All recognizable characters and locations are the property of JK Rowling. Ginny is still sixteen in this story.

Harry was sitting by the pond at the Burrow on a warm late-June afternoon, not really doing anything much other than staring at clouds and occasionally sneaking a glance at Ginny, who was barefoot and paddling at the edge of the water. Her long, shapely legs were displayed to good effect; she was wearing a scandalously skimpy pair of nearly-transparent, linen short shorts.

He sighed for probably the ten thousandth time since the Battle of Hogwarts. He wanted so much to be back in Ginny's life, but although she was attentive and affectionate with him and occasionally graced him with a chaste kiss, she hadn't agreed to be his girlfriend again. Or indeed, to any sort of relationship beyond simple friendship.

"I'm still upset with you about some things, Harry," she'd growled softly to him a few days earlier when he'd asked if they could be a couple again. "I know why you dumped me, but that doesn't make it any easier."

He protested that he hadn't dumped her; he had simply told her they couldn't be together. It was for her safety. Voldemort had killed everyone else he'd ever been close to, and he couldn't have let that to happen to her.

"That really wasn't your choice, Harry," she'd told him fiercely. "If I was willing to take the chance, then, it should have been my choice. And I was. But, you wouldn't let me; you decided you knew what was best for both of us."

"Ginny, you just don't understand," he'd continued to argue. "He would have known. He would have come after you to get to me."

"Tell me, Harry," she'd asked. "In those months you were gone, did Voldemort ever invade your mind looking for information like that? You know someone he could use to get to you?"

"Well, no, not really," Harry had answered honestly. "He seemed to be concentrating almost solely on finding the Elder Wand. Actually, it was more like I was eavesdropping on his thoughts."

"So," Ginny had declared. "All your concerns were for nothing, right? He didn't care. Why would he have? He obviously knew you didn't have any idea where the Elder Wand was, nor would any of your friends. Why would he have wasted time threatening them, other than for sadistic pleasure? Which, I'm willing admit, was always a possibility."

She'd glared at him at this point. "However, Snape and the Carrows didn't need any prompting from Voldemort to treat me, or any of the students other than the Slytherins, like test subjects for new curses. They didn't believe for a minute that you'd dumped me. I was interrogated almost every day as to your whereabouts. When I told them I didn't know, I was punished. Depending on their mood it was anything from lines and cleaning to Pummeling Hexes and even the Cruciatus when they were upset about the resistance we were all displaying."

"I never meant for that to happen," Harry had said, crying at the thought of Ginny, of any of his friends being tortured for his sake.

"I know you didn't, Harry." She'd agreed gently.

"We all realized that, but our resistance wasn't solely because of you. All of us had our own pride, our own determination. If Voldemort was forced to keep extra Death Eaters at Hogwarts to keep an eye on us, then there were all the fewer that could look for you."

She'd continued, actually taking his hand.

"They controlled our parents by threatening us. But, the opposite wasn't true. It's not that any of us didn't love our parents or wanted them to come to harm, but many of them had resisted his first rising and those of us who fought at school couldn't do any less. We had no desire to live in the kind of world that Voldemort wanted to build, so we did our best to keep it from happening. We may not have been a major problem, but that didn't keep us from doing everything we could to fight him and the Death Eaters."

"I understand what you were trying to do for me," she'd sighed, dropping his hand and starting to pace. "I'm pretty much over that part - the abandonment. However, there was the aftermath of the battle. Why didn't you come to me? Why didn't you take me in your arms and kiss me and carry me off to a bed and make me yours?"

Harry mumbled, "Umm, your parents, your brothers?"

"Alright, maybe the bed part is a little extreme," Ginny allowed with a hint of smile, "but, Harry, you stood on the other side of the Great Hall eating a sandwich!"

"I was starving. I hadn't eaten for I don't know how long." His excuse had sounded feeble even to him.

"You could have come over and sat with me! Really, Harry, what was I supposed to think?

"I was afraid you wouldn't want me." Harry had said. "Fred had just died; so had Remus and Tonks and Colin and others – died because of me."

She'd actually slapped him at that point.

"Damn you, Harry!" She'd sworn. "It wasn't because of you. You have to get over this...this complex of yours that every bad thing that's happened in the last seven years is all because of you! Did you truly expect everyone else to just do exactly as you asked simply because you didn't want them to get hurt? People have minds of their own, Harry. Really, did you honestly think you could defeat Voldemort and his Death Eaters all by yourself? Voldemort was determined to come back and try to take over the world. If it hadn't been you that had to stop him, it would have been someone else."

"But it was me," Harry said, believing he'd scored a point. "That's why I left you. Not because I wanted to, but because I had to. I had no way of knowing last June that he wasn't going to be probing my mind the way he had in the past."

"So, you don't love me? Is that what you're saying?"

"What?" Harry had just stared at her. "What do you mean I don't love you? Of course, I love you. That's why I had to leave you, to protect you."

"But, you dumping me didn't protect me, Harry." She'd sighed, shaking her head.

"I was at school; you were gadding about England with no set plan. If Voldemort had searched your mind, he would have found that you still loved me despite our so-called breakup. There was no reason for you to fear that our relationship would have put me in more danger than I would have been in anyway, Harry, other than your own insecurities, your own paranoia. I was more than willing to remain your...your lover, if you want to call it that, and to hell with what anyone else thought - even him. But, you weren't willing to admit that you were still mine. That's what hurt so badly. I'm sorry to be so harsh, but that's all it was. There was absolutely no reason for you to dump me, Harry; it really didn't change a thing."

Harry had reeled at her accusation. She had tears in her eyes, but her jaw was fixed and determined.

"It wasn't like that," he'd said, feeling a tear start down his own cheek. "Alright, I admit it, I was scared. Scared for you and, yes, scared for me. I'd never had a girlfriend before, a lover, if you will. I couldn't ask you to wait. I honestly didn't expect to return."

He'd tried some feeble humor at this point.

"Even someone as paranoid as me actually had real enemies."

Her lips quivered just a bit and a soft snort escaped her nose, but she quickly regained her composure.

"You still do," she'd said, startling him. "A lot of Death Eaters got away. The Ministry is still filled with their sympathizers. Why would you want to put me in danger by publicly announcing that we're boyfriend and girlfriend again? Lovers, even. What's really so different now? Other than he's dead? Voldemort never showed up at Hogwarts until the final battle; he had minions to do his dirty work. Did he ever come after you himself? No, you ended up being caught by Snatchers."

Harry couldn't think of what to reply. She was right; there were still people out there that wanted to get to him and those he cared for.

"I still love you." He'd declared. "We could, you know, keep it quiet that we're back together. That way no one would be trying to hurt you because of me."

She'd screamed and slapped him again.

"You're the most maddening berk on the face of the Earth, Harry Potter! Keep it a secret? What the hell kind of relationship would that be? Honestly, Harry, do you actually love me?"

"Yes."

"Then you should be proclaiming it from the mountaintops at high noon, not whispering it into a bucket in the middle of the night!"

She'd been red in the face with anger, and as clueless as Harry knew he was about women, and Ginny in particular, he realized he'd made a very serious miscalculation.

"You're right," he'd cried, tears on his cheeks now. "I'm a coward. You deserve better."

"You're not a coward, Harry," she'd said, sighing and shaking her head. "You've proven that time and again. You don't have to do what everyone else expects you to now, not anymore. You don't have a duty to the greater good anymore. You've fulfilled your destiny, if you want to think of it that way. He's dead, he's gone. Now, you can finally do what you want to do, not what you think everyone else expects you to do. What is it you really want?"

"I want you." He'd declared.

"Then, you'll need to prove that to me," she'd answered, walking up the stairs to her bedroom.

Harry was replaying this in his mind while watching Ginny splash in the water. He'd gone back to Grimmauld Place after their discussion and after a restless night and much soul searching decided he would go back to the Burrow the next day and declare his love for Ginny in front of her whole family.

However, when he had arrived in the Burrow's Floo and said good morning to her, she'd glared at him and stormed out the back door.

Harry was stunned, having no idea why she was still so mad at him. He asked her brothers that were there - Ron, Charlie and Bill - but they all just shrugged and, of course, told him he'd best be on the up and up with their 'baby' sister.

He asked Fleur, but she said she didn't know either. She did tell him that he'd best let her calm down for an hour or two before he tried to talk to her though.

He finally asked Hermione and she told him that it should be obvious and that he'd have to figure it out for himself.

Harry had truly bristled at this.

"We've been friends for seven years, Hermione, and you won't even give me a clue? Ginny's your friend, too. If I hurt her, I want to know how so I don't do it again."

Hermione had shaken her head.

"What was the last she said to you last night, Harry? Do you remember?"

"Something about needing to prove I loved her," Harry answered.

"And after she said that and went upstairs, what did you do?"

"I went home. I needed to think."

Hermione had simply shaken her head again.

"You're denser than Ron," she'd sighed. "I didn't think that was possible."

"Thank you for your honesty," Harry snapped. "Now, do you think you could give me an answer? Or is it time to meet Ron for your late-morning shag? Or would this be the pre-lunch shag?"

Hermione had reddened furiously.

"You don't want anyone prying into your private life, Harry. Grant me the same courtesy. What do you want most from Ginny?"

"To be her friend again. Alright, her boyfriend."

"And, if you become friends again, boyfriend and girlfriend, what would you want next?"

"I don't understand," Harry said. "What is there beyond friendship other than..., you're not serious?"

"I've said all I'm going to, Harry," she said, shaking her head once more. "If you can't figure it out now, then, you and Ginny really aren't destined to be a couple."

Harry watched her walk upstairs, undoubtedly to shag Ron. Then, he went out the back door, replaying his conversation with Ginny and the one he'd just finished with Hermione. He just didn't believe that the obvious conclusion was correct one.

He thought about looking for Ginny, but decided he needed to think some more before he risked making her even more pissed off at him, so he went back inside and Flooed to Grimmauld Place, sealing his Floo.

He stayed away from the Burrow for three days. As much as his heart kept telling him that Ginny wanted him in the most intimate way, his brain simply refused to acknowledge the possibility. They had hardly kissed in the last two months; she couldn't possible want him to do that? Make love to her?

"That can't be it," he thought again and again. "Women want some romance first, a courtship I suppose. Hermione can't be right. Ginny would have hexed me if I'd come into her room that night."

When supper time arrived that third day, Harry discovered that his cupboard was bare. Kreacher was back at Hogwarts helping with repairs and Harry had been taking most of his meals at the Burrow. He also didn't have any Sterling at the moment, so he couldn't go to a Muggle restaurant, thus he was forced to Floo to the Leaky Cauldron.

Fortunately, it was not very crowded and Hannah seated him in the rear in a fairly secluded booth.

"So," Harry said, smiling at the pretty blond. "I hear you want to buy this place."

"I hope to." She answered. "I just like dealing with the public in this manner. Still, I'll probably go back and take my seventh year over."

"Why so?" Harry inquired. "It's not like you need N.E.W.T.S. to run a tavern."

"Neville." Hannah's cheeks pinked up prettily as Harry smiled and nodded. He'd go back too if he could get back together with Ginny.

Hannah left to fetch his order. Harry was sipping at his tea when he heard a groan in the booth next to him. He looked around the separating wall and there sat George, a half-empty bottle of Firewhiskey in front of him. Since there was no one with him, Harry had to assume he'd emptied it himself.

Harry got up and slipped into the seat across from George, who looked up rather blearily and burped.

"Ha...Ha...Harry! Harry, old mate, old chum, old buddy. Have a drink!" George burped again.

"I think I'll pass." Harry said. "And so should you. George, I heard you promise both your Mum and Angelina that you'd stop this."

Hannah came back at that moment with Harry's dinner and glared at George.

"George! Where did you get that bottle? I told you, no more Firewhiskey here!"

"I...I levitated it over when you weren't looking." George admitted. "Angie's in Holyhead for an early training camp. Mum. Mum is smothering me. I'm a big boy, I can hold my liquor."

"Not here," Hannah said, taking the bottle. "Let me get you some coffee."

"Get him a dinner, too, Hannah," Harry said, adding, "On me."

"I have money." George insisted, reaching into his pocket and pulling out two Knuts.

"Or, then again, maybe I don't. I guess I forgot when I snuck out of the Burrow earlier."

George slowly sobered up as he ate. Harry couldn't be too upset with him. Losing his twin had been like losing half of his own soul. George was actually doing much better than he had in the month immediately following the battle. Harry had helped haul him home more than once.

Angelina had finally laid down the law, telling him in no uncertain terms that she'd leave him if he didn't quit overdrinking and get back to the shoppe. Harry knew that George's intimacy with Angie, who had been Fred's girlfriend and lover for nearly two years, was probably the only thing keeping him from completely falling apart.

"So, you done the dirty with my baby sister yet, Harry?"

Harry sputtered, "Of course not. You should be glad she's not here to hear you ask that. She'd Bat Bogey you."

"Why not?" George asked with a great deal of seriousness.

"What do you mean, why not?" Harry flared. "She's not even speaking to me. Why on earth would she shag me? I mean, sure, I'd like to, but she doesn't love me."

"Bollocks. I thought Ron was hopeless, but he managed to get Hermione into his bed. Harry, Ginny loves you. Why in Merlin's name do you think she doesn't?"

"But, she doesn't!" Harry insisted.

"Do you love her?" George asked.

"Yes. So much. I know I was stupid breaking up with her like I did, but I honestly thought it was the right thing to do at the time." Harry confessed. "I've apologized again and again."

"Have you? Really? Ginny doesn't seem to think so."

Harry went over the last several conversations with Ginny. He had never actually admitted he was wrong.

"Well, maybe not in so many words." Harry allowed.

"Let old Uncle Georgie give you a bit of advice about women, Harry lad." George smirked.

"Sometimes you've got to outright embarrass yourself in front of them and others to really prove you love them. Other times you simply have to grab the bull - well, alright, cow - by the horns and do what you want to. Have you kissed her? I don't mean those little pecks she gives you. I mean have you snogged her until she's gasping for breath and can't see straight?"

"She'd hex me black and blue."

"She might at that," George agreed. "But, she'd know that you were serious about wanting her. Wanting her back, that is. She told me all about kissing you there in the common room last year. Ginny isn't the least bit shy about expressing herself."

"Don't I know that," Harry said, shaking his head as he recalled her scathing rebuke of his suggestion that they keep any relationship secret.

"But, be that as it may," George continued. "She made her play and you responded. Then, you left her. It's up to you to make the first move this time, Harry."

Was it really that simple, Harry thought? Had she really expected him to show up at her bedroom door that night, then snog her senseless? Even, Harry gulped, make love to her? With all her family under the same roof?

"Harry," George said sincerely, "I'm not having you on. I know your life has been one misery after another for the most part, but a woman can make a real difference. I'd probably have done myself in by now if it weren't for Angie."

Harry didn't think he'd snuff himself over Ginny, but he certainly was not enjoying life as much as he thought he'd be doing after actually surviving all the perils and misadventures over the last year. And the main reason was Ginny keeping him at a distance.

"So, you'd approve of my being with Ginny?" Harry asked.

"Merlin's bloody bollocks, Harry! That's not what you should be worrying about. You only need to worry if Ginny wants to be with you, not what me or any of my plonker brothers think about it!"

He knew George was right, but the reality of Ginny's five older brothers and their reactions wasn't something he could afford to totally ignore.

"Well, I'll try to talk to her tomorrow," Harry said. "Come on, I'll help you get home and tell your Mum I was the one that got you drunk."

George was actually mostly sober when he and Harry arrived in the Burrow's Floo. Molly scowled at him and told him she should take her wooden spoon to him, but then hugged him and held him tightly for a good ten minutes as they both softly sobbed on each other's shoulder.

"Harry, would you like to stay?" Molly asked once she'd composed herself.

"Percy's not home tonight. You can use his room. I'm afraid Ginny's already in bed, and probably asleep. I'd appreciate it if you didn't wake her. She's still having nightmares and didn't sleep well last night, but I looked in on her a little while ago and she seemed quite at peace."

Harry walked up the stairs, sighing as he passed the door to Ginny's bedroom, and walked George up to his room.

"George," Harry said. "When she was still talking to me, Ginny told me that you hid a bottle in your bedroom. Let me have it."

George rolled his eyes and pulled the bottle out from under his bed.

"My sister is too damn nosy for her own good." He grumbled.

"Is this the only one?" Harry asked. "I'm not trying to mother hen you, George. Believe me I've had a dram or two myself when I've been alone at Grimmauld Place. You know we all just want you to get better."

"I don't know if I'll ever be better." George said bitterly.

"Well, then, we don't want you getting any worse; how about that?"

"I swear, Harry, that's the only one. Thanks for listening to me tonight. And for fuck sake, don't let Ginny get away from you."

Harry tossed and turned a lot in Percy's bed. Ginny's bedroom was directly below Percy's. The thought of her being so close, maybe actually being naked under her covers, was causing him some extreme discomfort in his pants. He didn't dare wank in Percy's bed, though.

Harry went down to breakfast and smiled as he saw Ginny already in the kitchen, helping her mother.

"Morning, Ginny," he smiled.

She actually smiled back. "Morning, Harry. Oh, good morning, George," she said as George came down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Mornin', Ginnikins. Mum. Harry."

"Call me Ginnikins again, George Weasley, and you'll be picking bogeys out of your hair for a week."

She looked at Harry.

"Why are you here this morning?"

"Oh, he helped me home," George said. "He found me at the Leaky, saved me from being banned from there by Hannah."

"George." Ginny sighed. "You promised."

"That's when Angie's around. Give me a little break, Gin. Harry did confiscate my emergency bottle, though."

Ginny surprised Harry by giving him a hug and a warm kiss.

"Thank you, Harry. You're just lucky you're my favorite brother here this morning, George. Otherwise, well, you can guess."

"Ahh, if you'll look around Ginny, I'm your only brother here this morning. At least at the moment."

Molly told them to sit and started serving breakfast. A minute or two later, Bill and Fleur came into the kitchen. Even Harry could tell they were freshly shagged. Molly just shook her head and clucked her tongue at them.

About five minutes later, Ron and Charlie came in and sat down, not saying a word but merely nodding at everyone until they saw Harry.

"Morning, Harry," Ron said. "What brings you here so early?"

"Ginny."

He gave her what he hoped was a sexy leer. She just wrinkled her nose at him.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked his best mate.

Ron's face reddened. Harry then noticed his face seemed to have a number of small scratches on it. And he noticed that Charlie's did as well.

"She...she went to her parents' old house for a couple of days." Ron said sullenly.

"Really? Are they coming back for a visit?"

Hermione had gone to Australia to search for her parents a week after the battle. By several strokes of good fortune, she had actually located them within a week. She spent another two weeks restoring their memories and reconnecting with them. They had been very angry with her, but when she told them what had happened to a number of families of Muggle-borns, they quickly forgave her. They hadn't decided by the time Hermione returned whether they were going to stay in Australia or return to England.

After Hermione returned, she and Ron wasted no time becoming a couple in every sense of the word. Harry was genuinely happy for them, but they had both changed during the last year (not that he hadn't), and he didn't see them as often as he would have liked.

He couldn't help being a little envious of their intimacy, though. Ginny had told him that Hermione had taken to sexual intercourse as if she were studying to take a N.E.W.T. in it. She swore they shagged at least five times a day.

"No, not that I know of," Ron mumbled. "She...she just said she needed some alone time."

Harry didn't ask anything else and just ate his breakfast. Ginny finished and carried her dishes to the sink and went out the back door. Harry quickly finished his and levitated his dishes into the sink and followed her out.

He walked to the pond and stared. She was peeling off her jeans and at first glance, Harry thought she was in just her knickers, but they were a pair of very short, very tight linen shorts.

"Like them?" She smirked. "I didn't want to listen to all the complaints if I'd just worn these to the table."

Harry nodded and sat down, idly tossing pebbles into the water as Ginny waded in and paddled. He was running and rerunning various scenarios in his head for getting her into his arms and snogging her senseless when she turned around and kicked a splash of water into his face.

"Ginny? What the hell?"

"You're brooding." She frowned. "If you want to brood go back to Grimmauld Place."

"I'm not brooding," Harry insisted. "I...I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"Just...just stuff."

Ginny snorted and kicked another splash of water over him, this one larger and soaking his tee shirt and trousers.

"Will you please stop it?" He shouted.

"Make me!" She said, kicking more water onto him. "You're overthinking, Harry."

Harry finally growled and launched himself at her, determined to wash that smirk off her face. He forgot, though, that she was a Chaser and very agile and quick on her feet. She jumped aside at the last second and Harry ended up face first in the water.

"Good thing I'm not a Death Eater." She laughed. "You'd be toast now, Harry."

Toast or not, Harry recovered quickly and whipped a leg forward, catching her behind her ankles and pulling her legs out from under her. She landed arse first in the muddy water with a satisfyingly large splash.

"You bastard," she shouted. "I'm so going to get you for that!"

"Big talk!" Harry smirked, jumping on top of her and pushing her head under water for a few seconds. He let her up and she glared at him, sputtering and spitting water.

"You're going to die, Potter!"

"I'm going to make you eat those words." Harry growled. "Or, at least, eat this!"

Harry scooped up a handful of muck from the lake bottom and smeared it across her face.

"Harry! You odious prick!"

"At your service," he smirked again. "You know, Muggle women pay hundreds of pounds for a mud treatment like this."

He rubbed another handful of mud into her long red hair.

"I'm going to strangle you with it, after I've shampooed." Ginny threatened.

Harry laughed, but as he scooped up another handful of mud, she did the same and threw it into his face, coating his glasses and effectively blinding him for a few seconds. During that time, she kicked and wiggled and flailed and struggled and managed to extricate herself from underneath him.

She jumped on him and bore him over backwards, both of them completely submerging as their struggles had moved them further from the bank towards the center of the pond.

Surfacing, Harry grabbed for her, but she eluded his grasp and laughed.

"I'm going to drown you like a kitten." She declared.

"I'm going to paddle that sweet, tight white arse of yours black and blue." Harry swore.

"How would you know what colour my arse is you perve? Anyway, to do that, you'll have to catch me!"

She took off swimming, kicking hard and splashing him.

Harry kicked off his trainers and started after her, but he wasn't a very good swimmer. Ginny swam like a mermaid and would occasionally roll onto her back and laugh at him and kick her feet rapidly, soaking him again and again.

She reached the other side and was getting out when her feet slipped from under her and she belly flopped back into the water. Harry swam as hard as he could and just as she regained her feet he planted his own feet on the bottom of the pond and hurled himself forward, his arms wrapping around her waist and tackling her to the soggy bank.

"Let me go! I'll Bat Bogey you if you don't!" Ginny growled.

"You seem to have forgotten your wand." Harry noted as he rolled her onto her back and straddled her hips.

"Good thing I'm not a Death Eater or you'd really be at my mercy. Now, a little more mud treatment..."

Harry scooped up some mud then looked at Ginny's mud-streaked face. Her lips were curled into a smile; her eyes were looking at him with a fearsome intensity.

He gulped as he noticed that her soaked t-shirt had become nearly transparent. She wasn't wearing a bra and her shapely breasts and pert nipples were clearly visible.

"Harry?"

He leaned down and kissed her - kissed her the way he'd dreamed of doing for the last year; the way he wanted to kiss her every day for the rest of his life.

She squeaked as well as she could with Harry's tongue in her mouth, then wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his hips and pushed back at his tongue with her own.

Ginny reluctantly pushed Harry's lips off hers after a couple of minutes and caught her breath.

"Does this mean what I think it does?" She asked seriously.

Harry ran his hand up her stomach and cupped a breast. Ginny inhaled as he massaged it and pinched a nipple.

"You're so beautiful; so sexy. I'm such an idiot."

He kissed her again and after a minute or so actually put his hand under her t-shirt and stroked her breasts.

"Yes, yes," she murmured. "I've wanted to feel your hands on me for so, so long, Harry."

He seemed stunned.

"Really?" He stopped squeezing her breast but left his hand on it.

"Harry!" She sounded exasperated but was still smiling brightly. "Women have needs, just as much as men, you know."

"No, I don't know, not really."

She looked at him oddly.

"Other than those wonderful weeks with you last year, I've had zero experience with women, Ginny. And, no one to really tell me how to...to treat one, how to...," he stopped and kissed her softly.

"…How to show one that I care for her, love her. I thought leaving you was the best way to keep you safe, to show you that I cared for you so much, that I was willing to let you go. I'm so sorry now about that. I only did it because I loved you, loved you so much."

She pulled him back into a kiss and ran her hands under his shirt, caressing the hard planes of his chest and stomach.

Harry broke the kiss and sat up again, taking his t-shirt off and pushing hers up underneath her arms. He gulped at the sight of the two firm, pale mounds with their enticing rosy nipples, now hard and erect with excitement.

He let his eyes drift down her body and gulped again. Her shorts had become transparent as well; her brief knickers showed through clearly. And on top of that, her knickers had been soaked and were transparent as well. The dark triangle at the juncture of her thighs was quite evident.

He looked at her and slowly let his hand drift down and gently squeezed her mound as he bent over and kissed a nipple. Ginny gasped, then, sighed with pleasure as his attentions became firmer.

Harry couldn't help gasping as her hand ran up his now very obvious erection and softly squeezed it.

"Ginny, oh, fuck, Ginny!"

Her fingers deftly undid the button of his trousers and slid the zipper down. She pushed them down enough so she could slip her hand into the front slit of his boxers.

"Oh, fuck!" Harry cried out as her soft hand surrounded him, pulling his penis out of his pants, then, squeezing him. Then she began slowly stroking him, her thumb busy around the weeping slit on the head.

"You...you can go under my shorts, Harry." She was trying to stay bold, but her voice reflected her nervousness.

"You're sure?" He asked, shuddering as she continued her slow, sensual massage of his now raging erection.

She nodded, worrying her lower lip with her teeth. Harry undid the button on her shorts and lowered the zipper. He slid his hand down on top of the soaked cotton of her knickers and cupped her sex.

Ginny moaned softly, then, smiled at him.

"You can go under my knickers, too. Please."

Harry nodded nervously, slipping his hand under the waistband of her knickers. He slowly slid his hand down until he encountered the first strands of her hair and looked at her.

"I want to feel your hand there. It's alright."

Harry inhaled, whining a bit since she was still slowly stroking him, and slid his hand all the way down to her juncture. He could feel she was warm and wet, and not simply from having been in the water.

His let his middle finger tease the fleshy lips at her opening, then, looked at her again, his eyes asking the obvious question.

Ginny gulped, squeezed his cock a little harder, and nodded.

Harry slowly pushed his middle finger inside her, his breath coming in low grunts as the soft, wet walls parted for him. He pushed it in as far as he could, then, slowly pulled it out again, whimpering as her softness clenched around it.

"It feels so good," Ginny moaned. "Oh, Harry, I've wanted to feel your hands on me for so, so long. Please. More. Faster. Harder. Please!"

She was stroking him more firmly and faster now, as well. Harry was more than just stimulated, he was thoroughly aroused and could feel the pressure building in his bollocks and his groin.

He nudged her shorts and knickers down far enough to give him easy access to her opening, slipping his index finger inside her as well and she whined with pleasure, but she still needed more. She reached down and grabbed his hand, forcing his thumb onto her nub, and began moving it around in slow circles.

"Ginny?" Harry gulped and could feel his face flushing.

"That's...that's exactly how to do it, Harry," she breathed sexily. "Oh, yes, Harry! Like that, like that, just like that."

Harry happily complied, gasping as he felt her getting warmer and wetter around his fingers. He managed to coordinate himself enough to lean over and kiss her, while his other hand stroked her breasts. The pressure in his groin was approaching the breaking point.

Ginny suddenly screamed softly and her back arched, pushing her hips up and causing Harry's probing fingers to sink into her all the way to the third knuckle. Her walls clenched them tightly and then began to pulse around them as she let her orgasm wash over her.

"Harry! Oh, fuck, yes! Oh, Harry! Yes!"

Watching her beautiful face flush with passion, her eyes rolling back and her lips in a smile of total reverie, reminded Harry that he was nearly ready to explode as well. Her hand had stopped stroking him while she was coming, so he thrust himself against it hard and fast.

As Ginny slowly came down from her orgasmic heights, she became aware of Harry's cock and its insistent thrusting. She managed to contort herself so that she could at least lick the head and proceeded to do so.

It was too much for Harry and he finally had to let go, his cream spurting out and coating her lips and right cheek with an impressive amount of semen.

"Ginny! Oh, fuck, yes!"

Another glob hit her right on the bridge of her nose, then another splashed onto her chin, before she finally moved her face aside while continuing to milk him, the warm stickiness coating her hand and fingers. As the final few spasms of his orgasm subsided, he moaned aloud as she bent over and actually took the head into her mouth, lapping up the last driblets as she stroked them out.

They both finally collapsed onto their backs, Harry's fingers leaving Ginny's still pulsing sheath with an audible wet pop. He couldn't help himself and stuck them in his mouth, savoring her tart taste.

He looked at her, her eyes sparkling and brimming with fulfillment and, he was sure, love. He gasped as her tongue flicked out and gathered most of his spill that was on her lips into her mouth.

"You're tasty, Harry." He blushed profusely and she laughed.

"Honestly, Harry," she giggled, leaning over and kissing him. He was very surprised that he wasn't the least bit put off by the fact that his spunk was still in her mouth, on her tongue that was busily playing with his.

She backed off a little and licked his lips.

"Mmm, do you like how I taste?" Harry could only nod. This was so much more than he had expected to happen.

"I love you." He declared.

"I know." She smiled.

"I...I, I hope you're not upset about what just happened."

She shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Do I look upset, Harry? This is what I've wanted from you since you came back. I've wanted you to take me like this, not treat me like a porcelain figurine."

"Er, even though I came in your face?" The white cream was slowly flowing down her nose and cheek and chin.

She giggled. "Well, alright, maybe I hadn't quite expected that, but if we're going to be lovers, Harry, we can't be shy about things like that."

"Lovers? You mean real, umm, like Bill and Fleur? George and Angie? Ron and Hermione?"

"Please," Ginny said, wrinkling her nose. "I really don't want to think about us and Ron and Hermione in the same thought."

She rolled herself on top of him, her breasts pressed into his chest. Her shorts and knickers had ended up further down her thighs during their activities and her warm, wet center was right on top of his still-leaking and slowly re-hardening cock, her soft hair tickling the sensitive underside.

She kissed him hard and he returned it, his hands caressing her back and bum. He let one hand drift down her rear cleft and settle between her thighs, teasing her lips and softly probing her. She whimpered with delight and moved a little lower, gasping as he penetrated her further.

They remained that way for a long time, simply enjoying the feel of each other's body. Ginny absentmindedly began rolling her hips and Harry's seventeen-year-old stamina became apparent as his erection soon returned to full staff.

"Lovers," he whispered, kissing her cheeks and neck. "I like the sound of that. I like it a lot!"

He rolled them over so she was on her back beneath him. He rose to his knees and pulled her shorts and knickers all the way off, then, removed his trousers and pants. He started to lower his body to settle himself between her legs, when she suddenly pulled her thighs together.

"Harry! Wait a minute!"

"But...but," he cried, a tear leaking out. "Isn't this what's supposed to happen next? Don't you want me to have sex, I mean, make love to you? I thought this is what you wanted? I…I, I'm sorry."

She pulled him down and kissed his tears, cooing and stroking him.

"Please, don't cry, Harry. Of course I want to make love to you. But, I don't want my first time to be in the wet grass with you pounding my arse into the mud."

"Oh, yeah," he mumbled, red-faced. "I...I can understand that. First time? Really?"

"Yes, Harry, my first time. Why are you so surprised?"

She was still smiling, but her voice had a hurt edge to it.

"I...I...It's just that I've heard all sorts of stories and rumors flying around about what happened at Hogwarts last year. I didn't ask you to wait for me. I mean, I hoped that you would, but I promised myself that I wouldn't be angry if you didn't. That's all. Really? You...you've waited for me?"

"Of course I waited for you, you...you, oh, I can't think of a word to convey what an insufferably noble arse you are."

She took a deep breath and kissed him softly.

"I was tempted, I'll admit it." She confessed. "Plenty of girls didn't resist. I...I just couldn't, Harry. As much as it hurt, as much as I tried to convince myself otherwise, I couldn't stop loving you."

She continued her story as she kissed him again. "Seamus and Michael tried very hard to seduce me. I, well, er, I tried to seduce Neville one time, but he was being exclusive with Hannah. So, yes, I'm still a virgin. I think I'm the only sixth-year witch who still is. I know I'm the only one in Gryffindor."

"Well," Harry smirked. "How shall we go about, ahh, terminating that condition so that you're not the only seventh-year Gryffindor virgin?"

Harry gasped at his boldness, expecting her to knee him in his bollocks for his forwardness. She merely smiled sultrily up at him.

"I'll expect you in my bed tonight after everyone else are asleep."

Harry paled visibly. "Your...your, your bed? Ginny! With all your family there?"

"Harry!" She gave him a short glare. "Remember what I said about shouting it from the mountaintops?"

"Well, yeah, but I don't fancy being buried under an avalanche of angry Weasleys when we waltz into breakfast tomorrow morning freshly shagged."

She giggled. "Avalanche. Interesting imagery, I must say. They'll all find out sooner or later. Mum will give me the 'scarlet woman' lecture, I've got that before. Daddy will just look disappointed."

"And your brothers?" Harry asked nervously.

"I don't care, and, if you do, then, we can't be a couple." She said this with the utmost seriousness. Then, she gave him a long, lingering, love-filled kiss.

"I love you, Harry. And, I want to be your lover, in every sense of the word."

"Not that I want to," Harry sighed, "but, wouldn't it be better to wait until you're of age?"

"I am of age, Harry."

His mouth popped open in surprise.

"You're only sixteen."

"You're thinking about underage magic, Harry." She smiled. "There's no formal age of consent in the Wizarding world like there is in the Muggle world. Pomfrey told all us girls that our third year. A witch only has to be of marriageable age to consent to sex."

"Marriageable?" Harry asked, a little nervously. "You want to get married?"

Ginny couldn't help laughing at him.

"Maybe eventually," she said, kissing him again. "I wouldn't mind living in sin with you for a while if that's alright. All marriageable means Harry is that a witch has begun her periods and can bear a child."

"Child? Ginny?"

She laughed and rolled her eyes again.

"You're just too much, Harry. I don't mean to laugh, but you really are an innocent, aren't you?"

"It's not my fault," he whined. "No one's ever told me about these things. Why didn't Pomfrey tell us guys about the age of consent?"

"Ahh, think about that, Harry. Tell randy, hormonal teenage boys that there are no legal ramifications for shagging a girl once she's twelve or thirteen? And, of course, is willing."

"Oh, yeah. I...I can understand that."

He blushed a bit.

"I wouldn't have been such a git with Parvati if I'd known, I promise you that!"

He gave her a goofy leer.

"Remember, just because a witch can, doesn't mean she will." She told him with a kiss. "I've never heard of any girl at Hogwarts giving it up before she was fifteen, and even that doesn't happen very often."

She kissed him again, staring into his eyes and telling him with the utmost sincerity, "I would have last spring, Harry. With you. I really would have if you'd asked. But, now I still can and I will. With you. Tonight."

Harry shivered. He could hardly believe that his most ardent desire was about to be true in less than twelve hours.

"Umm, well, yes. I want you, I do. Gods, do I want you! Ahh, I don't know any contraceptive charms, though."

"Don't worry, I do." Ginny assured him. "Pomfrey teaches them third year as well."

"You don't have your wand. And, well, you are underage for magic."

"I know where Mum hides my wand." Ginny smirked. "She took it away yesterday, although it wasn't just because of doing magic."

Harry raised his eyebrows.

"It's embarrassing, Harry." Ginny blushed.

"You're lying almost naked on top of me. We just recently brought each other to orgasm. If you don't stop moving on me like that, I'm going to come all over your stomach this time. How embarrassing can it be?"

She grinned and pushed her sex onto his a little harder, sniggering softly at his frustrated groans.

"Well," she began, still blushing. "I know I told you women have certain, ahh, needs, and, I was, well, umm, I was using my wand to help me, well, deal with them."

"I don't understand."

"Harry!"

"Honest, Ginny." He sighed. "I don't. I'm sorry I'm so ignorant about sexual matters. I guess we'll just have to, well, learn on the job, won't we?"

He leered at her, causing her blush to deepen. She wiggled on him and smirked as he groaned with pent-up longing.

"Alright," she sighed. "I was masturbating."

Harry's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open.

"Mas...mas...mastur... ? Masturbating?"

"Yes, Harry, masturbating. Don't you?"

"Er, well, sure, I have. But, women masturbate?"

She stared at him, but his face and eyes were guileless.

"Yes, we do. And, well, a wand is a nice length and girth to do it with. And, well, there are charms to make it, umm, more, well, more erotic, I guess you could say."

"Tell me!" Harry grinned. "You don't know how hot this is getting me, Ginny."

She wiggled on his now fully erect cock, drawing another long moan from him.

"I think I have an idea. I can make mine vibrate. And, well, make it get thicker, and even warmer. Hermione taught me those last two."

"Hermione? I didn't need to know that." Harry grimaced.

"She hasn't always been obsessed with shagging, you know." Ginny grinned. "I wonder who'll go crazy first. Her or Ron?"

"Yeah, Ron mentioned she went back to her parents' house. What happened?"

Ginny blushed even deeper this time.

"Well, that's sort of part of why Mum took my wand."

"What? Because Hermione taught you how to make it thicker and hotter?"

"No, because..." She paused and took a deep breath. "You're going to have to tell me your most embarrassing moment at some point to make up for this, Harry."

"Alright. What happened?"

"Well, as you may have noticed when you, well, when you were fingering me that I was, well, panting and moaning and gasping?"

Harry nodded.

"Well, that's because you were making me really hot, Harry. You made me come, you gave me an orgasm."

"Yes, I did, didn't I?" His smile was very cheeky.

"You did, and you may have noticed that I was quite vocally appreciative of that."

"I did." Harry agreed, kissing her.

"Well, my bringing myself off is not that different. I was close to coming and was moaning and groaning..."

"And your Mum caught you?" Harry said.

"No, not Mum. She knows full well I masturbate. She'd much rather I'd be doing that than actually shagging someone. Like I'm going to be shagging you tonight."

"Er, well, yeah. I do know some silencing charms."

"That's good," she said. "I do, too, but I'd forgotten to cast them and, well, just as I started to come, Ron and Charlie burst into my room looking for whoever the guy was that was shagging me."

"You were shagging?" Harry gasped.

"No, you...you muttonhead!" She smacked him on the side of his head. "I told you, I was masturbating. Fortunately for them, and me, the head of my bed is pointed at my door. I rearranged my room so I can look out my window when I'm in bed. So, they didn't actually SEE anything."

"So, they told your Mum?"

Ginny just looked at him cross-eyed. He couldn't be this bloody ignorant, could he? Then, she realized that Harry had little if any deception in him. It appeared that their early sexual life together was going to be very interesting as they would be learning a lot of basics together. Ginny decided that it was actually a very exciting and erotic future to look forward to.

"No, they didn't. I wrapped my sheet around my waist, pulled my top down, got up and Bat Bogeyed the both of them. Really hard! Twice!"

"So, then your Mum took your wand."

"Once I dressed and came down to the kitchen, yes, she did, eventually. She was busy berating my brothers for their total lack of propriety and judgment. They were doubly unfortunate in that Daddy had come home early and was yelling at them as well, about having no respect for me as a woman."

"Yeah, that's right. Ron just barged in on us last year, didn't he?"

"I was so mad at him, not just for making us stop, but for daring to do that. I told Mum and she lectured him hard on how inappropriate it was for a man his age to enter a woman's bedroom uninvited. Especially mine!"

"Didn't sink in, apparently." Harry noted with a snort.

"Ron is thick, but it should sink in this time. That's why Hermione left him. She said if he had so little respect for my privacy and personal space, that she didn't see how they could have a 'proper' relationship, as she called it."

Harry frowned.

"It's not like everyone doesn't know they're shagging."

"Yes, but Ron's been less than discrete about it, especially with our brothers. She said, 'Are you going to be telling them everything we do? What I've let you do with me? What I've done to you? Your sister is sixteen years old! Neither of you had any right to enter her room uninvited regardless of what you thought was happening. We need a break, Ronald. If this is the sort of respect you intend to show me, I don't think I want to be with you. I thought you'd changed, that you'd got past this...this over-protectiveness. Ginny doesn't need anyone to protect her anymore!'"

"Wow!" Harry shook his head.

"So," Ginny continued. "All the while, the bogeys were on their faces and in their hair. Mum finally made me finite the hex. She wouldn't even fix their faces for them, she was so angry. They did what they could. Charlie is pretty handy with healing charms – not that surprising considering his line of work - but as you may have noticed at breakfast, they couldn't get rid of all the evidence."

"Then she took your wand."

"A Ministry owl arrived, asking about the hexes. They don't bother with little stuff these days, but, well, the hexes were pretty potent. Daddy said to give Mum my wand, but I balked at first. Then, he reminded me it's only six weeks or so until I'm seventeen, so I did as he asked. Mum told me later that if I needed it for, ahh, 'relief,' as she put it, that she'd give it to me for that. But, as I said, I know where she hid it."

She kissed him and sat up.

"But, I'm going to be getting the real thing from now on. With you! And, we don't have to worry about anyone barging in if we are, ahh, vocal about things."

"I think they might get suspicious if they hear TWO voices in your room."

"Maybe, but Mum and Daddy will be asleep. Ron and Charlie won't dare. Percy has too much respect for my privacy, and I've heard Fleur tell Bill that she'll leave him if he thinks protecting me is more important than caring for her."

"What about George?"

"He'll probably sit outside and listen, the perv. He's been on my case to just 'drag him in, strip him and have your evil way with him, Gin!'"

At this point, Harry pulled Ginny's hips forward until her sex was right above his lips. She blushed, then raised her hips a little and slowly lowered herself onto Harry's mouth.

Harry had only heard other guys talk about pleasing a witch with their mouth, but he figured if his fingers had felt good inside her and on her hard little button, then his tongue should as well. His technique was a bit rough and unpolished, but within five minutes Ginny's orgasm flooded his mouth. Harry twirled his tongue inside her, making her moan loader, and swept her release into his mouth, delighting in her tangy flavor.

Harry groaned as she finally moved off his mouth and stretched out on top of him again, her wet sex pressed against his cock and her lips and tongue busy on his mouth, as she enjoyed her own release once more.

She shimmied down his body until she was straddling his knees. She took his erection in her hand and bent down.

"I...I not sure I can swallow it all, Harry."

He just nodded and groaned it didn't matter as she took him in and worked him deeply into her mouth and then slowly backed off him. She began to speed up, all the time stroking him with her one hand.

Harry wanted to hold back - it felt so brilliant - but as she pressed the underside of his glans with her tongue as it banged into the back of her throat, nature finally had her way and as he cried, "I'm coming! I'm coming!" he felt his load explode into Ginny's mouth.

She swallowed his first release, gagging a bit, then, had to pull her mouth off him, coughing and gasping. His spunk continued to spurt out of him, splashing onto his stomach and coating her fingers. She caught her breath and took him in her mouth again and to Harry's moaning, shivering delight, swallowed all the rest of his emission.

She finally released him and scooted up and kissed him again. He'd always heard other guys say that a man who swallowed his own jizm was a faggot, but Harry didn't care as Ginny shared his seed with him, her delightful body rubbing and bouncing on his with near total abandon.

They finally stopped, holding each other tightly.

"I love you, Ginny," Harry cried. "And I loved you before all this happened! I swear I did!"

"I know, Harry," she said gently, kissing him softly. "You just had to show me; that was all I was waiting for. I threw myself at you once before; I couldn't do it again. I couldn't take the risk that you might...that you might leave me again."

"Never. Never again. I swear! I'm so sorry I did! I swear! Never again!"

They finally let each other go and donned their clothes. Ginny washed the most egregious evidence of their activities off her face and hands with some pond water.

"Should I wash my face, Gin?" Harry asked.

"Only if you're expecting one of my brothers to snog you," she giggled as he made a face. "A woman's release isn't anywhere near as visible as a man's. Well, except for when she's so wet that it soaks through her clothes and stains her crotch."

Ginny's clothes were dry enough that Harry could no longer see through them, although her t-shirt was still damp enough to make it obvious she wasn't wearing a bra.

Harry mentioned this and she merely shrugged.

"None of my brothers will mention it. If they know what's good for them. Mum will just fuss at me and tell me to go put one on."

They walked slowly back to the Burrow, hand in hand, stopping occasionally to kiss.

"Midnight should be good, Harry," Ginny told him softly. "I'll put some sort of mark on the squeaky step just above my door. There's a very safe contraceptive charm that wizards can cast. And, I guess a silencing spell would probably be a good idea."

"Yes," Harry growled, grabbing her and kissing her soundly. "I plan on having you screaming that 'Harry Potter is a stud' again and again, my gorgeous redhead."

"And I'd better hear that Ginny Weasley is the sexiest witch on the planet if you expect this to be more than a one-night stand, Mr. Potter!"