shop windows in Muggle London.”
“We could,” Harry replied. “But I have something in mind for before we head out.”
Harry then pulled her against him and his lips met hers.
A while later Ginny wandered into the kitchen to find Harry standing at the stove cooking bacon, eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes. Ginny sniffed appreciatively and her stomach growled in response causing Harry to turn and grin at her.
“Hungry, my dear?”
She smiled and walked over to stand right behind her boyfriend, encircling his waist with her arms. “Mmmm, I am famished.”
“Did I wear you out?” Harry inquired, smiling cheekily. “Make you use up all that reserve energy, did I?”
Ginny playfully slapped his chest and moved to set the table and then wait for her breakfast.
An hour later Harry and Ginny left Harry’s house and spent the rest of the morning walking hand-in-hand through nearby parks and then after a relaxing pub lunch they wandered around looking in shop windows and through the occasional store. Late in the afternoon they returned home with a few purchases to find Sirius waiting for them at Harry’s door.
“There you are,” Sirius exclaimed. “I have been trying to find you all day.”
“Is there something wrong?” Harry asked as he opened the front door and indicated for Sirius and Ginny to precede him into the house.
“I guess you haven’t seen today’s paper,” Harry’s godfather stated.
Ginny turned to Harry as he turned to look at her. The both knew without saying a word that there was something in the paper about them and it would be written by Rita Skeeter.
“Aw, shite,” Harry swore. “What has she written?”
Sirius raised his eyebrow at Harry. “How do you know it was her?”
Harry collapsed into an armchair and pulled Ginny to sit on his lap. Sirius sat across from them and waited.
“We had a…little run in with Rita Skeeter in Diagon Alley yesterday morning. She wasn’t very happy after I
said some…er, things to her. I guess she’s taken her frustrations with me out in the press,” Harry explained.
“You could say that,” Sirius replied. “She’s definitely not happy with you, L’il Prongs.”
“What did she write?” Ginny asked. She was extremely curious and worried to see what was in the paper.
“Here,” Sirius said, pulling the paper from an inside pocket of his coat. “You’re lucky that it’s not on the front page.”
Ginny slowly reached out and took the paper from Sirius and unfolded it. The paper was already open on the page.
“Page five,” Harry said amazed. “It can’t be that exciting then.”
“Hmmm, wait until you’ve read it,” Sirius replied. “It’s probably only page five because there’s no picture of you.”
Ginny looked at the article and started to read.
Rita Skeeter reports. Harry Potter was sighted in Diagon Alley yesterday with his arms around his latest conquest. Overhearing his loved up conversation with the red-haired temptress, this reporter wonders if Mr Potter is as deserving of our admiration as we first thought. The Boy Who Lived was heard demeaning our Wizarding world and professing his preference for all things Muggle. According to Mr Potter he is not at all concerned about what is happening to his fellow wizards and witches as he does not feel that our media is worthy of his attention. In fact he would much prefer to read Muggle tabloid rubbish over anything that our world produces. This leads me to wonder if Mr Potter should be considered our saviour at all. It seems that he is more interested in getting noticed for the current girl of the week that he is bedding and enjoying the benefits of being famous. Maybe we need to be looking for a new hero to idolise.
“Oooh, that sneaky old bint,” Ginny exclaimed and turned and looked at Harry. His face was white and she had never seen him look so angry.
“What did you say to her, Harry?” Sirius asked. “This isn’t just her making something trivial up. This is defamatory.”
Harry dropped his head back on the back of the armchair and sighed heavily. “She overheard me telling Ginny about movie reviews and made a big deal about me reading Muggle papers. I told her I would read Muggle news until the Prophet stopped publishing her social propaganda.”
“Well, L’il Prongs, she’s taken a step up from social propaganda. This is libel. Something needs to be done,” Sirius stated angrily.
Harry gently pushed Ginny off his lap, stood and started pacing up and down the room. Ginny could see that he was absolutely seething.
“We can’t do anything today,” Sirius claimed. “But first thing tomorrow we are going into the Prophet offices and sorting this out.”
Harry nodded as he continued pacing. His hair was completely ruffled from running his fingers through it repeatedly. Sirius stood and walked over to Harry and pulled him into his arms. Ginny could see that Harry was shaking in his Godfather’s arms. This had really upset him. She walked to stand behind her boyfriend and wrapped her arms around him as well. Harry lifted his head from Sirius’ shoulder and looked over his shoulder at Ginny.
“Are you okay?” he asked her worriedly.
She nodded in reply. “I’m fine.”
“She wasn’t nice about you either,” Harry said sadly.
“Harry, she took our words and totally put them out of proportion in the most horrid way but ultimately what she said about you was the worst,” Ginny said as she rubbed Harry’s arm.
“At least Ginny’s name wasn’t in the article, L’il Prongs,” Sirius said reassuringly.
“But everyone knows we’re together. It’s been in the papers,” Harry replied.
“Harry, we’ll get through this together,” Ginny declared.
“And I’m here for you, so are Remus and Tonks,” Sirius said trying to comfort his Godson. “And I’m sure Ginny’s family will be behind you too.”
“Oh, Merlin!” Harry exclaimed. Your parents are going to be so upset with what she wrote about you. Your brothers are going to hex me for sure.”
Ginny shook her head. To be honest she hadn’t thought about what her parents would think but she did know that they wouldn’t blame Harry especially when they realised who had written the article. “It’ll be fine, Harry,” she murmured calmly. “They will understand and my brothers will be fine. She’s written horrible things about Bill before so he definitely knows what she’s like.”
“We should go and talk to them,” Harry decided. “Sirius, will you come with us?”
“Of course I will,” Sirius replied.
oooOOOooo
A few hours later Ginny was walking beside a calmer Harry as they meandered through the garden at the Burrow. Her parents had been most understanding especially after she and Harry had explained what was really said in Diagon Alley. Fred and George appeared for dinner and they vowed to help Harry get revenge on Rita Skeeter in any way possible. Sirius appeared quite happy to join in as well. After hearing this Harry had a smile on his face for the first time since they arrived back at Harry’s house.
“What are you planning?” she asked as they walked through the dried leaves lying on the ground.
He stopped walking, turned to her and took her hands in his. “I have an idea on how to get revenge on Skeeter.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yes and this will be on top of whatever happens tomorrow when we visit the Prophet’s offices. It has the potential to stop her publishing with any paper or magazine if it goes properly. I’m going to need you, Sirius, Remus, Fred and George to help get it right and after that we will have to be seen together a lot wherever she’s likely to be.”
“What are you going to do?” Ginny questioned.
“What are we going to do, you mean,” Harry corrected. “I’ll need you beside me for this.”
“Sounds fine by me. I won’t say no to spending time with you,” Ginny replied happily.
Harry pulled her against him and lowered his mouth to hers. They kissed slowly and lovingly showing each other how much they cared for and supported the other. Hands found their way under cloaks and jumpers and then back into the others’ hair. Eventually they stopped kissing, but stayed close to each other, resting their foreheads together.
“Are you going to tell me what you’re planning?” Ginny asked quietly.
“Let’s go and see if Sirius, Fred and George are here so I can tell you all at once,” Harry responded, grabbing her hand and leading her back towards her family home.
oooOOOooo
Ginny was finding it hard to concentrate at training. She was more focused on the fact that Harry and Sirius would be at the offices of the Daily Prophet at that very moment, instead of trying to catch the Quaffle and avoid Bludgers. Harry had gone to Sirius’ house after they had discussed Harry’s plan with the twins and Sirius. He and Sirius were going to put together all the information they needed to confront the owner and managers of the popular paper. This morning she had received a short note from Harry saying everything was organised and he would let her know what happened as soon as he could.
“Weasley!” Gwenog Jones called out loudly from the grassy pitch.
“Oh, shit,” she swore, as she turned to fly down to her team captain.
“Is there a problem?” Gwenog asked her. “You’re flying is average today, Weasley. I expect better.”
Ginny raised her eyes to meet her captains and sighed. “I’m really sorry. My mind is a little…distracted.”
“Somewhere else totally, I’d say,” Gwenog stated firmly. “Is this something to do with Potter and what was in the paper yesterday? I’d hope that you’d be able to separate your romantic troubles from your work.”
“It does have something to do with that article but Harry and I are fine. We had an altercation with Rita Skeeter over the weekend…”
“That bitch!” Gwenog exclaimed.
Ginny smiled a little at her captain’s exclamation and then went on to explain what had happened at Diagon Alley and what Harry and Sirius were currently doing only leaving out what Harry had planned to get revenge on the journalist.
“Ginny,” Gwenog said, a little less angry than previously. “I realise how horrible that article is and I should have realised that that bint wouldn’t have come close to writing the truth, but you need to concentrate here. The season proper starts next week and we’ve all been very pleased with your flying. In fact if we forget about what I’ve seen this morning, I’d say you are very close to making the starting team.”
“What!” Ginny exclaimed, amazed. “Really?”
“Yes, really,” her captain assured her. “Your contribution in the trial games has been huge — way more than we expected from you this early.”
“Oh my Merlin,” Ginny said. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you’re going to get back up on that broom and fly your arse off,” Gwenog almost demanded.
Ginny laughed and nodded. “I will.”
“But before you do that you might want to quickly see what he wants,” the Harpies captain indicated and pointed behind Ginny.
Ginny spun on the spot and saw Harry and Sirius standing just off the pitch. She quickly turned back to Gwenog who nodded and then jumped on her broom and flew over to the men.
“Quickly, Weasley,” her captain called out loudly as she reached Harry.
“What happened?” she demanded as soon as she landed.
Both Harry and Sirius laughed at her direct question.
“It’s all good,” Harry stated. “We presented everything and they were mortified that they let it go to print without checking it. Rita Skeeter has been put on a severe probation,”
“She’s not allowed to write the so-called celebrity stories anymore,” Sirius added.
“So what will she write?” Ginny asked curiously.
“Who knows,” Harry replied.
“Won’t that mess up our plan?” Ginny wondered.
“I doubt it. She’ll still be tempted if she sees Harry out and about,” Sirius said.
“What’s the paper going to do?” Ginny asked.
“To start with they’re going to print a very big and prominently placed retraction,” Sirius said.
“Is that it?” she returned.
“No, they are now required to present any stories about Harry to him before it goes to print or they will be forced to pay a penalty,” Sirius declared.
“Which we will give to charity,” Harry added.
“And they’ve been warned that we will take things further legally and very publicly if they don’t abide to our agreement,” Sirius stated.
Ginny nodded. “I guess that will do. Let’s hope our plan works.”
“Oh, it will Gin and she will not be happy,” Harry said smirking.
“That’s my L’il Prongs. A true Marauder,” Sirius said smiling.
“Weasley, in the air,” Gwenog yelled.
“I better go,” Ginny said. “I’m glad you came. I wasn’t playing very well - a little distracted today. But Gwenog just told me I’m close to starting next week.”
“That’s brilliant, Ginny,” Harry declared.
“WEASLEY!”
Ginny hopped on her broom, ready to fly but was stopped by Harry pulling her close and kissing her firmly. They pulled apart as Sirius groaned loudly and the Harpies wolf-whistled and cheered. Ginny returned to the air with a goofy smile on her face to deal with the teasing from her team-mates. Happily her flying was as good as ever.
Chapter 11: Chapter 11
Author's Notes:
Once again - sorry about the wait. I'll try to be faster with the next one!
A big thanks to Stephanie O for helping me with this.
Chapter 11
Ginny walked into the kitchen of the Burrow to find Harry, Fred and George sitting at the table. The table was covered in parchment and quills as well as potions and charms textbooks. The three men were whispering amongst themselves with George taking notes. Ginny quietly walked up until she was standing right behind Fred and was intrigued to see that none of them had realised that she was there.
“What are you three whispering about?” she asked quietly.
Fred, George and Harry visually jumped in their seats and spun to face her.
“Oh, holy mother of Merlin, Ginny!” Fred exclaimed.
“You scared the magic out of us,” George added.
“You should know it’s dangerous to sneak up on three of the most brilliant magical minds of this generation,” Harry continued.
“Good Godric, Harry,” Ginny sighed. “You’ve been spending way too much time with these two prats — you’re starting to sound like them.”
“Hey!” George exclaimed.
Fred nudged his twin brother with his elbow. “She means that as a compliment.”
“No, I don’t,” Ginny stated as she sat down next to Harry.
“Yes, she does,” Fred said. “We know that you love Harry and don’t seem willing to think badly of him…”
“You’re right, Fred,” George agreed. “She must think the same of us.”
“Idiots,” Ginny muttered.
Harry leaned over and gently kissed her cheek. Ginny then turned her head and brushed her lips against his.
“Enough,” Fred groaned, throwing a quill at Harry and Ginny. “We’re far too busy for interruptions like that.”
George nodded. “And if we can’t get any action, neither can you two.”
Ginny gave Harry one last kiss and then looked at her brothers. “How’s it going?”
“We’re close, it’s a tricky thing because we have to use a potion and combine it with a charm,” Fred explained.
“And we need to make sure that they last the exact same time otherwise it could be disastrous,” George continued.
“We’ve made a few changes that we need to test out and then if it’s working properly we’ll be able to start our plan,” Harry concluded.
“And she can get her just desserts,” Ginny added with a smile.
“Who’s having dessert?” Ron asked, as he walked in from the garden.
“How is it that he always enters a room when someone mentions food — even if we’re not actually talking about food?” Fred observed.
Ginny ignored Fred and looked at her brother closest in age. “You don’t want this dessert, Ron. This is about the dessert we’re serving Rita Skeeter.”
Ron walked to the table, spun a chair around and sat straddling it. “Right. Can I be in on this? I’d love to help you get even.”
Ginny looked at Harry and he was smiling and nodding at Ron. She was a little excited because this could help Ron and Harry become closer friends — something she really wanted.
“Sure, Ron. We’d love your help,” Harry said.
“You can help us test this,” Fred suggested with a cheeky smile.
Ron gave the twins a wary look. “Hmm, I’ve been on the wrong end of some of your tests before…”
“It’ll be fine, Ron,” Harry said. “I tested it the last time and we’ve only made a few slight changes and they’re all to do with timing.”
“Okay,” Ron agreed somewhat reluctantly. “Hey, Harry, when are you due back at work?”
Harry sighed. “Next week.”
“Don’t you want to go back?” Ron asked curiously.
“I’ve been told that I’ll only be in the office for the first two weeks I’m back. It’s going to be torture,” Harry groaned, dropping his head onto the table.
Ginny patted his back sympathetically. “At least you won’t be called out late at night.”
“Mmmm, one small benefit, I suppose,” Harry muttered.
“Such enthusiasm for his job,” George joked.
“Harry, maybe you should quit and come and work with us. You seem to have a great pranking mind,” Fred added.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love my job and I want to be there. I just hate paperwork. And that’s all I’ll be doing for two whole weeks,” Harry said in frustration.
“Aren’t you working with the new trainees?” Ron asked.
“Not until the two weeks are up,” Harry stated. “Apparently it’s called light duties.”
“Yuck,” Ginny said. “Rather you than me.”
“Thanks, Gin,” Harry said, poking his tongue out at her.
“Would you two stop flirting,” Ron groaned. “It’s all hugging and snogging and flirting. It makes me want to vomit.”
“It sounds like Ron needs some loving,” George said, laughing.
“We know some nice girls, Ronny boy,” Fred announced.
“Merlin, I don’t want your discards, thanks,” Ron said.
“Oi!” Fred and George exclaimed together.
“I’ll find my own girl,” Ron said. “When are we testing this then?”
“How about now?” Fred replied.
Ron took a deep breath. “Okay.”
oooOOOooo
“Are you ready, Ginny?” Harry called from his kitchen.
“Coming,” Ginny replied as she looked at herself in the mirror again.
Tonight was the start of their revenge on Rita Skeeter. Ginny was wearing clothes that she usually wouldn’t dream of wearing and she was feeling more than a little uncomfortable.
“You look great,” Tonks declared from the other side of the room.
“I look like a tart,” Ginny responded. “It’s a good thing that my mum won’t see me in this. She’d be calling me all sorts of things.”
“She might see a picture if she has her way,” Tonks stated.
“Argh — don’t tell me that,” Ginny said.
“Your mum knows what you’re doing. Just tell her it’s all in the name of getting even with Rita Skeeter,”
Tonks consoled. “You can’t go out looking too much like you. You have to look different.”
“I know, I know,” Ginny replied. “The next time we do this, I’m going super casual.”
“Sloppy, you mean?” Tonks asked.
“Yeah, and then I think I’ll do dowdy — like a female Percy,” Ginny said laughing.
Tonks joined in her laughter and they both headed for the door to go and join Harry.
“There you are,” Harry said as they walked into his kitchen. “We have to…”
Harry stopped talking and stood open-mouthed, staring at Ginny.
“What do you think?” Ginny asked, spinning around to show off the very short black skirt, the tight red shirt, and the thigh high black boots she was wearing.
“Oh, for Merlin’s sake,” Ron said from near the door where he was eating an apple. “Here we go again. More flirting and snogging.”
Sirius stood and joined Ron. “I hear you. It gets a little nauseating, doesn’t it?”
“Honestly, it puts me off eating,” Ron declared dramatically.
“Yet there you are stuffing your face,” Ginny pointed out. She then turned back to Harry who was still staring. “Harry?”
Harry walked over to her and leaned close so he could whisper in her ear. “Do you have any idea what you look like in that?”
“Is it that bad?” Ginny asked, feeling more worried than before.
“Oh, Ginny,” Harry said in a sultry voice, “It’s not bad at all. In fact it’s the total opposite and I have no idea how I’m going to control myself while we’re out.”
Ginny could feel her face blushing at Harry’s words. She looked up at him through her eyelashes and whispered. “Perhaps we’ll just have to make it an early night.”
“Sweet baby Merlin,” Harry groaned and he grabbed her arm and led her out of the kitchen and into the hallway.
As soon as they were out of everyone else’s sight Harry pulled her hard against him and his mouth swiftly covered hers in a demanding kiss that Ginny didn’t mind at all. In fact, she was returning the kiss with just as much passion and desperation.
“Oi!” Sirius and Ron yelled from the doorway.
Harry stopped kissing her and they both looked towards the door, not moving apart or adjusting their hands.
“Potter, can you please move your hands from my sister’s…er, chest,” Ron choked out, before muttering. “That’s not something I ever wanted to say.”
Harry started to move his hand, but Ginny stopped him. There was no way she was letting any of her brothers interfere in her relationship with Harry, especially when they were currently in Harry’s house.
“Is there a problem?” she asked smoothly.
“Only having to see you two like this,” Ron stated.
“You two really need your own love lives,” Harry said. He then moved them both so that Ginny was standing right in front of him and he encircled her in his arms.
Ginny nodded in agreement and leaned back into Harry’s embrace. “Then they might stop interfering in ours.”
“Whatever,” Ron said.
“Enough of this. You two need to get moving or our plan won’t work. The owl alerting her will get there very soon,” Remus said from behind Sirius and Ron.
Harry looked at his watch and nodded. He gently pushed Ginny back into the kitchen and sat her down on one of the chairs. “Pass me that vial, Tonks,” Harry asked, pointing towards the bench.
“So what does this do?” Tonks asked as she carried it over to Harry.
“This will make Ginny’s appearance change -- well for Skeeter and her cronies -- for two hours and we also have to place a charm on her so that if a photograph of her is taken it will come out as normal Ginny not pretend Ginny. Part of the potion is also like a slight Confundus Charm so that anyone who has no interest in the situation will not come near us and if Rita Skeeter tries to interview anyone about us, they’ll just appear confused and walk away from her.”
“Whoa!” Tonks exclaimed. “That’s pretty specific. How did you come up with that?”
“Well, Sirius, Fred, George and I sat down for a very long time and read a lot of books,” Harry replied.
“And did plenty of tests,” Ron muttered.
Ginny laughed and grabbed Harry’s hand. “Let’s go, Mr Potter.”
Harry Apparated them to near Gringotts, reached for her hand and they started to slowly walk down Diagon Alley.
“Ron’s still a little angry about that last test, huh?” Harry asked as they walked.
Ginny chuckled. “Well being stuck looking like a woman for two days instead of two hours is probably a little annoying.”
“He was very lucky that he wasn’t working,” Harry remarked. “Can you imagine what the other Aurors would have done?”
“I dread to think,” Ginny said.
They walked together quietly from one end of Diagon Alley to the other. Their plan was to make themselves quite prominent during the time they were out and not to rush around or hide themselves — something they found quite different to their usual behaviour.
“This feels weird,” Harry declared as they walked.
“I know what you mean,” Ginny replied. “We don’t usually make ourselves so…prominent.”
“At least we’re not being pestered by your fans,” Harry said. “Those Harpy groupies are a different species.”
Ginny chuckled and looked around the lamp-lit alley. “Do you think she’s around here somewhere?”
“She’ll turn up,” Harry predicted. “She won’t be happy with how things turned out. She’ll want revenge.”
Ginny nodded, glanced ahead and then sighed. “Here we go.”
“She’s here?” Harry asked. “Where?”
“Up ahead, walking this way,” Ginny pointed out.
Harry stopped them both and looked up the alley. “Oh, Merlin. She’s like a battleship ready for war.”
Ginny laughed at Harry’s description. “Come on. We need to pretend that we haven’t seen her.”
They continued their walk and chattered about unimportant things, but at the same time kept their eyes on the reporter. Just as they neared Quality Quidditch Supplies, Rita Skeeter walked past them, stopped and spun around. Harry and Ginny pretended to be totally interested in the brooms on display, but were actually watching the errant journalist. Rita Skeeter stood still for a moment, then grinned evilly and pulled her notebook and acid green quill from her handbag.
“Well, well, well, Mr Potter. What do we have here?” Rita Skeeter drawled. “On to greener pastures already?”
Harry and Ginny turned and looked at the reporter with small smiles on their faces. This was going to be interesting.
“Whatever do you mean?” Harry asked innocently.
“You’re in different company tonight.” Skeeter stated, nodding towards Ginny.
Harry and Ginny traded glances and grinned.
“She is dressed a little differently to what I’m used to,” Harry indicated.
“Yes, Miss Weasley never looked like that,” Skeeter declared. “You must be…enjoying…your evening with such a stunning witch.”
Ginny decided it was time to shake things up a little. She clung to Harry’s arm and giggled. “We are having a lovely evening. Thank you so much for asking about it. You’re too kind,” she said in a sweet, simpering voice.
Harry burrowed his head in her neck and laughed at her act.
“Oh, you’re such a sweet girl,” Rita Skeeter gasped. “You must let me take your picture. I can put it in tomorrow’s Prophet if we do it now. You wouldn’t mind, would you, Miss…”
Ginny smiled but did not say anything about her name. “That would be absolutely brill,” she giggled.
“Wonderful,” Rita Skeeter rejoiced. She pulled a small camera out of her handbag. “My usual photographer isn’t with me this evening, but I do have this new-fangled camera I can use. Hopefully it will work.”
Harry removed his head from her neck but was still shaking with laughter as they stood and watched Rita Skeeter play with her camera. She looked as if she had no idea how the thing worked, but Ginny knew that she was actually taking lots of photographs.
“Here we go,” Rita Skeeter said as she pretended to take a single photograph. “Now Mr Potter…Harry, you don’t mind me using this picture in the paper, do you?”
“Ms Skeeter,” Harry drawled. “You can use that picture of us, but please make sure the story is accurate.”
“Oh, it will be, don’t you worry your handsome head about it,” Rita Skeeter almost cackled. “And now I must be on my way. Tootles.”
As soon as the reporter had Disapparated, both Harry and Ginny broke down and laughed for several minutes.
“Oh, Merlin,” Harry said between laughs. “You were brilliant — or brill I should say. I have to say the “you’re too kind” was absolutely hilarious and where on earth did that sweetly sick voice come from?”
Ginny chuckled. “Oh, that comes purely from listening to Lavender go on and on about Won-Won.”
Harry pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “Well, you were amazing. Let’s hope this goes according to plan. I wonder what her editor will think when he sees the picture and the story.”
“Do you think he’ll get in contact with you like he agreed?” Ginny asked.
“I’m pretty sure he will,” Harry answered. “It will be interesting to see what he says though. I’m sure that Rita Skeeter will be adamant that she saw me with someone other than you and will not be happy when she’s told it’s you in the photo.”
“Everyone else will definitely see me, won’t they?” Ginny asked worriedly.
“Yes, they will. We tested it a lot, believe me, Ginny,” Harry said reassuringly.
Ginny nodded. Harry’s calmness made her feel a lot calmer. “Shall we go and let everyone know how it went?”
Harry agreed and pulled her close to him before Apparating them home. As they arrived in his kitchen, Harry lowered his mouth to meet Ginny’s earning them both a loud groan from Sirius and Ron. Eventually Ginny pulled away from Harry and looked around the kitchen at their friends and family.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” Ron asked shaking his head in disgust.
“It’s my kitchen,” Harry answered. “You should be glad that we were just kissing and not doing what we were doing last…”
“Enough, L’il Prongs,” Sirius interrupted. “We really don’t want to know.”
“No, we don’t,” Ron agreed. “And the images going through my mind are not good at all.”
“Oi, Ginny,” Tonks said winking. “I wouldn’t mind knowing. You’ll have to tell me about it another time when all these men aren’t around.”
“Tonks!” Harry exclaimed.
Ginny walked over to Tonks and whispered near her ear. “Harry’s just winding them up. Nothing happened in here.”
Tonks sighed. “I’m disappointed in you two,” she muttered.
“But it’s a different story with some of the other rooms around here,” Ginny said quietly to Tonks before looking at everyone else. “I thought you lot would be begging us to tell you how things went.”
“Did it go well then?” Sirius asked.
“It did,” Harry replied. “Ginny was brilliant. You should have heard her.”
Harry and Ginny then told Sirius, Remus, Tonks and Ron about their exchange with Rita Skeeter in Diagon Alley.
“Great work,” Sirius said. “You’ll have to let me know if you get an owl from the Prophet and what they say.”
“Do you think we’ll hear from them tonight?” Ron asked.
“I doubt it,” Remus answered. “They’ll have to show Rita’s article to some people that won’t be there at this time on a Thursday evening, so I’m sure they’ll wait until tomorrow.”
Sirius nodded in agreement.
“If that’s the case, I’m going to take my wolf home for the evening,” Tonks declared grabbing hold of Remus’ arm.
More protests and groans were heard from Sirius and Ron, while Remus turned a dark shade of red.
“I’m out of here, too,” Ron said. “I’m hoping that Mum has some dinner waiting for me.”
“You just ate pizza with us,” Tonks said amazed. “You’re still hungry?”
“He’s always hungry,” Ginny stated. “The poor girl he marries is going to have to be a good cook because he sure as anything can’t cook.”
“Oi!” Ron protested.
“You can’t, admit it,” Ginny said, poking her brother in the chest.
Ron shrugged.
Remus, Tonks and Ron made their way out of Harry’s kitchen. Sirius pushed himself away from the bench where he was leaning and patted both Harry and Ginny on the shoulders.
“Well done,” Sirius said with a grin, lowering himself onto one of the chairs. “When are you planning to get her again?”
Harry looked at Ginny with a smile. “Fancy going to a game of Quidditch?”
“I have to be careful about watching other teams, Harry,” Ginny said with a small frown.
“I know, but there’s that all-star game on the weekend after this,” Harry replied. “That won’t be a problem at all.”
“That’s a great idea,” Ginny responded. “I’d love to see it. Gwenog is playing.”
“Viktor Krum is too,” Harry stated.
“You don’t like Krum, do you?” Ginny asked. “I swear Ron used to fancy him. You should have heard him go on and on about him at the World Cup final.”
“Did you go to the final?” Harry asked.
“We did. Dad managed to get tickets for the Top Box,” Ginny explained. “Did you go?”
Harry nodded and smiled at his godfather. “We did. Sirius managed to get us in the Irish box. It was brilliant.”
“Harry had to be disguised a little though so he didn’t stand out,” Sirius added.
“The after party was amazing,” Harry continued.
Sirius chuckled. “You didn’t feel so good the next day, eh L’il Prongs.”
“Why?” Ginny asked.
Harry groaned and Sirius laughed loudly.
“He ended up with a hangover,” Sirius said through his laughter.
“What?” Ginny asked amazed. “You would have been…what, fourteen?”
Harry nodded. “It wasn’t my fault. I was handed this goblet which I thought was Butterbeer. Turns out it was ale.”
“He was so sick,” Sirius said. “And he only drank the one. But the good thing was he never went near the stuff again until he was seventeen.”
“Is there any pizza left?” Harry asked, pointedly changing the subject.
“Had enough of that conversation, Harry?” Sirius joked. “And, no, there’s no more pizza. Your brother can really eat, Ginny.”
Ginny nodded. “He sure can. We can go and get something if you like, Harry?”
Harry shrugged.
“I should go,” Sirius said as he rose from the table. “You make sure you Floo me as soon as you hear from the Prophet.”
“Will do,” Harry replied.
Once Sirius had left, Harry stood and pulled Ginny gently out of her chair so her chest was resting against his. Harry moaned and started to kiss his way up her neck.
“I thought you were hungry?” Ginny asked breathlessly.
“I am,” he replied as he nibbled on her ear.
“We can get a pizza at the shop down the road,” Ginny said arching her neck to allow Harry to kiss her under her jaw.
“Not hungry for pizza anymore,” Harry muttered huskily.
“What do you want?” Ginny asked as her hands made their way up Harry’s chest.
“You,” he stated.
Ginny groaned, cupped Harry’s jaw with her small hands and pulled his mouth to meet hers. “Upstairs?” she said a little later when their lips separated.
“How about we make good on what I said to Ron.”
Ginny pulled him closer and showed her liking of the idea by kissing him even more passionately. Harry pressed her against one of the benches and moved his hands to the hem of her shirt.
oooOOOooo
It was while they were eating breakfast that a strange owl appeared at the window. Harry jumped up, opened the window and removed the letter from the owl’s leg. Ginny joined her boyfriend at the window and gave the owl some bacon rind. Harry opened the mail and Ginny looked over his shoulder at what was written.
Mr Harry Potter,
I am writing to you, as agreed, about an article that was submitted about you. The article in question is short and not defamatory at all. Unfortunately it doesn’t quite make sense to me or the other editors. I have not put it to print because of this, but the journalist in question assures me that it is totally true. In fact we had quite an argument about it. I’ve included a copy of the photograph and corresponding article for your perusal.
“Let’s see it,” Ginny said excitedly.
Harry shuffled the paper in his hands and pulled out a photograph with a paragraph of writing underneath it.
Greener Pastures
Harry Potter was sighted in Diagon Alley last night with a new and very glamorous companion on his arm. The identity of the lovely (and lucky) lady is yet unknown but it seems as if she is extremely comfortable with our wizarding hero. Mr Potter appears to be well and truly smitten with his new love (as can be seen in the photograph above taken by yours truly). We hope that this lovely lady will repair the hole that was left in our hero’s heart by his last girlfriend.
Both Harry and Ginny burst out laughing at the sickly sweet article.
“You certainly caught her attention,” Harry said eventually.
“I can’t believe she was so…nice,” Ginny declared.
“I really like this photo,” Harry stated.
Ginny took the page out of Harry’s hand and looked at it closely. “It is quite good.”
Harry smiled at her and pulled the letter to the front again.
As I’m sure you can see this is a photograph of you and Miss Ginny Weasley, but Ms Skeeter insists it is of you and another witch. All the other editors at the Prophet agree with me, much to Ms Skeeter’s anger. In fact the only other person who doesn’t see Miss Weasley in the photograph is Ms Skeeter. You can probably see why we are a little confused. Feel free to reply to me if you feel it is warranted. I will continue to monitor and advise you of any new articles that concern you.
Yours sincerely
Walter Jennings
Editor The Daily Prophet
“Sirius will be pleased,” Ginny said.
“I’ll let him know after you leave for training,” Harry responded. “Are you ready for the game tomorrow night?”
Ginny smiled and nodded. “I am. We’ve been training really hard for this one.”
“The Arrows have had a good start to the season,” Harry mentioned. “Though, the Harpies are doing well too. It must be that new starting Chaser they have.”
“Flatterer. It’s the whole team that’s playing really well, not just one new Chaser,” Ginny stated.
“I don’t know,” Harry said, rubbing his chin as if in deep thought. “She’s definitely a star. Gorgeous, too.”
Ginny laughed and slapped Harry on the shoulder. “I love you, Harry Potter.”
“Likewise, Ginny Weasley.”
oooOOOooo
Ginny cheered loudly as the Quaffle flew through the middle goalpost. She and Harry were at the men versus women all-star Quidditch game that was being played to raise money for St Mungo’s. The female all-stars were currently fifty points ahead of the men and as she had bet Harry that the women would beat the men, she was starting to feel good.
Ginny was dressed extremely casually to watch this game — nothing like what she had worn in Diagon Alley just over a week ago. Her jeans were old and faded, her checked shirt that she had borrowed from Harry was loose and quite unflattering. She had a Muggle cap on her head hiding her hair which had been pulled back messily into a loose plait. She was told that her hair would appear a mousy brown to Rita Skeeter and her complexion would be tanned. All in all, she looked the total opposite of her previous effort of changing her appearance.
Harry started yelling loudly as Viktor Krum hurtled straight down towards the pitch with the female Seeker close behind him. When it became apparent that Krum was feinting Harry sat back and sighed.
“You’ve got no chance of winning this bet, Potter,” Ginny stated, as she laughed at his frustration.
“You just wait and see, W…”
A camera flash stopped Harry talking. Both he and Ginny turned to where the flash had come from and were immediately blinking from another flash.
“Merlin!” Ginny exclaimed holding her arm up to shade her eyes.
“Mr Potter,” Rita Skeeter was heard drawling. “Here you are.”
Harry and Ginny quickly exchanged glances and grimaced before turning back to face the reporter with smiles on their faces.
“Here I am,” Harry answered. “What can I do for you Ms Skeeter? I thought you would have been happy with last week’s picture.”
“It’s a funny thing, Mr Potter. Something strange happened to the photograph and it couldn’t be printed in the Prophet,” Rita Skeeter claimed.
“That’s a shame,” Harry answered.
“And it doesn’t seem to matter now, does it? You’re here with another beau…er, lady,” the reporter said, looking down her nose at Ginny. “You seem to be getting around a bit Mr Potter.”
“I guess I do,” Harry replied. “You did see me at Diagon Alley and now here and in-between those I’ve been to lots of places.”
Ginny giggled at Harry’s roundabout answer. Harry hadn’t lied, but had not answered the journalist’s statement at all. He needs to go into politics with that skill, Ginny thought, but then quickly changed her thinking as she knew that Harry would definitely not like that life at all.
“That’s…oh…” Rita Skeeter muttered looking very flustered. “Anyway, who is this lovely lady you’re with this evening?”
“You know who I am,” Ginny said loudly, standing up to shake Rita Skeeter’s hand vigorously. “We’ve met before many times.”
“We have?” the reporter asked dubiously.
“Oh, yes. Surely you haven’t forgotten me,” Ginny continued as she sat again. “That’s very disappointing Rita…after everything we went through.”
“Oh, right…yes,” the journalist replied quickly. “Of course I remember you. I just had a momentary block.”
“Good, good,” Ginny said forcefully. “Well, I hate to cut you off, Rita, but I’d really like to watch the game. I’ve bet Harry that the girls will win and I’m looking forward to having him pay up on that later tonight.” With a wink Ginny deliberately turned her back on the reporter and watched the game intently.
“Lovely,” Rita Skeeter said. “Well, Mr Potter, I hope you enjoy your evening and for your sake I hope the men win.”
As soon as the journalist had departed, Ginny turned to Harry. “What was that?”
Harry chuckled. “I think she thought you were a little rough, Gin. And a little loud. Definitely not the girly girl that she seems to think I should be with.”
“You want a girly girl, do you?”
“I didn’t say that,” Harry replied quickly holding his hands up. “She loved you when you were all dressed up. Apparently she doesn’t like this look.”
“I guess the article won’t be quite so flattering this time then,” Ginny said.
“Probably not,” Harry responded and then jumped up, cheered and waved his hands above his head as Viktor Krum caught the snitch.
“Bugger!”
oooOOOooo
Ginny quickly made her way into the Leaky Cauldron and looked around for Harry. He was sitting at a table right in the middle of the pub, somewhere they normally wouldn’t sit. She had changed after training, even though she was running late, as this was going to be another chance to taunt Skeeter and she needed to arrive ready just in case the reporter arrived before she did.
“Hiya, Harry,” she said as she slipped into the seat across from her boyfriend.
Harry glanced up quickly and did a double take. “You’re looking a little…dark…today.”
“You don’t like it?” she asked sweetly.
“Well…”
“It’s fine, Harry. I’m not much of a fan of it either. Apparently I’ll look even worse to Skeeter. My hair will be black and kind of dank looking and my skin will be very pasty, plus my makeup will be very dark and slightly overdone.”
“Well, that’s certainly different to before,” Harry agreed. “Do you want something to eat?”
“Yeah, I’m starving. The roast looks good,” she said as she looked at the couple nearby who were eating a lovely looking roast pork.
“Righto,” Harry answered. “I’ll go and order at the bar.”
“Thanks,” Ginny replied. “Could you get me a Butterbeer please?”
“Sure,” Harry answered as he walked away from their table.
As soon as Harry had left, his chair was filled by Rita Skeeter.
“Um, hi,” Ginny said quietly.
“You’re here with Mr Potter, yes?” the reporter asked impatiently.
Ginny only nodded. She intended to be quiet and shy this time.
“He certainly likes a bit of variety,” Rita Skeeter stated.
Ginny made no reply.
“Hmmm, you’re very quiet, aren’t you,” the journalist observed. “Have you been seeing him long? You do realise that you’re probably only one of many. Mr Potter has been seen with plenty of other witches lately and they’ve been a lot…friendlier than you are. He’ll find someone else next week, you know. He seems to be sowing his oats since he split with that Harpy girl, though no one else can see it. I’m determined to find out what he’s up to. Is he paying you? Is that it?”
Ginny should have felt dreadful with Rita Skeeter’s comments, but all she could do was feel inwardly happy. Their plan was working. The journalist was getting frustrated. And now she had to try really hard not to start smiling or laughing.
“Nothing to say then?” Skeeter asked. “I feel it’s my duty to warn you. Mr Potter does not seem to be looking for a permanent relationship, so you should get as much out of him as you can before he moves on.”
Ginny looked coolly at the journalist and yet again said nothing. Just then Harry appeared at her side and leaned down to kiss her cheek.
“Ms Skeeter,” Harry said almost sweetly. “How are you?”
“Fine, Mr Potter, just fine. And here you are. With another lady friend.”
Harry smiled and rubbed his hand up and down Ginny’s arm.
“What are you up to Mr Potter? There’s something going on.” The journalist then stood, reached into her bag and pulled out a camera with which she quickly took a picture of them before tottering away.
Harry slid into the vacant seat and looked at Ginny curiously.
“She knows we’re up to something, Harry,” Ginny stated gleefully. “She’s getting frustrated. You should have heard her.”
oooOOOooo
Ginny was extremely happy that she could be herself this evening. After having to dress differently for their past three dates, tonight she was allowed to dress however she wanted. Tonight she was meeting Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Remus, Tonks and Sirius for a celebratory dinner. Ginny was a little worried that they were planning their celebration too early, but Harry and Sirius insisted that they would definitely have something to celebrate at the end of the night. By all counts Rita Skeeter was at breaking point.
Harry had received a letter from an editor at the Daily Prophet after their last encounter with Rita Skeeter. The editor was concerned that Skeeter was trying to defame Harry with her stories and pictures of Harry with different women. And that when it was pointed out to her that it was Ginny in all the photos, she became angrier and angrier and started ranting and raving about plots against her. Finally she had vowed she would get proof once and for all, so the editor had decided to warn Harry.
Sirius and Harry had decided that they would have one last confrontation with the woman and hopefully then she would leave them alone once and for all. Tonight they had decided to go about things a little differently.
Ginny arrived in Diagon Alley where she was meeting up with her brothers.
“About time Gin-Gin,” Fred declared as soon as she had arrived.
“We’re going to be late,” George added.
“We’re supposed to arrive late,” Ron stated as he walked past the twins and gave Ginny a hug.
Ginny hugged her brother. They had been getting along a lot better recently since he and Harry had become closer friends.
“Do you know if anything has happened yet?” Fred asked. “Have you heard from Harry?”
“No,” Ginny said. “Though Sirius has organised someone to alert Skeeter as soon as they arrived so hopefully we’ll walk in and see a huge production.”
“Shall we?” George said, indicating towards the pub down the alley.
The Weasley siblings linked arms and walked down towards the Leaky Cauldron. The pub was crowded when they arrived. In fact they could barely see from the door to the bar. Many of the customers seemed to be trying to look at something or someone on the other side of the room. One wizard was standing on a bar stool trying to get a better view.
“Do you think this is the huge production?” Ron said in her ear.
Ginny looked at him and nodded. “I hope it’s going as planned.”
The four Weasleys pushed their way through the large crowd until they could see what was happening.
Harry was standing facing an irate-looking Rita Skeeter. Behind him were Sirius and Remus and to one side of him was Tonks who was looking just as angry as the reporter.
“I tell you, this is Ginny Weasley,” Skeeter yelled pointing at Tonks. “I don’t know how you did it, but you’ve been making her look different to trick me.”
“I thought I was seeing a different witch every week,” Harry said calmly. “Now you’re telling me that I’ve been out with the same girl but she’s looked different every time you’ve seen her. Which is it?”
“I was sure you were spreading yourself far and wide, Mr Potter,” the journalist declared. “But now I’m not so sure. My editor insists that the Harpy girl is in all the photos I took, but I don’t see it as her. So now I’m thinking that all this was planned.”
“And why would I do that?” Harry asked.
“To get back at me,” the reporter replied.
“For what?” Harry returned.
“For that article I wrote about you being anti-wizard,” Skeeter declared.
“And why would I want to get back at you for that?” Harry questioned.
“Because I didn’t write about anything that you actually said,” Skeeter said.
The crowd that had been watching the drama quietly made a disbelieving noise together. Harry looked away from the journalist and seemed to realise that there was a large crowd gathered around. He looked towards his godfather who gave him a quick wink and then turned back to look at Rita Skeeter.
“You freely admit that you didn’t report what I actually said; that you twisted my words and made up a sensationalistic story and that you do this regularly,” Harry asked venomously.
“Yes,” Skeeter answered.
The crowd started whispering and gesturing to the people nearby, discussing the revelation of Skeeter admitting to telling lies. Ginny moved and tried to make eye contact with Harry but he was intently staring at the reporter. However, Tonks saw her and gave her a brief nod.
Harry wasn’t finished with the reporter. “So this woman here is Ginny Weasley?”
Skeeter nodded. She raised her wand towards Tonks. “It is. And I’m going to show everyone. Finite.”
Ginny chuckled as Tonks stood, unchanged, looking at the reporter with disdain.
“Finite. Finite. Finite…Oh, damn it. Work. Finite.”
Ginny knew it was time for her to be seen. She moved from the crowd and over to Harry. She gave him a hug and a kiss on the lips. “What’s going on, Harry? What’s she doing to Tonks?”
Rita Skeeter spun on the spot to face Ginny and Harry. Her lower jaw dropped seeing Ginny with Harry’s arm around her shoulder. She looked back at Tonks and then back at Harry and Ginny. “What the…”
“I think you need to take a long holiday, Ms Skeeter,” Harry said. “And perhaps you should think about your career and how you go about doing your job.”
“Or maybe find a new job,” Tonks suggested.
“Away from journalism,” Sirius added.
“And if you raise your wand at my girlfriend again, you’ll be lucky to have a career,” Remus stated.
“Oi!” Tonks said.
“Because she will kick your arse,” Remus concluded.
“Don’t you forget it,” Tonks said.
Rita Skeeter threw her hands up in the air and stormed out of the pub with quite a few of the customers heckling her as she made her way out.
“Let’s hope that’s it from her,” Sirius said. “You did really well, L’il Prongs.”
“Thanks, Padfoot,” Harry replied.
“Time to celebrate,” Fred declared.
“Oh, yeah,” George agreed and dragged his twin brother to the bar.
Harry pulled Ginny to face him and gave her a tender kiss. “We did it.”
Ginny smiled up at him and sighed. “We did.”
“And now we can go back to living the quiet life,” Harry said softly. “Well as quiet a life that an Auror and a Quidditch player can have.”
Ginny pulled Harry close for another kiss and ignored the groans from her brother and Sirius.
Chapter 12: Chapter 12
Author's Notes: I'm very very sorry about the wait but here it is: the last chapter.
Chapter 12
“Well, hello there, Ginny dearest,” Ron said from his place at the kitchen table as she walked through the kitchen door.
“What do you want?” Ginny asked as she dropped onto one of the mismatched chairs placed around the kitchen table.
Ron smirked at her. “That’s not a nice way to greet your brother.”
“You only greet me like that when you want something,” she replied. “So Ronnie dearest, what is it that you want?”
Ron shuffled in his seat a little causing Ginny to grin.
“See, you are after something,” Ginny stated. “Please tell me you’re not trying to set me up again. You know that…”
“Ginny,” Ron said loudly, holding his hand up. “I’m not trying to set you up. I promise.”
“Good.”
“Though you have to admit that night turned out really well for you,” Ron declared smugly.
“He’s not who you set me up with though,” Ginny replied.
“That’s true but I’m sure you’re not upset that you came along. You and Harry have been loved up for what…nearly six months now…”
“Five,” Ginny interrupted.
“Five…six…it doesn’t matter. You two are sickeningly loving and adoring around each other and you wouldn’t have met if it wasn’t for me,” Ron said.
“And you, brother dear, wouldn’t have a new good friend if it wasn’t for me. If Harry and I hadn’t started seeing each other, you would still have this petty dislike for him.”
Ron once again shuffled in his seat and then reached for an apple in the fruit bowl on the table, then inspected it, rubbed it against his shirt and then bit into it.
“Stop delaying, Ronald. What is the problem? What do you need?” Ginny asked staring at her brother.
Ron paused a moment before eventually answering. “As I’m sure you know, there’s a Winter Ball at the Ministry just before Christmas.”
“A Winter Ball?” Ginny asked.
“Yes. Hasn’t Harry mentioned it?” Ron asked looking a little worried.
“Ah…no…”
“Oh!” Ron replied.
“Yeah, well don’t you worry about it. I’m sure there’s a good reason why Harry hasn’t said anything to me. What’s worrying you about the ball?” Ginny asked trying to forget about Harry’s lack of sharing.
“Erm, I don’t know who to go with, you know, as a date,” Ron said quietly.
“Why do you need to go with someone? Go alone. There’s nothing wrong with that you know,” Ginny suggested.
“Everyone else is going with someone,” Ron said.
“Even Harry,” Ginny asked raising her eyebrows in anger.
“I actually haven’t talked to Harry about it. I just assumed that you two were going,” Ron replied.
Ginny nodded in reply. “Who is going?”
“Erm, well there’s Terry and Padma and Stuart and his girlfriend. Tonks is taking Remus and of course Percy is taking Hermione. I even heard that Anthony is taking Lavender…”
“Ahh,” Ginny said with a wry smile. “There’s the real problem. You don’t want to be there alone if Lav Lav is going to be there with a date.”
Ron groaned and dropped his head to the table. “Please help me, Ginny.”
“I guess I could ask Luna for you,” Ginny said grinning, knowing that Ron wouldn’t find that amusing.
He looked up quickly with a shocked look. “Don’t you dare. She’d drive me crazy.”
Ginny shrugged. “You can’t be too choosy Ron. What about some of the girls from your year at Hogwarts. There’s Susan or Parvati or Hannah…”
“Neville would not be impressed if I asked Hannah,” Ron stated.
“I don’t know then, Ron,” Ginny said. “I guess I could ask Demelza but it would depend if the ball is on after the school term finishes or not.”
“It’s on the fifteenth.”
“Well, I don’t think that’s an option then,” Ginny declared.
“What about your teammates?” Ron asked.
“Really?” Ginny asked with concern. “You seriously think that would be a good idea?”
“Please, Ginny?” Ron pleaded.
Ginny stared at her brother for a good minute before replying. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks Gin.”
“You’ll owe me of course,” Ginny said smiling happily.
“Of course I will,” Ron sighed.
oooOOOooo
Ginny let herself into Harry’s house and walked through the quiet ground level towards the kitchen where she imagined Harry would be.
“Hi honey, I’m home,” she quipped as she walked through the door to find Harry standing in front of the stove.
Harry turned and grinned at her. She walked over, kissed him on the cheek and then peered at the food he was cooking. “Looks delicious.”
“As do you,” Harry cheekily replied.
“Why thank you,” she replied and then pulled Harry’s head around gently so that his lips met hers. “Is this nearly ready? I’m starving.”
“Big day of training?” Harry asked as he pulled dinner plates from the cupboard.
“It wasn’t too bad,” she replied. “But it’s been ages since I ate.”
Harry handed her a plate and she sat at the kitchen table and started eating straight away to Harry’s amusement.
“I dropped in at home this afternoon. Ron was there.”
“And?” Harry asked looking at her curiously.
“He wants me to help him find a date,” she stated, looking at Harry intently.
“He wants you to get him a date?” he asked incredulously. “Is he mad? Surely after trying to set you up he wouldn’t be so crazy.”
“Oh, since it worked out so well for me in the end, he seems to want to take all the credit for us being together,” she said laughing.
Harry laughed and continued eating for a while before replying. “Why is he so keen to get a date?”
“For the Ministry Winter Ball,” Ginny replied, looking at Harry curiously to see how he would react.
“Ah, that,” Harry said quietly.
Ginny gave him a minute before deciding that she just had to say something. “Yes, that.”
Harry looked at her worriedly. “Are you angry that I haven’t asked you?”
Ginny sighed. “When Ron mentioned it, it was the first I’d heard of it. But, yes, I am curious why you haven’t said anything about it. Ron seemed sure that we would be there.”
Harry reached across the table and placed his hand over hers. “Ginny, it’s not that I don’t want you to come with me.”
“What is it then?”
“It’s just that I don’t want to go at all. I was actually hoping that you and I could do something else. It would be the perfect night for us to have a night out.”
“Why?”
“Because every reporter would be busy at the ball. We wouldn’t have to worry at all,” Harry answered.
Ginny sat up and smiled at Harry. That was a great idea. They could go out wherever they liked without being bothered. Both of them were still wary of reporters after their run in with Rita Skeeter. “That’s a great idea. We could go somewhere without having a camera in our faces.”
“I could kiss you whenever I liked,” Harry added with a smile.
“I could run my hands over your arse whenever I liked,” Ginny said winking.
“I could run my hands through your hair all night,” Harry continued with a low groan.
“I could let my hands wander under your shirt anytime I wanted,” Ginny stated, huskily.
Harry groaned louder and pushed his nearly finished dinner away. “I don’t want this anymore, Gin.”
Ginny did the same to her plate. “What do you want, Harry?” she asked, looking at him through her lashes.
Harry stood, reached over the table and grabbed her hand. “You.”
Ginny stood and was practically dragged out of the room and upstairs.
oooOOOooo
Ginny walked through the kitchen door at the Burrow and was unsurprised to see her mother standing at the stove adding vegetables to a huge pot. Her mum turned as the door open and gave her a big smile.
“Well, it’s about time that you came and saw me,” her mum said.
“I live here,” Ginny said, feeling a little put-out. “I’m not here for a quick visit.”
Molly Weasley laughed and shook her head. “Ginny, dear, do you really think that you still live here?”
“Of course I do,” Ginny answered quickly. She was a little confused at her mother’s statement. Of course she still called the Burrow home. She still stayed there during the week — well mostly.
Her mum pulled her into a hug and rocked her. “Ginny, the Burrow will always be a home for you. You are always welcome here, but I want you to really think about what home really is.”
“It’s where your family is; where the people you love are,” Ginny replied quickly.
“Exactly!” her mother replied emphatically.
“But I love you and dad, and some days I even love Ron,” Ginny answered.
Her mother chuckled at her last comment. “Yes, you do, but I know that you love Harry too.”
“But…”
Molly Weasley held up a hand to stop Ginny speaking. “I know this from experience, Ginny. When you meet the person with whom you are going to spend the rest of your life, home changes. The same thing happened with me and your father. It didn’t take long for me to want to spend all my time with him. Though, my parents were quite adamant that I was not moving out until I was married. So we got married and I was home.”
“Are you saying that Harry and I need to get married?” Ginny asked a little amazed and worried at her mother’s words.
“Not unless the two of you want to,” her mum answered.
“We haven’t even talked about it,” she answered. “It’s not like I haven’t thought about it, but it’s something I imagine happening down the track.”
“You want it to happen though, don’t you?” her mum asked knowledgably.
Ginny took a breath and looked at her mum for a moment before answering. “Of course I do. Six months ago, I would never have thought that I would be thinking about marriage at my age…”
“But you are.”
“I am…kind of,” Ginny admitted.
“There’s no kind of about it, Ginevra,” her mother stated.
Ginny could feel the colour rising in her cheeks and nodded.
oooOOOooo
Harry met her in one of the quiet booths at the back of the Leaky Cauldron where they could have a little privacy.
“Hi there, gorgeous,” he said in greeting as he slid into the seat across from her.
“Hi there yourself,” she answered with a smile.
Harry reached across the table and put his hands on top of hers. “I’ve got some annoying news.”
Ginny’s heart beat a little faster with worry. “What’s wrong? Do you have to go away again?”
“Oh, it’s not that bad,” Harry reassured her. “It’s just that I have to go to the Winter Ball. So we’re not going to be able to have that peaceful night out together.”
Ginny sighed with relief. “Oh, that’s all? It’s okay Harry. I don’t mind going to the ball.”
“Are you sure?” Harry asked seriously.
Ginny smiled at him and squeezed his hand reassuringly. “Of course I don’t mind. I’ll be happy as long as it’s you and me together for the evening.”
“Along with a few hundred others,” Harry muttered.
Ginny shook her head at her agitated boyfriend. “It’s fine Harry. Don’t worry about it.”
“I just wanted the perfect night for the two of us with no interruptions,” Harry said with a sigh.
“As I just said, Mr Potter, as long as we’re together, it’ll be perfect.”
Harry stared at her for a while obviously trying to make sure that she was okay with the change of plans and then nodded.
“Why do you have to be there?” Ginny asked. “Do you have to speak again?”
Harry shrugged. “The Minister said that I was required to make an appearance but I don’t need to speak, thankfully.”
“It’ll be fine, Harry.”
oooOOOooo
Ginny stood in front of the full length mirror and took in her appearance. She had decided to spend some of her hard earned gold on a new outfit for the ball. She had originally decided to buy new dress robes but when she had looked through Diagon Alley and Hogsmede, nothing had caught her attention. So she took her shopping into Muggle London and thankfully found the dress that she was currently wearing.
She ran her hands down the length of her ribs and over her hips as if to smooth wrinkles from the silky material and then turned around keeping her gaze trained on her reflection. The deep blue of her dress went well with her pale skin and her red hair, which was held up with many pins and quite a few charms. All-in-all she was happy with the overall effect and knew she would look good alongside Harry.
The door to the adjoining bathroom opened and Harry walked into the room half dressed and drying his hair with a towel. He stopped suddenly when he saw Ginny standing in front of the mirror.
“Wow.”
Ginny turned to him and smiled. “You like?”
Harry dropped the towel to the floor and nodded emphatically. “You are the most stunning woman in the world. I have no idea what I did to deserve you.”
“Prat!” Ginny exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips. “I often wonder the same thing.”
“What I did to deserve you?” Harry asked cheekily.
“I am now,” she muttered.
“Oi!”
Ginny laughed, shook her head at Harry and headed towards the bedroom door. At the door she paused and looked Harry up and down. “As much as I’d love you to look like that tonight, I’m not sure I’d like to share the view with all the other witches.”
Harry grinned cheekily and then glanced at the clock. “We’re supposed to be there in five minutes. I guess I should do something about making sure you’re the only one who gets to see this.”
oooOOOooo
Ginny and Harry walked side by side into the majestic ballroom in the Ministry of Magic. Ginny was expecting it to look similar to the last time she had been there on the night that she met Harry, but tonight it was hugely different. It was extravagantly decorated and made to look like a winter wonderland. The Christmas decorations in the Hogwarts Great Hall were nothing compared to this. The walls were decorated with great garlands of holly, ivy, pine cones, ribbons and bright candles. Icicles were hanging from the light fixtures and great ice sculptures were dotted about the room. Ginny put her hand out in front of her and let soft snowflakes fall onto her palm. She turned to Harry in amazement.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “Look at the Christmas trees and the fairies. I’ve never seen so many.”
“It is pretty amazing,” Harry said looking around. “It makes the decorations for the last Department dinner a little sad.”
“Were there any decorations?” Ginny asked, thinking back to the evening she met Harry.
Harry shrugged and laughed. “Can’t remember. I only had eyes for you,” he said with a wink.
Ginny bumped her shoulder into his arm. “Could you be any cornier?”
“I suppose,” Harry answered. “Would you like me to try?”
“Oh please no,” Ginny said, laughing. “Should we try and find everyone?”
“Honestly, I’d rather it was just you and me, but I suppose we should spend some time with them…for a bit anyway.”
Ginny looked at him curiously. “For a bit? Have you got something else planned, Harry?”
“Er…”
“There you two are,” Sirius said coming up them with a happy smile. “For once I come upon you and there’s no snogging. Will wonders ever cease?”
Ginny watched Harry sigh with relief as Sirius appeared. He was up to something, she knew, but what? She then turned to Sirius and smiled. “Hello there, Sirius. Having a good evening?”
“That I am Ginny,” Harry’s godfather replied.
“Did you come with a date?” Ginny asked with a smile.
Sirius glared at her. “Enough from you Miss Weasley.”
Harry stared curiously at Ginny and Sirius. “What…”
Ginny giggled. “You remember how Ron asked me to find him a date? None of my teammates were particularly interested…well to be honest, I didn’t ask them. After all I didn't like being set up so I wouldn't wish that on my friends."
“So what did you do?” Harry asked laughing.
“I found someone else dateless for Ron to come with,” Ginny said smirking and then she nodded at Sirius.
Harry burst out laughing. “Sirius, you came here with Ron?”
Sirius groaned and rolled his eyes. “It’s not like that. We’re just two single blokes out on…”
“A witch hunt?” Harry asked as he shook with laughter.
“Whatever,” Sirius said. “Everyone is at the back over there.”
Harry reached for Ginny’s hand and they went to join their friends and family.
oooOOOooo
Ginny was thoroughly enjoying herself at the ball. Her family and friends had managed to seat themselves at three tables that were next to each other. The only thing that had concerned her all night was the way that Harry was behaving. Since they’d sat down to eat, he’d been quiet and quite preoccupied and basically not acting like his usual self. She was really quite curious to find out what was bothering him. Apparently Sirius had noticed too because as soon as the plates had vanished after their main course, Sirius grabbed Harry and took him to a quieter area and was talking to him quite seriously. Harry was shrugging and making dismissive gestures in reply. Ginny decided to join them but was waylaid as she walked.
“Jenny!” a male voice exclaimed and a hand reached out to stop her progress.
Ginny looked around and tried not to groan at the sight of Andy. What in the name of Merlin was he doing here? And why was he bothering her?
“It’s Ginny,” she stated tersely.
“Oh, yes,” Andy replied waving his hand dismissively. “You sat next to me at a dinner a few months ago. That was a great night. I thought we hit it off really well. I don’t know why I haven’t thought to ask you out for dinner…”
Ginny gritted her teeth and forced herself not to say anything rude.
“…a great place to eat. They do the nicest rump steak, though you’d probably prefer something lighter like a salad. Got to keep that figure intact,” Andy continued without realising that Ginny was barely paying attention.
Ginny looked around trying to find Harry or anyone else she knew. She spied patches of red hair on the other side of the ballroom but they were too far away to be of any help.
“Jenny…Jenny…I was asking you where you work,” Andy said.
“I’m a Harpy,” Ginny answered abruptly.
“That’s not a nice way to talk about yourself,” Andy said looking at her a little worriedly.
“No, I work for the Holyhead Harpies — the Quidditch team,” Ginny said in frustration and at the same time kept scanning the room for help.
“Ah, in the office,” Andy said nodding.
“No,” Ginny said angrily. “I’m a Chaser.”
“Really?” Andy asked somewhat sceptically.
Ginny was just about to say something particularly nasty and rude and then aim a Bat Bogey Hex at Andy’s face when she felt an arm slide around her waist.
“There you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Harry said before he kissed her a little more passionately that what would be considered polite in a public setting, especially a Ministry ball.
Ginny sighed with relief and relaxed into his embrace. She glanced at Andy and noticed his face had paled and his mouth was opening and closing with no words coming out — just funny little noises. He then turned and hurriedly walked away.
“Sweet Merlin!” Ginny exclaimed. “He is such an arrogant arse.”
Harry pulled her into a proper hug, kissed her again and then looked at her curiously. “How did you come to be talking to him?”
“He stopped me, called me Jenny and then wouldn’t shut up,” Ginny answered. “He wanted me to go to dinner with him, but I could only have salad so my figure would stay intact. And then he didn’t believe that I was a Harpy.”
Harry laughed loudly and shook his head. “He is an arse.” He then stepped back from her and looked her up and down a few times and gave her a wink. “And don’t worry your figure is still intact — believe me!”
Ginny smiled happily. “Thanks for saving me.”
“It’s my pleasure,” Harry said smiling.
“You look happier than you were during dinner. Was something worrying you?” Ginny asked.
Harry shuffled his feet and shrugged. “No. Everything is fine.”
“Are you sure?” Ginny asked feeling concerned. She could see he had something on his mind.
“Yes,” Harry answered. “I’ve been wondering when we can get out of here actually.”
“Aren’t you enjoying this?”
“Oh, I am,” Harry replied. “I just want some time alone with you, that’s all.”
“I’m sure it’s not that late,” Ginny said. “We don’t have to stay right to the end, though I would like to have a dance or two.”
Harry looked at her dubiously. “I’m a horrible dancer, Ginny.”
“I’ll teach you. It’ll be fun. Wait and see.”
“Hmmm,” Harry replied with a slight scowl.
They started walking through the crowd to where she could see Sirius, Ron and the twins standing.
“What were you talking to Sirius about earlier — when I got waylaid by Andy?”
Harry took a little time before answering. “Oh, er, he was wondering why I was so quiet.”
“I thought he must have noticed as well,” Ginny said, but she still thought that he wasn’t telling her something. She vowed she would find out before they left that evening.
When they reached Sirius and her brothers, she realised that they were all staring at something and not talking.
“What are…”
Harry’s question was cut off by George raising his hand and Fred pointing at a nearby table. Ginny and Harry both turned to look where Fred was pointing. Ginny was quite surprised to see Percy sitting hand-in-hand with a pretty blonde woman. The blonde was looking at Percy adoringly and Percy was sporting the trademark Weasley blush.
“I thought he came with Hermione?” Ginny asked, a little shocked.
“He did,” Ron answered.
“So what happened? Where’s Hermione?” Ginny asked quickly.
“We have no idea what happened,” George said.
“But Hermione is over there,” Fred continued, pointing towards the bar.
Ginny looked at Hermione. She was sipping a bright blue cocktail and seemed to be talking quite happily to Hannah and Neville.
“She doesn’t seem upset,” Harry stated.
“No, she doesn’t,” Ron answered staring at her.
Ginny smirked a little at Ron staring at the girl that he had repeatedly denied that he fancied. “Ron, you should go and ask if she’s okay.”
“What,” Ron said, his head swinging around to stare at Ginny. “Why me?”
“Weeell…”
“I don’t fancy her,” Ron said quickly interrupting her.
“We’ve heard that lie before,” Fred said.
“Mmmm, quite a few times in our last year at Hogwarts,” George then continued.
“I don’t,” Ron denied again.
“You were her classmate all through school. You should check on her,” Ginny said trying to convince him.
“So was Neville and he’s over there now,” Ron replied.
“Well…oh, whatever, Ronald. You’re the one who came here dateless…”
“Oi,” Sirius interrupted. “He’s with me.”
Ginny gave Sirius a scathing look before continuing. “You were the one asking for help finding a date and now there’s a girl over there — one you like -- probably hurting after being dumped, and you don’t want to do anything.”
“She’s on the rebound. That doesn’t make for a healthy start to any relationship,” Ron said.
“Very true,” Sirius added.
“No one is telling you to ask her out, or snog her, Ron. Go and be a friend and keep being friendly and you never know what will happen,” Ginny said.
Ron sighed. “Fine, I’ll go, just to keep you quiet.”
“Good,” Ginny said with a smile after getting her way.
Ron made to walk away and then looked at Harry. “You’re one brave man, Harry to deal with her. Are you sure you want to be with her? You could escape now you realise. We’d all understand why…”
Ginny had her wand out and was ready to Hex her brother. She was stopped by Harry grabbing her arm. Ron made a quick getaway.
“Why did you stop me?” she asked Harry angrily. “He was being an absolute prat and deserved to be Hexed.”
Harry gave her a quick kiss near her ear and smiled. “You know he was trying to wind you up and he succeeded. Let him go. He’s doing what you wanted. He’s over there talking to Hermione.”
Ginny looked over and saw Ron standing close by Hermione and looking down at her with concern. Ron then gave her a comforting hug which made Ginny smile.
“Who knew Ron could be so thoughtful?” Fred asked with a shocked look across his face.
“He was bound to get something right with a girl at some stage,” George added.
At this they all laughed.
Sirius then clapped his hands together and rubbed them. “Time for a drink I think. Who’s with me?”
oooOOOooo
Ginny was enjoying herself even more than earlier, mainly due to the fact that she was in Harry’s arms with her head against his chest and they were swaying side to side slowly. Their movements were in no way in time to the thumping music, but it didn’t matter so much as they had drifted to the corner of the dance floor which was also in the corner of the ballroom so they were in a slightly darkened area where they weren’t obvious or in anyone’s way.
“I like this kind of dancing,” Harry said quietly as he slowly turned them.
Ginny pulled her head away from his chest and looked up at him happily. “You’re pretty good at this kind of dancing.”
He planted a gentle kiss on her lips. “I have a good teacher.”
They danced for a little longer and then Ginny decided it was time to confront Harry about his dinner time blues. “Harry?”
“Mmmm,” he answered into her hair.
“Why were you so quiet at dinner?”
Harry stood up straight and looked down into her eyes. “I was just caught up in my thoughts, I guess.”
“Is everything okay?” she asked, feeling a little worried.
“Everything is fine, I promise you.”
“Yeah? You’re not thinking of breaking up with me, are you?” she asked quietly.
Harry put his finger under her chin and tilted it upwards a little. “Oh, Merlin no, Gin. I love you and I couldn’t be happier.”
She sighed with relief and smiled.
“What made you think that?” he asked looking at her curiously.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I guess I’ve never seen you like that and I was concerned.”
He nodded. “Do you want to get out of here?”
“Where do you want to go? Your place?” Ginny asked feeling a little disappointed. She wasn’t ready for this evening to end just yet. She was having too much of a good time.
Harry shook his head and smiled. “I’m not ready for the evening to end. I just want to go someplace quiet where we won’t be stared at.”
“Like where?”
“Somewhere in Muggle London maybe. We could go and get a drink and take a walk,” Harry said sounding a little nervous.
Ginny looked at him curiously. “What are you up to, Mr Potter?”
“What makes you think that I’m up to something?” Harry asked.
“Well you seem to have been thinking about this for a while, Harry. You seem to have a bit of a plan happening here,” she replied.
Harry kissed her forehead before speaking. “I did have a bit of a plan before we had to come to this…”
“It hasn’t been a bad night.”
“Oh, I know that. I’ve had a great time. I just wanted to be with you tonight. Not the entire Wizarding world,” Harry said with a sigh. “I just wanted a nice dinner together and then maybe a few drinks and a walk together.”
“We’ve had the dinner, Harry, and even a dance — something you didn’t have in your plan. We can still do the rest of your plan.”
Harry gave her a brilliant smile and laced his fingers through hers. “We can. Let’s go.”
Harry almost pulled her over in his haste to leave. Her led her across the crowded dance floor and then started to weave through some of the remaining tables. As they walked through the ballroom towards the door, which of course was on the opposite side of the ballroom from where they were dancing, several people greeted Harry and looked like they wanted to have a conversation with him. Thankfully, Harry returned the “hellos” but insisted they had to keep moving. They had just made it to the door and were looking at each other with happy smiles when someone stepped in front of them and stopped their escape.
“Could I take your picture?” a pleasant looking woman asked.
Ginny glanced at Harry and noticed the look of displeasure on his face.
“Oh, we don’t really need our picture in the paper, thanks,” Harry said.
The woman smiled. “These aren’t for the papers or magazines. I go to events and take photos and then give the people a chance to buy a print of it. Not everyone gets a chance to get photos at these kinds of things especially when they are so nicely dressed. It’s my business. I also take family portraits and do weddings.”
“So these definitely won’t end up in a paper or magazine?” Ginny asked.
“Definitely not. I wouldn’t risk my livelihood by doing something like that,” she answered.
“Harry, Ginny, there you are,” Sirius said, coming up beside them. He looked between them and the photographer. “Is there a problem?”
“No, everything is fine,” Harry replied.
“Are you sure?” Sirius asked looking concerned.
“I just asked them if they wanted a photograph of them to remember the evening. I was explaining that this is my business and there is absolutely no chance that the photograph will end up in the wrong hands,” she said.
“Really?” Sirius asked, looking at the woman curiously.
“Really. I guarantee it,” she said smiling.
Sirius nodded. He then looked her up and down and extended his hand. “Sirius Black, at your service.”
“Maia Everingham,” she returned shaking his offered hand.
“Can I buy you a drink?” Sirius asked giving her a charming smile.
“Why yes. That would be lovely,” she replied with an equally enchanting smile.
Sirius linked her arm through his and they walked away without looking back.
Ginny looked at Harry feeling amused. Harry was looking a little bewildered.
“Did that just happen?” Harry asked.
“It did.”
“I thought Sirius was going to read her the riot act and then he switches on his most charming smile and whisks her away,” Harry said.
Ginny laughed. “And I’d just decided I wanted her to take our picture.”
Harry laughed and clasped her hand. “Another time. Now let’s get out of here.”
oooOOOooo
Ginny was sitting alongside Harry in a pleasant looking pub near the river. They both had a glass of wine in front of them and were watching the people walking along the well-lit path outside.
Ginny reached over and ran her fingers up Harry’s arm and enjoyed his reaction to her touch. “This is nice.”
“I have been waiting hours to be alone with you,” Harry said as he returned the caress.
“Don’t be so dramatic Harry,” she replied smiling. “We were alone all day.”
“I know,” Harry replied. “But this is…I have been waiting for this…for a while.”
Ginny looked at him suspiciously. “You are up to something Mr Potter.”
Harry winked at her but didn’t confirm or deny her suspicions. He picked up his glass and sipped it slowly at the same time keeping eye contact with her. Ginny found this extremely sexy and quickly moved closer and stole a quick kiss. Harry immediately wrapped his arm around her shoulder and lowered his lips to hers in a demanding kiss.
“Mmmm, lovely,” she said a while later after Harry had pulled away from her. “But you haven’t made me forget to find out what you’re up to.”
Harry took another sip of his wine and then turned to her looking quite serious. Ginny could see his Adam’s apple move as he swallowed nervously. She wondered what could have him this nervous.
Harry clasped both her hands in his and he looked from their hands up to her eyes and stared into her eyes for what seemed like forever. He took a deep breath and swallowed again.
“Gin, I know we haven’t been together for that long and haven’t even known each other that long but I know that you are the one for me…”
Ginny gasped. Even after her mother mentioning her and Harry getting married, she hadn’t thought that it was something that would happen so soon.
“…and I would love to spend the rest of my life with you, Ginny Weasley.”
Ginny could feel the tears running down her cheeks but she could not tear her eyes away from his glorious green eyes to even contemplate wiping the tears away.
“Will you marry me?” Harry asked.
Ginny could see the love in his eyes and the emotion of what he’d just said and been feeling all evening across his face. She moved so that her knees were between his and then gently squeezed his hands. Ginny could see Harry was looking at her, nervously waiting for her response. She smiled and nodded. “There’s nothing more I could want than to spend my life with you Harry.”
“Yes?” he asked looking amazed.
“Yes,” she agreed laughing and nodding.
Harry’s smile spread right across his face. He pulled her into an embrace and kissed her tenderly. The fact that they were in a public place was forgotten as they celebrated their engagement. Once they had eventually pulled away from each other, Harry decided to order a bottle of champagne to continue their celebration. They soon had two glasses and an expensive looking bottle, which was sitting in ice, in front of them.
“Oh!” Harry exclaimed once he had poured them both a glass of the fizzing champagne.
“What?”
“How could I forget,” he said quietly shaking his head.
“Forget what?” she asked curiously.
“This,” Harry declared as he reached into a pocket inside his jacket. He pulled out a small black box and placed it on the table.
“Oh!”
Harry swallowed nervously and slowly opened the box. He pulled out what Ginny presumed was a ring and glanced down at it. “I hope you like it,” he said quietly.
Ginny really didn’t mind what the ring looked like. She was sure that Harry wouldn’t pick something tacky or ostentatious. But when he held it in front of her, her jaw dropped. The ring was just gorgeous. Three diamonds were set side-by-side in a gold band. The middle stone was slightly larger than the other two but none of the three would be considered small.
“Harry, this must have…”
“Don’t you like it?” he asked nervously.
“Harry, I love it but it must have cost a lot of gold,” she replied.
“The gold is not an issue, Gin.”
Ginny slowly held out her hand and watched as Harry slid the ring onto her finger. She then held her hand up in front of her and grinned as she twisted her hand side to side. Her eyes then met Harry’s. He was looking at her with his head tilted to the side and a happy yet anxious look on his face. He reached across and grabbed her hand and looked at the ring and sighed in obvious relief.
“It’s beautiful Harry. I love it,” she said smiling. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he replied as he laced his fingers through hers.
Ginny could see that he was much more relaxed now and she commented on this. “I knew you were up to something but I really didn’t expect it to be this. Does anyone else know that you were planning this?”
“Well I did have a little chat with your dad but I didn’t tell him when I was going to ask. Other than that, no one knows.”
“Not even Sirius?” she asked amazed.
“No. He knew something was up and he questioned me a lot after dinner tonight but he’d have gone over the top if he knew so I didn’t tell him.”
“Do you think he’ll mind?”
Harry shook his head. “He loves you, Gin. He won’t be upset about me asking you. He may be a little annoyed that I didn’t tell him I was going to ask you.”
“We’ll have to tell him soon then so he’s one of the first to know,” Ginny suggested.
“And maybe we could make it fun when we tell him,” Harry said, smiling cheekily.
“What do you have in mind?” Ginny queried.
“Well…”
oooOOOooo
Ginny was clearing up in the kitchen after a large breakfast when she heard the front door open and Sirius’ voice call out in greeting. Harry answered his godfather and they both went into the sitting room and sat down. Ginny grinned and sat at the kitchen table ready to listen. The door between the kitchen and the sitting room was slightly ajar so that she could hear as Harry told Sirius what had happened the previous evening after they left the ball. Of course, Harry didn’t plan to do it in a straight forward way.
“So why have you summoned me here this morning, L’il Prongs?” Sirius asked.
“Oh, I just wanted to talk to you about last night,” Harry answered. “You disappeared with that photographer pretty quickly. I was wondering what happened there?”
Sirius chuckled loudly. “You want to know all the sordid details, do you?”
Harry groaned. “Not all of them.”
“We had a few drinks together and then she had to take some more photographs,” Sirius replied. “That’s all.”
“Are you going to see her again?” Harry asked.
“Maybe,” Sirius answered.
“Definitely,” Harry stated. “I can tell by the look in your eye.”
Both the men laughed and then were silent for a little while.
“That’s not why you got me over here,” Sirius said after a while. “Something is going on. You were quiet last night and now you’re just acting strangely.”
Harry made no verbal answer. Ginny couldn’t tell if he had made any gesture.
“Where’s your lovely girlfriend? I thought you’d be all over each other seeing it’s a weekend,” Sirius said.
Harry paused before answering. “I don’t have a girlfriend anymore,” he said quietly.
“WHAT?” Sirius exclaimed.
“I don’t have a girlfriend anymore,” Harry repeated.
Ginny felt a brief moment of sympathy for what Sirius was about to go through but she knew it wouldn’t last long so she wasn’t too worried.
“You broke up?” Sirius asked loudly. “What were you thinking? She was the best thing in your life. She’s perfect for you. You’ll never find anyone else like her; you know that, don’t you? Merlin, Harry!”
“Sirius…”
“No, Harry. You get off your arse and go and apologise for whatever you said and tell her that you weren’t in your right mind. You were drunk, weren’t you?”
“We did have a few drinks,” Harry answered.
“Obviously a few too many,” Sirius answered.
Ginny stood up and moved to the doorway. She could see Sirius pacing back and forth in front of Harry. Suddenly he pulled his wand from his sleeve and pointed it at Harry. “Go and do something. I’m not having you mope around for the rest of your life…”
“I’m not moping, Sirius,” Harry said as he stood up.
“You should be.”
“Sirius, I’m actually quite happy,” Harry said. He grabbed his godfather’s arm and pulled him so they were facing each other.
“Why would you be happy? You just said you broke up with Ginny.”
“No, I said I don’t have a girlfriend,” Harry answered.
“Same difference,” Sirius replied.
“Definitely not,” Harry stated. “I don’t have a girlfriend. I have…”
“A fiancée,” Ginny continued from the doorway.
Sirius spun on the spot to face Ginny. He then looked from Harry to her a number of times before a smile slowly appeared across his face. “You’re engaged?”
Ginny walked across the room and snuggled into Harry’s embrace. They exchanged a quick glance and then nodded.
Sirius quickly took the three steps needed to be next to them and enfolded them both in a huge hug.
“Oh, thank Merlin. I thought I was going to have to beat Harry until he realised the error of his ways,” Sirius said.
“So I take it that you approve?” Harry queried.
Sirius stepped back and looked at them happily. “I do. It’s not something that I was ready for when I was your age but I think it’s definitely right for you two.”
“Thanks, Sirius,” Ginny said happily. She didn’t need Sirius’ approval but she was really glad that he wasn’t telling them it was too soon or they were too young.
“Does anyone else know?” Sirius asked.
“No. Our plan was to go and tell Ginny’s parents after we told you,” Harry answered.
“Do you want me to come too?” Sirius asked.
“If you want. I don’t think it’ll be too unexpected,” Ginny said. “Mum has been hinting at it recently.”
“I’ll come. I’m sure your mum will have been cooking and I feel like some tea and cake right about now,” Sirius said grinning.
Harry groaned and punched his godfather in the arm.
oooOOOooo
They walked into the kitchen at the Burrow to be greeted by the smell of baking and by Molly Weasley stalking around her kitchen obviously not too happy.
“Hi Mum,” Ginny said as they walked through the door.
Her mother turned around and gave a quick smile. She then turned back to the three cakes that were cooling on the bench.
“Sirius is in luck by the looks of things,” Harry said quietly.
“She only does this much baking when she’s stressed about something,” Ginny replied. She walked over to her mother, kissed her cheek and hugged her. “What’s wrong Mum?”
“Hi Ginny,” she answered. “Hello there Harry and Sirius too. Come in and sit down. Would you like some tea?”
“Sirius quickly removed his coat and sat down. “I’d love some Molly.”
“What are you doing here this morning?” Her mother asked. “Not that I don’t like seeing you, but you weren’t expected.”
“Oh, I wanted to tell you something,” Ginny said.
Her mother sighed heavily and Ginny wondered what had caused that reaction.
“Does your father need to be here for this? Merlin knows we’ve had to deal with enough issues this morning.”
“Really?” Ginny asked.
“Yes, your brothers,” her mum said as if that would explain everything.
“Oh, Godric! What have they done now?” Ginny asked.
Tea and cake was placed on the table, to which Sirius immediately helped himself. Her mother went and called her dad to come down from upstairs and then they all sat at the kitchen table. Her dad walked in soon and kissed her on the cheek and greeted Harry and Sirius before sitting down.
“So what have they been up to?” Ginny asked again.
“I’m not sure if you saw Percy last night with that girl. He went with that lovely girl Hermione and then left with that…that…”
“Now, Molly,” her dad said patting her mum’s wrist. “We don’t know all the details there.”
“It didn’t look good, Arthur. I thought Percy had more decorum than that. He was acting like a cad”
Ginny caught Harry’s raised eyebrows and giggled.
“And Fred and George were just as bad, surrounded by women,” Molly continued.
“I saw that,” Sirius declared. “I swear at one stage George had one girl feeding him, one giving him drinks and another playing with his hair.”
Her mother groaned loudly and put her hands over her face.
“An owl came from Charlie this morning,” her dad continued. “He can’t come home for Christmas and that has upset your mother too.”
“And Bill and Fleur are going to France for Christmas. It just won’t be the same,” her mum said unhappily.
“It’ll be fine,” Ginny reassured her. “Maybe we can get Sirius, Remus and Harry here for Christmas.”
“Definitely,” Harry said, squeezing her hand.
“That would be grand,” Sirius added. “If that’s okay with you, Molly?”
“Oh, that would be just lovely,” Molly said, looking happy for the first time since they had arrived.
“You’ve covered all bar Ron,” Ginny said. “What has he done?”
“Actually he’s been great,” her dad stated.
“Yes, he’s off looking out for Hermione. He’s taking her to lunch with Neville and a few others from school,” her mum continued.
“Really?” Ginny asked grinning. Maybe this was what Ron needed to get him off his arse. She knew he fancied her.
Harry chuckled knowing how exciting she found that news.
“You said you had something to tell us, Ginny dear,” her mum said.
“Really?” her dad asked giving Harry a quick look.
“We do,” Ginny said happily. “Harry asked me to marry him.”
Apparently that was all her mother needed to hear. She was out of her chair and around the table in a flash. She and Harry were pulled into a long, tight hug that squeezed the breath out of them. Once her mum had let them go after the third embrace, her Dad gave her a hug and shook Harry’s hand.
“Great news,” her dad said. “Great news indeed.”
Her mother went to the pantry and fetched a bottle and placed it on the table. She then Summoned five glasses and sat down.
“Mum, it’s only eleven in the morning,” Ginny said amazed.
“It’s never too early to celebrate something like this,” her mum said.
“I agree,” Sirius added as he reached for the bottle and popped the cork.
Soon they all had a glass in front of them which they all raised and clinked the glasses together.
“To Harry and Ginny,” Sirius said loudly.
“To Harry and Ginny,” her mum and dad repeated.
Harry pulled her into his arms and placed a soft kiss on her lips. They then clinked their glasses together and toasted to their future.