Chapter 24

T4 – A House Joined (cont.)

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Ginny looked behind her one last time before she exited through the portal, looking at the second house she constructed, trying not to think about how empty it was. Harry and she had agreed that they would only put the essentials in and maybe one or two things they'd like to have - so as to avoid the clutter of the first attempt. And while she knew that when the two houses were combined it'd seem a lot fuller, she had the sense of walking through an almost barren house inside.

"Ready?" Harry asked, taking hold of her hand and giving it a squeeze.

"Sure." They made their way through the second bloodred portal.

"Ahhh, that looks a lot better."

"Agreed."

The house was a very light blue shade with midnight blue shutters - it could easily have passed for any other house on a city suburb. The living room was almost as well done, and the couple couldn't help but smile.

"Am I worth the 'yes' now?" Harry asked jokingly.

"Maybe," Ginny kidded back, absently fingering her ring. "Are we going to check out the bedrooms this time around?"

The last house they created, they didn't even bother looking at the master and guest bedrooms, simply because they knew they'd be as horrid as the living room and kitchen. Hopefully this time around - with the experience they'd gathered from the previous attempt - they'd have turned out as well as the living room.

"Absolutely," Harry replied, and they made their way down the small hallway. Once they entered the room, he said, "Wait, why is the bed so small? Mine was almost twice as big. Ginny?"

Ginny hid a blush. "Well, I was thinking, big beds are nice, but... if we had a smaller bed, we'd be sleeping closer together."

Harry smiled. "Here, I want to show you something." He walked over to the bed and slipped under the covers. "You coming?"

"Harry!" Ginny said with a heated blush, obviously a bit scandalized.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Not that. Come on, I want to show you something."

Ginny looked at him distrustfully, but joined Harry on the bed. She snuggled against him, curling her arms around him. "Mmmmmm... see, isn't this nice?" she asked.

"It is," he replied back. "Let's try a nap." Harry watched as her eyes closed and her breathing began to gently slow. After a few minutes, she let out a murmur as if she was having a mildly uncomfortable dream. Harry knew what it was, though - while she was lightly asleep, she wasn't dreaming - she was uncomfortably warm under the blankets with her clothes on while nestled against another person.

He waited, holding her as she twitched a bit on the bed. Within a minute, she unconsciously rolled away from him, moving away from his body heat. A smile forming on his lips, he watched as she hit the edge. She let out a half-awake squeak before falling completely undignified off the side of the bed.

Ginny stood up, glaring at Harry, almost daring him to laugh - which he wisely did not. "Fine," she said in what was dangerously close to a pout. "A bigger bed will be ok."

Harry stood up as well and tried to take her hand with his. Ginny swatted it away, however, and said grumpily, "You knew I was going to fall off, and you didn't even try to stop me. And don't roll your eyes at me, Mister Potter!"

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Unfortunately, deadlines are approaching, so I'm going to be rapidly posting the rest of the book. This time 6 chapters are getting posted, and the remaining 10 chapters or so will be posted soon. Please give me whatever feedback you can, especially since while I've had time to polish the first half of the book, the last half isn't even completely done in rough draft yet – so I can use all the help I can get in refining these chapters.