Fix You
A/N: I said I'd finish before DH. Quite clearly, I didn't. I tried, and tried, but I don't really care that this is now AU. DH was awesome, and leaves soooo much for fics open. I hope everyone enjoys this, as it is the last chapter before the epilogue. Thanks to all reviewers and to Carla for betaing.
Chapter Thirteen – The Wedding and The Girlfriend, Part Two.
The rest of dinner passed in a flurry of nonsensical chatter about everything from Quidditch to kumquats. Harry spent the whole time sharing significant looks with Ginny, something that did not go unnoticed by Ron and Hermione. They both seemed to be a mixture of pleased and irritated; surely it was not the Maid of Honour and Best Man that should be flirting shamelessly at their wedding over dinner.
Harry had been looking around the room; the Weasley twins were sharing a table with the Chasers from their Quidditch team and Lee Jordan. Neville was chatting with Luna and Pavarti a few tables over, and, as Harry had briefly mentioned in his speech as Best Man, Viktor Krum and Lavender Brown had been placed strategically at the same table by their ex-partners.
Bill, his son Robbie and a newly pregnant Fleur, along with Charlie and his long term girlfriend that Harry had met at Christmas, Rebecca, were sitting at a table with two people who were obviously Weasley cousins, and two empty seats, which were designated for Percy and his girlfriend Penelope Clearwater. Even though Percy didn't RSVP, Molly still had high hopes that he would turn up.
Before Harry knew it, the waiters were coming around to collect the dessert bowls, and the four piece wedding band was striking up into a slow song, Ron and Hermione were getting up to start the dancing.
"Oh," Mrs Weasley sighed, and Harry noticed with embarrassment that all four of the parents sitting at the table were tearing up as they watched Ron and Hermione dance. He subtly pointed it out to Ginny, who also looked uncomfortable. "They're so sweet together."
"I'd say they're revolting," Ginny whispered, rolling her eyes. Harry snorted into his hand.
"I heard that, Ginevra Molly Weasley," Mrs Weasley scolded her. "You should be happy for him, not insulting him when he can't hear it."
"I'm not insulting Ron; I'm sympathising with Hermione," Ginny explained to her mother sublimely, grinning at Harry. "He burps, he farts, he snores and smells like boy... and now she's managed to get stuck with it."
"Is your lack of tolerance why you didn't bring a date tonight?" Mrs Weasley questioned her harshly, causing a slight smirk from Harry. "Perhaps, young lady, you're just feeling jealous of your brother's happiness because you don't have a significant other."
"Trust me, I'm not jealous," Ginny told her, closing her eyes, her foot reaching across to nudge Harry's, who recoiled at this contact, reminded of his earlier run in with Ron when he searched for Ginny's feet with his own.
"Are you going to dance with some people in hopes of finding a potential boyfriend?"
"Probably not," Ginny said dryly, flicking some dust off the table carelessly and glancing at her brother and best friend who were grinning widely at each other as they danced.
"You have to dance with me for the first dance, Gin," Harry reminded Ginny. "Otherwise, Hermione is going to hex us both."
"Are you going to dance with The Girlfriend, Harry?" Mrs Weasley asked, turning from her daughter to him. Harry shrugged.
"Maybe. Probably not. I'm not a dancing person."
"Sure you are," Ginny told him as the song finished and many people applauded the couple before flocking out onto the dance floor. "C'mon."
She got up and tugged on Harry's shoulder. Attempting to fake reluctance, Harry got up and Ginny dragged him by the elbow to the middle of the dance floor.
"You're rather aggressive," Harry noted as they begun swaying to the new song, his hands resting on her hips lightly, hers on his shoulders and around his neck.
"I just had to get away from my Mum," Ginny sighed. "I swear, she's driving me insane, especially with all that 'The Girlfriend' stuff. It's enough to make me want to just yell at her that it's me." Harry chuckled at this.
"I can't believe that she hasn't picked up on it yet," he sighed. "What, with what you were going on about in the car, and the whole pseudo flirting thing going on."
"And the footsies," Ginny grinned up at him. Harry shook his head shuddering, clearly scarred by the footsies run in.
"Halfway through dessert, I was looking for yours," he told her, "but I found Ron."
"Is that why you were blushing?"
Harry nodded, grinning widely at her laughter.
"My feet aren't that big," she complained to him.
"I just figured it would be your feet I find near you," Harry told her. She shook her head at him.
"Though speaking of Ron," Ginny muttered. "He's looking at us."
Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that Ron and Hermione were indeed watching them, talking in hushed voices. Harry waved openly at them, but clearly unabashed, they just grinned further at Harry and Ginny.
"They're probably just noticing how beautiful you are," Harry muttered in a husky, low whisper. "And you smell really good, too." It was true; his nostrils were filling with the flowery scent which was inexplicably Ginny. She giggled and stepped in a fair bit closer to him.
"You don't scrub up bad yourself."
They swayed together in a comfortable silence.
"Do..." Harry asked her pensively, so softly Ginny struggled to hear him. "Do you want all this?" He motioned around with his head.
"All what?"
"Like a wedding and stuff," Harry growled in a low voice. Ginny looked up at him and smiled widely at his clear discomfort.
"Is that a proposal?"
"No," Harry insisted quietly. "More just, I dunno, finding out what you want."
"Doing research?" She asked, eyes glinting as she grinned at him. He laughed quietly.
"You could say that, I guess."
"Well, I do," Ginny said, answering his original question. "Not this big though. Something small and low key; just us, Hermione, my brothers, Mum and Dad, Hagrid, Lupin, Tonks, Luna and Neville maybe." Harry grinned at this.
"Me too," Harry admitted to her. "Just a few people, and we won't tell them about it beforehand. We'll invite them to lunch, then we don't turn up and Hedwig sends them a portkey, and they take it to wherever we are. You know, no fussing like your Mum was doing over today. You know, just do it and get it over and done with. I mean," Harry went on quickly, "I don't really care overly much just as long as you're there." The song finished and a new one started, but they didn't separate.
"You've thought about this, haven't you?" Ginny giggled, eyebrows raised as she pinched the back of his neck.
"Four years running around the entire country while Ron and Hermione pretend to hide their snogging gives you lots of time to think," Harry told her, rolling his eyes as he pinched her side in revenge, smirking as she squirmed.
"So that wasn't a proposal then?" Ginny asked him.
"It will be one day," He assured her.
"Soon?" she pressed. Harry rolled his eyes.
"You think I want to waste anymore time?" The question was clearly rhetoric. "This is the happiest I can remember being for a really, really long time. Ever really."
"Me too," Ginny said quietly, looking at him the same way she had after the Quidditch final back at Hogwarts; it was the same way she had looked at him several times during their relationship, notably after Dumbledore's funeral.
The look was blazing, and it was as if she could see right through him, like he kept an invisibility cloak over his thoughts and emotions, but Ginny could whip it off at will, leaving him naked, vulnerable and at a complete understanding just for that brief moment. It was exhilarating, thrilling, and Harry thought that everything they had been struggling with, every problem they had discovered with their relationship as a result of their four year break, would be worth it just for that moment. The moment that made the world go 'round and everything was inexplicably... good.
Maybe they wouldn't always understand each other perfectly, they would fight and they would scream; he would always be overly noble and she would always be ridiculously stubborn, but it wouldn't matter as long as she would look at him like that.
She was addictive, and had caught him in well and truly. She was everything that he knew he could ever want with just one gaze. This addiction was one he would never truly understand, one that he didn't really know as much about as he should, considering the time he had spent mooning over it, but Harry was sure of one thing; he would never get over it, and he never wanted to try.
She grinned widely at him, pulling him away from his thoughts before suddenly looking away, breaking their fiery gaze. "Me too," she repeated to his shoulder. Harry squeezed her waist again, trying to get her attention. She groaned at him softly.
"I really want to kiss you right now," she told him huffily. "And I can't do that, unfortunately."
"Damn people everywhere," Harry sighed, agreeing with her by a simple grin. "You, me, foyer, fifteen minutes?"
"You're on," she smirked, looking back at him cheekily.
"Good," was all Harry could reply with.
"Okay, this is starting to get really weird," Ginny told him quietly after a moment. "Heaps of people keep looking at us. Ron and Hermione, Lupin and Tonks. Hagrid."
"Half the people we went to school with," Harry told her, noticing this also. "Your mum. Some guy I don't know who's dancing with Hannah Abbot keeps staring at you, the twins look as though they are about to – hey!" He almost fell over as Ginny steered them across the floor and far from the spot they previously were. "What's up?"
"I..." she cleared her throat. "I know that guy dancing with Hannah," She nodded her head significantly, opening her eyes widely at him, urging him to think.
"Oh," Harry said quietly, glancing at the staring brown haired man dancing with Hannah. "Oh." He understood what she meant exactly. She knew him. Quite well too by the sound of it. Harry's gut squirmed slightly at the thought of this; this sudden shock from the ridiculous happiness that had been consuming him since their previous conversation.
"Sorry," Ginny mumbled, putting her forehead on Harry's shoulder so she wouldn't have to meet his eyes. "I'm so sorry. I'm more sorry than you could ever know. I-"
"Don't worry about it," Harry mumbled weakly. "Do... do you want me to hex him or something?" Ginny blinked as she looked up at Harry, who tried to smile at her as if he was joking.
"Don't." She answered after a pregnant pause. "Let it be I think, don't tickle the sleeping dragon..." She trailed off. "Just don't leave me alone near him, I don't want to talk to him."
"I can keep an eye or two on you," Harry teased her softly as the song ended.
"I had always hoped they would get together," Molly Weasley told Hermione's mother, Jane, mournfully as they watched Ginny dancing with Harry, her eyes lingering for this moment off Ron and Hermione, who were swaying out of time to the music a few meters away, staring at the others face fascinated. "She had the biggest crush on him for the longest time. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that any of my hopes for green-eyed grandbabies is now gone."
Molly sighed as her daughter grinned widely, laughing at Harry, her eyes twinkling. She had just watched her youngest son get married, but instead of the usual anxiety that she had expected from seeing Ron as grown man, she now wanted nothing more than to see her daughter as happy as her brother.
"Hermione told me about how Ginny was so besotted by him," Jane said from next to her husband Frank.
"From what Hermione has told us, everyone expected them to get together at some stage," said Mr Granger attentively. "I wonder why they haven't?" He added in a mock thoughtful afterthought. His wife shot him a significant glare of warning.
"They're both stubborn," Mrs Weasley said.
"It's a shame they don't get together," Mr Weasley said, carefully not looking at his wife. "Harry's the only boy that would ever be good enough for Ginny in the eyes of her brothers." He didn't say anything more, remaining purposefully vague.
"In my eyes too," his wife told him, watching her daughter and the boy that could be her son, intently. "There's something there, despite The Girlfriend. Even if they say they are just friends, I'll make them come around."
"Molly," He said warningly. "You've been saying that for years. Are you going to break up Harry and The Girlfriend, then manipulate a relationship between him and our daughter?"
"Someone has to!" she exclaimed guiltlessly to her husband. The Grangers snickered quietly at this.
"I'm not entirely sure if that's a good idea," Mr Weasley said, wiping his glasses on his sleeve, knowing that arguing with his wife was useless. The song finished, and Mrs Weasley's eyes stalked Harry and Ginny as together they walked over to a table of people they obviously both knew from school. The Lovegood girl was there, chatting to the Longbottom boy and the Indian twins. Was one of them The Girlfriend? She was off to find out.
"First, I have to figure out who she is," she told her husband. "Don't fret, Arthur. I'll be back later." She waddled off to where they had just sat down and were both chatting to friends.
"I happen to know who the girlfriend is," Mrs Granger said, smirking as soon as Mrs Weasley was out of earshot.
"It's rather hard to miss it," Mr Granger told Arthur.
Mr Weasley sighed. He knew his daughter, and he didn't think he had ever seen her as happy as she had been mere minutes ago, dancing and smiling almost stupidly up at an also beaming Harry. He, like his wife, had always been expecting a romantic attachment between the two, even from the first time he saw the awkward, skinny boy sitting at his table at the tender age of twelve, and he knew he was going to painfully watch his only daughter fall more hopelessly in love with him than she already was.
"Molly is hindered by her own insistence," Mr Weasley sighed again, looking over to his wife, who was spying on Ginny and Harry from behind a large fern. Harry also seemed to have noticed this, and wandered off to see Hagrid and Lupin again. "She wants to know who The Girlfriend is so much she is blinding herself from truth. She sees what is there and only recognises it for what she wants. As if the little conversation they had in the car wasn't enough." The Grangers shook their heads, both also wearing a smile.
Mr Granger snorted dryly, looking at his daughter and her new husband, clearly so enthralled in dancing with each other that they didn't realise that the band was having a break, and were still swaying in an intimate embrace. "Ain't young love grand?"
"Why don't you tell her?" Mrs Granger asked Arthur, ignoring her husband. Mr Weasley shrugged.
"She'll realise eventually," Mr Weasley said resignedly. "And also to save Ginny and Harry from her hassling for tonight at least. We'll just let them keep pretending that they're good liars I think."
He watched his daughter subtly sneak a glance at her mother, who had trailed Harry to the table of Lupin and co., where she had sat down and seemed to be interrogating a blush from Harry that would almost put a Weasley to shame. Judging by the looks on his older Order fellows faces, they were finding that conversation nearly as amusing as Harry found it uncomfortable.
"Harry?" Ginny called quietly into the foyer of the reception hall twenty minutes later, the late afternoon sun streaming in through the small windows. She looked around the empty room expectantly; she was later than she had originally said she would be, and figured Harry would be here already. She walked towards the entrance doors, peeking through them to thankfully see that the bevy of reporters and photographers that had been there before had all left.
She tapped her foot a little impatiently. Harry's lateness was cutting into their limited snogging time by talking to Hagrid and Tonks. She was tired of waiting to kiss him; she had wanted to pretty much every single time she had seen him that day, whether it was when he stood there whispering to Ron as she helped Hermione out of the car, or during their dance. A couple of months ago, Ginny was furious at the idea of being forced to dance with him, but when the wedding had actually rolled around, it had been like a bottle of Felix Felicis in disguise. Ginny found that being with Harry was like having that rush of calm the Felix gave, being able to do whatever and knowing it would work out okay.
She had rather enjoyed spending the entire day flirting with him unabashedly without having people comment. She knew what her family was like, especially when it came to Harry, so being able to flirt with Harry in front of Ron and the twins openly was something that would only ever happen rarely, if at all, so Ginny was taking this chance to annoy them.
She was also trying to take advantage of her mother's obliviousness, but felt slightly guilty about deceiving her to give herself and Harry an easier time. Like the rest of the world, Ginny loved her mum, she knew that her mum loved Harry, and she also knew that while her mother would be rather annoying and overbearing once hearing of their relationship, she would also be a little upset that she hadn't been told about it. Ginny tried to edge away this little thought from the back of her mind; her mother would find out soon enough. She also couldn't help but ignore it because somehow dangling her relationship with Harry in front of everyone but just out of their reach was slightly exhilarating.
What wasn't exhilarating was waiting for Harry to come join her for their much anticipated snog session. Slightly bored, she looked up and began examining what must have been light bulbs as she tapped her foot to the muffled music that was coming from the hall.
After a moment, Ginny seized up as a pair of arms snaked their way around her waist uncomfortably.
"Hello," she said to who she assumed was Harry, sounding slightly detached.
"Hello," replied an unfamiliar voice that most definitely not Harry's. It was a bit deeper than and had a tone of voice attached to it that Harry most definitely would not use with her; this person was clearly speaking down to her. She quickly tugged away, turning to face the person, slightly panicked.
"Hello, Ginny," the voice repeated.
"Hi," Ginny said shortly as she came face to face with the person she was talking to Harry about before. "What are you doing here Jeremy?"
"You know Hannah Abbot?" The man named Jeremy asked her seedily, running a hand through his slightly greasy brown hair. "I'm here as her date."
"I know that," Ginny said darkly, reaching for her wand, which was stowed away in the pocket of her dress, which Hermione thought would be helpful. She made a mental note to thank the bride for that later. "I saw you dancing with her. What are you doing here though?"
Eyebrows were raised. "No need to pull out your wand, Ginny," he told her ungainly, holding his hands up in surrender and stepping towards her in his muggle suit. "I just want to have a chat or something." He smirked down at her and raised an eyebrow. "Whatever you want to do."
"I want you to go," Ginny said determinedly, pulling out her wand and pointing it at his face, hand shaking slightly. "Leave me alone, Jeremy. Go back and talk to Hannah."
"I want to talk to you though," he told her, also pulling out his wand. "We'll sit out here, just us two. C'mon, you were always one to leave a party early." He smirked at her again, and looked her up and down in a way that made her shudder.
"I have a boyfriend!" She told him huffily, taking a step away from him and gripping her wand tighter, pointing it at his face. "And I wouldn't leave with you even if I didn't!"
He took a step lazily towards her. "Potter, isn't it?" Jeremy drawled, sounding ridiculously Malfoy-like. He winked at her sleazily. "Sleeping your way to the top I see."
"Shut up!" She spat at him, and sidestepping past his advance, she turned her back towards the door into the reception. "Just shut up!"
"So he doesn't know about you and your sordid past?" He asked her coldly, inching closer. "Surprising. Your story is getting almost as infamous as his. It makes sense though, both desperate drunks."
Ginny's grip around her wand tightened further, her knuckles turning bone white. While he was just talking about her, Ginny had been able to deal with that. But now he had started on Harry, sweet Harry who had saved both the world and her, she found herself shaking with pent up fury.
"I'm going to walk back into there," she told Jeremy in quiet anger. "You're going to walk back inside in five minutes. You won't talk to Harry. You won't talk to any of my family or friends. You won't say anything about this conversation or what has happened in the past. You will talk to Hannah, and you will pretend you don't know me."
"Running from the past, are we?" He taunted her sourly. "Don't want Potter to find out you're a hooker?" He smirked again. "You don't get paid for it though, do you?"
Seething, Ginny ignored this, turning from him to walk back into the reception, and hopefully find Harry.
"Wait," Jeremy commanded her, seizing the back of her dress hastily. Ginny heard a loud crack as she felt the shoulder of her dress rip in his hand. She spun around quickly, firing her infamous Bat-Bogey Hex at where he should be standing. Only... he wasn't.
Ginny's curse hit the wall, cracking the plaster and causing little bats made of wet paint, not the usual snot, to start attacking the wall. She heard an "umf" above her, and a wand clattered down to her feet. She looked up above where Jeremy had been standing. He was suspended in mid-air by his ankle, and not looking at Ginny, but towards the door. She spun on the spot hastily to see a livid looking Harry striding towards her, wand trained on Jeremy.
"Are you okay?" He asked her when he reached her side, angry emerald eyes softening as he looked down to her. She nodded as he pulled her into an intense tight one armed hug. He ran his wand over the shoulder strap of her dress gently in what Ginny knew was a non-verbal reparo spell, not taking his eyes off her face.
"How long have you been here?" She asked him quietly, rubbing his stomach appreciatively as he kissed the crown of her head tenderly.
"A couple of minutes," he told her calmly. She looked surprised that he hadn't said something before. "I knew you could take care of yourself," he answered her unspoken question, causing her to beam widely at him.
A voice came from above. "So you know your girlfriend is a slut then?"
Turning away from Ginny, Harry's face lost all of the understanding softness he had faced her with, and flicking his wand almost lazily, he caused Jeremy to crash unceremoniously back to the ground. Another flick of the wand, and Jeremy was forced back on his feet, looking frazzled and clutching the wrist he had just sprained in landing.
Harry just looked at him, daring him to say something.
"Does it bother you?" He asked Harry after a moment, the two men staring each other down relentlessly.
"Go inside, Gin," said Harry, not taking his eyes off Jeremy.
"No," Ginny told him firmly. He didn't even bother to act surprised at her answer.
"Please, Gin?" He asked her desperately. "I don't want you to see this. I don't want you here."
"You need me here," she said quietly, not referencing the conversation they were actually having in the slightest, more rehashing an old one to prove a point.
He turned to look at her briefly, his eyes twinkling in a slight smirk, his face telling the entire story; that he understood, they were in the same place they had been all those years ago. While at less of an extreme level, it was the same situation from the morning after Bill's wedding over again; he was telling her to leave him to deal with things by himself, pushing her away for her protection.
And she was telling him the exact same thing as she had then; she was staying, calling his bluff. And she did it confidently, knowing he wouldn't shove her to the side; he'd done that before, and the results had been disastrous. She knew he wouldn't try it again for one simple reason; they'd been through too much lately to want to risk all the progress they had made. It all meant too much.
Harry saw it for what it was; a power struggle of sorts, Ginny testing him. With four words, she had won before it had even started, and by her triumphant look, Harry knew she realised it too. Harry had a couple of choices. He could respond the same way he had back at the Burrow after Bill's wedding, with a simple 'I don't need you here' like last time, and Ginny would walk away as everything they had been working for together fell to pieces.
Or could admit he had been wrong. It would be final, definite. If they ever argued about it again, she had automatically won because he'd already said so. And there was something final, something appealing about that, knowing what was done is done, and dealing with what was left.
It didn't really matter, losing to Ginny felt like winning anyway.
"Stay then, I guess," Harry told her softly. "I need you here." A mocking laugh taunted them.
"So does it bother you?" Jeremy interrupted as Ginny beamed under Harry's gaze.
Harry glared back at him, letting him know precisely what was going on, not minding that Ginny was there now, knowing somewhere in him that she had to hear it anyway. "Yes it does."
"I knew it would bother you," the sleazy man responded with a nod. "There's witches for marrying and witches for other stuff." Harry glared at him again as Ginny bit her lip and waited for this scene to unfold.
"It bothers me alright," Harry said harshly, half yelling. "It bothers me so much it drives me crazy. It bothers me so much that sometimes I look at a wizard and wonder if he knows her. It makes me want to rip your bits off and feed them to a toad in front of you." He breathed in deeply, but went on. "It bothers me so much I have to make the unbearable bearable." His gaze flickered over to a solemn looking Ginny, but he caught her hand in his reassuringly.
"It doesn't so much anymore though," He went on after a pause in which he just glared down Jeremy. "For a while, it really did, knowing all that sort of stuff about her, hearing other people say horrible things as if they were a common occurrence."
"They are," informed Jeremy. Harry ignored him again.
"I realised why she did all that," Harry cited, his eyes glancing her way again. "It was because of what I had done to her." Jeremy raised his eyebrows, expecting an elaboration he wasn't going to get. "I really, really hurt her something shocking."
Harry paused for a moment, squeezing her hand. "And she wanted to get back at me." His voice had calmed and quietened significantly. "So think what you like about her, it's my fault anyway."
"I'll have no problems with thinking she's a slut," he said smugly.
"Just remember," Harry told him warningly as Ginny squeezed his hand impulsively. "That every time she looked at you, she only saw a way to hurt me, or to make herself feel better about me breaking her heart... or to make her feel more in control or whatever it is. Simply, it was all brought about by me and her hating the fact that I hurt her. If she touched your shoulder, here," Harry raised his free hand and traced it over Ginny's collarbone tenderly, "It was intended as a slap across my face. It was never about you or anyone else, it was about her and me and how much she hated me."
Ginny looked up at Harry, who was speaking with a sort of refined openness, his voice quiet and honest. "So I can deal with it bothering me. I know it was my fault to begin with, so I can't hold it against her. It was always about me."
"I don't know why you'd bother though," Jeremy said, scowling, clearly repulsed at the two of them. "It doesn't change the fact that famous Harry Potter is going out with a little tramp, no matter her reasons for being so."
"I bother because she's worth the effort," Harry told him harshly again, clearly irritated by the insult aimed at her.
"He's right about one thing," Ginny, who had kept her mouth shut and let Harry say what he had to say, now spoke in a calm, almost subdued voice.
"What?" Harry asked her, his eyes softening as he looked at her once more, hoping to Jupiter and back that she wasn't feeling insecure about them again.
"You are Harry Potter," she stated plainly, looking up at him as though she had just realised it. "And you could probably hex this guy so bad he can't tell his feet from his elbows." Jeremy visually gulped as he now looked at the wand Harry was still holding. Harry laughed openly.
"I'd let you do the honours though, Gin," he told her with a swift smile. She rolled her eyes at him happily. Jeremy was still standing there, and looked a little sickened at the two of them. Harry bent down to kiss her, but copped a shunning elbow in the ribs as Ginny nodded her head towards Jeremy.
"Oh," Harry said, slightly irritated. "Right. You," he addressed Jeremy, "are going to go back inside. You're going to sit with Hannah for about five minutes before you tell her you are feeling sick and are going home. Then you will leave."
Jeremy looked slightly angry, but too threatened to say anything as Harry gave him orders.
"You will not say anything to anyone about Ginny, or me, ever. You will leave her alone, because if you don't I will find you and let you know about it." Jeremy glared at him further, but didn't argue. With a last fleeting glance at the pair, he stormed back into the reception hall, music spilling into the entrance for a moment before the door slammed with a loud bang.
"I'm sorry," said Ginny immediately as the door shut. Harry looked at her exasperatedly.
"Stop apologising for everything," he sighed at her. "You really don't need to."
"I think I do," she went on quietly. He leaned in and kissed the top of her nose, causing her face to flush pleasurably.
"Don't apologise for things that aren't your fault," he told her firmly. "It's my fault you were angry at me. So everything's as much my fault as it is yours."
Sparing him a loving smile, she tugged his hand towards the door. "I s'pose we better go back in."
Harry pulled her back towards him, pretending to stretch out his arms and yawn. "I don't think so."
"Really?"
"Yeah," he told her thoughtfully. "I can think of plenty better things to do then go dance with your mum."
"Such as what?" Ginny asked, feigning ignorance. He didn't bother to answer.
"Where have you been?" Hermione launched onto a slightly dishevelled Harry forty minutes later. He was standing by the makeshift bar and sipping on a bottle of butterbeer, watching Ginny, who was dancing with her father. Hermione, noticing but ignoring his gaze, looked him up and down once, noticing his ruffled shirt, overly messy hair, slightly askew glasses and how his tie was noticeably off-centre.
"What?" Harry asked her, his eyebrows raised.
"You've been snogging my new sister-in-law, haven't you," stated Hermione primly. Smirking up at him, she fixed the two top buttons of his shirt and tie roughly.
"Only a little," Harry said slightly cheekily. She laughed at this as the song that the band was playing ended.
"You two are so enamoured," Hermione told him smartly. He had no idea what she meant, but figured she was saying something along the lines of cute or sweet. A moment later, Hermione had grabbed his sleeve and tugged him out to the dance floor.
"You could just have asked me to dance," he told her, spying Ron with his sister over her shoulder.
"We both know you wouldn't have agreed," Hermione told him gently as he placed a hand awkwardly on the small of her back. "Even if it is my wedding."
"Point," Harry laughed at her.
"You had no problem dancing with Ginny though," Hermione noted pointedly. Harry sighed at her.
"You're trying to get me to talk, aren't you?"
"Well, that's the only way you will!"
Harry laughed again, only slightly sourly.
"So?" Hermione prompted him after a moment.
"What do you want to hear?" Harry asked her, slightly annoyed. "How I'm madly in love with her and can't spend a minute without her?"
"Are you?"
"I wouldn't put it like that," he grumbled. "But yes, I suppose." Hermione squealed loudly, causing half the reception to stop talking and look at them, Ron and Ginny included.
"That's so-"
"Hermione," Harry said warningly, nodding his head towards everyone who was now watching the two of them.
"Are you going to go get married and have a bunch of kids with messy red hair?" She asked him quietly as everyone turned back to whoever they were dancing with and the chatter started back up.
"You sound like you've thought this through," he told her, rolling his eyes.
"Ron and I have been speculating," Hermione admitted. Harry snorted, looking over to his best friend to see him looking at them surreptitiously. "Surely you two have been talking about that?:
"We haven't," he informed her. "We've been-"
"Snogging? Shagging? Do I even want to know?" Hermione said jokingly, and Harry noted how odd this conversation would have been five years ago. Yet, since the war, everything seemed much more at ease.
"I was going to say talking about other things," Harry finished lamely.
"That's better," she told him, nodding slowly. "So, has she talked you into getting a job?"
"Yeah, kind of."
"And?" Hermione prompted again.
"Okay..." Harry trailed off. He went on tentatively, "At the moment, it's still a very, very basic idea, so don't laugh. I've talked to Lupin, McGonagall, Tonks and Kingsley about it, and they think it's a good plan."
"I doubt I'll laugh," she assured him.
"Okay," Harry repeated, inhaling deeply. "The whole time I've been avoiding getting a job, it's been because I couldn't think of anything I could do that's both worthwhile and not overly depressing. You know that." Hermione nodded; they had had this conversation before, albeit more briefly. "The way I put it to Gin was that I wanted to do something more helpful than fighting evil and protecting the world," Hermione laughed at his dry tone of voice here, "But I also wanted to do something that will somehow make things better after all that has happened with the war, something that I can enjoy a bit too."
"How very noble," she smiled, her voice just as dry as his had been. He rolled his eyes.
"So, that left me with no idea of what to do," Harry told her. "It's like all I really wanted was a way to somehow just erase everything Voldemort did to people. But Ginny," He looked over at the back of her head, where she was still dancing with her brother. "She just told me, made me realise that I can't make everything better, even though I want to. That no matter what I do, not everything will be okay. Oh, it sounds bleak," he went on, seeing the shocked look on her face, "but it's not. It's realistic. I can't help everyone, but I've found a way where I can help as many people as I can."
"So basically your saving people thing turned into a career?"
"More an occupation," he explained. "I won't make any money out of it, but that's okay. It's not like I need it."
"Are you going to hurry up and tell me what it is?" Hermione asked, slightly impatiently as the song ended and most of the people dancing broke apart. Harry saw Ron and Ginny look across the room to them, but he and Hermione stayed where they were as a new song struck up.
"I'm getting to it," he explained, smiling at her apparent impatience. "You know how all those Muggle celebrities have those charities they help run? And they basically use the fact that they are famous to get people to help others who are worse off then them? I want to do that." She looked at him for a moment, carefully examining him.
"Harry, you do realise that most of those Muggles just do that so that they look good to the general public and can become more famous?" She said it carefully, her voice straining with quiet.
"Yeah," he told her. "But I don't care about that, you know I don't. It's just," he shrugged his shoulders slightly, "I mean, I've realised that no matter what I do, people are going to watch me and follow my every move. I might as well use it to my advantage, right?"
"Right," Hermione replied, looking back at him curiously. "You're serious about this, then?"
"Very," Harry told her honestly. "Just think about it. How many kids won't be able to go to Hogwarts because their dad died and they can't afford it? How many parents are like the Diggory's and have lost their kids?" He was starting to get into a rant. "What about those kids of Death Eaters that are rotting in Azkaban? What they did wasn't the kids' fault, and-"
"What about kids like you who grew up with their horrid relatives because their parents died?" A little familiar voice spoke from his shoulder, slightly behind him, bearing a tentative, gentle forcefulness. He dropped his arms from dancing with Hermione, spinning around to see Ginny looking up at him intently, Ron standing next to her, also watching him, his head cocked slightly to the side.
"Y... yeah," Harry mumbled, meeting her relentlessly understanding gaze with one of his own. She slipped her hand into the one that was now hanging limply by his side. "Or... or kids like Voldemort was, growing up in an orphanage with no-one who cared, or even ever spared a thought for him." He squeezed Ginny's hand before dropping it suddenly, realising it wasn't just them, Ron and Hermione around. Seeing this, Ron clapped him on his shoulder in a brotherly fashion.
"It's not just about money either though," Harry told Hermione earnestly, not bothering to explain to the other two what he was on about; Ginny knew and he wasn't going to take the time to explain the whole thing from the start to Ron at the moment. "I mean, it's not like money can replace a person, but it can help a bit. It can just help make things that bit easier, and with money, there could be ways to get, I dunno, emotional support for people who are going through the worst experience of their lives. If everything can become just that bit easier for even one person," Harry breathed, "then it's worth doing."
Ron stared at his best friend, head still tilted slightly to the side in wonder. Harry seemed to have been eased somehow after this slight outburst of emotions.
"I..." Hermione said softly after a moment of silence between the four. The wedding was still continuing loudly around them, but everything seemed to dull in the brief moment before Hermione continued, "You're going to do a good thing, Harry."
She smiled at him momentarily as this acceptance seemed to sink in.
"I'm glad you think so," he said, grinning widely, all seriousness gone from his face. Ginny watched with slight exasperation as the sudden transformation crossed him; utterly serious one moment, almost joking around the next, and she was glad to see this light-heartedness in him.
"Right," the groom said after another moment of busy silence, still staring questioningly. "I have no idea what you two are talking about, but I came here to cut in, so I guess you can tell me now."
"Okay," Harry rolled his eyes as he seized Ron's hand, placing his other on his side awkwardly, as if he were about to dance with him. Hermione and Ginny laughed loudly as Ron threw Harry off him, cuffing him playfully around the head, half laughing and half disturbed.
"Piss off," Ron told him, and, reaching out for Hermione, they walked hand in hand off to dance, leaving Harry and Ginny alone at the edge of the dance floor.
He looked at her, and she was smiling up at him carelessly again. Not unwillingly, his face imitated hers, and not for the first time that night he wondered if all of the ridiculous happiness was going to make his face stick in the gleeful grin he had been wearing more often then not.
"I think," Ginny began in a cheeky undertone, "that you, Harry Potter,-"
"Should go talk to The Girlfriend, yes," Harry cut her off loudly in what he hoped was a resigned tone. She looked a fair bit miffed that he cut her off. So subtly that she wouldn't have been able to tell it was there unless she was looking for it, Harry nodded his head to just behind where she was standing to where Ginny knew that one or more of her parents or siblings now were.
"If you see her, tell her I want to have another chat with her in about an hour," said Harry, eyes flickering to where both Mr and Mrs Weasley were approaching the two slowly. Ginny smirked cheekily.
"I'll make sure she gets the message."
"Ginny!" Mrs Weasley exclaimed, stopping next to her daughter, her husband standing slightly behind her. "Where did Harry go? He ran off so quick he might as well have disapparated!"
"He said something about The Girlfriend," Ginny said smoothly, only half lying. Her father looked at her, ginger eyebrows raised, but said nothing. At Ginny's comment, Mrs Weasley started looking around rapidly, searching for where Harry was likely talking to the elusive figure.
"Dance with me, Ginny," Mr Weasley requested quietly, noticing his wife's new behaviour with a shake of his head. He led his daughter out onto the dance floor.
"Are you having fun?" Ginny asked her dad after a moment of dancing. Arthur was not looking at Ginny, but at his wife, who had caught up with Harry over at the other side of the room. She was clearly hassling him, and he looked a bit sheepish.
"I am," he answered after a pause. "Have you had a good time, Ginny?"
"Yeah," she said non-committing.
"It's a good day," he said mildly, now glancing to his son and new wife. "I'm very happy for them, even though I think they may be a bit young."
"I think people are enjoying the gloating aspect," said Ginny.
"Ron and Hermione getting married?" Mr Weasley said, sarcasm barely detectable. "I don't think anyone saw this coming." Ginny laughed. "I knew from the first time I met her, back before your first year when she met up with him and Harry when the three were getting their books from Diagon Ally. I turned to your mum, and she just nodded."
"I think everyone knew," Ginny laughed again, glancing over to her mother and Harry, who were now sitting at the table of Hagrid, Lupin and McGonagall. "Everyone knew but them for years. It was so obvious."
"You can't speak much about the obvious though, Ginny," he told his daughter, eyebrows raised knowingly, eyes glinting towards his wife and who she was tal- harassing.
Judging by the look on her father's face, Ginny knew the game was up, but feigned indifference anyway. "What are you on about, Dad?" He smiled at his daughter. Her ears were turning red, and that was always a tell-tale sign.
"Ginny, it's your mother you can trick, not me," he reminded her gently. "You know that there isn't much with you and your brothers that I don't see. Never has been."
"Shut up," was all she could murmur through a downtrodden grin.
"Though I don't think you and Harry were tricking anyone but your mother," he smiled benignly. "Not if you two are acting the way you were in the linsime." She didn't correct him.
"Oh, that was just to tease Fred and George," Ginny admitted, still blushing slightly. Her father grinned. "You- you're not going to tell mum, are you?" Her voice was filled with dread.
"I think I can wait until tomorrow morning to let that one slip," Mr Weasley assured her. "I realise that your mother can be slightly overbearing at times."
"That's an understatement."
"Maybe," he smiled again, as he spun his daughter with the music.
"And you're not going to pick on Harry either, are you?"
"Ginny, there's been plenty of time to get used to the idea," he explained. "While you think that Ron and Hermione's impending relationship has been obvious to everyone, you also have to realise that you and Harry have been to everyone too."
"What?" She asked, alarmed. He shook his head and smiled at her.
"I know for a fact that half the Order were betting on who would get married first," He said nostalgically. "As long as you and Harry don't get married for three months, I believe that Sirius won."
"We're not getting married," she said huffily.
"Good," her father told her as the music slowed. "You're only twenty, and while I think your brothers will approve of this, it's likely they will be like me and think that you are far too young for that sort of commitment at twenty."
"Err, okay Dad," said Ginny, suddenly finding this conversation awkward as the song ended. "I'm, going to go... um,-"
"I'm going to save The Boyfriend from your mother," he told her, blue eyes gleaming. "Enjoy the rest of your night, dear." He hugged her briefly.
Ginny stood there; slightly shell-shocked for a moment, and spotted Harry wandering towards the bar, decided she most definitely needed a drink.
Mrs Weasley was again in tears as the crowd of people at the reception gathered around Ron and Hermione an hour and a half later. The cake had been eaten (primarily by the Weasley twins and Hagrid), photos had been taken, dances had been danced, and it was time for people, starting with Ron and Hermione, to leave.
"Where are they?" Hermione whispered to Ron as large amounts of people were wishing them congratulations and good luck.
"No idea," he replied, peering over the heads of the nameless people standing in a cluster around them. They didn't need to bother clarifying to each other who they were talking about.
"They can't even bother to come say goodbye," Hermione sulked, arms crossed, a bouquet of flowers clasped in her right hand. "We should rename them Worst Man and Maid of Dishonour." Ron laughed at her as he turned to thank Lupin, Tonks and Hagrid for coming.
"Prats," he mumbled to his wife over his shoulder. She rolled her eyes at him as she hugged Neville.
"Where's your sister?" Mrs Weasley asked her youngest son as his immediate family approached them. Fred looked around in mock suspicion.
"And where's Harry?" He asked, pretending to rub his chin thoughtfully.
"Hmm," his twin said, copying the motion. "They're the only two people missing, I think." Hermione rolled her eyes again, this time at her new brothers in law, but Mrs Weasley seemed oblivious to the painful hints.
"I think we have to go," Ron told the people gathered around them loudly. "Thanks to everyone for coming."
"Throw the bouquet, Hermione!" A giddy Lavender Brown, who had spent most of the evening with Viktor Krum exclaimed. At the mention of the word 'bouquet,' all the unmarried witched pulled away from the group and gathered in a violent cluster near the door which was being watched by the wizards and married witches with mild amusement.
"I'm not throwing it unless Ginny's there," she told Ron in an audible undertone.
"You're not going to go look for them are you?" He groaned quietly. "I don't want to walk in on her snogging my best mate!"
"Come on," she said brightly, holding the precious flowers in her hand and striding off to where the toilets were behind the stage where the band had played. Ron followed her closely, and in a ridiculous little procession, the wedding guests all followed. They waited outside curiously as Hermione entered the female toilets, Ron the male. They both emerged after half a minute, and shook their heads to each other. The twins smirked to each other, knowing exactly who the newlyweds were looking for.
Ron and Hermione led the awkward group around the room, checking behind the large ferns. The group fell into curious chatter, still following Ron and Hermione blindly around the room. Once the two reached the end of the room, clearly unsuccessful in their search, Ron indicated wordlessly to the door. Hermione nodded, and they led the parade back across the room towards the door to the entrance which led to outside. They got to the door together, and each pushing one of the double doors, they entered with a bang.
Harry and Ginny were snogging passionately in the centre of the room, moving together seamlessly. Bodies pressed together, he was holding her so tightly around the waist that her toes were hovering two inches off the floor. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, one hand snaking into his hair, and his dark jacket, much like her dress, was crumpled wildly, tie hanging loosely around his neck. Her hair had fallen out of the bun she had worn it in all night, and now was framing her face messily; her makeup smeared slightly. They didn't stop kissing as the door opened, but as the loud voices of the people that had followed Ron and Hermione into the room ceased suddenly, they pulled away from each other, simultaneously turning their heads, eyes wide to look at who had just burst in.
They both turned scarlet as Harry and Ginny saw the faces looking back at them. Ron and Hermione both looked somewhere between irritated and amused, Fred and George were grinning evilly. Mr Weasley and Lupin both looked a mixture of shocked and pride. Harry lowered Ginny back down to the floor slowly, and they separated slightly as her toes touched the ground with a little scuffle.
"Tumbleweed," Fred said obnoxiously after a moment of tense silence, throwing a balled up napkin across the ground. It bounced past Harry and Ginny's feet and rolled up to the wall. It broke the solid wall quiet, some of the crowd bursting into little snickers. Harry took a slight glance back to Ginny. She had stopped blushing, and now looked rather unabashed. She faced him and, tugging her arm free of where it had been entwined with his, she straightened his tie with a gleeful smirk.
"Oh, honestly," Harry heard Hermione sigh, and he looked to see her marching towards them. She lifted Ginny's arm up, and carefully wedged her bouquet of flowers in the crook of Ginny's elbow.
"Let's go, Ron," She called as Harry tried not to grin at the flower arrangement now sitting in Ginny's arm.
Ron followed Hermione's route to the door, beaming at the two of them, also shaking his head in a teasing, playful manner. He clapped Harry on the shoulder again and muttered "good luck" as he passed. The door to outside opened and closed, releasing the newlyweds with a bang.
Still facing Ginny, Harry gulped, eyes flickering towards the assembled crowd nervously.
"But, what about The Girlfriend?" Mrs Weasley asked in shock. "Unless... oh. Oh!"
"Merlin," said Ginny exasperatedly, and Harry saw her roll her eyes out of the corner of his.
"And she finally got there," Fred announced loudly, causing several more people to snicker at the predicament that Harry and Ginny were in.
"Oh!" Mrs Weasley cried again, blubbering she ran blindly towards them.
"No," Ginny moaned softly at her approaching mother.
"Hold on tight," Harry whispered to her, struck with a sudden idea.
Mrs Weasley was barely a foot away from them when Harry jerked suddenly, spinning on the spot with Ginny grasping his forearm, and the two of them disappeared into gloating nothingness. They'd have to face the overbearing mollycoddling soon enough, but for one night, they were going to escape that and just enjoy that they had each other.
A/N: Well, the epilogue to this is coming soonish (as is my idea for a new fic), so for the moment, please feel free to review!