AN: Thanks for reading!

Chapter 3

Harry was surprised to find that he was excited. He always enjoyed Lilly's play dates with other children but he rarely felt excited for them. Normally he'd end up with another mother or father who yammered on about school and which wizarding academy is good enough. Harry wasn't concerned he was quite set on Hogwarts for Lilly. He would have gone there but his parents were living abroad and he went to school in America. But Ginny, he felt like she would act like any other adult. She would let Zoe and Lilly enjoy their playtime because childhood is fleeting and should be enjoyed for as long as possible. No need to badger the girls about school, and what do you wanna be when you grow up questions. Maybe they could even talk about something other than the kids while the girls played. He couldn't remember the last time he talked to an attractive woman. Maybe he had and just hadn't noticed. But it was impeccably hard not to notice Ginny. She was tall, thin but not skinny she looked toned, like she'd been in training for a while, her red hair fell to her mid back and had a curves in all the right places. But it was her eyes that caught him. Something that he saw flash across those deep brown orbs. Intelligence.

Most woman who he met would automatically flirt and smile and within five minutes he could tell they were dumb as rocks. He didn't want to date if it wasn't serious because that might be bad for Lilly. But Ginny…No. He was being thoughtless. He could be friends with Ginny but that's it. Zoe and Lilly were becoming best friends fast. If he did start anything with Ginny and it went badly the girls would be hurt. Besides, she could be married, though he hadn't noticed a ring bur she could be seeing someone.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Lilly began asking questions about their day. Where were they going? For how long? Could Zoe spend the night? Ect.

"I don't know about that love we'll have to see but we are going to an indoor play gym that Ginny told me about. Zoe really likes it I'm sure you will too."

Harry took Lilly's hand and they drove to the address Ginny had given him. He'd taken to driving when he was younger his mother being muggle borne. He couldn't apparate with Lilly yet and he'd never liked floo. It was too unpredictable, you could say the wrong thing and end up somewhere dangerous.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPPHPHP

Ginny saw Harry and Lilly come in as Zoe was spinning around on the low hanging ropes the place had. It was a gymnastic thyme that could allow the kids to get out all their energy but had magical protections so if a child fell from too high they would float softly to the ground.

After the Potters had their coats and scarfs put away Lilly ran to where Zoe was playing and the two began spinning together.

"It was really nice of you to invite us today. Thank you." Harry said.

"No problem really, I'm surprised you didn't know about this place. It really is great you don't have to worry about them getting hurt because of the protection spells and they can get out all that pent up energy that comes with winter."

"Yeah, it's great thanks for telling me. I'm always looking for new things to do with her." He said smiling at her.

"I know how you feel. I hate not having something planed. I can't wait for it to start snowing so I can help her build snowmen and have snowball fights."

"We should get them together when it does. I love the snow."

"Oh me too! When we were young Zoe's mother and I would play in the snow for hours our father had to drag us inside. Normally, by that point we couldn't feel our fingers anymore!"

"That sounds nice. It must have been nice to have a sister to grow up with. You always have a playmate." He replied. He wanted to ask more about Zoe's mother. About how she died, how long it had been…but he felt like he didn't know Ginny well enough.

"Do you have any siblings? Maybe Lilly will have a cousin someday?" she asked. Normally she'd ask if he and his wife were planning to have any more children but she hadn't seen a ring and no one had mentioned Lilly's mother last night. She assumed they were divorced and didn't want to mention it.

She didn't want to admit how attractive she found Harry. Or how happy the thought that he might be since made her. It didn't matter. Lilly and Zoe were becoming great friends. Ginny was so busy with work and Zoe. The holidays were always so busy, they had a standing invitation at the Weasley household and she liked to bake lots of goddies to contribute. She didn't have time to date and even if she did she couldn't date Harry. She pushed the thought aside.

"No I was an only child. My parents never had another."

"Oh, well that must have been a bit lonely."

"Not at all, we lived in a neighbourhood with a lot of kids and there was always a friend around."

"That's nice. Where did you grow up?" We lived in the UK until I was eight and then moved to the US after that. I attended school there and then came back to go to the aurror academy. My parents came back about a year after me."

"You grew up in the states? You don't have an accent."

"It never took, and I've been back since I was 16."

"You finished school at 16? That's incredible!"

"Not really, I didn't get along with some of my teachers so my mother home schooled me. It didn't take long to finish."

"You moved away from your family when you were 16? That must have been difficult."

He smiled at her. He greatly enjoyed the sound of her voice, she seemed so genuinely interested in hearing about him. Most women spent the entire time babbling about themselves. He couldn't picture Ginny babbling. "I used to think so. Now I think it was harder on my parents. I can't imagine Lilly leaving that young. I can't imagine her leaving at all."

"Maybe that's why they came back. To be near you. But I think you don't have to worry about Lilly leaving anytime soon." Her smile was warm and reminded Harry of sunset.

"Are you still an aurror?" Ginny asked. It was quite abnormal for aurrors to have weekdays off. In fact they normally work all hours, never knowing when they will be called in.

"No after Lilly was born I took a job teaching at the academy." That made more sense.

"What about you Ginny what do you do?" Oh after school I took a job…consulting. I travelled around the world but after the accident I took a job at the MDD."

"Magical Development Department that's impressive. You've probably heard of this new binding spell. We've been using it in my class and it's been working quite well. After another month it will be clear to use if the field."

Ginny grinned at him. "Yes, that was actually one of mine."

"Really! It's brilliant, the binds do such a great job at keeping the perp contained without being able to use magic to break out of them!"

"Yes the spell actually calls on the magic of the one being bound. That way only an aurror can release them. You can't fight your own magic."

"Brilliant!" he exclaimed! The spent the rest of the time chatting idly about this or that. The girls played together wonderfully and it made them both happy to see how brightly the girls were smiling. They decided that they would have to set up many more playdates.

AN: So I know it doesn't seem like a lot is happening but I really can't decide how fast/slow I want this relationship to progress. In the next chapter they will have a conversation without the kids around though. R&R