Hello everyone. It's been a while...

Shades of Brown

Harry could still remember the very first time Ginny looked into his eyes—properly looked into his eyes.

He remembered the exact date because it was on her fourteenth birthday.

She never used to be able to hold his gaze before. She used to be shy around him. She blushed, and stammered, and ran out of the room.

Then she got over him. (She told him much later that she only got over her shyness. She had never really been over him. He preferred her version of the story. She was the only one for him, so he wanted to be the only one for her too.)

She began talking to him on the first day he arrived at his godfather's house. She neither blushed nor stammered. And she didn't run out of the room whenever he entered. But it wasn't until several days later that he got to properly look into her eyes. He had not been having the best summer, and he was awful company. She refused to put up with him and preferred to hang out with her brothers. (She told him much later that she only avoided him the first few days because it would hurt her more than it would the others if he snapped at her. He answered that she was probably the only person he wouldn't snap at even then.)

He wasn't sure when he started fancying her, but he had always been fond of her. His younger self wasn't really aware of it, but he knew now, that from the very first time she ran out of a room because of him, he had always cared about her.

He had woken up late on her fourteenth birthday. Thoughts about Voldemort and worries about his hearing had kept him up the night before.

Harry headed slowly to the dining room, trying his best to put his gloomy thoughts aside. It was Ginny's birthday, and the last thing everyone needed was for him to ruin the day with his dark mood. He tried to put a smile on his face. Failing that, he tried to keep himself from frowning.

Ginny and Tonks were the only ones in the dining room. They looked up from their respective tasks when he entered.

"Where's everyone?" he asked.

"Kitchen," Tonks replied as Ginny went back to what she was doing. "Mrs. Weasley won't let Ginny see what they're making, so she asked me to trap her here," Tonks added with a smirk, cocking her head towards Ginny, who made a face to show her displeasure.

Harry walked over towards Ginny.

"Hi, Ginny," he said. She briefly looked up at him before turning her attention back to the muffins she had been sorting—blueberry and chocolate chip arranged alternately. He guessed that she was probably doing it out of boredom. "Happy birthday," he continued, greeting her.

(She had later told him that he had made her birthday by that simple greeting. It had been the first time he greeted her for her birthday, she pointed out. He thought he was the world's greatest prat for failing to greet her on her other birthdays. She reminded him that he hadn't been around on her previous birthdays, and that the first time she had greeted him for his birthday was on his seventeenth. He answered that her gift had been the best he had ever received up until that point.)

Ginny picked two muffins from their tray—blueberry and chocolate chip.

"Thank you," she said, smiling a confident smile that she had never directed at him before. Holding the muffins out to him, she raised her eyebrows in silent question of his choice.

And that was the moment. The very first time she ever held his gaze.

Harry stared back into her eyes, his jaw dropping slightly as something like shock went through him. Ginny's eyes—Ginny had—

Her eyes were the most beautiful shade of brown. From the very first time he really looked into her eyes, he had tried to come up with the right word to describe their exact color, but no one word is enough. They were stunning. They awakened something in him. They were on fire. They reminded him of sunrise. They mesmerized him.

Her eyes spoke to his soul.

"Harry," Ginny called his attention. "Blueberry or chocolate chip?"

Thinking back to that moment, he wasn't quite sure how long he had stared at her. It could have been a second or an hour. All he knew was that it had felt like the blink of an eye and forever at the same time.

With a massive effort, Harry tore his gaze away from Ginny's eyes and turned his attention to the blueberry and chocolate chip muffins.

"Er," he said distractedly.

Operating on impulse, Harry picked the blueberry muffin, but only because Ginny held it closer to him while she pulled the chocolate chip muffin slightly back.

"Oh, good!" Ginny said gleefully when he took the blueberry muffin from her. "More chocolate chip for me. Now I only have Ron to fight with," she added as she placed the chocolate chip muffin back into its tray.

She then sat down and continued sorting the muffins, but not before she looked back up and smiled at him, her bright brown eyes full of mischief and amusement.

He remained standing, nibbling on his blueberry muffin and smiling to himself as he watched her put aside a plate of chocolate chip muffins.

So he had stood there, the image of her eyes still fresh in his mind, half-aware that he was having an internal debate about shades of brown, and fully oblivious to the fact that he would be forever hers.

AN: I really hope I edited this properly. I'm very sleepy, but I don't want to put off uploading this any longer.