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.

26. Convincing

AN- I've had a few requests that are along the same lines; older Ginny, Harry pining over her, she doesn't take him seriously… and then she does.

In this A/U Ginny was born between Percy and the Twins, and Harry is a year younger than her and is best friends with the Twins instead of Ron; they plus Lee are the next generation of Marauders. No YKW. Changed up the ages of they Gryffindor Chasers too.

()()()

Convincing

()()()

"Okay," Harry looked at himself in the mirror, "this is it. You are going to do it. She hasn't believed you before, but things are different now. You're different now," he pointed his index finger at his reflection. "She's been single for a bit, and you know that she wasn't in love with the last guys she's dated anyways. She just needs to see you in that light."

It wasn't the first time he'd tried to psyche himself up about this. In fact, he'd done it every time he found out that Ginny Weasley no longer had a boyfriend.

She was it for him, and he'd known that for years.

It was convincing her that was the problem.

He hadn't gone about it the best way in the past, so that was on him. It didn't help that he was best friends with her twin brothers, Fred and George. Those two plus himself and Lee had managed to surpass the Marauders for the highest number of detentions during their time at Hogwarts so it wasn't like he was known for being straight with people.

His dad and godfather had been so proud, his mum had been so exasperated.

But it wasn't like Harry and them had hurt anyone, a few select Slytherin's aside, but even those guys weren't permanently injured. He and his friends caused trouble and made McGonagall go gray a little quicker, but all in all it was good fun.

Harry had made the Quidditch Team in his second year, alongside the twins who were made Beaters. Ginny had made the team in his first year as a Chaser and it was like she'd been born to it. He'd been super impressed by her then, and he supposed he'd always had a bit of a thing for her. It wasn't until she'd set her sights on their Quidditch Captain in his third year that he realized just how much he liked her.

()()()

"Good game!" Oliver patted Harry heavily on the back after they'd just won their first game of the season, against Slytherin. "Glad you paid attention to me. Did you find the search pattern more helpful?"

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Yes, he loved Quidditch, but he wasn't quite as obsessed as Wood was with getting the Quidditch Cup, he just wanted to play the game, and yes, he wanted to win, but the practices were way more intense than they needed to be; Wood was way more intense than he needed to be.

Truthfully, Harry thought Wood could do with a shag or something to focus his energy elsewhere, since apparently his OWL studies weren't cutting it. It was Wood's first year as Captain, and he was taking that role far too seriously.

"Yeah, Harry," George started with a cheeky grin. "Was it the grid search, or the zig-zag that gives you the best advantage?"

"You know, there's also simply tailing the other Seeker," Fred told him importantly. "Not that Higgs really knows what he's doing. Surprised he sat on his broom the right way."

"Yeah, alright," Wood gave up and moved on.

They'd all made it back into the change room and were eager to get out of their Quidditch kit and back up to Gryffindor Tower to enjoy the party that was being thrown together in their honor.

"I want to run through the next two weeks of scheduled pitch time," Wood started.

The three third years gave a groan. They'd only just finished their first successful game of the year, they wanted to start celebrating, not listen to him prattle on.

Wood knocked on the door to the separate changeroom door that the girls went through. "Hurry up. Team meeting."

Harry started pulling off his jersey and his arm and knee pads as the three females on the team trooped back in. Angelina Johnston and Alicia Spinnet he didn't know as well as Ginny, but all three of them were really easy to get along with.

"Ginny!" Fred shouted in alarm beside Harry.

Harry swung his head around and his mouth fell open and eyes started bugging out of his head.

"What?" Ginny asked. She was standing there in her white Quidditch trousers and a sports bra, her long wavy hair hanging loose down her back, with one hand on her hip. "Wood sounded desperate for us to get in here. Wouldn't want to keep him waiting." She gave their Captain a cheeky wink as she took up on a bench and rested her elbows back on the table behind her, showcasing her lovely attributes.

Harry felt a twinge of jealousy at the way she was looking at their Captain, a coy smirk on her face. She'd intentionally come in there half dressed, simply to draw Oliver Wood's attention. She wasn't baring that much skin for Harry, but he couldn't help thinking he'd have loved it if she was. There were a few unfamiliar fluttering sensations in his belly as he looked her over.

He'd seen her at the Burrow by the pond in her swimsuit over the summer when he'd visited, but this was somehow different. Her breasts being on display under the enticing cut of that spandex bra was somehow much more intimate than her swimsuit was. He got the chance to appreciate her in a whole different type of lighting, and he did not want Oliver Wood seeing her like that. Casting a look at the captain he saw Wood was slightly blushing, but not looking as interested in her and Harry now felt.

George threw his shirt at her and told her to cover up. Ginny gave a chuckle at the reaction of the boys, the other two girls looked to have been in on it, they were all dorm mates and probably knew she fancied their Captain.

Harry was still mesmerized as Ginny stretched her arms up and lowered George's shirt over her head. His head tilted to watch the way it slid down her body until the last little sliver of skin was covered on her torso.

"Oi," Fred hit him in the arm.

"Huh?" he turned to Fred, then abruptly closed his gaping mouth and felt his face heating up.

()()()

That was it. That was what had started it all. From that day on it was like his whole body was attuned to her. If he walked into a room, he would automatically look for her, if he heard the sound of her voice, he would stop paying attention to whatever he was doing to listen to what she was saying.

It wasn't just that he'd realized she had a killer bod, or that she was beautiful. It was so much more than that. She was funny, she was brazen, she was a fucking amazing Quidditch player.

It was a surprise to no one when she was signed as a reserve player to the Wimbourne Wasps right out of school; she'd had offers from the Harpies and the Cannon's as well, but she didn't want to make a team simply because she was a girl, which Harry respected, and the Cannon's were bottom of the league.

Harry was further delighted that he didn't have to change his loyalties when that happened, he'd always been a Wasp supporter.

Now he was heading to his first team social as a Wasp team member as well.

He'd tried out right out of school after receiving the offer to join the Training Camp and gotten offers from Puddlemere, Cannons, and the Wasps. It was no hard decision for him. Playing on his favorite team with his favorite person was a no brainer, he'd leapt at the chance.

Harry shook out his hands as he was getting ready to Apparate to the pub they were all meeting at. There were going to be twenty-one team members and ten support staff that were at the pub. It would be crowded and loud and the atmosphere would be a little chaotic, but he was sure that he would be able to get her alone.

He was going to tell her properly this time and make her believe he was being sincere. That he had always been sincere about it. He'd just been crap at relaying that.

Perhaps he should have broken up with his girlfriend at the time before he'd asked Ginny out the very first time. But in his defense… he'd forgotten in the moment that he had a girlfriend. Dating someone in a different House and in a different year hadn't allowed for much time with said girlfriend, and with Quidditch and being rather infatuated with someone else the whole time; Well, he was a bit of a cad to Cho Chang really. But she was also super chatty and rather vapid, he just hadn't gotten around to ending it with Cho. He had been spending more time with Ginny then anyway, considering Ginny was a Gryffindor and on his Quidditch Team.

It had taken him two years after the beginning of his infatuation to drum up the nerve to ask Ginny out. And it had been ideal timing considering they had nothing else to do but talk to each other while they were serving that detention.

He'd perfectly orchestrated that they be in detention together.

He was such and idiot.

()()()

"I suppose it could be worse," Ginny shrugged as she told her friends, "I could have been serving it in the dungeons with Snape. Hagrid at least lets me get to work and leaves me to my devices."

Harry was one table over from she and her friends in the Library. He heard she'd got detention for using her Bat Bogey Hex on a Slytherin in her year when he'd made some rude comments about her. Word had gotten back to all the Weasley boys and Harry had eagerly pitched in to make Marcus Flint, the Slytherin Quidditch Team Captain, pay for what he'd said to Ginny and putting his hands on her.

Flint should have known better anyhow. Ginny wasn't exactly a girl to be messed with and once she got through with you, there were four other brothers still at the school with her, including one who was Head Boy, and the twins!

Ginny had been reprimanded for using magic in the corridors by Snape, but the fingers were pointing in several directions when it came to who had made Flint's skin turn green and caused him to sprout breasts, so no one got a detention for that one, and no one would. But, if Ginny was going to be serving her detention with Hagrid tomorrow evening, then Harry was going to find a way to serve that detention with her.

Getting a detention for himself was easy enough. He'd served several over the years and gotten away with several things without being caught, or able to be definitively called out for. Filch had a quick trigger finger when it came to Harry, Lee and the Twin's, all he had to do was make a mess somewhere and say 'Oops' loud enough.

It worked just like he planned; Filch stuck him in detention and Harry was spending a lovely Autumn evening in the vegetable garden with the girl of his dreams.

They had an easy repour between them, but he was desperate for her to see him as more than just her younger brothers' best friend. Five years now and that was all he'd been to her; he knew it was. She didn't see him as a dating prospect, he was simply Harry, Fred and George's friend, to her, like Lee was.

She wasn't currently dating anyone that he knew of. She'd been seeing a Hufflepuff bloke at the end of the last school year, but they hadn't made it through the summer. Now there was a Hogsmeade Weekend coming up and he was itching for the chance to take her out for a Butterbeer and see him in the same light he saw her.

"Now, I know you're great at getting your hands dirty when it comes to pranks, but can your noble upbringing allow you to keep pace with me here?" Ginny asked him cheekily, handing him a shovel before she grabbed the wheelbarrow from the shed.

They'd been tasked with harvesting squash and turning over the soil and pulling out the plants that were done producing.

"I can hold my own," he told her, only slightly offended. It was true that he hadn't ever had to garden before. His mum kept a flower garden, but she tended to that herself. How hard could it be though? Yank off squash, pull out plant.

"Sure you can," she told him patronizingly.

As they started to work he was formulating just what to say to her, how to make her see him as dating potential. He watched the way she went at the squash with her bare hands, twisting them and breaking the vines they were attached to and leaving them on the ground to be collected all at once. It was so natural to her. Everything came so natural to her, because she was perfect.

"Anyone asked you to Hogsmeade yet?" he blurted out.

"Not yet, but I've got my eye on someone," she looked over her shoulder and gave him a wink and a cheeky smile.

His spirits rose instantly. She winked at him! It was him she had her eye on! YES! Her thinking he was just her younger brothers' friend was all in his head. He'd been successful in getting her attention with his pranks and wicked Quidditch skills.

"Waiting for him to ask you then?" he asked rather more cockily than he meant to.

"Well, I am a girl. We're supposed to behave all dainty and clueless, aren't we?" she joked.

"Dainty and clueless are two descriptions no one would ever use on you," he assured her. She stood up to give a stretch and he stepped closer to her. "So, meet there, or head down together?" he asked with a grin.

"What?" she asked with a laugh, her expression showing she was convinced he was joking.

He should have stopped there, considering her reaction. But he didn't.

"Well, it's me, isn't it?" It had to have come from several years of making pun's and sarcastic comments. His natural tone and inflection simply sounded like he was kidding. All. The. Time. It wasn't the ideal situation to have that as his pre-set, but in this situation, he supposed it did save him some embarrassment.

"Oh yes, of course it is," she slugged him gently in the shoulder. "I've simply been waiting for you to come available. Suppose I still have to wait though, aren't you seeing the Ravenclaw Seeker?"

She was beaming brightly at him, thinking that he hadn't been at all serious about his question. Her face was alight with humor and she was radiant, even with the smear of dirt on her cheek. Meanwhile his stomach had dropped.

She hadn't meant him at all.

And he was dating someone.

Fuck!

He forced his laugh to sound as natural as possible and went back to his task, quickly changing the subject.

()()()

That had been the first time he'd attempted to ask her out at school. Unfortunately, every time after she had thought he'd simply been piling on to the joke.

He'd even sent her a bouquet of her favorite flowers on Valentine's Day with the cheesy card that asked if she'd be 'His'. Her response had been to simply thank him for the flowers and give him a pat to the cheek. Later he'd seen her looking rather cozy with a Ravenclaw in her year.

Sigh.

Harry closed his eyes and focused on his destination, the back alley of the pub. There were several people out in the Alley having a fag, but this was a Wizards pub, so it wasn't at all odd for them to see him appearing before them.

He gave a wave at everyone there that he knew as he passed.

He'd gotten a few pats on the back and handshakes. He was the youngest and newest person on the team, but he'd made damn sure that everyone knew he was just as qualified and dedicated as the rest of them in the few practices he'd been at since being signed.

He made it into the warmth of the pub and scanned his eyes across the place to find out where she was. It didn't take long to spot her, on the other side of the bar, leaning against the counter and talking to the bartender.

She'd dressed fairly casually. There were only a handful of times that he'd seen her really dressed up and he'd nearly swallowed his tongue each time.

They hadn't talked much since he joined the Wasp's, she hadn't been quite as relaxed around him as she used to be either. Then again, that could have been all due to what had happened. Even though it was over a year ago since… that. And then the other time, well. It had been New Years, it was tradition.

The second time had been a proper attempt, the first had been a misunderstanding, but he was damned sure not going to let the misunderstanding come between them again.

It hadn't taken long for the twins to realize he was holding a torch for their sister. They hadn't been very helpful in suggesting ways to woo her though. Neither had his dad or godfather. His dad simply started regaling him with stories of everything that hadn't worked when he was trying to get his mum to pay him attention. Sirius had told him to just grab her and kiss her.

Sirius' advice was probably what really caused the misunderstanding to occur.

That and the alcohol.

()()()

The twins and Lee had taken Harry around the pubs on his seventeenth birthday. They wanted to celebrate the day of his birth the way that they themselves would have loved to for theirs had their coming of age birthday, had theirs not fallen during the weekday and during the school year.

Harry's mum and dad had seen this form of celebration coming and threatened Harry's friends within an inch of their lives, well, okay, mum did the threatening, if they failed to get him home before dawn.

One drink at each of the establishments in Hogsmeade, that was the mission. There were only three bars, but there were several liquor serving restaurants that were included on the tour.

By the time the four of them stumbled into the Three Broomsticks they were all good and sloshed. Harry was finding everything hilarious, and the twins were trying to pick up any girl that walked past. Lee though seemed to be holding his liquor rather well and was a touch more somber than usual.

Harry sat down heavily on the bar stool and leaned over the counter. "Rosie!" he called out. "It's my birthday! Think you can make me something special?" he gave her a big grin and an exaggerated wink.

"Sure, how about a tonic water with lime? Attempt to pace yourself," she pursed her lips. They had that kind of relationship; the Marauders of the previous generation treated her like their lovely older sister, Harry treated her like his loving aunt.

"How about just an ale then," he pouted. Apparently, she didn't think he was too many sheets to the wind, because she still served him.

"Alright," Fred started and looked around the pub. "Now it's time to check out the ladies."

That caused Harry to pout a bit more. There was only one lady he had on his mind. She was done with her schooling now and he was depressed that he wouldn't be seeing her at Hogwarts the coming year. No more chances to woo her in person and make her believe he was properly in love with her.

Because he was in love with her.

How could he not be?

"Hey," George nudged him. "No long faces! You know what?" he asked, getting to his feet. "You need a snog."

"Wha?" Harry looked up from his drink and into his friends face. George was swaying slightly.

"Yeah, he does," Fred came to stand beside his brother, making Harry feel a little like he had double vision.

"The two of us will do all the work," George assured him with a devious smile.

"That's right. We're going to find a bird in here that is all eager to get herself a good long snog from you and send her over!" Fred announced, rather loudly.

"Can you do that for me too?" Lee asked. "Girls are a lot of work."

Harry gave his friend a sympathetic pat on the back. He'd forgotten just how broken up his mate was about his split up with his last girlfriend, explained his mood. It had only happened a week ago. Lee had thought it was love and was going to last, poor guy. He'd been managing a brave face until that last drink there.

The twins went off in search of some girls for the two of them, but Lee didn't look in the mood even if one of the twins were successful.

"I'm not going to say there are other fish in the sea," Harry told him. "Cause I know what fish I want and I'd be gutted if I had her and she swam away."

"Can you not refer to Celina as a fish?" Lee asked before chugging down half of his pint.

"Can I equate her to a mermaid? But, like, the hot kind that Muggle's draw, not the," he gestured drunkenly to his own face and make a ghoul like expression. It got Lee laughing at least.

"They won't be successful in finding you a bird if you're over here making that face," Lee told him.

"Oh yes," Harry made his face as serious as he could, "I should be looking like I have swagger. Like I have a title behind my name, and they should all be so lucky." He let out a snicker and returned to his pint.

"Harry," George came up beside him. "We found a girl that's keen on you. You'll like her, I swear. She's just popped into the loo, then she'll be heading over to you in a minute!"

Harry opened his mouth to ask him a few questions, so he would have a frame of reference on what to expect, but George darted away.

"Oh, this'll be good," Lee snickered.

"Yeah, well. They're looking for someone for you too," he narrowed his eyes at his friend. He knew he could do with a snog. It had been a few months since he'd managed a date. Didn't help that anyone he dated was able to cotton on that he wasn't interested in anything serious with them.

"Hi Harry," came a sweet and familiar voice at his side.

Harry was grateful that he had just managed to swallow down the last of his drink before he turned to see her standing there. Surely, he would have accidentally sprayed it in her face.

Ginny was here.

Ginny was who they'd found.

He didn't put any further thought into what was happening. Ginny was here and she was the bird that was keen on snogging him. He immediately slipped out of his seat and pulled her right up against him, crushing his lips to hers in the way he'd dreamed of doing for years.

He was too drunk to register the squeak of surprise from her lips as they were pressed up against his. All he did register was how soft those lips were against his, how tight and stretchy her shirt was and how it allowed his hand on her lower back to feel how fit she was. He noticed how silky her hair was with his hand cupping her face and the gentle caress of it against the back of his hand. She smelled incredible, like strawberries with a hint of vanilla. She was such a perfect height to; he didn't have to stoop too much as he only had a few inches on her.

His head was growing dizzy as he put his whole being into the kiss. All his longing, all his desire, all his worship of the perfect goddess that she was. Finally, he was kissing her, and it was amazing.

"Oi!" a voice yelled loudly in his ear.

He pulled back from her lips, unconcerned with the loud and angry voice that was trying to call his attention. He only saw her beautiful brown eyes, open wide and staring at him, her lovely lips looking slightly more luscious than he'd seen them before.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" the same loud voice asked beside him. "Ginny, who is this?"

Harry managed to pull his eyes away from her and turn towards the voice. It was some guy in a light blue dress shirt looking outraged.

"Um," Ginny collected herself and put her hand over top Harry's, pulling it off her cheek. "Martin, this is Harry. Harry, this is Martin… my date," she said awkwardly.

"What?!" Harry asked incredulously. If she was here on a date, why did she come over to snog him?

"Uh, mate," Fred called his attention over Ginny's shoulder. There was a confused looking brunette beside him. "This is Miranda," he told him, fighting back a laugh.

"Shit," was all Harry could manage.

Ginny didn't come over to snog him, she came over to say 'hello'. Ginny detangled herself from his arms and stepped closer to 'Martin' with a large blush on her face. "Uh, happy birthday," she said awkwardly and pulled her date away by the hand and out the door.

"Mate," was all Lee said, clapping Harry on the back before he and the twins simply fell apart with laughter.

()()()

Harry needed at least one drink in him before he made his way over to her. He couldn't possibly say what he needed to say when he was 100% sober. It sounded ridiculous in his head, but it was all true.

He got a shot and quickly downed it as he watched her move on to the other side of the pub. She went over to one of the booth tables, but she didn't take a seat, she was simply standing at the end and chatting with Katie Pierce, one of the other reserve Chasers.

It didn't look like Ginny knew he was here yet and he was needing this time to pull himself together more and observe her. These last few moments would possibly be the last time that she could look at him without pity in her eyes, with no tension between them. She was going to completely crush him, but this was his Hail Mary pass. He didn't want to hold it in any longer, and not telling her was killing him. Particularly now that he was seeing her all the time and working with her.

She simply had to know how he really felt, no misunderstandings on either side.

There were a few more people that were greeting him, or inviting him in to join their conversation, and he would have, but he had a mission to accomplish first.

Ginny was on the move again and he felt a little like he was stalking her now. She headed to the coat rack by the front door and threw on her light jacket.

She couldn't be leaving this early!

He sped up and made it to the front door just before it had closed behind her.

"Ginny," he rushed after her, coming to a stop on the sidewalk and looking desperately both ways down the street to see which way she'd gone.

"I'm right here, Harry," she said from behind him.

He swirled around and saw she was standing off to the side of the door and resting back against the building.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Getting some fresh air," she told him.

The way she was holding herself, he could tell that something was off. It was probably the same something that was off between them since New Year's. And it was fine that she wasn't interested. Well, not fine, but he would survive. He just needed it out there.

She looked down at her shoes and was chewing her lip.

Her not looking at him right then was helpful. He didn't know if he would even be able to start if she was looking right at him. He would get choked up and wind up saying something stupid or just completely unrelated to what he wanted to say.

She was as beautiful as ever this evening. Her hair was down, just the way he liked it, she had on a pair of tight jeans and a pair of ballet flats, or whatever they were called, on her feet. She'd opted to put in earrings tonight as well, and had subtly applied some make-up, further enhancing her already appealing features.

"I'm in love with you," he blurted out.

Ginny looked up abruptly from her feet and locked her shocked eyes on his, her bottom lip slowly slipping out from between her teeth.

Well, his subconscious told him, you've started now, may as well tell her the rest. All together now, like we practiced.

"I'm in love with you and have been for years. I wasn't joking around when we were in school together. I know it seemed like I was, but I wasn't. It's absolute torture to see you dating other blokes and I don't think I can manage any longer without you at least knowing," he took a deep swallow. "So, here it is. I'm in love with you. I want to be with you. You're it for me. Any time someone asks me what I want my future to look like, you're in it. I can't have you thinking I'm messing around anymore. I'm dead serious about this, and if you asked, I'd marry you tomorrow to prove it. I just can't keep it to myself anymore, I needed you to know. Properly."

He did it! He said it!

Now all that was left was for her to respond however she was going to.

Boy, she was taking a long time to respond.

He had just given her a lot of information though. It was entirely possible that these two seconds since he stopped talking hadn't been long enough to process it.

()()()

Ginny wasn't entirely sure in what capacity she'd been invited to this New Year's Eve bash. Was it because she was a professional Quidditch player, because she was a Weasley, or because she was female and the ratio's needed to be even?

Either way, she wasn't going to be turning down an invite to the Potter's party.

Thing was, Harry was here. Somewhere.

She kept darting her eyes around and searching for him, trying to seem subtle about it.

She had kept trying to convince herself, when she was getting ready, that she was making all the extra effort because it was a swanky New Year's Eve party at a Lord's Manor and everyone else would be putting in the same amount of effort. That's why she'd spent hours looking for the perfect dress and called over one of her more esthetically accomplished friends to help with her make-up and hair.

Everyone else would be doing the same.

Sure enough, she wasn't the most decked out girl here. She was surrounded by people of all ages, but her eyes kept scoping out her competition.

Urgh, they aren't competition. They are simply women in her age range that have their shit together.

Women who haven't spent the past few months reliving the most amazing kiss with someone that didn't mean it.

God, it had been an amazing kiss.

It might have been simply because she hadn't been prepared for it, but every time she replayed it in her head it gave her the same tingles up and down her spine and a bit of longing between her legs.

She'd kissed two other men since then and it hadn't been the same.

Martin, the bloke she'd only had a few dates with, had been there that night, he'd been livid that Harry had kissed her. She'd barely had a moment to recover from all the feelings that had surged through her body from that kiss before she needed to drag him out of the Three Broomsticks.

Martin had kissed her for the first time that night as well, but it hadn't felt anything like Harry's. Sufficed to say, she didn't see Martin again.

Then there was Oliver Wood. That's right, Oliver Wood, her former Captain and current second string Puddlemere United Keeper. They'd bumped into each other at the pub and wound up in a lip lock.

That too hadn't been as good as Harry's kiss.

Perhaps her expectations had been too high for that one. She had fancied Oliver for a solid two years when they were at school together. He hadn't been interested then, and neither of them turned out to be too interested after their short-lived snogging session. Now they were simply friendly rivals.

Really, she was desperate to know if it was a fluke. If all the chemistry between she and Harry for those few moments was imagined in her head.

He'd been joking around and teasing her about them getting together for years. He'd been really sweet about his little games, but the way he'd kissed her, that didn't feel like a game.

At the time.

Now she had no idea, but since it was New Year's she thought it might be the perfect opportunity to check and see if it was all in her head. Because everyone kissed someone at New Year's, all she had to do was stand closest to him when the clock struck twelve.

Problem was, she couldn't find him in this sea of people.

A few times she'd thought she saw him, but it turned out to be his father, who had the same messy black head of hair. She couldn't see anyone with her own coloring of hair either and she was sure that if she was invited then the twins were.

She'd forgotten to ask them at Christmas if they or Harry were going to be there, there was too much else going on.

There were plenty of people at the party that she did know, and circulating hadn't been an issue for her. The food and drink were great as well. She'd met Mrs. Potter a few times and really admired her and the way she could deal with her husband and son, Ginny didn't feel comfortable asking her where her son might be hiding though.

It was drawing nearer to midnight and she was growing less concerned about how obvious she was being in her search efforts. Then she finally spotted him. He was coming towards her.

"Hey," he greeted her with his same casual smile. "Having a good time?"

"Yeah, your mum really knows how to throw together a soiree," she mused back at him, trying not to look too deep into his eyes. She knew they were green, but hadn't noticed before how green they were. They were rather captivating.

"So, look, I've got a group of us together out by the fire for watching the fireworks that are going to go off. Thought you might like to join us," he offered.

Yes, she mentally fist pumped. "Sure," she told him and let him lead the way back out towards the 'group' he was mentioning.

It was the twins, Lee Jordan and four other girls she was only familiar with by sight, save for one, Katie Bell.

"Katie!" she greeted, giving her a hug. "I didn't see you in there."

"Oh, I've been out here most of the evening. The grounds are lovely."

"They are," Ginny looked around the manicured lawn, then had a momentary panic. There were four boys and five girls, four of which had already been out here. That meant that Harry had a date and she wouldn't be getting her chance.

Suppressing her urge to pout she accepted a glass of champagne from Lee and took up on one of the empty two-seater benches, staring into the flames and tuning out everyone around her that was carrying on.

It didn't matter, she told herself, it was a one and done. A fluke.

The feeling of someone sitting down beside her had her looking up from the flames. Harry had moved over to her bench. She did a quick glance around and saw that everyone else was paired up, one of the other girls that had been out here had left. Harry was now sitting beside her and it was almost midnight. According to the giant countdown clock on the balcony, there was only two minutes left to go.

"Tell me how amazing it is to be a professional Quidditch player," he prompted.

She stared at him a moment before giving herself a mental shake. "It's… well more work than I thought it would be," she admitted to him honestly.

"Care to elaborate?" he asked.

"Just. Well, it isn't just playing Quidditch," she started, "there's loads of practices and drills, and keeping on top of your physical fitness. We also have charity events and press junkets. I mean, I'm not too involved with that."

"Yet," Harry added. "Once you're first string in a year or two your picture will be pinned up under many a canopy bed at Hogwarts."

She blushed with a grin and gave him a light shove with her shoulder. "I'm choosing not to think about that any further."

"Hey, look. It's getting on midnight, and I wondered if you'd be okay, you know, ringing in the New Year's properly."

"What happened to that fourth girl that was out here?" she instantly regretted asking that. Why should she care? That girl being gone meant he was here beside her, requesting she allow his lips on hers again. It was what she wanted! Why the hell was she bringing it up?

"Uh," he blushed, "she was just coming over to say hello. Her date is inside."

"Oh, okay," she answered easily.

"Okay?" he sounded rather happy with her answer.

"Um. Yeah, okay," she shrugged and took another casual drink from her glass.

"Okay," he nodded.

When the clock started counting down the seconds, they both turned to look at it, it was firing off a few fireworks and sparklers as the time drew nearer. When there was only ten seconds left and everyone started chanting Harry turned back to look at her with a wide grin.

She felt her face split into a matching expression, still chanting out the count down with everyone as their faces drew nearer. They got to the number one and yelled out a "Happy New Year" with everyone else, then his lips were on hers again.

And it felt just as amazing as the last time.

Better actually, because this time she had the presence of mind to close her eyes and respond.

His lips were so perfect in the way they felt and how they moved against hers. The pressure he put against her own wasn't forceful, it was determined and it was incredible. This couldn't have been two flukes in a row. He was one hell of a kisser.

She didn't register the feeling of his hands at her waist, just the lightness in her head and the sensations she was feeling from the kiss. If she'd had just a little more to drink she might have simply pulled him flush against her and kept on snogging him into the morning.

That wasn't in the cards though.

There was an explosion of sound and color that jolted her away from him.

They'd planned a bigger fireworks display. There were fire dragons and fairies and hippogriffs dancing around in the sky with a symphony of music. It was an incredible light show, and it had the twins handiwork written all over it.

"That's amazing," she grinned up at the sky.

"I may have helped with it a little bit," Harry puffed out his chest a bit.

"Yeah, thought you might have," she turned back to him. Looking at him now, it was like the rest of the party had faded away to leave just the two of them. How had it taken her this long to see him this way? He was sweet and attractive and rather brilliant.

"Harry," his name was called from a few yards away.

"Bugger," he said looking over his shoulder. "I've got some host duties to do," he told her.

"Well then, off you go young Lord Potter," she teased and gave him a playful nudge.

She watched him walk away back to the house, noticing now that her brothers and Lee were still lip locked with the girls they were out here with.

Lucky them.

Turning back towards the house her satisfied smile slipped off her face. Some girl had her arms around Harry in an all too familiar manner. He wasn't exactly prying her hands off him either. Ginny quickly turned her attention back to the flames in the fire bowl in front of her.

Two flukes, she thought sadly.

()()()

'Love, years, marry.'

She'd been thinking about him so much and trying not to think about him so much, and yet here he was, standing in front of her and literally professing his love for her.

She'd been essentially dodging him since he made the team. He deserved to be there, no doubt about that, but until she managed to get her hormones under control she didn't want to be in a situation where he joked about them getting together. She didn't know if she could respond with a light-hearted response anymore.

"You love me," she stated, his whole spiel still running through her mind.

"Yes," he was so determined and exacting in his stance and tone. He was dead serious about this.

He loved her.

He loved her.

It wasn't all just in her head! He loved her, that's why his kisses were so amazing! He was putting his whole heart behind them! Those had been loving and affectionate kisses with feelings, not just a 'whatever' snog because he was drunk, or because she was there!

None of this realization was making it through the shocked expression on her face. That much she could tell from the way he was nervously waiting for her to say something else.

She stood up straight and he sucked in a slow breath through his nose. He seemed fearful. Oh, she realized, he must have thought that she didn't return any of his affection. He was worried she'd reject him.

She didn't want to reject him! She wanted to throw herself at him.

So, she did.

His eyes grew wide as she came forward in her full-frontal assault, flinging her arms around his neck and pulling his lips back down to hers for the third time.

It was just as magical as the last two, except better because now she knew how he felt. He was putting his all behind the kiss, just as he had that first time, holding on to her like she might suddenly change her mind. She wouldn't, couldn't. Ginny had been dreaming of his lips for a year, almost to the day. The bloke she'd last been seeing was her last ditched attempt at getting Harry out of her mind and it had been completely fruitless.

There was a joyous feeling bubbling up in her chest and causing her to involuntarily giggle against his mouth. He pulled back and seemed slightly alarmed that there was a tear leaking out her eye and running down her face.

"Are you crying?" he asked, concern written all over his face.

She was beaming though. "It's a happy tear, I promise," she assured him, unable to stop her shoulders from shaking with the nervous excitement running through her.

"Happy," he repeated, wanting assurance.

"So fucking happy," she promised, grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulling him back into a kiss.

As their lips danced together, he started walking her back against the side of the building once more. They were both eager to deepen the kiss and neither of them were able to let their hands stop wandering.

"When?" he asked through his kisses, starting to trail his mouth down the side of her face and neck.

"Last year," she panted. Their kisses had made her grow rather dizzy, she'd never felt quite this wanton with anyone before and kept listing forwards slightly, then resting her head back against the wall behind her.

"Year?!" he pulled back abruptly.

She blinked her eyes open, trying to focus on him. Nodding when she saw he was waiting for her to give him some kind of answer.

"You've wanted this for a year?" he asked, holding on a little tighter now.

"I couldn't stop thinking about you," she admitted. "And then after New Year's it just got worse."

A slow grin stretched out on his face. "Because I kissed you on my birthday?" he beamed.

"As it turns out, you are one hell of a kisser," she pulled his lips back to her again.

"I can't believe it," he muttered as he began trailing his lips down her neck again before pulling back. "Sirius was right," he exclaimed in amazement.

"Sirius? What?" the dizziness was subsiding slightly now that his lips weren't on her body anymore.

"He told me I should just shut up with the 'trying' and snog you."

"The trying?" she asked, then it dawned on her. He'd already said it after all. She felt a blush creep up her neck. "I didn't realize, in school." All the time's he had asked her out, the flower's he'd sent her. He had tried telling her several times, she had just thought he'd been joking.

"Yeah, well, I've been kicking myself over how I went about it."

The two of them laughed, eyes twinkling at each other. His eyes really were incredible. How did it take him snogging her to notice him?

"So, will you be my girlfriend then?" he asked.

"Girlfriend?" she asked with mock confusion. "I thought we were getting married."

"We can if you want to," he shrugged. "Though I'd appreciate you not stealing my thunder in that department. It'll take at least a year before I have the perfect proposal planned out."

He didn't wait to register the surprise on her face before his lips were back on hers and they lost themselves in each other once more.

They managed to pry their lips away after several long minutes, knowing they couldn't stay outside and snog all night, they were expected to go back into the pub and socialize with the rest of the Wasp crew.

"Do we tell them?" Harry asked.

She considered how that might play out. They may be jumping directly into a labelled relationship, but this was so new. It looked like he was letting her call the shot on it, which she appreciated, and the team didn't exactly have strict rules about relationships between its players, but they were both technically rookies, and they had been together for all of five minutes.

"Maybe we should just figure out how we're going to work, just us, first," she posited.

"Okay," he kissed her again. "Just don't let some other guy paw at you, alright?"

"Me?" she asked with offense. "You're the one that was kissing me at New Year's then had some tart with her hands all over you a minute later!"

His brow furrowed for a moment, not realizing what she was talking about. Then he remembered, "that wasn't what it looked like! She was an old girlfriend that couldn't take a bloody hint! I didn't want her attention and couldn't pry her off of me fast enough."

Ginny's hawk went down at the explanation. "Oh," was all she said.

()()()

Harry awoke with the biggest smile on his face the next morning.

Ginny was his girlfriend! They were together and his baring it all for her had been a success!

They hadn't managed to spend much time together after they went inside the pub. Each of them were pulled in different directions, but they did manage to get in a few heated looks. And he managed to escort her home at the end of the night, so now he knew where she lived.

One of Ginny's friends had a house that she rented a room in. It was near two in the morning when they got to her door, but he didn't stay the night with her. Instead he kissed her goodnight on her doorstep, trying to memorize all the sensations of having her body pressed up against his.

Harry rolled over and checked the time. There was no practice today, but he did have plans, one's he'd made before he successfully managed to get Ginny Weasley to agree to be his girlfriend, but now felt more need for follow through on now that she was.

He was going to find a flat today.

Growing up in Potter Manor he'd had the life of privilege, but his mother had made sure he didn't let it all go to his head. He had held jobs over his summers home from school, working as an assistant groundskeeper on a Muggle golf-course, it had been Sirius' idea. And it had given him plenty of pocket money over the years, and enough to start his own savings vault at Gringotts.

Now that he was making real money, not a lot, but enough, on the Quidditch team he wanted to get a place of his own and try not to need to touch the family money that had been set aside for him. Well, maybe he'd use that for furnishings, but for the rent and such he wanted to pay his own way. Today he was meeting with a few landlords to check out some places. Hopefully he'd find the perfect place and Ginny could help him set it up with decorations and the like.

That idea painted a nice picture in his mind.

By the end of the day he'd seen two shit holes, two places with potential and one winner.

The further away from London center he went the more reasonable the pricing, but the flats were well shabbier.

The place he'd found was in Hove. It was nice, it was nice enough for now anyhow, and right by the sea with a pebble beach. It was in a magical building, so he could Apparate into the foyer and have furniture delivered right there. He was so eager to see Ginny and tell her the news that he Apparated straight to her house rather than home to tell his parents he was moving out.

He knocked on the door of the house he'd been at only twelve hours earlier and it swung inwards at the force of his knock.

"Hello?" he called out, no one answered though.

Feeling a little like he was intruding he stepped tentatively further into the house. At the Burrow everyone was expected to simply walk in and roam the house unannounced, but he didn't know the other two people Ginny lived with and didn't want to startle them.

"Hello?" he called out again.

There was some noise coming from the back of the house and he headed towards it. It was a nice older home that she was living in. The foyer branched off in three directions, forwards and up the stairs, right to a closed door, or to the left through the archway that led into a sitting room.

The sitting room led to a large kitchen which had another archway with a few steps down into what looked like a disused summer kitchen/pottery studio. He kept following the noise and saw that there was a door to the back yard and there were three young women sitting around a patio table and enjoying the sunshine.

He grinned at the sight of Ginny sitting there with her housemates, one leg tucked up on her chair and carrying on. She was so beautiful, particularly in her lovely short overall's. He'd seen her wearing them before and they'd been insanely attractive on her then as they were now, he couldn't pin down exactly what it was about her in those that sent his libido into overdrive.

He knocked gently on the inside of the exterior door so he wouldn't startle them all by it suddenly swinging open.

"Harry!" Ginny jumped up from her spot and came towards him, greeting him with a kiss.

He could definitely get used to this. He wound his arms around her waist and kissed her back.

Ginny pulled back first. "Guys, this is him!" she exclaimed brightly.

"Yeah, we figured as much," the one girl chuckled.

Harry was surprised to hear an American accent from her. She was grinning up at him from the other side of the table with her dark hair in a braid down her back and blue eyes with a wide smile. "Hi, I'm Trina," she waved.

"I'm Penelope," the other greeted him. "You might remember me from school. I was in Ravenclaw, in Ginny's year."

"I do!" he was pretty sure she dated Percy for a time. "Hi. Nice to properly meet you."

"I may have been talking about you," Ginny blushed.

"Gushing is more like it," Trina teased.

"Gushing, eh?" Harry asked. "What's she been gushing exactly? I'm pretty sure I told her my side of it completely last night, but I didn't get too much from her side of it." Ginny led him to take a seat and sat back down in her own.

"Oh, you know, how she's been pining over you for a year and was worried you'd just keep playing your teasing little games," Penelope started.

"And how she just about shagged out outside the pub last night," Trina carried on.

"I did not say shagged!" Ginny defended herself with a laugh.

"Oh right! What you actually said was-"

"Hey, Harry," Ginny cut Trina off, "want to see the house?"

Harry was more eager in that moment to hear what it was that Ginny had actually told her friends. Her wanting to shag him outside the pub was music to his ears, hearing what it was verbatim that she said certainly didn't sound like it would wound him.

He let her guide him into the house by the hand though.

"They're great friends, but a little starved for gossip it seems," she tried to excuse them and made her way back through the kitchen and sitting room to the door on the other side of the foyer. She opened it and he found himself in another little sitting room with a kitchenette with an archway leading to a bedroom.

"Oh, you have your own little flat in here," he remarked.

"Yeah, and there's a loo with a shower through the bedroom, but the only tub in the house is upstairs."

"It's still really nice. Perfect for just one person." He stuck his head beyond the archway and caught sight of a rather large loo with a shower big enough for four people to have stood in. "This is a very interesting house."

"It is," she beamed happily. "It's been updated several times over the year. Used to belong to Penny's eccentric aunt. She was an artist with several ex-husbands and nothing to do with her time. She left it to Penny when she passed two years ago. I moved in with her straight out of school."

She was resting back against the counter of her little kitchenette, there was a nervous energy coming off her that he himself was experiencing. Treading in the new waters of a budding relationship he'd been wanting for years, it was understandable and unavoidable.

"I found a flat today," he told her.

"Really?!"

"Yeah. Didn't want to live at home forever. Found a place by Brighton. It isn't much, but it's independence, you know? Um, privacy," he couldn't help himself blushing.

"Privacy, eh," she cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah," his eyes went down to her lips.

Her hand reached out to take his own and a moment later they were back in each other's arms, lip locked in a passionate embrace standing in the middle of her room. She pushed him slightly in the direction of the bedroom and he was grateful for her taking the lead in that decision.

They fell back against the bed, laying side by side and scooching up so they were on it properly. The heat between them simply kept building as their hands wandered frantically and lips found new spots of flesh on each other to taste and discover.

"Ginny," he said against her lips. "I haven't. I've kind of been, um." He couldn't get the words out. Her hand was under his shirt and running up and down his back. They were both adults and agreed they were together now with titles assigned and all, but she'd been what he wanted since he was thirteen. That didn't mean he was lacking in experiences with other girls, but those experiences had only gone so far.

"You've been?" she asked, hooking her leg over his hip and turning them both so she was on top of him.

She sat up and he was very much enjoying the sight of her straddling him, her hair all mussed from his hands and her lips swollen and darker.

"You. It's. Since I was," he trailed off slightly.

"Not so good with your words today, are you?" she teased, making a small movement with her hips that caused him to notice just how turned on he was from their activity. His erection was stuck just along the indent of her legs, so very close to her center.

"I'm a virgin," he blurted out.

His eyes were locked on hers, waiting for her reaction. It was embarrassing for him to admit, but Ginny didn't look like she minded at all.

"Really?" she asked breathlessly, twirling her hips again.

He groaned at the feeling and nodded, managing to open his eyes again and see the pleased blush that came to her face. There was a twinkle in her eye.

"Were you saving yourself for me?" she asked with a tilt of her head, only a small amount of teasing in her question.

He nodded again.

"Good to know," she stated wryly, then lowered herself down so her lips were right by his ear. "So am I," she whispered.

"Really?!" he nearly shouted, causing her to sit back upright at the abrupt volume. "Sorry," he blushed. "I'm just. I mean, you're so. And I know what you said, about… a year, but still."

"You're pleased," she surmised.

"Yes," he finished his blathering, his hands coming up to rest on her hips

She bit her lip, her features still alight, but uncertain. "This is still rather new between us," she started.

"I'm not expecting anything," he told her quickly. "I'm just thrilled to be with you." Being in her bed with her on top of him was indeed incredibly thrilling.

"Good," she lowered herself back down. "We'll just see what happens, yeah?"

"Yeah," he grinned, honestly satisfied with simply being able to kiss her. This was plenty for him right then, well more than he thought he'd be getting at this time yesterday.

()()()

Ginny was beside herself with joy at how well her life seemed to be going. She had a great place to live, a bloody fantastic job, and an amazing boyfriend.

She and Harry had been together for a month and in all that time of squeezing in a date here and stopping by each other's place there, they hadn't really discussed one very important thing. They'd been too preoccupied when they got together for this subject to come up. She was helping him furnish his flat and make it a home, they were talking about Quidditch plays or interesting gossip about the other players on the team. Or their mouths were busy with other things.

They both simply learning more about each other and were putting it off.

The thing was, the night they got together they said they weren't going to tell the team right away, but that turned into neither of them telling their family's either. It was supposed to be until they figured out the relationship themselves without any outside pressure, but after a month she was feeling like this was pretty solid.

Penny and Trina were the only in her circle that knew, and thankfully they respected her privacy enough not to share her news with anyone else. They really liked Harry too. He'd been over for dinner a few times and the four of them all got on together famously.

She knew that her brothers liked Harry, obviously. But they liked Harry as just Harry, not as their sister's boyfriend who was getting intimate with her.

Ginny also knew that his family liked her. They didn't know her too well, but every interaction she'd had with the Potter's, or even Sirius Black a few times, they'd all been good experiences.

"Are we getting too in our heads about this?" she asked him. They were at his place for dinner, it was a Saturday night and he decided he was going to cook for her. It was amusing to watch him flit around his dinky little kitchen and try to assemble the whatever it was that he was pulling together. She had a sneaking suspicion that they would wind up grabbing fish and chips from down the road once he was done beating the dead horse.

"It isn't like we're out an out lying to anyone. We simply haven't been asked if we're seeing anyone," he reasoned.

"Well. I can understand us keeping it from the team, but I don't know how wise it is to keep it from our families for much longer. I feel like if we wait until we're at the three-month point or something and then let them know, they'll be angry."

"Well, just tell me what you'd like to do," he shrugged.

"Harry," she closed her eyes a moment and shook her head. That was basically what he'd told her about everything. "Could you please start making some of the decisions here? I don't want to be the one making all the calls about the big things." She wasn't angry about it, more exasperated. "Man up," she told him, not in a harsh way.

"Oh," he turned around from the stove. "You want me to man up, do you?" he asked, a smirk on his face. He waved his wand at the food cooking at the stove and the pots and lids stopped bubbling. He came to stand in front of her in the archway she'd been standing in to keep out of the way and took the glass out of her hand.

She liked it when he got like this. There was a lusty look in his eye, and he pushed her back against the strip of wall behind her. When he went all 'caveman' on her it always got her going. He lowered his head to her neck and kissed her right where she liked, making her sigh and rest her head back. He'd got quite good at discovering all the places on her body she liked to be kissed, all the places to make her moan and rock against him. She had spent a good amount of time enjoying the feel of his body against her skin and explored all of it with her hands.

He pulled back from her neck and made sure she was looking straight at him. "Tonight, we're having sex."

The muscles inside her responded to that instantly, clenching and growing warm. Her face felt equally hot with desire.

"Yes," she breathed out.

There was a flash in his eyes. She knew he wasn't the demanding type, her agreeing to that was what he'd wanted to hear.

Wasting no more time he captured her lips and guided her back towards his bedroom, dinner completely forgotten. Stumbling through his flat while their mouths devoured each other, clothes being discarded along the way, they made it to his bedroom. She tugged at the belt at his waist.

They'd made it this far before, stripped down to their underclothes. This was the first time they were going to take those underclothes off though. She made the first move, reaching behind her to unclasp her bra and letting it slide down her front.

His eyes went straight to her breasts, his hands at her waist coming up to touch them gently. Ginny almost let out a giggle at how gently he was touching her. It made goosebumps spread out all over her body. Her fingers gripped around his boxers and she gave a soft tug down. They caught on his erection. Giving them a firmer tug, she couldn't help but stare as he sprang free of the cloth. She'd felt it before, against her body and with her hand, but hadn't seen it. She'd gotten a good sense of what she was dealing with when she'd touched him before, but now she was looking at it unencumbered by clothes and darkness, it seemed almost daunting to her.

Now she knew what Harry was feeling when he stared at her bared chest.

She was doing this though. She wanted to do this.

Moving her eyes up to his she saw he was looking nervous, waiting for her go ahead to move forward. She pulled him by the neck up against her once more, relishing the feeling of his chest against hers, his one hand rising to fondle at her breast with enthusiasm now.

They fell back on the bed grasping at each other and shimmying her knickers down. Harry rolled to lay on top of her. "You're sure?" he asked, his mouth lowering to kiss the swell of her breasts.

"Yes," she panted. She could already feel how ready she was for him. This moment had been building since they had gotten together.

His hand came between them, at his touch she spread her legs even further to let him nestle properly. He was grasping himself firmly, directing the head of his erection towards her. She lowered her hand as well to try and help.

"Don't," he panicked.

"What?" she snatched her hand back, worried she'd done something wrong.

"Just. This is what I've been fantasizing about for so long. I just don't want to, you know, end it too soon," he admitted.

"Oh," she smiled, feeling more confident and comfortable at those words. Instead she tilted her hips up to meet him, a puff of breath escaping her at the sensation of his bulbous head pressing against her entrance. It felt even larger than it looked against her virgin hole.

She bit her lip as he pressed forward, breathing through the pressure of him.

He was moving forwards slowly inside her and she couldn't quite tell if it was good or bad, the sensations she was experiencing. There was just a swell of feelings and incredible pressures.

As he began thrusting forward and back in small movements she knew that it was good.

So good.

Moans were escaping her mouth that she didn't have control over. She just felt so… the best way to describe it was 'full'. The absolute best kind of full. Him on top of her and inside her, just completely all encompassing.

Too soon though Harry was groaning and his thrusts became short jerking movements, then his weight settled more firmly on top of her.

Ginny didn't know what to do then. Harry was laying on top of her, clearly spent, but she was still worked up and eager for her own release. Should she tell him that she hadn't gotten her own finish? Shouldn't he be able to tell? He'd gotten her off before when they'd been touching, he should have known what she was like when she climaxed.

"Ginny," Harry whispered.

"Yeah?" she tried not clench herself around his erection that was still inside her.

"I'm sorry," he told her.

Ginny turned her head towards his. He was sorry? Harry propped himself up on his elbows and was looking bashfully down at her.

"I just. It felt so good."

"I agree," she told softly.

"But you didn't," he swallowed.

Ginny couldn't stop herself from squirming a bit then. No, she didn't, and she was still in need of her own release, rather antsy for it. Harry's eyes began fluttering at her subtle movements. "I still need," she started, but didn't know how to properly form the words. "Can you, um, go again? Or, you know, use other methods?" she blushed, then smiled widely at how ridiculous it was that she was embarrassed to ask he touch her when he was still inside her.

"Yes," he breathed out like he'd been waiting for that opportunity.

They both made satisfied sounds as he pulled out. Her heart-beat picked up as his mouth began trailing kisses down her chest, his hand lowering at a faster pace and settling between her legs. She purred and arched her back at the feel of his fingers against her.

It wasn't the same, but it was a more familiar feeling. Harry wasn't too sure what he was doing, but she tried to tell him what she liked with her moans and encouraging hip thrusts as his fingers slipped inside of her, his palm pressed against her clit.

Harry worked at her and kept her in a state of ecstasy forever. "How long do you have to wait?" she panted, feeling like there could be lines of heat coming off of her with how hot she was.

"Wait for what?"

"Until you're hard again?" she almost whimpered, wishing he was back inside her.

"You want me to-"

"Yes!" she cried in demand.

Harry wasted no time climbing back on top of her and replacing his fingers with his returned erection.

This time they cried out their exultation together at the feel of their joining.

It didn't take Ginny long with how stimulated she had been, and it felt less strange than the first time. She locked her legs around his and ground against him, the length of him hitting a spot inside her that was making her cry out in pleasure as his pelvis rocked against her clit.

As the waves of pleasure that had been building finally crashed over her, her arms flew up to the headboard behind her. "Harry!" she nearly screamed as her orgasm rocked her.

Harry started rutting into her desperately as she rode out her orgasm, continuing on well after she'd come down from her high. It still felt good, but it was an interesting feeling to have him carrying on when she wasn't working towards her finish. It was rather hot to have him riding her like this though, almost unaware of her presence, just carrying on in search of his finish. It wasn't too much longer until he found it.

Harry cried out his second finish and rolled to lay beside her, gasping for breath. "Holy shit," he panted.

Ginny bit her lip and shook with silent laughter. It wasn't funny, but perhaps it was simply her nerves settling. She calmed down and cuddled up beside him, sighing as they adjusted to lay comfortably together.

"Pretty sure dinner is ruined," Harry commented offhand.

"Was it ever going to wind up being edible in the first place?" she murmured.

"Probably not," he admitted.

Ginny kissed him under his chin. "We'll get some take away when we wake up," she told him, then closed her eyes and found herself slipping into a very easy sleep.

()()()

Harry was the last into the changeroom after a hard day of practice. Today was the bi-monthly check up with the Healer and Harry was the last on the team to get checked out as he was the youngest and newest player.

He'd been examined when he first started on the team, but now the personal questions that he had to answer required a few follow up questions, the one's regarding his sex life. He was sure his face was as red as a tomato when he finished up his examination and he was grateful there wasn't anyone waiting around after.

Harry supposed most everyone on the team had to answer the same questions, but this was his first time having to go over the forms of contraception he was using and what do to if certain issues arose from said sex life.

He still needed a shower before he left the stadium. The poor Healer was a champ for sitting there and not saying anything or making a face over the body odor coming off him. Having to put his clothes back on after the examination had been rather gross. Pulling them off again now was a relief.

"That's right, nice and slow," came Ginny's voice from the doorway.

Harry started, "Merlin, trying to give me a heart attack?"

"You just had your check up, pretty sure you're okay," she shrugged as she made her way towards him.

"Might want to keep your distance," he warned. "I smell rank."

"I've smelled you when you were all hot and sweaty before," she grinned and tugged on the drawstring of his shorts.

Harry's eyebrows went up. Was she wanting to get it on in the changeroom? They'd had sex a few times now, and he'd done everything he could to try and make up for the less than stellar first time, but they hadn't ventured out of each other's bedrooms. "Here?" he asked.

Ginny gave him a coy smile, "I've been waiting for you for a while," she admitted, her voice lowering. "My minds had some time to wander all sorts of places." She started kissing along the side of his neck then nipped lightly at his ear.

Harry's eyelids drooped at the sensation. He loved it when she played with him like this.

"Want me to soap you up?" she whispered in his ear.

He grinned in response and pulled off the rest of his clothes while she headed for the showers, stripping off her shirt as she went.

God, he loved the way they were with each other now. At first, they'd been a bit shy about baring it all in front of each other, hiding under blankets, or with the comfort of darkness and simply using their hands to guide them. Gradually the sheets fell away, the jaunts between the bedroom and bathroom didn't require a shirt, the lights stayed on. Now they were both comfortable with each other seeing it all.

The showers in the change room had private doors leading to each of them with a small area for changing or toweling off before the curtained stall. Ginny stood in front of one and made a little show of slipping her trousers over her bum before casting him a wink over her shoulder.

She had started the water by the time he caught up with her and was getting her hair wet. It was what his wet dreams had been made of, seeing her there like that.

"Harry, I've got an itch I can't quite take care of myself. Think you can help me out?" she asked in a low and sultry tone as her hands ran down her bare chest.

Merlin, he loved this woman.

He wasted no more time before joining her in the shower and slowly pressing her back against the tile, their wet and naked flesh rubbing against each other as they both set about causing the others lips to develop that lovely 'just snogged' plumpness.

Harry lowered his head to lavish more kisses on her chest, massaging one of her breasts with one hand before taking a nipple between his teeth on the other and nipping her so she would make that adorable squeak she did. He'd discovered that she couldn't control herself when he did this, she'd admitted she wasn't sure whether she liked it or not, it just gave her 'all the feels'. If he did it when they were in bed together she'd essentially buck him like a bronco unless he held her down. Right then though, she simply grit her teeth and pulled on his hair while she squirmed.

Ginny tugged on his hair hard enough that he had knew she wanted him to stop. Then she pushed him sideways so he was the one pressed up against the other wall of the shower. "Now, I thought I was supposed to be soaping you up?"

"Go ahead" he encouraged, "soaps right there." There was a dispenser propped up beside the shower head.

Ginny got a good amount in her hands, then rubbed it into a lather and looked him over as though unsure what to start with. Harry couldn't help getting some soap in his own hands and they took their time running their hands over each other, slowly working their hands downwards.

Her hands were going lower and lower and finally made their way between his legs, stroking thoroughly along his length. He gave a small jump when one of her hands went under to give a little tug to his balls.

"Like that?" she asked in her low voice.

"Oh yeah," he sighed. If were up to him she'd just keep in this state for hours. It was the worlds best massage. "I love you," he muttered in a daze.

"What?" her voice came, sharper than it had been.

Harry's eyes snapped open at that. Ginny was staring at him in surprise.

He'd said that to her before. The night they got together; he'd poured his heart out to her and she'd even repeated his words back to him. But he hadn't said it again since then, so perhaps it did sound sudden to her that he was saying it to her now.

Choosing his current state of arousal over stopping to have that conversation, he simply leaned forward and kissed her again, not letting her lips leave his long enough for her to get a word in edgewise. Soon enough he felt her responding with equal vigor.

His hand came between her legs, she moaned against his mouth when his fingers stroked her. "Will you just shag me already," she purred.

"As the lady wishes," he told her, placing both his hands firmly at her hips and crouching down slightly, positioning himself right at her entrance and slipping inside her easily.

Ginny's legs wrapped around his thighs, her hands braced against either side of the shower walls as he began thrusting back and forth. She gyrated her hips against him and they rocked together in a steady rhythm, the sound of their bodies meeting repeatedly under the spray of the shower head causing echo's of slapping sounds to resonate throughout the stall.

Harry felt Ginny approaching her finish. The way her body would hold him inside her pulsating with tightening and slackening grip until it was suddenly unbelievably tight inside her; he craved that feeling all the time. It never failed to make his eyes roll back in his head and his body demand its own release.

He gave a long grunt as his own orgasm tore through him, his head coming down to rest on her shoulder with a satisfied sigh.

"That's not the first time I told you that," he said as his mind came back down from the clouds they'd been in. Lust may have won out in its determination to delay that conversation, but they were having it now. He'd told her he loved her before, and he wasn't looking for her to say it back to him if it was too soon, but he didn't want her looking at him with surprise every time he said it.

Harry raised his head and helped her grow steady on her own feet again. "I love you," he told her once more, looking directly into her eyes and watching carefully for her reaction.

She didn't look surprised to hear it this time, she looked satiated. There was an openness to her expression, like she was fully accepting of his feelings, but there was some uncertainty there as well.

"You don't have to say it back," he assured her calmly. "But I need you to at least be comfortable hearing it."

Ginny smiled softly up at him, running her hand up the side of his face and into his hair to pull him down for a sweet kiss. "I want to say it, but this is all still rather new to me."

"Two months is new?"

"Yes," she giggled. "Our relationship is still a baby. One that's taken some very serious strides, sure, but it is still early on."

"So, you just… care for me," he knew he sounded more depressed about that than he wanted to.

"Harry, until not that long ago I thought this was all in my head. You were just my younger brothers' best friend. One who hit on me as a joke and just happened to be the best snog of my life and I had developed a crush on. Now, I want to be with you all the time, I miss you when we're apart, I'd cry my eyes out if you decided I wasn't worth it," she admitted. "It's just, I've never told any of my boyfriends that I loved them, and when I say it to you for the first time it isn't going to be when we're about to shag in the shower."

Harry felt a weight lift off his chest. "Yeah?" he grinned.

"Yes," she kissed him again. "You got a big romantic sweeping declaration. I want that too."

"Fair enough," he chuckled.

()()()

It was amazing really, how they managed to play it cool around each other when with their teammates, friends and family. Harry had been invited to a get together or two at the Burrow, luckily the twins already knew he had a thing for Ginny, so when he was caught staring at her he would just get some light razing.

They had the cool act down pat, but Christmas was fast approaching, and Harry didn't want to have to keep it a secret anymore.

"And there is a big get together at my family house this year that basically everybody is going to, you'll be getting an invite as well, and I want to go together," he finished telling her as they were spending the evening out shopping for gifts for their loved ones.

"Okay," Ginny said breezily as she looked over the Christmas ornaments on display.

Harry was caught off guard by that. He'd been ready to pull in another deep breath to carry on about how it had been several months now, and they were clearly solid in this relationship, barely spending a night apart and how it was simply time.

"Okay?" he asked.

"Yes," she turned to grin at him. "I agree. It's time to tell."

"Everyone? Are you sure?" They'd been so careful up until now, he needed to know if it was just families, or the team as well.

Ginny pulled him to her by the front of his jacket and kissed him firmly on the lips. "Everyone," she told him firmly.

"Truly?" his eyes lit up with excitement.

"Truly," she grinned. "Oh, excuse me," she stopped an older lady walking around them in the store. "Hi. I'm Ginny, this is Harry, and we're a couple."

"That's nice, dear," the lady said with a bewildered look on her face before continuing on with her shopping.

Harry started chuckling. "Not exactly what I meant, but okay."

Ginny just turned back to him, giving him and exuberant kiss and pulling back with a 'mwah' sound. "Now come on. We still have a lot of people to shop for." She was as bubbly as he felt while they made their way from store to store, stopping now and again for a quick snog.

Holiday shopping with Ginny was fun, Harry was rubbish at buying presents and generally just stuck to Quidditch related things. She, on the other hand, liked to get things that kept people entertained, such as Muggle board games and toys. She found toy light sabers for the twins and was going to enchant them so that they lit up properly and gave little shocks when they took a hit from the other one. The twins would love that.

They carried it all back to Harry's flat and were going to spend the evening wrapping them up and decorating with the meager garish holiday tinsel and ornaments they picked up to make his place Christmasy.

"Hey Harry?" Ginny stopped him before he opened the door to his flat.

Harry turned to face her; eyebrows raised.

"I love you," she stated.

His eyes went wide and he could only stare at her in shock for a moment. She said it, she'd actually said it. All this time he'd felt like she returned his affection, but he didn't have any verbal confirmation, only the looks and touches they shared, the little gestures they did for each other to make their lives slightly easier.

That moment he was taking must have seemed too long for her though. She looked uncertain that she should have said it now.

It was too good an opportunity to pass up.

"Awe," he said, with a condescending tilt of his head. "That is so sweet."

Ginny knew instantly he was taking the mickey and rolled her eyes.

"That isn't exactly the romantic declaration I was expecting," he continued. "Where are the flowers? The music? Hell, it isn't even snowing out. I thought you were going to give me some clichés, woman. Isn't that what you were making me wait for?"

Ginny scoffed, "fine then. See if I ever say it to you again." She huffed and stood back on her heels with a pout. She probably would have crossed her arms if they weren't laden down with bags.

"Oh, I'll get you to say it again," he smirked, opening the door to his flat.

"You sound rather sure of yourself," she followed him into the entryway and shook her head before giving a huff. "I can't believe you. Four months you're waiting for me to tell you I love you back and when I finally do say it, your reaction is 'Awe', as if I'm some adorable puppy or something."

"There, you just said it again," he grinned.

"You are such a shit," she grumbled in exasperation.

Harry wasn't buying it though. Her eyes were still twinkling far too much for her to be truly upset with him. "And you love me anyways," he put his bags down on the floor and pulled her up against him, wrapping his arms tight around her waist. "Say it," he coaxed.

She shook her head defiantly.

Harry nipped under ear. "I love you, Ginny," he whispered in ear.

Ginny merely pursed her lips in response.

He moved kissed his way up to her lips along her jaw, not letting her stubborn unresponsiveness stop him from carrying on until she relented. He kissed along the other side of her jaw and to just below her other ear. "I love you, Ginny," he whispered in that ear, this time he didn't say it teasingly, he said it how he meant it.

She relaxed against him and kissed him back. "I love you too, Harry."

"Finally!"

The two of the jumped apart as the voice boomed out from Harry's sitting room. They hadn't realized they weren't alone. Sirius was there with Fred and Lee, the later two looking in shock.

"What, what are you doing here?" Harry asked.

"What are we doing here?" Fred asked. "We were here to take you out! Since when has this been going on?" he gestured between the two of them, still embracing in the entryway.

Harry and Ginny looked back at each other with wide eyes. They had just decided it was time to tell people after all, this may as well be the way of it. She didn't look like she was bothered by it, in fact, she had a rather amused expression.

"A few months," Harry told them, his face caught between a grin and a grimace. These were two of his best friends and his uncle and he'd hidden this major life development from them. There was bound to be some resentment from them about not being informed.

"Months?" Lee repeated quietly. "How the hell did that happen?"

"Well," Ginny pushed Harry gently, picking up her bags from off the floor and carried them through to the main room, launching into her side of how Harry had finally manned up and professed his undying love for her, and they'd been together ever since.

Harry let her tell the story, enjoying the look in her eye and smile on her face as she did, while exchanging smug glances with their company.

He'd finally got the girl of his dreams and convinced her she was in love with him.

Eight more months and he'd convince her to marry him, like he'd promised that night at the pub.

()()()

AN- Had confirmation from a reliable source that this counts as the 'Role Reversal' square on Smut Bingo! Yay!

Not too keen on posting the other kind of role reversal ;)