Disclaimer: My story, but not my characters!
A/N: A quick reply to the first seven reviewers.
Tessa11: Thanks, I will!
Sarahamanda: I like your name. As for what he'll say, you'll have to read and see.
Wilania: Thank you for the thanks! I don't think they would do this either, but if they did…
Genie FF03: Thank you for the compliment. I don't know if Rowling's wizarding world believes in God, but I have to write what I know, and I have a personal relationship with God. Basically, it's what I would have said in her place.
Arios: I'll try my best to update quickly; I can't get this story out of my head.
Kori Bischoff: Thank you! I hope you keep reading and reviewing!
Niki: I realize the basis for this idea has been run over often, but mine will be slightly different, and sometimes a little hard to believe, for both Ginny and the reader!
On with the show!
Chapter Two:
Caviar Dreams and a Spam Budget
Ginny sat in her dining room staring moodily at the empty fireplace. She and Harry had sat for hours at the restaurant discussing what was going to happen now. Ginny told him that if she had to, she would say the baby was someone else's but she was going to keep it. It was her blood after all. She knew that she'd never be able to live with herself if she gave up a child that she helped create.
Harry, of course, was dumbfounded. She figured it would probably take him a few days to figure out what he wanted to do. He knew she was going to keep the baby, and knowing Harry, he'd help with finances and such. In her heart of hearts, Ginny wished he would sweep her up and declare his undying love for her. But the reality was Harry wasn't interested in marrying the baby sister in the Weasley family.
The only thing to do would be to marry her, Harry decided as he held a towel to his dripping face. He'd been thinking for hours and this was the only logical solution. Harry would offer her a marriage of convenience in order to salvage her reputation, and then later on, they could divorce amicably and just say that it didn't work out between them. Divorce was better for Ginny's reputation than being pregnant when she wasn't even dating anyone. They could tell everyone the baby was early.
Harry was convinced it was the simplest, easiest way to cover up what had really happened, and the best option available for them. Now, if he could just convince Ginny.
Ginny was deep in thought when the doorbell rang. She assumed it was Anna, the daughter of her only non-muggle neighbor. Anna often came over to the little house to hear stories of Hogwarts and when Ginny went to school. Anna's mother had gone to school in the United States, and had only come to live in England when she was married. Anna's father had gone to Durmstrang and was very adamant that his daughter should go to Hogwarts.
She went to answer the door only to find Harry standing there, very disheveled.
"Harry, you look awful."
He gave her a sardonic look. "Thanks, you're looking lovely as well."
Ginny shook her head. "Sorry, Harry. I'm a little distracted at the moment. Won't you come in?"
She led him to the kitchen, wishing she were feeling more light-hearted, as she had yesterday when a similar scene had played out.
"What brings you here so soon?" she asked as she put on the water for tea. "I actually expected it would be a few days before I heard from you."
"I won't run away from my responsibilities," Harry bit out.
"I wasn't implying that you would," she replied calmly. Ginny knew what she was going to do. Maybe it wasn't going to be easy, especially telling her mother, but she would get by,
"I've been thinking about this since yesterday," Harry explained in the same fashion as though he were reading from a script. "I believe the only logical thing to do would be for us to get married."
Ginny had been getting out the tea things and dropped a green teacup on the floor. Harry was on his feet in an instant, but Ginny waved him back.
"I'll get it, Harry. Sit down," she instructed as she turned to the broom hanging on the wall in the corner. "Of all the things you could have said, I was not expecting that sentence."
She swept up the pieces of cup and fetched another green one from the cabinet. As she prepared two cups of tea, Harry watched in silence until she was sitting at the table with him.
Ginny looked into his eyes, there confirming the fearful quality she'd heard in his voice.
"Are you frightened of me, Harry?"
Harry looked up at Ginny in alarm. Frightened? Yes, he was frightened. He'd never been in a situation half so volatile in all the years he had tried to escape Voldemort's wrath.
Ginny shook her head sadly. "I'm not going to destroy you, Harry. I'm not planning on running to the paper and telling the world that I was knocked up by The-Boy-Who-Lived. I'm not going to call my brothers over to beat you half to death. I'm not even going to yell. I don't want to make you suffer. I just wanted you to know what I plan on doing."
He was amazed. He hadn't even been aware that he was afraid of all that, but when Ginny was talking, everything rang true. But he still stuck by his suggestion.
"I mean it, Gin. I think the best option is for us to get married. Later on, we can separate, but if we're married for a while, no one will think your reputation is anything than what it is."
"Human?" she queried in an amused tone. "Harry, we made a mistake, but you don't have to rearrange your whole life because of it. I would have preferred to be married before having a child, but apparently it's not in the cards for me. I am really okay with it."
Harry shook his head. She wasn't handling it the way he had planned. "This is really bad luck, is all."
Ginny laughed. "Theirs is no such thing as luck, Harry. Everything is the result of a choice. I'd like to have been married, but I'm not. I'd like a million galleons, I've got about ten until next week. There are lots of things I'd like. I've got Caviar Dreams, but I've only got a Spam budget."
"You could afford Caviar Reality if you were Mrs. Potter."
Ginny gaped at Harry. He was really serious! She considered it for a moment. No. She couldn't do that to Harry or herself. She wanted to marry once, for love, and be married for a lifetime. She didn't want to be a "convenient" wife. She wanted to be someone's true love!
"Harry, I can't…"
He took her hands in his, and Ginny's breath caught. This was wrong, all wrong; but it felt right. She said a quick prayer that she would know what she should say, what answer Harry needed to hear.
"Ginny, I know you deserve so much, and I won't be the reason anyone thinks for a moment that you are less than wonderful. Say you'll marry me. We'll elope, and your family will be upset that we didn't tell them, but we'll throw a huge party afterward. You can buy a house that suits your fondness. You can furnish it however you want. Get everything just the way you want it for our child, and I'll stay as long as you like, and when you've had enough of me, I'll leave you to your house."
"Oh, Harry. I don't know…"
Harry hadn't planned the next part. Ginny knew he hadn't. He slid out of his seat, onto one knee on the floor. He would say for years afterward that he didn't know why he did it. Only that it felt as though someone had given him a gentle push in that direction. Suddenly, he was kneeling at Ginny's feet, still holding her trembling hand, and he knew he had to make her say yes.
"Please, Ginny. I will make you happy if it takes everything I have. Let me do this. Marry me."
It was probably the most romantic proposal for a marriage of convenience that Ginny had ever heard. In her mind, her rationale was screaming, raging at her to think things through more clearly. But then, Ginny was never one to think things through completely. She followed her instincts and her heart, and that was how she'd gotten here.
That was why she said, "I will marry you."