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SIYE Time:15:38 on 29th March 2024
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Adventures of the Heart
By Rogan

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Category: Post-DH/AB
Characters:All
Genres: Romance
Warnings: None
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 71
Summary: A book that contains the chapters that the Deathly Hallows could have had between the defeat of Voldemort and the chapter "19 Years Later". It focuses mainly on the developing relationship between Harry and Ginny, and shows how everybody finally manages to go back to leading a normal life.
Hitcount: Story Total: 36192; Chapter Total: 5719







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Harry frowned at the piece of parchment in front of him. He had been doing so for a while, ever since he had received it. In the eight years that he had spent as a wizard he had never given any thought to this, but with the N.E.W.T.'s approaching and the beginning of the rest of his life not far away, he had thought it prudent.

At his request, Bill Weasley (accompanied by, as he later found, a team of goblins) had entered his vault and made a tally of the funds stored within. Feeling rather dizzy he picked over the numbers one more time. Some of the leaflets he had been reading recently had given him some indications on what kind of earnings he could expect in the various lines of work available to him, and as he stared at the note in his hand he once again did the math.

Getting shakily to his feet he walked to his fireplace and, waving his wand, muttered the spell that opened the connection to the floo network. The Head Boy's fireplace was not normally connected to the floo network, but his had been connected at his request. Because of the risk of unwanted people appearing in his room, the fireplace had been warded so that he could lock and unlock it at will.

"Shell Cottage," he spoke after tossing some powder on the logs within. The fireplace erupted in green flames immediately. Harry got down on his knees and stuck his head in the fire. The sitting room at Shell Cottage came into view and he saw Bill and Fleur sitting on the couch. Both held books, but they looked up when he appeared.

"Hey Harry," Bill greeted him with a wave, "I thought we might hear from you. Did you get the list I owled you?"

Harry nodded shakily. "Hi guys, yeah, I got it. I was just wondering if you're sure these numbers are... I mean, is all this really in my vault?"

Bill laughed while Fleur looked puzzled. "'Ow much eez there in 'is vault then?" Then, looking at Harry, she complained: "Bill 'as not told me, 'e 'as zees wild notion of keeping your fortune a secret."

Harry nodded. "I can't blame him. It's more than I'd ever thought could be in there."

Bill looked thoughtful for a moment, then spoke. "Well, you do know that an Order of Merlin involves a financial prize as well as a medal, right? Then there's the donations you've received from people - mostly anonymous - who've wanted to thank you for getting us rid of You-Kow-Who."

Harry listened with rapt attention as Bill so casually dropped bags of galleons into his account. Why had he not heard about any of this?

"But the biggest loads that you've received came from your grandparents and Gringonts itself. You see, Gringots decided to reward you for getting the wizards out of the bank, and your grandparents had set up a trust fund for you that was deposited into your account when you came of age. I can imagine that you've not heard about that around your seventeenth birthday. The owl probably came the day after your birthday, and, well, we all know what happened at our wedding, right? All in all, you can count yourself among the richest wizards in the world."

Realizing that his mouth was still open, Harry forced himself to consider all this calmly. He had always known that he had a bit of money to his name, left to him by his parents. This was, however, so much money that he could not imagine how he could ever spend all of it in his own lifetime. Did he even want to possess this much? All his life he had been, if not poor, then at least not rich. Seeing that Bill and Fleur were waiting for him to say something, he decided to consider things further back in the comfort of his own room.

"Thanks Bill, I just wanted to know. I'm going to have to think about this for a while."

Bill nodded. "Why don't you pop over in a few weeks, when your N.E.W.T.'s have settled down a bit. I'm sure you have a lot of decisions to make." Harry thanked him and, after saying goodbye, soon found himself once again firmly on the carpet of his own room.

What DID it mean to him, that he could now buy or do whatever he wanted for himself? He could never work a day in his life, and still live richly without spending even a tenth of what he owned. The whole realization of that fact physically staggered him so that in stead of getting up, he ended up sitting down on the carpet. Endless possibilities stretched before him.

He could make the Potter family as grand and pompous as the Malfoys were. That stopped his train of thought dead of course, because who would ever want to be like the Malfoys? He could buy himself a manor, though, and plan a huge wedding for him and Ginny.

He had been looking at the carpet, but that thought snapped his head up. Had he just thought of asking Ginny to marry him? Their time together had always been spent in innocent enjoyment of each other, but they had never used the word "love" between them so far. Dumbledore had always said that the ability to love was a great and powerful force within Harry, but he had spoken of love in general.

Was he really in love with Ginny? He had no idea what love should feel like. If he wanted to ask her to marry him, he had beter be sure first. That's one subject he would need to talk to Hermione about, seeing as Ron would probably have a fit if he tried discussing feelings with him.

Harry blinked as he realized something. Ginny had never been wealthy. She had, in fact, always been rather poor. How would she react if she found out about his wealth? Did she love him? Would she find it good or bad that he suddenly turned out to be this rich? Would it chase her away, make her think that they were now suddenly in a different league? Fear gripped him, and he realized that he would prefer Ginny to a mountain of Galleons any day. Maybe he really was in love.

"It's me, Hermione." Harry waited for her to open the door, and after a short pause, the Head Girl's room opened to reveal Hermione.

"Oh, hi Harry," she said, "I'm not late, am I? I thought we were supposed to start in fifteen minutes." Harry frowned, but then he realized that he, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had planned a study session for Transfiguration.

He shook his head. "No, I'm here about something else. Could I talk to you for a minute?" She stepped back to let him in. Hermione's room was meticulously clean and tidy. He had been in there often enough, since their study sessions were often in either Harry's or Hermione's rooms, but it never ceased to amaze him how absolutely spotless she kept everything. His own room was tidy, of course, but at least it looked like someone actually lived there.

He took the chair from her desk, turned it to face the bed, and she sat down on the bed opposite him. "What's bothering you?" Harry opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. What was bothering him was, now that he thought about it, rather difficult to describe. His inner turmoil must have shown on his face, because Hermione frowned and put a hand on his knee. "Is everything alright, Harry?"

There was concern in her voice, and he quickly nodded. "Yeah, everything's fine, really. I just need a bit of help figuring something out. I know Ron wouldn't be able to help me with it, and I can't really go to Mr. or Mrs. Weasley about it, so I was hoping you could help me set my mind straight." Hermione nodded, but did not speak. Harry took a moment to decide how to begin. "Hermione, do you... love... Ron?"

Hermione looked taken aback by this question. "Wow," she said, after a moment of silence, "That's definitely not a question I was expecting." She blushed slightly. "But to answer it, yes, I do. I've not actually told him that yet, but I do. Is this about you and Ginny, by any chance?" Harry nodded. He knew he needed to elaborate a bit, but could not seem to form the words. Hermione smiled. "Do you love Ginny, Harry?"

Harry gave her a weak smile. "That's what I'm trying to find out, really. I'm just wondering how I can be sure."

She looked thoughtful for a few seconds, then asked: "What brought this about?"

He considered telling her about his conversation with Bill, and how his thoughts had strayed from there, but decided that he did not want her to know all the details just yet. He settled on the simplest explanation. "I was thinking about what might happen after we graduate from Hogwarts." There was a twinkle in Hermione's eyes now, but she stayed silent, and he thought he might need to elaborate on his explanation a bit. "I was just thinking about what our lives would look like after school, you know, and if I might marry Ginny. And then I wondered, if I was ever going to ask her, I'd want to do it because I love her, and I'm trying to discover what love should feel like."

Hermione still did not reply, so Harry kept talking. "I like her a lot, and we've really been together for almost a year now. I can even remember staring at her dot on the Marauders' map at night while I was keeping watch, you know, when we were hunting for the Horcruxes. I broke up with her after Dumbledore's funeral, but I never stopped caring for her. I mean, the whole reason I broke up with her was because I cared, so she wouldn't get hurt." He sighed. "I know I don't want to split up with her again. I've worried about that, and it makes me feel all hollow inside to think of her not being with me, you know?"

Realizing that he was staring at his shoes, Harry looked up. Hermione was smiling at him, though it was a rather secretive smile. "What?" he asked.

She just looked at him for a while. "Tell me, Harry," she said finally, still wearing that secretive little smile, "if you were me and I were you, and we were having this conversation the other way around, what would you have told me after hearing all of that?" He thought back for a moment. What exactly had he told her over the past few minutes? He had said that he cared about Ginny, that was for sure. He had also said that he would not want to split up with her again, and how it would make him feel if he had to...

Something clicked into place. "I'd tell you that you'd already figured out the answer yourself." He sighed as he said so, but felt a stupid grin manifest itself on his face.

Hermione positively beamed at him. "So, are you planning on telling her about this sometime in the near future?"

A few minutes later Harry entered the Gryffindor Common Room. He had left Hermione's room and gone back to his own to retrieve his books, but the note from Bill kept tugging on his mind. When he finally entered the Common Room for their study session, Hermione was already busy reviewing Transfiguration with Ron and Ginny.

"So," she was saying as he came in, "the most important part of the wand movement for the Vera Verto spell is the initial swish. The length of the swish determines a lot of the characteristics of the object that you're creating with... Oh, hi Harry! We were wondering when you'd get here." Harry felt himself nodding, then blushed slightly when she winked at him and continued: "Something troubling you?"

He nodded again, then decided it was now or never. "I'm fine, only I got a note from Bill. Ginny, can I talk to you for a second?"

Ginny had looked up from her studying when he came in, smiling at him, but she looked rather serious now. "Harry, are you feeling okay?" She got up and studied his face. "What did Bill say?"

Managing a shaky smile at her worried expression, he said: "Don't worry, it's nothing bad. I just got a bit of a shock. Let's talk in my room, okay? I won't keep you long."

Ignoring Ron's jest of: "Ah, is that what they call it these days, talk?" and Hermione's admonishion that they really did have to finish this subject tonight or fall behind, he lead her out of the portrait hole and into the corridor. Once there, he decided that this empty corridor was private enough. He stopped and turned around, only to find a worried frown on Ginny's face. "Are you sure you're okay? You look ghastly. It's like you've swallowed a puking pastille but don't have anything more to throw up."

That got him grinning in spite of himself. "You always say the most flattering things," he said, daring to give her a kiss.

"Well, at least you don't smell like you've been puking your guts out." She stated it flatly, but spoiled her worrysome demeanor by giving him a wink. "So, what's my brother up to then, that's gotten you so wound up?"

Harry's mind raced, but when nothing useful came up, he decided to just throw caution to the wind and see what came rolling out of his mouth. It turned out to be a question. "Ginny, you know I've got a bit of money to my name, right?" She nodded. "Would you still want to be with me if I was really poor?"

At that her eyes widened. "Of course I would, you big prat!" She punched him in the arm. "It's not like I'm used to riches you know, coming from, well, you know. So is that what's got you so shaken? Is your vault empty?"

He slowly shook his head, lowering his eyes to the floor for a moment. "So you'd want to be with me even if I was poor. How about if I were really rich?" At that, he allowed himself to study her face.

She looked thoughtful, unsure. "Well, that depends."

His heart sank, but he tried desperately to keep that from showing. "On what?"

She gave him a tight-lipped smile. "If you'd turn into Malfoy, no, I'd be gone in a heartbeat. But if you'd still be the Harry Potter I've liked forever, then yeah, I'd still want to be with you." Harry felt his heart give a pleasant lurch in his chest. She had just told him that, not only did she not care about how rich or poor he might be, she liked him for himself, and for nothing else. During this conversation he had realized something himself as well. He had never even considered what it would mean to him if Ginny had been richer or even poorer than she was. She herself was what attracted him to her, and he finally realized the answer to the question he asked himself earlier.

"Let's take a short walk, okay?" He offered her his hand and she accepted, taking it and holding on to it.

As they slowly ascended the steps of the Astronomy Tower, Harry decided that he wanted her to know the full meaning of his note from Bill. Looking ahead, he dropped the bomb. "Bill's note had a list of all the valuable things in my vault. I actually flooed him after I got it to see if he hadn't added something up wrong. There's... over ninety-four million Galleons in my vault."

Ginny lurched, missed a step, stumbled, caught hold of him with the hand that was not already in his and, finally, managed not to fall face first onto the stairs. She gaped at him. "Merlin! Harry, you could've warned me... I mean... Ninety..." She sat down on the stairs less than gracefully.

He joined her. "Yeah, that's about the same way I reacted when I got the note. Only I sat on my bed, not the floor."

Ginny gave a shaky laugh. "I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to react that badly. It's just... That just goes beyond so far what I expected it's like comparing the Black Lake to the North Sea. I was actually more prepared to hear you say your vault was empty and you were broke. You caught me off balance a bit, that's all."

Harry put an arm around her. "Come on, we'll get some fresh air on top of the tower."

When he opened the door, Harry found the top of the tower empty. The night sky was clear as glass, the stars were bright, and the night air was warm for early spring. Off in the distance a faint red glow still lingered. They had just missed the sunset. Somehow that made him feel as if the moment was just that little bit less than perfect. Ginny stepped onto the tower and put her arms around his waist, her head coming to rest against his right shoulder.

The simple touch felt wonderful. It warmed him, making him feel more wanted than he had ever felt before they had started going out. Her wonderful, flowery smell surrounded him. All those beautiful, small things that made him feel so incredible, she seemed to do without considering the effect she had on him. He could hold her forever and never get tired of her. If only he could put all that in words somehow.

She startled him out of his reverie by whispering into his ear. "Something wrong?" He turned around, cupped her face with one hand and put his other around her waist.

"No," he said truthfully, "everything's just fine." He kissed her ever so gently, then looked her in the eyes. He wanted to do this right, wanted everything to be perfect. "Gin, I..." Not even the tactic of letting everything tumble out of his mouth worked to make the words come. She looked at him with the most curious look on her face, one he had not seen before, a mixture of curiosity, expectancy and something else he could not put his finger on.

After a few moments of silence he felt her hand brush his cheek. "What's gotten into you all of a sudden, Harry? I haven't seen you this serious since Voldemort." A smile came unbidden to his face, and with it came the words.

"Ginny... I love you." He surprised himself by how well the words came out, and even more by the sudden knowledge of how true they were. A look of surprise and shock ran over Ginny's face, and she twitched slightly in his arms. Silence stretched between them until, just when Harry thought she was not going to say anything, that this had been a mistake, that he should not have told her this now, that it was too soon in their relationship for this, that she would not feel the same, might even think him stupid, she made a soft sound.

"Oh," she breathed, slowly, the tone in her voice more one of surprise than anything else. He waited. "Oh Harry, I didn't... I couldn't..." She spun around, turning her back on him, and for a moment he thought she was going to run away, but she just stood there. Of all the reactions she could have given, Harry had not expected anything remotely like this. Ginny was always strong, composed, fierce, but now she seemed almost fragile. What was he to do? What did it mean?

"I'm sorry," she said in a small voice, and Harry thought his heart would sink through the roof of the tower, but then she continued: "I just... I just never thought I'd actually hear you say that." She turned around and dazzled him with the most radiant smile she had ever given him. She saw the expression on his face and her smile faltered. "Oh! No, Harry, no, really, I... You thought I didn't... Ooh, I'm doing this all wrong!" Slowly, almost shyly, Ginny reached out to touch his face again. She took a deep breath. "Harry, I love you, too."

The almost whispered words were like a soothing balm. "You do?" He heard how stupid he sounded and found that he did not care, and she just laughed her beautiful, innocent laugh and nodded.

"Yeah, I do. I just never realized that you could feel that deeply about me too. I never expected you to tell me... I've never heard you say those words to anyone." She gazed up at him with those dark eyes, capturing his own.

"You're the first person I've ever said them to," he confessed, suddenly feeling vulnerable. "I was really scared that you'd think I was stupid, or that I'd ruin things between us by telling you how I feel about you." She kissed him then, a long, lingering kiss, and he kissed her back, losing himself in the sensation of her. When she finally broke the kiss it was a while before either of them spoke again.

"I've got a confession to make, Harry," She finally murmured. "Don't get angry with me, okay?"

Harry snorted. "I'm too happy to get angry about anything right now. Do your worst."

She had her head pressed to his chest in the soft hug that they shared, and her voice was slightly muffled by the fabric of his sweater. "I always expected that you'd get tired of me after a while. You know, that we'd split up when we leave school, or that you'd find someone better. Maybe even that you'd go after Cho again. I never really dared to hope that we'd go on together after school. I mean, don't get me wrong, I want to be with you. I just thought we wouldn't develop... Love, you know?"

Harry considered her words, one hand playing with her hair, one at her back. He had thought exactly the same things she had, he realized. He had expected her to get over her fancy for him, that she'd decide she wanted to see other people when they finally finished Hogwarts, or that she'd want to go off on some career thing that would carry her far away from him. She had just told him that she really did want to be with him.

"I had some of the same thoughts about you," he confessed in turn. She raised her head to meet his eyes. "You know," he continued, "that you'd get over your fancy of me. I was scared half senseless telling you I loved you just now. I'm glad I did though."

Ginny just stood looking up at him for a while, a wide smile on her face, before she finally broke their silence. "So, where do we go from here then?"

He picked her up suddenly, cradling her in his arms, and started carrying her back down the stairs. "To the Common Room," he said, "so we can finish studying." He paused for a short time, as they descended the stairs, feeling serious again. "Ginny, I know I'm rich, but I want to do something, you know, find a job I like and build a career. What do you want to do?"

She kissed the side of his neck before speaking. "I want to be proud of what I do, so I want to find a job and have a career too. And later maybe a few kids." He glanced at her and she blushed. "I'd want kids too," he said. "Maybe not seven though." They were still laughing when they entered the Common Room.

The week that followed went by in a blur. Preparations for the N.E.W.T.'s were all the seventh year students could afford to think about, and in the light of the stresses of studying, Harry decided to put the matter of his riches out of his head until the dreaded tests were over. When Professor McGonagall handed out the exam schedules to the anxious seventh years, the atmosphere in the Gryffindor Common Room took a dive.

Harry had never really noticed the behavious of the seventh year students before at this time of the year. Noticing it now, he wondered if it had been mainly because he had somehow always been in the middle of some kind of horrific struggle for his life or the future of the Wizarding world. Everyone in his year, with no real exceptions, had begun behaving as though dementors were stalking Gryffindor Tower. The temperature, though it seemed to be mild enough outside, seemed chilly enough in the Common Room to make his breath mist if he tried hard enough, and frayed nerves made people snap at every little interruption as if all the happiness had dissipated from the castle.

Ginny had taken her leave of him for a while, taking to studying in the library and saying that she needed a bit of quiet sollitude to absorb as much information as she could. He had not faulted her for it, but missed her company at the Common Room study table while he revised with Ron and Hermione. Having always had each other as study partners, the three made good progress, even Ron keeping up with the brutal pace Hermione was setting them to revise every little spell and piece of information they had studied over their years at Hogwarts.

Soon it was the weekend before the N.E.W.T.'s were due to start, and on friday night, Harry decided that he would not study any more before the time came to take the tests. He was prepared as well as he could ever hope to be, and any more stress he heaped on himself now would only make him less well rested. He was unsusprised to find that he was the only seventh year to have come to this decision, and decided to leave everyone else alone until they finished their studying.

Back in the comfort of his own room, Harry lay down on his bed and allowed his mind to drift. He did not feel like reading a book or going for a walk, just the comfort of being alone with his own thoughts on his own soft bed was exactly what he needed right then. He had put off thinking about everything outside of the N.E.W.T.'s for these past few weeks in favour of studying. What was it he really wanted to think about?

He missed Ginny, of course. It was not as if they had not seen each other at all during the weeks of studying, but they had had to keep their time together short so that they would not be too distracted from studying. Mostly, they had met in the Common Room in the evenings, each too exhausted from absorbing information all day to be of much comfort to the other. He hoped that she would also decide to spend some time not studying this weekend, but was determined not to push her into doing something she did not feel comfortable doing.

Comfortable.

Ginny was a comfort to him even without constantly being around him. He loved her, of course. He had finally allowed himself to completely believe that only a few short weeks before, but he knew it now as completely as if he had never had any doubts at all. Now all he had to do was decide what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.

He had read through every flyer and leaflet that had been provided to him, as well as several letters containing job offers, but he had still not decided what his career path would be after Hogwarts. For a moment, he considered just taking a year off and traveling. Was there a reason why he could not do just that, escape from the Wizarding world of Great Britain for a while to discover what else the world had to offer?

Would Ginny want to come along?

He felt a soft, tingly sensation somewhere near his stomach at that thought. They could go together, on a trip around the world, just the two of them. Would that not be a great way to spend the year after Hogwarts? Then again, maybe Ron and Hermione would want to come along as well.

Frowning, he sat up. Would he want the four of them to go on a long trip around the world together? Was it selfish of him to think that he might want to do this with only Ginny, if she wanted to come? The three of them had been through so much together that it felt treasonous somehow to think these things, as if he was betraying his friends by thinking that he might not take them along.

A soft knock on the door brought him out of his reverie. He got up, crossed to the door, and opened it to reveal Ginny. Instantly, the weight that had pressed on his heart a few moments earlier lifted as she gave him one of her radiant smiles, and he could not help but give into the impulse to grab her and kiss her right there. She gave a surprised squeak at the fervor he put into the kiss, smiling against his lips as he crushed her to him until the sound of Ron clearing his throat nearby made him pull back.

"What was that for?" Ginny sounded happy, but up close he noticed that she looked rather tired, as did Ron and Hermione. Harry just looked at her for a minute, trying to decide what to say.

"Nothing," he finally murmered, smiling. "I just love you, that's all." That brought a slight blush to her face, and he realized that he had not said that to her with other people present before. Well, the world might as well know, and it's not as if Ron and Hermione were strangers to his feelings for Ginny. One arm still around his neck where she had slung it when he had grabbed her, she stroked his cheek with her free hand.

"I love you, too," she said slowly, softly, and he felt a very pleasant shiver pass down his back. Then after a short pause, she continued: "We were thinking of heading to the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer, just to celebrate the last weekend before the N.E.W.T.'s. Do you want to come?"

Deciding on the spot that a bit of company would be preferable to brooding tonight, Harry nodded. Grabbing his traveling cloak from the peg beside the door, he closed and locked the door behind him, put an arm around his girlfriend once more, and the four of them headed off down the stairs.

As they neared the village of Hogsmeade, they soon noticed that a lot of students were out, many of whom were not of age. This struck Harry as odd, underage students usually not being allowed to be out of the castle grounds in the evening, until he remembered that there would be a fair in town this weekend. Third year students and above were allowed to go into the village, though the younger students were not allowed to stay out until very late.

Pleasant music soon began drifting towards them as they neared the village, and the colourful lights and noise of the magical shops and stalls that now decorated the village became more apparent, and they walked on until they finally found themselves in the middle of the fair.

Everywhere around them were stalls selling food, drinks, books, magical trinkets and even strange and exotic pets. They were soon engrossed in the tale one pet seller was telling about his animals. They resembled tiny ostriches, but they came in a large variation of pastel colours and sported large colourful feathers on their heads.

Giving Ginny a quick peck on the cheek, Harry left the three of them by that stall to get them all a bottle of butterbeer. Scanning around for the drinks stall he had seen earlier, he noticed Cho Chang standing behind a stall that contained a large selection of jewelry and, glancing back to see his friends and Ginny still actively engaging the man with the ostriches in conversation, walked towards her.

"Hi Harry," Cho said, smiling widely at him as he approached. "The fair's really a success, isn't it? We hadn't expected this many students to be out and about today." He grinned back at her.

"Hi Cho," he said, "It looks like everyone's having fun. Must be because this is the first carefree year we've had at Hogwarts for, oh, eight years?" She smiled at him, a shy and lovely smile that would have had him stuttering but a few short years ago. "So, you're in the jewelry business now then?"

Cho nodded vigorously. "Yeah, I'm still an apprentice though. I guess that's a good thing, I mean, I can come here and sell jewelry and everything. The master jewelcrafters aren't here, they're too busy at the shop in Diagon Alley." She waved a hand around her stall, indicating most of her wares. "These were all made by the masters. These," and now she was pointing at a small corner that contained a few rings and pendants, "are mine. This is the first time that I'm allowed to sell my own work, everything we apprentices make in our first year is usually given away."

Harry walked over to the small corner that held Cho's work, and was surprised by how different the styling of the pieces there was from the pieces made by the masters. The rings were simpler, beautifully decorated, but not as pompous or overdone as most of the rings in the rest of the stall were. He decided that he rather liked Cho's work better, and said so before he could stop himself. Cho blushed furiously.

"Thank you," she said, rather timidly. Then she grinned at him in a conspiratorial way. "Don't tell any of the masters this, but I think their work is a bit, um..."

"Over the top?" Harry injected, and Cho nodded again. "I agree. May I?" He indicated a ring, and picked it up when she nodded. He examined it closely. It was the most beautiful ring he had ever seen, and even as he held it close to his eyes to look at it in more detail, he understood why. It was a simple band of pale gold, inlaid with tiny, fiery rubies along the whole length of it, and sporting a sparkling green emerald that was the exact width of the ring itself. The emerald was inlaid in the ring itself rather than set on top of it, and as Harry ran a finger along it he found that it connected with the gold almost seamlessly. Looking up, he saw Cho looking at him with a strange expression on her face. She almost looked sad.

"In another life," she said, her voice almost far away, "I would have wanted you to buy me that ring. I made it with you in mind. Originally, I thought of using onyx for the band, instead of the rubies. It just didn't work as well as I expected it." He thought he saw her eyes dart over his shoulder and back, and he realized that she had glanced at Ginny in the distance. "We don't even go together well in jewelry. I guess I'm stupid to still think about these things, but I just wonder, you know, what might have been."

Harry did not know what to reply. Was she saying that she was still in love with him? When he stayed quiet for a few seconds, Cho seemed to realize what she had just said and gave a guilty start.

"Oh! I didn't mean to say that out loud. I'm so sorry Harry, I..." She sounded rather panicked and her voice trailed off, her hand having gone to her mouth as if to stop it from babbling.

"It's okay, Cho." Harry said, softly, suddenly unable to keep looking at her. "It's okay. I actually think it's sweet of you to make a ring with me in mind. It's just..." At this, he forced himself to look her in the eye. "I'd like to be your friend, Cho. I think we both know where my heart is." She nodded slowly, that sad expression reappearing on her face.

"You like it, then?" She indicated the ring.

"I love it." He meant every word. "How much do you want for it?" She gave him a smile.

"Consider it a gift from a friend, and a reminder to whoever gets to wear it," and she glanced over his shoulder again, "to make you happy. If she doesn't, you know where to find me."

Had she phrased it any other way, Harry would have been able to say no, or to press her to accept payment. She had, however, put such meaning into her words that he understood what it meant to her to give him this gift.

"Thank you," he said, hoping that his voice would betray the meaning he felt. She took the ring from him and pulled out her wand, pointing it to the inside of the band and muttering an incantation, the ring very close to her eyes as she moved her wand around in a very precise manner. After a short while, she pocketed her wand again and held out the ring. He took it and read the tiny inscription that now adorned the inside of the ring.

"With you, I am free. Without you, I am lost. Be mine forever."

He looked up in shock. She gave him a tiny smile.

"I used your touch on the ring to determine what meaning you wanted to give to it," she explained. He could only stare at her in amazement. Her expression turned uncertain. "Did I get it wrong? Do you want me to change it?" She started to pull her wand out of her pocket.

"No!" He said it louder than he had wanted to. "It's just sort of, you know, a bit of a shock to see it in writing like that." Harry heard the hitch in his voice and made a conscious effort to talk normally. "I guess this makes it an engagement ring. It's... It's absolutely perfect. Please, leave it the way it is."

She took the ring and put it in a tiny box, expertly wrapping a ribbon around it that was, Harry noticed, the exact shade of red of the rubies in the ring. When she looked up and handed him the box, he noticed a tear on her cheek. She hastily wiped it off.

"I'd promised myself I wouldn't cry so much anymore." Cho smiled as she said it. "See you around?"

"I'll owl you soon, to let you know how it's received, okay? Let's have lunch sometime when school's finally over, okay?" Harry glanced at Ginny as he pocketed the box with the ring. She was still busy at the stall with the pets. "Cho, you have no idea what this means to me."

"Yes I do, Harry. Trust me." Another tear made its way slowly down her cheek, and this time she made no effort to stop it.

They said goodbye and Harry made his way to the drinks stall, quickly gathering up four butterbeers and heading back to the ostrich stand. The box with the ring sat securely in the chest pocket of his robe and he felt it press against his chest as he juggled the butterbeers, handing Ron, Hermione and Ginny one each. When they were walking around the fair to look at the rest of the stalls, Hermione took the opportunity to talk to Harry alone when Ron and Ginny were bent over a stall to examine broom attachments.

"So, what did you just buy from Cho?" She had bent close to him and spoke softly, but Harry almost spit out a mouthful of butterbeer anyway, quickly glancing at Ginny to see if she had noticed anything. Hermione beamed at him. "So it's a gift for Ginny then?"

Harry shook his head, and Hermione's brow furrowed. Sensing her bewilderment, he grinned at her and pulled her away from Ron and Ginny a few more paces to make sure they were not overheard.

"Cho made me a special ring for Ginny." Harry kept one eye on the backs of Ron and Ginny. Hermione's mouth dropped open. "And to answer the next question you're going to ask, yes, it's that kind of special ring. I just need to, um, find the right moment to..." Ron and Ginny began to turn away from the broom attachments and he stopped speaking abruptly. "I'll tell you later, okay?"

For the next few hours the four of them happily browsed the stalls and ate and drank their fill of the exotic foods that were offered. Harry had to press the people at the stalls to be allowed to pay for whatever he tried to buy, because they seemed determined to give the Boy-Who-Defeated-Voldemort everything for free. Neville, they learned when they ran into him, had the same problem.

The main square of Hogsmeade had been decorated with a podium and a dance floor, and on the podium was a large orchestra that played merry tunes. The dance floor was seeing enough use as, villagers, teachers and students alike, a large number of couples was dancing happily to the tunes played by the orchestra.

When they decided to sit down and have a rest before heading back to the castle, they noticed Dean and Luna sitting at one of the tables that had been set out around the dance floor. Ginny poked Harry softly in the ribs and pointed at the two of them. They seemed to be holding hands under the table and, Harry noticed with a grin, Luna was smiling at Dean in a very intimate way.

"Looks like he finally worked up the nerve to ask her out," Ginny said, softly enough that her voice only carried to Ron, Hermione and Harry. Hermione's eyes darted to Harry and she gave him one of her knowing smiles. Ginny frowned at her. "What am I missing?"

"Missing?" Hermione's voice was higher than normal, and she looked unable to control the smile that grew explosively on her face. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about." Ron's eyes darted from his sister to Hermione and back, then to Harry, and Harry saw his bewildered expression change to one of wonder. His heart thumped wildly in his chest. Why could Hermione not just keep her stupid knowing smiles to herself?

Ginny looked suspicious and on the verge of subjecting Hermione to a thorough questioning, but Ron intervened.

"Come on love, let's dance." He gave her no chance to reply, but dragged Hermione along and onto the dancefloor, leaving Harry and Ginny staring after them. Ginny rounded on him, but the outburst he feared did not come. She glanced over his shoulder at the moment that a light touch on his back alerted him to someone's presence behind him.

"Hello Harry! Hi Ginny!" Luna's voice was dreamy as always, but it had a very cheerful quality to it. "Are you going to dance, too? Dean just asked me to dance. Nobody's ever asked me to dance before." She glanced around towards Dean, who was waiting for her a few paces ahead, then she lowered her voice and gave them a secretive smile. "I think Dean's going to kiss me tonight. I hope he does. It'd be such a shame if he put it off again."

Ginny burst out laughing and gave her friend a fond hug. Harry winked at Dean, and while the girls were not looking at him, mouthed the words "kiss her soon" to him. Dean's eyes widened, but then his face broke into a grin and he winked at Harry. Luna finally followed him onto the dance floor, and Ginny turned back to Harry. He thought fast.

"D'you want to dance?" It was the first thing he could think to say, and it stopped her in her tracks. She nodded, then followed him onto the dance floor. Just then, the orchestra finished the fast tune it had been playing and started a slower song.

Ginny put her arms around his neck and they danced slowly.

"I'm sorry I haven't been much company lately," he muttered, thoroughly enjoying the intimate time they were spending together. She smiled up at him.

"I haven't been much of a girlfriend to you either." She ran her fingers down his cheek again. "Forgive each other?"

"Deal." He grinned at her as they danced. "I'm happier than you know that we're out here tonight."

"I'm pretty happy myself." She pressed her head against his chest. "I'm a bit curious though, about what Hermione's hiding from me."

Just then, she shifted her head a bit and touched the tiny box in his front pocket with her cheek. Harry froze. She pulled back a bit to look at the lump in his robe that she had just touched, then trailed one arm down his neck until it rested on the box. She looked up.

"What's in your pocket?"

It was the question he had been dreading. He wanted to do this right, and especially not now, not in the middle of a dance floor. He wanted her to be able to say no, if she did not want this yet. If he asked her here and now, she would feel pressured. He also did not want to lie to her and tell her it was something unimportant. That would insult both Cho's gift and the meaning he placed in this ring.

"Can I tell you somewhere more private?"

The curious frown she gave him was, he thought, rather cute. She finally nodded and let herself be led off the dance floor. They walked for a bit until they reached a spot that Harry could not have picked out more perfectly if it had been placed there for him. Not far from the square, near the edge of the woods, stood a small gazebo. It was much quieter there, and though it could be seen from the square itself, it felt very secluded.

As they reached it, soft lights began to glow in a number of lanterns that hung inside the small wooden structure. Looking around and drinking in the atmosphere, Harry decided that this might just be the most romantic place he had ever seen. He wondered briefly why he had never noticed it there before, but was soon distracted when Ginny turned from staring around the gazebo to look at him again. He put his hand in his pocket and withdrew the box, keeping it hidden in his hand.

"Are you sure you want to know what I have in my hand?" Harry felt more than heard his voice shake a little and silently cursed himself for being a nervous prat. Ginny, however, looked expectantly at him, her eyes full of wonder. He felt half his nerves leave him. She knew, he realized. She stood there, realizing what he was about to ask her, what he was about to show her, and she did not tell him not to. He slowly raised his hand and opened it, presenting her with the box.

"This was made by a very talented jewelcrafter we both know." He said it slowly, watching Ginny's eyes widen slightly as they touched upon the box. The ribbon on it was, he decided, the same colour as her hair. "Maybe you should open it before I go on."

Ginny took the box, as slowly as he had raised his hand, and briefly touched the red ribbon before she untied it. Her hands were shaking slightly, but she managed not to fumble with the knot. When she opened the box, she gasped, raising her free hand to her mouth. Her eyes shot back to him, full of questions.

"Can you read the inscription?"

She looked back at the ring, moving it close enough to her face to read tiny lettering on the inside of the band. He saw her mouthing the words, then her eyes danced back up to his, and they did not leave his as he slowly lowered himself to one knee.

"Ginevra Weasley," he said, taking her free hand in his own, "will you marry me?"

He had expected her to hesitate, maybe even to tell him that she needed some time to think about this. He had dreaded that she might say no outright, say that she was not ready for this, or even think that it might be a joke of some kind and laugh. He was not prepared for her to answer straight away, a single word in a voice that came out in a voice that was as choked with emotion as he had ever heard it.

"Yes!"

For once, Ginny did not appear to mind the tear that tracked down her cheek. He got up slowly, not trusting his legs to keep him up if he went too fast. He felt too many things at once. Shock at hearing her say yes warred with a sense of overwhelming joy that she had accepted his proposal so readily. The blood pounding in his ears did not help, but he managed to take the box with the ring from her without dropping it.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he slipped it around her finger. A million different emotions flickered across her face, too fast to read, but all of them shades of joy, wonder, happiness. He kissed her then, and it was a long time before they finally walked back to the square.

Ron and Hermione were still dancing, but they stopped when they saw Harry and Ginny walking towards them and met them a little way off the dance floor. Ron looked from Harry to the still slightly teary expression on Ginny's face, then back to Harry. He looked suspicious.

"Why has my sister been crying, Harry?" Harry felt taken aback by the menacing growl that was Ron's voice, but before he could respond, Ginny stepped forward and gave her brother and Hermione an enormously wide beaming smile. Without saying anything, she showed them the ring. Ron's mouth opened slightly, but Hermione beamed back at her.

"Harry just asked me to marry him!" Ginny's extremely excited voice carried further than she might have intended it to, and people around them turned to stare at her. "And I said yes!"

Ron grabbed his sister and gave her a hug, all the while grinning at Harry.

"Sorry mate," he said, "I thought you might have dumped her again or something. She hardly ever cries, my little sister."

"If I ever decided to dump her again," Harry said, "I'd expect you to pound me soundly for it. Now give me back my fiancee."

Hermione, however, also wanted to hug Ginny, and then Harry, and then the both of them, and before they could do anything else, half of Gryffindor house materialized next to them to offer their congratulations. In the end, however, Harry and Ginny managed to shake off everyone and walk slowly back to the castle together, hand in hand.

"So, we're engaged now." Ginny's soft words came after a few minutes of comfortable silence. "When do you want to have the wedding?"

"I was thinking," Harry replied, "that we might do it during the summer holidays, after this school year ends. Or do you think that's too soon?"

Ginny had been smiling broadly for most of the time since he had asked her that evening, but as they were walking her smile had become more private, more intimate. She turned that smile on him now.

"No, I don't think it's too soon. I thought you might think so though. Wouldn't you want to get a job, or something like that first?" Her smile turned a bit more sly. "I mean, Bill and Fleur didn't waste much time after they were married, did they? Look at the size of Fleur now."

Harry remembered the last time he had seen Fleur, and he knew the baby was due any day now.

"Is that what you want then, to have children right after we're married?" He took care to keep his voice light and curious as possible, even though he felt rather scared that she might actually want to have children this young in life. He knew he was not ready for that just yet. Teddy was great, but he found it a reassuring thought to know that he could bring Teddy back to Andromeda whenever he did not have time for the boy. Ginny's sly smile turned into a soft grin.

"No, that would definitely be too soon. I want to see a bit of the world before I commit to that." She stopped walking and slung her arms around his neck again. "Why, would you have gotten me pregnant right after we were married if I'd said yes just now?"

Harry chuckled, but could not help thinking that she had just given him an opening for something else he had been meaning to discuss with her.

"Well, I think we're too young to have kids of our own just yet." He said it, and then allowed his face to take on a bit more seriousness. "About seeing the world though..." She looked at him expectantly, so he went on. "Would you like to, um, have a very long honeymoon? Like maybe a year, traveling around the world? Just the two of us?"

She smiled that private smile up at him again. The closeness made him feel that tingly feeling around his stomach again, and he brushed his thumb slowly along the line of her neck. Inwardly, she seemed to be considering something. When she finally spoke, he was surprised.

"Wouldn't you rather travel around the world with Ron and Hermione too? The four of us, I mean?"

He chuckled, not meaning to, but she did not seem offended.

"Who brings their best friends on their honeymoon?" He said it, still smiling, then swallowed and sobered a bit. "Actually I'm just not sure that I want to go on another long trip with Ron and Hermione. It'd probably start to feel crowded after a while, and I'd really like to have a lot of chances to be intimate with you without Ron there to pound me for it."

"Ron's not so bad." She spoke softly now, and he suddenly found himself considering that she might have given this a bit more thought than he had suspected. "Besides, we don't have to make that trip around the world our honeymoon. Why don't we go on our honeymoon first, and then take a trip around the world with Ron and Hermione? If we get separate rooms at every inn we stay in, it shouldn't get too bad."

"You've been thinking about this too, haven't you?" Harry did not keep the admiration he felt out of his voice. She nodded. "I think you've got a good idea there. Are you sure you want to do it with the four of us? I mean, don't say yes because you think it's what I want to hear."

"Hermione's my best friend too, you know." Ginny turned a bit more serious. "I just think that it'd feel weird not to take them along. We do everything together anyway, and I almost feel lonely when they're not around."

"You," Harry said, giving her a kiss on the tip of her nose and smiling when she wrinkled it at him in response, "are the most amazing woman in the world. I can't imagine why you'd want to marry me."

They finally reached the castle well after curfew and found professor McGonagall waiting just inside the entrance hall. Her tartan dressing gown was, Harry mused, still one of the most interesting pieces of clothing he had ever seen in the Wizarding world, though not in a good sense.

"Potter! Weasley!" Her stern gaze raked over them both, but Harry was not convinced. Her eyes simply twinkled a bit too happily. "Not only have you been out of the castle well after curfew, but I have also heard some rather disturbing rumours about you from several of the students who have been out in Hogsmeade this evening. What do you have to say for yourselves?"

Ginny held out the hand with the ring. Professor McGonagall attempted to look stern for only a moment longer, then she let the mask slip and smiled at them.

"Well, congratulations to the both of you. I hope you find the happiness you deserve." She winked at them in a very uncharacteristic way. "Now get to your beds before Mr. Filch finds you."

The very next day, Harry took a moment to pen a letter to Cho. He took great care to describe how happy her gift had made him and Ginny, and how grateful he was. On sunday, he received an owl back from her telling him that she was glad things had worked out so well, and that he was welcome to stop by the shop in Diagon Alley any time if he felt like having lunch or just chatting. It was the last line that made him smile.

"P.S. I hope you didn't think my gazebo was 'over the top'."
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