|AN|: Hello everyone! I wrote it at Valentine's Day :) I'm posting it so late because I had to send it to StephanieO and ask her to make a beta. She of course agreed, as always (thank you Steph!) and now, here it is! I hope you'll enjoy it!
|AN2|: Big thanks to all of you for all the reviews you've posted to my other fanfics! You are the best!
I just want you.
"Oi! Stop eating each other's faces, Potters!" Yelled a dark skinned woman in her early thirties. Ginny, startled, jumped and abandoned her husband's lips only to send her team leader a filthy look. "And get out of my changing room, Harry," added Gwenog Jones making go-away motions with her hands.
"What?" Asked Ginny innocently, staring at her with wide, guiltless brown eyes. "I thought you were the one who told me to do some warm-ups!" She stated taking pleasure from her boss' narrowed eyes and slightly annoyed expression. "Besides, technically it's my changing room." She added smiling shamelessly at her coach.
"Don't you start with me, you little ginger devil! I selected you for that team and I can as easily kick you off of it!" Grumbled Gwenog sending a "what-the-hell-are-you-still-doing-here" look towards Harry.
"Awww, come on Gwen!" Exclaimed Ginny, grinning despite Gwenog's angry expression. "We both know you wouldn't do that. I'm the best Harpies chaser in ages." She added proudly. Gwenog huffed angrily.
"Yeah, sure. You are also a full of yourself moron, Weasley."
"It's Potter." Commented Ginny matter-of-factly.
"Hey! I don't like the way you talk to my wife, Jones." Harry cut in, looking challengingly at Gwenog.
"Oh, shut up Potter and get out before I kick your sorry Auror's arse out of here." She retorted.
"I would love to see you try, lassie," replied Harry, smirking. Ginny sighed loudly and rolled her eyes at them. It wasn't anything new for them to "confer" like that. It was quite funny actually and everybody knew that they were just teasing and trying to get at each other's nerves. The truth is that Gwen was a good friend of the Potters. For Ginny, she was an older and more experienced Quidditch player and a friend with whom she always could seek advice. Not only in Quidditch but also in other subjects, except marriage that is. In that matter, Gwenog Jones was the worst person to ask for advice. Ginny and Harry liked her though, despite her grumpiness which she was always showing before the games and in the case of any problems, and the disquieting fact that she was taking pleasure from torturing her teammates at trainings. Fortunately, she was normally a rather cheerful person. It was also common knowledge that Ginny was Gwen's pride. She was not only her best player but also the most loved and adored by their Quidditch fans. It would be a suicidal move to kick her off the team. As for Harry, he was getting along with her quite nicely as well. Gwen once told him that if she wasn't terrified of Ginny's hexing skills, she would castrate him if only to be able to sign him in for her team, but decided against it after Ginny told her if she did so, she would hex her so badly her own mother wouldn't be able to identify her remains. Harry had a hard time trying to decide if he should feel flattered or offended. Yeah, they were definitely good friends.
"You're accusing Ginny of being full of herself and you are the one threatening a fully trained Auror, not to mention a damn good one," replied Harry, starting to really enjoy the conversation.
"Try me then, Mister I'm-so-big-and-scary-defeater-of-the-dark-asshole-and-auror-bloody-brilliant-Harry-Potter."
"Oh, shut up both of you!" Exclaimed Ginny, stepping between her husband and her coach. "I love you sweet-cheeks, but you should go now," said Ginny kissing Harry one more time. "And remember, if you don't cheer loud enough I'll kick your sexy, firm butt." She added with a teasing smirk and squeezed hard his left buttock.
"Sure thing." He said winking at her. She spun around towards her team leader.
"I definitely don't love you, but you should go as well. Check on the rest of the team or something," she said, grabbing Gwenog's arms and turning her towards the door.
"I won't listen to your orders, Weasley," she replied turning her head back towards Ginny.
"Sure you won't." She replied and gave her a little shove towards the door. "And it's Potter, Jones," she added and her coach disappeared behind the door. "You still here?" She asked, noticing that Harry hadn't left but instead was leaning against a locker.
"I wanted to kiss you again and wish you a happy Valentine's Day," he said, approaching her and sneaking his arms around her waist. She snorted and rolled her eyes.
"You know I hate that holiday, right?" She asked him and he smirked against her neck.
"Yup," he said and kissed her collar bone, "but you do love me and I, as every year from now on will show, am going to try and change your mind in that matter, so you have no choice but to be my Valentine today." He added tickling her sides lightly and she chuckled trying to get out of his grip.
"I have something to say to you, Mr. Chosen-One." She said sternly and this time, he was the one who rolled his eyes. She ignored him. "If you butt into my arguments with my coach again, you'll be sleeping on a sofa for the next year, clear?" She added not really seriously and punched his arm lightly. He rubbed it pretending to be hurt.
"Crystal clear," he replied, "although I'm going to risk it and tell you to watch out for yourself today." He added, suddenly looking very serious. "I've overheard Puddlemere's coach giving his beaters very clear instructions to 'dispose of the Weasley'."
"It's Potter!" She exclaimed throwing her arms in the air. She had nothing against her maiden name, quite the opposite. She had had a rather hard time deciding if she wanted to play with her or Harry's surname on her jersey, but when she finally decided that she would be equally proud of being a Potter as she was of being a Weasley, it started to piss her off that after half a year no one could remember that she actually did change her name. Harry chuckled and hugged her tightly.
"You'll be careful, Gin, won't you?" He asked silently.
"I always am, Harry." She assured, hugging him back.
"Promise?" She laughed, grabbed his head and kissed him gently.
"Promise," she replied, "but you really need to go now. I have to focus on the game for a moment," she added giving him a good-bye pat on the butt. He nodded and opened the door.
"Love you, cuddles." He said standing in the doorframe. "Smash them up." He added winking at her playfully.
"Love you too, sexy legs. And don't you worry, I will," she replied and he closed the door behind him sending her a wink. She took a few deep breaths and started to prepare herself for the match while humming "Weasley is our Queen" under her breath and remembering the times when she'd led the Gryffindor team to the spectacular win of the Quidditch Cup during her seventh year.
It was snowing that day and the spells, which had to be very strong to prevent the thick, white fuzz from falling on the Quidditch pitch, still weren't able to stop it all. Furthermore, the wind was incredibly hard, but about that nothing could've been done, so the players had to handle the hard gusts of wind which were nearly knocking them off their brooms. The bad weather conditions didn't seem to be a problem either for the audience or for the Holyhead Harpies team. Their captain and coach Gwenog Jones prepared her teammates for playing in every condition, even if it meant for the team members that they were constantly having common colds and flus during the winters and sunstrokes in summers. Puddlemere United players were having great difficulities with stopping the Holyhead chasers from scoring, so the Puddlemere beaters were sending the bludgers on them repeatedly, trying to sweep them off their brooms. Harry Potter, along with the Weasley family and a couple of their closest friends were watching the match with worried expressions, flinching every time one of the bludgers hit or passed dangerously close to Ginny Potter. She was a marvelous player though, and the fact that she was rather petite, pretty nimble and very fast was only making a more difficult target out of her. She was invincible. At least that was what the commentator said when she did one of her incredible dodges. The audience gasped loudly when one of the Holyhead chasers, Camilla Hopkins, was knocked off of her broom rather violently when the bludger hit her broom and smashed it into pieces. Only a few seconds later Harry, Ron, George, Angelina and Neville yelled loudly when Ginny scored again, making it 250 to 50 for the Harpies. They were pumping their fists in the air and cheering wholeheartedly for their favorite player. Then a sudden commotion rose and the whole audience found themselves on their feet when Georgiana Oldmate, the Harpies' seeker, ducked down with deadly speed and, after a moment, a bigger part of the stadium cheered with delight as Gerogiana's fingers curled around the small golden ball, making the Holyhead Harpies the winners for the eighth time that season. Ginny pumped her fists in the air and looked toward the special place on the stands where she knew her family would be seated. She spotted a mop of black hair amongst the sea of red heads and caught the strangely horrified look on her husband's face. She knitted her eyebrows in confusion as she heard a loud "Watch out, Ginny!" from one of her team-mates, and then… then everything went black.
Harry watched with horror as the bludger made audible contact with Ginny's head and his guts twisted at the cracking noise. Somewhere at his left Hermione, along with Mrs. Weasley, screamed loudly in synchronization sending shivers down his spine. Only when he heard one of Ginny's brothers curse loudly did he wake up from his dismay and make his way down onto the pitch as fast as he was able to. Accidents were very common during the games and practices, so even if Harry hated that fact, it was rather normal that several times Ginny showed up at home with multiple bruises, stumped shoulders, sprained ankles and broken arms. Head injuries, however, happened very rarely during Quidditch matches. They were very dangerous and the beaters' task was to make the opposing team's chasers' lives harder, causing a mild injury or even sometimes knocking them off their brooms, but no one wanted to kill anybody, for Merlin's sake! Harry was only partially aware of his actions when he grabbed the guilty beater's robes and threw him onto the ground with the intention of beating him into a bloody pulp, the Muggle way. He wasn't even aware of the fact that the whole audience went silent and several people were calling his name repeatedly. Then, before he even managed to move from his spot, he heard it, a barely audible moan that could escape only his wife's lips. Immediately his concern overtook the rage and he spun around to look at Ginny's petite figure sprawled on the grass where several healers were already by her side muttering spells and checking on her. After that everything was like a dream, one of his bloody nightmares which were still haunting him sometimes during long, dark nights. This time though, there was something different. This time there was no one there to wake him up from it.
She woke up slowly, blinking rapidly at the bright, white light which was hurting her eyes violently. Instantly she became aware of two things: a pounding ache in her head and a pair of warm, big hands holding her much smaller one between them. Suddenly one of the hands moved aside and a pair of warm, moist lips, which she only could describe as Harry's, took their place planting a little kiss on her palm. She moved her hand slightly to take a hold of his cheek and realized, startled, that it was slightly damp.
"Hey, you're awake." He stated with a strangely cracking voice and she forced her eyes open. It took her a few seconds to adjust to the brightness, but when she finally was able to see, she was greeted by the sight of her husband's concerned face now hovering over hers. She tried to shift her head up a little bit to take a better look at him, but the moment she did it, a sharp pain went though her skull and she winced, dropping it back on her pillow.
"No, no, no... don't move, sweetie." He said huskily, pressing gently on her arm as if worried she would try and move her head again. It was not likely, since the previous attempt made her see stars. "I will get the healer." He added, but before he managed to take one step, she tugged at his hand which was still entwined tightly with hers.
"Don't go," she pleaded quietly, not even caring that she sounded feeble. Actually, she did feel quite feeble at that moment. "I don't want healers," she added, "I just want you." He sighed and sat at the edge of her bed caressing her palm with his thumb. It was a torture to see his strong, independent Ginny lying in the hospital bed looking so small and breakable between the snow-white covers. She ignored the pain in her head as she moved it a little to look at him properly. His cheeks were damp and her heart soared when she thought about him crying. He rarely cried, only when something very bad happened. Was it that bad? At this moment she realized that she didn't remember what exactly had happened. She remembered Georgiana catching the snitch but then everything was a blur. Maybe it was just a dream. "What exactly happened?" She asked, her voice still very weak. He furrowed his eyebrows.
"You don't remember?" He asked with concern reaching for her cheek and stroking it gently.
"I just remember winning ,and then… I don't know it's really confusing. Did we actually win?" She asked rubbing her bandaged head with her free hand. He looked into her eyes.
"Yes you did," he said with a little smile. Was it all she could be concerned about? "Giana caught the snitch about twenty seconds after you scored your last goal. You did what you always do." He said still smiling."You threw your arms in the air and looked at me. And then I saw the bludger speeding towards you and I hadn't even managed to blink when it hit you in the back of your head." She saw the terror in his eyes and squeezed his hand more firmly.
"Hey, it's okay," she said quietly and this time she was the one rubbing his palm. "I'm fine." She added and he looked at her doubtfully. She smiled weakly. "I will be fine." She corrected herself and he leaned towards her and placed a soft kiss at her partially bandaged forehead holding his lips at the spot for a little longer than normal. She wiped the tear stains from his cheeks. "Why were you crying?" She asked with wonder and he snorted, shaking his head at her.
"It's not like between then and there was the longest and probably one of the worst two hours in my entire life, is it?" He asked sarcastically and she sighed.
"Was it really that bad?" She asked searching for the answer in his emerald eyes.
"It was pretty bad." The answer came from the door where a small, middle-aged healer was making his way towards her bed. "You have a skull fracture and a nasty concussion; you were lucky though, Mrs. Potter. Your brain is undamaged," added the healer and handed Harry a tray with several potions. "Take them all, Mrs. Potter and if you need some dreamless sleep potion or anything else, please send for us." He stated and smiled when Ginny nodded slightly. "You can stay of course if you wish Mr. Potter, but I will allow only two more people in the room at one time and quick visits."
"Of course," replied Harry still not letting go of Ginny's hand, "and thank you, Healer Gibson." He added and the man smiled, nodded and left the room.
"It's not exactly how I wanted to spend Valentine's Day with you," said Harry an hour later when all of the visitors left, leaving the married couple to themselves. Ginny chuckled lightly. She had no idea what the potions were she was forced to take, but she was very aware of the fact that she felt much better now.
"Haven't I told you it's a crappy holiday?" She asked raising her eyebrows at him. He was playing with her fingers kissing one of them from time to time.
"Yes, I've heard that before, but to be honest, every year you are doing everything to avoid telling me why you are so distant when it comes to Valentine's Day." He replied kissing her wedding band. She sighed and burrowed her hand into his messy hair.
"It's just…" she trailed off, "It's always not exactly as it supposed to be." She added. "Every year since I've started Hogwart's there was something to ruin that day for me, starting with my first year and that horrid Valentine Card I sent you. That was the most embarrassing moment of my entire life," she stated and he chuckled.
"Awww, come on! It was pretty sweet as I think about it now." He commented and she swatted his arm lightly. "Besides, I still have the card, so I think it means something." He added quietly and laughed when she looked at him with horrified expression.
"It just means you're cruel and you want to have some blackmail material on me." She replied and he shook his head vigorously.
"It is one of the most cherished keepsakes I've ever had." He confessed. "So... that was just your first year, what about later?" He asked dropping the topic of her Valentine Card.
"Second year, I still didn't have a lot of friends since everyone was afraid I was going to petrify them, so I'd spend the entire day in my bed. I just wanted to fall asleep and wake up the next day." He smiled sadly at her. "Then my third year… oh crap, it was really one of the worst." She said but despite the mournful tone of her voice, she had a little smile on her lips. "I had to tell poor Neville that year that I couldn't be his Valentine and that he is a brilliant friend and I'd had a great time at the Yule Ball with him, but we would never be more than friends."
"Ouch!" commented Harry with a short laugh. Ginny swatted his arm.
"You are awful Harry, now it may seem funny, but I felt terrible at that time." She retorted. "And then my fourth year, I had a really nice time with Michael, but you ruined everything!" She said poking his chest accusingly and he looked at her strangely. "I felt like crying for the whole day, because I knew you were somewhere snogging Cho Chang senselessly." He sighed and shook his head.
"Seriously… the only girl I've ever snogged senselessly is you, Gin, and I want nothing more than to keep it this way." He said and she smiled brightly. "That little kiss with Cho was barely counting as a snog at all," he added, and she brought his hand to her lips and kissed his knuckles.
"Maybe, but I hadn't known about it that time, had I?" She commented and Harry nodded. "My fifth year I had a huge row with Dean… you know, I really cared about him and I was very sad after that argument," she said and he patted her knee gently. "I really don't think I have to say why I wasn't enjoying the Valentine's Day my sixth year, do I?" She asked and he shook his head cradling her hand in his. He knew exactly what she felt that day because he felt exactly the same way. Just knowing for sure she was safe and sound would have been a brilliant present for him, but unfortunately he couldn't have had even that. He realized something after a moment of silence.
"Hey! And what exactly did I do wrong your seventh year?" He asked acting hurt. She chuckled and patted his hand.
"You did nothing wrong, Harry. Everything was perfect until I had to come back to the castle and not be able to see you for the next three weeks." She reminded him.
"Yeah… that sucked, didn't it?" He commented.
"The next year you were on a mission so we didn't see each other at all, and only last year was really nice, even though we had only an hour to be together during the day because I was just back from my training and you were working a second shift that day. At least at night we had some quality time," she finished with a wicked grin and he leaned to kiss her gently on the lips.
"I think I owe you a lot of kisses for all of the Valentine's Days that weren't perfect for you." He said brushing his lips against hers.
"I think so too," she replied with a smirk, "but we can start with this year's Valentine's kiss, since we can see it's not perfect as well." She said and he kissed her again, very gently as if he was afraid he would hurt her. When he was about to move away, she grabbed his jumper and kissed him passionately, snaking her arms around his neck. He brushed his nose along her jaw line and back towards her chin, and when he reached his destination, she planted a wet kiss on his nose. He chuckled happily and pecked her lips again.
"Now, that was a proper kiss, Mr. Potter." She stated and he moved away from her, laughing quietly. He sighed as he took his place back on the edge of her bed.
"I have a present for you." He said enthusiastically, reaching to his pocket and pulling a little square box out of it. She looked at him with interest.
"Another engagement ring?" She asked teasingly and then laughed when he stuck his tongue at her.
"You don't want it, you won't get it." He said making a show of putting it back to his pocket. She grabbed his hand halfway.
"Okay, sorry. I would really like you to give me that present," she said with a little pout,though he acted hesitant. "Please," she added with a sad puppy expression and he placed the box inside her hand, locking her fingers around it.
"Then you may have it," he whispered and kissed her hand lightly. She opened the box and her eyes lit up. He liked buying presents for everyone and he was doing it whenever he could, but he absolutely loved giving presents to Ginny. Her eyes would always sparkle like playful flames while she was opening the gift.
"Oh they are lovely, Harry! Thank you!" She exclaimed eying the heart shaped ruby earrings with glee. "I have my present for you at home, so I think you will have to wait for it a little bit longer," she apologised, squeezing his hand. He kissed her gently.
"Can't wait to see it," he murmured against her lips, "eh, I was planning to buy you a bunch of roses today and then make you dinner, watch a movie with you and take a bubble bath together… some sex would be nice too," he said and she laughed loudly, "but I think we'll have to wait for that as well." He added and she reached for him bringing his face close to hers again.
"I don't want bunches of roses, or dinners, or movies," she whispered to his ear while playing with his hair, "and a bubble bath and sex sounds appealing, but… let's say I can wait." She added and he smirked against her neck. "I've told you before, Harry." She added pulling on his head, placing it in front of hers and touching their noses together. "I just want you."
The End