Chapter 5: Daybreak
“Is that really the best you can do?”
Ginny’s breath was ragged and loud as she stood with her ear pressed firmly against the office door of her brother’s shop.
“Nice,” Harry said and Ginny was once again hit by a wave of longing and bewilderment as she heard Harry’s dulcet tones.
“This is just one thing. I’ve got a thousand more ideas. We’re going to have a whole Harry Potter vs. the Dark Lord line coming out,” George said, but Ginny cringed, imagining Harry’s fallen expression and waiting for his exasperated reply.
“I can’t wait,” he commented and Ginny was quite easily able to discern the sarcasm in his voice. A tiny cough preceded Hermione’s suggestion to leave and Ginny continued to listen with a tinge of disappointment as Harry and Hermione said their good byes. The tinkle of a bell signaled the closing of the shop door and meant that Harry was finally out of the vicinity. Bracing herself, Ginny walked confidently into the store just in time to see a flash of black hair outside vanish into the crowd of Diagon Alley. George had rounded on Ron, whose entire face and his ears had turned a bright pink.
“Aww,” he said, “is ickle Ronniekins-,”
“Shut up,” Ron interrupted. George grinned widely.
“Believe me Ronniekins, it’s about time. Isn’t that right-,”
But his eyes cast wildly about the shop as he realized that the person wasn’t there. A flash of something crossed his face and then his eyes fell on Ginny “-Ginny?”
Ginny walked towards them, “What’s about time?”
“ Ronnie and Hermajesty” George said.
“Don’t call her that,” Ron muttered. Ginny and George ignored him.
“I’d say,” Ginny replied. “It only took him, what? Seven years?” George tilted his head.
“A couple of crying fits.”
“A whole year alone in the tent.”
“Viktor Krum.”
“Would you two shut up?” Ron said through gritted teeth.
George finished his last thought, “Harry and Ginny snogging before you two.”
There was a long awkward pause.
“So, what do you need us to do George?” Ginny swallowed.
“Um, since Ronniekins has no people skills, he can stay behind the counter.” Ron scowled.
“I have to deal with some foreign… investments.” He muttered something under his breath. “And you, my dear Ginny, can have the honor of shelving the products.” He followed through with a large flourish of the arm.
“Gee, thanks George,” Ginny muttered. But she proceeded to walk over and drag a box of Peppered Peppermints (Give to your friends and watch their ears smoke for hours) to a shelf and, rather ungraciously began throwing them on the shelf.
Her face heated up as she found her rhythm and she let her mind wander. She remembered her and Harry’s kisses all too well. They were so different than anyone else’s; there was so much more to theirs’. She shook her head fiercely.
No, she thought. I am not going to waste perfectly good thoughts on Harry Potter. He’s a stupid prat
She punctuated each word with a hard clunk from the Peppermints. She was so concentrated on not thinking about Harry that she didn’t hear the loud thunk followed by a “Bloody George” and then the soft tinkle of a bell.
If Harry hadn’t been so fresh on her mind, she probably wouldn’t have heard anything. But in many ways, she was listening for him, so when his voice floated through the shop, she visibly stiffened.
“Honestly Hermione, I can’t believe you forgot something. I guess Ron’s messing with your head more than I thought.”
“Harry, Ronald has nothing to do with why I’ve been a bit forgetful lately. I’m sure it’s just excitement.”
“Yeah, you’re definitely excited about something,” Harry muttered, dodging a quick elbow from Hermione. “That’s why you forgot the cauldron. And last week the potion supplies, your books, our clothes, the groceries-,”
He grunted unattractively when Hermione stopped short and he slammed into her back. Ginny stared at Hermione’s now wide eyes and felt an odd tightening in he chest.
Harry blinked and rubbed his nose. “What is wrong with you Hermi-,”
His eyes fell on Ginny and her chest felt weird when she saw the fear in them.
“Hello Harry,” she said.
Hermione coughed rather loudly and snatched her cauldron off the counter where Ron stood with his mouth unabashedly gaping open.
“Ron. Ronald!” Hermione took her boyfriend’s hand and pulled him in front of the counter and towards the shop door.
“Come on, Ron. I’ve got to talk to you about something,” she muttered as they disappeared onto the busy street.
Harry and Ginny were left thoroughly and utterly alone. Ginny observed him from her place next to the shelf she’d just been stocking. He had dark circles under his eyes, indicating that he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in some time. He was slightly flushed from the late June heat and she knew her cheeks were probably flaming, and not just from the weather. Her eyes moved down to his lips that stood out starkly against his pale skin. Then suddenly his lips were moving.
“Hey Ginny,” he squeaked and then coughed. She smirked at his obvious uneasiness and then realized that the Quaffle was on her side of the pitch, so to speak. She said the first thing that came to mind, which isn’t a good thing to do in the best of situations, and this certainly wasn’t one of those.
“Erm, you know I never really congratulated you on defeating Voldemort,” she sputtered and his face fell.
Why did you have to say that? she silently chastised herself. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Ginny watched him closely, hoping desperately her big mouth wouldn’t cause him to leave. An invisible wall of tension had formed between them and it was becoming increasingly more difficult for her to find something to say that would break it.
“Yeah, it’s been awhile, hasn’t it?” he offered.
“Well whose fault is that?” Ginny shot back.
Stupid! Didn’t Mum always say to think before you speak?
“What do you mean?” he choked.
“I mean I’m not the one who up and left last year without warning or explanation!” she yelled.
“You know I had to do that,” Harry’s face contorted with anger.
“Oh, of course you had to,” Ginny laughed, her voice laced with sarcasm. She took a step towards him with her hands on her hips. “And you also had to break up with me last year-,”
“To protect you!” Harry cut her off. “It was too dangerous for you to be with me! He could have hurt you or worse!”
“Yeah well He’s gone now, Harry and you haven’t talked to me since that day. What’s your petty excuse this time?” she shouted, even though they were now a mere meter apart. She noted how both of them were red-faced and breathing hard.
And suddenly, he was grabbing her by the waist and crushing his mouth against hers. She reciprocated by instinct by arching her back sliding her arms around his neck and fisting her hands in the hair at the nape. He moaned appreciatively and then their tongues were doing a familiar dance. One of his hands moved up to her hair and she relished in its movements when his fingers ran through her silky strands, reminiscing in the way he loved to do that when they were together on the Hogwarts grounds.
Then, as quickly as it had started, Harry gently broke the kiss and backed away from her. Not pausing to catch his breath and refusing to look her in the eye he panted,
“I have to go,” and stumbled out the door without a backward glance, leaving Ginny flushed and confused in the middle of the shop. Just as the fog was starting to clear from Ginny’s mind and she started to register what had just happened, George sauntered into the room from the office.
“Stupid Trade C Substances… Hey! Where’d my clerk go?” he said, then, seeing Ginny in the middle of the shop, still catching her breath he asked,
“Did I miss something?”
Teddy's Gift by SiriusRadcliffe
Chapter Notes: Miss Radcliffe: We're back! Real life has, unfortunately, distracted us a bit but we're back on track and should be posting more regularly. As always we thank you also for the lovely and inspiring reviews.
SiriusBlack1113: So we were totally watching The Swan Princess while planning this, which is completely irrelevant but I just wanted to shamelessly advertise for it. I think this is my favorite chapter so far, and it definitely has my second favorite word in it, which is dulcet. Thank you MissRadcliffe and her awesome vocabulary. Much love readers!! R&R
Chapter Endnotes: Miss Radcliffe: Well, you all said you wanted a Harry/Ginny encounter. Hope it was to your liking. This is only a little taste of what their interactions are going to be like. On a side note, you should know that after Sirius wrote her piece, she handed the notebook to me and the last line written was "Hello Harry." I got all excited and said, "Oh my god what happens next!! This is a horrible cliffhanger!" Then I remembered I had to write what comes next ;) So be thankful that wasn't the cliffie we gave you!
SiriusBlack1113: I wanted to to actually leave it there... but MissRadcliffe's a butthead... (Oh and the end was totally unplanned, she completely surprised me with that little bit there... but I never complain...) :P