Celina Gryffindor, requesting a sequel to Chapter 49- Charming the Neighbor, from Ginny's perspective.

This isn't a complete rewrite from her side though, it is the 'after' from her point of view.

()()()

Charming New World

()()()

For years she'd been crushing on the neighbor boy, not the Beta-Alpha Dudley, but the cute, sweet, smart-arsed Harry. He'd grown to be a fixture around her new home during the summer months and every year she'd grown more and more in like with him until it became love.

Since she'd first gotten the water wiped out of her eyes by Ron so she could blink up and see the neighbor that had accidentally blasted her in the face with the pressure washer, she'd thought he was cute. He'd looked apologetic, then eager, then concerned during their first interaction, and there was a hint of sadness to his eyes.

Every time she saw him after he'd come back from boarding school to live with his aunt and uncle for the summers there had been this hint of sadness about him, and a weight that metaphorically bared down on his shoulders.

She liked how he changed and grew lighter as the summer dragged on; he would come out of his shell more and share jokes, get more comfortable roaming about their kitchen and helping himself. And she particularly liked seeing the change in him when she'd begun dating her first boyfriend and how she would catch him looking at her out of the corner of her eye, or glaring at him. Then she'd liked him even more when he caught her alone in her room at the first party after she'd dumped Justin.

It had been three blissful days of the two of them sneaking kisses and touches, leaning on each other while they played video games.

That first year back to school when she was technically still seeing him had her questioning his motives, even after he'd sent her flowers and chocolates and other silly things throughout the year.

It had broken her heart to hear that he had to leave halfway through the summer before his final year at that boarding school of his. She'd gotten the lovely letters he'd sent her while he was stuck out at his other Aunts dog breeding farmhouse, but he'd never put the return address on the stupid envelopes.

Now she knew why.

Now she knew the entire story.

And it was completely horrifying.

She'd seen his scars, known that his relatives hadn't liked him, she'd noticed how introverted he'd been at the start of every summer, but she hadn't known.

Her last year at boarding school he'd been there as often as she'd wanted, sometimes more than was good for her grades. He'd sat on the sidelines and cheered her on at her matches, and after she'd blown out her knee when she was playing for the university team and hoping to get scouted, he'd been the one to get her to 'knock it off already' with her depression and tell her to get an education.

Initially she'd been upset with him; thought that he just didn't know what it was like to work so hard for something and have it taken all away.

What a bitch she'd been to think that.

Earlier today she'd been swamped with a balancing act of working on her assignments and trying to go through the list of wedding plans that her mother had made for her, and that she'd thought had been a lot.

But now, now she was sitting across the dinner table from her fiancé and he'd just given her the 'true' account of his history.

Magic was real.

Evil wizards were real.

Fucking Dragons were real!

And Harry's only living biological relatives were her parents' neighbors, and they were their own special kind of evil too.

He'd been abused, battered, called a liar by the tabloids of the magical world, he'd been hunted and gone into hiding, and apparently he was a war hero!

Their food had gone untouched after the first few bites, which was when he started telling her all this, now it had gone cold and she wasn't hungry at all.

"So, essentially, the only thing I had to look forward to over the last eight or so years was going over to your house, being with you and your family," he finished.

She had no words. When he started off his story she'd thought it was the beginning of a joke, or a story he'd read, as she continued listening she'd internally gone hysterical; wanting to laugh, cry, turn him over to the mental institution, hug him close and never let go. Now she was simply staring at him, transfixed and trying to gain control of her heartbeat and breathing.

"Ginny?" he said her name, hoping to get a reaction from her no doubt.

She still couldn't' say anything though.

"Do you believe me?"

Her mouth was open slightly, but there was still no brain to mouth connection happening, her brain was still processing.

Then he pulled out the stick that he told her was his wand and gave a movement with it, muttering something under his breath and their dinner dishes levitated and moved over to the counter beside the sink. She followed them with her eyes and then looked back at him.

A large breath drew into her lungs and she breathed it out. "You're a wizard."

"Yes."

"And you use magic regularly."

"All the time. I can use it for basically anything, including travel. Kind of like teleporting, you know, on Star Trek."

She ignored that comparison.

"And you're… famous… in your, er, society."

"Annoyingly so, yes. They, er," he ruffled the back of his hair and grew sheepish, "they're now calling me the 'most eligible bachelor'."

A twinge of annoyance was felt at that. He wasn't a bachelor; they lived together! They were engaged!

"And… these bad guys?" she wondered, moving on from her dislike of the last comment.

He moved his one hand to cover over the scar on his forearm, he told her they were all put away now, but the movement made it obvious that they had been the ones to do that to him. And it had occurred while he'd been in school.

Which meant that he was getting mistreated at school and at home.

'Well, not anymore!' she thought defensively. He didn't go to school anymore, and he was here at their home with her. From here on out he never had to worry about being mistreated again! He was hers and she was his and currently she was feeling a desperate need to make sure he knew just how much he meant to her and how much she wanted to protect him from any further pain.

It wasn't a particularly large table they had, so she could have gotten to her feet and walked around it, but instead she felt compelled to climb over it and slide down the other side so she was straddling his lap.

"You're never going to hurt like that again," she told him in promise as she kissed him.

A sound of surprise came from the back of his throat from her actions. "You believe me then?" he asked between kisses.

"Why would I not? Why would you lie to me about that?" she asked, barely letting her lips leave his own.

Harry's arms wrapped around her and he pulled her tight against his chest, she felt a tremor running through him. He'd been scared to tell her, she realized, and it was a justifiable concern. They'd been together for a total of four years, or there abouts, and he'd never even hinted to any of this. He'd been hiding an enormous side of himself from her, and quite successfully too.

He went to a magic boarding school and spent time in a magic society that was hidden from people like her. He had fought in a war that she knew nothing about and played a significant role in it too.

He probably didn't even work where he claimed he did.

Right now she didn't care about all those little details, he'd just shared something monumental with her and she wanted to thank him properly for being honest with her about it before their wedding. She started undoing his buttons on his shirt as quick as her fingers could manage then struggled with his belt once she'd taken care of his shirt.

"Ginny! Right here?"

"Damn right we're doing it right here." She hopped up so she could undo her own trousers and sat down on the table so she could pull them off completely, Harry assisted with that and stood up so he could lay her back over the table.

He slid inside of her easily, enthusiastic about this change from their normal sex locations of the bed or the shower… or the couch. She gripped his back and tried to gain some leverage by bracing her feet on his chair, accidentally knocking it over instead, then just wrapped her legs around him and grasped his arse as best she could.

In the years they'd been together their relationship had only ever grown stronger, now it was magical. She wanted to laugh and cry and, mmm, she wanted to cum. The best part about discovering sex for the first time, for each of them, was that they'd been honest about what did and didn't work for them, so Harry had learned quickly what set her off, and she wasn't shy about doing what set him off either.

She could feel her release building up inside of her and gripped his bum harder, trying to work her hands closer together and massaging whatever part of his arse she could get a grip on.

"Ginny!" he warned.

She grinned hearing how he said her name and bit down on his lip. "Harry," she purred. It always felt so much better when he was right on the edge, whether it was him growing harder, his movements more exacting, or perhaps it was all in her head, his arousal or pheromones just added to her pleasure.

"G-ahh."

She was so close when he finished, just a few more rotations of his hips and she was done for and crying out his name.

The cool surface of the table felt good against her arms and arse, which were the only exposed pieces of her skin that lay against it when she relaxed.

"Now that that bit is taken care of," she said when she could catch her breath, Harry's head was resting on her chest and his arms were still gripping her legs; it must have been a strange position for him to recover in. "What is it that you actually do for a living?"

()()()

There were boxes absolutely everywhere, all of them were about the size to hold a flat pair of sandals, but they held magic wands instead. Harry explained to her that each and every wand was made special; different tree wood, different magical beasts that the 'core' of the wand came from. He told her about how his wand came from Holly wood and Phoenix tail feather.

He'd leant her a copy of his school textbook about the different beasts out there that she was certain to not find in any zoological books she'd get at a normal bookstore, unless she was looking in the fantasy section. She'd heard of most of the animals from mythology stories, but to know that they weren't just stories was incredible!

When he'd brought her into the street where he worked she'd felt like it was some kind of virtual reality simulation; there were owls and eyes of newt, and people dressed up like it was Halloween, or the 1800's, women actually wore witches hats! Then he introduced her to Mister Ollivander, the owner of the wand shop. He was a kind gentleman and appeared quite enthusiastic about how she and Harry were together. 'Imagine, Harry Potter and a Muggle, getting married,' he'd said to Harry. 'Your mother would have approved.'

That last bit got Ginny right in the feelings because Harry had told her all about how desperate he'd been to learn anything about his parents growing up. Harry must have heard his boss say that before because he didn't seem as affected by it as he normally was when either of his parents were brought into a conversation.

Mister Ollivander had a gift for her as well, a trick wand. And it wasn't one of those cheesy trick wands that she could find in a joke shop, well, not in a standard joke shop. This one she could wave and say one of four different things and it would do what she said; rings of light would appear and float off in front of her if she said 'rings', bubbles would appear if she said 'bubbles', a confetti of flowers would burst out if she said 'flowers', and the tip of it could be used as a flashlight if she said 'lumos'.

For the last one Harry took out his own wand and showed her how it was the same spell to make his wand do the same thing.

The wand shop wasn't busy when he brought her in, apparently it was only truly busy one time of the year, when children were about to start their first year of school. What he had been doing with most of his days was learning the artistry of making his own wands. The night before he'd brought her in they'd lain in bed and he told her all about the 'Wand of Destiny', or the 'Death Stick', something that he'd been in possession of that would be terrifying in the wrong hands, and how compelled he'd felt to keep it for himself, not because it was so powerful, but because it was made so beautifully. He also told her about the first time he'd gone in to get a wand and how many different times Ollivander had handed him a different wand to try until he'd gotten the one he had now. He tried to explain how 'right' it had felt being in his hand and how he hoped to be able to make a wand that gave that same feeling to some other lucky child.

He'd also explained that he wanted to be working in the wand shop instead of anywhere else because it wouldn't require him to be out in the public eye.

Hermione had saved several newspaper clippings and books that had Harry listed in there. Some of the books were history books that had a subsection on him and others were where he was the entire subject but she particularly liked the children's story based on him; There were beautiful illustrations in the children's book and it really stuck with her about his tragic start in life.

Honestly, it made her want a baby.

Which she was too young for.

And, which led her to an interesting conversation with Harry when he came across her birth control pills in her bathroom drawer.

"You know you don't need these, right?" he said, plucking the round plastic container out of her drawer while they were both brushing their teeth one morning.

"Birth control? Er, we aren't married yet, and I'm still in school. I don't think now is the right time to be giving them up."

"No!" he laughed. "That's not what I mean. I take a potion once a month that is our version of birth control. You won't be getting pregnant until we decide it's the right time."

"Oh. Right. That," she said and made a face. She was sure that there had been tests done and focus groups and what not, probably for centuries, by magical scientists… er 'potioneers', but, "thing is, I'm not a witch, so how much of a study was done with that potion of yours between wizards and 'Muggle' women? Because it might work between a witch and a wizard for one of them to be taking the potion, but, you know, on my side of things it's the women that need to take the birth control."

He grinned while the toothbrush was still in his mouth, then leaned over the sink to spit and rinse. "Yes, well Muggle's are still very sexist beings," he teased. "The potion kills off my little swimmers for about a month and a half, and I take it at the start of every month."

"So, it's like a depo shot for men?" she said, trying to justify trusting the potions validity in her own terminology.

"Depo?"

"Depo-Provera, it's another kind of birth control for women. It's an injection option that is needed about four times a year."

He gave her a sympathetic look, "so it's either a needle every three months or a pill every day? How about I just continue to take a shot of potion every month?"

"There's also the abstinence option," she winked.

"Ha! Yeah right. If we tried that route it would wind up needing to be the pull-out method, and that doesn't have a great success rate either."

She agreed with him there, they both enjoyed their sex life too much to forego it completely.

She didn't trust the potion though. She'd seen him drink it; it was like a clear jello. He said it didn't taste like anything, and she did see him drinking it every month at the start of the month. She trusted him to take it, but what if he got a bad batch? What if one month it really was clear jello and not something that would kill off his little swimmers?

"Still need some time to come around to the whole 'magical remedy' thing?" he asked, seeing her expression in the mirror.

She rolled her eyes. "To be fair, if you see something that has the words 'magical remedy' on a product on my side of Diagon Alley, then you know it's not going to work."

He chuckled as he pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms around her waist, giving her a kiss to the top of her head. "Why don't you chat with Hermione about it?"

She could already picture Hermione's response to it all, book upon book would be presented to her along with an essay listing the pro's and con's, effectiveness, alternative methods and her summary at the end. It would likely be a several page document.

"How about we both just continue using our own method until we decide otherwise?"

And so they did.

And every other weekend Harry would take her somewhere in his secret world and show her places and things that she never thought could be real.

The most interesting weekend trip was when he took her to the village of Hogsmeade that he said was close to his school.

"It looks like a Christmas card," she grinned when she looked down on the village. All the buildings were capped with snow and surrounding the small village was a forest. There were no vehicles anywhere because no one needed vehicles there, and there wasn't any garbage or filth littered over the streets. It was beautiful.

As they walked through the main street he pointed out a few of the shops that he visited on his weekends from school, the pub and tea shop that all the couples from the school went to on their dates, and which he planned on bringing her to so he could finally say he'd had a date there too. Then a funny thing started to happen to her when they were on their way out of the village; she started to grow nervous.

"Are we sure we didn't leave one of the elements on the stove on?" she asked him.

"No, we didn't use it this morning."

"No, no, I'm sure we did. We must have. I just don't recall having turned the dial off."

"Ginny, I'm positive we didn't use it."

"Okay," she nodded, chewing her lip. She was sure there was something that they'd failed to do that needed to get taken care of before it was too late. "The vendors! For the wedding! Don't we need to have deposits given to them today?! What if we lose all of them and need to rebook everything? Oh, that'll be a nightmare."

"No, Ginny, we already gave the deposits to them. It's still a month out before we need to contact them again. Why are you so nervous?"

"I don't know! I know I'm forgetting something. Something was supposed to get done today that can't be put off."

The farther along the road they travelled the more panicked she grew trying to remember. If Harry hadn't been holding her hand she would have turned back already and tried to figure out the quickest way to get back to Surrey.

"The dog! We didn't put the dog in the kennel before we left! The entire flat will be destroyed!" she cried out.

Harry stopped then and turned to her, completely bewildered. "Ginny. We don't have a dog."

"Well something is wrong! We have to turn back!"

"Ginny, I'm trying to take you to see one of the most magical places that you'll ever see and you are freaking out over imaginary… oh shit… I completely forgot about that."

"See!" she said desperately and gripped the front of his jacket to pull him close. "You forgot too! There's something that we both forgot!"

But he was smiling, not looking panicked. "No, Gin, love, there're Muggle Repelling charms all around the perimeter of Hogwarts. Oh, I'm such an idiot. Hermione wouldn't have forgotten about that. Babe, there is nothing wrong. What you're feeling is a spell that causes Muggle's to find any reason to turn away from the school. Apparently it can cause fictional things to be the source of needing to turn back also. I promise," he put his hands over hers, "if we get in sight of Hogwarts and you are still feeling this frantic, I will Apparate us out of here and straight back to the flat, okay?"

"Straight back," she pleaded, desperately needing assurance.

"It'll be hours faster than trying to fly or take a train, and days faster than walking."

"Straight back," she nodded.

"Yes, just keep repeating that to yourself; Ten minutes and we'll be home."

"Ten minutes and we'll be home, ten minutes and we'll be home, ten minutes and we'll be home, nine minutes and we'll be home," she carried on beside him as he urged her forward. He set a quick pace for her to try and keep up with. "Five minutes and we'll be home," is what she got to before the overwhelming feeling passed her by. She looked up from staring down at the path her boots were making in the snow, and before her she saw a stone gate with winged pigs on either side, and beyond them was a magnificent castle with impossibly high turrets and a lake on one side. "I don't want to go home anymore."

Harry grinned widely. "Now, imagine being eleven, having come from my living situation, and being told that for the next seven years you would be calling this home. And you haven't even seen inside it yet!"

"Am I allowed to go inside it?! That was a pretty powerful thing I was feeling for the last five or so minutes about needing to leave. Walking into the building won't make my insides boil or anything, will it?"

"No!" he laughed. "It's just a school."

She was still skeptical; he'd completely forgotten about the spell that was in place to repel people like her, so maybe there was something to punish her for coming to the school.

"Come on, let's go talk to Hagrid first if you're worried about it. He's lived here for decades, he'll know."

She'd heard stories about the half-giant Hagrid and was looking forward to meeting him and getting the stories about little Harry and all his misadventures. Harry had invited him to the wedding and the RSVP had come back via owl with big splotches of tears all over it and a handwritten note that had very endearing misspelled words that went on about how happy Hagrid was for Harry and how he was looking forward to meeting the bride.

"Now, fair warning, Hagrid loves all manner of beasts that can be very dangerous. He sees the best in everything, and I mean everything. One time my entire class was dragged across the grounds here by these awful creatures called Blast-Ended Skrewts, and the name says it all. And he will likely try to hug you, which will readjust your spine. He doesn't know his own strength."

Harry kept on about his warnings while she kept looking around at the beautiful scenery. They crested a small hill and on the other side of it she spotted a small hut that had a large vegetable patch next to it where some children were working away at it. On the other side of the hut there was a paddock holding three animals that made her come to a complete stand still.

The largest animal was glowing and bright white, the two smaller were golden and shimmering. They were the most beautiful things she'd ever seen.

"Harry," she asked in awe, "are those really?"

"Unicorns?" he grinned. "Why yes they are. Which reminds me, I should see if he's got any extra hairs lying around that I can buy from him for the wand shop."

"Am I allowed to touch one?" Her voice came out in a breathless whisper.

"Let's go check in with Hagrid and see if he'll let you."

As they drew closer to Hagrid's hut the children working in the garden paused what they were doing so they could gape at Harry the way Ginny was gaping at the unicorns. Harry gave them a wave that they eagerly returned.

"Is Hagrid in his hut?" he called over to them.

"No, he's gone around the other side of it to talk to Professor Firenze," the older one called back.

"Oh, this'll be another treat for you. Firenze is a centaur," Harry told her.

"I've a feeling that if I meet too many more, formerly thought, mythical beings that I might pass out."

"Then I can take you to Nurse Joy and her Chancey to get a full work up."

Harry didn't miss a step as he said that and Ginny furrowed her brow in thought for a moment before registering what he'd said. "Oh, fuck off, that one is a Pokémon."

Harry had a good laugh then, and Ginny couldn't help having her own chuckle.

They spotted the two they were looking for at the edge of the forest and Harry kept a firm grip on her hand as they drew closer.

Hagrid greeted both of them in the way Harry had said he would, except for the hug she received she was lifted off the ground and when she was set back down she did fall.

"You have brought your mate," is what Firenze said in greeting to her. "A non-magical being. Yet I see there is a great bond between the two of you."

"A very great bond," Harry agreed. "We will be married soon."

"And you will have foals that will go on to make their own which will do a great many things for the world. I look forward to teaching your children. You must excuse me now. It was a pleasure to meet you," Firenze said, taking Ginny's hand and lowering his head as he lifted it and brought it to his brow before he trotted off into the forest.

"Does that mean the others have accepted his choice and are letting him back into their herd?" Harry asked Hagrid. Ginny was still stuck on the words that had just been said to her though, she'd read about how centaurs were some kind of prophets that read the stars; and he'd read that she and Harry would have kids and grandkids? Had he been looking to see their future?

"Yeah, they're alright with him being here now. Nearly all of them took up in the final battle, so that changed their stance on it. Plus, he isn't giving the students any more information about how they read the stars than what there is in the library, he just says it in a way that makes the kids listen," Hagrid told him. "Now then, Ginny, it's a right pleasure to meet you after all these years. Glad it wasn't going to be for the first time at the ceremony. 'Fraid I would have been a bit of a distraction for you in my suit while yer walking down the aisle."

Ginny grinned. "Distraction or not, I'm glad you are coming. Harry's told me all about you and how much you mean to him. I'm happy he'll have his Hogwarts family there."

Hagrid got a bit misty-eyed when she said that. "Come on with me now, I've got sommat to show yeh."

"Is it the unicorns?" she asked eagerly.

It was the unicorns, and she couldn't help the tears of joy rolling down her cheeks as she got to pat the foals. Harry took her inside the castle after that to warm up and introduced her to Minerva McGonagall, who wasn't as thrilled initially to find that a Muggle was in her beloved Hogwarts, but she came around. Ginny met a few of the House Elves as well, and Harry introduced her to Sir Cadogan, a knight in a portrait who went on about his own fair damsel that he kept trying to seek out in the other portraits around the castle but kept escaping him. Harry tried to introduce her to a ghost, Sir Nick, but she couldn't see him, she could hear him though, and felt a terrible chill when he passed near her.

As incredible as the outing had been, she was very glad when he transported them back to their flat and she was around the things she was familiar with. The staircases in the building didn't move and none of the pictures on the wall were following her with their eyes.

The experience did bring to light the sacrifices he was making by choosing to marry her instead of a witch and one small way she thought of that would make it better for him was to have two wedding receptions, one right after the ceremony that all their human, and partly human (Hagrid) friends could attend, the one's that knew how to pull off being Muggle, and a second one at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade where he could invite whomever he wanted that would have raised eyebrows at the first reception.

Which they did, and both receptions were a lot of fun.

After their honeymoon Ginny needed to get right back to her studies, and Harry to his apprenticeship. It was a year later that Ginny landed herself a salaried job, and a year later they decided they were both comfortable with the idea of bringing a baby into their family.

Every now and then Ginny would ask him if he felt he was missing out on anything by marrying her instead of a witch, and he would always role his eyes and say 'marrying a witch would only have landed me with a lifetime of regret'.

Also, every now and then she would bring up 'fictional' creatures and ask him if they were real; the fawns in Narnia, fake, Loch Ness monster, a joke from a local wizard in Inverness, Mummy's, fake.

Of course, every time she asked him, she would also ask Hermione.

Just to be sure.

()()()