The summer sun was shining brilliantly on the grounds of the castle. Harry smiled wider than he had in a long time as he waited for Hagrid, who was cheerily coming toward them, smiling all the while. Ginny squeezed Harry's hand and smiled up at him, a look in her eyes that said she was just as excited as him.
"'Lo’ there! Professor McGonagall said you'd be coming along 'round this time!" Hagrid barked, still quite a bit away. He unlocked the gates and led them onto the grounds. When Harry and Ginny had walked quickly through, they heard them close back behind them.
Before Harry had a chance to greet Hagrid he found himself being crushed, his knees quavering slightly as Hagrid bear-hugged him. Despite the pain, Harry laughed and hugged Hagrid back, patting him on the elbows.
"Good to see you, Hagrid. How have you been?”
Hagrid, grinning madly at Ginny, nodded his head. "Fine, fine. Well I've got grounds to er . . . keep. I'll just see you two at tha' Three Broomsticks later on, 'eh?"
Uncertainly, Ginny smiled at Harry and Hagrid. She bit her lip momentarily, before shaking her head and saying, "Yeah, we'll see you there."
He called over his shoulder, "I'll leave the gates open until you two leave, then!"
"It's good to be back here, isn't it?" Harry asked, as Hagrid made his way back up the grounds while he and Ginny walked toward the castle.
Ginny quirked an eyebrow at him. "Harry, you're scaring me."
He shook his head, smiling. "Why?"
"Because . . . well, don't think I want to ruin this new happy mood of yours, but you haven't been this . . . upbeat since, well, you know. I mean, I know you've been”"
Waving his arms, Harry swept the doors to the Great Hall open and ushered Ginny in, the feeling of familiarity overwhelming him. He took only a moment to stand still, taking in the sight of the newly-rebuilt Hall before rushing to the stairs.
"Waving your arms isn't an answer, Harry," Ginny said, playfully elbowing him in the ribs. "Answer me. Why are you so happy?"
The staircase started to move. Ginny and Harry looked at each other for one motionless moment before laughing and darting up the stairs, breathlessly jumping over the crack that'd been made between staircase and solid ground.
"Of all the things I love about this castle," Harry panted, breathless, "the movement is one thing they could've done away with."
Ginny just laughed her agreement before following Harry. He grabbed her hand and began jogging down the halls, dragging her along as she resisted between breathless laughing and accusations of insanity that he only half-heard. They'd made it up another staircase before she tugged back on his arm, pulling him to a halt. The look on her face was as serious as she could get it, panting and smiling.
"Why are we here Harry? You dragged me out of bed at eight in the morning, gave me no time to get dressed properly, and now you're propelling me through an empty school and giving odd, man looks to Hagrid."
"Man looks?" was all Harry could think to respond with.
"That . . . look. You know what I'm talking about! Don't play dumb with me Harry!"
He grabbed her hand again and began walking, this time slower, trying to catch his breath. As they walked he turned to her and said, “Just relax, Ginny. Honest to Merlin, there was no ‘man look’.”
She sighed, squeezing his hand again. "You worry me Harry. Sometimes I think you've truly gone off the deep end."
He just smiled. They'd reached their destination and in front of them was the Fat Lady, smiling, as ever.
"Harry Potter, is that you?" she said, looking down at him. Her eyes travelled to Ginny and back; she smiled at her.
"Er, we don't have the password, Harry." Ginny said, smiling at the portrait.
"I've talked to McGonagall," Harry said, and he nodded at the Fat Lady, who obediently swung forward. The Gryffindor Common Room was eerily as it had been throughout his six years spent within it.
Harry dragged Ginny through, noticing how much smaller the entryway seemed to have gotten. Ginny just followed him, her face perplexed but satisfied as she, too, took in the familiar surroundings.
"Now ask me again," Harry said, grabbing Ginny by the waist and pulling her into him so that their faces were only a breath apart.
"Ask what?" she said stubbornly, taking her eyes from the room to meet Harry's.
"Why we're here."
"Why are we here?
"When was the last time we were standing here, on this spot?"
She tilted her head, biting her lip. It didn't take more than a moment for a gentle smile to creep through the suspicious stare.
"Our first kiss."
"Mmh."
And with that, he swung the portrait open and dragged Ginny back through the corridor, waving at the Fat Lady as they turned the corner.
"Harry, if you don't tell me what's going on . . . ."
They'd made it down a flight of stairs which stayed, thankfully, very solidly in their place. Ginny made an "Oophm!" of surprise as Harry, rather than heading downstairs and toward the Great Hall again, took her around the waist again and pulled her into an empty classroom on the second floor. There was a fair amount of dust on the surfaces and the placements of some things were wrong, but it was still the same room it had been. Before she could ask again, he let go of the restraint he'd held and kissed her tightly on the lips, running his hands through her hair and leading her to a desk. He could feel her smiling through the kiss and laughed, to which she poked him in the stomach and pulled away.
"I don't know what your plans are for this empty classroom, but I am so not on board," she said, very seriously looking him in the eye with an eerie rendition of her mother's look.
"Think, Ginny . . ." he said, sitting down and pulling her so that she was leaning in to him; she didn't resist, but wrapped her arms around his shoulders and glared at him suspiciously.
"This used to be the Charms classroom, didn't it?" she asked.
"Nope, we never took any lessons in here . . . ."
"Hm . . . you're going to have to give me more to work with, Harry."
He made a mock-gasp. "And I thought you loved me enough to remember . . . ."
"Is this? Oh!" Rather than kissing him passionately and lovingly and pronouncing her undying love for him, she slapped him.
"Harry, you are not just scaring me, you're confusing me."
He shook his head, sending shaggy, unkempt hair into his eyes, which she exasperatedly pushed away. Instead of waiting for another slap, he pulled her closer into him and planted a light kiss on her forehead, cradling her into him.
"Of all things that have happened in this school, this room, the common room”they're what I remember most."
"Where we first kissed, and where you first told me you loved me," she stated, and it still sounded slightly accusing.
"You said it back."
"I did. What's going on Harry?"
He took her chin in his hands and looked at her for a moment, from her blazing brown eyes to her soft, freckled cheeks, and smiled widely. Without answering, he abruptly stood, catching Ginny as she nearly fell backward, and led her out of the dusty, sunlit classroom back into the corridors.
"Fine, I give up," she said, letting him lead her once again through the castle. Around a corner he could have sworn he saw the leering stare of his old professor, but Minerva didn't greet them, and they were back out onto the grounds and the sunlight in no time at all.
The gates, as Hagrid said, were unlocked, and Harry opened them, letting Ginny go through first before following her out. He didn't give a backward glance to his first home before sweeping Ginny into his arms and hugging her tightly as he Apparated.
They arrived, to Ginny's enormous surprise, in the burrow, in Ginny's room. She sighed and turned to Harry.
"What was with the trip down memory lane?"
He grinned and oh-so suggestively nodded at the bed. "We're not done yet."
"I . . . Harry! Honestly!"
With that, he took her back in his arms and spun again, this time feeling her squirm in surprise. They landed back in an oddly dark alleyway that smelled of must and garbage. Ginny was positively fuming as she struggled out of his grasp.
"Where is this coming from!" she shouted, rounding on him.
"You've been worrying the hell out of all of us, Harry! The war ended, but it didn't end with you. I've been worried about you Harry. Worried that you would never get over this; that you would never pull yourself out of the place you've put yourself in and that you would never be who you were. I”where the bloody hell are you going!"
He was already halfway down the alley, still grinning as he heard her footsteps behind him. She tried to tug on his arm and stop him, but he only grabbed her hand, swinging her around in front of him and picking her up, cradling her in his arms as they entered the bright street. She struggled for a moment before she looked around.
"Our first date," she said slowly, as the realization dawned on her face. They had come to a small, cheery-looking pub in a Muggle village, where Harry had stopped, facing the pub. A few patrons inside stared at them and the waitress winked at them through the glass, to which Ginny only grumbled.
Still carrying Ginny in his arms, Harry continued down the street. His breathing had quickened only slightly but he attributed it to the weight rather than the situation. When they were in a safe, lonely corner of the street, he set Ginny right and Apparated them once again.
They reappeared on a quiet street. The homes around them looked quiet and happy and each of them, so unlike the neighbourhood he had grown up in as a boy, each had their own personality, feel, to them. Ginny looked around, her expression confused.
"Not that I'm complaining"”he snorted”"Harry, but why are we here? I don't recognize this place."
They started walking, and Ginny quickened her pace so that she could keep up. "The common room, our first kiss."
He nodded.
"The classroom, where you first told me you loved me."
He nodded.
"My bed, where we first . . . you're a pig."
He laughed, nodding.
"And the Muggle pub, where we had our first official date."
She waited for him to reply, but he only kept walking. They'd turned onto another street now, Harry walking quickly and with purpose.
"Are you going to start explaining, or shall I just assume you've gone mad?"
He stopped and she nearly bumped into him. When he still didn't reply, she all but stomped her foot and grabbed his face with both of her hands, looking him in the eyes.
"Harry, you've got to tell me what you're doing."
He looked to his left. Reluctantly, she followed his gaze, and her eyes widened as she took in the rubble and chaos of the property beside them. Her eyes fell to the plaque that rested on the gate, on the messages left behind, before they travelled back to the mess that was once a home. She appeared to be speechless, because it took Harry prodding her on the shoulder for her to look back at him.
"What are we . . .?"
"Ginny," Harry said, and his heart was nearly through his feet as he leaned into her, kissing her soundly on the mouth and stealing all of his control to pull away, to say what he needed to say.
"What are we doing here Harry? I just . . . you're making absolutely no sense. Hogwarts, home, the restaurant”I get that. I'll never forget those days, and nights”though you're still a pig”but this place . . . I just don't understand."
"This house, Ginny . . ." he began, searching for the words that wouldn't sound stupid or contrived or completely insane. "It's where it all began. I hate thinking about being here because it's where I lost my parents. I hate thinking about the cemetery that's just blocks away; about the restaurants they might have gone to here. The pub Sirius and Dad probably went to all the time. It's everything I wanted to know.
"But I've realized that it's not the memories that I want anymore. This place”this home-- it's where I want to begin my own life. I want to make my own memories here, on this ground, and know that it will always mean more to me than where all the lies and the loss and the secrets began."
"But Harry, we were never here . . . this is your past, not ours.
She gasped as Harry, stumbling on his way down but managing to make it look half-smooth, bent on one knee, reaching into his pocket as he went. When he pulled out the small, velvet box that Molly had given him, he looked up at her, his hands shaking as he fumbled with opening it.
"It's where you said yes."
Memories by A H
Story Notes:
WARNING: You might choke on the fluff. Ari's been a bit writer-blocked lately and she wanted to write something basically only useful to those who just want a quick happy grin.
DISCLAIMER: Ari got the idea from some jewelry commercial. XD So thank you, whoever made that commercial-- you spawned a cute fic. =D
CREDIT: Beta-ness of this fic goes to RUSSIA SNOW/DREAMS, the ever-wonderful girlie who was able to stomach a canon fluff in less than four hours. *hugs* Thank you, darling.
Chapter Notes: Rated *way* up in the author's opinion-- however, there is one small reference to something unsuitable for 1-2 yrs, so there you have it. Other than that, this is very kid-friendly (a first for Ari xP)+++++
Chapter Endnotes: Reviews make my heart grow.