Chapter Five - Engagement (part one).

That same night, Harry Apparated in the Burrow's wide, slightly weedy garden. He walked up to the front door and knocked. A moment later, George answered.

"Evening, Harry," said George brightly. "Long time no see. Come in," he added, a worryingly mischievous grin growing on his freckled face.

Harry stepped into the Burrow and looked around. It had hardly changed at all in all the years he hadn't visited it. He hadn't visited the Weasleys for almost four years, all for the same reason he went on his travels in the first place, the reason he had deliberately lost touch with them and Ginny….

A wave of cheers and a rush of handshakes flung itself at Harry as George led him into the small living room. Mr. Weasley, Fred and for some reason Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, all got up and clapped him on the back in the warm Weasley welcome he'd missed so much.

"Where's Percy?" was Harry's first question.

"You really are behind times, Harry," Mr. Weasley smiled. "you were touring somewhere abroad when Percy married Penelope, two years ago. We tried to send you a wedding invitation, but Errol collapsed on the job, and none of the other owls we tried could find you."

"Two years ago…" Harry muttered thoughtfully. "I must have been on Australian reserve Team."

"There you go," Mr. Weasley shrugged. "So Percy and Penelope have moved out. And these two clowns have somehow managed to get themselves engaged to these lovely ladies," he added, indicating the two ex-Gryffindor Chasers, who both beamed.

"So," said George, with that same mischievous grin he had admitted Harry into the house with. "I take it you're here for Ginny, then?"

Harry got the same feeling he always did whenever Ginny's name was mentioned, didn't trust himself to speak on the subject in case he said anything that might embarrass himself or her and merely nodded.

"Well, she's upstairs getting ready," said Fred, his grin identical to George's. "I think you've hit a winner there, mate."

"Eighth date since last week, if I'm not mistaken," grinned Mr Weasley.

"She hardly listens to a word anyone says nowadays."

"Floating on air," added George.

"You've got her hooked, mate," grinned Fred. "Go for it!"

This was exactly what Harry was planning to do, as he had a very special agenda planned for the evening. He hardly dared thinking about it, though. When he thought of what he'll be attempting in a few hours' time, he got the feeling the giant squid had taken recent residence in his stomach.

The sound of footsteps on the wooden stairs made Harry's heart leap, but it was only Mrs. Weasley, who ran up to him and hugged him in her usual motherly way.

"Hello, Harry dear," she said. "Ginny's coming now."

Harry's jaw dropped and dizziness engulfed his senses as he caught sight of Ginny. She had always been 'the most beautiful thing Harry had ever laid his eyes on' (as he used to tell her on their Hogwarts dates) but right now she was beyond describable beauty. Her face was shining with what Harry failed to recognise as Madame Marsh's Magical Make up, her hair, which usually either fell over her shoulders or was tied in a ponytail, was swept in a gleaming copper-coloured sheet behind her neck and halfway down her back. She was wearing what looked like a cross between dress robes and some silky deep purple dress which was nowhere near as baggy as dress robes were, her rather magnificent figure quite apparent. When she flashed her gorgeous smile at him, Harry felt his knees buckle and he felt like he was about to faint.

"Your lady awaits you," Fred grinned at Harry, who feeling completely dazed, could only nod.

Five minutes later, they were out in the clear, slightly chilly air of the Burrow's overgrown garden.

"Where to, guv?" Ginny smiled, in a perfect impersonation of a Muggle taxi-driver.

"Biscay How, please," Harry grinned. "Try to avoid the five o clock traffic, I'm in a hurry."

A split-second later, they both Apparated atop the rocky mound on the summit of Biscay How, a stunningly beautiful hill in the English Lake District, just outside the village of Bowness. They slid down the rocky bump and seated themselves on the wooden bench there, overlooking the majesty of Lake Windermere and its surrounding hills in the silvery-blue glow of the autumn moonlight. Harry conjured up a small picnic basket he'd prepared that afternoon and they sat there in silent bliss, Ginny's head on his shoulder, Harry's arm around her.

"Isn't this wonderful?" Harry sighed happily a few silent minutes later.

"Yeah," said Ginny, with the tiniest edge to her voice, which made Harry jerk his eyes off the countryside and glance down at her.

"You sound a bit…doubtful," Harry observed.

"Never mind, forget it," said Ginny, impatience now seeping slowly, almost inconspicuously into her tone.

Harry now looked right into her eyes. In three years of dating her at Hogwarts, he knew that Ginny's eyes were an entire world in themselves. They held the gateway to all her emotions and would tell anyone who could read them properly exactly what was going through her heart at that moment. Harry had had three years of practice to break the codes of those eyes, and the distant, faraway look in those orbs of warm brown told him enough to make him ask, "Is something troubling you? Is it something I did?"

"It doesn't matter, Harry," Ginny muttered, "forget it."

"Ginny, this isn't going to work," Harry sighed. "I know you too well, and I know that something's bothering you and it's something to do with me. So…. are you going to tell me, or," a devilish grin grew across Harry's face, "am I going to have to tickle it out of you?"

Without waiting for an answer, Harry removed his hand from her back and attacked her tummy in a furious wave of tickles, making her giggle hysterically as she fought to push him off her.

"Stop it, Harry! Get off!" she laughed, and Harry's tickling commandoes slowly retreated from the battlefield.

"Never," Harry grinned, wagging a warning finger at her "mess with the Potter Secret Weapon. Nothing can stand up to it, no living force…"

"Oh, is that how you got Voldemort to disappear all those years ago?" Ginny inquired innocently. "You tickled him?"

"I'll tickle you if you don't tell me what your problem is," Harry cautioned.

"I'll tell you what my problem is - I hate you and your secret weapon," Ginny teased with a laugh.

"Oh is that right?" Harry growled with playful malice. "Well, I love you!"

But as he moved forward to kiss her, the mischievous grin still on his face, he noticed the smile fade almost instantly from Ginny's face at his last words, and she moved her head ever so slightly to avoid the kiss.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked seriously. "Don't you love me? Is that it?"

"Don't be silly, Harry, of course I love you," Ginny replied, the mild irritation back in her tone., as she sent her gaze over the opposite hills again. "It's just that…"

"It's just that what?"

"Well, I couldn't help thinking of the last time you and I were here together," Ginny said, very quickly and slightly uncomfortably.

"Our last Hogwarts date," Harry remembered slowly.

Ginny nodded.

"We took you Firebolt, flew here, and spent the evening right here on this bench, with a picnic basket and everything, laughing, tickling, enjoying the view…we must have been here for hours. Then all of a sudden, out of the blue, you turned to me and said, "Ginny… I love you." And even though you used to tell me that at least three times a day for three solid years, and even though it was always special for me to hear it, this time was different. You said it with a seriousness I'd never heard before, like all of a sudden, those words had a new meaning. Then, before I could make any sense of this, you took my hand, gazed right into my eyes and said, "you know, if I was a few years older…and you were a few years older, and we were in love like we are now…I wouldn't think twice before proposing to you." "

Harry removed his arm from Ginny's back, stood up and took a few paces forward. Then he stopped, and stood staring silently at the view, hands in his pockets, his back to Ginny, apparently lost in thought. A few silent moments later, Ginny nervously prompted his attention with an almost timid, "Remember?"

"Of course I remember," said Harry quietly, his tone undeterminable, though Ginny thought she could almost categorize it under guilty regret.

"And then the following morning," Ginny continued, "you got on the Hogwarts Express for the last time, then straight off to Puddlemere United, then the Wimbourne Wasps, the Hebridian Hawks, and then…off…out into the world of foreign Quidditch teams…Australia, Israel, Canada, Norway…a million other countries…I hardly saw you since that night till last week, when we met at the Ministry. Even your letters had a guilty sort of ring to them, almost as if…you were writing against your better judgment. For five years your words were ringing in my head…even Mum and Dad started hinting that I should give up waiting for you and just find someone else…"

Harry stood stock-still. His wind-ruffled fringe was the only part of him that was moving. Ginny fell silent for a moment, as though summoning up all her courage before bursting out, "Why, Harry? Why did you leave like that? Why did you lose touch? Is it because…have you got someone else?"

Ginny fell silent again, torn between the feeling she'd said too much and the satisfaction of finally releasing the seal that had been bottling up these emotions for five years.

For a few long moments, only the soft rustle of the bushes in the light breeze broke the silence. Then, finally, Harry spoke.

"You never responded to…what I told you that night," Harry said quietly, almost as though he was talking to himself. "That night was the last we had together before you were going to go off to your last year of school and I would be out in the world…the prospect of a whole year apart scared me…I…I never loved you more than I did that night, and I thought…it would be a good idea to tell you that. But…when I told you exactly how I felt about you, you never said anything, never did anything…there was just a blank look in your eyes that almost said "how dare you!"…and it was then that I realised…I loved you too much. More than you could ever love me, more than was healthy for a lad of seventeen to love anyone…it was time for us to part, for me to go away and try forgetting about you, and for you to forget about me…before we both got dreadfully dreadfully hurt. I never said anything to you before I left because I knew I didn't want to leave you…..I hoped that maybe while I was out there, I'd meet someone else…someone to make me forget you, and that you'd find someone to replace me…but I wasn't really looking for anyone…

I never stopped thinking about you…I used to look at the Quaffles I saw every day and think of your hair…" Harry turned around and gazed right into her eyes. "I'd look at my broom handle and think of your eyes…sounds a little corny, I know," Harry admitted with a sheepish smile.

"Anyway," he continued, "it was a while before I realised that this was going nowhere. I reckoned that loving you was no crime and I knew for an absolute fact that you were the only one I wanted. But as soon as I came back to England, the National Squad pinned me, and not long afterwards, they elected me Captain. I had no time to find you and slowly bring you back into my life. But I loved you, Ginny. Still do. Always will."

As Harry's little speech came to a close, Ginny's slightly stunned expression melted into a warm, gracious, affectionate smile.

"Well, Harry, that was…..remarkable," she smiled. "I'm sorry I accused you of…"

"No, I understand, really," said Harry quickly. "That was pretty darn stupid, running away like that…"

"Yes, it was," said Ginny affectionately, standing up and coming over to him. "But you're right. Love is no crime. And you know….now that you're a few years older, and I'm a few years older…and we're in love almost like we were at Hogwarts – the only difference being that I love you more now than I did then – I wouldn't think twice about accepting a proposal from you…if that's still what you want."

"Are you serious?" Harry asked, his eyes widening, as he took her into his arms.

Ginny kissed him in reply.

A/N Right, I'm cutting it here for the moment. Next chapter is where the two couples come together, and this whole proposal thing is settled.

If the next chapter takes its time (which I'm afraid it may well do) please please read my new story – I love You- I love You Not. It's a story I've been planning for years, made about twenty drafts of on this site under various names, and the final version is finally up, so please please read it.

Oh, and kindly, VERY kindly review.

Ta!