"Tell me," she'd say, "your happiest memory as a kid."

I didn't need to think hard, they were few and far between. "Seconds after midnight on my eleventh birthday. Hagrid knocked down my door and changed my life forever." I grinned at the memory of the Dursley's hudled in a corner, frightened of perhaps the gentlest half giant I know, and then I chuckled at the memory of Dudley and his pig tail. "What's yours?" I asked her.

She pondered. "Christmas, the year before Ron started at Hogwarts. All my brothers were here, the family all together. If only we had known it would be the last Christmas we'd really all be together. Ron stayed at Hogwarts the year after, Charlie didn't come home some years, and then, well, there was Percy being a prat. And then...Fred." She bit her lip and looked away, down to the spot where we'd buried him at the Burrow.

I took her hand and squeezed, hoping to offer some comfort. I was still amazed how brilliant it was to simply hold her hand, to hold her, kiss her, to simply be with her. In those dark days after the battle, when the dust had settled, we were together again and we helped each other heal.

HGHGHG

"Tell me," she urged, as we sat on the swing on the porch. It was the night before she and Hermione were leaving for their last year at Hogwarts. "Your best memory of Hogwarts."

Images flashed through my mind. Meeting Ron on the Hogwarts Express, Hermione and a troll on Halloween, having two great friends stick by me through thick and thin. The thrill of Quidditch matches won, and a spectacular kiss in the Gryffindor common room that changed my life.

But funnily enough, another memory came to the front. "I think it was when Neville finally got the Expelliarmus charm right that first time in the DA. He was so surprised and I-I felt so proud of him, and then all of you surrounded him, congratulating him, and it was just brilliant. I really –"

Whatever I'd been about to say was forever lost as she pressed her lips to mine. Time stood still and I could have stayed that way forever.

"That's a really good answer," she complimented me, when she finally pulled away.

For the life of me, I can't remember what I had said, but I'd say it again a hundred, a thousand times, if it meant she'd always kiss me like that.

HGHGHG

"Tell me what you thought about while you were on the Horcrux hunt?" she asked one cold, snowy day in late December. She'd arrived home for Christmas earlier that day. I had gone to meet the train, along with Ron. I really hadn't anticipated how much I would miss her. I'd thought with auror training and letters we'd be all right, but now she was back I didn't want to let her go.

"Harry?" she prompted tentatively. She looked up at me, her eyes searching.

Ron, Hermione and I had told the Weasley family what we felt they needed to hear about our time away, and I had filled Ginny in on what I had left out for the rest of the family. But she knew me too well, knew there were things I hadn't revealed, maybe never would; just as she had gone through events at Hogwarts that mere words weren't enough to explain all the horrors.

I gave her question the thought it deserved. "Worry, that I would get my best friends hurt, or worse. Not knowing where to find the Horcruxes, thinking about everything Dumbledore had told me, over and over, wondering if I was missing some vital clue." I paused, thinking back. "But mostly, I hated not knowing if everyone back home was safe." I pressed my lips to her forehead.

She nodded, nestling closer. She fit so perfectly under my chin, like she was made for that spot. "I'd wait impatiently for the owls to deliver the paper at breakfast, both hoping and fearing there would be news of you or my family," she admitted softly.

She turned on her side, her hand cupping my cheek to pull my face down to her upturned one. Holding her, kissing her, reminded me I was gloriously alive, that this was real, this was what I had fought for.

A future with Ginny.

HGHGHG

"Tell me," she said quietly, as we lay entwined on our bed together. "Tell me something dark nobody knows about Harry Potter."

I stroked her arm as she lay against my side. She had finished at Hogwarts and finally we were starting our lives together. These random questions came up from time to time, always out of the blue.

I owed her nothing but the honest truth, for this was the woman I was going to spend my life with, after all. So I took a deep breath and told her.

"Growing up, the Dursleys always told me my parents died in a car accident. After...after I had done something bad and got locked up in the cupboard..." – I swallowed, now knowing these incidents had been accidental magic – "I always wished I had died with them too. I mean, my parents and I, we'd be together and I wouldn't make my aunt and uncle so mad all the time," I reasoned weakly.

I felt her body tense and I almost prepared myself to pin her down to stop her from leaving our comfortable bed to go and Bat Bogey hex the Dursleys. I rained kisses over her face, her chin, her neck, while my fingers found all her ticklish spots. It worked.

"Harry, stop," she giggled, batting my fingers away. I gathered her close as her breathing evened out but I could sense she was still stewing about my comments.

I braced myself when she opened her mouth to start talking again. " Tell me something light that nobody knows about Harry Potter," she asked.

I stared up at the ceiling. "I love being an Auror," I began slowly, " but more than anything I want ..."

"Yes?" she prompted, somewhat surprised. She knew I had been set on joining the Aurors, even surrendering an opportunity to join her and Hermione at Hogwarts for one last year. I'm sure she was wondering what could I possibly want to be, if not an Auror?

"I want to be a dad. I want a family of my own," I admitted. "A wife, sons or daughters, both, either, it doesn't matter," I hurriedly added.

She was so quiet for several seconds I was worried I had scared her off. "Not right away, of course, I'm talking a few years away yet."

"You'll be a great father," she replied softly.

My heart swelled. "Do you really think so?" I asked her, trying not to sound too hopeful.

She nodded. "You're so great with Teddy, and you didn't even hesitate to change Victoire's nappy, not like George or Ron when she was first born."

"I just had more practice because of Teddy," I responded.

"Still counts," she insisted.

I carefully rolled over so I was on top of her. "Always in my corner," I said fondly.

She reached up and stroked my cheek. "Always," she agreed, before flipping me over and straddling me. She looked down at me in triumph, eyes blazing, and I settled my hands on her hips. She leaned down to kiss me, and I half sat up to meet her lips.

Merlin, I loved that woman.

HGHGHG

The ghosts of the dead returned to haunt me the closer it came to May second. I refused to be a party to the many memorials being hosted, instead opting to get away with those closest to me - Ginny, Ron and Hermione. The four of us rented a Muggle house in Brighton, close to the beach, a few days before the second anniversary.

There's something about being with the people you wholeheartedly trust, that know you so well. We all had our demons to deal with, our own particular nightmares to face. Ron and Hermione found solace in each other, just as Ginny and I did. We'd come together for meals, talking about everything and anything, except the reason we were there.

Ginny and I took long walks on the beach, confiding more details about our year apart. Trivial things that we'd forgotten when we'd talked before, like how I never wanted to eat mushrooms again or jump into an icy lake.

I realise now that, over time, all these questions she'd asked me were quite cathartic, getting them out in the open, out of my head where things tended to fester. But there was still one area we hadn't touched on and of course, she asked me, there, on the beach.

We'd been walking hand in hand, no need to talk, taking comfort in the other's presence. It was dusk and the fireworks from the nearby amusement park were sure to start up soon.

Somehow I could sense she would ask me a question, but I hadn't prepared myself for the one she asked.

She pulled me down to sit, facing each other. She crossed her legs and I mimicked her. She took both my hands in hers.

"Tell me," she said gently, "your thoughts about the Dursleys right now."

I'd only told her the basics of my life with my only relatives, but my Ginny is a smart witch, I knew she would connect the dots. I only wanted to put that part of my life behind me, to never look back, but of course, it wasn't that easy.

I looked away, unable to meet her eyes. I focused on the water, ebbing and flowing higher on the shore with each wave.

I had come to the Dursleys because my parents had been murdered. Fifteen months old, and just a month younger than their own son. I was their nephew. I honestly couldn't give a toss about Vernon. But her...Petunia. I swallowed.

"I...I don't understand why she treated me like that...my aunt. My mum was her sister. My parents died and she was the only blood relation I had left. Why did she treat me like that?"

I gulped and looked away from her. My eyes were stinging and I hated that the memory made me cry, even now. Petunia Dursley didn't deserve my tears. But I still wanted to know.

"Why couldn't she care for me?" I whispered painfully. "Why couldn't she show me any sort of kindness? Why?"

Ginny moved quickly, coming to my side to gather me in her arms. I hated my weakness but if I couldn't show it to Ginny, then who?

I became aware that I was now sobbing. Ginny held me to her side, my head on her shoulder and she stroked my hair, constantly reassuring me with words and touch that I did deserve love, that I was worthy, that I mattered to somebody.

A wonderful somebody.

I calmed down after awhile, feeling weakened by my breakdown, yet strangely light inside. I wiped my eyes on my forearm. "Sorry," I apologised.

"Don't you ever apologise to me for feeling that way, Harry Potter," she admonished. I didn't need to look at her to know her eyes were blazing, but I couldn't help it. In her eyes I found what I needed, had always needed. Acceptance, protection and most importantly, love.

We sat there together, watching the moon rise. At some point Hermione and Ron came down to join us, sitting close. I realised, between the three of them, they had surrounded me. It was perfect.

We checked the time sporadically, passing a bottle around between us till finally it was close to two thirty in the morning, around the time the battle had been won 2 years ago.

"Tell me," asked

Ginny, to her brother, his girlfriend and me, " what you want for the future?"

"I just want to do well at the ministry, make a difference, to help those that can't help themselves," answered Hermione immediately, like she was rattling off an answer to a quiz. She took a sip from the bottle.

"Of course you will, love, hell, you'll probably end up at the top job," smiled Ron warmly. He took her small hand in his. "As for me, I've got all I need right here."

"Ron!" Hermione blushed, pleased at his answer. He responded by blowing her a kiss and took the bottle from her, taking a swig. He handed the bottle to me.

Ginny rolled her eyes and looked at me. I stared back at her. "And you?" she asked.

Steadfast, I held her gaze. "I never really thought I'd have a future," I began.

"Oh Harry," reprimanded Hermione softly.

I ignored her, taking a swig from the bottle, hoping it would help me say what I needed to say. "But now I know I do, I think about it a lot. All I need is here," he gestured. "My best friends, my girlfriend."

"Good answer, Potter," teased Ginny, stealing the bottle right out of my hands.

"Uh-uh," I tutted, taking it back before she could drink. "You asked us what we wanted...and what I want, for the rest of my life...is you, by my side...as my wife."

"Bloody hell," gasped Ron, looking between his best friend and his sister.

"Language, Ronald," chastised Hermione, before turning back to me. "Harry Potter, did you just propose?"

I didn't answer her, my eyes were locked on Ginny. There was silence; I cocked an eyebrow, silently asking for a reply.

"Yes," she said simply.

"Bloody hell," gasped Hermione.

"Language, Hermione Jane," scolded Ron.

"Oh stuff it, Ronald," sniffed Hermione.

Ginny and I grinned at each other at their bickering, knowing it was just their way.

"You mean it?" I asked her, just to be sure.

She crawled over to me, settling herself on my lap. "Tell me," she whispered, "your happiest memory ever."

"Well." I brushed some hair off her face, tucking it behind her ear. I then leaned in to nibble on said ear before whispering. "It was ten seconds ago, when you said yes."

"Good answer, Harry," she chuckled.

I buried my face in her glorious hair as I held her tight. "Tell me," I asked her. "Tell me we're going to be happy for the rest of our lives."

I felt her laughter ripple through her body. "Well it's certainly not going to be boring," she assured me.

I cupped her cheek; she was right, as always. We'd be sure to argue, we'd make up, we would love and we'd face adversity but we would do all those things together and it certainly wouldn't be boring.

I couldn't wait.