Chapter One
It was a beautiful day in early July. The sun was just reaching its highest point during the day. It was warm for England, but only about seventy-five degrees. It was the perfect weather for hanging out by the ocean, which was exactly what Ginny Weasley was on her way to do.
Ginny had just gotten home from practice, which had of course run longer than anticipated. She took a quick shower and quickly changed into her bikini, pulling on a pair of jean short shorts over the bottoms. She pulled on a tank top as well. She hurriedly stuffed a towel and sunscreen into a bag and rushed out the door.
Harry had just finished filling the coolers and putting cooling charms on them when his parents arrived with the birthday girl. She came through the Floo network with James and as soon as they stopped, she quickly let go of her father's hand and went tearing across the room to Harry. Harry scooped the girl into his arms and gave her a hug.
"Happy Birthday, Claire," Harry said to his little sister.
"I'm four," Claire responded.
"I know," Harry said.
"Is Teddy here yet?" Claire asked. Teddy was three years old, and therefore the closest in age to Claire.
"Not yet," Harry responded. "You're the first person here."
"Can I play on the beach?" Claire asked.
"Yeah, sure," Harry said. "Isn't that what you wanted for your party? Otherwise we could have had it at your house and saved me the trouble."
Harry put her down and she ran outside and down the deck to the beach.
"Hey Dad," Harry said, hugging James Potter. Lily had just emerged from the fireplace as he hugged his dad. He proceeded to hug his mom.
"Do you need help with anything?" James asked.
"No, I think we're good," Harry said. "The coolers are chilling, the food will be delivered in an hour and Mom has the cake, right?"
"Yes, I do," Lily said. "I sent it to the kitchen so I'm going to go check on it."
She bustled off to do that and Harry headed outside with his dad.
"So, thanks for letting us use your house," James said as they sat down at the outdoor bar. "Claire insisted on a beach party and you're the only one that's got a beach for a backyard."
"No problem," Harry said. "It's actually kind of nice to not have to go anywhere for parties."
"Yeah, but the prep and the cleanup sucks," James said.
"Well, you and Mom can help with the cleanup," Harry said.
"I'm sure your mother will be all over that," James said.
"I see you're really quick to volunteer," Harry said.
James blew off the question. "So, we haven't seen you in a while. How've you been?"
"Fine," Harry said. "Work keeps me pretty busy these days."
"I know," James said. "You know, you can say no to some of the assignments they give you."
"I know, but I've got nothing better to do," Harry said.
"You can come visit your mom," James said. "She keeps asking me to drag you from work to the house so she can see you."
"She usually only says that when she has something serious to talk about," Harry said.
"She's worried about you," James said. "Frankly, so am I."
"Why's that?" Harry asked.
"Heather told us that you and Ginny broke up," James said. Harry didn't respond, instead looked towards the beach and watched as Claire attempted to build a sandcastle without any sand tools. "Mark and Chris didn't know either. You only told Heather?"
"She's the only one that asks about that type of stuff," Harry said. "Well, her and mom."
"How long has it been?" James asked.
"About six weeks," Harry said.
"Have you seen her since then? Talked to her at all?" James asked.
"We've talked on the phone a few times," Harry said. "I haven't seen her though."
"What happened?" James asked.
"Nothing really," Harry said. "It's just complicated."
"How so?" James asked.
Harry continued looking out towards Claire building her sandcastle, wishing he were talking about anything else.
"She lives in Wales and I'm living in England," Harry said. "My job doesn't allow me to make many trips to Holyhead to see her and hers doesn't let her come home much. It got to a point that we were seeing each other one weekend out of the month, and sometimes not even that much. We talked on the phone, but it had been months since I'd seen her in person more than two days in a row. In fact, I think the last time we saw each other for more than two days in a row was around Christmas."
"Well, that can be tough on any relationship," James said. "But, couldn't you try working on it for a while instead of just breaking it off?"
"We have tried," Harry said. "We've been trying for months. It just doesn't seem to be enough."
"How long have you guys been struggling?" James asked.
"It's hard to put a start date on it," Harry said. "We had problems before Christmas, but things got really hard after Christmas when she went back to Wales. We started arguing a lot more than we used to. We talked less frequently and for not as long."
"I'm sorry, son," James said. "I know that must be hard." Harry didn't respond. "But, throwing yourself into your work won't solve anything. Neither will shutting out everyone in your life. Your mother and I hadn't seen you in weeks until today. That's no way to live, Harry."
"I haven't shut everybody out," Harry said. "I talk to Heather and Mark, and Chris sometimes, if you can reach him on the phone. For a 15 year-old he seems to be very busy. And I talk to Hermione all the time. And Ron."
"What do the Weasleys have to say about it?" James asked.
"Honestly, they haven't really said much," Harry said. "I don't know if Ginny has really talked to them too much. They know we broke up, but they don't really mention it. I've only gone to the Burrow a few times though since then. Molly has insisted on me coming to a few family dinners. Ginny's never able to make them."
"Well, I think your mother is about ready to instate a family dinner rule if she doesn't start seeing you more often, or at least hearing from you," James said.
Just then, the sliding door slid open and Mark and Heather came out.
"Hey guys," Heather said, kissing her dad on the cheek and hugging Harry. Mark shook both of their hands.
Heather Potter was a year older than Harry at 22 and was a Healer at St. Mungo's. She specialized in obstetrics and therefore spent most of her days delivering babies. She was very empathetic and warm, so she was perfectly suited for the job. Mark Potter was a few months shy of 19. He had just completed his last year at Hogwarts and had just started working in the Department of Transportation at the Ministry of Magic.
"Where's Chris?" Mark asked, sitting down in the vacant chair by the bar. There were only three chairs so Heather remained standing.
"He spent the night at Grimmauld Place last night with Sirius, so I'm sure they'll be here soon," James said.
"I swear that kid gets to do so much more than we were ever allowed to do," Heather said.
"I know, I used to beg to sleep over at Sirius's and you guys never let me," Mark said.
"What are you talking about?" Harry asked. "You stayed over there all the time. It was Heather and I who were never allowed the stay over there. You young ones are spoiled rotten."
"I definitely agree with that," Heather said. "Mom and Dad have gotten softer with you three."
"Hello, dad sitting right here," James said.
"You know it's true, Dad," Heather said. "I mean, Harry and I used to share our birthday parties and they were never anywhere other than at the house. Here we are at Harry's house because Claire wanted a beach party."
"Well, if it isn't the Weasleys," James said, ignoring the comment that was too true to deny and instead focusing on Arthur and Molly Weasley who had just walked around the side of the house with a birthday present, Ron and Hermione in tow with a present of their own.
The Potters stood up as the Weasleys and Hermione approached, saying hello with hugs and kisses. Harry jumped back behind the bar to get them all drinks while James showed Molly and Arthur into the house so they could put down their presents and say hello to Lily.
"So, how's life as an engaged couple?" Mark asked Ron and Hermione as they took the seats vacated by Harry and James at the bar.
"Crazy," Ron said. "You would never guess how much goes into planning a wedding."
"Like you would know," Hermione said. "You never help me with any of it."
Ron spit back a retort and they went on with their little pointless argument. Harry chose to ignore it and stared off into space.
The next half hour was filled with people arriving. Harry spent most of that time getting drinks for the newcomers and refilling drinks for the people who were already here. Bill and Fleur had just arrived with 2 year-old Victoire and newborn Dominique when the food arrived. The caterers set it up and people dug in. Twenty minutes later, everyone was stuffed and sitting back, chatting. Harry glanced at his watch. It was four o'clock on this beautiful Saturday afternoon. The sun would be setting in a few hours and Harry planned on building a bonfire since the temperature was supposed to drop. If anyone planned on going swimming, now was the time to do it while the water was still warm.
As if reading his mind, Claire came running up to the patio where everyone was sitting. Teddy followed hot on her heels despite the fact that he was about a head shorter than her.
"Come on everybody, let's go swimming," Claire said. "It's a beach party, that's what you're supposed to do." She pulled Heather and Mark to their feet. Chris was already up and eager to swim. Sirius was ready to go as well. "Are you coming, Harry?"
"I'll be right there," Harry said. "I have to change into my trunks." He had only realized just then that he had not put on swimming trunks for this beach party. He had been so busy setting everything up that he hadn't had time to change. Another plus to having the party at his house.
He headed inside and up the stairs to the master bedroom otherwise known as his. He quickly changed into trunks, not bothering to grab a shirt as he would be going straight into the water. He did grab a stack of beach towels from the hall closet to bring outside with him in case people forgot theirs. More than likely, his brothers hadn't brought any and neither had Sirius. There were probably more too so he grabbed all of them. He could always put them away if they weren't used. He would save himself a trip by grabbing them now.
He headed back downstairs with the pile and back outside, announcing as he walked outside, "Okay, I have a bunch of towels that anyone can use in case you forgot yours." He set them down on one of the lawn chairs and turned towards the ocean to join his siblings. Only the people who weren't swimming seemed to have heard his announcement about towels, as they were the only ones left on the patio. Everyone else had headed for the water or the beach.
Harry was halfway across the beach on his way to the water when he spotted her. Claire was holding her hand and leading her to the water. She had her hair pulled up into a bun, with a few loose strands framing her face. He could see a pile off to one side on the beach where it seemed Claire had apprehended her. Her tank top and shorts lay discarded next to her beach bag. Harry couldn't help but be awed by her. He hadn't seen her in a few months. The summer spent outdoors on a broomstick had given her a slight tan and even from this distance, he could tell that she had been working out. Her abs were visible from where Harry stood twenty-five feet away and her legs looked toned as well. There was one word that came to mind when Harry saw her and that was 'hot'.
He hadn't realized until now that he had been standing in one spot staring at her as she walked towards the water with Claire. They had just walked into the ocean, the water only just above Ginny's ankles when Harry regained the use of his lower limbs and continued walking towards them. Hermione, who had been sitting on the sand, watching the water, stood up and joined Ginny and Claire in the shallow water. Claire saw both Ginny and Hermione as older sisters since she had known them her whole life. She knew of course that Heather was her only real sister, but she liked to think of the other two that way as well. Heather, who had been deeper in the water with Mark, Chris, and Sirius, also went over to join the three girls she also viewed as sisters, only one being her actual sister.
Harry reached the edge of the water about a minute after Heather joined them. Ginny looked over at his approach and gave him a weak smile. Harry returned it, a little disappointed that she hadn't come over to him or spoken a word. Ginny seemed to realize this at the same time and started walking back out of the water towards him.
"Hey," she said as she approached.
"Hey," he responded in kind. When she reached him, there was a moment's pause before she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Harry graciously returned it, all too aware of the fact that there was hardly any clothing between them, her wearing a bikini and him only swim trunks. Her skin felt warm and smooth, just like it always had. The hug was all too brief in Harry's opinion, but they were both painfully aware of the fact that their families were watching their exchange. He wished both the Potters and the Weasleys were capable of minding their own business, but that was how both families worked. It was what Harry loved and hated about them both.
"So, how have you been?" Ginny asked.
Harry shrugged his shoulders in response, knowing she would know exactly what he meant. "You?"
She too shrugged her shoulders. That was one of Harry's favorite things about their relationship. Even though they didn't see each other very often, they were very good at telling how the other person was feeling based on simple movements like shrugging their shoulders. That was one part of their relationship that had always worked.
"You've been busy with work?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah, of late," Harry said. "I've taken on a few extra assignments than I needed to. Keeping busy I guess you could say."
"And avoiding your family," Ginny said. "At least according to Heather."
"Well, that's the last time I tell Heather anything," Harry said. "What about you? Have you talked to your parents lately?"
"I called them a few days ago, but it had probably been a month since the last time I talked to them," Ginny said.
"So, I guess you're no better than I am," Harry said.
"I suppose not," Ginny said. "I just don't know what I'm supposed to say to them."
"Yeah, me either," Harry said. There was silence between them for a minute. "Did you eat? There's food inside. It's probably a little cold, but I can heat up a plate for you. It was really good. Everyone was stuffed."
"Sure, I could eat," Ginny said, as her stomach rumbled loudly. She giggled a little at her stomach sounds and Harry smiled.
"Practice this morning?" Harry asked as they headed towards the house.
"Of course," Ginny said. "Gwenog kept us long, too, so I haven't gotten a chance to eat all day. I literally came home from practice, showered, and ran out the door to come here."
"Well, you've come to the right place because there is a ton of extra food," Harry said.
There was a chorus of hellos directed at Ginny as they reached the patio. Ginny responded and waved, quickly hugging her mom and James who were sitting at the bar with Remus and Tonks. They continued inside to get Ginny some food without too much delay as her stomach rumbled again.
They met Arthur and Lily standing in the sun room right when they walked in. They looked to be in a deep discussion about the ceiling fan in there that was run on electricity, which of course was a hobby of Arthur's.
"Ginny," Lily exclaimed as she and Harry walked in. Ginny gave her a hug and a shy smile, and did the same for her dad, adding a kiss on the cheek.
"Did you just get here?" Arthur asked.
"Maybe ten minutes ago," Ginny said. "Claire dragged me to the water as soon as I got here, so I haven't had much of a chance to talk to anyone."
"Have you eaten?" Lily asked.
"We're on the way to get me a plate right now," Ginny said, gesturing at Harry. Lily seemed to only notice that Harry was there now that Ginny pointed him out. She let out a radiant smile at seeing her son with Ginny. She knew she shouldn't get her hopes up too high, as a long distance relationship was definitely difficult, but ever since Harry had introduced Ginny to the family as his girlfriend a few years back, Lily had hoped that she would one day call Ginny her daughter-in-law. She thought they were absolutely perfect for each other and Ginny was a wonderful girl. Lily also saw a lot more of her son when he was dating Ginny.
"Alright, well, don't let us keep you from your food," Lily said. "Harry, make sure and get Ginny a drink as well. Do you have any inside?"
"Actually, I think I brought all of the drinks outside," Harry said. He turned to Ginny. "I'll grab you a drink if you want to head into the kitchen and start making a plate. What are you drinking these days? Butterbeer or gillywater?"
"Butterbeer please," Ginny said. "Gillywater is only when we're on diets. I hate the stuff otherwise."
"Yeah, I remember," Harry said. "I just didn't know when you went on the diets."
With that, Ginny headed off towards the kitchen and Harry headed outside to fetch her drink. He joined her in the kitchen a minute later. He had brought a butterbeer for each of them. She had already gotten herself a plate out of the cabinet and was piling it with food when Harry rejoined her.
"Ah, now I know you're not on a diet," Harry said. "If I had come in here with you first I would've just assumed butterbeer without even asking."
"I think you just indirectly called me fat," Ginny said.
"I'd never call you fat," Harry said. "That would be lying and I don't do that."
"Of course not," Ginny said sarcastically, waving her wand to warm her plate. She sat down at the island in the kitchen and Harry sat down across from her.
"I'm serious," Harry said. "You look stunning. I wish I was as toned as you are."
"I'm flattered, but I'm not all that toned," Ginny said. "Most of it is probably just me being tight from practice."
"The abs aren't," Harry said. "I could see them from twenty-five feet away on the beach."
"Oh, so you were checking me out?" Ginny said, feeding herself a spoonful of spaghetti.
"Of course," Harry said. "I haven't seen you in months. I was hoping you would have let yourself go so I could feel a little bit better about myself, but unfortunately you did no such thing. In fact, you did the opposite, which is just a tease." He was quite sarcastic in tone, but there was an underlying truth to what he said as well. Ginny seemed to pick up on this as she fell silent and focused on eating and drinking for a few minutes.
"I miss you, Harry," Ginny said. After joking back and forth since she had gotten here today, this was the first thing he had heard her say that had true sincerity behind it. He was thrown off guard by it, but was grateful that she had brought it there and not him.
"I miss you, too, Gin," Harry said.
"It's been hard not talking to you," Ginny said. "It kills me to see what has happened to us. When I first went to Holyhead, I felt so good about where we stood. We were back together and we had proved that we were solid when we were apart while I was at school and you were becoming an auror. I've been trying to figure out how we got through that, but we couldn't manage to get through me being in Wales. It was the same distance really, and we could see each other any weekend we could make our schedules work, unlike at Hogwarts when we had to wait for a Hogsmeade weekend."
"I was actually thinking about that, too, and I think I figured it out," Harry said.
"What was it that made it so much harder?" Ginny asked.
"There wasn't a date that you would be coming home," Harry said after a slight pause. He let her think about that for a second before going on to explain. "When you left for Hogwarts, I knew exactly when the next time was that I would be able to see you. When you went to Holyhead, it was to be on a permanent basis. That was your new home. It wasn't temporary like Hogwarts. You had a career and an apartment and you didn't have a plan for coming home because you didn't see this as home anymore."
"But I saw you as home," Ginny said. "Those first few months when you visited every weekend felt so right to me. I mean, for those few days that you were there, I could actually picture us living together for the rest of our lives."
"And then what happened?" Harry said.
"The weekend ended and you went back to England," Ginny said.
"Did you ever think of telling me that you pictured that?" Harry asked.
"Would it have made a difference?" Ginny asked.
"Yes," Harry said.
"How?" she asked.
"Ginny, I would have done anything to make those weekends last forever," Harry said. "They were the best part of my week. If I had known that you felt that way, things might have turned out a lot different. I would've changed my life."
"I'm not following," Ginny said.
"Gin, if you had told me that you could see spending the rest of your life with me, I would have told you I felt the exact same way. Every weekend, when Sunday came around, I hoped that you would ask me to stay," Harry said.
"But you had to work," Ginny said.
"I would've taken a different job if that was what you wanted," Harry said. "A few months after you left, Kingsley told me about a job in the auror department that was open in Wales. He told me if I wanted it, that it was mine."
"Why didn't you tell me about it?" Ginny asked.
"I thought it would freak you out," Harry said. "I didn't want you to feel like we were moving too fast. I thought you might say the two of us living in Holyhead was too fast."
"You should have asked me," Ginny said.
"If I had, what would you have said?" Harry asked.
Ginny looked at him, putting her fork down to focus all her attention on him. "For starters, I would've told you to take the job. I would never have said living in the same city was too fast, because I would've asked you to move in with me," Ginny said.
There was silence between the two of them. They were both soaking everything in, thinking about how things could have been so much different if they had told each other the complete truth about what they were feeling. Ginny had stopped eating halfway through her plate. She seemed to have lost her appetite from the topic of conversation. Harry glanced over to Ginny to see that she had a few tears in her eyes.
Harry was about to speak when once again they were interrupted by a pattering of tiny feet and bigger ones following it.
"There you are," Claire said as she entered the kitchen. "I've been looking all over for you. You're supposed to be swimming."
"Sorry to interrupt," Heather said as she followed Claire into the kitchen. "She's hard to keep up with when she's determined."
"It's okay, let's go," Ginny said, and Harry was surprised to hear her voice sound a little shaky. Harry glanced at Heather and saw that she too picked up on Ginny's voice. She gave her brother a questioning glance, but Harry just shook his head.
Claire, who was focused on the fact that Ginny said she would come, was too delighted to notice anything.
"Are you coming, Harry?" Claire asked.
"I'll be there in a minute," Harry said. "I'm just gonna clean up in here for a second."
"Okay, but don't take too long," Claire said. With that, she headed back for the outdoors, with Ginny and Heather following along behind her. He knew Heather would talk to Ginny as soon as he was out of earshot. Before long, she would know their whole conversation.
Harry stood up and picked up Ginny's plate and bottle, putting them in the sink. He washed all the dishes in the sink and then proceeded to wrap up all the extra food and put cooling charms on them so they wouldn't go bad. After wasting as much time as possible, which was only about fifteen minutes, he headed back outside, not going straight to the water, but instead over to the bar. He started to reach for another bottle of butterbeer, but at the last second changed his mind and poured himself a shot of firewhiskey. It felt like his insides were on fire, but it also seemed to wake him up. It was exactly what he needed.
"Starting a little early, don't you think?" Heather asked as she came up and sat across from him at the bar.
"Don't start," Harry replied.
"I'm just commenting," Heather said. "You want to talk?"
"With you? Not really," Harry said. He was painfully aware of the fact that there were Weasleys nearby, most likely listening in to their conversation.
"Good, you can just listen," Heather said. "Ginny's upset. She won't tell me why, but I'm pretty sure you have something to do with it. If you don't want to talk to me, that's fine, but talk to somebody, whether it be Hermione or Ron, or better yet Ginny. Fix it."
With that, Heather walked away. Molly sat a few feet away from him on a lawn chair. She made eye contact with Harry as Heather walked away and gave him a sympathetic smile. Harry heaved a sigh and looked towards the ocean. Even from this distance, he could tell that Ginny was still thinking about their conversation. She splashed around with Claire and Teddy, but not with as much enthusiasm as she usually did.
"Well, there's one good thing that comes with Ginny being upset," Bill said, walking over to Harry at the bar. He had little Dominique in his arms, barely a month old.
"What's that?" Harry asked.
"Ginny only gets upset like this when she really cares," Bill said. "If she didn't have feelings for you anymore, whatever you did wouldn't have bothered her."
"It doesn't really help our situation though," Harry said.
"Sure it does," Bill said. "As long as you still love each other, you can fix it. Think of it as an hourglass, except instead of sand, it's love. I realize that sounds really corny, but just go with me. As long as there is still love left in the hourglass, you have a chance to fix things, and essentially fill the hourglass back up. Once it's gone, neither one of you cares, and you both move on."
"So what do you suggest I do?" Harry asked.
"Go back in time," Bill said. "At least, metaphorically speaking. Whatever happened between you guys, as long as you care, you can fix it. Think of something that you wish you had done when you were still together and do it. You'd be surprised how much that might help. Can you think of anything like that?"
A light bulb suddenly went off in Harry's head. "I think so, but I'm going to need to double check on something before I can be sure."
"Then do that, and then talk to Ginny," Bill said. "Look, I don't see either one of you that often, but it's obvious to me that you two are meant to be together. I could see that from the moment I found out you two were dating. As Ginny's oldest brother, I've always felt especially protective of her and I never really liked the idea of her dating anyone. But, with you, who I've known for a long time, it seemed different. I could tell that you were different with her and her with you. You really adored each other, even then, which is such a rare thing to see in people your age. I mean, that's a rare thing to see in people my age. I'm not all that good with words or emotional stuff, but I do know that what you and Ginny have, or had, is worth fighting for, because it's rare and doesn't come around too often. So, that's the end of my speech. You can take what you want from it, but I'm going to take this girl to her mother, because I believe she is getting hungry."
"Thanks, Bill," Harry said. "You're a good big brother. I'm sure Ginny hasn't said that a lot to you, or ever, but I know she thinks that, too."
Bill nodded his head. "Talk to her. I'm sure you guys can fix things." With that, Bill headed inside to find Fleur. Harry remained at the bar, contemplating what his next move would be. He wasn't sure who he should talk to first and it took him a minute to make up his mind. Once he finally did, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and started dialing, walking around the side of the house to the front to get some privacy.
A few hours later, the sun set and James and Sirius started the bonfire. The temperature had dropped and everyone was glad for the warmth. They had all moved their chairs from the patio to the beach to be closer to the fire. Harry hadn't been around in a while. Ever since Bill had talked to him, he had stayed out front on the phone for a while and then had gone inside. Lily saw him go into his office and shut the door. He hadn't come out since. His mother was a little worried about him. They didn't talk about it, but looking around the bonfire, Lily saw Ginny and could tell she was wondering about the same person. She even scanned her eyes around the bonfire, wondering if she had missed him. When she realized he still wasn't there, she sat down on a large, vacant log that Sirius had placed strategically around the fire as extra seating.
The party had definitely quieted down. The little guys, Claire, Teddy, and Victoire, had moved inside to play, where they would hopefully fall asleep. They were supervised by Tonks and Fleur, who didn't really enjoy the cool English whether in comparison to France. The people who sat around the fire were mostly in couples, with a few exceptions. Sirius, Remus, James, Lily, Arthur, and Molly, all sat in a small circle within the larger circle of the bonfire. Charlie, Fred, and Katie, sat on a shared log a little bit down from the parents, and seemed to be in an intense discussion about Quidditch. Bill was in a chair next to them, discussing goblins with Mark. Percy and Audrey, George and Angelina, and Ron and Hermione, all sat in private couples, one after the other around the bonfire. They were all snuggling and conversing quietly with their significant others. Some old members of the DA sat on the outskirts of the bonfire circle, talking a little bit louder and more rambunctiously about the old days. Ginny sat alone on the sand, her back to a log, staring into the fire, her mind clearly somewhere else. She shivered in the cold, now wishing she had brought a sweatshirt, or even a regular shirt, to put over her tank top.
"This floor taken?" a voice asked from above her. She hadn't even noticed his approach and was startled out of her reverie.
She shook her head and he sat down, leaving very little space between the two of them. She shivered again and hugged herself, trying to get warmer. Harry shifted next to her.
"You cold?" he asked, picking up the sweatshirt that was draped across his legs and offering it to her.
"You're not?" she asked, graciously taking it and pulling it on over her head. It was Harry's Gryffindor sweatshirt from sixth year. All of the captains of the Quidditch teams got them in their house colors and emblem, and their name printed on the back. She had worn this maroon sweatshirt many times. It was her favorite of Harry's. She used to fight over it with Harry because it was also his favorite. He liked it because it was comfortable. She liked it because no matter how many times he washed it, it still always smelled like Harry when she put it on. It was a smell she associated with happiness and home. Even with the profound smell of smoke lingering in the air from the bonfire, she could still smell his cologne as she pulled the sweatshirt on.
"No, the bonfire is warm enough for me," he replied. She glanced at him and noticed that he was still wearing his swim trunks and hadn't bothered to put on a shirt. He apparently wasn't the slightest bit cold.
"Where have you been? Nobody's seen you in a while," Ginny said.
"I had to talk to Kingsley and take care of something," Harry said. "I'm good to go now."
"You work at family parties now?" Ginny asked.
"Not exactly," Harry said. "I was asking him something and he referred me to someone else, so it took longer than expected."
"Are you planning on telling me what you talked to him about or are you just going to beat around the bush?" Ginny asked.
"I was going to see how long it took for you to ask me what we talked about, and then I was going to tell you," Harry said.
"Did you ask him about the job in Wales?" Ginny asked, turning to look at him.
"Yeah, and unfortunately it was already filled," Harry said.
"Oh," Ginny said, a little crestfallen that he had told her about talking to Kingsley, only to get her hopes up about the job and then crush them.
"It's probably for the best though," Harry said. Ginny noticed that he didn't seem to be upset at the loss of this job that could have saved their relationship. "Apparently the head of the Auror department there is a total jackass. He's this old guy who's been there for like fifty years and is really hard to work for. All the Aurors there hate the guy. The good news is, they're forcing him to retire because he's making everyone so miserable, so he'll be gone by September 1st. They're hoping to get someone a lot younger to be the head, but who has enough experience to be able to run the department. Most of the guys in the Wales department are really young and fresh out of Hogwarts. The ones that aren't are really old and don't want to run the department. They're looking for someone who was around for the Battle and his been with the Aurors for a year or two at least."
Harry glanced at Ginny with half a smirk on his face as he saw realization hitting Ginny. She turned to look at him as though questioning whether or not she was right. Harry looked at her and smiled, a rarity of late.
"You're looking at the next head of the Wales Auror department," Harry said. "That is, if I accept, which I haven't yet. I have until Monday to give them my decision."
"Are you going to take it?" Ginny asked.
"That depends," Harry replied. "Do you still want what you did a few months ago? Do you want what you said in the kitchen?"
"Of course," Ginny said. "My feelings haven't changed an inch since then. I just thought it would never happen so I gave up hope."
"Well, I can say yes," Harry said. "I would start on September 1st, which I believe is a Wednesday. So I'd have a little less than two months to pack and get organized. The job comes with a substantial pay raise and a house, so I don't have to worry about finding a place to live."
"Well, you could have lived with me," Ginny said. "But, I guess it might be better to ease back in with us living in different houses. Where is the house?"
"Newborough, along the coast," Harry said. "They gave me a few options, but that's the closest to Holyhead. I think it's about a half hour drive. It's in a Muggle neighborhood, so I'll have to drive a lot of the time. Not to work, obviously because that would be a three hour drive, but moving there, I'll have to drive to keep up appearances, and getting groceries and such. Visiting you, I'll have to drive."
"How long of a drive is it from here?" Ginny asked.
"From Aberdovey, it's a little over two hours, so not nearly as bad as some drives I've gone on," Harry said.
"When would you move?" Ginny asked, she was getting more excited now that she realized it was really happening.
"Well, I'd want to get settled in before starting, so at least a week before," Harry said. "Since I start in the middle of the week, I'll probably go two weekends before, but we can talk about that later. The main thing, is that you definitely want me to take it."
"Yes," Ginny said.
"And does that mean we're okay again?" Harry asked.
"Of course," Ginny said. "I mean, I'm sure it will be an adjustment because it's been so long since we've seen each other like other normal couples, but we'll get back into the swing of things and it'll be better. I wouldn't tell you to move to a different country with me if I wasn't sure about where I wanted us to go."
Harry gave her a beaming smile. "I really want to kiss you right now," Harry whispered.
"Well, I won't object if you're asking permission," she said with a smirk.
"I feel like everyone's watching us," Harry said.
"That's because you don't have a shirt," Ginny said. "You draw people in with your amazing body." She stood up then and extended her hand to Harry. "I know a way we can fix that problem and have a little time to ourselves."
Harry took the offered hand and pulled himself up. They kept their fingers entwined as they headed for the house.
When they left, the group of people had a new topic to discuss. Harry and Ginny were back together.