DISCLAIMER: Do you all have short-term memory loss or something? I can hardly count the number of times I've said this, but I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER!
A/N: Arthur taught Ginny to dance. Ever since she was a baby, he danced with her. Five dances they shared as father and daughter, including the one in which he gives her away to Harry. My inspiration for this peice was the song "Cinderella", by Steven Curtis Chapman. Please look it up, it's just the sweetest song, but it does make me wish I had my daddy to dance with me. :') Please enjoy!
While She Is Here in My Arms
I will dance with Cinderella, While she is here in my arms.
'Cause I know something the prince never knew!
I will dance with Cinderella,
I don't wanna miss even one song.
'Cause all too soon,
The clock will strike midnight,
And she'll be gone.
The little bundle in my arms, so much smaller than any of my sons were, wriggles restlessly, gazing up at me with brown eyes that seem much too large for the tiny, sweet face of my only daughter.
Ginevra Molly. My baby girl.
The Wizarding Wireless behind me is crooning out a soft, slow song, and I rock the little red-tufted baby in time with it.
A little chuckle escapes my daughter, and she coos at me again.
I look up, and see my wife Molly watching us in the doorway, smiling softly, with tears on her cheeks.
A five year old Ginny squeals giddily as her big brother Bill spins her around, holding onto her hands only and twirling her in a circle. Her vivid crimson hair splays in a frenzied fan around her shoulders. Bill catches my eye and I hold out my arms. My oldest son flings her into the air. She gives a scream of delight as she flies into my waiting arms, then collapses against me in a fit of giggles.
"Daddy! Bill!" she reprimands, sitting up in my arms and placing her little hands on her hips in a way that reminds me oh-so-irresistibly of Molly.
I give a low chuckle and let her down. Instead of running off, she tugs at my hands and climbs onto my feet, grinning up at me, those brown eyes I've never been able to resist pleading.
"Dad, I need you! There's a ball at the castle, and I've been invited," she informs me seriously.
"Oh? What castle? and who's your prince?" I ask my little daughter, smiling, knowing what usually becomes of her imagined games.
"Hogwarts," she says, her small face solemn, but etched with excitement as well. "And I've been invited by Harry Potter."
It's such a sweet proclamation of an innocent little girl that I have to force back a laugh. Instead, I take her hands and dance with her slowly, stroking her hair.
"Marry someone good," I tell her softly, abruptly.
She looks up at me, from where she was resting her head on my stomach - even on my feet she only reaches just above my waist.
"I will, Daddy," she whispers, her eyes shining. Then, in such an earnest way I'm sure she's aged ten years in a second, she says, "I'm going to marry Harry Potter some day, and he's gonna be happy like he should be."
And I believe her.
Ginny is sprawled on her stomach on her bed, in one of Bill's shirts, her nose buried in one of her new course books with her radio playing softly in the background.
"Excited?" I ask, leaning on her doorframe.
"Uh-huh!" she chirps, grinning up at me and abandoning Standard Book of Spells Grade 1.
"Ron says you better not be reading course books, because apparently that type of behavior is indecent in anyone except for Hermione Granger," I tell her with a twinkle in my eye.
"Tell him to sod off - they're interesting! And I'm not a know-it-all bookworm like he says she is. But I really like Charms."
I grin at her. "Really now? So did I."
"I want to be like you, Daddy," she tells me, smiling. "And I want to marry someone like you."
"When you were five, you said you wanted to marry the young man currently helping your brothers degnome the garden," I tell her with a laugh.
She blushes.
"I...well..." she bites her lip and looks at me helplessly.
Little Ginny has a crush...
I laugh again, and pull her to her feet, twirling her around.
"It's okay," I tell her, and brush some vibrant red hair aside to kiss her forehead.
"Dance with me Daddy?"
I take her proffered hands and spin her around till she's dizzy.
Grimmauld Place is more cheerful than I've ever seen it the night I come home from St. Mungos: The house elf heads are bedecked with Santa Clause beards and bobbled red hats; Sirius is singing out-of-tune made-up words to Christmas carrols (Harry's tried telling him that "God Rest Ye Marry Hippogriffs" sort of messes up the meaning of the carrol, but he doesn't care, and nor does Harry if I'm right.) and stringing up so much tinsel you can't walk three steps without practically being strangled by the silvery stuff.
The kids are laughing in the kitchen, and it's a relief to hear Harry laugh again - he hasn't much this year, but it seems the others have pulled him - if kicking and screaming - out of his depression.
I hear Ginny's voice yelling, "HARRY JAMES POTTER! You put me down this INSTANT!" and step in to witness the fun.
Harry has Ginny over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and is chatting nonchalantly with Ron while Ginny screams at him.
Everyone else is doubled over, laughing helplessly at the scene.
"Dad!" she cries. "Dad, help me!"
Laughing, I shake my head, sinking into a chair to regain my wits. Harry grins at me cheekily.
"Hey, Mr. Weasley. I've caught her...now what should I do with her?"
I smile at him, my eyes crinkling at the edges with mirth.
"Oh, I don't know...she's a bit small, don't you think?"
He pretends to survey her over his shoulder, grinning down at my daughter's red, playfully-annoyed face and shrugging, purposely jostling her body.
"Yeah, a bit...but there'll be hell to pay if I let her go."
I laugh - it's true. My girl's got a temper to match her hair.
"Yes, but more of one if you don't," I tell him seriously, and he sighs as if it's some great loss, swinging her gently to her feet.
"Fine," he says, mock-scowling.
Ginny glares at him.
"Ooh, you're going to pay for that Potter," she growls, and I am inwardly glad for Harry that she can't use magic out of school.
Harry gulps, but as she opens her mouth to deliver his sentence, she stops abruptly, cocking her head towards the wireless in the corner, a small, impish smile playing on her lips. Harry looks at her wearily, but she just grins and walks over to it to turn it up.
It's our song.
I reach for her hands, and twirl her, as Harry and Hermione stare dumbfounded and the other boys burst into renewed laughter. I swing her into Fred's arms as Sirius enters. He stops, startled, but then his face breaks into a grin.
"Impromptu dance party!" he roars, and grabs Hermione's hands.
Soon, George is teaching Harry some moves, and they're both laughing, Harry's face glowing like the sunset as he messes up every one of them. Ron, Bill, Charlie and I are taking turns dancing with Ginny and Molly, who just joined us. Hermione comes over, and Ron blushingly holds out her hand. She gives him a look, but if you ask me, she's awful pleased as she accepts and lets him lead her into a fast dance. Ginny hugs me.
"Love you, Daddy."
"Love you too, little girl."
"I was scared, Dad," she confides, looking up at me with a crease in her forehead. "I was scared you would die. You have no idea...I woke up to Professor McGonagall leaning over me, telling me something about Harry and a vision and you being injured. I was terrified."
"I know, Sweetie," I tell her, hugging her close. "But it turned out fine, didn't it? It's okay now."
"He thought he was being possessed," she says, and I don't have to ask who "he" is.
I raise my eyebrows and she smiles slightly.
"Don't worry. He wasn't. And really, it was rather stupid of him...when I was..."
I smile again, and she moves out of my arms to dance with Sirius.
"Ginny?"
She turns back to me, grinning.
"Don't go too hard on him, okay? It's the first time I've heard him laugh in a while," I explain, and she smiles.
"I won't. I wasn't planning on it...but when we get back to school..." she grins maliciously, and I grimace on Harry's behalf.
I watch her dance with Sirius for a while, then I laugh as Harry shyly cuts in and Ginny gives him a stern talking-to, with a teasing grin all the while, but Harry just smiles down at her. They hug, and I hope that what Ginny told me when she was five will some day be the truth.
I'm going to marry Harry Potter some day, and he's gonna be happy like he should be.
I think about how I've never seen him happier.
Ginny hasn't been herself since she came home from school for the Easter holidays...since we went into hiding. She's quiet and pensive. She's bitter. She stays in her room at Muriel's for the most part.
I know there's something she hasn't told us, even beyond the torture sessions those Death Eaters have the nerve to call "Detenions". All I know is that she's been subjected to the Cruciatus, Sectumsempra (Snape's specialty, and the reason my son has one ear missing), and, for some reason, Legillimency.
Ginny won't tell me why.
She's lying in bed now, not moving, staring at a photograph. When I enter the room, she stuffs it under her pillow. Her cheeks aren't wet, but her eyes are red.
She's been crying.
Ginny never cries.
"Ginny," I say softly, "Ginny, tell me."
She needs no more prompting this time.
"We were dating - Harry and I," she tells me, her voice quiet and choked. "Last year. He broke up with me, though."
My eyes darken. Why? She answers my unspoken question.
"Don't be mad at him, Daddy. He was protecting me. He knew that Vol - er - I mean, Riddle - he knew that Riddle goes after the people that mean the most to him. So he told me we couldn't be involved after Dumbledore's feuneral. He wouldn't tell me where they were going or what they were doing, but I know some things...the general gist of it...it's a way to defeat Riddle, and it has to do with his soul...it has to do with that diary..."
I let her talk until she falls silent, tears overflowing again, and she thrusts the picture into my hand.
It's them.
Harry and Ginny.
Dancing.
They are outside in a courtyard of Hogwarts, next to a beautifully-overflowing fountain in the springtime. My eyes prickle uncomfortably, but I force the emotions that come with my daughter's heartbreak back.
After a moment of staring at the bliss on the picture-Harry's face, and the trust on picture-Ginny's, I stand, placing the photograph carefully on her bedside cabinite.
I hold out my hands to help her up, but when she's on her feet, I don't let go. Instead, I wave my wand at the Wizarding Wireless on her cabinite, and as it adjusts to a station playing a soft song, I slowly sway with her, moving her hands back and forth, twirling her under my arm, hugging her to me and letting her chin rest on my shoulder...
And I think, for that moment, she's happy again.
The marquee is beautiful. Ginny is the last Weasley child to marry, since we are all convinced Charlie will always love dragons more than any woman. The arch is covered in red roses and white lillies, and Harry stands beneath it, fussing with his tie, tugging at his collar, listening to Ron's reassuring whispers in a manner that says they're just making him more nervous. His eyes meet mine, I smile, and he visibly relaxes.
I slip back into the house, and smile at Ginny, who is standing by the door with Hermione and Luna, being fussed over by Fleur and Molly. Her dress is simple and ivory, imbroidered on the bodice with little pearls. The gown trails down and behind her in soft, strait lines, and fits her form flatteringly. Her hair is pulled up, with soft tendrils trailing around her flushed cheeks. The tiara she wears was Lily's, and I am so happy that she chose it over Muriel's - it is beautiful, and perfect for her, and a mark of Harry's parents, who cannot be here.
She smiles at me radiantly, her brown eyes brighter than ever.
"Daddy! How do I look?"
"You look beautiful, baby girl. But you're not my baby any more, are you?"
She shakes her head, her eyes gentle.
"No, Dad, but I'll always be your little girl. I promise. I'm Harry's now, though."
"You have been for a while, sweetheart," I tell her.
And he'll be happy like he should be...
I choke back tears, and taker her hand.
"Ready?"
"I'm ready."
The same earnest look is in her eyes as that day she was five and she told me that she was going to marry Harry Potter.
I take my daughter's arm and prepair to give her to the only man I would ever dream of giving her over to.
I watch in silence, just hours later, as she and Harry share their first dance as husband and wife. I watch the way she twirls so contentedly in his arms, and realize that that will never really be me again - she belongs to him now. He belongs to her. And I realize, through the sadness, that I couldn't be happier.
As the song ends, guests flood onto the floor, Ron and Hermione, Andromeda holding four-year-old Teddy up and swinging him around like I used to do with Ginny. The sight makes me nostalgic, but not at all unhappy.
How do they grow up so fast? One minute, you're in the delivery room, the next they're getting married themselves...
I smile and take Molly's hand, leading her onto the floor and twirling my wife like I did on our wedding day.
Halfway through the song, Molly goes off to dance with Charlie, and I wind throught the dancing couples to Harry and Ginny. Ginny is resting on Harry's chest, their hands clasped, his arm around her waist, and her arm wound around his neck. They're talking quietly, and Ginny laughs softly at something he says and places a chaste kiss on his lips.
I smile, walking up.
"May I cut in?" I ask, and Harry grins at me, surrenduring his bride to me, her father.
Hermione takes his hand and tugs him off to dance as I enclose Ginny's hand in mine. We dance slowly, and she says, "Dad, do you remember the last time we danced?"
I smile, and nod.
"In your room, at Aunt Muriel's. You were having a hard time, weren't you?"
She nods, and grins at me. "Better this time, if you ask me, but it helped then. Thanks Daddy."
"For what?" I ask, my eyebrows raised.
"For always being there. For teaching me how to dance."
A/N: Well...There you go! Another random plot bunny that wouldn't leave me alone on a rainy day with a song stuck in my head. Hope you enjoyed, and hope you'll review!
~PhoenixFlameGinny67