Chapter 9

a/n – Yes. John Thomas is funny. (for those of you that don't know, in Britain, that's a slang term for yer tallywhacker :) And no, I don't know when I'm going to update again. A pregnant wife and a move across the country will do that to ya.

No, I don't own anything. So stop asking for spare change.

Harry managed to catch himself before he blurted out Ginny's name, instead caught his composure and purposefully walked up and down the line of girls, completely ignoring the lovely Ms. Weasley. Neville had already decided that twins were the way to go, and was busily introducing himself to the Patils, so Harry decided to take the plunge, so to speak, so he gathered up all his Gryffindor courage and…

"Hello beautiful, my name's John."

"Hi, John, my name is Cinnamon. So do you like what you see?" Ginny replied automatically, thinking 'Oh, great. Another scumbag. Thinks he's God's gift. Well you wouldn't be PAYING for it if you were, now would you? At least it'll be quick."

Harry took a long appraising look at her, and said "I'm sorry. Should I talk to somebody else? You seem distracted."

Oh hell. Busted. "No! I mean, no, I'm not, I was just wondering why somebody with your obvious charms was visiting us here. I mean, you can probably get any girl you want anywhere, right?" That's right, lay it on thick.

Harry smirked. If she only knew… "Well, I've spent the last few years in relative seclusion, you know, my job and all, and I really don't have time to go out and look."

Ginny's eyes lit up. Maybe this was going to be more interesting than she thought. "Well than, let's go show you something."

Neville.

Twins.

Need I say more?

He'll be busy for a while. Probably not TOO long, but…

As they walked into Ginny's room, Harry was surprised to see that it looked almost identical to her room at the Burrow. Creatures of habit, these Weasleys. He noticed as he walked in that she was quickly rearranging a few things, including what looked like…

A picture of him. And her. Together.

Harry's heart stopped for a quick moment as he pieced together what he knew to go with what he THOUGHT he knew.

Ginny walked into her room and did a quick once over, realizing that she had left out some of the pictures and memories that she had been pondering over earlier. She quickly grabbed a couple of pictures of the old days, one of Neville, one of her graduating class from Hogwarts, and her favorite picture of all.

Her and Harry, back before everything happened.

"Very soon, my love, we will be back together." She whispered, seemingly to herself.

Harry could not believe his ears. Years in Azkaban gave him a little better than usual hearing, and he knew that she had not meant that for his ears.

She turned to him, and he melted at the wistful look she had on her face. All his careful planning went right out the window. "Screw it" he thought to himself, "What's the worst that could happen?"

"Let me ask you something. How are the silencing spells in this room?" Harry asked, putting enough of a smirk on his face to surprise Snape.

"Ooh, they're the best that money can buy, big boy. "Thinking about making me scream?" Ginny replied in her best sex kitten voice, thinking to herself 'keep dreaming'.

"Yea, I think I can come up with something to make you get a bit loud, Ginny" Harry replied…and took off his necklace.

"AIEEEEEEEE" thud

"Oh bugger."

After another failed bedroom session ("Oh, Ron!"), Ron and Hermione had spent the day getting to know each other again.

They had each beat their selves up the prior night about their prior relationships, and both had fallen into the realization that this is where they belonged, in the arms of the other.

Both of them had been skirting the issue of Harry for the majority of the day. But later that night…

"Ron, we need to talk about what we did to Harry." Hermione said with a bit of trepidation.

"What WE did to Harry? What are you talking about? What about what Harry did to us? He killed my brother, he tried to ruin my family, he was getting too close to my sis…um…I mean to going dark…"

"RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY! Are you telling me that this was all because Harry and Ginny were trying to get together?"

"No, well I mean the thought had crossed my mind, but…"

"Damn you Ron. You put your best friend into hell because you were worried about your sister's virtue? Well do you know what she does for a living now? SHE'S A WHORE. A Scarlet Woman. A harlot! She pleasures men for money. Do you think that she would have done that if you hadn't condemned the man that she loved?"

"We, um, we had to protect her. And this was the easiest way." Ron stammered out, surreptitiously pulling out his wand.

"Well Ron, you know what? Let's see how your family likes it when you're thrown in Azkaban for…" Hermione stopped mid-rant as Ron's Stupefy dropped her to the ground.

"That's not going to happen, you stupid cow. Avada Kedavra"