"So," Ginny began a week later, sitting in Ron and Hermione's living room (Ron had moved into Hermione's apartment a few weeks before). "You've changed the whole plan for the wedding?"
Ron and Hermione just shrugged.
"I suppose," Hermione answered. "We just thought this might work better. We wouldn't be leaving anyone out!"
Ginny shrugged back. "OK then. Am I still the only bridesmaid?"
"Yes, you are," Ron said, then pointed at Harry. "And you, of course, will be my best man?"
Harry smiled. "I would be honored."
"Good! It's all settled then!" Hermione said, clapping her hands together.
Hermione waved her wand lazily and the papers planning the wedding soared away and stored themselves in cabinets.
"So, have you two heard the news?" Ron asked.
Harry and Ginny looked at each other. "What news?" he wondered.
Hermione raised one eyebrow, a look of excitement on her face. "Well. Apparently, Fleur's pregnant."
"What?!" Ginny squealed.
"How do you know?" Harry asked.
"Bill told us this weekend, when you two were at Hogwarts. She went to the midwife and everything. She's gonna have a girl, I heard."
"They can know that already?" Harry asked, for even though he was well familiar with the wizarding world now, there were still certain things he didn't know about. He had no reason to think about midwives yet!
"Yes," Hermione explained. "With wizarding pregnancies, they can tell almost right away."
"I heard that with Muggles, it takes months before they know," Ginny said, looking at Harry.
"Yeah, I guess. That's how it always worked..." Harry shrugged.
"Oh, well," Ginny said. "So Fleur's having a baby? That's wonderful!"
"I know," Hermione smiled warmly. "It is."
"Hope it looks a bit more like her than him," Ron said in an aside to Harry.
"Ron!" Hermione scolded. "He's your brother."
Ron just shrugged.
Slowly, lazily and happily, September rolled by. Harry and Ginny seemed to grow closer than ever before, but their days were becoming more and more filled up. Between their fast-moving careers and helping Ron and Hermione out with the wedding, there was almost no time for the two of them together.
One Saturday, Harry had planned a romantic day for just the two of them. Ginny had a Quidditch match, and she left before Harry.
Kreacher was instructed to clean the house meticulously and cook Ginny's favorites, and Harry brought out some candles that Ginny had bought a few weeks before and never managed to put out.
Harry made it to the match with minutes to spare, and he ran haphazardly up the stairs to the box that he, Hermione, and the rest of the Weasley's owned at the Holyhead Harpies stadium. None of the rest of the Weasleys were there that day, and Harry sat down to watch the match.
However, the match did not turn out well. Harry, with his practiced Quidditch eye, saw every mistake before they happened. He spotted the snitch three times before the Seaker even reacted, and one of the Beaters almost hit Ginny in the head with his bat. Harry stood up so fast that he almost fell out of the box and onto the Quidditch pitch before he realized that she had been fine. The Keeper missed five goals, and each Chaser, including Ginny, seemed to have slippery fingers that day and could not throw the Quaffle into any of the hoops.
In the end, the Holyhead Harpies lost 70 to 180. Feeling disappointed, Harry ambled his way down to wait outside the dressing rooms. After a long time, he saw Ginny coming out, her cloak over her arm and her head hanging low.
"Hey, Gin," he said, reaching for her hand. But she just tugged it away.
"Hey. I'm kind of tired- can we just go home?" she muttered softly.
"Sure." Sometimes when Ginny lost matches, she rehashed herself so harshly that she couldn't be reconciled no matter what. Harry learned that in those situations, he should just keep quiet.
They began walking out of the pitch to apparate back home from the parking lot.
"Nice job today," he said, not able to stop himself.
"Eh," she grunted. "I performed terribly. We all performed terribly. Practice will be hell on Monday." She raised her eyebrows and gave an ice cold look at no one in particular. "Don't expect me home for dinner in time!" she snapped.
"It wasn't so bad," he lied.
"Yes, Harry it was. Can we just drop it?" she snapped. He just shrugged.
They walked in silence, and he held out his arm for her to use side along apparition.
"Harry, I'm perfectly capableof apparating on my own. Thank you for your help," she snapped, making it quite clear that she was not thankful at all.
"Well, sorry for trying to make something easier for you," he snapped back. "Because you were already upset! But I guess I'm not allowed to do that, am I?"
"No! I can take care of myself, Harry Potter, and I don't need you to look after me!"
"I don't need you to scream at me! I'm not doing anything wrong,"he said in a patronizing tone. "Stop taking your damn match out on me!" With that, he apparated to Grimmauld Place.
She let out a frustrated groan and stamped her foot, which she hadn't done in years. She thought about going straight home and continuing the fight, but she didn't want to yet.
How could he do that? she thought to herself. It's like what Dean used to do with me... like I can't take care of myself! She told herself, while pounding her feet angrily in a random direction. She continued indulging in her own anger like this as she neared a sidewalk that led to a muggle town.
Back on the stoop to Grimmauld Place, Harry was sitting angrily. The afternoon hadn't gone as planned, and now it seemed that the evening was ruined as well.
But how is that my fault? He asked himself. I was just trying to make things easier for her... And she just wanted a fight!
He punched the stone underneath him. Ginny always did this when she had a bad match- she was always grumpy and angry. But they had never fought like this.
Actually, he thought, they had never fought before. Aside from a few squabbles about the wedding, they had never screamed at each other. He had never been so angry that he walked away from her, and he had never sat alone and brooded on his own anger.
But they had only been married a few weeks- was that normal to fight like this?
If she's not back soon, Harry thought, then I'll worry.
An hour later, Ginny was sitting in a Muggle diner with a cup of coffee and a slice of pie. She had cooled down a bit, but was enjoying her time away from Harry. She just knew he'd be ready for a fight when she got home. People were giving her strange looks because of her different attire, but she didn't mind.
She was tired, though, and did want to go to bed. But she and Harry both had hot tempers, she knew, and wanted to give them both a rest before coming into more contact.
She wondered idly if Harry was worried about her. Did he want to know where she was? Well- she wasn't ready to go home yet!
Years of being the youngest in such a large family had given her a slightly rebellious nature. She decided to cath up on her shopping before going home. Actually, she thought, I think I'll check out every shop on this block, she thought, and smiled...
Three hours after the match was over, Harry was pacing back and forth. He had sent his owl out to look for Ginny, and had already apparated to the Quidditch pitch to look around for her, and she was nowhere to be found.
Godric was singing, his song making Harry feel even sadder than he was.
Will she come back? he wondered. He knew now that he was sorry for everything he did, and that if Ginny came home he'd just apologize... But only after she apologized for running away like this.
After twenty more minutes, he tossed some floo powder into the fireplace and stuck his head in the fire, instructing it to take him to Ron and Hermione's.
He saw Hermione's feet, and gathered that she was sitting on the couch.
"Hermione!" he called, and saw her jump.
"Harry!"
"Hey, Hermione. Sorry to scare you but have you seen Ginny?"
Hermione furrowed her brows. "No, I haven't. She's not here, anyway. Why?"
"Well, we sort of got into something of an argument a few hours ago, and I stormed off... but she still hasn't come home."
Hermione could hear the worry in his voice. "Oh, Harry. Don't worry. I'm sure she'll be home soon. She can take care of herself."
She said this to try and comfort Harry, but he just heard Ginny's words echoed from earlier that day.
"Let me know if she doesn't come home, ok?"
Harry just nodded and pulled his head out of the fire, sitting back. Godric flew over and sat on Harry's shoulder.
"Well, Godric," Harry whispered. "Right now it's just you and me..."
Ginny was listlessly looking through the muggle clothing, not finding anything of interest. Memories of her argument with Harry were replaying over and over in her brain until that was all she could think about.
While the argument replayed for the hundredth time in her mind, she acknowledged how much at fault she really was.
I was a horrible this afternoon, she told herself. It's all my fault. And our first fight...!
She felt tears bud in her eyes, but she fought them back.
"Time to go home and face the music," she told herself. She left the shop and looked up and down the street for onlookers before apparating back home.
She opened the door to Number 12, Grimmauld Place and slowly walked inside.
It was pretty quiet. "Hello?" she called out.
"Ginny?" came Harry's voice.
"Yes!" she called, and she heard him come running into the entrance hall from the living room.
Harry opened the door with a worried look on his face, before relief swept over his features and he enveloped her into a hug.
"Ginny," he whispered.
"Harry! I'm so sorry!" she cried, before pulling away and looking into his eyes. "I was awful this afternoon, you have every right to be angry."
His features rearranged themselves into a scowl. "You're right. I do."
That was not the reply she had hoped for, but she nevertheless carried on. "I was angry about losing the match, and you were right. I was taking it out on you! I have no right to do that-"
"No, not that, Ginny. Yes, you weren't very friendly, but I could have left you alone, too. I was talking about running off like this. I've been waiting for hours.I even went back to the Quidditch pitch to see if you were there!"
She looked down, guiltily. "You're right, Harry. I shouldn't have made you worry like that."
"Please don't do that again. Here, let's make an agreement: when we argue, if one of us wants to run off and blow off steam, let's not terrify the other one, ok?"
"Promise," she said. "And here's another one: let's trust each other not to get into dangerous situations, and not get our wands into knots over little things. Ok?"
Harry smiled. "OK."
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.
"So," Harry began. "Now that we've settled that... How about some dinner?"
She smiled. "You know me too well, Mr. Potter."