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"When you said you'd planned something for our anniversary, I thought you meant fun for both of us, Gin. You're not getting me on that thing."
Even though the broom in front of them was hovering less than three feet off the ground, Lia crossed her arms over her chest, shifting her weight onto one leg. Ginny had been trying to get her on a broom for nearly the whole year they'd been together, and it hadn't worked. But today... she'd woken up with confidence about it. She had more of a plan. More purpose. More persuasion.
"Come on, love. This isn't even my broom, okay? Harry let me borrow his. It's the Firebolt! Smoothest thing you'll ever ride-"
"Debatable."
"Smoothest broom you'll ever ride," Ginny corrected with a smirk. "And I can even put sticking charms on us so we can't fall off."
"It's not the falling I'm worried about. It's the actual flying bit that I'm not keen on. Can't we just go to dinner or something like normal couples who don't have adrenaline junkies as girlfriends?" Lia pouted, giving Ginny the most pathetic expression she could muster.
It was almost good enough, and Ginny took a breath. "Look, I actually really do have something really special planned, but we just... have to get there. And it's a really pretty flight." Lia softened, relaxing her shoulders. "Please? I'm not above begging."
Lia's eyes flicked between Ginny and the broom a couple times, debating. She trusted Ginny that she wouldn't let anything happen to her, but fear wasn't something she tended to just set aside whenever the moment called for it. "Can I keep my eyes closed?"
"Sure." Ginny was biting her lip, trying not to smile too soon. She could see Lia thinking about it. "If you hate it, you never have to get on one again," she promised, just to sweeten the deal. "And we'll fly low."
"How long will it take?"
"Not far. Maybe twenty minutes. You know I hate Apparating and we do that all the time. Really it's more dangerous than flying and I haven't said a thing about it lately."
"Just trying to butter me up for this, were you?"
"Maybe."
Lia breathed deeply for a moment, trying to calm down her heart. This was Ginny. And to be fair, she had a point about the Apparating. Ginny did hate it, but that was their primary mode of travel, especially since Ginny had gotten her license too. She also knew that her girlfriend wasn't about to take no for an answer. It hadn't taken long for Lia to realize that when she pushed for something, Ginny pushed just as hard back. Sometimes even harder. Stubborn as a fucking mule, she was. A mule who knew exactly how to look at her and kiss her and touch her to make her fold. It was irritatingly sexy sometimes.
"Fine," she muttered after a tense pause between them. "One ride. But your surprise better be worth it. Where do you want me?"
Ginny pumped her fist. "Yes! Okay, okay, okay... behind me would probably be best. Put your feet in the stirrups, and you'll just want to hang on. But I will use a sticking charm, okay?" She quickly moved around the broom, charming all of it so any skin contact with the wood would stay until she released it. She straddled the broom and motioned for Lia to get on behind her.
"It's a good thing I love you," Lia muttered as she forced her feet to move in Ginny's direction, then straddle the handle before taking a deep breath. "For the moment, anyway." She scooted herself closer and wrapped her arms tightly around her girlfriend's middle.
"Oh, please. I've got a couple of ideas that can change your mind. You ready?"
"No."
"Too bad!"
Lia screamed as her feet left the ground, burying her face into Ginny's shoulder and holding on even harder. She crossed her ankles and tightened her thighs, as if it would help.
"If you tense too much, you're going to be sore!" Ginny said as the started rushing forward. The wind was blowing Ginny's hair back into her face, and Lia just focused on the smell of her shampoo, breathing it in deeply to distract herself from the feeling that she absolutely shouldn't be doing this.
"If I fall off, I'll be sore, too!"
Lia had no idea which direction they were going, how high up they were, or how long they'd been in the air, but just as she was starting to get more comfortable and accept that Ginny's warmth made this not the worst thing in the world, they were slowing down. She tensed again.
"'What's wrong?"
"Open your eyes," Ginny instructed softly.
"Fuck no."
"You'll miss a beautiful sunset."
"I'm sure it's worth missing. The sun sets every day."
Then Ginny stopped completely. "Come on, babe. We're not moving. You won't fall. Just... you can keep holding onto me. Just open your eyes. Do you trust me?"
"Of course."
"Then look."
After a few calculating breaths, Lia opened her eyes just the tiniest bit. Light was coming through her eyelids, so she knew Ginny was right about there being a sunset, but she didn't expect a sight like this. They must have been nearly 200 meters up, though Lia didn't dare look down to check. The trees underneath them were bathed in red and orange light that looked like it would never end. She'd never seen anything so beautiful. Except, of course, for the way it was reflecting in Ginny's eyes and turning them a beautiful shade of hazel. She was looking back at her with lips quirked up into something between a smirk and a smile. And I love you and an I told you so.
"Is this the surprise?" Lia asked in a whisper.
"Not yet." Carefully, Ginny leaned back to press a soft kiss to Lia's lips, and Lia couldn't help but reciprocate, though it didn't last long considering the angle. "Are you going to keep your eyes open for the rest of the trip?"
"I don't think so. This is... this is incredible, though, Gin. Can we just stay up here for the rest of the night?" She rested her cheek against Ginny's shoulder again, kissing the back of her neck.
"If you keep kissing me like that, we can't," Ginny smirked. "Come on. Your real surprise is... well, it's better than this. And it involves being back on the ground."
"I suppose that makes it worth it." After a few more seconds of just absorbing the sight while Ginny's warmth seeped into her chest without the wind between them, she finally said, "Okay. Okay, let's go."
A little over five minutes later, Ginny instructed her to lift her feet for landing and before Lia knew it, she was on solid ground again. As soon as the sticking charm was released, Lia rolled onto the grass, sighing with relief.
"Thank God. It wasn't as bad as I thought but this is still much better. I like standing. And sitting. And laying down."
"You're really brave, you know. For flying with me. I'm proud of you." Ginny lit a lantern, and Lia lifted herself up onto her hands to look around at where Ginny had brought her. It looked like a large clearing, surrounded by the same trees she'd seen before. They weren't far from home, but there was nothing set up. No picnic, no tent, no fire. Her brow furrowed in confusion, though she tried not to show it. She wanted to give Ginny a chance, but she couldn't help but wonder. She opened her mouth a couple times as she pondered the best question to start out with.
"I'm not going crazy," Ginny assured her as she sat down beside her and pulled out a small bag of what looked like food wrappers mixed with small rocks and a few newly-pressed knuts. "Just give it a bit."
Not even five seconds passed before there was movement in the trees just outside of the light, and Lia's eyes widened as she put the pieces together. "Ginny... you..."
Ginny just grinned, reaching into the bag and dropping a couple rocks into Lia's hand. When she stretched it out in the direction of the shuffling, her teeth sank into her bottom lip to prevent the squeal that was threatening to scare off the creature that was nervously stepping into the circle of light. Beady eyes immediately focused on the rocks in her hand, and the small niffler nearly sprinted towards her before stopping in front of her and looking up, as if needing permission.
"Yeah, they're for you," Lia whispered. "Take them. Here."
The niffler rose up onto its hind legs, setting a hand on Lia's thumb while it used the other hand to shove the small stones into its pouch. Then, it looked at her expectantly. "Well I can't give all my goodies to just you, now can I? Surely you've got mates. Babies. Please tell me you've got babies." Its eyes focused on Ginny next, then noticed the bag in her hand, and Lia could've sworn its grip on her thumb tightened. Ginny pulled a wrapper out of the bag and offered it shiny-side up. The niffler immediately ran to Ginny, grabbed the wrapper, and headed back into the darkness.
"No, wait!" Lia called, pouting a little. "Damn..."
"Sorry," Ginny sighed. "Maybe it'll come back."
Lia shifted to lay on her back on the grass, looking up at the tree branches above their heads and the slowly appearing stars beyond them. "Maybe. And even if he doesn't, thank you for bringing me. I mean... I got to see a wild niffler. How'd you even know they were here?"
"I may have done some of my own research and... asked Hagrid where a nest might be. He used to have a lesson on them for third years."
"Yeah, Kettleburn had that, too. That's when I met Claire, actually," Lia grinned. "The day of that lesson."
"You've never told me that story," Ginny said with genuine surprise as she moved to lay down on her stomach. How had she never heard that story before? Though, when she really thought about it, it seemed like they'd just been born friends. That they'd known each other since day one, and however they'd met had been irrelevant. "It was third year?"
"Mmhmm. Kettleburn was assigning nifflers and the one I got... I don't know what was up with him, but he just... was having a bad day, I guess. All he wanted to do was lay in my hands. Which I didn't have a problem with, of course, but he couldn't do the assignment. So I told Kettleburn and showed him what was going on and he told me to pair up with someone, but I could hang onto him if I wanted to since he was comfortable. So there I am, holding this sleeping niffler in my hands and trying to look around at everyone else's, and I remember Claire was yelling at the fattest niffler I'd ever seen in my life. I swear I think all the ones at Hogwarts had to be rescues or something because they did the worst job of finding things," she couldn't help but laugh. "All I remember is him just rolling around on the top of the dirt. He wasn't digging or sniffing around or anything. Literally just rolling. So I stash mine in my robes and go over to Claire and I just said, 'I need that niffler' before I could even think about it. And she said, 'Take him. He's rubbish. Adorable but useless.' I told her I say the same thing about my owl."
"You still do!"
"It's still true!" Lia wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, a few tears having leaked out from laughing at the memory so much. "And the rest is history. That's when they became my favorite animal, too. Anything that becomes that useless when they don't want to do something is brilliant."
"Did you ever get your assignment done?"
"No," she giggled. "Between both of ours, we just got a lot of entertainment, but it was all good fun. A couple of Claire's housemates were staring at her funny, though, but I didn't care, and she didn't seem to either. Then I sat next to her at lunch. I don't know... it seemed like houses were more inclusive when I started... I mean, of course there were a few Slytherins who didn't like that I'm not pureblood, but... I just remember things getting worse after that year. And everything with the Chamber of Secrets set the rest of it off. But I'm lucky to have her as a friend."
"She's lucky to have you, too. We all are."
"We?"
"My whole family. Harry, Hermione, Luna, Diana, Arnold, Pig, Artemis. Me. Everyone. You really did come into my life at the perfect time," Ginny admitted softly, reaching over to take Lia's hand, playing with her fingers slowly. "Everything seemed so dark. I needed a light."
"So poetic," Lia teased.
"Well, it is our anniversary. I have to be disgustingly romantic at least once a year. So you'll have to stick around to see what I make up for next year."
"Make up, huh?"
Ginny smirked. "Oh yeah. It took me all year to come up with that one."
"No it didn't." Lia laughed, rolling over to kiss her and bringing a hand to cup her jaw. As soon as Ginny's lips parted and Lia began to debate what she was about to subject all these nifflers to, a small snorting noise came from the direction of her feet, accompanied by a small whine. When she pulled back and opened her eyes, the niffler from before was back, and following it were another adult and three babies that were so round and fluffy, Lia could barely tell where their faces were. "Oh my God, Ginny!"
"I see them! And no, you can't take one home. Even as an anniversary present."
The animals backed away a little as Lia and Ginny sat up, but eagerly climbed onto their laps once Ginny opened her bag up again, grabbing as much as they could and stuffing them into their pouches. Even after they'd run out of presents, the nifflers seemed content to just sit with them, with one of the babies even curling up in the junction between Lia's torso and her leg. They only left when Lia started to get tired, but she didn't leave without picking up every single one of them and planting kisses to the tops of their heads.
"You're honestly the cutest person I've ever met in my life," Ginny said with a grin as they mounted the broom again. "Kissing wild nifflers like they're your friends."
"Well they were! And it's not like I'd just go around kissing every animal I see."
"Wouldn't you?"
"Well... just the cute ones. All my other kisses are saved for the wild girlfriends who take me on broom rides."
Ginny kicked off the ground and they started steadily rising. "That was terrible. I think that one did take all year."
"No, that was on the fly. Next anniversary, though... it'll be so good."
"Can't wait."