Compilation of Hinny Works

by LegendDairy

I've got too many Hinny one-shots, and there are more coming. So they are all going to be posted here instead of individual stories. And Harry/Ginny pairings only, no others. Will be updated sporadically.

63. Celebrity Status

For DireWolf96

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Celebrity Status

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Time management was the problem, not really her time management, it was all of her brothers that were the problem. They were so caught up with asking her about all the girls on her team, and then her mum questioning her choice of attire for this evening. They were the ones that needed to realize that when she said she needed to leave, that meant she needed to leave and it was not an ideal time to keep her prisoner in the kitchen.

Why did they all have to be over at the Burrow this evening, of all evenings?

Gwenog was going to kill her for being late.

Choosing to get dressed at The Burrow hadn't been wise. That was where her dress had been though. She'd left it in the closet in her old bedroom when she moved out because moving it to the flat share that she had with two other girls on the team would mean that they would be 'borrowing' it without asking and it was the nicest piece of clothing that she owned; A treat she'd gotten for herself a year ago when she made first string on the team.

Now this event was the first opportunity she'd had to wear it.

The dress, and the shoes that matched.

The dress looked fantastic on her, the shoes were something she should have prepared herself for.

Two minutes of wearing them at the Burrow and she knew that she had made a mistake.

They were strappy and had a high heel.

She didn't wear high heels often. She had worn different ones before for two of her brothers weddings, but those hadn't been this high.

Thus, as she was hurrying along to the banquet room, which she was supposed to have been in a minimum of twenty minutes ago, she was not wearing the heels, they were dangling from her hand as she hurried down the corridor. On her feet were a pair of slip-on flats that did not go with the dress at all. But no one would have to know what adorned her feet as she hurried to the hall on the way to the event, so what did that matter?

They'd been told to look their best and dress to impress. They'd been coached on what to say, how much to drink and how to behave.

That was the part of this job that she had not been prepared for when she'd daydreamed about playing professionally so many years ago.

When she'd read Quidditch Weekly she hadn't realized that every interview given by her favorite players had been vetted by their Publicists. Now she knew. At least one day a week she and her other teammates had to sit down with Vic, the Publicist and go through pretend interviews and have their 'statements' revised, were told what expression to wear, how to smile.

It was somewhat exhausting.

And very annoying.

She'd been interviewed only three times; after her first game as first string, after she'd blown her shoulder taking a Bludger and when they had lost the final game of the National Championship.

Three times in as many years.

She was okay with the photo shoots though, well, she'd gotten comfortable enough with them. The Publicists wanted her to stick with a saucy redhead mentality, something that came very naturally to her. And something that Gwenog was undoubtedly going to be winning the most convincing prize for tonight considering she too was a redhead and judging by how late Ginny currently was, her captain was going to be pissed with her if she noticed.

Ginny hurried towards the closed doors and saw that there was security standing outside of them.

She knew the Ministry officials were in attendance tonight but hadn't thought that merited this type of security; there was a man on every door.

Disregarding that information, she hurried up to the closest door.

"Am I super late?" she asked the guard in a rush as she kicked off her flats and attempted to pull on her first heel.

"Uh, doors closed five minutes ago," he replied.

"Shit," she said under her breath and adjusted the strap to the back of her ankle.

That was one shoe on, now the other one would be a bit harder with only this fucking heel to balance on.

"Lend me your shoulder?" she asked, not waiting on his response before she leaned against him.

On went the other shoe and the foot she was balancing on was already protesting.

"Buggering fuck, this is going to be a long night," she said in frustration at herself for letting the salesgirl talk her into these. "You don't happen to know some kind of foot numbing charm, do you?"

"Er, no. That wouldn't be one of the one's in my repertoire," he chuckled.

She growled playfully and finally got the other strap on her heel secured, then put her foot down and carefully tested her balance before removing her arm from the man's shoulder.

That taken care of, she shrunk down her flats and slipped them into her clutch before adjusting her dress.

"Looks perfect," he told her.

She heard only truth in his voice and it made her smile brightly as she smoothed out the last imaginary wrinkle on her dress. She didn't get dolled up very often, and when she did it still made her feel like she was a nine-year-old playing dress up, rather than the twenty-three-year-old that should have had plenty of experience with a bronzer brush already.

Her eyes then locked on his and the vibrant green coloring of his own and they made her pause in shock.

"You," she stammered out a few illegible syllables that added up to nothing, then looked towards the enormous ornamental doors before them, then back to him.

"Who the hell is in there?" she asked.

"What?" he seemed confused by the question.

"There is no way that you are simply the bouncer for this event. Who is in there that they require you to be the one guarding the door?"

He was no mere bouncer. She'd seen his picture plastered all over the magazines and newspapers since the end of the war, which they were quickly coming up to the seventh anniversary of. And even before the war ended, those had been the exact eye color on her Harry Potter doll she'd been given when she was a little girl. She still had that doll somewhere too.

His responding blush was rather endearing. "The Ministers from a few different countries," he told her. "I was asked to attend, but they didn't say in what capacity, so I chose this one." His wry smirk looked incredibly good on him, and Ginny found herself liking it quite a bit.

She liked looking at it for too long actually and her feet were protesting too much to let her stand there staring at her girlhood crush.

"You going to make it through this?" he asked, likely in response to a wince of pain showing on her face.

"Depends on how much I drink," was all she could admit.

They locked eyes for a moment longer, until it grew slightly awkward and she turned back towards the door. "Any way that this could open quietly and leads to the back of the room so I could make it look like I've been here the whole time?"

"No," he chuckled, "but if you go three doors down the other way you could possibly slip in with the serving staff."

"Brilliant!" Ginny exclaimed. Though she didn't really want to leave where she was right now. Meeting him had been something she'd wistfully fantasized about when she was a teenager. But duty called, so she begrudgingly headed the way that he had gestured with only a nod of thanks to him and was able to slip in and stand by the bar, getting a drink in her hand and trying to make it look like she had been there through the first of the opening speeches.

The banquet had been boring. It was a lot of schmoozing and plastering a fake smile on her face. The food had been cold by the time she was able to try some, though Gwenog didn't storm over to her at any point to say anything about her tardiness, so that was a success, and Ginny found one of her friends from school that knew a numbing charm that would give her relief for her feet for a few hours.

She also ran into a few other good friends and they all sat at the same table until the event was well and truly over.

Leaving the venue, she stepped into the crisp spring air and took in a deep breath. The room hadn't felt warm and stuffy but now that she was out in the fresh air it was like she could breathe again.

And feel her feet! She pulled her flats out of her clutch and brought them back to the right size.

"Need a shoulder again?"

Ginny couldn't help this little giddy bubble she felt in her chest at hearing his voice once more.

It was dark out now and she couldn't see just how vibrant his eyes were in the light, it gave her the opportunity to appreciate the rest of his features; nice jawline, messy dark hair, straight nose, solid shoulders and a lean, probably muscular, physique. Though, it was hard to tell when he had all those clothes on, suit jacket and tie included.

He'd been in several rag magazines since he'd been eighteen and in each of them he had held himself so stiffly. Right here and now he seemed relaxed and it suited him so much better.

"I wouldn't mind that at all actually," she told him and rested her elbow on his shoulder. They nearly lined up in height with these monstrosities on her feet.

Numbing charm or no, taking off the shoes was a positively orgasmic experience. One that her mouth acknowledged rather indecently.

"Now if you would just follow me home for a foot rub," she said without thinking when both her feet were flat on the ground.

"You're inviting me round to yours? Already?"

She could hear the humor in his voice and let out a self-indulgent chuckle. "It would be something to have splashed all over the tabloids, wouldn't it?"

He gave a wince at that and she gave him an apologetic look. "Ignore that," she shook her head. "Thank you for your chivalry tonight." She gave him a mock bow and pulled her flats on, shrinking her heels down and stuffing those into the clutch. "It wasn't as terrible as I was expecting."

"That is high praise for an event like this."

Ginny nodded in agreement. She'd been to a few obligation parties like this. All about international cooperation, charities and Quidditch. There were really just a bunch of blowhard speeches that could have been handed out in a memo, but it gave everyone the opportunity to dress up and feel important, so what could she do.

Another Auror came through the door behind them and waved him over.

"Have a good evening, Miss Weasley," he said and turned to walk back up the steps, looking back one time.

"Good evening, Mister Potter," she replied quietly and watched his bum while he walked out of sight.

It was only later that she realized she hadn't told him her name, which meant that he'd already known who she was.

That gave her another little thrill.

()()()

Ginny was in the middle of her first coffee the next morning when the Floo burst to life and Vic, the Publicist, stepped through.

There were a lot of upsides to living in the Holyhead company flat but there were a lot of downsides too. The other teammates and people who worked for them having unlimited access to the flat was a big downside.

"We need to talk," Vic said and dropped a copy of that days Daily Prophet in front of her. There, taking up the center of the page was a picture of she and Harry Potter smiling at each other while she had her arm on his shoulder. In the picture the two of them grew closer together and then reset. It was the shortest picture loop she'd ever remembered seeing in the paper.

And the article to accompany it!

It painted her out to be a scarlet woman! Said she was trying to woo him and her attempts were thoroughly rebuffed. Like she should be ashamed, and that Harry Potter could do so much better.

"WHAT!?" Ginny couldn't stop herself from screaming with every lie printed, growing steadily louder until her two flat mates came out of their rooms to see what all the commotion was about.

Ginny had nearly worn a hole in the floor half an hour later as she paced back and forth ranting about the integrity of the newspaper and how she wanted to throttle them.

Vic and her two flat mates had gotten to the point of tuning her out when the Floo burst to life again and three more people came through. Ginny paid them no mind and continued her ranting.

"Remember when they said that Lockhart was someone to be admired? He was a fucking pedophile! And during the war, when Dumbledore was the one fabricating all that shit about You-Know-Who coming back. Again and again they just stir shit up! They are supposed to be a NEWS paper, not the bloody gossip rag. My mum is going to kill me over this! She always believes this pile of garbage until proven otherwise, and she is at least somewhat levelheaded. Most of the tossers out there are going to believe I'm some kind of pathetic harlot until my number is up. How the hell am I supposed to prove it wrong, eh? I can't just start dating someone else, that'll just make me seem like a slag. I can't hide away from it, that'll make it seem like I'm ashamed. What does that leave me with?"

"We may have a solution to that," came a familiar deep voice behind her.

Ginny spun around to see Gwenog, Kingsley and Harry Potter standing in front of the fireplace.

"What is your solution?" Vic asked eagerly, likely happy to have a reprieve from Ginny's tirade.

Ginny was thankful now that Vic was there because she didn't think she could string another two words together. Whomever she might have thought had popped out of her Floo a few moments ago she certainly hadn't expected it to be these three. Gwenog, maybe, the other two? No.

Her first instinct was to apologize, for what, she wasn't sure but either way the words were no longer coming out of her mouth. She was simply stuck staring at Harry Potter.

She couldn't quite make out the meaning behind his expression. Was he angry? Did he blame her? He'd been in these situations before with other girls on the front of the paper with similar headlines and there had never been a follow up picture of he and the woman together.

Those women probably never had a publicist behind them like she did though.

Kingsley began talking and managed to pull Ginny's attention over to him. They knew each other fairly well; he'd been over to her family home for dinner a few times.

"The Auror's have been getting bad press lately. Lack of funds for the department because everyone thinks that since the majority of Death Eaters are put away so now we don't need any new recruits for the department, thus, why have the money there to pay their salaries. We can't exactly start broadcasting the work we are doing either. What we can do is remind everyone of what the Auror's were able to do for them. How they keep them safe."

Ginny didn't know where he was going with this.

"I tried to get Mister Potter to attend some of these events, like the one last night, to get his picture in the paper and remind everyone of that fact. I had hoped it would be in a philanthropic way, not a scandalous one, but here we are," Kingsley continued.

"Oh!" Vic's eyes lit up and she clapped her hands together. "They could be the new 'it' couple!" she exclaimed.

"Excuse me?!" Ginny managed, her eyes wide at the suggestion.

Gwenog didn't seem surprised by this recommendation, and amazingly, Harry Potter looked to have known what Kingsley was leading up to as well.

"Ginny, think about it," Kingsley told her. "It is great press for the Harpies and great press for the Auror's."

"Hold up!" Talia, one of the Beaters for the Harpies and one of Ginny's flat mates protested. "Why has it got to be Ginny? I'd be up for that! We could say it was a mis-understanding," she grinned and cast Harry a cheeky wink.

"Talia, I know you're in your late twenties, and I am not your mother, but go to you room," Gwenog barked at her and pointed down the hall. "Heather, go with her." Heather was the other flat mate, another Chaser.

The girls pouted but did as they were told.

Gwenog came over to Ginny and guided her to sit down on the couch beside each other. "Look, I know this seems like a major ask, but you aren't seeing anyone right now, right? And it would only be a few public outings, you don't even have to admit anything to the reporters or do an interview on it specifically. This will just get the two of you on the front of the paper. We'll drum up a few more fans for attending the games, and the Auror department will be able to recruit more trainees and potentially get more funding by everyone being reminded of everything they've done for us by having Potter's picture in the paper."

Ginny looked from her Captain, to Kingsley, to Vic, then finally to Harry. In all her fantasies of winding up on a date with him, this was never one of them.

She had never pictured that her Quidditch career would rule her dating life either.

And she needed to properly talk to him about this as well.

"I need to think about this," Ginny managed to say and got to her feet. "Can I talk to you?" she asked Harry directly.

He stood up straighter, it was her indication that he was prepared to follow her down the hall, and she went to her room, closing the door behind him and throwing up a locking and silencing spell.

"I had nothing to do with this," he assured her. It was the first thing she'd heard him say today.

"I never thought you did," she stated and went over to her bed, unable to stop herself from flopping back on it and resting her forearm over her eyes. "This is so weird."

She heard him moving around and it sounded like he'd made himself comfortable sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. "I wish this was the first time they'd asked me to do this," he told her. "I should have known there was going to be some request like this as retribution for exactly how I went about 'attending' the banquet last night."

"They've asked you to do this before?" She got up on her elbows to look down at him.

"Every now and then. I don't know if you recall a few other times I've been spread across the front page like we were? Every time it happens Kingsley or another higher up makes the request."

"And those girls never went for it?" She remembered one of them was an heiress that was popular for being popular, another had been a stage actress that had been photographed a few times in compromising positions. Ginny couldn't see them passing on an opportunity like that.

"No, I didn't go for it. Those other pictures had been taken while I was holding a door open, or when the girl had been behaving like her whole mission in talking to me had been to get photographed. And, well, I kind of didn't care what came of their reputation. You though, that had been a complete accident the first time, I could see that written all over your face. And I had enjoyed our banter, brief as it was." A bit of color came to his cheeks. "I may also be a bit of a fan."

She slid off the bed and came to sit on the floor, resting her back against the frame and her face coming level with his own mere feet away from each other. "You're a fan of mine?" she asked, astounded. "That's insane!"

He gave her a confused look. "You're one of the top Chaser's out there. Probably going to get tapped for the National Team soon. Why is that insane?"

"No! I don't mean because I'm terrible or anything, I know I'm good," she clarified. "It's insane because I grew up with a Harry Potter doll!"

"Oh!" he chuckled. "Right, those." He gave a role of his eyes with his blush remaining.

"I mean, it isn't here. It's somewhere at my parents' place. It isn't like I sleep with it or anything, but still." Thank Merlin it was at her parents' house, she would have been mortified if it was in her room here somewhere and he saw it.

"Right," he nodded, looking like he was ready to move on to the more important subject. "I take it this is the first time they've asked you to do something like this then?"

"Yes, so you'll excuse me if I seem a little blind-sided."

"I completely get it. But just so you know, from my side of things, the only reason why I'm even entertaining the idea is because we seemed to be able to carry on alright for those few minutes of interaction we had last night. And, Kingsley says he knows you and your family and that you're all great fun to be around."

"Yeah, Kingsley's good people," she nodded. Ginny was rather pleased to hear that he not only thought she was a brilliant Chaser, paraphrasing, but that he thought they'd get on. The few words they had exchanged last night had felt quite natural, so perhaps they would. "What do you suppose this arrangement would entail exactly?" she asked him.

"Well, I'd probably get a few free tickets to the next few Harpies games, maybe even a number seven jersey," he grinned at her. Seven was her jersey number.

He had a cute, crooked grin.

She gave a short laugh at how excited he seemed at that prospect. "Just cheering me on from the stands, eh? That's it?"

"Unlikely," he rolled his eyes. "We'll probably be asked to go out to dinner together as well, maybe attend an event arm in arm. I'm thinking they'll want at least five to ten more photos of us front page above the fold."

"Pretending to date," she frowned.

He instantly became very interested in the weaving work done on the carpet. "Yeah," he swallowed.

It had been a while since she'd dated anyone. Her last relationship had fallen apart because she'd been training so hard with the Harpies that they barely saw each other, then he'd been offered a job overseas and then that was that. It hadn't really been a relationship in the end, just a series of booty calls. She hadn't been invested enough in the end either.

Fake dating Harry Potter was probably going to wind up being the closest thing to a date she'd get for a while yet if her life kept carrying on being as busy as she was. Her mum and sisters-in-law had even given up on trying to set her up with someone because she was always unavailable for 'date night'.

"This could be fun," she said out loud as she stared up at her top shelf of her closet lost in thought. "It would be for work, but… play dates." Ginny gave an abrupt laugh, "first I'm getting paid to play Quidditch, now I'm getting paid to date Harry Potter." Tears of mirth came to her eyes from how hard she was laughing about this, she quickly tried to staunch them when she saw the startled look on Harry's face. "I'll try to stop saying your first and last name," she told him, biting the inside of her bottom lip hard to attempt forcing the smile off her face.

The corner of his mouth tugged up. "How about just calling me Harry," he said and held his hand out for her to shake.

She nodded. "Ginny," she offered as she clasped her hand inside his own and they gave a single up and down movement of agreement.

"Alright. Shall we go find out what they've come up with for us then?" he asked and got up, assisting her to her feet with their hands still clasped.

()()()

It turned out that Harry was exactly right on his first guess as to what would be asked of them; he was given a fan jersey with Ginny's name and number on it and a ticket to her game so he could cheer her on.

The following press junket after the game Ginny was bombarded with questions about her relationship with Harry, which she'd been instructed to redirect back around to something relating to Quidditch.

Next Ginny was asked to go to the Ministry around lunchtime, not to see Harry, but to stop in to see her father. Sure enough, when she left the Ministry after lunch with her dad there were a few reporters waiting to snap pictures of her leaving.

Such simple requests for one of them to do this and that and yet the Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly had entire articles entirely relating to hers and Harry's backstory and quotes from their 'friends' about when the two of them had first met. The quotes hadn't been from anyone either she or Harry had talked to in ages, but integrity had never been part of those tabloids qualities before, she hadn't expected them to have any now either.

She and Harry had sent owls back and forth over the month that they'd been playing this publicity game and his personality really shone through with the way he corresponded. His snarky sense of humor had her smiling with every letter, and she always responded in kind.

Sidestepping the questions from the reporters had been easy enough for the both of them, sidestepping the questions from her family, not so much. Her mum had fire called her after every article and she'd replied with the same response of 'I barely know him' each time. Which was true, but not true enough that she didn't have a little pit of guilt that weighed down in her belly each time she said it.

Now though, they were a month in and had been asked to get together for real, to go out for dinner somewhere so that they could potentially get photographed together.

Harry had asked if she wanted to go someplace swanky and get all dolled up, but Ginny had a different idea in mind. It was at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade that they wound up at for dinner. Ginny wanted to be somewhere comfortable and somewhere that they could have both simply bumped into each other casually so it would still have people guessing the nature of their relationship.

"I've never been here before," Harry said as he pulled his glasses off his face and pointed his wand at them, casting a spell to dispel the fog that had built up on them. The weather had turned cold outside so the first blast of hot air that hit his face had nearly blinded him. "I've been staked out on a roof across the street though. There are some very interesting characters that wind up in here."

"Even more at The Hogs Head up the road," Ginny told him wryly.

"Oh yeah," he laughed. "That one I've been in. The most unsavory, yet informative, characters are at that one."

Ginny grinned up at him and led him over to a corner table. "This was the place to go when we were on Hogsmeade weekends from school. It was always the Sweets Shop, Zonkos, Quality Quidditch, then here for a Butterbeer."

"This is where all your dates brought you then?"

"If they knew what was good for them. I certainly wasn't going to be stepping foot inside Madame Puddifoots, that place is all pink and tiny cups of tea. No thank-you."

"Not a hearts and flowers type girl then?"

"I couldn't even pretend to be," she shrugged. "I watched as some of my friends would put on this front with a few guys, you know, batting the eyelashes and giggling. I was raised around all boys though, I had to get shown how to apply mascara by my dorm mate when I was fifteen. Make-up and short skirts were about as girly as I got. And I still managed a decent number of dates so I never understood the front some of my friends put on," she shrugged again.

He nodded and quickly turned his attention to the menu. "How's the food here?"

"Standard pub fare; deep fried and full of cheese."

Harry nodded again. "Yep, that'd be the standard."

"So," Ginny searched for something to chat with him about, "have you done much travelling?"

There wasn't much known about his time before the war. He'd been homeschooled, that had been shared, but where that home was, she didn't know.

"Mostly around mainland Europe and one trip to Eastern America when I was still an Auror Trainee."

"All obligation trips?" she guessed.

He gave a single nod and continued perusing the menu.

Harry's letters had led her to believe that they might be able to carry on a decent conversation throughout the meal, but he wasn't giving her much to work with.

"Well, I went to Egypt once. My oldest brother works for Gringotts and was stationed out there for his apprenticeship. I was about twelve then. And then I've been to France a few times because of that same brothers wife, she's French."

"You would like to do some more travelling then?"

"I'm not sure if it's the travelling I'm interested in or the experiences."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't need to travel somewhere exotic to go hiking, biking, bungee jumping, etc, but part of the joy of sharing stories about doing this, that and the other thing is when you can start the story off with 'One time in Costa Rica'."

"So maybe you need to cross off all the local attractions before you start looking into doing things abroad," he suggested.

"Yeah, there are millions of tourists that come to England every year and its all for the history or the Royal Family or whatever. For some reason that doesn't really appeal to me."

His eyes had started lighting up with enjoyment for where this conversation was going. "Pop quiz then; say you went to New Zealand, what would you want to see or do while you're there?"

She grinned and leaned in, liking the idea of playing this game with him. He too looked much more comfortable with this subject. His earlier reluctance to talk about her school career could have simply been due to the fact that it had been something he had missed out on.

"Climb a glacier and… find a Kiwi bird," she said excitedly. "Supposedly those birds are almost extinct and very stupid looking."

"Ha! Good ones. I'd probably want to try skydiving and zorbing."

"Both those things you can do here!" she pointed out.

"Yes, but then I couldn't say I did them in New Zealand," he said, waggling his eyebrows at her and getting her laughing again.

They played that game through the whole meal, calling out different countries and listing off what sights or adventures they would want to have in each location. It was a fun topic and had both of them talking plenty.

She saw a few people out of the corner of her eye taking a picture of them but didn't turn her head to look at them full on. She saw Harry had noticed too and also pretended not to.

It was a very enjoyable evening. After the meal they bundled up again and walked together to an Apparation point and then Ginny wasn't entirely sure what the protocol was for ending a fake date. Normally she would end it with a hug if she wasn't interested in having a second date, or a kiss to confirm if their chemistry went beyond conversation.

This hadn't been a real date though, which was something she kept having to tell herself over and over again.

"Any idea when we're next… meeting up?" she asked carefully, attempting to sound as lightly casual as possible.

"Not entirely sure, but I do know there is a charity auction being hosted to help the students at Hogwarts and funding their school supplies and such in three weeks," Harry told her. "I already planned to go to that one. It isn't a stretch to assume we'll be asked to attend together."

"I had planned on attending that one as well," Ginny remembered. "Fair warning though, one or two of my brothers will probably be there."

A worry line showed between his eyebrows at that information. "Er, and what exactly is the story you told them?"

She fidgeted a bit at that question because it was awkward. "Well, that we had only just met and that they shouldn't believe everything they read. Particularly not in the Daily Prophet, which they are more likely to have read than Witch Weekly."

He gave a single nod. "Right. Guess Vic will have to help us with how to navigate that one."

This was all making her feel suddenly sad. They'd had a great dinner together, now with what they were discussing it was an extra reminder of how this all wasn't real.

There was someone walking towards them as they stood there staring at each other, both lost in thought, and the footsteps jolted them back to reality.

"Er… hug goodbye?" Ginny suggested.

"What?" he asked her dumbly and his gaze went down to her arms like he wasn't familiar with the concept.

"I…er, I generally hug my friends goodbye," Ginny told him, hating that a blush was coming to her face and grateful for the poor lighting.

"Oh! Um, okay."

He took a step closer and she came into his embrace. She fit very nicely against him. His height and his arms around her felt confusingly perfect.

Their embrace lasted longer than a normal 'friendly' embrace though and she had to force herself to step back.

"Until next time then," she said brightly, proud of just how convincingly she'd managed the inflection.

He didn't seem to be able to fake a response like she did though, his expression wasn't all that hard to read. He looked like he wouldn't have minded the evening not ending there.

"Unless," she started. "Did you want to go somewhere for a tea or something? Somewhere Muggle maybe? Where we won't have to put on a front?"

'Say yes, say yes, say yes!' her mind was screaming at him.

"Sure." A pleased smile came to his face at the suggestion. "Er, you've got a few flat mates, but I'm, um, just me. So, did you want to…?"

Ginny couldn't help find it adorable that he was nervous about asking her back to his. It made her relax and feel much more confident hearing that. "I'd be up for that. Did you want to Side-Along?" she asked, already stepping forward to put her arm around his waist.

A few minutes later Harry was at his stove getting the kettle ready and she was taking a look at the art and pictures adoring his wall. She wasn't sure what she had expected he lived in, probably some abandoned Manor home out in the country or a spacious flat at the top of a London skyscraper. That wasn't it at all though. This was a comfortably sized one bedroom, one den, flat that looked to be in zone 2 or 3 in London.

There wasn't much in the way of furniture and it looked like he didn't do much entertaining judging by the amount of cutlery and crockery he had in the kitchen.

It felt comfortable though. She could tell he'd painted at least when he moved in here.

What really got her was that there was an open Quidditch Magazine on the coffee table that he must have forgotten about because the page was flipped open to an article on the Harpies and it was her picture that was taking up one quarter of the page.

"Here you go," he said, setting down her cup of lemon tea with honey on the table she was sitting at. "Oh."

She couldn't help politely averting her eyes and biting her lip as he went over to 'tidy up' the stray reading material on the coffee table.

"Lived here long?" she asked, trying to set him at ease.

"Three years," he told her, taking his own mug and sitting down across from her.

"I couldn't imagine having a place on my own. I've fantasized about it a few times but going from a crowded family house to a school dorm to a flat-share, always surrounded by people, I would imagine the quiet would be unnerving to me."

"There are certain downsides."

"But waiting for access to the loo or shower isn't one of them," she pointed out and raised her mug in cheers to that.

"This is true," he chuckled.

Their dinner had started out awkward like this. They'd exhausted the travel subject and she felt like there were a few other subjects that were off limits with him. Knowing those subjects were off limits meant that they were the only thing she could think about talking about.

Then there was this attraction she felt for him too.

This arrangement of theirs was odd but she was certain there was some level of attraction he felt for her too. Yes, he'd admitted he was a fan, and yes, he'd refused to have this arrangement with any other of the women suggested to him. But that didn't mean that he was interested in anything other than friendship.

Both of them were just sat there taking small sips of their tea and running their thumbs over the mug handles and saying nothing.

The silence was eating at her until she couldn't take it anymore.

"Alright, stand up," she ordered and got to her own feet.

"What?" he asked in confusion, staring up at her.

"Stand up," she repeated.

He got to his feet, standing a good few inches taller than her and now only one foot apart from her.

"Okay. I'm going to do something, and you can completely put a stop to it if you want but I need to get this out of the way because I'm a bit confused and I don't like being confused," she laid out.

His own confusion was written all over his face as she prattled off that nonsense, however there was a spark of excitement and hope in his eyes when she took a step closer. That spark was what gave her enough nerve to close the distance between them, coming up onto the balls of her feet to plant her lips on his own.

His lips were soft and felt so lovely against hers, like they were magnets that wanted to be stuck together and were perfectly content staying stuck together too. Her hand rested on his shoulder to help keep her balanced and she dared to move her lips, kissing him properly, slowly. She kept a tentative pace, each heartbeat feeling like an eternity as she waited to be pushed away or pulled closer.

It was too many heart beats though. She'd been counting them out and too many had occurred without a sign of reciprocation.

She'd kissed him, not the other way around.

He was likely just being polite in not rebuffing her straight off. That was sweet of him but she had just needed to know, she didn't need him to be careful with her feelings. She was a big girl.

Coming back down to rest her feet firmly back on the ground she lowered her head so she was eye level with his chin again. "Just… checking," she said lamely. "You can forget I did that." She tried to turn and go back to her seat, his hands on her hips weren't letting her go though.

"What?" His voice sounded dazed.

Ginny managed to force herself to make eye contact with him again. He didn't look angry, embarrassed, or regretful about how she'd just kissed him. He seemed awestruck, and in a good way.

"I couldn't quite tell how receptive you were to that," she blushed.

"Oh," he breathed out. Then this smile came over his face, it was wistful and sappy and it looked very good on him. "Do it again," he requested in what was barely a whisper.

That request restored her confidence and brought a grin to her face. Both her arms came around his neck now and he met her half-way. Being the one to kiss him before had been lovely enough, him kissing her back now was spectacular.

He was still slightly tentative about it and she loved that for some reason. Probably because it made her feel like she was the one in charge. Slowly, his arms slipped around her waist and brought her flush against him.

They carried on losing themselves in it until she grew dizzy and her neck started protesting from the angle. "Harry," she asked between kisses. "Can we relocate this? Maybe somewhere horizontal?"

If he shagged as good as he kissed then she was in for one hell of a night. And yes, she was desperately ready to shag him now. How he was managing to be so restrained she didn't know. She was a second from simply jumping up and wrapping her legs around him so she could grind against him and relieve some of the longing between her legs.

"H-horizontal?" he repeated. "You don't have to," he started.

She didn't let him finish that thought though. She gave him one more firm kiss. This time she grabbed him by his trouser belt loops and pulled his hips directly against her. Now she could plainly feel his own desire and it was simply spurring her own further.

It had been so long since her last shag and he was so incredibly shaggable.

Before she completely lost her ability to balance herself from how dizzy and wonton she was growing she pulled back and took his hand to guide him to his own bedroom.

Ginny pulled her shirt over her head impatiently and tugged him back to her by his belt so she could kiss him again before tugging his own shirt up and over his head.

"Gods, I want you," he panted against her lips.

"Good. Take me," she told him and quickly undid his belt.

"Ginny, I'm not…" he paused, for only on moment where she worried he was going to shut this down completely. "Not going to last long," he finished warning her.

She grinned, glad for the warning. It made her feel incredibly desired and that was stoking the fire inside her even more. "Good to know." She turned them around so that he was the one with his back to the bed. "Looks like I'll be doing all the work then."

She caught the flash of confusion on his face that went away a moment later when she removed her bra, then his entire focus was on her breasts.

Ginny reserved her chuckle and worked at pulling off the rest of their clothes. He had a few scars on him that had faded to white. They weren't a turn off though, it was his overall body she was more interested in right then. His erection was now on display for her and it was a mighty nice one.

She pushed him back so he would lay back on the bed and was quick about straddling him.

Their lips connected once more for only a few seconds while she took him in hand and guided him inside her. The groan that escaped them from their joining had both of them tilting their necks back.

He felt even bigger than he looked. "Fuck, that feels good," she moaned and started riding him.

His hands came to her hips, the movement he was attempting to have her make she knew was one that he'd require to get his finish.

"Oh no you don't," she purred and took his hands, pinning them above his head. "Told you I'd be doing the work." She gave a nip to his ear and started grinding against him, unable to control her panting with every satisfying rotation of his manhood inside her and pressured swipe against her clit from how hard his pelvis was pressed up against her own.

She had been so ready for this.

To think that only about ten minutes ago they were sitting awkwardly across from each other at the table. Their tea probably wasn't even cold yet.

Again and again she ground against him, their lips meeting between labored breaths, focusing only on her own finish. It wasn't taking long to feel that finish fast approaching. She tried to keep it off a bit longer, build to have an intensely satisfying finish. Just a few more rubs of her clit and then-

Then the waves crashed over her and she was crying out, continuing her movements to make the experience last all the longer.

Then her breathing calmed down.

"Good boy," she moaned, then started changing up her movements with her hips to the up and down that he now deserved for being so patient with her. She was experienced enough to know that this was the movement that men required to get theirs.

From the look that took over his face he was no different that her previous lovers.

She wanted to be sure to leave a good impression for him as well so she was sure to do a special movement that had proved to be a big pleaser; raising herself up so it was just the head of his manhood inside her and giving small thrusts there, then taking in a little more with each downward movement until he was buried completely inside her, then working her way up again.

From the way he was groaning and his eyes were rolling around behind his closed eyes he was thoroughly pleased.

And he wasn't lacking nearly as much in his self-control as he'd warned her. A few more minutes of that and she was getting worked up enough to want a second for herself. Sliding back down him so he was completely buried inside her again she started rotating her hips once more to get that magnificent pressure she needed.

Harry grabbed her leg and flipped them over then.

Ginny grabbed onto his shoulders, expecting him to start thrusting into her aggressively and searching for his finish. Instead, he tried to replicate the movement she'd been making. "Like this?" he asked.

She could only groan appreciatively in response. It was exactly what she wanted.

Him being on top and making this movement was getting her to her second finish faster. As it started building again inside her she gripped his hips, desperate for him to not make any changes to the pace he was going at.

"Yes, yes like that!" she cried out.

Then the waves started crashing over her again and fireworks went off behind her eyes. Her whole body tensed as the orgasm rocked through her. "Oh, YES!" she cried out as it was subsiding. Her body relaxed again and she realized he'd stilled over her.

Managing to blink her eyes open she saw he was simply staring down at her. "Did you finish?" she asked. She was sure he hadn't, otherwise if he had then he couldn't have had a very good one.

"No," he shook his head. Then he lowered his lips to kiss her.

Merlin, he was a good kisser. As they started snogging he started thrusting into her properly.

She loved the feeling of being taken by a man on a mission. It wouldn't get her off, but it still felt sensational. "Oh, you can take me harder than that," she purred, moving her lips to his ear and licking along the shell of it.

He groaned in response and started thrusting into her harder. He steadily grew more aggressive about it until finally it was him crying out.

He collapsed on top of her as the last of his energy seemed to spill inside her with his final thrust. She enjoyed the feeling of his weight on top of her. The post coital cuddles had always been one of her favorite parts. Although, with this potentially being just a one-off she wasn't sure if cuddling after was appropriate.

He slid off to lay beside her on the mattress and made the cuddle call himself when he wrapped his arm around her and indicated that she come lay against him. They may have just shagged, but moments like this were more intimate to her and being able to lay here with her head tucked against his shoulder and her hand resting on his chest made the experience so many times better.

She wasn't sure which of them fell asleep first but when she next woke it was morning and he wasn't there.

Waking to an empty bed in an unfamiliar room was not a fun feeling. It led her to start drumming up reasons why he wasn't there and none of them were simple ones like him having to use the loo.

She sat up and saw her clothes had been picked up and folded then placed on his dresser.

That was strange.

It seemed to her like that was a polite way of him telling her to get dressed and leave as soon as she woke up.

Frowning at that sight she got out of the bed and shamefully started pulling on her day-old knickers and bra, her shirt had just come down over her head when the door cracked open and Harry poked his head in.

"Hey," he greeted her quietly.

"Hey," she said just as quietly, unable to look at him. "I was just getting dressed." She held up her trousers as proof. She was glad that her hands weren't shaking, right now she was full of nerves and feeling like she'd made a big mistake with what they'd done last night.

Perhaps they should have gone slower. She'd just been so wound up and horny that she couldn't help herself, and he'd been responsive.

Now it was morning though and that changed everything.

He opened the door wider and she saw he was wearing pajama bottoms and an Auror Academy tshirt. It looked very comfortable. His expression he was wearing wasn't telling her he was eager for her to leave either. "I wasn't sure what you might eat for breakfast. I, er, might have gone a little overboard with the choices."

She blinked at him a few times. "You made me breakfast?"

"Well, I tend to get up pretty early and you looked like you were so comfortable, I didn't want to disturb you." If he had any less will power she could have sworn he would have been blushing the way he said that. He seemed to be having a hard time not staring at her bare legs too. Overall it seemed like, to him, it was a toss-up between giving her privacy to get dressed by turning around or leaving the room, or potentially convincing her to crawl back into bed.

"Oh," was all she could offer. Not wanting to push her luck or potentially overstay her welcome, she pulled on her trousers and followed him back into his kitchen. Her jaw dropped at the veritable buffet he'd lain out for her; eggs, bacon, fruit, cereal, toast with a selection of spreads, tea, coffee, juice. "How much do you think I eat?" she couldn't help asking.

"Yeah, I told you I got a little carried away," he blushed and his hand went up to ruffle the back of his hair.

"Thank you," she told him and gave him a kiss to his cheek.

"Your welcome." He rested his hand down on her hip, tentatively pulling her closer.

She grinned up at him. He was still interested in her, even though he'd already gotten a leg over with her! Inside she was jumping for joy because he'd grown to like him quite a lot. Coming up onto her toes she gave him a better thank-you with a kiss to his lips.

The kiss didn't last nearly long enough, but there was a rumbling in her stomach demanding that she feed herself.

They each assembled a plate of food, her taking a little of everything and a cup of coffee, and he simply buttered some toast then sat down opposite her.

They had to talk about what happened and considering how it all came about it was going to be an awkward conversation. They'd been ordered to spend time together to give the illusion that they might be a couple. She'd been lying to herself that it wasn't anything more than that, or that it was just a friendship that they were building between them since they got on so well.

Last night she'd shot that all to shit. She liked him, she was attracted to him and, Merlin, had she ever wanted to snog and shag him.

She hadn't been disappointed either.

Whether he wanted to start up a casual romance with her or turn their fake relationship into something real, either way she wasn't sure she minded.

There were worse things in the world than having a friends-with-benefits relationship with Harry Potter.

As she sipped her coffee she glanced across the table at him.

It was cute how nervous he seemed.

She should be the one that was nervous though. He was the savior of the Wizarding World and one hell of a handsome man.

Setting down her mug she played with the handle on it a moment before simply blurting out what was being repeated in her mind, "I want to do that again."

His gorgeous eyes latched onto hers in surprise. "You, you want to do," he started, as though he was worried he might have been misinterpreting.

"I don't mean right this second, but." She heaved in a breath, "I had a great time last night. Fake date or not, it certainly ended real enough and I rather enjoyed myself."

He grinned at her, "me too."

Ginny grinned back at him. There was still a problem though. "Thing is, we've got people, erm, handling us, and I'm not too enthusiastic about them knowing how much we, er, enjoyed ourselves."

"Absolutely," he burst out in agreement. "No, I don't want to chance this getting splashed all over the tabloids. The crap Vic has orchestrated, fine, this though, no. That was our actual private life."

"Oh, good." She relaxed. "And, erm. About… that." He noticeably tensed and it made her wonder if she should even broach the subject of whether that had been more 'booty call' than 'start of something'. "Never mind." No, she thought, it was much too soon to ask something like that.

"Any chance your flat mates will ask about how you didn't come home last night?"

"Probably not," she shrugged. "I've been known to stop in at home and spend the night there every now and again. There is a chance they'll ask me a few leading questions though. I've gotten pretty good at dodging them; from my teammates and my family."

"Family is giving you a hard time then?" he frowned.

She made a non-committal noise and decided to focus on her breakfast. He didn't push the subject any further.

A few minutes later and she'd finished her breakfast, stretching out her coffee as long as she could in the hopes that they might find something to talk about that would keep her there longer, maybe even land her in his bed again, but it was for naught.

"Guess I should go then," she said standing up.

He got up from the table as well. "When can I see you again?"

The hope she heard behind his question gave her a warm feeling that spread up to her cheeks. "I'm sort of of the opinion 'the sooner the better'," she admitted.

"Oh, good," he grinned and stepped closer to her.

They were both so tentative and bashful about this that it was giving her real hope that he might be thinking of making this into a real thing between them.

"There's a Wasps versus Puddlemere game on tomorrow. If we aren't asked to go to the game together by Vic, did you want to come over here and listen to it on the wireless together? Enjoy a few drinks?" he offered.

"That sounds fantastic," she told him. "Can you do something for me first though?"

"What's that?" he asked eagerly.

She took a step closer to him and placed her hands on his hips. "Snog me once before I go?"

()()()

Neither of her flat mates were home when she got back, which was great because she was sure to have had the dopiest of grins on her face and likely reeked of sex.

Snogging Harry in his kitchen had quickly escalated into shagging him on his couch.

Him letting her take the lead the way he did was interesting. It made her feel so in control and desired. The way he looked at her with amazement simply encouraged her more.

She loved it.

Although, she was also going to love it when he inevitably started making the first move, as these things tended to go.

The first stages in a relationship were always this exciting and nerve-wracking dance of wondering what the other would allow and be comfortable with. And it seemed that Harry was going to be acting like a perfect gentleman for a little while longer.

She wondered exactly how long that was going to be?

Vic hadn't sent anything about them needing to go to the Quidditch game, likely because they'd already been spotted together at Hogsmeade and were splashed all over page 5 of Witch Weekly and twice in one weekend was overkill.

So, Ginny had decided that she wanted to wear something special for Harry to discover after they listened to the game. There were several skimpy outfits that she'd picked up over the years that had found their way to the back of her underwear drawer because there hadn't been much call for them recently.

She had rather more of these outfits than she needed but for some reason after she'd worn one once for a bloke it seemed like the thrill of that outfit was gone and she needed another one. Which is why she now had about ten different lacy knicker ensembles to choose from for him and opted for something blue to support Puddlemere United. She knew Harry wasn't a fan of them so if he decided he needed to rip that one off of her she wouldn't be too upset.

She'd be bloody turned-on if he did rip it off.

Making sure that her breasts were tucked in enough to the barely supportive cup on her lacy bralette she pulled a button up shirt and a skirt on over it, both that conveniently opened in the front.

Knowing what she had on under her clothes was helping give her the empowerment boost she needed. See, she was going to play a little game with Harry today.

They may have only shagged those two times, but she wanted to see if she could make him sweat.

It was fun making boys turn into bumbling fools. Having them drool over you is just the absolute best.

Once she'd made her boyfriend she had in Seventh Year walk into a wall simply by adjusting her stocking and 'accidentally' flashing him the smallest strip of her knickers. He'd had a mark on his forehead for three days and still claimed it was worth it.

Well, Harry already had a mark on his forehead, and she hoped that by leaving a few buttons undone and accentuating her assets a bit he might say 'sod it' to the game and take her on his couch again.

She managed to get over to his flat without being spotted by her flat mates, and miraculously they managed to stay away from the seven-layer dip she'd made to snack on during the game.

"Harry?" she called out from the sitting room.

It was noticeably cleaner than it had been when she'd left yesterday morning. All the magazines were tucked away on his bookshelf and there weren't any dishes anywhere, just a bucket with a few bottled beers in it and a bowl of chips on the coffee table in front of the couch that looked like it had been thoroughly cleaned. It was very nice to see that he'd made some extra effort to clean up for her.

"Hey, right on time," he grinned as he came in from down the hall, then his pace changed and he stumbled slightly when he caught sight of her outfit.

"Well, I'm nothing if not punctual," she said flippantly, pleased to see that before she'd even started properly teasing him he was already having a reaction to her tighter than normal shirt and shorter skirt. "Do you mind if I kick off my shoes?" They were just a pair of flats and she'd walked around his place yesterday with no shoes.

"No. Not a problem," he told her and then rushed over to take the bowl out of her hand. "What's this you've brought?"

"Seven-layer dip. You mentioned something about chips so I figured I could at least bring this if you were supplying the drinks as well."

They stood beside the fireplace simply staring at each other for a moment. She'd hoped he might greet her with a kiss, even just one on the cheek, but it appeared they weren't there yet.

Not a problem.

"So, shall we settle in and turn on the wireless?" she prompted.

"Yes." He latched on to that like it was a life raft and immediately set down the bowl and went to the wireless to tune into the right channel.

The wireless ran through a few stations and Ginny caught a snippet of one of Celestina Warbeck's songs which had her launching into a few stories she had of her mum getting a little drunk at the holidays and how she would force she and her brothers to listen to those songs over and over again. And how now Ginny, unfortunately, knew every word to all of her songs.

"At least you had music in your house. We just had the Muggle news on all day every day. One of the neighbors was really into the Beatles though and I enjoyed listening to them while I was cleaning up the yard."

"I've heard of the Beatles! My brother Charlie really enjoyed them. I'm assuming this was before you got sent away to your super-secret training camp," she gathered. There wasn't much known about how Harry Potter was raised, and he hadn't shared any details with her. All she did know is that he lived with Muggle relatives until he was eleven, then instead of going to Hogwarts he went somewhere else. Then when he was sixteen he came out of hiding, killed Voldemort for the second time, went back into hiding for a few more years, then became an Auror.

And now here they were sitting beside each other half listening to the opening commentary for a Quidditch game while he tried desperately hard not to look at her thighs.

"I wish I did go to Hogwarts," he told her. "There might not be this much fanfare about me if I did."

"Oh, but Harry," she started, being sure to bat her eyelashes at him teasingly, "if there weren't the fanfare then we wouldn't be pretending to date and I'd be listening to this game all by my lonesome."

He gave her a crooked grin. "Or we would have met in school and dated for real much sooner."

Her eyebrows went up. "You think you would have noticed me in school when you'd be surrounded by so many pretty girls with skirts just as short as this one, or shorter?"

"Are you mad? As soon as I saw you on the Quidditch Pitch I wouldn't have noticed a single one of those other girls."

That answer surprised her. He'd admitted to being a fan of hers, but she hadn't thought that it was a turn on of his to watch her play. Maybe next time she'd just wear her Harpies uniform over instead.

"Are you for real?" she couldn't resist asking. It sounded more like a pick-up line.

"No, you're right. I probably would have been too shy to ask you out."

Shy?

It hadn't struck her until then, but yes, he was shy.

Clearly that didn't get in the way of his job performance or defeating Dark Lords and what-not, but he'd been very shy with her.

It was almost like he'd never dated before, now that she thought about it; She'd had to take the lead with getting him to kiss her, then again when they got to the bedroom, even before she left yesterday she had to essentially tell him to snog her again.

He didn't kiss her hello either.

"Harry, have you dated much?" she couldn't stop herself from asking.

He'd been taking a swig from his bottle then and nearly choked. He set the bottle down on the table quickly and grabbed a napkin to wipe his face, the whole time she was watching his expression and body language. That question had made him very uncomfortable.

"Uh. No, actually. I haven't. You know, with all the previously mentioned fanfare and such. I'm not exactly one to use my, er, celebrity to my advantage." He picked up his bottle and took another drink.

Wow, he was so uncomfortable right now, she thought in amusement. It all made so much sense now. His behavior was completely in keeping with someone experiencing their first relationship. She couldn't possibly be his first everything though, could she?

It didn't look like he was going to be willing to admit that right now however.

The game had just started on the wireless and Harry was steadfastly staring at the radio as though the game were being projected out of it. All so he wouldn't meet her eye, she gathered. He was embarrassed and shy about it all.

That was really sweet.

From the way they'd got on in the sack, and on this very couch, he had nothing to be shy about. Even snogging him was fantastic.

If he wanted to beat around the bush about this subject then that was fine. This new information wasn't going to stop her from her mission to tease him though.

She bent forward and took a chip from the bowl, then dipped it into the other one and brought it to her mouth, making sure to get a little bit on her lips so she had to wipe it up with her finger. Then she sucked that finger into her mouth and made an appreciative sound at the flavor and pretended not to notice how he was now staring at her lips.

"So, you were quick to set some hard and fast rules for yourself about not dating any fangirls? Had to make a series of qualifications before deciding whether or not it was worth going out with them?" she asked casually.

He blinked twice before meeting her eye and she did her best to look like it had been an innocent question.

"Yeah. It wasn't too hard to notice who was only showing interest because of my name though."

She raised an eyebrow and gave his physique a looking over. "I don't know about that. Perhaps if you didn't keep in such good shape it might be obvious, but with your build and everything you're kind of the epitome of 'tall, dark and handsome'."

He rolled his eyes, clearly thinking she was joking. "Come on," he scoffed.

"Excuse me, but as someone that's seen you naked, I can easily say that some of those girls showing interest may have simply wanted you for your body."

It was so easy to get him to blush!

"Is that why you were interested then?" he asked.

Merlin, he had such gorgeous eyes.

She gave a nonchalant shrug. "Also, you know, we get on. And I kind of like the way you look at me."

"What way do I look at you?" he asked, sounding very curious.

She leaned back against the back of the couch and crossed her one leg over the other, letting her skirt ride up a bit more. "Sort of like I'm dessert." Then she leaned forward and towards him again as she grabbed another chip, intentionally leaning a bit farther forward than necessary so that he'd get a bit of a peak down her top. "But unlike you, I haven't got a rule against guys that only want me because I'm a Harpy, or because they fancy my body. I've just been hoping for someone I can get on with." She popped the whole chip in her mouth this time and turned sideways on the couch, bringing up her one leg to rest it folded on the cushion between them so she could face him.

"Tell me though," she asked, "why did you agree to fake date me again?"

"Is this still fake?" he asked seriously. "This right here wasn't set up by your publicist, and it definitely wasn't in your contract what we got up to the other night."

She smiled. "No. No, that wasn't fake. This right now isn't fake either," Ginny told him honestly. "I would never have been able to make that first move if I didn't actually fancy you, Harry. And I don't mind being the first one to admit it."

His whole body relaxed hearing that and he grinned at her, "I fancy you too. Have since before we first met."

She tilted her head at him. "Now, was that because I'm a Harpy, or because you like my body?" she teased.

"It started because of your body," he admitted. "Then I saw you play for the first time and I was hooked." His hand finally came forward and took her own, idly playing with her fingers. It felt good having him touch her in such an innocent way. "That was why I was able to entertain Kingsley when he asked that you and I fabricate this relationship for the press. I'd hoped to actually get to spend some time with you."

"It was the first time they'd asked me to do that," she told him. "Guess I'm just lucky." She wove her fingers through his and moved a little closer to him. "So, we're actually dating now? Is this what I'm hearing?"

"Yes please."

She chuckled. It was the 'please' that got her. "Then you are going to have to start kissing me 'hello'. At least when we're in private."

He didn't need to be asked twice. Harry leaned forward and brought his lips to hers. It felt so natural to be kissing him. He was still so polite about it though. Clearly that meant he wasn't worked up enough to show how much he really wanted her.

And, Merlin, did she want him to want her.

She'd had to stop herself just shy of biting his shoulder yesterday when she was riding him on this couch because she wanted him to be more aggressive about it when they were in the throws of it and she was building towards her finish.

Ginny broke the kiss. "We've still got a game we're supposed to be listening to."

"You still want to listen to the game?" he asked in amazement.

"Well, I am a Quidditch player." Really, she didn't give two shits about this game. "How about I make it interesting though. Every time the Wasps score, I undo a button."

His eyes cast down to her blouse. "They have the far superior Chasers."

She gave him another kiss. "I know," she purred.

Ginny didn't want to give herself over to him too easily. She liked hearing him talk, he had such a lovely voice. What he was saying was interesting, but the way that he said it was nice too; in a deep tenor and with varying expressions and hand gestures to accentuate his point.

Those hands of his started getting a little more comfortable with touching her as well now that they'd both admitted to this thing between them being out of mutual desire.

As the game continued on she had wound up nearly laying down on the couch and he'd pulled her feet onto his lap, his hands gliding up and down her shins, not making it past her knees until the Wasps were three up from Puddlemere and he had grown rather fascinated with the blue lace of her bralette that was now on display for him.

When the Wasps were five up she did away with the blouse all together and Harry shifted a bit more towards her on the couch so it was her knees that were in the middle of his lap now and his hands kept running under her thighs, just grazing the hem of her skirt. It felt lovely having his hands on her and it was making her wish he'd put his mouth on her as well but he didn't seem to think that was an option.

So, she moved her legs apart a bit on his next pass of his hand up towards the hem of her skirt. This time she rolled her hips a bit and made a contented hum.

Watching Harry give a hard swallow at that she felt a victory.

"Um, so, this skirt then. I see it has buttons as well," he managed.

"Hmm, you're right. How far up are the Wasps now?" she asked, a small happy dance going on inside her.

"They're 80 points up," he told her quickly.

"Oh, well, I guess that's the three buttons on the skirt undone then." The skirt quickly joined the blouse on the floor.

Harry's hands started roaming higher and higher now that it was only the blue lace covering her body before him. He could easily see through the nightie style top to the scant knickers that matched underneath. She watched as he bit his lip and stared at her knickers, looking like he wanted to sink his teeth into her instead.

"This game is probably going to go on for a while," Ginny told him. "I figure if Puddlemere loses then I probably shouldn't be wearing their colors, now should I?"

"No," he shook his head. "No, that would be embarrassing. Maybe, maybe since they're halfway to losing right now you should probably lose some of the blue as well."

She hoped he'd suggest something like that. "Well, if they catch the Snitch right now they'd still win, so it should probably just be the knickers I'm losing, right?"

He only nodded his head in response, his eyes fixed between her legs. "Can I help?" he asked weakly.

"You can. And since there's some blue on your shirt, you should probably lose that too."

He pulled his shirt off over his head quickly, then was very gentle about his hands trailing up her thighs to her hips so he could pull down her knickers, tossing them behind him to the floor and keeping his eyes right where they had been.

"Are you going to touch me?" she encouraged.

"Can I?" he asked in a breath.

She took his hand and guided it toward her lower lips, encouraging two of his fingers to travel all over her, enjoying listening to the change in his breathing as she dipped those fingers inside her and rocked her hips forwards to meet them. He looked completely captivated.

She pulled his fingers out and guided them to her clit. "This is where you need to focus though." She rubbed his fingers back and forth across it and didn't hold back any of the signs or groans that came out of her mouth from the feelings that were rocking through her. "Yeah, that feels good."

"I want to use my mouth," he told her.

"Yes!" she cried out, so loud it nearly startled him. Ginny couldn't help it though, she loved being given oral. "Sorry," she said quieter. "Yes, please do."

He lowered himself down to his knees beside the couch and she assisted by pivoting and resting one foot on the edge of the coffee table. His hands were still exploring her thighs, rubbing up and down them as she looked down at him knelt between her legs and he stared right at her center and licked his lips.

Her head rested back against the pillow as she felt the warmth of his cheeks against the inside of her thighs and his hair tickled her skin. She had to bite her lip to gain some control over every nerve ending in her body that had felt like it just came alive. His hot breath against her sent a wave of anticipation through her and if she hadn't already been wet for him then that feeling alone would have gotten her drenched.

It felt like it took eons for him to make contact with her properly but then there it was, his tongue was pressed right up against her entrance and he dipped it inside her, thrusting forward again and again. It felt lovely, but it wasn't what she needed right then.

"Higher," she panted.

He obeyed and she gasped with pleasure when it made contact with her swollen clit.

"Yes, right there," she moaned and her hand came down to clutch in his hair and make sure he didn't even think of moving from that spot.

She couldn't resist grinning at how he clearly didn't have any idea what kind of movement he was supposed to be making with his tongue. "Just circle it around, keep pressing hard against it. Ohhh! Yes, just like that."

He was good at following orders.

As his tongue continued giving her a working over, his hands started wandering up her body from where they'd rested on her hips. Under her lace get up, they moved north and squeezed under her bralette to grasp at her breasts. Her own hands came above her head to grasp at the material on the arm of the couch and she tried to keep some level of control and distraction from the many emotions that were rocking through her.

She wanted to cum. She desperately wanted to cum.

But if she did then it would be over and she didn't know how long she'd have to wait until she felt all these euphoric feelings again.

Her body didn't give her the option of delaying her finish long, she'd coached him too well. Ginny cried out a series of profane words as she came harder than she could ever remember.

'Fuck, oral was so good', was her only barely coherent thought.

His tongue didn't stop going either. He kept working her over gently as she rode it out and slowly came down from her high.

"Holy fuck," she breathed out as the last vestiges of the euphoria waned. She looked down at him in time to see him pull back and run his hand over his chin.

"Wow," he exclaimed, still staring at her center like he was observing his handiwork. His eyes were so dark and they made her want to repay the favor. Immediately.

"Drop your trousers," she demanded.

He didn't hesitate. His button and zipper were taken care of before she found the strength to sit up. She'd meant for him to do that and then sit back on the couch, so having him push down his pants and immediately bury himself inside her was a shock she hadn't been prepared for.

She was so sensitive after him having gone down on her. He wasn't holding back either. He picked her up and dropped her back down so she had her back properly against the back of the couch and kept thrusting into her with fervor. It was exactly how she liked being taken after she got hers; deep and animalistic. Her arse was hanging half off the couch and both her feet were now braced against the coffee table while he gripped her hip with one hand and the back of the couch with the other.

She lost all sense of time as he took her this way. It had been ages since she'd been properly fucked like this and couldn't stop herself from crying out her appreciation every time he was fully sheathed inside her, which must have come out as one long ode to joy with the pace he'd set for himself.

Her eyes went wide and mouth dropped open in a wide 'o' when she felt his approaching finish. She could swear he'd just grown exponentially in girth. Then he was giving his own unique praise to the Gods as his finish overtook him and his sweaty forehead came to rest on her shoulder while he caught his breath. "That was incredible," he gasped.

She had to agree, but she also had to push him away from her so she could try and cool down from how hot she'd grown. "Oh, I need a drink," she panted and gave a small groan as he unsheathed himself and turned sideways, pulling himself up to sit on the couch beside her.

Miraculously, their open bottles of beer hadn't fallen over on the coffee table. She took hers and handed him his and leaned back against the couch once more, clinking their bottles together once before they both drank down the remaining cool liquid inside them gratefully.

The wireless wasn't playing the Quidditch game anymore. They were doing a recap of the important moments during the game.

"Guess the Wasps won," she surmised.

"That mean you're going to get naked now?" he asked cheekily.

She chuckled and stretched her arms up over her head. "How would you feel about an afternoon nap?" she suggested.

()()()

Three weeks later and they'd both grown very comfortable with each other. It was to the point of having to remember their relationship was supposed to be fake when they had events Vic had requested them to attend together and they had to stop themselves from greeting each other with a kiss.

Now it was the Hogwarts Charity auction they were at and they were both dolled up like they were the first time they had met, except this time Harry wasn't attending the event as a door man. They had been assigned to sit at the same table but hadn't shown up to the event at the same time.

Ginny had arrived with her brother Percy and his date, Audrey, whom had asked her a series of questions about the status of her relationship with Harry until Percy put an end to that with the clearing of his throat.

When Harry did arrive at the event she tried not to follow him with her eyes as he circled around the room to say his 'hellos' as she stood beside the bar and he finally made it to her.

"Ginny, good to see you," he leaned in to give her a friendly kiss on the cheek. "You look great," he whispered in her ear.

"Thank you. My outfit is missing something though," she told him.

He raised his eyebrows in question and gave her a quick looking over.

She smiled sweetly at him and moved to walk around him, as she passed she leaned over slightly and whispered a single word back to him, 'knickers'. Feeling his body tense and the inhale of breath through his nose was all the victory she needed before threading her way through the tables and chairs to her own.

The teasing, joking and conversation between them had gotten so much easier over these past few weeks. It was only once a week that they had a 'required' meeting that Vic asked them to do and it was at least twice a week that they met up at his for a real meeting that would evolve into them gaining intimate knowledge of each other's likes when it came to their bodies.

On their fourth meeting she finally asked him flat out if she'd been his first. And it turned out she'd been correct in her assumption. He'd started off his answer with a reason as to why he hadn't been intimate with anyone before, little contact with the outside world, Auror training, etc, not that she needed to hear that. As he'd prattled on she'd started slowly undressing herself and then him. By the time he'd finally gotten to the answer, which was 'yes', they were both completely naked and she'd rewarded him with his first ever blow job.

Ginny took her seat and started chatting with the other people at the table with her that she knew vaguely, they all acted like they knew her though. Considering she and Harry were still getting plastered all over the Daily Prophet at least once a week, though now they had migrated to the fifth and seventh pages, everyone acted like they were her friends.

It seemed like this scheme of Vic and Kingsley's was working too; there were more people attending the Harpies games and their merchandise was selling faster than before, and the Aurors had more recruits signing up for training camps and they were requested to work with other departments in the Ministry for issues they were having with personnel and issues stemming from outside. These problems the Aurors were assisting with weren't necessarily at Auror level, more DMLE, but the requests were there and that was what the department needed when it came to funding.

"I just had an interesting chat with your brother," Harry told her quietly as he took a seat beside her.

She turned to look at him, then back at the bar where he'd come from and saw Percy was standing there looking at her with pursed lips. "Uh oh. And what did he have to say?" Percy was a rather dry individual and they'd had their very dramatic ups and downs over the years but were in a good place right now.

"He warned me that he'd make my life hell if I made yours one." It looked like he was stopping himself from chuckling over that threat.

She could understand Harry thinking that was funny, but of all her brothers Percy was probably the one that was most likely to make that come true for him. Bill and Charlie were the muscle and they looked intimidating so they could have had Harry being a bit concerned. George would have been intimidating as well because he would be likely to prank him to the point of frustration. Ron was probably the least imposing of her brothers and even he wouldn't second guess punching someone in the nose if they had said something rude to her.

Percy though, he was into the political side of things and Harry should have been more concerned than he looked.

"What?" Harry asked her when she didn't chuckle or scoff.

"Er, nothing."

"No, come on. Tell me."

"Well, it's just that you've told me how much paperwork is involved with your job and how many requests you have to submit for the simplest things," she pointed out.

"Yeah, so?"

"Percy is sort of in charge of overseeing the people that approve those forms and requests you make. So, if any of my brothers were to make your life hell, he'd be the best at it."

He stared at her blankly for a moment and she could essentially see the images he was pulling to mind of endless piles of parchment and Owls being sent back and forth. "Fuck, I hate paperwork."

Ginny couldn't help laughing at how horrified he'd grown at the thought. "Guess you'd better not make my life hell then."

"I'll do my best," he told her sincerely.

For a moment there they nearly leaned into each other to share a kiss, thankfully the auctioneer took the podium and pulled them back into the reality of their surroundings.

Later than night they wound up back at his place again. She kicked off her heels and headed straight for the kitchen to get them both a drink and a snack to have before bed while Harry shucked off his jacket and tossed it over the back of the couch.

"A weekend away, all inclusive?" he asked her as he sat back and put his feet up.

"Hey, it was better than the ancient bottle of wine that you bid top dollar for that will probably taste like vinegar," she defended.

"At least mine doesn't give way to leading questions," he pointed out.

"I could easily make my win a girls weekend," she told him as she came into the room and handed him his water.

"You aren't though, right?" he asked hopefully.

"Course not," she dismissed. "It is supposed to be very private so we won't be interrupted. Though I'd like to go when the days are warm and the nights are cool." She pulled out the brochure for the venue and looked over the pictures, one being of a couple cuddling in front of a fireplace and that looked very appealing.

"We're into winter now, so that'll be a few months out," he said tiredly and stretched his arm over her shoulder so she could cuddle in with him now and looked at all the venue had to offer.

His own fireplace burst to life and spat out Kingsley.

"Hey Kingsley," Ginny greeted him. "Kind of late, isn't it?"

He was staring down at them with a set expression, looking between the two of them.

"Guess I forgot to close the Floo," Harry said, his body had tensed up now his boss was standing before him.

Ginny was surprised by his appearance but she wasn't as concerned as Harry seemed to be. Kinsley had turned up at the Burrow often enough when she was a teenager that this didn't phase her. "What's going on? Do you need Harry for something?"

"Are you two actually an item now?" he asked seriously.

"Oh, fuck," she gasped and put her hand to her mouth. She was so tired right then that she completely forgot no one knew.

Harry cleared his throat. "Yeah, we are. Have been for a few weeks now," he admitted.

Kingsley nodded a few times and then turned on his heel and tossed Floo powder into the fireplace and disappeared as quickly as he'd arrived.

"Guess the cats out of the bag," Ginny sighed.

The next day she and Harry were called into one of the Harpies conference rooms. It was just she, Harry, Vic, Gwenog and Kingsley that were in the room.

"It's true then?" Vic asked them instantly. "You two are a real couple now?"

"Yes," Ginny told her.

"And how serious are you?" Gwenog asked.

"Serious," Harry told her firmly and took Ginny's hand after they were seated as if to show how honest he was being.

"Well, this puts us into a whole new ballgame," Vic said in exasperation and started flipping through her notebook and scribbled down some words.

"Er, how?" Ginny asked. They were going out and they'd managed to keep that private enough, how them dating for real was going to change anything she didn't see.

"Because this is real, not something we're fabricating for the press," Vic pointed out as though it were obvious. Which it was, but the problem with that was still the issue she and Harry weren't getting. Vic rolled her eyes, "I had you two scheduled to have a messy break-up in three months," she told them blatantly.

"You scheduled out break-up?" Harry asked her incredulously.

"Yes, of course I did. You couldn't have expected this to last forever, did you?" Vic asked him.

Ginny and he turned to each other in surprise. 'Forever' wasn't something they were thinking about right then, it was too soon for that. None of her previous relationships had had this level of intimacy though and she couldn't see three months or even three years with him being enough for her.

"Have you two DTR'd yet?" Gwenog asked her.

Ginny gave her a look like her captain had just betrayed the girl code, at the same time that Harry asked "what's that mean?"

"Defined The Relationship," Vic spelled out and kept scratching things out of her notebook.

They had not. And it wasn't a conversation that came up naturally, so having to have it in front of their Publicist and superiors was not ideal.

"What, like put a label on each other? Boyfriend, Girlfriend?" he asked to clarify. "I mean, I assumed…" he said slowly and turned to look at her.

It was the first time he'd done this, Ginny reminded herself, and it was cute that he was completely perplexed by it even being a question. She had a toothbrush she left at his place after all, and she knew the layout of his kitchen better than he did sometimes. She nodded in agreement and gave him a sappy smile.

Harry Potter was her boyfriend!

Needing no more confirmation from them, Vic slid two pieces of paper across the table, Non-Disclosure Agreements. "This is to confirm that if your relationship ever does go into the shitter you cannot point blame at the Holyhead Harpies or the Ministry and that you will allow myself to deal with the fallout between the two of you in a professional manner so that it will not look poorly on either of you."

Ginny was astounded that Vic had this done up already considering Kingsley had only found out about them last night. It stipulated that the two of them were required to attend the outings that she'd planned for the next three months, then they were on their own. There was even a clause near the end that said that Vic got to approve the photographer for any potential wedding that might take place but that that would be the extent of her involvement.

"That's it?" Harry asked Vic seriously. "Three months then we can have it just be our own private life again?"

"Three months," Vic confirmed with a nod.

He turned to Ginny. "I'm good with that, are you?"

"Very," she grinned and leaned over to give him their first public kiss before signing off on the document and sliding it back across the table to Vic.

()()()

AN- The prompt was for an experienced Ginny and a virgin Harry.