A/N: See? I told you I'd have this to you in record time! And, for the record, remedying the Percy issue doesn't have much plot significance – I just couldn't bear to keep him estranged when JK made him so heroic later.
And fair warning – there's a pretty descriptive snogging scene in this, which I hope doesn't offend anyone. I'll put '' before and after it, so if you want to skip over it, be my guest. Don't worry, though – it stays within teen-movie limits.
Enjoy – this is my favourite chapter so far!
Chapter 29
Keep Your Shirt On, Potter!
Ginny grinned, "You love me, or you love my fake allergy to ham and my willingness to help you escape?"
Harry laughed. "Both."
"Good," Ginny smiled, suddenly feeling a wave of contentedness hit her. She leaned her head against Harry's chest and felt his hand come up to gently stroke her hair. "Well, I love you too, Harry Potter," she breathed, "And any fake allergies you may have."
o.o
They continued to dance. Neither of them commented on the fact that they'd just said "I love you" – out loud – to eachother, but Ginny felt Harry's hands tighten ever so slightly around her waist, pulling her as close as possible, and she smiled.
"Ginny," Harry said softly. "Ginny, look, it's Percy."
Ginny's head snapped up. Ever since that fateful day when Scrimgouer had visited the Burrow so many years before, Percy had remained estranged from the family. At this point, Ginny had the feeling that, on both sides, it was only pride, no longer real anger, that kept Percy away. Ginny turned her head and watched as Percy approached her parents where they sat at the table with Bill, Fleur, Charlie, and the Grangers. Charlie's face flushed in anger, but Bill held him back with a hand on his arm. Percy cleared his throat, hesitating, then said a few words, his face quickly shedding its usual disdainful expression for one of earnestness. And then, quite suddenly, Mrs. Weasley's face crumpled in a happy sob, and she drew Percy to her in a bone-crushing hug. Percy was looking over Mrs. Weasley's shoulder to his father and brothers, his expression worried now. Mr. Weasley finally smiled and patted Percy's back and Bill grinned widely. Charlie said something, shaking a finger at his younger brother. Percy smiled and nodded vigorously, and Charlie gave him a good-natured pat on the back as well. Mr. and Mrs. Granger looked utterly bewildered, but made a good show of hiding it as Mrs. Weasley, still grinning and with tears of joy filling her eyes, introduced Percy to them.
Ginny looked up to see that Harry was looking at her expectantly. "Erm," he said uncertainly, "Did you want to…."
"Let's go," Ginny said, grasping Harry's hand and marching over to the table. She stopped right in front of Percy, hand on hip. Percy stopped short, his smile faltering at the scowl on Ginny's face.
"Hi, Ginny," he said, utterly cowed in the face of his glaring little sister. He smiled nervously.
"You prat!" Ginny hissed. And she gave him a resounding slap across the face.
"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley cried.
"Ouch!" Percy exclaimed, his hand jumping to his cheek. The side of his face was quickly turning a delicate shade of pink.
"Percy Weasley," Ginny sighed, "You are the greatest prat I have ever met…," she paused, "But I knew you'd come around eventually!" And with that, she jumped, wrapping her arms around her brother's neck. Percy patted Ginny's back in obvious relief. Ginny released him, and pointed a warning finger at him. "Don't you ever, ever leave us again!"
Percy burst into unexpected laughter. "I won't, little sis," he said affectionately, pinching her cheek, "I won't."
Just then, Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George came up, obviously having just abandoned the dance floor as well.
"What in Merlin's name is going on here?" Ron said. "We just saw Ginny slap Percy," he continued, pointedly ignoring the fact that Percy was standing right in front of him.
"And we wanted to see if we could come join the fun," Fred said, grinning.
Percy gave a weak smile before cutting in. "I just came over to apologize," he said formally. "It seems I was wrong…about a lot of things."
Whatever they had thought had been happening, Ron, Hermione, and the twins obviously hadn't been expecting that. They were all momentarily stunned into silence.
"Percy," Ron said finally, and for once the twins didn't interrupt, "You have been wrong about a whole lot more that 'a lot of things.' You are the absolute greatest git I have ever met…." He stopped for a moment, then rolled his eyes and sighed. "But, you are our brother, after all, and you've obviously taken your swollen head out of your arse…."
"Ronald!" Mrs. Weasley hissed, scandalized, glancing at the Grangers. Ron followed her gaze and blanched a little.
"Well, in any case," he remedied, "You've obviously seen the error of your ways, so I guess we've no choice but to forgive you."
"And seeing as Ginny's already slapped you across the face, there's not much left for us to do," George added.
There was a pause in which everyone looked at eachother and Mrs. Weasley beamed.
"Well, thank you…for that," Percy said awkwardly after a moment, "Well, I'd better be getting back. The job, you know," he shrugged. "But congratulations to you, Harry, Ron, Hermione," he said quickly. "And thank you and all that. You've really outdone yourselves," he smiled.
"Thanks, Percy," Hermione smiled. Ginny knew that Hermione recognized how hard it was for Percy to compliment anyone.
Percy turned away, but Ron stopped him. "You know, Perce," he said, shortening the name in an affectionate way that made Ginny smile, "We're having a sort of congratulatory dinner back home tonight. If you wanted to…erm…join us, I'm sure Mum's cooked enough food. But only if you're not…you know…working," he finished.
Percy turned back, and his face suddenly broke into a beaming grin. Ginny knew he had been hoping that someone would stop him from leaving, and she determined to give Ron a kiss later for being such a big person. "Work can wait," Percy grinned. "I'd love to come to dinner!"
"Oh, wonderful!" Mrs. Weasley broke in, giving Percy another hug. "Come sit, you look overworked, dear! Come tell your father and I all about what you've been doing – all these years, my goodness!" She pulled Percy into a chair, and he beamed in a very un-Percy-ish way.
"Well, that was unexpected," Harry whispered in her ear, and Ginny was suddenly very aware that Harry was standing behind her, and his arms were wrapped around her front, pulling her against his chest. She suddenly felt very, very warm. And reckless.
"Yes, it was," she said absentmindedly, "You know," she said, "I'm feeling a little faint. Too much excitement, I guess," she said quickly as Harry's expression turned concerned. "Come outside with me?"
She saw the question in Harry's eyes, and she smiled sweetly. "Of course," Harry said.
Ginny extricated herself from Harry's arms and made a move toward the front entrance.
"Oh, no," Percy called over to them, noticing the direction of their movement from where he was sitting, "That way's full of press. There's another door that way, leads out into a courtyard. This is a hotel, did you know?"
"Is it really?" Mrs. Weasley said, obviously determined to keep her son talking.
"Oh, yes," Percy flushed with knowledge, "It was built in…."
"Come on," Ginny said, grabbing Harry's hand and pulling him in the direction Percy had pointed. She practically dragged Harry past the crowded dance floor, dutifully ignoring her brother's frowning expressions as they watched them leave.
Ginny pulled Harry through a back hallway that opened into the promised courtyard. There was a large, old-fashioned fountain in the center, a few scattered benches, and lots of shrubbery.
"Ginny, where are we going?" Harry asked breathlessly as Ginny finally stopped, just beside the fountain.
"I don't know," Ginny answered honestly, pulling Harry onto one of the benches. She looked up at him under her eyelashes in what she knew was a shamelessly seductive way. "I just wanted us to be alone for a bit."
A/N: And here begins the snogging…
She saw Harry stiffen a little – he obviously hadn't been expecting that answer. But he played right along. This was just the way they flirted. "Well, I like the sound of that," he breathed, leaning in and stopping a centimeter from her lips.
"I thought you might," Ginny smiled, closing the distance between them. The kiss was soft, breathless, but it slowly intensified, until Ginny felt Harry pull her into his lap. Ginny wrapped her arms around his neck, and she felt one of his hands come up and tangle in her hair. Ginny was painfully aware of the light circles that his other hand was tracing on her bare back.
And then, almost without thinking, Ginny pulled away, jumped off Harry's lap, and grabbed his hand. "Come on," she said, laughing at the look of utter disappointment on Harry's face. But she didn't pull him back towards the light filtering from the ballroom. Instead, she pulled him across the courtyard and to the adjoining building. The walls were lined with doors – hotel room doors. Breathlessly, she tried the first one. It was unlocked. She opened it, pulled Harry inside.
"Ginny, wait…," Harry said, suddenly beginning to realize where they were. As their eyes adjusted to the lack of light, Ginny saw Harry's eyes stray, almost alarmed, to the large bed against the back wall of the room.
"Don't overthink, Harry," Ginny teased, shutting the door behind her and pressing her back against it. Harry turned to look at her. "Kiss me, Harry," she breathed.
She saw the tiniest flickering of something like doubt in Harry's eyes, then he threw it to the winds. "Oh, what the hell," he said, and covered her mouth with his.
Ginny was lost. Snogging Harry was always heaven, sometimes intense, but it had never been this…heated. She couldn't help but smile a little into Harry's kiss when she realized that she had started it. Harry was ever the gentleman, but they had teased and flirted about "snogging eachother senseless" for so long, and back there, something had just snapped. She didn't want to just talk about it. She wanted to feel it.
Harry's body was pinning hers against the wall, and both of Ginny's hand were tangled in his hair, pressing his lips harder to hers. Harry's hands were straying up and down her arms, at moments pressing her arms hard against her body, at moments caressing them with the lightest of touches.
And in a particularly heated moment, Ginny released her hands from Harry's hair, and grasped Harry's tie seductively in one hand. She turned and pulled him by his tie away from the wall.
"Jesus, Ginny," Harry said.
"I know," Ginny said, eyes glittering with a playful smile, "I didn't know I was such a tease."
When Ginny felt the back of her legs meet the bed, she looked up and saw another flicker of uncertainty in Harry's eyes. "Ginny," he said slowly, "How far are we going with this?"
"I don't know," Ginny said, again honestly. Harry looked down, searching her eyes, obviously on the verge of stepping away from her. Ginny sighed. In some ways, she appreciated his hesitation. She smiled, "Don't be so chilvalrous, Harry," she said, "Just kiss me already." She stood a little taller and re-closed the distance between their lips. Harry kissed back, but the hesitation was still there.
Ginny pulled away, "I love you, Harry," she breathed. And that did it. With a very audible sigh of resignation mingled with relief, Harry took control, kissed her fiercely. Ginny felt herself fall back onto the bed with the fierceness of it, and she responded just as enthusiastically.
Somewhere along the line, Ginny's dress had bunched up a little higher, and one of Harry's knees was between her legs. His weight was supported on his elbows on either side of her head. Ginny reached up and swiftly untied his tie. She unbuttoned his dress shirt, peeling it off him and throwing it haphazardly aside. She took a moment to appreciate how fit fighting Voldemort and playing Quidditch had made him, and then she was very aware that his hands had moved down to grip her waist.
And suddenly, the door burst open.
A/N: And here the snogging ends. Abruptly. Muahaha…
"Jesus, Ginny!" yelled Charlie in quite a different tone than Harry had used earlier.
"Bloody hell!" yelled Fred and George in unison.
"What the hell are you doing, Potter!?" Ron practically shouted.
Harry was off the bed so fast that Ginny would almost have sworn he'd apparated. He found his shirt in record time and frantically started to button it. Ginny sat up, her cheeks flaming, but glaring pointedly at all six of her brothers. Oh hell, she thought grimly, now Percy decides to join up again.
Bill was clearing his throat loudly as Ginny stood up, straightening her now-wrinkled dress. Ginny turned her fiercest glare on him. "What? They've elected you spokesman now, have they?" she practically spat. She felt Harry put a warning hand on her arm.
"Erm…Harry," Percy said softly, but with characteristic sternness, "I wouldn't touch her right this moment, if I were you."
Harry yanked his hand back. A retort was on Ginny's lips, but Bill cut in. "Ginny," he said firmly, "I think it's about time we had a little talk with your boyfriend here."
Beside her, Ginny heard Harry gulp audibly. "You will do no such thing!" she said loudly. But Bill gave her a look that brooked no argument. Fred and George sidled their way through the doorway.
"Come on, Harry," they said, in low, almost conciliatory voices. Harry gave Ginny a half-frightened, half-resigned look as he started out of the room.
"Ginny," George said, coming up beside her, "Now you know we've got to do this."
"Frankly," Fred continued, "It's been a long time coming."
"Too long, apparently," George said pointedly, raising his eyes at the mussed-up bed behind them.
"But we know how vastly cross you get with us. So we'd like to curb your anger a bit," Fred chimed in.
"In hopes of avoiding the worst punishments later," George continued, not skipping a beat.
"Hmph," Ginny snorted, "You would, wouldn't you? Not likely."
"Now, now, little sis," Fred said, wagging a finger at her, "Look what we've brought you." And he pulled from his pocket an Extendable Ear. He pressed it into her hand. "We'll be right next door," Fred said.
"But don't try barging in, eh?" George said warningly, looking suddenly very serious. "This is serious business."
Ginny didn't even have time to ask them why they carried Extendable Ears around in their pockets before they followed her other brothers and Harry out of the room. As soon as the door swung closed, Ginny quickly unwound the Extendable Ear and pressed it up against the wall.
She heard the door open, and seven pairs of feet troop in, then the door shut again.
"You'd better sit down, Harry," she heard one of the twins say. "We're awfully sorry about this…."
"…but," continued another twin, from a different part of the room, "after what we just …erm..saw in there, we're definitely honour-bound to do this."
"Oh, shut it," she heard Ron's angry voice cut in, "He doesn't even deserve the disclaimer. I want to know what he's done to Ginny to make her willing to practically shag him in a hotel room!"
Ginny bit her tongue in anger. The hypocrisy of Ron Weasley! He had obviously forgotten that he'd knocked Hermione up!
"I think Ron's right, Harry," she heard Charlie say, his harsh full of controlled harshness, "I think you'd better explain what exactly was going on in there." Well, this was predictable, Ginny thought. Charlie had always been just as high-tempered as Ron.
"W-well…," she heard Harry say slowly, "We were just snogging, and things got a little out of hand is all." And then Harry's voice changed to earnestness, as though he had decided to change tacks, "But though I appreciate that Ginny's your sister…."
"Little sister," Ron said pointedly.
"Your sister," Harry continued, "My intentions towards have never been anything but honourable. And, no offense, but I really think she'd back me up when I say that she knows what she's doing."
Ginny snorted at that. She wondered if Harry knew how that had sounded.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Charlie said warningly.
"I mean, I mean…I didn't mean that," Harry fumbled, "I just mean she knows what's best for her. Believe me when I tell you that I could never make her do anything she didn't want to do. Nor would I want to! I mean, she's wonderful, and amazing, and beautiful, and smart, and I'd never want to screw it up by doing something…erm…dishonourable…where she's concerned. So you really have nothing to worry about. That's all I'm saying," he finished.
There was a pause. "Well amen to that!" George said finally, and Ginny, even from the other side of the wall, could feel the atmosphere tangibly relax.
Percy piped up, "I know I've only just gotten back and all, but I think I can safely say that what we saw in there was a bit of a shock to all of us. And we'd definitely prefer if you toned it down a little. Definitely while we're around, preferably even when we're not. Because we hate to think about the point to which things would have escalated if we hadn't come in just then."
"Percy's right," Bill said thoughtfully. "If you and our sister could…erm…refrain from snogging quite so…heatedly when there's a chance we might walk in – that would be much appreciated."
"What Perce and Bill mean, Harry," Ron said, his voice much less angry, much more joking, "is keep it vertical and keep your shirt on, for Christ's sake!"
At that they all burst into laughter. Even Ginny couldn't keep herself from grinning.
o.o
When her brothers finally traipsed back to the room Ginny was holed up in, she was waiting for them, her arms cross, tapping her heel.
"What've you done with Harry?" she said sternly as all six of them filtered into the room. Bill and Charlie leaned side by side on the wall beside the door. Percy stood stick-straight in a corner, and Fred and George fought over the single armchair.
"Go sit on the bed!" Fred complained loudly.
"I'm not sitting on that after what we just witnessed!" George countered.
Ginny resisted the urge to roll her eyes, settling for arching an eyebrow instead. "Well, where's Harry?"
"Waiting in the courtyard. I don't think he fancied hanging out with us much longer. In fact, he probably needs a cold shower," Fred snickered.
"Oh, don't be immature, Fred," Ginny sighed, really rolling her eyes this time.
"But Jesus, Ginny," Bill said, looking at Ginny seriously, "Do you have any idea what you were probably about to get yourself into?"
"No, Bill!" Ginny said sarcastically, "Why don't you lot give me 'the Talk' then – go on! I'm bloody eighteen years old," she said wearily, "I'm a working adult, and I don't need your permission for anything. I understand that you feel obligated to make sure I don't get hurt and I appreciate that sentiment, I really do, but you lot have got to know when to bloody back off! I know my relationship with Harry, and you bloody well don't, so I think I should be making the decision of whether or not I want to snog him senseless. You lot need to just trust me sometimes. You've raised me well, and now you need to let me go."
She sighed, but she could tell her brothers had actually been listening to her. They were silent for a moment.
"Well, I think our youngest sibling is all grown up," Bill said finally, wiping a non-existent tear from his eye.
"Gotta give it to you, sis – that was pretty damn dramatic," said George.
"We'll stay out of it if you keep it out of sight," Fred agreed.
"We do NOT want to walk in one something like that again," Ron said quickly, "I'm near blinded already."
Ginny grinned. "Well, alright then, now we've got that settled, I would like to know why Ron over there didn't get accosted by angry brothers when he got Hermione pregnant!"
"Well, he's a guy, isn't he?" George said artlessly.
Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me? So now you lot have got double standards?"
"No, no!" George amended.
"What George is trying to say, Gin," Bill said carefully, "Is that we can sort of see Ron's side of things a little easier."
"We can relate," Charlie explained.
"What do you mean?" Ginny said.
"Well, to put it plainly…," Fred said, "Hermione's pretty hot."
"Hey!" Ron said. Ginny's eyebrows only went up higher, but she was hard pressed to suppress her grin.
"I mean, we can see why he might be inclined to…you know…," Charlie faltered.
"Shag her," George said bluntly.
Ginny saw Bill roll his eyes. "Now, Harry, on the other hand," Fred said, shaking his head sorrowfully, "He's not quite up to our standards, you see. It's harder to see things your way."
Ginny couldn't contain it any longer. She burst into laughter.
"Speaking of Hermione," Percy said, "Are her parents coming to dinner tonight?"
"Yes," Ron groaned, putting his face in his hands.
"Oh," said Percy, "Ouch."
"You're telling me," Ron muttered.
"Anyone got any escape plans if things go awry?" Charlie asked hopefully.
"I've got dibs on an allergy to ham!" Ginny said quickly.
"Oh, bollocks," Fred groaned. "George and I wanted to use that one."
"Well," George cut in, "Won't you need someone to Side-Apparate you to St. Mungo's? You could save one of us as well!"
"Sorry, oh brothers of mine," Ginny said sweetly, standing and walking towards the door, "Harry's Side-Apparating me."
"So you're willing to save Harry from the deepest depths of hell but not your own flesh and blood!?" Fred said dramatically, putting a hand to his heart.
Ginny turned around in the doorframe and arched her eyebrow at them each in turn, ending pointedly with Ron.
"Well apparently I'm willing to – how did Ron so eloquently put it? – 'practically shag him in a hotel room'," she said, smiling evilly, "So yes, I guess so."
Six jaws dropped, and she tossed the Extendable Ear at them as she left the room. Ginny smiled in satisfaction as she crossed to the courtyard.
A/N: Sigh – so I know you all are waiting for the big dinner with Hermione's parents – NEXT CHAPTER I PROMISE! I just got a little carried away with this – it was very, very fun to write. So the dinner will have to wait. I will try to make it worth your while. Ideas, anyone:)
Let me know what you thought – REVIEW!
- iheartbooks
