Author's Note- Just a little Harry/Ginny one-shot for you all :) I hope you like it so...Enjoy!
Heart's Desire
"Just forget it, Ginny! It's never going to happen!" Ron had been telling Ginny this over and over all summer, and still she wouldn't listen. No, she believed; she believed that- one day- she would become Mrs. Ginevra Molly Potter.
But no one else did.
"Ginny, dear, I don't want you to get your hopes up high just to have them crushed at such a young age," Mrs. Weasley used a much softer, kinder tone of voice, but it stung just as badly.
Fred and George mostly teased her, Percy scoffed at her, and her father would do nothing but sit there and give her a patronizing smile. One morning, while Mr. Weasley was out shopping at Diagon Alley with Harry, she finally snapped-She'd had enough.
"Shut up! Just be quiet, all of you! I will marry Harry Potter! I will!" Ginny was crying now, shaking as every face at the breakfast table gaped at her. Fred dropped his spoon in his cereal bowl with a clatter. Ginny knew how bratty and childish the outburst must have sounded, but then again, she was a child. She was a dreamer, and she knew her heart's desire. But no one else understood that, no one! Why couldn't they just leave her alone!
Unable to stand their open-mouthed stares any longer, Ginny got up so fast her chair and knocked backward and sprinted up the stairs. "You'll all see, one day!" She didn't want to have another outburst, but she couldn't help it; her family frustrated her beyond belief. They always patronized her and never truly believed in all the dreams she had. It was always "There's always hope, dear," or "Yes, yes, I'm sure, Ginny; now eat your breakfast," Enough was enough!
Slamming her door, Ginny leaned up against it and sunk to the floor, sobbing; she buried her face in her hands and let the tears flow. Harry was always so nice to her all the time, it had to mean something! And those eyes, oh, those emerald green eyes. Ginny swore they pierced right into her heart. Harry was just so…so kind! She was young; she wouldn't be starting Hogwarts for another few days, so all she wanted was to hug him. To lock her hand in that untidy mop of hair on his head, and have him smile into her shoulder the way he always did when he hugged Hermione when they were at the Burrow together.
At that thought, Ginny experienced jealousy for the first time in her life- a burning jealousy that coursed through her veins. No….no, no, no, no! Harry couldn't love Hermione! Harry was supposed to love her!
More tears came at the thought of losing Harry to that head of bushy hair. So what if he was her older brother's best friend? He was the bloody boy who lived! Hadn't her father always said to her mother that when she grew up she should marry a man who could protect her? What better man than the one that survived the Killing Curse when he was just a baby, right?
Ginny got up and threw herself on her bed, landing her head on a pillow and gripping it hard, smashing it into her face. She screamed into the pillow for a few minutes and let the frustration flow out of her before sitting up on the bed and furiously wiping the tears out of her eyes with her palm. If anyone saw her like this, they would only tease her more, and Ginny wasn't sure she could take much more of it. Sure, she was the youngest; and sure, she was the only girl, but did that have to mean that her brothers had to tease her for everything she did?
Wait, what was that sound? Ginny slowly stood up, wavering slightly, and shuffled to the door. Peeking her head out, she peered over the banister and looked downstairs to see Ron opening the door. Oh, of course, her father just had to pick now to come back from Diagon Alley with Harry, didn't he? Ginny panicked; Harry couldn't see her like this, not in her pajamas with her hair not combed! Ginny ran so fast to the mirror between her bed and her closet that some would say she'd Apparated. Furiously running a comb through her hair with one hand and scouring her closet with the other, Ginny managed to get ready within minutes; but before she went downstairs, she tried to calm herself down first.
Deep breaths, she thought, you don't need them to get suspicious. Finally, still taking deep breaths, Ginny opened her door with a soft creak and attempted to stroll inconspicuously to the staircase, but it was more of a stagger. She was still lacking oxygen from the tantrum of screaming, she supposed.
When Ginny made it to the bottom of the staircase at last, she was met with the sight of Fred and George laughing hysterically, sounding a bit too much like hyenas, and Harry chuckling nervously and blushing. Oh, Merlin! They've told him; they've told him about my fit! Ginny screamed mentally, but caught herself before she ended up doing it out loud and calling even more attention to herself. Fred and George seemed to finally notice her and turned towards her, grinning. Harry shifted his weight awkwardly and tried not to meet her eyes.
Ginny let loose a nervous chuckle as well. "So-erm- what's so funny?" She needed confirmation.
"Oh, you know, just telling Harry about your little crush," Fred winked. At that moment, Ginny turned so red that she closely resembled Mrs. Weasley when she was angry, only her eyes were wide with humiliation and tears that had nothing to do with anger threatened to spill over onto her face.
"Harry…" was all Ginny could manage before shoving past them and running straight through the door, praying to Merlin, Godric, and every other important wizard she could think of that no one would follow her as she ran and collapsed in the garden, a few stray tears making tracks down her face as she absent-mindedly picked petals off of flowers. He loves me, he loves me not…
But someone did follow her, and that someone was, of course, Harry James Potter himself. Harry walked awkwardly over to Ginny and sat down beside her. "It's okay, you know," he whispered, "I don't mind if you have a crush on me or whatever, if what Fred and George have been telling me is true; but even if you do like me, like me for Harry, and not for the bloody Boy Who Lived, alright?"
Ginny looked up, eyes wide and looking oddly like a deer in headlights. Harry almost said so but caught himself, thinking of how much explanation that simple expression would take to a Pureblood wizard, even one with Arthur Weasley for a father. Finally, she nodded.
And then something happened that made that day one of the most memorable of Ginevra Weasley's life- Harry hugged her. At last, Harry Potter hugged her, and he smiled into her shoulder just as she'd always dreamed he would. Oh, he smelled so good! Like, like….Like that Amortentia potion her father had made one day. Why was that? Had Harry been brewing potions? Either way, Ginny didn't care, she just didn't want him to let go.
He had to eventually, of course, and he gave her that charming smile of his before getting up and walking back into the Burrow where Fred and George were making kissy faces at Ginny, the grass making a soft swish sound. For hours, Ginny sat there in the garden, studying the morning dew pooled in the petals of the flowers and on the tip of each blade of grass as they glinted in the soft morning light. Maybe there was hope for her, after all
And there was. For today, over a decade later, Ginevra Molly Weasley would finally become the Mrs. Potter she'd always wanted to be. While Hermione and her mother fussed with her hair and make-up, Ginny sat in a daze. She felt beautiful already, grinning wider than she could ever remember. She was marrying Harry Potter, but she was marrying him for Harry: Harry, the kind, black-haired, green-eyed love of her life.
Before Ginny had even realized what was going on, Hermione had slipped her dress over her and she was outside the church doors. Within moments, she was strolling down the aisle, the long train of her creamy white dress dragging over the flower petals, making the same sort of swish Harry's feet had made on that day, the day that had turned Ginny Weasley's life upside-down.
And then she was there, beside him, holding onto his hand for dear life. She could barely hear herself reciting the vows over the frantic beating of her heart, but soon it was time. It was time for the kiss that would seal their fates and lock their destinies together, forever.
Harry leaned in slowly, and his lips met hers, both hands clinging onto her cheeks. Everyone at the wedding cheered and threw flowers into the air. It was a glorious, beautiful sight, but one Ginny never saw.
Because Ginny Potter was too busy hugging Harry, sobbing with joy as he grinned into her shoulder. She had her heart's desire at last.
A small breeze whispered through the trees and a single white petal drifted out of the flower girl's basket and landed softly at Ginny's feet.
He loves me.
