I Saw My Lady Weep

Chapter 19: Let It Out And Move On...

When Harry offered his assistance to Kreacher in putting away the last of the grocer's packages, Kreacher had smirked and agreed... and then did the entire job by himself. With a mere snap of his fingers, the dry goods floated onto the cupboard shelves, while the meat and other perishables went into the kitchen's magically refrigerated cold storage. The entire job was finished in seconds. Shaking his head in amazement, Harry had held his hands up in surrender, swearing to never get in the elf's way again. Instead, Harry found himself in the first floor sitting room with Hermione and Ginny, relaxing after several hours of hard work.

"Mmmmm..." Ginny purred. She sat on the floor between Harry's legs as he rubbed her shoulders. "I'm sorry, Harry, but you are simply rubbish when it comes to giving backrubs. I'm afraid you're going to have to practice at it. I'm thinking several times a week for the rest of our lives."

"Well, if you insist," Harry replied, softly.

At the other end of the couch, Hermione smiled and leaned back into the couch cushions. "I almost wish I could stay and assist you with the furniture, Harry. But I'm afraid are going to be up to you two. Tomorrow I have to finish getting Ron and I ready for the Australia trip."

"Can I assume that means that you're ready to go while Ron hasn't packed a thing yet?" Harry asked.

"I admit nothing." Hermione smirked.

"Of course you don't," Ginny said. Her eyes were closed and she was doing her best to stretch forward, allowing Harry access to the rest of her back. "You don't have to."

"I left him at the shop, trying to put things back together. It was a real mess." Harry sat up for a moment and shook his hands. He then returned to his work on Ginny's back. The front window was boarded up, still, and the merchandise was scattered everywhere. I think, though I don't have any direct evidence, there was a mass die-off among the pygmy puffs as well."

This caused Ginny to sit up, suddenly. "But George said he'd re-opened weeks ago! He said things were going swimmingly!" She turned to look Harry in the eye.

"Apparently he was lying. The shop hasn't been inhabited since the twins had to abandon it."

Hermione's brow furrowed. "I hope he hasn't forgotten..." She stood, suddenly. "I'll head over... I should remind him we're leaving." She approached the fireplace, next to which Harry had hung a fresh jar of Floo Powder that had come with the groceries.

"Ah... It's... Um... Not hooked up yet, Hermione." Harry shrugged. "I need to go to the Ministry and attend to it. After the cock-up with Sirius, Dumbledore had it disconnected just in case. It's never been reconnected to the network."

"Well, that's understandable. You've been busy. I'll just Apparate from the stoop. Brings back memories," Hermione said. When Harry made to stand, she waved him off. "No, don't get up... I know the way. We'll see you at the Burrow."

"Bye!" Harry and Ginny's voices followed Hermione out. They heard the front door close behind her, and Ginny fell back against the couch's edge. She scooted her behind forward until her neck was level, and then lay her head straight back into Harry's lap

"You, Mister Potter, are going to have to go furniture shopping. You simply cannot go through life with a couch, a dining table, and a mattress. Not to mention, not a dish in the house," she teased. "You can't eat off the table... It's simply not done in polite society."

"I love you, you know that?" Harry asked, cocking his head to one side.

"Yes, you've told me once or twice," she said.

He smiled down at her. "Have I?"

Ginny smiled back. "I think you lurve... Me... You want to kissss... Me... You think I'm gorrrr... Juss," she sing-songed.

Harry chuckled and kissed her on her forehead. "Off your head, you are."

She smiled again. "Yeah, but you love me anyway. So did you want to see about furniture this evening? We still have a couple of hours before Mum will have dinner ready. Hermione's right... This place is dead empty... "

"I suppose... Not much use in hanging around the house now that everything's cleaned up. And at any rate I'm going to need to go back and get clothes... I'm still in the ones from yesterday." Harry looked down at himself and made a face. "Kreacher did a fine job of laundering them, but they're still the same clothes from yesterday."

"So... First to the Burrow, so you can grab some clothes?" Ginny asked, climbing to her feet. She grabbed him by the hand and pulled him into an embrace. "Ooh. No... First you'll be off to the shower, then to the Burrow so you can grab some clothes. I'll have Kreacher clean the ones you're wearing while you're washing. You, sir, smell like you've been working all day."

"I truly hate to break it to you, darling, but you're not precisely fresh as a daisy yourself." He kissed her gently. "You can jump in when I'm out."

"Okay, but only because you insist." Ginny poked him in the ribs, gently. "Oh! Something I forgot... Hermione discovered something very interesting. Shall I show you?"

Harry looked confused. "Usually when she discovers something 'very interesting', I have to go off and fight some Dark Lord..." he muttered. At her sour look, Harry rolled his eyes. "What did she discover?"

Ginny merely smiled. "Kreacher, one moment, please," she called.

With a pop, the house-elf appeared from nowhere. "How may Kreacher assist you, mistress?" Kreacher asked, bowing.

Without taking her eyes from Harry's, she commanded, "Master Harry and I will be bathing soon. As we have no other clothing, we'll both need what we are wearing laundered while we are each taking a shower. It's very important that our clothes be cleaned and ready to be put back on before we're each done bathing. Would that be a problem?"

"Of course not, Mistress Ginevra. Kreacher would be happy to serve." The elf bowed again.

"Thank you, creature. Your diligence and hard work are greatly appreciated." Ginny still hadn't taken her eyes from his. Harry's eyes had grown very wide. "That will be all for now."

"Very well." And with another pop, Kreacher was gone.

Harry was quiet for a while. "Mistress Ginevra?" he asked.

Ginny nodded.

"He's taking orders from you. Not just acquiescing to your requests, but actually taking orders from you. That is interesting," Harry said. "Did either of you ask him why?"

"Apparently," she held up her left hand to show him the engagement ring, "I am considered part of your household, and thus someone from whom he must take orders. We experimented with it, actually."

"What?" He laughed.

"I took off the ring and gave him an order. He still followed it. Hermione thought for a moment that it might be something having to do with me actually wearing the ring. It's not."

"Wait... You didn't know about this?" Harry asked. "I mean... I didn't know, but I figured..."

"Harry, my family has never kept house-elves. Mum wouldn't have it, not being able to take care of her own house." Ginny rolled her eyes at him. "I know everything you know... I might know a little more, but certainly not everything. You're the first person I've really known to own a house-elf, after all."

"Sorry," Harry began, sheepishly, "I guess I've become used to you and your family being the source of all knowledge when it comes to the Wizarding world."

"Now you know differently," she said with a wry grin. "Now... Go upstairs. Shower. My turn soon."

"Right." Harry gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and went upstairs, taking the steps two at a time. He closed the bathroom door behind him, turned on the shower, and stripped down. Furniture... What kind of furniture... Never had to think about furniture before... When the water was finally warm enough, he stepped in. But mentally, he was still thinking, Furniture. Some more couches, maybe? A couple of tables? And what sort of dishes do I need?

His ruminations kept him pleasantly occupied for most of his shower, and he cleaned himself automatically, without thinking. Not really paying attention to his surroundings made what happened next all the more surprising.

"Budge up there, Potter." A soft hand tapped him on the shoulder from behind as he was washing his hair. The effect of this contact would have compared favorably to loading Harry Potter into a cannon and lightning the fuse.

"YAAH!" Harry jolted, leaping forward into shower's sidewall. Only the reflexes he honed as a Seeker kept him from losing his footing, though it was a close thing. "What the Hell is going... Ginny?" He kept himself facing the wall, taking tentative peeks over his shoulder with one eye. The other eye was held tightly closed against the soap-bubbles that were sliding down the left side of his face. "What in Merlin's name are you doing in here? I'm... Naked!"

Ginny laughed. "I know that, Harry. I can see." She came toward him, encircling his chest with her arms. Ginny pressed herself against him, which among other things let him know that she, herself, wasn't wearing a thing either. "Calm down, Harry... It's just a shower."

"Ginny... This is... We promised your mom." Harry was having trouble keeping the other eye open. The close proximity to the shower's spray was making the soap in his hair run faster, and it was beginning to seep into his open eye. It stung horrendously.

"And we're keeping that promise, Harry. But I never promised we wouldn't do... Other things." She hugged him again and let go. "Rinse your hair and let me have the water, would you?"

He sighed and stepped under the shower-head, still making sure he was facing the wall. He rinsed his hair out as best he could and kept his eyes tight shut. When he was done, he reached to his left, trying to find the shower wall. Keep facing the wall, and everything will be fine... He repeated this mantra in his head over and over.

His hand touched something soft and fleshy and giving and he jerked it back as if burned. "Um... Sorry..."

"Harry, open your eyes. If I didn't want you to see me I wouldn't have stepped in with you. Come on now... You're being childish."

He thought about it a minute, then opened his eyes, wiping away the excess water with his hand. Next to him, leaning against the shower wall, was Ginny Weasley in all her glory. He gulped nervously, his stomach in knots, and forced himself to turn toward her.

It was then he noticed that she was chewing on her lower lip, something she only did when she was very nervous. The fact that this was as wracking for her as it was for him helped to calm him down. She was staring at his face, but he saw her eyes dart downward, widen, and come back up to his face.

"Yeah... Sorry about that... It's just..." Harry started. How to explain that reaction... Or should he even explain that reaction?

As if reading his mind, she said "It's flattering, really." Her arms were across her chest, just under her breasts, and it was obvious to Harry that she was getting more nervous by the minute. It was as if she was awaiting his appraisal.

Very gently, he took her in his arms and hugged her. "You're very beautiful, Ginny." He let her go and stepped aside and gestured to the water spray. "It's all yours."

Ginny stepped under the flowing water and hung her head forward. The motion allowed her hair to gather along the mid-line of her back as it became saturated. Harry became uncomfortably aware that it also became a focal line leading his eyes directly toward Ginny's bottom, and that he was staring.

She turned around unexpectedly, and he found himself staring at some other part of her entirely. Harry jerked his eyes upward until they slammed, almost physically, into hers. She smirked as she stepped out of the way of the spray. "Care to hand me the shampoo, you naughty boy? "

He grinned at her. "Me, naughty? You're the one who climbed into the shower with me."

"True," she admitted vaguely, "but I'm not the one who's done bathing yet still hanging around, am I?"

Harry blushed to his toes. "You're having fun teasing me, aren't you?"

"Am I?" Ginny was carefully working up lather in her hair and carefully keeping her eyes away from his. It seemed to Harry to be a lot more work, what with her waist-length hair, than he would ever have with his own. Of course, he'd never worn his hair longer than just to the bottom of his neck. "Teasing you, I mean?"

She cast him a glance that was far more come hither than anything else. "Would you mind washing my back, Harry?"

"Wash your back?" Harry asked

"I can't ever seem to reach it all, yeah?" Ginny turned her back to him and pulled her hair over her shoulder so that it was in front of her. She smiled at him. "It's okay, Harry. You're allowed to touch me."

"And your promise to your mother?"

"Harry," Ginny laughed, nervously, "all you're doing washing my back. You're not getting into my knickers."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "You're not wearing any right now, Ginny."

Ginny stuck her tongue out at him. "You're being impossible, Harry. Here." She handed him the bar of soap.

With a tight grin, Harry coated his hands with soap and returned the bar to its shelf. Nervously at first, but with more confidence as he went on, he ran his hands across her back. He was amazed at the softness of her skin.