Chapter 33—Gathered Together

Disclaimer: I own only Josephine Clearwater. All else belongs to JK Rowling.

Author’s Note: Okay, admittedly it has been awhile. A long while. I’ve been busy with my first semester of college and I didn’t know how to do part of this chapter. I did eventually get it, so here it is!

The match ended in a Cannons’ victory. Ginny disappeared shortly after the game, telling her family that she’d be home for her late dinner in about half an hour. She went to the locker room, showered, and dressed. By the time she was dressed, her boyfriend was waiting for her, talking to the other team members.

“I’m ready,” she said, coming forward and taking his hand. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

He kissed her. “Yes, and there’s no backing out of it now anyway.”

Her teammates knew she was apprehensive about introducing her boyfriend to her family and offered them both best wishes as they Disapperated. They stood outside the door to her parents’ house.

“Are you really sure?” she asked.

“Yes. I’m sure.” He smiled at her and kissed her on the forehead. “Go, we’ll be fine.”

Ginny took a deep breath and opened the door. “Mum! Dad! I’m home! I’ve got someone for you to meet.” She went forward to the kitchen and motioned him to stay out of sight for the moment. She looked at the table. It was looking unusually full tonight. Mum, Dad, Harry, and Josephine were there; that was to be expected. What she hadn’t expected to see was Ron, Hermione, Percy, and Penelope. The looked up at her expectantly; except Josephine, who was glaring at Harry.

Neville stepped forward, straight-backed, and put his arm protectively around Ginny. He met the gazes of everyone in the room. “Hello, everyone.”

As Ginny and Neville took their places at the end of the table and chatter started up, Ginny found herself grateful for one thing. Rather two things: Ron was at the far end of the table from Neville and couldn’t possibly strangle him, and the twins and her oldest brothers had better things to do tonight than come and check on her.

About halfway through dinner, there was the sound of someone Apperating in the living room. The sound was repeated. Fred and George came in, hollering in singsong voices, “Where’s our sister’s new beaux?”

They stopped at the edge of the kitchen and looked around the table, seeing only familiar faces. “Where is he?”

“It is tonight, isn’t it?”

Neville wiggled his fingers at them in a wave.

“Neville?”
“It’s you?”

Neville grinned a tad cheekily at the twins. “It’s me.”

The twins bent together, whispering conspiratorially. Then they separated, arms crossed in front of their chests. “We were inclined to hate any bloke our dear sister brought home, but we’ve now decided to suspend judgment until we can better assess the situation,” George proclaimed.

Fred nodded and summoned chairs for he and George. There wasn’t much more room at the table, so they sat behind Harry and Josephine, balancing plates on their knees. Every so often, one or the other of them leant forward and made a comment in Harry’s ear that usually resulted in Harry glaring at the pair of them—once or twice instead of glaring at the twins he shot a glance at Josephine instead.

Josephine refused to speak to Harry. Unfortunately, with her sister seated on one side of her and Harry on the other, she felt like she had no one to talk to all night.

Conversation at the table mainly included the game or the goings on at the Ministry. No one had yet asked about how exactly Ginny and Neville had gotten together. Ron glanced at Neville every once in a while to see that he wasn’t sitting too close to his sister. When dinner was finished, Mrs. Weasley suggested they all move into the living room for dessert and coffee. Neville offered to help carry the coffee out with her and clear the table.

“Thank you for your offer, Neville.” She glanced at her children, none of whom had made a similar offer. “Fred, George, clear the table while Neville helps me with the coffee.”

Fred and George cleared the table while the others moved to the living room. Neville cut slices of cake. With a “we’re watching you” sign, the twins joined the others in the living room.

When the twins were gone, Mrs. Weasley gave Neville a tight hug. “I’m on your side, Neville. I hope things work out. If Ginny wasn’t serious, she wouldn’t have introduced you to us.” She couldn’t think of many nicer young men her daughter could be dating. She picked up the tray of cakes, and Neville took the coffee pot and cups.

“Thanks, Mrs. Weasley.”

Everyone appeared casual in the living room, but mostly they were waiting to grill Neville. Penny had been given the cold shoulder by her sister all night and really had no desire to stay any longer, but she could tell Percy was somewhat interested in the proceedings.

“So, Ginny, when exactly did this,” Fred waved his hand at the small space between Ginny and Neville on the couch, “happen?”

“Maybe four months ago,” Ginny said, looking at Neville.

“About four months,” he nodded.

“What, you just ran into each other suddenly and started snogging?” asked George sarcastically. “Be specific.”

Before either Ginny or Neville could open his or her mouth, there was the sound of someone Flooing into the kitchen. A second person followed and there was a loud thud.

“Are you okay?” asked a male voice.

A female replied, “Just peachy.”

“Then scoot back so Bill can get through.”
As to be expected after those sounds and those voices, Bill, Charlie, and Tonks entered and made themselves comfortable on the floor in the living room. Charlie and Bill chose to sit on the floor near Fred and George, creating a united brotherly front. Ron very much looked as though he wanted to join them if it weren’t for Hermione sitting next to him. Percy, sitting next to Penny, looked less fierce than the others. Harry looked at Josephine. Even though she was mad at him, she’d still rather sit by him than with Penny and Percy and had taken a floor seat by his chair when they entered. Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Weasley shared the couch with Ginny and Neville.

“So how exactly did the two of you happen?” asked Charlie.

“We ran into each other at the Ferret one day, and we started hanging out,” Neville started.

“We saw each other after work sometimes, and met for lunch about once a week, just to relieve everyday office boredom.” Ginny shrugged.

Neville chuckled. “Spending all day talking to plants isn’t complete fun, you know. They never seem to talk back.”

Tonks, sitting between Harry and Charlie, found the entire situation humorous and tried not to laugh.

Charlie looked at his fiancé, and then back at Neville. “You really should only worry if the plants do decide to talk back, Neville.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“So you were friends,” Josephine prodded. “What changed that?”

Ginny and Neville looked at each other and neither quite knew what to say.

“Too much Firewhiskey one night?” asked George.

“George!” his mother scolded.

Neville turned red faced. “No, no, it was nothing like that. Just…sometimes there were these moments between us.”

“Moments when something should have seemed awkward and didn’t,” Ginny tried to explain.

“Or minutes that shouldn’t have been awkward, but were,” Neville added. “It wasn’t that there was anything going on, but it felt like there should be.”

“But there was this unspoken agreement that we just ignored the moments and didn’t say anything.”

“But clearly that changed at some point,” prompted Percy.

“Well, yes, it did.” Ginny and Neville smiled fondly at one another and clasped hands.

“But when did it change?”

“And how?”

Neville and Ginny shrugged at each other. “Touches started lasting a little too long. And smiles.”

“Things that used to be comfortable, stopped being quite so comfortable.” Ginny paused. “Sometimes I noticed he was looking at my mouth instead of my eyes.”

“And sometimes her hand was on my shoulder or leg just a little too long for comfort. The awkwardness started to develop.”

“And we avoided each other for a couple of days.”

“It was painful.”

“But it was what we did.” They paused.

Percy looked bored. “And then?”

Neville grinned. “And then I took a chance. I kissed her. And waited.”

“I was surprised. But I thought about it and it started making sense. And we’ve been happy since.” Ginny smiled.

Fred and George pretended to throw up. “You guys are too sappy.”

“Much.”

“But we approve for the time being, right, George?”

“Right, Fred.”

Ron glared at Neville and Ginny. “Relax, Ron, Ginny’s a big girl and she can take care of herself,” Hermione said softly, seeing her husband’s clenched fist. “We’re happy for you Gin.”

Ginny felt a little relieved. Ron’s reaction was to be expected. It was Ron after all. He was probably the most heated temper of all the kids, except maybe herself. And he was the second youngest; she was the only younger one for him to watch out for, and to top it off, she was the only girl. The twins seemed fine; they had long ago acknowledged that she could hold her own in a fight. They probably weren’t thrilled to see their little sister dating anybody, but they acknowledged that he was an alright guy. Hermione didn’t seem completely surprised. She turned her attention to her other brothers. Tonks was leaning on Charlie. Bill and Charlie didn’t seem too upset. They understood that she was old enough to decide when and who to date. But at the same time, she was still their baby sister. She would always be the baby sister, whether she wanted to or not.

“Neville, we don’t know you well enough to make any sort of decision, but you seem like a decent guy.”

“However, as her oldest brothers, Charlie and I want you to know that if you mistreat her, we’re coming after you.”

“And I have connections in Romania with people who can get me a dragon,” added Charlie.

They had done their brotherly duty and threatened her boyfriend with just the right levels of levity and seriousness. Percy nodded once at Neville and once at Ginny. He wasn’t going to say anything against Neville; Neville seemed a decent young man. He wouldn’t cause any bad publicity and seemed the gentlemanly-sort. To top it off, he came from a respected wizarding family; that wasn’t important, but his upbringing by his grandmother meant he ought to know out to behave at any ministry functions Percy and Penny might invite them to.

Ginny glanced at her more or less adopted family. Josephine and Harry. Josephine smiled for the first time that evening, as though she’d finally put the last pieces together in a puzzle. Maybe she had. Maybe she had guessed that Neville and she were going out. Maybe not. Maybe she was just glad she could soon get away from her sister. Harry seemed confused and a little surprised, but didn’t share Ron’s angry expression. “I’m happy for you, Neville. And you, Ginny. A little surprised, but…if you’re happy, then great.” And he meant it. He looked down at Jo. The look on her face said, I’m not surprised one bit. I told you Neville was serious about somebody. He looked over to see Mr. and Mrs. Weasley’s reaction.

“Best friends make the best relationships,” Mrs. Weasley said, squeezing Mr. Weasley’s hand.

“That’s right. I’m glad to see Ginny’s got such a nice young man. We trust your judgment, Ginny; he is a nice young man?”

“Yeah, Dad, he is.” They were making too big a deal out of this. They were just dating. But it was nice knowing she wasn’t going to have to sneak around anymore.

Harry and Josephine went upstairs. They past by her door and continued to the attic. It was late; it had taken a while for the gathering to break up. Everyone stuck around and chatted for awhile, catching up with each other’s lives. Mrs. Weasley pressed Bill about his engagement, and wanted to know more about Tonks and Charlie’s plans. Eventually everyone went back to their own homes.

As they climbed the last set of stairs, Harry asked, “So you really knew?”

“No. But I wasn’t surprised. It made sense. Besides that, they seem great together.”

Harry sat down at his table. “Does it seem strange to you? The way it happened?”

She sat on his bed and thought about it a minute. “Not really. You’d be surprised what one bold gesture can accomplish sometimes.”

“I guess so.” Harry tilted his head back against the chair, eyes have closed.

“Do you…” Josephine started.

“Hmm? Do I what?”

Josephine took a breath and let it out. “Do you want some ice cream? I was going to go down to the kitchen and get some.”

“No, I’m alright. I’ll probably sleep soon,” Harry said, cracking his eyes open a little more.

“Alright. I probably will too. I shouldn’t snack this time of night anyway. Good night, Harry.” She eased herself off the bed and past him to the stairs.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Jo.”

“Tomorrow.” She waved as she left.

One bold move was all it took for Neville, Harry mused. Neville Longbottom. Who would have thought it?

Author’s Note: So I got as far as Percy asking what exactly changed, and I’ve been stuck there for several weeks. I finally figured out just how they got together, so now the chapter is here and hopefully more should go up soon!