Prompt: "Fighting side by side, staying up all night chatting about nothing, other friendship things, I've fallen in love with you." (N 33)

This drabble is an A/U where the war goes a bit differently than how it went in DH. The war takes another year and Ginny joins the trio on their hunt after she's seventeen. This drabble is rated T.

Note: this prompt is on my bingo card.

The room was dark, the only light coming in through the windows was provided by the light of the waxing moon. But for the couple laying in bed, laying next to each other and whispering sweet words of nothing and everything, it was perfect. In this room, there was no outside world to contend with. There were no Death Eaters, no Voldemort, no looming doom and gloom that surrounded the young man as he held the young woman in his arms tightly.

Here, there was no Boy-Who-Lived, no Chosen One who was expected to save a world who had no problem with turning on him if the government thought he was getting in their way. No, here in this small bedroom with the moon the only light that bathed the redhead beauty in his arms, he was just Harry.

Since Dumbledore died over two years ago, Harry had been fighting Death Eaters, trying to evade capture from a corrupt government that now wanted to haul him in for "questioning" about Dumbledore's death at Hogwarts, and trying to find Voldemort's remaining horcruxes. It had been slow going, considering Dumbledore pretty much had left him with a vague sense of what he was looking for and no general sense of where the hell to start looking. He, Ron, and Hermione had searched all over England, Wales, and Scotland for a year and only found one horcrux: Slytherin's locket that had been burried on an old piece of land the Gaunt family had owned before they had to sell it for money.

An attack on Hogwarts the October into their second year of looking for horcruxes lead them to apparate to the village of Hogsmeade where they and members of the Order made their way up to the castle, only to see Death Eaters and Dementors trying to get into the castle. The fighters made their way into the castle via the secret tunnel in Honeyduke's basement to evade the invading Death Eaters.

The fight was long and hard. The Death Eaters did their best to get in, but were rebuked by those fighting in the castle. For Harry though, there was one plus side to having gone to Hogwarts to fight: he got to see Ginny after not seeing her in over a year since Bill and Fleur's wedding. They ended up fighting together, helping first to protect the first and second years as they were evacuated from the castle before turning their attentions to the Death Eaters and Dementors that were trying to make their way into the castle grounds. Harry couldn't help but admire the strength and fire that Ginny fought with as they fought side by side.

The battle ended, the Light victorious for now and luckily with no fatal injuries. There was an underlying knowledge that Voldemort would try to take Hogwarts again in the future. But for now, the remaining students were safe. Which was why when Harry, Ron, and Hermione were getting ready to leave, Ginny came over, taking Harry's hand in hers.

"Ginny?" Harry asked in confusion.

"If you think I'm just going to let you go back out there to finish Voldemort off without me, then you're sadly mistaken. I'm seventeen now, and I refuse to sit on the sidelines anymore while I watch you from afar hunt horcruxes. And yes, I've known what you've been searching for since before Bill and Fleur's wedding, I overheard Ron and Hermione talking about them one night."

Harry was too shocked to say anything. She knew what he was doing and wanted to help him still?

Ron and Hermione protested at first, but Ginny prevailed in convincing them to go with them. Harry chining in in her favour after he came out of his shock helped to eventually persuade his friends. Later, Ron would ask him why he wanted Ginny to come along with them now when for so long he had been against Ginny getting involved. Harry's answer was simply, "She fights like hell."

Ginny settled into Grimmauld Place with them, and it didn't take long for her to prove her worth to the three. Ginny knew how Voldemort ticked after fighting his diary off for almost a year and was extremely helpful when it came to figuring out places where the bastard might have hidden his remaining horcruxes. They were able to find Hufflepuff's cup and Ravenclaw's diadem within seven months, leaving Nagini the last one to be destroyed.

But it wasn't just finding horcruxes that improved with Ginny being there. In that span of seven months, Harry and Ginny had gotten closer again, spending long nights talking about everything and nothing. It seemed neither one wanted to make a move, until a month later in late November when Harry took the plunge and kissed her one night when they were talking on his bed. When he pulled back a minute later, he was afraid of her reaction until she smiled and said, "Took you long enough."

Since that kiss, their relationship had grown and blossomed. And Harry noticed that he was even feeling more hopeful now that he had Ginny back with him. It was probably because he now had something to live for and give him hope for a future outside of the darkness.

And now here they laid in his bed, wrapped around each other. They and the Order would be conducting a raid on Malfoy Manor in two days after they had received intelligence that Voldemort and what remained of his followers were hiding out there. They had been able to gather help from abroad thanks to Bill, Fleur, and Charlie's help, giving them more manpower to be able to take on what remained of the dark side.

But right now though, Harry had other more important things to do.

"Gin," Harry stroked her face softly, his thumb caressing her cheekbone. "Fighting side by side, staying up all night chatting about nothing, other friendship things, I've fallen in love with you." He swallowed a lump that suddenly had formed in his throat. "Even in this darkness, you've been the one source of light that has shown me there is hope for a better future, that I can take on Voldemort and win. You're the reason I keep fighting even when things seemed hopeless and bleak. You're my fire, my light, my future. And I wanted to ask you something."

"And what's that?" Ginny whispered.

"Will you marry me?"

Ginny's eyes widened before a dazing smile appeared on her face. She leaned in to capture his lips with hers, kissing him deeply. She pulled away from his lips just enough after a minute to to say, "Yes, yes I will marry you." before he pulled her back into his embrace.

The couple spent the rest of the night consummating their engagement, losing themselves in sighs, caresses, touches, and the feeling of becoming one being with two hearts that beat only for the other.

Two days later the wizarding world would see Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley stand over the fallen body of Voldemort, victorious in their mission of finally ending the nightmare that had infected not only their lives but England's as well.

Author's Note:

Congrats to my fellow Ginny Lovers writer matrixaffiliate for getting bingo first! Even though a bingo has been achieved in the Discord group, we all have agreed to keep going with pulling daily prompts.