Mkay, here we go. We're reaching the end. This is the last real chapter. The one after is an epilogue. This is it people. Lol. I hope you like it….Review puh-lease.
Chapter Four
The next morning, Harry awoke peacefully, yet quite groggily. But it only took a few seconds for him to realize what day it was.
Christmas. Christmas! I'm proposing to Ginny on Christmas! It's Christmas!
And so that is when Harry went into panic-mode, jumping around frantically, getting prepared for the day ahead of him.
Ginny awoke peacefully with a yawn and light smile playing on her lips. She glanced at her calendar and her smile turned into a grin.
Ahh, Christmas! This Christmas is going to be perfect. She suspected something was going on with Harry, but couldn't know quite what. Something that had to do with them as a couple….
Ginny shrugged and muttered, "Women's Intuition, I suppose." With this Ginny slowly stood up, stretched, and began to prepare for the day ahead.
Harry paced nervously up and down the hall, in front of Ginny's door. He had the ring in his pocket, but he wasn't planning on proposing until that night. He didn't want to do it during gifts, with everyone watching. He'd be too nervous and embarrassed at the attention.
He did his best to calm down and appear casual, but was not very successful. He was still extremely antsy and nerve-racked. Harry grinned in spite of himself and knocked lightly on Ginny's door.
Tonks left Ginny's room after helping her get ready for this momentous day, even if Ginny didn't know exactly what it was that was so momentous. She wanted Ginny's appearance to be a surprise, even to Ginny herself, so Tonks did not let her anywhere near a mirror until the end.
But now that Tonks had left, Ginny could not help but dart for the nearest mirror. When she saw her reflection her jaw nearly dropped to the ground.
Ginny's flaming red hair fell around her face in elegant curls, the vibrant red contrasting amazingly against her pale skin. Her eyes, which were normally fairly wide looking, looked even wider, leaving you staring into chocolate brown pools of excitement. She had on a subtle brown eye shadow and liner, but not very much. Tonks had said she was pretty enough as it is. Her lips had a pinkish tint and a slight shine to them. She was a wearing a long black skirt with a slit in the side, but not revealing too much. She had on a lovely red, long sleeve, shirt that went into a low "V" at the neck-line. She wore black stiletto heels, which Tonks had forced her to walk up and down her room in repeatedly, just for practice, so she would not trip and fall in front of everyone. She was wearing a pair of diamond earrings and a matching elegant diamond bracelet on one wrist. On her other wrist, she also wore a bracelet, but it was covered by her shirt sleeve for a reason.
Ginny heard a knock on her door and smiled inwardly. She moved over to the door, and opened it to reveal Harry standing on the other side. She greeted him and his eyes widened at the sight of her. She could feel herself blush furiously.
"Hi Harry," she greeted him, "Happy Christmas."
Harry blinked a few times, finally regaining his composure, and then smiled, "Happy Christmas, Gin." He pulled her into a quick hug and kissed her on the cheek.
"Shall we go down, then?" Ginny asked. He nodded, grabbed her hand, and they walked downstairs together.
Harry and Ginny walked down the stairs, hand in hand, and arrived second-to-last. Hermione could not stop grinning at Harry. And Harry also, indeed noticed Bill, Molly, and Arthur were staring directly at Harry, smiles playing on their lips.
Harry could feel a slight blush tinge his cheeks, but he did his best to hide it.
"Okay," Arthur started, "Now we're just waiting for Charlie and Tonks."
Ginny said quickly, "Oh, that's my fault. I held Tonks up a bit."
Molly's smile got a bit wider as she spoke, "Naturally." Ginny threw her an inquisitive look, but said nothing. Within a few minutes, Tonks and Charlie arrived.
"Okay, well, now that everyone has arrived, I believe it's time to open gifts. I suppose we should start with the guests….How about you first, Katie?"
Katie grinned and nodded, grabbing her gifts. She opened all her presents quickly, and then went Angelina, then Penelope, and finally Tonks. Before he knew it, Harry was the only guest left, and everyone was staring at him, waiting for him to open his gifts.
Harry grabbed a random gift from his pile, by the tree. It happened to be from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. He opened the gift to reveal—of course—a Weasley Sweater and sweets of all kinds. From Katie and Angelina, he received a book entitled, Maintaining Your Firebolt, Through the Years. From the Weasley brothers, Harry received various items, such as exploding chocolates, dragon hide, and much more. From Tonks, Harry received a book on being an Auror, and from Hermione he received—what else—a book. From Penelope he received a new quill. Harry looked down at his final gift, knowing exactly who it was from. He pulled out the card and read it to himself.
Dearest Harry,
Happy Christmas, sweetie. I love you so much and will miss you terribly throughout the next semester.
Love you always and forever,
Ginny
Harry gave her a slight smile, put the card to the side, and opened his gift. He pulled out a simple silver bracelet, that had an engraving upon it.
I'll be with you, even when we're apart. 3
Harry looked up at Ginny, in awe, his eyes slightly glazed with tears threatening to shed, but did not fall from his eyes.
"Is this what I think it is?" he asked her softly.
Ginny nodded.
"Wow," Harry whispered. "Thank you," he said simply. He kissed her softly on the lips. "You have know idea how much I love this," he whispered, putting the bracelet on, then gasping softly, feeling it's effect.
"Um…hello? Some of us don't know what the bloody hell you two are talking about! We don't know what the bracelet things do!" Ron said loudly.
Ginny glared at him reproachfully. "It's an emotion-sensor. You can feel what the wearer of it's match is feeling. I have it's match," she said simply, pulling up her sleeve to reveal the other bracelet, identical to Harry's.
"Whoa…" was all Ron said.
Ginny rolled her eyes but smiled all the same.
Ginny watched the rest of the Weasley family members open their gifts, until it was finally Ginny's turn. She reached for a random gift for her pile, which ended up being from Hermione. She unwrapped it to reveal—of course—a book. But this time it was a muggle book, to read for pleasure. When Mr. Weasley saw this he cried out in joy and grabbed the book from Ginny, in order to examine it. She then received a sweater and new quill from her parents, an assortment of random things from her brothers, a lovely necklace from Tonks, and some new earrings from Penelope. Ginny looked down at her final gift. Always save the best for last, she thought to herself, as she reached for the gift. She read the card first.
Ginny,
Happy Christmas, Love. I love you and will miss you during you next semester like crazy. Though I do think I have a way to help a little bit at least.
Love you always,
Harry
Ginny smiled inwardly and pulled out the gift. It was a beautiful hand-help mirror, about the size of both her hands put together. It had an engravement upon it.
Just to see your face, once more.
The engravement was around the edges of the beautiful mirror. She smiled, knowing exactly what the mirror did.
"Thank you," she said gratefully, pulling Harry into a heart-felt hug. "I'll be using this everyday," she said smiling. Ginny kissed him lightly on the lips and smiled at him once more.
"Uh…earth to Harry and Ginny!" Ron began, "We don't know what these do either!"
It was Harry's turn to glare at Ron. "They're two-way mirrors. You say the person's name into the mirror and it sort of 'calls' them. It works sort of like a telephone, but you see the person's face."
"Oh, okay."
Soon after the gift-opening was completed, everyone had a big brunch. There was much chatter and conversation from all spots of the table. Even the timid Penelope, who didn't seem to talk much in front of everyone, joined in the conversation. Hermione was continuously shooting glances and grins at Harry, along with Molly, Arthur, Tonks, and Bill. This made Harry even more nervous than he already was.
By mid-afternoon, Harry had set into complete panic-mode. When Ginny staked off to join in the conversation with her brothers Hermione, seeing Ginny leave Harry's side for once, quickly walked over to Harry to talk to him.
"How are you?" she asked him quietly.
"A wreck," he replied.
"You'll do fine Harry. I know you will."
"And how exactly do you know that?" he asked her.
"I'm a genius, remember?" she replied, beaming.
Harry rolled his eyes, "Herm, you only get to pull that line once over the break and you've already used it. So how exactly do you really know?"
Hermione sighed, defeated, "Well, you know how close Ginny and I are. And, on occasion, we'd talk about the future of our relationships. Harry, Ginny's wanted to marry you for ages, it's just never been the right timing for it to happen. You two were too young back then, but now is perfect. She's going to say yes."
Harry smiled slightly and nodded. At least this calmed his nerves a tiny bit….
The rest of the day past Harry by in a blur of mixed emotions. He was nervous, excited, panicky, scared, happy, and much more. The sky was quickly getting dark, make Harry panic even more. It was nearly time.
Harry took a deep, calming breath and walked over to Ginny.
"Hey, he said.
"Hey."
"Do want to take a walk outside?" he asked her.
"Yeah, sure," she replied, beaming.
The two headed outside, to the Weasley's backyard. At some point, Ginny released her hand from Harry's. Harry turned around to see where she went.
He felt something soft and wet hit him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw Ginny armed with snowballs. She threw another snowball at him playfully. He raised an eyebrow, and started to chase her. She ran for it. He chased her around mounds of snow, trees, and the broomshed.
She ran back to where the fight originated, but she was getting tired. She started to slow down. Just then, Harry made his move. He tackled her playfully, and they both landed in a huge heap of soft snow. He pinned her down softly. She squirmed happily and squealed. Harry released her and plopped down beside her in the snow, on his side, propped up by his arm. Ginny was in the same position, facing him.
He smiled lovingly at her, and moved closer. So did Ginny. She leaned in and kissed him gently. The kiss was filled with pure emotion. It was like the rest of the world disappeared, and it was only the two of them, in the backyard of the Burrow.
Harry, after a few moments, broke the kiss off, and stared into Ginny's beautiful brown eyes. "Gin," Harry began, "Can I talk to you about something?"
"Of course."
Harry took a deep, steadying breath, preparing for what he had anticipated for ages. "You know I love you, and we've talked about our future. You know I want to spend the rest of my life with you; it was just never really the right time to make it official. But…now I'm out of school, and you're nearly finished. So….I was wondering…."
Ginny was simply glowing by this point.
Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box and opened it up, to reveal a beautiful, large diamond ring.
"Ginny Weasley, will you marry me?"
"YES!" Ginny yelped immediately.
Harry grinned and let out a sigh of relief. He placed it on her finger and the two shared a kiss that seemed to last forever.
The rest of the night passed both Harry and Ginny in a blur. Ginny could vaguely remember many kisses. Even the memory of telling the rest of the family that the couple was engaged passed them in a happy haze. Ginny could remember Ron congratulating the pair of them, giving a Harry and handshake, finally fully accepting their relationship.
The next day, Hermione nearly tackled Ginny, bombarding her with ideas for the wedding. So, a great portion of the day, the family sat around, planning the wedding.
It was to be in early July, soon after Ginny left school for good. It would be held outside, with a reception at the Burrow. Everything was perfect. And from what Ginny and Harry could tell….
From now on, life was going to be good.
Next time, we fast forward a few years.
