Unconventional Commitments

Chapter Six

The Six Stages of Embarrassment

I walk back into the house with my father with a feeling of impending doom. Actually, that is a lie, I do not feel impending doom, I know it. This is going to an absolute mess, what am I going to do? I have actually only been brave enough to bring a boyfriend home to the family once…and that was not a good experience. The horrors of that summer will be imprinted in my mind forever. Poor, poor Dean Thomas, I think he's been scarred for life.

Of course, Harry is not my boyfriend. Not even close, he is just someone that I may or may not have had a one-night-stand with. Nevertheless, everyone else, save Ron and Hermione, will soon be under the impression that he is. So I will be required to go along with that, and I have no clue what to do. How am I supposed to act exactly? Do I hold his hand? Do I kiss him?

I finally settle on the resolve that I will take the coward's way out and give him the distinct pleasuring of leading the situation. Congratulations, Harry, and you are very welcome.

My dad and I finally make it to the door and I am greeted with the observation that Harry has made it while I was out back. There goes the slight hope that I was clinging to that he might not show up and I will have nothing to worry about. I could have played the role of victim extremely well, "He must not care for me after all…" and all that.

"Uh, hey, Harry," I greet lamely.

"Hello, Ginny."

All right, so things are going fine. We have both said hello without either one of us turning away in embarrassment. So far, so good. I have just gained a bit of confidence about the situation when my mother intercepts.

"Ginny," she scolds, "is that any way to greet your boyfriend?"

Harry's eyes widened at her last word, and mine close in disbelief. I take a few steps until I am right in front of Harry; I lean in close to his ear and whisper, "I am so sorry," before kissing the corner of his mouth.

I go to move away, but find that Harry's hand has slipped around my back and he is now keeping me directly in front of him. He lowers his head and kisses me full on the mouth before I can even register what is happening. The kiss itself lasts less than a minute, but it feels closer to an eternity. By the time he pulls away my face is beet red and I find myself unable to meet his eyes.

"Hello, darling," he greets once more. He then turns toward my mother. "Is that more appropriate, Mrs. Weasley?"

My mother all but gushes, "Oh, Harry, dear, you such the romantic."

I heard equal noises of gagging coming from behind me. "Harry mate," George says, "just make sure you don't attempt to greet me."

A loud "pop" saves me from the twins' attention being turned to me. I bravely turn around to see Bill has appeared.

"Hello all," he says cheerfully. His gaze stops on me. "Say, how come Gin is all red?"

Fred and George immediately burst into peels of laughter before gleefully motioning Bill to come closer to them. "Well," Fred begins, "it seems that Harry here—"

"Is our little Ginny's new beau," George finishes.

Bill's eyes narrow as he turns toward Harry, "Is that a fact?"

Harry places an arm bravely around my waist. I jerk away out of reflex, but quickly settle into his embrace on second thought. "Yeah," he responds with surprising confidence.

Bill then turns to me, waiting for me to confirm the fact, when yet another Weasley appears out of thin air. Yes, we Weasleys are our own personal clown car—it is a never-ending stream of us.

Charlie smiles widely at all of us. "Hey everyone—why is Ginny so red? Is she sick?"

"It seems," Bill says shortly, "that she has a boyfriend."

"Another one? Is he here?" Charlie looks around until he notices Harry's arm circling me. He nods slowly in understanding. "Well, now…that is certainly unexpected."

Charlie takes his place next to Bill and they seem to reach some sort of unspoken understanding. "Harry," Bill says, "do you think we could see you outside for a moment?"

"Actually," I interrupt before Harry can do anything, "he's busy. Perhaps later, though."

"He doesn't appear to be busy," Charlie says suspiciously.

They were obviously hopeless. "I'll tell you what," I relent, "how about the two of you talk to me instead?"

They looked disappoint. "Alright," Charlie mutters as we moved to the door.

Back outside once more, I look at both of them pointedly. "Stop it."

Bill gives me an innocent look, "Stop what?"

"Stop being caveman brothers, I do not need either of your protection or approval. Leave Harry alone, I mean that."

"Ah, c'mon, Gin," Charlie moans, "we just want to talk to him."

"No," I clarify, "you want to intimidate him. You don't understand the situation, so just leave it alone. I want both of you to promise me right now that you will not do or say anything to Harry involving me." Neither said a word. "Promise me, now."

Bill sighed. "I promise, Gin."

"Yeah," Charlie followed, "I promise too."

"Promise what?"

"To not say or do anything to Harry involving you," they repeated simultaneously.

I look each of them in the eye before opening the door once more. "Good. I have to say, I'm proud of both of you, you have really come a long way since that summer when Dean stayed with us."

Bill grins and steps into the house, "Yeah that kid will think twice before gathering the gall to kiss you in front of us again."

After my satisfactory chat with Bill and Charlie—the brothers most likely to cause a scene—I feel at least half-confident that dinner will go over all right. I mean, things can not be worse then that awkward kiss, right?

We all sit down at the table and I realize my vital mistake; I have done nothing to prevent Fred and George from being…well, themselves, really. Damn, damn, damn. This could be potentially catastrophic.

I look at each of them wearily. Harry is seated beside me, and the twins were across from us. I swallow hard and attempt to convey some sort of mental message to them. Do not embarrass me; please do not embarrass me, please, please, please—

"So, Gin," Fred says conversationally, "have you told Harry here the story of what happened to the first bloke you brought around here?" So much for my psychic powers…

"No, Fred," I seethe, "I haven't. But it isn't really is not an interesting story, so I suggest you drop it."

Fred shrugs and drops the story. Unfortunately, George picks it right back up. "Well, you see, Harry, the first boy that she brought home was—" he appears to be perplexed. "Ginny, what was his name?"

"I have absolutely no clue, George," I say dryly.

George shakes his head at me, "Now, you see, that is horrible. Honestly, Ginny, if you didn't have so many boyfriends then perhaps you could remember all of their names. This is what I'm talking about, Harry, you have to watch out for her—"

"Dean," Harry says lowly, "are you talking about Dean?"

"By God that's it!" George exclaims loudly. "Dean. That was his name."

Harry rapidly appears to be losing color. "I was here that summer," his voice cracks, "that summer…when Dean came to visit Ginny."

The twins at least have the decency to flinch. "Well, you understand, mate; brothers got to do what brothers got to do and all—"

"No!" I hiss quietly enough so my parents will not hear, "You did not have to do that! Do you know that till this day Dean will not look or speak to me? Both of you need to stop, right now."

Fred grins at me complacently, "Aw, be a sport, Gin."

I stand up and throw my napkin down on the table, "Fred, George, would you please help me with something in the living room?"

The twins shrug before following me out. I pace in front of them, not able to even scold them I am so angry. I finally come to a stop in front of George and give him a swift kick in the shin.

He immediately bends down and places a hand over his knee. "Oww! What's the idea, Ginny?!"

"You had no right, no right whatsoever!"

"I didn't even bloody say anything!"

"You…you mentioned Dean. Harry was here that summer that all of you scarred poor Dean for life! You mean to scare him away from me, don't you?"

Fred steps up. "Now, Ginny, we only wanted to share a nice family story with our friend Harry."

George nods in agreement, "And there is nothing wrong with that."

I point my index finger at both of them. "Butt out of my private life! I have already blackmailed Ron and warned Bill and Charlie. You know damn well what I can do to both of you, so I am not even going to say it. I will only say this, Mum will have some interesting photographs by the end of the night if either one of you so much thinks the name Dean. Savvy?"

The look at each other momentarily before glancing back at me. "Right, Gin," they say together.

"Whatever you want," George adds.

"Yeah," Fred says, "we won't do anything. Weasley honor."

I stalk back into the kitchen and see Bill and Charlie starring daggers at Harry. Moreover, poor Harry looks paler than he did when I left him. "That's it," I declare. "Harry, we are leaving. Thank you for dinner, Mum, it was wonderful. Dad, always lovely to see you. The rest of you…I suppose I will see you sometime in the near future."

Harry looks immediately relieved as he stands from his chair. "Thanks for dinner, Mrs. Weasley," he says quickly before disapparating.

I sigh and repeat his actions, going back to my apartment. Thankfully, Hermione is still at The Dinner from Hell with Ron. Though with how many people attend our dinners if they sit at the opposite end of the table, as Ron and Hermione did, you do not even have to communicate with them; which is a very good thing for Ron, who set this whole thing in motion.

I throw myself down on the sofa, hoping to just go to sleep. However, I notice that I do not land on the soft cushions, instead I land on something hard…I scream and jump up quickly. It is a bloody person! It is…Harry?

"What are you doing here?"

"I…I just came here…instead of going home. I wanted to talk to you; I figured you would be a minute so I sat down here."

"Oh. Well, look, I just want to apologize for whatever you had to go through tonight. I know my brothers can be difficult, believe me I know, and you are such an absolute hero for putting up with it and not screaming at me right now."

He looks around sheepishly. "It's nothing, really. I mean, every guy in Gryffindor had nightmares about the stories they heard about what happened to Dean, poor, poor Dean, that summer…but I just…"

"You just what?"

"I wanted to tell you that—I mean this is dumb, really, because it was so long ago and all…but in your sixth year, I fancied you. Big time."

I resist the urge to laugh. "You fought with me constantly that year. You were an inch away from hating me, I mean; we fought more than you and Malfoy."

He refuses to look at me. "I picked fights with you on purpose. It was the only way I could think of to talk to you—stupid, I know. I just really liked you, but you were so unattainable, not to mention unapproachable. I was terrified to do anything but fight with you, if I had shown you anything close to affection; your brothers would have done the same to me that they did to Dean. Anyway, I just thought you should know that. And, I also wanted you to know that I'm not afraid anymore."

I sit in silence for a good two minutes before letting out an articulate, "Oh."

"Well," Harry says as he stands up, "I will let you get to bed. I know you have to work tomorrow. I'll see you around, Gin."

"Yeah," I respond dully after he has disapparated. "See you."

A/N-this chapter is dedicated to everyone who attended my last family reunion. Lol, you all are my inspiration for the Weasley dinner. Even though none of you are reading this at the moment…oh well. Sorry about the delay in getting this chapter out, I got caught up with school. Next one will hopefully be out soon, a thousand thanks to all the reviewers of the last chapter, and a million thanks to those of you who are about to review. You are going to review, right? C'mon, you know you want to! No? Well, just do it anyway…