Chapter 1 The Goodnight Kiss
“Stop moving! Remain still! Why are you giggling?”
“I can’t help it! I’m ticklish, especially there and there.”
“But I’m not even touching you there and there.”
Harry grabbed Ginny’s hand and kissed it gently as both were gazing at the mirror; their reflections were grinning brightly back at them.
“So, what do you think?” Ginny asked, freeing her hand and gently putting his glasses back on his face.
“I think you’re so beautiful,” Harry whispered in a teasing manner, still gazing at the reflection.
“I mean your hair,” she smirked as she took another snip at his bangs.
The last thing in Harry’s mind was his hair right now; his hair had always been messy anyway. All he could see and think of from the reflection was just how perfect and peaceful the image was, with Ginny standing and giggling behind him, stroking his hair and face. In fact, this was the best summer he had ever had because he was able to stay with the Weasleys at the Burrow. Not only was he able to learn about the simple daily lives of wizards and witches, he was able to spend the entire summer with Ginny, which was to him, the most important of all.
“Perfection,” he muttered as he got up from Ginny’s dresser table and snuggled up to her ear. “Thanks, Ginny.”
“Shhh…I think Mum is coming,” Ginny whispered, pushing him away. “Go back to your room. Hurry!”
But it was too late. As Harry made his way to the door, Mrs. Weasley had already opened it. She could see that both Harry and Ginny appeared very startled and were blushing.
“Harry…” Mrs. Weasley wanted to ask why he was alone in Ginny’s room with the door closed, but he quickly interrupted her.
“Mrs. Weasley…I…was just helping Ginny…fix the chair by the dresser,” Harry stuttered, with Ginny nodding in agreement.
“I closed the door because the chair was making a lot of noise,” Ginny said hesitantly, with Harry also nodding in agreement.
There was a pause in the room as she looked at them and the chair suspiciously, but then a broad smile appeared on her face.
“Harry, you silly boy. I could have fixed it with a spell,” Mrs. Weasley laughed and pinched his cheek. “You are a guest here. I don’t want you having to lift a finger in my house. Haven’t you done enough of this sort of thing at your Uncle’s? Come downstairs now. Dinner is ready.”
As Mrs. Weasley turned around and exited the room, Harry and Ginny eyed each other with a satisfying smile and breathed a sigh of relief. This was because both had agreed to not let Mr. and Mrs. Weasley know about their special relationship. They were very unsure as to how Mrs. Weasley would react to their relationship, which began shortly after New Year’s during Harry’s fourth year. Although they both knew that she was very fond of Harry, but because she had always been very protective of Ginny, they were uncertain if she would allow her youngest baby daughter to have a boyfriend.
“Harry, nice haircut, by the way!” Mrs. Weasley suddenly called out from downstairs.
Not knowing what to do with Mrs. Weasley’s unexpected compliment, Harry looked sheepishly at Ginny, who appeared very flushed and had an awkward grin on her face.
“Sorry about that,” Harry muttered as he kissed her on her cheek.
“We have to be more careful next time. I hope Mum doesn’t suspect us,” she whispered as they slowly walked downstairs.
“Hey, Harry, Gin,” Ron greeted them with a smirk. “We were all waiting for you. The food is getting cold.”
“Boys, wait for the others!” Mr. Weasley snapped, pulling Fred’s arm out of the breadbasket and giving George a dirty look. “Oh, Harry, come sit with me. I want to introduce you to Avis Perlmer, a buddy of mine. Hermione and Molly are still getting the rest of the food out.”
“Thanks, Mr. Weasley,” Harry walked towards the table while Ginny went to help Hermione. As he smiled at the stranger, he noticed the stranger’s face and nose were very flushed, possibly because he was drunk from all the beer he was drinking. He was examining Harry, with his eyes rolling up and down attentively, and then they focused on his forehead. Harry was used to this kind of examination by now.
“Mr. Perlmer…” Harry extended his right hand.
“Please…Call me Avis,” he interrupted as he got up abruptly and embraced Harry so tight that his glasses almost fell off. “Mr. Harry Potter, what an honor! Finally, I get to meet with the hero face to face.”
“Yeah, hail to our hero!” George got up and bowed dramatically to Harry, who was blushing from embarrassment. He could hear giggles and laughter from the background.
“Of course he is a hero. Our brave hero,” Hermione said sarcastically to George as she came in with Ginny and Mrs. Weasley.
“Avis, look at you! You’re drunk!” Mrs. Weasley shrieked, pulling him off Harry.
“Harry, Avis is a very old friend of mine. We haven’t seen each other in ages. He’s going to start working at the Ministry with me,” Mr. Weasley said excitedly.
“Thank goodness! Finally they replaced that woman!” Mrs. Weasley hollered.
“Molly, she wasn’t fired. She resigned.”
“Whatever! I never liked her. I don’t trust her. I don’t like the way she looks at you, Arthur!”
“Who is this woman?” Ron asked his father.
“Oh, forget about her!” Mrs. Weasley snapped furiously.
“Son, you’ll find out soon enough,” Mr. Weasley winked at Ron. “She…”
“ENOUGH ABOUT HER!” Mrs. Weasley blasted, the echo of her voice ripped across the table.
It was an uneventful dinner because everyone was so startled by Mrs. Weasley, who seemed to be in a very foul mood at the mere mention of this mysterious woman. However, Avis, who was drunk, could not sense the tension. The entire time he kept badgering Harry to tell him about all his achievements at Hogwarts. Throughout the evening it was only Avis and Harry speaking, with Avis asking Harry questions and Harry reluctantly answering him. Before he knew it, the only people left at the dinner table were Harry, Avis and Mr. Weasley.
“So, dear boy! Explain to me again how the Philosopher’s Stone would end up in your pocket?” Avis asked enthusiastically.
“Avis, please! It’s late. The boy should go to bed now. You can ask him tomorrow,” Mr. Weasley yawned.
“Very well. Tomorrow, I want you to start from the beginning where you…”
“Goodnight Mr. Weasley, Avis,” Harry interrupted, his voice hoarse from his endless talking.
Harry went upstairs to Ron’s room. He could see Ron was asleep already, so he quietly took off his glasses and put on his pajamas. But something wasn’t right; he seemed to have forgotten to do something.
“Right! I didn’t kiss Ginny goodnight,” he whispered to himself as he walked out of Ron’s room.
The goodnight kiss was something that he started doing soon after New Year’s, when he and Ginny were almost killed by Voldemort’s dream curse. Before they went to bed every night, they would kiss each other goodnight and wish each other pleasant dreams. For Harry, this nightly ritual gave him a sense of peace, knowing that Ginny would have a pleasant dream and would wake up the next day.
As Harry tiptoed his way to Ginny’s room, he could hear sounds of snoring coming from inside.
“I can’t believe she snores like that,” he giggled to himself as he noticed the door was unlocked and slightly ajar.
Because he didn’t want to wake her, he quickly slipped into her room and closed the door to shut out the light from the outside. The room was pitch dark. He quickly tiptoed to her bedside, leaned over, and kissed her gently.
“Goodnight, Ginny. I love you. Pleasant dreams,” Harry whispered as he kissed her again and started to stroke her hair. But for some reason, her hair felt different. Then his hand was caught on something that felt like a hair curler. He quickly yanked his hand away and leaned closer to get a clearer look.
“Ouch! That hurts!” a woman’s voice screamed as her face abruptly turned towards Harry. Her eyes were blinking wildly.
“AARGH…”
“AARGH…” Harry screamed as he darted backwards, his hands covering his ears.
“AARGH…”
He had just kissed Mrs. Weasley.
When I See Only You by gossipweaver
Chapter Notes: Harry was lucky enough to be staying at the Burrow for the summer. Not only were there many more friendly faces there, there was also one special longhaired redhead, whose angelic face and sparkling brown eyes had captured his heart and mesmerized his soul since this past New Year’s. Nothing mattered anymore to Harry except her. All he knew was that he was going to begin his fifth year with happiness and delight with her by his side. However, unbeknownst to Harry, there would be a new teacher at Hogwarts, and she would stop at nothing to tear them forever apart and to drag Harry back to his former self.