Author's Note: Well, I had to return to school today, so instead of two updates, I'm afraid all you lovely readers will have to settle for one today. Somehow I think you will manage though! I want to thank once again everyone that has read this story so far, and those in particular who have reviewed. I seem to get so many e-mails telling me people have added this story to their favorite's list, or on story alert or whatever the case may be, yet not everyone reviews! Trust me, I'm not one to judge, after all I can't tell you how many stories I have loved but haven't reviewed for. Please humor me though, if you like the story review, and if you don't like the story... well I suppose you should review as well, but be kind! I love you all, and I hope you like this chapter!
Harry and Ron decided that Harry would sleep in Bill's old room for the next couple of months. Bill was after all married, and in fact had recently had a baby girl, so there was little chance of him returning to the Burrow demanding to have his old room back.
Harry had tossed and turned on his bed all night, drifting between thoughts of the fire, thoughts of the Burrow, and light dreams involving a familiar girl with red hair. He woke up at around ten on Saturday morning, after having finally fallen asleep at around four that morning. He left his bedroom, planning to head downstairs for breakfast as the smell of bacon and biscuits slowly drafted into the hallway.
The night before, he had gone into his temporary bedroom so late that he hadn't really noticed where it was, and which rooms surrounded it. As he opened his door, he noticed that the hallway his room was attached to had only two other doors, one of which leading to a bathroom. He presumed that the other door was another bedroom, and was only beginning to wonder whose it was when the handle started turning.
That's funny, Harry thought to himself, I thought Ron said his bedroom was a floor up from mine, not across the hall. Harry's thoughts went blank as the small frame of Ginny stepped out of the bedroom. Merlin! My room is right across the hall from hers!
Ginny looked up, remembering that she tended to trip if she stared at her feet while walking. Her eyes instantly became glued to a certain raven haired man standing across the hallway looking at her with a surprised expression.
"Oy!" Ginny uttered in surprise, as she lost her balance and tripped to the floor. Apparently she tended to trip when she was near Harry as well, definitely not a good habit, Ginny thought bitterly to herself, as Harry rushed across the few feet of hallway to help her up.
"Um, thanks. Sorry I was just a little shocked to see you so early," Ginny muttered. "I guess I forgot you were staying here." The truth was she had not forgotten, in fact, it was all she had thought about, even in her dreams. She had not expected Harry to be right across the hallway from her though, there were after all four other empty, albeit small bedrooms for him to have. Bill's old room was not necessarily the most obvious choice of rooms.
"It was my fault, I was just standing here, I must have looked a little frightening," Harry said kindly. Ginny looks awfully cute in the morning, Harry thought to himself as he looked at her. Her hair was slightly ruffled, whether it was from sleeping or falling he couldn't tell, and she was wearing a thin nightgown that reached the middle of her thigh. In fact, she looks kind of sexy, he thought, immediately wishing he hadn't. Stop looking at her like that! She's your best mate's sister, and your friend! You can't take advantage of this situation! he reprimanded himself.
Ginny noticed Harry giving her an odd look, and took a step back from him, thinking to herself that her breath must be horrible or something. Plus her hair was always a mess in the morning. "I have to go to the bathroom Harry, I guess I'll see you down at breakfast in a few minutes," Ginny said as she made her way to the bathroom near the end of the hall.
"Right see you in a few then," Harry murmured back. He made his way down the creaky staircase at the opposite end of the hall from the bathroom, and entered the kitchen, smiling when he got a close up smell of everything that was cooking.
"Morning Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, noticing that Mrs. Weasley wasn't shocked at seeing him in the Burrow first thing in the morning, in pajamas no less.
"Good morning dear, oh, and please call me Molly," said the Weasley matriarch, trying to make Harry feel like the family he was, but not wanting to make him uncomfortable by insisting he call her "Mum". "I saw you were here from your hand on the clock, Ron too, but I'm wondering, why are you here when you have your perfectly good apartment... not that I'm complaining of course."
Harry looked up at the clock on the kitchen wall, and sure enough, both his and Ron's hands were pointing towards "The Burrow". "Ah, well, you see Molly," Harry said blushing a little at using her first name, but noting that Mrs. Weasley seemed pleased, "there was sort of a... well what I mean is that... basically, I accidentally set fire to our apartment, and the whole place is in shambles," rambled Harry, somewhat embarrassed by the whole situation and his own stupidity.
"Ron and I got back from an assignment late last night and found the Muggle fire department, and almost all of our neighbors, outside of our apartment where inside everything was burnt or covered in soot. We would have fixed everything by magic, but too many Muggles saw the damage, and we were afraid they would get suspicious if everything was back to normal by tomorrow, so Ron said we could stay here for a few months while we fixed the place manually. Of course, if you'd prefer, I can always find another place to stay, I don't want to cause any trouble," Harry said, running out of breath.
At this point Mrs. Weasley rushed to Harry and gave him a hug. "Harry dear, like I said yesterday, you are always welcome here, and I insist that you stay as long as you like. The Burrow will always be a welcoming home for you." She noticed Harry was getting a little teary, but clearly trying to hold it off, so she gave him one last squeeze and went back to the stove where the bacon was just finishing cooking.
Merely seconds later, Ron emerged from the staircase, not bothering to stifle a big yawn as he rubbed his eyes. "Morning mum," he mumbled, almost incoherently as he sat down at the table.
"I s'pose Harry's told you all 'bout our apartment then, d'you mind if we stayed here for a few months?" Ron lazily asked his mother.
"No dear, like I said to Harry, you two are more than welcome, besides I'm sure Ginny will appreciate the company." Mrs. Weasley said giving a little wink in Harry's direction, although Harry wasn't altogether sure why.
The truth was, Mrs. Weasley knew her daughter better than anyone, and she had seen Ginny's reaction to Harry the previous morning, knowing that Ginny had a crush on Harry for years. She would personally love for Harry and Ginny to get together, although she considered it something of a dream really, after all, Harry and Ginny seemed more likely to become good friends.
After a few minutes of comfortable silence between the three people in the kitchen, they heard light footsteps on the staircase. Ginny entered the room seconds after, kissing her mother on the cheek before grabbing a plate and sitting at the table across from Harry. "Morning all," she said cheerily. She had decided whilst in the bathroom to make this a good day. She didn't have rehearsal with the ballet company, so she was already off to a good start.
"Mor'ing," Ron managed to say in between bites.
"Honestly Ron, must you always eat like a zoo animal, or is it just when I'm around?" Ginny asked, pretending to shake her head solemnly.
Harry laughed quietly at this comment while Ron looked up from his plate indignant. He swallowed and replied "I'm a growing man, I need my nourishment woman, honestly!"
"If you really needed this much nourishment than you would be a giant, I don't know where you keep all that food!" exclaimed Ginny.
The siblings continued to joke around with one another, along with Harry, until they had all finished breakfast. Seeing as it was a weekend, and none of them had to work, they decided to play Quidditch out on the pitch in the backyard.
Ron had never really seen Ginny play, especially because he was so busy with the war at the time when she was the star of the Gryffindor team, and he along with Harry were eager to see what she could do now. They decided to split up, with Harry and Ginny both taking turns to try to score past Ron, who always played Goalkeeper. Ginny went first, and as she swooped through the air, holding the Quaffle tightly in her arms, Harry watched amazed. She's spectacular! Bloody brilliant! He wished she could have been on the team when he was in school.
He watched as she neared the goal, coming closer but a little too high, and held his breath as she spun around upside down on her broom and threw the Quaffle into the goalpost past Ron. Ron didn't know what hit him, and was still staring at Ginny in shock as she flew over towards Harry and tossed him the Quaffle she had retrieved. "You're up," she said pleasantly, looking at her nails as though nothing had happened.
Harry was still a little surprised himself. That play had been bloody brilliant and it looked like she was just warming up. Harry noticed that Ron kept glancing at her, almost in disbelief that she had scored past him, something that she had never been able to do as a child, even when Ron was a horrible player himself. Ron's distracted mind was what allowed Harry to get the Quaffle past him, laughing as Ron gave him an incredulous look. Harry never really scored on Ron that often, but he had to admit he enjoyed it.
The game continued on for the next two hours. Ginny continued to impress the boys, using move after move, and scoring point after point. She only missed one or two shots, and it was clear to the three as they walked towards the house who the winner had been.
Ginny was enjoying herself. She had managed to not make a fool of herself out on the Quidditch pitch in front of Harry, and had actually seemed to impress him. Things were definitely looking up, and she was glad that she was becoming friends with Harry. They really did get along well as friends, laughing and joking as though they had known each other forever.
As they were walking up to the back door of the house, an owl swooped down, dropping a letter on Ron's head.
"Oy! Bloody dumb bird, couldn't you have waited until I took the letter from you?" Ron muttered as he picked up the letter that had fallen from his head to the ground. Ginny watched the owl fly off, not even waiting for a treat as owls normally do, and she was curious as to whose owl it was, she had never seen it before.
"Oh, Harry, the letter's from Hermione! She says she wants to stop by sometime and meet Ginny now that she knows," Ron nodded his head towards Ginny indicating that he was talking about her. "She says to owl her back when it's a good time, but with a different owl because she had to borrow some Ministry owl to deliver this letter."
Ginny could tell Ron was clearly excited at the idea of having Hermione at the Burrow. Ginny was excited too, Harry had told her earlier that Hermione was his and Ron's other best friend. She had helped them throughout the war a lot, and she was bloody brilliant. Harry also blushed and told her that back in school, they were called the "Golden Trio," but only by the years nearest them.
Yes, Ginny was definitely excited to meet Hermione. She had a very strong feeling that they would get along just great. She also remembered Ron's reaction at breakfast when Harry said Hermione thought Ron was a prat. As Ron walked into the house obsessed with finding paper, a quill, and an owl, Ginny turned to Harry.
"Harry, is there something going on between Ron and Hermione?" she asked.
Harry started to grin, "Well, define something. There has been something going on between those two since first year, they just haven't realized it. To tell you the truth, they used to not be able to be in the same room with one another for too long because they would argue all the time. They still do argue actually, but ever since the war they seem to appreciate each other a lot more. They have always had a weird relationship though, and they had always cared about each others opinions a little more than they cared about anyone else's. I think they will eventually end up together."
"I thought it might be something along those lines," said a smiling Ginny. "Ron seemed to get slightly flustered every time her name was mentioned."
"Yeah, just wait until you see the two of them together, Ron makes an arse out of himself sometimes in front of her," Harry said laughing.
Harry and Ginny walked into the kitchen of the Burrow through the backdoor and were just about to sit down at the table with a glass of lemonade in hand when Ron came running into the room.
"I've just owled Hermione back. Hopefully she will be coming over for dinner, which Mum says will be in a couple of hours," Ron said panting slightly, clearly excited.
"That's great Ron, I'm really excited to meet her," Ginny said, trying not to crack up at the expression on Ron's face that reminded her of an eager puppy. She failed when she glanced over at Harry and saw he was laughing at Ron as well.
"What are you laughing at?" demanded a very confused Ron. This made Harry and Ginny laugh harder. They eventually calmed down several minutes later, and the three of them split up, Ginny to go take a shower, Harry and Ron to help Mrs. Weasley clean the Burrow a little.
Within an hour and a half, the Burrow, and everyone in it were clean and anxiously awaiting the arrival of Hermione.
