Prologue

With the end of the war came an abundance of free time for our heroes. There was some talk of requiring an eighth year and it was clear that the children needed to finish their education. They still were children in the eyes of the world, even if the war had stolen their innocence. However, there were some problems with the proposal of an 8th year, and so in the end it was decided that students would be provided with the resources they needed to prepare for their newts, but in a much more relaxed atmosphere than traditional school.

Preparations were made, and soon the new "8th years" found themselves enjoying a freedom that they would never have been able to imagine before. They were allowed to leave the castle at will, spend nights at home or in the 8th year dorms, constructed especially for the unique situation. Students spent their time flooing in and out of Hogwarts multiple times a day. Some lived partially at home, and partially at school. Harry, having grown up in a house but certainly not in something that would be considered a "home", was surprised to find that he was one of the people casually flitting in and out of the castle, deciding where to stay on a day-to-day basis. The Weasley's had decided that he truly was one of their own, and Harry certainly didn't mind having to bunk with others. He made it clear that he didn't mind spending a couple months in the temporary housing that the Weasley's had set up after their cottage had burned down.

Of course the true sense of freedom was a result of Voldemorts death. Some found it easier to transition back into normal lives than others. Many people hadn't believed the Dark Lord was back until a year or two before he was defeated. For Harry, almost half of his life featured the impending fear that Voldemort presented. The same was true for those closest to him: Ron, Hermione and even Ginny. His 8th year was spent primarily with the people who he knew understood his feelings. Ron and Hermione would often go off and leave Ginny and Harry to keep each other company. The latter couple had both pledged to themselves to take things slowly. Regardless, as they spent more and more time with each other they found themselves facing an undeniable truth: they were totally and irrevocably in love.

Soon, it was a year after the war and they had spent almost every waking moment together. Harry, who had come to value the Weasleys as his own family, felt that he was ready to make them a more permanent and official part of his life.

Ron was the first person he told about his decision to propose, Hermione soon after. Ron hadn't had much to say- all Harry got in response was a soft grunt, probably because he was unable to understand, much less express, his feelings on the matter.

Hermione was much better in providing feedback about his choice to propose so early and so young. Her reaction consisted mostly of firing off questions like a machine gun fired off bullets.

"What does Ginny think about this?"

"What do you mean? I haven't proposed yet."

"So you're not going to talk to her about it beforehand?"

"That would ruin the surprise," Harry reasoned. Hermione looked at him disapprovingly.

"Wouldn't you say that the decision to marry is one of the biggest decisions many people make in their lives, Harry?"

"Well, yeah," he said. "Hermione, trust me, I've thought this over. I feel like I'm ready."

"How long did you think it over for?" She asked. Now Harry was feeling a little annoyed.

"Months! Days and days on end! I've thought about it more that I've thought about most anything else!"

"So, you've thought this over for quite a while?" Hermione's voice sounded like she was confirming this information rather than actually questioning him. Harry nodded impatiently. "And your plan is to propose to Ginny in some romantic and unexpected way, forcing her to make the very same decision you've had months to think about in a matter of minutes?"

"I-" Suddenly Harry felt his words catch in the back of his throat. He stood silent for a minute, trying to come up with the right thing to say. Something to justify this. "I mean, she's had just as long to think of it as I have!" His voice sounded defensive, even to his own ears.

"How, Harry? How could she possibly have had just as much time to think about it? Sure you aren't stopping her from thinking about it, but you can't expect a 17 year old girl fresh out of school to assume that her boyfriend is going to propose. Unless you talk about it, chances are, she won't even think to consider the possibility!"

Harry was upset, both because she wasn't being supportive and because she was right. "Why are you acting like I'm doing bad by Ginny by trying to propose to her? I just want to spend the rest of my life with her!" He felt his face turn beet red when his voice cracked at the end of the sentence.

"Look, Harry," Hermione's voice remained calm, absent of the heated anger that Harry spoke with. "I don't think you are trying to trick Ginny into marrying you or anything like that. I just don't wonder if you've thought about how it might feel for her, getting proposed to, without any warning, at 17. If you really want to spend the rest of your life with her, then you two are going to have to make this decision together, and like adults. No surprises, no snap decisions."

There were a few tense moments of silence after this little speech, but Hermione didn't try and say more. She was smart like that. Eventually the defensiveness seemed to seep out of Harry's body, and he look exhausted. "You're right, 'Mione. As always. I'm glad you-" He didn't know what exactly he was glad for. Everything, maybe. "You're always honest, and you're the best friend I could hope for." He smiled at her, and with a hug, turned to walk back into her and Ron's flat. He couldn't be sure, but when he glanced back, he felt like he might have seen a tear in her eyes, and a smile on her face.

The day after his conversation with Hermione, Harry owled Ginny requesting a chance to talk with her, and then flooed over to the Burrow. Upon his arrival, he found Ginny pacing by the fireplace, presumably waiting for him, hands clasped nervously together.

She looked at him with a fathomless expression in her eyes. Perhaps a little fearful, a little angry. Harry smiled gently.

"Wanna take a walk?"

"Sure." Her voice was tight, and she didn't sound like she particularly wanted to walk. Once they were out of the Burrow with no one else in sight, she stopped, turning to him. "So, what exactly is it that we need to talk about?"

As soon as she asked, Harry felt all the nervousness that had been absent on his trip over here rush to the front of his mind.

"I want to marry you." The words rushed out of his mouth, his face turning red with embarrassment. "I'm not proposing right now though! Can I just, talk for a minute, get everything out? And then you can, er, talk and tell me what you think?"

Ginny's face relaxed, as well as her body. She looked shocked, but slowly the expression on her face was becoming more pleased and less defensive.

"Yeah, so, I was going to propose to you, and I told Hermione and Ron, and well... Ron didn't really have anything to say about it, because he's, well... You know." Ginny snorted at that, in what Harry took to be agreement. "Hermione though, she pointed out that it wasn't fair for me to ask you to decide to marry me, giving you minutes to decide what I've had months to think about."

Ginny looked at him, a certain amount of softness apparent in her eyes. "I love you," she told him, reaching up to touch his cheek briefly. Then she looked away and laughed nervously. "Hermione always has been wise beyond her years."

"I know," he said with a smile, thinking back to all the times Hermione had saved him and Ron from disaster. "I said that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, and she said that the only way that would be a possibility is if we talked and were honest about how we felt."

Ginny leaned into him, placing her head on his chest. "I feel like... I want to spend the rest of my life with you too. We've gone through so much Harry, and we've been forced to grow up far too soon in all the worst ways." She looked up into his eyes.

"I know," Harry said again. He didn't know what else to say. His heart was beating extremely fast. Coming over here, he had been sure that this was just going to be a serious talk, not a proposal, but now he was realizing that after this talk he would have his answer.

"I'm ready to have the good parts of growing up. I'm ready to be in love. I'm ready to be with you. I'm..." She trailed off, taking a pause. Inhale. Exhale. "I'm ready to start a family with you, Harry."

In that moment there could be no better answer Harry could imagine. He tightened his arms around the girl who was resting her beautiful fiery head on his chest, and laughing spun them both around. Then he lifted her up, kissing her, as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Looking into her eyes, they both laughed. After a few moments of standing in such an intimate and youthful embrace, Ginny climbed down, and took his hand. As she pulled him forward so that they could continue their walk, Harry glanced back to the Burrow, and saw Molly and Arthur watching them. A rush of embarrassment washed over him, and for a moment he wished that they hadn't witnessed such an intimate moment between them. With time, the embarrassment would fade, and eventually Harry would come to appreciate how much that must have meant to them, to witness young love in all of its purity after so much pain.

After that original conversation, many more followed. Though talking so often and so openly about their feelings made Harry feel uncomfortable at times, for the most part he appreciated the new found closeness that came with them. Eventually came the proposal, and though it couldn't be a surprise for Ginny, Harry insured it was a surprise for everyone else. With the except of Ron and Hermione, of course.

Since Ginny had already agreed that she thought her and Harry had a future together that she wanted to start sooner rather than later, most of the nervous feelings were non-existent. The actual act of proposing took place at a large dinner party hosted at Harry's flat. Ginny helped him with the decorating, since the only spells Harry had managed to master were mostly defensive, even after over eight years in the wizarding world. Ron and Hermione also helped with putting together the meals and invitations. It felt great, all of them together, working together, finally doing something innocent, unrelated to any death eaters, criminals or injuries. Even after the war, much of what the trio did together had a certain negativity to it- a result of pursuing careers that reflected their experiences. Hermione figured that becoming Aurors and Unspeakables probably helped the transition, but they couldn't be certain. Harry suspected that it might just be wishful thinking on her part.

The proposal night for Harry consisted mostly of him observing the other three in their attempts to decorate his modest flat. Occasionally he would pull Ginny to the side and point out behavior of Ron's and Hermione's that was particularly endearing. Eventually everything was a ready as it was going to be, and the guests were arriving. After dinner, but before dessert, Harry made his move. He hadn't told Ginny exactly when he was going to propose during the night, in hopes that she would appear at least a little surprised.

It all was very sweet. Molly gasped when he got down on one knee, and many people cried, including Teddy Lupin, who was confused as to why all the adults around him had suddenly started tearfully shouting congratulations. Once Andromeda managed to calmed down young Teddy, Harry offered to let him spend the night at his flat. Teddy was overjoyed by the prospect, having found great entertainment value in the various criminal detecting knick-knacks scattered around the living room. A brief trip home later to gather up Teddy's things for the night, and then Teddy was crying for the second time that night as he said goodbye to his grandmother for the first time since the death of his parents.

By the time the wedding came around, Ginny and Harry were sure of one thing: They wanted kids, and they didn't want to wait. They had made it a tradition for all of their brief engagement to have Teddy sleep over at their house a couple times a week. Harry had even brought him into the Aurors office one day, and though Ginny couldn't bring him to quidditch practice with her, she had managed to acquire a child sized broom, much like the one Harry had zoomed about on as a small child. Teddy took to imitating Harry's look quite often, and it got to the point where Harry decided it was easier to get a child sized pair of Auror robes and glasses than to constantly be looking for where Teddy had last left his.

The minute Ginny first saw Teddy in his child sized Auror outfit she tossed her quidditch gear to the side, ran over, scooped him up in her arms and declared that there was no other option- Teddy would have to be the ring bearer.

Once Ginny had made the decision of Teddy being their ring bearer, she put in an order for a child sized suit. Then she informed Harry that everything for the wedding was in order. Harry was surprised that all the wedding planning was over- to him it seemed like it would never end. The date had been set for right after Teddy's birthday, April 19th. This way, Harry and Ginny would be able to throw Teddy the most extensive birthday party any 2-year-old had ever seen, since many of the guests would be staying at the Burrow the night before.

It was only later that night that Harry realized he should probably ask Teddy to be the ring bearer before assuming he would cooperate. Luckily, when he asked while tucking Teddy in, he found the toddler very agreeable. He tried to explain in the simplest terms possible what the job would entail, but he also figured that there wasn't much Teddy could do wrong when carrying the rings. The only things Harry could imagine Teddy doing wrong would be to trip, start crying, or start ripping off all his clothes and running around naked (a habit he had become increasingly fond of). Even if all of those things happened, though, Harry couldn't imagine it would make his wedding any worse. On the contrary, it would simply give them more to laugh about when Teddy was grown.

It turned out that nothing went wrong- which Molly claimed was both quite fortunate and unusual. After the ceremony she informed the newly weds that their smooth running wedding was surely a sign. "The fates are looking after you two," she told them. They just nodded, and giggled a little bit when she left.

"You know, it sounds like a load of codswhollop to me but... If there is anyone who know what a wedding means for the future of a couple, it would be your mum."

"She has seen many weddings in her day, and many marriages," Ginny agreed.

At the reception, the young couple danced their first dance to Celestina Warbeck's hit, Cauldron Full Of Hot Strong Love. It was an old song, for sure, and perhaps not popular anymore, but during the war Ginny had found solace in her mothers old music, and it wasn't as if Harry had any other suggestions. It was certainty the right choice, Harry decided, when he looked over at the people who had, in so many ways, been the parents he never had. Even though Arthur hadn't seemed to enjoy the song much when it had come on the radio all those Christmas' ago, he was now looking deep into his wife's eyes. It occurred to Harry in that moment that once, many years ago, Molly and Arthur had been just as young and in love as he was now with Ginny. He hoped dearly that there would come a day at his future child's wedding when he could look down at Ginny and remember this moment, right now. It seemed appropriate, Ginny and Harry, eighteen and seventeen, dancing to the song that Arthur and Molly had danced to when they were eighteen themselves.

AN: This is, to be honest, the very first fanfiction I've attempted writing, as well as the first place I've attempted to post it. I was planning on writing and editing it in it's entirety before posting it, but after surpassing 10,000 words everything got a little too disorganized and I realized it wasn't really a viable option. Therefore, I'm going to post this as I finish with chapters (as many other fanfiction writers do) and it will not be edited in its entirety until its completion. Do not fear though, there of course will be chapter by chapter edits. Additionally, I don't have a beta (I'm not exactly sure how betas work on this site) and I'm open to any suggestions for improvements- feel free to leave them in reviews!