"We were both young when I first saw you. I close my eyes and the flashback starts: I'm standing there, on a balcony in summer air." Ginny Weasley sung to herself as she danced around the room, her flaming red hair fanning around her as she spun. Her thoughts twirled around in her head as she turned. She remembered the first time that she had ever met Harry Potter. They were both so young, but she had liked him almost immediately.
A red-headed girl around ten years old clutched her mother's hand as her older brother, Percy, walk straight through the wall in King's Cross Station. She sulked as she watched one twin, then the other disappear as well. She wanted so badly to go to Hogwarts with her older siblings, it got lonely enough at home with just Ron, but now he was leaving her too. She was on the verge of crying at that realisation when she heard a quiet voice say: "Excuse me?".
That quiet voice asking her mother how to get onto the platform; that shock of messy black hair; those handsome green eyes... He'd made her day, her week, her year – heck he'd made her life. And, it had taken him nearly five years, to even look at her twice. Ginny stopped spinning, her mood considerably dampened.
A quiet knock on the door interrupted her somber thoughts. The doorknob turned and in walked Hermione Granger with her brown curls up in a pretty knot and a grin bigger than the Cheshire cat.
"Morning Sunshine! Let's get you into that gorgeous –" Hermione paused, as she took in Ginny's posture. "What happened?"
Ginny sighed and collapsed onto the bed. She looked up at her best friend, "I was just thinking."
Hermione poked her in the shoulder to make her sit up and then plopped down next to her. "About?" She prompted.
Ginny sighed again. "It's ridiculous really... I was just thinking about the fact that I met Harry when I was ten years old and liked him immediately, but it took him almost five years to figure it out!"
"Is that all?" Hermione laughed. "Ginevra Molly Weasley, that boy loves you with his entire heart and he wants to marry you today! What on Earth are you so worried about?"
"If he really loves me, why did it take him so long?" Ginny whispered so softly that Hermione nearly didn't hear her.
Hermione stopped laughing, sensing the serious turn this conversation had taken. She knew that Harry really loved Ginny but how was she supposed to show Ginny that? Hermione sighed and cast her mind back to their early years at Hogwarts.
"Okay, so First Year you'll just have to excuse him. You'd only met once and he was freaking out about the whole 'You're a wizard' thing. Plus you know eleven-year-old boys, no idea about emotions." Ginny nodded as Hermione paused to think, "And second year... surely you remember that?"
Ginny thought back to her first year at Hogwarts. She flushed with embarrassment as she remembered the Harry Potter Fan Club that she and Colin Creevey had formed and that terrible singing Valentine. She shuddered.
"I remember embarrassing both of us with my obsession of him." Ginny sighed, "I spent most of that year writing to Tom Riddle about how upset I was."
"And then?" Hermione prompted again.
"Then Harry came and saved me from the Chamber of Secrets."
Hermione smiled, "Yes, he did."
"But that doesn't mean anything, really... that boy has a hero complex!"
"Ginny! Are you determined to believe that he doesn't love you!" Hermione exclaimed. "Okay, lets assume that he didn't save you cause he liked you. You can safely assume that he found you at least tolerable, don't you agree? I doubt he would have risked his life for, say, Draco Malfoy."
Ginny laughed at that. "Okay so my husband-to-be finds me tolerable," she stuck out her tongue, "That's a plus!"
Hermione shook her head sadly, "Oh, Ginny! Surely you can see just how much that boy loves you just by looking into his eyes! Everybody else can see it... why can't you?"
"I guess I just don't understand what caused his change of heart..." Ginny sighed. "One minute all he saw when he looked at me was Ron's little sister... and then suddenly he liked me! I've never questioned it before, because I loved him so much... but it kinda just came out of the blue..."
"To be fair you only started to really be yourself around Harry in our Fifth Year. Once you let go of you crush you started to show your courage and stubbornness and spunk! Your true character. Honestly, I think that if Harry hadn't had Voldemort invading his mind most of the time, he would have started to like you then."
"That also drives me crazy! Why didn't that dope talk to me when he thought he was being possessed!" Ginny fumed, "I was the only person he knew who had been through that before!"
"Yeah, but he didn't think of that... That's one of Harry's flaws — He believes that he has to do everything alone. Boys are really thick Ginny. You should know that. It took nearly seven years for your big doofus of a brother to kiss me!" Hermione laughed at the memories, "But, I wouldn't change a minute of it! Know why?" Ginny shook her head, "Because, all those hours I spent jealous of him and Lavender... Those dates that I went on with other boys to make him jealous... Those times when I just wanted to punch him in the face for being so idiotic! Those are the times that made me realise just how much I loved him. And, I don't think we would be anywhere near as close today if we didn't have all those things in the past trying to pull us apart."
Ginny nodded slowly, "I guess dating other guys did make me appreciate my feelings for Harry."
"Exactly!" Hermione smiled. "You know what I do whenever I need to rationalise something?" Her friend shook her head. "I write a pro/con list!"
Ginny groaned, "Really Hermione! You and your lists!"
Hermione just grinned and made Ginny stand in the middle of the room with her eyes closed and tell her what she loved most about Harry.
"Well, for one thing those gorgeous green eyes just make me want to melt! And, that beautiful messy hair," She felt Hermione leave her side but thought nothing of it and continued her list. "I love the way that he truly cares about everyone around him; I love that he is so close to my family that he is basically one of the tribe; I love the cute way that he gets jealous if another guy so much as smiles at me; I love the way that he listens when I talk and can make me laugh whenever I'm down; I love that he always helps me to find the right thing to do; and most of all I love the way that when I am with him, I feel that I can be myself, no matter what!" Ginny smiled after her confession.
"And what do you think Harry loves about you?" Hermione prompted.
"Well... I'm kinda pretty... I guess..." Ginny faltered, not knowing how to continue.
"Kinda pretty?" a voice that was definitely not Hermione's demanded from the doorway, "You are the most stunningly beautiful woman I've ever seen! But, that's not why I love you."
Ginny looked up into the gorgeous green eyes of her soon-to-be husband.
"No?" She whispered.
"Nope," Harry smiled at her and started walking towards her. "I love the way that your wonderful brown eyes can see straight through my eyes and into my soul; I love the fact that you are so annoyingly stubborn that half the time you do the exact opposite of what I ask;" Ginny smiled at that, "I love the way that you defend your friends and family like you life depends on it; I love that you understand all my quirks and my hero complex; I love that you have helped me to work through my past losses; I love that you can always make me laugh; I love that you and I are going to get to be the family that I never had;" by this point Harry was so close that Ginny could feel his breath on her face, " And most of all I would love to marry you today, if that's still alright?"
Ginny couldn't believe he had the nerve to look uncertain after what he had just said. Looking up into his eyes she couldn't believe that she had ever doubted his feelings. She could see them written all over his face.
A grin spread across Ginny's face, "Of course I want to marry you, you big doofus! I love you!"
Harry smiled as he spun her around, "I love you too, Ginevra Weasley and don't you ever forget it!
Review? :)