Chapter 1 - It's A Deal
"Harry."
Harry looked up from his book to see his fiance, Ginny standing before him. He sighed, knowing just what this conversation was going to be about. Sure, he loved her, her flaming red hair and her bright, warm brown eyes. But he saw her as a little sister, and had been forced to propose under the pressure of Molly, thrilled for him to really become part of the family. He loved her, but he wasn't in love with her. And he was quite sure Ginny felt the same, as she had invited Blaise Zabini over, unknown to her mother, several nights before. Dropping his eyes back to the book, he glanced up at her out of the corners of his eyes.
"Look at me, Harry. Stop hiding behind your book, or whatever the hell you're reading."
Harry caught her brown eyes with his green ones, blinking as she kept breaking the gaze, then looking back. Was there still some attraction hidden behind those, normally shining with laughter, brown eyes, or was Harry seeing things? He wasn't sure - he certainly didn't have any attraction towards her, and never had. He always saw her as the little sister he'd never had - as family.
"I do believe it's a book, but I might be - ow, Ginny, that hurt!"
"Well, good." Ginny glared at him, brushing the fiery hair out of her eyes. "You deserved it, you bastard. After what you -"
Harry raised his eyebrows, close to disappearing in his black, messy hair. "Language, Weasley. And what I did? What about you snogging Zabini all last night? Poor Molly, she'll think a train's hit her when you tell her."
Ginny tried to hide a snort, but failed miserably. "Ah, Harry. Always your humor."
She paced in front of her fiance, occasionally reaching up to toss her hair out of her pale face, muttering something every so often. Finally stopping in front of him and sighing, the woman spread her hands.
"Harry..." She gave another sigh. "I suppose you know what this conversation is about, don't you? Mum won't be too happy with what I'm doing of course..."
"Of course I know." Harry said quickly.
"Good." Ginny murmured to herself some more, finally continuing. "Well, I'm real sorry, but...we're not going to marry. You see..." She lowered her head, red bangs snapping over her face immediately. "I-I...I never loved you. I was an obnoxious fangirl, chasing you around and gawking at that dumb scar on your forehead. And you don't really love me either, do you? Oh, don't glare at me like I've just discovered your worst secrets. I love Blaise. Not you, Mr. I'm-So-Famous-Potter. Wait, did I just say that?"
Harry let out a bark of laughter. "That's fine with me, Ginny. I love you, but I'm not in love with you. You're like the annoying little sister I never had."
"Thanks a lot, Harry." Ginny's shoulders relaxed, and her head rose again. "So, now that I've let it slip I love a nasty little Slytherin..."
Harry quickly lowered his gaze back to the book, slowly reading the print on the long, dusty, old pages. He flipped the pages rapidly, knowing what she was going to ask...Please don't say it, please don't say it...
"Who are you in love with?" Ginny asked, raising her thin red eyebrows at him. "Is it Cho Chang? What about Padma or Parvati Patil? How about...ooh." Her face split into a wide grin as she leaned forward. "I know who you love! Hermione!"
"W-what?" Harry asked, head snapping back up. "I-I don't...I don't love my best mate's girlfriend!"
"Yeah, right." Ginny giggled at his face, which was steadily fading to a shade of red much deeper than her hair. "Oh, and they're going through some tough times. Maybe you should comfort dearest Hermione..."
"They are?" Harry was now utterly confused. "Tough times? They confessed their love right after I killed Voldemort!"
"Actually..." Ginny shook her head. "Hermione told me she preferred you. Said Mum's kinda forcing her to pretend she loves Ron. I don't really reckon Ron loves her either. Mum's probably waiting for everything to be nice and sugary for me, you, Hermione and Ron...Everything is turning out nicely for my other brothers. Charlie hasn't found a lovely girl like the rest of them, though...I bet no girl'd look at him, all those bumps and bruises from the dragons."
"Sounds rough," Harry said, trying not to laugh.
"Well, yeah." Ginny rolled her eyes. "From what Blaise told me, dear Draco dumped his wife off somewhere, then went after Pansy Parkinson. I'm also in touch with Luna, she said old Rolf Scamander proposed to her. Can you believe it, Harry? Rolf Scamander! And she refused, I mean, really, he's not that much of a looker, but people say he's really nice - then she ran off to Neville, who was starting to fall for Hannah Abbott but still had feelings for her. So he turned away from Hannah, went ahead and proposed to her, so Hannah got all upset and irritated, so she hurried off to complain to Ernie Macmillan. Well, love lives are complicated, I guess." She shrugged.
"Hah...I guess." Harry commented, snorting at Luna's love life. "Well, what about Percy? He loved Penelope, didn't he? So why'd he all of a sudden get a new one? We don't even know this Audrey girl!"
"Percy's complicated as a person; he's all mixed up. So he still longs for Penny, but is trying to get over her at the same time, if you know what I mean. I think he visits her through the Floo Network every week still - Audrey is jealous of that. She tries to cover up, but it's pretty hard if you have solid evidence that your boyfriend of quite a few months might be cheating on you."
"So Percy -"
"I never said he was cheating, did I?" Ginny asked rolling her eyes again. "Now, back to Hermione. You obviously love her, and she shares your feelings."
"She...she does?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Of course, you prat. She loves you, I don't know why the hell she does, but..." The only Weasley girl shook her head. "So, how about we make a bet. If you can't get her in bed and pregnant by the time Blaise proposes, I get...hmm..." She stroked her chin gently. "You're my slave for a year. And if you win, you get Hermione and a kid. That's good enough, right?" Ginny teased. "No, you decide."
"I'm really not sure."
"Then think, Potter, cause you'll need to tell me by the time I win! Then I get that too...minus the Hermione and a kid part. Instead, I get to give birth! Yippe, isn't that fun?" She made a sour face. "Oh, I'm pregnant, by the way."
"So - so you and Blaise - ?"
She smirked. "Yep. I didn't technically cheat on you, since..." The fiery-haired woman grinned, shrugging at him. "...you didn't feel the same. So, is it a deal?"
"You bet."
He smiled, getting up and leaving the room.