Now And Forever
Chapter 20

By Abraxan

Harry decided sticking as close as possible to the truth was probably best. "I slept well."

"I’m glad to hear that! After the night we had, I’m surprised."

Harry sighed. "Yeah, well, I had a hard time dealing with all that. That fangirl was completely round the twist." He looked at Ron seriously now. "Thanks for sending for Ginny."

Ron blushed. "I thought you’d be angry with me for that."

"I was, at first, but we worked everything out." Harry spread his hands in an expansive gesture. "All’s well in my little world."

"Excellent."

"Did I miss anything by leaving early?"

"Yeah, a bit." Ron caught Harry up on the rest of the evening’s events.

* * * * *

The next few weeks passed in a haze of happiness for Harry. Yes, he still had nightmares, but Ginny was adept at waking him just enough to stop the nightmare so he could get back to sleep quickly. They spent more time together, with Harry staying at Hogwarts to study as often as he could, frequently inviting Colin and Luna to join Ginny and him in his quarters so the three Hogwarts students could work on their Transfiguration project.

"Oh, Harry," Luna said one evening during such a work session, "thanks for the help! And thanks for letting us work in here. It’s much easier to have you so close by when we need to ask you questions!"

"Yeah, mate," Colin agreed. "When we decided to do our project on the Animagus transformation, we thought we’d only have Ginny to ask about it. What luck to have a multiple-Animagus to interview!"

Harry grinned. He enjoyed Colin and Luna’s company, and their project interested him, as well. They were trying to discover why some wizards could learn the Animagus charm, while others never mastered it. "Let me know if you have any more questions."

He went into his bedroom and settled on the bed to work on his Auror homework. Hedwig, who had been sitting on the back of Harry’s chair, followed him into his bedroom and sat on his bedpost, blinking her huge amber eyes at him.

"Seems like old times, having you around while I’m studying," Harry said, reaching out to stroke her beautiful white feathers. "You enjoy carrying Ginny’s mail, don’t you, girl?"

The owl chirruped an approving sound.

"Good. I want you to be happy. And I’m glad you’re looking after Ginny for me when I can’t be with her." He let her nibble his finger affectionately for a while before getting back to work.

After studying a while, Harry shoved his glasses up and rubbed his eyes. He was still tired all the time, but being able to sleep better these days was fantastic. As he adjusted his glasses on his nose again, he noticed the murmur of voices from the sitting room and smiled. Someday we’ll have kids doing their homework in the kitchen. It’ll sound similar to this. What a lovely thought!

When Colin, Luna and Ginny were ready to leave, Harry petted Hedwig before she left for the Owlry, then walked with Ginny and their friends back toward Gryffindor Tower. He draped his arm around Ginny’s shoulders, while hers was around his waist. Luna left them to go to Ravenclaw Tower, and Colin, Harry and Ginny swapped Quidditch stories all the way to Gryffindor Tower.

"See you, Harry!" Colin said as he entered the portrait hole.

"Good night," Harry replied with a grin. When they were alone, he turned to Ginny. "I can’t wait to see you again," he said, leaning his forehead against hers.

Ginny’s eyes were sparkling with mischief as she looked up at him. "Me neither. I love you."

"Love you more," Harry said, bending to kiss her. He breathed in the scent of her as they kissed, savouring the warmth of her lips on his, the exquisite torture of holding her in his arms and having to keep his hands someplace "polite" since they were in the corridor.

When they finally parted, Harry smiled at her. "See you."

"Yeah. ’Night."

Their fingers remained entwined until Ginny was almost through the portrait hole. She turned back to smile again as the portrait closed.

Harry grinned and danced a bit for his first few steps. He loved Ginny so much! Being married was the best, even if it had to stay secret a while longer! He knew Ginny had some things to do before she’d send him the signal to come and get her. Then he’d flash to her room and take her back to his quarters where they’d love each other until they fell asleep. Merlin would wake them early enough to get Ginny back to the suite before anyone missed her, and they’d go through the whole "we’re not married yet" act again tomorrow. But all this playacting and deception would be over soon! He couldn’t wait for the Easter holiday and their public wedding—and the honeymoon! He was keeping their destination a secret from everyone, including Ginny. It was going to be the best surprise ever!

* * * * *

On the next Hogsmeade weekend, Harry and Ginny went straight to Mr. Joyero’s jewellery shop as soon as they got to the village.

"Good morning, Mr. Potter, Miss Weasley!" Mr. Joyero said with a bright smile. "I thought I’d be seeing you soon."

"Good morning! We need to order our wedding rings," Harry said.

The jeweller pulled out a tray of rings. "I designed these with Miss Weasley’s engagement ring in mind, but of course, you can choose anything in the shop. Or I can make something new for you, if you’d prefer."

Before long, the counter was strewn with trays, the rings glittering and gleaming within them. Some of the wedding bands they looked at were plain, some engraved, some had a few diamonds, some had many. Others had rubies or rubies and diamonds. Ginny looked at each tray, scanning the rings there carefully before she looked up at Harry. "What do you think?"

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled at her. "Pick whichever one you want, love. You’ll be wearing it a long time, so it should please you."

She pointed at a ring that had a few tiny rubies in it. "That one’s nice."

Harry bent over the tray and looked at it, then studied her face. "You don’t love it, though."

Startled into a laugh, she looked up at him. "It’s very pretty!"

Harry just smiled and went back to looking at the trays. After a moment, he picked up a ring that had a row of diamonds and a row of rubies twisted together in a pattern that looked a bit like a figure 8 lying on its side. "Is this the symbol for infinity?" he asked the jeweller.

"It’s similar to what the Muggles use to symbolize infinity, yes." Mr. Joyero lifted the ring and held it so the stones caught the light and flashed beautifully as he moved it around. "It’s actually the rune Gebo. By itself, it looks like a letter ‘X’ and means gifts, both sacrificial and generous. It indicates balance in regard to relationships, contracts, that kind of thing. I thought it would make a pretty ring design. As you can see, the ‘X’ is repeated three times across the top of the ring, which is why it looks a bit like a figure 8, I suppose. Three is a significant number in magic. I thought tripling the X would symbolize the strength of the union this ring will seal."

"That’s beautiful," Harry said, taking the ring from him and looking at it more closely. He took Ginny’s hand and slid the ring partway onto the ring finger of her left hand, careful that the gold didn’t touch the invisible phoenix feather ring. "What do you think?"

Ginny laughed. "I thought you were going to let me choose it myself?"

"I am letting you choose it. You looked at every ring in all three trays, but every time your eyes settled on one ring, they went back to this one. That made me think this might be your favourite, but if it isn’t, that’s fine. It is up to you." He leaned over and whispered in her ear, "It looks beautiful on you," then kissed her temple before straightening up again. "Of course, if you’re tired of rubies and diamonds—"

Her eyes sparkling, Ginny said, "I’ll never get tired of rubies and diamonds! But this one has so many stones—it must be quite expensive, Harry."

"Mr. Joyero always takes good care of us, Ginny. You choose what you like. I want you to be happy."

"I’d be happy if you just tied a string around my finger," she said, meaning every word.

"If that’s how you feel," Harry quipped, lifting a bit of blue ribbon from the counter, "how’s this?" He wiggled his eyebrows, teasing her.

Ginny made a droll face. "I don’t own anything blue to go with that."

"Then I suppose you’ll be forced to choose one of these, m’lady." Harry took the ring with the X rune on it from her finger and was about to put it back in the tray when she reached for it.

"Let me see it again." She held it up to the light, then down near the counter, admiring the play of light flashing in the stones.

"Do you want that one?" Harry said.

"Mum would say I’m a magpie and have expensive taste."

Harry laughed. "So what?"

Ginny tossed her head and grinned. "Yeah! So what! Yes, I do like this one the best, and not just because it’s beautiful. I love the meaning behind the rune."

"Me, too."

"That’s one ring down," Ginny said, calling Mr. Joyero back and handing him her ring. "Now Harry needs to pick one."

"A simple gold band will be fine," Harry said.

"Ron got a gold band with a lion on it. Don’t you want to see what’s here?" Ginny said.

"I do have some beautiful designs in fairly simple, and quite sturdy gold rings, Mr. Potter," the jeweller added.

"OK. Let’s see what you have."

A short time later, Harry had chosen a simple gold band that had the X rune carved into its surface in a pattern repeated around the ring. "I like this one, and then our rings will match."

"They’ll match better if you have the pattern on yours filled with diamonds and rubies," Ginny teased.

Harry wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. "I’ll let you be the family magpie and wear all the sparkly stuff. This is perfect for me."