Chapter Text
The first time Harry met Ginny Weasley was the summer between his first and second years at Hogwarts.
He had been invited over to the Weasley's to swim in their pond and when his parents went with him via the Floo Network to drop him off, their arrival had startled young Ginny and she had dropped the small potted rosebush she had been carrying, breaking it into pieces on the living room floor.
The Potters had apologized and Lily had waved her wand, thus setting the plant right again just as Molly Weasley came over to see what had happened.
Harry had introduced himself and Ginny had gone wide-eyed at seeing him.
Harry guessed it was because his parents were practically famous for helping the Order of The Phoenix hunt the horcruxes that Lord Voldemort had created, turning in Death Eaters and dark witches and wizards to the Ministry, and then being the ones who had killed him when he tried to kill Harry back when he was just an infant. Harry didn't really understand why they were given so much attention by the media. His parents had always been so humble about their work and they never wanted any of the glory that had been pushed onto them. Harry was raised to be humble too and that was okay.
He had a scar on his forehead from where Voldemort had tried to kill him. Luckily, his mother had caught the curse directly with her disarming spell and a bolt had arched off of the connection point (it had something to do with his mum and Voldemort having twin wand cores) and hit him in the forehead before his dad killed Voldemort and so of course, he was considered to be 'The Boy Who Lived' by the people who wrote for The Daily Prophet.
Ginny had run off upstairs with her rosebush after thanking Lily, her face as flaming red as her hair.
Over the years, Harry had grown closer to the Weasley family and he had grown attracted to Ginny. Of course, Ginny had always seemed off-limits to Harry, seeing as she was his best friend's little sister.
It wasn't until he was fifteen and Ginny was dating a boy named Stephen Ramblewood from Ravenclaw that Harry really started to notice her. Harry was jealous and it was awful because he wanted to talk to Ron about it and couldn’t because, for Merlin’s sakes, Ginny was his little sister and it was way off-limits to date your best mate’s sister.
Ron had voiced his dislike and distrust of Stephen before to Harry, stating in detail what he would like to do to him. None of it sounded pleasant and that made Harry even more afraid to pursue Ginny.
A few months into their sixth year, Ron hexed Stephen because he caught the foul git snogging another girl behind a tapestry and Ginny broke up with him and spent the next few weeks before Christmas break in a depressed state because of it.
Ron was talking to Harry about Ginny one night while they packed up to leave for Christmas.
“You know, Harry, I have eyes and I can see how you look at Ginny.”, Ron said, “You hated Stephen just as much as I did…”
“Look the reason why I never said anything or did anything was because it seemed off-limits… Ginny seemed off-limits…”, Harry started, but Ron cut in.
“It’s fine if you want to go out with her…”, Ron stated, surprising Harry.
“I…Really? It wouldn’t be awkward for you?”, Harry asked as Neville entered the dormitory and put his shoes by the stove in the middle of the room to dry off.
Ron shrugged.
“’Course it’d be awkward, Ginny’s still my sister and you’re still my best mate. I’m just saying that I trust you a whole lot more than I could ever trust Stephen, or any other bloke who’s tried to date my sister…”, Ron replied, closing his trunk, “You’ve never said a cross word to Ginny for as long as you’ve known her, so I know you would never hurt her. You’re her friend too. Maybe you have the chance to be more than that to her, I don’t know, but you two just go together…”
Harry nodded and closed his trunk.
“I’ll give it a go…”, he said, “I want to help her get over Stephen before I do anything else…”
“She’s already over him… and I have it on good authority that she’s got feelings for you…”, Neville said, surprising everyone, “So you better strike while the iron’s hot…”
“Hang on, who’s good authority?”, Ron asked as Neville grabbed his pajamas and toiletries and walked towards the bathroom.
“Luna Lovegood’s of course. Luna is Ginny’s best friend and she’s one of the most honest people I know…”, Neville replied as he entered the bathroom.
“Alright then…”, Ron said before mumbling, “Yeah, Luna’s honest all right, just seems like she’s gone round the twist a few times if you ask me…”
Harry laid in bed and thought about what to do now that he knew he was in the clear.
He asked his mother what to do when he got back to Godric’s Hollow, and Lily was very helpful.
“Well, what is Ginny’s favorite hobby?”, Lily asked, as she wrote out invitations to the Potter’s annual New Year’s Eve party before passing them to Harry who stuffed them in their envelopes and sealed them.
“Playing Quidditch. She loves that…”, Harry replied, reaching over to open the kitchen window for Hedwig, who flew in and perched on a chair by the stove.
“Anything else? I’m only asking because I’m sure a great deal of people know that she loves Quidditch…”, Lily replied.
“She likes roses… She has rose perfume that she uses… I can smell it in the locker room after practice.”, Harry replied with a shrug as he stroked Hedwig’s feathers.
“I remember that she had that rosebush that I fixed up for her on--”
“On the day I met her… I remember…”, Harry said, turning back to Lily, “She still has it, only it’s growing in the garden next to Mrs. Weasley’s hydrangeas… Should I get her a bouquet of roses?”
Lily smiled softly.
“Cut roses wilt and die…maybe you can get her another rosebush…give her something she can enjoy for a long time… remember that a thing of beauty is a joy forever…”
“Thanks mum.”, Harry said, kissed Lily on the cheek and then left; the envelopes and seals laying forgotten on the kitchen table.
Lily waved her wand and the letters began to stuff themselves into envelopes and seal themselves.
“He’s just like his father…”, Lily said to Hedwig and the Snowy Owl hooted in agreement.
On Christmas Eve, Harry and his parents went over to the Burrow and he brought with him presents for everyone.
He purposefully hid Ginny’s gift under his invisibility cloak in Ron’s room as it was a surprise for her.
When they went to exchange gifts, Harry took Ginny aside and told her to wait before he ran upstairs and got her gift.
“I know it’s not much…but it can be… it’ll take time though…”, Harry said, holding the invisibility cloak and the gift in his hands.
Ginny looked confused for a moment.
“Harry what is it?”, she asked.
“Here…”, Harry sat it down on the table and pulled the invisibility cloak off of it.
Ginny gasped when she saw a small potted white rosebush encased in a floating magic sphere (Lily had said that it was to protect it from being crushed when they apparated).
Ginny touched the sphere that held the rosebush, causing the sphere to disappear. The rosebush floated to the table.
Ginny touched one of the blooms delicately and gasped when all the rosebuds changed to a pale yellow color.
“Harry, this is… amazing…”, she said and turned to him.
“You like them?”, he asked.
“Yes of course I do…”
“They change color depending on the mood of whomever touches the pot or the plant. They grow a little bit taller and live for ages, but they won’t get much bigger than a standard houseplant, so you can take it back to school with you if you want to…By the way, pale yellow means that you were in awe…It'll turn white again in a few minutes...”, Harry rambled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck and not making eye contact, “There’s a color pamphlet I have that goes with it…”, Harry said, setting the pamphlet next to the plant.
Ginny touched the pot and the rosebuds turned a pale pink, catching Harry’s attention.
“What does pink mean?”, she asked.
“Uh… affection? I think…”, he said as Ginny smiled and stepped closer to him.
Ginny bit her lip and Harry couldn’t help but notice.
“It isn’t wrong you know…”, She murmured, “I’m going to kiss you now if that’s alright.”
“Okay.”, Harry said lamely and Ginny went to kiss him, their arms wrapping about each other. Harry moved his head and Ginny caught the corner of his mouth.
When Ginny pulled back, they both smiled and laughed, their faces reddened.
"Sorry..."
Harry leaned in again, their noses bumping together, causing them to laugh again.
“Third time’s the charm…”, Harry sighed and when Ginny looked confused he added, “It’s a muggle phrase that my mum uses sometimes.”
Ginny nodded and this time they actually kissed.
No one knew who moved first but they both certainly weren’t stopping soon.
Lily rounded the corner into the kitchen, saw Harry and Ginny kissing, turned, and walked back out to the front room where she sat next to James.
“Where’s Harry?”, James asked, looking around for his son.
“He’s helping Ginny with the dishes…he’ll be along.”, Lily replied as she poured herself some more tea.
“I hoped she liked the roses.”, James said.
“I can promise you that she did.”
James looked at his wife who was smiling smugly from behind her teacup.
“I owe you a galleon, don’t I?”, he asked.
Lily nodded.
“That was our deal… they kissed before New Year’s Eve…”
James sighed and fished out a galleon from his pocket and placed it in the pocket of Lily’s robe.
“Thank you.”, she replied.
“He couldn’t have waited a week longer?”, James muttered as he took a swig of his punch.
Lily just smiled in reply.
Years later on the day when he and Ginny were to be married, Harry found a single white blossom pinned to the lapel of his dress robes and a small, six-word note penned in Ginny’s neat script:
“I hope it turns pale yellow.”