AN- This prompt was brought to you by Celina Gryffindor
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Course of Treatment
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"Alright, Teddy, how close are you now?" Harry whispered into his mirror.
"Nearly there. You stay put for another minute, I'll let you know," his cousin's voice replied, sounding like he'd been running.
"Buggering fuck! I know they're around here somewhere, I just don't know where," Jamie's voice now came through the mirror, also in a hurried whisper. "How is it that they seem to be everywhere? There's only four of them to three of us!"
Harry nodded in agreement, though no one could see him do it. He was standing jus outside Filch's office under his Invisibility Cloak, waiting for his two cousins to let him know that they would be keeping the caretaker well too busy to be coming back to the office anytime soon.
The 'they' that Jamie was talking about were their 'sometimes' friendly rivals, the Weasley's.
Growing up, the three of them had heard endless stories about what it had been like when their fathers were at school and they'd started devising plans to surpass the number of school rules that the Marauders had broken and take the crown for themselves. They'd spent hours during their sleepovers going over it. Hell, Harry had spent the majority of his first year mapping out corridors and such as he came up with plans.
He had warned the other two about the Weasley twins in his first owl post letters; They fancied themselves the crowned Marauders of Hogwarts, and they had maintained that title, until Jamie got to school anyhow.
The thing that the Marauders of the Next Generation had going for them, as opposed to the Weasley's, was that they were each in different houses; Harry was in Gryffindor, Teddy was in Hufflepuff and Jamie was in Ravenclaw (her father jokingly requested a paternity test then, to which her mother smacked him over the head with a book). Meanwhile, the Weasley's were all in Gryffindor; they weren't privy to all the gossip and secrets of the other two houses.
By the time Jamie's first year was finished the friendly rivalry had turned into a friendly competition, and now it was three years later and the Weasley twins were in their Seventh Year and determined to come out on top. Which meant the pressure was on.
Challenges had started getting issued, decreed more like, the twins had a flare for the dramatic and liked to dress up in period costumes and pronounce the challenges before handing over a scroll. This particular challenge required each party to break into Filch's office and steal something; it could be embarrassing information on a teacher, detention slips, proof that Filch was a Squib or possibly photos of Filch snuggling with Mrs. Norris.
Harry didn't hear or see anything, nor did he get a message on his mirror from one of the other two, but when he saw Mrs. Norris coming streaking down the corridor for the office, he knew one or both of his cousins had completed their task. He braced himself against the wall as Filch came limping out and ran passed him, wheezing dangerously.
Harry grinned and started for the office, wand at the ready, then everything went dark.
"Fuck," he swore under his breath.
He could hear one of them already pulling drawers open in the office and he put his hands out to feel around and try to find his way out of the Darkness Powder.
When he finally got through the cloud of darkness and into the office he saw it was Ginny Weasley that had tricked him.
"My, my," she teased. "You know, for the two of them being Head Boy and Girl, your parents certainly weren't much for following the rules on fraternization, were they?" She cast a saucy look back at him over her shoulder, his mothers file open on a stack of other files in the drawer. He gaped at her. "No," she sighed, "there's not much to be embarrassed about with two people getting caught shagging when the eventually got married anyhow." She shrugged and flipped the file closed. "Thanks, by the way. You and yours made it so easy for me to get in here."
"And you're telling me that your brothers aren't off somewhere causing mayhem as well?" He tried to ignore her and headed for Filch's desk, where he supposed the really juicy stuff would be hidden.
He wouldn't let Ginny Weasley distract him from coming out on top with this one. It didn't matter how nice that smirk of hers might look, or how nicely that too small uniform hugged her body.
"My brothers are currently all in the common room, they've got some OWL and NEWT studying to do. I told them I'd take care of this one," she told him breezily.
Harry stopped his search and stared at her. "All you did was just… show up here?"
"Dearest Harry, that's all I had to do," she smiled. "You and the rest of your team caused enough of a distraction, why would I need any of my brothers to help me?"
"You fucking piggy-backed your way in here!" he nearly shouted. "That's… that's… unsportsmanlike!"
She snorted a laugh and reached for another drawer. "So report me to the referee then. Oh, wait, we don't have one."
His face heated up, but then he found it, a surefire way to embarrass Filch. It was a Kwikspell Course catalog with Filch's name on it.
"And done," Ginny announced and shut the drawer loudly while pocketing something.
"Me as well," he replied, equally as smugly.
They stood there in a Mexican stand-off, both daring the other to divulge their information.
"You know, Harry, you're really quite cute."
Well, this took an unexpected turn. She came towards him slowly, standing on the other side of the desk and leaning over it and placing her hands down on the surface so she could come closer to him. Unable to help parroting her movements, he leaned forward as well and placed his hands on the desk.
"Not so bad looking yourself there, Ginevra." He knew she didn't like being called by her full name. Sure enough, her eyes narrowed.
She stood up straight again and crossed her arms. "I'll take that to mean that you've no interest in snogging in this office, just to say you had."
"I... what?" Was that what she wanted to do? He wanted to do that! Oh fuck, had he completely buggered up his opportunity to snog her in Filch's office? Keep your composure, Harry! "That something on your wish list?" he managed to ask evenly. "Is it that you want to snog in here, or that you want to snog me? Go on, tell us the truth," he smirked.
She smirked right back at him. "Here's a truth for you." She reached her hand out and traced it down the side of his face. "Your hands are now stuck to that desk for about another minute."
He looked down at his hands and feebly tried raising them off the wooden surface, they wouldn't move though!
"Why a minute, you might ask?" she continued. "Well, because that's how long I'll need to properly lock you in here so you can get caught by our esteemed Argus Filch."
He'd been duped! She'd used her wiles on him and got him stuck! And this was after piggybacking on their heist plans. He bet she'd chosen that outfit on purpose now, just to make herself look more tantalizing.
"Enjoy your detention," she grinned at him as she backed out of the office and gave him a girly little wave before shutting the door and applying all manner of locking charms.
When the minute was up, he tried the door, then called Jamie and Teddy on the mirror.
The call ended how their calls always ended when they'd been outmaneuvered.
"Those fucking Weasley's!"
()()()
His friendly rivalry with Ginny Weasley, and her brothers, continued through to the end of his Hogwarts career; they still set challenges for each other after the twins had left, they played on the Gryffindor Quidditch team together, Ron and he had declared their dorm room sanctuary from the rivalry, and they'd all been generally pleasant while still trying to put each other in detention for fun.
Harry still thought of them from time to time, fondly even. When he passed the joke shop the twins had build together he would smile to himself, when he saw that Ginny had made a professional Quidditch team he would feel proud that they'd once played on the same team together, and every now and then he would meet up with friends at the pub and he and Ron would talk over a pint.
But he'd been incredibly busy over the past several years and immersed himself in his studies as he had worked to becoming a Healer for the Killearn Healing Centre. It was an incredibly prestigious location for a Healer to work, and one had to have an evolved mind to work there as they didn't only deal with witches and wizards, but any magical creature that might need their assistance, including but not limited to House Elves, Werewolves (including Muggle ones), and one time a Centaur who had been banished from his herd.
The Killearn Healing Centre was also the top spot for sports medicine and where most of the Quidditch Players would go when they had serious injuries.
This was the reason he was now standing just inside the doorway of Ginny Weasley's room listening to her belt out 'Bitch' by Meredith Brooks in a pain potion induced haze due to her shattered hip. He'd heard her singing from the nurses desk and saw the file, then couldn't help himself in taking ownership of her care.
"There's our spirited Gin-Gin!" said one of the twins that had just come into the room behind him, followed by the next one.
"Gred!" Ginny greeted them both with a big smile. "Is there just one of you, or am I seeing double?" she asked, then fell into a fit of giggles.
"Whoa, she's well out of it, isn't she?" One of the twins asked, Harry had never been able to tell them apart, so he wasn't sure which one he was.
"Oi," the other one spoke up, talking to Harry directly, "what are you doing here?"
"The robes don't give it away then? Or are you just not that observant?" He held up her chart.
"Guess what!" Ginny called at them. "I can't feel anything! I was in so much pain before, but now I'm not! I can't feel my arms or my legs." Her tone turned worried then, "I've still got them, haven't I?!"
"Figures a posh bloke like you would turn out to be a Healer one day," one of the twins said with a shake of his head.
"You better be damned good at your job if we're to trust you with her," the other said.
"Yeah, and we aren't in school anymore so don't even think about messing her around."
Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "It's been ten years, how about we all take a moment to realize that we've matured?"
The twins gave each other a look. "Matured?" one of them said, enunciating the word as though it was foreign to him.
"What's that mean?" the other asked.
"Hey!" Ginny called at them from the bed. "Why haven't you told me if I've still got arms and legs? I need those! I'll never find myself a man if I don't have them."
Another person came into the room, one Harry recognized as Gwenog Jones, the Holyhead Harpies former Captain, now Team Manager. "Ginny dear, you'll be alright."
"Easy for you to say. You've got arms and legs. Long one's too! Mine might not have been as long as yours, but I need them back!" Ginny said forcefully, then turned to him. "Potter! What are you doing here? Did you take my arms and legs? That's not funny! Come closer so I can bite you out of protest."
The other three in attendance were all biting their lips and shaking with laughter, but Harry couldn't give in to the want to join them. "You've still got your arms and legs," he told her. "You've completely shattered several bones in your hip and pelvis area and are on a lot of potions, which is why you can't feel them right now."
"You're alright, Ginny," Gwenog told her and took her hand. "I'm holding your hand right now and you will probably be able to feel it in the morning. Right?" she asked Harry.
"Yes. It'll take a bit for us to remove and regrow the bones, she'll have to take it slow for two weeks at least as they settle into place properly and then need a lot of physical therapy after that."
"Whoa, two weeks in a bed." One of the twins clapped Harry on the shoulder in sympathy. "Ginny's going to be a nightmare for you. Best of luck with that."
Another Healer and two nurses came into the room then so they could all get started. "I'll have to ask you all to clear out now," he told the visitors. "This will take about two to three hours, so let her family and friends know she'll be alright and one of us will come out and let you know when you can come back into the room to visit with her."
Neither the twins nor Ms. Jones put up any protest before exiting, and Ginny had already gone back to singing again before the nurse gave her another potion to render her unconscious.
Harry took a moment to appreciate the sight of her laying there peacefully; he'd always thought she was pretty and would turn into more of a heartbreaker as she aged, and he'd been right.
"Alright then, Healer Potter," started Healer Jensen who would be supervising Harry. "Tell us the first step here."
()()()
Ginny woke up when she tried to move onto her side and found herself incapable of doing so. She blinked her eyes open and saw she was in a private room at a hospital, and that Percy was laying down on a loveseat with his feet hanging over the arm of it, a pillow under his head.
Her whole body felt stiff, and she was aching to move around, but couldn't.
There must have been a body bind on her.
But why?
She was injured, obviously, yet the memory of how wasn't coming up.
The most likely reason was due to a Quidditch incident. The last thing she remembered was being in the changeroom before a game. The game itself wasn't coming to mind though.
What she did know was that her mouth was incredibly dry. She opened it to try and get Percy's attention, but the only thing that came out was a raspy moaning sound. And it wasn't loud enough to rouse her brother.
Thankfully, a nurse came in a moment later, being careful about not waking Percy, and seeming to know exactly what Ginny needed, as the first thing she did was raise a cup and straw to her lips. Ginny drank it down greedily until the nurse took it away.
"Can't I have more?" she pleaded.
"Not just yet," the nurse whispered. She was a slightly plump woman that looked around her thirties with long dark hair and dark eyes. Ginny didn't remember her from school. "You need to take in fluids, but only a bit at a time until the rest of the potions wear off. And dear, you don't want them to wear off too quickly."
"What happened?"
"You took a Bludger to the hip from behind. I was listening to it on the wireless. Apparently the damned thing was hit so hard that it nearly tore right through you." Ginny's eyes welled up with tears in horror at the thought. "You'll be fine," the nurse said and lay a hand on her shoulder. She found comfort just knowing that she could feel the warmth from her hand there. "A lot of rest and recovery and you'll be back out on the pitch again."
"Unless mum has anything to say about it," Percy spoke up sleepily before giving a yawn and a stretch, the wiped the sleep out of his eyes. He blinked at the nurse, "Gemma?" Percy asked and smiled. "Gemma Padley, is that you? I haven't seen you in ages." (AN- Gemma Padley is the actress that plays Penelope Clearwater. It's hard coming up with names sometimes.)
"Hi Percy," Nurse Gemma blushed. "Yes, we haven't had much call to see each other since you and Penelope split up."
"Oh, well, yes," he flustered and attempted to smooth out his clothes as he stood up. "I suppose with how you two were essentially inseparable for so long there…"
"People used to joke that we were essentially the same person," she smiled adorably at him. "But we've lost touch a bit now that I'm working full-time and she's, well, married."
Ginny had taken to staring up at the ceiling as she let her brother and the nurse share this moment of awkward flirting. Now that Gemma had brought up Penelope's wedding though, it was time to jump in. "So, my bones were shattered, but they've been mended and there won't be any lasting effects?"
Nurse Gemma gave a small jolt, like she'd forgotten she was supposed to be paying attention to the patient, not the visitor. "The Healer will be in later to go over everything with you, but so far as I can tell by your chart you will be just fine."
"Wicked. And any idea when I can get this body bind curse removed and get out of this bed?"
"Ginny, you'll have to stay in bed for near two weeks," Percy told her.
"TWO WEEKS? That's a bloody lifetime for some insects!"
Percy stood up and started crossing to the door. "I'm just going to let you fume over that while I call mother and let her know you're awake."
"Drew the short straw, did you?" Ginny called after him before the door closed.
With so many of her siblings having jobs and recreational activities that would occasionally land them in the hospital, they'd draw straws between them over who would be the one who stayed bedside so that their mother wouldn't have to; she would fret over them way too much and make everything worse with her unconditional love and concern for their safety; not something any of them were allowed to complain about.
Nurse Gemma ran some tests and gave her another sip of water before leaving the room and letting Ginny stew, and occasionally attempt to fight the body bind.
She was left there by herself long enough that the potions she was on were starting to wear off and she needed to try and focus on her breathing to deal with the pain.
By the time the door opened again she felt warm and sweaty and was taking fast breaths with her eyes pinched closed tight, unable to focus on anything but trying to make her pain go away. She heard a man cast a numbing charm on her and it helped a lot, but didn't take away the pain entirely.
She relaxed her head back against her pillow. "How much longer until that pain goes away and I don't need charms or potions?"
"Depends on how much more you are going to be trying to fight the body bind." She recognized that voice, she just wasn't sure exactly who it belonged to until she opened her eyes and saw him standing bedside. "You had to have realized it was cast on you for a reason."
Her eyes travelled from his green eyes down to the label on his Healer robes.
"You're my Healer?"
"Yes. I don't suppose you would remember that from yesterday." There was something in his tone that told her she'd done something while on the potions, something embarrassing. "It is a very common side effect from the mix of potions you were on." He started waving his wand and checking her over.
"If you were my Healer, then does that mean. I mean, it's not like I've never had an exam before, but those Healers, they weren't…"
"Young? Handsome? Someone you knew?" he offered her. While his voice was completely professional, the twinkle in his eye wasn't.
She said nothing and just stared at him, trying to figure out how she felt about this. He was Harry Potter, one of the most wealthy bachelors that was listed in Witch Weekly. She knew he had become a Healer, but he was still the person she'd done her best to one-up while they were in school. She'd once locked him in the caretakers office and been responsible for him getting a week's worth of detentions. Did he not harbor a grudge against her at all? Was there no small part of him that would want to overstep the boundaries of professionalism and maybe leak something about her to the press? Like that she had a tattoo on her thigh and had once been stupid enough to think that having a bellybutton piercing was a good idea.
"I was not the only person in the room while I worked at repairing your injuries," he shook his head at her. "If you're worried I damaged your organs or added an extra bone or something-"
"No!" she exclaimed. "I wasn't thinking you would go that far at all! We may have put each other in sticky situations when we were teenagers, but I know you would never stoop that low."
"Good," he nodded. "Then if you don't mind, I'll tell you now all that was done to repair the damage and the course of treatment."
()()()
He'd been working every day for a week straight before Ginny Weasley had wound up in one of his patient rooms, and he'd worked a week straight now with her in one. His superiors hadn't said anything to him about how he was taking over her case and popping in on her every day himself to do her hip rotation stretches, something that they usually would have called the mediwizard for or left up to the nurses, but he couldn't help himself.
He liked her, he'd always liked her.
She just had never realized, and he'd never said anything.
It was the start of her second week in the bed and she'd been growing more irritable about having to be there as the pain and potions were both easing back.
There had been a constant rotation of friends and family through her room, today it was her mother, someone Harry had been trying to avoid. Also today, however, he was on limited time and needed to get in to see Ginny now otherwise someone else would have to take over her stretches.
Harry knew he was being ridiculous about this, but he felt compelled to take care of her himself.
It wasn't like he was trying to mend fences between them, there weren't any fences. And he wasn't delusional enough to think that this was going to be some Florence Nightingale story where the patient falls in love with him. He just wanted to be with her while he had the time. He'd gained her trust now and he wanted to keep it by always being the one to take care of her; in the hospital anyhow.
With her chart in hand he approached Ginny's room and could hear her mother clearer as he drew closer.
"I'm just saying that next time you might not be so lucky. What if something happened to you so that you couldn't have children? You're finding it difficult enough with your busy schedule and the fact that it's Quidditch you play for a living to keep a steady boyfriend. How do you expect to find yourself a husband. Don't you want one eventually?"
Ah, Harry thought, she was getting the pressure to settle down. He was familiar with that talk.
Mrs. Weasley's back was to him, it looked like she was trying to tuck her daughter into bed, as she moved around to the other side of the bed he saw that Ginny was staring up at the ceiling, likely trying to block out her mothers words.
"You're my only daughter and I'd really love to see you in my wedding dress someday. All your brothers are paired up with lovely girls, even Fred and Merlin knows I worried about him and how crass he can be. Yet you've not brought anyone home to meet your father and I. I just worry, dear."
Ginny had the beginnings of a snarl forming on her face, it made Harry want to smile, instead he stepped into the room to intervene. "Good morning Miss Weasley, Mrs. Weasley," he nodded at the mother. "It's time to do your stretches and do a general checking over."
"Oh, Healer Potter," Mrs Weasley beamed, as she had done every time she'd seen him. He wasn't sure if she knew the story of the Marauders vs. the Weasley's, if she did then she certainly didn't care. He'd had a few mums come into the hospital and try setting him up with their daughters, one time it was a son.
For some reason all these mothers didn't realize just how terrible of a partner a Healer could be considering they work all the time and could hardly promise they'd show up to family functions. It'd be different ten years from now when he was the one doing the supervising, but until then he had the perfect makings to be a terrible boyfriend.
Mrs. Weasley gave him a big smile and came around to get her things from the loveseat. "Now, is there anything that you're doing that we should continue to assist Ginny with when she's released? Or do you do home visits?"
Harry caught Ginny's eye then and could see from her expression she was telling him he'd brought this on himself.
"You won't need to worry about that. She'll be needing to come back to the hospital a few times a week for physical therapy with a mediwizard and I've no doubt that Gwenog Jones will be reminding her often enough to do her stretches; and the team Healer will be able to help her with that also."
"Ah, so after this week we won't be seeing much more of you?"
There it was, the probing was truly beginning now.
"Ginny and I might pass in the halls when she's on her way to her sessions, but other than that, there'll be no need. She's already healing up faster than we'd anticipated."
Mrs. Weasley was making a big fuss about sorting through her bag so she could extend the conversation.
"And, out of curiosity, what is it you do outside of the hospital? You must have an active social life."
"Not much of one at the moment, I'm currently married to my job. Most of my focus is on my career right now. I only get out for family dinners or to have drinks with friends occasionally." He was trying to prove to her that he and Ginny wouldn't be a good match, so she could stop putting the pressure on.
Mrs. Weasley turned around then with a big smile on her face and her handbag on her arm. "It sounds like you and my Ginny have a lot in common then. Both too busy right now to get out on the dating scene. The two of you can commiserate over that while she's still here under your care."
His face was frozen in a forced smile as he realized he'd walked right into that one.
Mrs. Weasley patted him on the arm as she left, and closed the door behind her.
"Don't feel bad," Ginny told him. "She's had six other kids to perfect her Yenta-like ways with."
"Is she always that direct with you?" he asked as he came around to her bed and set her chart down before untucking the blanket. Seven straight days of this, Ginny knew what the routine was so he didn't need to be as delicate about it concerning her modesty and his needing to put his hands on her.
"You should see how bad she gets every time one of us gets a wedding invitation."
"Oh, Merlin, I'm stuck in that never ending loop now too. It seems like every other week there's a wedding or baby announcement."
"Tell me about it," she rolled her eyes. "I was complaining about the pressure from my mum to one of my sisters-in-law and made the mistake of saying 'I'm only 24', to which she responded, 'by ze time I was 24 I was married and 'ad two babies with another one on de way'."
"Well, you can't weigh yourself against what the French do," he joked, as she'd adopted a French accent for her sisters-in-law's voice.
Ginny chuckled and then groaned as he helped pull her onto her good side. "Fuck, I can't wait to get out of here. First thing I'm going to do is order take-away and have a really long bath."
He hummed in response, he wouldn't mind that being his evening plans himself.
Harry went through all the movements that he needed her to make with a sure hand on her lower back, one on her knee. He ran his hand over her hip where the bruising was now nearly gone and had to apply pressure with his hand along her pelvis and check if she was feeling any pain, all things he'd done daily and they'd both grown accustomed to.
She was wearing knickers, but other than that it was his hand on her bared skin, something he'd thought about several times since he was a teenager. He liked that she chatted with him through the whole routine; she must have been starved for proper conversation rather than just talking about her injury. Ginny asked him about what Healer training was like, how Teddy and Jamie were, what his schedule was like; anything that didn't involve her talking about herself.
He wasn't used to being asked questions like that and found himself talking to her endlessly about everything and anything.
By the time her last day at the hospital came around she had a big smile on her face when he came into her room for one last check up before she could be discharged.
"Where are all of your adoring friends and family?" It was unusual for her room to be empty, he was sure that it would have been full of her loved ones eager to help get her home.
"I've told them to wait until I officially get the all-clear. It'd be more disappointing to have them here if you decide that I need to stay for another day."
"Well, that does happen from time to time," he conceded. "But it isn't happening today. Today, we check and see how well you are on your feet. Time to put your weight on that hip."
Ginny grinned and pumped both her fists into the air. Then she attempted to climb out of the bed herself and nearly fell flat on her face had he not rushed to catch her.
"Easy there!" His arms had caught her around her middle as she had been slipping to the floor. "It's always all or nothing with you, isn't it?"
"A statement that's true in all aspects of my life," she said, still smiling.
"Ah, I see," he got her settled into a sitting position on the bed. "That's the real reason for your single status then, is it?"
"I don't mess around and I don't like being messed around. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. And I don't like games." He took her hands and placed them on his shoulders so she could try and balance herself as he helped ease her into a standing position.
"I'll believe that about you when it comes to romantic relationships, but you do like games. I remember seeing the victory in your eyes when you and your brothers won challenges against NGM." His hands were firmly placed on her waist and he was taking even steps backwards so she would follow him around the room. She was doing well so far. The robe that she had on would need to be removed on their second lap though so he could see the movement her hip was making and compare it to the other side.
"NGM?"
"Next Generation Marauders," he smiled and looked up at her.
She was pale after spending so long in this room, it made the color of her lips stand out more, and the color of her eyes. There was that familiar spark of amusement in those beautiful eyes of hers.
"You had a name for yourselves?"
"Well, it isn't like we could call ourselves by our last names, now could we?"
"No, I suppose not. Perhaps you could have combined them all though and made an anagram."
"That's a lot of letters. And the idea of it sounds a hell of a lot more lame than NGM; our fathers were The Marauders when they were at school, and we were the next generation of them," he shrugged. "Plus, we didn't name ourselves, they did."
"So what then, when all of you have kids going to Hogwarts they'll be the Next, Next Generation of Marauders?"
He chuckled. "If or when that happens I can only imagine how many Weasley's they'll be up against."
"And with Auntie Ginny teaching all her nieces the true tricks of the trade, the NNGM is going to have their arses handed to them."
"Oh, I remember your tricks, and you play dirty. I'll be sure to warn any sons or nephews to watch out for the Weasley girls, particularly if they're wearing their previous years Hogwarts uniform."
"What?" she sounded truly confused by that comment.
"Come on, half the reason I was stuck in Filch's office was because I was distracted by how tight your uniform was. I remember exactly how high that skirt hem was above your knee."
Ginny was silent for a moment, then giggled. "That was what did you in? My, if I'd have realized that I would have made more of a point to bend over while looking in the drawers."
Harry stopped walking backwards in his surprise. "That wasn't intentional?"
"No, Healer Potter, my teeny tiny uniform was not intentional." She fiddled with his collar. "That is what we Weasley's call 'being too poor to afford new one's'."
"I can't believe it! All this time I thought you had been purposefully trying to distract me!"
"I was, that time and many other times, but with my words and my pretty-pretty face."
That made him laugh. "Yeah, that worked pretty well too." He took his hand off of her good side and tucked it under her chin so she would tilt her head up. "And this pretty-pretty face needs some good amount of sunshine."
"Yet another thing I can't wait to feel once I get out of here."
"Then let's get you back to the bed so you can slip off the robe before we do another round."
Her jaw dropped.
"What?"
"Do you have any idea just how overtly sexual that sounded?"
He repeated what he'd said in his head and heard it, then smirked at her. "Miss Weasley," he gave a mock gasp. "This is my place of work. You save that filthy mind of yours for when you get home!" He wouldn't mind if she fantasized a scenario of them breaking a few Hospital policies. "Perhaps when you're alone in that bath you mentioned."
She blushed!
He'd made her blush!
The conversation steered away from flirtation for the remainder of his check-up, then another Healer signed off on her release and Gwenog Jones came to pick her up and get her home with a full calendar of mediwizard check-ups and pages of exercises she would need.
It put Harry in a funk, having to watch Ginny leave.
()()()
Being home was a nice change from being stuck in the dull hospital room for so long. Between her mother and Gwen reminding her over and over again not to push herself too far, but to do her stretches, she'd have to be daft to have forgotten them.
It was her training, she had been doing nothing but training for so long, so it didn't bother her in the least. And she'd do anything if it meant not having to spend more time than necessary in the hospital.
Although, spending those hours with Harry hadn't been so bad.
They hadn't been very friendly in school, hadn't hung around each other or socialized at parties. They'd simply circled around each other and been on the same Quidditch Team.
He'd gotten very attractive as he'd aged out of his lanky stage and become more 'himself'.
Not that he'd been unattractive in school, she just hadn't thought about him like that.
Now though, he was good looking, good at his job, and he'd been really good company.
She'd seen him in the cafeteria at the hospital when she'd gone in for a round of physio, he'd been on his own and in the minute that she'd watched him it looked like he'd been dead on his feet all day; he was eating chips with his eyes closed and leaning heavily on his one arm.
The poor guy worked too hard, he needed a break.
The second time she'd gone in for her physio she'd spotted him coming out of a patients room. He didn't notice her then either, but she'd watched again as he put the patient chart back where it belonged and allowed himself a minute to rest his forehead against the wall and close his eyes.
Two weeks had passed since she'd been released and four times she'd spotted Harry around the hospital on her trips in, every time he looked exhausted.
She was due to start back into proper Quidditch training in a few days and it was her seventh time going in for physio. This time she spotted him walking towards the cafeteria as she'd come out of the physio therapists studio and she followed him in, standing directly behind him in line as he looked through the incredibly unappetizing display of foods.
"There's no staff cafeteria where they keep the good stuff, like heavily caffeinated products?" Ginny asked him.
He turned around and blinked at her, halfway through putting a half sandwich onto his tray.
"We-Ginny?"
"Po-Harry," she replied. Seeing him up close like this she was starting to feel real concern for his wellbeing. There were heavy blue bags under his eyes. "Do you never sleep?" She reached out her hand and cupped the side of his face, running her thumb along the shadow above his cheeks. He listed slightly when his eyes closed upon her touch.
"Not much," he mumbled.
"You didn't look this terrible when you were treating me."
"You do know how to flatter a bloke." He opened his eyes again and she quickly removed her hand. Harry turned back to finding his lunch and moved down the line. "How is your physio going?"
"Well, it turns out you didn't leave me permanently damaged, so I'll be back in the care of the Harpies Mediwizard in a few days."
"Still feeling incredibly restless?"
"I'm restless even when I am playing Quidditch. Don't you ever read the papers?"
"I do, and I occasionally take note when there is Weasley related news, but I am a big important Healer now, can't put all my attention on you."
"How about some of your attention then?" she asked boldly. "You took pretty good care of me here, I think I can manage to scrounge together two tickets for you to the next Harpy game. I mean, I won't be able to play in it just yet, but you look like you could do with a day away from this place. Maybe get some of that sunshine for yourself that you recommended for me."
He looked back at her again with those sleep deprived eyes of his and took a moment to respond.
"I haven't been to a Quidditch game in ages."
She smiled at him. "Great. I'll send you the tickets in an owl, along with a note explaining that we did have a conversation about this, just in case you think you're dreaming right now."
That earned her a huff of a laugh and a smile. "Probably best you do that, yeah."
"I might see you there then." She gave him a nod of farewell.
"You aren't staying for lunch?" he called after her.
She turned around and started walking backwards out of the cafeteria. "I think I've had enough of this food. You probably have too, but I'm not stuck here anymore." She spun around once more and thought she heard him say something along the lines of 'pity, that', it made her feel pleased with herself that he missed her company.
Getting the two tickets for Harry wasn't difficult in the least; Gwen nearly threw them at her when she asked, after she'd mentioned who they were for anyhow. She borrowed Gwen's owl as well to send him the tickets and added a note that it had better be him that she saw attending the game, not two other persons that he might pawn them off on because he was 'too busy'.
The day of the next game she warmed up with the others, though there was a bubble charm around her so she wouldn't get hit and then got kitted out as though she was going to get some time on the pitch, but she dutifully took her seat on the bench beside the rest of the second and third string players and cheered loudly as the team took to the sky against the Tutshill Tornados.
It was torture sitting there and watching her team play without her, her leg was bouncing up and down with want to join in and her hands were gripping the bench beneath her to stop her from grabbing her coach by the arm and demanding that she be put into the rotation.
It wasn't that the team was doing poorly, she just saw where they were weakest from her vantage point and wanted to get in there and start doing some damage.
Finally, Ginny decided she needed to distract herself and found a pair of binoculars and scoured the stands, trying to see if any of her friends or family had come. She wanted to make sure that Harry had come too.
And she spotted him; he was with Jamie Black.
She'd always liked Jamie; she was brilliant and so spirited. Ginny wondered why Jamie wasn't put into Gryffindor, for a while there she'd had the crazy idea that Jamie had asked the Sorting Hat to put her in Ravenclaw on purpose so that the NGM would have their team more spread out amongst the castle. She couldn't imagine herself requesting being put in a different house at school just so that she could potentially learn more secrets about the castle though.
Then again, she and her brothers hadn't come from a legacy of troublemakers, they were the legacy.
Jamie was decked out in Tutshill blue, but Harry, he had a Harpies scarf around his neck. What Harry also had around his neck was a pair of binoculars, and she watched as he raised them to his eyes and looked in her direction. Immediately in her direction too, it wasn't him scanning the field or the crowd, he had pointedly looked at her.
So she waved, and he waved back.
Then the crowd erupted in cheers because her teammate had scored.
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He waited patiently as he stood in a sun beam.
Ginny had been right, he needed a day outside of the hospital, and he needed to get more time in the sun.
His intermittent sleep schedule was catching up with him and even as he stood here with his back against a post, soaking in the rays, he knew there was a chance that he was going to fall asleep standing up simply because his body had grown accustomed to power naps.
The game had been exciting, and his cousin had been good company, but now it was quiet and Jamie had gone home. He was waiting for Ginny to come out of the stadium so he could thank her for the tickets, and it was such a peaceful moment that his eyes drifted shut.
He jolted awake at the feeling of a hand on his own. "Yes. Hi. What do you need?" It was his standard wake-up response. His vision was a bit off from the sleep, it took a moment to be able to focus on Ginny, who was standing in front of him now, smiling.
"Care for a cup of tea or something?" she asked.
He ran a hand down his face. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea."
"Come on then, I'll Side-Along you. You probably shouldn't be Apparating anywhere by yourself." She looked amused with the situation and he couldn't protest, she was right; he was dead tired.
She took his hand and brought him to the closest Apparation point, then a moment later he was looking up at her building and she was still holding his hand and bringing him inside. His head started clearing up a bit as she brought him up the stairs and to her flat, but he still wasn't fully appreciating that she had brought him to hers for the cup of tea that she'd offered until they were inside her flat and he was sat down on her couch.
Harry looked around the room, it was bright and cozy. There were comfortable pillows and blankets, the art on the walls were of flowers or landscapes, and there was a lot of sunlight coming in through the big window overlooking a park across the way.
But why had she brought him back to her place?
He could hear her humming to herself in the kitchen and it was almost like a lullaby, it was making his eyes droop again. He tried aggressively blinking so that he could stay awake, but it was such a warm and comfortable spot that he just rested his head back and allowed himself this indulgence.
It smelled really nice in here.
"Harry," her voice called softly. "Harry?"
He felt her hand pass softly along the side of his face and he let out a hum of enjoyment over the feeling.
"Harry, I'm sorry, but it's time to get up."
The world felt so heavy, and the cushion, blanket and pillow felt so comfortable.
But he was at Ginny's flat.
She'd invited him to her place for tea and he'd immediately fallen asleep!
"Oh, I can't believe I've fallen asleep on you!" he groaned as he sat up. The room was darker, but there was still light in the sky. "Sorry, I'm terrible company." He looked down at the couch, somehow he'd wound up laying down, she must have covered him with the blanket. She'd said he had to get up, "you didn't put off any evening plans because of me, did you?"
Ginny gave him a big smile and a small laugh, "if I had evening plans, I would have needed to cancel them. Harry, it's morning time now. You've been asleep for about fifteen hours."
"I what?!" That can't have been right.
"It's been obvious to me for weeks that you've needed a proper sleep. Who knew my company was just the trick you required to make that happen."
"What? No. You could- never." He couldn't have her thinking that.
"Not to worry. I've been entertaining the idea of getting you back to mine for some sleep for a bit now. Although, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind."
He replayed that comment in his head, he wasn't fully awake enough to be able to tell if she was joking or not. Her eyes were as bright as they usually were, but the little twinkle of mischief wasn't as pronounced.
"Do you have to work today?" she asked, moving passed it.
"I-uh," he would have gone in normally if he didn't have anything else going on, "no, not until tomorrow." Spending more time with her would qualify as having something 'going on'.
"Okay, I've got a few hours before I promised to meet up with a friend. How about I remake that tea for you?"
"Thank you."
Ginny patted his leg and he stood up with a stretch as she headed back into the kitchen, then proceeded to the bathroom.
Fifteen hours! He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept for that long.
And on the couch of the woman he'd been obsessing about for ages no less.
He finished up with the toilet and examined his face in the mirror as he washed his hands. The bags under his eyes were nearly gone. He looked properly rested. But his mouth felt like it was full of cotton. He took some of her toothpaste and did the best job he could by swishing it around and adding water to gargle it before spitting it out in the sink. He also took a tempting look at her shower before leaving the room.
Ginny was still in the kitchen and had started doing a fry up.
"Are you making me breakfast?" he mused.
"Well, you did miss dinner, I can't have you leaving without something to eat. My mother raised me right."
"Yet, this isn't a bed and breakfast," he smiled.
"No, it isn't; because I had the bed last night, and this place only has one of those."
There was a clenching in his gut over the thought of sharing that bed with her. He wanted to say something to the effect of 'maybe next time we can share', but his tongue was too twisted in his mouth to make the comment.
She was being so nice to him; first it was the concern for his wellbeing, then the tickets to the game, and now she was making him breakfast over just having assured he had a long and uninterrupted sleep.
"Why are you so perfect?" he asked in amazement. So many years of holding a flame for her, she wasn't supposed to be this wonderful in real life. Stories like this always wound up being disappointing, yet this was turning into something else.
Ginny let out a laugh, "I hardly think I'm perfect."
"Everyone has flaws, but right now, you're being just what I need." He couldn't believe he'd just said that. She was going to turn around from the stove and tell him that they could only ever be friends, nothing more.
And Ginny did turn around from the stove, but instead of telling him to cut it out with the compliments, she came towards him. "And when I was laid up in the hospital, you were just what I needed. I think you were just what I needed when I was in school too; a perfect distraction from the mundane."
"You're saying I make your life interesting?"
She was so close now, he could count the freckles on her nose. "I'm saying I want you to kiss me."
He didn't need anymore prompting. He cupped her cheek and leaned down to finally do what he'd been dreaming about for ten years, and it didn't disappoint. Her lips were so soft, and the way she hugged herself to him felt like he was coming home.
When she sighed against him and he felt her melt a bit in his arms it gave him the confidence to deepen the kiss. He wanted a lot from this kiss; he wanted it to be slow and luxurious, fast and leading them into temptation, he wanted to kiss his way down her body until he was on his knees before her, but mostly, he just wanted to have it keep going.
By the time the smell of burning bacon interrupted them he had turned them around and lifted her up so she was sat on the counter with her legs wrapped around him.
"Bugger," Ginny called out and snatched her wand to levitate the pan into the sink and shut off the stove. "See, I told you, you are distracting," she said breathlessly.
He grinned at her, then his stomach gave off a rumble of protest and they both laughed.
"Alright, I'll put more bacon on."
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