Chapter 13: Finding a Future
Harry sat at his desk, his head in his hands, and considered the conversation of the night before.
Ginny's girls were nothing if not determined. Meg was determined to return to Hogwarts, Mary was determined to stay, and Maddy had crawled up into his lap, told him she'd go wherever he wanted her to, and promptly fell asleep, stealing his heart for the four hundred and twenty second time since her birth twelve years before.
Later, he and Ginny had escorted the girls to their rooms, and then stood for ages in the hallway outside of her room.
Like teenagers, he thought.
But they'd agreed that, with the girls there, it would be inappropriate for them to be caught in the same room... quite yet.
Harry was determined to make that 'yet' very short-lived.
Which caused him to consider another conversation he had to take part in today. One he was as nervous as a schoolboy about.
Taking a deep breath, he exited his den and headed for the kitchens. He fumbled absently in his pocket as he pushed the door open. "Molly?"
"In here, Harry!" Molly called from the pantry.
"Could I speak to you for a moment?"
"Of course, Harry," Molly came out holding several cans and packets. "What is it, love?"
"Is Arthur around?"
"He's in the garden. Shall I get him?"
"Yes... please... if you wouldn't mind? Could I speak to the two of you in my office?"
"Of course," Molly studied him, concerned. "We'll be there in a moment."
As she headed to the back door to call in her husband, Harry headed back to his office. By the time Molly and Arthur joined him, he was in a cold sweat.
"Harry?" Arthur glanced between Harry and his wife as Harry cast a silencing charm on the room and indicated for them to sit down. "Everything okay?"
"I'd like to discuss something with the two of you..."
"Of course, Harry," Molly perched on the edge of her chair. "What on earth has you so upset?"
"I'm not upset, Molly. I just..." Harry swallowed nervously, then fumbled in his pocket for a moment before pulling out the item he had placed there earlier that day.
It was a ring. An emerald set in a gold band. Harry took a deep breath, and spoke.
"This was my mother's engagement ring. I've carried it around for... a while now. It's an emerald. My father bought it, according to Remus, to match my mother's eyes."
Molly and Arthur glanced at each other, then back to Harry.
"I'm thirty five. I never thought I'd marry..." Harry continued. "You two have been special to me. Since I met Ron... you've been family, like parents."
"Harry?" Molly smiled gently, "Are you telling us you've met someone that you're considering asking to marry you?"
"Only if you and Arthur agree," Harry confirmed, looking Molly in the eye.
"Harry," Arthur smiled. "You're like a son to us, you know that. But you don't need our approval to get married."
"In this case, I believe it's... traditional, Arthur. I have a great deal of respect for both of you, and I wanted to do this properly..."
"Ginny." Molly stated softly. "You want to marry our Ginny."
Harry swallowed again, his nerves shot. "Yes, ma'am. If you and Arthur agree."
"Harry!" Arthur smiled. "As Ron would say, it's about bloody time."
Harry's eyebrows rose with shock.
"Oh, love!" Molly laughed. "We've always known how you and Ginny felt about each other! We actually tried to... well, to discourage her from accepting Dean. We knew... well, it wasn't meant to be. But we thought for sure that after Dean's death, when she told us that you had offered her a home..."
Harry's face contorted into a look of horror. "There hasn't been...we're not...!"
"Of course not, Harry. We know," Arthur grinned. "We know. But we're happy you've found each other at last. Ginny is a grown woman, and quite capable of making her own decisions. You don't need our approval."
"All the same, I'd like to know I have it."
"Of course you do!" Molly cried, standing and rushing around Harry's desk to hug him tightly. "We couldn't be happier!"
"Harry," Arthur stood, holding out his hand for Harry to shake. "You've always taken care of her, we're grateful for that. We only wish... well, we were so sure years ago that... You've always been part of this family, Harry. As Molly said, we couldn't be happier."
Harry grinned, "Let's just hope that the girls feel the same way."
Molly's face glowed. "You're going to speak to the girls?"
"Of course."
"You know that if Ginny gets wind of this you're life won't be worth a plug nickel, don't you son?" Arthur inquired with a fatherly smile.
"Her temper is legendary," Harry agreed. "But I've messed up so badly in past with her... this time, I'm doing it right."
"Harry, love, you've never 'messed up', badly or otherwise. Sometimes... well, sometimes fate decides things for us. Steers us down paths that otherwise we would never consider taking. And sometimes, we accept less than we need, rather than live with nothing at all."
Molly's words brought a lump to his throat. "I know, Molly. And I swear to you that Ginny will never have reason to believe that she has to settle for less than she wants ever again."
After shaking Arthur's hand again, and releasing the privacy charms on the room, Harry went in search of Ron.
"Hey, mate," Ron said as he entered the house through the front door as Harry went through the front hall, intending to look for him upstairs.
Ron had several bags in one hand, all bearing the name of a famous Saville Row mens shop.
"Shopping?" Harry smiled, eyebrows raised.
"Well, you know... I needed some new things..."
"You mean you chose to go? Ginny didn't have to drag you there?"
Ron's ears went pink. "Nothing wrong with a bloke wanting to look halfway decent, is there?"
"Hmmm," Harry grinned knowingly. "Of course not. If you can spare me a few moments away from your preening, I need to speak with you."
"Preening? You bloody git..." Ron followed him into his office.
As they entered the room, Ron stopped and stood still as he watched Harry place the privacy charms again, then begin to pace back and forth in front of the huge fireplace. Ron's senses immediately went on full alert. He placed his bags on the leather sofa and sat down, his elbows on his spread knees, and hands clasped between, feet planted firmly on the floor.
"Okay, what's going on?" he asked.
Harry stopped pacing, and glanced at his friend, then began pacing again.
"Do you remember..."
"Oh, no," Ron leaned back against the back of the sofa. "I never like a conversation that starts with that. Unless we're drunk. And, while I'll admit to stopping for a single pint on my way home, I am not drunk."
Harry smiled, then moved to sit in the leather wingback chair across from his friend.
"Ron, do you remember sixth year?"
"Well, certain parts of it are a bit hazy, like the night of the Halloween ball...where the hell Seamus got that firewhiskey..."
Harry silenced him with a look.
"Okay," Ron nodded. "I remember sixth year. What about it?"
"Well, Ginny and I..."
"Ah... now we get to it. Yes, Harry, I know that you were snogging my sister senseless for the vast majority of the spring of our sixth year. What of it?"
"Well... I messed up. Royally. I told her I couldn't be with her, because she wouldn't be safe, and well..."
"You told me that she dumped you." Ron looked at him dangerously. Harry sighed.
"Well, I thought she had. What I meant when I told her that was that I didn't want to endanger her with a public relationship until Voldemort was... no longer a threat to her."
"And?"
"And it seems that she thought I was dumping her, and turned to Dean. When she started seeing him, being the blind idiot that I was..."
"And that some of us think you still are."
"Well, to make a long story short, when she turned to Dean, thinking that I didn't want her, I thought she was giving me the brush off..."
"You daft git," Ron said. "you mean to tell me that you never talked to her about it?"
"No. I assumed..."
"You assumed too damned much from the sound of it, Harry!"
"I know," Harry admitted. "And it cost me years of being with her. But I... Ron, you're my best friend. Ginny and I talked last night, and I know what I want, and I think that it's what she wants, too, but... you're my best friend, and you're her brother, and I'd like to know that you're... okay with it."
"With what, exactly?" Ron asked, pretty sure he knew... no, certain he knew, but wanting to make Harry sweat a bit.
"Ron, I want to ask Ginny to be my wife."
Ron watched him closely through narrowed eyes for a moment, then stood, suddenly thrusting out his hand to shake. "About bloody time you came to your senses, you daft bugger."
Harry smiled and shook his hand. "Thank you."
"Hurt her and I swear to Merlin I'll make sure that you regret the day you were born."
Harry's smile widened. "I think you would have to get in line. But as it's never going to happen, it's not an issue."
"Make sure of it." Ron nodded. "Now, what are you waiting for? Go talk to the woman!"
"Nope. Got one more stop to make first."
"The ring?"
"No, I've got that," Harry pulled his mother's emerald from his pocket. "I need to make sure that the girls are okay with it before I talk to Ginny."
Ron grinned, "Can I watch?"
Harry turned, confused. "Watch me talk to the girls?"
"Nope. I want a front row seat when Ginny finds out that you've been talking to everyone but her about this."
"Funny, your Dad said something similar when I talked to him."
"You talked to Dad?" Ron's eyes bugged out in surprise.
"First stop," Harry confirmed.
"Bloody hell, mate," Ron shook his head. "You have got it bad."
Harry herded the girls out of the house just after dinner that night with the promise of a ride in his new car, an Invicta SI, and a stop for an ice cream. Meg looked at him suspiciously, but followed, helping to keep her two younger sisters in line, and reasonably quiet.
When they got into the car, the two younger girls in the back seat and Meg sitting next to him, they went on a bit of a joy-ride through London, zipping down Whitehall, past the tourists in Trafalgar Square, and on down over Westminster Bridge to the South Bank. Harry drove around for a bit, then spied a Mr Whippy van on a corner near a park and pulled into a parking spot nearby.
He bought them all cones, then they walked through the park, looking for a bench.
"Uncle Harry, what's going on?" Meg asked.
"Well, I wanted to talk to the three of you, privately."
"What about?" Mary asked. She was on the cusp of adulthood, still with her childish innocence, but able to sense undertones and respond to them. Right now, something was telling her that Harry was nervous, and that was unfamiliar territory for her.
"Well, I know you miss your Dad..." he started. "It's been five years now, and, well, your Dad was a good friend of mine. We were roommates at Hogwarts..."
Meg slipped her hand into his as they walked along. "Were you angry with him?" she asked quietly.
"Angry with your Dad?" Harry glanced down at her, surprised. "No, why?"
"Because he stole Mum from you." Meg said.
Harry took a breath. How did you tell a teenage girl that it didn't quite happen that way...? You didn't, he realized.
"Um... how did you know..."
"Oh, come on, Uncle Harry!" Meg laughed. "You're Harry Potter. Every detail of your life at Hogwarts is documented. Everyone at school knows that you dated our mum in school."
"Yeah," Maddy put in, "Denny Samuels says..."
"Who is Denny Samuels?" Harry was quickly beginning to understand that he was losing control of the conversation.
"A kid at school," Maddy explained, looking at him like any idiot would know that.
"His mom's name is Parvati. Denny says she was in your year."
Harry sighed. Parvati Patil. Would he never escape it?
"Well, Denny says that you and Mum were tight."
"Tight?" Harry inquired.
"You know... dating."
"Ah."
"And then there is the picture," said Maddy, skipping along ahead of them.
"Picture? What picture?" Harry was floored.
"In the common room, on the stairway up to the girls' dorm," said Meg. "You know."
"No... I... I've never been up that staircase," he evaded.
Meg rolled her eyes and snorted. "Sure, Uncle Harry, whatever you say."
"What picture?"
"There is a picture with you in your Quidditch uniform," Meg said. "Mum and you are locking lips like there is no tomorrow. It must have been right after a game, because you're all rumpled and dirty."
Suddenly, he remembered. The final game for the House Cup in sixth year. He'd told her a week later that he couldn't endanger her anymore. But that night...
They had won, of course, and Ginny had attacked him full on as the team left the field. He'd remembered the feel of her arms around him as she leapt into his arms, and her legs wrapping around his waist, and then the feel of her wind-cooled lips against his...
And later, in the third floor corridor broom closet, Ginny laid back on a pile of discarded pillows and rugs, and the bliss they'd found... he'd found in her arms.
"Uncle Harry?" Meg's voice intruded on his memories. "Were you angry with our Dad for that?"
Harry turned to her. "No, Meg, I wasn't angry with your Dad. I lost your mum because I was an idiot. Your Dad was there for her, and treated her as she deserved to be treated. I could never be angry with either of them for that."
"But you never got married to anyone else," Meg said intuitively.
"I couldn't," he shrugged. "No one ever measured up to her."
They walked a bit further before Meg stopped, turning to him.
"This isn't about our Dad," she stated.
"No, Meg, it isn't. Not really."
"Then what is it about?"
Harry looked at each of them, then sighed. "I was a complete idiot, years ago. I'd like to think that if I hadn't been, you three would be mine. But that dismisses all of the wonderful qualities you got from your Dad, and I never want to do that.
"How would you feel... I mean, I don't want you to think that I would ever believe I could replace him, but... I..."
"Uncle Harry?" Marry looked up at him, "Are you...?"
"Meg, Mary, Maddy, I want to ask your mother to marry me, but I want to be sure you're okay with it before I do."
For a moment, none of them spoke, then Harry was shocked as all three girls launched themselves at him. He was immediately knocked over, his forgotten ice cream cone flying as the girls climbed over him, hugging and squealing.
"Really, truly?" Maddy cried. "You really want to be our Dad? Really?"
"Oh, Uncle Harry!" Meg cried, tears running down her cheeks. "We never thought..."
"I guess you're okay with it, then?" he laughed as he sat up with them still draped all over him.
"Okay? Okay?" Mary squealed. "Are you kidding? Okay with it? Of course we're okay with it!"
As Harry tried to get up with both Mary and Maddy still on top of him, Meg stood, brushed herself off and headed back towards the car.
"Meg?"
"Well?" she didn't turn as she shouted out, "What are you waiting for? You've got a proposal to make, and we've got a wedding to plan!"
Harry winced, then called back, "She hasn't said yes, yet, Meg!"
Meg snorted, "Like that is going to be an issue!"
Harry drove back to the house quickly. Ordering the girls to stay silent, they headed inside to find Ginny.
He found her in the kitchen with her mother.
"Where have you been?" she asked, "I was worried when you and the girls disappeared."
"Molly, would you mind if I stole your daughter away for a while?"
Molly, who was wiping dishes and putting them away, smiled happily. "Not at all, Harry, love. The girls are going to help me, aren't you?"
Her three granddaughters, much to their mother's surprise, immediately grabbed dish towels and began to help, grinning.
"Come with me," Harry whispered into her ear from behind her as he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close.
"Harry, I..."
At that moment, with his arms around her, the room around them dissolved and a new one took it's place. Ginny realized he had apparated them, but it took her a moment to realize to where.
The Gryffindor common room. It was empty, thank goodness.
"Harry?"
"This is where it all began," he said. "Actually, it began at Kings Cross station. You were ten, and I was all but completely lost. Your mum helped me, and Ron and I sat together on the train. That was the start of a friendship that I wouldn't trade for anything. But most importantly, it was the first time I ever saw you.
"It was almost a year before I saw you again, at the Burrow. You were eleven. It was the morning of my twelfth birthday.
"That year, you came with us, here. Then, every year, you were there, always more beautiful than the year before. It was my sixth year when I finally realized that you were... you. And then it seemed I'd always known. I wanted you, not for a sister, or just a friend, but for me to love.
"That was possibly the best and worst year of my life. No. The worst was the year you married Dean."
"You stood with my family..." she said.
"While my last hope left me," he agreed. "But I couldn't ruin that day for you. I wanted you to have happy memories of it."
"I do... but sad ones, too," she said quietly.
"Do you know what one of my happiest memories is, Ginny?"
"No. What?" she smiled up at him.
He drank in the sight of her for a moment before turning and heading for the girls staircase. It took a minute to find it, but he did. Taking down the framed photo, he came back to her, handing it to her.
"The girls told me it was there. I have no idea who put it up there, but..."
"I did," she whispered.
"You did?"
"In my seventh year. I wanted..." she cried, tears running down her face. "I didn't want it to be just my memory, forgotten by everyone else. I wanted someone to remember, someday, that Harry Potter had loved me once."
Harry pulled her close. "When the girls told me it was there, I was shocked. I couldn't remember the picture being taken, but I remembered the circumstances when they described it to me. I've carried the memory of that game, and you, and that night, with me for years. It's what got me through so many really, really hard times. So far, it's been the highlight of my life."
"Oh, Harry!" Her tears ran freely as she gripped the photo in both hands.
"I'm hoping, though, to add some new ones to it." He took a deep breath, then put his hand in his pocket. "If you don't like this, then you can choose something you like better, but this was my mother's..."
He looked into her wide chocolate-brown eyes as he spoke, holding out the ring. "Ginny, would you please marry me?"
Ginny began to sob. Harry wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but he was pretty certain that this wasn't a positive reaction.
"Oh, Gin', I'm sorry. Please don't cry, I know... I've rushed it, and..."
"Rushed it?" she sobbed. "Harry Potter, you idiot! Eighteen years is not rushing it!"
Harry looked at her, stunned, as she threw her arms around him, kissing him joyfully.
"And for your information, Mr Potter, I would be honored to wear your mother's ring. Oh, Harry! It matches your eyes!"
When they arrived back in the kitchen of Potter Manor, it was to find the entire Weasley clan congregated there. They all seemed anxious, and the looks on their faces were expectant.
Harry and Ginny looked around at all her family, and their families, staring at them, silly, curious grins from all of them.
"What?" Ginny said. "Never seen an engaged couple before?"
