There is no excuse for the delay besides a horrible case of writer's block and a final semester of law school that ate my alive. I am now in bar prep so I don't know when the next update will come, but hopefully soon. See Disclaimer in Chapter 1. ENJOY!
"Harry if you try to get out of that bad one more time I will tie you to it until I say you can get up. The healer already told you to stay in bed!" Ginny came through the door, carrying a tray of food. Harry was back at the burrow but still confined to bed rest. He had spent the better part of the last two weeks of trying to do more than he should and she was determined he was going to be taken care of until he was better.
"Ginny, I'm fine. I can get up and move around. The healers even said so. You know that." He was still very weak but wouldn't admit it to her. Moreover, he suspected she liked taking care of him a bit. She had even taken over cooking duty since he no longer could. Mrs. Weasley was still not herself and Ron's attempt at cooking was a punishment to everyone's taste buds. He swung his legs out of the bed but grabbed a sandwich off her tray. "You know I can come down and eat right?"
Ginny grinned at him and took a sandwich for herself. "This gives me an excuse to be alone with you Potter." As they ate, Ginny glanced at him before turning her body to towards him and asking, "So now that George is settled in his new apartment, and the store is reopened, what's next on our agenda for fixing the wizarding world?"
He hesitated before looking up at her. "What about your mum?" It came out as a half whisper; no one had really mentioned Mrs. Weasley's stupor that hadn't ended. "You go back to school in a month and a half. She is going to be mental when that happens. We need her back before then."
"What do you have in mind?"
"I don't know. I feel like she sees us all the time but she hasn't really snapped out of it." I mean would she have ever, I mean EVER let us stay in this room alone together? You've eaten with me every day this week and we have been quite alone." She started giggling at him. He was quite right. She would have gone mad to find out they had been left to their own devices in a bedroom, under her roof. Yet she hadn't done a thing, and Ginny had spent most of the past couple weeks at Harry's side, listening to his stories from the past year, and sharing hers. They had been through so much separately. It was going to take time to come back together, but they sure had been trying.
Ginny grinned at him, "so let's make her mental, then. She needs a rise, we'll give her one." They weren't exactly back to their Hogwarts days, but they certainly weren't as unfriendly as they were before. Harry was quite sure if he hadn't been as weak as he had been these past few weeks, Ginny would have had him then and there. His declaration in the hospital had been enough to warm her to him again. The reassurance he had given her was enough to trust herself to him. Ginny's heart was his, and she'd have his back no matter what battles they faced in the future.
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Harry and Ginny waited in her bedroom, door open. Ron had whole-heartedly agreed to help with Ginny's plan if it meant getting his mother's cooking back. From below, they heard Ron yell for dinner, and then movement throughout the house and the family descended the stairs to the kitchen. As they reached the landing above Ginny's room, Harry pushed her against the wall, her arms above her head, kissing her neck. Ginny let a moan escape as his hand explored her body while the other held her arms firmly in place. He was ravaging her, even more than she could remember, she was sure to have a hickie later and her lips were swollen from his demanding kisses. For the moment, Ginny forgot that this was strictly for her mother; rather, she felt she was back at Hogwarts, in the Room of Requirement, where they used to sneak off to.
And then it happened, "GINEVRA WEASLEY WHAT IN MERLIN'S PANTS DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?" Harry pulled away, with enough sense to look shocked and not grin as Mrs. Weasley came bustling into the room yelling at Ginny. Apparently, Ron was right, Harry could do no wrong. Mrs. Weasley hadn't even acknowledged his presence despite the fact that he had been thoroughly snogging Ginny and had her pinned to the wall, she was getting the sit down from Mrs. Weasley. She had even threatened to homeschool Ginny her final year. To Harry, this didn't make much sense, because he would be here, and not there at Hogwarts but he wasn't going to point that out to her. He slipped out to the hallway to leave Ginny to deal with her mother. Mr. Weasley was standing there however and Harry had not been expecting that.
"Oh, Mr. Weasley! I'm…I'm so sorry. I mean, it's not what it looks like, I mean, it is, but not really. If you'd just let me explain..l"
Mr. Weasley cut him off with a raise of his hand. "Is this the plan George and Ron mentioned earlier?"
"Yes sir."
"Then I want to know nothing more about it." With that, he walked down the rest of the stairs and took his place in the kitchen, at the table. Harry followed him, and after several more minutes, Mrs. Weasley and Ginny followed. Ginny looked appropriately scolded and Mrs. Weasley appropriately riled. They both took their seats at the large table and began to eat.
"My, who cooked this…meal?" It was the longest sentence they had heard of Mrs. Weasley since the battle. Harry paused before gesturing at Ron; it was all part of their plan to make Mrs. Weasley see just how much she was needed. Ron looked at her with the most clueless expression he could muster. He knew his cooking was by far the worst but he planned on playing dumb on this fact. "Well dear, I know how hard you all have been trying, but how about I take back over the cooking from here on out. Not that this isn't very…interesting…but it is your last summer here." Ron nodded contritely with an inward grin. He had purposely tried to make a pudding that would have had her up in arms if the dinner wasn't enough so he couldn't wait to see her reaction to that.
Harry got Ginny's eye and she grinned at him. The yelling she got was well worth seeing her mother acknowledge the dinner on her plate and the snogging wasn't too bad either. The whole family glanced at their plates and attempted to continue eating, knowing it was their last bad meal from here on out. Mrs. Weasley was back.
