One year later
Ginny woke up slowly as the early morning sun beamed in from a crack in her curtains. She blinked as the brightness of the room assaulted her eyes as it always did when the sun woke her up. A light breeze filled her room ruffling the papers and other paraphernalia on her desk. She took a deep breath allowing the fresh morning air to clear her muddled head. Turning over on her back, she looked up at the ceiling of her room scrutinizing the faded wallpaper along the walls.
Creaking sounds could be heard through the ceiling, as other members of her family got ready to start the day. Rather than rushing to fight for the bathroom, Ginny decided to stay in bed just a little longer. She inhaled once more the clean morning air mixed in with the smells of breakfast.
Ginny glanced over to the opposite wall where her calendar hung at the month of August. It had been three months since the end of the war.
Had it really only been three months? Ginny asked herself.
She couldn’t quite believe how fast time had gone by, so many changes had happened in those short months. No longer was there a heaviness of fear hovering over like a dark cloud waiting to consume without warning. Instead there was a silent peace as families began to heal, governments began to change, and futures started to rebuild.
Ginny thought back to the first couple of weeks after the funerals, especially the first week back at The Burrow. Ron, Hermione, Harry and George had moved back in almost immediately after Fred’s funeral. Each person had dealt with their grief in their own unique way.
Her Dad had stayed in his shed tinkering with his Muggle contraptions for hours at a time, only coming out to the kitchen to get something to eat or drink, his puffy red-rimmed eyes had given him away. Her Mum had poured her anguish into cleaning every surface of The Burrow until the place was unrecognizable.
To escape the suffocating tension of The Burrow, she, Harry, Ron and Hermione had been forced out of the house to go for walks to the surrounding village.
Mealtimes had been a quiet affair, far removed from her many memories of noisy, boisterous times of fighting over dishes and second helpings. The only sounds that permeated the room had been the clatter of cutlery, mixed with the dull tones of chewing and swallowing.
As the weeks had turned into months, everyone had started to slowly heal. The tension that had gripped The Burrow so tightly had gradually started to unclench. Her father had started to spend more time in the house with her mother and less time alone in his shed. Ginny had noticed that they even started to smile at each other again.
The quartet had started spending fewer days out on walks and more time hanging out in the house playing Wizarding chess or outside playing Two-Aside Quidditch.
George, it seemed, had taken the longest to come around. He had remained in his room, only coming out at mealtimes. Faithfully every morning after breakfast, Ginny asked him if he had wanted to join them on their outings, but he had always said no. For weeks his room had been the quietest of all the rooms in the house, so unlike what Ginny was used to. She had been so worried about him until about two weeks ago when she had heard a crash followed closely by a loud explosion from the direction of his room. George had come out coughing in a cloud of smoke and covered from head to toe in pink dust. His face stretched in the first genuine smile she had seen in almost three months.
Ginny smiled to herself as she remembered that day. It was so great to have George back.
When it came to her and Harry, time had slowed down enough for them to start to enjoy each other again. There had been no cause for an awkward reunion between them, or a struggle to get to know one another again. Instead, they had immediately clung to each other becoming their very own support system.
Ginny couldn’t help but think about how great Harry had been at Fred’s funeral. Harry had never left her side the entire time. He hadn’t hovered, or constantly asked if she was okay. On the contrary, he had just been there picking up the pieces as she fell apart that day. She had done the same for him at Remus and Dora’s funeral. Ginny had held him as he cried silently on her shoulder, rubbing his back and never once leaving his side.
In their time alone together, mostly in the evenings after dinner, they would escape to the pond. At first it had been just an excuse to get out of the house away from the intensity of a quiet meal, but soon it turned into a routine. They would both sit and listen to each other talk and cry about how much they had missed those they had lost in the War. Those first quiet moments had been what they both had needed to move on toward healing.
Steadily their trips to the pond had become a more pleasurable experience, holding each other, talking about anything and everything until the sun went down. It had been the perfect way to pass the time curled up in each other’s arms kissing. Just the other night Harry had his warm hands up her shirt, his lips trailing…
“Wake up, Weasley, it’s your birthday!” George yelled, as he pounded on her door, snapping her out of her thoughts.
“In a minute!” Ginny yelled back to the door, hearing George’s footfalls as he went down the stairs.
Savoring the thoughts until later, Ginny finally got up out of bed, put on her dressing gown and made her way to the wonderful smells of breakfast.
---
Ginny loved her birthday and always looked forward to it. She hadn’t expected her family to make a big deal out of it this year considering the recent events, but her mum had insisted on a small party with a big meal. Rather than argue with her, Ginny had let her mum plan the festivities which seemed to cheer her up.
She really couldn’t have asked for a better birthday party. The meal was delicious as usual and the overall chaotic atmosphere was a welcome addition. All her brothers were there; even Charlie made the trip from Romania. Harry, Ron and Hermione were there, of course and Percy brought his new girlfriend Audrey, who also worked for the Ministry. Bill and Fleur also and so did Angelina Johnson, staying especially close to George. Ginny noticed he looked very relaxed in her company.
George had only recently brought Angelina around to the Burrow. It had been a great sight to see the two of them so comfortable with each other, talking and laughing. They hadn’t really shown any outward signs of affection other than the comfortable features on their faces. Ginny figured it was only a matter of time before they started dating.
She glanced over past George and Angelina, to see Harry staring at her. There was a hungry look in his eyes as he crossed the room toward her, but her mum got to her first.
“Ginny dear, why don’t you open your presents first and then we can all have some cake?” Molly said, leading Ginny to the sitting room with all the rest of her presents.
Everyone followed Ginny and Molly to the sitting room making themselves comfortable.
She sat down on the sofa and slowly started to open the package Molly had handed to her.
“Ginny, tear into it. It’s not a bomb,” George joked.
“If it’s from you, it probably is,” Ginny retorted with a smirk, deliberately unwrapping the first package as slow as possible.
Ginny enjoyed all the gifts she got, including a set of new school books from Percy and Audrey. A deluxe box of Skiving Snack boxes from George and Angelina. The usual box of Chocolate Frogs from Ron, and a silver charm bracelet from Hermione. Harry got her a new pair of Chaser gloves. The dragon hide gloves from Charlie, and Bill and Fleur got her a brand new stationery set complete with parchment and quills that self-ink.
“This last one is from us,” Molly said, handing her the last of her presents.
Ginny felt the weight of the package on her lap and began, once again to slowly unwrap it. She pulled the torn wrapping paper away and stared in awe at the present in her hands. It was a beautiful cherry wood finish mantle clock with delicate intricate carvings along the top and its sides. She felt her jaw drop as she examined the precious heirloom. It must have cost her parents a fortune.
“It belonged to my mother.” Molly said, her eyes gleaming with tears. “It was given to her when she came of age. She gave it to me when I turned seventeen, and now I’m giving it to you.”
Placing the precious clock on the small table in front of her, Ginny crossed the room and hugged her parents.
“Thanks.”
“Cake!” everyone shouted, breaking the tender moment.
Ginny was on her way to the kitchen to help her mum cut the cake and serve it when she felt a warm hand in hers pulling her away toward the back door.
“Come with me.” Harry whispered in her ear, his breath tickling her neck.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere else.”
“But Harry we’re about to…”
“Please, Ginny,” he asked, the hungry look in his eyes returned.
She could feel a blush creep up her neck and flood her face. Deep inside her she knew where this was going.
“Okay,” she answered, allowing him to lead her out the back door.
He led her by the hand through the back garden, past the rose bushes to the old oak trees near the pond.
“Dance with me, Ginny?” Harry urged, taking both her hands and draping them around his neck. He slowly trailed his hands along her ribs, past her waist, finally resting them on the small of her back.
“Yes of course, but Harry there isn’t any music,” she teased, but that didn’t stop her from swaying on the spot with him.
“We’ll make our own,” his response low and husky, as they continued to revolve in their circle.
Harry really didn’t have to ask. She had wanted to have another dance with him for some time now. As overwrought as that first dance was a year ago, it was still a cherished moment that had carried her throughout the rest of her year without him.
But this dance was different from the way he held her to the look in his eyes.
Looking up at his face, she could see no lines furrowing his brow, no thin-lipped smile or tightness in his jaw. In its place there was only peace that flooded his features. A tender smile, that reached his bright green eyes, graced his lips as he looked into her eyes.
Ginny trailed her hands from his neck along his shoulders taking note of how his muscles relaxed at her touch. No longer were they hunched from the weight of an unfinished task or unknown future. Instead there was a lightness to his touch and such fluid ease in his movements, not at all what she remembered a year ago.
“You’re not as tense as you were the last time we danced.” Ginny lightly joked, as she placed her hands back around his neck.
“Neither are you,” Harry said as he kissed a spot below her ear, making her giggle.
“I wasn’t tense,” she argued in mock indignation. “Just determined to make sure you wouldn’t forget about me.”
“I could never forget you, or the promise I made to you.”
“I would hope not. We kissed on it, after all.” Ginny reminded him, before resting her head on his shoulder as they continued to move to unheard music.
The mention of their promise made her smile. They hadn’t discussed the details of their promise since it was made a year ago. There really hadn’t been any need to talk about it as their relationship fell right into place the moment the war had ended. Harry had kept his promise, without words, to have a forever with her, to live their lives absent from the darkness that once threatened to separate them.
“How have you liked forever so far?” Harry whispered.
It was a simple question, one that shouldn’t have caused an abrupt lump in Ginny’s throat. Thinking about the alternative, a life without him or his love, made Ginny’s heart hurt and her eyes fill with tears. Ginny kept her head on his shoulder not wanting him to see her cry.
It had been the same ache in her chest she had experienced when she had witnessed Hagrid carrying Harry, motionless and presumed dead in his arms, out in front of the castle for all to see. At that moment all her hopes and dreams of having a future with Harry had been crushed at the sight of his still body.
But the pain had receded the minute Harry had pulled off his Invisibility Cloak revealing that he was whole, alive and hers to love, forever.
She quickly swept the tears away before answering him.
“I love it, because you’re in it, Harry.” Ginny answered, looking up at him, giving him a watery smile. “And how have you liked forever so far?”
Harry smiled at her and gently wiped away her tears with his thumb.
“It’s perfect, because you’re it.”
Ginny’s heart swelled at Harry’s confession. She reached up to kiss him and their lips met in a sweet, slow kiss that caused a small explosion inside her belly.
“I love you, Ginny.”
“I love you, Harry.”
Ginny kissed him before resting her head back on his shoulder and revolving in their circle.
Closing her eyes, Ginny finally saw the picture she had been waiting for since their last dance, a picture of herself in a white dress dancing with Harry on their wedding day. Though marriage was far from her mind, it was the hope of a future with him that had now become a reality. A future that was now within their grasp waiting to be fulfilled.
Promising Forever by kalae_zoe
Chapter Notes: Special thanks to Jenn (jennyelf) for being an awesome beta and for using her mob enforcer tactics when I needed them.
Second chapter takes place post-DH after the battle.