DISCLAIMER (For HP and the song Far Away): All rights go to the rightful owners. All I own is a temperamental laptop that overheats too easily.
A/N: Have fun betraying numerous trusts and joining Ron to rudely eavesdrop on Harry and Ginny's first date after the war! (Courtesy of yours truly, but we don't have to mention that, do we? *brandishes wand threateningly* Get the idea? Good.)
A/N2: Okay, last thing: This is set after the seventh book (before the epilogue) but Dobby is alive. Because I say so. And authors have the extraordinary ability to perform necromancy. Just go with it, okay?
Now to our story.
Harry Potter was up in the seventh floor corridor for the fifth time that week, pacing in front of the blank stretch of wall, muttering quietly. No, our brave, noble (hot) hero is not insane. Don't worry.
His feet retraced their path three times before he paused and gazed thoughtfully at the wooden double doors that had appeared a little ways away from him. Frowning, he shook his head doubtfully. "Darn, I forgot to say that nobody could be able to get in except us," he whispered to himself.
He strode forward and yanked open the doors despite what he may have forgotten. The room inside was beautiful, enchanting, amazing, and...evidently, not what Harry wanted.
"Too cliché, anyway," he sighed, slamming the doors in a mild outburst of frustration. He turned away, closed his eyes, and began pacing again.
This time when he opened his eyes, he smiled. His hand rested on the doorknob, polished from hundreds of years of use, people finding what they needed and wanted in this room.
When he opened the door, his grin widened. "Perfect," he whispered. "Just like her."
Yes, our noble, brave (hot) hero is a bit corny.
Are you going to get to know what is so "perfect" about the room?
No, I think you'll have to wait patiently until tomorrow night.
And please, the Cruciatus curses are getting old.
Harry filed away exactly what he had to say to get the "perfect" results from the Room of Requirement in an obscure little corner of his brain, made his way to the Gryffindor portrait hole, realized he'd forgotten, and instead of the password, he uttered a few choice words that Hermione would have murdered him for.
"Now, really, dear!" the Fat Lady chastised sternly as he attempted to make up his mind whether he was going back to the Room of Requirement to try to remember.
To the Fat Lady's relief, he finally decided to go back tomorrow if he hadn't remembered by then.
Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were sitting together in the common room. Ginny and Hermione were being smart and frantically finishing their mountains of homework.
Ron was being thick and trying to get them to play wizards chess with him.
Harry collapsed on the couch next to Ginny, who gave him a piercing stare.
He sighed. He'd been hoping for...oh...I don't know...maybe a kiss?
"And where, exactly, have you been all this time?" she snapped, sounding startlingly like Mrs. Weasley.
Just a little one? On the cheek?
"You do realize you've got about enough homework to distribute evenly amongst every student in Hogwarts, one page for each day the rest of the year?" she continued viciously.
Fine. Be like that.
"Be careful, Gin, you're starting to sound like Hermione," Ron drawled lazily from his seat by the fire.
"Shut up, Ronald! You aren't helping. Harry?" Ginny added sharply.
"I'm sorry, Ginny," he said wearily. "Look, you'll thank me tomorrow night."
Ginny raised an eyebrow at him. "Tomorrow night?"
Harry sighed. Now all that was left to do was ask her out.
And, of course, there was nothing he'd rather do than ask an annoyed Ginny Weasley out on a date, Harry thought sarcastically.
"Erm...I mean...Ginny, are you free tomorrow night?"
Ron growled something about "betrayal of trust" and "stupid bloody best friends" while Hermione stifled snickers at Ginny's startled look.
Ginny recovered quickly, saying, "Harry James, what on earth does that have to do with why you've been who-knows-where, ignoring your homework?"
"I...uh...I mean, it's kind of a surprise."
Ginny scrutinized his pleading expression, decided that if she didn't drop it, she'd sound far too much like Hermione, and said, "Yes."
Harry blinked stupidly. "Wha-"
"Yes, I'll go out with you tomorrow night, you git!" she said, exasperated.
Harry grinned.
Ginny stood, stretched, and said, "I think I've done all I'm capable of tonight." She looked at the remaining pile of homework on the table a little guiltily and gave Harry a quick kiss and ruffled his hair affectionately as he began on his own work resignedly.
"'Night, then," Ron said blearily.
She halfheartedly considered scolding Ron for not doing homework, but decided not to waste her breath. She knew better than to even attempt at getting her brother to finish his homework if he thought he could copy Hermione's.
Hermione shook her head disapprovingly at Ron and said, "I'll be up in a few, stay up, I want to talk to you," to Ginny who nodded and turned towards the staircase.
The following evening, Ginny descended the staircase wearing a black, spaghetti strap dress made of light material, and black ballet flats. A golden bracelet adorned with a miniature fluttering Snitch flashed in the firelight. Harry grinned at her. As he stood from his perch on a couch near the fire, he ran his fingers through his hair nervously. He was wearing khakis and an unbuttoned blue shirt rolled up to his elbows over a white tee shirt.
Ginny smiled back and kissed him lightly, straitening his glasses. "So, where to?"
"I can't tell you that yet," he said, mischief laced through every word.
He led her up to the seventh floor corridor, walked thrice in front of the wall attempting to memorize every detail of his "perfect" room, missed the rather essential detail of only them being able to access the room (but didn't notice he'd missed it), and opened the doors.
Ginny started forward curiously, but was stopped by Harry before she could see the room.
He stood behind her, slipped his hands over her eyes (so much for too cliche`) and walked her into the room.
Only once the door had swung closed behind them did he allow Ginny to see what was inside.
She caught her breath. "Ooh, Harry, it's beautiful!"
Harry grinned. "This is what I've been doing. I wanted to get it just right," he said softly, placing his hands on her shoulders, "for our first date since I've been back."
Slowly, Ginny smiled. "Then I'll make allowances for any missed homework," she said in a constricted voice, surprised at how close she was to tears.
The room - for lack of a better word - didn't resemble a room remotely. It appeared as though the two were outside. It was dusk, and the sun was sinking slowly. Under a few trees that looked strangely like the Weasley's apple orchard was a small table covered in a white cloth. A little figure was puttering about, setting dishes down on it.
The House-elf turned. "Harry Potter sir! Yous is here!"
Harry grinned at Ginny's bewildered look. "Dobby?"
"Miss knows Dobby's name!" the elf said in awe.
Ginny recovered quickly, kneeling to Dobby's height and reaching out to shake his little trembling hand. "Hello Dobby. I'm Ginny. I've heard quite a bit about you, but I've never gotten the chance to meet you properly."
Dobby's orb-like eyes welled with tears. "Miss is as kind as Harry Potter himself! Dobby is here to serve you tonight," Dobby continued, wiping his eyes. "Anything you wish, Miss! Anything at all."
Ginny smiled again. "Thank you Dobby."
As Ginny and Harry sat at down, Dobby's eyes widened, this time in horror. "Harry Potter, sir, yous has made a most grievous mistake!"
"What is it, Dobby?" Harry queried anxiously.
"Yous socks both match!" Dobby gasped dramatically.
Harry hid a grin as Ginny blinked, then covered her mouth with her hand to stifle laughter.
"Er...yeah, Dobby, I'll have to be more careful next time," Harry choked out with difficulty.
Dobby nodded gravely.
"Dobby will be leaving you to yourselves now. Yous only need to call and I will be there!"
"Thanks Dobby," Harry said.
When the House-elf left, Ginny dissolved into giggles.
"He's such an...oddity!" Ginny laughed.
"That's the best way I've heard him described yet," Harry murmured. "C'mon, sit down."
Ginny sat down in the chair he offered her. "Thank you," she said in a mock-formal voice. Harry laughed.
The little table was covered in white linen, with two places set across from each other and laden with all of each of their favorite dishes.
Ginny said nothing, but her smile told Harry all he needed to know.
"Er...Gin?" Harry began as they started eating.
"Yes?"
"I don't know if you remember, but...today's also our two-year anniversary."
Ginny looked up at him. "Harry...I did remember...I just thought...because of all that happened last year..."
"You were still my girlfriend. I was still in love with you, and you were in love with me. I honestly don't think I'd be alive if it wasn't for you."
Ginny slowly lowered her fork. "Harry -"
"No, Ginny, please. I really don't."
Ginny nodded. She reached across the table, and Harry met her hand with his, entwining their fingers.
Ron slouched in a chair by the fire, sulking and scuffing his sneakers on the carpet.
"What's wrong?" Neville queried, clambering through the portrait hole in the most ungraceful way humanly possible, tripping over his own feet, and finally collapsing in the armchair next to Ron's.
"Harry and Ginny went somewhere tonight, and I want to know what they're doing."
"Why would you want to know?" Neville asked blankly.
Ron rolled his eyes impatiently. "Because Ginny's my little sister, and Harry's my best mate, and what if they do something?" he burst out.
Neville looked taken aback. "Do something? Like...do do something?"
Neville figured that if Ron rolled his eyes any more pronouncedly, they'd pop right out of their sockets.
"Yes, Neville, do do something."
"I don't think they will."
"Why not?" Ron snapped.
"Well...I mean...It's not like Harry and Ginny, is it?"
"Well, we can't know, can we?"
Neville shrugged. "Harry just said that he was taking her to the Room of Requirement for their two-year anniversary, but I don't think -"
Neville completely failed to notice the fact that Ron was staring at him with his jaw hanging past his knees. "The Room of Requirement? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!" he boomed. Several people glanced around, snickering.
"Well, I - I - I just thought - I don't think -"
Ron jumped up, sending his schoolbag crashing to the floor, and dashed up to the boys' dormitories.
"I wasn't supposed to tell him that, was I?" Neville mumbled to no one in particular, looking a bit frightened.
"Tell who what?" Hermione inquired curiously, sitting down in Ron's vacated chair.
"Tell Ron where Harry and Ginny are."
"You did WHAT!"
Neville squeaked out something that could have been either "Sorry!" or "Help!" or possibly both, and Hermione ran to find Luna.
Ron dashed up the staircase to the boys' dormitory, out of breath, but not from the climb. His face was beet red, and he was breathing hard through his nose, angry.
"...Bloody git...supposed to be my friend..." he muttered, throwing open Harry's trunk and sifting through the layers of junk. "Where is the bloody thing? Hope he didn't bring it with him..."
Finally, he found what he was looking for: A silver cloak, not liquid, not solid, light as air. He swung it around his shoulders and snuck down the stairs and out of the portrait hole.
Harry and Ginny's chatter died down as they finished off their plates, preferring to simply sit in comfortable silence. Minutes later, however, Harry said, "Ready for the next part of the surprise?"
"Ooh, yes!" Ginny exclaimed gleefully. Harry chuckled and stood, taking her hand and leading her towards the clearing in the trees as the sun disappeared behind the veil of purple hues that indicated nighttime.
A small Wizarding Wireless sat to the side, and Harry knelt next to it, hiding a smile at Ginny's bewildered look.
He turned it on, and as he did, a male announcer introduced "Muggle Music Hour".
Harry approached the girl a little unsurely. "Dance with me, Ginny?" he asked softly, his timid manner so entirely endearing that Ginny blushed as she accepted his hand.
[So far away]
This time, this place
Misused, mistakes
Too long, too late
Who was I to make you wait?
Just one chance, just one breath
Just in case there's just one left
'Cause you know
You know,
You know
That I love you,
I have loved you all along
And I miss you,
Been far away for far too long
I keep dreaming you'll be with me and you'll never go
Stop breathing if I don't see you anymore
On my knees, I'll ask
Last chance for one last dance
'Cause with you I'd withstand
All of it to hold your hand
I'd give it all, I'd give for us
Give anything but I won't give up
'Cause you know
You know,
You know
That I love you,
I have loved you all along
And I miss you,
Been far away for far too long
I keep dreaming you'll be with me and you'll never go
Stop breathing if I don't see you anymore
[So far away, been far away for far too long
So far away, been far away for far too long]
But you know
You know,
You know
I wanted
I wanted you to say
'Cause I needed
I need to hear you say
I love you,
I have loved you all along
And I forgive you
For being away for far too long
So keep breathing 'cause I'm not leaving you anymore
Believe it, hold on to me, never let me go
Keep breathing 'cause I'm not leaving you anymore
Believe it, hold on to me, never let me go
Hold on to me, never let me go
Hold on to me, never let me go
By the end of the song, Ginny was crying. Her face was buried in Harry's shoulder, her fingers twisted in the back of his shirt.
"Oh, Gin, don't cry...I didn't want..." Harry murmured helplessly, but Ginny gave a strangled little laugh and pulled back.
She said nothing. Instead, she leaned forward and placed a very deliberate, very passionate kiss on Harry's mouth, effectively stopping any last unsure stutters that trailed from his lips.
In the hallway just outside, Ron was stomping around, his face screwed up in concentration.
"Bloody hell...Can't believe them...Going to kill Harry...MY LITTLE SISTER!" he burst out angrily. At this rate, the Invisibility Cloak hardly mattered, as he was being so loud he reckoned someone on the Astronomy Tower could have heard him.
His frantic mind began working on finding a way to phrase what he wanted from the Room of Requirement.
I need to know what Harry and Ginny are doing.
I need to see Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter.
I need to find my best friend and my little sister.
The door appeared without further ado, and Ron slipped inside.
In the Room of Requirement, neither Harry nor Ginny noticed the door reappearing in the wall, opening a crack, then closing behind and invisible Ron.
The Wizarding Wireless was playing a new song, but they weren't dancing. No...they were...well...snogging.
They had curled up in a hammock that the room had provided, and were having a whispered conversation between kisses. Harry's fingers wove through Ginny's thick auburn hair, and Ginny's head rested on his chest, their legs intertwined.
"I have a last surprise for you in a few minutes," Harry announced, his tone a little apprehensive for some reason.
Ginny nodded, registering the words but doubting that the evening could get any better than it already was.
The steady up and down motion of Harry's breathing was lulling Ginny into a peaceful, sleepy state, and their quiet conversation soon drifted into nothing, the silence and still punctured only by one of the couple shifting position every now and again, or reaching to kiss the other.
Ron crouched in a corner, stunned.
They'd had dinner? And music...and now they were talking?
They didn't do anything?
A pesky little interfering voice that sounded suspiciously like George said, Oh, but how do you know they didn't do anything? What if they did?
Considering just how much that voice sounded like George (not to mention the events about to play out), Ron probably should have told it to shut up, left, and gotten a psychiatrist for hearing voices.
But this is Ron we're talking about, so of course he didn't.
Hermione dashed down the corridor frantically, trying to remember the way to the Ravenclaw tower while mentally cursing Ron for his stupidity and Neville for his blundering mouth.
"Hermione! Hermione!" Neville's voice cried after her.
"Not now, Neville!" she practically screamed.
"But, Hermione, shouldn't we be trying to find Harry and Ginny? They might not have left yet. Or, at least, they might not be there yet."
Hermione turned to glare at Neville for daring correct her when she was not only angry, but angry at him, and promptly crashed into someone.
"Oh, hello, you two."
Luna's dreamy voice took a second to penetrate Hermione's consciousness, then she cried, "Luna! Oh, thank goodness! I -"
"What's Ron done now?" she asked, exasperation mixing weirdly with her usual distant, drifting voice.
Hermione almost laughed.
"Neville let slip where Harry and Ginny are," she replied a little frantically.
"They've already left, right?" Luna asked.
"Yes...Perhaps we should try to find them?"
"I don't want to ruin their evening!" Hermione wailed.
"If Ronald gets to them first, he'll completely massacre their evening," Luna pointed out.
"Right. Of course," Hermione said, wringing her hands in a familiar gesture of horror and dislike at being helpless.
The three hurried to the seventh floor corridor, and Hermione ran the length of the wall three times.
In the hammock, in the middle of a rather intense kiss with Ginny, Harry stiffened.
Ginny pulled back. "What's up?"
"I...heard something."
"Is the radio still on?"
"No...no, I turned it off."
"...Oh, I just heard something too!" Ginny murmured, shifting to sit up. A look of dawning comprehension appeared on her face. "Harry...did you bring the Invisibility Cloak?"
Harry winced. "I forgot it," he sighed. "But what -"
"Oh, Harry, it's not that hard! Ron!"
Harry blinked. "Oh. Oh!"
Suddenly, he stood up, and Ginny tumbled out of the hammock after him, landing rather gracefully considering the circumstances.
"Ron, take off the cloak," Harry snapped, his voice taking on a dangerous edge.
There was a rustle just inside the door, and Ron's head - looking rather guilty but even more so angry - appeared in the middle of thin air.
"What do you think you're doing?" Ron spluttered.
Ginny's face turned five shades of red in about three seconds. "What - what are we doing?" she blustered. "What the bloody hell are you doing?"
"I...I just thought..." Ron was beginning to quell under his sister's rage.
"What, exactly?" Ginny growled.
"Erm...well, I mean..."
"You thought Harry was going to...URGH! Ron, you disgust me!" Ginny spat vehemently.
"You mean...you weren't?" Ron asked, baffled by this new twist.
Harry looked at him like he'd grown an extra limb or two. "No," he said simply, looking as though he didn't know whether to be amused or annoyed. He settled on amused and burst out laughing.
"Oh. Well. Erm," Ron stammered blinking furiously as though to comprehend the fact that he'd been so furious for nothing. "I guess I'll be going?" he squeaked finally, then Ginny changed his mind for him, and he cowered from his little sister, who'd turned into a red-haired whirlwind of anger as she whipped out her wand and Bat-Boogie Hexed him into to next century.
"ACK! Gerroff me!" he cried, swatting at the great flying boogies that poured out of his nose and attacked his face with a ferocity that Ginny seemed quite pleased with.
"I'm SORRY! Just get them off me!" he screamed, jumping up and down, his head still bobbing in mid-air like some sort of freakish balloon. He tripped on the trailing Cloak and it slithered off him, sending him tumbling over his own rather large feet and sprawling on the ground. Just to add insult to injury, Ginny must have imagined him falling in a very conveniently-placed mud puddle, because it appeared under him just as he hid the ground, and splashed everywhere.
Harry let out a great snort of laughter at his friend's rather bizarre predicament, which he unsuccessfully attempted to conceal as a violent sneeze.
Ron glared as angrily as his sister had moments before, picked himself up with what remained of his dignity (not much), and stumped out of the room, leaving the Cloak behind.
When he opened the door, however, he was most surprised to find himself nose-to-nose with a very familiar bushy-haired witch.
"Ron - AGH!" Hermione gasped, then screeched as one of the bat boogies hit her full in the face, causing her to go a bit cross-eyed. The whole scene was rather comical. (Well, to Ginny and Harry at least.)
It seemed to take a second for her to process what exactly the slimy...thing that had so rudely been shoved in her face was, but when she did, she flicked her wand once and the boogies disappeared.
"Aww, 'Mione!" Ginny moaned as she and Harry stepped out of the room as well. Her tone was disappointed, but she was grinning from ear to ear.
Suddenly, though, she stopped smiling. "Which of you told this bozo where we were going?" she asked rather harshly.
There was a strained silence in which Luna gazed around the "room" with her usual dreamy expression, and Hermione tried (and failed) not to look at Neville, who was examining the floor very intently.
"This is lovely, Harry!" Luna proclaimed finally, beaming at him.
Everyone looked at her, some startled, others uneasy.
"Well, er, thanks Luna," Harry said awkwardly, but with an edge of pride in his voice.
"I did," Neville said unexpectedly. "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to, you know how I am sometimes, it just kind of...slipped."
He looked quite ashamed of himself.
"It's all right, Nev," Ginny said quietly. I didn't mean to be so..."
"Nah," he grinned. "Sorry I ruined it."
"It's not your fault," Harry said with a scowl at Ron.
Ron muttered something under his breath that must have been able to pass as "sorry", because Ginny and Harry both nodded, though each still looked annoyed.
"I guess...we'll just...leave," Hermione said finally, taking both Ron and Neville by the hands and dragging them away, with a last glance over her shoulder at the couple. Luna latched onto Neville's hand and skipped off with them, her long, white-blond hair floating behind her in a cloud of oblivion.
Ginny glared viciously after Ron's retreating back, but Harry wasn't looking at the others: He was watching Ginny.
When their friends were out of earshot, Harry tentatively turned to his girlfriend.
"Er, Ginny?"
"Yes?" she replied, clearly still seething.
"You know how I said I had one more surprise for you?"
Ginny turned to him, her gaze softening. She nodded.
"Well, I...I can still give it to you. I mean, if you want..."
He trailed off as Ginny pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Yes, Harry, Love?"
Harry shoved his fingers through his hair, nervous.
"Harry?" Ginny prompted.
So right there, in the middle of the seventh-floor corridor, Harry leaned his forehead on hers.
"Ginny, I love you. You know how I said earlier that I didn't think I'd have made it through last year without you? Well, it's true. I've never told anyone this, but you were the last thing I thought about before I...I mean...in the forest. I can't stand being away from you, ever again. Really, the longest I think I can tolerate is the time it takes to use the loo."
Harry paused, and Ginny gave a breathless giggle.
The trolls in the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy had paused in their relentless beating of the attempted ballet teacher, and were listening with looks of dim interest on their ugly, brutish faces.
Harry took a deep breath, and then suddenly he was on his knee in front of her, fumbling to open a small, black, velvet box that he'd pulled from his pocket,
The ring was simple and beautiful, silver with pearls embedded around the small, elegant diamond, sparkling in the soft light cast by the torches surrounding them.
The first thought that pierced the haze of shock and elation that had covered Ginny's mind was, "It must be his mother's."
Ginny's gasp was stifled behind her hand, and though tears that sparkled like the diamond on the rind swam in her eyes, she had never been happier.
Harry's words were whispered, but she felt as though they must have carried through the entire castle.
"Ginny, will you marry me?"
A/N: WHOO! You better be grateful and review, 'cause this took me AGES to get right! :) So, click that nice little purple button and give me comments and advice! Oh, and by the way, from what I've read of reviews from my other FFs, some people are going to want a different ending, like Ginny's response, blah blah blah, but this is how I planned it would end from the beginning, so if you don't like it, too bad. :)
~PhoenixFlameGinny67