A curse escapes Harry's lips as his foot catches in a pile of loose mud and leaves, and he slips a few feet down the side of the steep hill. Fortunately, a low hanging tree branch appears in his eye line, and he grabs at it quickly, halting his fall to inevitable death.
After fighting Lord Voldemort (and winning) and avoiding death almost every single one of his school years, the last thing he wants is the Daily Prophet reporting that a hike was the thing that finally saw him off.
Once he's sure his feet are firmly back in place, he runs a dirty hand over his forehead, trying to stop the sweat from sneaking past his glasses and stinging his eyes. The sun is so hot today, the kind of heat that boils your insides and he feels exposed, despite the cover of leaves protecting their path.
Who's idea was it to go hiking on the one hot day of the year, anyway? He thinks to himself.
Ginny. Ginny was the person who woke up this morning, saw everyone lounging around the living room at Grimmauld Place and decided they needed to spend the day outside.
Harry lifts his head. Talking of his girlfriend, he can no longer see her, and the valley they're traversing is quiet without the sound of her teasing Ron about his sunburn. Further down the hill, Ron and Hermione are cautiously picking out a route amongst the brambles and overgrown trees, laughing at an inside joke. But Harry's flame-haired partner is nowhere to be seen.
"If I were her, I would have just Apparated to the bottom of the hill and probably be buying myself an ice cream right now," Harry laughs wryly, then dusts off his hands before deciding to tackle the next decline.
He takes his first step, finding purchase on a pair of overgrown tree roots. He feels confident, but then suddenly, out of nowhere, his missing girlfriend obscures his view. Only something isn't right…
Harry turns his head to the side to look at her better, a frown appearing on his face. "Why are you upside down, Ginny?"
Ginny hangs from another tree branch; her lithe limbs curl around the wood as she swings back and forth slightly. If they weren't magical, and if Harry wasn't already aware that she has been climbing trees since she was old enough to walk, he might have been worried about her precarious position amongst the boughs.
"I'm Spiderwoman!"
Harry rolls his eyes and turns his head the right way up to stop the growing crick in his neck. He knew that letting her watch superhero movies with him and Ron had been a bad idea.
"Does that mean I'm your Mary-Jane?" he chuckles and takes a shaky step forward.
"Maybe, will you kiss me if I say yes?" she puckers her lips anyway.
A heavy, mock sigh escapes his lips, and for a moment, Ginny looks disappointed. Suddenly but carefully, he takes her by the arms and holds her firmly in place before planting the most demanding kiss he can muster directly on her lips.
The snog is hard, passionate, and he hopes almost enough to knock Ginny off her perch in the tree. As his tongue invades her mouth, he starts to wish that they could just be off this damn hill already so that he can whisk her back to Grimmauld Place and have his wicked way with her.
Eventually, his lungs feel as if they might burst, and he forces himself to pull away before he loses all his senses (and probably his footing on the hillside). Ginny's skin is flushed, although he knows he probably can't take all the credit for that — she is still hanging upside down, after all.
"So what do you think? Should I stay as Spiderman?"
"Don't you mean Spiderwoman?" Harry waggles his eyebrows teasingly.
"Whatever." Ginny removes one hand from the branch to wave at him dismissively, and his stomach plummets as she almost falls off. She recovers quickly and gives him a cheeky grin. "What do you think?"
"Honestly, I just think you're kinda weird," he smirks back at her.
"Well, it took you long enough to work that out."
Ginny laughs then swings eloquently back to earth without even losing her foot in the dust and mud. She makes it look effortless as if she were just dismounting her broom, and Harry is once again blown away by her. It's almost a daily occurrence now.
He wants to kiss her again, but he wants to get off the side of this bloody mountain, too. So instead, Harry just gestures for her to go first so that he can enjoy the delightful sway of her hips as the pair carry on with their descent down the hill. Maybe if he's lucky, she'll do her Spiderwoman trick again.