Sorry the chapter took so long I had midterms to study for but I did manage to make it much longer than my previous ones. Please read and review it's so nice when I hear positive feedback it gives me inspiration to keep on writing. AP
Farewell Burrow
Ginny appeared in Harry's room shortly after eight waking him with a soft kiss on the lips.
"Good morning" she whispered in his ear, groggily Harry reached for his glasses on his nightstand. "I think we should tell my parents at breakfast about our engagement" Ginny said nervously.
"They sort of already know…" he tapered off waiting for her reaction.
"How do they know already?" she asked utterly confused,
"you know yesterday when I came home with all of our stuff which by the way we need to get packed up and ready to go for Hogwarts in a couple of days…well I sort of asked their permission to marry you so they are probably waiting downstairs to congratulate us but I told them to keep it a secret so we still have to announce our engagement to the others."
"That's great I was so worried about having to tell them, I can't believe they agreed I mean I know they like you and everything Harry but I am still their only daughter not to mention I'm still in school."
"Well there was one condition…"
"What exactly do you mean by a condition?"
"They only agreed that I could marry you as long as we waited until you graduated to get married."
"That won't be a problem we will both be very busy this year what with school and your new teaching position so it's a condition I'm willing to live with."
Harry smiled "So what do you think of a summer wedding?"
"That sounds perfect" Ginny smiled and kissed him and took her ring off so they could announce their engagement to their friends.
Together they walked downstairs to find the kitchen abuzz with excitement as well as pots and pans levitating to and fro around the kitchen. Ron and Hermione were setting the table together which started an argument about which side the silverware was supposed to go on
"The fork goes on the right Ron"
"No it goes on the left"
Before the cutlery went flying across the room at one another Harry and Ginny took over and to appease both sides of the argument they placed the silverware on top of the plates with a nicely folded cloth napkins.
"I never understood why there was a right and wrong place to put silverware when setting a table I mean does it really matter?" Harry said aloud to try and lighten the mood of both parties involved in the great table setting debate of 2008.When at last the food was ready the whole gang sat down to breakfast together Mrs. Weasley had out done herself once again the amount of food she had assembled was phenomenal
"Wow this looks great Mrs. Weasley" Harry said
"Why thank you dear."
They recounted their adventures in Paris and handed out the souvenirs they had brought home for everyone which consisted of a glass Eiffel tower with a color changing light that illuminated it. Everyone liked their gift and they decided it was time to tell them that they had gotten engaged.
"We have an announcement to make everyone" Harry said after clearing his throat.
"Last night after dinner Harry proposed and I said yes!" Ginny exclaimed putting her ring back on and showing her family.
The joyous news brought many words of congratulations and the women swooned at the size of the rock on Ginny's hand, which had once belonged to Harry's mother. George had apparently bet Bill that Harry would propose to Ginny before going back to Hogwarts and was now collecting his winnings. Ron and Hermione were thrilled especially after being asked to be the best man and bridesmaid for the wedding.
"When will the wedding be?" Hermione asked
"We were thinking of a summer wedding after I've graduated" Ginny interjected
"That sounds wonderful we will definitely be there." Hermione said with a smile.
After the meal the engaged couple and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley stayed behind in the kitchen to clean up the dishes and chat while the rest of the family retreated into the living room.Ron sat down on the couch holding Teddy gingerly in his arms and rocking him to sleep. The loving way he looked into that child's eyes was priceless and Hermione thought about what a great dad he would make someday. At last the child fell asleep in his arms and Ron went upstairs to place him in his crib.
Meanwhile in the kitchen Mr. Weasley was clapping Harry on the back for the umpteenth time to congratulate him, and Molly had already begun wedding planning much to Ginny's chagrin. After thirty minuets they finally escaped from the kitchen to go pack their trunks for school.
As they walked up the stairs Harry pinned Ginny to the wall feverishly kissing her and exploring her neck with his lips
"What's all of this about." Ginny asked thoroughly turned on by Harry's gesture of affection.
"Just trying to remind myself why I'm marrying you."
"Well I do believe I can help you with that but here is definitely not the place" Ginny whispered suggestively raising her eyebrows to indicate she knew just the place to continue this, as if they were telepathic Harry scooped Ginny up walking up the stairs with her in his arms toward her bedroom.
Once they reached the door Harry unlocked it with his wand and threw open the door only to find two of his best mates in bed together snogging. Ginny squealed covering her eyes as if she had seen something truly disturbing. Hermione looked utterly embarrassed at their current position. Harry almost dropped Ginny from shock but managed to put her down safely at the last moment. Ron started yelling "What the ruddy hell do you think you two are doing barging into locked doors without knocking? Get out! Get out!" with that both Harry and Ginny ran from the room.
Once outside Ginny felt as if she was going to gag and although Harry had known that his two best mates were dating he certainly didn't need the visual he had just received. They both walked downstairs to Harry's room silently, Ginny was first to break the silence "that was disgusting I can't believe Hermione, what a pair of hypocrites, here they have been telling us we have to wait for marriage and from the image I just received they had a lot more on their minds than just kissing. I'll bet Ron's going to come in here any minuet to tell us off for sneaking upstairs together, I mean at least we are engaged he hasn't even proposed yet!" Ginny finished her rant.
"Well if he does do that at least we will have some ammunition against him." Harry said optimistically but doubtful that this defense would do anything to quell the smack down he was about to receive from Ginny's brothers.
After once again packing their belongings for another year at Hogwarts it was nearly time for lunch "Go down without me I will meet you down there" Harry said before stopping by his room for a few things.
He entered without realizing he had just stepped into a very hostile environment, standing before him were Ginny's overly protective brothers and before he could leave the door was locked, he was disarmed, and they had him tied to a chair. The whole Wesley clan with the exception of Ginny's parents had shown up, by the looks on their faces Harry presumed they were about to kill him instead they gave him a bottle of butter beer which he gulped down eagerly to calm himself, what he failed to realize was that they had spiked the drink with vertiserum (the truth telling potion).
"Is your name Harry Potter" Bill asked from the corner of the room with a scowl, Harry found himself answering the question without any voluntary communication from his brain to his lips "yes" its working George announced, lets start with some easy questions and work our way up to the hard ones.
Bill asked the first question "How long have you and our sister been dating?"
" About two years and if it hadn't been for Voldemort I never would have left her in the first place you can't even imagine how hard it was for me to tell her we couldn't be together anymore but I had to do it to protect her if He had found out about our relationship and hurt her because of me I doubt I could have ever forgiven myself." Harry said.
"Good answer mate" Ron commented but lets move on to the harder ones now "Do you Love my sister?"
Without any hesitation Harry replied with a smile "of course I do in fact I want to spend the rest of my life with her, when we were gone all last year I found myself thinking about her constantly, I missed her terribly but I knew the sooner I completed my mission the sooner we could be together again, that's what kept me going."
"O.K one more question before we let you go" Percy said "So, have you and Ginny well you know…"
However, before he had a chance to finish the sentence Ginny came charging into the room her blazing red hair looked even more red than normal and her eyes looked as if they were about to shoot fire. She untied Harry with her wand and returned his wand to him making sure he was ok before rounding on her brothers for answers,
"What the ruddy hell do you think your doing tying up my fiancé and taking away his wand you have no right he is my future husband whether you like it or not so you're just going to have to deal with it. In fact I think I will go have a nice long chat with your spouses about your behavior and see how they feel about the situation, better yet I might just go tell mum how you've just treated Harry after all he has done for this family. Honestly Ron how can you even take part in this after all Harry is your best mate don't you trust him, he would never let anything happen to me? For heavens sake I expected more out of all of you."
Moments later she indicated to Harry that it was time to leave guiding him out of the room while attempting to apologize for her sibling's behavior "Gin, it's all right" Harry said "they were just trying to protect you."
"Protect me! Protect me like I'm a little child, I wish everyone would stop acting as though I was a baby I'm fully grown up I'm getting maried for heavens sake, I can take care of myself." Ginny ended with a huff of exasperation for years she had been trying to escape the stigma of being the youngest and only girl in her family.
"I know Gin he pulled her into a hug to try and comfort her but its good that you have brothers who are so protective." Ginny raised her eyebrow failing to see the positive side of his argument.
"If someone ever tried to come after you they would have to deal with your brothers, which trust me is an enormous deterrent and also a relief because I can rest easier knowing your going to be safe."
Ginny smiled up at him he could always find a way to put a positive spin on everything, yet another of her many reasons for loving him.
Tomorrow both she and Harry would be back on the train to Hogwarts just like good old times, with a few notable exceptions Ron and Hermione would be absent but as long as Harry remained at Hogwarts she would be fine, she could handle anything with him by her side. The rest of the day was spent over a doubles match of Quidditch leaving Mrs. Weasley in charge of teddy. Harry and Ginny were on one team, Ron and Hermione on the other. Harry and Ginny won of course not only did they have much faster brooms but Hermione was terrible at the sport, after a while they had to stop keeping score because they were beating the other team so terribly and finally Hermione stormed off the pitch after Ron berated her for not guarding the goals closely enough. Ron quickly followed suit to smooth things over with her leaving Ginny and Harry alone.
"So what do you want to do now?" Harry asked Ginny.
"Well we could keep playing but its not as much fun with only two people how about we go for a ride around the neighborhood."
"Sure lets go" Harry mounted his broomstick but before his feet left the ground Ginny had still not mounted her own broomstick "What's wrong Gin?"
"Well I thought you know we could ride together"
"Oh, you want us to share a broom sure we can, hop on then."
Ginny sat in front of Harry so he could wrap his arms around her while he flew lifting off the ground they levitated for a few moments Harry nuzzled against her neck before take off. He made sure she was secure enough so that he would not be pushed off the back of the broomstick and took flight. He had flow hundreds of times before now but this was a different type of exhilaration now he was sharing the experience with the woman he loved and there was no greater feeling in the world. As they rose higher and higher the houses and countryside shrunk below them, neither spoke but each knew instinctively they felt the same rush of emotions. Harry's arms were powerful as they wrapped around her, she could feel the muscles beneath his thin sweater and she felt safer than she had ever felt before wishing they could stay in this exact moment forever. From Harry's perspective behind Ginny on the broom all he could focus on were the gorgeous freckles on her neck and how much he wanted to kiss her at this very moment. He couldn't resist the temptation and kissed her neck sensuously, the broom dropped nearly twenty feet as a result.
"Are you trying to get us both killed? You can't do that while I'm flying its very distracting not to mention we are about 1,000 feet in the air."
"Sorry I couldn't resist"
"Well if that's the case it can be remedied quite easily" they flew lower to the ground finally landing in a field of 7 foot high stalks of corn.
They dismounted and began to kiss passionately soon they were on the ground lying next to one another exhausted from the fervor of their snogging. Harry wrapped his arms around her whispering sweet nothings into her ear about what their life would be like once they were married. Her smile was contagious and both were grinning from ear to ear. Unfortunately the sun was sinking further and further in the sky and the two decided that they needed to head home. They flew part way to the burrow landed and then took a wonderful stroll down Crescent Ave. holding hands and just enjoying the evening together. In close proximity to the house they noticed the succulent aroma of the Weasley's kitchen wafting out to greet them and it summoned them in.
As always Mrs. Weasley had cooked enough food for a small army both Ginny and Harry were stuffed to the gills by the three course meal she had prepared and the rest of the evening was spent fawning over Teddy, Harry hated that he had to leave his Godchild behind with his grandmother but he supposed it was for the best and it would give the two of them a chance to bond. Around 8 o'clock the little tike had fallen asleep and both Ginny and he had taken on the responsibility of putting him to bed.
Exhausted from the day's excursion Ginny and Harry parted ways at Harry's dormitory exchanging good nights and sweet dreams, drifting off to sleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow. The next morning was chaotic just like it had always been and after a large stack of pancakes made by Mrs. Weasley they headed off to platform 9 ¾. Harry looked back at the burrow one last time thinking of all the wonderful memories he had there and waved good bye to everyone standing on the porch.