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Author: Majick Story: I Now Pronounce You... Rating: Young Teens Setting: Pre-OotP Status: Completed Reviews: 20 Words: 8,372
It's amazing, really. All these years later, and she's still with me. I never did understand what made her choose me. I suppose there was some lingering attraction from the crush she had when she was a kid, but you grow out of crushes, right? Look at me and Cho, after all, or Ron and Fleur. But we're here, and it's now, and we all look - modesty aside - great. Professional Quidditch has done wonders for me and Ron and, well, Ginny and Hermione would look good no matter what. In their dresses, they look amazing. I can't get over how beautiful Ginny is. I'm getting through the service on auto-pilot. Thank God that Remus made me memorise my part. He said that my dad was just the same, that day twenty-five years ago. And it is twenty-five years, to the day. Remus nearly choked on his dinner when we announced the date, and I thought that Fred or George was going to have to give him the Heimlich manoeuvre. But I'm getting away from myself, aren't I? The story that needs to be told is how I came from behind, winning back the woman I love after nearly doing everything in my power to push her away. Oh, Ginny would say I'm being melodramatic, and maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but when Ron told me how upset she was, I was sure that I was going to lose her. A part of me didn't realise, I suppose, exactly how serious she was taking it. Trust me to get things wrong... I never was much good with women. * "What do you mean, you won't help me? You always have something to say whenever things go wrong with me and Ginny!" Fred looked at George. They both shrugged. "Harry, things have never gone wrong for you and Ginny," Fred said. "You've had a few bumps in the road, sure, but what couple doesn't?" "This is serious, though," George said. "If you really think that Ginny's going to dump you because you didn't propose, then you're in trouble." I took a deep breath. "Don't you think that I know that?" "No, I don't think you do," Fred said. "Harry, Ginny's mad about you, has been for a long time. She might get a bit frustrated at you for not proposing, but she wouldn't dump you for that reason alone." "Then why in God's name is she avoiding me?" George grinned. "Oh, I'll bet Galleons to Knuts that she's angry with you-" "-furious, even-" "-but she wouldn't dump you just because of that." "Remember our proposals?" Fred smiled dreamily. "Yours went down like a bomb." "That's because it was a bomb. Delivered to the dressing room when she was giving an interview to that Japanese Maginet bloke." "Oh, yeah. That footage keeps on popping up, doesn't it?" "Yeah... Still, yours wasn't any better..." I left them to it. If Fred and George wouldn't help me, then I was in deep trouble. On the other hand, if they wouldn't help me, then I couldn't be in so deep that I couldn't dig myself out, right? At least, Fred and George didn't think so. They did have a history of crossing the line, though. I went home. I didn't think that it would be a good idea to try and face Ginny again. Somehow, I wasn't in the mood. * It was several days later. I hadn't seen Ginny - Puddlemere away match - since the beginning of the week, and then only in passing. Things were... cool between us. I think that I could have handled almost anything, but for Ginny to just look through me as though I wasn't there most of the time... It hurt. I began to get the message. I really, really didn't take Ginny for granted, though. I always made sure to tell her that I loved her, at least once a day, even if I had to send Hedwig. At least once a week I'd make a point of doing something specifically for her, that I knew she enjoyed, whether it was a walk in the rose garden at Hogwarts - did I ever mention that I get hay fever? - or just giving her a long, slow, massage. I may, I suppose, have enjoyed that too... According to a 'relationship psychologist' on TV, though, I was taking her for granted by not proposing, I was keeping her at arms length by not making her a permanent part of my life, and I was ready to drop her at a moments notice by not committing. Short of wearing a badge saying 'Ginny Weasley is my girlfriend', I'm not sure how much more committed I could have been. Didn't I turn down all the groupies? Didn't I make sure she knew how I felt? I will never understand women for as long as I live. The thing of it was, I did want to get married, but I just wasn't in any great rush. I've already seen Ernie McMillan and Blaise Zabini go through painful divorces, and they're no older than me. I wasn't rushing into things with Ginny, but I didn't see any reason to settle down before I was ready, and I don't think anyone's ready at nineteen, as Gabriella Malfoy found out when Draco's affairs were splashed all over the front page of the Prophet. I do get off topic, don't I? Sorry about that. I was saying why I was ready to marry Ginny. It came to this: Because I wanted to. I was waking up, and missing not having her there. I was seeing people with their kids, and wondering what mine and Ginny's would look like. I was beginning to wonder if spending the last umpteen years sharing a bathroom with Ron were going to scar me for life. I loved how Ginny looked in the morning, and how she looked at night, and every moment in between. I loved her, and I needed to have her with me, and I wanted the world to know that. So that evening, I made my way to the Burrow, where I knew she'd been staying. I'd already arranged this with Molly and Arthur, and they were going to spend the evening visiting family. It took a lot of preparation, but it was worth it. The kitchen, when Ginny Apparated back from her day at Hogwarts visiting Neville and Justin, was covered in her favourite flowers. Roses, tulips, anemones, chrysanthemums, violets, lilies, and geraniums hung everywhere. "Hi," I said. "Hi," she replied. "What do you think?" I asked, gesturing at the flowers. "What is it this time?" she said, barely looking at them. "Do you want us to get a dog, or something?" "No, at least, not yet," I said. "What, then?" I looked at her, fiery hair and fiery eyes, arms crossed as she focussed her anger on me. She had never looked more beautiful. I'd prepared a speech, sort of. That bit about the kids, and he first thing in the morning and all that. I decided I didn't need it. I pushed myself off my seat and dropped to one knee in front of her. "Ginny, will you marry me?" She stared at me for a long moment, and then sighed. "Harry, why are you doing this?" "Because I love you, and I want to be with you. I know I can't have you all the time, I know you love your job, and even if I do wish you were here more, I wouldn't ask you to give that up. But I want to make the most of what time we do have. I want you to live with me, I want to wake up to you, I want us to have kids together, and bring them up the way your parents brought you lot up. I want to look back in a hundred years time, and have my only regret being that I couldn't have all those things sooner, that it took me all this time to know how much I love you and how much I need you to be part of my life, form this day forward, forever." "Oh," was all she said. I don't think she expected me to say that. "You're serious?" "Yes." "Since when?" "I've been thinking about it for a long time," I admitted. "But it's taken time for everything to fall into place. Can I just point out that I'm kneeling on a rose, here? I didn't have time to strip all the thorns..." She helped me up, and rolled up my trouser leg. She clucked at the sight of the blood, and then sighed as she wiped it clean. "You're a wimp, you know that? Any curse breaker wouldn't even blink at a thorn prick." "Guess that's why I need you to look after me, then." She smiled, and for the first time I began to think that everything would be okay. * Ginny took some convincing. She'd been lied to by an expert, and having me suddenly propose when she was just beginning to have doubts was a little too neat. I don't know if she'll ever completely put the ghost of Tom Riddle behind her, but I'm going to do everything I can to make sure she can trust me. She's worth it. I wouldn't be here without her and she's the only person whose smile makes me feel so warm inside. Which brings us back to the here and now. I just about came around as Minister Doge declared "I now pronounce you..." and I'm already kissing my wife. The twins jinxed the cake, of course. When Hermione pushed the first piece into Ron's face, the whole thing, all five tiers, lifted up and dropped on top of him. I may be no curse breaker, but my reflexes were quick enough to pull Hermione clear. She just about managed to see the funny side, I think, or at least see that there was a funny side, even if she didn't appreciate it. And there were toasts, and dancing, and more toasts, and speeches - Fred and George, again, as Ron didn't trust me to be funny and I didn't trust him to say more than two words in public without messing up. What are best friends for? - and then there was the honeymoon. Not Canada, though. Ginny was firmly against the idea. And when the honeymoon was over, there was the marriage itself. It's going pretty well, so far. Ginny misses curse breaking sometimes, but there's some good tombs in Europe that she can get to a lot easier than she can the ones in Egypt, so sometimes she goes on assignment for a few days. Of course, I'm left with the children, but Puddlemere have a crèche on site, so that's okay. And that's pretty much it. We argue from time to time - not as much as Ron and Hermione, but who does? - but I love her, and I know that she loves me. That's what it's all about, really, isn't it? The End Beta’s note: I wanted to make sure that I got this chapter posted for Majick today, the 9th of September. It just seemed appropriate to me that we get to read the beginning of Harry’s new role as a husband on the same day that Majick celebrates his first day as a married man. Congratulations, Majick, and may you and your bride have many happy years ahead of you!
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