Disclaimer: Potterverse belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Chapter 2: A chat

Ginny stayed at Harry's for quite some time. Enough time for the Auror department to send someone calling through the floo network. Ginny and Harry felt quite disturbed when their happy morning was broken up by none other than Ron shouting from the living room.

"Harry! Harry! HARRY!" Ron's voice called. "Are you in?" The voice dulled from a holler to a grumble as they heard, "bloody hell. He's probably gone after some dark wizard without telling anyone or gotten himself kidnapped or something. Lucky he has me as his best friend to save him from all these predicaments."

Ginny couldn't stop herself from smirking at her brother's comments. Harry couldn't stop himself from shouting back "It's all right Ron, I'm still here safe and alive." He rolled out from the sheets and threw on the same trousers he had been wearing earlier that day.

Ginny could hear Harry and Ron voices from the bedroom, but decided it was best not to eavesdrop. Instead she took the opportunity to indulge her girlish whims and admire the ring now fixed on her left hand.

Harry was having much less fun on the other side of the wall, as he came to see Ron's head floating inside his fireplace.

"What the bloody hell do you want Ron?" Harry asked.

Ron seemed none too ashamed of barging in on Harry's personal flat. "What do you mean what do I want? Nearly the entire day has gone by and not only have we not seen you, but we haven't heard from you. Not that I can say I blame you. No one recalls you having ever called in sick or having taken a personal day from the office. It's good to take a day off mate, just let us know will you?"

"Right Ron," Harry conceded, "thanks for the advice. See you tomorrow then?" Harry wheeled around and made for the bedroom.

"So why have you decided to take the day off then?" Ron questioned, oblivious to Harry's obvious impatience. "I mean what on Earth have you been doing with yourself? You're hardly dressed, your hair's messier than normal…" Ron trailed off as he began to piece two and two together.

Harry, seeing the cogs turning in Ron's brain, felt the need to come up with something and fast. "Well… er… Ron."

"Why so twitchy Harry?" Ron interrupted. And then looking past Harry towards the bedroom door (a very impressive feat given he was still a mere head floating in Harry's living room) he bellowed "GINNY!"

Ginny had been happily admiring her ring when she heard Ron's voice booming through the apartment. "GINNY! I KNOW YOU ARE IN THERE!" Throwing on Harry's bathrobe she decided to peek her head through the door.

"Hello Ron," she offered sheepishly. "How's it going?"

"How's it going? How's it going?! I'll tell you how it's going! I've just caught my sister being… tampered… with by some boy! That's how it's going. I swear to Merlin that if I could whollop you both right now I would!"

"Ron!" Ginny exclaimed, her sheepishness being replaced by annoyance, "did you honestly just address Harry as some boy?! He's your best friend!"

Harry, who unlike Ginny was feeling just as foolish as when Ron had first hollered Ginny's name, tried appeasing his friend. "Ron. Ron, you had to know that Ginny and I were… I mean, I know we never talked about it mate but c'mon."

Ron turned his glare from Ginny and affixed it to Harry. "Well I assumed that maybe, yes, I mean… You slept with my sister! And I never had to worry about it did I? So long as it never interfered with daily life I could pretend it wasn't happening. But now this! I have half a mind to tell mum and dad!"

"Ron! Honestly you can't go telling mum and dad before we've had the chance!"

Ginny's interruption caught Ron off guard. He turned back to her as the color in his face started to turn back to normal. "Wait you were planning on telling mum and dad about your having… sex?"

This time it was Ginny's turn to try and placate Ron. "No, Ron. We mean you can't go telling mum and dad about us because we're engaged. And we wanted to be the ones to break the news to them obviously."

Ron looked from Ginny to Harry, "is she being serious?" He managed to ask. And then Ron saw it. He saw Harry break into the biggest grin that he had ever donned.

"Ron, Ginny is my fiancée."

Ron didn't know if he could take this. Harry was his best mate and Ginny his little sister. Why the thought that the two of them had… And that Harry had gotten engaged without asking him first!

Ron spoke in very slowly, as if speaking rapidly might cause his face to turn even more purple. "You two are engaged. To be married. As in you will become Ginny Molly Potter."

"Yup!" Ginny grinned, "that's about right."

Ron let out a long, low whistle. "Well then Harry, as my best mate I offer you my heartiest congratulations. Obviously you couldn't have done better than a Weasley. But Harry, as Ginny's older brother I can promise you that if you hurt her I will see to it that you spend the rest of your life in St. Mungo's. Agreed?"

"Don't worry Ron. I think I could easier hurt myself than hurt Ginny. I love her more than I have ever loved anything in this world. She's the most intelligent, interesting, beautiful, kind person I have ever or will ever meet. And if anything were to ever happen to her, it would be the same as my heart being ripped straight from my chest."

At Harry's proclamation Ron seemed abated from his previous fury. "Well all right then. Congratulations to both of you. I'll tell the office you had to take a personal day."

"Oh and Ron," Ginny jumped in before his head disappeared from Harry's living room, "please don't tell mum and dad. That's something we need to do."

"Right, of course. Congrats again guys!" And with that, Ron's head was gone from Harry's living room leaving only a faint odor and their ringing in their ears as proof that he had come.

Ginny turned towards Harry expecting to see him wearing the same expression she imagined on her own face. Instead he was staring into the fireplace where Ron's head had just been.

"What's the matter?" She asked.

"Oh it's nothing," came Harry's stoic response. "It's just that I am suddenly keenly aware that you have five older brothers. And a dad."

"Why?" Ginny probed deeper, "you aren't planning on hurting me, are you?"

"Course not Gin," said Harry, finally grinning. "It's just that we have done things they may not exactly approve of. And I want to do all sorts of things that I know they won't approve of."

Ginny draped her arms around his neck and gave her voice a subtle, alluring quality. "Why Harry James, I never knew you had it in you."

Harry bent his lips down to meet hers "bullshit Gin. You totally knew."

"Yes," she laughed, agreeing. "I did. But we should go get ready. I'm thinking that the sooner we tell my mum and dad, the better."

Ginny grabbed his wrist to check the time and then ran off to his bedroom, where she had left all of her clothes. Eyeing the bedroom door Harry finally shrugged and headed towards his bathroom. He needed to look presentable if he was going to ask Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to accept him into their family. "Give me ten minutes Ginny," he called before heading in to the shower. He needed at least that much time to cool off.