Promises & Reunions

Harry sat staring at the framed picture in his hands. His eyes traced the pencil lines, the slight smudges that simply added to the realism of the image. The simple sketch captured Ginny Weasley exactly. His throat was tight with emotion when he finally spoke: “Ron really drew this? When he was eight?”

Ginny, seated beside him, nodded. “Fred and George teased him so much he almost ripped it up,” she told Harry, her voice hitching slightly. “But I begged Ron to let me have it. I finally had to promise him I wouldn’t tell Fred and George he’d given it to me.”

“He- he was so good at it,” Harry said, his fingers tracing over the glass of the frame. “It looks just like you. I can’t believe he’d give this up.”

“Fred and George could be merciless when they wanted,” Ginny answered bitterly. “The only reason I didn’t hex them into next week is because I know they didn’t really mean to drive Ron to quit. Fred actually told Ron they were just kidding later on, but Ron didn’t believe him. He always was- has been kind of insecure.”

Harry shook his head. “If I studied and practiced art for a hundred years, I’d never be this good,” he whispered. “Merlin, Ron’s been my best friend for six years and I never even knew…”

“No one did, Harry. He didn’t want anyone to know since he’d given it up. But that portrait of Hermione that she found…” Ginny tried not to sob. “His first drawing in nine years. Merlin, Ron loved Hermione so much…”

“When he wakes up, he still will,” Harry said with such conviction that Ginny couldn’t help but smile. “I just hope he forgives us for getting married without him there.”

“Are you kidding? We’ll be lucky if he talks to us again!” Ginny said with a slight laugh.

Harry grinned. “Knowing Ron, he’ll probably think he’s being pressured into proposing to Hermione.”

“She’d say yes, in a heartbeat,” Ginny said with a sigh.

Harry nodded. He and Ginny had spent most of the previous night – their wedding night – trying to console Hermione, who wasn’t dealing well with what had happened to Ron. “Yeah, she would. Hell, Hermione will probably propose to Ron the second he wakes up!”

“That would be a sight,” Ginny chortled.

There was a knock at the door; “Harry?” a voice called. “Are you in there?” Harry stood and threw on some clothes. He pulled the door open, catching Parvati with her hand raised, about to knock again. “Oh! I’m sorry Harry, I just…are you all right?”

“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, it’s only that…you wanted to meet with Lavender and me,” Parvati said timidly, “and we were supposed to meet at nine and it’s already ten…” “Oh-” Harry smacked his forehead with his palm. “Sorry Parvati, I completely forgot! Let’s do it tomorrow morning instead, all right?”

“We still have time now, if you’d rather…”

“No, I-” Harry glanced over his shoulder at Ginny, who was climbing into her clothes. Ginny smirked at Harry: Well, tell her! she mouthed. Harry turned back to Parvati with a grin. “Sorry Parvati, but I want to spend today with my new wife.”

Parvati’s expression slid from confused quickly to shock. “Y-your w-wife?” she stammered. “B-but- but-”

Ginny stepped around Harry into Parvati’s view. “Hi, Parvati,” she said a bit shyly.

Parvati stared at Ginny with her mouth hanging open. Her eyes darted to Harry and back to Ginny again, and Harry was hard-pressed not to burst out laughing. Then Parvati broke out of the spell she was under by shouting “GINNY!” at the top of her lungs and throwing her arms around Ginny’s shoulders and squeezing her in a hug.

Lavender had been waiting down the hall, at the stairs leading to the third floor, and when she saw who Parvati was hugging she squealed and ran over, joining Parvati in almost crushing Ginny to death. All the noise was loud enough to wake the house, most of whom had been sleeping in since it was Monday, and people began peering around doors. “Oi, I’m trying to sleep!” Dean called grumpily. “What’s all the racket?”

“It’s Ginny, Dean!” Alicia called to him. “She’s back!”

Ginny was quite simply stunned. She hadn’t realized how highly she’d been regarded by the rest of the D.A.; but as they all crowded around, hugging and backslapping, she felt tears welling up unexpectedly. She’d made the right choice; these were the people she was fighting with, fighting for as much so as her family. It was worth all the risk and the sacrifices to be back with them again.

“…married!” Parvati’s voice said, clearly pitched over the babble, and everyone quieted almost instantly. “What was that?” Padma asked her twin.

“Harry and Ginny!” Parvati babbled. “I can’t believe it- they’re married!”

Every eye trained on Harry or Ginny. “Wait a second!” Dean said, his eyes bulging. “You- married? You can’t be serious!”

In answer, Harry and Ginny both held up their hands to display the gold wedding bands they both sported. “Yeah, we’re serious,” Harry confirmed, his grin threatening to split his face. “Hey Hermione, tell them, will you?”

Hermione, and the others who’d been at the wedding, had been standing a bit to the side since they’d already gotten to congratulate Harry and Ginny the night before. “It’s true,” Hermione said with a smile. “Last night.”

Hermione’s words set off another round of yelling and hugs. Harry, being pummeled on the back by Lee, saw Fred and George talking quietly together, and groaned inwardly; he knew they were plotting the party they’d been stopped from throwing the night before. Finally Harry raised his hands. “All right, all right!” he called out, and the noise died down. “Thanks, everyone. Er…I think maybe today’s a day to ignore D.A. business for a bit – I know I won’t really be able to focus.” There were some chuckles, and Ginny blushed. “But listen – no one else knows about this yet. So if you’re working today, please keep it to yourselves. Fred and George are planning to embarrass us a lot with a party, so against my better judgment knowing those two, today’s basically a day off.”

Lee let out a whoop. “Party in the shop!”

After a quick breakfast, Harry and Ginny were shooed back upstairs so they wouldn’t interfere with the party plans. It was Monday so almost no one had to work, since Diagon Alley was always slow at the beginning of the week. Everyone else Flooed to Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, and after a bit of argument about how things would go, everyone went around decorating for the party (Fred and George had decided to keep the shop closed for the day). Sally-Ann and Susan slipped out, their pockets loaded with galleons from the till, to pick up some butterbeer and sweets for the party; Dobby and Winky had happily set in on preparing a feast, even though it wasn’t even noon.

Angelina was walking behind the counter, using her wand to decorate with streamers in Gryffindor colors, when an arm shot out through the door and pulled her into the back room. Angelina took a quick look at Fred, grinned and shoved him back against the wall, planting her lips on his. Fred gave an undignified squeak, but gave in readily as Angelina’s slim, strong fingers traced over the front of his jeans. “Relax, Fred,” Angelina murmured huskily when she pulled away, “You did most of the work last night, let me return the favor.”

Fred could only gurgle as Angelina dropped to her knees and quickly got his jeans and boxers off. She grasped Fred’s straining erection and ran her thumb up and down, smirking as his hands scrabbled against the wall behind him. Knowing there was a chance one of the others would come into the back looking for them, Angelina wasted no time, flicking her tongue against the glans of Fred’s cock before leaning forward and taking him in. Fred buried his hands in her hair as her soft lips slid over his sensitive skin and her tongue rippled along the underside. “Merlin, Angie,” Fred gasped, trying instinctively to pull her closer, but Angelina planted her hands on his thighs and skillfully kept her rhythm; within a minute she felt the warning signs that Fred was close. She removed her right hand from Fred’s thigh and cupped his balls, squeezing slightly; that was it for Fred, who came in Angelina’s mouth with a rather pathetic whimper. Angelina swallowed as much as she could, but a bit of come dribbled out the side of her mouth. Smiling, she waited until Fred managed to open his eyes and look down at her; then, holding his gaze, she used her finger to collect the dribble on her chin, put the finger in her mouth, and slowly, deliberately, sucked the last bit off.

Fred was in love. Dropping to his knees, he kissed Angelina forcefully, tasting the saltiness still lingering on her lips. He started trailing kisses down her neck, and then down the exposed skin of her chest as he unbuttoned her shirt. Angelina’s hands stopped him, though: “Fred, what’re you doing?”

Fred looked up and raised an eyebrow. “Er…returning the favor?”

“Oh no you aren’t,” Angelina said, pulling away and standing up. “I’m still sore from last night. No Angelina for you!” She relented slightly at Fred’s crestfallen look. “Tomorrow I have to rejoin the team for training during the days. So tonight, I’ll make sure to use a few Healing Charms.” She smirked as Fred’s expression grew hopeful. “Tonight, all the Angelina you can handle.”

“Bloody hell, woman, you’re incredible,” Fred murmured, standing up and pulling his clothes back on. Angelina’s playful demeanor melted a bit as Fred kissed her again, tenderly. “Listen, Angie…” he started, but said nothing else.

“Fred?” Angelina said when he’d been silent for a minute. “What’s up?”

“I, uh…” Fred looked unusually sober. “I was just thinking…”

“You were? Shall I call the Prophet?”

“Hey, I’m serious!”

“When are you ever serious?”

“Right now!”

Fred’s agitation convinced Angelina he really was trying to be serious. “Okay Fred, sorry. What is it?”

“I- I was thinking- I mean, Ginny…” he swallowed, looking a bit lost. “Ginny and Harry just got married, and I’ve been thinking about it…”

Angelina’s mouth fell open; she looked Fred up and down. “If you propose to me I’ll deck you.”

“What?” Fred yelped. “No! I wasn’t going to propose! What are you, mad?”

Angelina scowled. “So I’m not worth marrying, is that it?”

“No! I mean yes!” Fred almost panicked until he saw the corner of Angelina’s mouth twitch. “Oh bloody hell, Angie, stop it!”

“Sorry,” Angelina replied, not sounding sorry at all. “So what about Harry and Ginny got you thinking?”

“Er. I just…I’m kind of pissed at Ginny.”

Angelina was surprised. “Why? You think she shouldn’t have gotten married?”

“Yeah. No. I don’t- not because it’s Harry. Or because she’s too young. Hell, Ginny’s wanted to marry Harry since she was ten. And Harry’s a good bloke, even if he does have a big target painted on him. But what Ginny did…it was so selfish!”

“Selfish?” Angelina looked skeptical. “Fred, Ginny married Harry so she could come here and help us fight V-Voldemort. And yeah, she did it because she loves Harry too, but how is that selfish?”

“Angie, mum’s going to know right off that George and I helped Ginny – we’re going to get mum’s wrath almost as bad as Ginny!”

Angelina couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Are you telling me you’re mad at Ginny because she made your mum mad at you? And you’re calling her selfish? You didn’t have to help her, you know!”

“This isn’t just mum being mad, this is mum not talking to us any more!” Fred snapped. “Ginny didn’t even think about what it’d mean to us, she just did it! You think I want my mum not talking to me? I’m not Percy, I actually care!”

“Oh,” Angelina said; suddenly everything clicked. Her expression was a lot more sympathetic when she met Fred’s eyes. “Fred, you know Ginny. Do you really think it didn’t occur to her to compare what she was doing with Percy? Ginny’s a smart girl –I bet she tore herself up worrying about your mum and dad. I bet she still is.”

“But did she think about me and George?” Fred muttered, staring at his shoes.

“Hey,” Angelina said sharply, grabbing Fred’s chin and forcing him to look at her. “This is Ginny we’re talking about. Have you ever known anyone to be more loyal and caring about their family? Ginny probably thought you’d considered the same things and decided it was worth it. She probably followed your lead, at least a bit. Stop being such a prat. Ginny doesn’t deserve it.”

Fred glared for a second before sagging. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m just not looking forward to the fallout, that’s all.”

“Forget about it,” Angelina advised. “You know what’s going to happen, so it won’t be that bad. It can’t be as bad as what would happen if Voldemort got a hold of us.”

“You have met my mum, right?” Fred retorted, and grinned a bit when Angelina chuckled. “Ah, you’re right, Angie. I’m just being stupid.”

“Nothing new there.”

“Bitch.”

“Wanker.”

“You’d really punch me if I proposed?”

“Hell yes,” Angelina said with a wry look. “Of course, I didn’t tell you if I’d say yes or no, but I’d definitely have to deck you.”

Fred snorted. “Ooh, Angie, you wanna marry me!” he said in a sing-song voice.

“Oh, piss off.”

“You want to be Mrs. Angelina Weasley!”

“Die, Fred!” Angelina suggested, shoving him hard against the wall, but she softened it by pressing up against him and resuming their kiss. Fred squeaked again when her hand once again found his cock through his clothes. She rubbed him roughly until he grew hard again. Angelina paused in nibbling at Fred’s ear. “Ready for round two?” she whispered.

Oh, fuck yes!”

“Too bad,” Angelina said briskly, turning and walking back out to the shop without a backward glance.

Fred stared helplessly at the still-swinging door. “Bloody hell, I love you, Angie,” he gasped.

*****

Harry and Ginny were sitting on their bed together, making themselves scarce until they were collected for their party. To their own mild surprise, they hadn’t made love; both of them felt content to simply sit holding each other, Harry’s back against the wall and Ginny’s back against Harry’s chest. “Harry?” Ginny said quietly. “What’re you thinking about?”

“You probably don’t want to know.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s not exactly romantic.”

Ginny grinned a bit. “That’s okay, neither is what I’m thinking about.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“I asked you first!”

Harry laughed. “All right, all right. I was thinking about Horcruxes.”

“Oh.” Ginny paused. “Have you and Hermione…I mean, have you gotten any further with them?”

“Only a little, and that’s what I was thinking about,” Harry said. “I’m still mostly stumped. You know Hermione’s been reading up on them so we can better understand what they are, and hopefully how to destroy them once we’ve found them; but we haven’t gotten any further in locating them. Dumbledore told me he left a box of information with Professor McGonagall, and I sent her an owl asking for it yesterday, but I haven’t gotten it yet.”

“Dumbledore told you? Harry, are you cracking up?”

“Oh…” Harry chuckled. “Sorry, I forgot I hadn’t told you yet. I snuck into Hogwarts, thinking maybe the Room of Requirement could help me with something to locate the Horcruxes. It gave me the password to the Headmaster’s office, and I went up and talked to Dumbledore’s portrait.”

“That was a good idea,” Ginny said tentatively. “So did he have any advice?”

“Kind of. Mainly we’re going to have to go through his information once I get it and see if we can figure any more out. But there is one thing I realized. Remember that the note in the fake Horcrux was signed with the initials R.A.B.?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Snape mentioned in passing that-”

“Snape?” Ginny interrupted with a growl. “He’s still here?”

“He’s locked in the basement. We leave him Stupefied most of the time.”

“Why the hell didn’t you turn him over to the Ministry?”

“Because he knows too much about the Army, Ginn. He’d just escape from the Ministry, and then Voldemort would know all about us. Besides, the Ministry thinks we were only attacked by Lucius Malfoy…we never told them about Snape.”

Ginny swallowed and blinked furiously at the mention of Lucius Malfoy. Even though she knew, logically, that it had been an accident that had killed Malfoy, she still felt horribly guilty for it. It had been her Stupefying Charm that had sent him tumbling down the stairs, after all. “All right, forget it,” she said quickly. “What were you saying about the fake Horcrux?”

Harry gazed concernedly at the back of Ginny’s head, but chose not to comment. “Snape mentioned in passing that Sirius’ brother Regulus would have been able to get into the house the same way he had, since only people who’d been to the house before would be able to. But Sirius had mentioned Regulus, and how he’d tried to back out of being a Death Eater and been killed for it. And I realized...Regulus Black. Regulus Abraxas Black.”

Ginny twisted around and stared in amazement at Harry. “R.A.B. Harry, that’s brilliant!” she exclaimed. “So you think Regulus destroyed the locket?”

“I think he took it,” Harry corrected. “I don’t think we can assume he managed to destroy it. But we have a good place to start looking now. In fact, it just occurred to me that I should check the Black family vault at Gringott’s, there’s a lot in there besides the cash, so I suppose it’s possible he stashed the locket if he couldn’t figure out how to destroy it, or didn’t have time.”

“Hmmm.” Ginny leaned back against Harry and thought for a while. “Harry,” she said eventually, “I know it must have occurred to you that Regulus might have collected more than just the locket.”

“It did, but again, we can’t assume that.”

“No, we can’t,” Ginny agreed. “But since it’s possible, and since eventually we’ll need to confirm some object is a Horcrux anyway, shouldn’t we focus on how exactly we’re supposed to identify them? Otherwise we might just pass over one without realizing.”

Harry opened and closed his mouth a few times. “Bloody hell, Ginny, I’m glad you thought of that. How the hell do we tell what’s a Horcrux?”

“No idea. I think we’d better find out, though.”

Harry pulled Ginny tightly against him and leaned around to kiss her cheek. “I’m so glad you’re back,” he mumbled into her hair. “And not just because you make me more confident we’re going to win. Having you around makes it easier to remember why it’s worth it to survive at all.”

Ginny flushed with pleasure. “Anything’s worth it to be this happy,” she said, echoing Harry’s words to her from before. She brought Harry’s hand to her lips and kissed his palm lightly. “I love you, Harry,” she whispered.

Harry grinned and pulled aside Ginny’s hair so he could plant light kisses on her neck. “So what were you thinking about?” he asked.

“Ask me again later,” Ginny replied breathily.

“Why later?”

“Because-” Ginny shivered a bit as Harry kissed her behind her ear, and then nibbled slightly on her lobe. “Because I don’t want to distract you from what you’re doing.”

“Makes sense.” Harry’s mouth went back to Ginny’s neck, working down slowly, nipping lightly at her skin. His right arm was around Ginny’s waist, and he pushed her shirt up enough so that he could trace light patterns across her stomach. His callused fingers made Ginny’s skin tingle wherever they touched.

“H-Harry, this isn’t fair,” Ginny stammered.

“Why not?”

“Because I can’t reciprocate!”

“Ginny,” Harry responded, focusing on a spot on Ginny’s shoulder that seemed to get a strong reaction, “You are reciprocating. The way your skin twitches, your shivers, your short breath…it’s as potent as having your hands all over me. You’re so beautiful…just seeing you react to me this way is what I want right now. Just relax and enjoy holding my attention.”

Ginny was enjoying it, certainly. Harry’s hands hadn’t ventured anywhere near her breasts or her quim, but she was almost painfully aroused anyway. Giving in to Harry’s ministrations, Ginny relaxed into Harry’s arms. Feeling almost boneless, she lost herself in the reactions Harry’s patient fingers and mouth drew from her, never once venturing beyond her stomach, her back and neck, her shoulders and arms. It was by far the most erotic thing she’d ever experienced, even more so than actual sex; the calm, almost languid way Harry was taking his time would have driven her mad if she hadn’t allowed herself to drift in the sweet, lovely sensations. Finally Harry’s hands came drifting, one over her stomach, one opposite it on her back, at the same moment Harry’s lips and teeth gently hit the sensitive spot on her shoulder, and Ginny was startled by a small but gratifying orgasm. Leaning all her weight back against Harry and tilting her head back against his shoulder, Ginny kept her eyes firmly closed and just reveled in the joy she found in Harry’s arms. “Ginny?” Harry whispered. “Are you okay?”

“Shhh…” Ginny murmured; Harry smiled and closed his eyes, happy to sit in silence with the woman he loved.