I Saw My Lady Weep

Chapter 23: In Everyone That's Out On The Street...

Harry pushed the door open with his hip and maneuvered into the bedroom. He was careful not to bump the breakfast tray into the door-jamb as he entered; at this point, spilling would ruin everything. For a moment, he simply stood in front of the mattress, looking at her.

Ginny was lying on the right side of the mattress, facing toward the left... toward where he would be if he had still been in bed. She held a swath of the bunched-up sheet in her hands, exposing her bare shoulders and her back. Her hair was arrayed around her head like a fiery halo. Sleeping, she looked even more angelic than Harry thought possible.

He felt a momentary thrill at the thought that, under the sheet, she was wearing nothing more than a pair of panties, but quickly pushed such thoughts from his head. His motives this morning were far nobler.

Harry set the tray on the floor beside the mattress and gently lowered himself to it until he was sitting on the edge, behind her. He leaned over and, as gently as he could manage, kissed her cheek. "Ginny... angel... wake up."

"Fi' mur mints," came the mumbled reply. She clasped the sheet closer to her chest and tried to turn away from him.

He kissed her again, this time putting a bit more pressure behind it. "Come on, love... Time to wake up."

Ginny's eyelids blinked open and Harry watched as her eyes rolled from the back of her head to the front, then rolled again to find and focus on him. She blinked again and smiled. "Goo' murnin'," she muttered. It was obvious to Harry that she wasn't completely awake yet, but it was a start.

"Good morning, love! I brought you breakfast. Care to sit up?" Harry picked up the tray. She sat up slowly, still groggy from sleep. When Harry woke up, he did it all at once and was instantly alert; he found the fact that she woke up so slowly a very endearing contrast.

Ginny yawned with her entire body, stretching her arms over her head as she did so. As she did so, the sheet dropped away, exposing her breasts. She immediately grabbed for the sheet, then realized what she was doing and blushed. "I guess it's a little late for modesty, isn't it?" She laughed at herself.

"I'm not overly concerned with it, to tell you the truth. But your reaction was cute." Ginny made a face at him, and he quickly added, "But a good cute... I promise... a good cute. But if it bothers you, then by all means..."

"No... it's just something we... I... will have to get used to." She looked over the tray as he placed it over her legs. "What is that?" She pointed at the plate. "Is that an egg stuck in a piece of toast?"

"It's called 'egg in a basket'. It is perhaps one of the best breakfast foods around. Also, porridge with a bit of sugar and cinnamon, a papaya half, some bacon, and since I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was you liked to drink with your breakfast, I brought pumpkin juice, milk, and tea." He presented each item like a quiz-show hostess presenting prizes.

"You really didn't have to do all this for me, Harry."

"I know. But I wanted to, so I did. Kreacher was scandalized that Master Harry was actually operating the stove himself. He pouted until I let him fix the beverages," Harry laughed.

She picked up the egg-imbedded toast by the corner and carefully took a bite out of it. Still chewing, Ginny said, "Oh... it's almost soaked in butter!" She took another bite, this time getting some egg. "You're not eating?"

"I had something while cooking for you. My eating would ruin the point of all this."

"And what is the point of all this?" Ginny looked around for a napkin, then huffed and used a corner of the bed sheet to wipe her mouth and fingers. "Eh, Mister Potter? Just what was your goal, here?" She batted her eyes at Harry and feigned a formal air.

"Watching you sit half-naked in bed and eat," he smirked at her.

"Ach... You're horrid!" Ginny blushed from her toes.

"I don't know... it worked, didn't it?"

"Well, I certainly have to admit that it did."

Harry continued to watch her eat for a while. She ate the toast-and-egg, the bacon, and most of the porridge, but made a face at the papaya. He filed that knowledge away, unconsciously recording her likes and dislikes for future use.

"So..." Ginny said finally. "What are we doing today?"

"I'd like to stop by Andromeda's and see Teddy sometime this morning, and we have to stop by the shop because I told Hermione I would, and this evening we have to go back to the Burrow and sort out the mess." Harry watched her face cloud over. "But... in between... it's Saturday. We could do just about anything you want to do. We could go shopping, we could go to a park and feed the pigeons, or we could... go to a cinema and see a film. Have you ever seen a film?"

Ginny shook her head.

"Well, we could do that. We could... go wander through the British museum. We... could see if any professional Quidditch matches were going today and try and get tickets. Whatever you would like to do, I want to do it with you." Harry smiled.

"Ron and Hermione are leaving tomorrow morning for Australia. I'd like to see them before they leave," Ginny said. "And we should talk about what I'm going to tell Mum and Dad, before we go ho... to the Burrow."

Harry noticed the correction but didn't make anything of it. "That's fine. I figured we'd be discussing this or that before we went." He picked up the breakfast tray and stood. "And we don't have to do just one thing... we have plenty of time, you know."

"I know." She looked a bit pensive.

"It'll be okay, Ginny. Whatever happens, we're together. Be right back." Harry opened the door and paused. "Why don't you think about the plan for the day while you're getting dressed? Anything you want." He smiled again and was gone.

XxxxxxX

He took his glasses and his t-shirt off, so as to not get shaving foam on either of them. With a quick look in the mirror, he began his normal shaving ritual. Harry vigorously swirled the brush, stirring up the lather in his shaving cup. Within moments his face was covered in soapy lather. He'd already stropped the razor, and with care and attention began to shave. He'd just made the first stroke, just in front of his right ear, when Ginny knocked on the bathroom door... he knew it had to be Ginny because Kreacher wouldn't have knocked and there was no one else in the house.

"Ginny, just come in... you don't have to knock, remember?" Harry said, pausing his razor while he spoke.

Ginny pushed the door open. "Sorry... I wasn't sure you'd want me walking in if you were... you know..." She inclined her head toward the toilet. "... sitting down or something." She tugged on her sleeve nervously.

Harry chuckled. "I love you, you know." He scraped the razor's edge down another line of his cheek. "Everything all right?"

Ginny was staring at him. "What are you doing?"

"Shaving, why?" Harry stopped and looked at her.

"Shaving? With a knife? What's that on your face?"

"Um... this is a straight razor, and I've got soap on my face. Why? What's the matter?" Harry was confused now.

"You're not... not using your wand, that's all. I've never seen you shave. I just assumed you do it like my Dad and all my brothers did it." Ginny leaned against the door-jamb. "Or like I do with my legs and pits. You do know the Depilidio charm, don't you?"

"Oh, yeah... I use that too sometimes, but I really prefer to use the Muggle way. It's calming and I get some good thinking time in." He resumed shaving, taking great care to not cut his nose off when shaving his upper lip. "Sirius taught me to do it this way."

"It looks rather dangerous. Do you ever cut yourself?"

"Every once in a while, I do. It's minor, though." Harry met her eyes in the reflection. "So..."

Ginny nodded. "I was thinking... you know how you said we could do anything I wanted today?"

Harry nodded and turned his attention to his other cheek. "Yeah. Come to a decision yet?"

"Well... sort of... What would you think about getting married?" Ginny fidgeted, as if afraid of what he was going to say.

"That was the point of the ring, yeah?" He smiled, then scraped the last of the foam from his face. Harry wiped his face down with a wet cloth and turned to her. "Of course I want to marry you... but..."

"No, I mean... on Monday, when the Ministry offices are open." Ginny took the cloth from him and dabbed at spots near the base of his ears, then held it to a spot just under his chin. "Best thing about using the Shaving charm... no cuts. I mean, let's get married on Monday. Let's just elope. We can go to the Ministry and have a civil ceremony."

Harry looked at her for a long while. "Are you serious? I mean, are you sure?"

"Completely."

Harry thought about it. He took on a very casual air. "Well... I did want to drop by and talk to Kingsley about that job offer, and I needed to see about getting the fireplace hooked up to the Floo Network. So I suppose we could throw in a marriage too."

Ginny blinked. "You mean it?"

"If it's what you really, truly want, yes, of course I mean it. What, weren't you serious when you asked me?" Harry was puzzled.

"Of course I was serious." Ginny sighed.

"Good! But we're going to have to tell your parents tonight." Harry pulled her close and kissed her nose.

Ginny pushed herself back. "What? You want to discuss our wedding plans with my parents?"

"No, I want to tell your parents about our wedding plans, not discuss them."

She wasn't mollified. "What's the difference?"

Harry sighed and pulled her back to him. Again, he kissed her on the nose, and when she looked at him suspiciously, he did it again. "Discussing it with them means they have a say. Telling them is informing them of a decision we've already made. There's a huge..." he kissed her lips, gently. "... difference between the two."

"Why are we... Harry, the point of eloping is to just do it. You don't warn people that you're doing it." Ginny still looked irritated, but only just.

"I made a promise--" Harry leaned in and kissed her on her forehead, then on her cheek, and then on her shoulder. "-- to your father. I promised him --" He began to nibble his way up her shoulder toward her neck... "-- that we would wait to get married --" ...and up her neck. " -- until you were out of school."

"Silly... I'm not going... Harry, you're distracting me..." Ginny pushed against him, but not very hard. "Harry... this isn't fair..." He began nibbling on her earlobe and she started giggling. "Hey!... Harry... no... do you... STOP! Harry... oh... I'm not... Cut it out! I'm not going back... oh no, don't you dare stop doing that..."

Harry straightened up. "I'm sorry... were you trying to say something?"

"I am going to make you pay... That was evil," Ginny laughed. "Harry... you're not marrying my Dad, you're marrying me. I don't care about your promise to Dad. Besides, I'm not going back to school."

"I know." He pulled his t-shirt on. "And the way I see it that negates the promise since technically, you not going back means you're out of school. But I'm not going to spring it on them. You might still be mad at your mum, but I think they deserve knowing beforehand."

"Fine... but I won't let them talk us out of it. We're getting married on Monday." Ginny pulled herself out of Harry's grasp. "Let's go see our godson."

"Our godson?" Harry asked with a smirk.

"Well... if I'm marrying you, and you're his godfather, doesn't that make me his godmother?"

"Oh. That makes sense."

XxxxxxX

"...older we need to get him crayons. If nothing else, he'll have a wider range of shades for his hair. One of those big Crayola 64 boxes." Harry and Ginny appeared suddenly in the alley alongside the premises of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

"What's a crayon?" Ginny asked.

"Huh? Oh... its a little colored stick that Muggle children use to draw with... they're great. Our children will definitely know the joys of crayons."

"Children? We're not even married yet and you're thinking about children?" Ginny's grin was a bit sardonic.

"Well... I was thinking, maybe... I mean... if you don't want kids, we don't..." Harry took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "If there are any ways I haven't mucked it up today, would you let me know?"

"Relax, Harry... I'm just winding you up." Ginny ruffled his hair as they rounded the corner and stepped in front of the shop.

"Ron has been busy, I see." Harry pointed to the front window. "Last time I was here, the front was boarded up and the glass broken. Dirt and rubbish everywhere. Cobwebs, even." Instead of a broken window, the usual products and notices, along with a large sign reading, HELP WANTED! filled the front window.

Harry led Ginny to the shop's door. The handle had been replaced, and was locked when he jiggled it. Peering through the door, Harry spotted movement, so he knocked. Peering through the glass in the door, he got his first good view of the shop, and was only slightly amazed. Though he could see some empty areas, the shelves had been repaired, the dust and cobwebs cleaned away, and the merchandise restocked.

At the sound of the knock, Ron stepped out of the back, followed by a young woman Harry hadn't seen in a couple of years. Ron waved at Harry and Ginny through the window, and then made a poking motion toward the door with his wand. Instantly, it unlocked itself.

"Good morning, strangers!" Ron was cheery, it seemed. He chucked Harry on the shoulder and pulled Ginny into a tight hug. "So... I half-expected to not see you again after last night."

"I don't want to talk about last night, Ronald." Ginny scowled.

"That's fine. If it's any consolation, I'm taking your side. I think you're old enough to make your own decisions, even when I think those decisions are wrong." Ron shrugged. "You're old enough to make your own mistakes, just like the rest of us."

"That's very sweet of you Ron. I always appreciate it when you're being supportive. What do you mean old enough to make my own mistakes?" Ginny continued to scowl at him.

"Nothing... I think you should finish school. But it's not my decision and I'm not going to lecture you about it."

"Mister Weasley..." they were interrupted by an arrival from the back room. "Oh... I'm sorry, Mister Weasley..."

"That's all right, Verity," Ron said. "Harry, Ginny, you remember Verity Greene, right?"

"Of course. It's nice to see you again, Verity," Harry greeted her. "That was fast."

"What was fast?" Verity asked, confused.

Harry explained. "Yesterday, Ron told me he was going to be hiring people... I wasn't expecting him to succeed so quickly."

"Oh... well..." She shrugged. "Technically I never stopped working here, so when I got Mister Weasley's owl, naturally I came right away."

"That makes sense," Ginny said.

"Verity, I told you not to call me 'Mister Weasley'. Call me Ron." From the sound of it, this was an argument they'd been having for a while.

"Yes, Mister Weasley. I... um... I just finished the inventory in the store-room... we're down to our last dozen snack-boxes, but we have more fake wands than you can shake a real one at," Verity reported.

"Okay, thanks. See what you can do with the workshop... we need to get that sorted out if we're going to replenish the merchandise we're out of." Ron got a vague look to his eye, the one Harry recognized as the 'I'm thinking in the long term' look. "Did George or Fred ever teach you any of the formulas, Verity?"

"Not too many... I know how to make Itching Mints and Ton-Tongue Toffees, but that's about it."

"Well, I suppose we need to wait until George is back from wherever he got to. I don't suppose you know if they wrote anything down?" Ron asked. He turned to Harry and Ginny and said, "How either of them got anything done, I'll never know..."

Verity thought about it. "They had a pair of notebooks, but I haven't seen them. I'll check the workshop while I'm straightening it up. Nice meeting you again." She waved at Ginny and Harry and stepped into the back of the shop.

Ron sighed. "I promoted her. She's now officially the store manager. Best thing to ever happen to this place. Now if I can just find one or two more employees, we'd be up and running."

"Ron, I'm impressed. In just a couple of days you've become a respectable businessman!" Ginny joked.

"Yeah, mate... who knew you had it in you?"

Ron's ears turned red. "Yeah, well... it's like chess, really. Just strategy, innit?" Ron looked around the shop. "We might just be ready to open up on Monday. Of course, I'm not going to be here... that's why the first thing I did was put Verity in charge. I've told her that under no circumstances is George to be in charge."

That caused some consternation. "Why? What's the matter with George, Ron?" Ginny asked.

Ron looked over her shoulder to the door. "You'll find out in just a second."

They turned to look toward the door, just in time to watch George walk into the shop. He looked red-eyed and tired. "Ginny! So the prodigal returns! Ron told me you told Mum off and ran out last night! Good for you!" He nearly smothered Ginny in his hug. "I'm sorry about your birthday."

"George..." Harry began.

"It's okay, George. George... it's barely lunchtime... why do you smell of Firewhisky?" Ginny pushed George off of her.

"I might have had a drink while I was out. Or two." At this, Ron huffed, loudly. "But only two... it's not like I went out and got blind stinking drunk..."

"George, Verity needs your help in the workshop. We need to find your notebooks so we can get production going again." Ron's voice was quiet, but commanding.

"Right... good idea. Sorry about everything." George looked sheepish for a moment as he left. "You're going to be at Mum and Dad's tonight, right? I'll see you two there, then."

Ginny and Harry stared.

"Ron?" Ginny was the first to speak. "What's going on with George?"

"Well, he..." Ron ran his hand through his hair, and then scratched at it idly. "You see... He's been having a harder time than the rest of us getting back on his feet. He's been drinking a lot, lately..."

"That's why you put Verity in charge of the shop?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. Though George thinks it's your idea."

"What?"

"Yeah, Harry... I haven't told him that I'm his new partner yet. He just thinks I'm helping out, you know?" Ron shrugged. "I'll tell him after we get back from Australia. In the mean-time, I've convinced him to open back up on Monday with Verity running the shop for him. I think I convinced him to let her do most of the brain-work."

"Sounds like you've got most of it sorted out," Harry said. "We stopped by to make sure everything was at least heading to normal here... and you've done it in two days."

"Oh don't fool yourself, Harry... we're far from normal here." Ron sighed. "George is a wreck and I'm calm like a swan."

"Like a what?" Harry looked confused.

"You know... a swan? They look graceful and beautiful on top of the water, but underneath they're paddling for all their worth... that's me then."

"I see..." Harry sympathized. "Sounds like the usual state of things these days."