A/N: This is a short chapter, and you may call it a filler chapter, but I think it's very important fluff-I mean-character development.
Next chapter, Sirius meets Ginny
As Ginny tried to get out of bed, Harry's arms wrapped tighter around her. Eyes still closed, a gentle smile appeared on his face.
"Let me go, I need to pee."
"If you promise to come back to bed," he told her.
She stopped wriggling. "I promise."
Harry released her and she crawled out of bed.
Two minutes later she walked back in, stepped onto the bed and pulled her knee over his. Sitting right on top of him, she leaned forward balancing on her elbows so that their faces were inches apart. "Is this coming back to bed enough for you?"
He nodded, his arms coming around her. "Oh, yes. Perfect."
She kissed him softly. "Morning." She met his eyes. "Are you hungover?"
He shook his head, his fingers going under her shirt to trace the skin. "Thankfully, no."
"That's good news for my plans," she said happily as she began to pull her shirt up.
His hands met hers and pulled her shirt up over her head. She bent down and placed kisses along his jawline and down his neck, her tongue teasing the skin. Harry's hands softly caressed her, exploring her skin slowly.
"This is a great start to our vacation," Harry said. "Lovely sightseeing."
She chuckled, meeting his eyes. "Visiting anything today?" she teased.
Harry turned them around so he was on top. "All kinds of places, but I hope to find my way to the Cave of Wonders."
"Such a typical tourist," she muttered with a grin. "You'll have to pay an entry fee though." She looked at him teasingly.
"Really?" he said. "I thought my past donation was sizeable enough to warrant—" Ginny's hand covered his mouth. He tried to catch her fingers with his lips.
"You'll have to come up with something better than that," she told him.
"We can do an exchange, I heard you wanted to try the special sausage." He wiggled his eyebrows.
She snorted. "I guess we have a deal." She bit her lip. "Just know there is a trail you have to follow down."
Harry had seen the bump start to appear over the last few weeks, but seeing Ginny stand in her bikini in the shallow end of the pool, it seemed all the more obvious. He looked at her quietly. He suspected he had already been caught but for a moment longer, Ginny stood with her eyes closed, face turned towards the sun.
Ginny opened one eye to look at him "Are you coming or what?"
He set down the towels he had been holding and stepped closer to the pool. He sat down on the edge, dipping his feet in. "Careful, there is a bump in the pool."
She shook her head in amusement and waded through the water. "It may be her first time in a pool."
"It is."
She came to stand between his legs. "Maybe."
His hands landed on her hips. He was about to lean in when a splash of cold water hit him. His jaw dropped and he looked at Ginny, walking away as fast as possible with a mischievous smile.
Harry's hand hit the water and he sent a splash of water her way.
"No!" she screamed. "The baby—!"
He scoffed, trying to catch up to her. "You should have thought about that before you started this, Weasley." He sent another wave of water her way.
She yelped as it hit her, going over her shoulders and down her front. She glared at him. "Oh, you're dead."
He walked backwards away from her, grinning widely. "No, Gin," he begged, holding his hands up. "Gin, I am sorry, I love you."
"That doesn't work on me, darling," she said. She was showing no mercy.
Harry's back hit the end of the pool and he crawled out. Ginny grabbed onto his arm and he let himself drop back in. He stood up in the water again, shaking his head to get the water of his hair, splashing Ginny in the process.
"Are we even now?" Ginny asked, her hands on her hips.
Harry nodded. "Sure."
He reached out to her carefully, in case she had any more plans of revenge, but he managed to pull her close without another attack. He kissed her softly. "You're so gorgeous." He watched as her cheeks coloured red.
She pulled herself up and sat on the edge. "Are you trying to get into my pants?"
He stepped closer to her. "It's not really like I have to make an effort these days." He leaned into her ear. "So no, I am not trying to get into your itsy bitsy teenie weenie polka-dot bikini."
"I can't help it," she said innocently. "I am just horny all the time." She pulled him a little closer, looking at him teasingly.
He kissed her softly. "You're horny right now?"
She nodded. "For sure." She looked at him eagerly.
"No." He shook his head. "I think it's going to fall off!" He pointed down.
She pouted. "Last time today, I promise."
His brow furrowed, biting back a smile. "I doubt that."
"Fine." She sighed dramatically. "I thought since you also have hands and a mouth that…"
He plucked her off the edge and her legs wrapped around his waist. "Maybe the water will cool you off." She clung onto him as he stepped to the deep part of the pool. The deeper he went, the more effort she did to hold him tightly to evade the coolness of the water.
"Is it working yet?" he asked.
"No. And now you're in so deep, if I let go, I'll drown," she complained, lifting her head to meet his eyes.
He smiled. "You can swim." He let go of her. "Go on then."
She adjusted herself, setting his feet against his stomach, then she pushed off. He lost his balance and went under. When he got back up, Ginny had swam to the end of the pool.
"Come, I'll race you." She pointed to the spot beside her. "I'll give you a head-start."
"You're cocky." He swam to her. "I think your aerodynamics are a little off."
She looked expectantly at him and didn't reply.
"Alright," he agreed. "What does the winner get?"
She chuckled. "A kiss?" She looked towards the end of the pool. "Two laps?"
He agreed and then tried to position himself properly. He counted down and then pushed off. He was doing well staying ahead of her, if only by a smidge. He turned around right before her, starting to feel confident when Ginny suddenly pushed right past him.
He wasn't behind by much, but he didn't manage to catch up with her. He looked at her with utter surprise. She grinned.
"How…?!"
She cocked her head. "Well…"
He raised his eyebrows. "What kind of trickery did you do?"
"I didn't!" She shook her head. "Remember how Matthew was on the swimming team?"
He gasped. "Matthew."
"Matthew." She nodded. "He taught me how to turn properly. Shaves seconds off."
He shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe it." He frowned at her. "Teach me."
"Nope." She shrugged, swimming to the other end of the pool calmly.
"Gin, teach me," he begged. He couldn't stand that she had an unfair advantage.
She stood up at the shallow end and looked at him. "No."
"I am sure we can strike a deal," he tried then. "I know what you want."
She sighed. "Alright, come over here."
Ginny applied sunscreen onto her legs, arms and face as she sat on the lounger. Suddenly Harry moved and put a dab on her bump. She shot him an amused look as he started rubbing it in.
"With the amount of ginger genes this kid has, it may come out with a sunburn," he said.
"I am pretty sure that's not how it works." She leaned back, letting him massage the sunscreen in. "You should do my back as well while you're at it."
Harry finished rubbing the sunscreen on her belly and told her to sit up.
"We're going to have to put that kid in three different layers on the beach and a sunhat… poor thing is not going to know what hit her," she commented as Harry began applying sunscreen to her back and shoulders.
"Unfortunately I have more redhead genes to pass on… Did you also hate sunscreen as a kid?" he asked.
She nodded. "Mum and dad did try to wrestle all of us to put sunscreen on but I hated it and it had to be reapplied and then it was all sticky in the sand…" She grimaced. "And then I got a really bad burn and I had to swim with a shirt the rest of vacation. I learned my lesson then."
"That's promising," he said. "You're all done."
She sat up and faced him. "I'll do you." She took up the bottle of sunscreen and waited for him to turn. "Maybe she'll be more like you."
Harry turned around on his lounger and shivered as Ginny squirted the sunscreen straight onto his back. "I don't know if that's any better."
"One of us will have to be the stern parent and insist." She started rubbing the sunscreen into his back, going up to his neck and shoulders.
"You know it's going to be you, right?" Harry said.
She scoffed. "When did we decide that?"
"You know how your mum is super nice until she gets angry and then she's pretty scary?" he said, glancing over his shoulder.
"Sure," she said.
"You get that from her," he said carefully.
She paused and looked at him. "Excuse me!"
He turned to her. "It's not a bad thing! But you can also get a little scary when you're angry." He locked eyes with her. "People know not to mess with you."
"But I want to be the fun parent," she said softly.
"No one said you can't be both," Harry said. "I can be the responsible parent and you can be the 'oh shit, if mum is angry I really fucked up' parent."
She squinted at him. "And you'll be the responsible one?"
"I am a worrier," he said. "It'll come naturally to me."
She told him to turn back around so she could finish applying the sunscreen. "Am I that scary?"
"No," he said softly. "I just know when it's better to leave you alone."
"I swear to God, Harry," Ginny muttered, her cheeks red as she focused. "You're going to get us all killed."
"No, no." He shook his head quickly. "We are going to make it."
She sighed. "I use the witch's potion. This better fucking work or we're toast."
The tension rose for a few minutes. Ginny stared at the board as Harry made his move. Then it happened.
"NO!" Ginny shot off her seat. "The trolls are going to get you! I told you! We are all doomed and it's your fault!"
The door clicked and they looked up to find his mum had walked in.
"Please tell me you didn't spend your whole day murdering each other?" Lily asked warily.
"No, no," Ginny assured her. "Not me. The trolls will though."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Then get inside the castle, you wimp."
"No can do," she replied. "If your dumb-ass wants to die out there, I can't leave you behind, I'll just have to die too."
"Aw," Lily said as she walked up to them. "That's true love, Harry."
"Sure."
"You did not in fact yell at each other the whole day, right?" Lily asked.
Harry shook his head with a smile. "We swam and sunbathed and napped…"
"It was a really fun day," Ginny confirmed. "Good start of our staycation."
"Good." Lily nodded in approval. "I saw Sirius today, he is very excited to meet you."
Ginny grimaced. "Should I be worried?"
"Not at all," Lily reassured her. "He has already made up his mind about liking you. He just wants to meet you. He is basically family so…" She smiled. "It'll be good."
"I described you when we talked a while back and he told me that you sounded perfect for me," Harry admitted. "He will be incredibly disappointed however that he is not godfather."
"He'll get over it," Lily said. She looked at Ginny. "He is all about found family and once you're added to his, that's for life. He's like that."
"Let's hope then that he likes me," Ginny said. "Would bribery work? If he doesn't like me he can forget about meeting the baby."
Lily laughed. "Oh, that will definitely work."
Harry turned to Ginny. "Gin, don't even worry about it. You're so charming, he will just have to like you."
Lily cleared her throat. "And that's my cue to leave."
