The Lighthouse.

"The cure for everything is saltwater, sweat, tears, or the sea."
Isak Dineson

Ron and Hermione's wedding was the first Saturday in May the following year. It was at the Burrow, as Hermione had wanted, and everyone had a wonderful time. In addition to all of the Weasleys' extended family, most of the D.A., many Hogwarts Professors, and the surviving members of the Order of the Phoenix were there. Ron, after some convincing, allowed Harry to foot the bill for their Honeymoon as his wedding present: a two week trip to Europe. The last week would be spent in Paris, where Hermione would show Ron all the things she wanted to share from her earlier trip for the Ministry. It was while they were away that Harry asked Ginny to join him on a trip to Shell Cottage to visit Dobby's grave. Bill and Fleur were away visiting Fleur's family, so they would be alone.

It was a beautiful spring day: blue sky, puffy white clouds, and the smell of the sea on the steady breeze. The grave had changed little since Harry had laid Dobby to rest there. There were additional flowers planted around, and a small stone bench sat nearby. Bill didn't know how it came to be there, but he suspected that House Elves maintained the area. Harry placed a small wreath on the stone pile and stood for a minute, head bowed. He had visited many times and it had become routine, but this time, it was almost two years to the day. After spending a few minutes in quiet reflection, Harry led Ginny by the hand to the edge of the cliffs where they stood for several minutes looking out at the sea and the sky.

"Lovely day for a fly along the coast, eh?" Harry asked

"Sure," she answered. "But, we Apperated here, remember? We don't have brooms." Harry just smiled and led her back to the cottage and around to a shed by the garden. He opened the door and produced two new Firebolts with a flourish.

"Ta Da!"

"You just happened to stash a couple here?" she asked suspiciously, taking the one he held out to her.

"Never know when you'll need one," he answered with a shrug. "You want to fly or ask questions? You're it!" He tapped her shoulder, jumped on, and shot into the air, leaving her staring after him. She knew he was up to something but couldn't resist, so, with a grin and a swirl of red hair, she gave chase.

Flying was Harry's second favorite thing to do with Ginny. They were both excellent flyers and naturally competitive. When they were at school he had been clearly better, but not anymore. She was flying professionally now and he hadn't competed in years. Only his head start, and the fact that she wasn't really trying, allowed him to stay ahead of her as they raced north along the coast. Harry swooped around and through the occasional puffy little cloud, laughing with the sheer joy of it. He had lost track of her and was looking back over his right shoulder when she closed from his left and punched him hard.

"Ow!" he yelled. "I thought it was 'tag' not 'pummel'?"

"You deserved it," she laughed, then grew more serious. "What are we really doing up here Harry?"

"Let me show you," he said. With a knowing look he started descending toward a path that wound through a rocky hillside below. She landed beside him in a narrow space between two high boulders and waited.

"This path," he said, looking into her eyes before continuing. "…leads down out of these rocks and on towards the sea. It comes to a gate in a stone wall. Behind the wall is a building that was once a lighthouse."

"Ok," she answered, thinking it sounded odd, like he was reciting from memory.

"Great!" he said, his voice returning to normal. "Let's go."

They walked down the path, through the boulders, and eventually came to a place where they could see all the way to the sea again. Just as he described, there was a wall with a metal kissing gate between two large pillars. Behind it, on a narrow spit of land jutting out towards the sea was a two-story stone house with a tall peaked roof. Attached to the building on the ocean side was a tower that reached up considerably higher and had obviously been the light at one time. From this angle the tower appeared completely enclosed now. Ginny wondered why she hadn't noticed this place from the air.

"Harry, are you sure we should be--"

"Don't worry," he interrupted, grinning. "I have the owner's permission."

The metal gates magically swung open as they drew near. Harry didn't even pause as he led her through. Ginny noticed that there were stone statues on top of the pillars on either side of the gate, Lions Rampant, the emblem of Gryffindor. As they approached the house she noticed the tall arched-top windows and the arched wooden front door. In the center of the door was a large brass lion's head with a knocker held in its mouth in the shape of a "P".

"All right, Harry," she finally said. "What's going on?"

"About a year ago," he began. "I was flying up this way and noticed the ruins of this building. I asked Bill about it later. I told him I really liked being near the sea, the quiet, the privacy… He started asking me questions about what I would want in a house of my own, he took notes and everything."

"But you have a house, on Grimmauld Place."

"Yeah, I own it," he said. "But it's not my home. I'll keep it, it's Kreacher's home after all. It's conveniently located and still somewhat protected by the Fidelius Charm. I've told Kingsley he could use it for Auror business if he needed it."

"Anyway," he continued. "A few months after my first conversation with Bill he asked me to meet him out here. There were a lot of people with him, some Wizzards, some Goblins. They were all working on the place and they had loads of questions for me… some decisions I had to make, stuff like that. I asked Bill how much all this was going to cost and he just smiled."

All she could manage to say as she looked around was, "Wow."

"Apparently," he added. "There are some advantages to being 'The Harry Potter' in the post-Voldemort world. Come on, let me show you around."

Harry pulled the door open and let Ginny enter first. The house was empty and her steps echoed on the stone floor. They stood on a small landing that connected to a larger room through an arched entry way. They went under the arch and entered a room with a large fireplace and built-in book cases. There was an exit straight across the room that led to the rest of the house and on either end were two winding stair cases.

"Those lead up to bedrooms," Harry said, pointing at the stairs. "There are three on each side."

"Wait," Ginny said, her eyes widening. "I recognize this room! Add some stuffed chairs and a few tables and this would be the Gryffindor common room!"

"I told you," Harry said, smiling. "They asked me what I'd want in my house. So, I told them what my favorite rooms were."

She just shook her head as he led her through the hall towards the back of the house. They entered a large open room with windows down one side. Down the center was the only piece of furniture Ginny had seen yet, a long wooden table with sixteen chairs. But, what caused Ginny to catch her breath was the ceiling. It reflected the blue sky and puffy clouds outside, as if there were no ceiling at all.

"Cool, huh?" Harry asked, his voice echoing in the cavernous room. "They tell me it's the only one like it outside of Hogwarts."

Speechless, all she could do was stare.

"The kitchen is through here," he said, and led her out of the dining hall. "You might recognize this one too," he added with a sly glance.

Compared to the rest of the house the kitchen was rather small with a fireplace in one wall and a table and chairs in the middle.

"Harry!" she exclaimed. "This is our kitchen, at the Burrow."

"Yep, one of my favorite rooms of all," he said, beaming.

"I really don't believe this," she said, stunned.

Instead of exiting the back of the house, like the Burrow, a doorway led to the base of the light tower. There was a door to the outside from here, but also stairs leading up. Harry led her up to the first landing.

"That's the master bedroom," he said, nodding in the direction of a door into the second floor, then he continued on up, spiraling around the inside of the tower. After two more flights of stairs, broken by a landing with an arched window that looked back over the house, they arrived at a wooden door on another small landing.

Harry pushed the door inward and entered a round room at the top of the tower. Where the revolving light had once shined out over the sea, there was now an office. Directly across from the door was a desk that faced them. Behind it, three floor-to-ceiling glass panels offered a magnificent view of the ocean and the now setting sun. The rest of the glass had been replaced with solid walls that alternated between shelves and open wall space. On the open walls there were four large paintings, two on either side of the door.

As viewed from the desk, they were left to right: Severus Snape, standing in his potions classroom with his arms crossed, staring out with his trademark sneer; Dumbledore, seated at the desk in his Headmaster's office surrounded by his devices and clutter. He peered over folded hands, his half-moon glasses low on his nose. Then, to the right of the door, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Fred, and Mad Eye were seated at the table in the basement kitchen of Grimmauld Place laughing and raising their goblets in a frozen toast, and the final one was James and Lily embracing outside their neat little cottage in Godric's Hollow.

"They're amazing," Ginny said softly, admiring each picture in turn and walking over to look more closely at Fred.

"You don't have to whisper," Harry said loudly, causing her to jump. "We're not in a library."

"I know," she said with a laugh. "But Harry," she added then, turning quickly towards him. "Do they...?" Her voice trailed off as she looked sideways at the portrait of Snape.

"Talk?" He laughed. "No, they're just normal paintings."

She laughed with him, shaking her head. "Well, you have to admit, with everything else..."

"Yeah, but there's only so much they could do. Come on, let's go back down."

They closed the door behind them and clomped loudly down the stairs. If they had lingered a little longer at the door they would have heard the rushing sound of exhaled breaths, followed by giggling. Then a voice that sounded much like Snape's asked, "How long do you intend to continue this childish charade?" followed by much louder laughter.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs Harry turned and exited the tower. A path led away from the house towards the point of the promontory. The sun was setting now and the light that splashed against the bottom of the clouds was changing from yellowish gold to shades of purple and deep wine red, all of it mirrored in the surface of the calm sea. At the edge of the cliff was a stone patio ringed by a low railing, from it a stair wound down the side of the cliff to the beach some thirty feet below. They took seats on a large bench there and gazed out at the bewitching sunset.

"It's really amazing Harry," Ginny said, resting her head on his shoulder. "I couldn't see it when we flew in… you had to tell me about it."

"Yeah, a Fidelius Charm, I'm Secret Keeper. Kingsley suggested it if I were going to move out of Grimmauld Place. He's worried that an ex-Death Eater might try to find me, or…" he looked into her eyes, "my family."

"Family?" she asked, sitting up straight.

"Well, I have a house now. I was hoping you might help me make it a home?"

"Are you asking…," she paused, then smiled mischievously. "Harry, is this my 'moment'?"

Harry sighed, took her hands in his, looked into her eyes, and earnestly said,

"I'm going to strangle Hermione."

Ginny laughed out loud. "You didn't expect her to not tell me did you?"

"Ok, if you're not interested...." he made to stand up, but she grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him roughly towards her. She looked in his eyes again, neither of them were laughing now.

"I'm thinking about it....." then she was kissing him, and they slowly sank back onto the bench.

Harry wasn't sure how much time passed, but it was almost dark when he sat up and looked around.

"So?" he asked, out of breath. "Can I take that as a 'Yes'?"

"Of course it's a 'Yes'." She sighed and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "But..."

"But?" He sat up straight.

"It's just....look, I know we don't have family heirlooms like Hermione. But, I thought her ring was....special. Romantic."

"You?" Harry exaggerated his surprise. "Romantic?" She elbowed him, but he thought she blushed a little, embarrassed.

"I did give it some thought," he continued.

"Really?" she asked, hopefully.

"I don't think our rings should be traditional, like Hermione's."

"Our rings?"

"So," he went on. "I talked to a couple of Goblins who were here to work on the house and I came up with my own design."

He reached under the bench and pulled up a small wooden box. It was elaborately inlaid with delicate gold wires in a pattern of entwined flowering vines.

"You hid that ahead of time," she said, accusingly. Her wand appeared in her hand instantly and she whispered, "Lumos". The light formed a warm golden bubble around them in the growing dark.

Harry opened the box towards her. Inside, nestled in individual pockets of felt, were two rings. The smaller ring was platinum with delicate gold inlay in a stylized vine pattern like the one on the box. The larger one was gold with the same pattern inlayed in platinum. The stones were oval and smooth, the one in the smaller ring was white and the larger one was black. The stones weren't completely opaque except, deep inside them, small magical lights swirled slowly.

"They're beautiful," she whispered.

"They're more than that," he said.

He reached for her left hand and lifted her ring from the box and slipped it on. He put his on as well and immediately felt a warm tingle that started at the ring and moved up his arm.

"What...," Ginny gasped, having just felt the same thing.

"Don't worry, that's supposed to happen. All we should have to do now is look at the ring and say the name."

Harry rose, turned, and walked a few steps away, keeping is back to her.

"Ginny?" he asked in the direction of his raised left hand. The stone glowed brighter than before and the lights started to spin faster until they were a blur.

"Harry...my ring is getting warm...just like our DA galleons!"

A flat disk of light expanded out of the ring and floated in the air before Harry's eyes. Clearly visible in it was Ginny's astonished face. He grinned at her.

"Amazing!" she said in stereo, her voice coming from both the Ginny in the ring and the real one behind him. "How far apart can they work?"

"No idea. But the mirrors, which use similar magic, would have worked between Hogwarts and Grimmauld Place at least."

Ginny ran to Harry and he turned just in time to catch her as she launched herself into his arms.

'They're wonderful!" she said into his neck. "My turn, but from a bit further away. Wait here." She let go and started running back towards the house.

A few moments later Harry's ring started to grow warm. He held it up and saw the now familiar blurring of the facets and Ginny's face appeared in the air.

"Hi," she said coyly. "I think I'm going to like these."

"Me too. Where are you?" Harry asked.

"At the front door, where we left the brooms. Let's get back. I can't wait to tell Mum and Dad. I'll race you to Shell Cottage."

"What's the bet?" Harry asked, in their now familiar ritual.

"Oh, the usual," she said. Harry was pleased to see that the smoldering look in her eyes came through the rings loud and clear.

"You're on."

She laughed and the image winked out. The distant echo of the same laugh could be heard as she streaked into the air. Harry smiled and walked deliberately towards his new house. He wasn't in any hurry. As to their 'usual' bet, he still hadn't worked out what he liked better, winning or losing.

The End.