If Harry weren't used to it by now, Ron's early morning eating habits would have made him nauseous. Hermione, judging by the way her face lost a bit of its colour, had not gotten used to it at all, even after eight years. She expressed her discomfort by slapping the back of his free hand - the other was occupied with shovelling toast and bacon onto his plate - with her spoon.
Ron, who was used to this very same aggression, didn't so much as glance Hermione's way, which infuriated her for a moment longer before she scooted a chair to the left, further away from Ron, and begun eating herself. In a far more dignified manner, of course.
Harry had watched this sort of morning ritual for years now. He was used to it and the routine never got quite too boring. Things were settling in a comfortable way. He'd gotten his future plans straight - Professor Dumbledore was still praising his choice to be a teacher - and had, by the wayside, gotten rid of a Dark Lord or two. Things were in order.
Well.
They were until Ginny arrived at the table.
Ginny was one of these things that didn't settle down. Every morning - and today would be no different - he noticed something newly intriguing about her. Yesterday it had been the fact that she had a smattering of freckles that ran down her shoulders. It faded the further down it went and was barely even visible by the time it reached her hips. Harry had noticed the flare in them some other previous morning.
(He wasn't going to reveal to anyone how or why he had attained knowledge of the extent of Ginny's freckles, but it's safe to say that she had shown them to him on purpose.)
Today she was showing him her smile - he had noticed that years ago - and it tickled a few extra beats out of his heart, as it always did.
"Hiya, Harry!" she said by way of greeting and plopped down on the bench right next to him.
The entire bench jumped with the enthusiasm of her entrance and Collin almost fell into the aisle, in front of Professor Flitwick no less.
Ginny, of course, was less than disturbed by the halfhearted glares that the younger years sent her way and continued to beam at him, expecting a greeting.
"Uh, mornin'," he managed, immediately embarrassed by his own floundering.
"Whatcha up to, today?" she asked, the nonchalance in her voice almost mocking in nature as she swiped a loaf of bread from the platter and threw it right at Ron - who had the misfortune of catching it with his at that moment opening mouth. It effectively halted his food inhalation - or, as Ron would call it, breakfast - and Hermione proved to have been put off enough so that she didn't even attempt to reprimand Ginny for her actions.
Harry thought he should have at least chuckled at Ron's plight, but Ginny's shining eyes were entirely too captivating and so, in the wake of her triumph over her brother, it was entirely possible that Harry had simply stared at her for a whole five seconds.
"Catching flies?" she teased, and a dollop of cream on her finger vanished between her lips.
Harry's mouth closed so abruptly, the impact of teeth against teeth rattled his brain. "Seems like it, huh?" he laughed awkwardly.
"As long as it's only, you know, dark flies, it's fine," she offered impishly, accompanied by a roguish eyebrow. She did those even better than Sirius.
Harry snorted. "Are you talking about skeeter? I wouldn't dare put her anywhere near me!"
Ginny's smile persisted, even as Ron found the time to return her favour and threw a piece of bacon at her. The greasy stripe stuck to her shoulder but she paid it no mind. Instead, she pulled the Daily Prophet from underneath her robes.
(For plausible deniability's sake, Harry acted as though he hadn't seen her stomach as she did so.)
"Did you see her last article?" she asked, pointing at the bottom of the front page. He suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. He hated those articles.
These articles were just one of the reasons why he wasn't dragging Ginny out of the hall to do Morgana only knows what with her! The public eye tended to tear into whomever he was involved with.
Harry adjusted his glasses dramatically and cleared his throat. "The Potter Harem: the Lord's Dark Secrets," he read from the paper. He quirked a single eyebrow at Ginny. "Is that about my dad? Sirius swears it only happened once and Remus won't admit to it."
Ginny chortled and absently banished the piece of bacon from her shoulder right into Ron's face with enough force to have him stagger back and almost fall off of the bench.
"No, you cad," she laughed, "It's about you!"
Harry fought down his grin and feigned utter confusion. "Me? I have a harem!? Why didn't anybody tell me?!"
Someone elbowed him lightly in the back. He paused his theatrics to raise an eyebrow at Lavender, who was sipping her tea noisily. She smacked her lips and put the cup down. "Harry," she began and Harry supposed the utterly patronizing sound of her voice was intentional, "You could have a Harem. But if you ever tried, Ginny over there would turn into the next Dark Lady."
"You mean the First," Ginny emphasized over his shoulder, not even attempting to deny Lavender's words.
"No, not really," Lavender said, shrugging. "There was one in Greece, once. And then there was Morgana in Britain."
"Semantics," Ginny huffed and as her breath ghosted across the nape of his neck, Harry became excruciatingly aware of the fact that she was essentially hanging off of his shoulders to talk to Lavender.
Harry immediately lost track of what they had been talking about.
"Anyway," Lavender went on, "What's Skeeter have to say about the girls in Harry's harem? I put a Sickle on Padma and Parvati."
"Yeah?" Ginny shot back, almost heatedly, "I bet Pansy is in there!"
"I raise you Draco," Dean spoke up from across Lavender. "And maybe even Goyle."
"I put a Sickle on Ron," Hermione put forth, smiling slyly.
Ron, erstwhile eating at his usual rapid pace, choked on some bacon.
Harry made a face as well, spared from choking on anything but Ginny's intoxicating closeness. She, however, was entirely unconcerned with the fact that she was singlehandedly causing his blood pressure to skyrocket and was instead busy being appalled at the idea that anyone could think Ron would be part of any harem out there.
Ron threw a fit - and some bread - Ginny's way but it missed by a mile and a half for Hermione had interfered. And that was when Neville, seated to the right of Hermione, joined the conversation, or rather the betting pool, by adding the Greengrass sisters to the list.
For reasons that were entirely beyond Harry, that infuriated Dean beyond belief and it all went down in flames when Seamus tried to pacify the lot of them with a loud bang. But Seamus being Seamus, the loud bang was not what he produced, but rather a sizable ball of fire on his plate that set his brow on fire and elicited surprised shouts all around the hall.
Harry - together with Hermione - managed to dowse the flames within seconds but the damage was done and Professor McGonagall got involved.
Throughout all this time, Ginny did not once move from his side, where she had physically attached herself to him, and Harry would come to realize that not only did Ginny like smiling at him, complimenting him and a plethora of other things, but she also liked being close to him.
It was on this rowdy morning that Harry realized something about himself. He realized that he could honestly not care less what the people thought about him. He just really wanted to be with Ginny. Screw the public eye!
So, after Professor McGonagall had dragged Seamus off to a remedial lesson on basic charms work, Harry turned to Ginny, gently turned her head to face him and said, "There's no Harem. Only you."
And he kissed her.
