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Apr. 8th, 2007 10:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fics_by_maple
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10
Within You, Without You
Chapter 10 – In My Life
~^~
Harry went to the Burrow late the night that he, Ron, and George captured Byron Burke after handing custody over to the Ministry. He was shaken and wild-eyed as he relayed what had happened, inadvertently sitting in Mr. Weasley’s usual chair at the head of the kitchen table. Harry didn’t even remember to call him “sir” like he usually did.
Mrs. Weasley had put the kettle on when he arrived, but it was Ginny who prepared Harry’s tea the way he liked it and sat close to him. She patted his arm and kissed his swollen knuckles, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley observed how well he responded to her presence and touch.
By the time they decided to retire to their room later that night, Harry had calmed but his look of longing for their daughter hadn’t ceased. They left them together in the kitchen by the fire and suspected they would have found Harry still there several hours later.
Ron had always looked after their adopted boy, but it seemed clear that Ginny took care of Harry now.
~
She could still feel the current of tension running through Harry’s body after her parents went to bed.
“I love you,” he whispered quietly as soon as they were alone, leaning his forehead against hers.
“I love you too.” Ginny kissed him and looked into his tired eyes. “Come on, let’s get comfortable. I’ll hold you awhile,” she offered, standing up from the table and pulling him along. He made no attempt to resist her instruction, and allowed himself to be led into the living room.
Ginny sat at the end of the couch and he stretched out along it, resting his head and shoulders in her lap.
“I hated being that bloke. The ‘official representative’ of the Order, explaining what happened to the Ministry – everyone gawping at my head, acting like they knew all about me. Just because they know who I am, they think that makes us all best friends. All I could think of was coming straight here to be with you.”
She could hear in his voice how much he wanted to be rid of the burden of being himself.
“Well, you’re here now. You did the job you had to do, Harry. And people are going to be safer now because of it.” She removed his glasses and set them aside, and began stroking away the frown between his brows. He reached with slow deliberation and began unbuttoning her blouse.
Ginny knew what he sought as he slipped a hand inside her camisole and over the swell of flesh. She was pleased that he found comfort in her arms and her breast. Pleased at the feeling of satisfaction it gave her to provide that security for him. She cradled his head in her arms while he rested his face against her bare chest, hugging her closely, occasionally suckling her. The action caused an erotic burn that ached deep in her belly, a feeling that stirred her magic and a protective instinct that was startlingly strong.
“It’s okay, love. I’ve got you now,” she whispered to him, settling back with him, soothing him with her words and her body.
~
There had been talk of an engagement party at first, but the idea had been banished with Burke’s arrest. The disgruntled Dark Wizard had kept the community of Diagon Alley in the shadow of a post-war, post-Voldemort world. Everyone, including Ginny’s family, was still learning how to move on.
In the short weeks that followed, there was intensity in Harry that Ginny hadn’t seen in him in a long time. It was like a summer storm brewing underneath the surface. He held her hand a little tighter and he kissed her a little sweeter and he seemed to crave constant contact with her and reassurance from her.
Though everyone in the family was busy with their own lives, they were all coming for a picnic tea in Godric’s Hollow for Harry’s birthday.
The true reason was actually that they really wanted to see the house under construction. The Weasley siblings all earned a decent living for themselves in adulthood, but building a brand new home raised hesitant eyebrows for a family who had grown up humbly in the Burrow.
The morning was half gone and already warm as Ginny stood before the frame that was beginning to resemble a house. Harry was standing behind her with one arm wrapped around her waist, his other hand clasping his wand with hers.
“See, the front door will open right there,” Harry said, waving his wand with their outstretched hands at the open air. The sparkling image of a doorway materialized ahead of them. “And look, the window in our sitting room will look over this way.” He rotated his position with Ginny’s back pulled closely against his front, and they looked at the view of the woods ahead which blocked the rest of the village.
“And our bedroom will have the same view?” She teased him with the mention of their future bedroom, and he knew it.
“Hmm, hmm.” He nestled kisses in her hair and squeezed her a little tighter.
Though the frustration was agonizing, Harry seemed resolved in his wish to avoid further intimacy until they got married.
It was really annoying.
There was a certain charm to it that was so exasperatingly Harry, and in spite of his male-brain-wizard-logic, which failed to make sense to her, all he wanted to do right in the world. So she would wait for him a little while longer. She’d waited on him before, most of her life it seemed, and she was beginning to realize that being patient with Harry was going to be a lifetime task.
A faint pop not too far behind them signaled the first arrival and they shared a lingering private smile and a chaste kiss before turning around and greeting Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Ginny’s mum had her magically deep picnic basket over her arm and her dad was getting around nicely now after his fall, though he walked with a cane most of the time.
A cane. Being the youngest of a large family she always knew her parents were older than her peers’, but seeing her daddy bearing the first weaknesses of age was a difficult thing to see.
“Hallo!” Mr. Weasley called out.
“Good morning, sir,” Harry answered him, letting Mrs. Weasley kiss his cheek. “You found us all right, excellent.”
The slight fidget in Harry’s manner told Ginny that he was anxious. The whole family, with the exception of Charlie, was coming here for the first time. Her mum had been on about things like new linens and cast-iron cauldrons, but she knew that for Harry, there was a more serious matter of pride at stake – it was some wizard thing about being the “provider.” All nonsense, as far as she was concerned, but it was the sort of thing that her testosterone-laded family seemed to thrive on and the burden weighed heavily on Harry.
“So this is it, then?” Mr. Weasley asked, gazing with tempered vitality at the support beams and framework that were magically suspended in air. “Harry, you’ll have to show me around. I want to take some measurements.”
“Er, okay,” Harry said warily, looking at the odd tool that her father had produced. It looked like a multi-layered measuring tape with a spinning wheel at the end.
“You have the schematics as well?” her dad asked. “Splendid,” he went on, taking the rolls of parchment Harry handed him. “Magical homes don’t get built very often. This is exciting, indeed.”
Harry grinned at Ginny regarding Mr. Weasley’s obvious excitement. He seemed his usual self, diving into a new project with a gadget to play with. Her mother however, had yet to speak and was putting a great deal of attention on the removal of the food from the bottomless basket.
Harry repositioned his glassed, questioning Ginny with a slight nod at Mrs. Weasley.
Ginny shrugged and shook her head, then looked at her father. Harry accepted her silent hint and went along after Mr. Weasley.
“So, Mum, did you and Dad have a row after I left this morning?” she asked plainly, after Harry left.
“What? Oh heavens no! What have we got left to fight about?” Mrs. Weasley gave her a meager smile but carried on counting forks.
“Did the flatware get out of hand when you packed it?”
“What’s that, dear?” she asked again, clearly distracted. “I’m sorry, Ginny. After you left this morning, your father and I had visitors.”
“This morning? Early visitors … that can’t be good.”
“Oh not bad either, exactly. Well … it was … George and Lee Jordan came by and … talked to us.”
Mrs. Weasley gave her daughter a testing glance before counting the forks again.
“Oh, Mum … Please tell me you’re okay with it - with them. They’ve been through so much, and George has just been beside himself that he would be turned out by everyone.”
“We’d never turn him out. We’re fine with it. Well, no, that’s not entirely true, we’re not fine with it. There are plenty of things to be concerned about. I don’t like it at all, to be sure, but I can’t say it comes as a surprise.”
“Really? You knew then?” Ginny couldn’t imagine her mother would sit on this information without any fuss before now.
“A mother knows.” Her mother gave her a plaintive smile. “At least, if she knows her children. I’ve suspected for some time now. But I’m concerned about the others. You and Fred already know apparently, but if you’d only seen George’s face, so troubled.”
“I’ve seen it, Mum. I know.”
“He was always a headstrong thing but he’s always had a gentleness in him too, and if any of the boys run him off I swear I’ll just …”
Mrs. Weasley shook her head and started counting cutlery over again, beginning at “one.”
“Mum,” Ginny said, putting her hand over her mother’s. “They’ll be okay. The rest will see that George and Lee are the same chaps they’ve always been. Bill will be fine. Ron won’t get it at first, but he’ll be fine, too.”
“And Harry?”
Ginny considered this. Harry had learned everything he knew about being a man from her family of men, George included.
“Harry will look to Ron, and they’ll both come to grips with it. They’ve suffered the wrong end of intolerance themselves, so I think they’ll come ‘round quick enough.”
“I hope you’re right. Charlie, though …”
“Bah! If Charlie acts like a prig, Bill will take him in hand. You know how it works, Mum.”
She shook her head with a scoffing laugh. “Those boys and their ‘Rules’. It was helpful when they were young: all of them required to mind the older ones. But I expected them to out grow of it by now.”
Two more pops indicated the arrival of Ron and Hermione a little way off, ending their discussion.
“Morning, Mum,” Ron said, kissing his mother while reaching over to pull Ginny’s hair. She hissed at him but he ignored her completely.
“We brought trifle,” Hermione said cheerfully, placing a cloth-covered bowl on the table.
“Oh, did Ron make it?” Mrs. Weasley asked.
“Hermione made it,” Ron said deeply, cutting off his mother’s tone kindly but giving her a sharp look. Then he added a bit louder for Hermione’s benefit, “And it’s fantastic! I’m off with Harry and Dad, then.” He stood his broomstick next to Harry’s and set off.
Bill and Fleur Apparated in front of Ron as he went. Ron grabbed Bill’s arm to pull him along. He resisted Ron’s urging at first but Fleur waved him off, even slapping his hand off away.
“I swear zat man weel suffocate me before I ‘ave zee chance to geeve birth.” Fleur ranted by way of a greeting. “’Ee eez always hovering, always touching, I can not stand eet any longer!”
The girls sniggered at their sister-in-law, whose English was quite good now, though she slipped back into strong French when annoyed.
“He just can’t help himself, dear. He watched Arthur dote on me when the younger ones came. You’ll appreciate it when more babies come along.”
“More? I do not theenk so. I weel smother ‘im in ‘is sleep first.” There was only a moment to laugh at Fleur’s indignance before more guests joined them.
“Top of the mornin’, ladies!” Tonks chirped.
The women turned to greet her, but they had to pinch off giggles.
“Tonks,” Hermione said quietly. “What are you wearing?”
“What? We’re in the country aren’t we?” Tonks shoved her hands in her pockets and ballooned her khaki trousers legs; her fashion for the day was nothing short of safari gear.
“Honestly, the village is just a little way off; there won’t be any Giants coming along anytime soon!” Ginny protested, though laughing at her friend.
“So, that’s the house then, is it?” Tonks cupped a hand over her eyes, blocking out the sun as she looked over at the skeletal structure. “You might consider a roof, Gin. I hear it rains a fair bit up here.”
Ginny grinned. “The whole thing is going up quickly; we’re hoping it will be done by the end of August.”
“That’s when the big day is going to be then, yeah?” Tonks asked.
“Oui, Ginny, when are we going to ‘ear about ze wedding plans?”
“Actually, Harry and I aren’t looking for anything big in the way of a wedding celebration. Just something small and informal.”
“Yes, small and informal, that’s what she keeps saying,” Mrs. Weasley muttered, though clearly loud enough to be heard.
Ginny smiled and rolled her eyes at her mum. “It’s true. The house is enough for us, really. We don’t want a big affair.”
“I should say it will be enough,” Bill said, as the gathering of men had migrated back towards them. George and Lee had arrived with Fred and Percy as well. “You’re a smart girl to snag such a rich wizard, Ginny. That’s gonna be quite a house when it’s done.”
She moved to greet them all with hugs and noticed Harry’s reddened face.
“It’s got nothing to do with snagging a rich wizard, has it?” Ginny countered Bill’s comment, looking directly at Harry. “We’re just rebuilding what should rightly still be standing, yeah?”
Harry’s eyes brightened and he nodded his head. Even right in the middle of all of these people, she knew that smile in his eye was for her alone.
“I do hope Charlie can make it for the wedding,” Mrs. Weasley said, passing around a plate of sandwiches. “Bill, have you heard?”
“Last letter said he’d be here, Mum,” he answered. Though in a quieter voice so his mother couldn’t hear, he added, “But Charlie’s up to something. Don’t know what it is, but I can tell.”
The morning sun shifted into the afternoon sky as they ate and discussed the magical home building and the wedding, Fleur’s expanding stomach, and when the Quidditch season would start again.
Harry received gifts and the cake was nearly gone when Fred spoke up.
“Okay, ours next!” Fred said. “It’s from George, too.”
There were chuckles and a general quiet murmur of “uh oh.” Harry took the package with visible caution.
“Thanks, chaps. I’ll just open this later, yeah?”
“Nuh uh, Potter, don’t be a chicken.”
“No reason you can’t open it,” George pressed. “It’s nothing that’ll hurt.”
Ron got up from his seat next to Harry and patted him soberly on the shoulder, sniggering. “Yeah, I’m just gonna move over here.”
Harry glared at his friend for abandoning him. He took a breath and lifted the lid. He wasn’t the only one who flinched and held his breath waiting for something to happen.
“Ah go on, just look inside!” George said.
“We promised it wouldn’t hurt.”
Harry looked at Fred and George and then over at Ginny once more. She smiled and bit her lip with a shrug. Resigning himself, he slowly peered into the box.
“It’s just a mirror?” Harry said with a curious expression.
The twins both let out their long, sly chuckle.
“I don’t get it?” Harry said, looking up. “What is it?”
But the moment Harry had looked up, the entire gathering gasped.
“Heavens!” Molly exclaimed, while Mr. Weasley chuckled quietly.
“Brilliant, fellas,” Bill said.
“Oh my, that is brilliant!” Hermione said, moving in closer to Harry.
Ginny, however, felt suddenly nauseous.
Harry’s appearance had changed right in front of them. His raven black hair transformed from root to end in Weasley ginger, and cinnamon freckles cropped up all over his face.
“Godric, what did you do to him?” Ginny yelped.
“What? What happened?” Harry said, feeling his face and looking a bit panicked.
“Look in the mirror again, mate,” Ron said, chewing the inside of his cheek to bite away an obvious grin. “It’s bad, it’s really bad.” He chuckled unconvincingly.
Harry looked down and gasped. “Whoa! …I love it!”
“That’s right, Harry, my boy, you’ve been made an honorary Weasley,” George said.
“This is what you’ve been working on?” Lee asked, punching George in the arm. “Fabulous!”
“Yeah, see, now you can be one of the family, and you don’t even have to marry our skinny little sister.”
“Fred.” Ginny gave him a shove as she stormed over to Harry. She held Harry’s face in her hands and touched his now vivid hair. “What did you do to his beautiful hair? And his face…?”
“Ease up now, girl. Someone might think you actually liked the way he usually looks,” Fred laughed.
“What? You don’t like it?” Harry asked her with wide eyes, now chortling with the rest.
“Don’t be cheeky,” she said. “It’s simply awful!” The false freckles stood at odd counterpoint to his light beige complexion and his flaming hair, like all that surrounded her.
“Aww, come on, Ginny, you still love me. Gimme a kiss!” he offered, puckering his lips towards her.
“Blech! Not on your life!” Ginny jumped away, looking revolted.
“Come on, Gin, just one kiss.”
Harry lunged, and she turned to flee.
“Not while you look like that! You look like my brothers now!”
But Harry quickly grabbed her around the waist, trying to kiss the side of her head while she fought him off.
Everyone, even her parents, laughed at how repulsed she was, but she quickly joined them.
The rest of the afternoon was chiefly spent in the air playing a far from regulation game of Quidditch. The game ended when the Snitch was caught accidentally in Percy’s t-shirt. When the players landed again, they all sat or lay on the grass, catching their breath. Hermione, Fleur and Lee joined them, passing out water and pumpkin juice.
“Much better!” Ginny said, taking Harry’s hand and touching his damp hair that had gone black again. “You two had better not ever do that again,” she shouted playfully back at the twins. “You’ll drive me mental with a gag like that.”
Fred finished his drink and laughed. “You don’t want to threaten me, little girl. You might regret what we could do to him on your wedding day.” Ginny threw him a rude hand gesture with a smile. She had a retort for Fred, but thought she’d not take the risk of jeopardizing her wedding night, just in case.
George crossed between Ginny and Fred’s line of sight and they watched him as he sat companionably near Lee in the grass. Lee handed George a bottle of Butterbeer with a reassuring smile and though Ginny didn’t know exactly what it meant, she recognized the private, unspoken communication that took place between a couple. She had seen her parents do the same and she knew what that felt like between her and Harry.
She and Fred looked away from their brother and his lover, catching each other’s eyes, and she nodded heartily in George and Lee’s direction. Go on, she mouthed to him.
Fred seemed to consider his thoughts for moment.
Ginny felt a squeeze in her hand and turned to find Harry giving her a curious look.
“What’s up?” he asked quietly.
“Hang on a minute,” she whispered. “I think you’re about to find out.”
Fred stood up and tossed back the last of his pumpkin juice and looked around the dispersed gathering.
“Listen up, everybody,” he said, cheerfully, with an obvious note of “announcement” in his voice.
The calm chatter quieted as everyone slowly sat up or turned around to look at him.
“You know, maybe now’s not such a good-” George said quickly while getting to his feet, but Fred waved him off.
“Now, I’m only going to say this once, you lot, so open your ears good, got it?”
“Fred-” George interrupted again, but the twin wasn’t to be stopped.
“My best mates over here”-- He jerked his head at George and Lee. --“Have gone and made themselves a regular old couple, see?” George had gone fairly pale, but he held his head up. “It’s a bit old fashioned if you ask me,” Fred continued. “Settling down, ball and chain and all that, but seems half the family is into that ‘commitment’ gig.”
Ginny looked around and every face had furrowed brows, trying to understand.
“What are you on about?” Ron asked hesitantly, as though he wasn’t sure he had heard correctly.
Fred bit his upper lip for a second, letting a shadow of deeper thought cross his face.
“You’re joking. You’re not serious,” Percy stated, sounding a bit more pompous and accusatory than Ginny had heard from him in awhile.
Tonks was whispering into Remus’ ear, and Hermione looked terribly concerned.
“Absolutely, I’m serious. I’m talking... his and his bath towels, arguing over whose night it is to spell the dishes clean, and I don’t even know how they divide closet space, you’d have to ask them - the whole lot.” Fred was taking a sarcastic approach with a deliberately light tone, but Ginny could tell by the way he was rolling the handle of his wand between his thumb and fingertips that he was quite prepared to use it.
“For real?” Bill inquired, slowly, looking at George. “You’re not putting us on?” She thought George may have turned a little green but he glanced at Lee who now stood next to him and then back to their eldest brother with typical twinish defiance.
“Yeah, that’s right.” George seemed to find his inner Gryffindor, and he turned a healthier shade. “So if there’s got to be something to be said about it, let’s just hear it now.”
There was a meaty moment of silence while everyone waited for Bill’s reaction, which would surely role-model what he expected from the rest of his siblings.
“I haven’t got anything to say, little brother,” Bill said in his calm and most authoritative big brother voice. He gave Lee a significant, friendly nod and George took a visible breath of relief at this. Ginny thought she saw Lee’s hand reach toward her brother slightly, but it never made contact.
“But I don’t …” Percy struggled, looking back and forth from Bill to George and Fred.
“Percy …” Bill said with a hint of warning in his quiet tone.
“It’s just not …” he stammered again, obviously wrestling with some disagreement with this unexpected turn of events.
“Oh what is it, Percival? Just have it out already,” George said wearily. “I promise there’s nothing you can say that I haven’t already thought of.”
Percy looked around, seeming to hope for someone else to express whatever it was he was feeling. “Do Mum and Dad even know?” he blurted.
“Yes, they know,” Ginny answered, unable to keep herself from expressing some defense for George.
“Yeah, and they handled it commendably well, actually.” George offered her a tiny smile of appreciation.
“And what about your business? This sort of thing affects people, you know?”
“I can’t imagine people are too concerned about the personal lives of the people they buy snack boxes and fireworks from.”
“Besides, Wheezes is between me and George,” Fred interrupted. “S’not your concern, is it?”
“But there’s more to it, isn’t there? I mean, come on - Ron, you know what I mean, don’t you?”
Ron frowned and clearly didn’t appreciate being put upon. He looked at Harry, who was keeping his eyes down, and then to Hermione. She tilted her head and raised her eyebrow at him. Already holding her hand, he rubbed his thumb over her wedding band before he spoke.
“I don’t, I don’t claim to understand it, fellas.” He ran a hand over his hair and scratched behind his ear while he talked. “I really don’t get it at all, to be honest. But I know there are some who don’t think I should be with Hermione and that’s completely mental, so I guess I haven’t got anything to say. Whatever twigs your twigger, I reckon.”
George cracked the closest thing to a true grin since Fred had brought it up.
“Thanks, Ron.”
Ginny looked to see how Harry was reacting, but he was studying his trainers. She squeezed his hand, and he looked up at her with a look of reluctant confusion etched on his face.
“Yes, and you two are welcome to come for tea anytime,” Hermione offered, which made several people snicker.
“Thanks,” George chuckled nervously.
“Yeah, we appreciate that, Hermione,” Lee answered. It was the first time he’d spoken, and all the brothers seemed to consider him for a moment. Lee ran his hand over his mouth to regain his composure under the scrutiny. Ginny had never seen him look too flustered before, but he seemed on a thread now.
“Poor, Lee,” she whispered so only Harry could hear her. “All my stupid brothers are staring at him.”
“Hey, Lee, you still got that scar on the back of your hand?” Harry piped up.
“Huh?” he responded clumsily, surprised at being addressed with something so random, but he squinted and focused on Harry’s question. “Oh.” Lee looked at the back of his hand and chuckled. “Yeah, actually. Detention with Umbridge, seventh year. Yep, still got it.”
“Filthy cow, that bitch was,” George stated plainly, wincing and shaking his head at Lee’s hand.
Ginny lifted Harry’s hand that was clasped in hers to see the words of his defiance still lightly etched there.
“Yeah, this one used to be my nastiest scar,” Lee said, still looking at his hand. “But now I’ve got this beauty.” Extending and rotating his arm, a stark patch of white was visible above his elbow amid the smooth darkness of his skin. “Apparently this is what an Igneus Hex does to you if it sets in real good.”
The air seemed to have thickened again, as no one was sure how best to acknowledge Lee’s injury: the very situation that had caused such a rift between Harry and George as well as apparently being the cause that brought Lee and George together.
“Nothing wrong with a good scar,” Fred chimed in, looking closely at Lee’s arm. “And see? You’re all pale on the inside; you look like you’ve got Weasley in you now.”
A lingering uncomfortable pause was followed by a general choking sort of laughter at Fred’s innuendo. George gaped at him but he also sniggered, punching his brother in the arm.
“I dunno, I’m pretty certain I maintain rank in the ‘scar department,’” Harry said, pushing his hair back, clearly referring to his legendary lightening bolt. Ginny recognized Harry’s self-deprecating masculine bravado as an attempt to deflect focus from Lee. He could at least identify with Lee’s position as a, well, as a boyfriend in the family.
“Nuh-uh, Harry, you’ve got your longevity out of that one, I think,” Ron stepped in with his own quip. “Being attacked by a maniac as a baby doesn’t mean you earned it.” These were teasing words that Ron alone could have said. “Now these,” he added, displaying the pink trails that wrapped around his forearms. “Are scars that came from actually doing something heroic.”
“Since when is getting Confunded doing something heroic?” George asked, playing into the game.
“Oi, I was fifteen.” Ron put on false offense. “Getting Confunded instead of killed is not bad, I’d say.”
“I’ve earned plenty of scars in my time, but the worst was inflicted on me when I was only a child,” Remus said quietly, making Ginny wonder what he’d been like with his friends.
She suspected he didn’t want conversation to linger very long on the night Ron got his scars. But her old professor looked like he enjoyed the banter among the men in her family.
“Yeah?” Bill quizzed. “Go on then, old man, let’s see it.”
Harry and Ron’s eyes shot up and they exchanged “Christmas morning” type expressions before looking back at Remus. He seemed to be debating the action before his lips twisted into a grin. Shaking his head slightly as though he couldn’t believe he was doing it, he tossed aside his cloak. Even Bill let out a slightly juvenile snigger in the anticipation of this legendary scar being revealed. Yanking his shirt up in the back, Remus turned and displayed a jagged crescent of thick white scar tissue above his right shoulder blade. Admiring gasps of wicked and excellent were murmured among them as they all moved in for a closer look.
“Yes, well …” Remus said, straightening himself again. “There, you all have had a better look than most. But not bad, I suppose?”
“Not bad at all,” Tonks said, giving him a pinch that made him rise on his toes.
“It’s impressive and all, mate, really,” Bill said, though his voice didn’t belie a cheeky tone. “But at least you can hide that pretty little thing you’ve got. Tell me this isn’t the goriest thing you’ve ever seen?” Then Bill swept his shaggy hair up with one hand, revealing the deep marks that cruelly cut across his face. The boys eagerly jumped at the chance to pointedly look and gasp and feign their exaggerated horror, while Fleur rolled her eyes.
And so it went, with everyone finding a common ground through injuries and injustices. Each of them had a weakness, some private insecurity that convinced them that they alone suffered. Even Percy showed off a chipped front tooth and let everyone laugh about how Charlie had made it that way.
There would surely be more reluctance in the future, but as everyone left, they hugged or shook hands with George and Lee and congratulated Harry and Ginny on their engagement and the house.
“You gonna be late?” Ron asked Harry, just before Disapparating with Hermione.
“No, Dad, I’ll be home early, I promise,” Harry mocked. “Nah, we’re just going to fly a little.”
~^~
The landscape stretched out for miles in every direction. With Ginny astride the broom in front of Harry, they took turns taking control of the flight. Each time, one tried a move more daring than the last, leaving them screeching and whooping with amusement.
The setting sun caused the first purple shadows to creep along the hills below and the air began to cool.
“Here, Harry, you take the handle now.”
“Really? You’re giving up already? I win then!” he declared in mock arrogance. “I’m a better flyer than Ginny Weasley!” he shouted into the air.
“Prat,” she said. Bracing herself, she swung one leg over the front of the handle, sitting sideways.
“What are you doing?” Harry tightened his grip around her waist, slowing their flying speed. “Let me stop first if you want to get off.”
Ginny just sniggered at his choice of words. She held onto his shoulders and pulled her second leg over, careful not to kick Harry between the legs, and was now facing him on the broom.
Harry’s eyebrows were raised, still anxious about her falling. But when she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled herself nearly into his lap, he chuckled.
“Oh! Now this is better,” he said, nuzzling the side of her face and her neck. “Very clever witch.”
Ginny tilted her head to the side as Harry kissed her temple, and she slipped her hands up under the back of his shirt.
Running her hands up his naked back, she felt the muscles along his ribs flex. Grinning and nipping his earlobe, she stroked over the curve of his shoulder blades, remembering what it felt like to have his naked body against hers.
He let out a slight hum of contentment and Ginny felt him tighten his stomach as she dragged her fingers across the front of his abdomen.
“So tell me, Harry; you’ve spent a lot of time on a broom …” He gasped as her fingers dipped into the front of his trousers. “Have you ever come in mid-flight?”
Harry let out a slightly shocked chuckle, and glanced at her briefly before looking away. She knew perfectly well that he didn’t mind doing these things, but talking about them seemed so much dirtier. Making Harry blush was becoming her guilty pleasure.
“Uh – no, actually. Not a lot time for that when you’re dodging Bludgers.”
Ginny sucked on all the salty skin she could reach inside the opening of his collar, and she had his trousers undone with practiced agility.
“I –I can land…” Harry was losing focus on flying by the trick her tongue was doing, not to mention her fingers, and the broom swerved.
“Oh no you don’t. You keep your handle up.” And she smiled against the softness of his skin as she slid her hand inside of his pants. His burgeoning erection was trapped awkwardly until she freed him and began caressing it. She teased her fingers through his hidden coarse hair and gripped him tightly.
Harry exhaled and bowed into her, growling a weak protest. “Woman …”
“It’s okay, Harry.”
“You want me to?”
“Yes. There’s no one for miles, love. Just let go … ”
And he did. The lavender tinged earth below became a blur and gave way to the flurry of red hair in front of him. Her tiny hand stroked vigorously along his length, squeezing and pausing at the just the precise moment to peak and prolong his need.
Ginny reminded him what it was like to take risks just for fun again. He finally felt young again, with the wind rushing past him, his beautiful witch in his lap, a broom handle in hand, and his handle in hers. She pulled on his length while raking the nails of her free hand over his chest, teasing a nipple. Harry clung to her as the intensity of his mounting climax built within him.
“Oh god, Gin …”
“Love you,” she breathed against his ear. “Love you, you’re gorgeous when you fly, Harry. I love you.” Her sincere, rambling words overflowed his heart, and his body followed as he came, spilling over her hand between them.
The first evening star lit the sky when they finally landed. Both of them were out of breath, feeling wild and safe in each other’s company. More importantly, they had learned to control the broom together, equally.
~^~ Continue to Chapter Eleven
A/N – I am very honored that Within You, Without You won the HPGW_OTP Best of 2006 – Novel Length Award. Thank you very much!
I must thank my dedicated beta BelovedRanger, who has been working with me on this story for nearly a year now. I’d also like to thank KJCP, PhoenixAnkaa, and Quizzical for their help with this chapter.
For those that are interested, I am writing George and Lee’s side of this story, titled The Glass Onion, which can be found on my Live Journal or at The Quidditch Pitch. Thank you!
Within You, Without You
Chapter 10 – In My Life
~^~
Harry went to the Burrow late the night that he, Ron, and George captured Byron Burke after handing custody over to the Ministry. He was shaken and wild-eyed as he relayed what had happened, inadvertently sitting in Mr. Weasley’s usual chair at the head of the kitchen table. Harry didn’t even remember to call him “sir” like he usually did.
Mrs. Weasley had put the kettle on when he arrived, but it was Ginny who prepared Harry’s tea the way he liked it and sat close to him. She patted his arm and kissed his swollen knuckles, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley observed how well he responded to her presence and touch.
By the time they decided to retire to their room later that night, Harry had calmed but his look of longing for their daughter hadn’t ceased. They left them together in the kitchen by the fire and suspected they would have found Harry still there several hours later.
Ron had always looked after their adopted boy, but it seemed clear that Ginny took care of Harry now.
~
She could still feel the current of tension running through Harry’s body after her parents went to bed.
“I love you,” he whispered quietly as soon as they were alone, leaning his forehead against hers.
“I love you too.” Ginny kissed him and looked into his tired eyes. “Come on, let’s get comfortable. I’ll hold you awhile,” she offered, standing up from the table and pulling him along. He made no attempt to resist her instruction, and allowed himself to be led into the living room.
Ginny sat at the end of the couch and he stretched out along it, resting his head and shoulders in her lap.
“I hated being that bloke. The ‘official representative’ of the Order, explaining what happened to the Ministry – everyone gawping at my head, acting like they knew all about me. Just because they know who I am, they think that makes us all best friends. All I could think of was coming straight here to be with you.”
She could hear in his voice how much he wanted to be rid of the burden of being himself.
“Well, you’re here now. You did the job you had to do, Harry. And people are going to be safer now because of it.” She removed his glasses and set them aside, and began stroking away the frown between his brows. He reached with slow deliberation and began unbuttoning her blouse.
Ginny knew what he sought as he slipped a hand inside her camisole and over the swell of flesh. She was pleased that he found comfort in her arms and her breast. Pleased at the feeling of satisfaction it gave her to provide that security for him. She cradled his head in her arms while he rested his face against her bare chest, hugging her closely, occasionally suckling her. The action caused an erotic burn that ached deep in her belly, a feeling that stirred her magic and a protective instinct that was startlingly strong.
“It’s okay, love. I’ve got you now,” she whispered to him, settling back with him, soothing him with her words and her body.
~
There had been talk of an engagement party at first, but the idea had been banished with Burke’s arrest. The disgruntled Dark Wizard had kept the community of Diagon Alley in the shadow of a post-war, post-Voldemort world. Everyone, including Ginny’s family, was still learning how to move on.
In the short weeks that followed, there was intensity in Harry that Ginny hadn’t seen in him in a long time. It was like a summer storm brewing underneath the surface. He held her hand a little tighter and he kissed her a little sweeter and he seemed to crave constant contact with her and reassurance from her.
Though everyone in the family was busy with their own lives, they were all coming for a picnic tea in Godric’s Hollow for Harry’s birthday.
The true reason was actually that they really wanted to see the house under construction. The Weasley siblings all earned a decent living for themselves in adulthood, but building a brand new home raised hesitant eyebrows for a family who had grown up humbly in the Burrow.
The morning was half gone and already warm as Ginny stood before the frame that was beginning to resemble a house. Harry was standing behind her with one arm wrapped around her waist, his other hand clasping his wand with hers.
“See, the front door will open right there,” Harry said, waving his wand with their outstretched hands at the open air. The sparkling image of a doorway materialized ahead of them. “And look, the window in our sitting room will look over this way.” He rotated his position with Ginny’s back pulled closely against his front, and they looked at the view of the woods ahead which blocked the rest of the village.
“And our bedroom will have the same view?” She teased him with the mention of their future bedroom, and he knew it.
“Hmm, hmm.” He nestled kisses in her hair and squeezed her a little tighter.
Though the frustration was agonizing, Harry seemed resolved in his wish to avoid further intimacy until they got married.
It was really annoying.
There was a certain charm to it that was so exasperatingly Harry, and in spite of his male-brain-wizard-logic, which failed to make sense to her, all he wanted to do right in the world. So she would wait for him a little while longer. She’d waited on him before, most of her life it seemed, and she was beginning to realize that being patient with Harry was going to be a lifetime task.
A faint pop not too far behind them signaled the first arrival and they shared a lingering private smile and a chaste kiss before turning around and greeting Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Ginny’s mum had her magically deep picnic basket over her arm and her dad was getting around nicely now after his fall, though he walked with a cane most of the time.
A cane. Being the youngest of a large family she always knew her parents were older than her peers’, but seeing her daddy bearing the first weaknesses of age was a difficult thing to see.
“Hallo!” Mr. Weasley called out.
“Good morning, sir,” Harry answered him, letting Mrs. Weasley kiss his cheek. “You found us all right, excellent.”
The slight fidget in Harry’s manner told Ginny that he was anxious. The whole family, with the exception of Charlie, was coming here for the first time. Her mum had been on about things like new linens and cast-iron cauldrons, but she knew that for Harry, there was a more serious matter of pride at stake – it was some wizard thing about being the “provider.” All nonsense, as far as she was concerned, but it was the sort of thing that her testosterone-laded family seemed to thrive on and the burden weighed heavily on Harry.
“So this is it, then?” Mr. Weasley asked, gazing with tempered vitality at the support beams and framework that were magically suspended in air. “Harry, you’ll have to show me around. I want to take some measurements.”
“Er, okay,” Harry said warily, looking at the odd tool that her father had produced. It looked like a multi-layered measuring tape with a spinning wheel at the end.
“You have the schematics as well?” her dad asked. “Splendid,” he went on, taking the rolls of parchment Harry handed him. “Magical homes don’t get built very often. This is exciting, indeed.”
Harry grinned at Ginny regarding Mr. Weasley’s obvious excitement. He seemed his usual self, diving into a new project with a gadget to play with. Her mother however, had yet to speak and was putting a great deal of attention on the removal of the food from the bottomless basket.
Harry repositioned his glassed, questioning Ginny with a slight nod at Mrs. Weasley.
Ginny shrugged and shook her head, then looked at her father. Harry accepted her silent hint and went along after Mr. Weasley.
“So, Mum, did you and Dad have a row after I left this morning?” she asked plainly, after Harry left.
“What? Oh heavens no! What have we got left to fight about?” Mrs. Weasley gave her a meager smile but carried on counting forks.
“Did the flatware get out of hand when you packed it?”
“What’s that, dear?” she asked again, clearly distracted. “I’m sorry, Ginny. After you left this morning, your father and I had visitors.”
“This morning? Early visitors … that can’t be good.”
“Oh not bad either, exactly. Well … it was … George and Lee Jordan came by and … talked to us.”
Mrs. Weasley gave her daughter a testing glance before counting the forks again.
“Oh, Mum … Please tell me you’re okay with it - with them. They’ve been through so much, and George has just been beside himself that he would be turned out by everyone.”
“We’d never turn him out. We’re fine with it. Well, no, that’s not entirely true, we’re not fine with it. There are plenty of things to be concerned about. I don’t like it at all, to be sure, but I can’t say it comes as a surprise.”
“Really? You knew then?” Ginny couldn’t imagine her mother would sit on this information without any fuss before now.
“A mother knows.” Her mother gave her a plaintive smile. “At least, if she knows her children. I’ve suspected for some time now. But I’m concerned about the others. You and Fred already know apparently, but if you’d only seen George’s face, so troubled.”
“I’ve seen it, Mum. I know.”
“He was always a headstrong thing but he’s always had a gentleness in him too, and if any of the boys run him off I swear I’ll just …”
Mrs. Weasley shook her head and started counting cutlery over again, beginning at “one.”
“Mum,” Ginny said, putting her hand over her mother’s. “They’ll be okay. The rest will see that George and Lee are the same chaps they’ve always been. Bill will be fine. Ron won’t get it at first, but he’ll be fine, too.”
“And Harry?”
Ginny considered this. Harry had learned everything he knew about being a man from her family of men, George included.
“Harry will look to Ron, and they’ll both come to grips with it. They’ve suffered the wrong end of intolerance themselves, so I think they’ll come ‘round quick enough.”
“I hope you’re right. Charlie, though …”
“Bah! If Charlie acts like a prig, Bill will take him in hand. You know how it works, Mum.”
She shook her head with a scoffing laugh. “Those boys and their ‘Rules’. It was helpful when they were young: all of them required to mind the older ones. But I expected them to out grow of it by now.”
Two more pops indicated the arrival of Ron and Hermione a little way off, ending their discussion.
“Morning, Mum,” Ron said, kissing his mother while reaching over to pull Ginny’s hair. She hissed at him but he ignored her completely.
“We brought trifle,” Hermione said cheerfully, placing a cloth-covered bowl on the table.
“Oh, did Ron make it?” Mrs. Weasley asked.
“Hermione made it,” Ron said deeply, cutting off his mother’s tone kindly but giving her a sharp look. Then he added a bit louder for Hermione’s benefit, “And it’s fantastic! I’m off with Harry and Dad, then.” He stood his broomstick next to Harry’s and set off.
Bill and Fleur Apparated in front of Ron as he went. Ron grabbed Bill’s arm to pull him along. He resisted Ron’s urging at first but Fleur waved him off, even slapping his hand off away.
“I swear zat man weel suffocate me before I ‘ave zee chance to geeve birth.” Fleur ranted by way of a greeting. “’Ee eez always hovering, always touching, I can not stand eet any longer!”
The girls sniggered at their sister-in-law, whose English was quite good now, though she slipped back into strong French when annoyed.
“He just can’t help himself, dear. He watched Arthur dote on me when the younger ones came. You’ll appreciate it when more babies come along.”
“More? I do not theenk so. I weel smother ‘im in ‘is sleep first.” There was only a moment to laugh at Fleur’s indignance before more guests joined them.
“Top of the mornin’, ladies!” Tonks chirped.
The women turned to greet her, but they had to pinch off giggles.
“Tonks,” Hermione said quietly. “What are you wearing?”
“What? We’re in the country aren’t we?” Tonks shoved her hands in her pockets and ballooned her khaki trousers legs; her fashion for the day was nothing short of safari gear.
“Honestly, the village is just a little way off; there won’t be any Giants coming along anytime soon!” Ginny protested, though laughing at her friend.
“So, that’s the house then, is it?” Tonks cupped a hand over her eyes, blocking out the sun as she looked over at the skeletal structure. “You might consider a roof, Gin. I hear it rains a fair bit up here.”
Ginny grinned. “The whole thing is going up quickly; we’re hoping it will be done by the end of August.”
“That’s when the big day is going to be then, yeah?” Tonks asked.
“Oui, Ginny, when are we going to ‘ear about ze wedding plans?”
“Actually, Harry and I aren’t looking for anything big in the way of a wedding celebration. Just something small and informal.”
“Yes, small and informal, that’s what she keeps saying,” Mrs. Weasley muttered, though clearly loud enough to be heard.
Ginny smiled and rolled her eyes at her mum. “It’s true. The house is enough for us, really. We don’t want a big affair.”
“I should say it will be enough,” Bill said, as the gathering of men had migrated back towards them. George and Lee had arrived with Fred and Percy as well. “You’re a smart girl to snag such a rich wizard, Ginny. That’s gonna be quite a house when it’s done.”
She moved to greet them all with hugs and noticed Harry’s reddened face.
“It’s got nothing to do with snagging a rich wizard, has it?” Ginny countered Bill’s comment, looking directly at Harry. “We’re just rebuilding what should rightly still be standing, yeah?”
Harry’s eyes brightened and he nodded his head. Even right in the middle of all of these people, she knew that smile in his eye was for her alone.
“I do hope Charlie can make it for the wedding,” Mrs. Weasley said, passing around a plate of sandwiches. “Bill, have you heard?”
“Last letter said he’d be here, Mum,” he answered. Though in a quieter voice so his mother couldn’t hear, he added, “But Charlie’s up to something. Don’t know what it is, but I can tell.”
The morning sun shifted into the afternoon sky as they ate and discussed the magical home building and the wedding, Fleur’s expanding stomach, and when the Quidditch season would start again.
Harry received gifts and the cake was nearly gone when Fred spoke up.
“Okay, ours next!” Fred said. “It’s from George, too.”
There were chuckles and a general quiet murmur of “uh oh.” Harry took the package with visible caution.
“Thanks, chaps. I’ll just open this later, yeah?”
“Nuh uh, Potter, don’t be a chicken.”
“No reason you can’t open it,” George pressed. “It’s nothing that’ll hurt.”
Ron got up from his seat next to Harry and patted him soberly on the shoulder, sniggering. “Yeah, I’m just gonna move over here.”
Harry glared at his friend for abandoning him. He took a breath and lifted the lid. He wasn’t the only one who flinched and held his breath waiting for something to happen.
“Ah go on, just look inside!” George said.
“We promised it wouldn’t hurt.”
Harry looked at Fred and George and then over at Ginny once more. She smiled and bit her lip with a shrug. Resigning himself, he slowly peered into the box.
“It’s just a mirror?” Harry said with a curious expression.
The twins both let out their long, sly chuckle.
“I don’t get it?” Harry said, looking up. “What is it?”
But the moment Harry had looked up, the entire gathering gasped.
“Heavens!” Molly exclaimed, while Mr. Weasley chuckled quietly.
“Brilliant, fellas,” Bill said.
“Oh my, that is brilliant!” Hermione said, moving in closer to Harry.
Ginny, however, felt suddenly nauseous.
Harry’s appearance had changed right in front of them. His raven black hair transformed from root to end in Weasley ginger, and cinnamon freckles cropped up all over his face.
“Godric, what did you do to him?” Ginny yelped.
“What? What happened?” Harry said, feeling his face and looking a bit panicked.
“Look in the mirror again, mate,” Ron said, chewing the inside of his cheek to bite away an obvious grin. “It’s bad, it’s really bad.” He chuckled unconvincingly.
Harry looked down and gasped. “Whoa! …I love it!”
“That’s right, Harry, my boy, you’ve been made an honorary Weasley,” George said.
“This is what you’ve been working on?” Lee asked, punching George in the arm. “Fabulous!”
“Yeah, see, now you can be one of the family, and you don’t even have to marry our skinny little sister.”
“Fred.” Ginny gave him a shove as she stormed over to Harry. She held Harry’s face in her hands and touched his now vivid hair. “What did you do to his beautiful hair? And his face…?”
“Ease up now, girl. Someone might think you actually liked the way he usually looks,” Fred laughed.
“What? You don’t like it?” Harry asked her with wide eyes, now chortling with the rest.
“Don’t be cheeky,” she said. “It’s simply awful!” The false freckles stood at odd counterpoint to his light beige complexion and his flaming hair, like all that surrounded her.
“Aww, come on, Ginny, you still love me. Gimme a kiss!” he offered, puckering his lips towards her.
“Blech! Not on your life!” Ginny jumped away, looking revolted.
“Come on, Gin, just one kiss.”
Harry lunged, and she turned to flee.
“Not while you look like that! You look like my brothers now!”
But Harry quickly grabbed her around the waist, trying to kiss the side of her head while she fought him off.
Everyone, even her parents, laughed at how repulsed she was, but she quickly joined them.
The rest of the afternoon was chiefly spent in the air playing a far from regulation game of Quidditch. The game ended when the Snitch was caught accidentally in Percy’s t-shirt. When the players landed again, they all sat or lay on the grass, catching their breath. Hermione, Fleur and Lee joined them, passing out water and pumpkin juice.
“Much better!” Ginny said, taking Harry’s hand and touching his damp hair that had gone black again. “You two had better not ever do that again,” she shouted playfully back at the twins. “You’ll drive me mental with a gag like that.”
Fred finished his drink and laughed. “You don’t want to threaten me, little girl. You might regret what we could do to him on your wedding day.” Ginny threw him a rude hand gesture with a smile. She had a retort for Fred, but thought she’d not take the risk of jeopardizing her wedding night, just in case.
George crossed between Ginny and Fred’s line of sight and they watched him as he sat companionably near Lee in the grass. Lee handed George a bottle of Butterbeer with a reassuring smile and though Ginny didn’t know exactly what it meant, she recognized the private, unspoken communication that took place between a couple. She had seen her parents do the same and she knew what that felt like between her and Harry.
She and Fred looked away from their brother and his lover, catching each other’s eyes, and she nodded heartily in George and Lee’s direction. Go on, she mouthed to him.
Fred seemed to consider his thoughts for moment.
Ginny felt a squeeze in her hand and turned to find Harry giving her a curious look.
“What’s up?” he asked quietly.
“Hang on a minute,” she whispered. “I think you’re about to find out.”
Fred stood up and tossed back the last of his pumpkin juice and looked around the dispersed gathering.
“Listen up, everybody,” he said, cheerfully, with an obvious note of “announcement” in his voice.
The calm chatter quieted as everyone slowly sat up or turned around to look at him.
“You know, maybe now’s not such a good-” George said quickly while getting to his feet, but Fred waved him off.
“Now, I’m only going to say this once, you lot, so open your ears good, got it?”
“Fred-” George interrupted again, but the twin wasn’t to be stopped.
“My best mates over here”-- He jerked his head at George and Lee. --“Have gone and made themselves a regular old couple, see?” George had gone fairly pale, but he held his head up. “It’s a bit old fashioned if you ask me,” Fred continued. “Settling down, ball and chain and all that, but seems half the family is into that ‘commitment’ gig.”
Ginny looked around and every face had furrowed brows, trying to understand.
“What are you on about?” Ron asked hesitantly, as though he wasn’t sure he had heard correctly.
Fred bit his upper lip for a second, letting a shadow of deeper thought cross his face.
“You’re joking. You’re not serious,” Percy stated, sounding a bit more pompous and accusatory than Ginny had heard from him in awhile.
Tonks was whispering into Remus’ ear, and Hermione looked terribly concerned.
“Absolutely, I’m serious. I’m talking... his and his bath towels, arguing over whose night it is to spell the dishes clean, and I don’t even know how they divide closet space, you’d have to ask them - the whole lot.” Fred was taking a sarcastic approach with a deliberately light tone, but Ginny could tell by the way he was rolling the handle of his wand between his thumb and fingertips that he was quite prepared to use it.
“For real?” Bill inquired, slowly, looking at George. “You’re not putting us on?” She thought George may have turned a little green but he glanced at Lee who now stood next to him and then back to their eldest brother with typical twinish defiance.
“Yeah, that’s right.” George seemed to find his inner Gryffindor, and he turned a healthier shade. “So if there’s got to be something to be said about it, let’s just hear it now.”
There was a meaty moment of silence while everyone waited for Bill’s reaction, which would surely role-model what he expected from the rest of his siblings.
“I haven’t got anything to say, little brother,” Bill said in his calm and most authoritative big brother voice. He gave Lee a significant, friendly nod and George took a visible breath of relief at this. Ginny thought she saw Lee’s hand reach toward her brother slightly, but it never made contact.
“But I don’t …” Percy struggled, looking back and forth from Bill to George and Fred.
“Percy …” Bill said with a hint of warning in his quiet tone.
“It’s just not …” he stammered again, obviously wrestling with some disagreement with this unexpected turn of events.
“Oh what is it, Percival? Just have it out already,” George said wearily. “I promise there’s nothing you can say that I haven’t already thought of.”
Percy looked around, seeming to hope for someone else to express whatever it was he was feeling. “Do Mum and Dad even know?” he blurted.
“Yes, they know,” Ginny answered, unable to keep herself from expressing some defense for George.
“Yeah, and they handled it commendably well, actually.” George offered her a tiny smile of appreciation.
“And what about your business? This sort of thing affects people, you know?”
“I can’t imagine people are too concerned about the personal lives of the people they buy snack boxes and fireworks from.”
“Besides, Wheezes is between me and George,” Fred interrupted. “S’not your concern, is it?”
“But there’s more to it, isn’t there? I mean, come on - Ron, you know what I mean, don’t you?”
Ron frowned and clearly didn’t appreciate being put upon. He looked at Harry, who was keeping his eyes down, and then to Hermione. She tilted her head and raised her eyebrow at him. Already holding her hand, he rubbed his thumb over her wedding band before he spoke.
“I don’t, I don’t claim to understand it, fellas.” He ran a hand over his hair and scratched behind his ear while he talked. “I really don’t get it at all, to be honest. But I know there are some who don’t think I should be with Hermione and that’s completely mental, so I guess I haven’t got anything to say. Whatever twigs your twigger, I reckon.”
George cracked the closest thing to a true grin since Fred had brought it up.
“Thanks, Ron.”
Ginny looked to see how Harry was reacting, but he was studying his trainers. She squeezed his hand, and he looked up at her with a look of reluctant confusion etched on his face.
“Yes, and you two are welcome to come for tea anytime,” Hermione offered, which made several people snicker.
“Thanks,” George chuckled nervously.
“Yeah, we appreciate that, Hermione,” Lee answered. It was the first time he’d spoken, and all the brothers seemed to consider him for a moment. Lee ran his hand over his mouth to regain his composure under the scrutiny. Ginny had never seen him look too flustered before, but he seemed on a thread now.
“Poor, Lee,” she whispered so only Harry could hear her. “All my stupid brothers are staring at him.”
“Hey, Lee, you still got that scar on the back of your hand?” Harry piped up.
“Huh?” he responded clumsily, surprised at being addressed with something so random, but he squinted and focused on Harry’s question. “Oh.” Lee looked at the back of his hand and chuckled. “Yeah, actually. Detention with Umbridge, seventh year. Yep, still got it.”
“Filthy cow, that bitch was,” George stated plainly, wincing and shaking his head at Lee’s hand.
Ginny lifted Harry’s hand that was clasped in hers to see the words of his defiance still lightly etched there.
“Yeah, this one used to be my nastiest scar,” Lee said, still looking at his hand. “But now I’ve got this beauty.” Extending and rotating his arm, a stark patch of white was visible above his elbow amid the smooth darkness of his skin. “Apparently this is what an Igneus Hex does to you if it sets in real good.”
The air seemed to have thickened again, as no one was sure how best to acknowledge Lee’s injury: the very situation that had caused such a rift between Harry and George as well as apparently being the cause that brought Lee and George together.
“Nothing wrong with a good scar,” Fred chimed in, looking closely at Lee’s arm. “And see? You’re all pale on the inside; you look like you’ve got Weasley in you now.”
A lingering uncomfortable pause was followed by a general choking sort of laughter at Fred’s innuendo. George gaped at him but he also sniggered, punching his brother in the arm.
“I dunno, I’m pretty certain I maintain rank in the ‘scar department,’” Harry said, pushing his hair back, clearly referring to his legendary lightening bolt. Ginny recognized Harry’s self-deprecating masculine bravado as an attempt to deflect focus from Lee. He could at least identify with Lee’s position as a, well, as a boyfriend in the family.
“Nuh-uh, Harry, you’ve got your longevity out of that one, I think,” Ron stepped in with his own quip. “Being attacked by a maniac as a baby doesn’t mean you earned it.” These were teasing words that Ron alone could have said. “Now these,” he added, displaying the pink trails that wrapped around his forearms. “Are scars that came from actually doing something heroic.”
“Since when is getting Confunded doing something heroic?” George asked, playing into the game.
“Oi, I was fifteen.” Ron put on false offense. “Getting Confunded instead of killed is not bad, I’d say.”
“I’ve earned plenty of scars in my time, but the worst was inflicted on me when I was only a child,” Remus said quietly, making Ginny wonder what he’d been like with his friends.
She suspected he didn’t want conversation to linger very long on the night Ron got his scars. But her old professor looked like he enjoyed the banter among the men in her family.
“Yeah?” Bill quizzed. “Go on then, old man, let’s see it.”
Harry and Ron’s eyes shot up and they exchanged “Christmas morning” type expressions before looking back at Remus. He seemed to be debating the action before his lips twisted into a grin. Shaking his head slightly as though he couldn’t believe he was doing it, he tossed aside his cloak. Even Bill let out a slightly juvenile snigger in the anticipation of this legendary scar being revealed. Yanking his shirt up in the back, Remus turned and displayed a jagged crescent of thick white scar tissue above his right shoulder blade. Admiring gasps of wicked and excellent were murmured among them as they all moved in for a closer look.
“Yes, well …” Remus said, straightening himself again. “There, you all have had a better look than most. But not bad, I suppose?”
“Not bad at all,” Tonks said, giving him a pinch that made him rise on his toes.
“It’s impressive and all, mate, really,” Bill said, though his voice didn’t belie a cheeky tone. “But at least you can hide that pretty little thing you’ve got. Tell me this isn’t the goriest thing you’ve ever seen?” Then Bill swept his shaggy hair up with one hand, revealing the deep marks that cruelly cut across his face. The boys eagerly jumped at the chance to pointedly look and gasp and feign their exaggerated horror, while Fleur rolled her eyes.
And so it went, with everyone finding a common ground through injuries and injustices. Each of them had a weakness, some private insecurity that convinced them that they alone suffered. Even Percy showed off a chipped front tooth and let everyone laugh about how Charlie had made it that way.
There would surely be more reluctance in the future, but as everyone left, they hugged or shook hands with George and Lee and congratulated Harry and Ginny on their engagement and the house.
“You gonna be late?” Ron asked Harry, just before Disapparating with Hermione.
“No, Dad, I’ll be home early, I promise,” Harry mocked. “Nah, we’re just going to fly a little.”
~^~
The landscape stretched out for miles in every direction. With Ginny astride the broom in front of Harry, they took turns taking control of the flight. Each time, one tried a move more daring than the last, leaving them screeching and whooping with amusement.
The setting sun caused the first purple shadows to creep along the hills below and the air began to cool.
“Here, Harry, you take the handle now.”
“Really? You’re giving up already? I win then!” he declared in mock arrogance. “I’m a better flyer than Ginny Weasley!” he shouted into the air.
“Prat,” she said. Bracing herself, she swung one leg over the front of the handle, sitting sideways.
“What are you doing?” Harry tightened his grip around her waist, slowing their flying speed. “Let me stop first if you want to get off.”
Ginny just sniggered at his choice of words. She held onto his shoulders and pulled her second leg over, careful not to kick Harry between the legs, and was now facing him on the broom.
Harry’s eyebrows were raised, still anxious about her falling. But when she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled herself nearly into his lap, he chuckled.
“Oh! Now this is better,” he said, nuzzling the side of her face and her neck. “Very clever witch.”
Ginny tilted her head to the side as Harry kissed her temple, and she slipped her hands up under the back of his shirt.
Running her hands up his naked back, she felt the muscles along his ribs flex. Grinning and nipping his earlobe, she stroked over the curve of his shoulder blades, remembering what it felt like to have his naked body against hers.
He let out a slight hum of contentment and Ginny felt him tighten his stomach as she dragged her fingers across the front of his abdomen.
“So tell me, Harry; you’ve spent a lot of time on a broom …” He gasped as her fingers dipped into the front of his trousers. “Have you ever come in mid-flight?”
Harry let out a slightly shocked chuckle, and glanced at her briefly before looking away. She knew perfectly well that he didn’t mind doing these things, but talking about them seemed so much dirtier. Making Harry blush was becoming her guilty pleasure.
“Uh – no, actually. Not a lot time for that when you’re dodging Bludgers.”
Ginny sucked on all the salty skin she could reach inside the opening of his collar, and she had his trousers undone with practiced agility.
“I –I can land…” Harry was losing focus on flying by the trick her tongue was doing, not to mention her fingers, and the broom swerved.
“Oh no you don’t. You keep your handle up.” And she smiled against the softness of his skin as she slid her hand inside of his pants. His burgeoning erection was trapped awkwardly until she freed him and began caressing it. She teased her fingers through his hidden coarse hair and gripped him tightly.
Harry exhaled and bowed into her, growling a weak protest. “Woman …”
“It’s okay, Harry.”
“You want me to?”
“Yes. There’s no one for miles, love. Just let go … ”
And he did. The lavender tinged earth below became a blur and gave way to the flurry of red hair in front of him. Her tiny hand stroked vigorously along his length, squeezing and pausing at the just the precise moment to peak and prolong his need.
Ginny reminded him what it was like to take risks just for fun again. He finally felt young again, with the wind rushing past him, his beautiful witch in his lap, a broom handle in hand, and his handle in hers. She pulled on his length while raking the nails of her free hand over his chest, teasing a nipple. Harry clung to her as the intensity of his mounting climax built within him.
“Oh god, Gin …”
“Love you,” she breathed against his ear. “Love you, you’re gorgeous when you fly, Harry. I love you.” Her sincere, rambling words overflowed his heart, and his body followed as he came, spilling over her hand between them.
The first evening star lit the sky when they finally landed. Both of them were out of breath, feeling wild and safe in each other’s company. More importantly, they had learned to control the broom together, equally.
~^~ Continue to Chapter Eleven
A/N – I am very honored that Within You, Without You won the HPGW_OTP Best of 2006 – Novel Length Award. Thank you very much!
I must thank my dedicated beta BelovedRanger, who has been working with me on this story for nearly a year now. I’d also like to thank KJCP, PhoenixAnkaa, and Quizzical for their help with this chapter.
For those that are interested, I am writing George and Lee’s side of this story, titled The Glass Onion, which can be found on my Live Journal or at The Quidditch Pitch. Thank you!
