Hello everybody. I'm back for another update! I've actually had this chapter for a few days, but I wanted to wait until I had a certain number of hits just so that I could say to you...

OMG! I have FIVE THOUSAND HITS on this story! I'm so psyched! It's amazing, fantabulous, ! Aaaaaaaah! (That was a scream of joy.) I just have one question for you all... How come I've got five thousand hits, but only over thirty favorites, over thirty alerts, and just over twenty reviews? Please, please review. And yes, I'm begging. They make me want to write more.

Anyway, this is a fun chapter, at least to write. I hope you enjoy it.

~Robin

Disclaimer: I live in the U.S. Isn't that enough evidence that I am NOT J.K. Rowling?

Chapter 8

November 15th 1998

"You ready to go?" Harry asked Ginny.

"Yup. You ready to see Teddy again?" she asked him.

"Of course. I'm always ready to see my godson," Harry told her, faking hurt that she had asked.

"Oh, come on, you big baby. Let's go," Ginny said, taking his hand and leading him out of the portrait hole.

"Hey! Are you two leaving without us?" Harry heard from behind them as he started to close the Fat Lady's portrait. He opened it up again and saw Ron and Hermione rushing towards them across the common room. Ron had obviously been the one who had shouted, as Harry saw some of the younger students giving him strange looks. The older ones were already used to the fact the Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny hardly ever did things separately, unless they were apart as two couples, or the boys were hanging out while the girls chatted. Basically, they understood that a member of the foursome could usually be found with at least one other member of the foursome.

"So you two are finally ready to go, then?" Ginny questioned, snickering.

"Yep, now move so we can get out. You're blocking the exit," Ron said rudely. Harry and Ginny moved to the side as Ron and Hermione climbed out. Harry really just wanted some alone time with Ginny, but ditching his two best friends just seemed cruel. Then he got an idea. A brilliant idea that would give him much more alone time with Ginny than just the walk into Hogsmeade.

"Hey, do you two want to take Teddy for the afternoon so Ginny and I can go on an actual date?" Harry asked them.

"You mean other than snogging in hidden corners of the castle," Ron muttered under his breath.

Hermione cut him off. "We'd love to," she gushed. "I haven't seen him in so long. He must be getting so big..."

"Thanks Hermione," Harry said, hugging her. Harry cheered silently inside his head, while Ron looked slightly bemused at her behavior.

The four of them walked down to the village and went their separate ways, for the time being. Harry and Ginny went to meet Molly at the Three Broomsticks and Hermione and Ron went into a bookstore that Hermione had been yearning to go to since she had heard about its opening a few weeks earlier.

When Harry and Ginny arrived in the pub they immediately spotted Molly, Teddy in her arms, across the room, waiting for them to arrive.

"Hi Mum," Ginny said, hugging her mother.

"Hello Ginny, Harry dear. Thank you so much for taking Teddy today. I really do like the little breaks you two give me," Molly replied.

"It's our pleasure, Molly," Harry told her, grinning.

"Oh, well I guess I'll see you two later when I come to pick Teddy up then," she said, handing Teddy to Harry.

"Ron and Hermione are actually going to take him for the afternoon so that we don't have to watch him all day." Ginny told her of their change in plans.

"Oh, well that will be fine, then. You two have fun, dears," Molly said, kissing each of their cheeks before leaving the pub.

"I think that she really likes these breaks. She treasures them," Harry grinned.

"You think?" Ginny asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Let's just go," Harry groaned, not in the mood to be teased, even by his girlfriend.

"Alright then. Where do you want to go first?"

"Um, nowhere in particular, you?" Harry asked.

"Let's just wander around some," Ginny suggested, shrugging.

"Sounds fine by me," Harry agreed, leading Ginny out onto the main street once more.

They went into a few shops, but didn't really buy much. Harry bought Teddy a wolf stuffed animal that Teddy wouldn't let go of after he saw it and picked it up, and he bought Ginny a book that she thought sounded interesting. He and Ginny also bought more parchment, ink, and quills, along with refills on potion ingredients that they needed for class. Seventh year was quickly eating up their supplies. They would probably have to buy more during the Christmas holidays.

A few minutes before noon, they started heading back to the Three Broomsticks to meet Ron and Hermione and hand Teddy off to them.

When they arrived, they saw not only Ron and Hermione sitting at a booth, but also George. "Hey George," Harry said, as he and Ginny slid into one side of the booth.

"Hey Harry, Gin," he said.

"What are you in Hogsmeade for?" Ginny asked curiously, handing Teddy to Hermione so that her arms could have a break. She had been carrying him, at her own insistence, for most of the morning, even thought Harry had kept saying that if she was tired he would be glad to carry him. She had stubbornly refused.

"I am glad that you asked me that," George responded cheerily. "You see, I'm here to find premises for a WWW in Hogsmeade, so that we can sell all the students, like you four, our products on the weekends. Isn't that just a grand-spankingly, brilliant idea?"

"Yeah, except that your products are banned at the school," Ron pointed out.

"And when has that ever stopped anyone from using something, Ron?" George asked him, grinning brightly. When Ron didn't respond, George smacked him on the shoulder. "Exactly! It doesn't. In fact, people tend to buy the banned products more than the allowed ones. It's like more advertising, but we don't have to pay for it."

"Well it sounds like business is doing well then," Hermione said, taking the attention away from her grateful boyfriend.

"Yup. Business is just spanking," George told them.

"Oh. How are you and Katie doing?" Ginny asked eagerly.

"We're doing great. Haven't had a big fight yet," George told her.

"Well, it's bound to happen soon then," Ron chortled. "Nobody can stand you for very long before they find something to argue with you about. Well, except for Fred."

"I take offense to that," George huffed. "And what's going on with you all?"

"Not much. Did Ginny tell you about the Halloween dance?" Harry asked him.

"Of course she did. She blabbered on about it endlessly in her letter." Ginny glared at her brother. George seemed to notice and quickly started to speak again. "But the more interesting thing was what Ron told me. He says that he found Ginny and Harry asleep together in the common room the next morning..."

"Ron. Do you have to go blabbing about everything?" Ginny groaned.

"I'm your brother. I'm just making sure that the rest of our brothers know," Ron said defensively.

"You told all of them!" Ginny groaned again. "You know how protective Charlie is! He might kill Harry!"

"Frankly, I think that I might," George said, nodding at Harry. Harry gulped uncomfortably.

"Oh, don't you even start, George Weasley! You are a filthy hypocrite, and if you even touch Harry, I will hex you so many times that even Mum won't recognize you. Besides, I've got dirt on you that could outdo anything you could ever get on me," Ginny warned him menacingly. Her hexing abilities were quite well-known, especially to her older brothers. Harry knew that all of them had been at the wrong side of her wand at some time in the past.

George gulped fearfully. "You wouldn't."

"Oh, wouldn't I?" she replied, eyebrows raised.

George quickly changed the subject to new joke products they had been testing lately, and they chatted for a little longer before George said he had to rush off to some meeting or another and Harry and Ginny decided to leave. The point of the Teddy swap was to have time alone, after all. Hermione and Ron stayed a little longer with Teddy and talked to some of the other people in the pub.

"So what dirt do you have on him?" Harry asked curiously as they walked down the main street. He was not only curious as to what George had done, but also as to how Ginny had found out about it. She could be quite sneaky when she wanted to be, but George was too.

"Nothing specific, but he has a few nights that he blacked out because of too much liqueur, so I could always invent something and he won't remember whether it happened or not," she said, smirking.

"You are pure evil," Harry said, impressed despite himself. He really had to remember not to get on her bad side. It could end very badly for him, indeed.

"And you love me anyway."

"I sure do," he chuckled.

As Harry and Ginny wandered around more, they snogged a little bit, happy to have no Ron breathing down their neck, and looked into the shops, occasionally actually going inside to peruse whatever they were selling. At one point, Harry had to forcefully drag Ginny away from the litter of kittens that were at the pet shop, and she had to pull him away from the Quidditch supply store. She liked Quidditch, but she didn't want to stay in that one shop all afternoon, even if Harry did.

At four o'clock, they decided to head back up to the castle, as it was starting to get colder and darker outside. By the time they got back to the common room, almost everybody was back and staying comfortably warm by the fire before dinner. Even though it was only mid-November the castle was already beginning to get cold. Harry wondered to himself when they would get the first big snowfall. There had already been a few nights where the next morning, the castle lawns had been covered in frost, and the grass had crunched under their feet.

After a nice, but normal dinner, they settled down to do some homework before heading to bed. Ginny, to Ron's dismay, told Harry, "Let me just put my PJ's on and get ready, then I'll come join you," before kissing his cheek and turning away.

"Why do you have to stay in bed with him?" he complained.

"Oh, Ron. We all know that you're just jealous because you don't have the guts to go up to Hermione's room," Ginny said, rolling her eyes.

"I'll show you," he muttered, his ears turning red.

"Then get changed and go up to her room," Ginny told him, rolling her eyes.

"I think I will," Ron said, rushing off to the boys' stairs before realizing that Harry wasn't following him. He turned around and asked confusedly, "Coming, Harry?"

"Yup, coming," Harry told him, rolling his eyes at Ginny before following his best mate up to their room.

"I'm impressed," he told Ron as they changed. "You're finally actually going to sleep in the same bed as Hermione. If she wasn't like my sister I'd be psyched for you. Instead, I'm having disgusting images swirling through my head."

"Yeah, now you know how I feel half the time," Ron grumbled. That's how he had felt ever since the summer before fifth year, when he had discovered that Ginny was dating Corner.

"I suppose I do," Harry agreed, chuckling darkly.

There was a knock on the door and Harry went to let Ginny in. "Hey," he said, kissing her sweetly.

"Mmmm. You know I love kissing you, but do you want to actually let me in?" she asked him.

"I could do that," Harry laughed, standing aside so that she could walk past him into the room.

"Hey Ginny," Neville greeted her from where he was doing homework on his bed.

"Hey Nev," she said before walking over to Harry's bed.

All of the seventh-year boys in Gryffindor were used to Ginny coming to sleep in there, as she had been coming in almost every night for a week, but they didn't make any changes to their habits. There was still dirty clothing and garbage everywhere, and the smell of teenage boy lingered in the air. Ginny kind of liked that though. It made her feel accepted by them. That she wasn't somebody they particularly felt to be an outsider.

"Weren't you going, Ron?" she asked when she had reached the four-poster and Ron was still standing by the door.

"Right," he mumbled. "Night." He walked out and left the door to swing shut behind him.

Harry moved over to his bed and pulled the blankets back, allowing Ginny to climb underneath first before he got in behind her. In the small bed, they had to cuddle pretty close together (not that he minded), so he immediately snaked his arms around her thin waist and pulled her back against him. She cuddled even closer, the warmth of her body a comforting sensation in front of, and they both quickly fell into a peaceful sleep.

November 22nd 1998

Ginny opened her eyes to the early-morning sunlight streaming through the windows of the boys dormitory. She had taken to sleeping in there almost every night now. Then she bolted straight upright. Today was the first Quidditch game of the season. They were playing against Ravenclaw. She heard Harry groan behind her and roll over. Unfortunately for him, he rolled off of the edge of the bed and into the closed curtains.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," she said in a sing-song voice, looking down over the edge of the bed that Harry had just fallen over.

"Don't laugh at me," Harry pouted, pushing himself up.

"Considering you just fell out of bed, I think I have a right to laugh," Ginny pointed out.

"Ugh. Help me up?" Harry asked.

"I suppose I could do that," Ginny told him, holding out her hand.

Harry took it and pulled himself into a sitting position before untangling himself from the hangings and standing up. He stretched and went to sit on the bed next to his girlfriend, kissing her gently on the lips. She groaned, deepening the kiss.

They never had any luck though, because at that moment Ron chose to walk in. "Ugh. Can you stop doing that?" he complained.

"Well nobody else was awake," Ginny huffed, leaned her head on Harry's shoulder.

"Yeah, well we should be getting ready for breakfast anyway," Harry said, shrugging.

"Yeah. I'll go change and stuff then meet you at breakfast with Hermione," Ginny agreed, standing up on the bed before hopping lightly down onto the floor.

"See you at breakfast, Gin," Harry said as she walked out. She gave him a wave in reply, already walking down the staircase.

She quickly changed into jeans and pulled on a sweatshirt. (She had proper clothes to wear under her Quidditch robes in her locker down at the pitch.) She then met Hermione up in her room before the two girls went down to breakfast.

By the time they reached the great hall, Harry, Ron, and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team had already chosen seats. Ginny sat in between Harry and Demelza, while Hermione sat down across from her.

Everybody quickly ate before heading down to the changing rooms. The time before the first Quidditch match was always tense, but it was worse than usual this morning. Probably because none of them had really played for two years, as the tournament hadn't been played the year before.

Ginny pulled on the leggings and t-shirt she always wore under her robes before strapping her protective padding on. She pulled on the knee-pads, shin-guards, and wrist-guards, along with her boots and long, fingerless gloves that went up to her elbows. She pulled on her robes and carefully tied the front before grabbing her broom from the broom closet.

By the time she had grabbed hers, everybody else was dressed and ready to play.

Harry stood in front of them all and met their eyes. "I'm not really one for speeches," he started, "but I feel like I'm supposed to be making one right now." Ron snickered slightly at that, but quickly silenced himself. "Anyway, this should be our easiest match this year, but don't think that means you can just sit back and relax. Play your hardest, and I know we can win."

Harry stepped down from the bench he had been standing on and made his way towards Ginny. "Good luck," she said when he was standing in front of her. She stood on her tip-toes to gently kiss him.

Harry grinned down at her. "You too."

Ginny heard the whistle blow and they walked out of the room, single-file, and onto the field. The whooping of the crowd was echoing loudly in her ears as she quickly took in the conditions. It was cloudy, but didn't look like it would rain, so there would be good visibility, and it hadn't rained for a while, so the ground was still relatively hard.

She heard Madame Hooch have the captains shake hands, and saw Harry go up to meet the Ravenclaw team captain (a fifth year she didn't know), before returning back to where his team was waiting.

"MOUNT YOUR BROOMS," came the call, and Ginny kicked her leg over her broom handle. The whistle blew and she pushed off the ground hard, racing into the cool, November air. Once in the air, all of her nerves were gone, flying away from her as she focused on the game.

The quaffle was thrown up and she raced to catch it, barely ahead of one of the Ravenclaw chasers. She went speeding off towards the other end of the pitch.

"AND GINNY WEASLEY WITH THE QUAFFLE," came from the announcer's box.

"SHE PASSES TO ROBINS, WHO PASSES TO THOMAS, WHO PASSES BACK TO WEASLEY! THEY APPROACH THE KEEPER, AND SHE SCORES!" The cheers of the Gryffindors almost drowned out the last word. "TEN, NIL TO GRYFFINDOR!"

The game went on for a short while. For the next forty minutes, Ginny barely registered what the crowd was doing, completely focused on the game. Her eyes were for the quaffle and the goal hoops only. She seemed to sense the bludgers rather than see them, and had no trouble with throwing or catching the quaffle. She was on the top of her game.

Several times, Ginny saw Harry flying around above the rest of the match, searching for the snitch, but didn't focus on him for long. She was too busy trying to score as many goals as possible, and trying to stop the other chasers from getting anywhere near Ron's end of the field. Not that it was completely necessary that day. Ron had blocked all but five of the other team's shots. He was playing well. She ripped her thoughts away from the other players and focused on the bright red ball that was coming towards her once more before catching and speeding of to the other end of the pitch once more.

"AND GINNY WEASLEY WITH THE QUAFFLE! SHE'S SPEEDING TOWARDS THE GOAL POSTS... AND I DON'T BELIEVE IT! SHE HAS SCORED ONCE AGAIN!"

The crowd of red and gold cheered, drowning out all other sound for miles around.

It wasn't until after she and Dean had each scored twenty more points, and Demelza had scored thirty when she heard the first, and only, mention of Harry from the announcer since they had all taken to the air.

"AND POTTER SEEMS TO HAVE SEEN SOMETHING! HE'S RUSHING TOWARDS THE GROUND IN A BRILLIANT DIVE AND-YES-I DON'T BELIEVE IT! POTTER HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY TO FIFTY GRYFFINDOR! WHAT A BLOW-OUT!"

Ginny raced to where her boyfriend was standing on the ground, eyes blazing. When Harry turned to her, still holding the snitch in his hand, and pulled her right up to him, she kissed him in front of the entire school. The rest of the team crashed into them and pulled them apart, smothering them in a group hug instead. It was their first win of the season, and it felt good.

The team lowered to the ground as a group and joined the spectators that were now rushing onto the field. Hermione found Harry, Ron, and Ginny quickly and hugged them all before kissing Ron in the mass of people, who were completely oblivious due to their happiness.

"Party in the Gryffindor common room!" Dean called before he went to the locker room to change.

"I'll meet you all up there," Hermione said, as Harry, Ginny, and Ron went off to get changed and showered. Ginny waved in response as she was swept off between her boyfriend and brother, who had each grabbed one of her arms and, as they were much taller than she was, picked her up of the ground, carrying her to the locker rooms.

"Let me down, you gits," she said, hitting them each on the back of their heads.

"If you say so," Harry said, sighing dramatically. He and Ron lowered her back down and let go of her arms.

Then Harry grabbed her arm again and kissed her, ignoring the fact that Ron was standing right there. Ginny melted into him and they kissed until a clearing throat brought them out of their reverie.

Demelza was standing in the entrance, laughing, well Ron looked like he was trying to ignore them as much as possible, and the other three had already hit the showers, and so missed Harry and Ginny's public display of affection.

"Sorry. Got a bit carried away," Harry said, rubbing the back of his head where Ginny had hit him earlier. Ginny laughed and kissed him quickly again before heading to one of the open showers. She washed quickly, using a charm to dry herself off before pulling a t-shirt and jeans on.

Once changed, she met Harry, Ron, and Demelza, who were all finishing packing their equipment away, and headed back up to the castle.

They were in a high fit of game-winning happiness and needed to work off their extra energy with the celebration that was surely already in full swing at Gryffindor tower.

By the time they arrived there was already loud music and people talking, but to Ron's obvious disappointment, no food or drink. "What kind of party has no food," Ginny heard him grumble before he left through the portrait hole again.

"Where's he off to?" Ginny asked Harry curiously.

"Probably to the kitchens for some food and butterbeer," Harry told her, shrugging.

"Right," Ginny nodded, rolling her eyes at her brother's over-fondness for food. Admittedly, as a Weasley, she ate a lot too, but she didn't get hungry every five minutes, or have five helpings at dinner, plus two more of dessert. That was a lot. She contributed it to the fact that they were also boys, because Harry ate almost as much as they did.

"You want to dance?" Harry asked her, gesturing to the people group of people who were dancing on one side of the room.

"Sure," Ginny grinned and grabbed his hand, pulling him behind her. They danced for a while, just enjoying each other's company and moving to the beat of the music. Harry wasn't actually too bad a dancer, she noticed, eyeing him while he wasn't looking. Unlike at the Halloween dance, there weren't any slow songs thrown in, so they had to rest eventually.

When they managed to make their way out of the crowd of dancers they found Ron, who was looking very pleased with himself, and holding four butterbeers.

"Been wondering where you two were," he said brightly. "Have some butterbeer. The elves gave me tons. Kreacher even came and said hello," Ron added, looking at Harry.

"Thanks, mate. I forgot he was still here. I'll have to go say hello some time, and figure out what I'll do with him after we graduate," Harry mused. He absentmindedly took a sip from his drink.

"Don't worry about it right now," Ginny said. "Just have some fun for a change. You never had anywhere near enough of it."

"Well I was a little bit busy saving the world," Harry pointed out. She just rolled her eyes and kissed him. She deepened it a little when she saw Ron move away through the crowd, muttering something about finding Hermione.

When she backed off Harry grinned at her. "Want to dance more?" he asked.

"Sounds good." They headed back into the mob.

They danced and chatted with their friends, or snogged a bit in one of the numerous armchairs scattered around the edges of the room, or ate some of the food that Ron had brought up, along with drinking numerous butterbeers.

By the end of the night (or very early morning), Ginny was feeling slightly buzzed. When Hermione started sending some of the younger kids to bed, the older ones took it as a sign that they should head off too. Hermione tended to get snappy if she couldn't get enough sleep.

When Ginny started heading towards her dorm stairs Harry stopped her. "Come up with me tonight," he suggested.

"I was planning on it," she said, rolling her eyes, "but I can't sleep in jeans." She pointed to her clothing.

"Right," Harry chuckled. "See you in a few."

Ginny waved and headed slowly up the stairs. It had been a good day. They had won the match, danced, snogged, and had fun. Over all, it had been a very productive day.

Good chapter? Like, dislike, was the Quidditch scene okay? Please tell me in a review. I MUST know about my Quidditch writing skill, because I'm not sure that I showed the match very well.

Anyway, on another note, I am taking a short break from my Twilight Fic, because I am having severe writer's block for it, in case any of you read it, and I have turned anonymous reviews on, for those of you who don't have an account. Please keep reading and reviewing!