Perfect Beginning

Ginny flattened herself against the wall and held her breath. If Filch caught her she'd get a letter sent home – the third time that month she'd snuck out of the dorm. But the footsteps passed quickly, and she ran to the stairs of the astronomy tower.

"Audire melior!" she whispered, aiming her wand at her left ear. She pressed her ear to the door, and made a mental note to ask George for another pair of Extendable Ears – the last pair she had brought was stolen; undoubtedly the work of Jessia Broderick, who now had all she needed to eavesdrop on every conversation in the castle. Besides, the Enhanced Hearing charm was tricky to pronounce and didn't always work.

She heard nothing; apparently it was too cold that December night to sneak up to the astronomy tower for a bit of snogging. But the cold didn't scare this Gryffindor away; it was December thirteenth, night of the best meteor shower of the year.

The door was heavy, and the latch freezing. Ginny braced herself for the cold, and opening the door was like going from an English summer to Antarctica in a half-second. She put masking tape over the lock (it was a Muggle trick, but it was easy and effective) and started toward –

"Harry?" she whispered. He turned to look at her. His pitch black hair rustled a bit in the wind while his mouth turned upwards into a smile; his teeth gleamed, white as the snow that lingered on the railing from the first snowfall.

Ginny smiled too, half returning Harry's grin and half remembering the first snowfall that winter. It had been the first of December, and apparently Hermione had had enough; in their break between potions and dinner, she marched up to Ron and kissed him right on the mouth. He'd stared, for a moment, then smiled and returned the favor. Since they'd started, it was hard to get those two to stop.

"What are you up to?" Harry asked.

"I could ask the same of you."

His grin vanished – "you're not meeting someone here, are you?"

She giggled. "No. It's the Geminids tonight, and there's no moon. It's perfect. "

"That's what I'm up here for. Astronomy bores me, but… I like stars. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah. It does, actually.…"

What didn't make sense to Ginny was the way he looked at her more than he looked at the sky. But she pretended not to notice, and –

"Ohhhh!" The first meteor she'd seen all night! It was beautiful, arching downward until it fizzled away, like the remnants of fireworks. Keeping custom, she wished on it – for a reason Harry couldn't keep his eyes off her, a reason he had moved closer to her, a reason he had grinned at her.

How hard she'd tried, how she'd nearly gotten over him! Hadn't she dated Michael and Dean and snogged that Greek boy Perseus in Luna's closet at the party in July? And even agreed to go out with him, if only to break it off after the party? She had – true, she'd felt like a jerk, but the long-distance thing would be way too hard.

"Exactly," Harry agreed. She jumped, wondering illogically if he had read her thoughts. She soon realized he was merely commenting on her awe at the shooting star, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "You can't see stars like this in Little Whinging. Too many lights. You're lucky you're at the Burrow for the Leonids every August…"

"Well you're usually there by August. Next time we'll watch them together."

"That would be great!" He seemed to remember, then, that he shouldn't be so eager.

But how Ginny smiled in her heart that he wanted to watch stars with her! His grin drove her crazy and looking at his eyes nearly made her faint. She saw another tiny meteor on her left, and wished again; in the silence they saw another falling star. Hoping the magic of the number three would help, she phrased it in her head: I wish Harry would requite my love. She had taken the word "requite" from Shakespeare, but it wasn't "his" and she didn't have to time to dwell on it as Harry pointed out the Pleiades.

"It looks like only around seven stars, right? And tonight you can see nine. In cities it just looks like fuzz. But its actually over a hundred. It's so much more than it seems…" Ginny got the impression that he had something else to say.

"And?"

"And… it kinda reminds me… of… you…"

What does that mean? And is he… embarrassed? "How so?" she prodded.

He sighed. He was caught now. "It's like, at first you were just this little girl, right? This little girl who fancied the boy-who-lived." Her cheeks grew hot, and he half-smiled an apology, but went on. "And now, it's like, you're an actual, er, person, with thoughts and opinions and a voice."

Ginny didn't know what to think.

"And, I, er, like you. A lot. And I have since… June, I think. And if you don't –"

"Harry?"

"Yeh?"

"Shut up," she insisted, lightly kissing his lips.

He grinned. "They always told me wishing on a falling star got you what you wanted."

"And did you believe them?"

"Oh yeah." He kissed her again, and pulled her into his lap. He looked over her at the night sky, straining his eyes for the slightest sign of a meteor.

Then, a bright white dot arched through the northern sky. The two watched as it slowly fell into the horizon.

It was the perfect beginning.

ta da! mel's first attempt at fanfic! well, not the first, but certainly the only finished one. never mind the fact that it's a one shot, and therefore not as impressive as an actual story... and actualy story IS in the works, by the way, i planned it long ago and now i think im gonna start it. anyway.

thanks muches for reading... and reviewing winkwinknudgenudge so hit that lovely purple button!

mel

and many thanks to amber who wont read this but reminded me about the geminids so I went to watch them!