All The Tropes by lilyevans_Jan30
Summary: Harry and Ginny have been friends for so long, will anyone believe they are actually in love? They may have agreed to fake date for Ginny's protection, but what they don't realize is that it may keep Harry safe too.
Rating: R
Categories: Post-Hogwarts
Characters: None
Genres: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Published: 2023.10.21
Updated: 2024.01.01
All The Tropes by lilyevans_Jan30
Chapter 4: What Did Harry Do?
Author's Notes: What they couldn’t have predicted was that none of the Weasleys would figure it out at all.
Actually, that wasn’t true, Ginny thought as she sat next to Harry at dinner and dutifully listened to Percy talking about plans to replace the Fountain of Magical Brethren, which had been torn down after the War. She and Harry absolutely should have predicted that her family wouldn’t notice they were together. Because of course, they weren’t.
Oh, they’d tried, arriving one immediately after the other through the Floo, Harry reaching out to steady Ginny as she wobbled. But then Ron had grabbed Harry to play chess and Bill wanted to ask Ginny about security at the stadium and the most they’d been able to do is lock eyes in a panic before they got pulled in different directions. They hadn’t had a moment to talk again until they were all seated around the table, and then only for Harry to ask Ginny if she wanted the peas.
Ginny’s thoughts swirled. Why didn’t anyone mention the Anniversary Commemoration? Should she say something herself? Did Harry want to bring it up himself? If she couldn’t even bring herself to look at him, how was she going to pretend to date him?
Across the table, Ron was whispering to Hermione and Angelina and George were flicking water at each other and laughing. Fleur was feeding Bill bits of food off her spoon, but Ginny was able to ignore them; even if she and Harry were together for real there was no way she’d ever want to feed him. But she could whisper something to him, couldn’t she? Before she thought about it any more, she turned her head to Harry and leaned in, promptly smashing her mouth into the back of his head.
“Ow!” Harry turned back from whatever he’d been saying to Fred and looked at her in confusion. “Did you just bite me?”
Of course that got everyone’s attention. Conversation stopped as everyone waited for Ginny’s explanation, which of course was not forthcoming. “Umm, uhh, sorry,” she finally said. “I was going to uhh, tell you a secret. I mean, not really a secret, just something I uhh, wanted to tell you and your head got . . . in the way..” She felt her face flame.
“Reminds me of that time we convinced Ron that brown hair tasted like chocolate, remember that, Gred?” George leaned across the table and looked at his twin.
“I certainly do Forge. Started chewing on a Muggle girl’s plait down in the village. Mum almost had to Obliviate the lot.” He turned towards his sister. “You do understand that we were just having a go at Ron, don’t you?”
“And that Ron was five,” added Fred. “It was the same month we tried to get him to make an Unbreakable Vow, wasn’t it? I don’t think I sat comfortably for two weeks.”
“I wasn’t trying to eat Harry’s hair,” said Ginny crossly. “And I’m not planning an Unfakeable Vow either, so don’t bother asking.” Next to her, Harry sucked in his breath and muttered shite. A moment later she realized what she’d said and the entire table erupted in laughs.
“What’s an Unfakeable Vow?” asked Ron. “A spell to tell if someone’s lying to you?”
“I’ve never heard of one,” chimed in Hermione. “Is it a variation of the Unbreakable Vow? I’d imagine a number of applications, used properly, of course.”
Ginny tried not to groan. If her misstep was interesting enough even for Hermione there was no way anyone was going to let the issue die. Indeed, it seemed like everyone was just getting started.
“Sounds like a product for your back room,” added Bill with a smirk. “So blokes can make sure they’re pleasing their partners for real.” He looked at his wife. “Not that we’d ever need it.”
“Of course not; zat would be for amateurs,” said Fleur serenely. “But eet’s not a spell; eet’s a book.”
“I knew it sounded familiar!” Angelina smacked her hand on the table and then nudged Katie. “Who’s that author you like? The one who writes those romance novels?”
“Mia Lovegood,” giggled Katie. “I always wondered if she was related to Luna. “Her stories are great; she’s most fond of secret romances and fake dating tropes. Unfakeable Vow is one of her most popular.”
Under the table, Harry pressed his knee against hers. She gave a small nod of understanding and tried to look interested in Katie’s story.
“I’m not familiar with those books,” she said carefully. “They sound interesting.” That was a safe comment. Harry cleared his throat.
“Actually, I could imagine Luna being the author herself and not telling any of us,” he said with a chuckle. It sounded strained to Ginny but she didn’t think anyone else would notice. For a wild moment she wondered what would happen if she just grabbed Harry’s hand and just as quickly abandoned the idea.
Fortunately, Harry’s comment rerouted the conversation to a discussion of what Luna was up to these days. It turned out that she’d begun dating the grandson of the famed naturalist Newt Scamander and was currently traipsing around South America with him looking for new magical creatures. Thanks to some rather lively input from Charlie about the mating habits of South American dragons, Ginny was able to finish eating with only occasional contributions to the conversation. Harry was even quieter, but fortunately it was a Sunday night and dinner ended early enough that no one seemed to notice he’d mostly stopped talking. Ginny glanced at him out of the corner of her eye a couple of times, but couldn’t figure out what he was thinking, and so she was justifiably a bit shocked when he turned to her and asked if she wanted to walk with him to the Apparation point.
“I don’t like the Floo on a full stomach, you know,” he said by way of explanation. Of course, Ginny did know this; Harry had preferred Apparition to Floo almost since the moment he’d gotten his license. But the comment - not to mention the request itself - felt unaccountably intimate, given the circumstances. Of course Ginny would know that personal detail, since she and Harry were dating. And of course she’d want to walk alone with him to the Weasley’s Apparation point, where they might what, stop for a snog along the way?”
No one else seemed to harbor these thoughts, of course, or even seemed suspicious that Harry and Ginny were leaving together. Her mum handed them each a basket of leftovers and bid Ginny good luck with her next game (it was a scrimmage, but the sentiment was the same). They were already at the back door when her father called out that he’d see them both Friday night, at the commemoration.
The proper, expected, not-fake-dating response would have been to wave casually over her shoulder on her way out the door. A cheery “see you there” would not have been out of order either. Freezing in her tracks so quickly that Harry bumped into her back and whipping her head around with a rather screeching “What - who told you?” was a little more obvious.
Her father looked confused. “The War Commemoration at the Ministry,” he explained. “Aren’t you planning to go?”
Belatedly Ginny realized her father hadn’t been asking if she and Harry were going together. She gave a jerky nod. “Of course. I’ll umm, see you there too.” She prayed no one decided to ask - now - if she was going with anyone. Harry must have thought the same thing because he gave her a subtle push against her back to get her moving again before calling a quick goodbye and thank you to her mum and dad for dinner.
Neither of them spoke until they were well away from the house and then Harry blew out a breath. “Well, fuck.”
Ginny couldn’t help but giggle. “Can you believe they actually started talking about those books?”
Harry chuckled too. “I can’t believe you actually said ‘Unfakeable Vow.’ I almost choked on my pumpkin juice.” He sighed. “I was sure we’d be able to mention that we’re going to the celebration together; it didn’t even occur to me we wouldn’t be able to slip it in the conversation.”
“Me either,” said Ginny. In fact, she’d been looking forward to getting it out of the way, this first step. Once they’d (hopefully) tricked her family into thinking she and Harry were dating then the rest would be easier. Now she still had it to worry about, not to mention how they were going to fake it for the public. Harry seemed to guess where her thoughts had gone.
“I guess we just tell everyone when we’re there?” He sounded as uncertain as she felt.
“I don’t think we have a choice at this point. They’re going to wonder why we didn’t say anything tonight though.” They were almost at the Apparation spot and Ginny wondered if Harry was going to ask her to come back to Grimmauld Place to talk more about it. But he just nodded, apparently deep in thought. She waited quietly until he looked up, seemingly surprised that they’d made it to the edge of the Weasley property. He shuffled his feet.
“So I guess I should . . . I mean, I’ll pick you up, right? I think I need to get you at your flat so we can go together.”
Ginny nodded. The event was still five days away so she assumed Harry wasn’t expecting that they would see each other before then. “It starts at seven, so why don’t you come round at half-six?” Privately she thought that maybe she’d have some wine or something out for before they left; she suspected they’d each need a bit of “liquid courage” to get through the night. He nodded again and then looked back towards the direction of the Burrow, as if reconsidering whether they should go back. She put her hand on his arm.
“We’ll figure it out when we get there,” she said gently. Harry gave her a rueful smile.
“Since we don’t have another choice, that’s going to be the best plan.”
********
For better or worse, Ginny actually didn’t see Harry that week. The summer league started June 1 and Gwenog told them at least daily that she wanted them to be the best prepared team there. “This isn’t a practice for the regular season, no matter what anyone else thinks,” she was fond of saying, right before setting them to run another set of stadium steps or get back in the air to practice through their entire playbook one more time. The advantage of all this work was that Ginny didn’t have a lot of time to think about Friday. When she did think about it, the prospect of getting a break from her broom canceled out at least some of her nerves. Most of her teammates weren’t going to the event - it was officially called “An Evening for Remembrance and Commemoration” - so the topic of who she was or wasn’t going with didn’t even come up. She had no doubt there would be plenty of locker room chatter about it once she and Harry went public. For now, she just kept her head down and worked her arse off.
On Friday Ginny left practice early and came back to her flat to shower. Her roommates were still at practice and wouldn’t be home until after she and Harry left, which was a relief. Her dress robes were new, purchased with her first Harpies’ paycheck. After much discussion back and forth among the female members of the DA, they were simple and black, trimmed in Gryffindor red. There would be plenty of blue and yellow trimmed robes too, and nothing in green, not that most people would care. Despite calls for unity and understanding, emotions still ran rather deep among those who had fought in the War.
She considered for a minute whether to attempt to do “something” with her hair and quickly decided she didn’t want to look like she was trying too hard. Hermione had taught her a couple of spells and now she picked the easiest, which left her hair loose and smooth, hanging down her back. Makeup was next, and took less than five minutes. She was pouring wine when there was a knock on the door - rather harder than she expected. A second later, Harry called out, also sounding a little bit frantic.
“Oi, Ginny, I have to talk to you!”
She grabbed her wand and opened the door. Harry pushed past her and went straight for the bottle of wine. “You’re going to kill me,” he muttered, before taking a large gulp. He ran his fingers through his hair.
As it didn’t seem that Harry was being chased by Death Eaters or anything, Ginny lowered her wand and walked over to shut the door to her flat. “Why am I going to kill you?” she asked carefully.
Harry didn’t seem to be listening. He was looking around her flat, almost as if expecting someone to jump out of a cupboard. “They didn’t contact you, did they?” he shook his head to himself. “No, they couldn’t have; I got here too fast.” He topped off his glass of wine and handed the second to Ginny before going back to pacing.
“Who’s going to . . .” she began. “Do you know who sent the letters?” It seemed too good to be true, that the Aurors may have already uncovered whoever it was, maybe a crazed fan after all. And they wouldn’t even have to start their charade. They’d still go to the Ministry together; it would be silly not to since Harry was here already. She turned, the words thank goodness, right? already on her lips but before she could say anything he shook his head.
“Ron and Hermione,” he choked out. “They know.”
Ginny stared at Harry for a long moment, trying to make sense of what he’d said. “They know we’re fake dating?” she finally asked. But he shook his head.
“Not that it’s fake, just that we’re dating.” He walked over to the door and shot a silencing spell at it, not that it needed another one. “I didn’t expect them to be home, when I got ready to come here. I thought they were getting ready at Hermione’s. But when I came down to the kitchen in my dress robes, there they were.” He sent a blocking spell at the Floo, again unnecessary; Bill and another cursebreaker had set the wards.
Ginny frowned. “I thought we were going to wait until we got to the party,” she said.
Harry set his glass down on the counter hard enough that some of the wine sloshed over the edge. “We were,” he said heavily. He used his wand to siphon up the spill. “But then Hermione asked if I wanted to Apparate with them and when I said I wasn’t ready, Ron said I looked ready and what else did I think I needed to do, and I said I had to come pick you up.’ He made a movement as if to pick up his wine again and then stopped.
“And they guessed from that comment that we’re dating?” asked Ginny skeptically. “I can’t imagine even Hermione thought that was suspicious.”
“They didn’t, said Harry. “But then she said they’d just come here with me and that way we could all go together and I panicked and said they couldn’t.” He gave Ginny a beseeching look. “I was totally unprepared with a story so when Ron asked why they couldn’t come here why I kind of . . . blurted it out. That we’re dating.”
“What?” Ginny squeaked. “You told them? What did they say?” Suddenly Harry’s attempts to ward her flat even further didn’t seem quite as foolish.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Like I said, I panicked. I told them we were dating and that I was late and then I kind of . . . left. Ran out the back door and Apparated here.” He sat heavily on the sofa and put his head in his hands. “I’m sorry.”
Ginny wasn’t sure whether to scold or laugh. Harry looked so despondent she couldn’t bring herself to tease - too much. “And I thought I was going to be the one to ruin things with my terrible acting skills.” She sat down next to him and patted his knee. “At least you didn’t say it’s a ruse; we’ll just go ahead and tell everyone else when we get to the Ministry.”
Harry huffed. “If there’s anyone left to tell.” He jumped up. “We need to go. Now.”
*********
Ginny didn’t question him, just put down her wine and followed Harry to her building’s Apparition point. Several times she looked ready to say something but each time held back. He groaned to himself, not sure how he’d been able to bollocks things up so badly so quickly. Some Auror he was.
“Some Auror I am,” he grumbled. “It’s fine to act on instinct when you don’t have a choice, but I should have predicted this.”
“We should have predicted this,” pointed out Ginny fairly. “I mean, Ron lives with you, so of course he’d be the most likely one to ask questions.”
Harry appreciated that Ginny wasn’t jumping to throw him to the pixies, but that didn’t address the fact that they’d already lost control of the situation - and now had no time to plan. “So now what?” he said. It was mostly a rhetorical question; they were already at the Apparation point. Ginny looked pensive for half a second and then held out her arm.
“Take me Side-Along,” she said. She gave a tiny shrug. “If we’re going to do this, we may as well do it properly.”
“Properly would have been me keeping my mouth shut just a little longer,” Harry grumbled, but he took Ginny’s arm and focused his thoughts. Splinching them because he was distracted would definitely not help their cause. Her mind seemed to be going the same direction.
“No brooding,” she lectured. “Let’s just fucking do this.”
Her words worked; Harry took a deep breath, concentrated on the Atrium of the Ministry (not difficult since he was there nearly every day), and turned them both on the spot . . .
. . . and arrived to find Ron and Hermione’s incredulous faces staring at them. Arthur and Molly were there too, as well as George and Angelina. And Harry could see Fred and Katie speaking excitedly across the room to Bill and Fleur and Lee Jordan.
“They certainly worked fast,” Ginny muttered next to him. He started to drop her arm until she gave a tiny shake of her head and adjusted her grip so that they were suddenly holding hands. The staring faces of Ginny’s family became an excited chatter.
“I was sure Ron was taking the mickey,” said George conversationally. He cuffed his brother on the shoulder. “Sorry mate.”
“Not to worry; I thought Harry was,” Ron said back. He looked rapidly from Harry to Ginny and then down to their clasped hands. “Are you?” he asked.
“Nope.” Harry shook his head and tightened his grip on Ginny; both of their palms were sweaty, he noted. “We didn’t want to tell you right away because, uhh . . . “
“Because we knew this would happen.” Ginny waved expansively around at her assembled family. “We hoped that by waiting until we got to the ceremony we could avoid the third degree.” She squeezed Harry’s hand and he silently marveled at her ability to invent on the spot.
“Not bloody likely,” said Fred cheerfully as he and Katie walked to join the group. “We were all together for dinner Sunday and neither of you could say anything?” There were mutterings of agreement all around. Harry looked desperately at the other arriving guests, hoping to see Gawain or Kingsley or anyone else who might give him an excuse to slip away for a moment. Him and Ginny, that is; they were a package deal now.
“Or did it happen after then?” asked Hermione practically. Harry jumped on that.
“Yes,” he said quickly. “It did. It happened after that.”
“Ahh, but ‘Arry and Ginny, they left together from dinner, did they not?” Fleur smiled knowingly at both of them. “I think the feelings were already there, non?”
“No,” said Ginny. She shook her head. “I mean, yes?” She looked at Harry, panic written all over her face.
Be an Auror, Harry! He took a deep breath. “It happened right after that, when we went home.” He forced himself to look Fleur in the eye. “That’s why I asked Ginny to walk with me, because I wanted to tell her I . . . I fancied her.” The lie felt heavy and obvious on his tongue.
“And I admitted that I’d been thinking about him too.” Ginny seemed to have found her footing in the conversation just in time. She gave a little shrug. “And then things kind of . . . progressed from there.”
From the left came the flash of a camera and they both flinched. An unfamiliar voice called out. “Harry, how long have you and Ginny Weasley been dating? Do the Harpies know?” A piece of parchment and quill floated in front of them, ready to capture his answer.
“And how about the Aurors? What does Gawain Robards think about this new distraction?” A second quill and parchment joined the first. There was another flash, and suddenly it seemed like every reporter who’d come to cover the Commemoration was considerably more interested in the fact that Harry Potter was holding hands with Ginny Weasley. He turned to her to apologize - for what, he wasn’t sure - just as she leaned in close, which set off another round of photos.
“We don’t have to say anything; let them think we’re being mysterious,” she said, low in his ear. He gave a small nod of agreement.
“Will your family let it go though?” he muttered back. Already he could see the pleasure - bordering on excitement - on Molly’s face. She was just waiting to ask them a thousand questions, he could tell.
“We’ll tell them they’ll get the exclusive details Sunday,” she chuckled. “But they have to keep quiet for now. And smile, we’re supposed to be both happy and embarrassed about this.”
Embarrassed was easy; Harry wasn’t sure how happy he actually looked though. Just as he wondered how much longer they’d have to stand there and playact, the voices around them got suddenly quieter.
Harry looked up to see the Minister of Magic striding towards them. “If I may ask all of you to take your seats up front,” he said calmly, “we’re about ready to begin the program.” He did not look at Harry or Ginny once, or give any indication that he’d noticed the fuss around them.
“Good idea,” said Harry firmly. He realized a moment later that it was a somewhat odd response to a request to sit down. Ginny squeezed his hand again.
And then they were walking to their seats and Harry had to remind himself to match his gait to Ginny’s. There was an entire section reserved for the Weasley family and their various girlfriends, and only when Harry was seated in the front row with Ron on one side and Ginny on the other did he deem it safe to drop her hand. Next to him Ginny gave a small sigh of relief and wiped her hand subtly against the side of her robes.
Normally, the actual ceremony itself would have the nerve-inducing part of the evening. As a rule almost to the point of being cliche, Harry disliked attention, even when much of it showed him in a more-or-less positive light. Not surprisingly, the strongest adoration generally seemed bestowed by people who knew him the least. But right now, being noticed for getting an award felt like almost a relief. He stared straight ahead at the speakers, not daring to look to his left, where he could almost feel the intense curiosity of Ron’s gaze, or to his right, and Ginny. She was sitting as stiffly as he was, and as he stood and clapped at the end of a speech by Professor McGonagall, it felt like the weight of a thousand eyes behind him was pressing into their backs. As they sat down again she shifted her weight casually in his direction.
“How are you so calm?” Her words barely made a sound but even so it took all of Harry’s effort not to startle.
“I’m not,” he responded under his breath, but then silently berated himself. They were supposed to be dating . . . He leaned into her and put his mouth close to her ear. “Just pretend I said something interesting,” he muttered. Off to the right he heard the click of a camera.
“What, like we’d better be prepared to stay at dinner all night Sunday?” she whispered back. There was murmuring of voices behind them and they both straightened up in their seats. Harry was considering whether he should take Ginny’s hand again when Kingsley strode onto the stage, effectively cutting off their whispered conversation.
The tribute to those who had died was first and Harry knew everyone around him was thinking of Remus and Tonks. His mind wandered briefly to Fred too, who’d nearly been killed by a collapsing wall and had needed months of recuperation to repair crushed bones and other injuries. He’d gotten out of St. Mungo’s on a Thursday and, much to his mother’s consternation, been back at Wheezes the next Monday, overseeing things from a floating chair suspended atop several broomsticks lashed together with unicorn hair. After he’d finally been able to walk easily again he and George sold the contraption for over 500 Galleons to a wealthy wizard from the countryside, who wanted it to survey his land. Now the twins were working on an entire line of magical transport.
Those receiving Order of Merlin, Third Class, included nearly all the members of the DA, and when Ginny stood up when Dumbledore called her name someone from the back of the room yelled, “cute girlfriend, Harry!” and a number of cheers broke out. Harry expected Ginny to ignore the cat-calls but to his surprise she giggled and ducked her head before brushing her hand across his shoulder. The cheers grew louder and a beat later Harry understood. But Ginny was standing and he was sitting so there wasn’t much he could do but feel his face flame.
Then Kingsley swept his hand wide and a moment later, every standing witch and wizard was wearing their new medal. It had happened so smoothly that a few people were still cheering the public coupling of Harry and Ginny when it was suddenly time to applaud for the awards. Those awarded Second Class awards stood next - the professors of Hogwarts, members of the Order of the Phoenix, and Neville, who got the loudest cheer of all.
Harry took a deep breath. Only a minute or two more. Stand up, let people clap, sit down. He recalled Ginny’s performance when people cheered her and wondered if he could get away with something similar and make it believable.
But then three robed witches Harry recognized from the Minister’s office walked onto to the stage, each holding a fancy wooden box. Next to him, Ron made an excited sound and with a thrum of dread Harry realized this might be a bigger production than he thought. Indeed, Kingsley caught his eye and there was a hint of apology in it before he began speaking.
Kingsley being Kingsley, the speech wasn’t overly flowery or effusive but still more laudatory than Harry thought he deserved. When the Minister called his and Ron’s and Hermioine’s names and asked them to join him on stage Harry still hoped he’d be home before another hour was over. But then he stood up and the mutters of conversation taking place around the audience turned into a roar of applause and cheer. Ginny gave him a little push on the side of his leg and only then did he realize he’d frozen while Ron, an embarrassed but proud smile on his face, was already halfway to the podium, Hermione’s hand firmly clasped in his.
For a wild moment Harry wondered if he was expected to take Ginny with him. He turned to look at her but she gave him another push and he found himself walking belatedly up to the stage . Once he got there, Kingsley raised his hands for quiet, obviously wanting the moment when Harry, Ron, and Hermione were actually presented with their Orders of Merlin to be at least somewhat solemn and weighty. The crowd didn’t seem to want to stop talking, though, and Harry wished Kingsley would just silence them with magical means instead of waiting in that calm and patient way of his. Ron leaned over.
“If you and Ginny are having sex, I don’t want to know,” he muttered. Unfortunately, Harry was standing just inside the space that had been charmed to project the speeches to the far edges of the Atrium, and the entire assembled audience heard Ron’s comment as clearly as if they’d been standing next to him.
Harry responded on instinct.
“We’re not having sex, Ron.” The words escaped him before he could stop himself. The room exploded. Laughter, yelled comments, flashbulbs. In her seat, Ginny buried her head in her hands and Kingsley, recognizing that he’d lost the situation completely, quickly bestowed the medals and waved the trio off the stage.
“I’m getting out of here,” Harry whispered to Hermione as they walked down the steps. She turned around and gave him an incredulous look.
“You can’t leave before the reception, Harry. People are going to want to congratulate you.” She patted his arm. “No one cares what Ron said.”
Now Harry stared at Hermione. “Are you kidding?” Already people were descending on them in a crush of eager questions and suggestive looks that had nothing to do with congratulating them for their Orders of Merlin. And by the easy way that Hermione slipped away to stand with Ron it was obvious what people were really interested in talking about. He pushed through the crowd until he got to his seat, relieved to find Ginny still there, now standing with most of her family. The harried look on her face told him all he needed to know. He grabbed her arm.
“Do you want to leave?” He didn’t know what he’d do if she said no. But she nodded quickly and took his hand as he weaved through the mass of people. It felt like every single wizard and witch there was yelling his name, and Ginny’s, and the Apparition point had never felt so far away. The last thing he heard before turning them both on the spot was a voice that sounded uncomfortably like Bill Weasley asking if Harry was telling the truth that he and Ginny weren’t having sex.
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