Twenty-Two Days

HP/GW, Rated M for sexual situations and language

For hpshipweeks on Tumblr, 2016.

A/N: I was originally going to make 27 full chapters, but I have a 3 month old and very limited time. Instead, here are twenty-two missing moments from Ginny's POV. All mistakes are entirely my own. Enjoy.

.

I. (All Year Four)

Watching him is fascinating… until he falls for Cho and her pretty smile and perfect hair and swear to Merlin shit Seeking. Then it's just a train wreck. While he bumbles about, making a beautiful fool of himself, Ginny feels sick all the time. She catches him with a faraway look in his eye one dismal afternoon in the common room, and her stomach twists itself so tightly she can scarcely move, because she knows who he is thinking of, day dreaming of, and it is not her.

.

II. (When Everyone but Harry Knows)

She isn't aware of it at first. After all, she's given up hope, or so she tells herself (over and over and over again). She has Dean now, the most attentive boyfriend she could have ever asked for- did she ask for this? Blimey, what a pain in the arse. But then there is a loud chortle at her side, and Demelza digs her elbow into Ginny's, almost knocking her face first into her porridge.

Ginny checks the tips of her hair for food, then looks up at her friend with a sleepy glare. "What the hell?"

Demelza is grinning ear to ear and whispers, "Harry Potter is staring you down."

She is suddenly wide awake. "What?"

Sure enough, when she whips her head around like an idiot and finally spots him several seats over, he's hastily looking away from her general vicinity. Her heart launches up into her throat.

"He wants to get in your pants."

They roar with laughter, Ginny's face pink as she protests, "Demelza!"

.

III. (She Takes Him)

She feels his eyes constantly now that she knows he's watching her like she used to watch him, and sometimes his gaze makes her feel hot all over.

She kisses Dean harder, refusing to think of Harry's messy hair and bright eyes, his warm embrace and lovely smile.

He lost his chance. He took too long. She chose someone else.

She lets the resentment burn away at her, and it's awful wondering what the term would have been like had she waited just a little longer for Harry to come around, ignored Dean's advances all those months ago, took her time to think things through. She wakes up every morning feeling as if she were being pulled in a dozen different directions.

She takes it out on poor Dean, who doesn't deserve a lick of it.

.

IV. (Tease)

He is sitting across from her, face buried in a book, and she knows he glances up at her when he thinks she won't notice.

With the devil on her shoulder spurring her on, Ginny reaches quickly into her bag before her nerves get the better of her, roots around for the strawberry and cream sugar quill she'd packed in there just this morning, and pops it into her mouth. A minute later, she makes a generous sucking noise and looks over at Harry from beneath her eyelashes.

He's staring wide-eyed at her mouth.

Ginny grins.

.

V. (She Leaves Him)

She's in a rotten mood, and Dean is being a right arse. When he's not pleading with her to take him back, he's ignoring her completely.

"Look, all I want is my notebook back," she says to him, cornering him in the library one sunny spring day.

She's drawn the attention of his friends, and Dean's cheeks color in embarrassment.

"I want to keep it," he says quietly, turning his back to Parvati, Lavender and Seamus, who pretend not to listen.

Her eyes narrow suspiciously. "What for? Blackmail?"

"No," Dean says. "For when we get back together."

"That's not going to happen," she says firmly.

"Why not?"

"Because we're done. We're not compatible. I'm sick of you and you're sick of me. Give it a rest already and give me the damn notebook back!"

Her voice has reached a crescendo, and she can hear Madame Pince's heels clicking louder and faster in their direction.

She sees his jaw tick, and he opens his mouth to respond.

"Just give it to her already, Dean," Parvati cuts through, voice hard.

Ginny isn't sure if Parvati wants her study time back or if she wants Dean. Either way, Ginny's grateful for the interference because Dean reaches into his robe pocket and chucks the little pink notebook at her. She catches it easily enough and turns quickly to stomp away… only to run smack right into Madame Pince.

She hears him snort, and Ginny vows never to speak with the pillock again.

.

VI. (Watch It Die)

"Rough day?"

She's in the process of ripping the notebook to shreds in front of the common room fireplace when Harry's voice floats over her. He's fiddling with the strap of his bag, and Ginny can see Ron and Hermione settling on the couch behind him.

"It could have gone better, yeah," she admits with a pained smile.

He smiles apologetically back at her, all lopsided and kind, and her fingers stumble over the pages of her previous relationship.

"What's all this?"

He's nodding towards the torn parchment piled beside her.

She shrugs. "Nothing important."

It's the truth, anyway.

He is staring at her intently, as if he could read her every thought. "Are you chucking it?"

She finds herself feeling lighter as he sits beside her and gathers a handful of love letters and little notes and drawings to and from Dean Thomas.

"Straight into the fire."

They toss the pages of the little notebook into the grate. The fire flares for a moment, crackling merrily, and together, they watch it die.

.

VII. (And So, It Begins)

Her mother would tell her to stop being such a silly child, but this is in her nature. She can't help it, especially with Harry there, laughing at her antics.

"Hold still, Ron."

"Bloody hell, Ginny. You've done this before, and it didn't end well."

"I was ten years old! I think my sense of equilibrium has sharpened since."

Another successful Quidditch practice, and Ginny feels particularly happy and free and bold. She uses Ron's shoulders to boost herself up, places her feet on her hovering broom… and nearly kills herself.

"Ooof!"

Harry breaks her fall, and they're tangled limbs and sweaty robes.

"Sorry," she says breathlessly, using his chest to propel herself away from him.

He's too close, and his glasses are askew, and if she doesn't remove herself from his vicinity, doesn't get his thigh out from between her legs, she's going to do something rather rash and careless and stupid and fuck, her lips are inches from his jawline, spattered with stubble, and all she can think about for one hazy second is attacking him like some sort of animal-

"It's okay," Harry says. "Just-elbow, in my ribs, can you-?"

She can hear Hermione and Ron laughing, and the two of them miss the awkward moment when Harry's hand grazes her right breast as they sort themselves out.

Ginny is as red as her hair, and Harry isn't far off.

She launches up and trips on her robes in her haste to put some distance between them. Ron reaches out to steady her, eyes shining with mirth.

"What's this about sharpened equilibrium?"

She doesn't mention that it's Harry who has her all out of sorts, and she never will… not out loud, anyway.

.

VIII. (Always Never Alone)

He has the greatest mates in Ron and Hermione, but blimey, they are always there. Ginny wonders what it'd be like to be alone with Harry. He always seems on the verge of telling her something, eyes growing serious before he realizes they could be heard. She tries to trick Hermione into giving them space.

It does not work.

"Ron's been paying a lot of attention to you lately," Ginny begins quietly.

It's lunch time, and Harry is sitting beside Ron and just across from her. His foot has already bumped into her twice; the first time, she looked up at him and he gave her an apologetic- and slightly embarrassed- smile, and the second time, they both just grinned at each other like loons.

Hermione's spoon clatters loudly against the side of her soup bowl.

"What makes you say that?"

Ginny rolls her eyes. "Don't get me started. You know he's been different since he ditched Lavender."

"And Harry's been different since you dumped Dean."

Ginny is not expecting such a comment. She jerks and elbows her pumpkin juice, and the sticky drink spills into her lap and runs halfway down the table. Hermione is giggling beside her, and Ginny flushes when Harry cleans it all up with a swish of his wand and smiles at her so indulgently that she finds herself withholding the urge to lunge across the table at him.

"Thanks," she says to Harry, then to Hermione, hisses, "you're absolutely horrible."

Hermione hums cheerfully as she returns to her meal.

.

IX. (Together)

They are fast, as if they \ making up for lost time, and Agrippa, his lips are a drug. Honestly.

It's the morning after the Quidditch final, after Gryffindor's win, after her life flipped completely on its head, and already she's snogging him in a broom cupboard like she'd die if she did anything else.

He's a little shy, and a bit tentative, but then she guides his hand beneath her shirt, and he catches on quickly enough.

.

X. (Proper)

She does not get to spend much of the day with him, not on such a hellish Monday, but at least there's breakfast together, and he leaves a bemused Ron and a grinning Hermione behind to walk her to class, insisting on carrying her bag.

"But I can carry it myself," she says as he pulls it from her shoulder.

"Humor me? I've never had a proper girlfriend before."

Her stomach grows very warm. "Okay."

.

XI. (The Invisibility Cloak)

"Let's skip dinner."

Ginny blinks at him. "Weasleys don't skip dinner, Harry. It's just not done."

"I'll make it up to you."

"Oh?"

Ginny is intrigued, so she allows him to take her hand and guide her through the throng of hungry students, away from The Great Hall, and to an empty corridor after passing Professor McGonagall, who raises her eyebrows at them in acknowledgment and nothing more.

Harry opens his bulky bag, and pulls out a large swath of glimmering fabric. Ginny knows what it is immediately, and she gapes at him.

He grins and hands it to her.

After a beat, he says, "Go on, put it on."

She does not need to be told twice.

With a squeal, she throws the Invisibility Cloak over herself and proceeds to dance around and tease Harry with invisible kisses before he manages to get a hold of her, pull himself beneath the cloak, and snog her laughing mouth.

.

XII. (A Little Mischief)

They skive off their afternoon classes and sneak, while under the Invisibility Cloak, through Slughorn's third year class as he is teaching it, slip into the largest ingredients cabinet and jiggle off the back paneling, climb a narrow stairwell, all to reach a hidden and overgrown courtyard, one that only appears between one and three o'clock on alternating Thursdays when the sun is out.

"How did you find this out?" she asks him as they shuck off the cloak and begin to explore.

"Over the summer, when I have nothing to do, I study the map sometimes. I found out about this last year, but I never had the chance to check it out."

"Thank you," she blurts out, feeling oddly sentimental, "for sharing all of this with me."

Harry turns to look at her from the middle of the courtyard, wildflowers up to his knees and bathed in sunlight, his wild hair further mused by a swift breeze. She's never seen such a perfect sight.

"Thank you," he says in return, his eyes soft, "for being with me."

.

XIII. (Over A Muffin)

It happens accidentally.

She doesn't make it to breakfast, not when there is blood all over her clothes and on the bed and on her favorite blanket, damn it. She's a frenzy of cleaning and stain-removing charms, and she's still repeating Scourgify in her head when she rushes into Transfiguration twenty minutes late, sweaty and feeling very ill.

McGonagall takes one look at her, takes pity on her, and returns to her lecture without deducting points.

Harry is outside the door when class lets out.

"Are you all right?" is his greeting, and he's looking at her with worry-filled eyes.

She's in his arms a second later, blinking back tears, and she breathes him in as he embraces her.

"Tired. Hurting. Good now," she mumbles into his chest.

He's rubbing soothing circles into her back with warm, warm hands, and she thinks she could be lulled to sleep right then and there.

It happens when he says, "I saved you a chocolate muffin."

Her heart is full to bursting because he is made for her.

"God, I love you."

They both freeze in surprise. Then she looks up at him. She wants him to know that she is not joking, that she means it.

"I love you."

Harry pulls her impossibly closer, kisses her hard, and says, "I love you, too."

.

XIV. (Again)

"I really have to study!" she says on their way down to the library, laughing and dancing out of his arms when he tries to pull her into an empty classroom.

He groans, lengthening his stride for a second to catch back up to her, but she wiggles away when he gets close again. "Am I going to have to chase you?"

"You're terrible at chasing," she teases.

He smirks and drops both of their bags. "Want to bet?"

Her eyes widen, and then she's shrieking as he dashes towards her. She feigns left when he's close, goes right, and spins around, passing him. Harry makes an indignant sort of noise before pursuing her again.

They are both in hysterics when he finally snatches her around the waist.

"I love you," he whispers, breathless, as he tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

His eyes rove over her face, adoringly, and she grins against his lips. "I love you."

.

XV. (And Again…)

It's hard and warm in her hands.

She looks up at Harry.

"Are you sure?"

He nods and says, "'Course. You know what you're doing."

She swings her leg over his Firebolt and takes off, screaming, "I love you!"

.

XVI. (And Again…)

It's hard and warm in her hands.

She looks up at Harry.

"Are you sure?"

She nods and says, "Yeah, just… tell me what to do."

He does, and getting him off is even more brilliant than she ever thought, especially when he comes and gasps into her neck, "I love you."

.

XVII. (Disturbing Ron)

After showering and dressing in her most worn pajamas, Ginny descends the girls' staircase to meet Harry, who is engrossed in a chess match with Ron.

She frowns, wanting nothing more than to be alone with her boyfriend. She climbs into Harry's lap, seeking his immediate attention. He slips his hand between her pajama top and bottoms, and says rather soothingly, "Ron's almost beat me."

Sure enough, five long minutes later, Ron trounces Harry and rises up to stretch.

"I'm off to bed," Ron says pointedly. "Coming?"

Ginny sees her opening. "It depends on how fast you leave."

Harry instantly goes red, and Ron looks like he's been clubbed over the head.

"What-?"

"I'll be up soon," Harry tells him hastily.

Already giggling, Ginny erupts into a fresh peal of laughter.

Ron makes a disgusted noise and leaves, muttering under his breath.

.

XVIII. (Encroaching Darkness)

They're out in their secret courtyard, and Arnold is rolling down the slope of her back as she checks over her Charms homework. Harry is beside her, slowly inching closer. She plays hard to get and pretends not to notice him.

But then he stops, and the next time she glances over at him, he is asleep.

He looks very peaceful, and fully relaxed, and the lines that usually mar his forehead have smoothed out. He looks younger, too, by years almost, and she remembers him as he was when she'd first met him, small and impossibly bright.

"You're staring."

She jumps. "I thought you were asleep!"

Harry opens one eye to peer at her through crooked spectacles. "I was for a second." He closes his eye. "Come sleep with me."

She colors a little at this, bites her lip when she thinks of the stack of classwork she has yet to complete, and abandons the idea of finishing much of anything tonight; she has a gut feeling that her relationship with Harry is too good to be true, that something is bound to come between them, and soon. She has an inkling of an idea of what it could be, and a flash of terror takes the breath right out of her.

"Ginny?"

"Sorry," she mumbles. "Sorry, I'm just… going mad."

He is rolling her over onto her back, and her legs loosely encircle his thighs. Arnold squeaks and skitters into Harry's bag for safety.

"What's wrong?" he says, nothing but concern in his voice. She doesn't want to upset him, but then he begs, "Tell me."

"Don't leave me," she finally blurts out.

Harry's expression clears and he slumps over her, burying his head into her neck. "I don't want to talk about this, Ginny."

"But the lessons you're taking, with Dumbledore-"

"You know I can't tell you," he says.

"It's some plan you two are working on, right? To get rid of Riddle once and for all?"

"Babe, please."

He tries to kiss her, and she turns her head away, mostly so he won't notice her glistening eyes.

Harry pulls away from her, and she lets him.

.

XIX. (The First Row)

"I want to." It's the softest of whispers spoken into the darkness, but he hears it. She knows he does. "Please, I want to."

Harry drags his lips away from her and settles his chin on her hip. "You're just saying that. After yesterday..."

"No, I'm not," she insists, though he is partly right. She'd given him- them- a lot of consideration since then, and she wants to be with him, all of him, before everything falls apart around them.

"You know I want to, too."

She raises herself onto her elbows and looks down her body at him. "Then why aren't we?"

"You're not ready."

"I'm not ready? I'm not ready?"

She is pulling up her pants, then her jeans, and she's shaking all over, absolutely furious and so, so hurt. Who the bloody hell does he think he is? He couldn't, wouldn't know how ready or not she was, not unless she told him, which she'd just done. Did he not believe her? And who turned down sex? Who?!

Harry Sodding Potter, apparently!

"Ginny-" Harry begins, perhaps only then realizing how much of an idiot he is.

Ginny can't find her bra, but she is too hacked off to care. She throws on her t-shirt, opens the door of the Room of Requirement, and says none too kindly before slamming it shut, "Bugger the fuck off."

.

XX. (The Apology)

She avoids him for a full day, knowing she overreacted and feeling absolutely horrid about it.

She skips breakfast all together, dodges into a lavatory when she sees him rounding a corner after her Potions lesson, and takes the long way down to the Defense classroom, shunning her usual path. He must have given up trying to corner her sometime around lunch, because she no longer catches glimpses of his disheveled head looming over the crowd of pupils.

She sits with Luna at the Ravenclaw table, just to be safe, and devours two sandwiches in less than seven minutes.

"Are you practicing for an all-you-can-eat competition?" Luna asks. "We're reviewing strange Muggle practices in Muggle Studies. Apparently hot dogs are a big thing, and if you soak the bun in water-"

Around a mouthful of a third ham and cheese toastie, Ginny moans, "Please, not now, Luna. I'll lose my appetite."

Luna stares at her. "I'm sorry, I thought you'd finished."

Ginny shakes her head. "I'm starved."

"Oh. That's right. You're avoiding Harry, aren't you? He told me this morning that he'd ticked you off."

Ginny chokes, and Luna pats her roughly on the back. "What else did he say?"

"Well, when I told him not to break your heart, he kind of went funny, said he didn't intend to, and rushed off somewhere. Haven't seen him since."

When she enters the common room after what feels like the longest day of her life, her dorm mates pounce upon her and drag her up the stairs to their dormitory, tittering and giggling, and Ginny cannot for the life of her figure out what they're saying. They're speaking vaguely, but emphatically, and it all makes sense when she steps into the fifth year girls' room.

Ginny's nightstand holds two large vases of deep red roses, the windowsill by her bed three, and her four-poster is littered with every kind of chocolate found at Honeydukes. Her face is glowing when she reads the small note attached to the nearest bouquet.

She leaves the tower as quickly as her legs can take her, hoping to make it to him before curfew.

.

XXI. (The Perfect Way to Go)

Was it supposed to be this perfect, this quickly?

"You're going to kill me," Harry breathes low and slow into her ear.

She grins into her pillow and ignores her sore elbows.

"What a way to go, yeah?"

.

XXII. (One More Day)

Dumbledore is gone, and Harry is distant. His eyes are faraway and glazed over. His fingertips have not been warm since.

They are out beneath the beech tree. Ron and Hermione are there, too, but talking amongst themselves and nearer to The Forest.

Harry sits up quickly, head in his hands, and she presses her mouth to his temple.

"Does your scar hurt?"

"No," he says.

"What's wrong?"

He turns towards her, and she sees the look in his eyes, the one she has been dreading.

He opens his mouth, but she cuts across him before he can even begin. "Just… wait. Not yet. Please."

A blast of wind whips her hair to and fro, and Harry gathers it messily in his hands, pulls on it gently, and kisses her.

"Okay."