DISCLAIMER: I'm far from the respectable and honorable author that JK is, so you can probably assume that I'm not her, and in turn assume that Harry Potter isn't mine.

A/N: Okay, there's one thing that you should know about me...I'm easily persuaded. There were too many of you that were saddened over my proclamation of only one more chapter, and I immediately felt this wave of guilt engulf me. So now look what you done, you made me extend the story! You can congratulate yourselves now

Melindaleo: So nice to hear from you!! You have a Mad-Eye Moody eyeball and catch everything, don't you?? :u) Your question should be cleared up in this installment, Neville can explain better than I why he has a business in the Muggle world.

Hello, Rob!! Thanks for your feedback, that's always appreciated. You're right, after the chapter was posted and I read it again, I wished I had given the readers more insight on Ginny AND Harry's thoughts, hopefully that can show more in this chapter. Your comment about the end of the chapter is also valid – her thoughts aren't flirtatious or 'evil', it's more of just a general statement to herself and not directed toward Harry per se. Let's see if I can kind of clear that up as well with this installment. Lastly, let your worries be eased on the statement Ginny made regarding Hermione and Ron 'not being best mates so much anymore, but y'know'. In the first chapter, while Harry was talking about Ron having his cloak, I made a note that Ron and Hermione had a house outside of town, meaning they're now together, so I wouldn't necessarily call them best mates anymore since they're a lot more than that. I didn't elaborate on her comment in this chapter since I had mentioned it in one.

A note to anyone: If there is someone interested in being my beta for Play or GsW, let me know -- seems like no matter how many times I proof and re-proof a chapter, there's ALWAYS a mistake I miss. Email me and let me know, address is in my profile. :u)

Okay, sorry for the long A/N, everyone, I just wanted to clear up a few things! Thank you ALL for your reviews, you truly rule.

"You know, there is a sobering potion if you don't handle your liquor well," said Harry as he took another big swallow of his drink. When Neville finally joined them, he would have to see about persuading him to give him the recipe for the drink – it was pretty delicious, he thought.

"I just may need it...am I going crazy, or does this drink seem to refill itself?" Ginny definitely hadn't planned on getting drunk tonight, but considering the size of the glass in front of her and the potency of the alcohol, she didn't know if there would be any way to avoid it other than just not drinking. That easily could have been an option before she had her first taste of the heavenly drink that went down so smoothly. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that becoming any less inhibited in the presence of one Harry Potter wasn't the smartest thing she's ever done, and would probably regret it when she had her wits about her again, but she couldn't keep herself away. She had started to feel the effects of working too much and not having enough time to relax, and the atmosphere of the restaurant made her want to let loose as much as she could. Just watch what you say tonight, Weasley, she made a mental note.

"I think it is refilling itself...is this restaurant just for wizards? Doesn't seem like there would be any magically enhanced food or drinks if Muggles came here as well."

Ginny shrugged and shook her head, which she immediately regretted after a wave of dizziness came over her. She really had to stay away from the drink until she got food in her stomach, and so she pushed her glass away reluctantly. "When Neville and I last talked, he said that this place was going to be able to have both, but that Muggles were somehow going to be oblivious to that fact...not quite sure how, though, we'll have to ask him." Now that Harry had mentioned it, she was interested to know how that worked.

A moment later, the waiter that had brought their drinks appeared and smiled, "How are the drinks for you tonight?"

"Excellent, thanks, although food would be nice if I'm wanting to walk out of here without making a fool out of myself," said Ginny, and her stomach rumbled in agreement. She glared at Harry when he was unsuccessful at holding back a snicker.

The waiter, who had introduced himself as Tristan, laughed, "No problem, have you had a chance to peek at the menus?"

"Er...actually no, we've been kind of swooning over these drinks -- they're quite delicious," said Harry.

"They are our top seller among the witches and wizards that come to visit – we were constantly having to bring seconds and thirds, so Neville just decided on making them endless."

"Are you a wizard?" Harry queried.

"Actually, no, I'm a Squib...three of my sisters and father in my immediate family have the magical ability. You may recognize my last name, Jordan...Lee Jordan and I are first cousins and I was fortunate enough to get in touch with Neville when I was looking for a job while I attend university."

Harry noticed that he didn't seem to be at all bothered by the fact that he had been born without magical ability, which surprised him after being around Mr. Filch for seven years. "Of course I remember Lee...who wouldn't after the pranks he used to pull with Fred and George?"

Tristan smiled, "Yep, that would be him, except he's still pulling those pranks with them...old habits die hard or so they say." He turned to Ginny and his eyebrow rose, "You look like you might be related to the Weasley's, am I correct?"

Ginny had given up on keeping herself away from the drink and had moved it closer to her again, sipping every so often while observing the conversation. She nodded, "I'm the one and only sister of the bunch...lucky me, huh?"

"I can relate, I'm the only brother out of five siblings and, let me tell you, growing up with them was no stroll through the park, especially when three of them had magical power." He smiled at her and Ginny couldn't help but smile back – she noticed that he was quite good looking and had nice eyes. At that moment, her stomach chose to protest at the lack of food and she groaned, "Bring me anything, I don't care what it is!"

"I recommend the crab and spinach dip to start, that is a favorite of mine – it comes with seasoned pita bread. Any objections?" At Harry and Ginny's headshakes, he nodded, "Very good, I will be back shortly...the menus are right there between the two bamboo plants. Trust me when I say that you can't make a mistake with your choice, it is all very good."

After he disappeared, Ginny looked down into the swirling liquid in the glass and gasped at what she saw. "Harry, did you notice this? How cool, there's an actual snitch in there!"

Harry glanced down into his own glass and, indeed, there was a golden snitch that was swimming around and seemed to be keeping the drink well mixed, as well as provide an entertaining color show with its wings. He didn't answer and pretended to be engrossed in the life going on within his glass while he got a grip on himself. Being the perceptive individual he was, he noticed the look of interest Tristan had given Ginny; that's not the part that bothered him. He couldn't blame him one bit, Ginny was a beautiful woman as it was, but tonight she looked especially so...even he had noticed. What he hadn't expected at all, what he hadn't been the least bit prepared for, was the wave of jealousy that passed through him. When Harry saw him look at her like that, he had wanted to get his wand out and curse him into next week, never minding the fact that he had been nothing but courteous. What the hell is wrong with you, Potter? You don't care who's interested in Ginny or vice versa, she's a friend and you need to act like one! Right, so... "He seems interested in you." The words seemed foreign coming out of his mouth, not right at all...

Ginny looked up in surprise, "Who?"

"Tristan..."

"Er...I guess so." Having a conversation with Harry about her potential interest in their waiter felt a bit awkward and so she averted her eyes over to the fish tank. "You're right, they are rather breathtaking," she murmured.

Harry had to agree with her, even though they were thinking of two different things. When he ran into her in Diagon Alley today, it had taken a lot of energy to stop himself from wrapping her up in a tight hug. It had been awhile since he'd seen her and, even though he had thought about her while away, he hadn't realized how much he missed her. His history with Ginny was filled with a lot of unspoken thoughts and emotions on both sides, even though he knew Ginny believed she was the only one keeping them. He admitted that he wasn't the most observant person back at the beginning of school when it came to girls, particularly with the one sitting in front of him. After the disaster that was his and Cho's whirlwind romance, he hadn't been keen on getting involved with anything of that sort again, especially after what happened at the Department of Mysteries. After that day, his love life proved to be trivial and moved way down on his list of priorities. He had been too busy preparing himself for his fate that he didn't notice until it was too late that Ginny had wiggled her way into his life. At first it was little passing conversations, then more involved talks by the common room fire. It went from exchanging smiles to exchanging hugs, from secret glances to unabashed stares. What developed between them was nothing Harry had ever experienced before and he knew it was something special. Before he could explore it any further, Voldemort had gotten in the way and once again dashed away any chance he might have had with her. After the fall of the Dark Lord, Harry continued to hold a good deal of anger and resentment toward him and he knew anything with Ginny was doomed to fail until he could get his life in order. He was grateful to the fact that Ginny had no idea of his increasing feelings for her, since it would only have hurt both of them more when he left.

"Harry..."

Ginny's voice brought him out of his reverie and he turned to focus his gaze on her. "I'm sorry, I was just thinking about things."

"Unless it's about what you're going to eat, then I won't allow you to. Judging by the sullen look you just had on your face, I'm assuming it wasn't. Therefore, I'm insisting that you just shut your brain down for the night and concentrate on the happy fish over there." Ginny knew she was rambling and so took another sip just so she could keep her mouth occupied. She had watched Harry's face turn from carefree to contemplative to disconcerted to pained, and had wanted to get him out of that place he was going to before he depressed himself.

"Remember earlier in the street?" Harry asked.

"I'm short of memory sometimes, but not that short."

"I wanted to say something but then that...thing happened. Actually, I kind of wish a lot of things had gone differently today."

"No use in dwelling on it...everything happens for a reason, you know."

"Potter, finally decide to grace me with your presence?"

Harry smiled at Neville's voice and stood up to greet his old friend as he walked over to the table. "Neville, you prat, how come you never told me you were a successful entrepreneur?"

Neville shook Harry's outstretched hand and leaned in for a half-hug before answering. "Oh, no reason other than to surprise you...of course, if you spent more than a couple of days in town at a time, you could have been in the loop. Good to see you," he smiled and then gestured for Harry to sit down before he sat down beside Ginny. "Ginny, you look lovely as always."

"Flattery will get you everywhere, Nev," she said and playfully slapped him on the arm.

Tristan arrived a moment later with a platter filled to the rim of the delicious smelling appetizer and Ginny's mouth began to water. "This tastes just as good as it looks, so enjoy," he smiled and set the heaping plate down. "Have you decided on your main course?"

Ginny ignored him and dug into the crab dip with relish, so Harry chose to answer for them. "No, we're just a couple of slow pokes in here tonight," he said sheepishly.

Tristan laughed, "Not a problem, you are welcome to take as long as you like."

Ginny made a noise and shook her head no, holding up her index finger while she worked on chewing and swallowing her food. There was no way he was leaving again without their orders but since they hadn't even looked at the menus, she turned to Neville. "I'm sure everything here is great, but do you suggest anything in particular?"

"You trust me to order for you?" At Ginny's animated nod, he smiled and put a finger up to his mouth in thought. "Let's see...Ginny, I know you're partial to seafood, yes? I think you would enjoy the tequila and lime haddock fillet. And, Harry, you like anything that stands still..." He grinned at Harry's glare. "For you, I would recommend the linguine pomodoro with chicken."

"Sounds good to me," Ginny said immediately, then stuffed her mouth with another piece of bread.

Harry just nodded while he witnessed Ginny eating as if she had been stuck in the dessert for a month without food. "Excellent, I will get that ordered for you right away," said Tristan before making his departure.

Neville leaned forward and grabbed a piece of pita bread, dipping it in the sauce before taking a bite. "This gets better each time I try it," he said with a sigh. "Now I can understand why Ginny's eating like a crazy woman."

"Hmmph," was all she said, but both men saw the twinkle in her eye.

"How did you ever get the notion to open a restaurant in Muggle London?" Harry inquired. "You've done an incredible job on this place, by the way."

"Thank you, I've put a lot of time into it and I'm happily amazed to see such a positive reaction from the public. When Laura and I first moved here, I was feeling rather isolated from the Wizarding world and so one day, I just started to brainstorm on ways that I could incorporate the best of both worlds into one place. And two years later, voila..."

"Can I ask how you managed to do that? Couldn't there be a possibility of Muggles accidentally seeing something strange, like never-ending drinks? Which is a brilliant idea, I might add," Harry smiled.

"There's always that possibility but, fortunately, I had the best wizards and witches working with me on that to make sure the chances are slim to none. If something like that should happen, there is a charm that makes them think it was just a trick on the eye and nothing more. Believe it or not, I have both magical and non-magical people on staff – Harry, if you remember what it was like before you discovered the Wizarding world, you had no inkling of life other than what was in front of you, right? A lot of magic occurs within the Muggle world but since the idea of it is so foreign to them, Muggles never notice or pay attention to it. It's the same concept here and it has worked beautifully."

Harry stared at him in wonder, having never thought of it quite like that before. It made a lot of sense and Neville was right, he had been oblivious to magic before he had been introduced into the Wizarding world. Now, whenever he made trips into the Muggle world, he could spot a witch or wizard from a mile away. "Are you planning on expanding at all?"

"Not at the moment, but we'll see later down the road. I'm just kind of getting my feet wet and it can get a little overwhelming at times. I don't regret a second of it, though...I'm happy where I am."

Harry grinned when he saw the determination in Neville's eyes. He never thought Neville had it in him to do something big like this, but maybe this is what he needed to do to find his way in life. Ever since their Hogwarts days, Harry knew Neville always felt like the underdog when it came to trying to fit in and academics, with the exception of Herbology. Harry, himself, had never thought him incapable or unintelligent, but merely lacked the confidence and self-respect to be able to show the world the gifted wizard he truly was.

"So how's your life, Harry? Now that I know you're still alive, you won't get out of not coming to visit me." Neville picked up another pita with dip to eat and turned to put an arm around Ginny. "Sorry, don't mean to ignore you, how rude of me."

Ginny just shrugged, "Were you ignoring me? As you can see, I've been kind of busy packing away this scrumptious appetizer, so I haven't exactly noticed."

Neville laughed, "Okay, then I take my apology back." He looked back over to Harry expectantly, waiting for an answer to his question.

"My life is in progress...check back with me in a month or two or even two days, and I should have more of an exciting report for you. I'm rather enjoying my time off between seasons...looking forward to the World Cup."

"Naturally, why else would you be here in front of me? You will be at the party, won't you?"

"What party?"

"Ginny, you did tell him about it, didn't you?"

"No, haven't quite gotten the chance..."

"Tsk, tsk...I've arranged for a gathering in one of the top rooms at the stadium, catered by none other than yours truly. I'm surprised Ron hasn't told you about it already, considering how fanatical he is about Quidditch."

"I haven't been by to see him and Hermione yet, I just got into town today...of course I'll be there."

Tristan came in just then with two plates, larger than the one the appetizer was on, balanced in his hands and set them carefully down in their rightful spots. "Alright, hope you left room for the actual dinner part of the evening."

"Whoa," Harry stared incredulously at the generous portions. "Neville, are you trying to kill us?"

"Well, if I were trying to, I would've done it a long time ago. One of my rules for this place is that the customer never leaves hungry, so quit complaining. I shall leave you to your dinners," said Neville and stood up from the bench. He leaned down and kissed Ginny's cheek, "You behave yourself."

"I always do," she said with a wink.

"Keep an eye on her, Potter, there's no way I can trust her now. Will see you two at the party, then," said Neville. "Oh, and may I also recommend the chocolate sin for dessert? Of course, your meals are on the house this evening, so feel free to get whatever you want." He shook Harry's hand and then departed with Tristan in his wake, before they could utter a protest.

"Oy..." mumbled Ginny before taking her fork and digging in to her entrée.

"I quite agree," said Harry and eyed his own meal before diving into it.

After a few minutes of silence, they had barely made a dent in their plates, even with their incessant bites. "This is magnificent," Ginny breathed, looking longingly at her forkful of fish before consuming it.

"It is...there's no way this restaurant is going to not become one of the most popular places to come. So, Ginny, how have you been? It's been" he made a mental count of how long it had been since he'd last seen her.

"Almost a year," Ginny said nonchalantly. "And if you know what's good for you, you won't wait that long again to come and see me." She understood that Harry had a busy life, but had always felt hurt when months would pass before she heard from him or saw him. Especially after Hogwarts, when he had disappeared for the longest time, she had been worried sick when her owls weren't returned, but understood that he had needed time to himself. Now that she knew of his whereabouts, she didn't grant him the same lenience and expected him to at least owl her every once in awhile. Now that she thought of it, he hadn't exactly been on his way to see her this morning – it was really just a fluke accident. She frowned when that thought crossed her mind. Somewhere deep down she felt a pang of sadness that they were practically strangers compared to how they were back at school. After they had become close, she thought that they would never go backwards again, since they meant so much to each other. She felt an emptiness inside of her, wondering where it went wrong.

"Gin, are you okay?"

She didn't notice she had stopped eating and was staring intently at her plate. "I miss you," was all she said.

Harry's features immediately softened and he felt the urge to wrap her in a hug again. He knew precisely what she had been thinking about just a moment before, because the same thoughts had been plaguing him. "I miss you, too," he said quietly.

At the exact same moment, they both got up from the table and moved toward each other, not stopping until their arms were locked securely around the other. Ginny rested her face against his neck and Harry tightened his arms around her waist. They stood like that for a good few minutes and Harry started to become more aware of Ginny's form pressed up against him. No space stood between them and so the heat radiating from her filled his body, which made him more conscious of exactly what body parts he was feeling. Her breath on his neck made him involuntarily swallow and he clutched more forcefully at her waist, making her breath come out faster. The box in which he held his old feelings for her somehow unlocked itself and he felt overwhelmed at the intensity. He brought up a hand and settled it to her hair, gently taking hold of it.

Ginny's not so sharp mind knew something had changed in that moment, but she deftly ignored it, just wanting to feel the sensation of Harry's masculine body against hers. She took deep breaths of his scent and gripped his neck tighter. "Don't wait so long next time."

The vibration of her voice shot tingles throughout his body and he almost groaned aloud. Ginny wasn't the only person the alcohol was affecting and right now what he wanted to do was definitely against his better judgment. You can't do this, Potter, don't do this to yourself...and to Ginny. The voice inside of his head was loud enough for him to hear and he regretfully began to come out of the embrace. Once they were separated, brown eyes met green eyes and they stared at each other. "I'm sorry..." he said. He wasn't certain where along the line they had lost touch, but he missed it deeply, and knew that not another day would pass without rectifying it.

"Don't apologize, Harry. I said it once and I believe it, everything happens for a reason. The one good thing about life, though, is that we have the free will to make our own choices." She sat back down and Harry did the same but neither of them picked up their forks. "I'm just letting you know that no matter where we are in life, we still need to remember the past that we had, and I miss that. You were one of my best friends and you still are, not hearing from you for months or even years is ever going to change that. Sometimes, people get so caught up in their lives that they miss what's important to them. I'm sorry to say that I've gotten to be that way, but I realize that the rest of it is pointless if I don't have my family and friends...and you." Tears began to prickle at the corner of her eyes and she blinked rapidly, cursing herself for being so sentimental.

"Hey..." he reached across the table and grasped her hand. He sighed and thought a moment before speaking, "Another good thing about life is to make mistakes and learn from them. Merlin knows that I've made more than my fair share of them and a few of them I still regret making." He and Ginny's relationship back at school floated through his mind and absentmindedly began caressing her hand with his thumb. "One regret I have is that I never took you to the Yule Ball in fourth year."

Ginny blinked at him in surprise and her mouth hung open until she had her wits about her again to close it. "How can you regret it, you didn't think of me as even a friend."

"Another regret," he said with a feeble smile. "In fact, I would go back and relive all of that if we could have been friends sooner."

"No, you wouldn't."

"Yes. I would."

"Do you really think that highly of me?"

"Are you really that insane? Ginny, we took and gave so much from each other and after all was said and done, I asked myself how I ever managed to do it without you for so long."

"I don't think I ever thanked you for saving my life," she said softly.

"You don't have to and, besides, you've thanked me enough."

Ginny squeezed his hand and said thickly, "Thank you."

"You would have done the same for me."

And more, Ginny thought. "Come on, let's eat before our food gets cold."

As they began eating again, Ginny realized that she didn't have to worry about that. It had somehow managed to stay piping hot and it tasted just as good, if not better, than it did before. Tristan popped in one more time to see how they were holding up and they spent the rest of the evening enjoying each other's company and finding new features in the décor they hadn't noticed before.

They took it upon themselves to order the chocolate sin, even though both of them were a little overly satiated by the time their entrees were taken away. "I'm going to have to run ten miles just to burn all of this off," complained Ginny, as she took in another spoonful of chocolate. She giggled a moment later as she pictured herself running around the block with a ring of chocolate around her mouth. The spoon she held slipped from her fingers and hit the bowl of melted ice cream, splattering the table and the two people sitting at it in speckles of dessert. She covered her mouth with a hand to contain her merriment when she saw Harry's eyes go wide.

Harry did his best at giving her a reproving look but failed as he saw the mess she had made of the table. He took his wand out and waved it while saying the incantation for the cleaning charm. One thing he learned was that Ginny was definitely entertaining while intoxicated, and he found himself enjoying the situation about as much as she. "If you can't even handle your eating utensils properly, I'm going to have to confiscate them from you."

Ginny's cinnamon eyes sparkled at him and she let out another girlish chortle, not comprehending that it probably wasn't all that comical. "Not without a fight, Potter," she said challengingly.

Harry raised his eyebrows and suppressed the smile wanting to form on his mouth. "You do know who you're talking to, right? I'm one of the most powerful wizards in the world or something, aren't you afraid?"

"Of you?" She leaned over the table and attempted to take deep breaths in between her laughter, while Harry looked on in amusement. "You scare me about as much as...a...uh...my brothers! Don't make me laugh, my stomach hurts!"

Harry snorted, "I'm not doing anything, you're making yourself laugh."

Ginny sighed and disappeared from sight as she laid down on the bench with her knees bent up. She held her stomach and stared at the ceiling, waiting for her swimming head to clear a little. "Oh, Harry, lie down on the bench and look up," she said softly.

He shrugged and did as she told, lying down until they were head to head. His confusion cleared up when he looked at the ceiling and he smiled, "Wow, Neville didn't miss anything when he built this place, did he?"

The ceiling depicted the night sky and it was charmed to make the person think they were lying under the stars and gazing up into the endless abyss of space. A million stars twinkled and, every so often, shooting stars would glide across and disappear before hitting the barrier of the wall. It was easy to spot the constellations and various other formations as the stars involved shined particularly bright. "It's beautiful," Ginny murmured. She absentmindedly brought her hand up and began twirling her hair around her fingers. "Let's get out of here and look at the real stars."

Harry leaned his head back and caught the look of wonderment on her face. "As you wish," he said.

Ginny looked at him and smiled widely, "Princess Bride...such a romantic movie." She sighed and slowly made to sit up, ignoring the slight waves of dizziness in the process. She stood up and was still for a moment while she gathered her bearings. "Thanks for cleaning me up a few minutes ago, I'm sure I'll be groaning with embarrassment over it tomorrow."

He gently took hold of her arm and they walked out of the room, waving to Neville on their way out. Once they had escaped the even larger crowd waiting to get in, they began walking down the street back toward the Leaky Cauldron. "Do you want to stay here or go back?"

"Either or, but if we run into another one of those people, then I'd rather just stay here. Can I ask you a question?" Ginny glanced up at him and proceeded without waiting for an answer. "Do you like it when fans do that?"

Harry stared at her incredulously, "Do I like it? What kind of question is that?"

"A simple one, I think. I wouldn't blame you if you did, most of them are beautiful women."

He shook his head, not liking where this conversation was going in the least. "Of course I don't like it, Ginny...I guarantee the majority, if not all of them, are after me because I'm famous, not knowing that a real person resides within the celebrity. You know me better than that, I haven't liked the attention from the day I stepped into the Wizarding world."

"Why did you go into professional Quidditch, then?"

They strolled in silence for a while and Harry stared at the ground in thought. "I love being a Seeker and, at the time, I didn't think there was anything else for me."

"What about being an Auror? You didn't really tell me why you never went into that..."

"I..." he gulped and wondered if he wanted to tell her the real reason. What if she thought he was foolish for it?

Ginny saw his hesitation and grasped his hand tightly. "Harry, this is me, there's no reason you feel like you need to hide anything from me. Of course, if you don't want to tell me, that's okay, too."

"When I was in school, I thought that's what I really did want to do with my life...that was before I found out about the prophecy, though. After Voldemort was gone, I just didn't have it in me to do it anymore. I wanted to separate myself from that part of my life and that included wanting to be an Auror...I may be selfish, but in some way, I feel like I've already put my time in. Being a Seeker and flying was one of the only things that made me feel free and happy, so that's just what I did. I guess even though I'm doing what I want, I'm still kind of tied to the past, because I'll never escape the life that comes with being Harry Potter."

"Have you ever thought of leaving Quidditch?"

Harry shrugged, "A few times but, like I said, what else is out there for me?"

"Whatever you want, Harry...what is it you want?"

Harry slowed his pace at the question and didn't know he had stopped completely until Ginny let go of his hand. "A lot of things..." he said simply.

"Don't you think it's about time you lived the life that you want? Not that I'm telling you to quit Quidditch...you do it if that's what you want. I want you to be happy because it's what you deserve."

"Maybe...it's just weird to think about it. I can't see myself doing anything else, but I know that deep down I want other things...that doesn't really make sense."

"Actually, it does...you told me today that you wanted to travel. I saw the look on your face when you talked about it – I know that it's something you really want to do." She went over and sat on a bench, gazing at something in front of her. "I...I haven't exactly had the means to be able to do a lot of traveling, myself...it's kind of crazy that I would open up a travel shop and have hardly any other experience other than just reading and educating myself. You, Harry...you have the means, so go out and do it. Life is too short for regrets, you know?"

Harry came and sat down next to her, seeing the raw emotion on her face. His heart beat rapidly as the enormity of what she was saying hit him. He had no idea that she felt this way...that she had been this worried about him. What did he want to do? Did he really want to play Quidditch for the rest of his life as a career? "I don't know, I need time to think about it..." Maybe there was something more out there for him. He began to feel sparks of hope that somehow, maybe he just hadn't found where he was supposed to be. He stood up and smiled while offering his hand to her, "Come on, let's go back home...maybe we can look at the stars some other night."

Ginny felt a pang of disappointment before taking hold of his hand and standing up. She looked into his eyes and immediately calmed at the swirl of emotions she saw within. They began walking down the sidewalk and she noticed that he had not let go of her hand. Thoughts of his girlfriend fleeted through her mind, but she didn't want to break the comfortable silence opening that can of worms. She smiled at the thought that Harry would want to see her again to look at the stars.

THANK YOU, dafalcon, for all of your help with this chapter, I bow down before you! :u)