"You're absolutely certain?" Harry could not keep the anxiety out of his tone, and it made him louder than he wanted to be.
"Yes." Ginny, on the other hand, was calm and sure. "I've used it loads of time."
"With stolen wands," said Harry.
"And it will work even better with my own wand." There, a little hint of impatience seeped through. "Come on, Harry. You either want to do this, or you don't."
"Of course I want to." An image of what he and Ginny could get up to if he followed through on her plan flitted across his mind's eye, as quick as the flicker of a dragonfly's wing. "All right. Yes. I'm coming."
It was dark enough that her face was only a sliver of white; her teeth flashed when she smiled. "Good. You've learned."
Harry had not so much learned as he had been reminded, but he knew better than to tell her this. Then, despite his misgivings — her parents would have a few things to say if they were found sneaking out of the Burrow again, and he hadn't known how they got caught that last time — he let her lift the window open and summon their brooms. The air filled with the crisp bite of winter. Without having to be asked, Harry cast a warming charm on both of them.
"Well done," she whispered.
"You know I'm no use to you if I'm too cold," he said just as quietly.
Her chuckle combined with the whistle of the wind, and then their two brooms were hovering just outside her window. Harry had snuck down to the second level of the Burrow a few minutes ago, once Ron's snores had grown deep and even. His pulse gave another little jump. He'd thought they would snog a bit in her bed, but Ginny'd had other plans.
"Ginny—"
She looked up at him, and pressed herself all along his body, resting her chin on his chest. "It's been a week, Harry. I want to be... close with you."
And what could he say to that, when all he thought about lately was her?
He bent down and brushed a kiss over her lips. It would be easier, in a few months, when Ginny did not have to study at home with Molly and Arthur and Hermione. They wouldn't have to sneak off to Grimmauld Place, they could just go. Ginny was not underage, but there were still rules. And it wasn't just limited to her — which was why Ginny accepted it — Ron and Hermione struggled to find time together. And with Grimmauld Place undergoing a proper cleaning and renovation, there were fewer options.
Her hand fisted in his robes. "Let's go," she whispered.
They both clambered over the windowsill and onto the waiting brooms. The cold night air penetrated the warming charms he'd set, but not terribly so. Wind whistled past his ears, and he found himself beaming at her. Her grin in reply was wide and unconstrained. It was not, in truth, the perfect night for flying. The clouds were low and heavy and sullen, threatening to rain at any moment. But nevertheless, Harry felt a powerful sense of belonging that stemmed mostly from the witch doing loops beside him, but also encompassed the flying and the night sky.
At almost exactly the same moment, they dove together, spiraling downward. It was the furthest reach of the Burrow's orchard; they had been here before. Ginny conjured a lantern and a handful of bluebell flames while Harry walked the perimeter, casting protective charms.
"Do you need it a little warmer?" Ginny asked.
Harry paused. "Yeah, I think so. It's still a little chilly."
The space inside the protective enchantments turned toasty and warm, lit by the merry blue flames. It made the little clearing an enchanting place, bright and warm. It was a little oasis, here, where they had total privacy. Harry's shoulders eased.
Ginny spread a picnic blanket on the ground, and cast a cushioning charm on it.
"I brought a surprise," he said. He reached in his pocket, and pulled out a bottle of champagne and two long-stemmed glasses. He smirked at the look of surprise on her face.
"I wasn't even sure you'd come!" she said. "But you planned to go along with me the whole time? Uncork it, would you?"
Harry obeyed, wincing at the loud pop, and poured for both of them. "I knew you'd convince me from the moment you asked if we could sneak out of the Burrow again."
Ginny sipped her champagne. "But the champagne?"
"Butterbeer didn't seem like quite the thing, and firewhiskey seemed too much the thing," Harry explained. He cast her an amused look. "Are you questioning my dating skills?"
"Never," she said. He'd expected her to volley words with him, but instead, there was a rather intense glint in her eyes. Warmth spread through his body, arrowing downward. He liked it when she was fierce.
"Good," he said.
She held out her hand to him. He took it and settled beside her. One of the many wonderful things about Ginny was her skill with a wand; the ground was certainly more comfortable than his camp bed up in Ron's room. He took a long, deep sip of his champagne, letting the bubbles fizz on his tongue, then looked up at the night sky.
"No stars," Ginny said, as though reading his thoughts.
Harry squinted. Was that a bit of disappointment he heard? "I learned something in Astronomy," he said. "Well, not in Astronomy, but because of it." He muttered a charm, and several constellations sparkled into existence above them. The brightest of them was Leo. "Look, it's Leo," he said. Ghostly, translucent white filled in the constellation, making it look like the lion it was named for. "For you, you know."
Ginny beamed at him. "And for you," she said. "We're both Leo's."
Harry cupped her jaw with his hand and kissed her. Vaguely, he was aware that she'd dropped her half-finished glass of champagne, but then her tongue was in his mouth, and his thoughts scattered. She tasted a bit of champagne, but mostly of her. It had been a while since they'd had a leisurely snog such as this, their arms twining around each other, hands stroking. Harry's glasses fogged up and still he kissed her.
"Harry," she pulled back. When he followed her lips with his, she braced her hand on his chest. "As much as I love this, I thought we'd have a quickie and get back—"
"I don't like quickies," Harry said, though he liked them well enough. Just not after an entire week of nothing.
"What if they notice we're gone?"
"It's one in the morning," he reminded her. "If they're going to wake up and realize you're not in your bed, it's going to happen no matter how late we stay out."
Her brow scrunched. "I'm... not entirely sure that makes sense."
"It makes perfect sense." This was a lie, but Harry didn't care. "If we're going to get caught tonight, we're going to get caught. Why do you want a quickie?"
There was enough light by the bluebell flames that he saw color rise in her cheeks. "I just wanted... I need you. You know, inside me. I need to feel you." There was a thread of vulnerability in her words; absurdly, it made him harden further. "Even if it's just quick. And even if I don't, you know, come."
He slid his hand along her thigh and squeezed her hip. "The problem with that," he said, "is that I don't like it when you don't come."
"But—"
"We can argue about this until the sun is coming up, or we can have sex until then," Harry offered, grinning.
She swatted him. "All right, fine," she said, very dramatically, then rolled over onto her back. "Seduce me."
"Gladly," Harry said, cheerful. He kicked off his shoes. He used his wand to make her clothes — everything but his favorite bits — disappear. A lacy green bra covered her breasts, and her knickers matched. A satisfied sound rumbled out of him. Once, before the renovations of Grimmauld Place had begun, he'd spent an afternoon trying to memorize every bit of her body, every freckle, and he wished he could do the same again. Instead, he pressed a kiss to one on her knee, brushed his fingers over a trio on her thigh, and then rubbed his thumb over her knickers, just over the center of her. "Still want me to hurry?"
She stretched her arms over her head, smiling at him. "No. I've made my peace with having an orgasm tonight."
"You kept urging me to come, I didn't know you meant it literally."
She spread her legs a little, lifting her knees. His thumb had found her sweet spot, the one that if he played with correctly, would have her writhing under his touch. Harry toyed with it a few minutes, leisurely, while her knickers dampened and her hips moved to meet his touch.
He pulled away, and tugged off his own robes. Beneath it, he wore only a shirt and pajama bottoms. They were old and thin and did nothing to hide the erection that tented them. Three months ago, he would've been embarrassed beyond belief. Now, he rubbed it while he drank in the sight of her, all pale limbs and sexy curves, big bright eyes, red hair...
His body ached for her, but he kept his hands gentle as he pulled off her knickers, easing them down her thighs, over her knees, and all the way off, tossing them to the side. Not so very long ago, they'd discovered together that their enjoyment of kissing was not limited to mouths, and even though Harry ached, he pushed aside his impatience, braced her thighs open with his hands, settled between them, and gave her one long, slow lick.
"Harry!" she squeaked.
Harry chuckled. "You don't want me to go down on you?" he asked, pretending innocence. Ginny had never — even when they'd both been blushing when they'd first discussed doing this — once said no to this particular activity.
"You weren't joking about not liking quickies," she said. Her feet shifted; her scent was enveloping him, distracting him, and he licked his lips.
"I thought you made your peace about having an orgasm tonight," he asked. With his thumb, he parted her, and gave her a more intimate lick, one that ended on her sweet spot, and he was rewarded with a low groan.
"I made peace," she said, "with one orgasm."
But he knew she was not disappointed, not with the way her body responded to his lips and tongue. Harry lost himself in what he was doing, the feel of her under his mouth, her taste... her hands were in his hair, guiding him closer, harder. Eyes closed, he gave her what she needed.
When she was close, he pulled back a little, just for a glimpse—
"Harry!" she shouted.
Chuckling, he flattened his tongue against her clit, and went back to work.
When she'd finished and let go of his hair, Harry pulled back and sat on his heels, just looking at her. A year ago, he could have even known how beautiful she was; his imagination was not that good. But she was, and gratitude mingled with arousal.
"You're really... just beautiful, you know," he said. The back of his neck prickled as he did, as though someone were about to jeer at him for his lack of compliment-giving skills.
But a soft smile bloomed on her face, complementing the flush that remained on her cheeks. She reached for him, and he came down over her. Her hands brushed along his sides, and his erection throbbed. "Thank you, Harry," she said.
"You're welcome," he said, and then he kissed her.
Despite how much his body ached for her, Harry slid into her slowly. They kissed each other — not the heated snog they'd shared before he went down on her — but smaller kisses. She was busy under him, squirming, running her hands over his back, squeezing his bum, wrapping and then unwrapping her legs around him, and still he entered her in tiny increments. Her hands brushed along his sides, and he bit back a moan. The pleasure made his body throb, and he almost came when she whispered a dirty little phrase right in his ear. It was distracting, the way she tilted her hips, and pressed her feet into his calves. Ginny was in motion, and it made everything within him want to lose his head and push into her. No, wait. It was a refrain in his head. No, wait. He didn't want it to be over, not this pleasure that burned in his veins and made it difficult to suck in air. He quivered above her, needing her more than ever, but kept himself at a pace that was going to kill him. It had been an entire week and Harry wanted to commit everything to memory, just in case they had to go without so long again.
Her fingertips tickled his sides. "Why are you going so slow?"
"I want to feel everything." He was halfway in her now; silky, wet heat enveloped him. There was a little fluttering around his shaft and a very intense look of concentration on her face. "What are you doing?"
"I'm... trying something," she said.
He swore. Then: "I can't handle new tricks right now, Ginny! No new tricks." The warning was desperate. He pulled out a bit, just to get some breathing room, but her thighs clamped down around his hips, and her fingernails pricked his arse.
"I told you, I want you," she growled.
He supposed it would be churlish to refuse. With a long, even glide, he pushed all the way inside her, huffing out a groan at how damn perfect she felt. "God, Ginny."
"Fuck, Harry."
Despite her impatience, he kept it slow and easy, reaching in between them to rub slow circles around her clit. He propped himself up on his other forearm, staring down at her, watching the flickers of pleasure whenever he moved just so transform her beauty to something else. It was not easy, keeping himself to the rhythm he knew Ginny responded to best, but he did it for what felt like hours... days, even. Long enough that her second orgasm was building; he could see it on her face, hear it in the sounds she made... he could feel it in the prick of her fingernails at the small of his back and the way she pushed up against him.
"I love you!" she cried. Her body tightened around his, and her orgasm rippled around his shaft, squeezing it.
Harry let his fingers fall away from her clit, braced himself on both hands, and hit a rhythm that made pleasure spike so rapidly it was near pain. He swore as he came, his entire body tightening, and then releasing. His release flooded into her, and he collapsed, burying his hands in her hair, kissing every part of her face that he could.
"Now tell me," Ginny said, once they'd recovered a bit. "Whose brilliant idea was this?"
"Yours," Harry said obediently. "You're brilliant, Gin."
He existed in a state of bliss that radiated outward from a certain, thoroughly pleased part of him. The cushioning charm began to disintegrate; he just tugged Ginny closer and let her sprawl on him. Who cared about the rocks now digging into his back?
"We have to think about moving," she said, her voice muffled against his chest. "It's very late."
"I know," Harry said, yawning. "We will. In a minute."
"We cannot fall asleep out here." But this was said quietly enough Harry could pretend he did not have to answer. He knew very well that they could not sleep out there. All he needed was a moment to rest and relax.
"Hmph," he said, when she moved.
"We have to get up," she said, tugging at his arm.
"I just need one more minute."
Ginny muttered a charm and the warming spell disappeared, and cold air slapped him awake. Harry leapt for his clothes and his wand. "That wasn't fair!" he yelped.
"You weren't moving. You were falling asleep with a boulder for a pillow."
"The last time I pulled the covers off of you, you almost bit me?" Harry dressed as fast as he could, but was shivering and wide awake by the time he wrapped himself in his robes.
"That is gross exaggeration," said Ginny, poking him in the chest.
Harry grabbed her hand, pulled her close, and kissed her, hard. Their tongues tangled together, and she rose up on her toes, pressing against him. It was cold, and somehow without his noticing, the dampness in the clouds had grown heavier. It was about to rain, and they really ought to leave, but he didn't seem able to let her go.
Then, when he felt the first drop of rain on his head, he pulled back. "Ready to go sneak back into the Burrow?" he asked, reluctant.
"I'm ready," she said, "as long as we can have more adventures like this."
As far as Harry was concerned, they could spend the rest of their lives having adventures. "We will," he promised. "We will."
HPHPHPHPHP
Author's Note: So our little GinnyLovers discord server put together a gift exchange, and this is my contribution. I wrote it for midnightelite, who is amazing and wonderful, and I hope she likes it. We called the event Harry and Ginuary (even though it isn't January, lol, it's a state of mind), and we plan to have two more events! A BINGO and a BIG BANG! DM me for more information if you wanna be involved!