Gonna Make You Blush
By Merrysprite
A/N Well of course I own Harry Potter and all its contents, just like I own the Brooklyn Bridge. Speaking of, if you're in the market for a lovely bridge, I'm selling one (among other things). So please call me at 1-800-IMA-DUPE.
CHAPTER ONE.
THE PRAT WHO CONQUERED THE DARK LORD.
"She's over you," Harry thought to himself as he walked up to the Burrows front door, carefully balancing a big gaily-wrapped box. "She's over you and you're just going to have to live with it. Damn prat that you are. Couldn't see what was smack in front of your face for years! Just act normal around her, really nothing has changed from the last time you saw her."
Harry thought back to his last encounter with Ginny Weasley and sighed. She had been going off to her last year of school and he had been off to his first year of Auror training. He wanted to say something then, right there in front of everyone on Platform 9 3/4, but she had looked so, well, intimidating. She was poised and pretty, and he still felt like an eleven-year-old prat who didn't know his arse from his elbows. So, he waved her off with the rest of her family, mentally kicking himself and hoping she didn't find a boyfriend since Ron was no longer there to terrorize them all away. Merlin's toes! He still was a dork as he realized he'd been standing and staring at the door for a couple of minutes now.
"The Prat Who Conquered the Dark Lord" he thought. Harry deftly balanced his gift in his left hand, raised his right hand and knocked on the door as he continued to knock on himself.
"Damn Prat!" he thought to himself.
Or he thought he only thought, as the door swung open and Ginny, clad only in khaki shorts and a very brief white Tee, stared at him for a second before saying "Percy is in the backyard. Although, I wouldn't call him that anymore."
Harry tried to regain his thoughts, which had left him the minute he saw Ginny, and looked confused as he walked through the door and into the Burrows Living room.
"Um...I'm not looking for Percy. I'm here for your graduation party. See, I even have your present." He waved the box at her and almost dropped it.
Ginny smiled and said, "Well, he's the only one of my damn prat brothers that is here at the moment. All the other damn prats haven't arrived yet. Unless you meant that I am a damn prat, in which case I will remind you that I am past seventeen and can perform magic legally now."
Harry realized that he must have spoken aloud his rant to himself. Blushing and stammering "N-n-no, NO! I didn't mean you, I meant me." Harry paused a second "Not that I think I'm a prat" pause "well sometimes I am but aren't we all sometimes?" pause "Except you of course. Your not. A prat that is. I just don't want you to think I don't think I'm a prat sometimes. Just not all the time." pause " I'm going to shut it about now and go look for Percy." This last was said quietly as Ginny tried to muffle her laughter and Harry hurried out through the kitchen towards the backyard. Thoroughly mortified at the complete arse he'd made out of himself.
"What in Merlin's name is wrong with you?" Harry thought to himself (he hoped). He looked around and saw Percy trying to set the tables for Ginny's party. As he watched, Percy place the plates upside down and the silverware on its tips, his mind wandered from the miracle before him. And it was a miracle before him. The war had taken its toll on the Wizarding world, some paying a higher price than others. The only Weasley permanently harmed during the final battle at Hogsmeads was Percy. Percy Weasley, once so proud of his academic achievements that he was known to his brothers as BigHead Boy, was a shell of former self. He had stepped in front a curse meant for his father on that fate-filled day. And while that self-sacrifice had ended the feud between him and his family, he had never been the same. Nothing quite wrong, but nothing quite right either.
"Harry! Oh, Harry! It is so spectacular to see you on this OH! What a beautiful morning! Even if it really is Some Enchanted Evening!" Percy half said, half sang to Harry.
Harry, being used to Percy's way, simply replied, "Yup, June is busting out all over and this should be a real nice clambake."
"Harry? Is that you I hear?" Mr. Weasley stuck his head out from his tool-shed door. "Splendid! Just the man I wanted to see. Come over here Harry and let me show you my latest find"
Harry placed his gift for Ginny on the end of the table and walked over to Mr. Weasley. He walked into the shed and was surprised to see an old muggle T.V. and VHS player set up and apparently working. On the screen was a woman in a tropical clime singing about washing a man right out of her hair.
"See Harry, I did a small bit of tinkering to the T.C. and this other whatchamacallit and see! I've got it to work without ekeletricy! Now Molly and I and all the family can watch those old muggle movies Percy is always quoting from. And just like you and Hermione, we'll be able to understand what in Merlin's beard he's saying" Arthur Weasley looked as if he had just invented the thirteenth use for dragons blood.
"Wow, Mr. Weasley, that's great! I'm sure Mrs. Weasley will be overjoyed." Harry said. "Where is Mrs. Weasley by the way? I didn't see her in the kitchen but I sure smelled some thing heavenly from the oven."
"Well, don't tell Ginny but Molly ran out to Diagon Alley to get her present. It's the new Cleansweep; they just got it in today. Because of the War, Ginny never did get a special gift for becoming Prefect. So this is really a combination gift."
"I'll be sure to keep it a secret." Harry grinned.
"Good, good. Okay then, well, I'm sure the other boys should be arriving any minute now, but if you don't mind would you keep Percy company for a while?" asked Arthur.
"Not at all, Sir." replied Harry.
"Thanks! And Harry? How many times must I ask, please call me Arthur. You're practically my seventh son!"
Harry smiled and walked out of the shed to find Percy was finished setting the tables. Sort of, in his own odd way that is. He was now busy looking at the gift Harry was going to give to Ginny and humming what sounded like the song I Feel Pretty from West Side Story. Percy was about the give the box a good hard shake when Harry reached him and gently took the box from his hands.
"I feel pretty and witty and gay!" sang Percy
"Then I pity anyone who isn't you today!" replied Harry. He had never thought to be grateful for the many times he had to listen to his Aunt Petunia sing off-key Broadway musicals while she meticulously cleaned her kitchen. But there you have it, proof that the Gods worked in mysterious ways. For a while, after Percy's release from St. Mungo's he only spoke in Broadway song lyrics. He was improving; however, he still peppered much of his speech with lyrics.
Harry gently set the present down on the table. He had gotten Ginny a snow globe of Hogwarts that was charmed to sing out the school song whenever it was shaken. It wasn't what he really wanted to give her, but he figured a gift of his undying love and devotion coupled with a wedding ring and maybe the news she was carrying his first-born child might be a bit much for a graduation gift. Therefore, he settled for the snow globe.
Harry's eyes wandered towards the house and up a few lopsided stories to Ginny's room. Her window was open and she was looking down at him with a small smile on her face. His breath hitched and he had to remind himself to stay calm and most of all breathe. She must have just stepped out of the shower. Her hair looked wet as it hung in fiery copper ringlets past her shoulders and the sleeves of her bathrobe was drooping down to her elbows as she propped her chin in her hands. She waved and popped her head back in the window and Harry's world turned back to normal.
Harry remembered a time when she would blush just because he looked her way. When the sight of him caused her to stick her elbow in the butter dish. She could barely speak to him for the first couple of years that he had know her. He didn't want to go back to that. He fully appreciated that they were friends at least now. Maybe not the closest of friends. However, that was probably because of him not her. When she had gotten over him, Ginny had begun to speak to him, but as sixth year wore into seventh, he began not be able to speak to her. She had changed, in a blink of his eye, she had become a woman and all that word implied. She was calm under pressure, able to verbally shoot down anyone, and then there were the physical changes. Neville was to blame for Harry's sudden awareness of Ginny's attributes, really, because in his usual, fumbling manner, he knocked into Ginny on his way over to take a potted clipping of his mimbulus mimbletonia from Luna, and accidentally received a handful of Ginny. Neville had unusually large hands for a boy his size, and it was overflowing.
Since Harry and Luna were the only witnesses to Ginny's public groping, Ron never found out. Harry, however, didn't speak to Neville for two weeks. After that day in the library, Harry noticed everything about Ginny. The way her shirt flowed around her curves, the way her Quidditch kit fit so snugly around her slender hips, the way her hair looked so much more vibrant and full of life next to the blue of the sky. And every time he spoke with her, he felt he had eaten one of Fred and George's Ton Tongue Toffees.
By the end of his seventh year his biggest problems surprisingly wasn't Voldemort, it was getting through a conversation with Ginny without blushing. Thank Merlin for occlumency classes. See the Gods do work in mysterious ways. Finally, he had a practical use for the obscure talent he was forced to learn. It helped every time he had to speak to her or watch her with her boy of the moment. Not that she dated many boys, just anyone other than him was one too many. Thankfully none of them lasted long. And he noticed she never blushed in front of them either.
Maybe that was the key to her affections? Maybe he needed to make her blush. Maybe if she blushed again over him, he would be able to rekindle her feelings for him. Not that he wanted her to go back to being the way she was in their younger years; he wanted something much, much more. With this thought in his head, a plan began to form...
"There's Nothing like A Dame," warbled Percy, interrupting Harry's thoughts.
"Ain't that the truth!" agreed Harry, with a downright wicked grin. He looked up and saw Ron walking out the kitchen door, with Hermione close behind. He needed some time to implement his scheme and maybe an ally or two. He didn't relish informing his two closest friends about his feelings for Ginny, especially Ron, but this was too important to him. Hermione was needed to examine it for flaws and Ron really was a master strategist, and most importantly, they both had further insight on the woman he loved. So for now Ginny was safe from his plan, but soon, very soon, he was gonna make her blush.
A/N Okay I hate lengthy author notes so I'll make this brief
Thank you everyone who has read this, reviewed this, or even thought about reviewing.
I'm not a review whore, I just want to write something people would at least read, not that I don't welcome any comment (good, bad, or ugly).
As to the significance of the songs, well I love musicals, and they were stuck in my head while I was writing this. Stuff like that often happens to me, once I had a whole conversation using nothing but clichés, and it was with my (at that time) boyfriends mother. The very first time we met. V. embarrassing.
Last part (I did say brief, not infinitesimal), yes, Voldy is dead, more about that is explained later in the story, but this is primarily about good old H/G romance.
I plan on a couple of extra stories coming out of this one if people are interested, although I guess I ought to finish this one first. : )