Author's Note: My first entry for the Harry and Ginuary BINGO event! The prompt is B 5: "Unless I screw this up, I'm going to marry you." "Well, you better not mess this up."

the matriarch

"So, I know you already asked me to marry you, and I already said yes, but there's one problem."

Harry looked up at Ginny, eyebrows raised above his glasses, lips quirked up into a half-grin.

"What's that, then?" Harry asked her.

"My mum says you have to get Auntie Muriel's approval."

"Erm, why?"

Ginny shrugged, readjusting her position in Harry's arms. "Apparently as the matriarch of the Prewett family, she must 'approve' all matches."

"You're saying that all your brothers asked Muriel's approval before marrying their wives?" He asked incredulously.

"According to Mum, yes."

"Well that's lovely. We know how much Muriel loves me."

Ginny giggled. "Better think of a sure-fire way to get her approval, then, huh? At least, that is if you do actually want to marry me."

Harry shook his head at his fiancée, not dignifying her fishing with a response.

"We'll see," he told her.

They continued to cuddle for a while before bed, but somewhere in the back of Harry's mind, worry niggled at him.

He couldn't mess this up, right?

H&G

The next Saturday found Harry and Ginny arriving at Muriel's house. Harry looked at the Devon home, a feeling of trepidation unsettling his stomach.

Ginny squeezed his hand comfortingly, smiling up at him. He grinned back down at her nervously. Harry clutched the bottle of Firewhisky in his other hand even more tightly. He remembered how much she'd enjoyed drinking at Bill and Fleur's wedding, though her drink of choice then was champagne. Firewhisky, though, seemed like something that could possibly be her favourite. Harry wasn't sure why—he just had a feeling.

Harry glanced at the house once again, and then back to Ginny. "Unless I screw this up, I'm going to marry you," he told her, grinning.

"Well, you better not mess this up."

Ginny's eyes were warm with mirth and he couldn't wait to get her home alone, later.

"Ready?" Ginny asked.

He'd face a hundred Aunt Muriel's if it meant spending the rest of his life with the woman by his side. He smiled down at her and said, "For you, I am."

He extended his hand and knocked on the door.

Immediately, the door opened, and an imperious voice said, "Ah, the Chosen One, finally coming to seek my approval."

Harry nearly groaned but forced a smile on his face as presented the firewhisky and made eye contact with the matriarch.

On the bright side, Harry had a little liquid luck on his side, should things get complicated.