Ginny's wedding gift

-By: Shi

Hello all. Thanks for reading! This is a sweet, innocent, loving story. One-shot.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters featured in this story, they are the soul possession of JK Rolling.

Harry and Ginny Potter apperated out of no where on a deserted street at dusk. They were standing in front of their new home in Godrics Hollow. It was just down the street from where Harry's parents had lived, and up the street from where their favorite headmaster had spent his younger years.

Harry placed his arm around her shoulders and drew her closer to him, meeting her lips with his. He could feel her excitement about to boil over. All throughout their honeymoon he could tell there was something on her mind and he had a feeling it had to do with what she was giving him tonight.

Ginny was bouncing with excitement. It was finally her turn to give Harry his wedding present. They were both exhausted from their month long honeymoon traveling the world, but she just had to give it to him tonight. She'd been working non-stop for the past four years on this.

Thank goodness her parents had agreed to watch Teddy for an additional week to give them time to settle in to their new place. Just what they needed right now was a four year old running around.

"Are you ready?" Ginny asked her voice ringing with excitement.

Harry nodded and started leading her down the path to their new home. He had no idea what to expect from Ginny's present. He just hoped she hadn't done too much. All he needed was her. She was his rock, his life. He just hoped she always knew that she was all he needed. He'd told her that anytime her present had come up in conversation over their honey moon. She'd always just look at him with that knowing glint in her eyes.

A lot had happened since the downfall of Voldemort...Harry had been leading the hunt for the remaining Deatheaters as an auror. After he caught them they were tried in front of the new Wizengots council to see if they were trustworthy enough to be set free, or if Azkaban was the only place for them. It really didn't bother Harry that many were set free. He had a feeling there were none left that he and his friends couldn't handle. Everyone, even the Deatheaters, were tired of fighting; tired of being scared.

Harry and all his friends had finished up their schooling and taken their NEWTS exams. Harry became an auror, Ron had decided he had had enough of dark wizards for a lifetime and took Fred's spot in the family's joke shop business. Percy had had enough of the ministry, despite the radical changes that had been made under the leadership of the new Minister of Magic, Kinsley Shackelbolt, and worked for the joke business as well. He was in charge of finances and the business was booming under his meticulous watch.

Hermione worked at the head of the ministry's office for the mistreatment of magical creatures. She was in charge of the current campaign for giving all magical creatures equal voice and rights to that of wizards. She was in charge of making the laws that would be fair for all. House elves were on their way towards freedom, centaurs had rights to their property, giants were schooled, werewolves and vampires were given equal rights...she was rather busy. Hermione and Ron had been married two years ago and were quite happy.

Harry had been in charge of raising Teddy as his godfather. It was a responsibility her cherished. It wasn't as difficult as it could have been. He had lived at Burrow which had left much of the raising to Molly Weasely.

--

When they reached the threshold of their new home, he stopped and picked Ginny up to carry her over the threshold. Ginny giggled at his show of chivalry. He reached with one hand and threw open the door.

Her family had taken it upon themselves to prepare their things for them while they were away. They also had Ginny's surprise all set up waiting for them.

Harry set her down on the other side of the threshold. He reached for his wand to turn on a light.

"wait!" Ginny exclaimed putting her hand to stop him from using his wand. "close your eyes, Harry."

He smiled and did what he was told.

Ginny waved her hand in front of his face to make sure he wasn't peeking. Assured he wasn't, she felt on the table to the right of the door and found what she was looking for. Her hand clasped around Ron's deluminator.

With one click of the deliminator the lights were set free and the room was immediately illuminated with a warm happy glow. Harry couldn't help but let out a smile. He knew that click very well. When Ron had first received the deluminator he had clicked it nonstop, much to his and Hermione's annoyance.

She gave it one more click towards the fireplace and a blazing fire started in an instant.

She led him further into the house by his hand and brought him into the center of their home.

"ok, you can open now." she said with a smile.

Harry opened his eyes. He was in the middle of the dining/living room he guessed. There was a large table in the corner he and Ginny had picked out to seat all their friends and family. It would even magically accommodate more guests if necessary. There was the couch on the other side of the room, Griffindor red, they had also picked it out together before the wedding. Harry couldn't pinpoint what it was he was supposed to be looking at. Everything in the room was something they had picked out together before the wedding.

Then it hit him. There were numerous empty portrait frames on the wall. So many that there was no free wall space on all four walls of the room. There were frames of all shapes and sizes. He contemplated this for a few moments and gave Ginny a questioning look.

Her excitement was literally jumping out of her. She could no longer hold back.

"Ok, everyone, you can come out!" she said excitedly.

Harry looked to the doors expecting people to jump out of closets, or for the couch to transfigure back into a person.

"Surprise!" Numerous voices said. And instantly there was movement inside the picture frames. All the frames were filled then, all with familiar, loving faces. All were looking at Harry and Ginny and all were speaking at once.

His parents were there with huge grins on their faces, they shared a frame together

"Hello son," James Potter said proudly.

"My baby, we're so proud of you," Lilly said with tears in her eyes as she held onto James.

Sirius had a frame next to them, he gave them a handsome grin and said:

"Congratulations my boy," Sirius exclaimed with a suggestive display in Ginny's direction.

Lupin, Tonks were to the right of Sirius, they also shared a frame.

"We're so glad you and Ginny found each other," Tonks said holding her cheeks, her hair was a bright yellow. Remus had his arms wrapped around her and was nodding his head in agreement.

Dumbledore stood in a picture of his office with a sage like smile,

"Harry, may you and Ginerva have all the happiness in the world," Dumbledore said with a small wink.

Snape stood behind a desk in a picture of the potions dungeons

"I'm really have no idea why I'm here..." he thought out loud when Harry's eyes met his. He stole a glance toward Lilly and James's painting.

"Oh Severus, you know you've done so much for Harry, of course you belong here with the rest of the family," Lilly said with a warm friendly smile.

Madeye Moody was flying his broom through a midnight sky

"I'm proud of you my boy," Madeye yelled gruffly, over the wind, "you've made yourself into a fine auror."

Fred Weasely stood with his arms comically crossed in a picture of the joke shop in Diagon Alley.

"You take good care of my sister now you hear, Harry," Fred said. "She couldn't have chosen a better man."

Even Hedwig and Dobby had their own frames. Dobby stood in his frame wearing one of Hermione's kitted hats, a colorful jumper, and two different socks. Harry recognized the left sock as the one he had given him to set him free.

"Dobby can't believe the honor he has received to hang above the coffee table in Harry Potter's living room. He is speechless," the painting of Dobby said with tears running freely down his face.

Hedwig gave a hoot of hello. She was sitting on a tree branch in a dark starry night. She spread her great white wings and flew through all of the paintings, towards Harry. Snape had made an over-exaggerated effort to shield the top of his greasy head as she flew through his painting. She perched herself on Lilly's shoulder and warm affection shown in her golden eyes.

Harry was absolutely dumbstruck. Tears were forming in his eyes as he looked from one painting to the next. Finally he was able to find his voice.

"Ginny...ho...how?" he stammered emotionally.

Ginny wrapped her arms around him to comfort him. She knew this would be hard for him. She knew how much it meant to him.

"After you defeated Voldemort all those years ago, I knew it was only a matter of time before you got up the nerve to ask me to marry you."

He let out a laugh at her matter of fact tone of voice. That actually had been the first point on his list to do after Voldemort, well second; after he made the world safe for her by rounding up the rest of the Deatheaters.

"Knowing how honorable you are I knew you'd have to wait until I was of age and until we had both graduated form Hogwarts to get married. I cornered my big brother, Ronald, as he's the man who knows you best, and asked him what you wanted most of all."

"He told me of your first year when you found the mirror of Erasid that would show you with whatever you most dreamed of. He said that you saw yourself with your whole family surrounding you.

"I knew I would be the one to help you start a new family, but I still wanted you to have all your family.

"As you know, magical portraits of this sort can only be made with the permission of the diseased which requires an inborn magic to contact with the deceased party. Through Slughorn's contacts I was able to find someone who could do such a wonderful feat. It is a very rare gift and when I met with the artist Slughorn introduced me to, it was soon discovered I possessed the gift. He told me only one witch or wizard is born a century with the gift to paint the soul."

"I think my gift was awoken after I'd been possessed by riddle's soul all those years ago. You see to make a magical portrait you need to form a contract with the soul of the subject. And then while you're possessed with their soul together you render an imprint of the person's soul at the time of their death."

"Professor Dumbledore's, Professor Snape's and Madeye's portrait were the simplest, all I needed to do was make a copy of the portraits in Hogwarts and the magical law enforcement office. As you know Madeye and the previous headmaster's portraits were done by Fernald Clockens, the wizard who taught me to paint."

"The other paintings were more difficult. They took spending many hours at the graves of the individuals and casting many spells. Luckily I was able to contact each in the other world and request a copy of them."

"As you know these portraits are not the same as communicating with the spirit of the person depicted, merely an imprint of them when they were still alive made with the help and permission of the spirit of the person."

"It took me a long time. Luckily you were busy hunting down all the Deatheaters so I could hide it from you. All the hard work has paid off and now you can have all your friends and family with you all the time. This is my gift to you. You are the most important person to me and I want you to have all that you have ever wanted."

There was a long silence. The full implications of what Ginny had done for him were starting to sink in. Harry was so awestruck by what she had done for him. It was well known the difficulty of making these portraits, especially in the case of his parents who had been dead for so long.

Now he could talk to them whenever he wanted. The prospect sent an excited shiver down his body. Something he'd dreamed of his entire life had finally come true.

Thinking further, when Teddy moved in with them next week he could be with his parents whenever he wanted; Teddy never had to feel as lonely as Harry had by not knowing his parents. Not that Harry would have let that happen anyway.

Harry could get to know his parents, their hopes and dreams. He could finally spend time with Sirius without worrying about him being caught and captured. He could see how his father interacted with his friends, and even be a part of that. He would finally get to know more about Dumbledore so he didn't feel like it was such a one sided friendship. Madeye could give him dark wizard hunting tips. He could laugh with Fred again, and he could enjoy the company of Hedwig and Dobby.

Ginny excitedly went on; "We'll be able to keep in contact with Hogwarts and the Wizengot counsel with Professor Dumbledore and Snape's portraits," Ginny explained, since Harry was still speechless, unable to voice his feelings, "and that way when Teddy and our future children go to school we'll know all the mischief they'll get into. You can keep in contact with work through Moody. You'll notice his corner is the darkest. He refused to allow any torches to be put near his painting just in case it caught on fire."

"Constant vigilance!" Moody exclaimed.

"I made a copy of Fred's painting for the Burrow and each of their joke shops." She added.

"I can still help customers and catch shoplifters!" said Fred with a mischievous grin.

"Tonks usually spends the full moons in another painting; Remus still turns into a werewolf of course." Ginny explained. He hadn't thought of that.

"At least I no longer need to brew his blasted potion." Snape sneered.

"I'm going to dedicate my professional life to painting portraits of the loved ones lost during the war for the ones they left behind. I've already got a long list of requests," Ginny said proudly.

"Have I ever told you how amazing you are?" Harry finally managed to say; his voice was husky with emotion.

"Yes," she said with an impish smile.

He pulled her towards him and captured her mouth to his. All the people in the portraits hooted and hollered, cheering their glee; except for Snape, who turned away with disgust.

Harry ended the kiss, his cheeks burning with embarrassment from all the attention. "Ginny?" he whispered in her ear.

"Yes?" she asked with an equally embarrassed look on her face.

"There aren't any picture frames in our bedroom are there?" He asked in a low suggestive voice.

Ginny burst out laughing and shook her head no.

THE END

AN: I thought this would add to the ending of the book. If you like it, let me know! Or, if you can think of other portraits that should have been there, let me know. Thanks for reading- Shi