Protection (Drarry)

Chapter Five

"You better be wearing something nice!" Harry heard Ginny yell up the stairs. "You've got thirty seconds until I'm coming up there."

Harry looked down at the black jeans and sneakers dubiously. They'd do fine, but he couldn't decide on a shirt. He knew which one Ginny would pick - the white collared shirt with conspicuously too few buttons. He quickly threw on the other, blue shirt and opened the door.

Ginny grinned at him. "Go on, let's see," she said with a smile that Harry was convinced was pure evil. "Do a twirl for us."

"Go on, Potter, do a twirl!" Malfoy yelled from the kitchen.

"Eat dirt, Malfoy!" Harry yelled back. He held his arms out to his side in a half shrug, half presentation. "It'll do, right?" he asked Ginny.

Ginny leaned around him and looked into the room. She spotted the white shirt on the bed. "No, it will not do," she said, exasperated. "How do you think you're going to meet anyone looking like you're going grocery shopping?"

Harry felt vaguely insulted, although she was probably right.

Ginny threw the white shirt at him. "Change," she ordered.

Harry sighed and changed shirts, while Ginny examined his quidditch board.

"Better?" he asked, with a wry smile.

"Much." she beamed at him. "Let's go." She linked his arm through hers and lead him down to the fireplace.

Harry caught a brief glance of Malfoy through the kitchen doorway, watching them curiously, before Ginny yelled their goodbyes, threw the powder into the fireplace and told the fire the address.

"Christ, Ginny, where did you find this one?" Harry asked, looking around desperately at the strobe lighting and floor length mirrors. Gusto's was written on every surface.

"Brilliant, isn't it?" she yelled back happily over the music.

"Er," Harry muttered.

Ginny pulled him over to the bar before he could answer. "Two Firewhisky's, thanks," she said.

"Make that one Firewhisky and a Spiced Mead," Harry corrected. "Don't ask," he muttered to Ginny when she looked at him questioningly.

They perched on bar stools to have their drinks and surveyed the area.

"So, why are we here?" Harry asked.

"You know why we're here," Ginny said through narrowed eyes.

"Yes, but why now?" Harry amended.

Ginny waved a hand. "If you're going to get anywhere close to coming out by the time Rom and Hermione come home, you're going to need some proper incentive. Besides," she added, looking at him sideways. "I thought that if you were going to do it, I could do it, too, and we could get it over with together."

Harry suddenly felt a wave of guilt. He leaned over and squeezed her hand. "If you want to tell your family, just say so. We'll do it together. Whenever you're ready."

Ginny squeezed back and smiled at him. "It's okay," she said. "I don't mind waiting. But it would be nice if we both found someone, wouldn't it?"

Harry found himself wishing, not for the first time, that he could love her as more than a sister. But then, unless she loved him as more than a brother it wouldn't really solve anything, would it? Ginny was streets ahead of him in accepting her future, having already dated a couple of girls, although it never worked out. But dating someone and telling Molly Weasley that Ginny was unlikely to ever give her grandchildren were too totally separate things. Harry could understand why she wanted his support when it happened.