Behind the Hydrangea Bush
Authors Note: Written for Love in Unusual Places Challenge for the Twin Exchange. The location, bush under the Dursley's living room window, was provided by Proud Blood-Traiter. I do apologize for using a character most people hate. I love Ginny/Harry pairings, but most don't, sadly. I couldn't seem to picture any other girl as the central love focus in this one-shot though. Enjoy anyway! :)
Oh! And please keep in mind that this is my first Harry/Ginny fic, so it may be a tad OOC. I don't think it turned out that way though. Your opinions! Cheers!
The striking bright colors of the garden spider above was more interesting then the dull life outside of this somewhat peaceful hydrangea bush. It wouldn't be so dull and depressing if only he could go back to Hogwarts - if only for a day at least. But he still had awhile before he set foot in that place.
The teenage boy with the strange scar and wide rimmed black glasses let out a sigh as he tried to lay in a more comfortable position, which consisted of crossing his arms across the back of his head as he gazed up at the bright blue sky.
The hard ground wasn't the most comfortable place in the world with all of the hard clumps of dirt strewn about - not to mention the occasional centipede that would crawl across his hand or march over his arm at a quickened pace, but it was better then being inside the family room either getting hollered at for something Dudley had done, but had blamed Harry knowing he could get away with it, or being scowled-ed at because his "bloody pigeon", that he kept upstairs in Dudley's spare bedroom, had been screeched constantly when all she wanted to do was get out of the extra small cage and fly about for a spell or two.
Of course, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley would never let Hedwig fly loose about the house. I mean - what if the neighbors seen?
Harry could, of course, take his chances of trying to have a civilized conversation with the lot, but that would risk getting "punished" if he accidentally let slip the dreaded "M" word that Mr. Dursley refused to talk about, much less hear - not that Harry had anything to say to them anyway.
But all of those thoughts of Mr. Dursley with his pugnacious attitude were pushed aside as Harry began to day dream about a certain red haired girl that had recently caught his attention at Hogwarts. With her bright blue eyes, pretty smile, and freckled face.
Ginny Weasley.
He was so caught up in his thoughts of the red headed beauty that he wasn't aware when footsteps slowly approached the flowerbed. Harry closed his eyes, continuing to daydream when the small amount of sun that shone on his face was blocked by some sort of object or being.
Harry's eyes shot open and he was suddenly at a loss for words. "Ginny!" He exclaimed scrambling into a sitting position against the panes of the house. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to see you of course! What other reason would I have for visiting, silly! Hm?" She asked, a bit of playfulness in her tone.
"Yeah - but what if they see you?" Harry asked, gesturing towards the window. He was speaking of the Dursleys of course.
"I wouldn't worry about that." She said as she sat down beside Harry in the little space that remained. "Fred and George are keeping them busy." She added with a wide grin.
Harry sat a bit more casual with one leg crossed over the other as he turned to look at Ginny.
"So how did you get here? You obviously used common sense and didn't bring that flying car - right?"
"Of course we didn't use that flying contraption! We used floo powder. I'm surprised you didn't hear that ruckus inside. It was awful really. You're uncle about had a fit when we randomly appeared in his fireplace. Fred thought he was going to have a heart attack.. which wouldn't surprise me since it looks like he weighs a ton. Though I can't say much for his awful son either. He's as big as a whale! I'm surprised the chair he was sitting on didn't break. Must be made out of cinder blocks, eh?" Ginny nudged Harry in his side as she let out a cheerful chuckle. Harry soon laughed out loud with her having to catch his breath after the laughter died down.
"So why are you in this bush anyway? Wouldn't it be nicer to be upstairs or something? I don't know.. maybe somewhere a little more.. noticeable?"
"Noticeable! I think after seeing my terrible relatives you would know why I don't want to be noticed!" Harry exclaimed, almost a bit too anxious to let out his troubles.
"I suppose you're right, yeah? Interesting how nice and calm it is. It would be even more so if you couldn't hear that noisy box from here."
"Oh, the T.V.? I think it's nice actually. I sometimes come out here when I want to hear the news. I'm not really allowed in the family room to watch it. If I attempt to look interested in it, Dudley ends up announcing that he wants to watch T.V. and purposefully changes the channel so I can't get my way. But that's Dudley. King of the remote control."
"King of whales is more like it." Snickered Ginny. "I couldn't imagine living in a house full of people like this. I would go completely bonkers!"
"I don't like living here, obviously. I suppose I just got used to it since I've been living here for so long. Most of the times I get ignored. Especially when they have guests over. That's a bright side to it all. They don't want me seen." Harry sighed as he turned his head towards Ginny. She casually reached out to flick an ant out of the way.
"So there are some good points to living here then! It isn't necessarily that bad in the flower bed anyway. It isn't the world's comfiest places to be since the ground kind of hurts your bum, but it's better then nothing." Speaking of the hard ground made Harry switch his sitting position up a bit. He wanted to rub his bum to relieve the cramp the hard ground had created, but he didn't want to be rude in front of Ginny of all people. He wouldn't want to be in a situation where Ginny was rubbing her bum with Harry in the same room with her... Or in this case - the same Hydrangea bush.
"But enough small talk. I came by to give you your present!" Announced the red haired girl excitedly.
"Present? You didn't have t-" Harry was interrupted when a small finger pressed up against his lips.
"Oh, hush you! Everyone should get presents on their Birthday! You're no exception." She had a bag thrown over her shoulder, which she soon reached into and pulled out a small box with a bow. "Here it is. Happy Birthday, Harry!"
Harry was about to take the gift when a was whacked in the head with a hand.
"Harry, mate!"
Harry looked up and spotted a grinning George looking back at him, head stuck out of the window and neck craned downwards. Boy was he excited to see them!
"George!"
"Hope you're having a swell birthday now! Thought it would be good to have these buffoons you call family be aware that it was your birthday. Even brought ya a cake! Good eating on that one. Made by mum. Of course you have a few presents in here as well. From the Weasley's of course!" Another identical head popped out of the window and looked downwards.
"Thought it would be better to have them brought to you by your favorite Weasley's of course."
"And we had some spare floo powder."
"Plus Ginny wanted to see you." With this comment Ginny huffed and threw the present into Harry's lap before standing up and dusting the dirt off of her clothes.
"Besides, we had some new inventions we wanted to try out on our favorite cousin of our dear friend." George and Fred both chuckled as they held out pieces of some strange candy type of objects in front of their faces.
"Alas, we should really be going. I told mum we wouldn't be gone no longer than ten minutes top." Announced Ginny as she crossed her arms and blew some lingering hair out of her eyes.
"Aw, but Gin! We haven't tried out th-"
"No! I don't want mum made at me again! Last time it was your fault!"
"What's with the attitude sis?"
"I thought you wanted to see the look on Harry's face when he opened his present." Fred added with a wink.
"N-no!" With that, Fred and George scrambled back inside. Ginny let out a sigh of defeat and bent down to Harry's level.
"I hope the rest of your day is good, Harry. Be sure to open my present first!" She leaned forward and placed a small kiss on Harry's cheek before dashing out of the flowerbed and through the front door. Harry continued to sit for about five solid minutes before he realized what had happened. He hadn't even spoken more then one word (literally!) to Fred or George. He was too focused on the package Ginny had thrown at him. With a small smile he touched his cheek with his hand.
"Not a bad birthday after all.." He whispered as he took off the ribbon that concealed the object inside of the colorfully wrapped box. Harry grinned as he reached into the box and pulled out a picture frame. It was obviously homemade, which made it even the better. In the bottom right hand corner was a snitch. The word Quidditch was written out in red and gold puff paint on the top. This was going on his nightstand for sure.
"What are you doing in my flower bed? Get out this instant before you give my poor Hydrangea bush a heart attack from your immense weight!" Exclaimed Petunia as she craned her long blond head out of the window and glared at Harry.
Harry scrambled out of the flower bed and was heading back inside, chuckling to himself. He didn't even show any type of concern that he lost his peaceful place in the flower bed. The only thing on his mind was Ginny.
...he also had a faint thought wondering whether or not Dudley would even fit behind the Hydrangea bush.
I was going to do a V-Day theme, but Harry is never at the Dursleys during February. His birthday is the next best thing though - right?
Hope you enjoyed! Remember that it's polite to review before you favorite. Cheers! :)
With Love - Temperamental Redhead. (Temp. RD)