Walking Her Home - Marc Schaltz
A/N - just a fluffy oneshot about Harry & Ginny. Aren't they cute? X
Harry tapped Ginny on the shoulder nervously, glancing back at Ron.
"Hey, Ginny?" D'you, um, want to go for a walk?"
She grinned up at him
"Ron been giving you a hard time again? I'd love to. Let's try sneaking out so that he doesn't give us that third degree again. I swear Dad took it better than him!"
They got up unobtrusively and were just reaching the portrait hole when Ron realised.
"OI! YOU TWO! GET BACK HERE!"
"Run!" Ginny shrieked laughingly, and they stumbled over tables and chairs to get out, Ron's voice following them.
"DON'T YOU DARE HARRY! GET OVER HERE!" He roared, and they faintly heard Hermione restraining him as they escaped "FINE THEN. RUN. BUT DON'T YOU RUDDY WELL DARE STAY OUT AFTER HOURS GINNY. I'LL TELL MUM"
When they finally shut the portrait behind them Ginny dissolved into giggles, clinging to Harry as she shook with laughter.
"Oh, Merlin" she gasped "We should do something like this all the time just for that reaction!"
"Yeah, but it would be nice to sleep easy sometimes" Harry mused "Last time I woke up and he'd charmed my face green. He's going to have to get used to it at some point. Come on, I've got something to show you!"
They took off at a run down the corridor, dragging each other along by their hands.
"What is this? A race?" Ginny shrieked at him when he got too far ahead "I need to know the finishing line!"
"He stopped so that she could catch up.
"We're going to the tapestry of Sir Baldric the Barmy on the seventh floor, okay? Now…ready, set…"
Before he could finish Ginny launched herself at him and pushed him back to the wall, twining her hands in his hair as she kissed him fiercely. Harry instinctively pulled her closer, all thoughts of a race forgotten. So when Ginny broke away and started sprinting up the staircase, it took him a good five seconds to remember what had happened before he started chasing her.
"YOU'RE A DANGER TO SOCIETY, GINNY WEASLEY" He shouted after her, rewarded by her looking back and sticking her tongue out at him over her shoulder.
He let her win. When they reached the tapestry they were both breathless, Ginny leaning against the wall, gasping.
"Talk about unfair tactics" He remarked, and she smirked up at him.
"No" she retorted pertly "Just putting my advantage to good use. Now what are we doing up here?"
"Your advantage, hm?" Harry put his arms either side of her against the wall, so that she was to some extent trapped. Ginny looked up at him, noting the glint in his green eyes.
"Harry, wha-"
He cut her off, kissing her more softly than before, but with no less determination. Ginny was so caught up in it that she didn't even notice him flipping the tapestry up and pulling her into the space behind it.
"Oh…" She gasped when Harry spun her around to see it. They were in a large, high ceilinged room, which was somehow charmed to look as if it was outside. There seemed to be no walls, just an expanse of forest filled with silvery trees that swayed and rustled in a soft breeze. The floor was green grass, soft as velvet, and in the distance there was a lake with a smooth, mirror surface. Music played quietly, and Harry led her out into the middle of the clearing they were in.
"So, what do you think?" He asked nervously, as she looked around slowly, taking in her surroundings.
"It's beautiful, Harry. Beautiful" He pointed her gaze up to the sky, which was enchanted much like the one in the great hall. It was like blue silk, studded with diamonds that shone down on them in the half-light. "I bet this isn't included in 'Hogwarts: A History'" She muttered, and Harry laughed softly.
"How about we explore a bit?" He suggested, and they walked off together into the twilight to discover more secrets.
Later on (much later on) Harry and Ginny were wandering back up to the common room, his arm slung around her shoulders. They were chatting and laughing quietly, and they stopped outside the portrait hole to say their real goodnight, and then proceeded in to the common room for their show. It was 20 minutes after they were supposed to be inside.
"And what time d'you call this?" Ron asked angrily as they entered, and the whole common room turning in anticipation of the show coming. Harry winked at Ginny and then, lightning fast; he caught her around the waist and dipped her down low, miming a very overly-passionate kiss. He stood her up straight again, hair mussed, as Ron spluttered in outrage.
"Oh, Ginny, that was such a wonderful evening! I had no idea you were so wild and unexpected!" He declaimed in a loud voice to the room.
"Well, Harry, you certainly surprised me too, if you know what I mean." She winked at some fifth year girls, who giggled behind their hands as Hermione helped Ron to a chair.
As Ron was being pacified, Harry kissed Ginny goodnight again, and whispered low into her ear,
"I love you, Ginny"
"I love you too Harry. Always."
Harry paced up and down in the corridor, frantically pulling at his hair.
"Calm down mate, she's going to be fine" Ron moaned from his chair. He was sitting sideways with his feet hanging over the edge, a jacket over him like a blanket. It was two in the morning, and the hospital was deathly quiet "You're being such a typical husband right now"
"Really? Well, just wait until Hermione has a kid" Harry bit out acidly, not stopping.
"Nah, I've got a plan. When Hermione wants a kid, I'm going to steal one of yours. Then we don't get any of the pregnancy stress, and we save you money. It's a win-win situation" he said complacently, hands folded across his chest. His eyes were closed, so he missed the exasperated glare Harry gave him as he took a seat.
"It's got to be over soon though, right? She's been in there since yesterday!"
The door swung open and Hermione's bushy head emerged. Harry leapt up from his seat at once.
"Harry, you can go in now" she said tremulously "And Ronald, we need to talk."
Harry was too busy running into the ward to look at the terrified look on Ron's face as his wife advanced, a broody air about her. Ginny was sitting up in bed, sweaty hair braided back from her face, and she was holding a little blue bundle. There were nurses and doctors in the room, and Mrs Weasley, but they all melted away, and Harry could only see his wife and son. Ginny looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears.
"Harry, meet James Sirius Potter. Your son" She held him out, and Harry took the baby carefully, as if he might break. He looked down at the crumpled, red face of his son and his vision blurred with tears.
"He has your eyes" Ginny said thickly "Even now, they're your eyes"
He looked back at his wife again, overcome with emotion. A nurse tapped his shouolder lightly, unwilling to break the moment.
"You can all go home tonight, if you'd like" she said uncertainly "I mean, you could stay here but if you don't want to…"
"Let's go home" Ginny said decisively "We can take James to see it all!"
Back at Godric's Hollow, when James was comfortably ensconced in his cradle, Harry held Ginny close, the duvet wrapped around them to shut out the cool air.
"I love you, Ginny" he whispered in her ear
"I love you too Harry. Always"
The doctors were talk softly in the corridor, but their voices reach Harry's ears, tenuous and faint:
"…don't know how long she has left. This could be the last one…"
"…but what about the husband? Should we tell him now, or should he wait until the morning to find out? This could very well kill him too – they're still so very much in love."
Harry shrugs off his jacket and climbs up onto the narrow hospital bed. He hugs Ginny close, trying to give her frail body some warmth
"Hey" she says softly
"Hey" he replies, and they lie there like that for a while, silent, until Harry speaks again.
"Do you remember that night? When we found the forest?" He whispers in her ear, smiling at the memory
"Oh yes" she sighs, exhausted "I'll never forget that. The room…and how angry Ron was when we were late back. Actually, Ron's reaction to the entire idea of us, especially when you first asked me out. It was a wonderful night, Harry"
They both fall silent again, reliving the night. It wasn't their first date, but it was the most magical, the one that should have been their first. It was the night they really fell in love, truly-madly-deeply fell in love.
"Harry" Ginny says suddenly, a strange urgency in her voice "when…when I'm gone, promise me you won't dwell on this. You have to live on, be happy-"
"Gin-" he protests, but she carries on regardless
"No! I know you, I know you get depressed and do stupid things. So promise me, that you'll try. You're still young, you might find someone else-"
He flips her around to face him and his green eyes bore into hers fiercely
"No." his voice is cool, but resolved "I don't care what you say, Ginny. I'm never going to find anyone else, because I don't want anyone else. Ever. I love you, and this is not the end for us."
"Harry, I heard them talking" she replies softly, stroking his still disobedient hair, now grey "This is probably my last night. Our last night together"
"There will be more" he insists "Even if that's true, we won't be over. Not as long as I love you."
"I love you too"
"I know"
"Don't you dare quote Star Wars at me, Mr Potter!"
He laughs softly and hugs her closer
"Whatever you say, Mrs Potter"
Ginny blushes at her married name, unable to stop the thrill that runs through her when he said it.
"We've had a good life, haven't we, my love?"
"The best life. The best there possibly could be."
"I'm so glad you're here, Harry. There's a sort of symmetry to it: you were there when I first began to live properly and now…"
She trails off, and Harry smooths her hair and kisses the top of her head.
"It's okay Gin. I'm not going anywhere."
When the nurse comes in the next morning, she finds them both lying there. One body is cold and empty, frail limps lifeless, but there is a wistful smile on her face. The other is warm and alive, but there are tear tracks down his cheeks and sorrow is etched in every line of his face. He is hugging her close, still. He never left her side. And as the nurse is leaving to get the doctor, his lips move, whispering.
"I love you Ginny. Always."