SIYE Time:5:07 on 6th December 2024 SIYE Login: no | | |
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The Game of Truth By millie
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Category: The One Where Everyone Finds Out (2021-1)
Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Other, Ron Weasley
Genres: General
Warnings: Sexual Situations
Story is Complete
Rating: PG
Reviews: 7
Summary: How did the Weasley family find out about Harry and Ginny's relationship? Secrets are revealed and relationships are uncovered in a simple game of truth. Written for the SIYE "The One Where Everyone Finds Out (2021-1)" Challenge.
Hitcount: Story Total: 3299
Disclaimer: Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R. Note the opinions in this story are my own and in no way represent the owners of this site. This story subject to copyright law under transformative use. No compensation is made for this work.
Author's Notes: Thank you to Arnel for beta'ing this one-shot.
Please review!
Millie15128
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The Game of Truth
It was not as if they were ashamed of it. Or that they thought the family would react badly. It was an unconscious decision that they took when they decided to not reveal their relationship status. It was a selfish decision, they wanted to keep what they had to themselves, it was their light in the wake of the gloomy funerals and they preferred not to have nosy family members or the Prophet vultures to poke around in their business. It was made easier by the fact that no one knew that they had briefly dated during her fifth year.
No one knew how much Harry meant to her. How much it hurt when he died. How happy she was when he came back. How he was her rock, her support for when she crumbled, how he comforted her when she cried, how he made her laugh when she was upset, how he loved her.
Similarly, no one knew how much she meant to him. How painful it was to see her but not touch her when he went to what he thought was his death. How happy he was when she accepted him even though he broke her heart. How she was his rock, his support, his pillar. He wouldn’t have been able to survive the guilt without her. How his day looked up whenever she laughed. How his heart burst with happiness when she told him she loved him.
No one knew. And they told no one.
It became sort of a game, to see who would be the first person to realize they were dating. They didn’t do anything too obvious, but they didn’t hide it well either. Ginny was the first to hug Harry when he passed his Auror training. Similarly, Harry was the first to congratulate her when she passed her N.E.W. Ts with high scores and got a try-out with the Holyhead Harpies. She was the first to defend him against reporters. And he was the first to stop ex-boyfriends who wouldn’t take a hint.
The Weasley brothers thought that Harry was acting as Ginny’s brother and congratulated him on keeping Ginny safe. He had to grip his butterbeer so hard that his knuckles turned white to stop himself from saying something he shouldn’t; like how gross it was to be called Ginny’s brother.
To be included in the Monthly Weasley Brothers Meeting was both good and bad. On one hand, he was touched that they considered him a brother. On the other hand, once they expired all other topics of conversation, he was forced to endure their plans about what they would do to Ginny’s boyfriend if they ever found out who she was dating. It turned out they had realized that Ginny was dating someone and concluded that it was only a matter of time before the mystery boy was revealed.
Bill decided that a threat of removing all his limbs would sufficiently scare him.
Charlie thought that the new Ukrainian Ironbelly the reserve had acquired would be an acceptable challenge for the poor man.
Even Percy decided that he would dig up information about the man once he found out who it was, it would be highly useful for blackmail. After all, one had to do something to survive in a corrupted Death Eater ministry.
George promised to prank the living hell out of the guy.
Ron thought that his reputation as the best friend of Harry Potter would be enough.
Then they turned on Harry who had to quickly come up with a good enough excuse. “If Ron’s reputation will scare him, then mine will probably make him break up with her,” he said, and internally sighed in relief when they laughed.
Harry still remembered the time when Ron and Hermione had tried to set him up on a date. “Harry, I think it’s time you move on from Ginny, y’know? We think she’s dating someone, and well, it’s always good to have a girlfriend.” Harry had to work hard to not burst out laughing in Ron’s face. If only he knew.
Hermione tried a different approach. Apparently, since she was so happy with Ron, she decided her best friend also deserved this happiness. The only problem? The people she tried to set him up with were outrageous. Harry seriously was considering that Hermione got permanent brain damage during the battle. Because who would think that a woman who wore pyjamas and hair curlers to a date, was girlfriend material??!!
It had been one of the worst days of his life and he had been quite happy to go home away from Hermione’s ‘double date’ (Ron and Hermione were there as well) and watch a movie, curled up with Ginny.
Ginny’s sisters-in-law were being very interfering too. Hermione had set her up with the most boring man to ever be born and Ginny made sure to leave early before he got ideas about kissing her or something like that. It didn’t help that Harry found the whole thing very amusing, rather than the jealousy she had expected. When she had asked him, he said that he knew she loved him and it was enough for him.
Ginny, herself couldn’t stop the flicker of jealousy when Fleur tried to push Harry and Gabrielle together. Fleur’s hopes were dashed though when Harry, firmly yet gently, told Gabrielle that for him, she would always be the little girl he recused from the lake. Ginny smiled for hours that night.
Things came to a head at the Burrow. Ginny should have known that the two years, four months and twenty-six days of hiding a secret was going to be revealed someday. She just hadn’t thought it would be today when the whole Weasley family was present. Looking back on it, she was pretty sure that they had planned it all, it seemed they were tired of not knowing who Ginny was dating.
“Ginny, Harry would you like to play?” asked George with a seemingly innocent grin, though Ginny wasn’t fooled for a second.
“Play what?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.
“Just a game of truth or dare,” he said, waving his hand towards the floor where Bill, Fleur, Percy, Angelina, Ron and Hermione were sitting in a circle. Mum and Dad were sitting on the couch, drinking from mugs of tea while Dad tried to explain to Mum about a Muggle toaster.
Ginny looked at Harry who shrugged. “I don’t mind,”
George clapped his hands together. “Great! Come on,”
Harry and Ginny followed him over to where everyone was gathered and sat down in the circle. Harry was on Ginny’s left with Hermione on her right and George straight across her. George pulled out a small white orb which looked very much like a prophecy orb. Ginny was instantly put on edge when she saw George’s manic grin.
“What have you done, George?” asked Ginny warily.
“Instead of truth and dare, why don’t we play a game of truth instead?” asked Geroge, his eyes twinkling.
Harry rolled his eyes. “And you couldn’t bother to tell us this before we came?”
“Of course not,” grinned Angelina. “You wouldn’t have come otherwise,”
There were a few protests from Ron and Hermione as well but they were squashed quickly. “Come on, it will be fun!” wheedled George. “Maybe I should tell you first that you can't lie.”
Harry looked at Geroge warily. “I am not drinking Veritaserum or anything like that,” he said.
“Oh, no, nothing like that,” assured George. “You’ll just have to hold this orb. It will turn red if you are lying, green if you told the truth, and grey if you told a half-truth,”
“Well, let’s start it already, shall we?” asked Percy impatiently. No doubt he wanted to get the game over with as quickly and as painlessly as possible.
George tossed the ball to Percy. “Why don’t you be the first person, then?”
“Ooh, I wanna ask,” said Ginny, sitting up excitedly. “Who are you dating?”
Percy spluttered, his face slowly turning red. “I- who said- I’m not dating anyone!” the white orb turned red and Ginny grinned wickedly while everyone else laughed. “Come on, Perce. Who is it?”
Percy hemmed and hawed a bit more before caving in. “Audrey Mayfair,” he said. Ginny furrowed her brow trying to remember if she had heard that name at Hogwarts before. She didn’t think so and judging by everyone else’s faces, they hadn’t either.
“She’s a Muggle,” explained Percy. “I haven’t told her yet, but I will. Soon.”
“Woah,” said Bill. “You like her that much, do you?”
Percy’s face turned red again. “I love her,” he said in a quiet voice and had to spend the next few minutes enduring teasing from George and Charlie. Eventually, Bill shut them up and the game carried on.
There were some things that Ginny found out that she definitely didn’t want to know like Ron and Hermione’s first time was in a hotel room in Australia and she also found out that she was definitely not going to Geroge’s flat without covering her eyes and ears first. She felt bad for Harry when he had to suffer teasing when he explained that his first kiss had been under the mistletoe, but he took it all in stride.
She should have known that it was too good to last. After all, it was calling for disaster to get the ball in your hand and have all your brothers gang up on you to ask one question they all wanted to know the answer to.
“Who’s your boyfriend?” asked George as everyone else leaned forward to know the answer except for Harry who leaned away as if contemplating running away.
Ginny glanced at Harry so quickly that no one noticed before answering. “He’s a boy, no- a man,” The ball turned grey.
George rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but what's his name?”
Ginny glanced at Harry again but did not look away this time. Harry gave her a tiny, minuscule nod and Ginny grinned. “Well, I suppose the secret had to come out someday,” she said, feeling rather resigned. With that, she wound her arm behind Harry’s neck and kissed him. She felt Harry’s arms coming around her to hold her in place as he kissed her back. After a few more moments, she leaned back and looked at her family who were staring at them, dumbfounded.
“I think we broke them, Harry,” she remarked casually, breaking George out of his stupor.
“Haha, good one, Ginny,” grinned George. “Kissing Harry to not reveal your beau’s name, and you, Harry, for going along with it. Did you really think we would-” He broke off when he noticed the ball still in Ginny’s hand, it was a bright green colour.
All eyes shifted to Harry, who, shifting uncomfortably from the scrutiny before his face broke out in a cheeky grin. “Am I going to die now?”
“You-you, it was you the whole time!” said Ron indignantly. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
Harry raised an eyebrow. “When was I supposed to tell you, Ron? Was it before you threatened to hang Ginny’s boyfriend from the Astronomy tower or after it?”
Ron turned red. “Ron!” shrieked Hermione. “Seriously? The Astronomy Tower?” She turned towards the couple who were still holding hands and smiled warmly. “This is amazing, when did you guys get together? How come we didn’t know this before?”
Ginny smiled. “To be honest, we never hid our relationship, but we never flaunted it either. No one noticed after the war because everyone was busy with the aftermath of the war, and it just turned into a game for us, after a while. Who would find the truth first?”
“Oui,” said Fleur smiling. “I am very happy for you,” she said in her French accent. “Wait, you say after the war?”
Everyone’s jaw dropped. “You have been together since the war?”
Harry and Ginny grinned at each other. “Right after we came back to the Burrow,”
The next half hour was spent answering questions about their relationship as even Molly and Arthur heard what was going on and congratulated them. But then-
“When are you going to get married?” Molly looked at them expectantly.
Ginny blanched and glanced at Harry, hoping to share distressing looks but she was alarmed to note that he was smiling softly.
“I don’t know, Mrs Weasley,” he said. “Whenever Ginny wants,”
“Harry?” Ginny questioned.
Harry glanced at her before standing up and offering her to get up too. “I have wanted to do this for a long time, Ginny, I just never found the right time but I think this is it,” and he got down on one knee making everyone gasp.
Harry pulled out a black velvet box from his pocket and flipped it open with his left hand while his right one held Ginny’s left one. “Will you marry me, Ginny Weasley?”
Ginny stared down at him in astonishment before her face broke out in a wide smile. “Yes, yes and yes! A million times yes!” Harry smiled and pulled out the ring and set the box on the floor. He slowly slid the ring on her third finger and stood up. Ginny gazed at the ring in delight. It was a more beautiful ring than she had ever hoped of wearing. On one side of the central, round diamond was a ruby and on the other side was a peridot. This part of the setting was surrounded by graceful bands of rose gold that swooped past four smaller diamonds on each side of the band. She smiled as she realized that the ring was set with her and Harry's birthstones.
“It was my mother’s,” Harry said nervously. “I changed the two emeralds into peridot and ruby, but if you don’t like it, we can get it changed back. Or we can even buy a new one if you would prefer-” Ginny used her favourite method of shutting him up and wrapped her arms around his neck. They only broke apart when they heard clapping. She slid her hand into Harry’s smiled widely through the tears which were threatening to blind her vision. Her family was clapping for her and Harry’s engagement.
Who knew that these overprotective brothers would actually be happy for her?
For that matter who knew that a game of truth would lead to her getting engaged to the love of her life.
She frowned slightly when she realized she owed George now. Without him starting this game, Harry probably wouldn’t have proposed today. Oh, well.
The End
A/N: Thank you to Arnel for helping me with the description of the ring.
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