Now and Forever

Chapter 27

It seemed as if he'd danced with every female at the wedding. Harry gazed wistfully at Ginny, who was now dancing with Neville. This was all fun, the food was delicious, visiting with old friends who'd come to wish them well was wonderful, but he was tired and wanted to whisk his bride away on the honeymoon he'd planned. Just as another girl approached him, Harry saw Ginny coming toward him.

"Sorry," he told the girl, a fourth-year student, "but my wife has this dance with me." He felt a swell of pride within him as he said "my wife." Were there any sweeter words in the English language? Oh yeah. "I love you." "I do." "I now pronounce you man and wife." Yeah, those were all sweet too.

He was startled out of his momentary distraction by the girl's giggle as she smiled and moved away. A moment later, Ginny dropped into a chair beside him.

"My feet are killing me!" she groaned.

"Poor baby." Harry dug through the puddles of fabric at the bottom of her wedding robes, trying to find her feet.

"Here," she said, lifting her skirts and poking her feet out where he could reach them. "Ooooh, that's so good," she moaned as he removed her shoes and began gently kneading the knotted muscles in each foot.

"Are you partied out yet?" Harry asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow and a suggestive gleam in his eye.

She dropped her feet to the floor, sat up straighter and grinned, her energy apparently refreshed. "Yes! Let's go!"

"I want to thank Dan first," Harry said. He picked up her shoes and offered them to her. "Your shoes, m'lady."

"I think I'll stay barefoot," Ginny said as she stood up. "The idea of putting them on again just isn't appealing at all."

Harry held the delicate high-heeled shoes up and inspected them more closely. "I can see why. Next time we get married, wear trainers. Nobody would be able to see them under your wedding robes anyway."

Ginny laughed. "Why didn't I think of that? You're a genius!"

"Good of you to notice," Harry said with a chuckle. He took her hand and led her toward the stage, then turned and grinned at her. "Shall I carry you? Your feet must be cold."

Ginny laughed, her face glowing as she gazed up at him. "No, I'm fine! I should've taken my shoes off ages ago."

Harry stopped and looked down at his wife for a moment, then swept her up in his arms, which led to applause from their guests.

"Harry! I said I was fine!" Ginny protested, her voice filled with laughter.

Harry gave her as serious a look as he could manage. "Yeah, you are. But I wasn't. I felt a desperate need to carry you."

Ginny shook her head and slid her arms around his neck. "Poor Harry. All right, then, if you need to carry me so much, go right ahead."

"Thank you." He chuckled and held her closer as he walked across the Great Hall. As they neared the stage, Ginny tapped Harry on the chin, turning his face towards hers.

"Thank you for being so chivalrous, but I can stand on my own feet, you know," she said.

He sighed dramatically, making her laugh. "If you insist."

"I do."

"Two of my favourite words," Harry said as he set her on her feet in front of the stage.

Dan Jacobs grinned at them. "Do you have a request, or are you danced out?" he said, nodding toward Ginny's bare toes, which were just peeping out from under her robes.

"Danced out, I think," Harry said, glancing at Ginny for confirmation.

At her nod, he turned back to Dan. "We just wanted to thank you, mate. You lot were brilliant!"

"The music before and after the wedding, and the wedding march were gorgeous!" Ginny said. "I've never heard them before."

"That's because I wrote them for your wedding," Dan replied. "I'm glad you liked them. The one we played for the bride and groom dance was original too. That one's called 'Ginny's Waltz.'"

Ginny beamed at him. "You named it after me?"

"Who better?" Dan said, winking at her. "Harry's Waltz just doesn't have the same ring, does it?"

"What are the other songs called?" Harry said.

"So far, they're 'here they come' and 'there they go,'" Dan said, "but we'll work out proper names when we put them on our wedding album."

"Wedding album?" Ginny said.

"Yeah! We all got into it once we started working on these songs. We have several more, nearly enough for an album already, including some of the slow dance songs we played tonight. I'll let you hear it when we finish recording them." He looked at Harry. "I know you value your privacy. Will you mind if I mention on the album that these songs were originally written for your wedding?"

Harry looked at his wife. "What do you think?"

Ginny glowed with excitement. She was still a huge Toads in the Loo fan. "I'd be honoured to be mentioned on one of their albums!"

Harry smiled at Dan. "That settles it, then. Go ahead."

Dan grinned. "Thanks." He raised one eyebrow in a humorously quizzical expression. "Are you willing to do some liner notes for the wedding album?"

"Absolutely. You've earned them," Harry said.

"Thanks, mate! The review of our current album that you sent to the Prophet was brilliant! So, are you two ready to leave?" Dan said.

"We just have to change and get our bags," Ginny said.

"Hang on, then," Dan said, then stood and spoke into the microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, the party can go on for hours, but for some reason, our newlyweds have other things on their minds than dancing." After the laughter died down, he went on. "Let's give them a proper send-off!" The band played a cheerful, up-tempo song while Harry and Ginny made their way to the doors of the Great Hall, stopping for hugs or handshakes and dodging thrown rice, birdseed, sparks from wands, and patent-pending Never-Pop Bubbles, one of the twins' new products. They joined their guests in gaping at the magical ceiling, which was showing the impressive fireworks going off outside.

Arthur, Molly, Remus, Tonks and Dumbledore stood chatting near the doors when Harry and Ginny reached them. "So you're off?" Arthur said, shaking Harry's hand and bending to kiss Ginny's cheek.

"As soon as we change and get our bags," Harry said.

"Where are you going? You never told us," Molly said.

"Probably because they don't want us to know!" Tonks teased, grabbing Harry for a quick hug. "Right, handsome?"

Harry laughed as he released her. "Even Ginny doesn't know."

"It's a surprise, then?" Remus said, giving his godson a warm hug, then doing the same for Ginny.

"Yup." Harry felt a bubble of excitement growing within him. He'd managed it! His research trips, all his planning, everything was a secret from everyone but Merlin. He hoped Ginny would enjoy the honeymoon he'd arranged. He was fairly certain she would, but a tiny bit of doubt crept in from time to time.

"Wherever we're going, as long as we're together, we'll have a wonderful time," Ginny said.

"But if we need to get in touch--" Molly began.

"Call for Merlin. He knows where we're going, and he can bring us a message if you need to contact us," Harry said. "Don't use Hedwig. The trip would be too hard for her."

"Ahhh," Fred said, joining them, "so it's a long-distance trip?"

"I'm not telling!" Harry said. "Thanks for the fireworks. They were brilliant!"

"Our pleasure," George said, giving his sister a pat on the head. "It isn't every day your baby sister marries the hero of the wizarding world!"

"Or anyone else, for that matter," Fred added, "not that she would've married just anyone."

Ron, Hermione and Charlie joined the family gathering. After a final round of hugs, kisses and handshakes, Harry and Ginny walked through the door and turned back to wave one more time.

"See you in two weeks!" Ginny said, waving cheerfully before she slipped her hand into Harry's and followed him down the corridor away from the Great Hall.

* * *

A short time later, Harry and Ginny were both changed and had the few things they were taking with them in backpacks.

Ginny frowned. "Are you sure--"

"Trust me. All you'll need are jeans, shorts, a few lightweight tops and a sweater. And did you pack your swimsuit?"

"Yes."

"Then you're ready! And so am I." Harry stood in front of her and held his backpack between them. "I need you to carry this for me, OK? Buckle yours first." As soon as she had the strap that secured her backpack shoulder straps buckled together across her chest, Harry slipped the straps of his pack over her shoulders from the front, and buckled the strap that connected the two shoulder straps across her back.

"Oof. That's a load," Ginny said, adjusting the straps on her shoulders.

"I'd wear mine myself, but I'm going to be a bit busy," Harry said as he helped her with the straps, "and sending them ahead isn't practical."

"Are you ready to tell me where we're going?"

"Someplace warm and beautiful," he promised. "Ready? Be sure to keep your eyes closed. It's a long jump and if you peep, it might make you ill."

Ginny looked doubtful. "Are you sure about this? It sounds a bit scary."

"You'll be fine. I'll have a tight hold on the straps, and you'll be holding on to my legs. You'll be safe."

She gulped and nodded. Harry gave her a quick kiss, then changed into a phoenix and flew above her, grabbing the doubled backpack straps that lay across her shoulders securely in his talons. When he felt her get a good hold on his legs, he flashed.

Harry hoped Ginny had her eyes closed, because even with his experience of making this trip several times and seeing through phoenix eyes instead of human ones, the scenery hurtling past at ridiculous speed would give him motion sickness if he didn't stay completely focused on his goal.

What seemed like a lifetime later, he stopped his flight and hovered as well as he could, setting Ginny gently on her feet. She wobbled a bit, but managed to stay upright. Once he let go of her, Harry changed back into himself and unbuckled the backpack strap from her back, then lay spread-eagled on the ground, gasping for breath.

Ginny shrugged quickly out of his backpack and knelt beside him, her face twisted with worry. "Harry! Are you all right? What's wrong?"

He tried to slow his breathing. "I'm . . . fine. It's just a long, long flash."

"Where are we? Why did it take so long?"

Harry closed his eyes a moment, then looked at her and smiled. His heart was pounding more with excitement now than from the enormous effort of the flash he'd just done. "Have you looked around yet?"

"No! You collapsed as soon as you transformed. I'm worried about you!" She wrestled her way out of her backpack, pulled out her wand and ran it over his face and body. "Tell me where it hurts."

"Nowhere. I'm fine, really. Just needed to catch my breath." He sat up and grinned at her. "Look around. What do you think?"

"I think you're mad! Were you trying to kill yourself or what? You're still pale. Don't get up." She put a restraining hand on him, because that's exactly what he was doing, getting to his feet. "Harry! You should rest!"

"I'm fine now, sweet girl! I've done this before, you know." He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her away from him. "Look. What do you think? If you don't like it, I'll take you someplace else."

Ginny tried to turn back toward him, but he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him, with her back to his chest. He could feel the tension in her body. He kissed the top of her head, then rested his cheek on her hair.

"Please don't be angry with me. I wanted our honeymoon to be as special as possible. That's why I did this. Look, Ginny. Look where we are."

When she finally began to look around, she gasped. They were standing on a hillside surrounded by vegetation with huge leaves. In the distance before them was the sea. Behind them was a tall mountain with bright green trees going partway up it. Directly downhill was a long, low building with cars and palm trees in front of it, with tall triangular things of various colours moving behind it every so often. The sky was bright and clear, the air warm and balmy.

In a voice tinged with awe, Ginny murmured, "Harry, where are we?"

"Do you like it?"

"It's beautiful, and it looks very strange to me. We're not in England anymore, are we?"

He laughed. "Well spotted! Welcome to Maui, Mrs. Potter!"

"Maui? What's . . . where's that?"

"Under your feet and all around you, silly girl. It's one of the Hawaiian Islands."

She turned and gaped at him. "Hawaiian . . . you mean we're in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?"

Her amazement made all of his efforts worth it. "If we were in the Pacific, we'd be wet! We're on an island in the Pacific."

"You flashed us halfway around the world! No wonder you're tired!"

Now that he felt better, he noticed how pale she was behind her freckles. He cupped her cheek in his hand and studied her eyes more closely. "How do you feel?"

"I was a little shaky at first, but I'm fine now."

He put his very best scowl on his face. "Ginny Potter, did you ignore my warning and peek?"

Her eyes widened. "Yes. It was bizarre! There were streaks of light in the darkness at first, then bands or flashes of colour once it got light. What was that?"

"The streaks were lights from the cities we were passing over in the night, and the colours were the colours of the land we were passing over once we reached daylight."

"I've never seen anything like that when we've flashed before."

"And you've never flashed so far before, either." He picked up his backpack and slung it on his back, grabbed her bag, and then took her hand with his free hand. "Come on, Mrs. Potter. We have a honeymoon to begin." He Disapparated, taking her with him.