Slight mishap with the last post, it was deleted as soon as I was alerted but it took a minute to post something to replace it, sorry!
Harry was walking down the streets of the muggle part of London, his hands were shoved in his pockets and his head was bowed against the winter storm passing through. The streets were mostly empty because of this, so he easily made his way to the small cafe at the end of the road. It was smaller than The Leaky Cauldron, but also less crowded and much more private.
He waved to the woman behind the counter before making his way to the back corner of the shop, where his girlfriend was sitting. He removed his coat and scarf, setting them on the back of the chair before sitting down and wiping the fog from his glasses.
"You're late." Was the first thing from Ginny's mouth, but Harry could hear the humor in it.
"I guess we're even for you being late last time." He responded with a smile, taking a sip from the cup of hot cocoa she had pushed in front of him.
"I guess." She smiled, and Harry couldn't help but grin. Her smile was his favorite thing. "You're smiling like an idiot again."
"Ron must be rubbing off on me." Harry joked, running a hand through his hair, still wet from the snow.
"Uh-oh. I should probably get ahold of Mungo's now before you get too advanced." Ginny chuckled and leaned forward to mess up his hair again.
"Maybe not. He told me he's thinking of resigning soon."
"Oh?" She leaned back in her chair and took a sip of her drink.
"Yeah. He said now that we've rounded up the last of them, he's decided we were both mental for wanting to chase after more. He's working out a deal with George to work at his shop, I think." The Muggle shop was empty besides the barista, but they were still careful to avoid wizard talk.
"I'm sure Hermione will be ecstatic. She hates the idea of you two on the front lines without her being there to save both of your arses."
"She was offered a position as well. Before and after she went to her eighth year."
"Yeah, but she's the sane one who went with a desk job, remember?"
Harry laughed again, "How could I forget? But I prefer being a little crazy. Makes life interesting."
"I prefer you a little crazy too, but you would think you've had an interesting enough life."
"One would think."
Ginny was about to respond when she saw Harry's expression change, he became more guarded, almost confused.
"What in the world are they doing here?"
She turned to see the most peculiar couple. The man looked like a walrus and the woman looked like a horse.
"I suppose this will have to do. That ruddy storm is keeping us from a relaxing vacation." The man complained loudly.
"It will pass soon, I'm sure." The woman was much quieter.
Ginny turned back to Harry, who had turned back to his hot chocolate. "Who are they? I don't recognize them."
Harry sighed, "My Aunt and Uncle. Please, don't say anything."
"I won't. But that's really them? I thought you were exaggerating when you said a walrus and a horse."
"Vernon actually looks like he lost a few pounds. Probably Dudley's doing, he said he was thinking of becoming a nutritionist last I heard."
"I would hate to see what he looked like before then." Ginny laughed.
Harry puffed out his cheeks, and his face turned red after a minute. He released his breath, and his face returned to normal. "Add on about hundred fifty pounds and he looked like that all the time."
Ginny giggled louder than she meant to, and she heard Vernon grumble not so quietly, "Ruddy teenagers. This is a public place."
This only made Ginny laugh more, and Harry couldn't help but laugh, "I can only imagine what he thinks we're talking about."
"We're talking about walruses. What else would we be talking about?" Her face was set in a look of total cluelessness. "I can't think of anything else. Perhaps horses, but those are rather harmless as well, I suppose."
Harry nearly snorted his hot chocolate through his nose. "Of course. I don't see what's so wrong with talking about walruses and horses in a public place. Unless-" He trailed off, and Ginny faked total interest.
"What? What could they be thinking we're talking about?"
"Oh, nothing. It couldn't possibly be that."
"You are a tease, Potter." Ginny said, lightly hitting his shoulder.
"I could say the same to you, Weasley."
Ginny smiled deviously, "Those shorts were the only things I had to wear while I was finishing my laundry."
"And you had to change out of your pajamas to do laundry?"
"If I wanted clean pajamas I did." They had settled into such a comfortable banter that they both forgot about his aunt and uncle until Harry mock-threatened to tell Mrs. Weasley that she was the one who had put all the chickens from the pen into Ron's room and she slapped his arm.
"Harry James Potter. You will do no such thing. George was perfectly happy taking the blame." She said this much louder than she meant to, and she caught the attention of the Dursleys, who looked at the two and seemed to have noticed Harry for the first time.
Harry locked eyes with Vernon, and it was only Petunia placing a hand on his shoulder that stopped him from making a scene. Harry nearly rolled his eyes but refrained and turned back to Ginny.
"We better get going. Your mum will kill us if we're late to dinner. Again." Ginny nodded, and the two of them pulled their coats on. Harry put his arm around Ginny as they left, both bowing their heads against the cold as soon as the door opened. They made it to The Leaky Cauldron before Dissapparating to the Burrow.
Harry and Ginny didn't think about the encounter again until the next summer. They had decided to go to the hole in the wall cafe again, it was the best place they could think to go to. Now that the two of them had been dating for a while, proposal rumors were flying, and reporters were dying for the chance to get the first real proof.
When they entered, it had a few patrons, mostly teenagers looking for protection from the heat. The two found a seat in the back again, but this was a small booth facing the door.
"I'll get us something." Harry said.
"Anything with a lot of ice."
Harry returned a minute later with two lemonades. "So, how long before the press finds out? With Skeeter on the case, I give it a month."
Ginny looked at the ring on her finger. It was a simple band with a single diamond surrounded by a swirl of smaller ones. "I give it another two. It's already been one month and they've been pretty consistent with the three months thing."
It was true. But Harry couldn't help but want to make a deal out of it.
"Okay, you say two months, I say one. How about we make it a bet?"
Ginny's interest was peeked, "Oh? And what would the stakes be?"
"How about... Whoever wins gets to pick the dessert at the wedding?" Harry wanted treacle tart and Ginny wanted ice cream.
"Oh, my. The stakes are high. Alright, but no sabotages. Which means no hints, no talking to the reporters, and no trying to show off my ring in public."
"I accept the terms." They sealed the deal with a kiss. As soon as the pulled apart, Ginny laughed.
"We are such saps."
"It was your idea." Harry pointed out, and Ginny rolled her eyes.
"That doesn't make it any less sappy. I am a sap, you are a sap, we are saps."
"Alright, we're saps." Harry conceded, putting his arm around Ginny and taking another sip of his drink.
"Glad to see you're admitting I'm right. You'll be doing the same thing in two months." Ginny teased.
"Unless you're telling me in one month." Harry countered.
"Never." Ginny said with a grin.
Harry was about to respond when he saw a couple walk through the door. "This can't be a coincidence."
The Dursleys had walked through the door again. This time they were accompanied by Dudley, and a young woman.
"I think they might be stalking us." Ginny joked.
"Aunt Petunia wouldn't be caught dead stalking anyone, much less me."
"And here I was thinking we would invite them to the wedding. We could have them in dress robes and-"
"I think they would rather die before doing that." Harry cut her off before she made him laugh too much.
"Oh, but I have so many more ideas."
"Alright, we can share them with your mother later."
"Shame really, I always thought I'd be the last to get married and Mum would be over the planning part of it all."
"Well when you have Ron for a brother, you should have known you wouldn't be the last."
"But even Percy isn't married yet. He's three years behind on his life plan."
"Life plan?" Harry asked, eyebrows raised.
"Oh, yes. I saw it a long time ago, I think it was the winter of his second year. Anyway, he had mapped out what he wanted his life to be, and he wanted to be married by twenty-two."
"Oh wow. I guess we know what happened to the twins' sense of responsibility." It had been two years since The Battle of Hogwarts, and things were much easier now.
"Yeah, I think Percy sucked it out of all of the rest of us."
"Responsible enough for five." Harry grinned.
"Or he was until Audrey managed to unwind him a bit. I can't believe he was actually late to a Weasley dinner."
"It was only three minutes and George still hasn't let him live it down."
"I almost feel bad for him." They were suddenly joined by Dudley and the woman that had walked in with him. Aunt Petunia and Vernon were nowhere to been seen.
"Hey Harry, it's been a while."
"Yeah, two years."
"Has it really been that long? Wow." He suddenly remembered his date. "Harry, this is Jamie, my girlfriend. Jamie, this is my cousin Harry, and..."
"Oh, right." Ginny smiled, "I'm Ginny, Harry's fiancé."
Dudley whistled, "It had been a long time, I didn't even know you were dating."
"You never did." Harry pointed out, and Dudley shrugged.
"I won't deny that."
Jamie could sense the impending awkward silence, and stepped in. "So, Dudley tells me you work with the police?"
"Actually, it's a bit higher up."
"Ah, the classified higher up?"
Harry nodded, and Jamie didn't pry farther.
"So, when's the wedding?" She asked, changing the topic again.
"We aren't sure." Ginny answered, "But we were thinking sometime next summer."
"Sounds lovely. Just be careful if you have it outdoors. My sister had hers in the middle of July, but she had this beautiful ball gown for a dress and she nearly passed out because she got too hot."
"I don't plan on a big dress, I just want something simple."
"Of course, you would be beautiful in anything."
"You're such a suck up, Potter." Ginny teased, but she kissed his cheek anyway.
"Not sucking up if it's the truth." He turned to Dudley, "I just remembered, what happened to your parents?"
"Huh? Oh, I noticed you and then they did too, and Dad left mumbling something about 'your folk' or something."
"So the usual? Still, he was never the type to leave without saying his piece."
"I think he wanted to avoid being arrested. I told him you were an officer."
"I bet he enjoyed that. But enough of that, how's your job coming along?"
"Really well. It's actually where I met Jamie. She's a personal trainer and they wanted us to meet with the exercise aspect of a healthy life."
The four spent another half hour talking before Ginny had to get to practice and the group parted ways.
I love Hinny a lot.
~PH