Authors note: I am in need of a speedy beta. If interested please contact me at again I own nothing. Everything belongs to JKR.
WARNING:the word camera and photograph are used extensivley and ending sucks. Thank you
Candid Love
Glints of red every now and then. In the corners, a shadow in the back round, another face in the crowd, and sometimes the main spectacle, a mass of moving colors, red was all he saw. Each photograph retold a story, a different one then his memory remembered.
She was there, all along. Sometimes in the back of his head, sometimes he couldn't take his mind off her. But here she was, all around.
He liked the pictures where she was the focus. With her pair of ever knowing doe eyes, and her blazing hair flashing while she posed haughtily. Her outgoing personality shinning through the dismissing hand, swerving hips, winks, and beginnings of airborne kisses. But his favorites were the candid pictures.
Harry's finger traced her outline on one particular picture. Her frame was at the edge of the image. Her eyes, though viewed from the side, had a sheer of personality to them. She appeared to be laughing at someone or something not in the picture. Sunlight hit her at a certain angle that made her hair reflect the dancing rays.
Carefully he set the photograph to the side and studied another unexpected moment that was beneath it. In this one she was hoisted in a tree and looking up at the sun as if asking the sky to raise her up. As he flipped through, the pictures became more and more blurry until they were nothing smudges of copper.
A breeze ruffled through the leaves, assisting the trees in their symphony of sound. The light breeze slowly became a wind burst picking up the colorful leaves that dropped, and depositing them across the long terrain. A forest of few trees surrounded them.
Although summer was ending, the trees provided much entertainment. Fred and George appearated successfully from treetop to treetop while dropping apples ,among other things, on random people. Ron, wanting to join in the fun, unsuccessfully appeated painfully into thin air, and was now arguing with Hermione about the urgency of packing.
Bill and Charlie were playing a game with a quaffle while discussing the upcoming wedding.
Everyone was regretting Harry's decision when it came to gifts. For helping him out at the ministry Harry gave Mr. Weasley a muggle camera as a thank you present. He was in the middle of explaining how it worked to Arthur when he felt someone's eyes on him. He slowly looked up and caught eyes with Ginny who was smiling brightly from a tree base she was sitting on. They had a conversation with their eyes on the humor behind Mr. Weasley's fascination. That was something he loved about her, their ability to talk without ever having to utter a sound.
"So the pictures don't move?" He asked in awe, breaking Harry's thoughts. All week he had been abiding by an unspoken agreement to not go within a certain radius of her. When Mrs. Weasley insisted that since the whole family was together they should go on an outing, he couldn't resist. Being part of a family was something new for Harry, and he wouldn't pass up the chance. But avoiding Ginny was now proving to be a problem, especially when all he wanted was to run over and snog her senseless. See her eyes flicker open in his arms and a smile flutter upon her juicy lips.
"They don't move. It's like your cameras. Watch," He took the camera and lightly lined it up. His finger brushed upon the top button and he pressed it with a click and a flash. Ginny looked up from her writing, and looked around. Her eyes landed on Harry and the camera and she raised an eyebrow. Harry turned back to Mr. Weasley with a huge grin. "That should be a good picture of Ginny."
"But where is the picture?" Mr. Weasley asked with confusion.
"It's inside the camera." Harry answered. Mr. Weasley held it up and inspected it.
"Inside? How do you get it out?"
After explaining how it works to Arthur he watched as he went around giddily taking pictures of anything he could. Flashes all around and instantly Harry knew he should have just brought Mr. Weasley a battery.
Harry sneaked a peek over at Ginny. He watched the way the rays caressed her skin, the way she bit her lip at the side of her mouth and her face screwed up in concentration as she wrote. He imagined and wondered about what she was writing. Was it a poem like the one she had sent him in second year? Was it an early homework assignment? Was it a dairy? Was it a letter to him? So lost in his thoughts he didn't see Fred and George steal the camera from Mr. Weasley until they ran over to Ginny. Fred grabbed Ginny's wrist and pulled her up, making her papers fall to the ground. George held the camera upside down but at least the right side was pointed towards Ginny.
"Pose for us darling." They started saying in fake accents. Ginny laughed and made pretend poses. Flash after flash, pose after pose, picture after picture Harry watched. Until finally Ginny rubbed her eyes and stated that she would not do anymore for her public. Fred and George continued pushing and flashes kept emitting from the camera. So Ginny bolted away from the camera and its users. It was amazing after all the light she experience head on she didn't run into a tree. But she ran and they chased her, taking pictures of her back, apperating in front of her and taking pictures. A full out war erupted.
Harry made his way to a bench to watch. Bill, always one to side with Ginny, flew over and distracted/blocked Fred and George so Ginny had more time to escape. Instead the twins now focused on taking pictures of Bill. Charlie made a camera appear in his hands and started taking pictures of the twins. Ron grabbed Hermione's wrist and yanked her over to all the action. Charlie made them both cameras and a picture war erupted. Fred ran over to Harry and gave him the original camera with a wink. Harry shifted the camera in his hands, having no desire to join in. He was having fun just watching. SO unsure of what to do with it he put it behind his back so no one would assume he was part of the battle. Ginny made her way over and collapsed on the bench, the only one without a camera. He watched as she pushed her long hair out of her face and over her shoulder. Her face was slightly flushed and her eyes were lit up for the first time in weeks. She smiled at him and put her arm on the bench behind her, turning herself to him.
"Why aren't you joining in the fun?" The sound of her voice, the look of her stare, all the things he had been missing out on lately gave him shivers.
"Don't know."
"I guess there always is one party pooper…" She answered in a mocking tone. She turned her face to watch the war. No one had noticed yet that she was missing. He followed her example and also turned to watch. He watched Bill wave his wand and all cameras disappeared, except the camera Harry felt still pressing against his back. Everyone that was once fighting paused to look around. Charlie was on Georges back at an unusual angle, Bill was sitting on Fred's feet. Mr. Weasley was hiding behind a tree. But the funniest picture was Ron and Hermione. They were on the ground, so tangled up in each other you couldn't tell whose limbs were whose. Both of their faces flushed and they avoided looking strait at each other. Ginny and Harry erupted in laughter and everyone's eyes turned to face them. Ginny gulped as Fred and George slowly stalked towards her.
Then they came to a halt, as if noticing that they had no weapon, no camera to get revenge with. Ginny dissolved into laughter and Harry got an idea. He slowly took the camera out from his back and Ginny stopped laughing and stared at him. Her eyes got wide, and after a second or two of sitting there she bolted from her seat and he bolted after her. She ran as fast as she could, her legs kicking up behind her, and Harry ran after her. He watched he turn corners, and go down paths he didn't recognize. Both were fit and they continued running to nowhere. When he looked back Harry could barley see the burrow, let alone the exact woods the fight had began at. He followed her until he felt he couldn't go on any longer. Completely worn out and unsure of where they were, he didn't think he could go on any longer and at that exact moment Ginny slowed down. He watched her put her hands on her knees and bend over slightly while trying to catch her breath. Her hair fell made a curtain around her face and her cheeks were flushed. Catching his breath Harry stalked behind her and when she whirled around he pushed her to the ground. He pinned her wrists to the ground, sitting lightly on her stomach, and watched as she looked up at him in full surprise. He took his camera with one hand and clicked the button on top. But no flash came. He pressed again and nothing happened. Ginny watched and burst into laughter. Harry looked at the camera and then discovered it was out of film. He swore lightly under his breath which made Ginny laugh harder.
"I win!" she choked out.
"Not if I can help it" He growled. Without pausing to think about his actions he leaned down and captured her mouth with his own. Ginny let out a squeal of surprise before letting her eyelids shut.
With their mouths in a raging battle, and blood boiling the kiss became deeper so both felt they were falling into each other and couldn't get out. When they finally broke apart their breathing was deep and labored. Both looked at each other and Harry opened his mouth to speak Ginny pressed a finger over it. They both sat there, looking at each other before it registered in Harry's mind that he was still on her. He got off and sat on the ground, turned away from her. All he could hear was her breathing, and despite himself he pictured her chest rising and falling with each breath, her milky eyes boring holes into his back, her lips swollen from his kisses still open in mid shock. He couldn't turn around or he would lose all thought. He would forget that he was putting her in danger, he would do things he would regret. Behind him he heard Ginny stand and when she walked around him and kneeled to his level she looked prettier then he could have ever pictured. Her eyes shinned and she muttered something under her breath.
"What?"
Without warning she took the camera that had found its way on the ground and took a picture of his alarmed face. To his surprise it flashed and when she lowered it, her eyes were sparking in a way that twisted his heart.
"It now has new film." She replied, giving him the old film that had appeared from nowhere.. With a devious smile she leaned in and tenderly placed her smooth lips upon his. His mind reeled in shock and he was swimming in yet another pool of her. His mind exploded when she shifted her lips on his and without thinking twice he pulled her closer to him, and kissed her like his life depended on it. He was so lost in her he didn't notice the flash beside him.
As he came to the last picture in the set he watched as he lost himself in the woman he loved. He watched himself taste her precious lips and even while looking at it he felt the taste of her lingering on his lips. That day he had kissed her until Ron came looking for them. Later that night Harry snuck out and talked with Ginny. His main worry was putting her in danger; she once again had kissed him until he couldn't even remember his name, or who voldermort even was. He thought of the words she had spoken that night as she handed him the pictures.
"I love you Harry, I will wait however long it takes. Just make sure you come back to me."
And as he looked at the stack of pictures he knew one day, like every hero, he would get his happily ever after.
