Author's Note: Written for the Through the Holidays Challenge: Halloween. My prompt was: butterbeer and my character was Harry. Also written for the Crystals, Gemstones, & Astrology Challenge: Moonstone/Basic - Incorporate a full moon into your story (150-600 words). Word Count: 589. Hope you enjoy!
Harry thought he wanted a party. It had been a year and a half since the end of the war, but he still wasn't feeling celebratory.
The gathering had been Ginny's idea, after seeing what a mess Harry was last Halloween. The holiday had never been a big deal before, but the Resurrection Stone had ruined that. Last year, he had found himself at Hogwarts, wondering the Forbidden Forest and riffling through fallen leaves. If he could see them, talk to them, one last time…
He would have wasted his life away talking to ghosts. He was happy he never found it. Mostly.
This year, Ginny had invited her entire family and all of Dumbledore's Army and the Order to Grimmauld Place. The house hadn't been so full since the war.
Harry supposed that was the reason he couldn't take being inside. He snuck away during a toast and climbed up to what was once Regulus Black's bedroom. Now, it was Harry's own personal garden.
Grimmauld Place didn't come with any land besides where the house stood, but Professors McGonagall and Flitwick had helped Harry blast away Regulus' room into a little rooftop garden. It hadn't been much at first, but Neville's knack for herbology had turned the first into grass too green for the season and he's even planted a sapling next to Buckbeak's covered enclosure.
Harry leant on the fence and stared out into the night, the full moon lighting up the city and making Harry lose track of time.
"There you are." He jumped as Ginny appeared at his side, handing him a butterbeer. "Stargazing, are you?"
He took a sip before answering. "More like moon gazing."
Ginny nodded. "Thinking about Teddy?"
"Among other things."
She sighed. "Maybe a party wasn't such a good idea."
"It was."
"Don't lie just because you fancy me. It was meant to cheer you up, and it hasn't. Therefore, bad idea."
"Just because it didn't work doesn't mean it was a bad idea. I'm not very good at being cheered up." He chugged down the butterbeer hoping it might help his mood.
Ginny toyed with the brim of her witch's hat before saying, "Fleur's pregnant."
Harry choked on his last bit of butterbeer. "What?"
"Bill and Fleur are having a baby. You missed the big announcement." She fixed him with a hard stare while renewed guilt filled Harry's chest. "You miss things when you do this loner, sulking stuff. Eventually, you've got to let yourself be happy. I mean for Merlin's sake, even George is moving on with his life. He's married and having a baby too."
"Are you saying we should get married and have a baby?"
"Don't push your luck, Potter. All I'm saying is you deserve to be happy."
"I'm happy," he said, reaching for her hand.
"You're only saying that because it'll make me happy," she said, moving out of reach. "Maybe today wasn't the best day for me to say that, but now it's out there. So I'm going back inside." She pushed off the fence and headed back across the garden.
It would have been easy to let her go and to stay out there, maybe take Buckbeak for a fly, but Harry had learned long ago that the easy thing wasn't usually the right thing. "Ginny, wait!"
She had one hand on the door and held it open, looking back at Harry with a grin. "I knew I'd change your mind."
Harry chuckled, giving her a quick kiss before leading the way inside.