AN: EDIT: Changing Gabriel to Gideon because I keep running into people with the names Gabe and Gabriel, and it gets very annoying.
I needed to write something fluffy and happy, so Happy early Valentine's Day. And I accidentally deleted a whole bunch of this beforehand. I think I haven't sworn that much since I almost deleted my AP notes. And the essay.
Gee, thanks, Pages. Anyway, the summary is correct: this is gender bending with canon ships. I tend to write that a lot. Names start with the same letter as their cannon selves.
There are several references to Warmth of the Sun. I also still take requests.
Please leave a review if you enjoyed it.
Disclaimer: Last time I checked I am an American brunette. Nice try, but I know that I'm not JK Rowling
Title: Would Wish Long and Long
Word Count: 2K
Summary: He eyed her wand warily. "How many points is it if you hit my head? Ten? Five?" A missing moment from Warmth of the Sun. Fem!Harry/male!Ginny
I sing the body electric
The armies of those I love engirth me, and I engirth them;
They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them,
And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the Soul.
—Sing the Body Electric, Walt Whitman
The door to the inside the Burrow clanged open. Halley jumped from her seat and instantly went for her wand. She stopped before she said a spell, seeing Gid's oddly calm face. He eyed her wand warily. "How many points is it if you hit my head? Ten? Five?"
"Something like that," she muttered, pocketing her wand. "Got the list?" Due to being one or the few that were either: Reconciling with memory-restored parents, cleaning up the shop, stuck at Ministry meetings, or any other sort of business, it had left Halley and Gid stuck with going shopping for food in the village. Diagon Alley was too risky without the copious use of Polyjuice Potion alone.
Gid held up the scrap of parchment. Cursive letters were printed on it. "All here. Mum wanted to make some changes first."
"Right." Halley raked a hand through her hair, she gave him a wry smile. "Your birthday's coming up."
"And I want a unicorn," he said dryly. "A bright, sparkly unicorn that leaves a trail of glitter in its wake." He scrambled down the porch steps and looked over his shoulder to see her shaking her head. "I'm not being serious," he added. "But maybe a miniature dragon would be nicer."
"Is this because of the birthday gift requests that I made for mine?" Halley asked when she stepped down to join him. The memory of being in the hammock brought a smile to her face as she remembered the ridiculous list that she gave him only a month ago. "I'm still waiting for that friendly Blast-Ended Skewert. I'm sure Hagrid wouldn't mind breeding more." She smiled at the idea of having a tame blood-sucking or pinching monster as her pet. That would keep the reporters away with plenty of ease.
"Patience, Potter. Good things come to those who wait." Gid started to whistle a jaunty tune. Halley was almost bemused by his actions. She spared a quick look at his face, eyebrows furrowing as she realised that this was the lightest that she have seen him since the war ended. He was walking with a small skip to his steps, his head was held high and eyes lost in thought of some kind. It was very different from the quiet and grim wizard that she was seeing for the past three or four months.
Some darker and morose part of Halley wondered how much of it was an act.
She sadly got that question answered when they walked past the remains of the Lovegood house. The dark remains of what used to resembled a chess piece was now shattered over the green-yellow grass. Gaping edges of the circumference of the house's walls shimmered with the many layers of protective charms. Halley felt a low, sweeping sensation in her stomach as she looked at what used to be her friend's house. Gabriel stared stonily at it. His alacrity took on a gloomier counterpart.
"They're staying with some family in Sweden," he said in a soft voice. "Luce's fine, or what I can tell from his letters. He doesn't write much but he sends mostly artwork."
"That's good," Halley said. She swallowed down some guilt and looked away from the wreckage. She also felt guilty for not sending any owls to her friends, the last time she saw any of them was at the funerals, and now that feeling of not keeping contact with them was gnawing at her. "And his father? Anyone else?"
"Nellie's unsure if she wants to go back to Hogwarts. Loads from the DA have been slow with their own letters." Gid shrugged as if this was normal. "Dunno about his father or anyone else. Let's keep going ahead." He tugged on her arm, dragging her out of the memory of Death Eaters invading there and sunny funerals.
"Sure," Halley's voice sounded far away to her ears. Out of the need for comfort, she felt his hand reached over to touch her shoulder. It wavered over the area curiously, so she nudged his side with her hip. "It's okay. I don't mind."
His hand splayed over her shoulder, the weight was comforting. "That's good," he said in a smaller voice. "Sometimes I'm never really sure…"
"Don't worry," she assured him. "It helps." Indeed feeling the actual warmth and solid touch was exactly what she needed to make the nightmares go away. She leaned against his side as they walked down the main road to the village. Ottery St Catchpole was the antithesis of Surrey. It was spread out and colourful in comparison, all rolling country and greens for the farming and grazing. The village was small, but it held the essentials. It vaguely reminded Halley of a non-magical version of Hogsmeade.
Children were playing outside, some of the games Halley couldn't exactly recall from her own childhood. Seeing their innocent expressions was like a slap to the face for her. Some of them stopped playing and turned to stare at them. Gid gave her a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder and they continued walking. Self-conscious, Halley patted her fringe down and quickly checked herself over to see if any more scars were showing.
Gid gave her an odd look when she tugged on the collar of his shirt to hide his own scars. The one that rose to the back of his neck were still a squeamish shade of pink and red. "Thanks," he said under his breath. "But it isn't that. We don't usually come down here often, and we tend to be the centre for certain urban legends." His lips twitched. "Remind me to tell you the one about the two-headed chicken."
"Mad." Halley shook her head. "Your family is mad."
Their stop at the greengrocer went off fairly successful. The only problem was when Gabriel tried to pay. The cashier apparently minded when he asked if the quid with the cranky bird could pay for the eggs. One heated argument later and an insult to someone's mum, the two found themselves outside.
"You should have taken Muggle Studies," Halley told him a sharp whisper. "I think we were this close to being banned."
Gid bent down to pick up his bag of food and rolled his eyes. "I still have my honour intact." He threw his shoulders back and raised his head. His accent suddenly shifted into a posh manner that was drenched with blue blood and a high status. "I was merely restoring what dignity and respect that my family has been holding for centuries."
Halley laughed at his imitation of the Malfoy family.
Gid dropped the act and smiled. "I knew you would react like that. I like hearing your laugh."
She sobered and spoke in a clear voice. "Just don't do that for a while. I would be scarred for life if you kept acting like a Malfoy just to get a giggle out of me."
"But I like your giggle, too." He continued walking ahead and with a skip in his step. "It's cute."
Halley walked faster to catch up and his longer legs were making that hard to do. She studied his reflection in the late afternoon sunlight. He looked different now, very much from the previous year. Any more roundness that was left on his face from before had melted again into hard lines and angles. His shoulders were a touch wider, muscles were more apparent, and he looked much older than his sixteen years with the hard light in his brown eyes.
"Okay, I give," he said suddenly, shifting the bag around. Only half a mile more and they would be in safe distance from the village so that they could use magic. "What about my face are you finding to be so fascinating?"
"You…" Halley searched for the right word to use. "You just look different."
"So do you," he retorted in a stiffer voice. "We all look different. For example, the last time I saw your hair that long was in your Fourth Year." He held the bag in the crook of one arm to reach over to play with the strands that swung from her ponytail. She batted his hand away, another peal of laughter threatened to fall from her lips.
"Watch it," said Halley. "You don't see me poking your chest or your jaw."
"I…" Words and letters faltered. His mouth was agape and he rocked slightly on the balls of his feet. "I can't think of the right way to respond to that."
She took the bag of the groceries and tapped it with her wand. The nonverbal Banishing Charm worked and sent the food to the Burrow. She extended a hand. "Want to Apparate?"
Gid warily eyed her hand. "Do you even have a license?" Halley raised an eyebrow. "Okay, but if I lose a leg then you're telling Mum." He sided up closer to her, slipping an around her waist. The intimacy caused her to momentarily forget the Three D's. Destination, determination…De…Der..? Shaking her head, she struggled to remember the last D and thought of the paddock near the Burrow. With her eyes shut and mind wide, she concentrated heavily about the soft green under feet, the tall trees swaying overhead…
With a loud pop in her ears and the unpleasant sucking sensation, Halley opened her eyes to find themselves outside the Burrow. She let out a sigh of relief that she was able to get it right. Gid stepped back to examine himself. Two arms, two legs, and ten fingers. He looked fine. Halley did the same for herself, hoping that she didn't splinched anything important. The last thing that she wanted at the moment was to end up looking like Mad-Eye before her Auror training even started.
"Nice job. I don't feel like vomiting as much," Gid said, smiling. "Even without a license. Is there anything you can't do?" he joked in the end.
"Get a decent night's sleep," Halley said dryly. She shrugged her shoulders when she saw the concerned look on his face. "I'm fine," she insisted. In truth, she wasn't fine, no one was fine, but the lie came easily to her.
Gid raised an eyebrow. "Liar, liar, robes on fire."
Her lips twitched at the nursery rhyme. "Nice." Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she stared up at him. "Is that the best you got? I've heard you say better than that retort."
"I have plenty," he argued. "I just need time to make an adequate list of comebacks."
"And how's that working out for you?" She could see the spark in his eyes that was growing to a quick blaze. Suddenly, Halley was struck with the desire to take him by the shoulders, making sure to catch up on the missing year. There wasn't much of a distance between them to begin with, and with their heads unconsciously moving closer…
"Oi" The door to the Burrow banged open, and Rory stared down at them with her arms akimbo. "Who the bloody hell Banished the food here?"
Halley and Gid stared blankly at her. She couldn't believe what impeccable timing Rory had when it came to her best friend and little brother.
"Well," her friend continued and was looking very much like Mrs Weasley. "Before you two start snogging, I would like to say thank you to the edjit who did it, because I got covered in eggs!"