Chapter Text
It was New Year’s Day, and Ginny had spent the entirety of it waiting by the Floo.
“He’ll get here eventually,” Hermione said.
“You could try to act half-normal in the meantime,” Ron added.
“Don’t be a prat.”
The Floo sparked, and she shot to her feet, but it was only Luna coming through.
“Oh,” said Ginny.
Luna frowned at her. She turned in a small circle, looking over her shoulder to make sure nothing was behind her. “Have I tracked in mud?”
Hermione laughed. “Ginny’s just—”
“Pathetic,” Ron interrupted.
“Yes, that’s it. Thank you, Ron.”
He grinned at her.
Ginny grabbed Luna’s hand and marched her away from the sitting room. She didn’t need to wait for Lee, anyway. Certainly not if it meant sitting around watching Hermione and her brother moon over each other all day.
“I hope you’ve had a good holiday,” Luna said.
“Good enough. It was… a lot.”
“I was so very sorry Fred couldn’t be there,” Luna said. “And I’m sorry I’ve been occupied as well.”
Ginny swallowed her emotion. “I know.”
She tried to pull Luna past the kitchen, but Luna stopped to wave.
“Hullo, Harry!”
“Luna!” Harry stepped out.
He looked… good. More relaxed than he had in ages, really. It was his first time at the Burrow since they’d broken up on Boxing Day.
Harry quirked a smile at her. “Gin.”
She tried for a genuine smile in return. It hadn’t stopped feeling weird.
“We’ve got to be going,” said Luna. “Ginny’s very desperate to get away. She nearly pulled my arm out.”
“Er… right. You’ll be staying for lunch?” Harry asked.
“Will there be pudding?”
“More than anyone could eat.”
“I can’t imagine I’d find a reason to miss that,” Luna said dreamily. “Then again, you never know what may come up.”
Ginny was finally able to tug her down the hallway to the front room.
“His Dordrums were gone, did you notice?” Luna said.
“He met someone at school. I don’t think they’re properly together yet, but he’s basically smitten.”
“So soon? I can’t believe he said that.”
“We-ell,” Ginny hedged, “he didn’t phrase it like that per se, but you should’ve seen him. He was responding to an owl and snickering to himself like a schoolgirl. It was disgusting, but we’re all happy for him. Even Ron.”
Luna shot her a glowing smile. “How wonderful.”
The front room was abandoned, so Ginny pulled Luna into a chair and debriefed her on the whole Lee situation, including everything she hadn’t managed to jam into her most recent letter.
Luna shook her head slowly at the end. “Is George all right?”
“Not in the slightest. But he hasn’t punched anyone else in the jaw yet, so I consider that a win.”
“That is rather positive.”
“And—”
There was a chorus of cherry hellos from the other room. Ginny sat up straight.
Luna said, “You’ve trailed off at the beginning of your sentence. Most people wait until the middle.”
There was laughter, and the sound of boots stomping to get ash off the bottoms.
“Oh,” said Luna, “oh, I see. Lee Jordan is here. What are you still sitting with me for?”
Ginny grinned at her and jumped to her feet. She left Luna to her own devices and scrambled to the hallway, then walked as casually as she could to the sitting room.
Lee was catching up with Charlie, who had a broad smile on his face, but when Ginny entered the room, Lee turned around to face her.
“Hey, Gin. Happy New Year.”
A swarm of pixies erupted in her stomach. “Happy New Year.”
Lee turned back once to clap Charlie on the arm, and then he walked over to her.
So close, in each other’s space, she felt like she’d start levitating up to the ceiling. It had only been a week. Good Merlin, she was hopeless.
Ginny couldn’t stop smiling.
Lee still had on his coat and scarf, a red and gold striped affair with tassels on the ends. She used it to pull him from the room, towards the hallway where it wouldn’t feel like a hundred people were watching them.
Not that she cared much, anymore.
“Your jaw healed up nicely,” she said, using it as an excuse to brush her thumb over his cheek.
She walked backwards in the direction of the front room, letting him guide her.
“The wonder of magic.”
“Is it snowing outside?”
“How could you tell?”
“You’ve got some on your hair.” It was mostly melted now, but Ginny twined her fingers in it to let the rest fall off.
“I walked.”
“Why in the world did you do that?”
“Wanted a little fresh air.”
They’d made it to the entryway of the front room. It was gloriously empty. She sent a silent word of thank you to Luna.
“Why?” Ginny asked.
“I needed to clear my head for a while before I got here. You’re—”
“Bewitching?” she offered cheekily.
“That’s one word for it.”
“What do you have to think so hard about?” she asked, unapologetically coy.
Lee scoffed. “Are you going to let go of me?”
“Wasn’t planning on it.”
He snorted.
“Look up,” Ginny said softly.
Lee did. “Ginny…” it was a warning, almost a protest.
“You know Harry and I broke up?”
Lee met her eyes. “You hadn’t mentioned it.”
“And I don’t think I’ve ever been so sober.”
“Ginny,” he said again, like it pained him.
“I put that there, you know.”
“What?”
“The mistletoe. I put it up everywhere. In case you didn’t get the hint.”
He slid his hand around her waist. Suddenly it didn’t matter how well she’d planned this. Some part of her still hadn’t been sure he wanted this too, and she found herself fighting for breath, her head spinning and her body buzzing.
“Real subtle hint,” he said. “Risky, isn’t it? Putting that everywhere. Could’ve ended up with a lot of people kissing.”
“I told everyone to steer clear.”
“Told?”
“Threatened.”
He laughed, and she grinned back at him.
“God, you’re beautiful,” he said.
Ginny smiled wider, her heart pounding in her chest. “Took you long enough to notice.”
“Please. I’ve noticed.”
Her eyes flicked to his lips, then back. “You want me to do a countdown? Because I can. We’ll pretend it’s midnight.”
“Ginny,” he said, amused this time.
She didn’t think she could ever get the way he said her name out of her head.
“Is it my breath? Because it was just Christmas, you know, so there are all these peppermints about, and I don’t think that’ll be a problem. I could eat a biscuit.”
“Ginny,” he laughed, shifting closer.
“I’ll keep saying dumb things if you don’t stop me from talking.” Her hand was twined in one of the tassels from his scarf, her finger digging softly into his chest.
Lee leaned down and lifted her straight off the ground. Ginny gasped, her arms flying around his neck as she was swept up, her hands going to his hair, and then he was kissing her.
His mouth was sweet and open and tasted like coffee, and it felt like she was flying, the way her feet dangled above the ground. Ginny might’ve whimpered, or done something equally embarrassing, because all she could focus on was the electricity covering every centimetre of her skin, and the heat building in her stomach.
The mistletoe dissolved above them, raining down in glittery light.
When Lee deepened the kiss and their tongues touched, an ache opened up in Ginny’s chest, so big and powerful, this neverending surge begging more, more, more.
He pushed her against the doorframe, and her feet touched the ground once more, and he was bending over her, his hand sliding up her stomach and the other to the curve of her arse, and she was pulling him closer desperately, wanting every part of their bodies to touch.
There was a loud round of laughter from the other room, and it was enough to get through to the rational part of her brain and break them apart, remind them of where they were.
Lee pulled back, panting heavily, his hand under her shirt, his eyes wide and dark.
“We would be very lucky,” Lee said, “if no one was watching that.”
She chuckled, tipping her head back against the door frame. “I don’t care.”
Lee leaned closer, brushed his lips over her neck. She gasped at the soft, fluttering sensation of his breath.
“I want to kiss you again,” Lee murmured.
“I’d be amenable to that.”
Lee backed away. “I want to kiss you somewhere that’s not here.”
Ginny grinned, wound both sides of his scarf around one hand, and pulled him towards the stairs. “I think that can be arranged.”
~
It was spring, and Ginny was zipping through the trees just as fast as the birds.
“Where’s your fighting spirit, Lee?” she jeered. “Going to be beaten so easily?”
“I’m biding my time, waiting for the right moment to strike!”
Ginny swung back towards the backyard pitch and hurled the Quaffle through his goalpost. “Typically in Quidditch the best strategy is to score.”
Lee leaned over the handle of his broom, winded. “Would you question Van Gogh in front of a blank canvas?”
“Only if he was as big of a sucker as you,” she said, but she was grinning.
Ginny dove to retrieve the Quaffle, and spun back up into the air.
Lee jerked towards her, trying to knock it free from her hands.
“Technical foul!” George called from below.
Ginny whopped and flew in a celebratory circle, and Lee swore.
“You’re taking sides!” Lee shouted down at him.
George shrugged. He still had that blank, half-gone look on his face most of the time, but he was outside in the sun, and he’d smiled at them once earlier that morning, and it was a bright, spring day.
“I’m gonna win,” Lee said. “I’m gonna win and you’ll all be sorry!”
Ginny sped past him, dropped a kiss on his cheek and threw the Quaffle through the loop once more while he was still dumbfounded.
“Bribery!” George called.
Lee laughed, loud and blazing, and Ginny felt warm all over.
“First to twenty?” she suggested innocently.
“You’re on, Weasley.”