Author's Note: The characters contained in this story are not mine, but belong solely to JK Rowling... Sorry it took me so long to post this chapter. I promise the next one won't take so long.
Harry swam slowly towards consciousness as the faint dawn light shone on his face. He could not remember ever waking up this calm, this content, this at peace. He smiled sleepily and snuggled closer to Ginny.
His eyes snapped suddenly open as reality came crashing in.
"Omigosh!" he choked out. He had spent the night under the stars in the comforting arms of Ginny Weasley.... with a veritable houseful of her brothers feet away.
"Omigosh!" Harry said again. He scooted gently away from Ginny, somehow managing not to wake her, and began to pace around the courtyard.
"What the hell was I thinking? " he said to himself as glanced down at Ginny's still sleeping form. "Oh yeah... that's what I was thinking...Merlin's beard she's beautiful. But she's Ron's sister... my best friend Ron... my best friend Ron who is going to kill me because I just spent the night with his sister! Of course, nothing REALLY happened, but then again Ron probably won't stop to find that out before he kills me. And to think last night I was only worried about Voldemort."
Harry sat down putting his head in his hand and nervously rubbing his scar.
"Oh dear," said Lily, a look of motherly concern on her face. "He's talking to himself again James.
"Does he do that often?"Sirius asked in a tone of mingled fascination and amusement as he watched his godson's meltdown.
"Not so much anymore, unless he's exceptionally nervous or under alot of stress. Before he came to Hogwarts he did it all the time. Who else did he have to talk to after all?" James murmured.
"James, I really think we may have to step in again." Lily said as she continued to watch Harry's semi-incoherent ramblings. He'd now moved on to contemplating the various sharp pointy objects that Fred and George had at their disposal.
"Mmmmph" mumbled Ginny, slapping at whatever was tickling her ear. She too woke slowly, smiling and stretching as she remembered the events of the night before. Harry had finally opened up and let go of his guilt and his fear. He hadn't opened up to Ron, or Hermione, or anyone of the dozens of adults he could have gone to. No, he had spilled his heart and soul to her...Ginny Weasley. About damn time. She opened her eyes squinting into the early morning sun.
"Morning" said Ginny sitting up and looking around. She immediately spotted Harry sitting a few feet away mumbling something about how Charlie would probably sic a dragon on him.
"Harry?" she said tentatively.
Harry looked up and saw Ginny sitting there, her hair a fiery mass around her shoulders, her brown eyes filled with concern for him. Suddenly Harry was not terribly worried about her brothers.
"Wow! You're beautiful."
"Wh-what?" said Ginny certain that she must have heard wrong.
"I-uh-said Wow! It's a beautiful morning." Harry said hoping she bought it.
"Oh... Harry we should probably go in before anyone realizes that we've been out here all night."
"Yeah, you're probably right." Harry murmured somewhat awkwardly. "Look, Gin, I...well...I wanted to thank you for...you know...listening and just being there when I needed you."
Ginny smiled a shy, sweet smile. " No problem Harry. I'm really glad I could be there for you." She stepped closer and put a comforting hand on his arm.
Harry looked up, his green eyes met her brown and he was lost. Before he knew what he was doing, without even thinking, he leaned in and did what he'd wanted to since the night before. He softly and gently kissed Ginny.
Somewhere in the back of his mind it registered that this was not like the kisses he had shared with Cho. He realized now that he'd kissed her mainly because he felt like he should, this was something much, much more.
He slowly wrapped his arms around Ginny's waist and pulled her closer, as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Both were completely lost in the each other and the magic of this moment.
A soft cough from the courtyard door caused them to spring apart guiltily. Harry shoved Ginny behind him in a vain attempt to protect her from prying eyes.
"Harry? Ginny? " came the voice of Remus Lupin from the doorway.
"Damn" mumbled Harry. In a loder voice he said "Morning Professor."
"Morning" said Ginny peeping out from behind Harry's back, her face scarlet.
"So...what are you two doing up this early?" Lupin inquired.
"Umm...I..my room was stuffy so I came out here to sleep because it was cooler." said Harry hoping he sounded convincing.
"I see. Why didn't you just open your window?"
Harry's brain scrambled frantically for a reasonable explanation. "Ron" he almost croaked. "Ron gets cold at night and I get hot so I came out here so we'd both be comfortable."
"Ahhh" said Lupin in understanding. "What about you Ginny?"
"Hermione" said Ginny the tips of her ears turning scarlet. " She snores really badly and she woke me up, so I came out here and found Harry and we were...um talking."
"Oh...talking...I see." said Lupin smiling slightly. "Oh by the way Ginny, I saw your Mum heading to the kitchen a little while ago. She'll probably be looking for you soon."
"Thanks Professor" said Ginny, blushing brightly, darting through the courtyard door, and dashing up the stairs.
Harry watched her go somewhat apprehensively and decided to make a break for it himself.
"Well...I'd better go in too. I don't want to worry Mrs. Weasley." said Harry heading for the door.
Lupin watched him go, trying hard not to smile. He knew exactly what Harry had been up to. He'd stumbled upon them still sleeping, when he had returned from patrol this morning and found the courtyard door slightly ajar. He'd spent the rest of the morning both keeping a watchful eye on them and carefully steering people away from the courtyard. Not exactly teacherly, but Harry deserved all the happiness he could grab. Come to that, so did Ginny. Besides, when Lupin had first stumbled on them he'd thought, for just a moment, that he was seeing James and Lily, and he just could not bring himself to distrub them. Whistling quietly to himself, the lone Marauder headed to the kitchen to grab himself some tea.
"Nicely done Moony" murmured Sirius.
"Heh..He'd better cover for the next generation,after all the times WE nearly got caught sneaking in or out from meeting one girl or another." James said with a grin.
"Oh really? Do tell." Lily said, her eyes glinting dangerously.
"Now Lils, you know Prongs has never had eyes for anyone but you."
"I know" she said smiling. "I just like to remind him of that periodically. It's good for his overly large ego."
"Surrounded by traitors!" James sighed dramatically placing one hand over his heart at the cruelty of it all.
Sirius grinned evilly. "Prongs, your hair is mussed."
"What?" said James his hands immediately going to his hair before he saw Sirius and Lily giggling. "Very funny Padfoot."
"So..think our boy is ok Prongs?"
"For now Padfoot. Of course, he still needs to tell Ginny he loves her, assuming he's figured that out yet. And then there's Ron, Hermione, and the prophecy to be dealt with. But for right now, I think he's going to be ok."
"Good. In that case let's go relabel all of Snivellus' potions" said Sirius mischieviously.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Will you two ever grow up?"
"Probably not, but you know you love us anyway." said James as he wrapped his arms around his wife and the three faded quietly away.