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Chapter 3
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There was a certain amount of nervous energy that took hold of him Saturday morning. His whole week had passed by quickly; each lunch had been spent with the Weasley's and Remus in the cafeteria and each opportunity he had to observe Ginny alone while she was cycle counting he spent visible and enjoying her company.

She was done with that now though, all the counts had been finished by end of day Thursday, and Ginny had her Healer examination yesterday, receiving the clearance to do light work-outs with the Harpies until her follow-up examination in one week's time. That meant no more seeing her at the Ministry for him even if there had been more that they cycle counters were needed for.

He was back to his usual workload starting on Monday anyhow.

Right now though it was breakfast time and he was actually a bit anxious about his date with Ginny later on to see the Quidditch game. She wasn't expecting him until at least one o'clock and he was sure that he would be filled with this nervous energy until then. He needed to channel it into something but there was only so much he felt he had time to do.

He could start cleaning up the flat a bit. Maybe go to the gym? But if he went to the gym then he could only allow himself one hour to work out and then by the time he got himself cleaned up and back to his flat to change and get ready for the game then would that allow enough time to get to Ginny's flat to pick her up?

Yes.

It would still leave him with an extra two hours to get to her flat. Minimum.

But it didn't feel like an option. He felt like he was only able to sit around and wait for the clock to tell him it was time to leave and get her. Because if he did go to the gym there was the chance he would get distracted by something or talked into going somewhere else by a colleague and then he would get stuck in the 'over dick around' trap and be late getting to Ginny's place.

Neville came into the kitchen rubbing sleep out of his eyes while Harry was standing in front of the ice box with one hand on the handle and just staring at a chart for optimal food group intake for your body size, which led him to wondering if he drank enough water.

"Alright?" Neville asked him.

Harry jolted out of his haze and looked over at him. "Fine. Yeah, great. How long have you been standing there?"

Neville quirked an eyebrow at him. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Er, not long?" he offered.

Neville gave him a chuckle and headed for the percolator on the hob. "What's going on with you then?"

"I just. I dunno," he shrugged. "Going to the Quidditch game with Ginny later but I've no idea what to do with myself until I go and pick her up. It's like I don't even know what I usually get up to on my days off. I don't want to be late. Why do they have to make Quidditch games start in the afternoon?" His last question came out as a frustrated accusation.

"Hold on a minute," Neville said with a grin. "Are you nervous?"

Harry avoided his gaze and pulled out a mug for himself from the cupboard. He knew there was nothing to be nervous about. He and Ginny had gotten to know each other already and it was made pretty clear by both parties that they were interested in each other. They'd already kissed too. It had just been that once, well, twice when she'd come over and had burgers with he, Neville and Luna. He was already sure that by the end of their date they'd be enjoying themselves enough that there would be more kisses to come.

"I'm not nervous per-se. I think I just want to date to start already so that I can start spending more time with her right now instead of waiting around for hours until we can actually start hanging out," he reasoned.

It wasn't like this was his first date. It wasn't even technically his first date with Ginny. He was just excited to spend more time with her. Eager for it. He hadn't seen her yesterday, she'd just sent him a quick note by owl letting him know that her Healer appointment had gone well, because he'd asked her to.

It seemed a little early for him to be so invested in this budding relationship between them, but they'd just gotten on really well thus far. He found himself requesting she let him know the outcome of her appointment before his brain had processed that it might have been a little too early for him to be requesting such information. Their date would have been soon enough after her appointment for him to find out. Thankfully she didn't seem to find it a strange request and her note to him had been able to relay how excited she was to get the good news.

"Why don't you ask her out to lunch then or something?" Neville suggested. "Then you can meet up earlier and actually talk before the game. You will also give her the opportunity to hang out with you looking like this," he gestured to Harry's whole person, "instead of Harvey, your public self."

Harvey was the name Neville had given Harry's appearance he went with when heading into crowds in the Magical world. The standard look Harry went with was brown hair, hidden scar and sunglasses or blue eyes. Neville was the one to decide on the name because there had been too many times when he had started calling out Harry's name in a crowd and needed to adjust mid-holler.

"Fair point," Harry acknowledged. He could take her out to a Muggle restaurant an hour or so before the game, then he would know that he wouldn't be late to get her. "Are we hooked up to their Floo?" he asked hopefully. There was a chance that Neville would have done that already so he could chat to Luna.

"Yes. They've called it Middlemist Red," Neville told him with a bright smile.

"Middlemist Red?" Harry asked with interest. He knew that Middlemist Red was the rarest flower on earth because Neville had gone on and on about it, wanting to visit one of the only two greenhouses on earth that held the species. A visit to Kew Gardens to view the flower had been all Neville had asked for for his sixteenth birthday, a common gift request for all teen males. "Do you know why they called it that?"

Neville's face colored, "because Luna is in a half daze all the time, thus the 'middlemist', and Ginny's hair is red."

"Did you tell Luna it was your favorite flower?"

"Er, no."

"Did you tell her every other fact about the flower?"

"Er, yes."

Harry laughed and got up to head to their fireplace. He tossed in a pinch of Floo Powder and stuck his head in. "Middlemist Red," he called out and felt the familiar uncomfortable sensation of his head spinning on his shoulders.

He hadn't been to Ginny and Luna's flat yet but he was not surprised by their décor; bright furniture, white walls, light and flowery prints on the throw pillows and art. He was a little startled to see Luna doing yoga in only her underthings so close to the fireplace though. Harry gave a polite cough to announce that he was there. "Er, hello Luna."

She didn't stop bending herself in various ways but did turn her head towards him. "Oh! Hello Harry," she greeted. "Did you see the Daily Prophet this morning? They are calling for a few showers in the afternoon. I've already told Ginny she should bring a rain cap to the game and nothing metallic so that she has less a chance of getting struck by lightning."

"Good advice," he said awkwardly. "Is she around by chance?"

"She's just getting out of the shower."

In the distance Harry heard the sound of a door opening and Ginny came into view with only a large fluffy towel wrapped around her and her damp curly hair falling down her shoulders. She was modestly covered but seeing her freshly out of the shower and knowing that she had nothing on under that towel made his brain stop working for a moment.

"Have we got any coffee on?" Ginny asked Luna as she walked through their sitting room and into the kitchen, oblivious to the fact that Harry's head was there floating above the hearth.

"I've set a mug of it to keep warm for you," Luna told her and carried on with her stretches, not bothering to announce Harry's presence either.

He was unsure what to do for a moment. Ginny had gone into the other room, should he call out to her? She would probably be back in the sitting room in a moment and see him there anyhow.

Ginny walked back in from the kitchen, she was looking down at her mug and blowing on it to cool it down slight and he cleared his throat. She jumped at the sight of him just enough that a bit of her coffee spilled over the edge of her mug. "Harry!" she exclaimed and held her mug away from herself to avoid any splashes from hitting her exposed legs. "What, what. How long have you been there?"

Harry felt a bashful grin fix firmly to his face that he could not shake. Thankfully Luna answered for him.

"Just before you came out of the bathroom," she said calmly.

"Thanks for the heads up," Ginny rolled her eyes at her flat mate and came around to sit carefully on the couch, setting her coffee mug down, ensuring that her towel was secured around her. "Not calling to cancel on me, are you?" she asked, a hint of disappointment seeping through in her tone.

"No, of course not!" he told her immediately. "I just wondered if you might like to grab lunch beforehand. I hadn't realized until I woke up just how many hours there were between now and the game," he admitted blatantly.

"Oh!" she smiled brightly. "I'd love that."

"She's already been up for a while and is full of an excited energy," Luna said from her mat.

Ginny shot her a sharp look before quickly trying to cover it up. It filled Harry with a sense of relief that he wasn't the only one that was eager for them to spend more time together. "When were you thinking?" she asked.

"Well, I'm actually at a loss for what to do this morning. Have you had breakfast yet?" Again, it was out of his mouth before he had given it more thought, she must just shut off a part of his brain that processes words before they leave his mouth. He had just suggested to her that they spend the entire day together? Quidditch games could go on from anywhere from a half hour to two days, ideally it would be about two hours but they had already mentioned that dinner was part of this date when they talked about it on Thursday.

His suggestion didn't look to have phased her though.

"I haven't," Ginny said brightly. "Give me about ten minutes to get ready before you come through?" she asked, indicating to her current state of dress.

"Sounds great," he said and pulled back from the fireplace.

A full day of just the two of them. That sounded great. This would definitely give him the chance to find out if this could really be something between them. Three meals and a sporting event and everything in between. An extreme date, that's what it was. They'd either get along great at the end or decide that they had too many annoying idiosyncrasies to carry on romantically. He'd dated enough to know that there were some deal breakers that would show themselves during those first few dates and with he and Ginny having breakfast, lunch and dinner together they would undoubtedly find out if there were any of those.

He already knew plenty about her from observing her this week and he liked what he knew about her already; how she was a fierce defender of her friends, her sense of humor, the way she didn't shy away from making eye contact, and she found a way to make light of situations. All good things. But people didn't only have good qualities, that's what dating was all about; finding the good with the bad.

Perhaps she made more noise when she ate than he'd noticed before. Maybe she was the jealous kind and wouldn't like how he interacted with a waitress, or vice versa, maybe she would flirt with their waiter to show Harry she had options. There were a whole myriad of ways that their day-long date could go wrong.

Oh no. He'd just committed to spending the whole day with her. What if there really was a myriad of ways that made the date turn bad?

"What's with the face?" Neville asked him from the couch. "Did she not want to get together earlier?"

"No, she did," he said. "I'm actually going over there in just a minute so we can go out for breakfast."

"And that is a bad thing why?" Neville asked, obviously hearing something in his tone.

"What if it does turn out to be a bad thing?" Harry asked Neville as though he had been privy to the dialogue in his mind. "I've just committed myself to spending the whole day with her. What if that winds up ruining this thing between us before it even has a chance to start? I mean, a whole day? What was I thinking?"

"Er, you were thinking you like her, and you want to get a leg over?" Neville offered.

Harry just stared at him. Was that it? He did like Ginny. He liked everything he knew about her so far and he had enjoyed those two kisses they'd shared. He'd enjoyed their lunches together, even though they'd been surrounded by her family and Remus. And he really want to get a leg over. It had been a long time since his last and she was a pretty girl. Pretty and cool and a professional Quidditch player for Pete's sake, of course he wanted to get a leg over.

"I do like her," he admitted. "I am just now realizing that a full day-long date could potentially be too much for a first date. There's a good chance that we'll run out of things to say to each other in the first hour and have nothing left to say, then we'll just sit there staring at each other and it will suck."

"You're overthinking this," Neville told him straight. "You like her and you were so excited about your date with her five minutes ago that you've now moved it up to start six hours sooner."

Harry nodded but still wasn't convinced.

"Since when do I have to be the one talking you into a date, isn't it usually the other way around?" Neville asked.

Harry rolled his eyes, that comment was enough to shake him out of his momentary panic.

"No wait," Neville smirked as Harry headed back towards his bedroom to get changed. "I want to revel in this a bit more. Handsome Harry is now the Nervous Nelly about a date. What if we have long silences. What if I stare at her too long and she's weirded out?" he put on a slightly feminine voice for his questions.

"Shut up," Harry pouted as he pulled off his pajama bottoms and chucked them at Neville as hard as he could in an effort to silence him.

"All seriousness, Luna has nothing but good things to say about Ginny and she's grown up with six older brothers so she shouldn't be offended by little things that happen. Bet she wouldn't give you a hard time if you accidentally rip one in front of her, which you are bound to do if you're having three meals back to back to back with her."

That made Harry pause a moment as he pulled on his denims. No, he could still get through their date without ripping one in front of her. He'd just run to the toilet or something, same as any other date.

"You've been around each other enough this week that if she was going to turn into a dud you would have found out by now," Neville reminded him.

"Alright, alright," Harry put his hands up. "I admit I had a momentary hesitation. I'm just going to go over there and see what happens."

"Great. And I'm going to be bringing Luna back here tonight so when you walk Ginny home and she invites you in you'll have their place to yourselves." The way Neville said it made it sound like it was a sure thing that Harry's date was going to go very well.

Before leaving his room he grabbed his wallet and made sure that there was magical and Muggle money in it and tucked his wand and a few prophylactics in his pocket optimistically.

"Have fun," Neville called out as Harry crossed the sitting room to the fireplace.

Harry gave him an absent wave before he Floo'd through to Ginny's place.

Luna had rolled up her yoga mat and left the sitting room and Harry could make out Ginny through the doorway in the kitchen moving around.

"Hey," he called out. He could smell a mixture of coffee and bacon in the air and it was making his stomach rumble longingly.

"Hi," she smiled leaning through the doorway to see him properly. "I thought I'd make breakfast instead of us heading out for it. I hope you like bacon and pancakes."

"You're making me breakfast?" he asked in surprise and rested against the door frame to her small kitchen.

"I am! I happen to love breakfast and make excellent pancakes so take a seat and tell me an amusing anecdote while I serve you," she ordered him lightly and pointed to her small two-seater table with her spatula.

He grinned at her, enjoying her decision thoroughly. "Off the top of my head I don't have an amusing anecdote for you, they are more of a situational thing to bring up," he said as he made himself comfortable at her table, wondering if it would be too much of an imposition to ask if he could grab a mug of that good smelling coffee.

"You don't have any anecdotes about breakfast?" she wondered while flipping a pancake with an extra little bit of flourish.

"Er." He did have a story about breakfast, but it involved his reasoning behind breakfast being the worst meal to break up with someone over. "I do, but it is of a somewhat sensitive nature," he offered.

"Does it end with coffee in your lap?" she asked, catching on to his hesitation.

He grinned at her, "maybe."

"Go on then," she encouraged as she poured him a mug of coffee while he launched into his poorly planned break up with a girl name Georgina just over a year ago. Georgina had gotten too invested too early and had essentially started planning their next thirty years together after only five dates. It ended with scalding hot coffee in his lap and over easy eggs in his hair.

Ginny was laughing pretty hard by the end of the story. "You know, raw egg in your hair is supposed to be good for it," she told him. They were now seated across from each other with their full plates before them. "I'd like to imagine it takes more than a simple two in one to get the lovely locks you have on your head there," she commented while pointing her fork at his messy hair.

"I've given up attempting to tame this beast," he told her as he ran a hand through it. "I just try to keep it about this short and attempt running a comb through it every now and then."

"Well, it's working for you."

Harry grinned at her and started into his breakfast. She had made some lovely fluffy pancakes. He had tried and failed many times to get his own to turn out this way, usually they wound up being too dense to be quality. "Your Healer appointment yesterday, did they tell you to stay away from certain aspects of your usual workout?"

As they continued to eat Ginny told him about her Physiotherapy training regimen she was going to have to follow and how grateful she was about not being able to do stadium runs for the next two weeks at least. As the conversation went back and forth any anxiety he had between making the plan for breakfast and actually sitting down for it had evaporated. She was not a loud chewer, nor did she talk with food in her mouth or have an annoying laugh or anything else that had turned him off slightly from previous girls he'd dated.

She was funny and hadn't gotten upset hearing his anecdote about the bad break-up. All was looking great. He was as comfortable around her right then as he had been every other meal he'd spent with her.

"Any left over for me?" Luna asked as she swept into the kitchen once their plates were cleared.

"There's a bit more left warming in the pan," Ginny told her.

Luna had changed out of her exercise clothes now and was looking ready to head out the door.

"What are you getting up to today, Luna?" Harry asked her. He knew that Neville had said the two of them had plans later, but between breakfast and lunch Harry hadn't planned out what he and Ginny were going to get up to to pass the time and was looking for inspiration.

"Heading over to visit my father. He owns the Quibbler and I help him with the articles sometimes."

"Oh," was all Harry had in response to that. He'd read the Quibbler a few times and still wasn't sure if it was meant to be a lark or if the articles were meant to be taken seriously; they were all ridiculous.

Ginny had been carefully watching his expression and was clearly working on suppressing a snicker at his loss for words.

"I was going to go to the market this morning," Ginny told Harry, offering a change of subject. "I'm usually the one that keeps this place stocked," she indicated to the cupboards. "I know there is a Muggle one on Saturday mornings over in South Kensington. It's close enough to Hyde Park if you're up for a walk?"

Yes. He could definitely do with getting some fresh air. "I'd love that. How much of a walk are you game for?" he asked her almost in challenge. "I'm a keen hiker, so you'll have to tell me when you've had enough because I'm likely to carry on for hours." Hyde Park was flat and he enjoyed low endurance exercise.

"In that case, we should get to the stadium for about one and I'm not that bothered about going to the market. I think I can keep up with you. I'm an extreme stroller over here," she joked.

"A three hour walk it is," he grinned.

Three and a half hours later they were enjoying fish and chips with a pint at a dingy pub in Kensington after having seen all the sights that Hyde Park had to offer; The Peter Pan Statue, Serpentine Gallery, The Albert Memorial, The Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, the Rose Garden and they'd wandered over to see the outside of Buckingham Palace as well.

"It was only the once that I was in there for an event," Harry said as he told her about when he'd been inside Buckingham Palace.

"Was it in an Auror capacity?" she asked.

"No, it was just after… um, you know," he didn't want to mention out loud in a pub about the time he killed someone. "And I was invited there, well, ordered more like."

"You were obligated," she nodded. "Did you meet her? The Queen?" she asked eagerly and popped another chip in her mouth.

"I did, for about a second. She nodded at me, I shook Prince Charles hand and then the Minister made sure I stayed by his side for the rest of the time." It had been an uncomfortable night for him right after the war was over. It had been an uncomfortable year following really. He'd tried to hide out at home as much as possible then just stuck to going out in the Muggle world and he'd essentially kept that up ever since.

"Do they know?" Ginny asked curiously. "The royalty, do they know about people like us? Do you think they knew how bad it could have got for them if you didn't… if you hadn't've…"

It was a good question, and he wasn't entirely sure. "I think they know about our world, but I don't think they knew how bad it was near the end there. They just thought that Voldemort was this bad guy doing bad things and then he was gone."

He noted that Ginny didn't do a full body flinch when he said Voldemort's name that most did but she did give a small wince.

"Now, on to the really important question, in comparison to the Ministry's events then, how was the food?" she asked, moving on completely from what could have turned into a very serious and depressing discussion that he wasn't interested in having.

Harry gave a laugh of pleasant surprise at the question. "Do you ever not think about food?" he asked.

There was a soft glow that came over her then and she hesitated for a moment, biting her lip before she leaned forward in her chair as though she was about to whisper something to him. He leaned forward as well, resting his elbows on the table and their hands touched.

"I'm usually thinking about one appetite or another," she said in a low voice.

His breath left him there.

That was a pretty clear indication that she was looking for a non-verbal response, and Harry gave it to her. The twinkle in her eye and smile on her lips had been calling out to him for hours and he'd resisted but now she was so close and so inviting.

He leaned further across the table and she met him halfway in soft and careful kiss. Lovely, was the best way to describe it. Her lips were still unfamiliar to him at this point. Both of them were being slightly cautious as their lips moved against each other's and it caused a bubble of happiness in his chest to grow as the kiss went on for several stretched out seconds.

When they both sat back down properly in their chairs their fingers stayed intertwined with one of their hands, grinning at each other, while they continued on with their meal using their other hands.

As the hour drew nearer and it was time to head out to the Quidditch stadium Harry paid their tab and found an alley for them to disappear into. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at himself to throw on the glamour charms.

"Wait," Ginny said with her hand over his before he could cast the spell. "Just… before you change your appearance." There was this determined and sultry look in her eye as she moved her body closer to him. She bit her lip again as an eager smile came to her face and she slipped her arm around him.

Harry knew where this was going and he was all for it. That kiss in the pub had been a precursor to something great. Sitting through the Quidditch match with her without experiencing what that kiss could have led to would have been a distraction. He pulled her tighter against him and cupped the side of her face. She really was a pretty girl but up close like this she was more than that. She was unique and beautiful. They took their time as the moment built up between them before their lips met again and then they dove right into it as soon as there was contact again.

Harry hadn't even realize just how eager he was for this moment between them until he was drowning himself in her. Her hands were clutching him closer and there was no room to breathe, but he didn't want to pull away for long enough to catch his breath. He wanted to press her up against the dirty wall behind her and keep on snogging her, to forget about what the next part of their date was supposed to entail and keep this up until the sun set. He grew pleasantly dizzy as he lost all sense of everything except for the feel of her lips on his, his tongue tentatively exploring this new land.

Eventually it was she that put her palm flat on his chest and gave him a little push to separate them. He was happy to note that she was just as out of breath and looking as eager for more as he.

"I just, I just wanted to, um," she didn't seem able to find the words to explain what had been going through her head.

The blood pounding in his ears wasn't quite registering the sounds her mouth was making anyway. His brain was only recognizing that he wanted her desperately and his lower half was certainly making that known. His lower half that was still pressed against her.

"Right," he managed and put his hands to her hips, ensuring that there was space enough between them that would allow him to cool off slightly.

There was another minute of them standing there stupidly smiling at each other before Harry returned to his task of transfiguring his appearance before Side-Along Apparating them to the game.

There were plenty of people and a good amount of noise when they arrived at the Quidditch stadium. The excitement that filled the air always set off a sort of charge in Harry. It was intoxicating to get swept away in the exuberance of those around him, particularly the children. He loved watching them running around with their faces painted and toy brooms or supportive paraphernalia for their teams.

"I remember the first Quidditch match I ever saw," he told Ginny. Their hands were linked as they wound their way through the crowd. She smiled up at him and encouraged him with her eyes to carry on with the story. "I was ten and had been begging Gran and Uncle Algie, really anyone that was an adult, to take me to one. Finally, Gran caved and got Neville and I tickets to a Puddlemere versus Wasps. Neville wasn't too interested beforehand, probably because I wouldn't shut up about it, but once we got to the game he had a good time."

"Do you remember who won?" Ginny asked.

"Puddlemere, obviously," he stated with mock offense.

"I was three when I got to go to my first professional game," Ginny told him.

"Oh, look who's spoiled?" he teased.

Ginny let out a laugh. "I can't remember any of it, clearly. The only reason I was allowed to go was because I was young enough that they didn't have to pay for my ticket. I remember my first Harpies game though. My brothers hadn't let me play Quidditch with them 'because I'm a girl'. When I saw those ladies flying though," she shook her head wistfully. "It changed my whole world."

"Do your brothers let you fly with them now?" he asked.

Her grin grew impossibly wider. "They found out I'd been stealing their brooms to practice after I made the Gryffindor Quidditch Team in my fourth year," she said proudly. "I've been wiping the floor with them ever since."

"I have no doubt," he said and instinctively brought her hand to his lips and gave her fingers a kiss.

Her cheeks colored prettily at the gesture and Harry turned his attention back to finding their seats. That hadn't really been a first date move, that would have been something to do when they were more familiar with each other. There wasn't any small panic he was feeling about it though. It had felt natural, and he'd done it. She seemed to have liked that he'd done it too.

He wound up getting his money's worth with the tickets; the game had gone on for eight hours! It was a different experience going to a game with someone who liked it as much as he did. Ginny had even been able to predict what moves the Chasers were going to try before they did it and told him about moves that certain members were known for that were their weak spot.

Eight hours at a game was a fairly tedious amount of time to spend at one game though. The seats around them had started emptying at the four hour mark and by the time the Snitch was caught there weren't many people left to cheer for Puddlemere. They weren't far enough into the season for this game to have counted for much towards the championship.

Several times throughout the game Harry exclaimed that he couldn't believe the Cannon's had put up such a strong defense. Their Beater's had been the real victors for their team. They had their eyes trained on the Puddlemere Seeker and had him off course every time he was close to getting the Snitch save for the last.

"530 to 130," Ginny shook her head. "Wouldn't have mattered if Jamison caught the Snitch in the end anyhow."

"Puddlemere wouldn't just cave like that out of pity," Harry told her.

"I know, but my arse is wishing they had," she said as she shifted uncomfortably. "We probably should have taken a few more turns around the stadium than we did. I'm not used to sitting for so long."

Every hour of so they had done a walk around the stadium, gone to use the loo or gotten a refresh at the concession. The sport was exciting, but for the last goal that Puddlemere scored there had barely been a round of applause.

"Er, care to stretch your legs a bit more before we end the night?" he asked hopefully. Her expression told him instantly that she was game for that idea.

"Somewhere you will remove those glamour's?" she requested.

He'd forgotten that he had them in place.

Ten minutes later they had made it to the Apparation point and were back near Ginny's flat. Harry took off his charms and they kept walking at a stroll around her neighborhood. The game had been loud and there hadn't been much conversation between them while they were sat watching. He was glad that they had gotten together for breakfast now instead of just picking her up to head straight there.

"If it weren't Quidditch, what do you think you would have wound up doing?" he wondered.

"I might have tried to be a Healer," she shrugged. "I always had to help my mum make the potions and fix up my brothers when they injured themselves. She said I had a knack for it, and my marks had been decent enough. What about you? If not an Auror, then what?"

"Not sure. Probably would have wound up doing something else for the Ministry. My Gran had always prodded Nev and I in that direction. She has certain opinions about the Minister but also thinks it is important to be involved in the government on some level, so she instilled that in us at a young age."

"And here I couldn't think of a worse place to spend my days," Ginny commented.

"Pretty sure if I wound up somewhere that had me tied to a desk I wouldn't last." He could understand where her comment came from and agreed with her.

"Are you away from the desk much?" she asked.

"Sometimes. I was on administrative leave this last week because I'd been undercover for six weeks previously and it was mandatory that I took time off after. Usually I'm out investigating or some such thing. Only time I'm at my desk really is for paperwork."

"So, I should be prepared for you to disappear for lengths of time?"

Harry stopped walking at that question and turned to face her. She gave him a look of surprise for a moment before she realized what she'd just said. "Oh. Um, I mean. It, well it seems like we're getting along."

"We are," he agreed.

Ginny gave a grimace and shook her head. "Never mind me. I'm just getting ahead of myself." She turned back the way they had been heading, but Harry held tight to her hand and didn't let her walk away.

He pulled her close to him again and wrapped his arms around her. "I don't think you're getting ahead of yourself," he told her softly.

"Really?" she asked hopefully.

Harry nodded and brought his lips to hers once more.

Five minutes later they stumbled through the doorway to her flat, his hands started riding up her hips and taking her shirt with them. The little sounds of pleasure coming out of her lips had him knowing that this was exactly the direction she wanted his hands going. He pulled her top off and she was quick to bring his own shirt over his head. They grinned at each other, Ginny giving a little chuckle of giddiness as her hands went down to her jeans and she started to pull them off.

Her knickers and bra were matching he noticed with a swell of pleasure as he followed her to her bedroom. Why such a small detail made him so much more randy he wasn't sure. Possibly because it meant she had anticipated herself undressing for him at the end of their date and wanted him to see it.

He was pulling his own trousers off by the time their lips connected again and she was trying to pull him back towards her bed.

"Mmm, just a second," he said breathlessly as he tried to toe off his socks with his trouser legs.

Ginny gave him another kiss before she pulled back from him so he could maneuver out of the complicated clothing. There was this slight look of desperation in her eyes that told him she very much wanted to get to them being naked already and he was completely on the same level as her.

Finally free of his clothing he pulled her against him again, his hand coming to her soft upper thigh and encouraging her to wrap her legs around his waist. She followed his lead and ground her warm center against his erection. It felt so good he groaned against her mouth and she took the opportunity to run her tongue along his. His hands came around to cup her arse completely and assist in her lower half's movements against him.

His whole body gave a surprised and heavily aroused lurch when his own tongue was invading her mouth and she gave it a hard suck.

"Like that do you?" she purred.

In response he carried her the rest of the way to her bed and they both fell back against it, her legs still wrapped around him but now their bodies were more properly lined up for optimal thrusting. He made sure to rotate his hips against her and get her clit stimulated; from the way she threw her head back he was doing it just right.

"You keep doing that and I'm going to cum like this," she panted.

"Good," he replied and kept up his ministrations, his mouth leaving a trail of wet kisses down her neck, wishing he could remove her bra right now and suck one of those perky breasts of hers into his mouth. From the way she was whimpering and rocking desperately against him it wouldn't be long before she came undone.

He slipped one of his hands under her knickers to grab one of her arse cheeks and palm it properly as he held her in place and continued thrusting and rolling his hips against her. He wanted so badly to just slip that thin strap of her knickers to the side and bury himself inside her but he was determined to make this last as long as possible. In his head he was silently begging her to get there soon so he would have a moment to calm down before losing control.

Her fingers were clutching at his back and buried in his hair. He sucked on the flesh at her collar while her breathing became erratic. As her climax grew closer she was gasping in deep breaths and shuddering beneath him.

Finally, her hand clenched in his hair and her whole body rocked as though a slow wave was moving through her. There was an extra amount of heat he felt against the underside of his shaft that was pressed against her and he knew exactly what that was.

There was this great sense of accomplishment that overtook him then. He almost felt smug about it. He'd made her cum, that intense pleasure she'd just had was because of something he'd done. It was like he owned that orgasm, her experiencing that was his prize and he wanted her to have another one and another.

But first he needed to get them out of the rest of their clothes.

As she lay there catching her breath he unhooked her bra and tossed it to the floor, immediately palming her breast with one hand and lavishing kisses on the other while she hummed happily in her post-orgasmic haze.

The tip of his erection had moved past the band of his boxers due to the thrusting they'd done and he was desperate to kick them off all the way and feel her skin against his own. Trying to push his desperation aside he focused on how good it felt to have his face buried against the soft flesh of her breasts. Her hips were already rolling against him again. Now he was feeling how hot and damp the center of her knickers were against his belly.

She was already good to go for the next round.

"Ginny?" he said her name in question. He had to make sure she wanted to go all the way. He was halfway there already, but if she said stop he would bite his tongue and finish up in the bathroom if he needed to.

"Get those fucking boxers off," she said through gritted teeth and kept rolling her hips.

There was a silent celebration going off in his head. He tugged his boxers off and darted back to his trousers, pulling a condom out of the pocket, ripping it open and rolling it on as Ginny shucked her knickers off.

He moved to climb back on top of her but she stopped him by placing one of her feet on his hip. He looked down at her body, appreciating the full-frontal display before him, smooth toned skin and perky breasts that were just the perfect size and that small thatch of red hair she had groomed just above her sex, it was a glorious site. Then his eyes trailed up to the incredulous look on her face as she stared at his erection.

"What is that?" she asked with an edge to her voice.

"What is what?" he asked, looking down for some sign of a deformity he hadn't known about. All he saw was his arousal, a familiar sight. Was she hoping he'd be bigger? Was he not impressive enough for her?

"That… bag thing? Why did you put that on?"

"The condom?!" he asked incredulously. "It's… it's a condom," he stated, unsure of what exactly she was asking.

"What the fuck is a condom?" Ginny asked, removing her foot but backing herself further up the bed and away from him as though he'd just suggested they partake in something overly kinky.

Harry blinked at her before it clicked. He let out relived burst of laughter as his anxiety left him and the situation came into focus. "It's a Muggle contraceptive device," he explained. "It's so you don't get pregnant."

"What- why would I need that? I've used the charm."

Harry hadn't thought about that. He'd put on the condom out of habit. "I've never been with someone I could use the charm with," he admitted feeling suddenly self-conscious. He was still standing before her naked and hard. He could now imagine just how awkward it looked to her; him having wrapped his erection in plastic.

"You've only ever shagged Muggle girls before?" Ginny asked. "And every time you had to, to wrap yourself in a… bag?" It did sound ridiculous coming from her lips. "Don't Muggle's have a less odd way to stop pregnancy?"

He really didn't want to get into the different Muggle methods of contraceptive right then. "Er, yes, but none of the temporary ones as effective as this, or the charm."

His bashful explanation must have been convincing enough for her; Ginny scooted down the bed and crooked her knees up on either side of him, her hand coming up to take hold of him. "Let's just do this the magic way," she told him and slid the condom off of him as he pulsed in her hand at the feeling.

He'd never shagged without a condom. This was going to be like losing his virginity all over again. She lay back on her elbows and gave him a sexy little smirk.

They moved right past the awkwardness that had filled the room a moment ago and he lay back overtop of her and claimed her lips once more as he positioned himself between her legs. The feel of her soft and moist lower lips against his tip was incredible. He grabbed hold of himself and teased himself at her entrance a few more times before he delved forward.

"Oh, Jesus Fuck," he sighed against her mouth at the smooth feeling of gliding inside her. This was a hundred times better than using a condom. The way that his erection settled inside her so completely without hindrance was amazing. "So good," he moaned.

Then he started thrusting and that felt even better. This was an entirely new experience for him and one that felt so incredibly good that he wasn't going to last long. A condom may not have felt as good but it did have the added benefit of making him last longer.

Ginny was matching his movements and their building momentum was too close to putting him over the edge. If he couldn't last for only one minute for their first time she'd think that every time after that he'd have as little self-control.

He desperately wanted to keep up his momentum but he absolutely couldn't leave her with that impression of him. He pulled out of her before he completely lost it and slid down her body, ignoring her gasp of protest, and buried his face between her legs licking and suckling at her clit and intermittently dipping his tongue completely inside her and groaning at the taste. He'd always loved doing this, the reaction from his partner was the part that really got him going and from the cries of pleasure that Ginny was giving she was thoroughly enjoying his tongue.

The sound of his name coming out of her mouth met his ears and he had to grip her hips harder with his hands in order to not grab hold of himself and start pumping. He needed her to cum again soon so he could slide back inside her and finish himself off.

She was getting very close when she sat up quickly and pulled him up to lay on top of her properly once more. "I need you to fuck me right now," she demanded.

Not one to leave a lady disappointed he plunged himself inside her once more. She felt, if possible, even tighter, hotter and wetter than she had the first time and he couldn't stop himself from setting a brutal pace as she writhed beneath him. His dick was gripped even tighter as she cried out and there was a fresh wave of heat pulsing against it.

"Oh fuck, yes!" he exclaimed and kept thrusting inside her in search of his own finish. It hit him full force a moment later and it was the best orgasm of his life. The moan that escaped his mouth seemed to go on forever as he milked every last good sensation he could from it until he collapsed on top of her.

He buried his face in the crook of her neck and relished the feeling of having her beneath him. He could feel the rise and fall of her bare breasts against him and heard the satiated sighs from between her lips.

"That was incredible," he managed as he came to lay beside her, unable to open his eyes.

"So good," she murmured in agreement.

He managed to maneuver himself enough to slip under the covers and felt the heat of Ginny's skin beside him. He pulled her close and fell asleep with her cuddled right up beside him almost immediately.

Best date ever.

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