A/N: This chapter went through many many versions but I finally settled on this one! I think the first version was too casual and not satisfying at all, while the next-to-last version while romantic, didn't really do justice to their friendship. I hope I found a middle ground in that.
The title of this chapter is named so after the Taylor Swift song 'Dress', a song that is very fitting to this story and especially to these first few chapters.
Please let me know if this chapter matches my cursed emoji preview I gave on tumblr lol. I sincerely apologise either way.
"Good morning," Harry spoke in a low voice as soon as Ginny's eyes opened.
She was surprised he was awake before her. She sleepily slumped against him and he pressed a kiss against the top of her head. It was such a sweet little gesture that she almost groaned. She did not need her feelings to intensify even further.
She moved her head and looked at him. It was a good morning indeed. She could get used to this. She kissed him softly.
"What time is it?" she asked, stifling a yawn.
"7 AM," Harry responded.
Ginny sighed, her hand reaching up to caress his cheek. "Someone will wake up soon," she said, trying not to give into the sensation as Harry's hand travelled under the covers and tickled any piece of skin he could find.
"I locked my room, they'll assume I am still asleep," he replied, he had already anticipated her concerns.
"My door…?" she asked, prepared to stand up and lock it now if he hadn't yet.
Harry shook his head with a smile. "Locked."
At that word, Ginny moved and came to sit on top of him. Her hands slid across his chest. She bent down and kissed along his jaw before nibbling on his earlobe, which elicited a moan from Harry.
They all settled down into a corner of the pool and put their stuff down. The guys were looking around, trying to decide what to do first. Then the alarm of the wave pool went off and they ran to it.
After a few minutes, Harry came out of the pool. Ginny had the greatest trouble not to stare as Harry walked out of it, water dripping down his chest. She had just seen all that and more mere hours before, yet she couldn't help looking. Worried she'd be noticed ogling her best friend, she glanced down at the book she was pretending to read.
"Boy, he is in shape, isn't he?" Cho commented a second later.
Ginny resisted looking up again. "He likes to stay fit." Her eyes trained on the book, yet no words registered in her brain.
Then she looked anyway and regretted it immediately. Harry was brushing his wet messy hair out of his face with his hand. Ginny had to push a memory from the day before out of her mind, catching his breath beside her, his hand in his hair, the other around her waist. She closed her book, giving up on reading.
"Right, who wants to race down the tubes?" Ginny asked, pointing to the parallel tubes. It had traffic lights so you could race each other.
"Did I hear a challenge?" Harry's voice came as he reached them.
Ginny grinned and stood up. They walked up the stairs to the tubes, waiting in the queue for their turn.
"You have compliments from Cho," Ginny said, barely audible over the noise of the pool.
"On what?"
Ginny gestured towards his body.
Harry looked towards the ground and then back up to her. "How kind of you to pass that on," he noted.
"I guess I owed her one."
Harry's hand covered hers on the hand railing.
"I don't blame her, I was looking too, believe me," she said.
"Yeah?" he said with a smile. His eyes lit up at her confession.
Ginny only quirked an eyebrow, then turned around to move forward in the queue.
Ginny got out of the pool and walked to the table.
"Harry and Luna went to order the food," Hermione informed her.
She wrapped a towel around herself and went to the snack bar. She saw they already had their food.
"Did you know what I wanted?" she said as he caught her eye.
Harry shot her a look. "Please, a cheeseburger and fries?" he recited her usual order.
Ginny smiled. "What if I wanted something else?"
"You always stare at the screen for fifteen minutes and then get the exact same thing!"
Ginny did not want to admit he was right.
"You can have some of my chicken nuggets if you want," Luna offered as they walked back to their table. Luna was always so sweet but had not caught on that they were intentionally getting on each other's nerves.
Ginny smiled at her. "Thanks, Luna. But unfortunately, Harry is right." She saw Harry smile at that but he remained silent.
Luna smiled. "I guess that's what best friends are for."
Ginny and Harry shared a fleeting look. They were finding out exactly what best friends were for these days.
"What are the boys doing?" Ginny asked as she walked into the kitchen after her shower. She was drying her hair with a towel.
"They got their ball stuck in a tree. They tried with a chair, but the ground was not stable enough," Hermione informed her.
Ginny put down the towel and walked outside. They were trying to jump at the ball and push it out, but they were wedging it further between the branches.
She folded her arms. "You're making it worse," Ginny noted and the five men turned around.
"Got any ideas?" Ron retorted.
"Actually, yes," she said and she looked at Harry. "Put me on your shoulders, I'll get it out."
Harry took a second to reply. "Your brother can do that."
"I don't trust my brother." She was quick to reply, if she was sitting on anyone's shoulders, it was his.
"But you trust me?" he said, his eyes boring into hers.
"Not to crack my skull? Yes," she said, walking up to him.
He gave in and crouched down. She put one foot on his thigh and took his hand. Then slung her other leg around him and sat in his neck. His hands landed on her legs to keep her steady.
"You good?" he asked, focused on keeping her from in fact cracking her skull.
"Yep."
Harry carefully stood up, his hands tightening on her thighs to make sure she wouldn't fall off.
"That's not the first time you've done that, huh?" Neville said, sounding impressed at how smooth it went.
"Not the first time a ball got stuck up on a tree," Ginny commented casually.
Ginny heard Seamus make a comment that provoked a reaction from Ron, but she didn't manage to hear it, too focused on not falling down. It involved 'thighs' and 'Harry's head'.
Harry shook his head and walked to the tree. "Can you get it?"
"Give me a second," she said. She reached out to one of the branches and adjusted her position. "A little to the left." She had to pull herself up by the branches a bit but she managed to get it dislodged. "Got it."
Harry turned around and Ginny threw the ball back.
"Ready to come down?" he asked her, glancing up.
It was so tempting to run her fingers through his hair but she resisted the urge, that would definitely lead to questions.
"Unless you have any more balls up trees," she responded.
"Alright then." He reached behind him, hands on her hips and lifted her over his head. He put her down on the ground, holding onto her for a second longer.
She stepped out of his grip. "Well, shout if you lose anything else up a tree," she said with a wink, then disappeared inside.
Hermione shot her a weird look when she came back in.
"What?" Ginny asked, she assumed she had seen the whole thing.
"Nothing," Hermione said, looking back down at her book.
Ginny decided not to press on, she may get questions in return. When the guys came inside, they were arguing about who would shower first.
"Our shower is free, so you can shower two at a time," Hermione pointed out.
Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus raced to claim a bathroom, Harry stayed behind.
"You're not going to race them for it?" Luna asked when she saw he had not moved.
"To what point?" Harry responded. "Shower is not going anywhere." He sat down on the couch at the other side from Ginny. "Ginny."
"Yeah?"
"Mandela effect," he said.
Ginny adjusted her position as if they were discussing something important. She folded her hands in her lap. "I've heard of it. Go on."
Harry explained his conspiracy theory.
"One point," Ginny responded when he stopped.
"Why only one?" Harry frowned.
"Why two?" she shot back, she only assigned points fairly but they tended to bargain for it most of the time.
Harry bent down to her ear and whispered. "I'll reward you for it."
Ginny pushed him away, the nerve of him. He could promise her the world and she still wouldn't give him more points, it was the principle. "No, rules are rules. One point."
"Fine." He leaned back on the couch.
"240 for me. 238 for you," she said, glad she was still ahead.
"How long has that game been going on?" Hermione asked curiously from the table.
Harry counted on his fingers. "Five years?"
Ginny nodded in confirmation. "Something like that."
"That's some dedication," Luna noted. "What started the game?"
"One of our high school teachers was a vampire," Ginny said casually.
Both Hermione and Luna looked at them warily.
"Ask Ron!" Ginny said in their defence at their reaction.
"Someone said my name?" Ron said as he walked into the living room.
"Which one of our teachers was a vampire?" Ginny asked, knowing Ron would remember.
"Oh, Mr Santor," Ron responded without missing a beat.
"You can't be serious?" Hermione asked with a frown.
"You'd understand if you saw him," Harry said. "Anyway, that was the first theory that started all the others."
"Well, I'm off to bed," Cho said. "The pool day tired me out."
"Me too," Hermione said. They both got up and went to their room.
Ron grabbed a bag of crisps and plopped down between Ginny and Harry.
"You were right, this beats a party with Fleur," Ron said, offering her the bag.
"I know," she replied, grabbing a handful of crisps.
"Can you ever take a normal amount?" Ron complained, pulling the bag away from her.
"No," she replied gleefully, stuffing the crisps in her mouth.
In the meanwhile Harry got his hands in the bag from the other side.
"Really!" Ron complained, he got back up and sat down beside Luna. "These two!"
Luna smiled at him and was smart enough not to attempt to steal any more crisps.
"Harry, the bathroom is free," Seamus let him know before disappearing to his room.
"Thanks." Harry stood up and left to shower as well.
Ginny got up and approached her brother, who quickly held the bag closer to him.
"No!" He stood up. "I'm taking the bag with me. I want snacks in the car tomorrow and I don't trust you not to eat all of them." He clutched the bag and walked down the corridor.
"Well, I'm off to bed too," Luna said, closing her laptop.
"Me too I guess," Ginny said, wondering where everyone suddenly went. She wasn't complaining however, it meant she didn't have to wait for others to sleep before going to Harry's room.
Ginny walked to her room as Luna disappeared into hers, she changed into her sleep shirt and walked on to Harry's room and waited for him to be done showering.
He walked in, wearing boxer shorts, his towel around his bare shoulders. He didn't appear to be surprised to find her on his bed.
"You're a little annoying, you know?" Harry said as he closed the door.
She smiled. "What did I do?"
"Sitting on my shoulders?" he muttered, as if it wasn't obvious.
She feigned innocence. "I was genuinely being helpful. It was just a fun coincidence."
"Hm."
"I'll reward you," Ginny quoted him.
They were both not playing fair. He smiled at her with a glint in his eyes.
"As if I could ever be bribed out of playing fair."
"It was worth a try, you've been ahead for too long." He used his towel to dry his hair and shivered.
"Are you cold?" she asked as she noticed it.
"We ran out of hot water about halfway through my shower."
"You poor thing! I'll heat you up. Come here." She held out her arms for him to get into. He happily obliged.
Harry put the towel aside and sat between her legs and leaned against her as her arms wrapped around him. The back of his head rested against her chest and he closed his eyes.
She started rubbing her hands all over his chest, his skin was cold against her hands. As her hands came further down, she saw his jaw clench. It wasn't hard to assume why.
"Are you trying not to have a boner right now?" she asked in an amused tone.
He chuckled as he had been caught. "It's only working out because I had a cold shower."
"Hang on," Ginny said, taking off his glasses. She started massaging his jaw and temples and then started running her fingers up and down his nose softly, following the bridge of his nose. It would not heat him up further but she was happy to feel Harry relax under her touch. Only a few minutes later, Harry was asleep. She smiled to herself and wrapped her arms around him, her hands resting on his chest as it rose and fell with every breath.
"Did I doze off?" Harry said ten minutes later, shifting his position slightly.
"Not very long," Ginny replied. She rubbed his chest softly in comfort.
"You just put me right to sleep with that," Harry said, sounding impressed.
"Nice, huh?" she said, trying to read his expression. She enjoyed being able to make him relax under her touch so easily.
"This is nice," Harry said. "I could get used to this."
"Me too." She had responded without much thought and then realised what it implied. It was remarkable that they had said in a moment when they were simply enjoying each other's presence and soft touches. She wondered if he could feel her heart beating, because it had just picked up its pace.
Harry turned his head and looked up at her. His eyes locked with hers, his gaze soft.
Ginny was worried about what to say next, this seemed like the tipping point for them but she suddenly felt nervous. She offered him a smile but remained silent, not knowing what to say. She had known since yesterday morning what her degree of involvement was but was left to guess as to what Harry's was.
His hand came to rest on her arm. "I wouldn't want you to think this is just about sex for me." His cheeks were red at his admission.
She was glad to hear the words. Harry turned around to face her.
"It isn't for me either," she replied honestly, gazing into his eyes.
Harry glanced down for a moment and then looked back up. "I am willing to forgo my no-dating rule if you are," he spoke softly as he observed her.
Ginny felt as though an invisible force had squeezed her heart. All her worries from before disappeared like snow for the sun. Harry had crushes before but he would never act on them but here he was, asking her out. She couldn't contain her smile. "Really?"
Harry nodded without much hesitation, he wanted this as much as she did.
Her heart beat faster, the sparks that had started earlier this week were fully burning now as he awaited her answer. Her hands softly slid up his arms, moving on their own accord to pull him closer. She was lost, she was falling, and he'd catch her. "If you kiss me, that makes it official. No take-backsies."
Happiness and relief washed over Harry's face and she wanted to keep making him look at her the way he was looking now.
His forehead came to rest against hers. "Well, then," he said.
He paused for a moment, their lips barely apart, breaths mingling. Ginny closed the space between them and she could feel him smile into the kiss as their lips touched. One of her hands landed in his hair, the other on his shoulder to keep him close to her. They took their time, their lips moving together in a steady rhythm with a newfound eagerness. Ginny thought her heart may burst from excitement. Harry's hand came to her face, his fingers dragging softly across her jaw.
When they finally parted, it was still too short and yet it felt like several hours had passed. Harry buried his face in her hair and sighed happily.
"Congrats on your first girlfriend," she quipped, her arms wrapping around his shoulders.
He shook his head. "Don't." His voice sounded muffled in her hair. He lifted his head ever so slightly so he could look at her.
"I am sorry, I had promised myself to do that if you ever finally got a girlfriend, frankly didn't think it'd be me." She offered him an apologetic but very amused smile.
A smile appeared on his face. "Right."
He kissed her again, lips nipping at each other eagerly. She wanted to kiss him forever.
Harry pushed up and rolled over, pulling her on top of him. He watched her carefully, his hands coming to rest on her waist. "I am assuming you're staying for the night, right?"
The question was ridiculous really, he'd need to peel her off his body before she'd consider going. She moved and kissed his cheek. "This night and the next one and the next one…" she murmured into his ear.
"I like the sound of that," he said, his grip tightening.
Her hands slid down to his chest, her fingers running over his skin again, this time with a different purpose. Her lips landed on his neck, licking the sensitive skin. "Are you all warmed up or need some more warming up?" She coyly looked at him through her eyelashes.
His eyes darkened. "I could use some warming up."
"Wow, Gin, that was …" He breathed out intensely, his face in the crook of her neck.
Ginny smiled to herself, satisfied. Her fingers were dancing over the skin of his back.
Harry placed a kiss on her neck when he had recovered, then he pushed up on his elbows and looked at her. His face looked flushed, his eyes fond. "You look like you could use some fresh air."
Ginny chuckled, guessing he was the one in need of fresh air. She'd leave him his pride. "I suppose I could do with a glass of water."
They cleaned up a little and then he sat up further, pulling her up with him. She scooted out of bed and pulled her underwear on as Harry slipped into his boxers. She was looking for her sleep shirt when Harry threw it, hitting her in the face for the second time that week. She was starting to think he did it on purpose. She shot him a look as she pulled it on, he smiled back at her rather cheekily.
When she stepped towards the door, he grabbed her hand and pulled her along. The moonlight helped them find their way to the kitchen in the dark. She was sipping on her water when Harry's arms came around her again, his lips on her neck. She turned around in his arms.
"You're like an excited puppy looking for attention," she said amused, her hand coming to his face.
"You like puppies," he replied, squeezing her closer.
She stepped away and took his hand, leading him to the door towards the garden. She turned the key and opened it.
"You know what we do with overexcited puppies? Let them run around the garden for a bit," she said playfully.
He went along and stepped outside with a dramatic sigh. He looked back at her but she signed for him to go further. He went halfway through the garden and looked again. She leaned against the doorframe and shook her head with a smile. He turned around and stepped to the end of the garden and looked at her. She nodded with her widest smile and he walked back.
"Could've been kidnapped by the woods there," he said as he came near again.
She looked him up and down. "I think you could take them."
"Good thing it wasn't you out there, they'd just pick you up and go," he said, coming to stand in front of her, looking down at her to point out how short she was. She chose not to reply and got out of the way so he could go back inside.
She picked her glass back up and gulped the rest of her water. She was aware Harry was looking at her quite piercingly. She put her glass down and looked back at him. "What?"
He shook his head slightly, as if he was still busy forming the thoughts. She walked up to him and put her arms around his waist so she was flush against him and looked up at him, waiting for him to say. His arms unfolded and came around her shoulders.
"You would think, considering that we've been friends for so long, that us dating would feel weird but nope." He shook his head.
She smiled. "Well, give it a minute," she joked back. "Things have never been weird between us, have they?"
"We get along okay," he agreed, grinning. His eyes suddenly widened. "Your hands are on my ass."
"I just always wanted to do that," she admitted shamelessly.
"Why?"
She shrugged. "You've got a cute butt. Besides your hands were on my ass earlier, I was just evening things out."
He cleared his throat, his eyes darkening slightly. "That was for technical reasons."
"You sure?"
He nodded solemnly. "Stability."
She chuckled. "I'll choose to believe you." She kissed him shortly. It was getting quite late and she had not been getting enough sleep this week. "We should go to sleep."
"Then get your hands off." His tone was still playful, but he had a point. If they kept touching each other, they'd be getting no sleep at all.
She lifted her hands off and showed them. "There."
They silently walked back to Harry's room. Ginny made sure to lock the door as she closed it. Harry was waiting for her to get in beside him.
"Do you have a preferred side of the bed?" Harry wondered.
"The left side. Don't ask me why because I don't know. You?" Ginny asked, coming to rest in his waiting arms.
"As the eternal bachelor, the middle," he replied with a smile.
"Title revoked, you muppet." Now dating at the ripe old age of 23, he no longer deserved the title at all.
Harry frowned. "Why I thought you were going to cut down on the insults just because we're dating… I have no clue."
"Well, you'll have to give me time to adjust," she said, nuzzling against him.
"Yeah, I don't think you're going to stop." His lips connected with hers. Clearly intend on not getting into another full make-out session —or more— he kissed her softly, yet it managed to breathe life into the fiery feeling in the pit of her stomach all the same.
"Goodnight, Gin," he said, kissing her nose.
"Goodnight." She smiled.
Harry closed his eyes, one arm around her. Ginny tried her hardest to fall asleep, to even calm down enough to fall asleep but she was not managing at all. Now they were officially together it meant that at the end of the week they wouldn't go back to their usual dynamic. There'd be more of this. It made her so happy and excited that she couldn't possibly fall asleep.
"Can you sleep?" Harry's voice came softly, pulling her out of her thoughts.
Ginny raised her head and looked at him in the dim light. "No."
"There's that look again," Harry said, even in the limited light he could make it out.
"Yes, you can have a guess what that was," she said, tucking her hand under her chin to support her head.
Harry's eyes twinkled. "Really?"
"I wanted to talk to you yesterday, but I was worried you wouldn't want more," she admitted. "And I don't do well with rejection."
"Unless you're the one rejecting," he said.
She shrugged with a smile. "It takes practice."
"I couldn't be further from rejecting you, my dear Gin." He looked at her softly.
She could feel a blush rising in her cheeks as he said 'my dear Gin' again, but this time it had been even sweeter, it had more meaning.
Her hair fell in front of her face again and she sighed at it. She sat up and gathered it on one side, quickly braiding it and tying it with the hair tie that had been around her wrist. All the while Harry looked at her as her fingers moved.
"Am I still the only person who calls you Gin?" he wondered.
She nodded. "You're the only person who is allowed to call me Gin." She laid back down beside him, staring up at the ceiling. "Other people never get it quite right," she said, turning her head towards him.
He looked quite satisfied with that. "Good."
His hand found hers and tickled her palm before holding it, their fingers entangling lazily. She squeezed and he squeezed back twice. They fell into a rhythm of squeezing back and forth meaninglessly until they both sniggered.
"We're going to be so tired tomorrow," Harry commented with a happy sigh.
"That's not tomorrow, that's today."
"Not until I go to sleep."
"I can try to put you back to sleep and then maybe I can sleep too," she suggested.
"It's worth a try," he said with a nod.
"Alright. Dream of me," she said with a smile.
"High chance of that, I think. Night, Gin."
She kissed him and tucked against him. Her fingers found his nose again, running her finger up and down.
Ginny kept running her thumb across his nose. It took a little longer now, but he eventually dozed off again. Then she rested her hand on his chest, feeling his steady heartbeat under her fingers.
She felt like a teenager falling for a first love too fast and too intensely. She could not help it, it was Harry. She knew no one would hear it and Harry was fast asleep and so she whispered 'I love you' and pressed her lips against his skin, it would be her own little secret. She rested her head, tucked against him and closed her eyes too.
