Bollocks and Bed Rest

"Hand me that beef."

"So the Deputy Minister put out that press release — "

"Any more potatoes left?"

"…told me that the Weird Sisters were coming out with a new song."

"Oi! Watch where you wave that fork!"

"Victoire, stop throwing peas at your cousins!"

Molly Weasley watched her family with a satisfied smile. It was such a large group that she had abandoned her attempt to seat everyone around the kitchen table and had Bill and Charlie set up tables in the back garden. All of her children and most of their significant others were able to make it tonight, which was a rarity. She assumed it had something to do with the Witch Weekly article. Still, it was good to have everyone together for the evening. She knew her children tried their hardest to make the monthly family dinners, but they had their own family obligations and work that sometimes took priority. Charlie had missed a few lately, as he was busy helping with the new dragon reserve in Scotland. She gazed fondly as she watched him mime throwing peas at Bill's hair, and Victiore giggle and comply. Maybe if he has to spend the entire evening combing peas out of his hair he'll finally see reason and cut it!

Bill, Fleur and their children were regulars at The Burrow except when visiting Fleur's family in France. Motherhood seemed to do wonders for Fleur and Molly found that she quite enjoyed her company. Her daughter-in-law was currently hiding a smirk at the state of her husband's hair while caressing swollen belly. She was expecting her third child, which she declared would be the last unless Bill discovered a way to carry the child himself. He, for Molly was certain it was a boy, was due in just over a month which meant she needed to hurry up and finish the baby blanket she was working on.

Percy arrived shortly before dinner alone. His wife was home with little Molly who was suffering from a cold. She'd have to remember to make a care package for her namesake with some food and a batch of Pepper Up Potion. The rest of the boys and their wives and children were there as well. Fred and Verity brought their two year old daughter Prudence, who was currently napping in Ginny's old room and George's twins, Georgie and Roxy were up to Merlin knows what under the table.

Besides Charlie, who seemed to be on the path of being a lifelong bachelor, Molly's only two children who had yet to give her more grandchildren were her two youngest. She was hoping Ron and Hermione would change that soon. Her eyes slid over to where they were quietly talking to Harry and her daughter. Molly's heart warmed as Ron said something that made Hermione glare and the other couple laugh. She watched Harry casually slip his arm around her daughter. Ginny leaned into him and whispered something in his ear which caused Harry to laugh harder.

She continued to gaze knowingly at the couple. It was about time they got together. She had watched them dance around each other for years, and it took all her will power not to say anything. Arthur insisted that if it was meant to be they'd find each other on their own. It was hard though. She had noticed the longing glances Harry gave Ginny when he thought no one was watching back in between his fifth and sixth year at school. She was certain that she'd be receiving an owl from her daughter that school year declaring their new relationship and her elation but it never arrived. So she held her tongue and watched them casually date and get involved in relationships she knew were doomed from the start.

"I told you they'd eventually figure it out," her husband whispered, following her gaze.

She smiled and slipped her hand into his. "I know you did, love. It was just so hard to sit by and watch them pretend to be happy with other people."

"Of course," he conceded as he brushed his thumb across her knuckles. "But it seems they've finally found each other."

"They look happy, don't they?"

"They're practically glowing, Molly. Just look at them. I've never seen my little girl look at anyone that way," he assured her.

"Oh Arthur," Molly replied, recognizing the hint of sadness in his eyes, "you knew this day would come. She'll always be our little girl, but she's grown up."

"I know," he sighed and smiled reassuringly at her, "and I couldn't be happier about the man she's chosen. She loves him, too. I don't know if she even knows it yet. He's really grown up.

"That he has, Arthur. They both have."

~*~
"I still can't believe he was stuck there all day!" Hermione exclaimed quietly.

Ginny shook her head ruefully. "I wouldn't either if I didn't see it for myself.

She and Hermione were sitting on the rickety porch swing her Dad had restored years ago. It was an old Muggle swing he had recovered from a raid. He had kept it in his shed and fiddled with it for months, stripping it down, ("Isn't this great, Ginny? Just like the Muggles would!") painting it by hand, and adding a few charms. It had been her favorite spot since, and she would sneak downstairs in the middle of the night to sit under the summer stars. Tonight she had claimed her spot shortly after dinner and was joined by Hermione, who chose to sit with her instead of watching the boys entertain the children by making the tables race each other around the garden.

They had been there for the better part of half an hour, quietly discussing the day's events. In hushed tones, Ginny described the scene that was waiting for her when she stormed Harry's flat.

"Oh Hermione, it was awful," she admitted in a mortified tone. "I think he started going a bit barmy after awhile. I mean he was slurring his words and mumbling about Tarzan and loincloths! After I burned those blasted vines to a crisp I had to Apparate back to my flat and grab some Pepper Up potion for him."

"Poor Harry," Hermione said, giving a pitying shake of her head. "I'll do some research about the magical properties of the plant. It could have just been a result of sheer boredom, but one never can be so sure.

Hermione paused and gave Ginny a contemplative glance. "Forgive me for prying Ginny. It sounded like you were done with this whole article. What happened? You just said you told Luna — "

"I am done with that. Completely done, I assure you," Ginny defended, feeling her temper start to rise. How could her friend think she would leave Harry there all day? Did Hermione think she was capable of being so cruel?

"But then —"

"He never read the directions!" she cried. The two witches glanced towards where the others were. A few of her brothers stopped what they were doing as her voice carried over the back garden. Ginny slumped back on the swing, her anger leaving as quickly as it arrived. "Bollocks! That's not even true. He tried to, but I hid them under the plant at first and, well, apparently they were a bit — er — waterlogged. "

Ginny groaned and dropped her head to her friend's shoulder. "It's all my fault, isn't it?"

"Of course not!" Hermione laughed.

Ginny snorted in disbelief.

"Well at least not completely," she conceded, still giggling. "Don't worry too much about it. He looks fine now." She nodded towards where Harry was chasing a shrieking and giggling Prudence around the garden. Ginny assumed he was supposed to be some monster or magical creature, judging by the grunts and snarls that carried over to where they sat.

Ginny only nodded her agreement, as she watched the tableau in front of her. She felt an unfamiliar ache in her chest appear as Harry swung the redheaded Prue onto his shoulders. The toddler squealed in delight and patted the top of his head. A comfortable silence fell between the two of them as they each were lost in their own thoughts.

"Oi! You two!" Ron shouted from across the garden, breaking them from their musings. "Bill's gone to find cards to play Bollocks. Come on!"

Hermione gave her a wan smile as she stood then headed off to the other side of the garden where she began to admonish Ron for shouting unnecessarily.

Ginny stayed seated on the swing for a few moments and watched her family gathering around the now stationary tables. Harry stood off to the side, gazing at Ginny with an expectant smile. She felt her heart flutter at the sight and a warm, content feeling wash over her.

Smiling back at Harry, she pushed herself off the swing and jogged over to where he waited.

~*~

"Two 3's."

"One 4."

The sun had long since set and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had retired to bed, yet the Weasley children and their significant others still continued their cut throat game of Bollocks. After years of Ron holding the spot of reigning chess champion, the family refused to play him, including Bill despite the fact that he taught Ron how to play. Personally, Harry was surprised it took as long as it did for the Weasleys to abandon their attempts at beating Ron. He resigned himself to this fact when he was fourteen. Not to mention, Ron's chess pieces went on strike and refused to play for me.

As a result, they switched to playing Bollocks, a game Charlie introduced to them after a fellow dragon tamer taught him during a long night at the reserve. It was a fairly simple game, and one Harry learned when he was in primary school. Of course, he never played — Dudley didn't allow that to happen — but he would secretly watch and quickly caught on to the rules of the game. Despite this knowledge, he was surprised the first time he played when he realized wizard's Bollocks was slightly different then the way Muggles played it. He had placed two Queens and a 7 on the pile claiming he had three Queens. When Ron declared Bollocks, Harry jumped out of his seat in shock and grabbed his bum. With a devilish smile, Fred had pushed the pile of cards towards Harry and in a sing-song voice said, "Liar, liar, pants on fire!"

Charlie placed three cards on the table and said, "Three 10's."

"Bollocks!" Percy stated calmly.

Charlie flinched in his chair and angrily grabbed the large pile of cards in the middle of the table. "Damn it, Perce! When did you get so good?"

Percy passively gazed back at his older brother and replied, "Probably from dealing with lying politicians all day."

Silence stretched following Percy's statement. Everyone around the table glanced at each other with varying degrees of confusion and shock. It was the twins, however, that seemed the most affected.

"Did that just happen?" Fred asked.

"I think it did," George replied.

"Impossible."

"It's possible my dear brother. Just not probable."

"We should send out some owls."

"Alert the Minister, for sure."

"Notify the authors of Hogwarts, A History."

"Of course, of course. This is a historical event after all."

"It's not every day Percy — "

" — makes a joke — "

" — about work!" they finished together, their faces masks of incredulity and accusation.

Ginny was the first to laugh at her brothers antics, and leaned into Harry's side for support. She tried to hide her laughs in his shirt, but it was useless. Everyone around the table could clearly hear Ginny's muffled hearty laughter. Harry casually snaked his arm around her shoulders, offering silent support. He felt her shaking under his arm and the vibrations of her laughter caused a pleasant tingling sensation that shot straight to his stomach. Her amusement was infectious and could feel a swell of happiness rise up his chest and into his throat.

Harry glanced over Ginny's head and caught eyes with Ron. They shared an amused smile over Ginny's lack of composure. He hadn't realized until that moment how important Ron's reaction to him dating Ginny was to him. That didn't necessarily mean that his friend's views would have affected his decisions, but Ron's support certainly made things easier.

Just then, Ginny's not-so-secret laughter morphed into a rather loud snort. Ron's smile turned into a look of unholy glee and the rest of the table finally succumbed to their own amusement. The twins exploded with laughter and had to lean on each other for support, while Hermione giggled softly behind her hand. Harry buried his face in Ginny's hair and snuck a glance at Percy. He was shocked to see that Percy was casually cleaning his glasses and wore a small smile on his face.

"Alright, alright!" Angelina exclaimed as the laughter died down. "Now that we know that Percy is the master of Bollocks — George I did not mean it like that — and has shown his comedic prowess, it's time for me to go check on the terrors. It's been too quiet."

Verity threw down her remaining cards in defeat and stood. "I'll help you Ange. I need to stretch my legs anyway."

As the two witches disappeared inside the house, a calm silence settled over the table. Harry glanced down at Ginny, who was still snuggled into his side. He wasn't sure why he was so worried about tonight. These were his friends. This was his family. Granted, Ginny's laundry list of things he couldn't do or being tethered to his bed all day didn't help ease his anxiety, but sitting with people he loved, with Ginny at his side nothing could ruin his night.

He was so worried earlier, he snuck back inside the Burrow under the pretense of using the loo and scrounged through the kitchen cabinets until he found what looked like a Canary Cream, remembering Ginny's advice. He slipped his fingers in his trouser pocket and fingered the joke sweet. With a devious smile, Harry glanced around the table. The cards were shuffling themselves in preparation for the next game, and quiet conversations broke out amongst the group. The twins, no longer under the watchful eyes of their wives appeared to be plotting something. As if feeling Harry's eyes on him, George glanced up and smirked at Harry before turning back to his brother.

Remembering the dressing down Ginny gave them earlier, Harry figured he'd beat them at their own game. He silently took out the sweet and popped it into his mouth.

Something felt terribly wrong. The world began to spin and he started feeling faint.

As the ground started rushing towards him, he only had one thought.

Bollocks!

~*~

Slowly, Harry fought his way to consciousness. His mouth felt like it was full of cotton and he had a massive crick in his neck. His eyelids felt heavy, but he took a chance on opening them. After much effort they cracked open and he was assaulted with blinding mid-afternoon sunlight, Groaning, he rubbed his eyes. It felt like the Hogwarts Express was racing through his head. More cautiously this time, Harry opened his eyes and squinted. Not being able to see much of anything, he groped around on the bedside table until he found his glasses, slipped them on and silently took in his surroundings.

The bedroom was sparsely decorated with only the essential furniture, but it was easy to tell who it previously belonged to. Old cardboard boxes were piled high in the corner, spell-o-tape peeling off, and the letters WWW stamped on the sides. If that wasn't a clear indication that he was in the twins' old room, the lingering smell of gunpowder was.

In an attempt to escape the sunlight streaming through the window, Harry rolled over in the bed. There on the other side of the room was Ginny curled up and asleep in an old worn chair that was angled directly towards the bed. She was still wearing her clothes from the day before and somewhere during the night the ribbon that was holding her hair back fell loose and was now a wild mess around her face. She never looked more beautiful.

He spied a copy of the latest Witch Weekly discarded across the arm of the chair and was precariously close to slipping off. A chuckle escaped his lips as he read the cover of the magazine, Hero Harry Potter and his Heroine: Addicted to the Muggle Drug or New Found Love? How thick could they get? The pounding in his head increased at the sound of his own laughter and he groaned, letting his head fall back on the pillow.

The sound must have woken Ginny, as she was at his side a second later.

"Harry? Harry! Are you awake?" she asked frantically, her wide eyes and tangled tresses making her look like a wild woman.

Before he could respond, she sprang from her perch on the bed and fled from the room. Bewildered by her sudden disappearance, Harry started to push himself up and search for her. He had barely managed a sitting position when she burst back into the room holding a smoking goblet.

"Oh Harry, what do you think you're doing?" she chided, depositing the goblet onto the bedside table. "You need your rest!"

It was slightly frightening how closely Ginny resembled her mother at that very moment and Harry wisely hid his smile. Instead, he peered up at her face hovering above his own and asked, "Ginny what happened? Why am I in the twins' old room?"

A worried expression settled over Ginny's face as she cautiously asked, "You don't remember?"

"No! We were having dinner with your family, and I was chasing Prue pretending to be a Blast-Ended Skrewt. Then we were all around the table and Percy made a joke while we were playing Bollocks — I - oh - and then I — oh Merlin this is embarrassing."

He felt his face heat as the rest of the nights memories filtered back into his mind. The moment he popped the treat into his mouth he knew it wasn't a Canary Cream. He covered his face in mortification at the implications. He remembered feeling sick and then nothing. What happened after he ate that treat? Why did Ginny look so serious? Merlin I hope I didn't run around starkers.

Soft but firm fingers slowly pried his hands away from his face, but when they were gone Harry stubbornly refused to meet Ginny's gaze. He probably made a fool out of himself. If he had his wand on him he'd Obliviate himself.

"Harry?"

He couldn't bring himself to look at her. Ashamed of his of his own stupidity, he shifted away. He felt her cool hand on her face and despite the comfort that it gave him he pulled away from her touch. His mind flashed to all the foolish things he got himself into over the past week. Ignoring the directions to the plant Ginny gave him, being imprisoned by it all day, forgetting the privacy charms on the Top Box, getting into a fight with Ron over nothing. Now this. She must have thought he was a blithering idiot.

"Look at me," Ginny whispered.

Reluctantly, Harry brought his eyes up to meet hers. To his surprise and relief, he didn't see any laughter or anger on her face, only concern. "You're not upset?" he couldn't help but ask.

"Of course I'm upset! Do you know how worried I was when you collapsed?" she implored, gently brushing the fringe off his forehead. "Everyone was frantic. I thought Fleur was going to go into labor. How on earth you got your hands on a Slumber Snack is beyond me."

"Slumber Snack?" Harry interrupted. He tried to concentrate on the conversation and remember to be embarrassed, but it was difficult with Ginny running her fingers through his hair.

"Something Fred and George created as a follow up to the Skiving Snack Boxes. It never reached the shelves since they couldn't come up with a paste to reverse it." She explained. Harry watched as her face closed off and she scooted away from him. "Harry when you fainted no one had any idea what happened. Enervate didn't work, nothing did. Hermione was ready to floo St. Mungo's."

"Ginny —"

"You were just lying on the grass and —"

There was a catch in her voice and she didn't continue. She sat further on the bed and pulled up her knees to wrap her arms around. He hadn't seen her look so small and vulnerable since she was eleven and he rescued her from the Chamber. A solitary tear silently rolled down her check and Harry could literally feel his heart aching. Ignoring the stiffness in his body, Harry reached forward and gathered her into his arms and reclined so they were laying down.

"Shh, it's okay. I'm fine," he whispered into her hair.

"But you weren't fine!" she choked out, clutching tightly to his shirt. "I didn't know what happened and you wouldn't wake up. It wasn't until you were covered in those damn purple spots that the twins were able figure it out."

"Purple spots?" he asked as he attempted to smooth down her hair.

Ginny nodded against his chest. "I've never seen the twins so serious. They started whispering to each other and I nearly lost it. It turns out that Slumber Snacks make the person fall into a deep sleep, but there was no guarantee when you would wake up. They said that we just had to wait it out. Bill had to take my wand, I was so angry."

"Its fine now, love. I'm fine. I was only asleep for a few hours," he soothed, glad she appear to have calmed down.

Ginny pushed herself up slightly to look at him. "A few hours? Harry its Wednesday! You've been asleep for nearly two days!"

"Two days?" he exclaimed. "Ginny, have you left this room at all?"

"Of course not," she answered while self-consciously playing with her hair. "How could I be anywhere else?"

Harry felt his heart soar at her casual declaration. Gathering her close he asked, "But what about work?"

She didn't answer right away and Harry was beginning to wonder if she drifted off to sleep. "Don't worry about that. It's not an issue."

At the thought of work, Harry groaned. "How am I supposed to explain this to my boss? This is the third day I missed."

"Ron went down to your office yesterday and spoke to your boss. It'll be fine," she explained.

"Brilliant." Harry settled further in bed, never loosening his hold on Ginny. "Now I can spend the afternoon in bed with a gorgeous witch."

When Harry felt Ginny tense in his hold, he felt his stomach drop. An awkward silence settled over them as Harry's mind raced to figure out what was wrong.

"Why do you put up with all this?" Her voice was so low that Harry almost missed it.

His brows furrowed as he tried to decipher her question. "Put up with what?"

For her part, Ginny seemed fascinated by a loose thread on his shirt. "Everything. I somehow keep mucking things up. I put you through so much this week."

Harry hated to hear the flatness in her voice. She sounded utterly defeated. Digesting her words he asked, "What're you trying to say?"

"Well I — I mean — just sitting here thinking — then the twins joked about — that is to say I don't think anyone would blame you if you decided it wasn't worth it."

"Is that what this all was about?" he questioned. He tightened his grip on her, as if he was afraid she'd run away at any moment, which at the moment was a possibility. "You think you're - we're - not worth it?"

"Don't worry about my feelings Harry. Believe me I'd understand if —"

Harry cut off her response with a chaste kiss. When he pulled back he ignored the shocked look on her face and explained, "I ate the Slumber Snack because I thought it was a Canary Cream. You were breathtaking when you were yelling at your brothers. I thought — it's really stupid when you think about it — maybe if you thought they tried to prank me I'd be able to see you go off like that again."

"Oh," she breathed. He watched as the beginning of a blush tinged her cheeks. If he didn't think he'd embarrass her further, he'd tell her that she was even more beautiful now than when angry. Her hair was still an absolute mess against the pillow and her blush was spreading magnificently.

"Come on now," he said, once more pulling her into a gentle embrace. "No more nonsense. I'm the patient here and I think we could both use some bed rest."

Ginny's lips curled into a small smile. "Not before you take your Pepper Up potion."

Harry glanced between the still steaming goblet on the bedside table and Ginny's earnest face.

"Bollocks."