A Night to Remember

A Night to Remember

Ginny Weasley had never in her life felt so alone. All her friends had already left Hogwarts, including the one person that she cared for the most. Christmas had come and gone and Ginny had spent it alone and now she was about to bring in the New Year the same way. And to put the icing on the cake, she had absolutely nothing to look forward to except for the end of her last school year, and that was months away.

Normally, Ginny would've gone home for the holidays and would've been able to spend time with her family and friends. Unfortunately, a rather tragic accident occurred at the Burrow, involving Fred, George and fire. The good thing was, her mum had always predicted something like this would happen (with Fred and George, it was always good to be prepared for any situation if you still wanted a house to live in) and had place protective spells around the Burrow. It had prevented the house from completely burning down. Even still, the fire had caused a lot of damage.

Which meant Ginny wasn't allowed to come home. Her mum had thought it too dangerous for her to be there amongst the debris and ruins that could fall down on her. Besides, what kind of way is that to spend Christmas, cleaning up her disaster of a house, her mum had said.

Ginny would rather clean with her family than spend the holidays by herself. And as for the remark about danger, Ginny could do nothing but laugh at that comment. If her mum had known the things she had done that past summer, she would realise that the prospect of Ginny being hit by a piece of the falling roof would be trivial in comparison to fighting a mass of Death Eaters to distract them so Harry could accept his fate and fight the Dark Lord.

Her mum had known all of that. She just didn't know that Ginny was involved in any way whatsoever and Ginny intended to keep it that way. Which was why it was always particularly hard to bite away remarks that contradicted her intentions, when it came to her mum constantly bringing up her concern for her well being. Ginny just decided to grin and bear it as best she could.

Ginny thought she would get used to being alone. After all, she had been doing pretty well until now. Why were the holidays getting her so down?

Why was she out in the snow without a cloak, freezing her arse off when there was a nice cozy fire in the common room?

Ginny knew the answer to that question, at least. She would rather be alone by herself than alone in a crowd.

Suddenly, Ginny stopped and looked out at the snow that lie before her. It was completely white and undisturbed. There was not a footstep to be seen. And although it seemed almost cruel to do it, Ginny had an urge to be the first person to walk in it, see what it would feel like. Usually, others had always beat her to it and it would be a small victory, of sorts.

A smile found a way to her lips as she ran through the snow as if she was running through a field full of flowers on a beautiful summer's day. Her arms were flying in the air above her and her smile grew into a full-on laugh.

For a moment - just a for a small moment in time - things didn't seem so bad. She had to at least be grateful that she was alive and had all the people she cared about still with her, even if she couldn't be with them right now.

Besides, everyone was still in an uproar over Ron and Hermione's elopement. Everyone was shocked to hear that they had run away and had finally gotten married. But Ginny was betting that nobody was more shocked than Hermione herself.

Once, she and Ginny had talked about what it would be like when they got married. Hermione had wanted a big, traditional wedding while Ginny had wanted a small one. Both had agreed they wanted family there. It was really unlike Hermione to elope. Most likely, that one night she had spent with Ron before the battle had ate away at her conscience and had forced her to do it. That, and Ron's constant prodding at her to let them get married soon, instead of waiting six months like they had planned. More like what Hermione had planned.

It would have been too stressful at the Burrow anyway...

All thoughts of loneliness flew out of her head as she bumped into something warm and hard. At that moment she knew she wasn't alone anymore.

She looked up into the green eyes that she had come to cherish. Right now, they looked teasing.

"I guess the cold doesn't bother you very much, does it?" Harry teased.

Ginny beamed at the sight of him. "Not as much as being interrupted in the middle of a good run," she said, my eyes challenging his.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry about that," he said in mock regret. He disentangled himself from her and started to walk away, his head hanging low. "I'll just leave now. I can see when I'm not wanted."

"Don't you dare," Ginny said while tugging on his arm. She smiled up at him and he smiled back.

Ginny couldn't remember feeling this happy in a long time. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"To see you, obviously," he replied.

"You mean, you came all this long way, just to see me?" she asked incredulously. She had also never felt this loved before. Not even her mum and dad could provide this kind of feeling for her.

"Well, you and the giant squid. But you weren't supposed to know about that."

"My lips are sealed. I just don't think she's going to appreciate that I know about her. I hear she's the jealous type," she said.

Harry sighed. "You heard right. And sometimes she just keep her tentacles off her and I have to remind her that we're just friends," Harry said.

Ginny smirked. "Sound familiar to you?"

Harry laughed as he realised who she was speaking of. "Ron and Hermione."

"Yup," Ginny laughed. "They insisted they were just friends until we caught them kissing and reminded them that friends don't do those kind of things."

"I don't think they liked that very much," Harry said.

"Well, as you can tell, they got over it. If it weren't for you and me, they'd probably still be denying their relationship to this day. I mean, how long did they think they could hide it from me, Miss Busy-body?" she said, recalling the memory.

"Obviously, a lot longer than they did," he chuckled. "I'm just glad they're finally married."

"Same here," she sighed.

Ginny rested her head on his shoulder, sighing again in contentment. There was nothing she'd rather be doing than being with Harry. Now she was glad she didn't go to the Burrow where she wouldn't get a moment to herself, much less one for her and Harry.

She gazed into his deep green eyes and saw the emotions she felt reflected back at her. Where did she go right? How did she to get him?

He bent his head down to kiss her and she melted in his arms. The kiss was a sweet and tender one that made him seem all the more desirable to her. The world around them disappeared into a place that existed only in their hearts.

The kiss quickly deepened into passion that made the fire that was slowly building in her belly roar. Suddenly, Harry pulled away, breathing hard. Disappointment filled her as the kiss ended.

"Will you marry me?" he breathed.

A gasp escaped her throat and her eyes flew open as he pulled a ring box from his cloak pocket. He opened it up to reveal a beautiful diamond ring. He slid it on her finger and tears welled up in her eyes. "I'll love you, no matter what you say. Nothing could ever change that," he whispered.

"And I wouldn't dare try," she whispered back, careful not to break the moment.

"Are you saying yes?"

"Would I say anything else but yes? I love you so much and I want to spend the rest of my life with you," she said, a tear falling down her cheek. He wiped it away and kissed the spot.

Somewhere off in the distance, a clock chimed, signalling that the New Year had come in.

"Happy New Year's, Ginny."

"Happy New Year's, Harry," she said back, kissing him for the first time as an engaged woman.

Why had she pulled the pity act before on herself? What was it that she had said before? That she had nothing to look forward to?

Now she did have something to look forward to, and that was getting married to Harry when she graduated. Five months out of the rest of her life didn't seem so long a wait, after all.

This was a night to hold on to and keep forever. This was a night that would change her life forever, for the better this time. This was a night to remember.