As usual, we know that everything belongs to the great J.K. Rowling, I own nothing but Nick (and he's a poo so that doesn't count).
Enjoy!
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Chapter SevenThe Gang's all in
Harry was sprawled on his couch, reading the paper when there was a loud banging on the door.
"Harry? We know you're in there! Open up!"
"Hermione?" Harry asked confused, "Ron?"
"Yes its us! Open up!"
Opening the door, Harry was surprised to see not only Ron and Hermione, but also Fred, Angelina, George and Alicia.
"Um, to what do I owe the surprise visit?" He asked nervously as Fred and George pushed past him to start examining the apartment.
"Hmm… not bad, definitely has potential…" Fred muttered.
"No stairs though, we couldn't do the Flubbering Googola move"
"Hmm, that's true, but there are plenty of windows, we could always make up for that by doing extra window snapper charms…"
"What are you people planning to do to my house?!" Harry exclaimed, slightly frightened.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about them, Harry, we're actually just here for a nice chat."
"Yeah," Ron added, smiling, "nothing major, just wanted to see how my best mate is doing. Mind if we take a seat?"
Harry nodded and soon the six Weasleys were crowded around his small kitchen table.
Following their lead, Harry sat down as well and waited for someone to say
something.
"So, how's your quidditch going?" Angelina asked suddenly
Harry was surprised. He had anticipated that the conversation would be about his pestering of Ginny.
"Um, well, I haven't actually played that much recently, too busy with work and all."
Angelina looked horrified. Turning to Alicia and Hermione, she started muttering something.
"So, speaking of work, Harry," Ron started. "Have you decided what you're going to do about the auror situation?"
"Yes, actually, I've requested to be transferred to a more local department, dealing strictly with matters in England. I want to stick around for a while, maybe settle down myself…"
The three women's eyes brightened at this, and Hermione gave them a little smile before saying, "Ah, yes, speaking of that, I was at Ginny's yesterday afternoon." Inwardly, Harry groaned. His earlier anticipation of the conversation heading this way was correct.
"Oh really? That's nice."
"Yes, she got a very…interesting gift. I thought at first it was from her fiancé but apparently, I thought wrong."
Harry gave a smug smile. "Did she like them?"
"Well, she tried to deny that she did, but she had that little Ginny smile, you know the one when you know she's secretly pleased about something."
Harry smiled wistfully. "Yeah, yeah I remember that one. I used to love that smile."
"Well anyway, while I was there, I coerced Ginny into telling me about the other piece of contact you had with her."
"Oh? And how did you do that?"
"I used the tone"
Harry laughed as Ron shuddered. "What? Ginny's immune to that tone. She used to tell me that all the time."
Hermione scoffed. "Ginny may be immune to the Weasley tone, but she sure as hell 'aint immune to the Weasley-Granger tone. Now, that is something to be proud of."
Harry laughed. "Okay, so you got her talking. I want her back. I would've though you'd have already figured that out."
"Oh I knew that, of course, it was when Ginny started talking about how Nick being gone on his training course that I got thinking."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what does that have to do with me?"
"Well, if memory serves me correct, Nick got that promotion because a large quidditch school bought 100 copies of Quidditch through the Ages. I also seem to remember that the largest Quidditch school in England is owned by one Miss Cho Chang."
"I still don't see where I come into this." Harry said nonchalantly
"Well, a few weeks ago, Bella showed me an article about the possibility of fire-breathing banshees"
Harry scrunched up his brow in confusion.
"I thought the article was absolute rubbish, of course, I mean, fire-breathing banshees, really. But next to the article was a small ad asking for donations for Cho's Quidditch School as money had gone to a small part which was destroyed in a storm. So if the school needs to advertise for donations, how on earth did it afford 100 books?"
Harry shrugged. "Beats me."
Hermione eyed him sceptically and continued. "Of course, there is also the fact that at lunch a few weeks ago, Nick mentioned he was in line for a promotion, and that he needed only a big sale for it to happen."
Hermione stared forcefully at him and Harry met her stare with an equally forceful one of his own. The others watched their silent battle with interest. Harry and Hermione stayed like this for a few minutes until finally Harry relented.
"Okay, okay so you caught me. Ginny doesn't know does she?"
"No, I didn't tell her." Hermione replied and Harry let out a sigh of relief. "I did however, tell these guys and they insisted that we come over for a 'chat'"
"Yes," Fred interrupted, "We want to know exactly what your intentions are..."
"…And exactly what you want with Ginny." George finished
The six people sitting at the table turned to watch Harry's reaction.
Harry sighed again and ran his hands through his hair.
"What do I want with her?" He asked, "I want to hold her, to love her. I want her to smile at me and have it feel like the whole world has stopped and its just the two of us. I want her to cry on my shoulder when she's upset and I want to be the first one to know when she's happy. I want to watch her grow round with babies and I want to be there when she brings new life into the world. I want to watch time mar her face with wrinkles and know that no matter what; she will always be beautiful to me. I want her. Mind, body and soul."
Harry looked up at his best friends nervously and saw that Angelina and Alicia had tears running down their faces and Hermione's eyes were glassy. Then Hermione blinked and a tear fell down
"That's beautiful Harry." She said, sniffling a bit. "Can you teach Ron some of that?"
Angelina and Alicia agreed while Fred, George and Ron looked horrified.
"Damn Harry, now we're gonna have to think of some super smooth lines to get passed that!" Fred said.
Harry smiled at that, but said seriously, "Well, it comes from the heart."
The three women gave a little sigh and even the men managed a small smile.
"Well then," Ron said decisively. "We're in."
"You're in?" Harry asked, confused.
"Yes," Fred said nodding. "We're going to help you win Ginny back."
Harry did a double take. "Seriously? But I thought all you guys loved Nick."
Hermione shrugged. "I like Nick because he made Ginny happy when she was sad, but I know that deep down, she doesn't love him. Not as much as she loves you anyway."
"And besides Harry," George started, "While we like Nick and all…"
"He's not you." Fred finished. "And I have to say that we've managed to become somewhat fond of you these last few years." Fred smiled and ruffled Harry's hair.
"Of course if you hurt her…" He said menacingly. "We won't be responsible for our actions."
Harry grinned. "Trust me guys, that won't happen."
"Great!" Fred said jumping up, "Now you don't mind if we continue our inspection do you?"
"Inspection?" Harry asked, confused.
"Yeah," George said, "If you're going to date our little sister, we have to make sure we've got to make sure that you're house is prankable!! No fun if it isn't!!"
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Sorry that chappie was a bit short, I promise the next one will be longer (and will have a bit more about Harry and Ginny's relationship before he left.) Keep reading and reviewing!
JuveFan: Don't worry, chapter 8 is almost ready to go as well so I will be uploading that sometime soon…glad you like the story! Please keep reading and reviewing!
Hart-break: Yeah, Harry rocks! Next chap coming soon
LordT: Thanks for that! Nice to know that my story had a positive effect!
Annie: Thanks, keep reviewing!
Sarahamanda: Don't worry, it's coming
Madison211: Lol, I guess this chapter doesn't help as it has more Hermione in it. But Hermione just wants what's best for Ginny, and as that involves her ending up with Harry, she's going to be playing a pivotal role in helping Ginny come to her senses
Raiining: Thanks for that! It started off not really being a poem then somehow ended up being a half-poem with very bad rhyming! Glad you liked it and the roses though!
Sherry: Sorry about that, but they have to end somewhere…but don't worry, the end is on the edge of the horizon…
Hpgoldensnitch: Hope this chap satisfies the Ron, Fred and George bit, but don't worry, cos they'll be back!
Ginny1147: Don't worry, they'll be together…soon…ish…
US HP Fan: Harry still has some tricks up his sleeves…more of them coming up in the next chapter. And don't worry, she'll find out all about Harry's involvment too…