After Hermione finally emerged, the four of them played Quidditch for a few hours. After several games, Harry and Hermione took a break while Ron and Ginny practiced penalties.
"Harry," Hermione began as they watched the Weasleys duel above them. "You know I was trying to help."
Harry grinned wryly. "Trying, yes. Succeeding, no."
Hermione frowned. "I know. I'm sorry things have gotten out of hand."
Harry studied Ginny as she executed a complicated barrel roll followed by a behind the back finish that left Ron completely bewildered. The apple sailed through the left ring as Ron flew the opposite direction.
"Hermione, I know you care about me, and I normally trust your judgment. You've been acting a little off all summer."
Harry redirected his eyes towards Hermione's downcast countenance.
"You've been trying too hard to make Ginny and I work out. Is that because you're trying to make up for a lack of something else happening?"
Harry raised his eyebrows and tilted his head at Ron.
Hermione tinged pink. "I don't know what you're talking about. I think Ginny would be good for you, and you would be good for her, that's all."
"Really?" Harry said sceptically. "Because it feels like my friend got replaced with a columnist from Witch Weekly."
Hermione tossed grass at Harry. "I have not been that bad."
Harry laughed before his mood turned slightly sombre. He picked at the lawn. "She said she just wants to be friends."
"I figured. At least she broke up with Dean."
"You knew about that?"
"I helped her write the letter. Just give it time."
Harry lay back on the grass and watched Ginny's hair stream in the wind.
"Time," he muttered.
The next two weeks were as happy and peaceful as Harry had originally hoped for, except for the depressing news appearing in the Daily Prophet or brought home by Bill and Mr. Weasley.
Things between Ginny and him had stabilized. Hanging around with her quickly lost any awkwardness, at least so long as Ron or Hermione were there as well. Harry grew accustomed to her presence and quite liked the dynamic she brought to the group.
He calculated her personality as 20 percent Mrs. Weasley, 30 percent Fred and George, 25 percent Ron, 10 percent Bill, 5 percent Charlie, 0 percent Percy, and 10 percent something else entirely.
On the morning of his birthday, Harry was awoken from a delightful dream involving Ginny by a pair of hands roughly shaking him.
"Mate, you alright?" Ron asked.
Harry opened his eyes to find blurry versions of his two best friends standing over him.
"Were you dreaming or having a vision?" Hermione asked worriedly.
"You kept moaning something about Ginny," Ron added with a concerned look on his face.
"Oh, uh," Harry searched for an alibi. "I was just dreaming about the Chamber of Secrets again. Thanks for waking me up."
Ron and Hermione sat down on some boxes while Harry hurriedly adjusted the bed covers.
"Happy birthday!" Ron said as he tossed Harry a small card. "It's not your real gift, just something small I was going to give you."
"It's not just from Ron," Hermione added, shooting Ron a dirty look.
"Oh, right," Ron added. "Hermione added something."
Harry opened it to find a signed Oliver Wood Quidditch card, and a short pamphlet on common curses and jinxes along with corresponding ways to block or mitigate them.
"Thanks," Harry said as Oliver Wood waved to him while wearing his Puddlemere United kit.
A delicious smell wafted into the room.
"Mum's making you a birthday breakfast," Ron said with a smile. He stood and tapped Harry on the shoulder. "Let's go!"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "That's the real reason he woke you up. She won't serve anyone until you come downstairs."
The afternoon was spent preparing and decorating for a birthday dinner. Bill and Mr. Weasley came home early from work again, and Remus Lupin stopped by, looking gaunt and grim, his brown hair streaked liberally with gray, his clothes more ragged and patched than ever.
"I've got some news," he announced as he arrived. "But it should wait until after the cake."
Everyone eating around the large outdoor table was surprised when the twins arrived.
"Did you close up the shop?" Bill asked.
"Of course, we wouldn't miss this for the world," Fred said grimly.
"Happy Birthday, Harry," George said, smiling widely as he placed a polka-dot package on the table.
Harry shot Ginny a worried look.
Bill quaffed the last of the wine in his glass before Fleur quickly refilled it. He looked over to see Fred and George strolling through the orchard. George locked eyes with Bill and beckoned him over.
"I'd better see what this is all about," Bill muttered to Fleur as he wandered over to the twins.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't our traitorous brother," Fred said as he pointed his wand at an apple tree and cast something under his breath.
"We really don't know how to thank you for setting that interview up," George added, tossing a small object at the base of another tree.
Bill shook his head. "Leave me out of this, I was barely involved."
Fred's smile was slightly feral. "We're prepared to offer a truce. You helped them prank us; you help us prank them, everyone is square. We need you to start an argument about who is a faster flier, Harry or Ginny."
"And then when the argument is in full swing, summon two brooms and have them race through the orchard." George said.
Bill looked over at Harry who was warily observing the conversation.
"It won't work," Bill said. "They'll never fall for anything like that as long as you two are here."
Fred produced a small phial of clear liquid from his pocket.
"What is that?" Bill asked.
"You're familiar with our love potions," George explained. "How we included behaviour inhibitors?"
Fred shook the phial.
"This is – let's call it a behaviour exhibitor." George continued. "Have you ever wanted to tell off your boss but didn't because of the consequences?"
"Or wanted to go chat up that nice-looking witch but were too worried about her rejecting you?" Fred asked.
Bill laughed. "Mate, have you seen my fiancé?"
"Well, anyway, you get our point." George said. "This reduces your inhibitions, so you aren't worried about anything except what you really want to do deep down."
Bill took the phial and examined it. "You invented alcohol. Congratulations. What's your point?"
"We haven't marketed it because we had no idea how to use it," Fred explained. "But we just thought of a use."
"What does Harry really like to do?" George asked.
"Fly," Bill answered, immediately understanding where the twins were going with this.
"And Ginny?"
"Fly."
"And what inhibitions would keep them from flying?"
"Being afraid they were going to be pranked." Bill sighed. "You want me to slip this to them, so they'll agree to your little flying contest."
"Knew you were Head Boy for a reason," George said as he slapped Bill on the back.
"Two drops in each glass," Fred said. "It should kick in after exactly two minutes, and last for exactly two."
"Long enough for them to fly into a giant pie or whatever you have cooked up," Bill said with an air of resignation. "Fine, this makes us level."
The three of them rejoined the discussion around the table, with Harry and Ginny remaining in a constant state of vigilance towards the twins. After waiting a short while, Bill proposed a toast to Harry and summoned glasses for everyone.
"To Harry!" Bill called as everyone raised their glasses. Everyone echoed him. "To Harry!"
Bill threw back his glass and watched as Ginny did as well. Harry narrowed his eyes at the twins but swallowed his after a few seconds.
"So, Ginny," Bill said. "You've caught the snitch a few times. How are you at flying compared to Harry?"
The conversation quickly turned into a debate, with both Harry and Ginny extolling the virtues of the other as a flyer.
"There's only one way to find out," Bill interjected, summoning two brooms from the shed.
"Why don't you fly down through the orchard, around the beech tree at the end, and back. First one back is the winner," George said as he hauled Harry to his feet and frog-marched him over the brooms.
Fred pulled Ginny up and over to the brooms as well.
The twins sat back down as Harry and Ginny glanced nervously between the brooms and Fred and George.
"How stupid do you think we are?" Ginny asked. "This is obviously a trap."
"Yeah, I don't know about this," Harry added.
Bill noticed Fred glance at his watch and start mouthing a countdown to George. "Five, four, three, two – "
Bill redirected his gaze back at Ginny. A dreamy look came over her face. She looked down at the broom and then back to Harry, a hard, blazing look in her eye.
"Here we go," Fred whispered to George.
Ginny wrapped her arms around Harry and pulled him into a deep kiss.
Bill's heart dropped into his dragonhide boots as his mother put her hand over her heart and shrieked. He looked down at the phial with growing horror.
"Is this love potion?" he bellowed at the twins, who were staring wide-eyed at the scene unfolding in front of them. "DID YOU GIVE THEM LOVE POTION?" He started to charge at Fred and George, but Fleur grabbed his shoulder in an iron grip.
Harry stood shell-shocked for a moment before fully engaging in the embrace. Ginny jumped and wrapped her legs around Harry's waist as the kiss deepened. Her fingers ran through his messy, dark hair. Harry's hands wandered down onto the backside of her jeans.
Fury surged through Bill's veins, both at the boy who was manhandling his little sister and at his brothers who had caused it to happen. His mother's shrieking went up a few octaves.
"Quelle joie!" Fleur exclaimed, refusing to let go of Bill's shoulder. "It is so beautiful!"
The kiss had started right as Ron took a large drink of water which he was now choking on. He was rapidly turning purple from lack of oxygen as he collapsed to his knees, eyes bulging like a frog.
Remus looked frantically around, wordlessly begging someone to intervene. He twitched as though he wanted to disapparate on the spot. Hermione sat motionless, her hands gripping the arms of her chair so hard that her knuckles were white.
Bill's father stared both at the couple and a thousand yards through them as though he had just received the news that a dear friend had passed. He ignored his wife slapping his shoulder and calling his name.
Coming to their senses, the twins dashed over and separated the snogging duo. George tackled Harry to the ground and sat on his chest. Fred picked up Ginny from behind, her legs kicking the air.
Clarity slowly returned to Harry's mind, the dreamlike fog disappearing from his brain. Horror struck him harder than a bludger as George slowly stood and stepped back.
Silence filled the garden before Bill angrily shattered the quiet.
"You had me give them love potion!" Bill yelled at the twins, holding up a small glass phial that flashed in the sunlight. "This was your idea of a joke?"
Mrs. Weasley gasped and reached for her wand.
"It's not love potion!" Fred bellowed. He looked at the phial then meaningfully at George.
"Well, what was it?" Mrs. Weasley snapped.
George was green and looked like he was going to be sick on the grass. He cleared his throat.
"It reduces your inhibitions. It gives you the courage to do something you really want to . . ." His voice trailed off.
Every Weasley gazed at Harry with dawning comprehension. Harry looked at Ron, jaw dropped to his chest, and then over at Mr. Weasley who was blinking in a manner reminiscent of someone who had been Confunded.
Harry covered his face with his hands and remained on the lawn. He wanted to sink even deeper into the ground, all the way to the earth's core, never to be seen by human eyes again. The entire world went muffled, and Harry could hear his pulse thundering through his ears. The faint noise of Ginny shouting reached him, and he looked up to see Fred and George's face covered with green flapping bat-bogeys.
"Enough!"
Harry had never heard Mr. Weasley raise his voice before, and, based on everyone else's shock, it was a fairly rare occurrence.
"Fred, George," Mr. Weasley continued in a barely-contained tone. "I think you had better get back to the shop."
Two cracks sounded as the twins instantly complied.
"It's getting late," Remus added, looking up at the blazing sun still high in the sky. "Molly, thank you for dinner. It was delicious." He immediately departed as well.
"I know zat was a shock," Fleur declared proudly, "but zey are so perfect togezzer."
Mrs. Weasley frowned at Fleur, but Harry could have sworn there was a moment of satisfaction instantly masked behind her look of disapproval.
"Let's go inside, Ron," Hermione said, grasping a protesting Ron by the elbow.
Ron shot Harry a look that promised a future conversation.
"Arthur, Bill, Fleur, would you help me clean up?" Mrs. Weasley said as she busily began to stack dishes with her wand. "I'm sure Harry and Ginny could use a walk to settle down from whatever nonsense potion the twins gave them."
She pointed her wand at Bill. "And we need to talk about the role you played in all this."
Mrs. Weasley turned back to Harry and Ginny. "Run along now."
Harry was more than happy to comply, and it appeared Ginny was as well. With a brisk walk verging on a jog, they quickly left the Burrow behind and walked deep into the garden.
"I-I don't know what to say," Harry began falteringly.
"I do," Ginny said, stopping and turning to Harry with that same blazing look in her eyes as before. "It was the best kiss I ever had, and I owe Fred and George."
"What?" Harry was flabbergasted. Hope bloomed within his chest.
"I fancy you," Ginny continued, looking away from him. "I always have. I never really gave up on you, not really. I always hoped. . . . Hermione told me to get on with life, maybe go out with some other people, relax a bit around you, because I never used to be able to talk if you were in the room, remember? And she thought you might take a bit more notice if I was a bit more — myself."
Harry smiled. "She's a smart girl. And to think, I was giving her abuse this morning for trying to help. I guess she's been helping us out longer than I realized."
Ginny walked up to Harry and looked him in the eyes. "I've been a little bit of a cow to you. I'm sorry. That just made me realize something." Her gaze grew steely. "I want to do this."
Harry stared deep into her bright brown eyes, the same ones that had stared at him through a crack in the door the first time he had visited the Burrow.
"What about Dean?" Harry whispered.
"We went to Hogsmeade together once," Ginny replied. "He's going to be fine."
"Aren't you worried what people are going to say?" Harry asked.
Ginny grinned. "Sod 'em." She leaned in for another kiss.
A few happy minutes later, Harry and Ginny walked back to the Burrow, hand in hand. They walked past Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Fleur, who were still busy taking down decorations. Mrs. Weasley smiled at them as they passed. Fleur beamed and blew a kiss.
"I guess she's not too bad," Ginny muttered.
Mr. Weasley looked conflicted but waved politely. Bill ominously brandished his wand until Fleur backhanded him in the chest.
"Are you together now?" Hermione excitedly asked as they entered the house.
"Yes," Harry grinned, unable to control his smile as Ginny squeezed his hand.
Hermione squealed and dashed over to wrap both of them in a hug. Ron hung back and met Harry's eyes for a fraction of a second. Ron gave a tiny jerk of the head and sat down.