Bad Day

Today is quite possibly the worst day of my life. Actually, I should probably rephrase that. The worst day of my life since the war. I think losing a brother and going through all of what we all did back then kind of constitutes to a rather bad day. Or a few bad months. But no, since the war, since being with Harry for the last year and getting a job as a journalist with The Daily Prophet things have been going pretty well. I'm enjoying my job, living with Harry and waking up with him next to me every day just happens to put a smile on my face and I couldn't imagine life without him, really. But today. Today, I could kill.

It's the 10th of August. Tomorrow is my birthday and, as far as I know, my adoring boyfriend that I love waking up to hasn't planned a single thing. Not a dinner, not a surprise party-nothing. How do I know for sure, you ask? Because Harry can't lie to me, I catch him out every single time. He can't hide anything from me, because his face gives it away the second I look at him. I know him too well, I'm proud to say, and after years of dealing with him at school and now living with him, I know how he works. And, aside from all of that, he is at the present moment and time not even in the country and will not be back for another 2 nights. Working as an Auror at the ministry is something he enjoys greatly but every now and then he has to go away for a few days and I am always left on my own. So, my lovely boyfriend has planned nothing for my birthday and that, coupled with this horrible day, has made for a very bad mood.

"Ginny, how many times do I have to tell you? I need that article on my desk today or I'll get Jamie to do it," The sound of Marina's voice cuts into my thoughts and I look up to her scowling face. Marina had recently taken over the sports department, and as I'm the senior Quidditch correspondent, she is always on my back for not handing my reports in on time. The article in question had been finished last week, I just liked to see her sweat thinking she would have to ask the numb nut Jamie to write something that wouldn't even be half as good as what I had written. I liked to play with Marina, because I know her section of the newspaper would be terrible without me.

"Yes, Marina, I know. I'm almost done. I just need a way to finish it off. I'm looking for a quote from the captain of the Holyhead Harpies to end it with is all. I'll have it done by this afternoon," I replied looking back down at the paper I had been doodling on and pushed it aside so that she could not see it. Marina made a noise that reminded me vividly of Umbridge and stormed off. I pulled the paper back out and began writing my name over and over, though with a different last name, one that I hoped would someday be mine. Yeah right, I thought with a snort, Harry didn't have the guts to propose. If I wanted to be Ginny Potter, I would have to propose myself. Maybe I'll wait for Christmas, that's a nice time to do it.

The phone began to ring, jolting me out of my thoughts once more-nobody was going to let me daydream it seemed-and I picked it up.

"Daily Prophet, Ginny Weasley speaking, senior Quidditch correspondent, can I help you?" I always sounded like a robot when I answered the phone with that well rehearsed line.

"Yes, hello Ginny, this is Grace Keyes, captain of the Holyhead Harpies here, how are you?" The smooth voice asked and I wondered briefly if this woman had known I had just been talking about her team.

"Hi, Grace! I'm good thank you, and yourself?" I replied, grabbing my quill and a blank sheet of paper, ready to take notes.

"I'm excellent thanks. Well, actually, to be honest with you, not as excellent as I could be, although that's why I'm calling you,"

"Right-go on," I prompted, curiosity sparking inside.

"I'm not sure if you're aware, but we recently lost our seeker, Georgina Cross, and have been on the lookout for a new once since," She explained.

"Sure, I wrote an article on possible replacements last week and at the moment am putting the finishing touches on another article about how well the Harpies did with Miss Cross, and how they could have gone on to win the Quidditch National Cup had it not been for her unfortunate run in with a Hinkypunk," I explained, a slight smirk on my face that Grace could surely not hear. I had never liked Georgina. She had always bragged about her seeker abilities, and had I not been concerned that I would lose my job with the Daily Prophet and ruin any possible chances of ever playing Quidditch professionally, I would have told her what's what many times.

"You have? Hm, yes it was a shame. But that's not my reason for calling. I actually wanted to meet with you perhaps over lunch today regarding taking you on as our new seeker," The minute the words were out of her mouth, I froze. Anybody walking past would have thought I had been cursed. "Ginny?"

"Sorry, yes, I'm here. Just shocked, that's all," I laughed and I could hear the smile in her voice when she spoke.

"Don't worry about it. Listen, I'm going to be in Diagon Alley today around noon, would you like to meet me for lunch?"

"Of course, just tell me the time and I'll be there," I replied and couldn't keep the grin off of my face.

"I'll be outside the Daily Prophet office around half past-I'll meet you out the front," She said and after another few pleasant exchanges, we hung up. I sat stunned for a moment then extracted the report that Marina had just been whining about and sent it to her office. As I watched it floating off, I wondered briefly what she would do without me and who she would find to replace me when I went to play Quidditch. Me. Playing Quidditch. Professionally. It had always been a dream of mine since I was five years old and all of my brothers went off to play and only let me watch. I can still remember the day I got my first broom, and when I made the Gryffindor team. I gave my desk a tidy with the sweep of my wand and began a letter to Harry.

Harry,

Hope your day is going well. Mine has just taken a spectacular turn for the better! Will let you know the full story when you get back but I was much too excited to wait till then to tell you the gist of it. Grace Keyes, captain of the Holyhead Harpies, just phoned me and wants to meet me for lunch! I'm sure you can guess what it's regarding but I'll wait till I see you in person for the rest. Hope your trip is going well, can't wait for you to get back!

Love Ginny x

The lunch with Grace went spectacularly well, and I was due to meet her at the end of the week to further discuss me joining the team, but I'm 99.9% sure she wants me. I haven't mentioned it to anyone as yet as I'm not sure what Marina will think of losing her top worker (if I do say so myself) but that can wait until I know for sure. I finished up for the day and made my way home, stopping off on the way to pick up Chinese take-out, just because I could.

When I got home, Hedwig the second was waiting patiently at the window so I rushed to let him in. He dropped two letters into my hands, nibbled my finger affectionately and flew off again. I shut the window and threw the letters on the couch, deciding-in true Ron style-to feed my face first. I collapsed on the couch and devoured my dinner, feeling as if I hadn't eaten all day when it had really only been a few hours. Comfort food. That's what a bad day will do to you. But then, it hadn't really been a bad day in the end. Grace had told me that someone had rung her up and given my name as a possible replacement for Georgina, and although I had no idea who that was, I was extremely thankful to them.

After I'd finished, and got myself a drink of water, I opened the first letter, discovering it was from my adorable boyfriend.

Hey Gin,

That's great about Quidditch! I'm so happy for you. We can celebrate properly when I get back, I guess. Today has been a tough day although I'm back in the country. The wizard we were tracking came back into the country so we obviously followed. I think we've almost got him. I bought you a present from France. I had one day off while I was there as the other guys had it handled. I think you'll like it. Can't wait to see you either, I'm missing you a lot this trip!

Harry x

Reading through the letter almost brought tears to my eyes. What a wuss. I missed Harry a lot, especially after reading this, and couldn't wait for him to get back. Mentally slapping myself for being so soppy, I opened the next letter.

Hi Ginny,

How are you? I'm really good thank you. I'm sure if we were talking in person you would have asked me in return as you are a rather lovely person. I hope that Nargle infestation has cleared up. The last time I saw Harry, he had a really bad case of it.

I'm afraid my letter has other intentions other than to ask about your health problems. I have a request. This may be late notice but I hope not. I was wondering if you could meet me in London tonight, at the Kew Gardens? All will be explained when you get there but it is really important that you come. If you could be at the Herbarium at 7pm, next to the daisies, that would be great. The garden itself will be shut and locked at that time but I'm sure you know a spell or two that will get you in unnoticed.

If you could dress up nicely, that would be great too. A nice dress, maybe some heels and if you really want, I have some radish earrings you could borrow that would match your hair beautifully. I will make some for you I think.

Thanks for this Ginny! I look forward to seeing you soon. If you like, I can give you something to help clear the Nargles. Take care.

Luna.

I sat quite stunned for a moment before glancing at the time. Half 6. What on earth was Luna up to? I always knew she was different but this was odd, even for her, to not tell me what was going on. I had been to the Kew Gardens once before but not for awhile. And breaking in after hours? I tidied up my leftover dinner and went into my bedroom. Finding a simple white dress with (how fitting) small flowers on and choosing a pair of heels, I brushed my hair out, and deciding that I looked pretty reasonable, apparated to the entrance of the gardens.

There was nobody around, which only aroused my suspicions even more as there was always a tourist or two on any street in London. I opened the gates, after using Alohomora, then locked it again behind me. I cast a few spells so that no one Muggles would walk my way and began walking through the gardens towards the Herbarium, keeping in the shadows just in case anyone was around. It was almost spooky at this time of night, although there were a few lights on here and there, it was mostly dark and I walked a bit faster.

As I got to the Herbarium, I went inside and immediately gasped. There were fairy lights everywhere, on every possible surface, window and wall. It gave a magical affect and only made me even more curious. Why would Luna want to meet me here? I kept going further into it, astounded at the amount of lights that covered the entire place. I rounded a corner and came upon a bench, also surrounded in lights and the gardens around the bench were daisies. Dozens and dozens of them. I figured this was where I was supposed to be.

"Luna?" I called, not too loudly as I was still slightly unsure of this whole thing. No one spoke and I sat down on the seat, looking around for some sign of life. Directly opposite me, I now noticed, were rows of daisies formed into letters. I stood up and walked across towards them, trying to work out what it said. With a start, I realised what it said. But why on earth would Luna be telling me that she loved me with a row of daisies?

At the sound of a footstep, I whirled around. There in front of me stood Harry, dressed in a suit and with a nervous smile on his face. Suddenly, I had a slight suspicion of where this might be heading.

"Harry! Wow-why-what's going on?" I asked, rushing towards him and hugging him tightly. He hugged me back just as tightly and then led me over to the bench where we both sat down. "What are you doing here?"

"Surprising you. I've missed you so much this past few days, like really missed you. I mean, I always miss you but this time it was like part of me was missing and there was this big hole. It wasn't very nice. Geoff let me come home early because he saw what it was doing to me, the other guys are still in France," He explained and I smiled warmly. I loved this boy.

"Well I'm really pleased, I missed you just as much," I said, leaning in to kiss him lightly. He smiled into my lips and took hold of my hands.

"That's not all we're here for. Stand up," He told me and I obliged, keeping my hands grasped with his. He pulled me over to the daisies that said 'I love you', and my heart stopped as I noticed something that hadn't been there before. A simple gold ring with a single bright emerald sat in the middle of the 'o' in the word love. I looked at Harry who was no longer standing there but had taken the ring and was now down on one knee.

"Oh my god," I whispered, one hand over my mouth and tears forming in my eyes. He took my other hand and looked up at me.

"Ginny Weasley, I love you more than life itself. You mean the world to me and I couldn't imagine a world without you in it. You have been my rock through everything and have been there for me at times when I was sure I didn't deserve it. I want to spend the rest of my life showing you how much you mean to me. I love you so, so much, Ginny. Will you marry me?" His voice broke at the end of it and I collapsed onto the ground with him, sobbing slightly and pulling him in to kiss me.

"Of course," I whispered after breaking away. "I love you so much, Potter. I thought you would never ask!"

He laughed and hugged me again, his head nuzzling my neck and I felt as if I couldn't be happier. I pulled away and kissed him again, long and hard, trying to put everything I felt into one kiss.

"I have one question," I said, an hour later after we had...celebrated our engagement. We lay side by side surrounded in blankets that had appeared, as if by magic, out of nowhere, staring at the fairy lights on the ceiling. Our hands were intertwined and my ring sparkled in the lights.

"And what is that?" Harry asked, his voice light. I could have fallen asleep like this, snuggled up next to this man who I had loved forever.

"Why Luna? Why did you get her involved to help set it up? Why not Ron or Hermione?"

"Because you would think they were up to something," He replied and it all clicked inside my head. "If Ron asked you to meet him here, at this time of night and all dressed up, wouldn't you think something was up?"

I laughed softly and marvelled at Harry's cleverness. Perhaps all of those years of being around Hermione had rubbed off on him. "Yes, I would of. Luna is so odd I never even thought that you might be involved with this,"

I leaned up and kissed him again, so unbelievably happy with how my life had changed in one day. I was (most likely) going to be the new seeker of the Holyhead Harpies, but most of all I was engaged to this amazingly wonderful, sexy and charming man lying next to me. Today could not get any better.

After writing Lazy, I really wanted to write the story of Harry's proposal that Ron refers to. I hope this is okay! I've been writing it for ages, finally got it finished..been so busy! I hope you all like it anyway, enjoy!