A/N: A long awaited Harry and Ginny chapter for gWeasley77, grangergal101, OpenAtTheClose, The giant purple squirrel, lovenotwarXo, canis3 and x8jessica8x.

The Bill is an English programme. It's about the police force. It's awful.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I also do not own The Bill.

Harry x Ginny
The Burrow

"We can go back now." She said suddenly, breaking the calm silence that lay over the tiny guest room. The idea had been lodged in her mind for quite some time now. She just hadn't been able to verbalise it. She just wanted to go home now.

"Yeah." Harry nodded, "Of course we can."

They'd spent nearly a month now in hiding. They'd been married nearly three weeks. They'd decided not to return for a while; they wanted to ensure their marriage was legitimate. Harry had insisted on buying Ginny a ring before they went back as well. They'd looked on it as a sort of honeymoon, slowly falling in love with the rural village and tranquil surroundings. They'd spent their days together, going for walks, having lazy picnics, exploring fields and hedgerows and tiny pathways. It had been a sort of daze, like a dream. Reality had hit now though, they had to go back. They had to resume their lives again.

"We've missed a lot." She said wistfully. "Hermione got married. Ron got married. We weren't there. And now they're back at Hogwarts without us. I'm sick of hiding."

Harry felt a jolt of guilt. His two best friends had gotten married and he hadn't been there. He'd been married and they hadn't been present. Never in a million years had he ever dreamed that the three of them wouldn't attend each other's weddings. He'd let them down and no matter what he did he would never make up for that. He should have been there. He knew that Ron would have been nervous and needed reassurance. He hadn't been there to give it. He knew that Ron would have grown to love Padma and probably would have liked to talk about it and needed someone to push him into telling her. He hadn't been there to do that. He knew that Hermione had been dreading her marriage and needed support and friendship. He hadn't been there to offer it.

"Me too, we don't have to hide now though. We can go back, whenever you like."

She crossed the room to him and slipped her hand into his. "Let's go home." She whispered fervently.

Harry nodded, closed his eyes and concentrated. They disappeared from the cramped guest house in the tiny village in the middle of the countryside. They'd finished hiding. The time had come to go home.

-

They landed on in the front garden of The Burrow and barely had time to register their surroundings before a sobbing Mrs Weasley threw herself upon them. Hastily, Harry caught her before her legs gave way.

"I'm s-so glad y-you're h-h-home!" She sniffed. "We've m-missed y-you both."

He inhaled deeply as he crossed the threshold. It smelled like home. Like warm bread, soup, Quidditch, apples, Weasley. It was home.

Molly pressed mugs of steaming tea onto them and insisted on them eating large bowls of homemade soup before they were even allowed to tell their story.

Finally, when they had been fed and watered to her satisfaction, she sat down in her favourite rocking chair (checking beforehand of course, the twins may not actually live in the house anymore but that didn't mean one should let one's guard down).

"So, where have you been? How did you avoid getting found?"

"We lived with Muggles. Well, in a Muggle village." Ginny began.

"We thought we'd be safer that way. The first place the Ministry would look would be magical places, places with witches and wizards." Harry explained.

Molly nodded. "They did." Her lips thinned. "Searched houses up and down the country, ours included. As if we would be hiding you here! Ridiculous!"

"We were married!" Ginny squealed suddenly, skipping a whole week of the story in her excitement.

Molly grinned hugely and engulfed the newlyweds in a sudden suffocating hug. "I'm so proud of you my dears!" She planted kisses on their cheeks, tears running down her face again. "So proud."

A loud crack made everyone jump. Two wizards, clad in navy robes and wearing important looking expressions, stood in the middle of the kitchen.

Molly screamed and then clasped her hands to her mouth as if in doing so she could somehow take the noise back. Harry felt a bizarre urge to laugh.

"Mr Harry James Potter. Miss Ginevra Molly Weasley. You are being taken in for question." The shorter of the two said authoritatively.

"I'm Mrs Ginevra Molly Potter actually." Ginny inserted helpfully.

The wizards pretended not to hear her. "We must ask that you come with us."

"They certainly will n-" Molly began indignantly.

Harry cut in, "Of course."

The wizards moved in and seized the forearms of each, forcibly escorting them to the Ministry.

-

Harry had been expecting something like this. It seems that the house had been watched. The Ministry would have known the second Harry and Ginny had appeared. He wondered idly what they would do. They couldn't do anything about the marriage. He smiled wryly. The Ministry would not be best pleased.

They were taken to the "Interrogation Rooms", which actually Harry suspected had been an office not one hour ago. It was empty but for a desk and three chairs. It was set out a little like a Muggle police interview room. He found himself wondering if it had actually been based on The Bill or something. The thought made him want to laugh. He suppressed the urge hastily, deciding that humour would only antagonize the situation further.

He wrapped an arm around Ginny who seemed scared. She didn't look openly scared but she was biting her bottom lip which meant she was frightened.

"S'okay." He whispered in her ear. She nodded hastily. She had been raised amongst six boys, she didn't show her fears.

The door opened and the same two wizards walked in.

"So," The shorter one said, sitting down opposite the pair. "You disobeyed the Law, broke Ministry rules set down for the good of wizards, to be together."

"Yes." Harry said. The wizard frowned. Harry realised that it had not been a question.

The taller one spoke now. He had a faint lisp. "Are you Harry James Potter?"

"Yes."

"And you," He turned to Ginny, "are you Ginevra Molly Weasley?"

"No." She said, "I'm Ginevra Molly Potter, like I said earlier."

"You were married?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"Three weeks ago."

"Where?"

"Rocklands Church, Norfolk."

"Do you have proof?"

Harry pulled the Marriage certificate from his trouser pocket (where he had been keeping it ever since their wedding) and handed it to them. They scrutinised it carefully for a full two minutes before appearing to admit that it was real.

"It is not a forgery." The tall one said.

"No. It isn't."

"You have broken Ministry Law. Do you admit this?"

"Yes." Harry said, "Technically. But, the Law states that all unmarried wizards and witches over the age of seventeen must be married. We are married. The Law doesn't say 'Harry Potter and Lavender Brown must be married'."

"You signed a contract stating that you would marry Miss Brown. And you, Ginevra, signed a contract agreeing to marry Mr Jordan. Do you deny this?"

"Look." Harry said impatiently. "We are married. You can't change that. We didn't marry Lavender or Lee, so match them. Force them to get hitched even though they don't know each other or have any feelings for each other. That's what you've done to everyone else. You've ruined our lives, our generations. Can you blame us for trying to make our lives better? Me and Ginny are in love. So we got married. Ordinarily that wouldn't be a problem, the Law, introduced just a few short months ago, is the only thing making this a problem. What do you want?"

"The Ministry cannot be seen to take no action." The shorter wizard said solemnly. "You will both be fined 200 Galleons for your law breaking. This will be published in the media as a warning to all who try to break the Law." An oddly triumphant look passed between the wizards. Harry didn't quite understand it.

"Okay." Harry said, rolling his eyes. Did they think he cared that the papers would say he'd been fined 200 Galleons? He'd been blacklisted in the papers before, it wasn't a big deal.

"You both enrolled for the last year at Hogwarts. The school year has now begun. We ask that you return to school tomorrow to avoid missing more of your education." The tall wizard said. "Thank you."

The wizards rose in synchronization and left. Ginny crumpled against Harry's side.

"I thought we were gonna get split up. I thought we'd get into trouble." She said weakly.

"Course not." Harry said, "We're married."

She inhaled shakily and pasted a smile across her face. "Yeah, we are. Let's go home." He wrapped an arm around her and she winced suddenly.

"What is it?" Harry asked, panicked.

"Nothing." Ginny said, touching a hand to her forehead in confusion. The odd pain had flickered suddenly and died just as quickly. Maybe she'd just imagined it. "Just...nothing."

-

The next day the couple left The Burrow (after prolonged goodbyes from a very teary Molly) and made their way to Hogwarts.

Harry felt an odd mixture of emotions. He yearned to see Hogwarts and his two best friends. He was scared, scared of going back and having to confront all his old memories again. He was worried about what people would say on his new wife. He was so happy to be going back with Ginny as his wife.

They stood for a long minute outside the gates. Ginny was shaking. Harry put an arm around her shoulders. The shaking subsided slowly. Neither verbalised their thoughts, they didn't need to.

The path up to Hogwarts seemed to drag on forever. The journey passed in uneasy silence. Breakfast was in full swing in the Great Hall.

They entered and paused at the doorway. A silence spread slowly over the hall as student after student noticed their presence. Students tapped each other on the shoulder, pointed, froze. Harry noticed a stunned looking Hufflepuff frozen mid bite. He looked at Ginny. She was blushing furiously, clearly unused to attention on this scale.

Amongst the silence, one person broke into applause. One solitary person amongst the mass. Suddenly, the whole room erupted. Students clapped and cheered and whistled and stamped. Ron and Hermione flew down the aisle and engulfed the pair in hugs and questions. Other Gryffindors joined them. Later, Ron would swear blind that even the teachers had been cheering along.

Ginny winced. The pain had flared up in her temples again. It was excruciating. It seemed to build up. A roaring sounded in her ears. The pain was awful. Her vision blurred. Oh Merlin... the pain. Make it stop! Make it s-

Harry caught Ginny in his arms as she fell, his voice was panicked, eyes wild with concern. "Gin! Ginny!"