Welcome back! Hope you enjoy this chapter... a LOT happens and there is a LOT to unpack about it in later chapters soo without further adieu!
The semester started fairly ordinary. If fairly ordinary meant that she started the semester with a child. It was strange for her to think that it had truly been just a year ago that she found out she was actually pregnant. Even stranger that after everything she and Harry were now friends. Maybe they were more. She couldn't rightly figure it out.
Things with Dan ended in the first few weeks of school. Try as she did, she couldn't convince herself to stay with him. There wasn't enough there to hold onto, even though he claimed he could hold on for the both of them.
The Professional Quidditch League practices were set to begin on November 2nd. Just two days after Halloween. When Harry was younger Halloween held no particular joy. In fact it was the one night a year that Dudley and his friends took terrorizing Harry to an artform. However when he came to Hogwarts he remembered finding Halloween to be the most "magical" day of the year. The whole castle seemed to light up and was filled with people.
Things had changed slightly for him now though. When he thought of Halloween he also had to recognize the certain sadness it held for him. The death of his parents. The death that he witnessed through the eyes of Voldemort. The view of Voldemort walking up the pathway to their home in Godric's Hollow and then... He didn't like to think about it.
It was 2:00 and Ginny would be back from classes shortly. Usually when she finished she came to Harry's flat, if Sophie was sleeping he and Ginny would talk and laugh. If she was awake, and Ginny had stayed late at school to study Harry would often fix dinner for them. He enjoyed the rare glimpse at what it would be like to be a family. He knew though that whatever he and Ginny put each other through before he didn't want to risk throwing it off kilter in any way.
Ginny felt lighter than air walking down to Harry's flat. Julianne had requested to watch Sophie on Halloween night with Dane. Ginny tried to turn her down, but with Harry in town this semester Julianne and Dane had rarely seen Sophie and were eager to spend some time with her.
Harry peered out the window and saw Ginny coming up the sidewalk. He put the tea kettle on and walked up to the door.
"She asleep?" Ginny asked.
"Yes, we had an exciting afternoon of playing with Daddy's socks as he attempted to clean out his drawers. She's been down for about an hour."
"Got a while left then?"
"Yes, I figure at least another hour, I put some tea on if you'd like any it should be ready shortly" Ginny smiled, Harry felt his heart twinge,
"I'd like that very much, thank you," Ginny sat down at his table and watched as Harry maneuvered about the kitchen with such ease,
"How were classes today?"
"Oh busy, after this semester we can start applying for different programs in various countries,"
"Thats right! Does it look like you'll be in Britain?"
"Well it would be ideal, being that I have a child I do get put on a preferred list for my assignment choices, but even then it's all about performance,"
"Performance?" Harry began to pour the tea into the teacups and place them on saucers.
"Well yes, on all of my final placement tests, field tests, and my overall rank at the end of this semester will determine my priority to different programs"
"Ah, yes right," Harry placed one cup in front of Ginny and took a seat at the corner next to her.
"Looking forward to playing Quidditch again?" Ginny asked, she could feel his knee barely touching hers,
"You know? I'm not sure. Some days I can't wait to be able to dart around that field wind hitting me in the face and just the exhilaration of it all. Then other days I would love to just stay here and continue what I have with you and Sophie," Ginny blushed and looked down at her tea, "I mean you know because it's nice being able to see my daughter as often as I do and I really get to become a part of her life,"
"Well I bet it will be nice to play again though, all the fans, your legion of female followers who can't wait for your next Quidditch Hunk poster," he smirked at her, some magazine had gotten a shot of him while he was playing last season and turned it into a poster geared toward teenage girls. Neville had sent him an owl saying that his face was plastered all over girl's notebooks up at Hogwarts.
"Well you know it's no secret that I am devastatingly handsome," he leaned in as he said this, and winked at her,
"So humble to," she leaned in slightly too, then gave him a quick kick in the leg.
"Argh! What was that for!"
"Oh come on boy who lived, a wittle kick in deh leg going to put you down for the count?" Ginny hopped up out of her chair,
"Come here you!" they began a cat and mouse chase around his living area and before she knew it Ginny tripped over an end table and toppled over onto the couch where Harry pinned her and began to tickle her,
"Looks like I win, what's our record now? 42-23?" Harry smiled down at her
"42-25 actually," she said with a sly grin
"Better than I remember,"
"That often happens," Harry paused unsure of what she meant by that.
"It's been a while since we've been here," They both just paused and stared at each other. Harry began to lean in to kiss her, at the last moment Ginny turned her head,
"I better go check on Sophie," she seemed to whisper. Harry nodded and pulled her up silently cursing himself. Ginny walked to Sophie's room. She was still sleeping.
She looked around at what Harry had done to the room. She hadn't really looked at it since Harry first moved in. There were subtle differences. She noticed he'd placed three pictures over her bed, on the left a portrait of his mother and father, to the right a photograph of the Weasley family taken several christmases ago, and then it was the one in the middle that had grasped her attention: It was her, well it was her and Harry, a photograph taken her final year at Hogwarts. She had never seen it before. His arm was wrapped around her under the tree by the lake where they often sat. She had forgotten how well she fit him. When they sat under that tree it was like he enveloped her. She felt so safe, so secure, and now look at her: she was going mad.
She shook it off and walked back out to the living room. Harry was keeping himself busy cleaning the kitchen when she came in,
"Sophie still asleep then?"
"Yah, looks like she'll be out for a while," suddenly Ginny remembered what she had wanted to tell Harry when she first came in, "Julianne and Dane are kidnapping Sophie for Halloween, so if you want we can apparate over to Ron and Hermione's place together for their party,"
"A night off from parenthood," he smiled
"Well a night off together I suppose, Jules and Dane will drop her off the next morning,"
"Wow, the evening is ours then I suppose,"
"What will we do until daybreak," It came out of her mouth so easily she only stopped to think about what she said after Harry turned back to her looking startled with an eyebrow raised, to which she just shook her head embarrassed and pretended to be shuffling through her book bag.
The afternoon continued quietly as Ginny pulled out some of her books and Harry attempted to look busy with his house cleaning. He could have sworn he caught Ginny looking at him on occasion and periodically he had to snap himself back from staring at her.
He remembered why he had wanted to be her friend. He remembered why he had let go of his anger. In the peace of this afternoon, in Switzerland, for the first time, in a long time he allowed himself to feel the love he had kept hidden in his heart for so long.
A week passed and before she knew it, Ginny was getting ready for Halloween. Dane would be coming to pick Sophie up in a few minutes and Ginny would then head down to Harry's flat and together they would make their way to Ron and Hermione's Halloween party.
There was a knock at the door and Ginny walked quickly to get it. She opened the door and hurried back to her room to finish getting ready. She hadn't been out in ages, she wore a strapless black cocktail dress, a single pearl on a delicate silver chain, and her hair hung loosely across her forehead and bounced down the rest of her back. She put on a pair of simple black heals and as she put on her last touch of make up Sophie began to coo behind her.
"I'm sorry Dane, I'll be ready in just a moment,"
"It's okay, I'll just read your latest issue of Witch Weekly,"
Ginny smiled and blotted her lipstick, Sophie giggled at the sound it made, Ginny looked down at her daughter and couldn't help but be enamored with her.
She dabbed some lipstick on Sophie's lips and Sophie squealed with delight.
She picked up her daughter and kissed her on the forehead. She walked out towards Dane.
"You look lovely Ginny."
"Thank you, Dane," Ginny smiled and grabbed Sophie's diaper bag, "So when should I come get her in the morning?"
"Me or Jules will come drop her off, don't worry you go have fun tonight!"
"Okay, thank you so much for watching her," She kissed Sophie on the forehead one last time, "Mommy loves you and I will see you in the morning," she handed Sophie to Dane who left for his flat. She grabbed a coat got buttoned up and made her way to Harry's flat.
Harry had been ready for an hour. For some reason these things always seemed to move more quickly that he anticipated. He got home from work showered, got dressed and it had only been thirty minutes. The doorbell rang and suddenly he unhinged himself from his couch and grabbed his coat before opening the door.
"You ready?" Ginny asked. She looked stunning, her coat was on but their was a certain radiance about her face that he found so intriguing.
"Of course let's get out of here,"
They meandered over to the apparation point, and then hopped on the train, luckily for both of them it was only a fifteen minute ride to Ron and Hermione's after that.
"You look really nice," Ginny said commenting on Harry's black button down and slacks,
"I feel like I look like I'm going to a funeral" he half smiled, it reminded him that in fact today was a day of mourning for him...
"I think it's lovely,"
"Oh really? You like the dark ominous look?"
"I mean could I really not? I did date Harry Potter during all of his dark and twisty years..." He raised his eyebrow,
"Touche my dear, touche" there was an awkward pause, "So this party should be fun, do we know anyone else who is going?"
"A lot of people from Ron's work, Neville, Dean, Seamus, you know, people from school, I'm excited to see Luna, it's been so long" Harry all of a sudden looked very embarrassed,
"Oh man, I haven't seen her since that awful interview," they both became silent, "I'm sorry for that, I don't know if I ever really told you, I'm sorry for throwing Sophie in the spotlight out of anger, and I'm so sorry for putting you under the stress."
"Please don't apologize Harry, I did awful things too, can we call a truce and say that all is forgiven?"
"All is forgiven," He smiled, she smiled and for a moment they just looked at each other.
The train came to a halt and they both managed to compose themselves and step off the train.
The walk took only a few moments and when they arrived they were greeted lavishly by Hermione,
"Oi! Hello! About time you all showed up, most everyone else is here!"
"Right, sorry, but we did come in all the way from Switzerland," Harry told her hugging her closely and then heading out to find Ron.
"Hermione, thank you so much for inviting us. Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Oh no! Your mom gave me all kinds of spells to use during a party to keep things running smoothly so all is well! Come! Lets mingle about!"
The evening was spent catching up with old friends. A few of Ron's work friends were entirely too pleased to meet THE Harry Potter, and find out after that Ron had a VERY attractive little sister.
"Sorry about tonight mate, all my work blokes, I forget sometimes who you are,"
"It's okay, it's all died down now," he looked around the room, the men had all seemed to congregate in one area... surrounding a woman, Ron followed his gaze,
"Oh bollocks! Seriously? She's my little sister," he remembered himself quickly, "Sorry Harry it's just you know it's strange when your friends start, oh never mind," he felt ridiculous and insensitive.
"It's fine Ron," Harry smiled, "I'm going to go get more to drink. Firewhiskey?"
"Of course it's been ages!" Harry wandered over to the bar Hermione and Ron had set up. It was closer to Ginny and he finally got to take a look at her, he hadn't seen her before she'd removed her coat. She really was stunning. Ginny met his eyes and looked at him pleadingly. He understood, he walked over to her.
"Ginny I was wondering if you could help me with something for Ron," he asked, Ginny peeled away from the group,
"Of course, excuse me gentlemen," they all looked disappointed but Ginny grabbed a drink out of Harry's hand, and took it down in just a few gulps,
"That was Ron's so I suppose you can help me with refilling these drinks,"
"I hate it when they do that,"
"What? Who?"
"All those men they surround you like they are trying to convince you to go home with one of them. It's like they are all trying just.... I just don't like it, I'm not that kind of girl and that's not who I want" she caught herself, "what I want, what I want" he met her eyes and smiled,
"Well if you'd like I can scare any men away who try and talk to you this evening,"
"Be my fake boyfriend for the night?" he smiled,
"Well I have had lot's of practice," he put his arm around her, "Come on let's get Ron that drink,"
They spent the rest of the evening intwined with each other. Linking up in some way, Ron's friends realized this and backed off, after all Harry was still "The Boy Who Lived".
By midnight the party began to cool, most of Ron's friend's left, they had work in the morning. Ron and Hermione's Hogwarts friends stayed a little while after and before they knew it, only Harry and Ginny remained. Both considerably drunker than when they arrived.
"I 'ave to go to the bafroom" Ginny said, trying to stand,
"'ere, let me 'elp you" Harry got up and stabilized her and walked her over to the restroom,
Hermione and Ron began picking up from the party and putting dishes in their sink. Harry waited in the little hall outside the bathroom. He heard the flush and then Ginny fell out in a heap, they laughed.
"You always were a sloppy drunk" he grinned as he helped her stand,
"Well it's just good I have my knight in shining armor then!" she stood on her toes and kissed him briefly on what was supposed to be his lips but she missed and caught the corner of his mouth,
"You missed," He was looking down at her, her eyes found his and they kissed again.
In that kiss was so much more than he remembered. When they finally pulled away, it seemed they had both sobered up enough to realize what had happened, or finally happened.
"You all heading out?" they heard Ron call from the kitchen,
"Yes," Harry smiled, "Ginny needs to get to bed,"
Hermione appeared along with Ron around the corner and they began to say their goodbyes.
The train ride back to the apparation point they both sat in silence. When they arrived back in from the apparation point Harry walked Ginny to her flat. The pathway was steep and it was icy out, even in his inebriated state he knew the level of Ginny's drunken coordination.
She opened up the door to her apartment and stumbled in. Harry caught her again.
"What was that kiss?" she finally asked, breaking the silence they had subjected themselves too for the last hour.
He sat down on her couch, "I don't know Ginny," she sat next to him her knees touching his,
"Do you still... I mean, do you still have feelings for me?" he turned his body and looked at her, and before he really understood what was going on they were kissing. In desperation they were kissing. Reaching for each other, trying desperately to find the closeness they had been so long without.
The next morning Ginny awoke under a blanket on her couch, Harry's arm draped around her, his heart beating calmly into her back. She turned to face him. He was still asleep, scrunched up face, and his hair in it's usual disarray.
Ginny looked at the clock above her head, 10am, she was sure Dane would be here shortly to drop Sophie off. She peeled herself away from Harry and hurried quickly t to the other room to find some clothes.
When Harry awoke, Ginny was gone. He found his pants on the floor and began to clothe himself, trying desperately to figure out what last night had meant. Ginny came out of her bedroom dressed in sleep pants, and a large t-shirt. She headed straight for the kitchen and turned on the tea kettle.
"Morning," Harry said, getting up from the living room and putting on his shirt,
"Holy cricket, Harry you scared me, I thought you were still asleep," he smiled,
"Can I use your loo?" Ginny nodded and pointed the way.
When Harry came out Ginny was sitting at the table with the tea.
"Dane should be dropping Sophie off shortly," Harry nodded,
"Around 11 did he say?" Ginny shrugged,
"Sometime in the morning he said, so that would make sense. If you want to go change so he doesn't get the wrong idea, you could just come back and you could have lunch with us here,"
"The wrong idea?" Harry asked, suddenly very confused,
"Well, I don't know, is it? I don't know if I want everyone knowing that you and I made a drunken decision to sleep together last night. Especially before you and I have really had a chance to figure it out,"
"What is there to figure out Ginny?"
"You leave tomorrow Harry, for months, you will be back maybe a few days at a time but is this really the time for you to be starting a relationship? I have this semester to finish out STRONGLY so I can be in Britain with Sophie, and if things work out with you too,"
"I'm going back to my place. You reminded me. I have a lot of packing to get done." He got up from the table, "Thank you for the tea"
"Harry please," Ginny said grabbing his arm,
"Ginny let's just... take some space okay? We'll get dinner tonight," Ginny nodded.
After he left she was in tears and she didn't know why.
Again, it has been a while! Thanks for sticking with me! Can't wait to get you guys the next chapter! R&R!