Hello, readers. I've decided to start cross-posting some of my fics from AO3 and tumblr over to FFN, so if you recognize this story most likely you've read it on either of my accounts there (Ray_Writes and raywritesthings, respectively). If you haven't read it before, I hope you enjoy!

-RayWritesThings

Night Flights

Playing for the Holyhead Harpies, even if she was just in training for the reserves, would probably sound like a dream come true. The reality was it was a lot of hard work, long hours, sore muscles, and little time for much else.

Ginny still wouldn't trade it for anything. Not even two years ago she'd been fighting for her life along with so many others. How lucky was she now to be doing something she actually loved?

Being the newest had some disadvantages, of course, though nothing she wasn't used to being the youngest of seven. Still seven, even if there were only six of them left. That was getting easier to remember, slowly.

Unlike some of the more seasoned Harpies, she was staying in a dorm with some of the recent recruits, and visitation was limited. Ron had been writing for what seemed ages asking when they'd be allowed a tour of the pitch.

She missed her family, of course. She also missed her — well, she and Harry hadn't really gotten around to calling it anything just yet. They were together again, she supposed, and that was enough for them. Especially since their planned rendezvous for tonight had finally arrived.

Long after the sounds of the other women — her teammates, she was still having to remind herself with a giddy kind of awe — had faded from the locker room, Ginny crept down to the front gate. She slowly unlocked it, without magic as any spell work done on it was closely monitored, and poked her head out into the fading light.

"Harry?"

There was a slight ripple in the air just to the left and then his messy-haired head was grinning back at her, the rest of him still concealed beneath that cloak of his.

"Hey, careful," he said, for she'd whirled about and pulled her wand. "Just me."

She let out a breath and relaxed her stance. "Sorry."

"Maybe I should say something first next time."

"That'd probably startle me more," she admitted with chagrin. "Alright, what was the first thing we ever shared a laugh over?"

"Percy preening himself for Penelope," Harry answered with a ghost of a smile at the memory, and she finally lowered her wand and tucked it away. "What did you stick your elbow in that first breakfast at the Burrow?"

Ginny valiantly battled the blush that threatened to rise in her cheeks. "The butter dish."

Harry pulled the invisibility cloak off the rest of the way and placed his own wand back in his pocket. He drew her in for a kiss, but Ginny splayed her hands against his chest to stop his lips from reaching hers.

"Pick a new question, will you?"

Emerald eyes widened behind his glasses, the picture of innocence. "Why? Don't you know it was one of the cutest things I'd ever seen?"

"Shut up." She laughed against his mouth when he finally leaned in. Ginny grabbed a couple fistfuls of his shirt collar to pull him in through the gate. "Come on, we're gonna lose the light."

"They really run a tight ship here, don't they?"

"Can't have the other teams learning our strategies." Ginny led him through the path that ran under the stands and out onto the pitch. "Still, a sight better than the Hogwarts one, isn't it?"

"Woah." He looked around the huge field and the towering stands with an appreciation that could only come from someone who knew and played the game. "Can't wait to see you come marching out of here on game day."

"Yeah, someday," she snorted. "I'm only the reserve, you know."

"Well, if the Harpies play like we did, it'll be no time at all till they need to call on the reserves."

They shared a grin at that, then walked out into the middle of the pitch. She'd had to lock up her broom with the rest of the equipment, so Harry passed his Firebolt to her. Ginny got on, then waited as Harry swung a leg over behind her. She scooted back a couple inches and smiled as his arms came around her waist to place his hands on the handle just behind hers.

"Ready?"

"Whenever you are."

They kicked off from the ground together and soared into the air. Ginny pushed them up higher than she was used to; as a Chaser, she tended to keep to about goal-height, but she remembered how much Harry had always liked remaining above everything else, apart from the fray as his eyes scanned for the Snitch.

Since they didn't have any of the balls to play with, they merely went round the pitch, doing figure-eights and dipping down occasionally to loop through the goalposts.

After a while, he dropped his chin to rest on her shoulder.

"Having fun?" She asked.

"Mm-hm." A quick glance showed her that his eyes were closed, a contented smile on his face. Those were becoming less rare as time went on. "I haven't flown like this in a long time."

"Doesn't it make you want to try something? Like the Wronski Feint."

Harry blinked and lifted his head. "I don't know," he hedged. "It's not really meant to be done with two people."

"And when has that ever stopped you? Youngest seeker in a century." She cast him a look over her shoulder. "Go on, I dare you."

He shook his head, but she felt his grip shift on the broom handle. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Ginny faced forward and adjusted her own hold. "Don't say I listened."

"You never do." She could hear the smile in his voice, though his tone turned a little more stern as they climbed higher into the air. "When I say 'now', pull up as hard as you can, alright?"

"I know how to do a Feint." She rolled her eyes.

"Well I don't want to know what happens when two people try to pull out of one at different times."

"That Auror schooling has got you so cautious," she teased. "On your say, then."

They leaned forward together to send the broom into a sharp descent. Ginny was almost flat against the broom while Harry's chest was flush against her back. He was warm and his heart was pounding just as hers was. The wind was rushing past them, and Ginny was sure Harry had to have a facefull of her hair.

It didn't stop him from shouting, "Now!" just as the ground seemed about to come up to meet them.

Ginny pulled up, with her hands and her body, her toes just barely skimming grass as they rocketed back into the air. Her whoop of joy was echoed by Harry, who let go of the broom in order to wrap his arms around her waist. Ginny turned and grabbed at his shirt again, their mouths mashing together in a breathless sort of exhilaration—

"Gin!" Harry's eyes had gone wide, and she whipped her head around to see they were fast closing in on the stands. Together, they leaned to veer the broom to the right, just avoiding a collision.

They hovered in the air a few moments to catch their breath, then lost it again when the odd snicker or two devolved into full-blown laughter.

"Just who's steering this thing, Junior Auror Potter?" She demanded with mock outrage.

"I think that'd be you, Starting Chaser Weasley." As if to wash his hands of the whole thing, he lifted them off the handle and to her hips, resting his cheek on her shoulder.

"You sure that's wise, considering my track record?"

He chuckled and didn't move. "Well, I think so long as Zacharias doesn't show up, I'm safe."

She felt a smile curve her lips. "Yeah, you are." Harry would always be safe as long as she was around to do something about it. She'd determined that years ago.

They wheeled above the pitch in lazy circles until the last rays of the sun sunk below the horizon and stars winked down at them from the night sky.