Chapter Text
Chapter One:
The news that Ginny had finally broken up with Dean was keeping Harry up at night. It was not like he needed another reason to be awake with his head forever swimming with his issues but she had become a welcome distraction in the months that had passed. He was thinking how she was single and how he could possibly ask her out. A loud snore came from next to him, as if on cue, Ron’s heavy breathing filled his ear. Harry sighed and turned over, hoping that sleep would embrace him soon until he was not going to be getting any sleep any time soon and hopped out of bed.
Everyone was expecting Ginny to be sad over her break up with Dean but she actually felt happy… and free. It allowed her space and time to think about the thing that had been pressing on her mind for weeks. She had felt her feelings for Harry creeping back in all school year and what was making it worse, she thought, she could feel it was not so one sided anymore.
It had started with small things. For example, whenever they walked into the Great Hall together he would allow her to sit first or sometimes, she did feel him staring a little too long. She had tried to shake the thoughts out of her mind because she could not allow herself to think like that because she could not handle the rejection.
It wasn’t until a few months before, just after the Christmas holidays, she noticed it was something more. She was sitting on one of the sofas in the Gryffindor common room and was watching whilst Ron and Hermione were deep in one of their tiffs. Harry had sat next to her and was commenting about the fight. They were laughing when she became aware of how close they were. She had turned to him and noticed that their knees were practically touching. His arm was behind her; leading on the back of the sofa. The air had changed. Ron and Hermione’s raised voices seemed a million miles away. Her throat was dry and she could have sworn she saw his eyes flickered down to her lips. Then suddenly he moved away and Ginny realised Dean was walking towards her.
In the present, she was tossing and turning in bed until she realised enough was enough. She could not sleep, not under the circumstances. She threw her covers off and went downstairs to the common room. She nearly stopped in her tracks when she saw Harry. She mentally cursed herself for not putting a dressing gown on as she was wearing a baggy t-shirt that just covered everything and thankfully was wearing shorts.
‘Erm, hey…’ she managed to say.
He let out a breath he did not know he was holding. She looked so beautiful, luminous in the moonlight. Her bright red hair was slightly messy and hanging over one shoulder. Her lean legs, built from Quidditch but luckily her t-shirt was baggy enough to stop any other thoughts. She looked perfect though.
She gave him a small smile and walked to sit down on one of the sofas near the fireplace but not before taking a look at him. Barefoot in flannel pyjama bottoms that were just a little too long for him. She found that utterly adorable. He was wearing a grey t-shirt that had a hole in the collar. His arms, even though he would forever be lanky, were forming a little muscle and it made her thoughts wander. He followed suit and sat down next to her. There was an awkward silence before he quickly turned his attention to the table.
‘Ah, Ron’s left his food here. That is unfortunate for him’ Harry said and picked up a box of every flavour of Bertie Beans. He offered it to Ginny but she shook her head.
‘A Weasley turning down food? Are you sure you are related to Ron?’
She shook her head and laughed a little ‘No, I just want to be able to still fit into my Quidditch robes. Not all of us have Ron’s metabolism’
‘What? Has someone said something?’
‘No, they haven’t. I would hex them if they did. It is just that… my arse is getting on the bigger side’
He had shamefully noticed and then spoke without thinking ‘Your arse is fine’
She shot an eyebrow at him and hid a smirk.
‘What I mean is…. It is perfectly aligned with… the rest of you’ he continued to say. His heart was racing.
‘My arse is perfectly aligned with the rest of me? Careful, Potter, people would think you are hitting on me’
The common room was lit only with candle light but she could see he was blushing. She mentally sighed and then added ‘Joking!’
But she was not joking. She had given him an opening and all he could do was sit there and blush. He is utterly adorable for it though she thought to herself.
He on the other hand was mentally slapping himself. She had given him the perfect opportunity to open up the conversation but he had sat there and blushed like a kid. He was so desperate to make her his but he was painfully awkward and inexperienced that someone else would come along and snap her up. He could not possibly expect her to wait around.
Ginny quickly filled the silence and picked up a piece of parchment for the table.
‘Oh McLaggen is throwing a party tomorrow night. I haven’t had a chance to knock him out for knocking you out yet’ she said and passed him the parchment.
‘Don’t be silly, you don’t need to…’
‘You are too nice for your own good sometimes. He’s an arrogant prick. We should go to terrorise him’
They spent the next hour talking until she fell asleep on his shoulder and he did not have the heart to wake her. She fit so perfectly next to him. Trying not to wake her he leaned behind her to get the blanket that was draped across the back of the sofa and put it across her sleeping body. He then put an arm around her and she snuggled closer to him. An hour or two won’t hurt. He thought to himself and eventually fell asleep himself…
‘Harry! Ginny!’ a raised voice came from the distance. It sounded so far away. They opened their eyes and saw Hermione standing over to him. Harry groaned and saw that Ginny was now laying across his chest and her arm across him. She sat up and he instantly missed her warmth and the feel of her body against his. She rubbed her eyes and noticed the blanket across her. She muttered something about needing a shower, said goodbye to them and then walked away.
Hermione watched her leave the common room then turned to Harry before slapping him on the arm.
‘Ow! What was that for?’ he asked and rubbed his arm.
‘Oh shut up! Hurry up and ask her out already’
‘And how do you know that I haven’t already?’
‘Well have you?’ Hermione asked and crossed her arms.
‘No’ he admitted and shook his head.
‘Well you best hurry up!’
Later that evening, Ginny was finishing getting ready for the party. It was going to be in the common room so she might as well go, annoy McLaggen but she was going to look good doing it. She was wearing a black dress that Tonks had given her that had once been the latter’s in the 80s. It was black, glittery and strappy. She worried it was too short but like Harry had said last night… her arse was just fine. She smiled at the thought then put on some lip gloss, her boots and an oversized flannel shirt. She ruffled her hair then headed downstairs.
Harry was getting pretty sick of playing third wheel to Ron and Hermione. He was close to locking them in a room until they admitted their feelings. Maybe Ginny could help. The pair were currently in an argument and he walked over to get a drink of beer when he saw her coming down the stairs. She was wearing a dress that Ron would probably comment was too short and Harry would have resist the urge to hit him. Also, more importantly he had to stop himself from kissing her right there and then. She walked over to him, grabbed a cup and then poured herself a drink.
‘You look nice’ he said, before he could stop himself but he was honestly past caring.
‘Thanks… my arse still fine and aligned with my body?’ she asked, smirking.
‘You got it’ he said before taking a sip of his drink.
McLaggen’s friends have brought something called Tequila. It was a muggle drink and Harry had decided to have a few shots of it with Ginny. Ron had already thrown up after his second one and had to be sent to bed.
Harry on the other hand had never felt so free and not a care in the whole. Everything was brighter and what bothered him on a day to day basis no longer brought him down. He had just stopped a seventh year hitting on Ginny and would not let her leave his side. It was annoying her but at the same time, she liked the more confident side of him.
‘If you’re going to act like a caveman, can we at least dance?’ she asked him and tried to pull him towards a few other couples that were dancing.
‘I don’t dance’ he sighed as she continued to pull him closer. There was loud, dance music. It was most definitely probably Muggle music he thought to himself.
Sober, he would not have dared to do what he was doing but drunk, all those fears had gone. She was so close to him, her hands were around his neck and his were on her waist. He pulled her even closer and she could feel everything… including that . It made her giddy with excitement and that was the last thing she remembered….
She woke up the next morning, her head was banging. She sat up and held her head. She gasped when she saw Hermione sitting in a chair next to her bed.
‘Well, good morning to you’ she said with a small smile and passed Ginny a glass of water.
‘Erm… hello?’
‘Do you remember last night?’ Hermione asked.
‘Erm… I was drunk.. And I was dancing with… oh my god. I was dancing with Harry’
‘That is one way to put it….’
‘Then it is a blur. Did anything else happen?’ Ginny asked and began to panic. She had been wanting to kiss Harry for the longest time and she hoped that their first kiss was not a drunken one she could not forget.
‘No, nothing else happened. I think you began to sober up, realised what you were doing and headed to bed. But Ginny, what were you thinking?’ Hermione sighed.
'Alright, Mum’
‘What if Ron was there? Luckily people were too drunk to see you two dirty dancing… ‘
‘Oh come off it, we weren’t dirty dancing’
‘What if something did happen then you would have to have the conversation you have been avoiding for months?’ Hermione questioned.
‘I know, I know’ Ginny sighed and pushed her covers off.
‘You know I want you guys together but that isn’t the way. You need to talk. Sober’