Potter 671 requested a Sequel to Chapter 43- Cause and Effect, please re-read it before continuing with this chapter if you would like a refresher.

Decided not to go so lovey-dovey on this one and go more in depth about what real relationships can actually be like.

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Commitment Phobia

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One month in

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Ginny had been sitting down enjoying the latest edition of Quidditch Quarterly and sipping her tea for half an hour now in blissful silence. There had been no one traipsing through the sitting area and requiring that she acknowledge their presence, no sounds of chaos and chuckles that had been ringing in her ears throughout the day, just blissful silence.

On the one hand, she really enjoyed working part-time for her brothers at their joke shop in the Quidditch off season, and that same hand was also grateful to have the extra pocket money, on the other hand, it was so loud in the shop!

As soon as the twins had moved into the flat above their shop they had sound proofed the heck out of it; you couldn't hear anything that was going on below the flat and you couldn't hear anything that was going on behind a closed door in the flat either.

That she was particularly grateful for.

Now that George had moved out she was spending an inordinate amount of time here.

It wasn't just because it was her off season for Quidditch, or because she was escaping away from her mum and all the questions she had about how her only daughter had gone from being happily engaged one minute to single and not giving up the exact details for how that came about.

There was no way that Ginny could have told her mother exactly what had happened in the 48 hours that passed between her getting engaged, to she and Dean splitting up and apparently not even being friends anymore.

A month had passed since it happened and still she couldn't tell her mother exactly what went on, all she did say is that no one needed to 'hate' Dean; just because he had already moved on to living with someone else doesn't mean that he needed to be excommunicated.

And eventually she would wind up bringing Harry around to The Burrow so that he could meet the family, she just needed to know in what capacity he would be attending something at The Burrow; would it be as a fellow employee of The Weasley Wizard Wheezes? Would it be as a 'friend'? How about boyfriend?

They were a month into this… whatever they were… and hadn't put a label on it.

Fred knew they were hooking up, he'd been the first to know, and he seemed completely fine with it. George had stopped by the flat one night for a visit and caught she and Harry kissing in the kitchen, so he knew they were seeing each other, he was completely cool with it too. It seemed the twins had never been overly fond of Dean, they'd just not said anything because by all accounts it appeared to them that she was happy.

And, to be fair, at the time she'd thought she was happy.

But something about the way she and Harry just clicked together, it made the years she'd spent with Dean seem like a complete waste.

Harry was bright and funny, he was giving and would call her out on her moods when she was being stubborn. And the man could cook! He was so great thus far in fact that she wondered if he was too good for her.

Although, even if he was too good for her, she wasn't about to point that out to him.

And speak of the devil!

The door to the flat opened and Harry stepped through it, sporting a good chunk of blue goo in his hair.

"What exactly is that concoction?" Ginny chuckled.

"I've no idea but it has the consistency of meringue. I've a feeling it might take a while in the shower to get this out." He came to the couch and sat down beside her heavily, not appearing to be too bothered about the state of his, normally wonderful, hair.

"Was this the twins experimenting again?" she asked as she reached out and put her hand to the substance. It was tough on the outside. It looked like fluffs of marshmallow and didn't seem to want to be pulled off from his hair.

"I think it was two different potion experiments that I accidentally knocked over on a shelf and they combined to make a sort of foam that got on my hair. At least it doesn't burn."

"Oh, trust the twins not to keep things sealed and separate." She took him by the hand over to the kitchen and pulled a chair to the sink for him to sit down on and rest his head back. "Where is Fred? Can we ask him if he's got something in mind to get rid of this?"

"He's out at a pub," Harry told her as he took a seat on the chair. "Ducked out half an hour ago after handing me a few owl orders to take care of with a big smile on his face."

"He was shirking responsibility? Not him. Never," she mocked as she filled up the basin with warm water and summoned a towel and shampoo from the bathroom.

"How about you sit in my lap while you do this?" he grinned.

She chuckled and shook her head at his come-on, ignoring it and grabbing a cup so she could scoop up the water and pour it over him.

"No, seriously." He put his hands on her hips and gave her no choice but to straddle him so she could take care of the task she assigned herself.

"Alright. You'll make it so that water goes everywhere, but if you think this will help."

"It'll help me with my winding down process. I love the job and all, but it is insanely loud. You being here more often than not when I come through the door has been a big help."

She gave him a peck on the lips and encouraged him to lean his head back so she could work the blue out. "I like being here too. My still living at home at this point in my life was not the plan."

"I know what your plan had been, and I can tell you, I prefer that your address is still your parents house as opposed to the other thing."

She scooped up the water and poured it over his head, the hardened goo came away with the water, that was a good sign. "Yes, I much prefer that I'm still at home as opposed to that as well. Still, having somewhere to go that doesn't hazard the chance one of my brothers will walk in on us getting up to no good doesn't sound bad either."

"It hasn't been that bad. Fred and George tease me about it sometimes, but they certainly aren't asking for any details. And they don't appear to have told the rest of your family, so we're good on that front."

Ginny frowned at the way he phrased that and kept on pouring the water over his head so more of the goo would wash away. "You're worried about the rest of my family finding out that we've got something going on?"

It was his turn to frown, doing so with his eyes closed in case some water got in his face, she could see some glitter on his face glinting in the overhead light. "I thought you were concerned about it. I know how it looked to Dean when he got the wrong impression, I assumed that because of that you didn't tell your family about our 'relationship' because it was the day the engagement was broken off that you and I started up. Wouldn't they see this as the reason?"

"You think I give one toss what they think about the timeline? My mum might be hounding me for more details about why it was called off and we aren't speaking to each other anymore, but that doesn't mean that I would go out of my way to stop her from finding out about my… suitor."

"Suitor?" he smirked.

"Well, we haven't put a label on this. What would you introduce me to someone as?"

He shrugged. "I'd probably start off with saying 'this is Ginny'."

"Ha, freaking ha."

Thankfully, the goo seemed to be coming away quite easily, she'd almost got it all out now. The sink was full of blue though and using anymore of the water might have the opposite effect she was wanting so she stood as much as she could in her position and pulled the drain plug so she could start filling the sink again with clean water. Harry's arms came around her to hug her close as she did so and it made her smile.

"There is something I want to know though, if we're going to start having a conversation about what to call 'us'." His speech was partly muffled because his mouth was pressed against her shirt, precisely between her cleavage.

"And what's that?"

"I've just got a job I really like, with a flatmate I really like, and I'm dating a girl I really like. This is the stage of my life that I was looking forward to, and I'm not looking to shake that up too quickly."

She appreciated him telling her that he really liked her but had no idea what he was leading up to. Perhaps he was going to tell her that he wanted to have an open relationship? She didn't know if she would be okay with that.

"Why would you potentially need to be shaking that up?" she asked carefully.

"Because you were on the marriage track until about a month ago."

She let out a mental sigh of relief and shut off the tap now that the sink was full up with clear water again. He didn't want things to move too fast, that's what he was getting at! "And to you, my agreeing to marry someone means I'm desperate for a house and babies?" she asked in amusement.

"Well… yeah." He took the corner of the towel around his neck and wiped his eyes so he could look up at her. She stood up straight so that he could see her better. "Aren't you?"

"No!" she chuckled. "Eventually kids would be nice, but I'm just starting into a career that I've been dreaming of since I was seven. There're a few years yet before I want to settle down. I'm asking us to put a label on our relationship, Harry, I'm not telling you that I've started a clock or worked out a calendar of the different stages of said relationship."

"You're sure you haven't got anything mapped out? Because I promise you that if you start dropping hints about what kind of jewelry you like, first off, I won't catch the hint, second off, if I miraculously do catch the hint then I'll be freaking the fuck out."

She wasn't smiling now.

No, she didn't want to get married anymore, and looking back with 20/20 vision, she couldn't believe that she'd said 'yes' in the first place.

Luna had been right when she assumed that Ginny had said yes to Dean when he asked so that she had a reason to celebrate, but would she have made it down the aisle? There was a chance that she would have, and she would have regretted it.

She and Dean may have been wrong for each other, but at least they'd given commitment a shot.

Harry was looking like the mere idea of calling her his girlfriend was too much for him.

"Are you wanting to see other people?" she asked. If he didn't want a label on their relationship, that was okay for now, but she didn't want to share him with anyone else.

"What? No! Why? Are you wanting to see other people?" He appeared genuinely bewildered by the leap she had made.

"Well, then, you don't want to see other people, neither of us want to get married for the foreseeable future, we've been getting on really great in several different settings, so are you or aren't you okay if I refer to you as my boyfriend?"

"Depends. How many people are you planning to introduce me to, and in what time frame?"

Now it was her turn to give him a bewildered look, then she pushed his head back against the sink again so she could shampoo the remainder of the blue out of his hair; fuming silently as she did so.

Who knew that he was this scared of the idea of calling her his girlfriend? And what was she supposed to say to him now? Getting overly angry about it and storming off wouldn't help back up her stance that she didn't want a small amount of commitment from him. She could potentially hold out on him in their bedroom activities as punishment for his stupidity, but that would be like trapping him into a situation he didn't want to be in.

"Is there some kind of time frame that you have for getting to the point of being okay calling the woman you're exclusively shagging your girlfriend?" she asked.

The soap lather was an electric color of blue before she rinsed it out the first time, then the blue started toning down with each consecutive wash.

"You're mad," he said sadly.

"A bit, yeah. Hard not to be when I find out the guy I'm kind of falling for is terrified of committing to me because he thinks I'll turn into some psycho that's hell bent on getting down an aisle and popping out several of his unwanted children."

"I didn't say that!"

"Actually, you were the one that brought up kids, not me."

"Yes, but you were the one that was engaged when we met. I'm just trying to level set expectations here."

"And I'm just about done washing your hair, now I know that while you don't want to commit to me, you don't want anyone else to have me and that my role in your life is sex, cleaning and the occasional laugh. So, why would we ever bother with labels."

She finished rinsing out what appeared to be the last of the blue and got up, choosing to soap up her hands in the bathroom than sit astride him anymore.

"Ginny, come on. You just sprung this conversation on me!" he called out to her, and she heard his footsteps following her to the bathroom.

She checked her face in the mirror to make sure she didn't look completely crushed. Her cheeks were red, but her eyes weren't glossing over yet. She dried her hands on the bathroom towel and turned to him. "Just tell me, Harry, then we can drop it until you're comfortable with whatever this is; am I just your friend and fuck buddy, or am I something more?"

"Something more," he said instantly.

"Because you want me to be something more, not because I'm putting pressure on you," she asked, needing clarification.

His expression softened. "Yes," he assured her. "Because I want you to be something more, I just don't have a name for that in-between portion."

Okay.

She could live with that.

Three years of being in a committed relationship had wound up amounting to nothing, so she could be okay with taking it slow.

"Alright," she nodded. "Then, if asked, and only if asked, I have your permission to tell a friend or family member that you and I are 'seeing each other'?"

"Seeing each other. Okay, agreed," he nodded. "We're in the 'seeing each other' stage."

She shook her head and put her palms to her eyes with a chuckle that was slightly forced. "You are such a twat. That is not even a fucking stage," she sighed. "Just, give me a kiss and then go take a shower. You've got glitter on you as well."

Men were so freaking obtuse.

()()()

Three months together

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"Would you stop that!" Fred snapped at him.

"Stop what?" Harry asked him.

"Sighing like that! You've been doing it every few minutes or so." He then went on to mimic his version of how the supposed sighing had been sounding.

Harry didn't recall making any sounds at all. Fred just liked blowing things out of proportion, just like his sister.

Ah, his sister. Ginny. The woman that had been super freaking busy since her training season had started up again and he'd barely been able to see more than twice so far this week.

He missed her.

"There!" Fred chucked a carrot stick at Harry's face. "You just did it again. And you did it while clearly thinking about how much you're missing Ginny."

"I… what? How could you even…"

"Don't pretend to be stupid, you can't pull it off properly. You miss your girlfriend, I get it. If you want to mope about it, go do it in your room."

"I'm not moping. And she's not my-"

"Shut up," Fred cut him off harshly before walking away from the kitchen and heading over to the couch.

To be fair to Fred, he'd heard the ending to Harry's sentence more times that anyone should have to. And to be fair to the relationship he and Ginny had, he should really be comfortable calling Ginny his girlfriend by now. Particularly if he was missing her this much.

She was only in training now, soon the Quidditch season would actually start and who knew how many times they'd get the opportunity to see each other. It wasn't just him that she was spending her down time with; she had family and friends and work friends. She was busy!

He wasn't too busy, which meant he had time to sit around the flat when he wasn't working and continue sighing to himself about how much he missed her.

When she first started back to work with the Harpies he made plans with his uncle to visit on his evenings off, but that still left a lot of time at home wishing that she was here.

He looked over at Fred and wondered if he could bring up the subject of Ginny with him have Fred be completely objective about his sister.

"Should I get you a thinking cap?" Fred called over to him.

"How do you do that?" This wasn't the first time Fred was able to read his mind.

"I'm observant," he answered modestly. "And I grew up in a house full of people that talked over each other, I developed a sixth sense about what someone is thinking when they grow heavy with silence."

That was fair enough reasoning.

"Did I tell you why I'm not calling Ginny my girlfriend yet?" he asked, wanting to lay it out.

"Because you're a tosser that enjoys defiling her good name and keeping her guessing," Fred shrugged.

Harry wasn't bothered by that point of view, he just moved over to join Fred on the couch. "If you truly believed that then why are you so okay with us continuing about how we are?"

"It's her life," he shrugged. "I learned long ago that I have no say when it comes to Ginny's decisions, I'm just there to back her up if she needs it."

That sounded faintly ominous. "So if I royally fuck things up between she and I?"

"Then you're out on your arse; things'll be packed up and final paycheck owled to you. So, I suggest you don't fuck it up royally." Fred said this with no hesitation. "Now, why is it you won't give in and call her your girlfriend? I was only seeing Marissa for a week when I slipped that into a conversation."

Fred had started seeing his new girl Marissa a month ago and he'd already met her parents. Harry had met Ginny's parents too, but it was via Fred, not via Ginny, so they only knew him as an employee of their sons. Marissa was nice, she fit in comfortably around the flat, didn't overstay her welcome or make things awkward.

"Yeah, but Marissa wasn't ready to hear wedding bells when you guys first met."

"Is that what you're scared of?" he asked incredulously. "For Merlin's sake, Harry! Ginny was with Dean for three years, and as I understand it he was the one to bring it up with her, not the other way around. She was never one to plan a pretend wedding as a little girl she just wanted to play Dragons and Knights with us."

He could picture that, Ginny liked to get dressed up for a night out with her girlfriends, but she had the heart of a tomboy. "Alright, well pile on the fact that she had been engaged when I met her to the fact that I had been out on my own for the first time ever where a parent type figure wasn't around in the mornings to ask what I'd gotten up to, and a week in I meet someone I could see myself settling down with. That's not much of a taste of freedom."

"You are a pillock, aren't you?" Fred said in exasperation.

"What?"

"Why would calling her your girlfriend mean that you're done with your taste of freedom? Life doesn't line up like that. You aren't ready to get married, fine, that doesn't mean that you can't have a girlfriend and still get some travelling done. Or, is it that, to you, freedom means having a taste of several different women? Because if it does, then you need to have this conversation with Ginny, not me."

"No, I don't want to see other women, but… do you really not feel tied down a bit now that you've got Marissa?"

"No! We've only been together for a few weeks yet though. And calling her my girlfriend doesn't mean that we're going to last forever, it just means that we're exclusive."

"Well, Ginny and I are already exclusive."

"Then call her your fucking girlfriend already and put her out of her misery!"

"She's not miserable!"

"Oh really? Because if I was several months into a relationship with Marissa and she wasn't comfortable calling me her boyfriend, I'd be pretty pissed about it."

"Ginny seems fine with it."

But had she though? She was all about her friends and family and she hadn't, not once, invited him around to the Burrow for dinner to meet them, or to come and hang out with her friends, even when she was joining 'coupled' friends. He would see her the days after she'd gone out with other people for a fun night out, which he didn't think too much about, and she'd just say 'it was fine' when asked how her outing was.

Two months ago she'd told him she was falling for him, and two months ago was the last time she'd brought up the subject of labelling their relationship.

"If I'm her boyfriend then I've been a pretty terrible one," he said in disappointment with himself.

"Yeah, you have been," Fred told him plainly.

Later that night, when he was already in bed, there was a knock at the door to his room. It was two small knocks, then the doorknob turned and he poked his eyes open to see Ginny letting herself in.

"Hey," she whispered. "Sorry to just show up, but I haven't seen you in a bit and I'm too drunk to Apparate home."

He opened his eyes further and she lit the tip of her wand and set it down on the dresser so she could slip off her clothes. She was dressed up; really dressed up. She looked like she'd just come from some swanky charity function.

"Where are you coming from?"

"The St. Mungo's charity for this-or-that. There were four of us from the Harpies there," she told him as she struggled to get the straps of her dress down her arms and then slide the tight fitted top of the dress over her chest. "Whoa, that feels so much better," she sighed. "I can breathe now, and the feeling is starting to come back to my feet. I had to dance with a few older gentlemen and that is not a lot of fun in heels. The food was good though!"

"You had to dance with other guys? Was that really required?" He didn't like the thought of that. She had her hair all done up on one side and her lips looked inviting, even in the poor lighting of the room. And now she wasn't wearing a dress so he was seeing what the men she'd danced with were likely picturing when they asked her.

"It was the polite thing to do, so yes. I was asked to attend, to look great, and to make sure to encourage everyone to come to our first match this season. And now I want to crawl into your bed and sleep, so scooch over."

He did as she asked with a frown on his face. Even as she chucked off her bra and panties to climb in under the covers with him completely naked, he still frowned.

"How old exactly were these men?"

"About my fathers age," she muttered as she snuggled up to his pillow.

"Gross."

"Hmm."

"And the topic of your 'availability' didn't come up?"

He heard a scoff hidden in the sigh that she let out. Her answer didn't come though. He waited a minute for her to say something, but her breathing evened out, she had already fallen asleep.

In the morning, he decided, he'd tell her he wanted to apply labels to the relationship in the morning.

And with her snuggled up beside him the rest of the night the morning came quickly. He slept deeply whenever Ginny was in his bed, usually because they exhausted each other with sleep, but also because her body kept his own nice and warm.

He left her to sleep later than him and went into the kitchen where Fred had already been and gone and left a nice little mess for Harry to clean up. Ginny arrived in the kitchen just as he was finishing up making an omelet large enough for the both of them. And she was wearing his clothes again, like she did every time she stayed the night.

"How are you feeling this morning?"

"Pretty good," she smiled weakly. "I drank a glass and a half of water before slipping into your room last night, that took the edge off whatever hangover I was meant to have this morning. Sorry I borrowed your clothes again."

"I thought you liked borrowing my clothes when you come over?"

"They're comfy, yes, but it's mostly because I never think to pack anything in my bag for the morning."

"Well, just stash some clothes in my drawer for yourself then," he shrugged as he plated their breakfast.

He caught her opening her mouth to say something, but then she shut it and simply thanked him for making the food.

"What were you about to say?"

"Nothing," she lied politely.

"Ginny," he pressed.

"Fine. It's just that my leaving clothes here, in your room, that doesn't, I don't know, trigger you or something?"

"Trigger me?"

"Yeah, you and your paranoia that I'm trying to tie you down and force you to want me," she said with some malice and stabbed her fork at her plate.

There was a profound effect that her words had on him, and how miserable she looked when she said it. Fred was right, he was making her miserable, and he hated himself for it.

"Start leaving your things here, at least a change of clothes or something. And I want you to start inviting me out when you go out with your friends."

She didn't look up from her plate, which she had been focusing on since it was placed in front of her. "I would rather they continue thinking I'm still seeing someone I'm not ready to introduce them to, if it's all the same to you. I don't need you making concessions to make me feel better."

Now he felt lower than dirt. There was a flush coming to her cheeks that he knew meant that she was very upset. And it was all his fault.

He was being a pillock, this whole time they'd been together he'd been behaving unfairly.

"Ginny," he croaked out, not realizing how choked up it had been making him to see her like this. He cleared his throat. "I want to be your boyfriend. I want to meet your friends and for you to let your teammates know that this is more serious than us just 'seeing each other'."

She took a sip of her tea and set it down, still not meeting his eye. "And I'd like to believe you." She then got up and headed back down towards the bedrooms.

"Where are you going?"

"Home," she called back. "It was selfish of me to come here last night and tell you about how I'd been out dancing with other men. I wanted to make you jealous, and I wanted you to see how good I looked after all the effort I'd put into getting ready for that event. Now you're talking about how you're finally ready to call me your girlfriend and meet my friends." He had come down the hall now and saw she was already fighting to get her dress back on. "Guess my evil plan worked," she said as she saw him there and adjusted the straps of the dress over her shoulders.

"This has nothing to do with how you showed up looking last night or what you said!" he argued. "I want this because I'm ready for this!"

"Really?! Because the twins already know, but they've managed to keep it to themselves. Do you have any idea what would happen if I introduced you to my friends? They'd let other people know, other people who would then mention it casually to other people, and then my parents will find out, then they'd be demanding to meet you. Are you ready for that? Because if you think that I'm the one that would put the marriage pressure on you, you are severely mistaken."

"What?" He didn't know what she was talking about.

"Oh yeah, it's come about in the last few weeks that the whole reason that Dean proposed to me was because my mother kept going on and on about wanting more grandkids and how she was married by the time she was my age. I've managed to tune it out all these years because she repeats it so bloody much, but Dean, no, Dean heard it a few times and 'got the hint'." She emphasized this with finger quotes. "So no, Harry, I will not be introducing you to my friends because with how freaking paranoid you are about being seen as committing to me in public I shudder to think what you would do if my mum says any of that crap to you."

"Hold on now!" he held up his hands and stopped her from leaving the room, as she was about to do. "You're saying that now that I'm ready to put a 'stage of relationship' label on us, you won't let me?"

"No, I'm saying that you can consider me your girlfriend if that's how you actually feel, but I am damned sure not going to be letting it get back to my mum that I've got a boyfriend."

"What if she tries to set you up with someone else, if she's so interested in getting you married off?"

"She's already been trying that and it isn't working."

"She's trying to set you up with someone?!" he asked in an outrage.

"Of course she is!" Ginny nearly screeched. "To her I'm a jilted single woman in my prime with a job that 'isn't meant for women'. She wants me married off, barefoot and pregnant, thinking that will make me happy because 'mother knows best'."

"Then just introduce me to her as your boyfriend!" he yelled back at her. "I won't run and I won't propose just because she says something."

"Well I don't believe that! And I'm not willing to lose you. Not now, I'm already too invested in you," she said with her teeth clenched and pushed his hand away so she could move passed him.

"What does that mean?" he asked, following after her, determined not to let her use the Floo until they settled this.

She twirled around so fast he wondered for a moment if she was about to take a swing at him in a rage. "It means I'm in love with you, you idiot! You're paranoid about relationships and somehow extroverted at the shop, yet seem to be agoraphobic because you never appear to go anywhere and that drives me mental, but I've fallen in love with you anyway. So just deal with it," she growled.

"Well, I'm in love with you too, you absolute nutcase, so you deal with it!" he growled back.

They stood there seething at each other for a minute, staring each other down, then Ginny's stance relaxed slightly and she glanced back over toward the kitchen island. "I guess I'll finish my breakfast then."

()()()

One year in

"Ohh, this one is even more adorable!" Ginny cooed.

"Wait, wait, this next one is the best by far!"

"Ohhhh! Little Harry was getting potty trained, wasn't he!" she said in a voice usually reserved for small puppies tumbling over their oversized paws. "These are so freaking cute!"

"Yeah, just you wait until it's your turn," Harry grumbled.

She waved her hand at him in disregard. "Please, I was the seventh child, I don't have photos of me napping on my training toilet, and even if I did I could easily say it was one of my brothers." Remus flipped to the next page for her and there was a picture of the two men napping on the couch when Harry was only the size of Remus' chest. "You guys are so cute together. Now, who was it that took this photo?"

"That would be my wife's mother, Andromeda."

Speaking of, his wife came into the room, belly first as she was very pregnant. "Of course, back then I was just some teenager that babysat your man there. He was a freaking adorable kid though, you're right about that."

Ginny grinned over at her boyfriend, who didn't look at all amused about how his baby book had been busted out the minute they had showed up, but that did make him look adorable. And it was particularly adorable when she found a picture of grumpy toddler Harry and held it up for a side by side comparison. "Harry, love, remove your glasses for a tick so we can really see how much you've changed."

"Did this really need to be the quintessential first visit with the parent types?" he pouted.

"Oh, I think it really did," Tonks said as she made herself comfortable on the couch. "We've never had the chance to get this stuff out of our system. And, I love looking at the pictures of you from when you were so little, of course I'm going to want to share them with the first girl you bring home. Who is quickly becoming my favorite Quidditch Player, by the way."

Ginny grinned and felt her face warm at the compliment. "Thank you."

"And now that I've said that, will she become my favorite babysitter to call on eventually? No doubt you've got loads of experience now that you're an auntie a few times over."

"Any time! The best part about babysitting is that you get to give the baby back to mum and dad after," she grinned.

Remus and Tonks chuckled, Harry had heard her say that before though, so his reaction was more of an eye roll.

"And what about the two of you? You've been together a year now, he's finally brought you home to meet us," Remus asked. "That's a big step for him."

"Don't I know it! Tip-toeing around his issues about relationship stages has made me the best of ballet dancers." It wasn't quite complaining, but honestly, they'd been together a year and every now and then it seemed like he was worried she was overstaying her welcome when she was at his and Fred's flat. She'd gotten in the habit of simply staying away from him that one week a month when shagging wasn't an option and making plans with different friends every other weekend so Harry could understand that she was still not trying to trap him into something and that her whole world didn't revolve around him.

It was getting tiring though.

Initially she had told him that she wasn't interested in marriage and settling down and all that, but, come on, that was a year ago. They've been exclusive for a year and only now was he bringing her around to meet his pseudo parents?!

She loved Harry, but the pressure she was feeling every now and then to keep herself in check and not expect more from him was getting exhausting.

"I'm not that bad!" he protested.

"Yes you are," the rest of them said as a collective.

"And I know where you get it from," Remus told him. "It's my fault," he told Ginny. "No doubt by now you've heard about me and my condition."

"It's the reason he kept rebuffing my advances," Tonks told her. "His weirdness about potentially hurting someone or letting them get too close emotionally, it's all rubbed off on Harry. Now Harry just needs a strong woman like you to help him see that it doesn't have to be scary."

Oh, was that it? Ginny wondered spitefully. Sounded like a lot of work that she needed to do.

Ginny pointedly did not look in Harry's direction and chose not to add to the conversation and where it was heading, instead she just took a sip of her drink and put the pictures down.

"So," she said to Tonks, "you would have gone through school with my second eldest brother, Charlie."

For the rest of the evening the conversation stayed light, and far, far away from whatever hang-ups Harry had about relationships. Ginny liked Tonks and Remus, she liked their quirky house and hearing some of the stories from Harry's childhood, particularly the embarrassing ones. By the time the evening was over she was ready to head home, back to her home where she could be alone. Tonight had been a big step for Harry and she didn't want to slip up and say something that might make him regret taking her there.

"So, I'm just gonna-"

"Do you want to-" he started at the same time.

"Oh, I'm kind of, tapped out for the evening," she told him.

"Right. Erm, just a walk though?"

"A walk?" She looked around them at the lamp-lit streets in the sleepy village. "I guess I could do with a walk."

Harry took her hand and started guiding her down the road, seeming like he had nowhere in particular he wanted to go.

"So. Those were my… folks," he said lamely.

"Yes they were," she nodded awkwardly. "And I like them."

"And they like you. They seem to really like you."

"Super." She looked around at all the cottages they were passing by and thought about how there was a shower waiting for her at home, and her blankets. If she had a dram of Firewhiskey before going to bed then she probably wouldn't spend too much time ruminating over whether this relationship was at a complete stalemate.

Harry had met a few of her friends now, and word had gotten back to her mum and dad about him and their relationship, and she'd flat out told her mum that she was never to ask him anything about his thoughts on marriage and babies if or when she ever brought him around to The Burrow.

More and more lately she'd wondered if the casual-ness of their relationship was ever going to change. One year she'd invested in him; they'd said their 'I love you's', they'd been each other's confidants, the sex was still great, and when she fell asleep in his arms everything felt perfect. Then she would wake up, someone would mention something about an event happening a month or so out and her first thought would be to wonder if it was too much pressure for Harry if she agreed on their behalf that they would go to said event.

If they ended things now, could they still be friends?

It broke her heart simply wondering something like that.

One year though.

If spending a year of your life being romantically involved with someone didn't register with him as some kind of commitment, then what was she even doing with him?

"The other day I realized I'm now older than my parents were when they died," he said, breaking the silence.

Ginny stopped walking upon hearing that. Harry stopped too and turned to stand in front of her.

"They were already married and had a baby. They had a very tight knit group of friends. They had ambitions and passions and expectations for their future, and mine. It just, all sort of hit me when I realized it. I wanted to bring you to meet Remus and Tonks because I wanted to see if they thought we were good together, and they do. I thought they would because I know you're great, too good for me. And you've been really patient with me and I know my hang-ups have been frustrating you to no end. I'm sure there have been a few times you've wondered if I was worth it."

"Harry," she sighed. It was all she could say though, because he was right.

"Wait, I've been thinking about how to ask this all night," he pleaded. "The other day Fred told me that Marissa was up for renewal on her flat and he asked her to move in with him instead." He took a deep breath, "so I asked how much the rent was on her flat. You've been there before, I know you like it. And I want to live with you, there."

Her whole body felt numb for a moment from the shock. "But… I can't even put you down on a wedding invite as a plus one, yet you want to live together?"

"What?"

"What, what? Harry, a minute ago I was wondering if I could even do this anymore, now you're asking me to move in with you?"

"You were… you want to break up?"

"No! I don't want to break up, I just feel like I've been pandering to your neurosis about commitment for so long, now suddenly you want to live together?"

He looked a bit heartbroken, and rightfully so, she thought; she'd been a little heartbroken every time she accepted an invitation to an event or wedding and needed to check the box that said she would be coming alone.

"How can you look so shocked, Harry?" Oh no, her eyes were starting to well up. "I know I said I wasn't going to start pressuring you for something more, but that was nearly a year ago. I had been hoping that you would come around to the idea that maybe being with me, even potentially, in your future, I didn't think that it would be you going from this limbo you've stuck me in, to you wanting us to live together!

"What are the rules I'm supposed to follow now? How to I tread around the fact that I've got galas and wedding invites coming in all the time that I'm supposed to have a guest with me? Do I still need to call on a friend for those if we're living together? Still tell everyone 'yes, I've got a boyfriend, but no, he never joins me at proper functions'?"

"Y-you've never said anything about-"

"How am I supposed to bring it up?!" she shouted. "We've said we love each other, I've got your approval to refer to you as my boyfriend, I've just properly met your parents, you've asked me to move into a flat with you and still I have no idea what I might accidentally say that will make you want to call this all off. And it hurts! So tell me right now, Harry, do you ever, five years, ten years down the line, ever see yourself potentially having a real life with me? Marriage, kids, travel, a home, not a flat, but a home. Do you ever see that for us?"

"Ginny," he said as he cupped her cheeks to pull her closer. "Of course I do. I'm sorry. I didn't know I was hurting you so much. I know we had a fight about it a few months back, but I thought I'd been better about it all. I've been trying to be better about it all. The first thing I thought when Fred told me he wanted Marissa to move in was that you and I should move in together too." He kissed her and wrapped his arm around her. "I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry. I want to go with you to weddings and galas. I can buy a suit, it might not be a particularly nice one considering how much they cost, but I can buy one."

"And this is something you want to do?"

He pulled back from the hug just enough to kiss her once more, like he was promising her it was with his lips. "I'll do anything if it means that you won't leave me."

She buried her face in his chest and could feel how fast his heart was beating against her forehead. "I don't want to force you into anything. I don't want you saying all this because it's some kind of compromise." A tear slipped free of its confinement in her eyelashes.

"It isn't a compromise. And even if it was, haven't you been compromising for me this entire time? Isn't it my turn?"

"That isn't making me feel better."

"I promise, I want this, I want you. And I want to get a cat."

She couldn't stop a chuckle from escaping her lips. "A cat?"

"Yeah. Remus never let me have a pet, and even if he did, he wouldn't have let it be a cat. I like cat's though."

There was nothing more he could have said to make her believe he was being honest. It was all she'd wanted to hear from him too. And he was right, she could have said something about the events she had to go to that she should have brought him to.

Oh, hell, he was saying and offering her exactly what she wanted most right now, she wasn't going to turn that down.

She sniffled and tried to subtly wipe her eyes before looking back up at him. "Okay. Let's move in together, and we can get a cat."

He hugged her tight and kissed her hard in his relief. "And I'll start looking for a suit tomorrow, and you'll start writing my name down on the RSVP's."

"Okay." She wanted this, but her emotions were still too all over the place to give him a proper smile just then.

()()()

Two years, six months and 13 days

Harry was calling her name from the bedroom, asking her if it should be three shirts or four that he should pack for their trip to Spain. Because he'd packed four pairs of boxers, but wondered if he might wind up sweating through his shirts during the days, or would they wind up being on the beach a lot of the time, so he wouldn't be wearing a shirt anyhow.

In the end he made the decision for himself, because Ginny had only been half listening. Her attention was mostly fixed on the ring she found in the shorts he put on the living room sofa that he planned on changing into in the morning.

This was Harry's mother's wedding ring.

And he did not make a habit of carrying it around with him.

In fact, this ring was normally kept at the Lupin's because they had a wall safe.

Ginny had seen this ring in several pictures and had always admired it; the tension setting, the way the wedding band was incorporated into it; it was beautiful.

And there was only one reason that Harry would be wanting to bring this ring with him on their trip.

He was going to propose.

The last time she'd been proposed to it had been sudden and completely unexpected; she and Dean hadn't lived together, they had been young, they had been naïve, they'd never fought, never made up, she'd never imagined a future with him.

She and Harry though; it was a completely different story. They lived together, they fought, they made up, they were still a bit young but a lot less naïve than they had been three years ago.

And this wouldn't be a surprise. Not now that she'd found the ring.

Now she had time to consider if she was ready for this next step before hearing the question.

Harry had come a long way from the paranoid commitment phobic guy she'd started 'seeing' when they first met; she'd lost count of the number of events they'd been to together and at each one of them he'd gotten along perfectly with her friends and teammates, he even went out with some of her guy friends without her as well. They'd been responsible for caring for his brother/cousin (she never could quite classify what to refer to little Teddy as) for overnights and weekends now and then and they'd managed that alright.

They were both settled into their careers now, Harry was the manager of the Hogsmeade branch of Weasley Wizard Wheezes and had come up with a few product ideas himself that he was getting a part of the profit for and she was now alternate first string, officially still second string, Chaser for the Harpies. So that part of their life was figured out.

Her mum had kept her promise not to bother him about marriage, so this ring wasn't sitting in her palm due to her influence.

This was his idea!

He decided he was ready to marry her.

And this time, she wasn't going to say 'yes' out of surprise and excitement, it was going to be because she was so fucking in love with him!

()()()