"Ginny," Hermione said as she gently shook her sleeping dorm mate. "Ginny, wake up."

"Wha…" Ginny said as she sleepily opened one eye slightly to survey exactly where she was.

"Wake up or you won't have time to find Harry before breakfast," Hermione said.

As her head cleared and the reality of the situation began to seep into her, Ginny sat up and said, "Oh my goodness, Hermione. I was going to try to wake up early enough to go to the room of requirement with Harry. You should have woken me up sooner."

"I tried," Hermione said with a shrug. "You were really out. You must have stayed up too late last night. You should have gone to bed when Harry did."

"I was just so sure he was up to something," Ginny said as she changed into her school robes. "I don't know what it was. I just had a feeling he was going to try to sneak out last night."

"What reason would you have for thinking that?" Hermione asked.

"I didn't have a reason," Ginny answered. "I told you, it was just a feeling. When he went off to bed, I got the strangest feeling he was hiding something."

"Harry?" Hermione asked with a grin. "Now when have you ever known Harry to have a secret that he doesn't let the rest of us in on?"

"I see what you mean," Ginny responded with a grin of her own. "I guess I was just being paranoid. It doesn't stop me from wanting to know what all of his secrets are though."

"I think that may be one of the things about Ron that I love so much," Hermione said. "He never keeps anything a secret for long."

"Except, of course, his secret of how he felt about you," Ginny teased.

"Let's not even get into that one," Hermione said with a smile. "Still, he didn't hide his feelings for me as well as Harry hid his for you."

"To tell you the truth," Ginny said, "I don't know if Harry did hide his feelings for me. Up until this past summer, I don't think he had ever bothered to look at me as anything other that Ron's little sister. I'll never forget the look on his face when we went to pick him up from the Dursley's. I think I knew right then that he loved me. That was when I knew that, if he gave me the chance, I was going to love him to the end of my days."

"So, have you heard anything about that lately?" Hermione asked.
"Are there going to be wedding bells chiming for the two of you any time soon?"

"Not that I've been made aware of," Ginny said with a smile. "I think we both want to get married some day though. It's just a matter of finding the right time. I do still have another year here at Hogwarts you know."

"I hadn't thought of that," Hermione said. "You two will have to spend the entire school year apart from each other. That won't do at all. He'll have too much time to come up with new secrets. You'll never get caught up on all of them."

"Speaking of that," Ginny began as she put down the brush she had just ran through her hair, "I had better go and find him before he makes a new one."

Ginny and Hermione walked out of their dorm room smiling and began to descend the stairs into the common room. Ginny was the first to emerge into the common room, and what she saw there made her stop in her tracks.

"Mum?" Ginny asked. "Dad? What are you doing here?"

"Good morning, Ginny dear," Molly said with a smile. "Did you rest well?"

"Fine," Ginny responded as she noticed that her parents were both wearing their dress robes. She also noticed that a small crowd was gathered there to watch whatever was going to happen. It wasn't every day that parents visited their children at Hogwarts, and nearly unheard of that they would be in the house common room.

"Ginny, your mother and I have something that we need to discuss with you," Arthur said with just a hint of a grin.

"What is it?" Ginny asked. "No one has been hurt have they?"

"Oh no," Arthur said quickly. "It's nothing like that. You'll have to forgive us. This is just a bit awkward."

"I was just thinking the same thing," Ginny said.

"We've come here this morning to inform you that we have spoken with a young man named Harry Potter…" Arthur began.

"Since when is he Harry Potter to you instead of just Harry?" Ginny asked cutting him off.

"If you will let me finish I'll tell you," Arthur said a bit impatiently. "Now where was I? Ah yes. …a young man named Harry Potter and we have given permission for him to begin a formal courtship with you."

"What?" Ginny asked, confused. "Isn't that what we've been doing already?"

"Oh no dear," Molly said, barely able to contain her excitement. "A formal courtship will be very different. If you want it to be that is. You see, what Harry has done by requesting this courtship, is to put your relationship with him completely under your control. He has agreed to do anything that you ask of him to prove his love for you. When you feel like you have got all that you have asked for, and you still want the relationship, it is up to you to tell him when you are ready to get married. It is his responsibility then to offer you a formal proposal."

"What?" Ginny asked, amazed as whispered conversations broke out all over the common room.

"There hasn't been a wizard enter into this type of an agreement in more than one hundred and fifty years," Arthur said. "You can imagine why that would be. Apparently, women would sometimes get to asking a bit too much from the men. Keep that in mind young lady. I think Harry was a brave man for entering into this kind of thing."

"I would just ask you to keep in mind that part of our agreement in this matter," Molly began, "is to pay for your wedding, if you should decide to marry him that is. I would just like to point out that we are currently in the middle of plans for your brother's wedding. If possible I would like to get that one out of the way first."

"Wait a minute," Ginny said, still not believing what she was hearing. "Are you telling me that I could marry Harry while I'm still in school?"

"You could do it this morning if you wanted it," Arthur said. "Special rules apply in this case that would override the age limits for marriage. I would strongly advise against it though, if that was what you were thinking. You're poor mum would fall to pieces."

"Don't worry, dad," Ginny said still in a bit of a daze. "I won't get married until sometime after Ron and Hermione."

"Good," Arthur said relieved. "I'll have to make a trip to Gringotts to check on our finances, and I'll let you know what we'll be able to do by that time."

"I'm so happy for you, Ginny," Molly said, failing to hold back her tears any longer as she hugged her daughter.

"I just keep thinking that someone is going to wake me up," Ginny said.

"I've already done that," Hermione said. "Unless we're both dreaming."

Fifteen minutes later, Ginny found herself, still in a daze that she couldn't seem to snap out of, walking down the last flight of stairs that would take her to the Great Hall. She couldn't think of why she was going there, but Hermione was somewhere near by talking about how wonderfully the day was starting out. All Ginny could do was to nod numbly as her brain tried to make sense of what she had learned.

Ginny's mind cleared almost instantly, as she stopped and looked at the black-haired green-eyed boy who stood outside the Great Hall waiting on her. She was going to marry Harry Potter. As she looked into Harry's eyes, she felt a warmth flood in her body, and she knew that it would indeed be hard to wait until after Ron and Hermione were married.