George grabbed a gnome by its ankles, swung it over his head, and then threw it with all his strength.
"That must've gone 40 feet! I believe I just broke the record, boys, which means, you both owe me 5 galleons." George said with a grin, stretching out his palm for their money.
"What are you talking about? That could barely've gone 30! Plus there's one more gnome which means Harry has another turn." Fred said.
Harry Grabbed the gnome, spun it around, and then let it fly.
"Bloody hell, Harry!" George yelled in awe as the gnome landed nearly 60 feet away, "Where'd you get an arm like that?"
"Quidditch." Harry replied simply, as both Fred and George handed him their money.
It had been 2 weeks since the announcement and things were finally starting to calm down. Molly had been furious when she found out what Ron had done.
"THIS IS JUST AS MUCH GINNY'S FAULT AS IT IS HARRY'S!" She shouted. "I DON'T SEE YOU THROWING HER OUT AND SHE DOESN'T HAVE A BLOODY BOUNTY ON HER HEAD."
"BUT MUM, HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE MY BEST FRIE-" Ron returned.
"DON'T YOU DARE! HE NEVER STOPPED BEING YOUR FRIEND! YOU KICKED HIM OUT! I'M NOT SAYING I AGREE WITH HIM, BUT GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ARSE AND START ACTING LIKE A CIVILIZED HUMAN BEING!" With that she stormed out of the room and continued preparations for the wedding.
Ron had shot Harry the dirtiest look he could muster and had stomped out the door, slamming it melodramatically behind him.
Harry currently resided in Fred and George's, as he obviously couldn't continue to share a room with Ron. He had been infuriated by the argument with Molly, which had only worsened things between him and Harry.
Harry had tried relentlessly to patch things up with Ron, but he refused to be in the same room as Harry, let alone say more than two words to him. Those two words were generally "shut up" or "fuck off", but Harry wouldn't give up. He remembered when Ron had gotten angry with him in their fourth year, it had taken him nearly a month to get over it and that had been over something stupid. Now that Ron had a good reason to be angry with him, Harry was unsure whether he would ever get over it.
"Harry, darling, did you, Fred, and George finish de-gnoming the garden yet?" Molly asked as they stepped through the door.
"Yes, Mrs. Weasley, just finished in fact."
"Fantastic, and it's Molly, dear. Now, could you please go help Ginny clean up her room? She has quite a mess and plus I'm sure you two would like to talk things over some more."
Actually, he and Ginny did talk things over when he snuck into her room every night, but he was less than keen to admit this to Mrs. Weasley. The couple had come up with a semi-reasonable plan for the baby, but neither of them was very happy about it. They had settled on the idea that Harry would go on the mission, as planned, but he would come back to the burrow on school holidays and certain weekends. They would communicate through the order's new radio station that Fred and George had come up with, Potterwatch, by using codes. Harry had strongly fought against going on the mission, but a fight with Ginny was a fight lost.
"I want to be a part of this baby's life!" He said angrily, banging his fist down on the bed. "This mission could take months, even years. I will not have my child grow up without its father!"
"Calm down Harry, you'll wake the rest of the house and considering the situation we're in I doubt they'll be pleased to find you in here. I understand you're upset, but Voldemort isn't going to take a break from terrorizing the world because we're having a baby. This is important; Dumbledore wouldn't have told you to do it if it wasn't." she replied and when he opened his mouth to retort she added, "And if you keep it up you'll wake up the whole damn house and if that happens you won't be going on the mission anyway because you'll be leaving here in a bloody pine box!"
He knew she was right, but that didn't make the decision any easier. Plus, he was supposed to leave with Ron, but in light of recent events, he didn't think that was going to happen. There was so much to figure out in such little time, Harry thought to himself with a sigh.
Harry walked through Ginny's doorway (Arthur had taken the door off its hinges at the news saying that "privacy was a form of trust"), hopping over the creaky board that lay just in front of the oak frame. He was startled to see the dramatic change in the room. No longer did clothes lay about the room and trash litter the floor, in fact, in all the years he had known Ginny, he didn't think he'd ever seen her floor.
"Wow," he said breathlessly, as Ginny appeared from behind the bed.
"I know, doesn't it look clean? It's so weird, like being in somebody else's room or something." She said surveying her handiwork.
"I wasn't talking about the room." He said with a smile, taking her into his arms and nuzzling into her fiery red hair.
"That's such a cliché." Laughing, Ginny punched him playfully. "I love you." She whispered burying her head in his chest.
"I love you too and when all this is over, will you marry me?" Harry asked.
Ginny took a couple of steps back looking at Harry in awe.
"Is that a proposal? And What do you mean 'when all this is over'?"
"It could be. I mean, when the time is right will you be my wife."
"Harry Potter, I will never understand you." Ginny said with a sigh.
"Is that a yes?" He grinned.
"Of course." She leaned in and kissed him.
"Oi! Isn't that what got you two into trouble in the first place?" Fred appeared at the doorway laughing.
"Yeah, wouldn't want Ginny to give birth to twins now would we?" George said, standing right behind Fred and laughing.
Their laughter was cut short when Ron passed the room, instantly silencing everybody and causing Harry to quickly take a couple steps back from Ginny.
"Oh, go on then, pretend I'm not here. Don't really need to be hiding now do you? I mean you've already gone and knocked her up." Ron said in a painfully sarcastic tone.
"Ron, calm down-" Ginny attempted.
"Shut the fuck up! Maybe if you weren't such a bloody slag this wouldn't have happened!" Ron yelled losing his temper yet again.
Ginny's face fell. Of all the things that had been said, this one hurt the most. Tears began to flow down her cheeks and she turned away in shame, embarrassed by the display of weakness. She never cried; she didn't cry when Mum had told her that her grandmother had passed. She didn't cry when Bill had shoved her out of their tree house, fracturing her arm in three places. The last time she had cried had been when Harry had told her he intended to leave all those months ago. Ron's words stung though, and it made her realize that in her condition she wasn't any better than the whores that paraded themselves around Hogwarts, shacking up with half the boys in the castle. She really was a slag.
Harry walked towards Ron and slugged him. "Say whatever you please to me, but leave her out of this." Ron clutched his lip, split wide open by Harry's right hook and moved to tackle his former best friend.
It would have turned into a full-fledged fistfight if Fred and George hadn't come over to back Harry up. They stood behind him, each with their arms crossed and matching expressions of stony anger.
"That was uncalled for, mate." Fred said, all the laughter gone from his face.
Ron looked back and forth between Harry and the twins, and then with a pained look on his face, walked away.
Harry and the twins exchanged looks, and then Harry went to comfort Ginny.
"Hello, love." He said with a smile on his face, placing his arm around her and rubbing her arm, tracing her shoulder blade.
" 'Hello, love', that's all you have to say?" She said with a laugh, as Harry reached over and wiped aware her tears.
"Well, what I would like to say isn't really appropriate for baby Weasley-Potter's unborn ears." Harry said with a grin.
"Weasley-Potter, really mate?" Fred butted into the couple's private moment.
"Yeah really Harry, I might just hex the pants off your kid myself with a name like that." Said George.
"I mean he or she already has your scrawny git genes in 'em and you're gonna stick him with a last name like that? Honestly, that should be considered child abuse." Fred added.
"Potter, his last name will be Potter." Ginny said, biting her lip as to gage Harry's reaction.
A wide grin spread over his face, "Really?"
"Really," she said, smiling back at him and brushing her lips against his gently.
"Alright, alright that's enough of that!" George butted in.
"You kids are more Horny than a couple of crumple-horned snorckacks." Fred said with a grin, he elbowed George in the ribs, "Get it, Georgie, crumple-horned snorckacks!"
"Seriously Fred? Out of all the horned animals in the world, you went with that? Weak." The twins continued to bicker and Ginny and Harry just chuckled at them, happy to be in each others' company.
Although the twins were willing to joke about the situation and forgive Harry, other family members were not so forthcoming. Mr. Weasley wouldn't speak to Harry unless absolutely necessary, which was quite unusual because Arthur usually had a million questions about muggle objects and their behavior.
Charlie regarded Harry with indifference and Bill had sat down and had a 'conversation' with him.
Harry traveled through the hallway on his way to dinner. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his arm and was dragged into the nearest room and thrown on a bed.
"Listen, you." Bill said. "I understand this isn't the 18th century anymore, but honestly. Knocking a girl up, let alone the sister of your best friend? Seriously? What in the bloody hell were you thinking? My point is, I'm willing to look past this mate, but touch her again and You-Know-Who will be the least of your worries."
Harry shook himself from the memory, it still made him cringe thinking about it, Bill could be quite an intimidating person. Could see that Ginny was still shaken from Ron's outburst. He had seen Ginny go through a lot, but nothing had hurt her this badly. He silently cursed Ron's name. Ginny was tough and very few things upset her, but a comment like that from her own brother, especially with it being Ron, sent her reeling.
Eventually, the tears stopped, with a little help from Harry, Fred, and George. "I suppose I better get used to this," Ginny said, "Hogwarts is going to be just as bad, if not worse."
Thinking about Ginny going to Hogwarts made Harry's stomach churn, especially with Dumbledore gone. What kind of trouble would Ginny get into while there? If she and the baby were hurt somehow, he didn't know what he would do. Surely they couldn't keep the baby's paternity a secret forever? Who could they trust?
It struck Harry that he had put Ginny in a very dangerous situation, and he hated himself for it. Although they had discussed plans for Harry, they had neglected to talk about Ginny. He realized they had a lot to go through before he left on the mission.