Chapter 10

Petronius' paradox

Moderation in all things, including moderation.

...

It took all of Harry's patience and effort to not appear too desperate and run after Ginny. At least, not immediately.

The moment he heard the door shut close, he kicked off on his heels, intending to catch her before she slipped up the stairs to her room. He would just casually slide in front of her, as if appearing from nowhere and take her aback. Then he'd end this nonsense once and for all.

Only Ginny, damn her, must have figured he would do that, and had disappeared by the time he flung open the door, only to bump into a form that definitely wasn't Ginny, stumble and land near a pair of large, dirty shoes belonging to equally large feet.

"Good evening, Harry," said Mr. Weasley, apparently amused. "How did things go?"

Harry scrambled to his feet, muttering hasty apologies. He managed a quick, "All right, Mr. Weasley" before dusting himself and spinning around to run back to Ron's room, curl up and die.

"She's quite a handful, isn't she?"

Busted!

Harry turned back around, not to make an effort to reply (because, seriously, what could you possibly say to escape such burning humiliation?) but mostly just to appear polite. He was living in the Weasley household, after all.

And besides, Harry had just been caught plotting to make a pass at his daughter.

To his utmost surprise, Mr. Weasley laughed. "She's always been like her mother, that one. Turned my hair white faster than the twins ever did."

Harry laughed, "That troublesome, huh?"

Mr. Weasley's eyes twinkled. "Oh no, son. That was her first sign of magic. She literally turned my hair white."

The tension that Harry had imagined dissolved instantly and they both chuckled again. "She told me she also managed to trap Percy in his bathroom once."

"Yes, she did," sighed Mr. Weasley. "That was a long night. No number of repairing spells would work on that toilet seat after we rescued Percy."

They exchanged more stories, and the topic of Ginny led into more familiar and less embarrassing territory - the Weasley children, Teddy, Hermione, Hogwarts, Quidditch, the Ministry of Magic, the Auror offices...

"You'll definitely get in."

"I don't know, Mr. Weasley," Harry said slowly. "I talked to them and they want to take me in immediately..."

"But you'd rather they tested you like they do for everyone else."

"Well. Yeah."

"You're a good sort Harry," Mr. Weasley took a deep breath. "And I don't care what you think. You deserve this, a chance at being normal. Getting a job, buying a home, settling down. All of it."

It didn't take long for Harry to choke up again. He had been doing that a lot lately.

At least thank him!

"Thank-" he whispered. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Mr Weasley dismissed.

The conversation lapsed to a hush of routine questions, giving Harry enough time to recover before gathering the courage to probe further into something Mr. Weasley had let slip earlier. "So what did you mean when you said Ginny's a lot like Mrs. Weasley?" he asked innocently, in the same tone he used to discuss the rather dry topic of Ron-and-Hermione with George.

"Ah she's just a free spirit," said Mr. Weasley, obviously slipping into distant memories of a time when Ginny gave Fred and George competition. "And so short tempered. Sometimes I wonder if Ginny was just around to remind me not to underestimate Molly."

"Why is that?" Harry questioned. This was getting interesting.

"Well, it took me years to make Molly agree to go out with me," he started at a spot on the ceiling. "And she always wanted to do something different, something wild. I can't even begin counting the number of times we roamed around the grounds in the dead of night."

"Uh huh." OK, this is just plain awkward now.

Mr. Weasley laughed suddenly. "There was this one time when she made me take her to the Prefects' Bathroom after curfew and-"

Colouring swiftly, Mr. Weasley coughed roughly and hastily added, "But that's a story for another time! Now go find Ron and get him to set the table."

Harry obeyed dutifully.

***

By the time Harry made it across the hallway and down the stairs in the darkness, he had almost collided into a series of objects - a table that had appeared from nowhere, two candlesticks that had been left lying around, Arnold the Pygmy Puff - and Hermione, who was trotting down the corridor in her nightgown to... Ron's room?

Too much information.

But as long as they kept their business strictly to each other's beds and not his, he was only mildly nauseated.

The revelation caused Harry to slip on a doormat and bang his knee hard against the door of a closet, alerting Hermione to pull out her wand and point it in his general direction.

"Who's there?" she whispered harshly, poised to attack.

"It's just me," said Harry as he whipped off the Invisibility Cloak, his hands in the air. "Don't kill me."

Hermione gave a breath of relief. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Harry grinned. He leaned against the door and cracked his knuckles in what he hoped was a malicious manner. "Going to discuss S.P.E.W. with Ron, are we?"

Hermione spluttered. "No, I'm off to do the same thing you're thinking about doing with Ginny. At least I'm not just fantasizing it."

Ouch. Low blow.

"Right," said Harry, irritated. "I have to go now. I won't rat you out if you won't."

Giving that a deep thought, Hermione brightened up and said, "Done. And good luck!"

And she waved at him and silently marched back towards Ron's room to fill her quota of secret rendezvous for the day.

As soon as he landed at Ginny's doorway, Harry immediately gave up all gentlemanly behaviour and turned the knob to enter, without even giving a thought to knocking.

Then again, he should have, for the sight that welcomed him was a tad too much to handle.

Ginny was buried under an extensive pile of covers and only her face, that gorgeous mane of copper hair and her legs were visible.

Her legs… Sweet Merlin.

He had always pictured Ginny as extremely pretty, even before he had gone out with her. And once he had, he was quite convinced that she was beautiful in every way possible. But he hadn't prepared himself for the shock of finally learning that she could, with all due respect, be a goddess too.

Harry's breath caught violently in his throat at the sight of her long legs. They seemed to stretch on forever, perfectly toned and glowing softly in the pale moonlight that was cascading into her room through her open window. She was curled into a fetal position and her slender limbs were accentuated gracefully, leading up to the gentle curve of her hip which was partly hidden under the covers. Harry groaned noiselessly and his mind instantly formed a startling and vividly erotic image of those legs wrapped around him tightly, her delicate heels locked firmly at his back, right here, on this very bed –

STOP!

Uhh... Why?

Because it is extremely disrespectful, and hello, don't you like the girl?'

Yeah...

Well then, be a man and LEAVE!

Though his heavy heart and straining shorts told him not to, Harry still turned around and made for the door.

"'Ermione?"

Good going, genius.

"Hermione," came Ginny voice again, laced with sleep and exhaustion. "Is that you?"

Harry spun around just in time to see Ginny lift herself off the bed, and in the process, divest herself off of her hefty blankets.

So basically, she was sitting in front of him with a shirt.

That's it, just a shirt.

OK, so it was really long and large, but he could still see a lot of her legs, and that seemed to interfere with his thought processes, for even as she yelped softly in realization and covered herself quickly, Harry still stood rooted to the spot, managing only a weak, "Hey, Gin."

She groaned. "No, Harry. Not another picnic, all right? And definitely not in the middle of the night when I…" she laughed nervously. "I'm half-naked! I need to get back to sleep. Now if you'll just leave-"

"No!" Harry cut in. "No picnics, I promise. I was thinking we could go out for a quick fly."

Her large eyes widened and she threw a murderous look at him. "Are you freaking kidding me, Potter?" she hissed, wrapping a blanket around herself and moving forward to stand in front of him. "Please tell me you hit you head somewhere between now and the last time we met."

Harry had to laugh at that. He caught hold of her hand (not the one holding up her less-than-modest clothing) and tugged on it. "It's just a quick trip to the woods. I swear I'll have you back by midnight," he grinned, chuckling at his own joke, quite confident that she had read Cinderella in her Muggle Studies lessons.

"It's one fifteen, Harry," Ginny yawned.

Oh.

"Fine," he muttered. "I'll have you back by two. You coming?"

Ginny gave him a curious look of surprise which was quickly masked by annoyance. "And if I say no?"

He took a chance. "I'll just carry you, forcefully if necessary."

She raised an eyebrow, meaning to look menacing, but ruining the effect with a radiant smile. "Oh, all right. You win. Give me a minute, yeah?"

Yes!

Harry stepped back and waited for her to do whatever she wanted to do before leaving, mentally high-fiving himself.

And it was only after a couple of seconds had passed that he realized that she expected him to wait elsewhere.

"Uhh... Should I wait outside?"

"Yes, please," she said patiently, her jaw clenched.

Harry didn't need telling twice.

***

Sorry guys, my exams are in full swing and I'm probably going to take my time with the next few chapters.

Thanks for your feedback though!

Read and review as always...

Peace out. :)

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