A/N: Hi, guys! I promised if I had an update for this story I wouldn't hold it for Wednesday, so here you go. I make reference to two other stories here (Faintest, Slimmest, Wildest Chance and A Good Weight), but this certainly stands alone.
September 1, 2019
(Lily's first day at Hogwarts)
nearly noon
the Potter residence
Harry wrapped both arms around his wife as she snuggled against him.
"I never get tired of you," he said. "All this time, and sometimes it's still like that first night, new and thrilling and—"
"Perfect," Ginny said, raising her head to kiss his jaw.
"Our first time was hardly perfect." Amongst other things, he had forgotten to step out of his trousers and knocked Ginny onto the bed when he tripped.
"I had the best first time," she said, her voice warm and soft with the memory. "Everyone says so."
Harry froze, the affection aroused by her first statement eliminated by her second. "What do you mean, 'everyone says so'?"
Ginny rubbed her head against his hand, cat-like, and he resumed stroking the length of her hair.
"You know, everyone."
"Why would everyone—for that matter, why would anyone—know about our first time?"
She propped herself up on one forearm. "You never told anyone?"
"Which one of your brothers was I supposed to brag to?"
"Okay, maybe not that summer, but that was a long time ago. You and Ron have never talked about it? Or theirs?"
He looked appalled.
She dropped back down against his shoulder. "Lily is right. Boys are strange."
"It is not strange," Harry said. "Why would I talk about my wife with her brother?"
"He's your best friend."
"I'd like to keep it that way, thank you."
"There must have been someone. Neville?"
Harry shook his head.
"De—okay, maybe not Dean, but Seamus?"
Another shake. Never again. What Ginny didn't know wouldn't hurt her—or him.
"The guys at work? Hermione?"
Harry pulled back to give her a dark look.
"Teddy?"
"Ginny! You're practically old enough to be his mother."
"Watch it," she warned, poking a finger into his ribs. "Seriously, no one? We've been sleeping together for twenty-one years, and you've never talked about our sex life with anyone?"
"Sex, yes. You, no. Who was I supposed to tell?"
"I just named half a dozen people!"
"Well, who have you told?"
Ginny sat up beside him, adjusting the sheet to cover herself. "Hermione and Luna were the first, obviously."
"Obviously," Harry said sarcastically. Just how long was this list going to be if she had to start with "the first"?
"Libby and Demelza and Lavender, we were all in the same dormitory that last year."
"Lavender? You told 'The Gossip of Gryffindor' about our first time?"
Ginny ignored him. "Siân Jernigan, do you remember her? She was Head Girl. She and Hermione covered for me the times you came to Hogwarts that last year. Let's see, who else? Hannah … oh, most of the Harpies, of course, and all the wives at Angelina's hen night … Victoire and Dominique know the broad strokes, that you took me to London after my seventeenth birthday—"
"Oh, my god," Harry moaned, covering his face with his arm. "What on earth possessed you to tell our nieces?"
"It was part of a 'be smart about boys' conversation," Ginny said tartly. "You know, if a bloke takes you to a hotel, he might have something more in mind than just dinner."
Harry shifted his arm to grin up at her. "You were adorable."
"I was clueless."
"You got there in the end."
"The candlelit bedroom was a bit of a giveaway," she said dryly.
Harry pulled her down against his chest again, running his hand through her hair several times before speaking. "I thought … I thought this was something that was ours," he said quietly. "Why did you tell so many people?"
"Hermione and Luna are my best friends. Of course I told them I was sleeping with you. It was a big deal. Our first time at Hogwarts—that one bathroom, do you remember? Luna is the one who told me about it. And I already told you, Hermione and Siân helped us not to get caught."
"But you said everyone said you had the best first time," Harry repeated. "That implies a certain level of detail."
"When girls get together, they talk about boys. It's that simple, Harry. I lived with four girls the first year of our relationship and spent years living with my teammates before we got married. My sisters-in-law have always traded advice, especially after the first couple bottles of wine. Our first time was sweet and romantic and you were good to me. I had a great boyfriend and a wonderful husband, and I like to brag on you. It had nothing to do with what it was like to sleep with Harry Potter. You've never seen anything about it in the papers, have you? I'd never have said a word if someone asked me that."
Trust Ginny to see to the heart of his question.
"I haven't always been a wonderful husband."
"No, but the list of people who know about that is a lot shorter. I'm much, much more careful about the negative things I say about you, mainly because it's simply better gossip."
Harry thought about this and decided if Ginny was going to talk about their private life, he would much rather she focus on what he did right. If that included what happened between the sheets, well … he could live with that.
"Hermione though … and Ron … isn't that rather awkward?"
"Hermione and I have a strict no Ron/Harry rule," Ginny said firmly. "We don't talk about you, we talk about us."
Now that he was getting over the shock, he could feel his ego inflating a bit. "Everyone says we had the best first time? Even Hermione?"
Ginny smiled. "Well, she doesn't argue, at least, and there was nothing wrong with her first time. You really should talk to Neville, though. Hannah gives the best advice."