Another prompt by Iwik.

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Cosmic Joke

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Ginny was sitting on the couch and reading through this months issue of Witch Weekly, her guilty pleasure passed down to her by her mother, when she heard the door to the flat close. It was Luna, she had gone out for her Saturday morning run to the Farmers Market in Botanic Ally. Ginny double checked her watch, Luna usually took much longer than this. Usually she took hours and came back with loads of stories about what each of the proprietors had been up to, because she knew each and every one of them by name.

"Luna?" she called out across the flat. But there was no response other than the sound of the shopping bags being set down on the counter in the kitchen.

Ginny closed her eyes for a second, mentally preparing herself for what could possibly have gone wrong that would have her friend too wrapped up in her own mind to be bothered with answering to her name. She also said a silent farewell to her morning plans of doing nothing but flipping through her magazine while sitting in the sunshine on her couch and sipping coffee.

Setting down the magazine on the coffee table, she stood up and paused as she waited for that initial rush of blood pressure dizziness to pass.

Perhaps she had been sitting stationary for too long anyhow.

Then she heard a sniffle.

"Oh, fuck," Ginny sighed.

Luna wasn't an easy person to rattle. She was a bit peculiar, and that had made her an easy target for bullies at school, but even when getting teased she would simply reason out why she was being made fun of and turn the situation around; which sometimes was to her detriment rather than successfully shutting down the comments. For example; one time when they were in their fifth year a boy from his sixth started teasing Luna about her earrings, and to be fair, they were radishes, so it was strange, but he was being relentless. Luna simply turned to look at him with those giant blue eyes of his and asked if he was lashing out because he was trying to make himself feel better, if it was because Brittany Shaffer was close by and he fancied her, or if he simply hadn't had a wank in the shower that morning, because boys his age should do that in order to release some of their excitement. Well, he had been thoroughly embarrassed that everyone around them heard her say that and wound up buggering off only to trap her in the library later that day. If Ginny hadn't gone looking for her who knew what might have happened because when she found them his one hand was over Luna's mouth and the other was ripping at her stockings.

Together with their testimony he had been expelled.

And still, Luna didn't cry about it.

"Luna?" Ginny called her name again softly as she went around the corner and saw Luna in the kitchen, taking great care in placing all of the produce on the counter and ensuring no piece of fruit or vegetable touch each other.

"I got that red pepper jelly you like," Luna finally replied.

"Luna, what happened?"

Luna gave another sniffle and shook her head, her hand shook as well when she took another item out of the bag. "There was a man there today. He just yelled at me, that's all."

Ginny stared at the back of her friends head and waited for more information. "Anyone we know?" she prompted when Luna said nothing else.

Luna shook her head again and Ginny saw her shoulders tremble. "He looked our age, but we didn't go to school with him. I would have remembered those green eyes of his. They were a really lovely color, even when he was yelling at me I noticed how nice they were. Green isn't an eye color you see too much of."

She was going to go off on a tangent about how one got the color of their eyes now, Ginny knew she had to stop her. "Was there anyone else around when he was yelling at you?"

Luna sniffled again and Ginny moved across the room to rest back against the counter, trying to see just how tear-streaked Luna's face was.

"Mhmm. Kristoff, the honey vendor, the one who makes candles too, with the wick that lasts twice as long? He was there. Told the man to stop and walk it off."

"And the man did? Walk away?"

Luna nodded again.

"And this just happened?"

Luna nodded again.

Ginny stepped forward and gave her friend a hug and a kiss to her temple, then went immediately to the door, taking her purse from a hook and giving a quick transfiguration charm to her clothes so they would be appropriate for public.

She could hear Luna calling her name to stop her, she didn't listen though. Someone had hurt Luna, badly, and with their words. It must have been something terrible if Luna was crying about it and Ginny wasn't going to stand for that.

The market was only a quick Apparation away and she knew exactly where Kristoff's stand was and blazed right for it.

She spotted the tall German man, standing a head above the rest of them with his big beard, grin and cute apron over his broad chest and beer belly that read 'Honey, Please?'. "Kristoff," she called out when she was at the stand, interrupting someone talking to him already. "I'm a friend of Luna's, you know Luna?"

"Of course," Kristoff told her, looking bewildered by her sudden appearance and rudeness.

"Do you remember the man that was yelling at her not long ago? Can you tell me who he is, or what he looks like?"

Kristoff blinked at her a few times. "I think it is best you let that be," he told her finally. "It is settled. The man walk away."

"Well, I'm not going to let it be, so what does he look like?"

Kristoff frowned at her and reluctantly raised his hand to indicate how tall the man was. "He has dark hair, all messy like he been flying, and thin. He dresses like Muggle, wearing light blue shirt." Then he pointed down to his right where the market continued and became more about flowers than food.

"Dankeschön," Ginny said quickly, it was the only thing she knew how to say in German other than 'Schnitzel', and that didn't really apply here.

She looked at every person she saw as she passed through the crowd, scouring for anyone wearing Muggle clothes and didn't see anyone matching his description anywhere in the market. "Damn," she stamped her foot in frustration and gave one more look around. The only stall left before her was a coffee cart, which she headed for so she could get at least something for her trouble.

The barista handed over her drink and she kept headed the way she'd been going, figuring she may as well walk the length of the alley until it looped around back to Diagon Alley, then she could visit her brothers shop.

Ginny was on her fourth sip of coffee when she saw someone in a blue shirt and Muggle jeans sitting on a bench beside the park. They were bent over when she saw the color of the shirt, when he sat up she saw he was thin, about her age, and had messy black hair.

With renewed vigor she headed straight for him, coming up behind him. "Hey," she called to him aggressively. "You!"

He turned around to look at her in surprise and she was close enough to notice he had green eyes.

Victory!

"It is you, isn't it? The man that made a woman cry in front of the Honey Vendor in the market? Where do you get off? What could she have possibly done to you to have you yelling at her?"

The surprise on his face gave way for a darkness to roll over his features and he stood up. "Where do I get off?! Where did she get off is the question. I was just minding my own business and she comes up to me and starts spewing off her garbage, shoving it in my face like the inconsiderate fool she is. Now I've got you, yet another woman I don't know, tracking me down in a park!"

"I wouldn't have had to if you hadn't made her cry!"

He took another step closer. "I wouldn't have needed to make her cry so that she'd bugger off if she could learn to keep her fucking mouth shut with her insane babbling."

"Luna is not insane!"

"Yeah, she is. And I guess you people just find each other, don't you!"

They were nearly nose to nose now, glaring at each other. Ginny opened her mouth to do a little more yelling when she heard a child crying and looked around, finally noticing the little boy on a picnic blanket by the bench with his toy blocks around him, looking up at the man.

"Oh no," Ginny took a step back as the man immediately reached out and pulled the child into his arms to sooth him. "I'm- I, I didn't see him."

"Yeah, well, you're friend did."

The little boy buried his head against the mans chest and gave a few more sniffles while he was being bounced and having his back rubbed. The child looked to be somewhere between one and two years old. And he was adorable.

"I'm sorry," Ginny told the child. "I promise I won't yell anymore."

"How about you promise not to jump on unsuspecting strangers with accusations. Particularly when you clearly don't know the story."

That shut Ginny up. She looked back and forth between the man and his child and realized she didn't know the story. She just stood there awkwardly and watched as the child calmed down. The boy turned his head to look at her, he had the same green eyes that the man did. Luna was right, they really were striking.

Ginny offered the little boy a smile, when he gave her one back that matched, hers grew wider. Then his eye color changed dramatically from green to brown.

"Oh shit!" Ginny took a step back. "Did Luna see him, er, change something?"

The child was a Metamorphmagus. If Luna saw him do something like he just did then she no doubt would have called attention to it, then said something about how rare they were and gone off on a whole tangent.

"Yes," the man replied through clenched teeth.

Her whole body sagged. "I am so sorry. You're right, I didn't know the story. All I knew was that my friend was upset, and she doesn't get upset easily. I… I should have listened to Kristoff when he told me to leave it alone."

"Yeah, you should have. But, you're here now, so maybe just have a chat with your friend about not suggesting children be subjected to series of testings."

Her jaw dropped open. "She said that!? About a toddler? Bloody right I'll have a chat with her about it!"

"Good." His stance relaxed some and he continued bouncing slightly and soothing the boy.

"What's his name?" Ginny couldn't resist asking.

"Teddy, short for-"

"Theodore," Ginny finished. "That's a cute name. For a very cute boy," she said directly to Teddy.

Teddy grinned at her again, showing off the total of eight teeth he had in his mouth, and then scrunched up his face a bit before freckles appeared on his nose.

Ginny stared at him in awe and felt her fingers twitch, like they were desperate to reach out and pull him close for cuddles. He then looked up at the man and his hair changed to Ginny's red and his eyes back to green.

She let out a small whimper and felt a pull in her stomach now. "My God, you sure know how to give a girl a swift punch in the ovaries, don't you?"

The man let out a laugh as Ginny still struggled with this newfound maternal feeling she was having and clutched her hands to her chest.

"Are you alright?" the man asked her.

"This happens when I see adorable babies and children that look like my family. I turn into a deranged auntie that absolutely needs to give them cuddles and I'm really trying not to just snatch him out of your arms."

Then Teddy held an arm out to her.

"How about I just put him back down on the blanket so he can play," he suggested. "You are done laying into me, right?"

"Right!" she assured him. "I was completely in the wrong, and, for the record, I think it's safe to say that Luna failed to use any kind of filter between her brain and mouth when she spoke to you. She's just… straightforward and, well, I guess innocent is a good term for her too? Whatever it was she said about your son, I've no doubt she meant anything malicious by it."

"Godson," he corrected.

"Oh." She was surprised that he was this involved in his Godson's life. She wasn't even entirely sure who her godparents were. "That's so great that you're spending the day with him. Giving his parents some time to themselves?"

From the look he gave her she gathered that wasn't the case.

"Have I just gone and put my foot in my mouth again?"

He sat back down on the bench and indicated that she was welcome to join him. "He lives with his grandmother most of the time, I take him on weekends whenever I can. He's growing up really fast and I want him to know that he's got family, blood or not."

That was about the sweetest thing she'd ever heard.

"Looks like you're around him plenty if he can be calmed down that easily by you."

This man was young, too young to be taking on a responsibility like this. She wondered what happened to Teddy's parents, but she didn't dare ask. She was a complete stranger to both of them.

"Wish I could be around him more, but work keeps me busy."

"I don't recognize you. Did you not go to Hogwarts?"

"No. I was homeschooled, had a bunch of different tutors. Teddy's mum and dad were a few of them."

"Wasn't that lonely for you?"

He gave her a curious look. "No. There were always plenty of people around."

"Any your own age?"

"Several in the neighborhood, they were Muggle though. I blended in just fine," he gestured to his outfit.

"Clearly," she grinned. "My parents still haven't got a clue what to wear when they have to try and blend in. It doesn't matter how many times I try to correct them either. My dad tried to go somewhere in M.C. Hammer trousers once and I had to do a quick transfiguration spell before someone actually saw him."

He grinned at her. He had a really nice smile.

"Speaking of which," she looked down at her hastily transfigured clothes, "I've only got about thirty minutes left before my spell work on this outfit gives up and I'm sitting here in adorable and embarrassing animal print pajamas. So, sorry for disturbing your day." She stood up.

"Wait, hold on a moment." He stood up as well and put his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "I've got a party to go to later, starts around seven and I was planning on showing up around eight. Any interest in joining me?"

She was surprised by the offer. "You aren't planning on having me tarred and feathered, are you?"

"No," he laughed. "It's just a party a work friend is having. It shouldn't be too formal or out of control. What you're wearing would be fine. I'm going in this," he gestured to his shirt. "Unless Teddy decides to start a food fight with me before I drop him off at his Gran's."

"I think I'm up for that," she agreed. It had been a while since she'd met anyone new, and he was very cute. "I'm Ginny, by the way," she held out her hand to him.

"Harry," he grinned. "Did you want to meet here? The party isn't too far away."

"Okay. So, seven thirty then?"

She bid farewell to he and Teddy and wandered contentedly back to the closest Apparation point with her coffee still in her hand and a smile on her face.

By the time she'd gotten back to her flat she'd completely forgotten about the whole reason why she'd gone out in the first place. Seeing Luna sitting solemnly on the couch waiting for her brought it all back.

"Did you find him? Does he hate me?" Luna asked her. "It was my fault, I realize that now. I realized it before you left, I just didn't stop you in time."

"Don't worry," Ginny assured her. "It's all sorted now. Harry and I talked. I managed to piece together what happened when I saw Teddy change his eye color. Luckily I wasn't very far into laying into Harry then."

"He was really angry," she frowned. "I just didn't think. It was just my first time seeing a Metamorphmagus, I got too excited. And loud, you know how I get louder when I get excited."

Ginny rolled her eyes and cringed internally. Yes, she was very familiar with Luna getting loud when excited, or drunk.

"Well, I think he's calmed down about it now and if you could just apologize the next time you see him."

"Well, I might never see him again," Luna said in confusion.

"Erm… about that," Ginny bit her lip and smiled.

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The park was really quiet after seven in the evening; all the kids would have been home getting ready for bed and all the adults would be out having dinner. It wasn't ideal 'stroll in the park' time. The sun was just setting and if she sat here for much longer waiting for him then she was going to need to transfigure a shawl or something.

Luna hadn't seemed very surprised that Ginny had left the flat on a mission of revenge and returned with a date. Ginny was still a bit surprised though, particularly when she thought of the order of events in that manner instead of how it had come about in a natural progression of conversation. Harry was attractive, he was responsible, he stood up for those he cared about, they were about the same age and both single. She felt she'd learned all she'd needed to from their interaction to feel secure in going to this party with him.

Except she didn't know his surname or occupation, but oh well, she'd learn it tonight.

And there was nothing stopping her from asking him right now since he'd suddenly appeared in front of her.

"You're early," he stated in surprise. "I was hoping I'd be the first to get here."

He was holding a few flowers in his hand.

"Are those for me?" she asked.

"Yes." He held them out for her.

"You brought me flowers?" she asked in confusion, but accepted them from him. They were orange lilies and pink gerber daisies. They looked lovely, and the gesture was sweet, just unexpected.

"Our initial interaction didn't start off the best, I thought we should try again on the right foot."

She let out a laugh. "That is a pretty fair assessment of how it went earlier. Although I probably should have been the one to bring you something if that's the case, since it was my friend putting her foot in her mouth that caused me to track you down in the first place. It wasn't a shining moment for me."

He gave her that half smile of his and shrugged, "it's the guy that brings the girl flowers. I certainly wouldn't know what to do with them."

"Then I suppose next time I'll have to plan on bringing you a baked good of some sort. That's the traditional way to do things, isn't it? Or would you just like a token of my favor, like a handkerchief?"

"Oh, baked good, please. That handkerchief thing always sounded a bit nasty to me. I wouldn't be able to resist wondering how much snot had been wiped on it."

"Now that you mention it, that does seem really gross."

They stood there grinning at each other for a moment, until the moment dragged on a bit too long and it grew awkward. She didn't' know what to do with he flowers either. Usually if a guy was bringing you flowers it was when you were at home and had access to a vase or something. She couldn't just walk around all night with a bouquet of flowers in her hand.

"Well, these are lovely, but… I don't know what to do with them now."

"Er, yeah. Guess I hadn't really thought that bit through."

"So, you won't mind if I just shrink them down and put them in my pocket?" she suggested.

"No, that's fine," he assured her.

She did just that and then waited to see if he would say something else to get the ball rolling on the conversation.

"Look," he said finally, "I'm not big on the dating scene, but I've had a few that started off really awkward because we didn't know each other very well and weren't quite sure if we would click until after several hours of painfully forced conversation and I think I've come up with a simple way to take some of that awkwardness out, and that's to move the 'end of the night' bit to the start of the date."

"End of the night bit," she repeated. She looked around. "You're not asking to shag against a tree or something, are you? Because that's a solid 'no'."

He quickly muffled his bark of laughter and she felt relief flow through her from that reaction.

"Not a shag, no," he laughed. "Although I'm surprised and intrigued that your mind went there. I was more asking if I could kiss you before we go."

"Oh!" she knew her cheeks must have been doing a great imitation of the sunset sky above them. She couldn't believe she'd just jumped immediately to shagging over kissing! "Well fuck, now I can't believe I've just said that."

He grinned at her. "I won't hold it against you."

She was grateful that he didn't have some kind of greedy look in his eye like he now knew where the night was going to take them because of her guess. "And if I kiss you now, you swear you won't spend the entire night thinking you're getting lucky at the end of it?"

"Aren't I already lucky just having you agree to spend the evening with me?" he asked charmingly.

"Oh no, please tell me you were joking with that line," she grinned. It was flattering, but also made her want to mime throwing up, which she only just stopped herself from doing.

"I am. That's a pretty douchy thing to say. Although, I am glad that you agreed to come with me tonight. I thought I'd have to be attending the party stag, and I've been to a few parties stag in the past while so my friends are trying to find a 'nice' girl to set me up with." He rolled his eyes. "It's getting bloody annoying."

"My mum and sisters-in-law keep doing the same to me. I agree, it is bloody annoying. They always choose wrong too. I tried having a conversation with someone my sister-in-law tried to set me up with and it was painful."

He took a step closer, and so did she.

"I like meeting people by chance, like if they track me down at a park and start yelling at me."

She chuckled, "I've been told I can pull of the semi-attractive angry look very well."

"You can. My first thought when I saw you was 'damn', my second was 'fuck you'."

"Oh, so you did want to take me against a tree! That was just earlier. And in broad daylight!" she teased.

"Ha! Different kind of 'fuck you', but I do find you attractive, so that idea might eventually make its way into my mind. Particularly if you keep bringing it up."

"For now though, I think just the kiss."

He took another step closer so their clothes were brushing against each other.

He leaned down and she rose on her toes to meet him. It was a thrill to be kissing someone she'd only just met like this. They'd spent an accumulative ten minutes together, and yet here they were, completely sober and kissing in a park. Whether it was the atmosphere, the newness of their acquaintance or he was simply a good kisser, she didn't remember feeling this kind of swooping sensation in her stomach any other time she'd kissed a man for the first time.

His arms came around her and he drew her closer.

Instead of settling into a natural end point, their kiss grew more heated until her fingers were in his hair and his hands were clutching at her hips.

When she felt him stirring in his trousers she knew that they needed to start pulling back otherwise she may very well agree to finding the nearest tree.

He must have felt her beginning to withdraw because he slowed down as well and started moving slightly away from her, his hips in particular.

"Got a bit carried away there," he said by way of apology once it was just their foreheads resting against each other, hands still in place.

"I like this 'kissing first' idea of yours. Do they all start out that way?"

"No. Definitely not."

"Tested that theory a lot then?"

"Less than a handful of times. Enough to know that ours was much more remarkable than the others." He pulled back some more and she let her hands come down from around his neck, trailing softly down his chest.

"Good to know." She actually felt a bit light-headed. "So, this party then?"

"Yeah, yeah we should start heading there." He took her hand and began leading them out of the park.

"There was something I didn't think to ask you earlier."

"Yeah?"

"What do you do for work?"

"What would you do if I told you I was an artist?"

"Assume you have family money," she shrugged.

"Why would me being an artist automatically mean I have family money?"

"Because I recognize the emblem on your shirt and I've never heard of an artist of any renown named Harry."

"Fair deduction. What would you guess I do for a living?"

She assessed him out of the corner of her eye as they continued to walk hand in hand and took in his straight posture, remembering the few facts that she had learned about him earlier; homeschooled, blended in with Muggles, had a Godson that he was free to visit with on a Saturday morning. Since she'd never heard her dad mention anything about working with a 'Harry' she ruled out the Ministry.

"A tutor? Or maybe an instructor of some sort?" He was pretty fit, so maybe he was a fitness trainer. "I could see you leading a bootcamp or something. You've got the lung capacity for yelling."

He slowed down to a stop and stared at her. "You sure you don't know who I actually am?"

"What?" she blinked at him. "No. Why?"

"That's exactly what I do. I went through Auror training and after two years of being an Auror I realized I liked the training bit better than the actual job. I take care of all the bootcamps and spend a lot of time yelling encouragement at the recruits."

"No kidding?! I was right? That's so neat! Alright, your turn. Guess what it is I do for a living. Use those Auror skills of yours to deduce it."

She felt him apply a little more pressure to her hand that he was holding, like he was checking for any sign of manual labor.

"A few calluses on your hand. You look like you spend a lot of time in the sun. I don't notice a lot of dirt under your fingernails though, so I'll rule out working in the dirt. Not a landscaper or botanist." He made a hmm sound and gave her another looking over. "Red hair." He then snapped his fingers. "Weasley! You're Ginny Weasley!"

"You've heard of me?"

"I've listened to a few matches that you played in. The announcer only calls out the surnames though so when I learned your first name it didn't click. You're a Chaser for the Holyhead Harpies."

"Second string," she said proudly. "Three years I've worked with them and it's about time I started playing in the actual games instead of just in the practices."

"I'll say. You scored a lot of goals in the last game I listened to."

"Damn straight I did!" There was an extra skip in her step now.

"Your brothers own the joke shop in Diagon Alley too, don't they? And there's the other one, Ron, he started through the Auror training at the same time as me but bowed out before we finished."

"That's a few of them. Ron realized that he liked the idea of being an Auror a lot more than the actual job. Fancied himself a sort of superhero and the Aurors are the closest thing. He is now happily a bartender over at the Fancy Ox."

"A few of them?" Harry circled back to that part of the conversation.

Ginny patted his arm. "Maybe I'll tell you the number of brothers I have eventually. Don't want to scare you off this early on."

"If you tell me the number, I'll tell you my surname," he offered.

"What, is your surname a big secret or something?" she laughed.

He shrugged. "It isn't something I go around announcing, and I suppose you'll wind up hearing it at the party since most of the people there call me by it, but at least this way you'll know before we get there."

He was right, his surname was something she should probably know.

"Six brothers."

"Potter," he offered her immediately. "Wait, you have six brothers?! Please tell me some of them are still in school." There was a hint of concern to his voice.

"You're Harry fucking Potter?!" Her eyes grew wide. "How did I not get that? I guessed what you did for a living and I couldn't tell who you were?"

"Yeah, I get that from time to time, but back to the brothers thing?"

Ginny couldn't believe it. Harry Potter was a character from a bedtime story she was read, when no one by that name ever showed up at Hogwarts she assumed he was just that, a character from a story. Later she'd learned that he really was a person and was partly responsible for bringing about the end of the Dark Lord when she was just a baby, and he was just a toddler. He'd been kept out of the limelight though and all but forgotten by their society because of it.

"So, six brothers," he said again. "Have you got any sisters I also need to be concerned about?"

"No, my parents kept going until they got a girl and then stopped."

"Super," he said with a hint of worry. "Six older brothers, two of which have the biggest prank shop I've ever heard of. And what do the others do? They don't all live around here, do they?"

"Yeah, they do, can we go back a few steps to where you mentioned your surname?"

He sighed and their pace slowed down to half-speed. "It's why I never went to Hogwarts and why I was homeschooled. I was raised by my parents best friends and they kept me out of the limelight. I don't have any special powers or anything and we aren't entirely sure how it was that Voldemort's spell backfired on him and he wound up killing himself instead of me."

"Huh," Ginny nodded after a moment. "I think if you did go to Hogwarts then people probably would have been fascinated at the beginning, but then you would just be 'another student', you know, lumped in with the rest of us."

"Maybe. Then again, maybe I would have had several Death Eaters that lied their way out of an Azkaban sentence seeking revenge and causing issues at a school full of children in the attempt to get back at me. Plus, no one wants to deal with the Malfoy's. I've run into Draco and Lucius Malfoy a few times at the Ministry and I can't imagine having to share classes with that twat."

Ginny laughed at that. "Oh, he is a twat. That pompous princess of Slytherin was always running his mouth. Bloody annoying. My brother Ron wound up in so many detentions because he reacted poorly to something the Malfoy brat said."

Harry grinned down at her. "So… not a big deal then? My name?"

He was still the same man he was before, this may have helped identify what it was about him that attracted her in the first place though; she'd had a Harry Potter doll growing up with his same messy hair and green eyes. His scar on his forehead she hadn't seen yet though, his fringe was hiding it.

"No, not a big deal," she assured him.

"Good, because we're here." He led her towards a building that she was familiar with and pressed a button beside the main door that she was also familiar with. Apparently, they were going to a mutual friends' party.

She didn't say anything about it as they walked up the two flights of stairs and Harry let himself into the flat, whos door was sitting ajar for them. There was music wafting through the flat as well as the scent of fresh baked goods, and people milling all about, none that looked to have noticed the two of them enter.

"We can just put our coats over here," Harry took hers and put it in a pile on the chair by the entrance.

Ginny looked at the faces of the people gathered, there were only a few that she recognized. The party looked to consist mostly of those at least ten years their senior. She kept trying to pick out where the host was.

"Harry!" a woman called out as she came in from the door that led to the kitchen. It was Hannah Abbot and she went straight to Harry and was about to give him a hug in greeting, but then she noticed who he was with. "Ginny!" she squealed with delight.

"Hannah!" Ginny said her name with matching enthusiasm and they gave each other a big hug. "I haven't seen you in ages! And… oh my gosh! Is this what I think it is?" Ginny acknowledged the little bump in the middle of Hannah's dress.

"Mhmm," Hannah beamed with pride.

"Oh, that's fantastic! If you're having a baby shower I'd love to come. Who would be putting it on? Susan?"

Hannah gave a scoff that was very unlike her, she had been such a shy girl at school and timid, so for her to scoff at her friends name because they'd had a falling out or something instead of just blushing and mumbling something was a new side to her personality. "Susan's been a complete bitch to me since I got married. I don't know if she'd always been so whiney and manipulative before, but every time we'd got together for lunch or something she would keep repeating how it was amazing that I was the first one of our friends to get married and settle down, kept saying things about my 'little' shop and how 'cute' it was. Tell me, am I crazy? Was she always like that?"

Ginny hadn't ever been a fan of Susan. "You were crazy, you aren't anymore now that you see it. Susan has always been the jealous sort. If remaining friends with her was dragging you down then either cut her loose or give her time to realize she's a pain to spend time with."

Hannah sighed, "I should have talked to you years ago, you always could see through someone's bull and say things straight."

"I take it you two know each other," Harry interjected.

"We met at school," Ginny grinned. "Hannah and I were in different houses, but she tutored me a few times in potions." She turned back to Hannah, "and it's no wonder you opened up a bakery. I've tried at least one of everything you sell. And fuck Susan, your bakery is the exact right size for what you can handle. Any larger and you'd need to bring on other bakers and the quality wouldn't be the same."

"Thank you! That's what I keep reminding myself of."

Neville came in from the other room then. He was never the fittest bloke around but he looked much healthier now, less bumbly and had a smile on him that told everyone he was very happy with his life. Ginny suspected that him working up the nerve to ask Hannah out and her saying yes had been the key factor in him gaining more confidence.

He also had his dream job as a Herbologist.

"Harry!" Neville greeted. They gave each other a handshake followed by a brief one-armed hug.

"Neville, look who Harry brought," Hannah called his attention.

"Ginny!" Neville greeted her with a full hug and pulled back, looking back and forth between she and Harry. "How did you two meet?"

She and Harry gave them both the brief version of their encounter today, the Longbottom's nodded understandingly at how Luna had been the root cause.

"Luna probably would have enjoyed joining us tonight," Neville told them. "Rolf Scamander is here, I imagine they'd have a lot to talk about."

"Oh God, they would." Ginny peered over Neville's shoulder to see if she could spot him. "Wait a second, how do you two know Harry?"

"We've known each other since we were kids," Neville shrugged. "He was best man at the wedding."

"He was?!" Ginny looked at Harry in surprise. Neville and Hannah had an intimate ceremony with only ten or so guests, so she hadn't made the cut as she was just their school friend more than anything else. Neville hadn't mentioned anything to her about knowing Harry Potter though, and they had spent plenty of time hanging out in Gryffindor Tower together.

"It wasn't going to be something I broadcasted around school," Neville told her pointedly.

And then a memory popped into her head, one of her being an eleven-year-old girl and it being the second term of her first year, when all her friends were writing out Valentine's to the boys they liked, but she didn't have a boy that she fancied yet, so she wrote one to someone she thought didn't exist. She'd showed it to Neville dismissively.

And he'd laughed.

At the time she thought he'd been laughing because he too understood that Valentine's Day was ridiculous and she'd been clever for finding a way to fit in with her new friends, yet still got out of needing to embarrass herself.

He then took the Valentine from her and assured her he would get it to Harry Potter for her.

Ginny's hand flew to her mouth and she gasped at the memory of it. "Holy shit! Oh no. Oh no, you didn't," she asked Neville, unsure whether to be horrified or thoroughly amused.

"Didn't what?" he asked innocently. Too innocently.

Ginny turned to Harry then. "Did Neville ever send you a Valentines Day card from a girl he went to school with?"

Harry gave a groan then, not drawing the correlation between her question and her gasp, "I wish he hadn't. I remember Sirius and Remus getting a hold of it and doing a dance around the kitchen as they sang out the poem."

Ginny's jaw dropped open.

"Wait," Harry paused in his reminiscence, "that was from you?!"

"Ohh, how did it go?" Hannah asked eagerly.

"I don't remember," Ginny said abruptly. She did remember, but only vaguely. It was just some rhyme she threw down on colored parchment with a few hearts around it.

"Harry does," Neville said in a sing-song voice. "I believe he still has it too."

"No, he doesn't!" Ginny was horrified now.

Harry gave her a sheepish expression. "Er, so, my uncles sort of had it framed and stuck it up on the wall with an permanent sticking charm."

Hannah laughed the loudest of the four of them. "So, you don't just still have it, you have it framed and on display!"

Neville started reciting it then, "his eyes are green as a fresh pickled toad, his hair as dark as a blackboard. I wish he were mine, he's really divine. The hero who conquered the Dark Lord."

"You memorized it?!" Ginny asked Neville, who was now in fits of giggles.

"Hey, he wouldn't have known it was from you if you hadn't said anything!" Neville told her. "You signed it 'Your Secret Admirer'."

That was true.

"Oh, but it's so sweet that you two have met now, after all this time," Hannah gushed. Then it looked like her emotions were starting to overwhelm her. "Sorry," she hiccupped, "it's the baby. It's like I'm a bloody fairy and I've only got enough room for one emotion at a time. Excuse me," she then went back into the kitchen.

Neville was still laughing. "I'll go see she's alright, you two start mingling."

They stood there in the entrance way a moment longer, staring at each other, unsure what to make of this situation.

"Still think I'm really divine then?" Harry teased.

Ginny wasn't going to take that bait and blush or look away though. "Judging by our snogging earlier, I'd say you're alright. Still a few things to check out before I can tell for sure though." With that she made her way into the other room and got herself a drink, letting Harry decipher that message.

()()()

The party had been fun. It was amazing to discover just how many people they knew in common, yet they had never crossed paths before. Ron hadn't even mentioned anything about being in Auror training with Harry Potter for the brief time he'd been going through it. She would have thought that something like that would be the first thing out of his mouth when he got home after his first day of it.

It had been great reconnecting with Neville and Hannah. They'd all gotten distracted by life and careers since school and Ginny left the party last night feeling the determination to become better friends with them again, maybe spend some time down at Hannah's bakery so that they could chat between her customers.

She'd also left the party last night arm in arm with Harry, who invited her back to his place. They'd been getting on so well and she still had a great amount of energy, so she'd said yes.

It had been a quick tour of his place and a pointless conversation on his couch before they were snogging again and eventually made their way to his bedroom where they had a rather fantastic two shags before falling asleep.

Waking up to feel his hands tracing gently up and down her body was a lovely hello to the morning. She hummed her appreciation for how affectionate he was.

"Just so you know, I had a really great time last night," he told her as he gave her kisses on her shoulder.

"As did I."

"And I want to do it again."

"I had hoped we would wind up going on a second date, considering the first one went so well."

His hand was massaging her breast gently, then worked its way down between her legs and grasped her thigh, pulling her leg over his own, then his fingers went for her sex and started drawing circles there around her clit. She moaned at the feel of it.

"Trying to prove, once again, how divine you are?" she asked as she rocked her bum back against him and felt his erection. It had been a surprise for her that he'd managed to get off twice so close together last night. It was not a surprise that he was ready to go again this morning though. And with the way that he was working her over, his fingers dipping inside her every now and then before focusing back on her clit, feeling more wet each time they returned, she was growing desperate to feel his member back inside her once more. "Harry," she panted and tried to adjust so he would be spooning her just right so that he'd line up properly.

His hand pulled away from her so he could guide himself inside her and gave a soft groan as he did so. Ginny let out a long breath at the feel of him buried there as well, then a soft gasp when his fingers moved back to her clit and kept up their rhythm.

Her eyes were closed as she appreciated the feel of his front against her back, his forearm against her hip bone, essentially locking her in place and setting the pace.

This was the perfect way to wake up.

He was being slow and methodical, savoring it.

She liked him savoring it. They rocked against each other, her bum firmly against his pelvis the whole time so the rocking simply had him going from deep to deeper inside of her. Merlin it felt nice.

She locked her leg over him and tried to get their pace to go faster, which he happily responded to. His hand went from her clit to her hip in order to help assist with the movements. While she missed the extra friction there, being taken like this added a certain carnal element that was keeping her equally excited.

Slowly the sex devolved from smooth and gentle to hurried and desperate. She was clutching at the pillows, at the bed sheets, and finally bracing herself against the headboard for leverage so she could rock back properly and meet his thrusts with her own. Every time he bottomed out inside of her she gave a loud pant.

Their third time shagging in what had to be less than ten hours and she was still desperate for her finish like a cat in heat. She just wasn't going to get at this angle. It felt incredibly good, but she needed him on top of her.

"Change," she cried out.

"What?" he gasped back.

"I need, oh, I need you on top of me."

He was quick about it, he'd pulled out of her and had her on her back in not time and was buried inside her once more, having her hissing in appreciation.

"Better," he asked smugly.

"Oh, shut up and keep doing that," she told him, grasping at his hips and trying to keep him making these circular motions that made it feel like his cock was on an exploratory mission to find a spot on her that would make her explode.

Then he found it and she was seeing stars.

"Fuck!" she called out as her orgasm hit her, from the start of it she could tell it was going to be a nice long one. Harry was continuing his movements as well and it just made her back curve and her whole body give a pleasured lurch.

It was several seconds of bliss before her body relaxed. She hummed happily as her orgasm subsided and opened her eyes to see he was staring at her, looking very pleased with himself.

"Your turn," she purred, then flipped them over so he was on his back.

"Oh, I'm not going to last long with this view."

She sat up straight and starting riding him, making sure he had a good view of her chest. "Good, because I'm getting hungry for more than just sex in the morning." She still wanted to tease him a bit so she made a few slow up and down movements with her hips, taking him in to various depths before he grabbed her hips once again and set them on the rhythm he needed.

She found herself being bucked forward, grasping onto the headboard as he planted his feet and drove himself into her, taking charge from this generally submissive position below her. Her mouth fell open at how blissfully brutal the pace was.

Then his final powerful thrust came and his grip on her hips tightened and pulled her back down with his own hips, back to the mattress.

"Fuck, that was incredible," he groaned, his body still giving a lurch here and there as he came down from his own high.

"I say we try to make this a regular thing," she told him boldly.

It wasn't usual for her to meet a man for the first time and then bed him in the same day. She thought they had something though and clearly their friends approved. Plus, if you didn't ask for what you wanted, how were you ever supposed to get it.

"I fully support that plan," he told her, still slightly out of breath.

She settled back down beside him, smiling to herself with her eyes closed.

"Did you see it yet?" he asked a minute later.

"See what?" she opened her eyes and turned to him. He raised a hand and pointed at the wall on her side of the bed.

There, in a shadow box frame that was bordered with several layers of varying pink and red colors, was her Valentine.

"Damn! They went all out on that, didn't they?"

He chuckled. "I hated it for the longest time. I'm pretty glad they decided to do that now though. It's pretty wild."

"Wild is right. I only wrote it as a joke and trying to fit in with my friends."

Harry rolled over and hugged her closer to him. "Hmm, one big cosmic joke."

()()()

AN- Posting early because I'm busy this weekend.

And no, I will not be getting into how Remus and Tonks died even though the Battle of Hogwarts didn't happen. It's a one shot. Just deal.