'Merci beaucoup monsieur, et au revoir' Fred Weasley said, shaking hands with a fat wizard. George stood on the path outside the house they were leaving, waiting. As the door close behind Fred, George whispered under his breath.

'He was a bit on the chubby side wasn't he?'

Fred sniggered. 'Let's be honest George, that man was fat, plain and simple.'

'You can be cruel sometimes.'

'I think that he's the cruel one…his poor heart is trying to keep him alive, and he keeps on trying to kill it with fat and salt.' George decided to ignore Fred.

They were in Paris on a business trip. The fat man was a retiring professional who was selling his shop in the magical region of Paris. Fred and George had just agreed to buy the shop and transform it from a magical crockery shop, into Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes first international venture. It seemed promising, the French had reacted enthusiastically to test ranges sold in small batches in other shops.

The Hogsmeade shop had been such a success that everybody involved was prepared to make a little risk with Paris. One of the little risks being that nobody could speak French… That was, until Fred and George offered Fleur's sister a little summer job. Gabrielle helped them word an advertisement for shop staff, (preferably bilingual). She was happy with her fee for a very little work.

The investor in this venture was Harry again, who had been extremely satisfied with his returns from the Hogsmeade shop. He secured his position as an investor immediately – much to Fred and George's delight. Harry even negotiated a little deal where he ended up owning a fair amount of shares in all three shops. Harry had decided to expand his economic ventures with some of the profits from the jokes shops. Harry appeared to have a gift for finding companies that had good prospects and were going to succeed. His investment was a kind of golden touch for any company, and economists called the subsequent results 'The Potter Effect'. Of course, the immediate effect on Harry was that he became significantly richer, enabling him to invest more…and so the cycle went on. Of course one or two of his companies failed, but they were statistical blips.

In any case, most of this was far into the future. We are only in June, at which stage Harry's money was invested only in Fred and George, and tentatively in a small firm called 'Balmy Balms' that sold cosmetics by owl. June is the season for exams, which Harry and Ginny knew only too well. Whilst she was at school their ability to spend time together was obviously cut short, but because of her exams she couldn't spend too much time on her letters either. Sometimes all a letter consisted of was 'I love you'. But what else really needed to be said. That particular letter was his personal favourite and he kept it on his bedside table.

Thinking about Ginny often drove Harry to become a little restless. He tried to talk to Ron about it, but he responded with a curt -

'I want to have no part in your lustings after my little sister. It's just wrong.'

Even Hermione wasn't being the pillar of support that she usually was. She seemed to be going into the stage of her relationship with Ron that dictated she was thinking far too much about further commitment.

'Oh, I envy you and Ginny, I really do.' Hermione sighed one evening.

'Err, why?' Said Harry, puzzled. After all, he had just spent the last ten minutes moaning to Hermione about how much he missed Ginny.

'You're both in such a lovely stage of a relationship. Ron and I…we've come to a stage where we can go no further without a sign of further commitment.' Harry was surprised…Ron appeared to be correct about predicting that this moment would arrive.

'Speak to Ron, I'm sure that he'll be happy to oblige' said Harry, which Hermione seemed happy to hear.

So Harry was left alone with his thoughts and the letter that told him that Ginny loved him. Then three days and ten hours after he had last spoken to Hermione, his doorbell rang. It was becoming a bit more of a frequent occurrence, so Harry didn't jump out of his skin, but he did take his wand.

Opening the door, he saw Hermione standing there, beaming, with a rather sheepish Ron standing behind her.

'Guess what?' She said, bouncing up and down (literally).

'You've…'

Harry didn't get the chance to answer. Hermione stuck her left hand in his face, nearly scratching his glasses with the large ring that she was displaying on her finger. 'We're engaged!' she screeched.

'Wow, congratulations.' Harry said, looking over at Ron to see how excited he was. 'Come in, we'll have a celebratory drink.'

Harry preferred the kitchen to the living room as a place for informal chatting. There were enough seats, and it was less inhibited. There was something about sitting on a sofa that reminded him of interviews, and it unnerved him. This was a strange phenomenon, as Harry couldn't even remember the last time that he had been interviewed. Anyhow, he popped open a bottle of champagne and poured it all over the floor and surfaces before he managed to salvage a few drops for the glasses.

'To Ron and Hermione getting married…' said Harry, raising his glass. Ron and Hermione raised theirs too, and they drank. 'Do you ever think that if we could have seen ourselves as we are now as a kind of flashback, but in the future, back in the past, we would believe it?'

Hermione and Ron looked at each other. Hermione decided that she should speak.

'What exactly do you mean?' she asked carefully.

'Imagine us on the train in the first year. Just imagine us sitting there suddenly having a vision of us, as we are now, congratulating you on your engagement…do you think that we would have believed it?'

'Oh I see what you mean.' Ron said, and then he thought about his answer for a second. 'No…I wouldn't have been able to believe that you would have a nice kitchen. I imagined that you were like me and liked things scruffy.' He was serious, so they didn't laugh. Instead they traded stories from their past, including the time last year that they banished a Snape (without memories) to the Amazon rainforest.

'Y'know, I think that Ginny is convinced that I murdered him.' Harry said thoughtfully, mentioning Ginny for the first time in the evening (he'd been holding himself back for Ron's benefit).

Hermione laughed. 'Well…I suppose that it is plausible. You were pretty angry with him for being a murderer.' She stopped laughing. 'It's not very funny really, is it?' Silence.

'Well, thanks for making us feel like we should look forward to married life Harry.' Ron said, trying to make the awkward moment pass quickly. 'We came to you first, no-one else in the family knows.'

'No-one?' Harry said a little incredulously. Ron nodded.

'Well, I called my parents on the 'phone. They were pleased, obviously.' Mentioned Hermione. 'Oh Ron, they promised that they'd help with us buying a new house.'

Harry was confused. 'But you've only just moved into your flat.'

'Oh yes, but it's nowhere near big enough if we're going to get married and have children.'

Ron turned a little green.

'Oh come on Ron, we were talking about this not that long ago. Hermione, you would have been very proud of him. He's even promised to buy your son his first 'Hogwarts – A History'.'

'I am proud of him, that's why we're getting married.' She kissed Ron on the cheek and ruffled his hair.

'We'd best be off Harry, I have to surprise my parents with the good news.' Ron said, a little bit as if he was preparing himself for an unpleasant experience.

Harry waved them off, and turned into his house. It felt even emptier than before.

Ginny left the steam engine behind a little reluctantly, knowing that she wouldn't be seeing it again for a very long time. She was no longer at school, and now she could finally do whatever she wanted…but first she had to see her family. Love them as she might she just really wanted to see…

'Harry!' she exclaimed, as she saw her boyfriend standing alone. 'Where are the redheads?'

He kissed her as a welcome. 'I persuaded them that it was easier for you to get home from my house, so I have come to pick you up instead of them having to travel all the way to London. Plus, I get to have you all to myself first.'

She held onto him tightly as they wandered out of the station, him pushing her luggage-laden trolley all the way to a car…

'Harry, what is this?'

'This is my car.'

'But you can't drive.' There was a distinctly panicked tone in her voice.

'I have a licence now.'

'It takes months to get a licence.'

'Not if you tweak the system' he said with a grin. He unlocked the car, and put her things into the boot. She still wasn't any closer to opening the passenger door and getting in. 'I promise you Gin, I'm not going to endanger your life by taking you in a car when I can't drive. I'm fine, I promise.'

She summoned up her Gryffindor courage, and sat down inside the car. Harry sat on the driver's side and closed the door.

'Now…' he said, 'now what I wonder.'

'Harry…' moaned Ginny, not happy with this turn of events. He turned to smile at her.

'Joking.' He said, turning the key in the ignition, and proceeding to drive away in a manner that is known across Great Britain as 'London Driving'. There isn't another way to drive in London if you want to move…but it isn't exactly the most sensible way of driving. Ginny was terrified.

They arrived at Harry's house without incident shortly afterwards (in London driving times – which means about three quarters of an hour to travel an extremely short distance). Ginny's things were moved in, and they made plans. She was going to leave some of her things at Harry's house, but take her trunk back to the Burrow so that her mother wasn't suspicious. All throughout the summer they would see each other, and Ginny could easily stay at Grimmauld place. There were enough spare bedrooms for her to be under no pressure (but Harry did have a double bed…just in case she got lonely).

It was a simple plan, which is always the best type if it's the kind of plan you want to work. Ginny and Harry were often in each other's company, so they were together when they received a letter each from the ministry. Harry read his out.

'Dear Mr Potter,

We are delighted to note that you have decided to join the Ministry of Magic's elite Auror task force. Training begins on September 3rd in the Auror Academy, next door to the Ministry of Magic. It will be clearly labelled, so there's no chance of missing it – just floo to the main ministry building.

We will be learning how to deal with threats to the safety of the magical population, and dealing with diffusing situations. As you know, this is work that involves commitment, hard work, and occasionally a little bit of sacrifice…'

Harry stopped reading when he looked at Ginny.

'They're identical, right?'

She nodded.

'It's just…' she started to say, 'I don't think that I'm so keen on working for the ministry right now.' Harry raised his eyebrows. 'I mean, I've never had a good experience with them…and all they want from being an auror is to work you into the ground. You know Tonks is thinking about quitting?'

'I didn't know that.' Harry confessed. 'But what about the prospect of 'sacrifice', 'commitment', and 'hard work'? Sounds like fun…' He said a little sarcastically.

'It sounds a little bit like what you've had to do your whole life. I'm not so sure about this Harry…'

Ginny's doubts were contagious. By the end of the evening (and a couple of bottles of wine) they had written to the ministry resigning their positions before they had even started.

'So much for that.' Harry said, as they watched Hedwig flap away in her wearisome way. 'Now what do we do?'

Ginny looked up at him. 'Let's go on holiday.'

This little bit marks the end of this story. End.

Author's note

Well, that's that. Thanks for reading to the end, please leave a review – I really, truly love them.