Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me.
"Okay Katie, I'll be coming soon."
Ginny set down the magical mirror and stood up, smiling. Finally, a day just to shop, relax, and catch up with Katie.
It had been an exhausting few months since the Battle of Hogwarts- Ginny had to endure the complete renewal of the Ministry, the rebuilding of Hogwarts, the renovation of 12 Grimmauld Place, and worst of all, Fred's funeral. No... no. Don't think about Fred... you'll just get yourself emotional.
Her days were whirlwinds of unproductive activity and unsorted emotion. And the press… the press just made everything harder. Thankfully they were leaving her alone these days, after Harry made it clear that they were through with their ridiculous questions.
Ginny quickly scribbled a note to Harry: Gone to Diagon Alley with Katie, will be back in a few hours.
With that, she Nox'ed the lights and stepped out of 12 Grimmauld Place, which she now lived in with Harry (after getting rid of all the dark artifacts).
"Ginny! On your left! Can I get a quick photo?"
"Miss Weasley! Are the rumors true? Are you going to get married soon?"
"How have your disagreements with Harry Potter affected your relationship?"
A few minutes after Ginny stepped out onto the street, she was immediately met by a massive horde of reporters and flashing camera bulbs.
"What is this?!" she exclaimed frantically. I thought they were going to leave me alone for good!
"Ginny, where's your engagement ring?"
"What engagement ring? I'm not engaged!" Ginny searched around the crowd, spotting a copy of the Daily Prophet in a cameraman's hand. She grabbed it and scanned the front page.
THE CHOSEN ONE- ENGAGEMENT RUMORS DESPITE ROMANTIC TENSION?!
Underneath the title was a picture of Harry embracing Ginny after the final confrontation with Voldemort.
Not again… she thought, annoyed. You'd think that they would eventually tire of making up these stupid stories.
"I'm not engaged to Harry! Go away!" she shouted to the group.
"Why are you living together, then?"
"When do you think he will propose?"
As the horde of wizards demanded more answers, she growled and muttered a repelling charm.
If I go to Diagon Alley, someone will see me there and surround me there. Hopefully Katie's good at disguise charms…
With that thought, she gave one last glare to the reporters and Apparated away.
Ginny kept her head down as she entered the Leaky Cauldron. She immediately spotted Katie at a table near the door.
"Ginny! So glad to see you again!" Katie exclaimed and Ginny approached her.
"It's nice to see you, too," Ginny replied as she got closer. "But I need you to disguise me, because the press will be here any moment if anyone sees me right now."
Katie appeared confused for a second, but then nodded in understanding.
"Okay, okay," she said as she raised her wand to tap Ginny's head. "Let's see… brown hair, smaller eyes, bigger nose… Okay, I think you look un-Ginny-like enough. The charm'll wear off in an hour or two."
Ginny caught her own reflection in the window and nodded in agreement. "Thanks a lot, Katie."
The older girl smiled. "No problem. So, the engagement rumors in the Daily Prophet aren't true, then?"
"No. I have no idea who came up with that, but it's better just to assume everything they say is wrong."
"And you and Harry are getting along fine, I'll assume."
"Yeah, it's nice living with him. Finally getting some freedom from my mom, at least."
"But no freedom from the press, huh?"
Ginny laughed. "Exactly. I don't know what's wrong with the reporters. And most of the people who read the Prophet. They should know by now that everything there is made up!"
Katie nodded, and thought for a second. "You know, you could feed the Prophet really ridiculous stories, and when they print them, no one will believe them anymore… that's just an idea."
Ginny contemplated Katie's words for a while. Then she suddenly broke out in a grin. "Katie, that's a wonderful idea! I could tell them things like he broke up with me and is now dating…"
"Moaning Myrtle!"
"Oh, of course! We all know she was infatuated with Harry!"
The girls shared a laugh.
"And now Harry is living in Hogwarts, in the first floor girls' lav."
"And he never leaves, because of his emotional connection to Myrtle."
"And he's going to stay there forever."
"And he's…"
An hour and a half later, Ginny and Katie walked out of the Leaky Cauldron together, still chuckling at their made up stories.
"So do you think I should actually do this?"
"Of course not, but it'd be wonderful to see you do it," Katie grinned. "Harry would be so pissed."
"Very true," Ginny murmured. "He actually told me the other day to not talk to any reporter. And he seemed pretty serious about it. Anyway, I've got to do something to get rid of the press, but your suggestion is all I have."
"Then use it!"
"But you just told me not to!"
"Ginny, I'm not great at advice or anything, but do you think the press is going to leave you alone anytime soon if you don't do anything about it? If you spread around crazy rumors, at least it's funny, and it might get them to stop publishing stories about you once the public doesn't believe them anymore."
Ginny nodded. "Right, right. That's true, but Harry will be really annoyed if I spread these rumors without telling him. And no way would he let me do this if I told him… he's too angry at the press and doesn't want to associate himself with them."
"Ginny, you know this idea is stupid. And you'll probably be mad at yourself after starting the rumors. But it's worth it, even if it causes just a few more people to realize how ridiculous the newspapers are."
"Oh, Katie. Always the voice of reason. Or insanity," Ginny said, and paused. Finally, "Okay, I'll do it. It better work, or I'll need you to think of something else for me!"
"I always have a plan in mind, Ginny," Katie winked. "Now, the Daily Prophet's office is somewhere near, I think…"
"I can probably find it myself, you can go home if you want."
"Okay, I'm heading the other way, then. Good luck! And have fun!"
As Ginny waved goodbye to Katie, she saw her reflection in a shop window. Her disguised features were going away, and her normal face was reemerging. Better hurry, then.
"Ginny Weasley?!" a disbelieving female voice crooned. Merlin, it had to be Rita Skeeter, didn't it?
"Yes, that's me," Ginny replied curtly as the obnoxious woman came into view.
"Oh, honey, have you finally come to spill the details on your engagement with Harry Potter?" the woman smiled in a sickeningly fake manner.
"I'm here to talk about Harry and my life with him," Ginny answered. Hopefully this won't take long… I don't think I can stand this woman for more than a few minutes!
"We knew you would come tell us all the details!" Rita exclaimed as she led Ginny to her office. "Now, dear, have a seat. Tell me, what do you see in your future with The-Boy-Who-Lived? A big marriage? At Hogwarts? Children? How many?"
"Well, unfortunately, that's not going to happen," Ginny replied quickly. "We broke up-"
"We knew that your love life was turbulent!"
"-and Harry is now in Hogwarts."
"For what? Completing his final year? Finding new love?"
"Kind of. He's in love with Moaning Myrtle, and they're now going out."
Rita looked up, wide-eyed and alarmed, at Ginny. "Moaning Myrtle? The ghost?"
"Yes."
Rita turned back passionately to her Quick-Quotes Quill, more thrilled than ever. "Front page material," she whispered delightedly to herself. "Again."
The interview lasted just over fifteen minutes. Ginny left once she ran out of ideas. Surely Rita could write a good, juicy, completely implausible story with the fake information she gave her. Overall, it was a successful, but insane, execution of an even more insane idea. Harry would be- Harry would be completely ticked off at Ginny, but hopefully he would understand Ginny's reasoning. Yes, Ginny had disregarded his instructions to her, but she could make her own choices, too. She Apparated back to 12 Grimmauld Place.
Harry was home, and looked up from the couch as Ginny opened the door.
"How was lunch?"
"It was good. Katie's doing fine," Ginny replied, walking over to Harry to give him a kiss. Better make him happy, or he'll get angry when he finds out what I did.
Ginny sat down in Harry's lap. "How was training?" she asked.
"It was okay. I'm feeling a bit run-down from all the conditioning and spellwork."
Yes, Harry, Ginny thought cynically. Auror training isn't known to be easy.
Ginny ran her hands through his hair. "How about I make everything better for you?"
Harry grinned at Ginny. "I'd be fine with that."
Harry's lips met Ginny's in another kiss, this time more passionate.
Harry's hands flew all over Ginny's body, pulling her closer and closer to him. Ginny squirmed around Harry's lap, adjusting herself to find a comfortable position. Her teeth lightly bit down on Harry's lower lip, making Harry moan softly. Their tongues met and intertwined, dancing fleetingly around each other. Harry cupped Ginny's face, savoring the moment and letting everything else inside his mind go.
Ginny began running her hands up and down his back, eventually grasping the cotton of Harry's shirt and tugging upwards.
"Ginny, what are you doing to me?" Harry breathed as their kissing took a brief break.
"Taking off your shirt," Ginny replied simply.
Harry watched, mesmerized, as Ginny slowly undid his few buttons and swiftly pulled the shirt off. We never do anything this early, he thought to himself. She's acting weird.
But his body betrayed him, and he groaned as Ginny's lips met his once again. He reached and slowly caressed Ginny's breasts, feeling his pants grow more uncomfortable with each second.
When they took a breather a minute later, Harry seized his opportunity and just barely prevented himself from ripping Ginny's blouse off. Harry's eyes darkened as he let his eyes roam over her familiar, beautiful body.
As Ginny leaned in for another kiss, Harry scooped her up and staggered toward their bedroom. Thank Merlin I'm not too tired to do this… Harry thought hazily.
Ginny continued the kiss until Harry broke away, steering them into the bedroom, where Harry gently tossed Ginny into the bed and started stripping away the rest of their clothing.
Ginny's last rational thought was, I hope he feels great after this and won't be able to get mad…
Ginny lay in bed, staring at the enchanted ceiling, with her index finger randomly tracing circles on Harry's chest and Harry's arms entangled around her.
"Should we get dinner ready soon?" she asked him.
"Sure, I'm hungry."
"I'll cook," she offered.
"You never like cooking."
"Well, today's different."
Harry turned to stare at Ginny. After a while, he asked, "What did you do today?"
"Nothing. Why?" Ginny replied a little too quickly.
"Ginny, you're not acting very normal today…" Harry started. Not like I really minded earlier… he reminded himself.
"What, because I'm being nicer? Is it a crime being nice to you?" Ginny pressed, hoping she didn't sound guilty.
"No, no… it just seems…" Harry trailed off. "Nothing. Never mind."
Ginny climbed out of bed a moment later, redressing herself. She went to the kitchen, making a nice dish of veggie pasta along with chicken salad, and heating up some leftovers.
Ginny could have asked Kreacher to cook for them, but she thought it seemed more thoughtful if she cooked. Harry would feel guilted into not getting angry when the story came out, remembering all the nice things she did for him. I have quite a Slytherin mind, don't I, Ginny mused to herself.
The night passed quickly. After dinner (Harry said it was delicious and thanked her for cooking it-that was a good sign), Harry read a book as Ginny browsed through a Diagon Alley collective catalog to find Luna a birthday present. Soon, the pair went to bed, sleepy from the long day.
Author's note: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. The second part of this will be up in a few weeks. It will include Harry's discovery of the article, Harry's reaction, and more Harry/Ginny fluff.