Name: A Dawn Interlude

Date: September 1st 1998

Rating: M

Genre: Romance

"Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you was beyond my control."

Unknown

As it was wont to do, dawn broke early over the horizon on the morning of the first of September. It felt obscenely early to Harry, as he snuck from his camp bed in Ron's room, conscious of being as quite as possible. The floorboards were icy under foot as Harry padded lightly across the floor, opening the door, sneaking out and closing it silently behind him. He held his breath and listened for a moment, waiting to hear some sound of disturbance from within the bedroom he shared with Ron. When Ron's snores continued unabated, Harry breathed a sigh of relief and stole up the stairs.

He spared a moment for a glance around him as he reached the closed door to Ginny's bedroom. Thus far, he could have claimed to be on his way to the bathroom had anyone disturbed him. If any member of the Weasley family found him once he had crossed Ginny's threshold, he was a dead man. His heart in his throat, he knocked once, very lightly and entered.

She was still in bed, an unmoving lump under the covers. Harry's heart rate, already high from his dash through the Burrow, rose higher still. He had assumed she would have been waiting for him, out of bed and dressed. He hesitated, unsure where to look or how to move. She had asked him to come, had she forgotten?

It had been the night before, as he had leant down to kiss the corner of her mouth as they had made their way up to bed. She was to leave for Hogwarts that very morning. Ron, in an uncharacteristic display of tact, had passed them with nary a word, and firmly closed the door to his bedroom behind himself, granting them a most precious gift, a few moments alone.

Harry had been inclined to make the most of Ron's gift, but Ginny it seemed, had other ideas. She'd stood up on her tip-toes (causing Harry's heart to race with anticipation) and brushed her lips against his ear as she'd whispered –

"Come to me tomorrow morning before everyone's awake, dawn,"

And without a chance for Harry to demure, she'd left him standing alone on the staircase outside Ron's room.

He'd mulled on her words for a good part of the night, before finally deciding to take her words on face value and make for her bedroom at dawn. And here he stood, just as she had requested, and there she lay, a sleeping bundle under the covers.

Or not.

"Harry," her sleepy voice murmured. "Are you going to stand their in the cold or are you getting in?"

His face flushed a very vibrant red and he felt a thrill on anticipation race through him at her words. Still, he had to be certain.

"Are you…sure?"

"Get in Potter,"

Harry did not need to be told a third time. He crossed the room and pulling back the covers, slid in to the small, warm bed.

"Merlin Harry! Your feet are freezing!" She exclaimed as they came into contact with her shins.

"Sorry," he muttered, unable to form more words, overcome as he was by her nearness, her scent and her welcoming hands.

Instead of moving away, Ginny burrowed closer. The noise of contentment she made in the back of her throat as he wound his arms around her body was possibly the most thrilling sound Harry thought he had ever heard.

They lay there for several minutes, simply reveling in the nearness of the other. Though they had seen each other every day since the end of the war, Harry thought it might have been the only time they had ever been truly alone. The Burrow was such a busy place, between the Weasley's, various friends and family members and former Order members who seemed to arrive with startling regularity, that time to themselves had been near impossible to come across.

"This is nice," Ginny sighed, as if echoing Harry's thoughts.

"Mmm," he murmured, feeling too lazy, too utterly content, to even speak. Ginny shifted, and Harry's hands came into contact with an exposed sliver of her stomach. He froze, suddenly preoccupied with a question that he couldn't believe had never occurred to him before.

Just what did Ginny wear to bed?

Feeling emboldened by her invitation into her bed, but not wanting to presume too much, Harry's hands began to explore, tracing lightly over her exposed skin and enjoying the goose bumps that erupted on her skin wherever his hands ventured. She squirmed away from his feather light caresses over her ribcage and let out a breathy sigh as he traced the edge of her tank top.

"Harry…"

Not knowing whether she wanted him to stop or continue, Harry chose to hope for the second and moved his hands down her legs. When her hands moved from their purchase on his shoulders, down his chest, Harry's breath caught in his chest and his hands faltered for a moment, before continuing on their explorations.

Their lips met then and it was unlike any kiss they'd ever shared, excepting the one from his birthday the year previously. It burnt with previously hidden lust and feeling and Harry was glad they were lying down, for if they hadn't been, he wasn't sure his legs could have supported him. His hands continued to explore her body, pausing momentarily at her thigh and, in a fit of daring Harry himself could hardly believe, he hitched her leg up over his hip, bringing her impossibly closer and creating the most delicious sensations between them that made him groan and her gasp.

Their mouths met again with increased intensity. Harry's blood felt hot in his veins, all thoughts had fled his mind, excepting how good Ginny felt beneath his hands and how good she was making him feel. He was aware, somewhere in the back of his mind that his hands had grown rough in their explorations and if Ginny had shown any sign of dissatisfaction he would have stopped immediately. But it was quite the opposite, as his hands grew bolder, so to did her own. Their lips were frantic, as if they couldn't keep up with the passion that burned between them and their hands clutched them impossibly closer, as if trying to mould their two bodies into one.

"I'm going to miss you," Harry gasped out against her neck, as her hands clutched for his rear, bringing him closer again.

"Shh…" she murmured, as her eyes rolled back in her head at the feeling of him lapping at her collar bones. "Don't talk about it… I don't….want to think…"

"It's only a year," he muttered, as he nibbled on the outer shell of her ear. "And we've got holidays, and Hogsmeade weekends. You'll be so busy it will fly."

"What about you Auror Potter?" She teased, her hands gripping his hair roughly and pulling his lips back to meet hers. Harry didn't know if his name had ever sounded so erotic. "Living with my brother… training…" She gasped, unable to speak as their tongues once again introduced themselves enthusiastically.

Eventually, their passion began to cool, aware as they were that their time alone together was limited. Their kisses grew from frantic and erotic to languid and full of feeling, as their hands too, ceased their exploration and focused on keeping the other as close as was possible. Ginny ended the kiss by burying her face in the crook of Harry's neck and planting a soft, tender kiss to the sensitive skin there. They sighed in unison.

"I feel as if we've hardly had any time together," Ginny murmured, shivering as Harry traced patterns over her back. "I could spend every day, all day with you and I don't feel as if I'd ever tire of you."

"I'm sure you would," Harry reassured her self-deprecatingly. "I'm pretty boring, really."

"Don't knock my boyfriend," she growled at him. "I'm quite fond of him you see."

"I love you," Harry murmured unthinkingly. He'd known it for weeks, months even and he was (almost) confident that she felt the same. Still, he hadn't meant to blurt it out in quite that fashion.

Ginny's eyes burned with the same emotion Harry had seen from her so often, though he couldn't imagine that he would ever grow tired of seeing it.

"I love you too," she replied quietly, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. She squeezed her eyes shut as she burrowed further into his warmth, determined to remember every detail, to keep her company on her lonely nights in her dormitory at Hogwart's.

"I wish I wasn't going today," she spoke again eventually, willing away the sun that was slowly rising over the horizon. Her family would be rising soon and their solitude would be at an end.

"I know," Harry told her; he wished she could stay with him, preferably just as she was in that moment, forever. "But you need N.E.W.T.'s, and after that….we've all the time in the world."

"You could've stayed home," Ginny murmured to Harry, as he shied away from yet another camera flash. His appearance on Platform 9 3/4 had caused absolute pandemonium. Ginny was inclined to find it funny, at the Burrow, she could almost forget that her boyfriend was perhaps the most famous wizard in the world. Harry however, was clearly grossly uncomfortable.

"I should be able to drop my girlfriend off at the train for school without causing a stampede," he murmured, as he levitated her trunk onboard.

"Everybody's just so grateful Harry," she told him, as they searched in vain for a nook where they could find some privacy. "They're only trying to show you how much."

"Right now I couldn't give a toss," he told her, taking her into his arms and attempting to ignore the blatantly curious stares of those around them. "I don't want to waste our last few moments together talking about something so unimportant."

"I'll see you at Christmas," she told him, surprised by the tears that jumped into her eyes at the thought. Ginny Weasley never cried. "And I'll write as often as I can. Hopefully we'll have a Hogsmeade weekend soon."

The scarlet train engine began to steam; it was time for her to get on board. Harry walked her to the door, opened it and pulled her back. Without breaking eye contact, and trying to pour everything he felt for her into such a simple action, Harry raised her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss against her open palm.

Her breath caught, her hand pressed against his cheek and she was gone.

It was almost an hour before Harry could disengage himself from all his well wishers. Ginny was right, they all wanted to thank him, shake his hand, get his autograph. For once it was a welcome task, it kept his mind from Ginny, travelling away from him and taking with her his heart.

Later that evening, after dinner, as Harry battled Ron in a game of wizarding chess he was destined to lose, the Evening Prophet arrived. Arthur freed the delivery owl of its burden and spread it out across his lap as he took a sip of tea.

"You've made the front page again Harry," Arthur handed the paper over. "But I think you'll want to see this one."

Curious, Harry accepted the paper, unfolded it and almost choked as he took in the front page. Their, taking up three quarters of the page, was a moving picture of Ginny about to board the train at the station, her hand caressing his cheeks, her eyes full of love. Harry's heart thudded uncomfortably in his chest at the proof of her feelings for him, displayed so prominently for the entire wizarding world to see.

"They never give up hey mate," Ron was unusually sympathetic.

"Yeah," Harry's voice was hoarse as he answered. He had already been missing Ginny, but seeing this photo, seeing her love for him, a love he didn't understand, spelt all over features, made the ache even more acute. Nine months, he reminded himself, he could last nine months, with a few visits here and there. And after that, he would never be parted from her again.

Lying in bed later that night, Harry found himself unable to sleep, despite his early start that morning. He had managed to filch the front page of the Evening Prophet, he hoped none of the Weasley's had noticed, and now the moving photograph of his farewell to Ginny was clutched in his hand as he tossed and turned.

He had known he would miss her, had been prepared for it. But he wondered in anything could have prepared him for the ache caused by her absence, especially after such a declaration as they had each offered the other that morning.

It had been no surprise to him to find that he loved her. It had come upon him so gradually that he had been in the middle before he realized it had begun. Loving Ginny was one of the easiest things he had done in his life. His confusion however, was two-fold. What came next? And how on Earth did she love him in return?

It had been many years since Ginny's love had taken the form of hero-worship like adoration. He was not concerned that she loved Harry Potter, rather than just plain old Harry. He knew her well enough to know that his fame was no longer the draw card. Just what the true attraction was however, he could not fathom.

The words he had spoken to her that morning 'I love you', were words he had never spoken before. There were those in his life that he loved, Ron, Hermione, the entire Weasley family, Hagrid, Dumbledore, Sirius and Remus. He assumed he had loved his parents as an infant as well, and tried his best to love them now, though how to love those he had never known was difficult. The words however, had always been superfluous, unnecessary and more than a little awkward. Their had been nothing awkward about saying them to Ginny that morning, indeed, they'd slipped from his lips quite unintentionally, though he'd been aware of the feelings behind them for some time. That she had said it back, that someone, that Ginny loved him, was a source of wonder and confusion. It felt wonderful, to be loved by her, even if he didn't understand her love for him, the primary thought in his mind however, was just where they went from here.

Their path for the immediate future was obvious. Ginny would attend Hogwarts until the following June, while he would focus on his new career in the Auror office. He and Ron were soon to move out of the Burrow, into the small flat above Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and Harry was looking forward to the independence that would grant him, if not looking forward to missing out on Mrs. Weasley's mothering and outstanding cooking. Hermione had moved back in with her parents, wanting to spend as much time with them as possible now that they were once again aware of their true identities. What happened once Ginny finished school however, Harry was unsure.

He had promised her that morning that they had all the time in the world, and that was true, in a way that would never have been possible only three months ago. There were so many variables to that time however. What would Ginny want to do once she finished at Hogwarts? Would she want to move back to the Burrow, or…Harry's whole body flushed at the thought, would she want to move in with him?

He shuddered violently at the idea of he and Ginny sharing a bedroom in the flat above the shop in Diagon Alley, while Ron and eventually Hermione, shared the other. He had been told that he owned several properties throughout Great Britain, perhaps they might move in to one of them? In many ways, the Wizard world was much more old fashioned than the Muggle one Harry had grown up in and he wondered if Ginny would want to move in with him before they were married.

The idea of marrying Ginny was not as frightening to Harry as it perhaps should have been. To be sure, they were young, but his parents had been married young, they had been only twenty when he was born. He was reasonably certain also, that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had been married as soon as Molly had graduated Hogwarts. Even Fleur was only twenty when she had married Bill. It would hardly be unheard of for them to be engaged as soon as Ginny graduated Hogwarts, or even married…

Harry stopped his thoughts before he could get to carried away. The idea of marrying Ginny, the woman he loved, and building his very own family, was almost overwhelming in its appeal. He had no idea however, how Ginny felt about such matters, and such things were hardly appropriate to be addressed through letters. He would have to wait until they were together again, and try to establish her feelings on the matter then.

Eventually, the clipping from the Evening Prophet still clutched in his hand, Harry fell into a fitful sleep.

I thought it just like Harry to be so self-deprecating as to not understand how Ginny, or anyone else, could love him. In the not so distant future, we will hear Ginny's thoughts on the matter.

I hope all Jane Austen fans caught my thievery of her magnificent words.

This chapter did not exist before yesterday. It came together quickly after the picture of Harry and Ginny saying their farewells in bed, then at the train, would not leave my mind. Because of this, the next chapter is almost ready to go, it will post shortly. All those that review will get a teaser of Chapter Seven.

Thank you again for reading, please take the time to leave a short review.

SR.