Author's Note: I know that no amount of apologies can make up for the rather appalling gap between chapters, but I truly am sorry! This is the last true chapter of this fic, though an epilogue may follow depending on if I get some inspiration soon. Thank you to everyone who read this and left reviews and favorited or followed the story throughout the past few months! Without you all, this story would never have been finished, so thank you very much. I hope you all have a lovely new year!
Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever have any claim on this bounty of characters and settings.
Over the next week, Theo thought about Ginny more and more. Every time a snowstorm beat against the windows of his flat, he wished that she was there to sit by the fire with him and worried when she left his flat in the cold. Unbeknownst to him, she was having similar thoughts. Each night, Ginny would think about what would happen if she simply stayed. No explanations or second guessing her actions, just her and Theo keeping each other warm and in good company. Their friends were all too aware of the growing tension and were hard at work gossiping about it. Pansy and Draco were keen on the idea of locking the pair up or creating an elaborate scheme to set them up, but Hermione and Blaise vetoed them on the grounds of being ridiculous. Arista was favoring a more direct approach of telling Theo to get his head out of his arse, but the others thought that he had not done anything for a specific reason and did not want to scare him off. Luna countered this with telling Ginny the same thing, but Hermione was sure that Ginny would have said something if she was overly interested in Theo. Ellie suggested just letting them realize things on their own and was awarded ludicrous expressions from the others; they had very little faith in Ginny and Theo's romantic capabilities.
The pair in question were attempting to go out for a meal without being put on the front page again and remained oblivious of their friends' scheming. They were trying a restaurant that Ginny favored in muggle London which Theo had never been to before. They served mostly pasta and seafood which were among his favorites, so he had acquiesced to Ginny picking the location.
"So how did you find this place?" Theo asked as they walked down the street together. He was tempted to take her hand in his, but did not know how she would react.
"I was looking for a holiday gift for my dad at the hardware store around the corner and got hungry," Ginny smiled at the memory.
"Hmm, the answer is always food with you isn't it?" Theo joked and was awarded with a raised eyebrow and amended his statement, "When it isn't scotch of course."
"Much better," Ginny grinned and pointed out that they had arrived.
They were seated quickly and without any fuss which pleased both Ginny and Theo. They bantered easily and swapped stories from the office and quidditch practices that they knew the other would enjoy. Interspersed were ideas about how to set Blaise and Hermione up, though they were mostly idealistic little snippets that would never work. It had begun as a serious conversation weeks ago, but had eventually dwindled down to insane grand gestures and nonsensical situations because they were both rubbish matchmakers. When the food arrived, Ginny stole bits of Theo's fish and shared her scampi with him. They had opted for wine instead of scotch, but neither seemed to care because they were so wrapped up in what the other was saying.
Ginny enjoyed being around Theo, he seemed to understand whatever she was trying to say without her having to explain anything too much. His presence made her heart race and her mind concocted all of these ridiculous seeming ideas of ways to get his attention in a way that was not something that she intended, but no matter what she tried to make it stop, nothing was working. That was leading her to think that maybe she should stop trying to fight it, but what good would that do? She would not be able to stand it if she lost the friendship she had with him now over her stupid hormones.
In the midst of another silly matchmaking idea involving a bottle of rather old wine and a loose niffler, Ginny caught sight of a familiar face and grinned. She would recognize that messy black mop of hair anywhere and waved. Harry made his way over to her table to say hello.
"Ginny, it's been a while," the pair hugged and Theo stood and shook Harry's hand.
"How have you been? You know Theo, right?" Ginny asked.
"I've been well, yourself? And yes, have I been living under a rock?" Harry greeted Theo cordially enough and referenced her mum's favorite new dinner conversation topic; the courtship of Ginny and Theo.
"I've been pretty well, mum needs to mind her own business, but you know how that is. Are you here with someone tonight? Is it the lovely Eva whom you've been hiding?" Ginny had heard about Harry's girlfriend, but never had the pleasure to meet her. She was a muggle woman he had run into at a bookshop of all places. Ginny had thought it a cute story, though Percy was the biggest fan of it. He now thought that everyone should meet people in bookshops, though quietly so as not to bother others.
"Yes, Eva is meeting me here and if you go to the Burrow on Sunday for dinner you can meet her then," Harry said before giving her a hug and saying his goodbyes.
Throughout the exchange, Theo had felt something not quite settling rising up from his gut. It had taken him a couple of moments to place it, but the sudden easing when the presence of a girlfriend in Potter's life could only mean that he had been jealous. Sweet Merlin, things had gone too far. He could not be getting jealous of his friend and the people that she may or may not date, it was not seemly. Luckily, the waiter was coming over with the check, so he had a moment to compose himself before Ginny led him out into the chilly night.
They went back to his flat as they usually did and decided to toast an evening out with zero photographic evidence. Just as Theo was pouring, Ginny exclaimed that it was snowing again and they went to the window to watch the storm beating down on London. The wind was gusting and snow was falling heavily onto everything and everyone. Traffic was slowing and there were noticeably fewer cars out and almost no pedestrians, though if there were, the storm would have hidden them from view.
"I hope Harry and Eva are okay out there," Ginny looked up at Theo with worry in her eyes.
"They'll be fine, He can just side-a-long apparate her home and they won't even have to go out into the storm," Theo assured her, hoping he was right.
"That makes sense, of course they'll be okay," Ginny laughed at her silliness and gave Theo a quick hug and went back over to the kitchen area to get a slice of pie out of Theo's fridge. She knew it was there because she had hidden a whole one in there a few days ago and was banking on left overs. After grabbing a couple of forks, Ginny turned the radio on and got the fire going. Theo joined her after a moment with two glasses and a bag of marshmallows for when the pie was gone. He knew that Ginny's sweet tooth would need more than some apples and cinnamon to sate it.
They were snuggled next to each other on the ground in front of the hearth resting their backs against the couch when Ginny thought that if she were to make any kind of move, this would be the moment to do it. They were all alone with scotch and a roaring fire and dessert and a huge storm just outside their little warm bubble. It was romantic and intimate and comfortable. Sitting right beside her, Theo was having similar thoughts, but was not sure how best to broach the subject. Should he try to talk to her about it, or should he just lean over and kiss her like he had been wanting to for as long as he had known her? Internally, he was kicking himself because he had not been this unsure about something of this nature since he was fourteen trying to ask Daphne Greengrass to go to the Yule Ball with him.
Finally, it was Ginny who broke the silence, "Theo, we're out of marshmallows." He just laughed and put his arm around her and whispered, "There's some more pie in the vegetable drawer of the fridge. If you're good, you might even get a piece."
"You're withholding pie? Why would you do something so heinous?" Ginny played along with his humorous tone and acted the part of the melodramatic pie addict that she was.
"Why because you've already had a piece and half a bag of fire roasted sugar," Theo was being too rational for Ginny's taste, so she decided that a good tickle was in order. Luckily, when he fell over laughing, none of the dishes were in the way of his falling form. He looked up and found a small face hovering over his with a devious grin and red hair falling like a curtain closing them off from the rest of the flat. He lifted a hand up and cupped her cheek before pressing his lips lightly against her own. For a moment, Ginny seemed to freeze, her eyes shot open in surprise, but she sprang into action quickly and reciprocated the kiss with all she had. Her veins were filled with fire and they both seemed to be bursting with frantic energy. Theo wanted to touch every part of her that he could reach and Ginny was encouraging him with small noises and feverish kisses across every available inch of skin. Soon there were shirts thrown in random directions and neither were in any mind to slow down. However, the scotch glass being knocked over made Theo realize that they were in fact on his living room floor. Theo scooped her up and the pair made their way into the bedroom, never losing contact.
Ginny could sense the light trying to penetrate her eyelids, but was reluctant to succumb to the morning's bright start. Her back was pressed against a warm hard surface and she could only surmise that it was Theo as his arm was also draped across her torso. Instead of waking up fully, she snugged into him relished the way her body seemed to be humming with contentment. Theo was pulled from his dreams when she pressed further against him and he tightened his grip on her before placing butterfly kisses down her neck and burrowing his nose in the crook of her neck. The night before had been more than he had ever imagined it could be. Now he just had to make sure she knew he did not want a one night stand with her, he wanted to keep her.
When he pair finally untangled themselves and made their way out of Theo's bedroom, Ginny went straight to the kitchen to make coffee and put the kettle on for Theo's tea and he pulled eggs and toast out for breakfast. Ginny was wearing one of Theo's blue button down shirts over her undergarments as hers had somehow gotten alcohol on it the night before. Therefore, she had decided it was only fair that Theo go without a shirt so that they were even. He had laughed and agreed because he did not think she had ever looked better than right then with her tousled bedhead hair and his shirt.
Ginny was putting the drinks on coasters while Theo plated up breakfast when the door opened seemingly of its own accord. However, it was accompanied by a rather ruffled looking Blaise and a smirking Pansy. When the newcomers spotted Ginny at the coffee table and took in Theo's state of undress their eyes mirrored those on muggle cartoon characters, though Pansy recovered quickly and said, "Well thank Merlin you finally sorted your idiocy out," which made Blaise scold her and Ginny was starting to turn red.
"No offense meant guys, we've just been trying to get you together for months now," Pansy explained, "Now if Blaise and Hermione would follow suit, it would be just peachy."
"Pansy, for the thousandth time, there is nothing between Hermione and myself," Blaise sounded exasperated.
"Blaise, you really should ask her out, you two would have a smashing time," Ginny put her two cents in on that one with a wink directed at Theo who seemed to be making more breakfast for the newcomers.
"Are you sure? I'm fairly certain that she's preoccupied with your brother," Blaise looked skeptical.
"Hermione and Ron stopped dating ages ago, they're just very good friends. Don't worry about it, she'll say yes in a heartbeat!" Ginny encouraged him with Pansy's help for the next few minutes. When Theo arrived with plates of food, Ginny made room for him next to her on the couch and they all dug in.
Before long Blaise found it necessary to bug Pansy about her love life and Ginny could not help but giggle because she knew exactly who the other girl had been with for the last month.
"I'm sure Ellie would be rather upset if I went for Avery," Pansy pointed out to Blaise when he suggested one of their old classmates who ran in the same social circles with them.
"When in the blazes did that happen?" Blaise could not believe she had been keeping that a secret, Ellie was good fun to tease and she had been holding back some great openings.
"That night we all wound up here drunk and dancing she and I went back to my place and here we are," Pansy explained. She liked to keep her private life just that and Ellie was even more selective in who she opened up to about her romantic life, so it made sense to wait a while and see if their fling went anywhere before telling everyone.
"Don't fret, the only reason we knew was because we walked in on them in the locker room a couple of weeks ago," Theo consoled his friend.
"How long have you and Ginny been together then?" Blaise needed to make sure they all had not missed something in their matchmaking process.
"Well, I don't know if we're quite as together as Pansy and Ellie. It was just last night," Ginny was not sure where they went from there and hoped that Theo would say what he was feeling. It was quite awkward though with two other people there, even if it was just Blaise and Pansy.
"I think that you two had best be along so that the adults can talk now," Theo shooed their now full friends out of his flat and returned to the couch where Ginny was still sipping her coffee.
"So," Ginny fiddled with the handle of her mug and waited for Theo to start. He was the one that had wanted to have this conversation after all.
"Yes, so. I like you Ginny and I'd like to have a chance to see what we could be together," Theo went for the most blunt avenue possible that way there were no chances of her misunderstanding what he meant.
"I'd like that too," Ginny's face was nearly split by her wide smile.
"You know you're stuck with me now, right?" Theo's face was playful and Ginny could not help but laugh before pouncing on him. She wanted to show him just how much she meant to keep him.