He knew he should have prepared more for this.

This one moment, probably the most important one of his life thus far, and he was far from being prepared. He swallowed hard as the crowd before him all turned their backs to him, their attention momentairly caught by something so much better. She was there, gliding towards him as if her feet weren't even touching the ground, her right hand on her father's arm. She was coming and he realized that this was it... There was only a few seconds left until she stood beside him instead and he would have to speak.

Was it too late for Voldemort to zap him to death?

No, no of course he didn't truly feel that way- but he was nervous and jittery all the same. More so than he had been during any battle with Voldemort. He had not even faced this sort of fear when the Killing Curse had been coming right for him. Harry Potter, war hero, and he was afraid of speaking a few simple vows. He feared opening his mouth would result in him promptly vomiting and he wondered if he could skip this whole thing altogether. Wake up tomorrow, in bed with her, married and happy. He wasn't sure he could do this.

And then, a moment later, she was there before him; her brown eyes were sparkling like gems in the sunlight, her smile radiant as she looked upon him. Her father leaned in, speaking softly into her ear and she chuckled, closing her eyes for only a moment. He was surprised when she opened them and they were brimming with tears, giving them a crystallized look that took his breath away. But then she was smiling again and giving her father a swift kiss to his cheek before he backed away to stand with her mother just behind them. This was it then, wasn't it? He reached out a somewhat shaking hand to take hers and was comforted by how hers shook a little too. Relief washed over him as he realized she was just as nervous as he was- she, the calm one, the collected one, was nervous too. There was something about knowing she too was nervous that made him fall in love with her all over again, if that was even possible.

Together, they turned to the Ministry official who smiled upon them and then said a few words, talking about love and honor and trust. Harry listened carefully but could hardly draw his eyes away from her face, her profile illuminated by the sun shining high in the sky. He could hardly believe that this moment was here, that it was even happening at all. Had someone asked him a few years ago if he'd ever thought he'd get married, he probably would have said no. His life had been so uncertain for so many years... Perhaps that was why he rushed things with her. Because she was the only certain thing in his whole life. And just like that, Harry realized he knew exactly what he had to say.

"The couple has decided to write their own vows... Harry, if you would like to go first...?" The officiant offered him an encouraging smile and Harry swallowed, keeping his eyes on Ginny's face as she turned to face him, their hands clasped together between them. For several long moments, there was nothing but silence and the way her nose wrinkled as she frowned, wondering what was taking him so long to speak.

But then, finally, he found his voice and could begin to speak. "Ginny... I..." He trailed off, sighing, casting a nervous glance out at the crowd before returning his gaze to her face. "I remember the first time I met you. It was at the platform to Hogwarts. I was lost and confused because I'd never been there before and I had come all alone." Somewhere in the crowd, someone was sniffling, and Harry was certain it was Mrs. Weasley. "Then I heard your voice." Her lips were twitching with a smile and he could see it in her eyes that she recalled that very moment as well. "It would be years until I truly saw you, but I never forgot how brown your eyes were in the sunlight that day." She gave a little chuckle and flushed to the roots of her hair, something he had seen her do a thousand times and couldn't wait to see it a thousand more. He took a deep breath and plunged on. "And then that day... The day of the battle of Hogwarts, when I knew I was walking to my own death... I thought of you." A look crossed her features then and he felt her hands grip his a little bit harder. "When the flash of green was coming for me, all I could think of was you... How sweet your hair smells, how your eyes look when you're looking me in the eye... You were my last thought before what I thought was going to be my death and someday, when it really is my time to go, you'll still be my final thought. You will always be the last thing I think of when I go to sleep at night and the first thing I think of when I wake up every morning." A single tear was trailing the curve of her cheek and he instinctly reached out, brushing it away as if it had never even been there at all.

Harry turned then to the officiant, giving a little nod as if to say he was done. The man turned to Ginny then who for a single moment, looked panicked, but then smiled, took a deep breath and began to speak as well. "I never got my hopes up for this moment, I mean how could I after all? With you rushing off to die at any opportunity-" she paused as laughter rippled across the crowd and Harry couldn't help but to grin down at her. "But part of me always believed, or well always wanted to believe, that we'd get our happy ending, one way or the other we would get there. We took the long road, but we got there all the same." She was smiling brightly then, her eyes sparkling as she gazed up at him, her heart pounding. "My whole life I felt like I was waiting for something... I never knew what it was until I met you. At first it was a stupid little girl crushing on her big brother's friend but I knew someday it would be so much more than that. Every moment has led us to this... And I don't regret a single one of them." She smiled and Harry felt his heart melting- just when he had thought he could not love her anymore than he already did, she went and proved him wrong. "Our new life began the day you won the war and every moment since then has been a blessing. We almost didn't make it this far- how many times were we this close to death? How many times were we certain we might not make it out alive?" She gripped his hands tightly and swallowed against the tears forming in her eyes. "But here we are." He smiled and she returned it, a look on her face making him think she had something else to say. But, instead she nodded towards the officiant as well, and just like that the rings were exchanged and they kissed as the crowd erupted in hearty cheers.

And just like that they were married.

[ x x x ]

It was late into the night, the very night of their wedding vows, and they lay in bed beside one another. Ginny's dress and his suit lay on the floor at the bedside and Harry took comfort in the warmth of her bare skin against his. She was breathing softly, her head on his shoulder, one hand laying across his chest, his heart beating against her palm. Shifting slightly, he slipped his arm around her and drew her in, breathing in her sweet scent. "Mmm..." She murmured softly, brown eyes fluttering as she drifted in from her slumber, fully awake the moment she felt his lips against hers. "Mr. Potter." She greeted with a sleepy giggle, tilting her head back as his free hand moved up to cup her cheek.

"Mrs. Potter," he replied with a grin, unable to stop himself from kissing her again. It was hard to believe that she had become his wife that day. In all his life, he'd never imagined this moment would have come true. He had never thought much of the future, not when he'd truly been living day by day for so very long. But now there was peace and quiet and he could begin to live the life he had only ever seen in his dreams. It was almost too good to be real, honestly. "Sorry I woke you," he whispered against the shell of her ear and the soft chuckle that escaped her lips sent a shiver down his spine. Her hand was trailing the length of his abdomen then, falling dangerously low to his hips as she tilted her head to press her lips to the corner of his mouth. "Or maybe I'm not." His words were a breath against her neck as he drew her up, arms around her, her red hair falling down her back as she threw her head back with the softest of moans.

A little while later, they lay side by side yet again, however this time he had no intention of waking her. Instead, he propped himself up on an elbow to watch her a moment, marveling in how beautiful she was. He recalled those first days after the war and how she had been the only one to butt her way into his rooms, to open the curtains and tell him he was being stupid. To sit on his bedside and tell him with a smile that everything was going to be okay in the end. He had lived his whole life in war and strife, never having a single moment to take in everything that had ever happened to him. The end of the war brought a darkness to him that he had thought he'd never be able to shake. But there she had been, always the light to guide him, until finally he found his way again. He would owe her forever for that... For helping him along as she had done. For helping him every single step of the way. He owed a lot of people for that, truthfully, but she of all people... It had always been her.

Rubbing away the tears that had gathered in his eyes, Harry lay down and cradled her towards him, his chin lightly resting against the top of her head. She was moving then, one leg extending over his, her arm outstretched across his chest, red hair framing her face. Pressing a kiss to her temple, Harry closed his eyes and true to his wedding vows, thought of her as he drifted off to sleep.