Chapter 6: Catching the Snitch
The wedding ceremony was quite original, for it mixed Muggle and Wizard traditions. They all gathered in the Weasley´s garden, which had been specially prepared for the party, and had previously been magically enlarged.
Hermione´s mother cried during all the service, and Mrs. Weasley´s face had a twitched expression that probably meant that she was avoiding to do the same thing. Hermione was very pretty in her dress robe covered with daisies, but Harry could hardly deviate his gaze from Ginny.
"At least try to close your mouth a little bit" muttered Fred by his side, surprising a giggle.
At the party Harry met with several of his old school friends. A flash called his attention, and he turned to see Colin Creevey and his wife, Luna Lovegood. Luna had a blond baby in her arms.
"Harry, may I take a photo of you holding Neville?" asked Colin.
Harry was pretty sure that he wouldn´t be looking very happy in that photo. The baby´s name had awaken a succession of memories in him, as Neville Longbottom´s face had appeared in his mind.
Harry and Neville had always shared a strange connection. A prophecy had named them both as Voldemort´s potential defeaters, but Voldemort had chosen Harry to be his equal. Harry and Neville had been deprived of their parent´s love because of Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Harry and Neville had both fallen in love with the same girl, and she had chosen Harry. But it had been Neville who died to save her. And by saving Ginny, Neville had also saved Harry.
Hermione´s voice called Harry to reality. It was his turn to dance with the bride, according to some weird Muggle tradition, which had also forced a flushing Ron to dance with Hermione´s mother.
Hermione´s happiness was so overwhelming that Harry found himself smiling again.
"I still remember your face the night Ginny and I found you two kissing in that wardrobe".
"Sometimes it seems to me like it was only yesterday. Oh, I was so mad at you two for playing with us", Hermione said smiling.
"You know Ginny... she has it in her blood", Harry replied while looking at Ginny, who was dancing with Fred..
"I will never understand why Ginny and you are not together" Hermione said reading Harry´s expression
"This dress robe is killing me... it´s too hot in here" Harry said loosening his tie.
"Harry Potter, don´t you dare change the subject in my wedding day!".
"We have taken different paths" Harry said sighing sadly.
"Well, Ginny is moving to London this month. She´s got a job in St. Mungo´s. She is looking for an apartment, perhaps you can help her." Hermione forced him to give a turn, and they ended in front of Fred and Ginny.
"Can I have a dance with my favourite brother-in-law?" Hermione asked. So Harry had no choice but to dance with Ginny.
They spoke about the ceremony, joking about Ron´s terrified face when he thought that Harry had forgotten the rings.
"So... I heard that you´ll be working in St. Mungo´s. Congrats!"
"Thanks! But now I´m facing a tougher task: to find an apartment. I´ve even tried with a Muggle newspaper... Muggle rents are cheaper sometimes ...But I don´t get a word of those adds."
"May be I could help you... I can be your real state agent!"
"Real mate?! I need help, but I don't know what you are speaking about... I do hope that you are offering me something inappropriate... appropriate!!"
Harry looked at her deeply amused, and saw Ginny´s ears turned to a strong shade of red.
"It´s a hot day for the Day of the Dead, isn´t it?", Ginny muttered making herself a pony tail.
The following Tuesday Ginny emerged from Harry´s fireplace at the exact time they had agreed to meet. Harry was preparing himself breakfast, and invited her with watermelon and grapefruit juice.
"Is this one still your favourite morning drink?" he asked.
Ginny nodded, while looking at Harry´s dining room.
"Time has changed you, Harry. It seems that you´ve become a tidy person."
"When you are by yourself you have no choice".
"Do I look as Muggle as I should?" Ginny asked.
"Your skirt should be shorter" said Harry, and with a movement of his wand turned it into a miniskirt.
"So you´ve become a pervert too" Ginny said laughing.
After a whole week of intense search Harry and Ginny concluded that it was very difficult to find a nice cheap apartment. Ginny´s was just a beginner, and her salary couldn´t afford too much expenses. She was decided to live by herself though.
But luck smiled to Harry soon: he found a small first floor apartment available in his own block. The rent was way over what Ginny was able to afford, so Harry made a deal with the owner. Harry would secretly pay half the rent, and the owner would asked Ginny for half the money.
Ginny loved the place, but she immediately muttered to Harry : "I could never ever afford a place like this". She was very surprised when she heard the price, and grabbed Harry by his arm and took him outside.
"This Muggle is crazy... this place costs twice as much. He must be hiding something from us".
Harry had already found the perfect alibi:
"The neighbours believe that it´s haunted".
So Harry turned Ginny his neighbour.
Having Ginny so near allowed Harry to come by with any excuse.(though most of them were not very reasonable or believable). When he ran out of sugar, when he forgot about some house cleaning spell, when he wanted to play chess, he knocked at her door. They spent most of their free time together. For the New-Year´s Eve Pre-Party from the Department of Mysteries, Harry invited Ginny, causing several giggles and inquisitive stares from his workmates.
Clotilde, a witch that had worked at the Department for the last 30 years, faced them without hesitation or embarrassment:
"It´s hard to believe that you two could be friends. I read about you... I know that once you were more than friends. And everyone knows that ashes always remain after the fire".
Harry choked with his drink but said nothing.
After the party they returned to Ginny´s place, and she offered him a cup of tea.
"You Unspeakables are really amusing. I think that is because you never speak about work", Ginny joked.
Harry was feeling particularly uninhibited after he couldn´t tell how many Fire Whiskies he had drunk.
"I´ve never told you the reason why Karenina dumped me".
"Yes you did...She thought that you could never love her".
"That´s just a part of it... she said that I could never love her, because I was already in love with another woman."
Ginny made a strange gesture, wrinkling her nose like a cat.
"I have a confession too...Do you remember the musical card you sent me for my birthday?. Jean Luc went crazily jealous when he saw it. He said that he could not compete with a memory... that you would always be between us. So he said goodbye."
Harry and Ginny stood in silence staring fixedly at their cups.
"Ginny... Do you reckon that they have a point?"
Finally, Harry found out that he wasn´t the only one who had drunk perhaps too many Fire Whiskies. He raised his head and saw Ginny´s face very close to him, and felt that she was kissing his nose. He needed nothing else to hug her.
"I´ve missed you so much" he muttered in her ear.
The morning after those very passionate and long awaited kisses, Harry woke up utterly happy. He prepared breakfast for two, put in on a tray, and went to Ginny's house. He chose to walk, because apparating and glasses didn't get well together.
Harry had a key (after all, he was paying half the rent), both facts that Ginny ignored. He found Ginny deeply asleep, in a very odd position. He didn't want to wake her up, so he sat on a chair next to her bed and remained there watching her sleep. More or less three quarters of hour later, Ginny did a funny noise and opened her eyes.
"Good morning"
Ginny stared at him in disbelief.
"I brought you breakfast. The last one of the year".
Ginny sat in her bed, staring at him in silence.
"Oh Harry" she said at last. "Last night... did we...?"
"We kissed" Harry said, offering her a glass of watermelon juice.
Ginny drank the whole glass at once.
"And where are we now?" she asked.
"Your place" said Harry.
"I know that... I mean... us".
"I was half drunk last night, but that didn't make me a liar. I've missed you so much, Ginny... After we broke up, I took me many months to start dating again. And the first girl that I kissed ... I kissed her only because she had your laugh. My second girlfriend had your freckles. Karenina had your sense of humor. I was always looking for you, but I wasn't aware of it."
"You will never let me get over you, won't you?" said Ginny throwing him a pillow.
"During my fourth year at Hogwarts I was so sure that you meant nothing to me but a friend. But in my fifth year, we become closer...and I began to like the real you...I still remember you carrying my books...You made me fall in love with you... Then we broke up, and now, after five years, I believed that I finally was over you... till we met again two months ago... and I felt like I was going to have a heart attack."
"Do you not realize it?" Harry asked her. "We never had an end... it was more like... a necessary pause".
"We were just kids. We had to grow up and figure out many things... We were so in love...", Ginny said looking at him hopefully. "Do you think that it´s true... that you cannot forget your first love?".
Harry didn´t answer. He sat by her side, caressed her face, and kissed her tenderly.
"So it´s us again..." muttered Ginny.
They remained in silence, looking at each other and giving themselves time to completely understood what that meant.
"Perhaps it would be better to keep this private for a while... you know my family..." said Ginny after a couple of minutes.
"The second after we´ll tell them that we are back together, they will be naming our children" Harry said laughing.
Ginny blushed slightly, but then she seemed to realize something and said:
"So tell me... how did you come in? I always close my fireplace at night."
And then it was Harry´s turn to blush.
Harry knew that things rarely go as you plan them.
It was the last Friday of January, and Harry was preparing to leave his house when a red haired head, immediately followed by a bushy one, appeared in his fireplace.
"HARRY!" the yellowed.
"Ron, Hermione... what...?"
He was interrupted by a magazine that flew from his fireplace directly into his head, covering him with ashes. Harry grabbed it, and saw the cover of the last issue of Witch Weekly: a picture of Ginny and him laughing and kissing.
"How could you! You told me that you didn´t need another relationship now!" said Hermione.
"We met yesterday and you said nothing!" exclaimed Ron.
Harry babbled something, but he stopped when he saw a third head popping in his fireplace.
"Mum! It´s already crowded in here!" Ron shouted.
Mrs. Weasley paid no attention to his son.
"Harry! I´ve always wanted this to happen... but not to learn about it this way!"
At last Harry recovered himself, and with his best diplomatic tone he explained:
"We were planning to tell you all at Charlie´s birthday party, as a surprise".
"That thing on your couch... is it...?" Ron grunted.
Harry stepped forward, so he could block the sight of his couch. Ginny had flooed that morning to have breakfast with him, and she had forgotten her dressing gown. He didn´t want to give any explanations, specially in front of Mrs. Weasley.
"Actually I´m a bit late for work... so if I could use my fireplace..."
Harry met with Ginny for lunch, and he didn´t need to explain her that every witch and wizard of the country was now aware of their relationship, and that they had most probably offended the whole Weasley family. However, at Charlie´s birthday party they found that the Weasley were so happy about them, that they even forgot to look offended.
Harry and Ginny tried not to make the same mistake twice. Five minutes after they had agreed about it, they sent simultaneous messages to all their friends and relatives, announcing that they would get married the following month. But somehow somebody else heard of it too, and a special issue of Witch Weekly (about what they announced as the wedding of the century) appeared that same night.
The EndI wish I could say that they lived happily ever after, but that´s not up to me to decide.