Chapter Twenty Nine
A/N: Thank you to trying fern, scrappy8, triggbc, GuppyKween, Harrypotterpercyjacksonfan90 and Notenoughbookshelves for reviewing the last chapter.
The look lasted only a couple of seconds before Ginny looked away, shaking her head so passionately that the room begin to spin. She preferred it that way, if she was honest; it meant that she could not see the disappointed faces of her girls.
"Girls, you're being silly." the redhead sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I know that you both want us to get along better, and we're going to, but that doesn't mean everything's going to go back to how it was. We got divorced for a reason."
"And what was that reason, Mom?" Phoenix questioned, her eyes wide, but filled with fire. "Can you even remember?"
"Phoenix, it's complicated." Ginny protested, none too happy at having to defend herself to her twelve-year-old. "There were a lot of things that went wrong. Your dad was famous, I couldn't cope with it, being in the spotlight all the time. And then you two came along, and we thought it would get better, but… it just didn't really work."
"But you've been living in the same house for weeks." Crystal chipped in, her line of questioning a little softer than her sister's. She knew Ginny better, after all. "You haven't argued at all, you were getting on really well. Maybe it would work, Mum. Can't you just give it a chance?"
"Gem, there is so much history between your father and me. We've been divorced for more than a decade." Ginny's eyes were downturned, her arms wrapped around her waist. When she spoke again, her voice was so quiet the girls struggled to hear her. "To be honest, I doubt your dad would want to marry me again."
Ginny had expected the protest, knowing her girls well enough to know they would not give up without a fight, but she found herself struck dumb when she heard not Phoenix or Crystal speak, but Harry himself.
"Yes, I do." Ginny looked up at Harry, her eyes wide and her lip beginning to tremble. She did not know why the tears were welling in her eyes, whether they were of frustration or joy or longing for a time when everything was so much simpler. The way the man was looked at her, his dark hair falling haphazardly over his eyes, he looked just like the teenager she had first fallen in love with. "Ginny, I've wanted to marry you ever since I saw you again. Actually, that's not even true. I've wanted to marry you since the day we got divorced."
"Excuse me?" She sounded more like a mouse than a Gryffindor lion.
Harry sighed, pushing his glasses nervously up his nose. "I know I didn't say anything. I probably should have done, but… I just didn't know how to tell you. You showed up on my doorstep, after all this crazy stuff with the girls, and Romilda was always right there. I never got a chance to tell you the truth."
"What truth?" Ginny knew already- it was clear from the look in his eyes- but she needed so desperately to hear him say it.
A moment later, Harry smiled, reaching to take her hand in his. His palms were sweating, his cheeks stained red with embarrassment- perhaps this had not been the best thing to do in front of their two young daughters- and yet Ginny could not take her eyes off him. "I love you, Ginny Weasley."
Phoenix let out a giggle of delight, and all three of her family members turned to her, each wearing an almost identical expression of bemusement. "Sorry. Just kinda happy."
Harry chuckled gently, shaking his head. The sweeping romantic moment he had planned had been and gone, but something better had taken its place, a comfortable warmth he could barely remember from more than a decade ago. This was not romance; it was family.
Eventually, the contented silence was broken by Ginny's gentle sigh. Her eyes were fixed on Harry and in that moment none of the rest of the world existed, not even the two girls biting their lips to keep silent from their side.
"Harry… I love you." The redhead's voice was almost silent, trembling with the intensity of her emotions. "I really, really do. But that doesn't change anything. Everything that happened a decade ago, it still happened. All the problems we had then will still be problems now. Do you really think we can make this work?"
Harry looked over at the girls, who were glancing between one parent and the other, desperate for something, anything, to confirm their hopes. By the time he looked back to Ginny, his eyes were sparkling and a beaming smile was spreading across his face.
"Well," Harry began, reaching for one of Ginny's hands and clutching it in his own. "We've had twelve years apart now, Ginny. That's plenty of time to think about it. I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually."
Ginny blinked for a moment, letting out a breath of disbelief, then leapt forward, her lips crashing into Harry's. There was only a little romance in that gesture as well, although the pent-up passion of a decade was very apparent. The two girls looked at each other, trying to find anywhere else to fix their eyes; true, they wanted their parents back together, but they would rather not look at the evidence.
It was a few seconds before the twins heard their father's throat clear, a subtle signal that they could look back at their parents again without being scarred for life. The two were beaming from ear to ear, as were Harry and Ginny now, their hands clasped together as if they had never been apart.
Of course, it would probably not be that easy. They had faced so many troubles together over the years, and there were bound to be more still to come, but what mattered was they were all facing them together, a family reunited at long, long last.
Perhaps some stories could have a happy ending after all.
A/N: Speaking of happy endings, only the epilogue left to go! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and you're all happy that the Hinny romance has finally come to pass. Please review!
