You're gonna be bothered by how cool I am.

Okay, this is my second attempt at fanfic. Thanks to angua9, dianora, and themorningstarr for beta, and to tartanboxers and mrs_bombadil for their input as well. And thanks to seviet and redwood7 for giving me incentive to write it. :P

Pairing: Harry/Ginny
Story type: one-shot, fluff-o-smangst
Rating: A rather heavy PG-13

Disclaimer: All my base are belong to J.K. Rowling.


A Particularly Happy Hour

Harry could usually count on Ron's company to make the worst kind of boredom more bearable, but they might as well have been in different countries as they sat across from each other in the common room. It was no use either of them trying to focus on writing a journal entry on the progress of their Snargaluff stump. Ron was distracted, for reasons Harry thought he knew, and it wasn't long before Harry allowed his own thoughts to wander as he gazed with longing out the window and onto the grounds. He cast his mind back to several hours before, shutting his eyes to better savor the memory.

*****

Harry sprinted across the grounds, toward the lake and the secluded spot where he and Ginny had agreed to meet for lunch. He was late. Time alone with Ginny was precious as it was, thanks to Snape’s detentions and Ginny’s impending O.W.L.s, so having even a few minutes of that time taken from him was excessively irritating. His face was set in a frown, and he hated Snape a little more than usual for detaining him after class.

His anger cooled when he spotted Ginny at a distance, pacing around a blanket on the ground. She looked up at him, and he was surprised to see her scowling. He stopped a couple of feet from her, wondering what she was thinking and how he should act. He didn’t dare touch her with that look on her face, no matter how much he wanted to.

"You’re late," she said frostily, without the faintest trace of a smile.

"I’m sorry," Harry said, a bit hurt that Ginny seemed so angry. Did she honestly think he would have kept her waiting if he could have avoided it?

"And now you’re all sweaty," she said, without a hint of forgiveness. Harry tried to explain, shuffling out of his robes and throwing them next to where Ginny had discarded hers.

"I got tied up."

Ginny raised an eyebrow, and one corner of her mouth rose into a sly grin. "Wrong answer."

Harry’s face went pink and he smiled, slightly taken aback that Ginny’s mind had gone in that direction. "With Snape," he explained further, no longer smiling. Ginny’s eyes suddenly widened.

"REALLY wrong answer." She started to laugh one of those silent, body-shaking laughs, but Harry didn’t find it very funny.

"Ha, ha. He kept me after class."

She was still shaking with mirth. "Not getting better."

Harry frowned. He hated Snape with an absolute bitterness that he felt for no one else, especially since Sirius’ death. And he had been particularly irritated with him just moments before. Anger, annoyance, and utter loathing were the appropriate reactions to Snape. Certainly not laughter. Apparently, Ginny sensed that she had said something wrong, because she stopped laughing and sighed with exasperation.

"Oh, come on, Harry. You did sort of walk into that one." Harry merely grunted. "So, what happened? Something about your detention?"

"No, nothing like that. He was just giving me a–" He stopped suddenly, realizing how it would sound to say what he had intended to say. He put his hands over his mouth, trying to conceal his laughter and stop himself from finishing the sentence he started. Too late. He had walked into it again.

"What was he giving you?" Ginny asked with a wicked grin.

It was Harry’s turn to shake with mirth. "He was just, you know, giving me a" - he cleared his throat - "hard time." Ginny screamed with hysterical laughter, collapsed on the ground and buried her face in the blanket.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked, still laughing.

"No," Ginny replied, "I’ve died. You’ve killed me."

Harry joined her on the blanket, and they spent the next few minutes feeding off each other's hilarity until their stomachs were aching. They lay there, breathing heavily and sputtering out a few last chuckles. Harry propped himself up on his elbow and smiled down at Ginny.

"How do you do that?" he asked.

"Do what?"

"Make me laugh at something that can’t possibly be funny."

"Mind control and a well-placed Cheering Charm," she said with another chuckle. "Obviously."

Harry smiled. His eyes locked on hers, and a well-known something began to rattle his insides, like an animal shaking its cage. Suddenly, all he could think about was how much he wanted to touch Ginny's warm lips with his own. He lowered himself toward her and gave her a slow, deep, soft kiss, losing himself in the strawberry taste of her mouth.

Just as he began to position himself on top of her, she abruptly broke the kiss, gently directing him back to the blanket and sitting up. "We’re forgetting lunch," she said softly.

"Oh. Right," he said, a little disappointed that Ginny hadn’t been so wrapped up in his kissing her that she forgot about eating. He helped her empty the basket of goodies she had nicked from the kitchens - warm ham sandwiches, chips, a flagon of pumpkin juice, and some treacle tart. They ate in silence, stealing glances at each other in turn. Occasionally they caught each other’s gaze and grinned.

Harry still couldn’t believe how much had changed between them over the past several months. He remembered when she was just a little girl chasing the train that took him to Hogwarts for the first time. He recalled the dramatic events of her first year, when she had been possessed by Voldemort and somehow managed to survive. How she had lived through the ordeal and come out of it to be the person she was today was a source of no small amazement to Harry. And it suddenly occurred to him to inquire about something that had occupied a corner of his mind for some time.

"Ginny, can I ask you something?" he began. She nodded. "Do you remember much from your first year? I mean, when you had Riddle’s diary?"

She didn’t answer immediately. "I remember lots of things about it, actually."

"Like what?"

"Things I’d rather not talk about right now."

"Why not?"

Ginny frowned, clearly annoyed. "Because it’s a gorgeous day, and I’m sitting on a blanket by the lake with my really hot boyfriend, and talking about Tom bleeding Riddle is not my idea of foreplay!"

"Oh," he said, embarrassed, yet strangely pleased. A few moments passed before he asked, as casually as he could, "Really hot, eh?"

"You’ve got a bit of goo there, Gilderoy," she said, rolling her eyes, gesturing to him, and pointing to the corner of her own mouth. His budding sense of pride now deflated and limp, Harry realized that he had been a little too enthusiastic in eating his treacle tart, and some of it had ended up on his face. He reached up to catch it, but as Ginny made her way toward him, he felt sure she had a better idea.

She walked on her knees to where he sat sprawled amongst the tree roots. Wanting to toy with her a little, he stuck out his tongue, as if to take care of the morsel himself. But Ginny was too quick for him. He suddenly felt her lips and the tip of her tongue nibbling just above his chin, teasing him cruelly. Involuntarily, his mouth found hers and he could still taste a faint trace of the treacle tart she had just removed from his face. His hand went to her waist and he tried to pull her into his lap, but she wouldn’t budge. Determined to get closer to her, he leaned in for a deeper kiss, but she pulled away, smiling coyly as she backed away from him.

Voicing the smallest whimper of frustration, he watched as she started to move away from him. She claimed a new spot on the blanket, sitting and facing him with her knees up. She gestured with a beckoning finger for him to come to her. Harry couldn’t remember getting up, but suddenly he was on all fours, crawling toward her. Ginny grinned triumphantly and leaned back, propping herself on her elbows and lowering her knees to grant him access. Trying not to linger over areas he knew he was not yet permitted to trespass, he traveled up her torso until he was face to face with her.

They resumed their kiss, more feverishly this time, and Harry felt Ginny’s arms wrap around his neck as she laid her shoulders and head on the ground, pulling him fully on top of her. He rolled over on his side and broke their kiss, his mouth working its way across her jaw line and down her neck before meeting the barrier of her white button-down shirt. He sat up, his finger stroking the notch at the base of her throat.

"What’s wrong?" Ginny asked.

"Nothing," Harry said, smiling. His hands reached for the fabric covering her waist, pulling it untucked from the top of her skirt. Ginny narrowed her eyes warningly, but as their eyes locked again something unspoken passed between them, and Harry felt permitted to continue.

He unbuttoned the bottom two buttons of her shirt to expose her bare belly. There was a smattering of freckles around her bellybutton. Harry felt the creature inside him urging him to plant kisses on each and every one of them. He obeyed, peppering Ginny’s midriff with tiny caresses. He felt her shake gently and heard her giggle - the first time in a long time he had heard her giggle. He remembered thinking just a couple of years ago that giggling was the root of all evil and should be outlawed. Now, all of a sudden, he didn’t seem to mind it at all.

Harry made his way up from Ginny’s freckled belly until he once again met the barrier of her shirt. He didn’t presume to go further, but her hands appeared in front of him, unbuttoning the rest of the buttons, and leaving nothing between the two of them but a delicate, lacy undergarment. Harry looked into her face, unsure just how bold she would let him be. She gave him a slight nod, and he made his move.

His right hand eased up her torso to the intimidating lace contraption and paused, painfully aware of the familiar stiffness beneath his jeans. Taking a deep breath, he cupped her breast, massaging it gently and staring at it as if transfixed. Without conscious thought, his fingers began to slip beneath the strap, upwards to her shoulder. He slid the strap as far down as Ginny's shirt would allow and pulled at the lacy fabric to reveal the flesh of her breast. And a few more freckles. He started to bend down and kiss them, but before he could Ginny caught his eye and grinned.

Harry blushed and hastily removed his hand to less dangerous territory. Ginny pulled him closer for another kiss, and he felt her hand on his, guiding it back to her bare breast. The sensation of his skin on hers was incredible. Harry’s control was slipping. The kiss was becoming deeper and deeper, and his hands were embarking on journeys of their own. Ginny’s hands were on his back, pulling at his shirt, squeezing his bum. Suddenly his mind was consumed with finding a way into that forbidden land above her knees and – what was that noise?

A tinkling sound was coming from somewhere near the pile of their school robes. Ginny broke the kiss, biting Harry’s lip in the process, and swore under her breath.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Time’s up. That’s what. I’ve got class in 15 minutes."

Harry’s head dropped beside her neck and he groaned loudly before rolling to the side to let Ginny get up. They both stood, and Ginny looked around frantically, unable to decide what to do first. She made for the picnic basket and the leftover food, but Harry stopped her. They spent the next few moments trying to talk between quick, fierce kisses.

"I’ll ... tidy up," Harry said, his hands clutching her face as she fumbled blindly with her buttons and tried to tuck her shirt back in. "I’ve got ... a free period. ... This way ... we can ... have an extra ... minute or two ..."

"Good plan," Ginny mumbled into his lips. "Brnsch."

"What?" Harry asked, pulling away from her and stifling a laugh.

"Brush!" Ginny said, gesturing toward the edge of the blanket. Harry stepped back, and picked up her robes. Lying inside them was a hairbrush, as well as the small watch that had made the accursed tinkling sound. He resisted the urge to smell the brush and handed it to her with the watch.

Their lips joined once more. Ginny put the watch on her wrist and did her best to brush her hair while still kissing Harry, who was helping her into her robes. She slipped the brush into an inside pocket, and finally their hands were free to hold each other for a few seconds’ tight embrace. At another threatening tinkle of Ginny’s watch, they reluctantly broke apart.

"See you tonight?" Harry asked. Ginny started to back toward the castle, but Harry still held her hand.

"I’ll be studying in the library until pretty late," she said, pouting. Harry did not let go, and she was forced to pull him along with her.

"I’ll wait up for you," Harry said, causing Ginny to smile. "I’ll be on the good sofa in the common room when you get back."

"You’re sweet." She leaned in for one more quick kiss. "See you tonight, then." Harry finally let go of her and watched for several moments as she ran back to the castle.

*****

Harry was abruptly and unwillingly brought back to the common room by a well-known, bossy voice. Hermione, inexplicably, had materialized between him and Ron, cruelly snapping Harry out of his pleasant trance.

"I want to talk to you, Harry."

He had thought she was going to scold him again for distracting Ginny from the important task of studying for her O.W.L.s, but instead she was harping on about the Half-Blood Prince. She left them after a few moments to continue her investigations into the identity of Harry's mysterious Potions helper.

Ron briefly mentioned Harry's detention with Snape, causing Harry's mind to jump back to the beginning of his last meeting with Ginny and the joke they had shared. It seemed far less funny now that he was back in the castle. Once again, he was bitterly aware of how deeply Snape was cutting into his time with Ginny. He had just turned his eyes toward the grounds again when Jimmy Peakes appeared, bearing a note from Dumbledore.

*****

Try as she might, Ginny could not possibly concentrate on her stack of Charms notes. Her mind kept drifting to several hours before and the amazing hour she had spent with Harry by the lake. Every word she had written about Levitation was seeping out of her head as she recalled the details of that afternoon. When she caught herself uttering an audible "mmmmmm," however, she felt it was time to pack up and abandon her studies for the night.

Ginny walked back from the library a little more quickly than usual, her smile widening as she drew closer to the portrait hole. The Fat Lady looked down appraisingly at her.

"You seem full of yourself this evening," the Fat Lady said.

"Abstinence," Ginny said, not paying much attention.

"Indeed," said the Fat Lady knowingly.

The portrait swung open and Ginny climbed through the hole into the common room, her eyes searching for Harry so she could pounce on him. She was surprised, therefore, to see Ron and Hermione sitting where she had expected Harry to be. Where he had said he would be. Ron and Hermione looked up anxiously.

"Where is he?" Ginny asked quietly, intuiting from their grave expressions that she would not like the answer.

"He’s gone somewhere with Dumbledore," Hermione said, rising quickly and approaching Ginny with a small bottle in her hand. She paused for a moment, eyeing the bottle with distrust, but Ron gave her a look and she seemed to change her mind. "Here," she said, holding the bottle out for Ginny to take. Ginny simply looked at the two of them, waiting for an explanation.

"He wanted the three of us to finish this off," said Ron. "It’s Felix Felicis. A luck potion."

"And why do we need a luck potion?" Ginny asked.

"Because he thinks something’s going to happen tonight," Hermione answered. "Something with Malfoy. And with Dumbledore gone..."

Ginny took the potion from Hermione’s hand with a feeling that after tonight their lives would never be the same.