Double Standard

Fortunately, nothing compromising happened between Harry and Susan--but something else suspicious happened ... something between him and someone he had never expected to see again. And to think it had started so innocently--but he should have known that she was plotting something right from the start ... something sneaky and underhanded, designed to break him and Ginny up once and for all, and this ... person conveniently there to "console" him. Well, he had no intention of letting that happen if he could do anything to stop it.

Unfortunately, the old saying about the best-laid plans of "mice and men" applied here ... or more accurately, at least in Harry's case, "mice and wizards." He cursed the day that wretched girl had ever been born, much less that he had ever laid eyes on her--and now it was likely that she had wrecked his chances with Ginny for all time. How could he ever redeem himself now after what Ginny had caught them doing ... or more accurately, supposedly doing?

He surmised that her love potion had gotten him, the love potion he had escaped in school, the same potion which had gotten him a few moments ago when she had walked close enough for him to smell her perfume--then upon smelling it, he had pulled the attractive black-haired girl close and began snogging her. It was in the midst of that passionate clinch that Ginny had come upon them right next to the door leading to the bedroom she shared with Harry and screamed, "Just what the bloody effing hell is going on here?"

Her voice had brought Harry back to his senses and he had abruptly released the black-haired girl; even Ginny's hair seemed to be on fire and her eyes were blazing.

"Gin ... oh, my God ... it's not what it looked like, luv, I swear to you on my life ... "

"Don't say another word, Harry," she bit out, controlling her temper by the barest of threads. "As for you, you filthy, shameless slut ... get out of here. Get out of here now! If I ever see you again, or catch you within a hundred miles of Harry again, I'll Bat-Bogey you into the middle of the next century!"

Romilda only needed one look in Ginny's direction to know that she meant business, and with that, she slunk away like the alley cat she was. Once she was gone, Ginny turned back to Harry; he was fully expecting a Bat-Bogey Hex at the very least, which was no more than he deserved--if not one of the Unforgivable Curses. According to legend, he should have died for breaking the Unbreakable Vow, but it turned out that it was the one the Vow was made to who could choose to allow the one who might break it to live or die at their leisure. For some time, Harry was sure she would decide the latter and he wouldn't have blamed her one bit.

Harry wanted to reach out and hold her, but knew he had best refrain from doing so, at least for the moment. Really, what could he ever do, what could he ever say, to convince her that no matter what Romilda had had in mind, he had had no intention of doing anything with her. There were potions which simply provoked the desire to snog, others provoked strong sexual desire--and the one Harry had smelled was the former. Of course, Ginny had no way of knowing this, and anything he said would be just his word, which wasn't too reliable at the moment ... to put it mildly!

"Ginny, please ... let me explain ..."

"I don't want to hear it, Harry," she bit out. "For Merlin's sake, not even the Unbreakable Vow stops you, does it?"

"Gin, I swear to you, all that happened was snogging ... nothing else!"

"Only because I happened to get here before things went any further!" she shot back. "Damn you, Harry ... damn you to hell! And to think I believed you when you said you'd never do this again!"

"Gin, please! Don't do this! I'll do anything to make you believe me ... Anything!"

The earnest tone of his voice managed to reach her, and even though she had been prepared to run out of the room and lock herself in her old upstairs room, she looked at him and their eyes met. Love, pain and pleading were in his lovely green eyes, just as tears of love, pain and question were in her brown ones--along with a smidgen of hope that she hadn't lost him for all time, that he was truly sincere and that it was simply another of Romilda's evil schemes.

"Anything?" she finally said, just barely loud enough for him to hear her.

"Anything," he declared.

There was silence for a long time as they gazed at one another; Harry's heart pounded with a mixture of fear and desire even as his own eyes filled. He loved her so much; he couldn't lose her now, not over something like this. Please God, let her believe me!

"Well ... all right. Let's go see if 'Mione has some Veritaserum she's not using. Either that or we'll have to go buy some. Either way, I intend to bloody well hold you to your promise, mister!"

With that, the couple headed out of the room to go find Hermione and see if she had any extra Veritaserum around. Otherwise, they would have to go buy some because it took too long to brew, at least a month, and Ginny couldn't wait that long to be assured of Harry's sincerity. She very much wanted to believe that he hadn't been cheating on her again, but after what he had done during the war, she could no longer simply take his word for it and needed something which would oblige him to tell the truth, and Veritaserum was the strongest truth potion available.

* * * * *

It was a few days later, in fact, that Harry and Ron went for the fittings of their dress robes for the wedding. Fortunately both were old enough so that they were unlikely to grow any further, so magical adjustments would be unnecessary. Harry's ended up similar to, albeit larger than, the ones he had worn for the fourth-year Yule Ball; especially pleasing to Ron was the fact that his own dress robes wouldn't be secondhand, Harry had assured him of that--even if he had to pay for them himself. All the same, he was determined to pay him back eventually. Of course, he didn't tell Harry this, because he would have refused the repayment; rather, he intended to pay him back in full when he least expected it--even if he had to deposit the money in Harry's account anonymously.

The better part of the afternoon passed before the boys returned home, where Harry was certain that Ginny was getting fussed over within an inch of her life, something she likely was protesting mightily about, if not hexing those who did it--even Hermione, Susan and her mother, who were most likely to be the ones to be doing the fussing over her. The boys had been assured that the robes would be ready a week before the wedding; they would be owled when to pick them up. It was the women who took care of the other details, including all the necessary flowers for everyone. Even at that, there seemed to be literally a million details to see to, and if they hadn't had magic, they would never have made it ... and even keeping it to just close friends and family, it would prove to be a large gathering, owing to the size of the Weasley family and circle of friends.

Remus was chosen to serve as Harry's surrogate father, along with Molly as mother figure. Tonks would be one of the bridesmaids, as were two of Ginny's other closest friends, including Hermione and Susan Bones, who would be maid of honour. Their dresses would be floor-length, strapless and lacy blue. It had even been arranged that Dumbledore's portrait would be brought from Hogwarts to observe the wedding and McGonagall, who was attending, would bring it. It was only a couple of weeks to go now until the wedding, and there were times that all concerned literally felt like pulling their hair out because they were sure that something would go wrong when they least expected it--and even with magic, they knew that plenty could still go wrong, no matter how much they were assured everything would be fine.

However, Harry refused to allow these facts to get him down; all he was thinking about, in fact, was finding Ginny and seeing if he could catch her unawares in her wedding dress or something, even though technically he wasn't supposed to do it because it was bad luck--just as seeing her before the wedding on the wedding day was. But he frankly considered those traditions both outdated and a colossal pain in the arse. If nothing else, he would have everyone in the wedding party take Felix Felicis in order to ensure a perfect wedding day.

Meanwhile, he made a beeline for Ginny's room, hoping to find her alone, even as unlikely as that prospect was. If he did, maybe they could get in some surreptitious snogging. They had been so busy finalising the wedding plans and last-minute details that they hadn't had a chance to be alone in days. Of course, if the bridesmaids and Molly were still there, he would simply have to make the best of it--especially if he wasn't allowed to see her.

* * * * *

Molly and her attendants had just left her a few minutes before, and Ginny was posing in front of her full-length talking mirror, admiring her dress from all angles before placing her jeweled tiara with attached fingertip veil on her head, making sure her bare feet didn't show. To have bare feet showing beneath the lacy, pearl-trimmed, form-fitting dress was incongruous, to say the least. She stiffened when the soft, distinctive knock came. Only Harry ever knocked like that--and how fortuitous that she was alone!

"Come on in," she called, removing her headdress but leaving her dress on, although if she knew Harry, he would have loved to have been able to take it off and share some quality time with her in bed ... or even against the wall, if necessary. He wouldn't be particular as to where they did it, either--not as long as they were alone and in a comfortable spot, unlikely to be discovered. (Of course, they hadn't done it yet; Ginny wouldn't allow it until after the wedding.)

Harry stuck his head in the door and looked around the room before meeting Ginny's eyes, giving her a sly smile, hungry look and wolf-whistle upon seeing her in the dress. In spite of herself Ginny blushed and Harry's knowing smile widened.

"I swear, Gin, you look positively edible! If it wasn't for the fact that we're getting married in a couple of weeks, I'd--"

He moved to stand before her and take her in his arms, kissing her deeply and gently pressing her close to his obvious arousal before reluctantly releasing her. Ginny then lifted a hand to place a finger over his lips, which Harry promptly kissed.

"Don't say that ... at least not until we're alone--after the wedding."

Harry well knew how hard it was for her to resist him when he started purring in her ear, pressing her close as he kissed her. The only reason he had decided to release her (albeit very reluctantly) was because he didn't want to get either of them in trouble.

"And besides, you shouldn't be here. Mum and the others will be back any minute, so you'd better leave before they catch us. Otherwise we'll never hear the end of it."

Harry sighed in affectionate exasperation. "As you wish, my lady. I'll go now. Just wanted to see you and be alone with you for a few minutes." He pulled her close one last time, kissed her again, then smiled, winked and slipped out the door, closing it silently behind him.

Ginny turned back to the mirror and saw that she was still flushed and her heart was pounding so hard it was painful at the mere thought of what she and Harry had shared only moments ago. Oh Merlin, what he could do to her with a simple look or smile, much less a touch or kiss! How was it possible to love and desire anyone so much? But what mattered was that she always had and always would.

As she waited for the other ladies to return, she was warmed at the thought of how Harry had passed the test with flying colours when she had questioned him regarding his inadvertent rendezvous with Romilda. She now knew that he had been totally innocent, for which she was immensely thankful. Just the same, she fully intended to see that he never forgot what she would do should he ever even think of straying again ...

As for Romilda, Ginny had already arranged so that the wards around the Burrow would not allow her in again and if she ever ran into her again, she would be greatly tempted to hex the sneaky bitch into the middle of the next century, preferably with the Bat-Bogey Hex ... although she also intended to ask Hermione to see if she could find some spells she, Ginny, could use against Romilda. For the time being, though, Ginny intended to just enjoy the prospect of being married to the one she had loved since she was a child and the one she would love until she took her last breath. To this day, she could scarcely believe it was really true. It still seemed like the world's most beautiful dream that she was actually living--and if she had anything to say about it, she would live it every day for the rest of her life ... provided Harry managed to behave himself.