Hinny FTW _ Thank you for all your lovely reviews! All of them motivated me to carry on! Hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well.
I send individual replies to other reviewers but I want to thank you all again! You are all so lovely! Thank you for reading and reviewing! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well.
Harry feeling fresh after a shower was fumbling in his drawers searching for a clean pair of sock when he saw the box. Hesitating slightly he reached for the box instead, toying with it for a while before snapped it open. An oval cut diamond ring sparkled at him mockingly. He had bought it a few months ago from a muggle store since he had not been enthusiastic about the whole wizarding world learning about his desire to propose his girlfriend. And he was going to propose. Someday. Sometime. Only he was a bit… hesitant. It was not like he was unsure of his feelings or his desire to marry Ginny, no. He was unsure of what Ginny would say. He knew that she loved him, for some unexplainable reason, as much as he loved her. But he did not know what she got to say about marriage. They were still so very young after all and it was pretty much plausible for her to want taking things slow.
Still, he thought she could be willing as well. The only way to know was asking her directly and unfortunately, he did not work his courage up to this task yet.
"Some Gryffindor I made" he mumbled sourly to no one before shutting the box close. But instead of hiding it inside of his drawer he pocketed it. Casting a few quick safety charms so it wouldn't fell off from his pocket or if someone who was not him happened to see it all they saw would be a folded piece of parchment. Someone knocked at his door.
"Harry? It's time, mate."
"Coming!" He grabbed a random pair of sock and quickly put them on. Pushing his drawer close he joined Ron and they set off to Holyhead where Ginny's first professional quidditch match would take place that night.
They met with the Weasleys and Hermione in front of the stadium and because the place was swarming with people they didn't attract any attention which Harry was thankful. Only Fleur and Audrie, Percy's fiancée, were missing since the former had to watch over Victorie while the latter was stuck at work. Even Charlie had arranged a portkey so that he could watch his baby sister's first match live. After a little greeting session, they went to find their seats at the top of the stadium – a family box which Harpies arranged for all their players' families in every match. Harry saw Malcolm and Iris on his way up who unfortunately could not join them on the box since Ginny's family took a lot of space even with the enlargement charms that was put on the box.
"Cheer up, Ron!" George called out "You can see Cannons beaten up at any time but you cannot see them beaten up by our little sister every day!" Everybody laughed while Ron just grunted and Hermione put a soothing hand on his arm. Really he just seemed greener in every second.
Harry tried to distract himself by talking to Charlie. He believed he was displaying a calm attitude on the outside while on the inside he could barely contain himself. He was so excited, more excited than the times he had a match for Gryffindor back then at Hogwarts when he had been a Seeker himself. They didn't wait much though since the speaker's voice boomed around the pitch a few minutes later, greeting everyone and briefly touched upon the histories' of the two teams. He then continued to introduce the players who started shooting out onto the field from an entrance below whenever their names were called.
"And now ladies and gentleman please welcome very new talent! It will be her first match! Holyhead Harpies' new chaser for tonight – Ginny Weasley!" The stadium echoed with applause and cheering but their box by far the noisiest one. Ginny zoomed out from the entrance on her broom and circled around the stadium. Harry felt like he could very well burst with proud. She was a blur of green, gold, and red. Her braided hair rippled behind her back and she was manoeuvring her broomstick in the most professional way. And she was utterly, completely, unbelievingly beautiful.
Harry looked to his side and saw Molly wiped a tear quickly off of her face while Arthur's own eyes were suspiciously bright. He could have sworn that he heard Ron sniffed beside him but his eyes were dry.
The match started and it was exactly seven minutes and twenty-two seconds later that Ginny scored her first goal. Harry leapt on his feet as well as all the Weasleys plus Hermione. George was just yelling nonsense while shaking the railings of the box. Bill and Charlie hugged each other in midair, jumping up and down. Ron patted Harry on the back a little too roughly due to excitement but Harry barely noticed any of them. He only had eyes for Ginny who quickly got back on her position between her fellow chasers, smiling widely. Match continued and Ginny quickly became the star of the match. She was always good but Cannons were bad so it only made her shone more. Plus, all the articles that had been published about how her career failing did nothing but only fueled her ambition and passion to prove herself.
It was when she had scored her 6th goal and was going for 7th. Harry was so focused on watching her he didn't even see the man coming for her. Nick Blossomed who was a chaser of Cannons bumped into her with all his might that if she weren't so good on her broom she would have fallen off it. She dropped the quaffle to straighten herself and he must have elbowed her on the face because bright red blood was oozing out of her nose. Molly screamed and buried her face on Arthur's shoulder. Hermione shrieked and covered her mouth with her hands. All Weasley brothers plus Harry cursed at the man violently and yelled at the referee for a break-out. Referee, on the meanwhile, was watching Gwenog, the Captain of the Harpies, who was watching Ginny and waiting for a signal from her. Ginny held a hand out and shook her head indicating she didn't need a break. She wiped her face on the hem of her quidditch gear even though the blood continued to flow and the match continued.
"Oh, Ginny." Molly moaned.
"I hope Ginny won't kill him." Ron mumbled to Harry who was nodding fervently with a tightened jaw.
Harpies regained the control over the Quaffle after a little while but only to lose it again, and to Blossomed nevertheless. Ginny dove out and she collided with Blossomed such momentum he lost his balance over his broom, dropping the Quaffle right into one of Ginny's teammates' open hands below.
As the match went on the players became harsher and harsher, especially Ginny and Blossomed seemed to aim each other. He went after her a few more times but Ginny always gave it back to him as well as she got. It got to a point that even Ron declared Blossomed not worthy of the Cannons. Molly was watching the match between her fingers that had come to cover her face while Hermione was practically chewing her nails and all the Weasleys were cursing whenever Blossomed and Ginny got near each other. Harry had grabbed the railings of the box so hard his knuckles turned white and his fingers got stiff.
Finally, after one hour and forty-three minutes later, Harpies' seeker caught the snitch and the referee blown out her whistle. Harpies had won three hundred seventy to fifty. The stadium emptied out slowly since there were anti-apparition wards in the pitch and everybody had to get out in order to apparate. At the end, their little group managed to get outside and started waiting under a street lamp where Ginny had said she would meet them afterwards.
They were still debating the game and what a berk Blossomed had been fervently when they saw Ginny coming towards on their way, the nose seemed to be as good as new, freshly showered and on her Muggle clothes once again. They all cheered and clapped as she approached their group. She laughed merrily and hugged Charlie who had run to her the moment he'd seen her. All her brothers got their turns to hug her and swung her around even Ron who seemed to be torn between enjoyment for his sister and disappointment for his favourite team. Finally, she came to Harry who hugged her tightly and pecked her briefly on the lips and even that little affection met by a mixture of groans and cat-calls by her brothers.
They went to Grimmauld Place, where Arthur opened up a bottle of one of the finest elf wines that he had bought for the occasion and they all congratulated Ginny for her 'outstanding performance' as one of the managers had said to her after the match apparently. After that, the guests started to return their respective houses. Ginny claimed she wanted to spend a little more time with Harry, Ron and Hermione and even though her brothers and Mrs. Weasley looked at Harry and her suspiciously none said anything as they left. The moment the door closed Harry seized her hand and they sprinted towards the stairs.
"Ew! At least be a bit more subtle!" came Ron's voice before the door of Harry's bedroom clicked shot after them. Harry turned to face Ginny and framed her face between his hands.
"Are you okay?"
"Of course." She said confidently and smiled amused as he kissed the tip of her nose.
"No one died from a broken nose, you know."
"He broke your nose?!" he asked a bit harsher than intended and started to examine her nose with his fingers. She lightly slapped his hands away.
"I said I'm fine Harry." She rolled her eyes at his delicate touches.
"I know what you said." He said trying to pick what he was going to say next very carefully.
"I just – I…I mean –" He gave up with a sigh. "Should not I be allowed to worry about you at least?"
"You are allowed. But I'm telling you that I'm fine - Shouldn't that be enough?" He contemplated this in his head for a second.
"Yeah. Yes, that's enough."
"Good."
"Good." He said and wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her closer.
"You were amazing out there. I'm really proud of you Gin." She smiled but didn't say anything. Eyes brighter than usual she closed the distance between their lips to kiss him properly for the first time that night. When they broke out for breathing purposes he turned his attention to her neck and started to press open-mouthed kisses there.
"Do you have any idea how sexy you look in those uniforms?" he murmured into her neck.
"That wasn't the first time you saw me in quidditch gear." She still sounded breathless.
"Yeah. That's why I had to take so many cold showers during my 6th year." She laughed and then purred as one of Harry's hand slipped beneath her tee-shirt.
"Good thing that you won't be needing any cold shower now then."
When the Burrow's kitchen came into her view she was already late. Early morning light enlightened the kitchen in a soft way. She stumbled out of the fireplace ungracefully. She had woken up an hour ago and had been on her way home before one of her parents -Molly Weasley- would notice that she'd been late –never came- home but all her plans had gone out of the window when she'd woken Harry up while trying to sneak out of the bed. He'd pulled her back to bed and to himself and that action had caused her a forty-five minutes of delay.
Trainers in hand, she walked on her tiptoes towards the stairs trying to make as little noise as possible. Maybe just maybe her mother hadn't noticed her absence and –
"Ginny." She nearly jumped out of her skin when a soft voice called her name behind and she slowly turned around to face her Mum. Molly Weasley was sitting on the sofa with her knitting basket placed on her feet and an unreadable expression on her face.
"Mum?" Ginny squeaked and then got a hold of herself. She straightened her shoulders and steadily hold Mum's eyes before talking again "Sorry, I'm late. I fell asleep."
"You and Harry tend to fall asleep around each other awfully lot of times." Mum said dryly and Ginny blushed but continued to hold her Mum's gaze. Molly got up and started to walk towards her and to Ginny's surprise, she took her face on her hands with a very kind expression on her eyes.
"Ginny, you know you can tell me anything."
"I know Mum." she whispered and her Mum's looked at her with such affection that she had to break eye contact.
"Is he being gentle with you?"
"Mum!" Ginny looked at her Mum once again, scandalized. Molly continued to hold her face and didn't falter so she mumbled a 'yes' at the end.
"And you are taking the potions necessary?"
"Yes, mum." Ginny answered again. She just wanted to go to her room upstairs and pretended none of this had ever happened. Mum patted her face softly and retreated her hands.
"Go get some actual sleep before breakfast." Ginny didn't need to be told twice. She went to stairs as fast as she could without actually running before her Mum's voice called out to her again.
"And I hope you both are thinking about making things formal."
"Mum!"
Ginny went back down to the kitchen after a few hours, rested and showered. She located a plate full of food with a heating charm on it alongside a mug of tea on the table. Dad must already had left for work and there was no sign of her mum anywhere. She called out for her a couple of times but got no response in return so she settled down on her chair to have a late breakfast.
She had raised a fork of scrambled egg to her mouth when she realized the pile of parchments placed on top of today's Daily Prophet on her right on the table. She quickly swallowed and reached a hand to grab the papers. On the very top was a note that was left by her mum saying that she would be out running errands. A bunch of congratulations letters for her performance yesterday by Neville, Luna, Memphis, Iris and Malcolm followed that. And at the very bottom, there was a red envelope. Her smile froze on her face and with an exasperated sigh, she ripped open the envelope.
You were amazing. I'm sorry about your injury.
-Limerence
And whoever that Limerence was they even managed to squeeze a single red rose into the envelope. She looked at the rose for a second and then shoved it back into the envelope alongside the parchment. Reaching the Daily Prophet she quickly opened the sports section and found the news about yesterday's match. She grinned widely when she read the author praised her and apparently even Gwenog was satisfied if her interview that had been given after the match yesterday was correct. She felt a bit giddy when she closed the newspaper feeling proud of herself. And then she saw it.
"Cannons' Star Chaser Nick Blossomed Beaten Up Last Night"
She hastily unfolded the newspaper and read the news. Her good spirit was dropping consistently. Apparently, Blossomed had gone to a pub after the match, gotten wasted and had been beaten up around sometime after he'd left the pub, alone. He already had given his testimony to the Aurors making an allegation. The newspaper speculated about a drunk fight or an assault by a fanatic fan of some other quidditch team. Ginny could not help but felt a cold shiver ran down her spine inexplicably.
"Oi Ginny! Where should I put this box?" Ron asked as he was carrying a huge box between his hands.
"It reads 'kitchen equipment' on the front Ron. Use your imagination." Ron turned the box over his hand to see if she was telling the truth. Frowning at the box he walked towards the kitchen grumbling about what a slave-driver she was and how she didn't even feed him under his breath.
They were in Ginny's new flat which she was on the process of moving in just now. It was a very tiny flat with only one bedroom, a bright but small living room, a tiny kitchen and even a tinier bathroom. At first, she had planned to move in with her teammates from Harpies but had quickly given up on the idea since she assumed Harry wouldn't be very comfortable to come over to her place and she knew she definitely wouldn't be comfortable her flatmates ogling at her boyfriend. So she had found this new place at Wizarding London instead. It was a lot smaller and a bit farther away to Holyhead but at least Harry and she would have some privacy and Holyhead were still an apparition away.
The front door opened and Harry and Hermione entered arms full with boxes of pizza. Ron came running and took the boxes from Hermione, he opened the lid of one of them and started eating a piece on his way to the living room.
"Ron!" Hermione scolded at him but when Ron was hungry even Hermione could not stop him. They put all the boxes on top of the coffee table in the middle of Ginny's new living room and sat on the floor while started eating hungrily.
"So Ginny are you going to throw a house warming party?" Hermione asked as she took another piece from the box in front of her. Ginny who was licking the crusts off of her fingers stopped and looked at her.
"I guess? I mean is it what the grown-ups do, right?"
"I thun ta't woul' be grea'!"
"Ron! Stop talking when your mouth is full!" Hermione said reprimanding.
"Yeah, mate. I like my pizza not chewed by someone else." Harry wiped a crust off of his face grimacing.
"Sorry," Ron said after swallowing up. "I said I think that would be great. You could invite the Dumbledore's Army and it would be like a little get together."
"Hmm." Ginny looked up for a second. "Yeah, I guess I like that idea. I guess I could throw a party next week? The house won't ready until then."
Everyone nodded their head given their approvals and agreements. A moment later Hermione's head snapped up and she inhaled sharply.
"You know what else is up next week?"
"Um… Not your birthday." Ginny stopped for a moment to think. All of their birthdays had past and there weren't any anniversaries around this time either. Then she remembered.
"Oh! It's Malcolm's birthday!"
"We could buy him a cake if the party will be on the same day." Hermione suggested.
"Kill two birds with one stone." Ginny agreed and Ron who still didn't warm up to Hermione's new friends grumbled under his breath.
"Yeah great."
Harry was going through his reports on his last stakeout before calling it a day. He had promised Ginny that he would come to her flat after work to help her settled her bedroom down. She had promised in return that she would cook dinner for him since it was her day off. Just the domesticity of this thought brought a smile on his face. Having finished with his report he quickly signed and banished it to Head Auror Robards' office. He got up from his seat and popped his back. Ron came into his office hastily a paper clung in his hand as Harry was wearing his jacket.
"Harry! Good, I catch you."
"What's happened?" Harry asked fixing his collar.
"You remember the man who assaulted Blossomed?" Ron was the primary auror who was assigned on Blossomed case. He would be over the moon to meet with a Cannons' player if the said player hadn't broken her sister's nose. Now he was torn between his shameless fanboy and the protective brother sides.
"What about it?" Harry asked intrigued.
"Well – basically someone is lying."
"How did you worked that out?" Ron held up the paper he was holding to Harry's face. It was a photofit of the man that Blossomed accused of his assault. Ron took out another paper behind the photofit and held the two papers side by side to comparison. The second one was an actual photo of the same man and it must have been a muggle photo because it wasn't moving.
"Because our assaulter is a Muggle."