a/n: I’ve never attempted this kind of *ahem* behavior with Ginny, but it was wicked fun to write, so I hope you get a little kick out of it.
Chapter 17 “ You Seem to Be Confused
“I think it's time we got this straight
Let's sit and talk face to face
There is no way you could mistake
Him for your man - are you insane?”
- “The Boy is Mine” by Brandy
----
Ginny hadn’t exactly been looking for him, but she wasn’t disappointed when she found him alone in the backyard, thirty minutes after Tonks had thrown her bouquet and the newlyweds had retreated for their honeymoon. The decorations were starting to come down after the celebration, but most of the guests had retreated inside with the darkening sky.
Harry, however, was standing silently near the small lake behind the Weasley home, gazing up at the stars as they began to appear in the night sky.
She walked up next to him, unsure of what to say, now that she could say it.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was coming,” he said out of nowhere, his voice quiet as he continued to look to the sky.
“It’s alright,” she admitted, though it really wasn’t.
“Remus said he would wait till my training was over, but I knew he didn’t really want to.” Ginny turned enough to see him smiling slightly, still gazing at the sky. “And, of course, he needed another Marauder at his wedding…or at least someone to stand in for who really should have been there.”
Ginny’s eyes followed his and found the Sirius constellation in the sky, twinkling in moonlight. She felt a few tears gather in the back of her eyes, but refused to let him see them, even though he seemed determined not to look at her.
“I’m glad you came,” she admitted. “We needed you here….Remus did, I mean.”
Harry snorted a laugh, shaking his head as he finally looked down from the heavens and over at her. “Well, he won’t anymore. Tonks’ll take care of him.”
Ginny forced herself to smile and nod. They were looking at each other now, finally. He looked a lot older than she remembered.
“I’m leaving tonight,” he finally said, sounding slightly regretful. “I’ve got to get back to work.”
“In America,” she nodded, sounding interested. “I understand.”
There was an awkward silence as they stood three feet apart, neither quite sure what the other was thinking.
Finally, Harry took a few steps forward and leaned down, kissing Ginny quickly on the cheek. “It was great to see you again, Ginny.”
And just like that, he was gone again. Nothing more said or done. No more talk of the past they both regretted. No more talk of how both of them had moved on to other people.
No more talk of how much it still hurt.
----
Ron blinked, unsure of what he had just heard.
“Excuse me?” he attempted.
The medwitch in front of him looked a little unsure of herself, a fact that only made Ron more nervous. “It’s a repressive gene found in some muggleborn witches and wizards who have ancestors that were wizards. Most of the time it never manifests ever in the person’s lifetime, but it seems with Mrs. Weasley’s case, her drain of raw magical power made the gene manifest to almost full strength.”
Ron raised a disbelieving eyebrow. “And this goes on for how long?”
She shrugged. “No one can really be certain, but probably not long. Most likely it will taper off as she begins to regain her natural power back again.”
Still looking doubtful, Ron glanced at Hermione’s door and then back to the nervous intern. Raising an eyebrow, he attempted to make himself as intimidating as possible, hoping she wasn’t lying to him. “Prophetic dreams?”
She nodded nervously.
“Alternate realities?”
She shrugged, in an apologetic sort of way. “We’ve been monitoring her brainwaves for the past twelve hours. There’s too much magic involved for it to be anything else.”
Ron wanted to sneer at her, and bit back a comment about his past dealings with Divination, but settled on taking a deep breath to calm down.
“Right,” he nodded curtly. “I’ll tell her.”
Her whirled away, heading for Hermione’s room again. The medwitch’s voice stopped him once again.
“Remember that they aren’t all true!”
He swiveled around to face her, confused, but she looked even more frightened before at his expression.
“T-the dreams,” she stuttered, clutching her clipboard. “They’re not all true.”
A single raised eyebrow from him sent her scurrying back down the hall, unwilling to say more.
Shrugging again, Ron finally went back in to see his wife and newborn daughter.
----
It was a grand thing in life to finally be getting on to something new.
Ginny Weasley never thought she would admit it, but she really loved not having a boyfriend.
The last of old mementos from her “Edward Era” were unceremoniously thrown into the box, clattering together and probably breaking, but she really could care less at the moment. Her room felt remarkably clean, fresh and new.
She skipped happily down the stairs, passing Riley who was cleaning up the remains of their late breakfast and watching Ginny with an amused expression.
“You’re too bloody cheerful for someone who just went through a breakup and gave up a very big diamond ring,” Riley commented, flicking her wand to clean off the countertops and table.
Ginny dumped the box on the porch, making a mental note to take it out to the trash later, and glanced over at Riley with a smirk. “You know, last night was actually the first time he made a decent proposal, one that mentioned love and all that shite. You think I should be feeling bad?”
Riley scoffed. “Yeah right! That boy’s free now to go off and find some blond pureblood with magically enhanced features that will look good beside him in a thirty foot painting for their new house.”
Ginny shot her a glare.
“Not that you wouldn’t look nice in a thirty foot painting, of course, Gin,” she teased, both of them heading back up to their room.
Ginny grinned, keeping one eyebrow raised. “Right.”
They laughed together most of the afternoon (they hadn’t woken up till noon) and were just planning on what sounded to be a fabulous night out, when a knock banged through their house.
Annoyed at the interruption, but pleased that whoever it was, was going to get to see her decked out in her evening clothes that Riley had picked out, Ginny hurried downstairs to answer the door.
She would never admit to anyone how thrilled she was to see Harry Potter standing on her doorstep, looking nervous, but happy to see her.
Of course, she hid this feeling quite cleverly and gave him a warm smile. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
He glanced up and down her attire, a halter black dress complimented with a dark green jacket, and she saw him force his smile to stay.
“I didn’t want to interrupt, I’m sure Edward’s got big plans with you tonight.”
“What did you need then?” she asked smoothly, avoiding answering his unspoken question. When he really asked, she might tell him about Edward.
He looked back up into her eyes and she bit down her desire to shiver.
“You trust me, right?”
His voice was lower and he had taken a step towards her. Ginny’s eyes darted quickly towards the stairs, thinking he was trying to keep Riley from hearing, wherever she was.
Locking eyes with him again, she nodded. “Of course.”
He took a deep breath, taking a moment to choose his words carefully. “You remember that woman from the party, Emily?”
“Yes.” Ginny had tried not to sound jealous or bitter saying it, but she knew she was.
“She’s probably going to try and talk to you tonight or tomorrow and get you to say something or tell you things that aren’t true…” He looked almost anguished now as he reached forward, taking her hand gently. “Promise me you won’t listen to anything she says.”
Ginny frowned, confused. “I don’t understand.”
“You trust me more than her, right?”
“Of course,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Then, as melodramatic as this sounds, believe me when I say you shouldn’t believe anything she says.”
Still confused, Ginny opened her mouth to ask more, but he was already heading back out the door. She hadn’t realized until then that he had come up right in front of her, but he was now back out on the doorstep.
“I’ve got to get back to the hospital and try to talk to Ron,” he said, his whole demeanor changing from how it had been seconds ago as he warned her away from Emily Lennon. He smiled back at her. “You look really great tonight, Gin.”
And just like that, he was walking away from her again, disappearing just past their property line right as she snapped out of her surprised stupor enough to look confused and anxious all at the same time.
Had that really been Harry? He didn’t usually act so mysterious around people, but he did look like he was in a hurry. Urgent, nervous and in a hurry….she never thought she’d see him like that again, but she didn’t like it one bit.
A ferocious growl escaped her lips and she slammed the door, pulling her jacket off as she ran back up the stairs.
“Change of plans, Riley,” she shouted, coming back into the room to see Riley applying the last of her own make-up.
“Because of the illustrious Mr. Potter?” she said, not sounding surprised.
Ginny pulled out her beat up pair of jeans and one of Ron’s old Chudley Cannon t-shirts. “Something’s got him scared,” she muttered, pulling off the clinging dress and exchanging it for the more comfortable wardrobe, “Or rather, someone.”
“Ah, now this is fun,” Riley agreed, finding a pair of jeans for herself and throwing Ginny a knowing wink. “It’s been a while since I’ve gotten in a good catfight anyway.”
----
“I knew they couldn’t all be true,” Hermione said softly, her exhaustion evident in her voice as she held their newborn daughter in her arms, having just finished feeding her. “In one of them it was me who died….but in another one, you died.”
Ron didn’t enjoy how casual Hermione referred to her dreams. Even though not all of them were true, Ron had dealt with Harry enough to know not to take all of Divination too lightly. Especially if it was coming from his own wife.
“Did they say when they would stop?” Hermione whispered, her eyes fluttering closed as she fought to remain awake. The only times she had awaken in the past few hours, she needed to feed the baby, and it was exhausting her even more. Her strange dreams make her sleep very unrestful, but unfortunately she was unable to take dreamless sleep potion while nursing.
“Probably once your magic starts coming back,” Ron whispered, leaning over to take the child out of her arms and gently kiss her forehead. “Rest, love. I’ll still be here when you wake up.”
Hermione smiled as his lips touched her forehead and she drifted instantly to sleep, her breathing slowing and her body relaxing into the soft bed.
Ron stepped back from the bed, carefully cradling his daughter as he sat back down in his usual chair, taking a moment again to study the newest member of their family.
Ron was not a woman by any means, but he couldn’t help but melt at the sight of his daughter and “ooo” and “ahh” at her perfect little features. Wisps of red hair flew out form underneath her newborn cap, curling a bit on the ends and complimenting her fair, white skin. Her lashes were long and dark red, matching the color of her tiny mouth. He gave into the temptation of reaching up and sticking his pinky in her open palm, once again marveling at her finger’s reflexive curl around it.
He and Hermione had not had much time to sit down and just be together with their daughter (the medwizards seemed to think it wasn’t “good” for Hermione to talk while she was nursing), but they had both agreed on a name early on, one that had stuck through the last five months of the pregnancy. They had never told anyone else the name, and agreed that they wanted to announce it together. They had done the same with a boy’s name as well, but for some reason, the girl’s name they had chosen had been easy for both of them.
Gazing down at his sleeping daughter, Ron smiled whispering her name only to her and loving the fact that she gripped his finger tighter as he spoke.
----
It didn’t take them long to find each other. Emily had obviously been searching for Ginny just as much as Ginny had been searching for her, but it was amazing that through all of that, Emily still had the gall to think that Ginny was going to listen to her.
Riley and Ginny spotted her walking through the tables at a local wizarding nightclub called “The Lock Ness”. Emily had smiled happily upon seeing them, waving like an old friend and making a beeline to where they stood by the bar.
“Ginny! How lovely to meet you at last! You know, Harry speaks of no one else!”
Ginny raised a doubtful eyebrow. “Funny. He never mentioned you until tonight.”
“You’ve seen him tonight then, lovely! I was trying to find him myself. You know how hard it is to keep track of men.” Her false laugh would have been convincing had she not dramatically spilled some of her firewhiskey on Ginny at the same time.
“Oh dear, silly me!”
Ginny batted her hand away, ignoring the spill, and crossing her arms in front of her chest. “What do you want to find Harry for? And for that matter, what did you want to find me for? Harry said you would be looking for me.”
Riley stood behind Ginny, loudly flirting with the bartender, but paying enough attention to the conversation to know when Ginny would need help.
If Ginny needed help.
“That man!” Emily said dramatically, smiling sweetly. “I swear, he’d loose his head if it wasn’t attached.” She took a sip from her goblet and looked back at Ginny. “You know about the engagement, of course. We were supposed to meet tonight to finalize the plans for tomorrow, but he had some pressing issues and left without even grabbing his tux from my wardrobe! Imagine that!?”
Ginny felt the ground drop out from under her as she heard the word “engagement”. Her heart dropped to the bottom of her toes and for a moment she couldn’t breathe.
“E-excuse me?” She finally got out, feeling a bit dizzy.
Emily looked triumphant, but Ginny couldn’t bring herself to snap out of it. Luckily, Riley was there for a reason.
“Oh, I’m sure someone like Harry Potter would never be as short-sided as that, dearie,” Riley said loudly, coming up beside Ginny and looking sweetly over at Emily. “Better drink a few more pints before you go to bed with another man and wake up thinking you’re engaged. You could end up with someone like him.” She jerked a finger at the barman who glanced at them, wriggled some boney fingers and winked, demonstrating that not only was he going on at least seventy years old, but was also still in the market for a wife.
As she pointed, she leaned over to Ginny. “Remember what Harry said, Ginny. You know better than you listen to trash like her.”
Emily looked in disgust at the barman and turned to Riley with a withering look. “Is that right? And who are you supposed to be?”
But before Riley could even say another word, Ginny had brought her fist up and nailed it right into Emily’s nose, sending the shocked witch back several paces and making her drop her drink as she held her hands up to hold in the blood that was now flowing down her face.
Riley just looked approvingly over at Ginny, who was now fuming at Emily.
“Don’t you dare think that you’re good enough for him!”
Emily seemed too shocked to say anything, but Ginny was just getting started.
“You aren’t even fit for him to spit on,” she said menacingly.
Emily’s eyes widened at that statement and from out of nowhere she lunged at Ginny, trying to grab at her hair. But Ginny was pumped of adrenaline now and remembered her self-defense training, bringing her arm up to block Emily’s long fingers and using her leg to knock her feet out from under her, Emily’s fancy dress shoes causing her to slam to the ground, breathless. Riley stood off to the side, containing her laughter at seeing Ginny actually hit someone, and warding off anyone who tried to interfere with the fight.
Ginny took a step back, noticing the blood on her arms from Emily’s hand and wiping it on her shirt casually while still gazing down at Emily.
“I don’t know who you are or what you think you can get out of Harry, but I’ll give you a clue: No one beats him. Not Dark Lords, Ministers of Magic or ex-girlfriends.”
Emily managed to start pulling herself up, backing away a bit out of Ginny’s reach. She even had the nerve to smirk a bit through the blood still on her face. “Oh, but I’m much more than just Harry’s ex-girlfriend, Ginervra, didn’t you know? Your precious Harry and I were engaged to be married.” She smirked at Ginny’s loathing look. “An engagement which, while technically not ‘on’ at the moment, will become active again tomorrow, whether he really remembers he loves you or not.”
This time both Riley and Ginny jumped her.
And unfortunately, no one was there to hold anyone back.
----
a/n: please review!
Yes, you will find out the name of the baby eventually…possibly in the next chapter :D