Moon River

Moon River

By Harry and Ginny 4eva

Recap:

-- Without looking back, Harry stepped outside the house and closed the door behind him, leaving his slightly regretful aunt by herself.

-- Harry smiled grimly and grabbed Mr.. Weasley's arm. He felt the familiar feeling of choking, as if he was forced through a rubber tube and within less than a second, he opened his eyes to see his second favorite place in the world; The Burrow.

~ The quickest way to know a woman is to go shopping with her ~ Marcelene Cox

Chapter II - Silver Phoenix

Harry felt his spirits lift as Mr. Weasley knocked on the door. There was silence for a few seconds and then a whisper was heard from behind the door.

"Who is it?"

Harry recognized the voice immediately: it was Ginny. And with a sinking feeling, he remembered that she was a Weasley too, and she lived in The Burrow.

"It's Harry and I," said Mr. Weasley.

There was silence for a few seconds in which Harry thought he heard Ginny breathing deeply.

"What is your dearest ambition?" asked Ginny in a slightly bored voice. Harry understood that she already given up on trying to not ask the question every time Mr. Weasley came home.

"To find out how airplanes stay up," said Mr. Weasley with a satisfied tone. Ginny moved to open the door but Mr. Weasley held it firmly in place.

"Dad!" moaned Ginny.

"Ginny! You know the procedure! What did I use to call you when you were little?"

"I won't answer that question!" said Ginny in a harsh whisper.

"Ginny!"

"I won't!"

Harry saw Mr. Weasley taking out his wand and decided to interfere. "Ginny, just tell him the name."

There was silence again at the other end. Then Harry heard a whisper so feeble, he had to strain his ears to hear it.

"Ginny-horse-Whinny."

Harry had to fight the urge to snort as Ginny moved to open the door. But, yet again, Mr. Weasley kept the door from opening.

"Ginny, you must ask Harry a question," said Mr. Weasley sternly.

Harry flushed and Ginny made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a very angry Mr. Weasley.

"No!"

And with a power Harry could not imagine that could be inside such a small creature, Ginny forced the door open and glared at her father.

"Ginny!" said Arthur with an angry edge to his voice. "I won't have that kind of behavior."

Ginny just kept glaring at her father and opened the door wider.

Arthur opened his mouth to say something but Ginny just walked away from the door and went up the stairs, presumably to her room.

"I'm sorry about that, Harry," said Mr. Weasley as the two entered the house. "She is just as stubborn as her mother."

Harry let out a short laugh and closed the door behind him. Only then, he looked around the house and when he did, he was greeted with a shock of white all around: the usually neat and warm living room was messy, white, and glittery.

The sofas were covered in white cloth and had boxes, glittery wrapping paper all over them, the floor was covered with colorful, sparkling confetti, and Harry could hardly see the oak wood of the table underneath the white tablemat, shoes, dresses, and papers. Even the fireplace was not left alone; the old mantelpiece was decorated with white and pink roses the seemed almost glassy.

The stair handles were suddenly elegant, shiny, and smooth and there were flowers decorating them. The kitchen was the only thing that was still relatively organized; the pots and plates were washing themselves, the forks, knives and spoons were organizing themselves neatly in the right drawers and the only sign of a wedding in the kitchen were the double amount of dishes and food.

Harry was so enchanted by the feisty yet calm environment, he didn't even notice when Mr. Weasley entered the kitchen.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

Harry jumped and turned to face her, startled. "Hello Mrs. Weasley." She looked older, yet happy - her hair had now more than a few strokes of grey and Harry saw worry lines stretched beneath her eyes and on her brow. "How are you?"

Mrs. Weasley smiled, "I'm very good, considering..."

Harry's smile dimmed.

"Well, not to worry now, young man! Are you hungry?" she asked.

"Yes," said Harry. "Um...Mrs. Weasley, where is Ron?"

"Oh! Ron volunteered to go help Fleur and her family," asked Mrs. Weasley with a slight edge to her voice. She clearly didn't like the idea of Ron drooling all over the Veela family.

"Is there anyone else in here?" asked Harry, desperate for some company. He didn't want to go help the Delacours - he could not even bare the thought of people staring at him and whispering about 'The Chosen One', - he had had enough of it last year, and now without something to distract him, someone like -

"Ginny. The rest are running errands. Oh! And that reminds me - I want you to go with Ginny to Madam Malkin's today. You haven't got any dress robes for the wedding and she can help you," said Mrs. Weasley.

Harry sighed. He was already seeing Ginny more than he would like to - no. He did want to see her but -

"I will ask Tonks to take you two there," started Mrs. Weasley.

"Why can't Mr. Weasley take us?" asked Harry. He didn't have anything against Tonks, but the company of two girls while going shopping did not sound very appealing.

"Well, Arthur went to work just after you came in here, didn't you see?" asked Mrs. Weasley, peering at him worriedly.

"No," said Harry.

"Well," said Mrs. Weasley with a smile. "There's no point wasting time, every minute is precious...GINNY!"

Harry winced at the loud shriek near his ears. Why must she yell so loud anyway? Ginny wasn't deaf and the house was not that big.

A few seconds later, Ginny grumbled her way downstairs, dressed, and ready to go. She looked around and narrowed her eyes in a way that reminded Harry of Mr. Weasley.

"Tonks is not even here, why did you call me?" Ginny said irritably.

"She will be here in a few minutes," said Mrs. Weasley. "In the mean time, sit down and eat," she said and pointed to the table, where, to Harry's astonishment, the food was already served in big plates and bowls.

Harry and Ginny sat in opposite chairs while Mrs. Weasley levitated to the table two forks and two knives - both of them slid smoothly to their respected places near the plates.

Mrs. Weasley wiped her hands on her apron and with a quick, small, smile to Harry, hurried out of the kitchen, leaving Harry and Ginny in an awkward silence.

Harry tried to shovel as much scrambled egg to his mouth as he could so he could avoid being alone with Ginny. But Ginny, it seemed, wanted to keep things normal.

"What did you do at the Dursleys'?" she asked. Harry choked from the sound of her voice and coughed. He lifted his head to see her looking at him, amused.

Wiping his mouth, he answered. "Oh, this and that."

Ginny frowned. "Thanks for the elaboration," she said, looking pointedly at Harry.

Harry sighed. "It was alright. I...thought a lot," he said, playing with a bit of scrambled egg.

Ginny took a sip from her orange juice. "That's it? All you did this summer is think? That's a bit unproductive, don't you think?"

Harry stared at her. "Well," he said slowly. "I organized my room for the first time if that's what you mean when you say productive..."

Ginny giggled. "I'm sure that's a first."

Harry smiled reluctantly. He wasn't sure why he was being so reserved and tense; he could still be friends with Ginny, he didn't have to be cold. But he couldn't help it. They had moved past friendship, and it would be extremely difficult to go back there once again.

Once again, awkward silence fell. Harry gulped some orange juice and was just about to ask Ginny about her vacation so far when they heard a mighty crash from the living room.

Harry leaped to his feet, spilling his orange juice all over the table in the process and ran to the living room, hearing Ginny following him. There, he saw Tonks, sprawled on the floor and coughing a little dust.

She smiled meekly at Harry and got herself off the floor, brushing up her robes in the process. Harry saw Mrs. Weasley rushing into the room with her wand raised. However, when she saw Tonks, her expression calmed considerably and she put her wand back into her apron.

"Thank Goodness, Tonks. You scared me half to death," said Mrs. Weasley, putting a hand on her chest.

"Sorry Molly," said Tonks. She pulled her wand out and with a silent Reparo fixed the broken chair she landed on.

Tonks looked up at Harry and Ginny and smiled. "I see you two are ready to go. Done eating?"

"Yes," said Harry, desperate to avoid being alone with Ginny.

"Well than, are you ready to go?" asked Tonks.

"Yes," said Ginny.

Tonks frowned; clearly sensing a little tension between the two of them looked at Ginny questioningly. Ginny shook her head for a bit and forced a smile on her face.

"Well, let's go then," she said. "You don't have your Apparition license yet, Harry, right?"

Harry shook his head and Tonks sighed. "Side-Along Apparition, then?"

Harry and Ginny each took Tonks's arm and after a few seconds, they found themselves standing in front of Madam Malkin's. Tonks pushed the door and ushered them in while she looked around for something suspicious.

"You again, huh?" asked Madam Malkin as the door closed. She clearly remembered last year's accident with Draco Malfoy.

"Yes," said Harry, unashamed. Ginny and Tonks both looked confused at Madam Malkin's slightly cold tone.

"We're here to buy him some dress robes for Bill's wedding," said Ginny.

Madam Malkin looked shrewdly at them for a few seconds, but then her expression softened and she sighed. "Alright then," she said.

"What kind of robes would you like?" Madam Malkin asked, looking at Harry. Harry, who had no idea there are several kinds of robes, shrugged.

"I think cotton is fine," said Ginny. Harry saw she was already sweeping the shop with her eyes, probably looking for something that might fit.

"Alright, nothing too fancy, I assume?" asked Madam Malkin. Harry shook his head vigorously - he did not want to draw attention to himself.

She took them to the shop's corner, where, obviously not many people visited, and told him to stand on a stool, where she started measuring him.

Harry wished he could bury himself when he saw Ginny giggling with Tonks. "What are you two laughing at?" he said, trying to sound tough and failing miserably. Tonks and Ginny only giggled harder.

"You can get off the stool now," said Madam Malkin after the tape stopped measuring him.

Harry saw there was already a pile of robes, in all sorts of colors, waiting for him near the changing room.

"Well, let's try this one on," said Madam Malkin, picking up a robe from the pile. It was black with a red snake drawn on its breast and a short, open collar. Harry immediately refused.

"I won't have snakes drawn on my robes," he said, looking in disgust at the red snake. Madam Malkin tsked with disapproval.

"No need to be so childish, now put it on!" she said.

"No," said Harry stubbornly. Madam Malkin glared at him reprovingly and picked the next one.

Over the next two hours or so, Harry tried on or refused to try about thirty different robes and secretly wondered how many men visited this corner, wishing the torture of trying on robes would end.

Madam Malkin was getting more and more restless and annoyed with every robe he refused and he saw the even Ginny, who had refused some of the robes, was getting impatient.

"Next one then, Mr. Potter," said Madam Malkin tiredly, taking the grey robe he tried on from his hands. "You're worse than your father! He spent over an hour here trying on dress robes for his wedding and picked a simple black one at the end. But it's not even your wedding!"

Harry saw Tonks smiling and scowled. It was not his fault everything looked bad on him.

"You know what? Just show him something like what James took. They look the same and it would be much simpler," said Tonks.

Madam Malkin nodded and went searching for it and Harry nodded gratefully.

"Honestly Harry, you're worse than I am, and I can spend hours here," said Ginny with a twinkle in her eyes. Harry only glared at her.

"Here you go," said Madam Malkin, clearly hoping he would choose something else. "Black, made of cotton."

Harry looked at the robe and immediately liked it. It had a moving, silver drawing of a phoenix at the breast and matching silver stripes on the collar and on the end of his sleeves.

"I like it," he said as he came out of the booth. He looked at Ginny, noting that she seemed pretty happy with the robe too.

"Finally!" said Tonks with an extremely uncomfortable look on her face. "Take it off so we can go already, I need to pee!"

Harry laughed and entered the booth once again; happy that he finally found something that fit him nicely.

"About time," grumbled Tonks as Harry came out of the changing room, obviously still very much in need of the bathroom.

Harry paid for his robes and after a hasty goodbye and thank you to Madam Malkin, they apparated back to the Burrow.

Tonks immediately apparated again to the bathroom and Harry saw Ron sitting at the now huge kitchen's table, eating his dinner with the rest of the Weasleys and the Delacours.

"I can't believe you started dinner without us!" said Ginny, annoyed.

"I'm sorry dear," said Mrs. Weasley. "But we just couldn't wait any longer, Ronald was hungry and Charlie had somewhere to go."

Harry didn't mind much as he sat next to Ron, who looked oddly flushed. "How was it at the Delacours?" asked Harry with a smirk.

"It was amazing," said Ron with an awed voice. Harry saw Ginny roll her eyes in disgust as she loaded food on her plate.

"Yes," said Fleur from the end of the table. "Ron waz very helpful today."

"I'm sure he was," said Mrs. Weasley with a glance to her youngest son. "What did he do?"

"He waz helping us wiz ze boxes and helped William arrange ze rozes."

"Really?" said Fred with an evil look.

"Yes," said Fleur, completely oblivious to the dangerous glint in George's eyes. Mr. Weasley, who didn't miss the glint, shot a warning glance in George's direction, and he immediately retuned to his food.

"Well I must go, Remus is probably waiting for me at Grimmauld Place," said Tonks, who had just come into the kitchen, looking very relieved.

"Thank you for taking the kids," said Mrs. Weasley with a smile. Tonks nodded and disappeared with a 'pop'.

"Why iz her hair pink all ze time?" asked Mrs. Delacour.

"She is a Metamorphmagus," said Bill from his seat next to Fleur.

"Why pink?" asked Mr. Delacour. "Zer are ozer colors, like black or brown."

"She likes it that way, she thinks it makes her look special," said Ginny. The Delacours, however, did not seem to understand why she may like it.

The rest of the meal was passed with several conversations Harry could not listen to since he was too tired, and he could not wait for it to be over so he could go to sleep.

Once she saw how tired he looked, Mrs. Weasley stood up. "Children, beds!" she said. Ginny started to protest but one glare from Mrs. Weasley was enough to keep her silent.

Harry did not need to be convinced, and he went straight to his bed next to Ron's bright orange bed and fell asleep immediately.

He did not see Ginny pause at the door and sigh sadly before going to bed herself.