The week before Valentines Day passed quickly for Harry. He remembered to ask Neville about an Easter lily and Neville told him where he could order one, so he went up to send Hedwig off to the flower shop that Neville recommended. Hermione had intercepted him while he was on his way to the Owlery to send the order form. She told him that just one flower was unacceptable and that he should get Ginny several. He had tried to argue that Ginny had only said she just wanted one but Hermione seemed to think that Ginny was not being completely honest with herself about what she really wanted. Hermione then spent another half an hour trying to explain this particular bit of 'girl logic' to him but all Harry got out of it was a headache. Rather than arguing with Hermione, he did what she told him to and ordered a large flower arrangement in a vase that was mostly Eater lilies.

Saturday arrived and Harry awoke early. He was nervous about whether Ginny would really like the flowers or not but he reasoned that if she didn't he could always blame Hermione for it. He got up and looked out the dorm window to see that snow was falling heavily on the grounds. It would have been a perfect day to have a snowball fight… if they were allowed outside the castle. Dumbledore had informed the school earlier that week that several Dementors had taken up permanent residence in the Forbidden Forest, thus curbing any rebellious thoughts that some of the restless students had been having about sneaking out. Harry had offered to help get rid of them but the Headmaster had declined saying that he did not want Harry to walk into a possible trap.

Harry had only gone to his potions class during the week. He had spent the rest of the time reading or practicing karate. He had been tempted to go to Charms just to see what the substitute teacher was like but had decided to spend his time in the library instead. Hermione had told him that her name was Adonis Purr and that she was a competent charms teacher. Harry had only seen her at one meal. She was average looking with blonde hair and a round face. She never seemed to smile and she did not ever seem to talk to the other teachers. Harry could not even begin to guess what her age was but he did not think that it was very old, probably only thirty or so.

Harry had also been to two Friday lessons with Professor Dumbledore. They worked on spells that Harry had not even believed could exist. The Headmaster had focused mainly on Transfiguration and Harry was surprised that he was able to pick up on everything immediately. He got about fifty books from Dumbledore and he was just about done with all of them and had found most of them fascinating. He had even taught the D.A. several of the spells that he had learned although very few of the members had managed to do the spell work correctly. Even Hermione was struggling which frustrated her to no end. She had nagged Harry until he spent an hour working with just her on them. She finally gave up and went back to studying for NEWTs with Ron.

Karate lessons were going well. Most of the D.A. members were doing quite well in picking up martial arts. The two members who did the best were Parvati and Padma Patil. They informed him that karate was a lot like dancing. He was surprised to learn that they had been in ballet since they were three and that they still did lessons during the summer. Harry was confident that in the next couple of weeks they would be able to begin sparing. He had increased the number of meeting to three times a week on the request of several members. Apparently many people were bored by not having Quidditch to distract them during the evenings and for those were not on a team, the 'house arrest' was causing many to go stir crazy. He had also seen an increase in the number of students who attended, which had doubled in just the past week. There had not been any new Slytherins but Malcolm Flint had told Harry that he thought that some of his housemates would come if Malfoy weren't threatening everyone… especially everyone who associated with Harry.

Harry heard Ron stir and he looked over towards his four-poster. "Morning." Harry said.

Ron grumbled and managed to say, "ruddy stupid Valentines," as he got up and stumbled off to the bathroom. Harry sighed. He might as well get dress and go face the music. He had just finished dressing when the door to their dorm burst open and Ginny dashed in, her long red hair streaming behind her, when she reached him she threw her arms around him.

"HARRY!" She said with a squeal. "They are BEAUTIFUL! Thank you so much!" She kissed him soundly.

"Oi!" Dean shouted at them. "Take it somewhere else you two before you make me sick."

Ginny just beamed at him before returning her attention to Harry. She grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the dorm and down the stairs into the empty common room. She pushed him onto the couch and dropped onto his lap and started to kiss him again. After several minutes she pulled back. "They really are beautiful Harry, I'm glad you got them for me."

Harry, who was still dazed from her kiss, could only nod. He was very glad that he had listened to Hermione.

"I haven't thanked Hermione yet but as soon as I see her I will." Ginny said smiling impishly at him.

Harry opened his mouth to try and speak. "I… I… how did you know?"

Ginny laughed. "Honestly Harry! I know you too well to believe that you would come up with that by yourself!"

Harry was flummoxed. Did this mean Hermione was right and that Ginny had wanted more than just one flower? "So… you… you didn't really just want one flower?"

Ginny's smile slipped. "Harry, I would have been very happy with just one flower."

"But… you just said that the flowers were beautiful!"

"They ARE beautiful and I love them but I would have also been happy with just one flower. I'd love anything you got me." She smiled again and kissed his cheek.

"I am never going to understand women, am I?" Harry asked dejectedly.

"No, probably not." She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. "Does it bother you that much?"

Harry looked down at her beautiful face and had to smile. "No, I suppose not." He kissed the top of her head and hugged her tight. "I think it is pretty much impossible for me to understand you."

She giggled. "I love you."

"I love you too. Now where's my present?" She pulled out a picture frame and handed it to him. He looked at the picture that Colin had taken last week. Harry stood behind Ginny with his arms around her waist. She had her arms on top of his, hugging him tightly. They would smile at the camera and then gaze at each other before sharing a small kiss and sometimes Harry would kiss the top of her head. What caught Harry's eye was when they looked at each other. "Have you looked at this?"

"Hmm? Yes, of course I have. I have one also."

"Have you seen how we look at each other?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… well we look at each other like Ron and Hermione look at each other." A broad grin spread across his face. "That was exactly what I wanted… I wanted to be in love like they are."

Ginny grinned at him. "I am glad I can make your wish come true." She tilted her chin up to kiss him.

"HEY! No snogging in front of me!" Ron yelled as he made his way into the common room. He sat of the couch next to them and yawned. "What are you two so happy about?" He asked, eyeing them with a suspicious look.

Harry handed Ron the picture. "Ginny just gave me my Valentines gift."

Ron studied it for several seconds. "You guys look good together… so Harry did you give Ginny more than one flower?"

Harry looked down at the ground and mumbled, "yes."

Ron laughed. "I knew you could not just give a girl one flower! Life is just not that easy."

"Shut it Ron." Harry growled at him but with a grin.

Ron looked at Ginny. "Hey, hold up your hand."

Ginny looked confused but held up her right hand. "What?"

"No, I just want to see your pinky." When she showed him her pinky he seemed to study it carefully. "Yep just as I suspected… shame really." He finished dejectedly.

"What?" They both asked together.

"I can see Harry is wrapped right around your little finger."

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"HEMIONE! You have to sit still!" Ron hissed at her that evening during dinner.

"I know, I know but I'm so…" She stopped but she was positively beaming and bouncing slightly in her seat. "I just wish he'd get on with it!"

"SHHHH! It is supposed to be a surprise, do you want to ruin it?" Ron shot back at her quietly.

Harry and Ginny were watching the exchange like it was a tennis match, just looking back and forth between them. When it had started Harry had almost asked what they were talking about but this was far too amusing to miss.

Ginny, however, never was very patient. "What are you two on about?"

"NOTHING!" They said jointly.

Harry heard movement up by the staff table and looked over to see Dumbledore on his feet. "Students I wish you a very happy Valentines Day. I know that you would all rather be in Hogsmeade this weekend or even out on the grounds and it bereaves me to put such restrictions on you but I am delighted to say that we do have a special event tonight in honor of this day for lovers. I am pleased to inform you that you are all invited to a wedding that will take place shortly after dinner." An excited murmur spread throughout the hall. "You will be excused from dinner in a few moments and I would ask you to depart the Great Hall so that we may set up. Then if you wish you may return at eight o'clock in order to witness this blessed event." He paused while the chattering died down. "The bride and groom have asked that only those who wish them well attend and if I find that anyone misbehaves during the ceremony and reception that follows they will be suspended for a week. I hope I have made myself clear." At and cough and whisper from Professor McGonagall the Headmaster went on. "Oh yes, and I should mention that Ms. Susan Bones and Mr. Justin Finch-Fletchley are the bride and groom." Several people cheered and many others clapped. Harry grabbed Ginny and kissed her before getting up with everyone else to leave the hall.

"This is amazing! It worked out for them and now Susan isn't going to be alone forever." Harry was all smiles until something occurred to him and he rounded on Ron and Hermione. "And you two KNEW about this but did not tell us?"

Hermione looked nervous for a second but her joy burst through and she started laughing with glee. "We wanted you to be surprised! It's so amazing that something so wonderful can happen from so much heartache and pain and right when we needed to see something as great as a wedding between two people who love each other!" Tears streamed down her face and she and Ginny hugged and did a sort of dance.

"I'm so happy for them, this is really great news! You're right Hermione, this is exactly what we needed!" Ginny turned to Harry and started to pull him towards Gryffindor Tower. "I want you in your dress robes and I want your hair combed as best you can."

"How come I have to change? And you know my hair won't lay flat, right?"

"It's a wedding Harry, you are supposed to look nice… I know you can't do anything with your hair but it will make me feel better if you at least try." Ginny rationalized to him, still dragging him up the stairs. Harry heard Ron ask Hermione if he had to wear his dress robes as well and then he heard Ron groan when she said yes. "Anyway, Hermione gave me her old blue ones, you know, the ones she wore to the Yule Ball fourth year."

"What's wrong with yours?" Harry asked. He knew that her mum had bought her some for Bill and Fleur's wedding. If he remembered correctly her robes were a sort of pink color with stuff around the edges.

"Oh… well they don't look very good on me, I mean azalea just does not go with my hair." Harry hoped that azalea meant pink but before he could ask she continued looking embarrassed. "Mum had a tough time finding any in my size that were used."

"I dunno, I thought you looked nice. That stuff around the edges looked good." Harry informed her seriously.

Ginny started to giggle. "Harry, it's called lace."

"Right. Well anyway, are Hermione's robes going to fit?"

"Oh yes, they fit beautifully and the periwinkle blue looks good."

"Right. So what is azalea anyway cause I thought your robes were pink?"

"It's a type of pink." Ginny said the password to the Fat Lady, "Tickle Me Too," and they walked in and parted to get changed.

Harry was dressed in his new dark green robes, he had also gotten new robes for the Bill's wedding, when Ron came out of the bathroom with his hair damp but combed. His dark blue robes looked slightly wrinkled but Harry knew Hermione would fix that when they got downstairs. "Okay, let's go." Ron said as he headed down to the common room. Several other Gryffindors were already there and waiting for eight o'clock to roll around. Hermione was waiting for them. She had on deep purple robes and she had pulled her hair back away from her face but the curls still cascaded down her back. She looked quite nice. "You looked beautiful love." Ron said, kissing her cheek.

Hermione beamed at him. "Thanks, you look wonderful too. Do you want me to fix the wrinkles?" Ron nodded eagerly and she pulled out her wand, gave it a complicated wave and his robes fell straight. She turned to Harry and inspected his robes. He seemed to have passed because she gave him a small nod of approval before saying, "Ginny is finishing her hair and should be down shortly."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Ginny appeared at the bottom the steps. "I'm here, sorry… my hair is too long to do anything with it!" She sighed exasperatedly. "I think I'm going to have to cut it a good foot before I'll be able to tie it up." She looked Harry up and down. "Well don't you look smart!" She gave him a smile and reached up to kiss his cheek.

Harry bent down automatically but he felt like the rest of his brain was frozen. Ginny looked amazing. She had been right; the blue did look really good on her. Her long main of red hair hung down her back, curled a little at the ends. It looked so beautiful and soft that he longed to run his hand through it. He hoped feverishly at that moment that she didn't cut it. He loved it just the way it was. He looked into her bright brown eyes and saw them alight with happiness, which only added to her overall look. He tried to tell her how amazing she looked but only managed a small smile.

Hermione walked over to Ginny and gave her a hug. "You look fabulous and if you cut your hair I'll hex you." Ginny grinned at her. "You look great too, so shall we go?"

Harry took Ginny's arm and led her back down to the Great Hall. When they entered they found that the house tables were still there but the hall was decorated with white roses and balloons and there was a tall ivy covered archway where the staff table had been. Off to either side of the arch were more tables that were round and had centerpieces done in white roses and babies-breath. Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione sat down at the front of the Gryffindor table. Most of the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws came and all of Hufflepuff House was in attendance. Many of the students were in dress robes but some wore their school uniform. No one from Slytherin came but Harry was not surprised. The ones from the D.A. who were friendly with Susan and Justin did not want to end up dead at the hands of Draco Malfoy.

Dumbledore walked in to the center of the arch and turned to face Justin and Susan who were walking in arm in arm. Justin was in black dress robes and Susan in light yellow. Harry could see the small swell of her belly under the bouquet of roses that she carried. Dumbledore spoke the marriage rite and asked if they came to this union freely. They both looked at each other and said, 'yes'. Harry saw that Susan was glowing with happiness and Justin was gazing at her in adoration. The Headmaster spoke the incantation that would bind their souls and they were engulfed in a radiant white light. He pronounced them married and they kissed. Justin led Susan over to one of the side tables and pulled out a chair for her before helping her into her seat. Harry saw that Madam Bones, Susan's aunt was at the table and two others that Harry assumed were Justin's parents who were muggles. The woman was in a pink dress and the man was in a black suit. They hugged Justin and kissed Susan's cheek. Cake appeared on the tables along with pumpkin juice and they all ate the delicious cake.

They talked amongst themselves for about a half an hour and then slow music started to play. Harry saw Justin help Susan to her feet and they walked out to the middle of the floor where they began to dance. Justin kissed her cheek and whispered things to her and Susan smiled. Harry even saw Justin reach down and briefly brush his fingers along her swollen stomach. Apparently Ginny and Hermione saw this as well because they let out a sigh and smiled at each other. Ginny rested against him. "Isn't that so sweet?"

Harry kissed her temple and nodded. "They look really happy."

After the bridal song everyone was invited onto the floor and they all got up to dance. Harry and Ginny danced next to Ron and Hermione. Harry was thankful that they only played slow songs and more a more structured dance that was like a muggle waltz. Mrs. Weasley had taught it to them a year earlier because it is traditionally played at all weddings. Harry had been paired with Ginny then too and had found she was exceptionally graceful and quite a good dancer. He had had a lot of fun learning with her.

At the end of one of the slow songs, Susan and Justin walked up to them. Susan hugged Hermione tightly and said, "Thank you so much for making me tell the truth. If you hadn't then Justin wouldn't have known and…" She stopped because she was too choked up with tears. Justin pulled her into his arms.

"Yes, thank you Hermione. I was really hurt when she broke up with me and would not even speak to me. I understand now, of course, but if you had not gotten involved then we would not be married."

Hermione was smiling. "You are welcome but I could hardly do otherwise. I am very glad that you are happy. Congratulations you two."

"Thank you." Susan replied turning to face her. "Oh!" She made a noise of surprise.

"What? Are you alright?" Justin asked anxiously.

"YES! I felt the baby move." She took his hand and placed it on her stomach. He looked at her stomach for a moment and then grinned madly. It seemed to Harry that they had completely forgotten that they had an audience.

Justin bent down and kissed her lips. "That was amazing. I'm glad I got to feel our baby move." He stated as he looked deeply into Susan's eyes. All three women burst into tears of happiness and had to be comforted for several minutes before they could regain their composure.

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Later that night when they were all back in the common room and changed out of their formal clothing, Harry brought up something that had been bothering him. "Hermione, now that Susan is married does that mean the baby's father could still try and claim it?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, the baby is now legally Justin's. By getting married they ensured that the father could not take the baby away, if for some reason he didn't go to jail, or the father's family who also had the right to take the baby. Now that she is married they don't anymore."

Harry was relieved. The thought of the baby going to the father or even to the father's family… and then it hit him. "WAIT! You mean that an unwed mother could lose the baby to the father's family?" DAMN! This is what they had been planning. He saw the comprehension dawn on Hermione's face.

"OH! We have to warn Justin! He's going to be in danger now! Susan could lose the baby still if something happens to Justin."

"Wait, what are you two talking about?" Ron asked.

Ginny answered for them. "They mean that the Death Eater's families will likely try and claim the babies. That way they won't be raised by a single mother and looked down upon. Either that or they'll just kill the mother and then claim the baby. Oh damn this just keeps getting worse and worse!" She got and started pacing.

Ron started thinking out loud. "We are going to have to warn Justin and Susan and we need to tell Dumbledore immediately." He looked at Hermione. "You and I will go make sure he is informed. He is going to need to put guards on duty to protect the newlyweds… well at least Justin and we need a meeting of the D.A. so that a buddy system can be put in place to protect him as well. Susan is not going back to classes and their room is near the staff quarters so as long as she stays in their room or goes out with a group she should be fine. Actually she should be okay until the baby is born since they want healthy babies. But we don't want to risk her being kidnapped." He stood up and held out a hand to Hermione. "Let's get going. Harry, do you want to come and protect us?"

Harry shot Ron a quizzical look. "Why do you need me to protect you? What's wrong with you two? Are your wands broken?"

Hermione gave a small laugh. "Harry, you are close to being as powerful as Dumbledore. The best person to protect us is you."

Harry looked at Ron surprised that he would want this. Ron shrugged. "There is a time for being macho and there is a time for making sure that my fiancé can move safely about the castle late at night. I want her safe more than I want my ego massaged. Between the three of us we should be safe."

"All right mate, it's your call." He looked at Ginny. "Do you want to come?"

She shook her head. "Not tonight. I can barely keep on my feet." She gave him a hug and a kiss. "Good night… I love you."

Harry held her, marveling once again that she really did love him. "I love you too. Good night."

The three friends left the common headed for the Headmaster. When they explained the situation to him he took action immediately to ensure the new couple's safety and alerted the Minister of Magic of what they had discovered. He agreed wholeheartedly with their assertions about why the Death Eaters were raping women. The pureblood advocates often complained that there were so few purebloods left that as it was and creating babies just made sense. Even Snape agreed reluctantly when he was asked his opinion. He had not been out of the school in several months due to Dumbledore's imposed security measures so he had been unhelpful in discovering a motive from Voldemort before this. The three went back to bed without any incidents impeding them. Harry was glad that they finally had an answer and action was being taken to help the pregnant women stay safe. Dumbledore thought that they would probably be relocated. Harry hoped that no more of his friends would be affected but he did not think that he would be that lucky. He vowed then and there to redouble his efforts to keep Ginny safe.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTA/N: Are you proud? I am... I didn't think this would get done for today. I'm doing really well on the next chapter so I think you can safely assume that it will be up tomorrow as long as my very wonderful editor gets it back to me. She is swamped in HW and her own writings so it's always iffy.

I have had some concerns expressed about rape happening to one of the main characters and I just encourage readers to keep going unless you have been raped and it makes you feel terrible, then of course I understand completely if you don't want to read anymore. It can be horribly uncormfortable to read about rape and often when I read something that personal I just squirm in my seat and then skip through to another part. I am just an ordinary person who wants to write a story and maybe put a little educational stuff in it. Many people know that rape happens but it's so hard to acknowledge that one in four women will be raped before they hit 23-years-old... at least in America. I promise to treat any scenes with rape/ or attempted rape in it with care and consideration for the reader's feelings. I also promise to warn the reader at the begining of the chapter if I feel that it is going to be hard to read. PLEASE know that I do understand if the subject is just too much for you to take... these stories are supposed to be for entertainment value and what my best friend calls "checking out time"... in other words, time when you don't have to think about the real world. IF it makes you unhappy, I won't be offended if you stop reading my story. Check back with my later and read my next story which is already being planned out... Sometimes it feels like I'm just writing one big mess of painful emotions! I have decided that my next story is going to be complete FLUFF before trying to write more serious stuff again or maybe write two stories at once... we'll see. OH hey, that was a lot of stuff from me but I felt it was needed. If you have further concerns you can always drop a review and let me know.