CHAPTER NINE
Harry laughed hard. He couldn't help it—the way that Ginny had so earnestly asked, "What's a sushi?" had him in stitches.
"Sushi," he managed to explain between laughs, "is fish. Erm, it's raw fish actually," he told her, finally able to breathe again. "I know it sounds weird, but it's actually really good, I promise."
She looked more doubtful than ever, her lips teasing themselves and her eyes confused. She did look resolved though, he thought.
"You don't have to act like you're going to battle," he laughed again. Merlin, his sides hurt from laughing now.
"We'll see," Ginny smiled.
Harry held the door open for her as they entered the sushi restaurant, and when he produced the name for their table (Evans), they were taken immediately to the table he'd reserved.
Ginny's eyes looked wide and confused as she looked over the menu.
"We can get some sake or tea to drink if you want?" he suggested. "Have you ever tried sake?"
She shook her head.
"How do you feel about plums?"
"They're good," Ginny said. "Though I don't usually buy them at Tesco or anything."
"You might like it then. Do you want to try it?"
"Sure," she smiled. Harry felt momentarily hypnotized by her eyes but shook himself out of it.
When the waiter came by, he ordered their sake and a starter of calamari.
"What's calamari?" Ginny asked, concerned.
When Harry told her, her eyes widened further. "What's the matter?" he goaded. "I thought you said Weasleys will eat anything."
Her face turned red before she laughed. "I guess I didn't know this kind of food existed," Ginny admitted. "But I'll trust you this time. You'd better not let me down!"
"Oh, I won't," Harry told her sincerely, looking into her warm, amber eyes.
Ginny turned red again, and he wondered how many times he could make her flush, and how far exactly the flush traveled down her body.
Now, it was Harry's turn to blush, and Ginny raised an eyebrow at him enquiringly.
He shook his head, not brazen enough to share his thoughts. At least not yet.
Their sake arrived, and he watched as Ginny took a sip. She looked worried for a moment, but as the drink hit her tongue, her eyes lit up. "I like it!"
He grinned. "Good! Do you need any help making sense of the menu?"
As she looked down at it, she did look confused. "What do you usually get?"
"I like to get the rainbow rolls and the shrimp tempura rolls."
"Why don't you order a few different dishes, and we can both eat off of them?" Ginny suggested. "That way I can try all your favourites."
"Sure," Harry agreed.
The calamari arrived shortly after, and Harry ordered, something Ginny told him afterward that she normally wouldn't accept, but this was an exception. He made note, but he didn't think he would normally try to order for her anyway.
Harry watched as Ginny picked up a piece of calamari hesitantly, dipped it into the sauce, and bit off a small piece. He watched her chew cautiously, and the moment that she decided what she thought of it.
"I like it!" she grinned. "The way it's fried saves it."
"I tried to tell you!"
Throughout the meal, as they sat and talked and ate, Harry found himself liking Ginny even more. Beyond being gorgeous and funny (and fit), she was also incredibly smart. He thought, under all her bravado, there was a caring heart, too.
He avoided talking about the war as bringing up past trauma usually put a damper on a first date, but he also kept in mind the things he'd heard about how brave and selfless she had been. He was slowly getting a better picture of who Ginny was, and who she had been for years.
"So, what kept you from Hogwarts, if you don't mind my asking?" Ginny asked him, near the end of their meal.
He had just taken a giant bite of rainbow roll, so he finished his bite, chewing thoughtfully.
"Well," he said, right after swallowing. "My godfather, Sirius, managed to break out of Azkaban when I was around seven, living with my mum's relatives, and came and had me live with him. Of course, I didn't know at the time that he was a fugitive, but we spent years on the run from both the Ministry and the Muggle authorities, and going to Hogwarts would have required us to have an address on file."
She nodded. "Yeah, I suppose that would give your location away if you're trying to evade law enforcement."
Harry agreed. "On top of that, Sirius' then-boyfriend, Remus, was a werewolf and would have never been allowed to keep me in his household."
Ginny raised a single eyebrow. "A gay werewolf? Double-whammy."
"You're not wrong at all. You know how the wizarding world is, and the Ministry is even worse about it. Legislature is stuck in the goddamned Medieval era."
She laughed, and it sounded like it might have been a little bitter. "When I was just starting Hogwarts, my dad was working on a new piece of legislation, known as the Muggle Protection Act, that was very… erm, what's the word? Controversial, maybe? And there were a few in the Wizengamot that were not happy with what he'd put forward."
"Oh?" Harry asked. He'd heard of the Muggle Protection Act, and that it had been ahead of its time, but nothing else.
"Well, coincidentally, around the same time, a possession of Tom Riddle's found its way into my belongings on a trip to Diagon Alley right before my first year," she explained. "We were never able to prove it, but I know with everything in me that it was Lucius Malfoy's revenge against dad."
Harry'd never found out who it was, but he had been told that a young girl had been possessed by one of Voldemort's Horcruxes and that it had led to the destruction of the vile thing. "That was you?" Harry asked, unable to help himself.
Ginny grimaced, and Harry immediately felt remorseful. "Sorry," he apologized lamely.
"It's okay," she shrugged. "It was me. I thought that the diary was a gift from my dad, a late birthday surprise or something, so I thought it was probably fine. I was wrong, obviously."
Harry found himself giving up any discretion. Ginny deserved to know the truth, and she had done for years. "It was a piece of his soul in that diary," he told her.
Ginny's eyes widened, but she didn't say anything.
"And it was a good half of it, really. He made more objects like that, each housing a smaller and smaller piece of his soul until it had been torn asunder and there wasn't much left in his body."
Now she looked a little green. "His soul? Not just some spell that recreated his consciousness or will?"
He shook his head, and Ginny pushed her plate away. "I knew he was a monster, and I knew that he was fucking twisted from the things he'd told me and shown me, but I didn't realize he was that depraved."
Now Harry felt awful that he'd brought this up—on a first date no less! —and floundered to bring up some other topic, but Ginny continued to speak. "Thank you for telling me, Harry. That part of my life has haunted me for a long time, you know. And I've been trying to make sense of it since I was eleven years old."
Harry still felt terrible and was playing with the cloth napkin set over his lap, wondering how he could save this date.
"Don't look so guilty," Ginny told him, as if reading his mind. "I mean it! This gives me answers I didn't know I needed. And, maybe now, I can put it past me. It made me who I am, but it doesn't define my whole life, you know."
He grinned a little, still feeling like it was a bit of a grimace. "I really liked the sushi, Harry," she told him gently. "But I think I'm ready to leave."
"I understand if you want me to let you just go home," he told her.
She raised her eyebrows at him incredulously. "Are you kidding me? I want to go pick out a pumpkin to carve!
He grinned completely this time. "Great! It's a really cool patch that has spiked cider and only allows adults in at night." He motioned for the waiter to come by and handed him his Muggle credit card. "We can either take the tube or Apparate there."
"How long of a train ride would it be?" she asked.
Harry thought about it. "About forty-five minutes."
As the waiter returned with Harry's credit card, they stood up and began to walk out the door. Night had fallen while they had eaten dinner and the moon was bright and full. Harry briefly thought of Remus, and how he'd be locking himself up right now, if he were still alive.
Ginny's broke Harry's thoughtful silence and suggested, "Maybe we should apparate there, that way we can carve the pumpkins tonight, too."
The sky overhead was filled with stars. Coupling the stars with the way the clearing was ringed by tall, bare trees with fairy lights strung across made for a romantic atmosphere. There were stalls everywhere, advertising hot cider, warmed mead, hot chocolate with liqueur, and all kinds of other autumn treats that had Harry salivating. It reminded him of that first October with his godfather, when he'd been spoiled absolutely rotten.
Ginny was looking about, the light from the trees making her face radiant.
Harry couldn't help staring at her—he was enraptured by the look on her face as she took everything in. "What d'you want to do first?" he asked her with a grin.
Ginny smiled back at him and her smile lit up her face in a way that even the fairy lights weren't able. "Let's go jump in some leaves!"
Harry had never jumped in a pile of leaves—not as a child with the Dursleys, or as a teen with Sirius. It had always seemed like something fun, but a waste of time. It occurred to him for the first time that he was allowed to waste his own time if he wanted, now.
"Race you there!" Ginny exclaimed, taking off as quick as a Nimbus. For a millisecond, he started in surprise before taking off after her, catching up gradually, then matching her stride.
"What's the matter, Potter?" she gasped out. They were almost to the far side of the clearing now, and Harry had had a few people that he'd had to dodge, almost knocking their concessions and children out of their hands. "Are you afraid to beat a girl?"
At her provocation, he couldn't help but push his legs to go faster, outpacing her and diving into the largest pile of leaves, relishing the crunch they made under his weight. Soon after, he felt Ginny land next to him, pushing the leaves outwards. Harry realized he was laughing with joy as his body began to shake.
Ginny was laughing, too, and he decided it was his new favourite sound.
"Beat you!" he crowed, turning towards her. She was already staring at him, eyes dark. Harry's breath caught in his throat and he scooted closer to her, hand cupping her cheek and bringing her lips to his. It felt like the first kiss they'd shared all over again, brain alight from how her lips fit perfectly against his.
He and Ginny pulled apart too soon for Harry's liking and he found himself staring into her eyes, grinning like a fool.
"So, are we going to do a repeat performance of that?" he asked stupidly.
Ginny smirked and his thoughts turned quite indecent, all reason going out the window as he thought of what he'd like to do with her body. He could almost feel the way her legs would wrap around his waist, and how her lips would feel on his neck, biting into it…
Harry pulled himself out of the daydream and averted his eyes from Ginny's. He adjusted himself discreetly. "Wanna jump in more leaves or do something else?" he asked to distract himself.
"Let's get some spiked cider," Ginny answered. "I'm so thirsty, for some reason."
Harry held his hand out to her, and she took it, pulling herself up from the ground. They found a stand with spiked cider and walked much more calmly around the clearing, watching other couples who were there drinking and playing and flirting. He found the courage to take her hand in his again and marveled at how very cold her skin felt.
"Do you need some gloves?" he asked. "You're like an icicle."
Ginny shook her head. "I'm fine, thanks, Harry. Let's go pick out our pumpkins!"
She licked her lips and looked at him and Harry got the strange impression that she was thinking of a meal when she looked at him. Don't be daft, he told himself.
The pumpkin patch was a little picked over, but he and Ginny still were able to trounce about through the small field as they examined various gourds and squash. Ginny eventually picked two—a large green and orange pumpkin with a long, twisted stem, and a small, cute pumpkin she insisted would be "the best for pumpkin pie."
Harry picked out a perfect, round orange one like the ones he'd always wanted when he was young, before he'd known of any prophecies or even magic. They were the kind that Petunia had strictly forbidden in 4 Privet Drive—though come to think of it, she had forbidden any pumpkins in the house at all. Even pumpkin pie or soup had been taboo, as it was "a freakish fruit."
They walked together, holding their pumpkins against their bellies as Harry checked them out at the stand. "Anything else before we leave?" he asked.
Ginny shook her head and just smiled. "Where shall we carve them?" she asked him.
"It's up to you," Harry told her.
"Oh, it's entirely too much pressure!" she complained dramatically. "I could never make a decision. Woe is me!"
Harry chuckled. And let her continue for a few minutes until she finally calmed down the theatrics and told him, "We could go to mine. I've got an excellent roof space that I've rigged with warming charms since the weather turned cold."
"Deal," he agreed. Ginny side-along Apparated them to her flat and Harry admired her bum from behind her as they trudged up the steps until they reached the roof. He sat his pumpkin on the ground and conjured a thick quilt for them to sit on, and then conjured some knives and bowls.
They settled down, Ginny looking very concentrated as she peered at the pumpkin. "What are you going to carve?" Harry asked.
She shushed him, still staring at the pumpkin. She finally nodded to herself and brandished one of the smaller, more delicate knives.
Harry shrugged to himself and picked up his own, taking the large one to cut around the stem and gut the thing.
"Yuck," he said as he plunged his hand into the cold, slimy innards. The smell of the pumpkin drifted into his nostrils, and it almost made the texture in his hand bearable. He scooped the guts out, feeling like it would never end.
Ginny, meanwhile, had made a small outline with her delicate knife. Harry couldn't quite tell what it was, but he trusted it would be something creative. She soon began the gutting process as well, grinning madly as she scooped out the pulp.
"You absolute mad woman," he complimented.
She sent a sexy smirk in his direction and finished up her gutting. Replacing the top, she took the little knife again and traced the outline she'd made. Harry looked at his own, sad, artless pumpkin and wondered what in the world he would carve into it.
He decided on a very uninventive creepy smile, like he'd always seen on all the Muggle carvings. If he couldn't be creative, he could at least imitate, right?
Harry got to work, struggling with his fine motor skills to get the knife to turn the way he'd like. Ginny, however, seemed like an old-pro next to him, looking incredibly at home with a knife in her hand.
"Should I be worried at how good you are with that thing?"
She winked at him. "Do you have any reason to be?"
"Touché."
Soldiering on, Harry finally finished near the same time as Ginny. His pumpkin, however, looked much more like a child had done it.
"You could have asked for help," Ginny teased.
"Why didn't anyone warn me how incorrigible you are?" he teased back, smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"You clearly didn't ask any of my family members about me, then," she said. "They would have told you all the dirt."
"Hmm, I guess I still could ask Ron for more. I know where to find him since I caught him and Hermione shagging."
Ginny gasped. "You caught them?"
Harry nodded, trying not to remember too many details. "I was tailing her, you see, as I thought she was the perp for my case."
"Perp?" she asked.
"Perpetrator," he explained. "But instead of seeing anything incriminating, I just saw Ron taking her knickers off."
Ginny shuddered. "That's fucking ghastly. Never wanted that image in my brain… do you think brain soap exists?"
Harry chuckled. "They may be working on it in the Department of Mysteries," he joked. "But it might involve taking your brain out of your skull."
"Whatever it takes to get that picture out," she told him. "Nasty."
"You're telling me," Harry agreed. "Now, let's see your pumpkin."
She turned it around to face him. She had carved a witch riding a broom with a quaffle tucked underneath her arm. "That's really good," he complimented her. "You really are good with that knife."
"I can be quite good with things in my hands," Ginny intoned.
Harry blushed. "You definitely are."
Now Ginny flushed, and Harry grinned, heart pounding in his chest as she pictured just what her hands could do.
He found himself leaning toward her for the second time that night, and their lips met even more quickly this time. Pumpkins forgotten, he pulled her body on top of his, nearly moaning as she straddled her legs around his waist. He pushed himself up against her, tongue running along her bottom lip. She granted him entrance, and he immediately teased her tongue with his playfully. Ginny moaned and wriggled against him. He brought his hand up to her breast, eliciting a whine.
He removed his hand and she complained until he found his way under the hem of her dress. He was tempted to allow his hand to stop, hesitating, near the line of her knickers, but continued to his original goal—her bra.
He palmed her breast gently, tweaking her nipple through the cotton garment.
"Harry," Ginny whined.
"Oh, do you like that?" he asked, mockingly, voice husky.
She nodded, mouth opening as he continued his ministrations, his other hand pulling at the hem of her dress, attempting to bring it up and over her body. She let out a frustrated growl and tore it off herself before her hands found their way to Harry's waistband. She played with the buckle on his trousers for a moment before discarding it in triumph.
She rubbed her warm center over him, grinding herself onto his hardness.
Now he moaned. "Gods," he muttered, voice sounding strangled.
Ginny rubbed herself against him harder, fumbling with his trouser button.
She gave up and pulled his hand away from her breast, guiding it under the top elastic of her knickers. Not needing more encouragement, Harry trailed his hand down teasingly, sliding his fingers in her wetness teasingly. Ginny bucked against his hand, and he trailed his hand upward, out of her knickers and to her belly.
He flipped them over and kissed his way down her belly, lips lingering on her clothed clit. She mewled softly.
Grinning in satisfaction, he pulled her knickers down her legs and flung them somewhere near the door to the roof. Kissing her again, he trailed the kisses until his lips met her center, tongue circling her clit and then biting her inner thigh playfully. "Oh, Harry," Ginny whined.
He needed to taste her fully, he decided. He kissed her thigh gently where he'd nipped at her and then licked her slit. Her hands fisted his hair, yanking hard. The pain of her hands tugging on his hair turned him on more and he continued to lick, nip, and kiss her.
Her legs began to tremble around his shoulders as she moaned her release.
Harry kissed his way back up her body in satisfaction, finally finding her lips.
"I like the way you taste like me," Ginny murmured.
Harry smiled. "I like the way you taste."
She smirked back at him. "You know what I also think I like?"
"What's that?"
"The way your dick feels inside of me. Maybe you should remind me, so I can be sure."
Harry didn't hesitate, unbuttoning his trousers and pulling them down and off him, kicking them off his legs a little awkwardly, as one hand was still on Ginny's breast and the other was on his hard member, where he was immediately guiding it to Ginny's center. She opened her legs wide for him, and he felt welcomed as soon as he was inside her.
He heard her sigh as if in relief, and he felt the same way. He was still for a moment, relishing the way it felt to be inside her. Ginny rolled her hips at him, creating a wave of delicious sensation. He couldn't hold still anymore and began to thrust in and out, his pelvis grinding against hers with every other movement.
"Oh, yes," he heard her sigh as he enveloped one of her nipples in his mouth, sucking on it and biting it gently. Harry felt her tighten around him and he nipped gently at her creamy breast as he brought his thumb to her nub. Ginny's moaned quietly again, and her legs began to quiver before she tightened and pulsed around him, her back arching off the rooftop.
Fuck, he thought. She was so beautiful and breathtakingly sexy. He removed his mouth from her nipple and found her lips, kissing her tenderly, slowing his thrusting. Ginny's hands grabbed onto his shoulders, nails digging lightly into his skin with every thrust.
It occurred to Harry as he continued to thrust into her that he couldn't imagine being inside anyone else at all. He didn't want to imagine it, either. He just wanted Ginny, and he wanted to be the only one for her, as well. He wanted to be hers, and hers alone.
Ginny cursed again and Harry kissed her deeply, nibbling on her bottom lip and caressing it with his tongue. She opened her mouth and his tongue teased hers briefly before she pulled away and grabbed onto his arms, somehow flipping them so that Ginny was on top of him.
She settled her weight onto him, a smile taking over her face as she rose up and then down, one hand moving to her breast and the other to Harry's chest.
He let her control their rhythm, enjoying how Ginny felt and how she seemingly took joy in having control of him. Harry somehow got harder, thinking of how he'd love her to control him more.
Ginny switched it up and thrust in a circular motion, moaning. She began to cum again and Harry could no longer hold back.
She collapsed on top of him, spent, and Harry's arms found their way around her naked torso, taking comfort in her bare skin.
"Mmm," he murmured.
"We've gotta do that again, soon," Ginny told him, sounding tired.
"I agree," Harry said. "Let's make it a regular thing."
"Let's," Ginny told him.
He grinned and pulled her face to his, lips meeting lips with that now-familiar jolt that made his brain misfire.
A regular thing it did become.
