"What are you talking about?" Kingsley asked.
"Romilda Vane." Fleur said, "The day of the Memorial service at Hogwarts she used polyjuice to impersonate Ginny and said some very nasty things to Harry. She did it to break them up."
"Do you have proof?" Kingsley asked.
"Neville's memory of her telling her friends she did it."
"It's not enough." Harry said, "We would need to find someone who saw her physically changing. If we could get that then it's a minimum of two years in Azkaban."
"That's right." Kingsley said, "When are you coming by for your tests?"
"I'd like to wait until this lot is back at school if you don't mind." Harry said.
"That's fine. I understand you got recognition for a few things other than longest ever before breaking?" Kingsley asked.
"Biggest physical change. They do all sorts of measurements before you start and then again just before you leave. I gained the most weight of any recruit ever and grew three inches, two was the most before."
"You had to have gained at least four inches around your shoulders." Hermione stated.
"Six." Harry grinned, "But some of that should drop off since I won't be exercising quite like I was."
"They work you hard don't they?" Hermione grimaced.
"Yes." He replied.
"But…" Kingsley prodded again.
"Would you quit that?" Harry asked.
"Would you tell them the rest if I didn't?" Kingsley questioned back.
"That was what I chose to do in my free time." Harry sighed before he continued, "Others played games and talked I just exercised."
"Didn't you try to make any friends?" Hermione asked.
"No." Harry said, "They didn't like me much in the beginning. I was too happy for them. I didn't complain and they thought I was just trying to be better than the rest. Once they found out about Privet Drive they realized why the amount of food and all the yelling never bothered me."
"Then you made friends?" Molly asked.
"Yes, lots of them." Harry said, "They would take turns to keep me company in their own way when I exercised. I got to the point where I wished some of them wouldn't keep me company but the rest usually just exercised with me."
"Why didn't you want them to keep you company?" Molly asked.
"Theirry just wanted to talk about himself and it was a bit disruptive." Harry said diplomatically, "Some life experiences I just don't need to hear about."
Fleur giggled and everyone looked at her, "Theirry told me he could never tell if Harry was red from the exercise or the subject matter."
Several others snickered around the room before Harry continued even though he was red faced, "I think it was a bit of both. He's also prone to exaggeration or maybe I should say imagination. Can we talk about something else now?"
Several of the brothers snickered louder but Arthur decided to give him a break, "How long will you stay? You know you're welcome to stay here even after this lot gets back to school."
"Thank you." Harry smiled, "I'd like to stay at least until I can get my own place if that's ok. I can pay rent since I'll be working and can't help around the house."
"You'll do no such thing." Molly said, "Family doesn't pay rent here. You will stay; just let me know if you won't be home for dinner."
"Yes Mum." Harry grinned.
"That's better." Molly said as she got up, "Now dinner will be ready soon."
"Kingsley are you staying?" Arthur asked.
"No thank you." He smiled in return, "I've already eaten this evening and I need to be getting back."
"Ok, Harry and I will just see you out."
Harry stood and followed Kingsley and Arthur out of the house. Ginny looked a bit worried wondering what her father was going to say. She didn't need to worry though because while he did have an ulterior motive for dragging Harry out of the house it wasn't anything bad.
In the yard Kingsley stop and shook each hand, "Harry I'll be expecting you on January fourth at eight in the morning to begin testing."
"Yes sir." Harry replied.
After he left Arthur stood quietly for a few minutes. Harry understood that the man wanted to say something to him so he stood quietly and allowed him time to sort it all out.
"You enjoyed your time in training?"
"To a point yes sir."
"But it was still stressful?"
"Yes sir."
"Where you mad at Ginny?"
"No sir. Hurt yes, upset and angry yes, but not angry with her. I agreed with what I had thought she had said. Knowing now that she never said it I am ashamed to admit I thought it was her. I should have known better and I should have tried to talk to her about it."
"Fleur showed me the memory. If I hadn't known it wasn't her, I would have believed it too."
"I'm worried that being who I am will adversely affect her with our relationship."
"It will to a point, but I think you need to let her decide if it's worth it or not."
"Yes sir I plan on it. Thinking that she hated me for these last months has forced me to sort out my feelings about a lot of things. I realized that you and Mum are as good as parents to me. Your boys and Neville are my brothers and my sisters are Hermione, Fleur and Luna. My family will just grow from here on out. My first step will be to ask Ginny to marry me, if you approve."
"Why do you want to marry her?" Arthur was curious.
"Because I love her. I can't imagine loving anyone as much as I love her and I love her more each day. It took me a long time to understand my feelings and to act on them. I started falling in love with her the Christmas you were hurt. But it took me nine months to realize my heart was telling me I liked her. Then another eight months to act on it. I wish I could have moved it quicker but I was afraid with Voldemort running around that he'd hurt her so I waited until I thought I would lose her then I panicked."
"Panicked?"
"She had been dating Dean Thomas. When she broke up with him I didn't try to ask her out because I didn't want her to get hurt by anything to do with me. Then during our last quidditch game I was in detention and all I could think about was Dean or someone would ask her out and I'd lose my chance with her. When I got back to the common room the game had been over for hours and they were celebrating. Ginny came over to give me a hug and I kissed her. I hadn't planned it or anything and it would have been really embarrassing if she was dating someone else but I didn't think I just acted, I panicked."
"But you still broke her heart."
"Yes I did. About killed myself too. For the first week I didn't feel like I was breathing right. I didn't think I could feel worse than I did at that moment. But then I came here and saw her and it got worse."
"Why?"
"Because I could see her hurting too. And I knew that I had caused it. I really thought it was best to distance myself to protect her. It took all my determination just to keep myself from begging her to take me back. Hermione was able to protect her parents, Ron had protection for the rest of you and I had to protect her anyway I could. If she didn't survive… I honestly didn't think I would live through fighting Voldemort. But on the off chance that I did, I wouldn't have survived if she hadn't. It would have killed me. At that point I knew I loved her but I wouldn't admit it to myself."
"When did you finally accept it?"
"The night after Ron left us."
"Why then?"
"I was trying to stay mad at him by reliving all the arguments we had ever had in my mind. It didn't take long, we didn't have that many. One argument was about me breaking up with Ginny. He accused me of messing with her. I told him that I wasn't but somehow it got to where I said something like she wasn't expecting to marry me. That evening as I relived that I tried to remind myself that she had a free life ahead and I had nothing but a dead end. I realized that I didn't want her to marry someone else. The thought actually made me feel ill. I realized that I had made plans in my own heart to spend the rest of my life with her but the idea had never consciously reached my brain until that moment. Then I realized why it was so important for me to protect her, why I continually panicked about her wishes and wellbeing. I loved her. It was so simple I couldn't believe I didn't get it before then. My only excuse is that I didn't know what love was so it was hard for me to recognize it. It's a pretty lame excuse I know but that's all I've got." Arthur chuckled then Harry said, "Is it ok if I ask her to marry me?"
"It's fine with me." Arthur grinned as Molly called them in for dinner. Ginny had saved Harry a seat by her.
"Everything ok?" she asked quietly as he sat.
"Yes, he didn't yell at me or anything." Harry whispered back.
"Are you two together then?" Percy asked.
"Percy." Arthur said, "They haven't had five minutes to talk yet so leave them alone until they're ready."
"Thanks Dad." Ginny said.
"That is so unfair." George said, "Can we at least tease them a bit tonight?"
"About what?" Arthur said, "It's been enough of a mess so far do you really want to take the chance of making your sister mad again?"
"Good point." George said remembering her earlier outburst, "I think I've had enough for one day."
Harry raised an eyebrow at Ron in question, "Don't ask me mate. I don't want to get her mad at me for saying anything."
Harry turned his head to Ginny, "I only did what they deserved. I was already nervous about seeing you again and they pushed me past my limit."
"I never should have taught you that hex." Bill said, "Those were the largest bat bogeys I've ever seen."
"It's her best hex." Harry said proudly, "I've not seen it yet but I've heard plenty. Malfoy never talked about his experience with it but Crabbe and Goyle did."
"When did you use it on them?" Bill asked.
"My fourth year just before the ministry thing." Ginny said.
"I remember." Bill laughed, "I thought Ron was exaggerating about the size, guess he wasn't."
"Have you seen her ruductor curse?" Harry asked.
"No. But I've heard about the damage done to the Hall of Prophecies." Arthur interjected.
"Hello, I'm right here." Ginny said.
Everyone chuckled then Charlie asked, "What kind of exercises did you do to build up like that?"
Harry explained about the muggle fitness room they had and all the running that was required. After dinner they all moved back into the living room and Harry asked, "How's school going?"
"Weird without you there." Ron said, "I keep expecting you to walk into class."
"I kept thinking I needed to visit you in the hospital wing." Hermione teased.
"I'm sure Madam Pomfrey is quite bored without me there." Harry replied.
"Don't worry; Dean and Seamus have been keeping her busy. They decided to be pranksters this year and they aren't very good at it." Ginny snickered, "They decided on the last day to shrink the knickers of everyone in Hufflepuff and they missed."
"What did they shrink instead?" Harry asked.
"All their clothes." Ron laughed, "Pants, shirts, robes, knickers all of it. They'll be in detention for the next two months once we return."
"How are they keeping the hospital busy, they're not hurting anyone are they?" Molly asked.
"No they end up hurting themselves." Hermione said, "Once they were trying to set off a series of confetti clusters in the Great Hall. They ended up with burns on their faces and confetti up their noses, they didn't read the instructions."
George started laughing so hard he fell out of his chair. Harry had his head buried in his hands and was shaking with laughter. Ginny leaned against Harry and was holding her stomach. Ron was trying to get his laughter under control so he could add to the story, but he couldn't do it.
Hermione knew what he was trying to say so she continued, "Madam Pomfrey removed all the confetti she could but every time they sneezed over the day they would spray confetti all over. It was rather gross."
Laughter renewed all around. Even Molly was chuckling in her corner as she knitted. As the evening came to a close Harry asked if they would all be back on the next evening. Fleur said, "We waited Christmas until you got home. We'll be exchanging presents in the morning."
"You shouldn't have done that." Harry was touched, "But thank you."
"Ron actually suggested it." Hermione said.
"We didn't get to have Christmas last year." Ron shrugged, "It just didn't feel right to do it without you this year."
"Thanks." Harry responded, "That means a lot."
Everyone went off to bed except Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Harry. The four talked for about thirty minutes before Ron stood up stretching, "Come on Mione, I'll walk you up. We need to give these two their five minutes so they're fair game tomorrow."
Hermione hugged Harry and said, "I'm glad you're home."
A few moments later Harry and Ginny were alone. It was silent for several minutes as Harry tried to work out just how he wanted to proceed. In the end he just started the conversation with, "I missed you."
"Me too." Ginny replied hugging his arm
"I don't know if I'm rushing this or not but will you be my girlfriend again?"
"Six months is not rushing it. Yes I will. I've been miserable without you."
"I'm sorry. I never meant to make you unhappy."
"You didn't. Vane did."
"Maybe I shouldn't have run off to that training, but I think I would have gone even if we had been together."
"Yes you would have. It was a fantastic opportunity. If you would have tried to turn it down I would have hexed you."
"I'm just sorry we had the misunderstanding. It would have been easier on us both."
"Again Vane did that not us." Ginny hugged Harry around his chest. Feeling the difference in him she asked, "Why did you exercise for all your free time? You never struck me as a fitness nut before. By the way the change is nice."
"Thanks." Harry grinned then let it slide off his face as he thought, "Truthfully it was because of the battle and you. I missed you so much that I would be miserable company during free time. Then one night they forced me to play games instead, I lost every game because all I could think about was missing you. That was the only night I broke through my silencing spell with nightmares of the battle. Working out I would keep myself too tired to break them. But I didn't wear myself out. All I thought of was you so when I did dream about the battle it was all about you being killed over and over. After that they decided not to pester me about my choice of free time activity. They even joined me to make sure I was thinking about anything but you. That's when they learned more about the rest of my friends. They all want to meet Luna."
"Really, Luna?"
"You, Ron and Hermione too, but Luna is… Luna." Harry grinned.
"Are you planning on meeting any of the other student's friends and families?"
"I've already met two of Theirry's brothers and his father. They were at the ministry today. I don't know if I'll travel just to meet them but I may have a need to visit their countries from time to time and I would try to visit them."
"How many people were there?"
"Twenty five. All men."
"Won't teach women?"
"They will teach women but not at the same time as men. Women require a different technique for teaching. One of my instructors said that the women aren't as big of babies as the men are."
"Well I'm glad you weren't there with a bunch of women. They may have distracted you."
"From what?"
"Me."
"Never." Ginny kissed him and they stayed like that until Harry pulled away and yawned, "Sorry, it's been a long day. I'll walk you up."