Give Her Time

Chapter 3 – It was all perfect until….

Ginny noticed Draco dragging Remus out on to the porch, but shrugged her shoulders. Draco was always a little forceful when he wansomesomething, and it appeared the young blonde wanted a private word with Remus. Though Ginny was fairly sure she was the reason Draco felt the need to talk to Remus, she mentally dismissed it. It wasn’t like she hadn’t lived here for a while.

\"Hey Ginny! Welcome! This is Maria; she\'ll be joining us for dinner tonight. Maria, this is Ginny,\" Sirius nodded to the two women. The pretty woman next to the grinning man was wearing a set of raw silk robes with heavily sewn patterns at the cuffs and neck. She wore a necklace of hand beaten silbeadbeads, and Ginny found herself feeling under-dressed in her simple robe she’d carefully picked to say, I didn’t pick out anyt spe special, just being casual here.

\"Hi, nice to meet you Maria,\" said Ginny, looking over the petite witch. She had dark brown hair with brown eyes to match. \"Are you the Super Secret \'nothing\' Sirius has been sneaking around seeing for the past month?\" she teased.

\"I’m guessing that would be me,\" she smiled. \"We\'ve been ng eng each other for about three weeks now.'m f'm finally getting to meet his godson that he has told me so much about – I had no idea it was Harry Potter!\" The beautiful young woman shot Sirius a mock glare.

Sirius grinned. \"Three weeks, and two days actually,\" he said as he twined their fingers.

\"Ginny? Is that you?\" came the call from the kitchen.

Sirius rolled his eyes. \"He sounds just like your mother did in school.\"

\"So, where did you meet?\" asked Ginny curiously, while completely ignoring the whining voice Harry had used to call her. It was one of the pet peeves she’d discovered while living here briefly, and one reason she was profoundly glad Harry had figured out he was gay while dating her. The image of listening to that whine for all her life left Ginny with shivers. Of course, she hadn’t done any better with Neville, but at least she and Harry were still close friends.

\"Hermione Grang—I mean Snape introduced us. Do you know her? She comes to the bookstore that my father owns in Spain almost once a week,\" she replied. That explained her dark features and olive skin, thought Ginny.

\"Yes, it’s me,\" shouted Ginny towards the kitchen as Harry shouted “Hello?” through the kitchen.

\"Get your bum in here and help me! Draco just stranded me in the middle of the potatoes!\"

Sirius grinned. \"Just like Molly!\"

She turned back to Maria. \"And before I was interrupted by Harry, yes, I do know Hermione. I was her bridesmaid at their wedding.\" She rolled her eyes at Harry’s plea.

\"So typical of men,\" Sirius grinned at Maria as he nodded his head towards the sound of falling cookware coming from the kitchen.

\"Sirius, don\'t antagonize, unless you want to go help Harry.\" threatened Maria. Sirius winked at his date

\"GIIIIINNNNNYYYYYY\"

\"Give Harry red hair and seven kids, and that would be Molly Weasley to a tee,\" Sirius teased Ginny before shooing her into the kitchen.

“Alright, I\'m coming,\" she shouted in an exasperated tone as she took off towards the kitchen.

She walked in to the kitchen to find Harry in an apron covered with various foods, while there was black smoke rising from an unidentifiable meat that he must have tried to roast withharmharm. The charmed beaters moved around at odd angles, splattering mashed potatoes all over the room.

\"You’re not at all like my mother,\" Ginny said. \"Didn\'t she teach you anything?\" she screeched.

\"Sirius has been comparing me to Molly again, huh?\"

Harry looked around the kitchen. \"It\'s only a little messy. Besides... The potatoes were Draco\'s job. Go yell at him,” Harry said wiping the mess from his cheek. He picked the meat up and handed it to Ginny. \"Can you fix this?”

“I have never seen the kitchen at the Burrow in such a state,” she grinned ruefully.

Harry blinked at Ginny. \"It\'s been like this once...\" Harry trailed off.

\"Sorry, but once you burn the meat, there is no going back. Do you have something else we can ...\" she eyed him suspiciously. \"My mother would have had steam coming out of her ears without the aid of the Pepper-Up potion if her kitchen was ever brought to this state. When did it happen?\"

Harry looked at the stove and then the sink. \"Umm... Ron and I were making some waffles. I mean, how hard can waffles be, right?\"

\"You made a mess this big with waffles?\" she started laughing so hard she could barely get out the rest of her comment. \"They are... the easiest thing...to make\"

\"How do you and Draco manage at every meal? The fact that you haven\'t starved yet amazes me,\" her eyes danced as she laughed at the befuddled Harry.

Harry grinned. He looked so boy like at times. \"No, they aren\'t. The syrup wouldn\'t mix in the batter very well, and we couldn\'t get them to flip in the air over and over...\" Harry grinned at a nearly hysterical Ginny.

\"You put syrup in the batter?\" she repd, ad, astonished, tears starting to leak from her eyes. \"I think its time for mom to give you some cooking lessons again!\"

\"And we eat just fine. At the Three Broomsticks, take out, delivery, and ‘Just add magic’ meals.” Harry grinned and laughed.

Sirius walked into the large kitchen with Maria in tow. \"What\'s all the laughter about?\"
Sirius stopped short looking around him.

\"Wow Harry, what the hell happened?\"

\"Harry has destroyed dinner,\" Ginny grinned.

Sirius chuckled. \"Of course he did. Draco left the room for more than 15 seconds.”

\"Now, what are we going to do? I hope you aren\'t planning to leave us to starve tonight Harry,\" Ginny said.

Draco walked in from the back porch and stopped short

\"Harry—what the hell? I told you not to touch anything!

Harry gave Draco a hang dog expression. \"I was only helping a li. I. I\'m a powerful wizard, I can cook!\"

\"Harry, love, you can not cook. And you are flooing out for take out. I can\'t believe you did this to my kitchen! I was only gone a second....\" Draco mumbled while going to the sink to start with the cleaning charms.

Harry grinned at Ginny and whispered, \"I hate roast anyway.\"

Sirius grinned and Ginny giggled. Take out it was!


~*~*~*~*~


The three couples sat down to an excellent meal provided by the Three Broomsticks and they talked about all manner of things. High on the list was Hermione and her swollen belly. Maria was convinced it was boy, but the men were just sure it was a girl. Ginny said she thought it might be boy, but she wouldn\'t put any galleons on it.

Pushing his plate back after eating a second helping, Sirius said, \"Who\'s up for a bike ride?\"

Before Harry could say yes, Draco piped up, \"Harry has some cleaning to do in the kitchen, maybe next time.\"

Harry scowled. Remus grinned. It was so funny to watch a grown Harry still act like a child.

\"You know I would love to go,\" grinned Maria, “as long as I get to hold you tight!\"

Sirius looked at Maria and winked, \"You got it baby!\"

\"Remus, you and Ginny want to join us?\"

\"Remus, you have a bike?\" asked a surprised Ginny. Oh great, another wonderful image to add to my fantasies; Remus in leather on a bike. She groaned silently.

\"Yeahriusrius loaned me his last year for a month or so and I fell in love with it. So, I bought myself one. Min>, o>, of course is much faster than Sirius\' old bugger.”

Sirius glared at Remus. \"Yours was faster because you couldn\'t find anybody to ride with you. I had Maria with me last time.\"

\"Are you going to be bringing it to Hogwarts?\" Ginny asked, grinning at how bikes automatically increased the testosterone level in the room.

Remus tilted his head at Ginny and asked in a somewhat lower voice, \"Do you want me to?\"

\"I\'d be afraid of the students getting their hands on it,\" replied Ginny.

Harry piped up and said, \"Gin, he usually leaves it here in the shed along with Sirius\' bike.”

Maria looked at Sirius and said, \"Wait a minute.ere ere you implying that you lost the race to Remus because I\'m heavy?” Draco snorted.

\"No no... I was only saying two people... not that you\'re heavy. You\'re not at all... You\'re just right. Perfect sized. I wasn\'t saying -\" Sirius said, starting to look panicked. He was cut off as Maria gave him a small kiss on the lips.

\"Okay - just checking,\" she winked.

Remus looked away. How easy their relationship was coming along compared to him relation ship with Ginny. Or, lack of one. He had to stop thinking about her that way. She was married. Ginny was not a woman he could get involved with. Not Ginny. He could not think about Ginny’s pink lips kissing his... Damn.

Sirius looked at Remus and said, \"You got a girl sitting next to you - come on Remus... it\'ll be fair this time!”

\"Well, I don\'t know,\" Ginny hesitated. \"I really should get back to Hogwarts to finish up my work.\"

Draco looked at Ginny with a calculating gleam in his eye before saying, \"You should go Ginny. That castle will still be there later.\"

Remus glared at Draco, as the rest of the table prodded her to go.

\"Well, of course,\" she huffed as she saw Remus throw Draco a glare. Her heart dropped. I guess Remus doesn\'t want my company anymore. \"I don\'t want to impose on Remus. Inviting me here tonight was enough for a night.\"

Everybody at the table was shooting Remus a dirty look. \"Ginny, Come on - it\'ll be fun - if you don\'t like it, I\'ll bring you right back. Cross my heart and break my wand if I don\'t, ok?\"

\"You don\'t have to do this Remus; it\'s alright, I can just head back to Hogwarts.\"
Remook ook her hand and looked into her eyes. He could feel her pulse speed up. \"Ginny, if you don\'t come, I\'ll have to embarrass Sirius in front of his new girlfriend again. Don\'t do that to him.\" A sly smile crept across his handsome face.

\"Well,\" Ginny drawled. Embarrassing Sirius would be a reasonable excuse to stay. Lord knows I want to be on a bike with Remus, she thought. \"I\'ll go if we get to try and embarrass Sirius anyway.\" She grinned at Remus. \"You did say your bike was better.\"

\"My bike is so much better than any other bike you\'ve been on it will spoil you rotten,\" Remus purred

Harry gasped and Draco chuckled. Sirius was starring at R wit with complete shock on his face

\"So, how long have you two been married?\" asked Maria with an amused expression on her face, and silence over took the playful mood at the table.

Ginny blushed and turned away from everybody, unable to speak, as Remus cleared his throat and looked at Ginny who was clearly uncomfortable.

\"Well, I assumed...your ring...\" Maria said as she noticed the room’s reaction.

Harry said, \"She’s married...”

And Sirius finished in a low voice, \"but not to Remus.”

Ginny looked down at her ring and started to turn it on her finger uncomfortably.
Ginny felt the tears prick at her eyes. This was awful! Standing up, she stood up and excused herself, walking blindly down the hall. For a moment there, she\'d felt free. She\'d felt like a woman who was flirting with a man she ed. ed. And then... Then everybody was looking at her like... like ... Damn! Like she should be wearing a huge Scarlet \'A\' across her shirt.

Remus walked up behind her. He didn\'t say a word, only pulled her into a mighty hug
\"Remus, I\'ll be fine. I should go,\" Ginny said quietly as she was held in Remus\'s arms. It felt so right.
us kus kissed the top of her head lightly. \"No Ginny. Everything is being explained to Maria. She didn\'t know. And you haven\'t done anything wrong. We\'re friends right?\"
He tightened his hold around her, pressing his back more firmly against hers.

\"Yes, of course.\" she turned her head to smile weakly up at him. Remus turned her around in his arms and looked down at the petite red head in his arms. Gods she was beautiful.

\"So come on, let\'s go. Don\'t let him suck the joy out of your life Gin. This isn\'t dirty or sordid. It\'s a bike ride with your friend. And racing against your other friend. After dinner with even more of your friends.\" Remus stroked her hair as she thought about his plea. Let her say yes. Give me one time of having her wrapped around me on that bike, he prayed silently

As she looked into his eyes, she saw something flicker, attion ion maybe? But he keeps repeating \'friend\', she thought. I probably just imagined it. \"Sure, why not.\" she replied. \"I guess the night air could do me some good.\"

Remus closed his eyes for a moment and pulled her close again while thanking whichever god was listening to him tonight. \"Thank you Ginny,\" he murmured into her hair before taking her hand and leading hewn twn the hall into the dining room. Maria was sitting next to Sirius looking at her empty plate with her cheeks flaming.

Ginny closed her eyes, savoring his embrace, holding on to the feeling she knew she would need as a source of light once she returned to her normal life.





Baka Chan - ckerckers loudly*
Nell - =-) Neville doesn’t die. I have better (meaning worse) things in store for him.
Silverose – Erect *makes note* And Thanks! Are you going to start a club for raving stalkerish Fans, or are you a one woman show …. Just wondering if I should make buttons or something *grins*
GrrArrg - `Not too much torture Promise! *hugs*
MoD – I haven’t heard from you in a w! I! I needed a bad guy for this story… and Neville got stuck with it. I bare him no ill will =)
Morwen - hehehehehe I’ll keep warning you about the evil previews… And I’m glad my answers made you happy!
GadoTheLion – hehehe Yer so cute. And Draco did bring up a very good point… MMmmmmmm
BlackJayde – Updating right now! And it wasn’t *so* short… 4 pages in word.
Sonni – It’s warmer – trust me. WOOHOO! And it gets warmer
Xander – Wow…*blushes brightly* I am floored. My husband was a little “oh really”, but I think it’s sweet *HUGS* I’m glad you’ve enjoyed my work so far =) I have more planned.
Seraphina – hehehe I thought… What fruit shold Ginny pick… Banana? Too overdone… Strawberry? Overdone, but she’s a red head! WooHoo!

As for Authors Notes… I’m exhausted and going to bed now. No preview expect for this…..
MORWEN -> preview time!


Remus. Ginny. Naked. In. Bed. Next chapter. Only… *EVIL GRIN

Thank you Amy.
Read? Review! It only takes a second and I’ll be fluffy kitten happy!