Disclaimer: Mine, mine, mine! Huh? Not Mine? Argh! Fine! :::pouts:::
A/N: Well, this is interesting. The story is taking a turn I hadn't expected. I really wasn't planning on having our favorite couple stay the night, together. I really wasn't. They insisted, all over the place. Harry reminded me that there wasn't a hotel anywhere nearby and that Ginny was tired enough that she might not make the right grate, if she tried to go home. Plus, Ginny had her wand out and pointed at me. She was very persuasive. We all know what her bat-bogey hex can be like. Not testing that. Uh-uh. No way. Ain't goin there. So...
To my faithful reviewers, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Every successful writer I've ever talked to has said that a good story writes itself. This one seems to be doing that, even if it tends to get a bit stubborn about finding it's way out to my keyboard at times. With all the lovely reviews I've had so far, the story seems to be preening a bit today, and is more than willing to hop out and say 'Hi' to everybody.
GiGiFanfic: Thanks to you, too, Jeanne. I'm really glad you're enjoying it, and I don't mind you reviewing this much at all, darlin. To be honest, I actually look forward to reading your comments. You're a sweetheart. ::looks around:: I'd better be careful. Don't know if my wife's gonna read this...lol Me, magic? Well...now, that would be telling...hehehe
Xayne: Yeah, me too. How could anybody not love the two of them?
Rachel132: I've tried to keep the characters as true to the original as I can, while still showing what I think they might mature into. I really doubt that Harry would stay the way he was, or that Ginny would allow him too.
Byron245: You know, every time I wrap up a chapter, I look at the length, and am surprised that it's not longer. It certainly feels longer.
And now that the commercials are done, and the editorial reporter has been booted out of the studio, on with the show.
What's next?
Harry and Ginny got up from the couch awhile later, heading for the bed. They were both very tired, so Ginny knew she wouldn't need the spells that her mother had hinted at earlier. With a gesture, Harry transfigured the clothes they were wearing to nightclothes for them. Ginny looked at him and asked, "Alright, Potter. What is this? You get pajamas, and I get a nightshirt that barely covers my bum? At least make it a bit longer." Harry grinned and gestured once more. Now Ginny's nightshirt was a few inches longer, but it clung to her lithe figure a bit more.
Harry asked her, "Can I help it if I think you have great legs?" He took a look at the bed. It looked like Mike had been right about how lumpy the mattress was. He cast a quick softening charm on it, followed by one to smooth everything out. The two of them slid under the covers, glad of the chance to get some rest. It really had been a long day. Ginny laid on her side, facing him.
"Harry, do you know what the best part of today was? Apart from finally getting our feelings out in the open?"
Harry shook his head, not quite sure where this was going.
Ginny continued. "I don't think I've ever seen as many real smiles on your face as I've seen today. In the past few years, there have been a few, but they've been so far between. All of us spent so long training, learning, doing everything we could to try and get ready for what we knew was coming. Everything we had was going into that. But, most of the rest of us, Ron, Hermione, the Twins, Tonks, Remus, me, all found at least a little time to relax. You never did." She glared at him a moment. "And don't you dare to think that it's your lot in life to be that way." The glare softened now, into a more tender look. "Even if it was, it isn't anymore. Now, it's time for you to take a good look around, and see what we were fighting for. We all knew what we were fighting against, and you've always been perhaps the best of us at seeing that." Ginny gave a grin. "Now, though, it's time to have some fun. When you told us you were taking this trip, I was so happy. I mean, I wasn't happy about the fact that I wouldn't be seeing you. I hated that thought, as a matter of fact. the part I was happy about was the fact that, for the first time since I've known you, you had actually decided to do something just for you." She sat up for a minute, looking at him. "Do you know, in all the time I've known you, you've never once mentioned going on holiday?" This realization seemed to shock her.
Harry laughed softly, but with a scowl on his face. "You know, the closest thing to that, that I ever did with the Dursleys was the Hut-On-The-Rock?" He smiled up at her. "The first time I ever actually enjoyed even a bit of a summer was when Ron and the Twins came to get me, with your dad's flying Anglia. They were pretty pleased with themselves, over that one."
Ginny laughed out loud at something. At Harry's questioning look, she said, "The Infamous Rescue Caper. That was what they called it, for the next couple of years. It took them ages to convince Mum that there really were bars on the window of your room at Privet Drive. At first, she was utterly convinced that was just some story Ron told to try and get out of trouble. She finally relented not too long before we came to get you for the Quidditch World Cup."
Harry said, "You know, I think the way she reacted to what they told her about the bars was the first time I had ever seen a hint of the way a real family is supposed to act towards each other. Just the thought that she couldn't believe, wouldn't accept really, that somebody would do that was enough to make me see that the Burrow was a proper home." He took the pretty witch's hand in his. "I don't know if I ever said this before, but you couldn't know how much I feel I owe your family. All of you, and especially you, Ginny, have taught me what love really is." He shook his head. "I don't know if I would have ever been able to say any of this before. I'd like to think I would have, given the chance. I doubt it, though. All I know for sure is that, over the past few days, as much as I've enjoyed this trip so far, I knew there was something missing. For some reason, the more I drove, the more I knew I wanted to share it with somebody, and the face I kept seeing was yours." He caressed her cheek tenderly, and leaned in to kiss her. When their lips broke apart, he continued. "I knew it for sure on the way to the hospital tonight. With you sitting behind me, your arms around me, I felt whole, for the first time in my life. It almost hurt when you got out from behind me, when we arrived there. That's why, when we got back here, I just knew I had to tell you how I felt. I knew that if I didn't tell you as soon as possible, I likely never would. I couldn't take the risk of losing you."
Ginny looked steadily back at him, her love showing in her eyes. "You silly git. You never could. Don't you know you always had me?"
He almost couldn't speak. "I didn't know. I'll never ever forget."
The two of them fell asleep a short while later, Ginny's back against Harry's chest. It wasn't exactly a dreamless sleep, but none of the bad dreams were any worse than the average, and the good ones were actually quite nice.
Ginny awoke the next morning, and turned to face Harry. She found him awake, his emerald eyes looking back at her with a tenderness that warmed her to the core. She said, "Hi." Harry replied, "Good morning, sleepyhead.", and leaned down to kiss her. They both got out of bed, he to the kitchen to start breakfast, and she to visit the loo.
She joined him in the kitchen a few minutes later, watching him quietly. He moved around with a quiet efficiency, putting breakfast together. After a bit, he brought the eggs, bacon and toast to the table. He turned for a moment, starting the dishes washing themselves in the sink. He sat down to eat with her.
Once they had finished with breakfast, Ginny asked, "Is there a store around here where I can get a few changes of clothes? We really can't keep changing one outfit from one thing to another." She grinned at him.
Harry replied, "I'm sure there's something around here where we can find you a few things. If nothing else, we need to find you something more suitable for riding." He got up and went out to the bar area for a minute, returning with a large softcover book. He turned to some yellow colored pages, and started paging through. He found the section her was looking for and looked up. "It looks like there's a store not far from here. Shouldn't take too long to go and pick a few things out. Shall we?"
The two got up, and he grabbed a change of clothes from his trunk, going into the bathroom for a moment to change. When he came back out, he saw that she had transfigured her night clothes. The jeans were back, but the T-shirt was now a long sleeve shirt. She grabbed her pullover as he watched, and put it on, stretching as she did so. It was a simple action he had seen her do many times, but he had never appreciated the subtle grace she lent even to such a small thing as that.
Just as they were turning to leave, the fire flared up green for a moment. The two saw it, and turned back, watching. A moment later, they saw Mike Callahan's face in the flames. "You two going? I was hoping you'd stick around another day."
Ginny said, "Well, we probably should stay another day at least, so I can check on that little girl."
Harry shrugged and said, "We don't have any kind of schedule. Sounds good to me. We just need to go out for a while. Ginny needs some clothes."
Mike said, "I think the closest would be Commack Corners, about five or six miles north. They have a pretty good selection of stores. You should be able to find most of what you need there. Gonna be back later? I have something I wanted to show you."
"We should be back before long. Just a few errands to take care of."
The three talked for a few minutes more, before the couple walked outside. The mounted the old Triumph, and Ginny slipped her arms around Harry's waist. He turned his head to smile at her, then kicked the big bike to life. As they pulled out of the lot and into traffic, he felt that he had never been happier in his life.
A few minutes later, they pulled into the lot outside the shopping centre. Macy's looked the best bet for some nice clothes. They walked in, looking around. Ginny pointed when she spied the women's section, and they set off across the store. Harry watched as she wandered through, seemingly choosing items at random. When she had quite a few things picked out, she searched out the changing rooms. He waited outside the doors, by the mirrors, as she went in and started trying things on. Harry actually enjoyed seeing the combinations she put together, showing her creativity. Once she had gone through everything, she picked out the ones she liked best, and started putting the rest back. As she started pulling him toward the men's department, he saw a rack of leather jackets. He stopped and picked out a chocolate brown one that he thought would look right on his girlfriend, and had her try it on. It fit her just right. It was a bit snug on her, but only in the right places.
She started to protest about the cost, and he said, "Hold on. This is the first gift I've had a chance to give you, since we've been together. It won't be the last, so get used to it. You know I can afford it, and you also know about that silly codicil in Sirius' will. Remember? He said that if I don't use a certain amount of it in, and I quote, "a foolish and frivolous manner", the money would be given to the most annoying charity his solicitor could think of. I've met his solicitor, and he's got the same sense of humor as Sirius. I'm not taking that risk, thank you very much." She relented, and they continued on. Ginny was determined to get her boyfriend dressed in a bit more colorful manner. The black looked good on him, but was a bit dull.
As before, she seemed to choose things, for him this time, according to whim. Once there was a fairly large collection, she sent him into the changing room. Every time he had tried on something new, she had him come back out to show her. The last combination was a white pair of jeans, and a green polo shirt, both of which fit fairly tightly. With his black boots, she thought it looked perfect. She licked her lips. She thought she just might need those spells tonight.
After they paid for their purchases, the two walked out to the parking lot. Harry slipped between two vans just long enough to shrink the bags down enough to fit everything in the saddlebags on the bike. They stopped at a diner for lunch, enjoying a leisurely meal. On the way back to Callahan's, they stopped at Smithtown General.
This time, they went in the main entrance, checked in at the reception desk, and asked the woman there to page Doc Webster. A few minutes later, he came down to the desk and greeted them warmly.
"Well, hello there, you two! I didn't think I'd be seeing you again, this soon. What can I do for you?"
Ginny said, "We wanted to check in on little Jeane. Would you walk us over there?"
With a nod, the doctor led them through the hallways, until they reached the intensive care unit. The two men waited outside room three, as the young witch went inside to check on the little girl. As she examined her patient, Harry asked Doc, "How are her parents doing?"
Doc said, "Well, the father is resting pretty comfortably, but he's very worried about her." He pointed into the room. "The last time he saw her, she was in a bad way. He had already started to grieve for her, resigned to losing her. The mother is in better shape, for the most part. She had fewer broken bones, but it's a good thing their daughter's going to live. She had some very severe internal injuries. She'll never be able to have children again.
"The only problem is, they don't have any medical insurance. We're doing all we can, but the costs are going to eat them alive. The pain meds alone..."
Harry interrupted. "How much do you think it will take them to get back on their feet? Not just the medical bills, but the other things too, house payment, groceries, whatever."Doc, with a surprised look on his face, thought about it a minute, then named a figure.
Harry looked lost in thought for the rest of the time that Ginny worked. When she came out, she gave him a questioning look for the expression he wore. "I'll explain later.", was all he would say.
They walked back to the main entrance, accompanied by the older man. Before they left, Harry asked Doc, "Are you going to be at Callahan's tonight?" The doctor replied with a question regarding the scatological habits of bears in the woods. When Harry looked confused, Doc said, "Yes, I'll be there. I'd better get back, and make it look as if I'm actually earning my check around here." With a grin, he walked back inside the hospital.
When the couple arrived back at the tavern a few minutes later, they found Mike restocking glassware behind the bar. Harry took their purchases through to the back, to put them away in his trunk. As he did so, he pulled out the small wrapped box he had bought a few days earlier. When he came back out to the front, he found Ginny laughing riotously at a story Mike was telling, involving a some dwarves, a penguin, and a priest. When he got to the punchline (See, Dopey? I told you that was a penguin and not a nun!), she was laughing so hard she had almost fallen out of her chair. Harry enjoyed it as much as she did, but because he loved to watch, and hear, her laugh. She had the most infectious giggle, and her laugh was enough to brighten up the entire world. She had certainly done enough to brighten his world.
He sat down at the bar, and the three of them traded stories for a while. Harry related the story of the first time he had played as Seeker against Slytherin in his first year. When he told how he had caught the Snitch in his mouth, both Ginny and Mike roared with laughter. Ginny told of her early morning sock-stealing excursions, getting payback on her brothers , every time they pranked her. Harry and Mike both laughed over this one. Mike told them about the time a time-traveling salesman had come into the bar, with seemingly amazing baubles to sell, apparently for just pennies. When he explained who it was that caught him, they both held their noses and ran screaming out the door. Mike smiled, as this was the highest praise a bad pun could earn in his place.
He joined them outside a few minutes later, looking up at the gathering dusk. None of them said anything, as they were enjoying the peaceful evening.
Mike spoke up finally, saying "I wanted to show you something, before the gang starts arriving." He led them around to the back of the bar. Harry was astounded to see a Quidditch pitch back there, complete with rings at the tops of fifty foot poles.
Mike said, "This place is warded so that nobody actually not in an area fifty feet from the edge of the pitch can see anything inside it, on the ground or in the air. I've heard that you're a pretty fair flyer. Got your broom?"
Harry pushed aside all questions of how this could be. "Yes, I do! I'll be right back!" With that, he ran full tilt through the doorway into the bar. When he re-emerged, he had his Firebolt with him. He looked as eager as a five year old on Christmas morning. Harry mounted his broom and soared into the sky. He flew through the air at incredible speeds, twisting, looping, suddenly changing direction. He hadn't felt this free in longer than he could remember. It was like he and the broom were a single living entity. At one point, he shot straight up into the air, until the two on the ground could no longer see him. Suddenly he reappeared, moving almost faster than their eyes could track. He was moving straight downwards. He waited until he was mere feet from the ground, and pulled out of the dive, almost skimming the grass as he sped along.
Mike said, "That boy is a total natural on a broom. I don't know of four other people in the world who could have pulled out of a dive like that. I'll wager that none of them could manage to do it at that speed, or without a solid six months of nothing but training."
Ginny nodded, with a grin. "Harry is the best, most instinctual flyer that Hogwarts has ever seen. The only times I've seen him with a real smile over the past few years was when he was on a broom." Ron had told Ginny the story of Harry's first time on a broom a long time ago. She told Mike about this. "And when it was done with, Harry was the youngest Seeker in a century. He's also the main reason Gryffindor won the House Cup, after more than seven years." Mike could hear her pride in Harry in her voice, and see it in the way she looked at the young man.
The older man said, "Harry is one damn lucky man, is all I can say."
Ginny replied, "I think we both are. We've survived intact through more than most people, even in our world, could even imagine. Then, we find each other, and find out that we both feel the same way." She smiled, a bit ruefully. "I'm probably one of the few women in the entire world who can say, with complete and utter conviction, that the man I love would go to hell and back for me. He spent quite a few years practically next door to it, and emerged stronger than ever."
Harry landed a few minutes later, with a huge grin on his face. "That was brilliant!"
Mike grinned back at him and said, "You might want to get that back inside and put away. My regulars will start getting here pretty soon. They're used to some off the wall stuff, but even they might wonder about that. In fact, I see Shorty Steinmetz's car pulling in now."
Harry apparated inside to put his broom away. The other two chose a more mundane route back inside the building. Mike put his apron on, and Ginny took a seat at the bar. By the time Harry came out from the back, a few more patrons had arrived, and Fast Eddie was warming up on the old stand-up piano.
Another night at Callahan's had begun.