Chapter 8

Fun in The Sun

"Bahamas, Bahamas, we're going to the Bahamas," sang Ginny. She was sitting on her bed, pointing her wand at various items so that they zoomed into the open trunk at the foot of her bed.

"I thought I heard you singing in here," laughed Harry as he paused outside Ginny's door and watched her charm her trunk to hold more items.

"Now now, there's no need to make fun of my wonderful singing abilities," joked Ginny.

Before Harry could make a comeback, a small jittering furball flew through the open window and into his head, dropping a letter from his minute claws as he did so. Harry opened the letter, massaging the side of his head with one hand.

Harry and Ginny,

Ha! We beat you guys! Hermione and I are already in the Bahamas, it's bloody wonderful here. We have a room reserved for you guys in a Muggle . . . retort, is that what Hermione called it? Never mind, she's just told me it's a 'resort'. I know we weren't supposed to leave separately, but Hermione just thought you needed some time alone. Mum and Dad are away for the week as well, and you'll have the house to yourselves. Mind you, I don't share her opinion, but anyway, we'll see you tomorrow at 10:00. Don't forget your Portkey leaves at exactly 9:56 tomorrow morning! (That was Hermione, she stole the quill!).

Love,

Ron (and Hermione!)

Harry chuckled after he read the letter and handed it over to Ginny, who quickly read through it. When she finished, she glanced over at Harry shyly. Hermione's suggestion that they needed some privacy was quite embarrassing, after all. The woman had just gotten out of St. Mungo's two days ago, and she was already back to her old self.

Harry, however, was overjoyed by the fact that they were completely alone at last. Arthur and Molly, as they'd insisted Harry call them, had gone to stay with Charlie and Riley for the remaining week of summer to go over some things about the wedding; Riley wanted a completely Muggle wedding and Charlie a Wizard one. Everyone else was at their own homes.

Deciding to take full advantage of the empty house, Harry stood from his perch on the edge of Ginny's bed and slowly walked toward her. He eventually had her against the wall. When he was directly in front of her, their bodies touching, he saw the look of fear flash in her eyes. He took a step back, afraid of scaring her.

"I'm sorry," she sighed. "I'll be okay," she told him. Michael had taken control over enough of her life — he was not going to have anything to do with her and Harry's relationship.

"You sure?"

She hesitated for a moment, then looked at him. His green eyes burned with lust, and she knew some of it must be reflected back to him from her own.

"Should we really do this, Ginny?" he asked again.

"Hell yes," she said with conviction, as she took hold of his collar and drew him closer to her, placing a rough kiss on his lips.

He broke apart from her and began showering her neck with fiery kisses. When it became not enough for either of them, Harry picked her up and carefully laid her down on her bed. Gently, he lowered himself onto her, and she looked up at him, brown eyes on fire.

"Show me how much you love me, Harry."

So he did. And he made love to her half the night.

The first thing Harry noticed when he woke the next morning was the absence of Ginny's warm body next to his. The second thing he noticed was where Ginny was. She was standing by the window, wearing the black T-shirt he'd been wearing last night, arms folded across her chest. The blood red sunset flickered off her auburn hair, and set her pale face on fire.

Harry rolled out of bed and walked over to her, circling his arms around her waist and resting his chin on the top of her head. "What time is it?" he yawned.

"Six," she answered absently.

"What's wrong?" asked Harry, turning her round so she was facing him.

"Nothing . . . everything is right," she smiled at him, and he melted at the sight of her standing there, because she was so utterly his. His scent was on her, she was wearing his clothes, everything about her just seemed to scream 'She belongs to you, Harry!'

She yawned and kissed him lightly before heading for the bathroom to shower before they had to leave for PITC (Portkey International Travel Center). Harry watched her go, a silly grin plastered on his face. This whole thing had come upon him so suddenly, he just didn't know what to think anymore.

It seemed like he'd only just fallen in love with Ginny yesterday, but inside he knew that wasn't true. After all, when he'd finally told her, it wasn't as if that was the first time the feeling was occurring to him. On the contrary, he had loved Ginny since his fifth year. Their relationship changed quite a bit over the years, but it had never been exactly how Harry wanted it to be.

The reason Harry hadn't acted on his feelings when they first began was simple — Voldemort. He didn't want Ginny to be hurt. And he knew that Voldemort would use her to his advantage, probably as bait for another trap. He loved her too much to let that happen, so he denied her. But after it was over, when Voldemort was gone for good, he couldn't stop it anymore.

And with the revelation that Michael had hurt her in the most unimaginable way, Harry felt that he ought to confess his feelings as soon as possible. Not only had it helped her to open up, but it prevented her from falling even deeper into herself, possibly so far that nobody would be able to bring her back.

So though it seemed like a rather quick developing relationship, it wasn't. It had been brewing for nearly three years now. Now just happened to be the perfect time to act on it.

"Is that everything? Don't forget, the luggage gets sent by an earlier Portkey, so we should leave now!" yelled Ginny up the stairs, waiting impatiently for Harry to come down.

He leapt down the stairs two at a time and grabbed the bags she was holding. "You shouldn't be straining yourself, love."

"I'm not straining myself, Harry. I'm perfectly capable of carrying things," she defended, grabbing her luggage back from him.

"No, I'll carry them . . . this is ridiculous! Mobilius trunks," he muttered, and all their luggage, both Ginny's and Harry's, floated along ahead of them as they walked a few blocks to the Portkey Center.

Once they got there, Harry directed the bags to the room where the luggage would be sent before them, then headed to the front desk to hand the woman their tickets.

"Can I help you, sir?" she asked cheerily as his turn in line came.

"Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley, we have the 9:55 Portkey to the Bahamas," he stated, handing over their tickets.

"Of course," she replied, taking the tickets from him. "That'll be Room Five, the third one on your left, right down that hallway," said the woman, pointing to a hallway on the other side of the room.

"Thanks," he smiled, then went back to Ginny. She didn't even notice; her nose was buried in a book of baby names she'd borrowed from her mum.

Ginny saw him coming and closed the book, grinning up at him. "Ready?" she asked excitedly.

"Yup, the luggage is already there, and we have," he glanced down at his watch, "five minutes left before our Portkey leaves."

"I can't wait! I've never been anywhere exotic before, unless you count the time we went to Egypt, but that was kind of boring . . . "

She trailed off as a voice floated through the air, "9:55 Portkey to the Bahamas is leaving in four minutes and counting!"

"That's us!" squealed Ginny, letting Harry help her to her feet and lead her over to Room Five.

"Ewww," she whined as she saw what they'd have to touch. A cracked Muggle thermometer lay on a table in the center of the room. About five other people were waiting along with Harry and Ginny.

Ginny glanced around at the other people and recognized a familiar heart-shaped face in the corner, standing next to a plump, cheery looking man with his arm draped around her waist.

"Luna!"

"Ginny! Harry!" shouted Luna. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We're going to the Bahamas for the last week of summer," explained Ginny, moving to stand beside the couple.

"Oh, my God, Neville? Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me . . . how's it going? You two are obviously together by now, have Ron and Hermione come to their senses yet?"

Harry and Ginny laughed and Ginny said, "Yes, they are together and expecting a baby as well. Are you guys together?"

Neville blushed, but Luna answered in her usual dreamy voice. "Yes, actually we are . . . we've been since fifth year, Neville's sixth. Wow, Hermione's pregnant? Who would have thought."

Harry glanced at his watch, and before Ginny could mention anything about her own pregnancy, he announced that they were going to miss the Portkey if they didn't get over to it at that exact second.

Exactly one minute and thirteen seconds later, Ginny tentatively opened her eyes to the most wonderful sight she'd ever witnessed. They'd landed in a small clove of trees that opened onto the beach. Palm trees lined the shore and the water sparkled brightly in the sun. She sighed contentedly, wondering how much better this day could get.

"Ginny? Sorry to burst your bubble, but how are we supposed to find Ron and Hermione?" asked Harry.

"Uh . . . I don't think that'll be a problem," answered Ginny.

Harry followed the direction of her gaze only to see Hermione backed against a tree by Ron, who looked as if he was trying to cover as much of Hermione's face as he could with his mouth.

"Should we tell them there's about six people here enjoying their little show?" asked Ginny, grinning at Harry.

"Do you guys ever give it a rest? No wonder she's already pregnant, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few of them in there," joked Harry, walking past Ron and clapping him on the back, closely followed by Ginny.

Stunned, Ron and Hermione watched their retreating backs for a few seconds before looking at each other, then slowly looking behind them. They took one look at the group gathered behind them, quickly glanced at one another again, then took off running after Harry and Ginny.

"Harry, Ginny, wait!"

Ron and Hermione caught up to them quickly.

"You guys made it," panted Ron.

"Yeah, mate, we did . . . and by the looks of it, you made it too."

"Funny, Harry. Come on, let's go to the resort, it's amazing. They have visi-tellys and everything!" proclaimed Ron.

Harry looked at Hermione for an explanation and she mouthed 'televisions' to him.

He smirked at Ron and laughed, snaking his arm around Ginny's waist. His hand landed on her lower abdomen. He felt the ever so slight bump already forming and couldn't help but smile at the plan that was already forming in his head.