Ginny's Answer

Chapter 1: The Leaky Cauldron

Harry Potter slowly walked across the dark, dank, musty room. The floorboards creaked with every step. Drunken shouts and nervous giggles drifted up from the many floors below. Ron, Hermione, Bill, Fleur and Ginny were waiting in the bar for Harry to slowly descend the hundreds of ancient, damp stairs that would lead him to the person he feared most – Ginny Weasley.

He knew that Ginny was going to tell him one of two things – both of which he was not sure his reaction to it would be. If it was "Yes" (one complicated yes), Harry just hoped that they were ready. If the answer was "No", that would be less complicated, but a whole lot more disappointing.

"I am ready," Harry thought, still pacing up and down in his room, "I should just take what I get, and be happy with it."

With that heroic thought to spur him on, Harry made his way down the winding stairs to meet his fate.

As Harry reached the entrance to the smoky bar that was the Leaky Cauldron, Ginny quickly rose from her seat and wound her hand in his.

He looked at her in a questioning way, as if to say "Well?"
She smiled up at him, looking happier than he had seen her since 7th year.

"I'll tell you later. Just wait a little bit more, and Hermione says that she'll leave us alone by making Ron help her bring Bill and Fleur sight-seeing again." With that, Ginny squeezed his hand and led him over to their table.

"Hey Harry!" came the simultaneous greeting from Hermione, Ron, Bill and Fleur. Chloe, Bill and Fleur's daughter, gurgled happily in her mother's lap.

"Hi," Harry replied as he sank into the seat Ron had pulled out.

"So what took you so long?" Ron demanded.

"Err… I was packing. Sorry for keeping you waiting." Harry wasn't sure if Ginny had told the others the real reason for his delayed entrance to the bar.

"I thought that you'd done all your packing earlier on! Why did you need more time…?"

Ron was interrupted by Hermione placing a warning hand on his arm.

"Don't be so nosey!" she chided, in that warning tone that Harry and Ron had grown well used to over the years. "Now, lets go and show Fleur and Bill around London."

"Again! Awww, Hermione, come on! We've shown them around last year, and the year before and…"

"Shut up Ron! Stop moaning! Now come on!"

Hermione dragged Ron out, with Fleur and Bill following.

"Phew!" sighed Ginny. Turning to Harry, she gave him that weirdly happy grin again. "Harry... I know that you've been waiting for ages for my answer... well more like an hour, but I know you feel like an hour is a year!"
Harry shifted around in his seat.
"Okay, I'll get on with it..." Ginny continued to speak.

"Well!" Harry snapped in irritation. Not a good idea.

"Harry! Do you want me to make you wait longer?" Ginny Weasley knew how her boyfriend worked.
"No." Harry apologised, looking sheepish.

"The answer is..." Ginny took a deep breath. "Yes."

Harry stood stock-still for a moment.
"Really? Yes! Oh..." confused words spilled out of Harry's mouth.
He swept Ginny up off her chair into his arms.
"Who else knows?" He asked excitedly.
"Well, Hermione knows, but she's promised not to tell anyone else until we decide to let out the information."

Ginny laughed, swinging her straight, long red hair over her shoulder.

"So what shall we do now?"

Chapter 2: On One Knee

Harry nervously fingered the small, velvet box in his hand. He was waiting for Ginny to come outside. It was a bright, sunny morning and he couldn't think of a better backdrop for this ultimate display of his love for Ginny. "It suits her personality perfectly." He smiled to himself.

Then he saw her practically floating down the steps. "I am the luckiest man alive," he whispered, grinning madly at her.

Ginny flew into Harry's arms.

"So, where are we going?" she asked excitedly.

She had been looking forward to this trip for days, ever since Harry had told her that he had a surprise trip for her while they were in London.

Harry laughed "I told you, it's a secret… you do know what that means don't you Ginny?"

"Hmm, well with my family – no. But please, please, please tell me Harry!" Ginny pleaded. She hated surprises.

"Just wait and see." Harry replied, with a twinkle in his eyes.

Ginny and Harry strolled through the busy streets of London, their arms wrapped tightly around each other. Harry was trying to hide his excitement, but he was pretty sure that Ginny had picked up on his strange mood. He kept fingering the small box in one of his coat's deep pockets (Hagrid's last Christmas present had been one of his coats, miniaturised.), and remembering all the good times Ginny and he had shared. He kept bringing up these memories with Ginny.

"Do you remember when we first started going out?" He asked, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Ah, yes, and you kissed me in front of the entire house of Gryffindor?" Ginny teased.

"Well, yeah, but after that. We had some good times, didn't we?"

Ginny squeezed Harry's hand.

"Yeah, we did. I'm just glad that we got back together after sixth year! Getting through the war with you alive was the best time of my life."

Harry realised that they were drawing near to the spot he had picked out. The North entrance to Hyde Park was just on their left hand side. He grabbed Ginny, and pulled her in through the gate and into the enormous park.

"Here? Why here?" Ginny was confused.

"Ssh! We're not there yet." Harry silenced her with a quick squeeze and a long kiss.

Unfortunately, this kiss was performed while he was walking backwards, so Harry managed to crash right into an elderly man walking his dog.

"Oh… erm, sorry, sir! I didn't see you there!" Harry went as red as a tomato, and Ginny couldn't control her massive outburst of laughter.

"I bet you didn't!" growled the man, "Kids today," he muttered, in a considerably quieter, but still audible, voice. "They don't have any sense at all. Why, I…"

The old man's words trailed off as Harry and Ginny sprinted away, laughing their heads off.

"Did you see his face?" Ginny gasped, still giggling. "That was so funny! You crashed right into him!"

"Hahaha, it wasn't very funny for me… but his face was hilarious."

They continued their slow walk along the path, imitating the man's furious face and cracking each other up.

Finally, they reached the spot near the centre of the park that Harry had picked out a few days ago. It had taken him days to choose the perfect spot, those days spent trailing around London with Ron, never actually telling his best friend what he was actually doing. It had taken him weeks to choose the perfect ring, searching in almost 200 jewellery and antique shops. Yet, it had only taken him seconds to decide that the time was right for him to make this decision.

As they drew nearer to the secluded park bench, hidden from the main path by a clump of enormous oak trees, Harry spun Ginny round and stopped her.

"Err… Harry? What are you doing?" Ginny's face was still amused, but she knew that something serious was on Harry's mind.

"Ginny, I've been with you for nearly five years now, and ever since I started this relationship, I knew that I could never finish it for ever. I love you more than anything in this world, and I want to be with you for the rest of my life."

Harry bent down onto one knee, and recovered the small, deep red velvet box from his coat.

"Ginerva Weasley… will you marry me?"

Ginny stood unmoving, looking at Harry with astonished, but tender and alive eyes.

"Oh my gosh, Harry, do you think we're ready?" she eventually breathed.

"Of course. Ginny, I've known that we're ready for 4 years now!"

He opened the box and Ginny slowly retrieved the ring.

"It's beautiful!" She whispered, admiring it in the sunlight. "But, Harry, I can't give you my answer now. I need to think about it. I'm pretty sure what my answer will be, but I need to think this out. I'm still young, and I haven't finished my Healer training yet… and I don't want to distract you from your Auror preparation!"

Harry looked at her, hurt, confused, and unsure.

"Does this mean…" he trailed off, to afraid to speak the words.

"NO! Harry, I've loved you my entire life, even before I met you!" she exclaimed. "I still love you, I just don't know if I'm ready to move this far yet."

Ginny softly slipped the ring onto her finger. Harry noticed it was on the right hand.

He gradually staggered up from his position at Ginny's knees.

"Come on." She murmured, placing her soft hands in his. "Let's have some lunch, and then I promise you that I'll give you a straight answer."

Chapter 3: Post-Answer

Harry and Ginny sighed happily at exactly the same time.

They turned to face each other, amused.

"Were…" "No, you go first!"

They even spoke at the same time, which just added to their entertainment.

Ginny laughed.

"Were you thinking what I was thinking?" she finally asked the question that was on both their minds.

"Remembering how I asked you?" Harry answered, with his own question.

Ginny nodded, smiling.

"And how you made me wait for ages afterwards?" Harry continued, asking yet another question.

Ginny laughed again. Her eyes sparkled, and her hair shimmered, falling softly over her shoulders as she threw her head back.

Harry twisted in his seat and leant in to kiss her. Their eyes were closed, when…

"Hey you guys! So, what have you two been up to… oh."

Ginny and Harry jumped apart as Ron walked over to them and took a seat.

"We aren't interrupting anything, are we?" Fred and George were right behind Ron, their usual mischievous grins on their freckled faces.

Ginny leaped up.

"FRED! GEORGE! When did you arrive?" She hugged each of the twins in turn.

"Today. We decided to drop in on the Leaky Cauldron, because we're in back in Diagon Alley to see how our HQ is doing." Fred replied.

"Where have you been?" Harry was curious; he had barely seen the pair since Bill and Fleur's anniversary party.

"Well, we were in France, setting up a new branch of our shop in a tiny wizarding village, a bit like Hogsmeade. We think that it's near Beauxbatons, because I swear that I saw Fleur's little sister – what's her name, Gabrielle? – and we definitely saw Madame Maxime more than a few times." George explained. The twins sat down, and simultaneously took sips of the Butterbeers that Ginny had brought them. It was rather amusing to watch.

"Ron, where are Hermione, Fleur and Bill?" Ginny had noticed that not all of the "tour group" had returned.

"Erm, we left them in some French Baby Boutique, (that's were we found Fred and George) because Fleur said that she knows the girl who owns it, and…" Ron stopped, embarrassed.

Fred was happy to continue for him.

"What Ron means to say is that there was another part-veela in that shop, and he refused to go in as soon as he found that out!"

"Well, yeah, I mean, you know what I get like around veela…" Ron mumbled, looking at his shoes.

"Yeah, you've only just got used to Fleur," Ginny mused, "But I'm glad that you," she pointed at Fred, "and you," She pointed at George, "Are both dating, so I'm sure neither of you would bring another part-veela into this family!"

Fred and George snorted, and grinned over Ginny's shoulder.

"Hi, Fleur!" they both said loudly.

Ginny spun round. Fleur was nowhere to be seen.

Her brothers burst out laughing.

"Don't ever do that to me again." She spun round, facing Harry and Ron, who were both smirking. "It's not funny!"

George chuckled. "Ginny, sometimes you sound too much like mum for our comfort. It freaks us out…"

"So we just have to lighten you up a bit!" Fred added, innocently.

Ginny shot dirty looks at them both.

Later that night, Harry lay in bed, listening to Ginny's regular breathing. His arm was lightly around her shoulders, rising with her deep breaths. He was more content than he had been since… well, since he had asked Ginny to marry him.

Now she had said yes, he was over the moon.

About two hours after Fred, George and Ron had interrupted them in the Leaky Cauldron, Fleur, Hermione, Chloe and Bill (Bill laden with shopping bags full of clothes, accessories, and knick-knacks), had arrived back at the bar, Fleur and Hermione glowing from their girls day out shopping, and Bill completely exhausted from his tortuous trip trailing around Diagon Alley, and a good portion of London. They had all enjoyed a hearty dinner, and Hermione kept glancing meaningfully at Ginny and Harry, asking questions with her eyes.

Ginny had eventually put her out of her misery by taking her aside and telling her that yes, she had said yes, of course she was going to, she had never really considered saying no, and Hermione had beamed for the rest of the night, after giving Harry a massive hug that Ron was probably still pondering.

Harry sighed, and turned over, drawing his sleeping fiancée towards him in his arms. Thirteen years ago, when he was living with the Dursleys, he would never have expected life to be this… good. Then, his life had completely changed. Hogwarts and the wizarding world were the best things that had ever happened to him.