Green Beans and Tomatoes
A Sequel to Christmas Colors
- - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - -
I can tell you right now, I am not the perfect boyfriend, as a matter of fact, I'm very far from it.
I get moody and depressed, I become insecure at the drop of a hat, I'm an insensitive prick, and then there's always that whole Voldemort thing.
So that's why I was so surprised when she kissed me back – that night five months ago.
The first challenge was her brothers. Ginny's their pet, and they weren't about to let any guy steal her away from them. Luckily, Ron supported the match, and convinced the others to leave us to our own devices.
Then, it was my 'annoying tendency to brood' as Ginny pointed out. She got frustrated one day with my constant mood swings, and stormed off in a huff not to be seen again until dinner. I was almost positive that we were over then, and sunk into another depression, until she came and found me in the library and slapped me upside the head calling me a 'stupid twit.'
So, we don't have the picture perfect relationship all the time, but so far we've been concentrating on making it work, and luckily for me, it has.
Now, I'm facing a challenge I haven't yet faced – Valentine's Day.
Remind me to go back in time and kill whoever invented the blasted holiday. She's mentioned around me a few times that she doesn't particularly care for lace and frills, but still, aren't I supposed to do something mushy?
Normally I'd ask Hermione, but seeing as she'd just report back to Ginny I don't think I can risk it.
The whole thought of pinks and whites and love notes has been floating in the forefront of my brain for at least a week, and I still have no idea what to do.
I'm losing sleep as well.
Even as we speak, the clock has passed beyond midnight, and my eyes are cracked open – unable to succumb to the gentle pull of sleep that I so desperately want to give into.
And then I hear a rustle on the stairs behind me. I turn around, and she's standing there.
She walks with a slight stumble, obviously having woken up from a deep slumber.
She pauses when she sees me, her eyes wide and tired, and then she smiles.
"Which do you prefer, pink or purple?" She asks me.
"Purple – that's an odd one." I answer, watching her take a seat on the couch across from me.
"Well, it fits the time frame." She replies, as she releases a yawn.
"Valentines?" I ask.
"Right in one," She smiles. "You haven't been sleeping." She says. It's an observation, not a question.
"I suppose." I mumble, finding a sudden attraction to the chintz cushion on my chair; I don't want her to know my real reason for lack of sleep.
"Are you having nightmares then?" She asks.
"No. I've just been thinking." I answer evasively.
"Oh," She comments lightly, "About what?"
"It's nothing." I say, wanting to deter the subject. Thankfully she senses my hesitation and leaves the topic to die.
"Come here." She motions for me to move onto the couch over near her.
Never one to deny her, I drag myself from my seat and reposition myself next to her on the couch.
"Lie down." She orders me. I look at her quizzically, not sure what she's asking. "I can't sleep if you can't." She explains, "So, lie down."
I look at her in bewilderment once more, and am about to ask another question when she yanks my arm, sending me flying onto my back on the couch.
She smiles mischievously at me before lightly adjusting my head onto her lap.
"Close your eyes." She whispers, shuffling her lap a bit.
This time I obey without hesitation, and soon feel her fingers weaving their way through my hair. It's a calming feeling – something intimate, and I can't help but feel myself relaxing into her hold.
I hear a small laugh, but don't bother to open my eyes to investigate, I'm too content.
Soon I feel my grasp on reality slipping, and just before I finally drift into a much-needed sleep, I find myself discovering the perfect Valentine's gift.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The next few days leading up to Valentine's are hectic, filled with NEWT assignments, and bickering best friends, yet she still takes the time to comfort me.
Sometimes I don't realize how much I appreciate her until she has other obligations and can't spend time with me, it sounds selfish, I know. Just another reason I'm not the perfect boyfriend.
Tonight, the night before the holiday that's been plaguing me since I realized it was February, is one of those nights.
She's been assigned a particularly nasty essay in charms, so all I can do is watch her as she bites her lower lip and scribbles furiously on her parchment.
I don't know how long I watch her, but it makes it worth my time when she chances a glance from her paper over in my direction and gives me that smile she saves for only me.
That single smile stays with me as I make up predictions about my life and the way it can end in Divination. Yet, the steady depression that overtakes me whenever I think about the termination of my time on earth, and how it may come sooner than I care to believe, makes itself present once again.
Soon, I've stopped the scribbling of my quill, and have taken to staring despondently at my chart.
I look at the still wet ink on the parchment, and can't help but wonder if maybe I could really die by falling into a black hole next Thursday. After all, everything is possible when you're Harry Potter.
I'm pulled out of my thoughts by a touch to my shoulder. I look up slowly to see her standing there, a concerned frown painting her features.
"Ruddy charts." She murmurs, plopping down next to me on the floor, flipping over my Divination predictions so that they're no longer visible.
I don't make a response, but continue thinking about where black holes may be located throughout the castle, and how I should avoid them.
"I don't see why you don't try predicting actual things that might happen," She pauses, flipping the piece of parchment back over and looking at the notes scribbled down for Thursday after next, "Today I will inhale an entire sugar quill, resulting in my suffocation," she reads aloud from my paper, "Honestly Harry." She sighs, "That is not going to happen."
"It might." I reply sullenly. She gives me that look she gives me when she's both amused yet concerned about me at the same time. It's one of my favorite looks.
"Harry, name one thing you predicted last month." She says.
"Uh," I pause to think, "Something along the lines of falling off the astronomy tower."
"Did you fall off the astronomy tower?" She asks me pointedly.
"No, but that's because I was careful to avoid going up there." I answer, she makes an amused noise in the back of her throat, and I can't help but be a bit defensive, "I didn't want to take any chances."
"Oh, Harry." She looks at me in exasperation, but I hope I see a stronger gleam of affection in her eyes. "Wait here." She tells me.
I watch as she stands up, going over to the table she had been occupying, and gathering her things before she comes and settles herself back next to me.
"I think you've had enough Divination for the night." She tells me, pulling a quill towards her and loading it with ink. "I suggest you try working on something more pleasant, like Herbology."
I smile slightly as she opens her charms text back to the page she had been studying before my mood interrupted her.
Taking her advice, I find my Herbology notebook, and begin a nice safe drawing of a nettle bush.
-- - - - - - - - -
She's annoyed with me, I can tell.
Early this morning she presented me with a small box of chocolates and a new cloak for late night Quidditch practices – me, I haven't gathered enough resolve to present her with her gift yet.
I think, that she thinks, that I forgot about her.
I avoid her all day like the plague, not because I don't want to see her, but because I'm as nervous as I think I've ever been before in my young life.
I push the food around on my plate, the chicken potpies not looking as appetizing as they normally would.
I see Ginny try to catch my eye all throughout the meal, and it takes all the resolve I possess to not meet her gaze.
Finally, I can't ignore her anymore, as supper ends, and I realize it's now or never.
I watch her pulling her belongings together and beginning to make her way through the hall doors, a decidedly disappointed look on her face. Then, I give myself a final pat on the back and get up to follow her.
"What's your favorite vegetable?" I call to her once we both emerge out into the corridors.
"Green beans." She says quietly, turning to face me, trying to put a happy look on her face. "You?"
"Tomatoes." I answer with certainty, "D'you want to go for a walk?" I ask.
"I don't know." She answers slowly.
"Please, it's important." I implore her.
She looks at me hesitantly before nodding and following me in a comfortable silence to the lake.
"I know you think I forgot, but I didn't." I say once we reach the edge of the crystal clear lake. I pause, looking up at the slowly darkening sky, the first stars of the night reflecting off the water.
She doesn't answer, but she looks happier.
"I thought about what to get you for a long time." I continue, "I lost sleep over it."
She looks at me in slight disbelief, "You lost sleep?" She asks.
"Yes." I answer. "You're always there for me when I need you, I wanted to get you something special, but I didn't have a clue what you'd want, or find special for that matter."
"I know I'm not a very good boyfriend," She gives a slight muffle of protest, but I raise my hand to silence her, "But I really try, and I really care about you. About us."
"I care about you too Harry." She whispers, moving forward and wrapping me in a hug, resting her cheek against my shoulder, "About us."
I wrap my arms securely around her, placing my chin atop her head. "Then, a few nights ago, when you helped me to fall asleep, I realized what I needed to give you. What I wanted to say to you."
I pause again, enjoying her comfortable weight in my arms, and the cool breeze whipping through my hair.
Apparently, she doesn't feel the same pleasure from the wind, as I feel her give an involuntary shudder.
I remove my arms from her, pulling my cloak that she presented me with earlier in the day to surround her and I both.
She settles against my chest, her shivers stopping as I finish pulling the cloak to surround the both of us.
"Thank you," She whispers, adjusting her head and shutting her eyes against my erratically beating heart.
The stars are twinkling in the sky now, but they're not as beautiful as she is.
"My present isn't anything I bought – and I don't want to scare you away, I just have to say it."
She moves her head up slightly to look me in the eyes, her eyebrows knitted as she tries to decipher my clues.
"What I'm trying to say Ginny Weasley, is that I, that – that I…" Now that the moment is come, I feel my heart slowing from erratic beating, to barely beating at all. It's now or never… "I love you." I blurt out all of the sudden.
I watch apprehensively as her eyes widen in surprise, filling with tears.
"I'm sorry." I say hurriedly, "I didn't mean to make you cry. I knew it was too early to say it, I…"
My babbling apology is cut off when I feel a pair of warm lips press against my own.
"They're happy tears you great twit." She sniffles, "And it wasn't too soon – it took you too long."
I'm so happy to hear that I haven't scared her away that it takes all my resolve to not capture her lips with my own again, and finish listening to her.
"And besides Harry, I've always loved you." She smiles shyly at me, letting out a small hiccup between light sobs.
This time, I can't restrain myself, and find myself kissing her with a passion I've never felt before.
And she's kissing me back the same way.
- - - - - - - -
I got a few requests for a sequel to Christmas Colors, so I sat down in front of the computer and this came out. Again, I tried to stay in the right tense, and once more, sorry if it slipped out a bit. I've been thinking about maybe taking this plot into a bit of a mini-series, leave me a review if you'd be interested. Thanks! SeaMar