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George watched Hermione settle back in her chair to better hear what the photographer was saying. She seemed to have things under control, so he went back to nursing his firewhiskey. How was it possible that he was so upset about Ginny but at the same time he still wanted to protect her from this journalist? Fred was being a big of a git, but he was mostly drunk, so that was okay. At least he had been kind to Luna, which mattered for some reason to George, although it certainly never had when they were at Hogwarts. The flat was fairly clean, for which Ginny was grateful, but then, they had only been living there a few days now. She did see her clothing from before her shower earlier littering the floor from her bedroom to the bathroom. Ginny blushed and gathered them, shoving them into a ball in her room and closing the door. "Sorry. I had a rough trip with the twins." Sitting on the couch, Ginny gestured for Harry to sit next to her. "So tell me about it. Was it hard?" Her brow creased in concern. |
Hermione listened to the man from the Daily Prophet talk to someone who seemed to be from another newspaper or magazine. He was talking with an air of accomplishment. She made a little noise of disapproval, but didn't want to say anything to them, she had had her confrontations with reporters. She looked at both Fred and George, "You may want to slow down on the drinks." Harry sat next to Ginny and explained what happened, "Well, I basically just told her. She wasn't too happy, but she'll get over it. Enough people despise me already, right?" He sighed. "But it feels better to have it done, now." |
"I'm still on my first drink, Mione," George tilted his glass so that she could see it was still about a third full. "And I'm willing to carry Fred home. It isn't the first time, and it won't be the last. Man just can't hold his liquor. Plus he drinks like a fish when he's of a mind to." Fred didn't respond to Hermione, just lifted a finger to order another drink from Mort. "Anything of interest?" George asked, indicating the sleazy reporter sitting behind Hermione. "Of course, she wasn't happy, you git," Ginny shoved him playfully on the shoulder. "Harry, you're wonderful, even if you do seem to be quite bad at understanding women and their mysterious ways. I wouldn't be surprised if you broke her heart, and I don't think she'll just get over it and move on to someone else in a few days. She loved you, Harry, or she thought she did. I wasn't even engaged to you, and you nearly broke my heart when I thought you loved someone else." |
"No..." Hermione said, finishing her butterbeer. "Talking about Harry, it sounds like... when will they ever leave him alone?" Never was the answer. These people disgusted her. She ordered another butterbeer. "Gin... Now, I don't think I could ever love anyone else," Harry said, "It was hard not seeing you in a year, and I think I forgot everything that I love about you. When you came back, I remembered, from just seeing you..." |
"What?" George perked up a bit. Something to do... hands-on like. "This git was out there when Harry's little bit of news came out? Did they get any pictures?" He eyed the camera speculatively and checked out Fred's response. Fred responded by burping. "Nice one, old boy," George said drolly. Ginny leaned back on the couch in the spot right next to Harry. She studied the far wall, wondering how to frame any of the questions that seemed to all of a sudden be flying through her head. She held his hand, hoping he could tell she just needed answers, not reassurance that he really did care for her. "Harry... when did you... how... oh, I don't even know what I'm trying to ask. You never said anything, Harry. I never thought you even saw me." |
Hermione looked a little unsure, "I don't know... but you might not want to start anything. Those reporters... they're viscious." She monitored George, making sure he didn't do anything irrational. "Of course I saw you, Gin..." He could tell she wanted to know something. "If you have a certain question in mind, why don't you ask?" Harry said, "I won't bite, I promise." |
Elizabeth walked down the stairs of the leaky cauldron, after laying low for a few days. She needed time alone to think, but three days was too long to be cooped up alone in a room. she needed air. She walked into the bar and saw Ron sipping on a pumpkin juice. She walked over and sat down. "Hello Ron" |
"Mione," George leaned forward across the table and gestured for Hermione to come in closer to hear him. "I like you, Mione. I think you're a nice girl. I don't hate your company by any means. Don't be a stick in the mud. If those reporters want to stick their noses in someone's business, let it be mine. I can use the advertising." "I suppose I just want to understand how you could choose me. I saw Cho at Hogwarts. I saw Elizabeth last week. You can have anyone you want, Harry, so why would you pick carrot-topped, freckle-nosed Ginny Weasley? I'm not putting myself down, Harry, but since you didn't seem to see me at Hogwarts, you can understand why I'm a little surprised now." Ginny fiddled with the edge of her t-shirt. |
Hermione was a little surprised at George idicating for her to move closer, and she did, blushing at her foolish first thoughts. "But... George... honestly, it'd be better for you just not to do anything." She still wore an unsure, worried expression on her face. Harry watched Ginny talk, amazed by her simple being. "Ginny, you are so beautiful. I don't know what struck me on the night ou came back from Hogwarts, but it was powerful. It was sort of like seeing you made feelings that I had that had lay dormant before, show themselves for the first time to me." He added, "But it was always there, I just wasn't conscious of it, if that makes sense." |
"Okay," George agreed good-naturedly. "I won't do anything now, but if he provokes me at all, I will hex him blue with purple spots and he'll find his quill in most unusual places on his anatomy. Does that sound more fair?" He wondered at the blush staining Hermione's cheeks, thinking it was actually pretty and that he'd like to make her blush more often. "I suppose it makes sense," Ginny replied thoughtfully. "It makes as much sense as me thinking that I no longer loved you up until the moment I heard from your own lips that you were marrying someone else." They sat in silence for a few moments. "Where do we go from here?" |
Hermione giggled. "Yes, that sounds quite fair." She peeked over at the reporter and he had sat down at a table with the other man and they seemed to be discussing something. She looked back to George, surprised to find herself closer than she had expected. She blushed again and leaned back into her seat. Harry shrugged, looking around at the flat. "You don't think your brothers will try to kill me, do you?" He asked with complete sincerity, looking back at Ginny. |
George grinned at Hermione as she moved back and sucked down some butterbeer. "That's such a girly drink, Mione," he laughed as he leaned back in his seat and propped his foot up next to the girl again. He poked her with his foot and suggested, "Want a fire whiskey? Or maybe some of what Fred's having?" "I don't think they'll kill you," Ginny replied honestly, then teased Harry by adding nonchalantly, "but they probably will remove certain important body parts, starting with your lips. I'll still love you when you're lipless." She placed a hand on the side of his face and ran her fingers across said lips. "Although I do love them as well." |
Hermione grinned, but said, "No, thanks, George... I don't want to..." She paused, "You know..." she lowered her voice, "get drunk or anything... that wouldn't be a pretty sight." She shook her head, still with a smile. Harry smiled, hoping she was just kidding about the twins removing his body parts. "As I love yours," He said, imitating her and using his fingers, moving them across her lips. "Now, Ginny," He said, laughing, "Are you going to kiss me or what?" |
George lifted a questioning eyebrow at her. "It couldn't be that bad, now could it? Considering that it would be YOU being drunk. Ah, well... your loss." He downed the rest of the fire whiskey and started in on the onion rings. "Can you have some of these?" he teased and offered her one across the table. "Mmmm," Ginny leaned in close to Harry so that he could feel her breath on his lips. She waited until he closed his eyes and leaned in before she moved away and settled into the couch. "No, I don't think so. You can't just demand kisses and get them. Only I can do that." |
"Yes, as long as they don't contain high amounts of alcohol..." she said, looking at them, "Or other things which could make me sick, which seems likely that they do... but, oh well." She took an onion ring and ate it, which to her surprise, it was quite good. Harry pretended that this was an outrage. "What? Only you can demand them?" He said in mock surprise, "Well, I won't be giving in. So I am going to sit here and wait for you to make the move on me." He sat stubbornly in his seat, hoping that for once Ginny would forget her stubborn nature. |
George rolled his eyes and pushed the plate towards Hermione. "I know you love to read and learn everything about everything, Mione, but I think you're better off not reading and list of ingredients in this place. The plate looks pretty clean, at least." Ginny snuggled up to Harry and pouted. It was a highly effective pout, one that she used on her brothers and father all the time. Only Molly was truly immune to it. "I said you couldn't demand that I kiss you. I didn't say you couldn't make a move on me or just kiss me." She stuck out her lower lip and sent a whispery breath at Harry's ear and neck. |
Luna sat down in the chair Fred had pushed over for her. She wasn't too sure that Hermione would appreciate sitting next to her but, there wasn't really another place for her to sit and the other girl seemed not to notice her much anyway. She accepted her butterbeer from Mort and withdrew into her chair, making herself an outside observer. Fred whispered some nonesense in her ear, but that was about it. Luna wasn't quite herself anyway, she completely missed an opportunity to ask George if he had thought about advertising in "The Quibbler" when he mentioned getting attention from the reporters sitting at the next table. She took a sip of her butterbeer and briefly closed her tired, eyes. |
She nodded. "Well, it tasted okay," She said, after swallowing. "So... are you two planning to injure Harry?" Hermione asked. She really did fear they were going to do something to him. And it was the infamous Fred and George Weasley, and no one ever knew what they were up to and what the consequences would be. Harry looked at Ginny. She looked so... tempting. But he decided not to give in just yet, "Well, why don't you kiss me? How about... if I request that you kiss me?" He laughed , sitting up, taking her hand in his, "Ginny Weasley, will you kiss me?" |
"Well, ultimately, I think our disapproval of Harry's line of action is out-weighed by our desire for Ginny to be happy. So, no... we won't hurt him unless he hurts her. But we might put the fear of Merlin in him a bit by letting Charlie and Bill know what's going on. Charlie is crazy protective of her." George looked over at Luna. "Lovegood, are you getting enough sleep?" "Honestly, Potter," Ginny rolled her eyes and stopped pouting at him. "I have to do all the work in this relationship." Her eyes widened and she stopped teasing, looking uncertain. They had never put any labels on what exactly was going on between them, and Ginny certainly didn't want Harry to feel rushed. He had been engaged only a few days ago, afterall. "This relationship that is completely not a relationship in the way that dating someone with the goal of marriage is a relationship but more in the way of...," she started to ramble. |
Luna opened her eyes at the sound of her name... Opened her eyes? She hadn't even realized she had closed them. It irked her that she was suddenly out of control of her own body. She had always been so astute, so aware of her surroundings. Perhaps her supervisor was correct in telling her to go home and sleep. "Hmmm?" she questioned, looking for the asker or the question. Her gaze moved to George who was looking at her, as if awaiting an answer. "Well, actually... I've been quite busy lately... I haven't had much of a chance to sleep. That's why I'm here," she continued, taking a large sip of butterbeer in the hopes of waking herself up a bit more. |
Hermione nodded, thinking to warn Harry to be careful not to get on the twins' bad side. She looked towards Luna, as if she had just now noticed her, and waited for her to answer George. Harry watched her as she started to go on and on, starting to not make sense. "Stop." He put two fingers over her lips, to silence her. "If I knew it was going to be this big of a deal, I would have just kissed you already. You don't need to worry about what the relationship is, it'll make itself clear." He leaned in and kissed her on the lips, softly, bringing his hand to her hair. |
"You came to a tavern to sleep?" George was genuinely confused by her words and ruffled his hand through his red hair. Yep, getting long. Mum would need to trim it soon. "Isn't it kind of noisy and dirty here? And what are you paying us rent for if you aren't going to sleep in your room?" Ginny smiled against his lips. Babbling had never brought this result before; usually it just annoyed her family. Maybe she'd have to try babbling on Harry more often. She deepened the kiss then pulled away to look at Harry with smoky eyes. "There's no photographer up here," she grinned, then kissed the side of Harry's mouth, trailing kisses along his jaw line. |
Luna looked at George, slightly confused. She ran her hand through her hair, grazing her wand which was tucked behind her ear before replying. "I'm not going to sleep here," she said, feeling frustrated with herself for being so easily confused. She was never confused.... She really must start spending time away from work. She'd only been there a little over a week and she was already suffering from what some of her coworkers had warned her about. Luna hadn't wanted to believe them when they said she'd need to get a hobby and not work later than she had to. "I was just sent home from work and was out for a bit of shopping before going back to bed," she explained. |
Harry shivered once again, feeling her dainty lips on his face. He entwined his finger in her hair at the base of her neck, twirling it around, enjoying the feeling of it, so smooth and soft. "I love you, Ginny," he said, a little quietly. |
Ginny settled back into the crook of Harry's arm. "That's good," she replied in seriousness, "because I love you as well." She stared his eyes, green and glittering and yet warm. "I feel like this is all some crazy dream or one of those Muggle movies that are too good to be true," she whispered to him. "I feel like if I move suddenly, it'll all disappear and I'll wake up to find that I'm still at Hogwarts and about to take my exams." Laying her head on his chest, she added, "Please don't pinch me. I'd rather dream like this forever." |
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