AN: This one-shot is brought to you by a prompt from Celine Gryffindor who wanted to see what it would have been like if Ginny and Harry were raised as siblings, and how they would deal when they realize that they don't see each other as siblings anymore.
It also crosses of the 'Trying Not To Get Caught' Bingo Smut tile!
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Careful
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It had been months now since they'd kissed, and it was wrong. Or at least it should be wrong.
It had been an emotionally fueled moment that had completely taken her by surprise and since then it was nearly all she could think about. She would relive all her memories of them together and begin parsing them for any indication that his feelings about her had changed. Then noticed that her thoughts about those moments had changed as well.
If anyone heard about the fact that they had kissed or about how she felt about him, knowing their history, they would think that it was disgusting.
That was why she would have these conflicting thoughts every once and a while about whether it was a good idea.
But the thing was that he wasn't actually her brother. They had simply been raised together. Didn't noble families at one point raise children together that were in arranged marriages with each other?
Harry Potter had come into their family before Ginny could say her first word. He had shared a room with Ron when the two of them were still in cribs. All of the make-believe adventures she'd gone on, he had been a part of.
Harry had really acted like a brother to her all the way up until she got her first real boyfriend, then she'd noticed there had been a little shift in their relationship.
Before Dean, Ginny was able to sit down beside Harry on the couch in the Common Room and cuddle up for comfort or warmth, just as she would have with Ron or the twins. But then Harry had started acting a little strange.
Ron and the twins were a little off about realizing their little sister wasn't so little anymore, but that didn't stop them from carrying on with her how they always had. Harry just didn't though. He had started being a little more quiet around her, moving over to the armchair or sitting on the floor if she headed towards him when he was on the couch.
She hadn't known what to make of it really.
In the end she'd chalked it up to him simply not liking the fact that she was seeing Dean and was trying not to let himself come down on her about it, like her blood brothers had. But then she and Dean had broken up, and Harry had still been acting a little odd. Then they started fighting about everything; Quidditch, manners, annoying sounds the other made, clothing choices, friend choices, any little difference of opinion, it just never stopped.
By the end of her fifth year she didn't know what was going on with Harry but he was not the boy she knew anymore. They all knew that Voldemort was after him, and his irregular shared consciousness with the bastard had certainly been weighing on him, but why that meant he had to be lashing out at her at every turn she just couldn't understand.
Then she did. And she didn't know what to make of it at the time.
Because it was huge.
Ginny's mum and dad had done all they could to make sure Harry was raised just like the rest of them. None of the Weasley kids thought it odd that this black haired and bespeckled child was being raised with them. For her, at least, Harry had simply always been there.
Her older brothers must have been told the truth before they had gone off to Hogwarts, but for Ginny, Ron and Harry they were told when the boys were ten and she was nine; the real story of how it was that Harry came to live with them.
Ginny had known that Harry was born to different parents, and he'd lost them in the last war, but she didn't realize until then that there was more to the story. And it didn't change her relationship with him when she found out either, nor when things started happening to him every year of his schooling. She and her brothers and parents had simply stood by him and supported him when he needed it.
He had simply been her annoying older brother that had developed a chip on his shoulder.
Right up until Bill and Fleur's wedding.
She knew that he and Ron were planning on taking off right after the wedding with Hermione, so did everyone else really.
The fact that they were going out into the unknown like that must have been the reason Harry had taken that chance and done it.
Ginny had just been trying to let off some steam by the pond before the guests were due to arrive and he'd been there, out of sight of everyone else, brooding like he did.
Well, she'd given him a tongue lashing for something or other, probably his poor attitude. Thing was, she couldn't remember what it was exactly she'd been laying into him about, because he'd kissed her to shut her up.
And boy, did it ever shut her up. Her brain had completely shut off when it happened, her arm had still been raised in gesture while his hand was cupping the back of her head and his lips were moving against hers. It should have felt wrong, she should have pushed him away.
But it didn't, and she didn't.
Instead she'd responded to him. She started kissing him back, just as feverously as he'd been kissing her. It felt right. It was confusing, and right.
When he pulled back she had no words. His deep and imploring eyes were asking her to not think he was lecherous or perverted. His expression was completely wracked with guilt and longing.
That was the moment that it all clicked.
He had been trying to distance himself from her. He had been intentionally starting fights with her. It was all because he'd wanted to do that to her; kiss her like he'd just kissed her. All his odd behavior had started after she'd gotten serious with her first boyfriend because Harry had realized he was jealous.
Then he was gone before she had recovered from the shock.
Harry had porter duties that he had to attend to, and she herself had only had five or so minutes to cool off outside before she was expected to be back inside and ready for the ceremony, since she was a bridesmaid.
They hadn't had any chance to talk about what happened between them, and she didn't know what she would have said to him even if they did.
For months after she'd been confused about her feelings for him. He wasn't her brother, he wasn't even a blood relation, but they'd been raised side by side. They had made mud pies together and he'd been there for all of her major life events, even going so far as to save her life when she was eleven.
That kiss should have felt wrong.
But it didn't. It was the most amazing kiss she'd ever experienced. Not that she'd experienced many kisses of course.
And then there was the letter he'd sent her for her sixteenth birthday. He was in hiding and trying to accomplish a nearly impossible task, and yet he'd remembered her birthday and sent her a lovely letter about why he'd taken what he believed might have been the only opportunity to do what he did.
He loved her.
And not in the way he'd been raised to love her, in the way that her father loved her mother, in the way that Harry was sure his own father had loved his own mother.
Harry described every little thing about her that he had fallen in love with and it had been so heart wrenching to see it all spelled out for her on those pieces of parchment.
Ginny had never been a vain girl, growing up with seven, well, six, brothers she hadn't often stared into the mirror or spent a long time figuring out what looked good on her, there had always been too much else she could have been doing.
But after reading his letter she started paying attention to the things about herself that Harry claimed to have fallen in love with; the color of her eyes, how she ground her back teeth to stop herself from arguing with someone, how quick she was to defend others. There had been more that he'd written there, with the story of when he'd first realized he was in love with her and how his struggle to deal with that had him pushing her away.
During her sixth year at Hogwarts she kept doing those things that Harry loved about her, but she started feeling like she was doing them because Harry loved it about her. She'd spent time reflecting on everything she knew and loved about Harry, questioning whether she could fall in love with him like that as well.
Ginny had been terrified for Harry and Ron the whole time they were gone. When she came through the passageway to the Room of Requirement with Fred and George in the Battle of Hogwarts and seen Harry for the first time again it really hit her how much she'd been longing to see him again.
And how much her feelings toward him had changed in the course of that year apart.
He wasn't the brother type figure that she'd grown up with, that much had been obvious for a while now. But coming into the Room of Requirement and seeing him there, ready for Battle, she realized he was a man, and he was still in love with her.
His look alone said as much.
There was something that purred in her chest when she saw him there. It was telling her that when the day was done and they'd won, she was going to be kissing him again.
That wasn't what happened though.
They won the war of course, but there had been a lot of loss as well.
Fred, Remus, Tonks, Colin, the list of friends and loved one's went on and on. Ginny and Harry didn't get the opportunity to so much as talk to each other until days after.
And that brings us to now.
Now she was pacing in her room. It had been a full month since the Battle of Hogwarts. The funerals had all been had, Hogwarts had been mended, the Ministry had returned to its former glory, with a much better leadership under Kingsley Shacklebot than any other Minister she'd ever heard of, and the wizarding world was righting itself once more.
The Golden Trio had been pulled away for questioning and forced into press conferences and volunteering their time here and there. Ginny had barely had five minutes with either of them. Even Hermione, who was sleeping in Ginny's room. The girl would come back from whatever duty bound event she'd been doing for the day and fall instantly asleep, that or she'd been out necking with Ron somewhere.
But Ginny hadn't had any opportunities to be alone with Harry so they could talk.
And she wasn't entirely sure what she would say either.
Her dreams hadn't been full up of she and Harry saying anything to each other. They had actually been full of the two of them getting up to everything but talking. Her libido seemed to be wanting to make a few decisions for her that her mind wouldn't stop processing the ramifications of.
But they were in a strange situation here. And he didn't even know that she had been developing these feelings of returned affection over these last few months. He could easily have assumed she was giving him looks of pity and not longing.
She couldn't wait any longer. He was going to be heading to Australia with Hermione and Ron to track down Hermione's parents. Ginny couldn't make him wait anymore, and she certainly didn't want to either.
At least twenty minutes ago Ginny had heard Hermione and Ron sneaking up to Ron's room, Harry had moved into Percy's old room on the floor below her. Now was the time.
Ginny crept as quietly as she could down the stairs, and didn't bother with knocking on the door, she simply turned the knob as slowly as she could so that it would tell him that he was about to have a visitor. It was what the kids all did. Any time one of them wanted to sneak into the others room they simply turned the knob very slowly instead of knocking.
She had hoped he wouldn't be sleeping, and he wasn't. Harry was sitting at the desk by the window, turned sideways in his chair and giving her a concerned look. His jaw was locked and tense, and his eyes were almost pleading with her to be gentle about telling him he was crazy and that they'd never work out.
Ginny gave a pointed look at the door and Harry raised his wand, casting a silencing and locking charm so they wouldn't be overheard.
The click of the lock and immediate muffling of all the minute sounds from outside the room let her shoulders relax and the tension slip out of her. Now there was just she and him.
His eyes turned downwards, his expression turning into the sad and defeated look that she'd only seen on his face a handful of times before. Her heart ached when she saw it, it was absolutely not her intention to hurt him, and before he could open his mouth to tell her it was 'alright' in the way he did when what it really meant was 'I'll live if you want to stomp all over me and destroy my dreams', she had crossed the room.
Her body must have given up on letting her brain hold her back anymore, because it was her body that was in control now. Striding across the room she immediately came to her knees beside his chair and wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and pulled his lips to hers.
Months of agonizing, questioning, the self-doubt, it all faded away when their lips met again. Whatever this was between them, it couldn't be wrong when it felt so right.
There was almost a relieved cry that emanated from Harry's lips when the space between them disappeared. It was a whimper of liberation, and Ginny understood exactly what it was that cry meant. Because her body too was completely giving in to all the repressed feelings that other peoples potential opinions had been standing guard around.
It became an intense kiss from the moment Harry's arms came around her. He pulled her against him and stood up from his chair, bring her with him to his feet. Ginny's arms locked around his neck and she threw her all into making this kiss worth all the waiting and wondering.
It was only as their brains grew to dangerous levels of requiring oxygen that they pulled away from each other's mouths, resting their foreheads against the other and gulping in deep breaths.
Ginny had her eyes closed as she savored the feel of simply being in his arms. She had never been kissed like that before, nor had someone's arms around her making her feel so much like this was the way things should be, always.
"Ginny," he whispered.
She sucked in a deep breath through her nose and let it out, readying herself for this next part. The kissing him was one thing, trying to figure out their lives and how they were going to move forward from here was quite another.
"Harry," she managed to whisper back.
He ran his hand upwards along her spine and into her hair, encouraging her to look up at him as he pulled his head back. She opened her eyes and found herself staring deep into his gorgeous green one's.
They absolutely had to talk about this. There was no way they couldn't.
It was merely with a slight raise of the center of his eyebrows that he asked her. It was all the question that was necessary. It was him asking her to tell him everything she thought of his letter, and everything that had led her to come to his room tonight.
But how did she put all of that into words?
"It took me by surprise," she managed finally.
The question on his face faded away, a soft smile formed on his lips and his eyes grew slightly brighter as he relaxed. His arms were surer around her and she felt perfectly comfortable and safe standing here just like this with him.
In his bedroom and in his arms.
Mentally she was shaking her head and wondering what the hell her past self would have thought of seeing this moment only one year ago today. At this point last year they would have been getting ready to pack up and head home from Hogwarts and Ginny was pretty sure that Harry and she were in a row over something stupid. Then she had chalked it up to her OWL stress and You-Know-Who.
"I just couldn't leave, possibly never coming back, without telling you," he murmured.
Ginny let out a small chuckle, "yeah, you told me alright."
He brought his hand around to the side of her face, his thumb running along the crease in her cheek. "I missed this smile."
"Not surprising, you haven't seen it for quite a long time," she raised her eyebrows at him, referring to his behavior to her when he was in pursuit of driving them apart.
"I'm sorry," he sighed. "Perhaps it wasn't the best way to go about it. But I just didn't know how to deal with my feelings for you."
Ginny nodded. "I understand that. I've spent the last year going over how potentially wrong this is."
"Trust me, I've been over it a million times in my head. But it was how we were raised, not what we are," he said determinedly. "When I saw you snogging Dean that time, I had this blind fury shoot through me, and it took ages, and a rather racy dream to realize I wasn't angry, I was jealous."
Ginny's whole body sagged with an emotional weakness at that. His letter had mentioned that scene with her and Dean being the starting point for him, but to hear it from his lips was something else entirely.
"I've read and reread your letter a hundred times," she told him. "And I am incredibly grateful that you sent it to me after you'd kissed me. If it hadn't been for that, I don't know," she paused to try and formulate the right wording. "When you kissed me before the wedding, it didn't feel wrong. It felt incredible, and if you hadn't have done that, I don't know how I might have responded to reading your letter."
"I'm that good of a kisser, am I?" he prodded softly.
She let out a soft chuckle, "apparently. And I was pretty sure you hadn't been honing your skills with someone, so I knew there had to be real emotions behind it."
"But you still thought of me as a …" he couldn't say the word.
She understood his inability to say it. To nearly everyone, they essentially were siblings. But they weren't. He wasn't ever officially adopted into the Weasley family, he was simply raised alongside she and Ron with their other siblings.
They had all built forts together and played make-believe, learned how to fly their brooms, but Harry was not her brother.
"It took that shock to open my eyes really," she admitted.
Harry nodded, "it was that shock of you and he that made me realize it as well." He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.
It was such a simple gesture, and she closed her eyes, leaning forward and their lips touched again. Not feverously this time, they brushed their lips together and moved in slow and tender motions against each other's with all the time in the world before them.
Ginny felt any remaining stress she had simply melt away as his lips caressed her own, there was this lovely sensation in her head that made it feel like she was entering Nirvana. He tasted slightly of the hot chocolate he drank before bed and it tasted even more delicious on his lips than it did in a mug.
It was minutes later when they finally broke apart again.
"But what are we doing?" Ginny asked, her hands now fisted in the front of his shirt to regain herself. "What do we tell the others? What, what is this?"
"I want it to be a lot of things," he admitted to her. "But I also know that this will be a big shock to everybody."
Ginny fought not to let out a single loud laugh in his face at the ridiculousness of that. Of course it would be a big shock. There would be all kinds of things said about the two of them that they were by no means in a place to be able to bear through it all as a united front.
"Time," she managed to get out. "We need to give this time before…"
"But you want to?" he asked, looking for assurances.
"I do," she told him, a sappy smile spreading across her face. "I want to give this a chance, very badly."
()()()
Harry was chewing his lip. It was what he did when he was thinking and trying to come up with a solution to an unnerving problem.
Last night his prayers had been answered.
Ginny coming to his room not to tell him that they couldn't be together, but to tell him that she was willing to try had been all he'd hoped for. The kiss that they'd shared by the pond the day of Bill's wedding had carried him through the whole of last year on the run.
Everything else had been weighing him down while he was in hiding with Ron and Hermione. He knew that no matter how things turned out, his mum was going to give him hell. He and Ron both. And she had, but she'd also been so overwhelmed with the fact that her two boys were safe and the battle was over that she'd forgiven them in the same breath.
Dad had understood Harry and Ron leaving immediately, even before the wedding he'd been giving them both words of encouragement and wisdom. He'd probably foreseen the possibility of what lay in Harry's future before he'd even agreed to take him in and raise him as one of his own.
And how was he repaying them for raising him as one off their own?
By falling in love with their one and only daughter.
It had taken weeks and several raunchy dreams for Harry to come around to the fact that he couldn't think of Ginny as his sister anymore. For quite a while it had left him feeling dirty. Worrying something was wrong with him.
The only thing that he had been able to do for months to keep his sanity was remind himself that it wasn't actually incest.
What kind of saving grace idea was that supposed to be?
So, then he'd started trying to distance himself from her, and when that failed because she was too brazen and determined not to be ignored, well then he starting fighting with her. Great verbal sparring match's broke out between the two of them and every time she would go red in the face and get this set look in her eye he couldn't help but fall in love with her just a little bit more.
He had simply been a lost cause.
Going off in search of the Horcruxes with Ron and Hermione was going to also allow him the time to get over it all. He'd been sure that their time apart, with an all-important task to focus on, would make him forget about those feelings.
But then she'd come down to the pond the morning of the wedding.
And she got mad at him again.
She was so beautiful and irresistible when she was like that.
He couldn't fight it any more at that point, knowing that he would be gone and away from her for an unknown amount of time had given him the ability to throw caution to the wind and take that minute chance.
Boy, had it ever been worth it.
Last night had proven that all over again.
She wanted to try.
Harry knew she might not yet feel about him the way he did about her, but he had been falling in love with her for over a year before their first kiss, so he was okay with biding his time until she got there as well.
This wasn't why he was chewing his lip though, not the Ginny part of it anyhow. It was everyone else he was concerned about. No doubt that the rest of the family would have quite the reaction to the two of them getting together, but there was potentially a way to ease them all into the idea.
And it started with the two of them becoming comfortable with the relationship first.
The Australia trip was two days away now. It was just supposed to be Hermione, Ron and Harry, but Harry was pretty sure he could convince everyone that Ginny should come along too. He'd run the idea past her last night and her eyes had grown wide and wonderous at the prospect. The Potter family money was footing the bill for the rest of them, one more person on the bill hardly made much of a difference.
Now he needed to get everyone else on board too.
One deep breath. And here we go.
Harry opened the door to the hallway and bounded down into the kitchen. "Morning, mum," he gave her a kiss on the cheek to the woman who had raised him as she stood in front of the stove making the mountains of breakfast food to feed her army.
"Morning dear," she replied, before giving a swat to his hand as he tried to knick a piece of bacon from the pan. "Stop that, there's already some on the table," she scolded.
"Where is everyone?" he asked. It was still before eight, but generally there was more movement in the house by this time.
"Ron and Hermione have gone out for a stroll," she emphasized, "and most everyone else is having a lay in save for your father, he's gone into the office already."
Ron and Hermione's 'strolling' had been occurring quite regularly. It was clear that everyone was happy for them to have finally admitted to themselves and each other that they were in love and considering all that those around them had put up with before this, no one minded them sneaking of for 'strolls'.
"Er, speaking of Ron and Hermione and their, er, strolling," he started. "It's rather new, and rather a long time coming for them."
"It is," she agreed.
"Well. I'm a little worried, with this trip coming up to get Hermione's parents. It could be a while before we find them, and it is going to rather be like a break from all the chaos here as well," he rambled slightly. "I really don't want to feel like a third wheel."
"Harry, you aren't telling me that you don't want to go?" she asked astounded.
"No," he said with a laugh on his breath. "I was actually," he paused as he heard someone else coming down the stairs and saw Ginny appear at the entrance. She looked so much more fresh faced this morning than he'd seen her in a long time, and knowing he was the reason behind it made his chest swell with pride. "I was thinking that Ginny could come along," he managed, his eyes locked on hers now.
"Ginny?" mum asked in confusion.
"I could come along where?" Ginny asked, in the perfect tone to cover up the fact that she knew exactly what he was asking their mother… her mother… his adoptive, well, not adoptive, but his… mother figure?
Urgh, this was so confusing to get all the terminology right. If they wound up married one day then it wouldn't be so odd that he too called her mother 'mum'.
Harry mentally backpedaled on that one. No good could come from putting the cart before the horse on that prospect.
"To Australia," Harry shrugged. "You've had a really serious year as well. Thought you might enjoy a change of scenery for a bit."
"Harry, darling. That is a very generous offer," mum started.
"I'd love to!" Ginny said excitedly and bound towards him, giving him a big hug.
He went slightly rigid as she came into his arms, forcing himself not to relax and hug her back the way he wanted to.
"Harry. Ginny. I didn't say 'yes'," mum pointed out.
"Didn't say yes to what?" asked Ron as he came through the door from the yard with Hermione beside him.
"Harry invited me to come to Australia with you all!" Ginny said brightly.
Harry had to give her credit, she was playing this role very convincingly.
Now Ron and Hermione's eyes turned to him in surprise, looking for his reasoning in their expression. The two of them obviously got on with Ginny just fine, but they had been a triad for so long that it was rather like he was springing it on them.
"I figured it might be nice to have someone to talk to while you two are busy… not talking," he told them pointedly.
The pair of them flushed at that, and Hermione let out a very un-Hermione like giggle. "It's a good idea really," she said, tugging gently on Ron's arm. "The more the merrier."
"Come on, mum," Ginny said pleadingly to the last person in the room that still held any hesitation. "I'll be seventeen soon enough, and it really has been just an awful year. A few of them actually. I would really appreciate this."
Mum gave a sigh of defeat and Ginny let out another squeal of excitement.
Ron settled down next to Harry at the table to start in on breakfast. "You really want our sister coming with us to keep you company?" he asked.
"Ron, she hasn't felt like a sister to me for a few years now," Harry said with a shrug. "She's just… Ginny. I know I'll enjoy her company while you two are busy developing this new relationship of yours."
Ron turned his gaze to Hermione then and a sappy look came over her face, "I can't believe how much time we wasted, you know?"
Harry allowed himself another look at Ginny then and found she was already looking at him, noticing a glint in her eyes that was there for him and him alone.
He couldn't wait until they were on the other side of the world.
()()()
Ginny sat down hard on the ground taking in deep breaths and trying her best to fight the urge to throw up. She couldn't open her eyes at the moment, by from the sounds of the three others around her they weren't doing much better than she.
She'd taken Portkey's a time or two before, but that was a very long distance they had gone, and there were three of those they'd undertook. Going from the Ministry in London to Tbilisi, Georgia, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Canberra, Australia, which is where they were now.
At each stop they had to wait a full hour before they could continue on and she didn't think it was enough time now.
"How long until we feel right again?" she asked no one in particular.
"Coming from England you'll be up walking around in half and hour, but I won't recommend eating anything for two hours," came an Austrailan accented man's voice close by.
Ginny didn't jump in surprise of hearing a strangers voice, there had been Ministry representatives at every stop to ensure that any Muggle's around them wouldn't notice anything.
In Tbilisi Ginny had been surprised that the Portkey hadn't landed them inside a building but rather out in nature at a sea side. Same with the Kuala Lumpur one, and even now she could hear the tell tale sound of water close by.
"Pleased to have the opportunity to meet you all. We've had news of what went on in the U.K. and it's pretty cool that I get to be the one to greet you," the voice said.
"Won't be when I upchuck on your shoes," Ron moaned.
Considering Hermione's voice didn't automatically scold him there was no doubt that she was feeling just as awful as the rest of them.
"Don't worry about it. You'll feel better shortly. I'm Gavin, I've been assigned to help you out while you're here." His voice sounded like it had gone down an octave or two, and Ginny was grateful for that.
They really did need the full half hour Gavin had mentioned before they started feeling able to sit up. He had patiently waited and simply covered them in blankets he'd conjured while he told them some information about where exactly they were and where he would be taking them to stay for the night.
It was wintertime in Australia and only about five degree's outside (Celcius) so Ginny really appreciated the blanket. Knowing that she was going through two very hot countries she hadn't bothered dressing for the cold, figuring she would have the physical strength to pull a sweater from her pack when they got to the destination.
Harry had pretty well left the planning bits to Hermione, who had reached out to the Australian Ministry with her problem and they were eager to assist, considering the Golden Trio's status. Harry had footed the bill, but he hadn't been able to tell Ginny where or what they would all be staying in. He didn't even know that the Capital of Australia was Canberra, he thought the Portkey would take him to Sydney.
Once the four of them were able to stand upright Ginny took in the park scenery around them. It was a lovely fall scene with the leaves on the ground and crisp chill in the air with the lakefront beside them. Gavin was a nice looking short haired blonde bloke that was nearing his thirties and wearing a smart button down under a peacoat.
Hermione summoned everyone's jackets from their bags and Gavin started regaling them with all the tourist information they might require for their stay.
The hotel that they were staying at for the night was just over an hours walk away, but Ginny was assured by the incessantly chatty Ministry official that the exercise was best for after a journey such as theirs, to which she shared a dubious look with Ron and Harry. Both of them looked like they wanted to lay back down and wait for the next day.
Hermione though was back to her usual self and peppering Gavin with questions about all the resources she might have access to so she could track down her parents.
As Hermione reached out and began walking hand in hand with Ron, Ginny felt a small frown form on her face. A glance over to Harry showed that he must have had the same reaction.
It was too soon for them to do that.
Once they finally got to the hotel Ginny was feeling much better, but not quite well enough to embrace the entirely too white paint on the lobby walls. Gavin went to get them their room keys and Hermione pulled Ginny aside just as she noticed Ron was pulling Harry aside.
"So, I didn't have a chance to run this past you yet, but, um, we'll be having two twin rooms booked at each of the places we're staying," she started.
"Okay," Ginny just looked at her curiously as a red tinge overtook Hermione's face.
"Well, see. When it was just going to be the three of us, it wouldn't have been that big of a deal. Whether, you know, Ron wound up in my room and Harry got his room to himself."
Ginny's brain stopped functioning for a moment. "Oh," was all she said. Hermione was asking Ginny to bunk in with Harry.
This trip just got a whole lot more interesting.
"I'm sure you'll have a good time with him," Hermione assured her. "I've shown him how to use a television and there are all sorts of sight seeing adventures you two could go on that Gavin mentioned."
"Hermione," Ginny shook her head, "don't worry about it. It's fine."
"Really?" she asked with relief.
"Yeah, really," Ginny used a tone that indicated she was doing Hermione and her brother a favor. Really, this was bloody perfect. She and Harry wouldn't have to come up with excuses for why they were sneaking off for privacy.
Ginny looked over at the boys and Harry was giving her an interesting smile.
Once the rooms were assigned, brochures given out by Gavin and a schedule set for the next day set Ginny and Harry found themselves standing in a room of their own with nothing but hours of alone time splayed out before them.
"What do you want to do first?" Ginny asked, looking over some of the glossy pamphlets they'd been given, feeling slightly more nervous about this arrangement than she had a minute ago. They were alone in a hotel room after all, and they'd only just decided to give this thing between them a go three days ago.
"Are you really comfortable with this?" he asked.
Ginny spun around to look at him. He'd claimed to have been falling in love with her for two years, and now he was having second thoughts just as she'd started jumping into the idea? "What?!" she asked incredulously.
Harry's eyebrows shot up at her reaction, then a grin stretched out over his face. "I meant the sleeping arrangements," he chuckled.
"Oh," her metaphorical talons retracted. "That," she blushed.
Harry came towards her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I really hope you're comfortable with this," he said before kissing her.
Ginny sighed against his lips, relaxing against him and letting her mouth respond non-verbally. The slight tension between them over the past three days since they last managed alone time may have been spurring them on a bit.
Every time she'd found herself looking at his lips when they were in the same room together she would bring up how it had felt to sneak into his room and essentially throw herself at him. Who knew that Harry's lips could hold this much power over her after only two kisses. She'd known him her whole life and yet until last year his lips had just been a part of him. Now they were the teasing and massaging beacons that turned her into a pile of mush.
The feel of their chapped yet soft plushness against her own lips spurned something inside of her that none of the other two boys she'd kissed had managed.
Perhaps it was simply because this relationship was more potentially life altering than the others, but the truth was that she hadn't been able to push him away when he'd kissed her for the first-time last year, and she had the opportunity.
Everything just felt right when he was kissing her, and the small moans that were emanating from her chest and out those lips that were pressed against his was letting them both know just how right she thought it was.
Harry was the one to pull back. Ginny felt his breath coming out in deep puffs softly against her face as she attempted to open her eyes. But her lids were heavy, and it took a while to pry them open and find him looking down at her like she was his whole world.
It warmed her heart to see that expression on his face aimed at her.
This was new, and it was going to be odd with their history, but she had no doubt that they would find a way to make it work.
()()()
Wendell and Monica Wilkins had not been very hard to track down. It had been Muggle method that allowed Hermione to find them. The Australian Dental Association had them listed as running a practice out of Wollongong and it was only after three days that they found out where they lived.
Ron and Hermione went in to visit them under the guise of being 'new neighbors' and thirty minutes later Wendell and Monica Wilkins were once again Martin and Jean Granger, and they were incredibly upset with Hermione once they understood what she'd done to them.
Hermione insisted on staying in Wollongong while her parents packed up their house and readied to move back to England and Ron insisted on staying with her as well.
That left Harry and Ginny to explore the country by themselves, and they were all too happy to do that.
For one week it was just the two of them in a rented Caravan driving up and down the East coast, and it had been amazing. They got all the way up to Brisbane, and though it was still cold, walking along the ocean and not having to worry about someone seeing them doing so hand in hand was freeing.
Harry would have understood if Ginny needed some more time to grow this comfortable with him, but having it just be the two of them seemed to have gotten them over that awkward hurdle much faster than if there were others around. They had been taking the physical part slow, just snogging and spending their nights cuddled up to each other, in the caravan; it was almost necessary with how cold it got at night. He was worried that progressing past that would be pushing his luck. And thus far, he was feeling pretty lucky.
When they got back to Wollongong the Grangers were ready to return to England, but Hermione and Ron were flying with them in an airplane instead of taking the Portkey. Harry didn't know whether to think them lucky they didn't have to experience what he and Ginny were going to with the nausea.
Now that they were back home though, Harry was missing the feel of her sleeping beside him.
Their days were full up of each other, and that was great. Having to sneak off in order to steal a few kisses was still exciting, but he wasn't sure just how much of that excitement she would appreciate feeling. He'd been doing an alright job of hiding just how aroused she made him, but he couldn't help wondering if she was feeling anywhere near as hormonal as he was.
Her birthday was when he found out. It was two months into their secret relationship and after the little celebration at the Burrow died down Ginny had whispered that she would be seeing him later in his room.
He wasn't nervous so much as excited as he waited for her that night. After the bonfire had died down and the bottle of Ogdens had been imbibed everyone parted ways with their final farewell to the birthday girl the rest of them trickled inside and to their rooms.
It was just the Weasley's and a single Potter in the Burrow now, Hermione's parents were keeping her to themselves for the rest of the summer before she returned with Harry and Ginny to finish their final year, Ron was going straight to work with George but would be visiting every chance he got. As Harry settled into his bed, wearing just his boxers and a shirt he knew Ginny liked, he waited for her.
It wasn't the door he should have been waiting to open though, she came in through the window.
Harry chuckled at her less than graceful entrance into his room from a seated position on his bed.
"Hey," she whispered in protest, "I could have demanded that you come up to my room. I am the birthday girl after all!" Raising her wand she locked and sealed his door before simply climbing on his bed and pushing him back against the mattress.
He hummed in satisfaction as she kissed him. "Sorry for laughing. Next time I'll climb into your room instead."
Generally they lay side by side when they were in a bed like this, not tonight though, she was straddling him as she pinned him down while she began snogging him.
Harry was all for it, until he started growing a little too into it, emphasis on the 'growing'. He didn't want her to stop kissing him like that, but he was clenching his toes in an effort to try and restrain himself and talk his body down.
It wasn't working, the weight of her body and the position they were in, the swell of her breasts against his chest. There was no way to talk 'little Harry' down.
And then she rubbed herself against it and Harry's eyes rolled back in his head as he let out a moan.
As he lay there savoring the feeling of her pressed up against his erection he realized he could feel her breath on his face, not her lips on his. And he froze.
His eyes opened and he saw nothing but her silhouette and the outline of her own eyes looking down at him. He didn't know what to do. He hadn't ever had a girlfriend before, let alone been in love with someone that already meant the world to him before they'd even kissed. He didn't know how far she'd gone with Dean and he didn't want to, but dear Merlin he was desperate for her to make that same move with her pelvis again.
"Ginny," he started, not knowing at all what he would say after her name.
A shadow of a smile came to her lips though and she lowered her mouth back to his and gave another small rock of her hips. Now his moan against her lips was followed up with yet another rock of her hips. Soon they were both grinding against each other with purpose and their lips weren't only on each other's.
In a moment of blind courage Harry grabbed under her knee and rolled them over so he was on top, his hand leaving her knee to trail up her thigh and explore another avenue that had yet to be discovered by him. His hand continued its way up her side as he mouth met the crux of her neck. Then his fingertips grazed along the bottom of her breasts.
Her beautiful and tantalizingly braless breasts.
One small stroke, two. Coupled with the grinding movements their lower halves were repeating amid their panting, his finally touching her breasts properly probably didn't require this much hesitation and allowance for her to stop him.
But he couldn't risk overstepping.
"Argh," she groaned. "Just grab it already." Her hand flew to his own and she put his full palm over top of her soft mound herself. "Why do you think I took off my bra in the first place?"
Harry grinned as he continued kissing her. He didn't want to respond verbally. He didn't want to do anything that was going to disrupt this path that they were on.
The panting, moaning and touching continued until he was at his breaking point. Sweat was starting to form on his forehead and their little session was becoming much less about the kissing and much more about the movements their lower halves were doing.
It was turning him on even more to see that she was enjoying what they were doing as much as he was. When her back arched off the mattress and she let out a cry it was the best noise he had ever heard. A tension in his back released at that sound and it sent a signal through him to simply let go.
He cried out as well right before he collapsed on top of her.
Sliding down to lay beside her he pulled her close. "That was," was all he could manage to get out.
"Yeah," she breathed out, "it was."
He waved a hand down at himself to make the mess he'd made disappear. It was probably the only spell he would ever have nailed down wandlessly and he was pretty sure it was the only one he really needed to know.
As his breathing returned to normal the shock of what they'd just done had set in. Yes, he was an eighteen-year-old guy now, but this was he and Ginny. That was monumental.
"Ginny," he started, the slight panic he was experiencing coming though in his tone.
"We don't have to dissect everything, Harry."
She didn't even need him to finish his thought aloud before giving him assurances. He rested back against the pillows properly once more. That was yet another reason that he was sure she was the perfect girl for him. They didn't need many words between them. She could almost read his mind.
The whole 'him being in love with her and she not knowing' aside, she really did just understand him and where his mind would be going given a situation.
"Has, erm," he gave a swallow. "Has anyone gotten you to…"
He felt her eyelashes flutter against his cheek at that attempt of a question.
"You want to know what I got up to with Dean?" she asked dubiously.
"Or… anyone else," he said quietly, his inexperience and self-consciousness shining through in the question. "Ow!"
She hit him in the stomach. Not hard, but he hadn't been expecting it.
"What 'anyone else'? You think there was a chance I was getting up to something with some bloke last year while you were on the run?" she asked.
He let out a sigh. "Look I wanted to believe that after I kissed you that you would see me in this whole new light, and yeah, part of me thought that sending that letter on your birthday might have you, I don't know, swooning for me slightly. But I also had some horrible thoughts of you trying to take some of the edge off from the very shitty world around you by, you know, um…" he couldn't ever say it.
"There was no one else Harry," Ginny assured him, her hand coming up to cup his face and pull him towards her for a sweet kiss. "And that other person you mentioned? We snogged a bit."
Even in the dark she must have been able to make out his dubious expression.
"Okay, we snogged," she corrected herself and left off any qualifiers. "But that's it. I was only fifteen and I knew it wasn't going to last. I just liked being wanted."
He heard her words and let them sink in, the important part warming him to his very soul.
"You think we're going to last?" he asked her importantly.
He could almost hear the smile that came to her face before her nose rubbed gently against his own.
"Yes," she whispered.
()()()
Being back at Hogwarts wasn't as difficult for her as she thought it would be. Before arriving she'd been anticipating moments of anxiety when she walked down certain halls, or sitting in Muggle Studies or Defense classes. She didn't though, and it was partly because the Professors of said subjects had been so vastly different and added calming pops of color and life into their classrooms to make sure that they were as wildly different from the previous year as possible, including moving the classrooms to different rooms than they had been.
Potions wasn't even given in the dungeons anymore, even though Slughorn's class had been one of the more tolerable one's.
Having Harry and Hermione back with her had made a lot of difference too.
Hermione had been a little disappointed that she wasn't made Head Girl, but Harry and Ginny pointed out all of the reasons behind that decision and it all boiled down to one thing; she wasn't there last year. Hermione hadn't been there to see what it was exactly all the other students had had to go through. She couldn't fully comprehend certain triggers that might set off some of the second and third years, she didn't know which Slytherin's had been secretly trying to help everyone else.
Miranda Jenkins had been a much better choice. She was a Ravenclaw seventh year, a proper seventh year, and while she hadn't been one of the DA members that had taken the reigns in the resistance the previous year, she had been the one that managed to keep a level head and calm down those panicking.
Ginny certainly didn't want the post either. Because she was the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain!
She made Harry try out to get his old Seeker position, and of course he did. He had also been a big help with her planning sessions, though they didn't generally get up to much planning when they were alone in the changerooms.
That was where they were right now.
The Slytherin vs. Gryffindor game was around the corner and instead of drawing out plays like they'd told Hermione they were doing Harry had her pinned up against the lockers and was doing his best to get her to cum using his fingers.
After the night of her birthday they'd done quite a bit of exploring with their hands and it had resulted in amazing eruptions of bliss for the pair of them. She really felt she had the easier end of the deal, there wasn't much of a learning curve when it came to getting Harry off; rub and tug, gentle movements, good grip. Using her mouth, which she'd only just started doing, had been even more straight-forward.
Harry on the other hand needed to be fumbling around for a bit before figuring out the right amount of pressure and rhythm to get her going that day. A girls sexuality was a moving target, and today she was needing much more pressure on her clit.
Laying a hand over his she applied more pressure against his palm so it would stimulate her more. Once he got it just right she was moaning against his mouth and panting encouragingly.
Harry lay a trail of kisses up her jaw as her head fell back and she focused solely on the feel of his fingers inside her and circular motion he was making with his palm.
"I want to use my mouth on you," he whispered in her ear, causing her to simply whimper in response before nodding.
At this point in her arousal, she didn't care. The end was in sight and he probably could have suggested they properly shag and she wouldn't have batted an eyelash.
Harry removed his hand and picked her up under her bum, placing her down at the end of the bench in the middle of the room and knelt down between her legs. He'd been there before, but only to observe what his hand had been doing. Ginny wasn't shy about it with him now, simply desperate to ride that wave of pleasure.
When Harry's tongue met her clit she hadn't been fully prepared for just how good it would feel. It was hot and wet and the pressure he was putting against it with the circular motions he was making had her crying out in pleasure quite loudly.
"Shh," he warned her wryly.
"Don't tell me to shush, just do that again," she demanded, all propriety gone.
Positioned up on her elbows so she could see him, her skirt flipped up over her belly and knickers hanging off one of her ankles, the sight of him going to town on her was just about the hottest thing she'd ever seen.
"Fuck," she cried as he gave a hard suck to her clit. The familiar pressure was building and it was obvious to her that it was going to be a bigger finish than she'd had before. The sounds emanating from her mouth were growing uncontrollable and her hips were rocking her pelvis against his mouth in a desperate rhythm.
"Harry!" she screamed out as she came. The waves kept crashing over her as he moved his mouth lower to simply lap at her entrance, the shock of the new sensation causing her to jerk and her breath to catch while she continued to ride out her orgasm, finally falling back against the bench.
"I quite enjoyed that," Harry said smugly as he pulled back and pushed her legs together, looping her other foot through the leg hole in her knickers and pulling them back up her legs. She managed to raise her bum a bit off the bench so he could finish the job.
"That was incredible," she sighed as he flipped her skirt back over her to cover her up.
"I could tell," he held himself over top of her, his hands bracing against the bench at either side of her head and lowering himself just enough to give her a few gentle kisses.
Ginny simply lay there still recovering while he peppered her all over with his sweet lips. When he kissed her full on the mouth she could taste herself, it was an odd taste, but not entirely repulsive. It was good to know he didn't mind that, because if that was what it felt like every time then she might be requesting it very often.
The door to the locker room opened while he was still over top of her and they both turned their heads sharply towards it to see Hermione standing in the open doorway with an expression of shock on her face.
Harry scrambled to stand up and Ginny fell off the bench in her dis coordination before coming to stand beside him.
"Er, hi Hermione," Harry said awkwardly. "All done your assignments then?"
"I," she started, her eyes darting between the two of them. "I suspected that you two didn't quite have the relationship that everyone thought you did, but…"
"Wait, what?" Ginny asked. "You noticed that there was something between Harry and I?" She had a moment of panic, wondering what it was that gave them away. They had tried to be so careful because they still weren't ready to deal with any backlash that could come from people finding out that they were together.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "You two have no idea how you look at each other, do you?"
Ginny exchanged a startled look with Harry then and wondered when they would have exchanged dopey grins or longing expressions in the presence of others. Having to hide their relationship had been difficult when all she'd really wanted to do was be able to hold his hand as they walked down the corridors like the other couples did.
"What have you noticed?" Harry asked cautiously.
Hermione's face took on a bit of color then. "It wasn't too obvious to begin with, and I only started paying close attention because I worried for you," she told Harry directly.
"Worried for me?" he asked.
"I was worried about you potentially having… developmental problems," she blushed a bit more.
"What do you mean developmental problems?" Ginny was confused. Harry was a perfectly normal teenager, had been through the whole process of being a teenager, which was amazing given all he'd had to deal with.
"Well, so far as I knew you'd never shown interest in a girl, and I wondered if maybe there might be a … boy you were interested in," she tried saying delicately.
"You thought I might be gay?" he asked, confusion written all over his face.
"Which would have been completely fine," Hermione assured him.
"Hermione, I'm not gay," Harry stated.
"Clearly," Hermione rolled her eyes. "But I'd never seen you show any interest in girls, Ron has never once mentioned you fancying a girl. You went to the Yule Ball with Parvati and clearly weren't at all interested in her. But," she shook her head, "all that is irrelevant now."
Ginny hadn't ever thought about it before. Harry really hadn't shown any interest in other girls, she supposed that as Hermione was his best friend it was rather sweet that she wanted to watch out for him and understand his preferences so that she could be supportive, no matter what. But there was no way that Harry was interested in boys.
Colin would have been all over him more if he had been, and Colin's gay-dar had been impressive.
"But you've noticed us being a certain way with each other?" Ginny asked. "In public?" Her worry was coming through in her tone. They weren't ready for others to know yet. They wanted to be able to break it to the family first.
"Yes," she said simply. "And I understand why you were hiding it, but how long has this been going on? Why haven't you told me? Or anyone else?"
Harry and Ginny exchanged a look then. "Hermione," he started. "I think you know the answer to that. You know we were raised together. Even when we were getting on the Hogwarts Express to come here mum asked that I watch out for 'my sister'." He gave a cringe at the wording.
Hermione's face crinkled up a bit at that as well. "Yes, but you aren't children anymore. I don't think it is any different that those in foster care falling in love with each other and that happens. If there is any awkwardness then they will just need some time to adjust, that's all."
"I think that's oversimplifying it," Ginny rolled her eyes. Though, in the back of her mind she was wondering if they should just rip off the band aid over the Christmas holidays. They could drop the bomb and then head back to Hogwarts and see what was left to discuss come Easter.
"Well, are you two in love?" Hermione asked simply.
Ginny turned to Harry then and watched as his turned as soft as hers felt, his eyes telling her that they were absolutely both in love with the other.
"Completely," she whispered, more to Harry than Hermione.
"Then you shouldn't hide this from people," Hermione said succinctly. "There'll be a bit of a reaction at first, but it'll fade away.
Harry stepped towards Ginny then and wrapped his arms around her. "You think we're ready?"
They hadn't been during the summer. They had needed this time to become a strong enough united force before letting the word out. But now they had talked through anything and everything that could be a hurdle and become stronger.
"Christmas break," Ginny decided. "When everyone is together, we'll tell them."
Harry grinned and gave her a kiss to seal their agreement.
()()()
"When did you find out?" George asked his mum, passing her the bottle of Odgens that was going around the table.
"Oh," she waved a drunkenly dismissive hand, "I can see that spot by the pond from my bedroom window. I saw them kissing right before Bill's wedding."
"What?!" Harry and Ginny asked together.
This was not at all going the way that they had anticipated. Waiting until the whole family got together over their two-week break from school had been a little difficult the first few days because they had desperately wanted to sneak into each other's rooms but thought it best not to tempt fate before their big reveal.
Christmas dinner was when the whole family was going to be at the Burrow and they had both been entirely wracked with nerves and barely able to eat a bite of it. It turned out that they had nothing to worry about though.
Hermione may have only caught on once they were back at school together, but the rest of the Weasley clan seemed to have noticed and been discussing it among themselves for months.
"You saw that!?" Ginny asked loudly.
"That was the first time I kissed her," Harry stated dumbfounded.
"I didn't even know how I felt about it then," Ginny said.
"Well, from the way you were snogging him back I'd say that your hormones knew you liked him just fine," her dad chimed in.
"You saw too?!" Harry had a slightly horrified look on his face now.
"For me et was when everyone come back after de war," Fleur stated, giving a rub to her swollen belly. "De way 'o look at each ozzer, it es clear."
"I only noticed after she pointed it out," Bill shrugged.
"Fred and I found the letter Harry sent her," George said taking a swig from his glass.
"WHAT?!" Ginny screamed. "That was personal! Why were you going through my things?"
George gave a shrug, "I'm a big brother, it's what we do."
Ginny's face blew up with rage at George then, but Harry took her hand and rested his forehead in the crook of her neck, vibrating slightly with humor. That calmed her down. "I can't believe them," she whispered to him.
Harry pulled his head up and smiled at her, "but their all okay with it. That's all that matters." He leaned forward and gave her a kiss.
"Yeah," she sighed and gave him a kiss back. "Guess we don't have to be so careful anymore."
Harry leaned towards her again to whisper in her ear, "actually, now we have to be even more careful."
Ginny managed to resist giving a groan, because she realized he was right. They'd all be wanting the chance to catch them in the act of something or other now. No doubt they wouldn't be able to stop themselves from bursting into either of their rooms at any given opportunity.
But they were all fine with it, and that was what mattered.
()()()