DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Harry Potter'.
A/N: Hello again, sorry for the delay! Here is the last chapter of No Time But Now – which frankly I had a lot of fun writing, and I hope you enjoyed reading. I thought this chapter was going to be challenging to compose (it's from Harry's perspective) but I actually wrote this one the fastest, so… I hope I managed to pull a Gryffindor perspective off for you guys!
BETA: Reeah Noseworthy.
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Epilogue– Prats
Harry Potter licked his palm and tried desperately to flatten the worst region of his hair. The distorted reflection provided by the back of the desert spoon hadn't exactly boosted his confidence, the curve of the silver exaggerating the messiness of his jet black mop to what he hoped were unrealistic proportions. Giving up on his hair, Harry returned the dessert spoon to the table and nervously straightened his bowtie, releasing a held-in breath. This is it. The night he'd been planning for weeks. The dinner had been perfect, the champagne was exactly the one he'd requested, Ginny had just ducked into the bathroom and the dessert would be here any minute.
On this night, five years ago, Harry and Ginny had had their first kiss. He remembered that night well, the moment he decided that he wasn't going to lose anyone else in his life; not if he had anything to say about it. And tonight, five years on, he and Ginny were still together. And hopefully, depending on what happened in the next few minutes, they were going to stay that way.
It was easy to hear the light squeak of the bathroom door opening in Tranquilatis Restaurant, because it was completely silent. And even more quiet than usual, Harry had made sure that Jonah kept this night on limited bookings; the last thing Harry wanted was for some reporter or something to come rushing up and asking questions. The only other people here were a docile family with a teenage daughter and young boy up the back, a middle-aged couple in the corner reading their menus, and two women eating quietly a few tables across from them.
Ginny gracefully sat down in her chair, looking lovely in her navy blue evening dress. Harry gulped as he looked into her face, suddenly feeling like he was made entirely of rubber. "Hey babe, could you pass me my shawl? It's a bit chilly in here…" Ginny asked casually.
For a second, Harry just blinked stupidly, before his girlfriend raised an eyebrow and he clicked back into consciousness. "Oh right, yeah – shawl…" Hurriedly, he fished around in the pocket of his coat that hung off the back of his chair and produced the maroon fabric.
"Thanks," Ginny replied when he handed it to her. She draped it over her shoulders and flicked her long red hair around her neck, looking up with concern when she felt Harry's eyes on her. "What?"
"Nothing, nothing." Just about to propose to you, possible future-wife of mine. Calm down, idiot. Harry knew he was stupid for feeling anxious. He and Ginny had talked about marriage a lot and had both said it was something they wanted to commit to. So why worry? This was going to happen. Everything was going to work out fine. For God's sake if he could defeat Voldemort he could ask Ginny to marry him.
A mute waitress shifted up to the table with a covered silver platter, the word: Dessert engraved on the side in beautiful lettering. "Thank you," Harry said to her as she walked away. Ginny's absolute favourite food was chocolate cake, so Harry had arranged for the ring to be sitting in the box right next to the slice. He stared down at the platter and took a quick breath.
"Oooh, great let's dig in." Ginny whispered with a grin, but Harry slid his hand over hers and cleared his throat.
"Uh, first could I just say something?"
Ginny's left eyebrow raised slightly. "Sure."
He paused for a moment, looking into her sultana brown eyes. "Okay, here goes. Err…" he breathed a laugh and Ginny smirked, stroking his hand in encouragement.
"Well," Harry began shunting away the nerves, "I love you. I can't imagine what kind of person I'd be without you, and frankly I don't ever want to be without you." He felt himself flushing, but soldiered on. "You're the most important thing in my life. I feel safe with you. You're my family – you always have been."
Ginny's smirk hadn't moved. "Go on."
"I love you and I want to be with you. We can start our own family, our own life…" Harry drifted off, staring at her.
She waited for a few more seconds before saying: "Yeah, and?"
"Well you're not making this very easy for me," Harry said as Ginny giggled. "Just, shh for a second okay?" He smiled as she stopped herself from laughing and squeezed her hand tighter.
"So as I was saying, well, as I was getting to saying…" his hand lifted to the lid of the silver platter. "I mean, what I was trying to ask, um, what I've been wanting to ask for a while really-"
"-Oh just say it already!" Ginny interrupted, beaming.
Harry looked at her, grinning. "Ginny Weasley." He lifted the lid slightly off the platter so that only he could see inside. "Will you-"
The words died in his mouth as he glanced down at the contents of the platter, and Harry felt his heart stop. Lying inside was a glossy photograph of Malfoy and Ryuu, sneering up at him and bursting into fits of silent laughter as Ryuu raised her hand and pointed to the serpent ring on her finger, triumphantly. In the background of the photo stood a tall well-dressed man looking straight into Harry's eyes with a look of the upmost boredom, and next to him was Denis Creevy, smiling sheepishly and waving slowly. Attached to the photo was a small strip of parchment, a note written in a hand he recognised all too well.
We're engaged! SUCK IT POTTER!
"-We have to go, now." Harry said urgently, letting the cover fall shut with a loud CLANG.
"Yes, of course I will – wait, what?" Ginny replied, eyebrows furrowing as she watched her boyfriend spring up from his seat. "Why?"
"Nothing," Harry's green eyes searched every corner of the room for a peephole or a hidden camera. He tugged on Ginny's arm to get her standing. "We just have to leave, c'mon."
As Harry and Ginny fled the restaurant, the middle-aged couple reading their menus couldn't contain themselves any longer. The menus dropped and the bearded man and the red headed woman with a beehive hairdo and a button nose cackled hysterically, tears creeping out the corners of their eyes from the last half hour spent giggling silently into their napkins.
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A/N: Man, the Malfoys are evil.
Thank you all for reading, No Time But Now: (Featuring Clive) – I knew the sequel was going to take a while, so I hope this kept you all amused in the meantime.
So long for now. ;)
J . Noseworthy.
