AN- SexyHarry requested a teacher/student meetcute, I adapted it somewhat. I also changed their age gap so the distance is quite a bit bigger. With the storyline, assume that Mr. & Mrs. Weasley started having kids later in life.
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Crushing on you
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Ginny took a look around the classroom at her fellow students, every last one of them was practically shitting themselves in excitement. Right beside her, Jamie Smythe from Ravenclaw was actually sitting on her hands to stop herself from raising one of her arms to ask a question before the class had even started.
Seventh Year Defense Against the Dark Arts had never been so interesting as it was about to be today.
Ginny was excited too, but for different reasons than everybody else. She was also doing a much better job of covering up how what they were about to go through was going to effect her for the next several weeks; her dreams more than anything.
She had already met all these Curse Breakers that were coming in today to share their experiences on the job; one of them was her eldest brother and another one, the main reason for the excitement, was Harry Potter, a.k.a. Bill's best friend, The Chosen One, The Boy Who Lived, The Most Eligible Bachelor.
All her life she'd known Harry as Bill's best friend, he had stayed at her house for weeks during summer breaks from school while she was growing up, he'd once helped her make a flower crown for her hair, he'd taught her a few moves on a broom so she could try and keep up with, then outmatch, her brothers.
He was Harry.
Just Harry.
There had been several years between the ages of eight and fifteen that she hadn't seen him around because he and Bill had been out in the world making a name for themselves and getting into trouble in Burma or Egypt or somewhere, and it was when she saw him again when she was fifteen, that was when she started to think of him as, sigh, Harry.
The reason that he had come back into her life in person form now instead of via a letter was because Bill was getting ready to settle down into life as a responsible man and soon to be husband.
Imagine how it felt to have her mother going on about the seven year age difference between Bill and his bride when she was having all kinds of new thoughts about someone that was nearly eleven years older than her.
It couldn't be helped though. She did her best to pretend like she wasn't growing infatuated with him in the lead up to Bill's announcement of the wedding when he was staying at the house; they played pick up Quidditch together, she asked he and Bill to share stories of their adventures, she told them amusing going's on from school. The hardest part was trying to stop her hand from shaking from nerves when she was seated beside Harry at the table or trying to look nonchalant when in her swimsuit by the pond, trying to tell herself that Harry couldn't read her mind and see the dream scenarios she had forming in her head over and over again.
She couldn't put her finger on what exactly it was about him that made her fall all over herself. It wasn't because he'd been The Chosen One, she'd only been seven when the war ended and most of what she remembered of that time was seeing a lot of strangers around her and trying to stay out from underfoot. Harry was just… Harry. He had an adorable crooked smile and a unexpected sense of humor, he would look so quiet and unassuming and then tell a joke that was shocking and hilarious. He was smart and sensitive to other people's feelings too.
And he was a terrible dancer.
He'd danced with her at Bill's engagement party, twice. Unfortunately, neither of the dances was a slow song. She would have loved if one of them had given her a reason to wrap her arms around his waist and lay her head on his chest.
Two years now the pair of them had been back in England and she got to see a lot more of Harry.
It was a good and a bad thing, because now she had to hear about and see pictures of his dating life.
He'd been stag when he came to her birthday party last summer though. Fred had set off a fireworks display and George had the music playing in the yard, Ron spiked the punch and everyone was having a good time. She'd felt that they all forgot the whole reason for the party was her turning seventeen, but any excuse for a good time with her friends, and Harry, was fine with her. Harry had gotten drunk enough to dance with her again and gave her a hug at the end of the song they shared and wished her a happy birthday. He hadn't forgotten the reason for their fun.
She was pathetically in love with him and couldn't tell a single soul about it.
Now he was in her classroom in his official Curse Breaker uniform making all her female classmates swoon.
Bill was responsible for some of the swooning too and he looked a bit too pleased with it, so she stuck her tongue out at him, knowing he wouldn't be able to resist making the same face back at her. Which he did.
The professor introduced their guests and asked them all to share an anecdote from a time they needed to deal with the Dark Arts at a dig site or some such place. They were all stories that Ginny had heard from them before, so she pulled out one of the puzzle boxes that Bill had sent her and started fiddling around with it again, she'd solved it several times and each time it would reset in a different way. The top panel had several sliding discs that needed to be arranged properly and the side had different groves that you press in like a button, but you needed to press in on the right grooves in order to get the box to open, otherwise it would reset.
She fiddled with the box for most of the class, then realized that it had gotten very quiet in the room and looked up; everyone was staring at her.
"Er, what was the question?" she asked the professor.
Professor Simmons did not look amused. "I asked if you had any questions for our guests."
No, no she did not. "No, it was all… very interesting."
"Very interesting?" the professor repeated slowly. "When you weren't even listening?"
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Their stories had been interesting the first two times she'd heard them, this would have been about the fifth time she'd heard them. "Okay, is there going to be a practical component to this or is it all just story time?" she asked.
"Those that were listening know that we are moving on to the introductory practical portion for Curse Breakers, which is?" he asked the class.
"Puzzles," Ginny answered, then put her puzzle on the desk and kept working on it.
"Are you wanting to wind up in detention?" Harry asked her, suddenly appearing by her side after the rest of the class had been given a rudimentary version of the puzzle box she was working on.
"Sure," she smirked, "I've still got yours and Bill's record to break and only so much time left to do it."
Harry responded with that crooked grin of his. He was close enough to her now that she could smell the soap he'd used that morning, and she recognized the scent.
"You're using the soap I made you," she said in amazement.
"Why do you look surprised that I'd use a practical gift I'd been given?"
"I… I don't know," she laughed. "Maybe because it's December and you got that for Christmas last year. Did you write to my mum to get more, or do you only wash on special occasions?" she teased.
Amazingly, he blushed, "I write to your mum."
Internally she was swooning again and resisting the urge to hug him like he was a stray puppy that needed caring for.
"Don't give me that look!" he warned her quietly.
"What look?" she asked, knowing full well what her expression must be.
"The look like you think I'm sick and want to wrap me up in a blanket and make me soup or something. I don't know how to describe it."
"Are you feeling sick?" she asked, continuing to tease him. "Come here, let me check your temperature."
"Urgh, you're a menace," he scoffed, still smiling, and made to move away from her.
"You love it." She turned back to her puzzle box as he moved on to the next desk, missing the lingering look he gave her as he did.
()()()
"Is the plan still to become a Quidditch star then?" Harry asked her as she was leaving the Quidditch Pitch.
She jumped at the sound of his voice, not expecting anyone to still be around after practice. As the Captain it was her job to make sure all the changerooms were locked up and things were stored after everyone left.
"Give me a bloody heart attack!" she told him off. "What are you still doing here? I thought you all left after dinner."
"Everyone else left, I went down to visit with Hagrid," he shrugged.
"Bill didn't join you?"
"Bill has a fiancé to go home to."
If he was anyone else she'd tell him to go and find himself a woman then, so he would have a reason to go home. But, seeing as she was infatuated with him, she couldn't bring herself to tell him that. "So I get the pleasure of your company then?"
"If you don't mind me hanging around," he shrugged. "I miss being at Hogwarts."
That made her laugh. "You were nearly killed every year you spent here, and you are longing for those days?"
"Hey, they may have been life threatening, but they were still exciting. I loved getting to know the castle and discovering its secrets. I miss the food too."
"Are you hungry now? I was going to pop down to the kitchens before heading up to bed." Any opportunity to spend more time with him was welcome.
"Thanks, but I shouldn't go back inside the castle at this time of night. I'm not a student anymore."
"But wandering the grounds as a visitor is perfectly okay? And jumping out at a student?"
"Hey, you're of age! Plus, I know you. And, I didn't 'jump' out at you, I've been standing here waiting for you to be ready to head back in."
"You were waiting for me?" Hearing that warmed her up inside.
"Er, well, yeah. I mean, I saw you and the team practicing earlier, then noticed them heading back up to the castle without you. I guess I wanted to make sure everything was alright."
Oh, he was being protective. "You mean you felt you needed to mind me? Like I'm a child that can't find my way home?" her voice sounding none too happy about it.
"No," he answered, sounding unimpressed and angry. "You are not a child. It's obvious to anyone that you are not a child."
"Not everyone. And I'm surprised that you would be able to pick that out. Even some of the twins' friends still think of me like I'm a first year."
"What? Have they looked at you?"
She slung her broom over her shoulder and struck a pose. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean," she said in her most coquettish voice. She'd filled out pretty nicely, she knew that. Over the passed three years since she'd really been thrown into puberty the lingering glances from the male students, and a few females, had been directed at her chest and bum. She loved it well more than she should have to hear that he'd noticed the transformation into womanhood she was making.
"Sure you don't. I'll gather you also didn't notice how many of the boys heads turned to watch you leave the Great Hall after dinner either," he grumbled.
Was it her imagination, or did he sound jealous?
No, protective. It had to be protective. She was the one that fancied him, not the other way around.
"And how many girls were there drooling after you today?" she turned the tables, teasing him once more.
"No one of any consequence."
"That's a rude way to put it. You should say 'no one that actually knows me'," she told him. Some of the girls that were falling all over themselves for him were of no consequence, but she was one of them and surely she was of some consequence. He was there waiting for her to make sure she got back to the castle in one piece, after all. "And give them a break, would you? Do you remember what you were like at seventeen and younger? The boys I'm stuck in the dating pool with are making the water incredibly murky with their inability to take care of their hygiene. Then, what ho? Someone that knows how to use soap comes along and looks like you with your track record for being gallant. Of course they're going to stare and bat their eyelashes at you. That doesn't mean they're all vain or only interested because you're you."
He was grinning at her now. "I'll take that to mean you aren't dating any of the unhygienic boys here?"
She rolled her eyes. "No, I'm not. You can report that back to my brothers."
"I wasn't asking for them, they can question you themselves about your dating life."
This was a different kind of conversation than they'd ever had before. Still, she couldn't let herself read into why he wanted to know about her dating life. "I've got an easier go of it, hiding my romantic going's on, than you do."
He stared at her for a moment, she could see the wheels turning in his head like he was working out a problem. Did he actually seek her out to get her advice on an issue? He drew in a deep breath after the moment was up and nodded. "You're right. My dating life is incredibly problematic with all the unwanted attention I get. Anyhow, looks like you're fully capable of getting back to the castle by yourself. Don't know what I was concerned about."
Before she could so much as say and awkward 'okay', he'd turned and started towards the gate that led down into Hogsmeade.
()()()
"We have so many more months of this!" Ginny complained, her head was down on her folded hands, which were resting on top of her nearly complete essay for Potions, which she needed to hand in before the holidays.
"Cheer up. Think of it like there are only a few months left until freedom!" Colin told her brightly.
"I'll cheer up when I can come up with another three inches worth of information that isn't just repeating what I've already said." Her paper was about the reasons why the potion they'd brewed in class two days ago needed to be made precisely according to the instructions and what could potentially go wrong; it was the same assignment that was always given to them in Potions class. "This is repetitious and droll."
She didn't raise her head as she felt and heard Colin packing up his things and heading out. He was always a quicker writer than she was, it stopped annoying her before their OWLS year, now she was used to him just wandering off to do his own thing instead of staying to keep her company.
She felt someone else slide into his seat.
"If it is so repetitious then why don't you already have some way of lengthening the essay figured out."
Ginny's head shot up at the sound of his voice. She blinked at him and then looked around to see if there was anyone else there that might be staring his way so she would know if she was hallucinating or not. They were alone though.
He looked real enough and she could still smell the soap on him that she'd made.
Damn him for showing up again, now she's be having more dreams about him right when they were starting to fade away.
"What are you doing here?"
He put a stack of books on the table. "This is still the best library in the U.K."
She took a look at the titles of the books and they didn't seem to be anything he couldn't have found in a bookshop. Harry wasn't exactly hurting for money, but maybe he was frugal about it. She knew he grew up not thinking he had anything to his name.
"And maybe I was hoping to see you again too."
Her attention returned to his face, he couldn't have meant that the way she heard it. "You won't be stopping by The Burrow for Christmas then?"
"I am. Bill and Fleur, and your mum and dad, have extended the invitation. I never get the opportunity to talk to you at the Weasley family get togethers though. There's so many people there."
She couldn't resist grinning at him. "I always wished I could be friends with my brother's friends. Never thought they'd come seeking me out though."
"Does that mean I'm the first then?" he grinned back.
She was about to make some comment about always wishing he was her first, she caught herself in time though. "Well, Ron's dormmate came and sought me out at a party last year; I doubt you and he have the same intentions though." Much safer to joke about that.
A look passed over his eyes then. "Right," was all he said in response before changing the subject. "So, Potions essays are still as dull as ever to complete?"
"That they are. Tell me there isn't this much paperwork to do in the field," she begged.
"We have reports to write up, you know that, but at least those are interesting and not all about," he turned her paper so he could read some of it, "why three counter-clockwise turns are needed instead of four."
She chuckled. "So, much more interesting then."
"Entirely." The smile slipped off his face some. "Truly though, what sort of next step have you figured on for after you are done with Hogwarts?"
"Ideally, Quidditch player," she shrugged as though that wasn't what she was putting all her hopes on, dreaming about and using up all of her spare time training towards. "I made a promise to my mum that I'd have a back up plan though. Still trying to figure out what that is."
"You would have had the chat with McGonagall in fifth year; anything come of that?" He shifted somewhat closer to her. Or maybe that was just her mind playing tricks on her. She could smell the soap better now and resisted the urge to lean towards him.
"It was only enough to tell me which classes to drop and which to work harder in. I don't suppose I would love working for the Ministry, but working with Muggles, like my dad, well… not exactly like my dad… maybe for the Statue of Secrecy Department, that I might find some appeal in."
There was a hint of a twinkle in his eye then and the right corner of his mouth drew up. "You'll need to get a bit more experience with Muggles then, won't you? Don't get me wrong, I love your dad, but he really knows next to fuck all about Muggles."
She grinned at that accurate summation of her father's knowledge about his favorite group of people. "I suppose you know quite a bit," she said, catching on. "Are you saying you've got free time to mentor me over the holiday?" 'Please say yes, please say yes,' she begged him in her mind.
"If it will help you figure out your backup plan, I think I can spare a few days while you're off."
Her grin had run away on her now. He was volunteering to spend time with her! Alone! Well… possibly alone, he hadn't said anything about anyone else coming along with them but that didn't mean there wouldn't be anyone else there.
"That sounds great. Send me an owl and let me know when you're free to teach me a few things and I'll make myself available." And, oh, the things she wished he'd teach her.
Harry gave her a pat on the hand and a slight squeeze of it before he took his leave.
He sent her an owl the next day suggesting they meet up two days before Christmas at his place in the heart of London and leave from there for their adventure. Ginny was pleased with the suggestion on two accounts; one, because the letter arrived she knew it hadn't been a hallucination, and two, because he was inviting her to see his place as well. She'd never been to his before, there had never been a reason for her to go.
The holidays couldn't come soon enough.
()()()
The Floo spat her out into an attic space that had a funny looking sitting room set up around it. There were so many things in the room that she didn't know anything about. She was pretty sure that the big flat thing that the chair and sofa were pointed at was called a television and it put on plays and things, but there were so many things connected to the back of it that she wasn't sure about.
On the other side of the sofa was a desk with something that also looked like a television, but it was smaller and more box shaped.
He had an aquarium too and there were lights and a fountain trickling. He didn't have fish in it, he had a turtle.
Ginny stepped farther into the room and looked behind her to see what he had displayed on the mantle, smiling to herself when she saw pictures of his friends and family. The largest photo was of him with her family that was taken last summer at Ron's graduation party; she liked the dress she'd worn for that. It was a normal photo, not a Muggle one, so she watched as all the family waved at her, then observed herself spinning around in her dress and then blowing a kiss at her with a cheeky wink. It surprised her to see the image of herself doing that, she hadn't done it in the other photos she had at home, just this one.
Did that mean the image of herself was doing it routinely for Harry?
"Harry?" she called out, not wanting to think too hard on what the Ginny in the picture's actions meant. "I hope I'm not too early."
There was the sound of something that might have been dropped followed by him cursing before shouting back that he'd be out in a minute.
Trying not to look like she was being too nosey, she took a wander through to his kitchen. Harry had opted to live in a Muggle flat, it wasn't very large, but he didn't need much space. It was a curious looking place. There was a constant hum in the air that seemed to be coming from a few different places, one of which was the refrigerator.
His refrigerator didn't look like the one in her textbook though. There were two separate doors and on the larger one there was a sunken shelf with buttons above it. Beside the refrigerator was another box with a door on the front that she didn't know the purpose of. She recognized the toaster though.
"Hi," he said as he popped around the corner.
"Hey," she responded casually, determined not to act too overeager about them spending the day together. "Before we go outside, can you explain a few things here to me?" she asked, pointing at what she soon learned was a microwave.
"I was so ready for this fresh air," she sighed thirty minutes later.
"Fresh air?" he chuckled. "Sure, let's call it that."
"Yes, London air isn't too fresh, is it?" she said, looking up at the grey clouds above them, then to the dirty mounds of snow here and there along the street. "I just never thought about how many different inventions there might be to replace basic things like a warming charm." The pavement was a bit slick and she slid a bit so Harry offered her his elbow, a very gentlemanly thing to do. "Thank you. All the extra bits and bobs though," she continued, "don't you think they're a little unnecessary?"
"Like a water dispenser on the fridge?" He encouraged.
She rolled her eyes; when he'd shown her what the sunken shelf on the 'fridge' did it set her on a bit of a tangent. It was ridiculous to have that when the tap for the kitchen sink was right there, and she didn't believe him about the filtration system explanation. "What about all those things you have that all require you to sit in front of a screen? Multiple screens. The computer to play games on in one corner and then that massive screen to watch things and re-watch the same things, or to play different games on other than the computer games?"
"Sometimes it is the same as the computer games, just with a different controller."
Ginny made a sound of disgust. "Lazy bums."
"It's entertaining! And just a way to pass the time! You'd understand better if you would have sat down and played a game with me."
"And miss out on a day out in London? No thank you." He pulled her a little tighter against him as they encountered a few oncoming pedestrians and she tried to memorize the feel of him pressed against her side. There was a chance that she would only get today to spend with him alone like this and she intended to remember and enjoy every moment of it.
"I don't know how interesting of a day I'm going to make it. If you want the true Muggle Experience it means we'll be riding on the Underground, going to a café, then running errands, the way Muggles do."
"You have your version of what's interesting, I have mine; and besides the café you mentioned, I haven't done any of those things, so lead the way, Mr. Mentor."
"Mr. Mentor? I like that. Makes me sound like a superhero."
"What's a 'super' hero?"
He only chuckled in response.
It only took three and a half hours for him to give her the immersive Muggle experience in London before they were back at his flat.
"Urgh, I feel like I need a shower!" she complained after setting down a bag of his groceries. He'd taken her to a café, a bank, a comic book and toy store to explain what a superhero was, then to a grocery store before they took the Underground back to the stop near his place. And whilst on the Underground a vagrant decided it was a good idea to invade her personal space and nearly hump her leg. She was tempted to pull her wand on him but Harry jumped in to get the man to back off before he got any more forward. It was because of the vagrant that she felt the need to clean herself.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't share that happening with anyone, I promised Bill I'd keep you safe."
It was the first time he'd brought up Bill or anyone from her family all day. "Not to worry. And, besides that happening this was fantastically eye opening." Not just for her learning about Muggles, but for her learning more about Harry too, his likes and what really got him talking. He was captivating when he got caught up going on about something he was passionate about. When they were doing the grocery shopping and in the breakfast aisle (and boy, were there ever a lot of breakfast options for Muggles) he had started talking about his first trip to the grocery store after he'd gotten his flat and how overboard he'd gone with purchasing the different types of cereals; the way his face lit up made him much more interesting than the leprechaun and vampire that were depicted on the cereal boxes.
There had been a few moments throughout the day where it felt like he'd been taking any opportunity to touch her; a hand on the shoulder here, removing a piece of lint from her shirt there, patting her hand or even tugging on a few of her fingers gently to guide her in the direction they were going. She didn't recall him being someone that touched others willingly.
"You can have a shower if you like, that you won't find any different than at home," he offered.
"I'll survive," she shrugged. "I wouldn't say no to a serving of Lucky Charms though." She took the box out of the bag and held it in front of her with a pleading look.
Harry stepped towards her and put his hand on the box, then leaned closer to her, his arm coming around behind her. "As you wish," he said quietly.
She held her breath. He was so close to her, his lips only a few inches away. At this distance she could really appreciate how much taller than her he was, how his arm could easily come down on her back and pull her flush up against him.
He wasn't making a move though, she'd been standing in front of the cupboard to the crockery. He was simply getting her a bowl.
He stepped back from her and turned around to get milk from the fridge and she let out a silent exhale. It was suddenly much warmer in here.
Time to start talking again to try and move past that moment. "I think if I were to live as a Muggle for a while I would be living solely off of cereal. There are so many different types, I feel robbed."
He let out a laugh, "that's exactly why I did what I did with my first few months living by myself. They advertise that they have all the essential vitamins, so why not." He took the box out of her hand and opened it for her, then poured the milk over it and slid it across the counter with a spoon.
It felt awkward bringing the first mouthful up with him staring at her like that but she persevered and was pleasantly surprised at how good it tasted; it was sweet, but not too sweet. "Delicious."
"Just delicious? Or magically delicious?" he asked, tapping the box that held the slogan.
"Magically delicious," she said, with her second mouthful in her mouth so it came out garbled.
He poured himself a bowl and started in on it, she finished hers before he was half done. Hoisting herself up to sit on the counter she pondered about all the whats-its and do-dads around the kitchen. "I think Muggles have their own kind of magic, it's in their ability to figure out how to create so many things to make their lives easier. Some of the things I still think are just for wasting time but other things are just incredible; like the food they've come up with and the transportation things like aeroplanes."
"And telephones instead of needing to stick their head in the fireplace and breathe soot up their noses," he nodded.
Ginny gave a snort, "I didn't even think of that! Yes, telephones are much more convenient."
"They also don't have to wait for an owl to deliver a letter." He gestured over to his smaller screen that was the computer, "that can send a letter to another person that has access to one and they can receive it in an instant. I think the Muggle world will be completely paperless in two or three decades."
She couldn't wrap her mind around how that one worked, so she kept her mouth shut.
Harry finished up his bowl and put the dirty dishes into a compartment under the sink that had what looked like drying racks set up inside it. She checked the time and wondered if she was beginning to overstay her welcome. She had yet to do something truly stupid so now would be a good time to leave before she did.
"Well, thanks for taking me around and showing me all that today."
"You're not leaving already, are you?"
He wanted her to stay? She wanted to stay, but what more could he possibly have to show her?
"I don't have to, but-"
"I thought I could show you why it is Muggles are so fascinated by these 'screens'."
"Oh, no, I know you can watch plays on them and they shout advertisements at you," she assured him. "One of my old boyfriends was a Muggleborn, he told me all about them."
She was sure she caught a twitch of his jaw when she said that, like he was clenching his jaw. "If that was how he described it to you then he wasn't selling you on the idea of it properly." He stepped toward her and grasped at her hips to pull her down from the counter. His hands on her waist shot a sensation up her spine and she immediately felt her face begin to heat up once more as she looked up at him, her feet once more planted on the ground and only a whisper of space separating them. "I thought of a movie that you should watch and, you'll understand this comment later, but it'll show you a whole new world."
He took her hand and guided her over to the sofa, letting go only after she was seated where he wanted her.
She didn't know what to think about the way Harry was behaving. If it were anyone else she would have assumed that this was a ploy to have them spend some quality time together so they would find themselves snogging before the day was over. But this was Harry, and he was so clearly beyond her reach romantically. There was a decade separating them and he'd known her as nothing other than his friends little sister; like, kid sister.
It was going to drive her mad if she didn't just ask him outright if he was trying to make a move. She could say it jokingly and see how he reacted to it.
Before the words could form in her mouth he had go the screen working and put on the play he wanted her to watch.
And it was captivating. There was so much sound and color! She barely felt it when he came down to sit beside her. As it began she saw it wasn't like a play at all, it was an animation, a drawing of a redheaded mermaid that saves a dark haired prince and winds up losing her lovely singing voice to a sea hag so she can get legs and chase after the prince.
It was so incredible that she didn't have the thought process there to guard her emotions as they rose and fell along with the story line. By the time the story was over and she regained her sense of self she didn't know how she wound up being snuggled right up to Harry. She looked up at him, ready to ask if there was another story like that one, but the words were lost on her tongue again because he was looking down at her, smiling that lovely, crooked smile of his.
"Still think it's a stupid waste of time?" he asked her in a low voice.
He'd been so wonderful, all day. He was always wonderful to her. Never before had she experienced something that made her feel so much, and she was still riding a high; which was her explanation for why she simply rose up enough from her position beside him to kiss him.
She'd just watched a mermaid and Prince work out how to be together, she wanted to know if there was a chance there could possibly be a happily ever after between her and the man she'd been crushing on since working out what it was her hormones were telling her. He could push her away if he wanted to but never again could she say that she hadn't at least let him know how she felt.
He didn't push her away though, but he also didn't pull her closer or make any other move that would turn it into a deeper kiss; which is why she pulled back after only a few moments.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. She'd put him into an awkward situation now. He'd barely kissed her back, clearly he hadn't meant for her to get this idea that he wanted her to do that.
"Don't be," he said, also in a whisper. "It's just… you're still in school."
Yep, there it was. She was too young for him. He'd been trying to be nice and had simply overshot and she'd gone ahead and misread the entire situation. She closed her eyes tight and bit her lower lip to try and shock some grounding sensation into her that would hopefully pull back the tears that were working their way up to her eyes.
"I should go." Moving away from the warmth of him was much harder than she wanted it to be, and she couldn't look at him now. "Thanks for everything. Sorry I… ruined it."
"Ginny," he said sadly, "you didn't ruin anything."
"No," she protested softly, "you were just being so nice and the play… thing-"
"Movie," he offered.
"Yeah, the movie was so wonderful and, I should just go." She'd been detangling herself from a blanket he'd placed over her lap during the movie and managed to get to the fireplace, not daring to look back at him before activating the Floo and rushing off home.
'Stupid, stupid, stupid,' she kept repeating to herself while gently smacking her forehead once she was safely enclosed in her room at The Burrow. Had there ever been anyone that had made such a ridiculous leap like that and it worked out for? She wasn't a mermaid, he wasn't a prince, this was the real world and in the real world there weren't wonderful guys like Harry around that would actually wind up with girls like her that were a decade younger. That only happened…
That had happened.
Tonks!
Tonks had wound up with Remus and he was more than ten years older than her. Sure, she'd been older when they finally got together, but Tonks had admitted to her that she'd been trying to get Remus to see her in that light for quite some time before he gave into his feelings; or wasn't bothered by the age gap between them, whichever it was. Either way, now they were married with two kids!
If anyone could understand what she was going through, it would be Tonks. She'd be able to keep this all to herself as well!
Ginny listened carefully to the sounds of the house to try and tell if anyone was home. All was quiet, so she pulled herself together and went downstairs, out the door and to the edge of the property so she could Apparate to the Lupin's cottage.
The lights were on in the cottage so Ginny walked up the pathway and spotted Tonks through the front window, they made eye contact and Ginny waved, Tonks though, her eyes went wide and she held up her hand as though telling Ginny to stay where she was. A moment later and Tonks came out with her jacket and trainers on.
"Oh my goodness," Tonks said quietly with a wide smile once the door was shut. "Before I get too excited, in ten words or less, tell me why you've popped by."
"Er, okay. I needed your opinion on me kissing an older guy earlier today?" she summed up. "That might have been more than ten words."
Tonks' grin grew wider. "Have you liked him for a while?"
Now she felt embarrassed, "for ages. But I never thought anything would come of it!"
"Ohh! And you've come to me for advice?! This is amazing!"
"Why is it amazing? I'm kind of feeling pretty shit about the situation, why are you bouncing up and down about it?"
"Because," she said, drawing out the word and moving over wrap her arm around Ginny's shoulders, "it just so happens that we've a visitor in the kitchen with my lovely, and clueless, husband right now looking for advice about what to do with his situation of fancying a girl that is 'much to young for him', amongst other complications." She sounded dismissive of the last part there.
"Holy shit!"
"I know!"
"Harry's here? How long has he been here? I only kissed him a few minutes ago! He… you know… wasn't receptive."
"Oh darling," Tonks gave an evil laugh, "from the sounds of it that boy was more than receptive. And I will deny it to them, but I completely eavesdropped about how he needed to restrain himself."
"You're lying!"
"Am not!" she said, looking mockingly offended. "On my mothers grave, I swear to you that your man Harry there very likely needed to stop himself from having a wank to take the edge off before coming here with his morality all in question."
The blush warmed her cheeks right up at the thought of her getting him riled up enough to need that kind of relief after what she'd done.
How long had he liked her? Was it really her that made him hot and bothered, or could it have been any girl in that situation? These kinds of questions Tonks wouldn't have had the answer to.
"Think you can sneak me in so we can both have a listen?" she asked hopefully.
Tonks was careful about opening and closing the door, and was extra careful about tip toeing through the hallway to the kitchen door since she was incredibly clumsy and prone to knocking things over or tripping. Ginny tread very carefully behind her, wondering the whole time if Remus would let Harry know that she was there; there was no way that he would miss the fact that there was an extra person in his house, let alone on the other side of a door, he was a werewolf after all.
"Like, two summers ago, she just got all… womanly. And it was so wrong! Sure, I saw other blokes giving her the second look and what not. I tried to tell myself I was just getting defensive of her, like her brothers were. But, I am not her brother, and she's just gotten more attractive to me every time I see her," Harry was saying.
"You've dated other women since you started noticing that about her, haven't you?" Remus asked.
'He knows you're here', Tonks mouthed to her.
Ginny knew Harry had been dating other people, her crush hadn't stopped her from dating guys at school either. It wouldn't crush her soul to hear him admit it.
"Yeah, of course. I still find other women attractive, just, you know, not on that level."
"And you've been shagging women you don't like 'on that level'?" Remus sounded reproachful.
That part Ginny didn't need to hear about, but at least he was getting a scolding for it.
"Come off it. I was trying to disillusion myself, and I liked the women I dated just fine."
'Women', plural. Fantastic, just how many trollops had their legs wrapped around him?
"They just didn't last," Harry finished sadly. "Usually I'd ditch them, respectfully, around the time I saw Gin again and remembered I didn't like them as much as I probably should." There was the sound of something moving around on the table. "And you weren't celibate yourself while you came to grips with wanting Tonks, and there's a bigger age difference there by nearly a decade of what I'm dealing with."
"You certainly have it easier than me, I'll give you that. Ginny's parents think of you like another son, whereas Dora's parents had treated me like a friend, from their school days." Remus agreed. "How do you figure Bill would react to this?"
Harry scoffed. "Best case scenario? He'd be okay with it only because he knows I would respect her. Even before that he's likely to break my nose."
"How long do you think you want to wait to find out? Maybe Ginny doesn't like you as much as you think she does?"
Ginny silently scoffed at the door, offended that Remus could ask him such a question.
"She wouldn't have taken a chance like that if she hadn't already thought about it," Harry said confidently. "There's too much history there, too much damage that could have potentially arose."
Remus let out a soft hum. "When Dora first started pursuing me I thought she was just rebelling, maybe looking to have an experience with an older man 'that knew what he was doing'. Didn't matter that I was her parents friend. Maybe Ginny is rebelling a bit, maybe she made a bet with her dorm mates about who could get shagged by an experienced man first."
Ginny pushed through the door before Tonks could stop her. "Alright, that's enough hypothesizing!"
Harry had been tilting back in his chair and came down hard onto the four legs in surprise, Remus just looked amused.
"Oh, Ginny," Remus said, "fancy seeing you here? What brings you over?"
"Shut up, you knew I was there and were just goading me."
Remus got up from his chair and headed towards her, then passed her. "I think Dora and I will check and see if the kids have torn their room apart yet."
Tonks made a sound of protest as he took her arm and guided her to the stairs, the door to the kitchen swinging closed behind them.
"How long have you been there?" Harry asked. "How much did you overhear?"
"Enough that I felt I needed to defend myself!" she huffed. "I don't have a stupid bet placed with my dorm mates. I just like you, I have liked you for ages. And I haven't exactly been sitting around waiting for you to notice me, I've had boyfriends too!"
A flash of disgust and anger crossed his face. He picked up the bottle of whisky on the table and poured some into his glass while Ginny took up in the seat across from him.
"So, how young is too young then? Because I know that Tonks kept on pursuing Remus until he caved but I'm not going to model my future around you possibly 'giving in' and admitting to me that you want me."
"I'm not going to make you wait, I do want you," he told her plainly. "I wanted to kiss you back, lay you back on the sofa and keep on carrying on until you either said no or we were too exhausted to continue."
Holy fuck! She didn't expect him to tell her like that!
"Doesn't mean I feel like I can do that," he finished and then took a sip of his drink.
Fucking morality.
"Because I'm too young and I'm your best friends 'little sister'," she used air quotes to mock that point.
"Exactly."
"I guess that's all that needs to be said then," she nodded. He nodded in return. "Okay then. Guess I'll just stop waiting." She pushed back her chair and stood up.
"Waiting for what?" he asked in confusion. "You wanted confirmation, I gave it to you. We can't happen."
"Yeah," she shrugged. "So, the next time it looks like I'm about to lose my virginity, I'll just roll with it. Nothing more to hold onto it for." She reached over and took the glass out of his hand to have a sip of the drink herself. She'd just heard him lay out his reasons for why they couldn't happen and it wasn't anything ground breaking. "You don't like me enough that way to even test the waters of Bill's opinion about it and I don't blame you. I've dated my friends brother before and it was a bit awkward, so I see where you're coming from." She handed the glass back but he didn't take it, so she set it down on the table. "Thanks for all you did today, Harry. You've been a better Muggle Studies teacher than I could have expected. See you around." With that she headed for the door.
Perhaps telling him that she'd been saving herself for him was a bit too dramatic, but that had been the case. With every relationship she'd been in there was that point where things were progressing and a little voice in the back of her head would ask if this is who she wanted this moment to be with, the answer was always no. And there was no better way to end a relationship than to tell someone you didn't ever see yourself wanting to have sex with them. Sure, she'd gotten close, there had been heavy petting, full frontal snogging, but no clothes had been removed, no skin on skin.
"Hey!" Harry called after her from the front door as she was halfway down the walk. She stopped and he hurried up to her. "You can't just tell a guy something like that! That isn't fair!" He had a half crazed look in his eye and his hair had clearly been tugged at a little more since she walked away from him a moment ago.
"Life's not fair, Harry. You of all people should have figured that out by now. All I'm doing is saving you the question of 'what if'. You now have all the information you need; I've been unknowingly saving myself for you, if you want me, I'm yours. I would literally go back to your place with you right now and lay back on your sofa like you imagined, or your bed, or even the floor, and we could go at each other until we are both exhausted, have a kip, then do it all over again. You are what's stopping this," she poked him in the chest. "I am an adult now. You know this, you were at my party announcing it last summer. And you know what? I think Bill would wind up being okay with it considering all the backlash he's been receiving about his future bride and their age difference. Plus, we now have Remus and Tonks that know and who understand what it's like that could back us up."
"You think we can just jump right to that? This isn't Romeo and freaking Juliet!" he growled.
"No, it isn't, because their tragedy happens at the end, and we've already been through ours. I don't need anymore drama in my life either, Harry. I can say it's now or never, but I already know you're too scared to say 'now', so I guess we'll just be dancing around this forever. I'm just done waiting for you to be the one that pops my cherry," she told him in as sultry a way as she could manage.
From this close she could see his pupils dilating, yet he still didn't make a move.
She gave him a moment and still he gave her nothing, so she turned and continued to the edge of the property and Apparated home.
()()()
Harry didn't stop by The Burrow for the rest of her holiday, and she really wanted him to.
There were no owls that found her when she returned to school either. She didn't run into him in Hogsmeade during weekend trips and he didn't come out to see any of the Quidditch games like he was known to do.
She'd left things too awkward now. She didn't know if she could find the words to send him an owl herself, so how was he supposed to?
The school year was wrapping up and she'd been studying hard for her NEWTS, training harder for Quidditch Try Outs in July, and letting loose pretty hard one night a week with her friends to get all of her pent-up energy out so her head didn't explode. Each house had a party for the upper-class students on rotation each weekend and she would drink and dance the evening away. It had led to one date request that she turned down and some light snogging with two different partners.
With how busy she was she had hoped that the time to ponder over how things had ended at the Lupins would be minimal, but it was always there at the back of her brain, ready to pop up whenever she saw a treacle tart on the house table and occasionally when she walked behind that tall girl from Ravenclaw that had a haircut similar to Harry's.
Then the day finally came where the last of her exams had been written and the stress of school lifted off of her shoulders.
"Finally!" Norma, Ginny's dormmate, celebrated once they were back in their room as she pulled a bottle of champagne out of her trunk and cast a chilling spell on it. "Time to celebrate!"
"And sleep," Ginny agreed. "I think two glasses will have me knocked out until tomorrow, and that sounds fantastic."
"Might want to check your mail first," their other dormmate Hestia suggested and nodded towards the window where two owls were waiting, one of which was Bill's.
Ginny let them in and they were both holding letters addressed to her, the second one was from the Ministry of Magic. She'd been expecting something from them about her application for the Statue of Secrecy Department. "I guess the Ministry gets my grades before I do," she told the girls. "They were waiting on my Muggle Studies test results before they could confirm my apprenticeship."
"And we're hoping that it's a rejection letter?" Norma asked. She'd been getting a few response letters herself and would tell herself it didn't matter what the letter said because she 'didn't really want to work for them anyhow'. It was all a farce though.
"That doesn't work for me," Ginny reminded her. "I've been busting my ass for top marks in Muggle Studies." She hadn't told them about her trip into London over Christmas break because it would lead to too many follow up questions. However, in her head, if she didn't get top marks in Muggle Studies as a byproduct of that then it truly had been a mistake on all levels.
She took a deep breath and opened the letter, then let out a relieved sigh when she saw the first word 'Congratulations'.
"Looks like I passed my NEWT," she grinned to the others. "Now bring on that champagne!"
The girls gave her a cheer and she reached for the letter from Bill and gave both the owls some treats before they flew away. Norma put the glass in her hand and she took a sip as she read what her brother had to say. The letter was mostly a congratulatory note as well, going on about her being the last Weasley of their generation, hoping she had top marks, blah, blah. Then he got to the point; the wedding was coming up and she was a bridesmaid, Fleur needed her to go for a dress fitting as soon as possible, they didn't want her to worry about that while she was still in the throws of her studies.
Ginny checked the time, it was still early in the day and she'd rather get this off her to-do list so she didn't incur the wrath of Fleur; who was extremely nice, but Bill had mentioned something about a crazy look in her eye when it came to the wedding details.
"Looks like the second glass of champagne will have to wait for me," she told the girls after chugging down the first one; she was still celebrating after all.
Professor McGonagall let her use the Floo in her office to get to the shop in London where Fleur was ordering all the dresses from. The glass of champagne had already made her a bit light headed, adding the Floo on top of that didn't help, but it also didn't stop her from accepting the glass of champagne that the shop woman gave her before telling her to get on the sizing stand.
The shop had much better tasting champagne than what Norma had. She'd finished her glass by the time the woman gave her the dress to try on, and it was full again when she stepped out of the changing room to get back on the sizing stand, except now there was a second sizing stand a few feet away from hers with Harry on it, looking appropriately shocked to see her there.
Ginny stared at him a moment, then walked over to her place, picked up her fresh glass and then caught sight of herself in the mirror.
Damn, Fleur had good taste. Too bad it looked so amazing and was difficult to get into and uncomfortable to wear.
"Did you get the threatening letter from Fleur too?" Harry asked conversationally.
"No, I got a nice letter from Bill congratulating me on finishing my exams and kindly requesting I work this into my schedule. As I have some recent experience with stress I figured the sooner the better."
The woman that was helping Harry finished up with his measurements and gave him a suit to try on.
"This is cutting it quite close to the wedding," the woman, whose nametag read Chloe, told her. "It was very nice of them to let you get through your exams first, but I completely understand Miss Delacour sending him a threatening letter." She leaned in a bit closer as she checked the dress straps and lowered her voice. "The Bride has checked in with us a few times to see if he's shown up yet. I told her we'd let her know as soon as he did. And, trust me, I've been waiting for this moment too." She let out a little giggle.
The giggle just reminded Ginny how many women Harry had fawning over him so she offered an amused smile and took another sip of her drink.
Harry stepped back out of the changeroom, looking dapper yet in need of a haircut, and Chloe went over to check his suit.
"Take a turn around the room Miss Weasley, make sure it fits properly and feels good," Chloe requested.
It took a moment to get down because she had to hike up the skirt and it hugged her knees together. "It's a bit tight around the thighs," she commented.
"It's the style," Chloe dismissed.
"Looks like there won't be any fun dancing at the reception then," Ginny said and then took another sip. It felt tight around her middle too. "Possibly no eating either. Am I supposed to be wearing a corset under this?"
"Oh, no. You shouldn't require any special underclothes for that one," Chloe told her distractedly as she busied herself with the hem of Harry's trousers.
Ginny caught Harry's eye in the mirror and gave him a cheeky wink. "That explains why the thighs are tight on the dress if I don't need any knickers, can't get up to funny business at all. Probably shouldn't drink while I'm wearing it either unless I plan on going streaking to the loo."
That garnered a chuckle from Harry.
Chloe though, just popped her head up and looked at Ginny in confusion. "So it's uncomfortable?"
"Like most things fancy, it's very pretty and very impractical." Ginny polished off her glass again. "Seriously though, am I meant to be standing in a corner all night or is there a way to shimmy up the skirt so I can dance, or have a wee if I need to?"
"When was the last time you ate?" Harry asked her.
"Thankfully, not since breakfast, otherwise I wouldn't fit in this dress," Ginny shrugged.
"And you've had how many glasses of champagne?" he pressed on.
"I've only given her two," Chloe assured him.
"Plus the one I had before I got here. This little trip sort of ruined my plans for the rest of the day," Ginny admitted easily.
"I didn't realize," Chloe said to Harry, as though she was apologizing to him.
"Don't apologize to him," Ginny told her, "I don't need to be minded! I'm not drunk, I'm just in a celebratory mood and this dress doesn't allow for celebration. Is this seriously what the rest of the girls are wearing? If it is, then fine, I'll suffer through the day, but if it turns out that they are wearing something that they can actually have a good time in, then I'm going to be pissed."
"That is what they're wearing," Harry told her. "Gabrielle wouldn't shut up about it. She loves it."
Ginny scoffed but gave in. Of course the quarter Veela would look even more stunning in a dress like this, and she probably never had to use the toilet either. Don't misunderstand, Ginny got along with Gabrielle just fine, but it was hard not to be a little jealous of the fashionista, French Goddess.
"Er, you're all done," Chloe told Harry. "See, it didn't take up too much of your time at all!"
"Hold on! Why doesn't he have to take a turn around the room too?" Ginny asked.
"Men's clothes are a little more straight forward," Chloe told her, sounding apologetic before she walked back out to the front of the shop because the bell went off.
Harry's reflection gave her a small, mocking smile before he turned around and took the empty glass out of her hand and went into the changing room.
Ginny glared at his retreating form until it disappeared behind the curtain, then she decided they needed to set a few things straight before they were stuck in each other's presence for the entirety of the wedding day.
She marched across the room and pulled the curtain aside, ready to lay into him, then realized he was only in his pants and a white tank top before she could get a word out.
"Ginny!" he protested as the curtain drifted closed behind her.
She blinked a few times before remembering that she'd seen in him a swim suit several times before and this wasn't very different from that. "Look," she started, "you aren't going to be minding me the day of the wedding, are you? No stink eyes because I'm having my fourth drink or because I'm stuck in a slow dance with some distant cousin of Fleurs? I get enough of that from everyone that I share a name with."
"I won't, now can you get out?"
"And, just so I'm prepared for it, you'll be ignoring me the whole day, right?"
She could see his jaw clenching before he answered that one. "I won't, now can you get out?"
"Good," she smiled. Then she remembered how her wedding invite had a plus one and her mood took a sharp turn down towards a rollercoaster of emotions. She gave a hard swallow. "And… you've got your date you'll be bringing?"
His jaw unclenched and the anger in his eyes dissipated. "I won't," he told her softly. "Now can you get out?"
She couldn't meet his eye anymore, too ashamed that she was still infatuated with him, and knowing he knew it too. She turned around, but he spoke again before she could adjust the curtain.
"Will you be bringing someone?"
That question made her freeze. Did that mean that it did matter to him whether she was available or not?
"No," she answered. "I've been a bit too busy to find someone to be making those kind of plans with. Plus, I'm in the wedding, not such a good time to play 'meet the family' when I'm too busy to protect him from all the questions."
She felt him take a step towards her and turned around. It had never seemed fair to her that all her brothers were so tall and yet she had topped out at 5"7. Harry was also quite taller than her, yet now that seemed like a very good thing that she didn't have the families average height on her.
"So you're the only one that gets to be protective then?" he asked.
She could feel his body heat and desperately wanted to lean into him. "When I'm protective the situation generally calls for it."
He reached up and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. "You do look amazing in that dress," he told her softly before lowering his head to kiss her.
She responded immediately and was very grateful for the three glasses she'd drunk before having this moment sprung on her. There was no hesitation on her end before she reached for him, coursing her fingers through his soft hair and pressing herself against his chest. It was infinitely better than the last time they'd kissed. Harry was holding back a bit, but she wasn't and it didn't take long for him to catch up; lips, tongue, teeth, grasping hands, it was all she could have asked for from him. And the passion he was giving her now, the way he gripped her waist, just low enough that his splayed fingers were pressing against the crest of her bum and bringing her in closer.
He moved her back against the wall of the changeroom and started kissing down her neck, it felt so good she wanted to moan out but instead bit her lower lip and whimpered, then his lips were on the tops of her breasts, which were wonderfully presented for him thanks to the dress. The only problem was, she really wanted to wrap her legs around him but the dress wouldn't allow for that.
He kissed his way back up to the other side of her neck and she gave a low moan when he gave a slow swirl with his tongue around the dip at her collar.
"I need to get out of this dress before I accidentally rip it," she panted.
"Mmm, I want to rip it off you," he told her in the most sultry voice she'd ever heard. It made her rub her thighs together and rock her hips forward against him.
"Please take me back to yours," she asked desperately. She wanted to peel the dress off of her right now and have him take her on the floor but there was still some reality that was getting through her semi-drunk and lust filled brain.
"Yes," he answered quickly, then pulled away from her to grab the trousers he'd come in with and pull them on.
Her own clothes were sitting in a cubby on the wall at the far end of the little room, he stuffed his feet into his shoes and then looked up at her expectantly.
She laughed. "I'm not stripping for you in here. I'm barely able to control myself around you when I am clothed."
"I like hearing that," he grinned and kissed her once more before ducking around the curtain.
Ginny grinned like an idiot to herself as she changed. She admired the dress for a moment once she had it hung up. It really was impractical, but amazingly pretty. Hopefully by the time the wedding came around she and Harry would have shagged enough times to be able to wait until after they left the reception to rip it off her. The thought made her smile even more.
The smile was wiped right off her face when she came out of the changeroom.
Apparently Chloe really had informed Fleur that Harry had finally shown up for his suit fitting and she'd come in person to make sure it was true.
Thankfully it was just Fleur and not Bill.
Fleur was just standing there, with her arms crossed and one hip gutted slightly farther out than the other with a look on her face that Ginny couldn't translate. Harry seemed to be just as at a loss about what Fleur's expression meant.
There was no way of knowing how long Fleur had been standing there or what she'd overheard. She could have overheard everything! Fleur might have been the reason Chloe had left them alone.
"The… the dress is beautiful," Ginny said, trying to break the ice.
"Yes, it is. I want my bridesmaids to look gorgeous," Fleur nodded. She had her eyes fixed on Harry, "and I want the groomsmen to not require make-up to conceal a black eye."
"Considering the twins, we should probably have make-up on hand anyhow," Ginny told her. Harry gave her a look. "What? They're always injuring themselves and others." She looked between him and Fleur. "You know what, they probably already have bruise concealer, so I wouldn't worry about it."
Fleur rolled her eyes. "Look, I love you both, I can smell the pheromones you are both putting off. I will not stop you, but if this ruins my day I will not be forgiving."
"You can smell pheromones?" Ginny grinned. She lowered her voice as though Harry wouldn't be able to hear her, "does he want me really bad?"
"Ginny!" Harry growled.
Fleur grinned then. "I smelled pheromones that strong off Bill once, he ruined my favorite pair of panties."
Harry turned adorably red so Ginny just took his hand and started leading him to the front of the shop, stopping to give her future sister-in-law a kiss on the cheek. "We'll tell Bill as soon as we've figure this out, okay?"
"Make it quick," Fleur told her as they continued passed. "And then make it very slow."
"Then maybe quick again," Harry said under his breath.
They were at his flat less than five minutes later.
"Something to eat?" Harry offered. He seemed nervous, it was cute, but she wanted him to be desperate; like how he was in the changeroom. A few minutes ago he'd wanted to rip her dress off, now he was asking if she wanted a snack? Him being polite right now simply wouldn't do.
"Sure, do you have any contraceptive potion?"
He blinked at her and then a look of subdued eagerness came over his face, "no."
She dropped her bag to the floor and took her shirt off in one move. "Guess we'll just have to use the charm then." She kicked off her shoes, walked over to where he was standing, put her hands on his shoulders and simply jumped so she could wrap her legs around him. He didn't look at all shocked by her actions, he seemed quite pleased and more than happy to need to hold her up by keeping a firm grip on her bum. "Where should we start then? Your room, the sofa, the floor?"
He leaned his head forward and started kissing along her neck again and her head fell back from the sensations, now she didn't have to be quiet about how good it felt to have his lips on her skin like that. His mouth was so hot, yet it was making goosebumps appear all along her arms and she could feel her nipples hardening against the fabric of her bra.
He started moving them down the hallway, stumbling here and there and needing to pause and brace them against the wall to catch his balance, yet he wasn't willing to set her down. Finally he made it to his room and lay her back against his bed, putting distance between them for only a moment while he pulled his own shirt off, then he was back and she could feel his skin against her own, the hair of his chest tickling her own. He pinned her hands above her head and started kissing down her chest again, this time taking his time to undo her bra and push it up so he could lavish attention against her breasts. She'd never had anyone use their mouth on her breasts before, and when he trailed his tongue along the underside she cried out involuntarily and arched her back. Encouraged by the reaction, he did the same thing to the other one and received the same response.
She writhed and wriggled beneath him, trying to communicate with her body that she wanted the rest of their clothes off now! She wanted to see him hard and watch his expression as he buried himself deep inside her. Already she was clenching up just at the idea of it. "Please!" she panted.
He pulled back again and she tugged at her bra straps to shuck the thing off, then her hands went down to her trousers, pausing only for a moment as she saw a light shine from his wand when he cast the contraceptive charm, then they were naked and she got to see him in all his glory. His cock was larger than what she'd been using the last few years to pleasure herself but she was sure looking forward to managing that.
She shimmied up the bed so he would have room to climb over on her comfortably and reached down so she could stroke him softly, the soft murmur of her name on his lips when she did that only reinforced in her that this was an excellent idea.
Then he was there, settled between her legs and teasing the head of his cock around her entrance a few times before sinking into her. There certainly was some size adjustment that was needed but it felt incredible.
All these years she'd wanted him to be the one to take her virginity and now it had happened.
Fleur was right, the first time was quick, then the second time was incredibly slow, fantastically so. Harry whipped up some food for them after the second time and they actually had a chance to talk, which seemed such an easy thing for them to do when they were naked and cuddled up in bed together.
"It didn't seem fair to you," Harry admitted to her. "You still needed to finish your seventh year and I know that can be stressful and crazy, you didn't need to add me into that mix. Plus, I mean, you said it, I've had more experience with sex than you, that hardly seemed fair either."
That comment surprised her. "Harry, I appreciate the bit about school, but I haven't been shagging my way through Hogwarts. 'Spite' sex isn't exactly something I'd want for my first time."
"Wait, so that was your first time?" He seemed genuinely surprised by that fact.
"Yeah, and even thought I don't have anything to compare it to, it was pretty fucking good."
He grinned at her and pulled her closer. "It was pretty fucking good. Amazing, actually."
She gave him a kiss for saying that. "Does this lead us into the discussion of telling Bill? And what would we even say? We fancy each other and recently started shagging?"
"Please let me tell Bill. If you told him the way you told Fleur then there might not be any wedding at all because I'd be dead and then Fleur would call the wedding off because Bill messed up the wedding party."
Ginny giggled. "Fine, you tell him, but make it soon or Fleur will kill you anyway."
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