Chapter 9

()()()

"Now you're seeing each other?" her father asked after the solicitor had left.

If she had a shovel, she would have already started digging a hole to bury herself in.

Twenty minutes. Twenty bloody minutes they had needed to hold off and this would have been sorted. Five years was plenty of time for Harry to have found a girl to settle down with, or for them to have started seeing each other after the contract had been voided.

Yes, right now she was hoping that they could still keet a relationship going, for a little while at least, maybe give each of them a chance to find some facet of the other person that they couldn't stand enough to marry, but five years was plenty of time to work that out.

"He couldn't have included that bit in the owl when he requested the meeting?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Would it have made a difference?" James asked.

"Yes," they both said together.

"We only just kissed today," Harry told them. "If he'd have put it in the letter then we would have been able to hold off until the rest of this was sorted!"

"Yeah," Ginny agreed vehemently.

Their parents were all simply staring at them from across the table, each wearing a matching expression that she couldn't get a proper read on.

"So, you're saying," Lily started, "that until today, you hadn't kissed each other. But this morning, the morning that the solicitor was coming to tell you he'd found a way out of your being forced to marry, this was the day you decided to give it a go?"

Oh.

Well.

Yes, put that way, the timing did look bad.

"We… hadn't looked at it like that," Ginny managed. "I had just been looking at it like the pressure of having to force something between us was gone and now it was our choice."

"Then, are you two dating now?" James asked.

She turned to Harry, hoping he would be the one to give that answer. They had just decided a few minutes ago to see each other. Did this change things again?

Harry looked to be bracing himself. "We… are," he said slowly.

Wonderful, that was convincing, Ginny thought.

He must have seen her disappointment on her face at his unsure response. He took her hand and answered again. "Look, it might have been stupid and impulsive, the timing was terrible, but with him coming here today we were sure it was going to be good news and that we would be free to choose again. So, it just happened. We've been growing closer."

"We've noticed," Lily deadpanned. "And you couldn't have waited until after you knew for sure."

From the look that Lily was giving her son, Ginny was grateful that her mother wasn't alive to chastise her over this one. Ten minutes of acting on impulse and she'd locked her fate up tight.

Neither of them could bring themselves to answer her.

"Right then. Suppose we should start planning a wedding then," her father said without enthusiasm.

Whether he was trying to lighten the mood or move the conversation forward, she didn't know. What he'd successfully done though was make her feel worse.

They all sat silently for a while. Eventually James got up to refill his and his wife's teacup. Harry excused himself to go upstairs and then James, Lily and her father went out onto the verandah to have a chat, leaving Ginny sitting there alone at the table.

It wasn't quite as bad as the first time she'd thought there wasn't a way out of the contract. At least she and Harry knew each other now and no one suggested she mutilate her womb.

She looked around at the Potter family kitchen. She loved this house. Parts of it were completely ostentatious, but other parts, like the pub and workshop in the basement, like this kitchen and the library, they were incredible.

The Potter's were a noble family, but they weren't part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, so they didn't have a seat on the Wizengamut, there weren't any charities that they were on the board of directors for or have any other high-borne responsibilities. Euphemia Potter had started the St. Mungo's Charity, but that had taken on a life of its own and was managed by others now. The Potter's all worked for a living, even Lily.

Lily wasn't a Quidditch player though.

If Ginny was going to be expected to be married and pregnant within two years then that was going to destroy her plans of getting into the training camps next summer.

Even after she had a child, their whole point of 'breeding' with a Weasley was so that there would be multiple children. So, even after she gave birth, she was going to be a mother. She could count on one hand how many professional Quidditch players were mothers.

Three.

She needed to find Harry.

Their parents might be angry at them right now, but if he and she were going to be forced to marry, then they needed to figure this out together.

She went back to his room and knocked on the door, but there was no answer. She turned the knob and went in, but the room was empty. The door to the bathroom was open and there wasn't any noise coming from in there.

She hadn't looked around his room much. He'd made it more his own since she'd been there in the summer, and she hadn't looked at it when she was in here before, she was too busy looking at Harry and wondering if it was bad that she had this little hope inside her that he'd want to kiss her.

There were a few framed photos he'd put up. They all looked like pictures he might have taken himself; of friends, family, scenery. She even found one on his dresser that had He, Hermione, Ron and who she assumed was Daniel, from his work. Also on his dresser were all the letters that she'd sent him. She picked up the top one and saw that he'd drawn on them, underlining words and adding question marks.

Under the bit where she mentioned having steered Ethan in the direction of Jamie Cummings in Hufflepuff, he'd written 'because?!' in red ink.

She leafed through a few more of her letters and it looked like he'd been parsing all of them for subtext. Like he'd been pouring over them again and again to find out if she felt something for him as well.

Seeing that made her as happy as she'd been when he'd started kissing her back.

She set all the letters back where she'd found them and set off to look for Harry again. If he wasn't in his room then he might have gone down to the basement and the pub.

And he was. He was behind the bar making something that required a shaker. She slipped onto a bar stool and watched him adding things to it, then shake it up and pour out two glasses.

"What's this called?"

"The drink itself is an Old Fashioned, I've added a citrus fizz to the top of it."

It looked impressive to her, he didn't sound as thrilled about it though. He put their drinks on the counter and came around the bar to sit beside her and held up his drink to give her a cheers. They clinked glasses and she took a sip of hers.

It was nice. A touch of sweet, a touch of citrus, and the smooth liquor to make it go down easy.

"Ginny, I'm sorry," Harry said after he finished his; quickly.

"Sorry about what? I was the one that launched myself at you, not the other way around," she said, swirling the ice around in her glass and watching the foam move with it.

"Yeah, but you're the one that's giving up a dream because of this. Delaying it at least. I mean, the way the timeline works out," he shrugged.

"Yeah, unless you want to run off right now and get hitched, then we can work on getting me knocked up tonight." Her joke fell flat, although, it was November now. She started counting out the months in her head. "I'd have the kid by my next birthday," she worked out.

"You're not serious?"

She turned to look at him. "What? No! I don't want to do that! I'm scared enough about what the marriage part means, I don't want to be worried about being a mum right this second too!"

A wave of relief looked to have passed over him. "Oh, good."

"Did I just give you a heart attack there," she gave him a poke in his side.

"Nearly, yes."

She downed the rest of her glass until there was just ice and a bit of foam left. "Well, this drink was delicious. I think I'd like to work my way through your whole repertoire before I'm not able to."

He smiled sedately at her. "Is that your way of asking for another?"

"You know it's only just after breakfast?" she pointed out.

"So… champagne and orange juice then?" he offered. "What? It's been a full day already. I just found out that due to my hormones-"

"And mine," she cut in. He'd already started his way back around to the other side of the bar to start refreshing their drinks.

"Yes, and yours. That means that you and I really are obligated to get married."

She chewed her lip and looked down at her glass again, swirling the ice around one more time. "I went to your room to look for you first," she admitted. "Found my letters there that you'd written on."

"Oh." He paused in his task.

"I've been chucking every first draft I write to you in a fireplace."

"Why?"

"Because I thought that it was too soon and too strange for me to be telling you that I fancy you."

Harry reached across the bar and put his finger under her chin so she would look up at him, then leaned across the bar to give her a kiss. "I was hoping that's what they'd say."

They grinned at each other, and Harry went back to making their drinks.

"Okay, only one more for me. Our parents are still upstairs and I've no doubt we haven't heard the last from them about this." She wanted to know what to expect when they went back upstairs. If only there was some person that could go between them. "Where's Sirius?" she wondered.

"I don't think he came back last night, and he was supposed to be meeting up with your brothers this morning."

"What? Which brothers? Why?" What on earth would Sirius be meeting up with her brothers for?

"The twins," Harry told her and gave a confused look. "Did you not know? They and Sirius are hammering out a business plan for those inventions of theirs."

"What?! No. You knew this and you didn't tell me?" It was absolutely new news to her. "That isn't going to fly when you're my husband," she joked.

"Well, we'll be living in the same house at that point, so I'll have more opportunity then, won't I?" he countered and poured out the foam bit to top off her drink. "Ta da!" he presented the glass to her.

"Yes, very impressive," she chuckled.

"I know I am," he gave her a cheeky wink.

She took another sip and he came to sit beside her once more. "Seriously though. We only just decided to start dating and we already know when we're going to married, which will need to be less than a year away. How do you feel about that?" she asked.

"I feel like…" he didn't answer right away, instead he took another drink from his glass before turning to look at her. "Like it's less scary than it could be."

"Because we get on?"

"Yes, and it's you," he shrugged. "So, I sort of feel like we'll be able to figure it out." He polished off his drink and leaned over the bar top and ran water out of the tap to rinse his glass out then fill it with water before sitting back down again. "I also think that we need to go on a proper date."

"Really?" she asked with intrigue, that hadn't been at all on her mind. "And what constitutes a proper date?"

"A meal, and activity and finish it off with a snog." He gave her another cheeky wink.

"Well, that liquor seems to have worked as truth serum a bit, hasn't it?"

He took another sip and put his glass down on the bar. "Look, let's pretend for a bit that we've only just started dating and the whole marriage and kids' bit isn't even a thing. What would we do next? I'd take you on a date, that's what."

"We've kind of been on three dates already," she pointed out. "Twice in Hogsmeade and once in Diagon Alley."

"Doesn't count, we didn't snog. And we didn't know we fancied each other."

"And when do you want to go on this date? And where?"

"Well, you have Quidditch practice later," he started.

"Shit! I forgot!" Ginny moved her drink away from her. "I shouldn't finish the rest of that." Then she gave a groan, "I've got loads of assignments to finish up as well."

"So, that rules out this weekend," he smirked. "How about Friday? I can pick you up just outside Hogwarts and we can go into London and meet up with my coworkers for after work drinks and head out from there?"

"And you'll have me back to the school before ten?" she quirked her eyebrow at him.

"Or I could have you back before nine and let you show me around before I sneak out one of the many passageways," he suggested.

"And by 'show you around', you mean?" she asked leadingly.

"It means I want to kiss you again," he told her honestly. Then he did.

She was having a hard time worrying over how they'd fucked up by kissing before talking to the solicitor when his lips were on hers. It felt too good to care about what their future held.

Eventually, reluctantly, Harry pulled away and set the glasses in the sink and they made their way back upstairs to face the music. Their parents were still sitting outside, it looked like they were just waiting for them now and it looked like they weren't as angry over this new information either, there had been enough time allowed for the dust to settle over that.

"You two don't appear to be upset," Lily noticed.

Ginny thought that might have something to do with how she was blushing a bit, some of that due to the drink she'd had, and her hair probably wasn't as neat as it had been earlier either; two rounds of snogging was sure to make it a mess.

"We're both able to admit that we've grown to fancy each other," Harry told them. "If we had known before the meeting that a kiss would seal this, then we'd likely have waited, but we didn't, and now here we are. So, we're going to try and make this as normal a situation as we can." He took her hand and clasped them together. "We've started dating."

"Obviously, we know that there is a timeline here and we aren't going to ignore that, but, just for a while, we'd like to pretend that this isn't looming over our heads," Ginny finished. "We've gotten to know each other pretty well as friends, now we're going to get to know each other as something a little more than friends," she blushed.

Her father looked back and forth between them and then over at James and Lily. It looked like they'd discussed who would be responsible for talking when she and Harry were in their presence again.

"You know, we all got married young," he started. "Your mother was just out of school, as were James and Lily when they eloped. We didn't have a large celebration, neither of us, and we probably should have. We were in love and it was something to be celebrated, but your mother and I couldn't afford it and James and Lily gotten swept away with each other and wound up making a rash decision about it, that had luckily wound up working out."

"And?" Ginny wasn't entirely sure where he was going with this.

"And," he paused, looking to Lily to see if she would take up the conversation, to which, she merely gave him a look saying that it was his responsibility. "We want there to be a proper wedding," he admitted.

Ginny exchanged a look with Harry. He was as surprised as she was.

"Isn't it a bit too soon to be talking about this?" she asked her father.

"No," he told her simply.

"The solicitor won't be looking into this further," James told them. "You've sealed it with a kiss," he grinned at being able to use that expression and mean it. "And, we like you, Ginny. We want to get to know you better as well. This might be an old-fashioned way of doing things, but if there is going to be a wedding-"

"And there is going to be a wedding," Lily said.

"Then we want to have a big party for it," James finished.

"Don't we have any say in this?" Harry asked. "We certainly don't want to make all the plans right now. We've only just decided when our first real date is going to be."

Lily got up from her seat with her teacup in hand and headed back towards the kitchen, pausing to pat her son on his cheek, "I'll give you until Christmas, then we'll start forcing you to make plans."

()()()

True to their word, after Mr. Weasley and Ginny had left on Saturday, neither of his parents had said anything about his wedding.

His wedding.

It was still so odd.

Ginny had been his girlfriend for all of a week and in that time they'd only snogged twice and they already knew their wedding was going to take place sometime next summer, before she turned eighteen.

Sirius hadn't made any such promise about not pestering him for wedding details though. When he'd gotten back to the manor after his morning meeting with the Weasley twins he'd been full of questions, starting with wondering what the solicitor had to say, then laughing outrageously when he'd been told why it hadn't mattered what the solicitor had to say, then he started in on asking inappropriate questions, of which Harry didn't answer, and then he started planning out a few different wedding party options.

Every day over the past week Sirius had a different idea for where and when his and Ginny's wedding should be, and a new theme for it as well.

Harry had to admit, some of them weren't so bad. He liked the Quidditch themed one where each guest was told what color to wear based on where they would be seated, as each table had a different Quidditch team name, then during the reception everyone would have to play a 15-minute game of Quidditch and they'd have a prize for which team won overall.

Ginny probably would have enjoyed that too.

They could make their forced marriage more like a tournament and the opening ceremony for it would just happen to be a marriage ceremony.

But they'd decided they didn't want to talk about all that until after Christmas, so he wasn't going to bring it up with her.

Right now, it was Friday and he'd come straight to Hogsmeade after he finished up work and was waiting at the gates to Hogwarts for her to come down. He probably should have opted to head home via Floo and then go straight to his mum's office to pick Ginny up, that way he wouldn't have required so many warming charms.

Next time.

He'd rather not involve his mum in his first proper date with Ginny.

It would have been the more comfortable option though.

Harry cast another warming charm on himself while he waited. Then, in the distance he saw two figures heading his way, one was enormous and shaggy, the other small with flaming red hair that looked even more red in the setting sun.

Ginny was grinning broadly at him as she approached.

"Harry, this is Hagrid, he's the groundskeeper and Care of Magical Creatures professor."

"I know! We've met. Hi Hagrid, good to see you again. How is your Cerberus?" He had gone with Sirius and his dad to say hello to Hagrid before the Gryffindor/Slytherin Quidditch game and he'd talked of all the animals he'd owned, including, for a short time, a dragon.

Hagrid gave a laugh and shook his hand, a move that made him feel like his shoulder was about to dislocate. "Oh, Fluffy's getting' on in age, but he's still doin' well, livin' in the forest," Hagrid told him. "Was glad when yer mum came back to start workin' 'ere. She always was the brightest of 'er age. Mind, yer dad an' Black were pretty bright too."

Harry was sure that Hagrid didn't know the half of it.

Hagrid was heading down to the village for a pint, but Harry and Ginny bid him goodnight and Harry Apparated them to the spot close to ELM so they could walk to the pub together.

"I still prefer to Floo," Ginny told him. "Even if I do get some soot up my nose sometimes."

"I always wind up bumping my elbow on something," Harry admitted. "If I had the option, I'd go Portkey everywhere, but they take a bit to set up."

It was quiet around them in the alley, not a soul around, and now that they were further south where it was a bit warmer, and alone, he felt he was given the chance to appreciate the sight of her again.

"Hi," he grinned down at her.

"Hi," she chuckled back at him.

"You look nice."

She grinned, giving him a roll of her eyes, "oh, just shut up and kiss me."

It was all the warning he had before she pulled on his collar and her lips were on him. He let out a muffled yelp of surprise, which turned into muffled laughter as he kissed her back.

Her being full of surprises like this he was very keen on.

"As much as I'd like to continue snogging you in an alley," he said once he pulled away, his arms still wrapped around her waist, "we've got some people expecting us at the pub."

"Yes, yes; dinner, event, more snogging," she riddled off.

"Are you really hungry? Because I had hoped we'd grab a drink at the pub and then go for food. Otherwise our first date is bound to include your youngest brother, and that is just weird."

"Does an appetizer count as dinner then? Because I am hungry."

"We can grab an appetizer at the pub," he nodded.

He took her hand and held it the two blocks to the pub. The wave of warmth when they entered the establishment was equal to the resounding welcome they received from his friends on the other side of the room, beckoning them over.

"Ginny!" Hermione gushed and pulled her into a hug. "It's so good to see you again."

Harry gave a grin and a wave to everyone, faltering a moment when he saw that Sophia was there, and she looked put out as she stared at Ginny, who had gone to greet her brother and steal a nacho off of his plate.

"So, this is your girlfriend then?" Daniel asked, standing up to greet Ginny with a handshake. "I've heard so very little about you," he teased.

Harry rolled his eyes. He hadn't told Daniel much, the only times he'd talked about Ginny around him had been when he'd been talking with Hermione, and it was only he, Ginny, Hermione and Ron that knew about what had brought them together.

"Looks like there is a bit of a theme going on. Is it just about ELM workers having ginger paramours, or is there another Weasley sister around somewhere I can try to sweep off her feet?" Daniel asked Ginny with a wink.

"You'll have to stick to the red headed pursuit, I'm the only Weasley female, although I think my brother Charlie might be interested in you, if you're interested in men," Ginny shot back.

Daniel laughed loudly at that. "No, no, just women for me, but I appreciate the offer."

Though the two of them did say hello to each other, Sophia was obviously giving Ginny the cold shoulder. Harry tried not to concern himself with that and pulled a chair over from another table so he and Ginny could sit on the end together.

"One drink," he promised her.

Half and hour later and they were back out on the street, his cheeks hurt from laughing so much. Ginny and Ron had been feeding off each other in their anecdotes and got the whole table wiping away several tears of mirth.

"I like that Daniel," Ginny told him. "You said you met him at Illvermory?"

"We didn't know each other well when I went there, operated in different circles and he was a few years above me, but when I saw him sitting there in the lobby on my first day I had to go and say 'hi'. I've been the new person in a new land often enough, it helps loads to know at least one person around you, even if it isn't someone you know well."

"And Marina? She's an attractive lady," Ginny teased, giving him an exaggerated wink.

"Ha, ha. Yes, I first met her a decade ago. She's a good superior to have at work and she likes to let her hair down after work. Once she's a few drinks in she likes to tell the stories of botched potions and they can get either gruesome or hilarious."

"I'd say 'shame I missed it', but I don't know if I'd want to hear the gruesome ones."

"No, they aren't very appetizing."

"Speaking of?" she asked leadingly.

"Speaking of," he said, gesturing across the street from them to a building that was a restaurant in a converted fire station. "This is a Gastropub, it's a restaurant that doesn't have a set menu, every day or every week it changes based on what's in season. I've got us a reservation."

"Oh, sounds fancy." Her eyes were alight with interest. "Do we have to watch what we say in there?"

"It is Muggle, yes. I can cast a small privacy spell though, so we don't have to be overly careful," he assured her.

"Lead on then."

It was a really neat location that Hermione had told him about. The chef was supposed to be phenomenal and Harry liked that it wasn't a place with standard fare. Inside, the main floor was a pub style that had craft beers and tapas, upstairs, where they were headed, it was quiet with twinkle lights and candles on the tables, table settings and soft music playing.

"Wow," he heard Ginny exclaim. "I wasn't expecting a place like this."

He looked down at her beside him. "I had to make sure it would be a lasting impression, didn't I?"

This was their official first date, and apparently it was the last first date either of them would ever have. He wanted it to be special, and he only had a limited amount of time he was going to be able to cram that 'special' into; Christmas wasn't that far away.

She grinned up at him and went up on her toes to give him a short kiss.

The waitress led them over to their table by the window. It was a nice little table for two and there weren't any other patrons very close to them. He ordered a bottle of white wine and as the two of them sat there enjoying it and the three-course meal, they lost themselves in conversation. He had hoped they would be able to treat this evening like nothing more than a first date and that was how it went; she told him all about her school, friends and Quidditch, he told her about his work and past adventures, usually involving a healthy dose of hilarity from Sirius.

"So they were only fifteen when they became Animagi, which was an incredible accomplishment on its own, throw in the fact that they did it-"

"Without anyone finding out," Ginny finished for him correctly. "That is the more incredible part. It's supposed to be insanely difficult. There are only, like, seven or eight registered one's in the U.K!"

"They are registered now, so there are like, nine or ten."

Ginny gave him a scoff and rolled her eyes.

He liked it when she did that, particularly the little smile she gave him afterwards. There was this twinkle of true enjoyment in her eyes that showed a deeper emotion behind it.

"I really like you," he admitted to her. They'd already admitted their fancy for each other, but he wanted to tell her again.

And again.

"I really like you too," she said and clasped her hand on his on the table. "And this meal was incredible."

"It was, wasn't it? I didn't know what exactly we were going to be served, but it tasted fantastic."

"The scallops were huge." She made a circle with her hand. "I didn't even know they could get that large."

"And the rice that was served with it? The flavor of it was incredible."

"Risotto," Ginny told him. "I've only made it once, but it didn't taste anywhere near as good."

"Maybe on our next date we should do one of those cooking class dates, where everyone has a cooking station and they talk you through how to do it yourself."

"This chef does that?" Ginny asked, sounding intrigued. She leaned closer towards him. "I've no idea how to cook the Muggle way."

He leaned towards her conspiratorially. "That would be part of what the class teaches us."

She laughed at that. "And I suppose that would be the dinner and event all in one." She looked at her watch then. "Was there something we were supposed to do after this? It's getting close to nine now."

"I though you didn't have to be back until ten?"

"I thought you wanted a bit of a tour of the castle," she smirked.

He leaned across the table toward her again, "any chance you're interested in making that the event?"

Her expression was answer enough, and he abruptly raised his hand to flag down the waitress.

()()()