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“You're sure this is alright?” Harry asked, one hand on Ginny's back, leaning in to speak quietly into her ear.
Ginny rolled her eyes and turned her head to look at him so sharply, he almost got whipped in the face by her loose braid.
“Harry,” she said, with that tone of voice she tended to use when she thought he was being unnecessarily obtuse. “You've spent the last two Christmases with us.”
“Yeah, but--” Harry started to say, but was cut off.
“As Ron's best friend and not my boyfriend, yes. But if I hadn't invited you, Ron would have, and you would still be there. And you'd still be Ron's best friend and my boyfriend. Really what bloody difference does it make that I brought it up first?” she asked.
Harry exhaled a shaky breath and runs a hand through his hair, tugging at a knot to untangle it.
“I don't know! It's just… I don't want your parents to be disappointed,” he said.
Ginny goggled at him.
“Disappointed. That I'm dating Harry Potter. Who's not only the only known person to have survived the killing curse, inadvertently killing Voldemort and liberating all of wizarding kind, but also Hogwarts' youngest and best seeker in, oh, a century? The boy they've welcomed into their family years ago? Harry, don't be ridiculous, they all love you!” she said, slightly exasperated. Harry knew what to look for though, and there in the one corner of her mouth sat her amusement, and her fondness in the other.
He smiled at her.
“Yes, but now you love me, and I love you, and it's just… different,” he said.
Ginny sighted to hide the way her eyes went soft, and then leaned up to kiss him briefly on the lips.
“Regardless, you're already in London and dad's already seen you, so you can't back out now.”
Harry laughed a little, and hefted his bag onto his shoulder, letting Ginny lace her fingers through his other hand.
“Harry! So good to have you with us again,” Mr. Weasley said when he reached them, clapping him on the back. “Molly and I are so glad to know someone's keeping this rascal out of trouble.”
He ruffled Ginny's hair as he said it and then bent down to kiss her on the head when she squawked her indignation. Harry wasn't sure if he was supposed to believe that that's how Mr. and Mrs. Weasley really felt about him dating their one and only daughter, but the knot of anxiety in his chest loosened anyway.
“Told you so,” Ginny whispered when her dad stepped away to lead them off platfrom nine-and-three-quarters.
“You usually do,” Harry conceded, and let her tug him along.
He'd always felt so at home with the Weasley family, and even though he knew, rationally, that they wouldn't be upset he and Ginny had begun going out, he took a particular pleasure in being seated opposite her at the table. It might only be a formal, insignificant difference, but being here as Ginny's boyfriend first, and Ron's best friend second, and feeling just as welcome, just as included in the warmth that seemed to permeate every corner of the Weasley home, was probably the best thing he could've been gifted with that Christmas.
The End