* * *



She felt the gentle pressure of his hand on hers and readjusted her limbs in the branches of the tree that they were sitting in, to be closer to her raven haired lover. He leaned down to kiss her, the passionate kind that made her knees weak. Ginny only felt this way when she was kissing Harry.



Like her heart was swelling up to a balloon’s size, this balloon was full of ecstasy, not helium, and was ready to burst. She felt fireworks on her mouth, her cheeks, her hands, the small of her back, where ever Harry was touching her the crackers burned.



How picturesque they must look in the country side orchard, entwined in the old apple tree’s branches. It was already a beautiful day. The Technicolor blue sky was empty and endless, except for the fluffy cotton candy clouds, occasionally drifting lazily across the bright golden sphere that was the sun. But the brief shadows couldn’t dampen Ginny’s spirits. This was her happy place. No one could bother her here. Or at least that’s what she thought.



“Ginny! Harry!” Mrs. Weasley shouted up at them from the bottom of the tree. “Ron and George just arrived! They’ve brought Hermione, too! Come say hello!”



Ginny sighed and Harry brushed the leaves out of her flaming red hair. “We’d better go,” he said.



Ginny shoved him playfully and Harry pretended to fall out of the apple tree’s outstretched branches.



“Catch me?” he asked. Ginny shook her head knowingly.



“Not a chance.” she answered, about to shimmy down the bark covered trunk.



“Then I’ll have to take you with me.” Harry grinned. He encased Ginny’s petite figure with his warm arms and made to jump entirely from the tree.



“Harry!” squeaked Ginny.



“Don’t worry,” his breathed, which tickled her ear. “It’s magic.”



They were plummeting downwards towards the green, grassy ground. The rush made Ginny’s hair fly up in the air and the pure surprise of the fall made her want to scream with joy. Then she landed, sprawled on top of him and smiling.



“I love you,” she whispered, laying her head on his chest. “Now we’d better go, before mum realizes we’re still gone!”



* * *



“Ron!” Harry grinned. How great it was to see his best friend again. Harry had been so busy over the past year with reestablishing the Order, rounding up the remaining Death Eaters, a bit of Auror training here and there, getting over the losses, and finding himself after the war. So, until a week ago when he arrived at The Burrow, he hadn’t had much down time. Ron, of course, had also been busy working at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes with George, having his own Auror training and grieving with his family.



“Harry!” Ron clapped him on the back. “It’s been a while, mate. How’s it around here?”



“Same old, same old,” said Harry, being not entirely truthful. Ron had always been sensitive about the fact that Harry was dating his sister.



“George, how are you?”



“I’m alright,” said George. He was only just starting to get over the loss of his twin and hadn’t gotten his joking manner back yet.



At that moment, Mrs. Weasley and Hermione walked into the mix matched Weasley sitting room, deep in conversation.



“-That’s wonderful! Absolutely wonderful, Hermione! I can’t wait to meet the little darling! If she’s anything like you-“



“Harry!” cried the bushy haired young woman, streaking across the room and squeezing him tightly.



“Seriously Hermione, he needs some air. It’s only been a couple months,” said Ron, grinning. Harry was forcefully reminded of the summer before his fifth year of Hogwarts, in which a similar encounter had occurred. The only difference was that after the previous occasion, Harry had shouted at his two best friends rather angrily.



“So what were you and Mum talking about?” asked Ginny. Hermione beamed at them.



“I’ve just told you’re mother the news! I’m not an only child anymore, I have a little sister!”



“That’s great!” exclaimed Ginny.



“Positively positive,” George alliterated, smiling feebly.



“I know,” said Hermione. “After I sent them to Australia they had obviously forgotten they had a daughter, so they decided to have a new addition to the family. Her name’s Lia. Short for Ophelia,” she beamed.



“You’re parents sure thought up unusual names,” said Harry curiously.



“They had a thing for Shakespeare,” Hermione replied, shrugging. Ron looked like he was about to ask who Shakespeare was, but Harry said, “It’s so great seeing you guys again!”



He had missed his friends, but was a little surprised at their attitudes towards each other. He hadn’t thought their personalities would’ve changed that much, apart from being in love. What was with their new no bickering policy?



“If you don’t mind, I’m going to go unpack. Mum wants me to visit here for a while,”



With a flick of his wand, George’s suit cases were soaring along and he was following brusquely behind them.



“I’d better unpack too,” said Hermione. “Will you help me Ron?”



“Actually, me and Harry were going to play Quidditch,” said Ron sheepishly.



“But you said you would help me unpack,” she said. She was obviously hinting that she wanted to be alone with him.



“I haven’t seen my best mate for ages! Besides, Ginny will help you, you’re staying in here room!” said Ron as if this made all the difference.



Hermione tutted, apparently things hadn’t changed that much.



“As much as I love you, Hermione, how can you be with my brother? He’s such a prat!” Ginny said, looking disgusted.



“Quidditch?” asked Harry. Ron nodded. “Well see you later then Gin, Hermione.”



The two young men left the room and Hermione sighed melodramatically.



“Quidditch!” she said exasperatedly. “It’s all they care about, sometimes!”



“Well, let’s go get you unpacked before your head explodes from trying to understand Quidditch,” Ginny said.



The two girls trotted up the flights of stairs, carrying Hermione’s suit cases between them, to Ginny’s room. Ginny flopped down on her bed and Hermione stacked the luggage beside her friend and began fumbling with the latches.



“So how’ve you been?” asked the brunette.



“Hermione I just talked to you last weekend. Everything’s same as ever,”



“You and Harry are still going strong, then?”



There was a knowing look in Hermione’s eyes.



“Yes…” said Ginny. “But it would help if Mum wasn’t always breathing down our necks all the time! She even found us at our tree! You know, the one near the clearing where we all play Quidditch.”



“Yeah, well at least you’ve been spending time together! We’ve been so busy that Ron and I only saw each other on weekends, for the past six months! And you’re mum can be a little overbearing. She wouldn’t even let Ron and I stay in the same room.”



“Urgh, Hermione! My brother, remember? My brother!” said Ginny, cringing.



“I didn’t mean it like that!” Hermione reasoned, blushing. “I just want to spend more time with him.”



“Uh huh,”



Her tone suggested that Ginny didn’t entirely believe her.



* * *



“Look at us, mate,” said Ron optimistically to Harry as he blocked an apple from going through the imaginary hoops. “We’re alright!”



“Yeah, I reckon we can’t be too bad,” said Harry sarcastically.



“Not about Quidditch, you know what I mean. We’re actually having lives now!” Ron enthused.



“Because we never had lives before?”



“Look, I mean, we’re going to be Aurors! We stat at the Ministry on the fifth of September! That’s only a month away!”



“I know, I’m excited too,” Harry said, pulling out of a Wronski Feint.



“It’s going to be really different this year, starting our jobs and that. It’s mental how Hermione’s going to that Muggle thing, collage or whatever it’s called.”



Hermione would be attending University to Major in Law in the fall because she’d decided to pursue a career in Magical Law that would help her, “take S.P.E.W. farther,”. Harry and Ron were both perplexed on why she’d want to submit herself to four more years of education, but Hermione just said that Muggle Law would help her out in Magical Law and her parents wanted her to go to University because they had savings.



“It is going to be strange next year,” said Harry.



“’Mione reckons she’s getting a flat near her campus. She thinks we should move in together. It wouldn’t be too different because we can Apparate anywhere now.”



“Whoa,” said Harry, breaking the silence. “So you two are really serious, then? You’re going to end up married and-”



“Stop it, Harry!” said Ron frantically. “I don’t want to think about any of that yet!”



“Let’s get back to Quidditch!” said the boys in unison.



* * *



The table was pretty roomy that night at The Burrow. Mrs. Weasley had cooked up a marvelous dinner for Ron, George, Ginny, and Mr. Weasley, herself, Harry, Hermione, and Percy plus his new girlfriend Audrey, a pretty Muggle with dark brown hair and eyes. They both insisted on coming to dinner every night.



“It’s amazing, you going to college, Hermione!” exclaimed Mr. Weasley excitedly. “I can’t believe it, having education after going to Hogwarts! Who would think of it! The things Muggles dream up!”



“Well, secondary education is actually quite common in the non-magical world, Mr. Weasley,” said Audrey pompously.



“Audrey spent four years at university.” said Percy smugly.



“You two make such a laid back, easy going, modest couple,” said George with false admiration in his voice, which Audrey took as the real thing.



Mrs. Weasley, who knew better, cleared her throat loudly.



* * *



Later on, Hermione was pulling the trundle bed out from underneath Ginny’s bunk and smoothing out the sheets over it. She was deep in thought so, when she turned around to see Ron sitting beside her, it came as a shock.



“Goodness, Ron, don’t surprise me like that!” she said breathlessly.



“It seems like I haven’t seen you in ages,” Ron said, staring at Hermione, who was feeling a little self conscious. It had been too warm to wear her flannel pyjamas tonight, so she had borrowed some of Ginny’s, how should we say, skimpier variety.



“Well,” she said. “It seems you’d rather play Quidditch then be with me so…”



But then Ron was kissing her and she and she was pressed down against the trundle bed, her fingers trailing through Ron’s soft hair.



“You’re better than Quidditch,” Ron whispered to Hermione before pressing his parted lips frantically just under her jaw.



“What would you say if I told Harry you said that?” Hermione said while jerking Ron’s head urgently back up to her lips.



“You wouldn’t,” he panted, through kisses. “But I’d deny it.”



Hermione grabbed his shirt and threw it on the ground. Ron was still urgently pressed against her and-



Just then, Ginny opened the door, looked stunned for a second and then loudly said, “Could you please stop snogging in my bedroom!”

Chapter 2: Weasley Men Console



Hermione awoke with a Weasley draped over her. It was not Ron, It was Ginny.



“Urgh Ginny, you accidentally fell off your bed again,” Hermione said, shaking her awake.



“Sorry,” Ginny said groggily. “I didn’t sleep well, the scary image of you eating my brother’s face, on my bed, kept popping into my head. I had nightmares,”



Hermione scowled, but started freshening up for breakfast.



Once the two girls were presentable, they headed down to the kitchen. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were already sipping coffee, as were Harry, Ron, and Charlie, who had just arrived that morning.



“Charlie!” Ginny exclaimed, running to hug her second oldest brother. “I didn’t know you were coming today!”



“Your brother has a week of holidays and he came for your birthday party this weekend,” said Mrs. Weasley.



“What birthday party?” Ginny asked suspiciously.



“I planned a party for your eighteenth this Sunday night. We already sent the invitations to all the family and your Hogwarts friends,”



“Wow mum, thanks! It’ll be amazing!”



“It’s not every day my little girl turns eighteen! You’re really growing up, Ginevra!” Mr. Weasley beamed.



“Dad,” Ginny smiled and hugged her father, letting him use her full name, just this once.



“If you two are finished your love fest,” said a tired looking George, emerging from the staircase. “I’ll just be eating my cornflakes.”



With that, everybody stopped talking and tucked into their bacon and eggs.



“Hermione, what’s that on your neck?” Harry asked innocently, after eating the last tasty morsel off his plate.



“Where?” Hermione asked, craning round to check. When she found the right angle she saw the hickey forming on her collar bone.



Whipping out her wand, she preformed a quick non-verbal spell to banish it. Thankfully no one mentioned it again, but Ginny saw Charlie giving Ron a low five under the table from the corner of her eye.

* * *



Time was passing quickly and before they knew it, it was Wednesday afternoon. Bill and Fleur had come round, with their ten week old baby girl, Victoire. She was very tiny and already looking a lot like Fleur. Bill couldn’t take his eyes off the little thing.



“Well, I am thinking she is the most beautiful leetle baby in zee ‘ole world,” Fleur boasted.



“She is a sweetheart,” said Mr. Weasley. “But I don’t look that much like a grandfather, right?”



“Nah, dad. You don’t have to worry about that until she learns to talk and can call you grandpa,” said Bill.



“She’s quite younger than Lia, but maybe when they’re older they can be friends,” Hermione said thoughtfully. She had filled Bill and Fleur in earlier about her one year old baby sister.



“Oh you should invite your parents to Ginevra’s party thees weekend. They can bring zee child and she can meet our leetle Victoire!”



“Would that be all right Mrs. Weasley?” Hermione asked.



“Of course it is, dear. Arthur and I would love to get closer to your parents,”



Hermione and Ron hadn’t told either of their parents about their plans to move in together the coming month. Both of them agreed that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley wouldn’t be much of a problem, Ron and Hermione had practically lived together the year previously, on the hunt for Horcruxes. But Hermione’s parents had been under the influence of her memory charm at that time, so Hermione had warned Ron they might be a bit difficult.



* * *



“What do you mean by difficult?” Ron asked her one evening.



“Well, mum and dad are very protective of me; they always wanted me to do things properly. That’s one of the reasons they wanted me to go to University in the first place.



“What does that have to do with-?”



“I’m not sure if they’ll think it’s proper for a young wizard and witch to move in together!” Hermione fretted, grabbing Ron’s hand. “But I need you! I know I could just Apparate to The Burrow everyday, but it’s not the same! Everything’s starting to look up now, and with you starting work and me starting college, we’ll never be able to see each other, and I don’t want that to happen!”

“It’s okay, once we tell them together with my parents they’ll understand! We can tell them this weekend, they’re coming for Ginny’s party right?”



Hermione nodded, she was showing a rare vulnerability, and Ron wanted to show he was there for her. He took her face in his hands.



“It’s going to be okay, alright?”



“Oh, Ron!” Hermione flung her arms around his neck and kissed him fully. The kiss intensified and Ron’s arms snaked up on the inside of Hermione’s top.



“Ron, we’re in the living room,” Hermione mumbled.



“I don’t care,” he mumbled back.



“Me neither,”



“I do,” said Mr. Weasley, who had just arrived from outside where he’d been tending to the gnomes.



Hermione gasped and slapped Ron’s hands away from her.



“I’ll pretend I didn’t see that,” Mr. Weasley said kindly. He’d prefer to turn a blind eye to this, he’d rather see it than see his daughter with Harry. “Be careful around your mother, though,” he warned Ron. “She won’t be as understanding,”



“Ron!” Hermione whispered after his father had left the room. “This cannot happen when my parents are here!”



Ron’s ears were bright red. “It won’t,” he muttered.



“Do you think we should talk about it?” asked Hermione tentatively.



“About what?”



“About what could’ve happened before your dad walked in.”



“Oh…” Ron’s ears went red again.



* * *



“I think we should talk about it!” Mrs. Weasley demanded to Mr. Weasley.



“About what?”



“About the fact that we’re losing our two youngest children?”

Mrs. Weasley had tears in her eyes now.



“Molly, Molly,” Mr. Weasley soothed, petting her hair. “What brought this on?”



“Ron’s going to move in with Hermione, isn’t he?”



* * *



“Well don’t you think we should?” Hermione asked, looking up at Ron.



“I don’t know,”



“Do you think we’re ready for that?”



“Do you think you are?” Ron asked, meeting her brown eyes with his blue.



“Yes,” she answered simply. “But not right now. When we move in together,”



“Okay,” said Ron, kissing her cheek.



* * *



“Yes I suspect they’re moving in together. I just saw them snogging in the living room, plus Ginny told me they were snogging in her bedroom last night. They seem to love each other,” said Mr. Weasley.



“You really think so?” Mrs. Weasley asked skeptically.



“I do. And Hermione’s a great girl,”



“Yes, she is,”



“I have a feeling they’ll end up married, and they kind of remind me of…”



“Of what, Arthur?”



“Of us.”



* * *



“I love you,” Ron said to Hermione.



“I love you, too.”



* * *



“Oh Arthur, you’re right,” said Mrs. Weasley. “But I don’t want our little Ronniekins leaving us! Not when we just lost Fred!”



A few tears trickled down Mr. Weasley’s cheek.



“And Bill has Victoire to look after now, he’ll barely ever visit! Charlie has to go back to work with the dragons after Ginny’s party, Percy is proposing to Audrey on her birthday, and that’s in November so they’ll be engaged soon! George is so cut up he never wants to come home! And Ginny, well, her and Harry could run off anywhere at anytime! They’re free spirits and you know it!”



“There, there Molly. It’s going to be alright! Do you remember what you said to me when you were trying to convince me you wanted seven children?”



“Yes. I said, “Just think of all the grandchildren,”.”



“And we already have one! You’re looking at the kids getting married as a bad thing. It’ll be a lot less hectic around here,”



“But I’m going to miss hectic! It’ll be so strange with none of the scuffle to get to Kings Cross on time this year!”



“I know, I know. But in then more years, we’ll have a new batch of little ones off to school!”



“I suppose you’re right. I’m going to go make dinner,”



“Alright dear, I’ll be in the shed,”



“Not tinkering with Muggle artifacts are we, Arthur?” said Molly strictly.



“No, Molly dear,” Mr. Weasley oblidged.