Playing Hard to Get
Title: Playing Hard to Get
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Harry/Ginny
Playing Hard to Get
Harry Potter entered Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes and looked around as he slid his hand into his robes’ pocket and felt for the small package just to reassure himself it was still there and okay. George, who was finishing with a customer, looked up and grinned, “Hi, Harry. Just a moment.”
“Hi, George. Is Ginny here? She sent an owl telling me to meet her here as quickly as possible.”
“She’s back in the storeroom.” George said as he watched the customer exit the shop. Harry thanked him and walked toward the back but had only taken a few steps before George called to him, “Oy, Potter. I don’t want you shagging my sister in my own shop, okay?”
Harry spun around and gave George a puzzled look to which George responded, “She’s dressed up in some sexy robes and wearing expensive perfume. What else am I to think?”
Harry growled an inaudible response and hurried into the backroom where Ginny stood waiting. Harry stopped and sucked in his breath at the sight. Her fiery red hair was pulled back in a pony tail and she was wearing emerald green robes which were unbuttoned at the top showing quite a bit more cleavage than she usually allowed. She gave Harry a mischievous grin and handed him a little parchment scroll which he eagerly accepted and read.
“Dear Harry, I know what you want and believe me, I want it too. But my mum always told me to be a good girl and not just give it away. So, I’m going to play hard to get. If you want me, you better follow me back to where I kissed you on your seventeenth birthday.”
Harry looked up to see the sparkle in Ginny’s chocolate brown eyes and then she was gone in a flash. He cursed and Disapparated too. When Harry Apparated into Ginny’s room at the Burrow she was reclining comfortably on the bed with an ample portion of well-toned leg showing. She smiled expectantly at him as he eagerly approached her and bent to kiss her. Ginny quickly raised her hand in front of her face so that Harry ended up kissing the hand rather than her lips.
“Uh, uh,” Ginny said quietly, “my mum and dad are downstairs. We’re not going to make love with them right downstairs.”
“But, …” Harry started to protest but was quickly shushed by Ginny.
“Sorry, Harry. If you want me, then follow me to the home of your two best mates.” And then she was gone.
“She’s got to be kidding!” Harry exclaimed with obvious frustration, he checked his pocket and the package to make sure it was still there and then quickly followed.
Ron Weasley looked up with surprise from the wizarding chessboard as Ginny Apparated into the Weasley living room. Hermione put the book she had been reading down and bounded over to Ginny. “How’s it going, Ginny?”
“Perfectly,” Ginny replied with a laugh. “Except I think this one really surprised him.”
“Good,” Hermione laughed back.
At that moment Harry Apparated into the living room. Ginny grinned at him and then Disapparated. Hermione laughed again and handed Harry a small parchment roll. He groaned, opened it and quickly read.
“I know where you want to be, but right now follow me to a certain cottage by the sea. You know the place, we’ve been there often. Hurry, Harry, I’ll be waiting.”
Harry crumpled the parchment, looked up at the ceiling and muttered, “I can’t believe this.” With that, he was gone.
Ron, who was still sitting at the table and chess board, holding a pawn that was kicking and shouting to be let down, looked at Hermione in bewilderment. “What the bloody hell was all of that about?”
“Nothing,” Hermione chuckled, “Ginny was just playing hard to get.”
Ron looked at his wife incredulously, “Isn’t she already got?”
By the time Harry arrived at Shell Cottage, Ginny was sitting comfortably on a davenport next to Bill and Fleur Weasley. Harry sighed in relief, again checked the small parcel in his pocket and was about to speak when Ginny, grinning teasingly at Harry, said, “It took you long enough to get here.” She stood up as Harry took several steps toward her. “Fleur has a message for you.”
“Ginny!” Harry exclaimed in frustration but she was already gone.
Fleur smiled at Harry, “Ginny says to go to zee place vhere zee two of you keesed on your first Hogsmeade treep together.”
“Good luck, Harry,” Bill chimed in laughing. “But be careful. Those Weasley women are dangerous to mess around with.”
Harry shook his head in disbelief. “Does the whole family know?”
“Of course,” Bill answered, “why wouldn’t we?”
Harry didn’t hear Bill as he was already Disapparating. He arrived in Hogsmeade in front of the Three Broomsticks and quickly checked his pocket to see if the small package was still there. He gave a small sigh of relief when he felt the package. Rather than going inside where the sound of talking, laughing, and clinking of glasses could be heard, he walked around to the back of the building where Ginny stood waiting. Her face lit up as she saw him.
“I thought you might not remember that we spent an hour here snogging the . . .”
Harry cut her off in mid-sentence by raising his wand and crying, “Expelliarmus.”
Ginny, however, was too quick for him. “Protego!” she yelled and then gave him a satisfied smirk. “I had a feeling you might try something like that. Naughty, naughty, trying to end the fun.”
“I’m glad one of us is having fun,” Harry grumbled.
“Don’t worry, Harry, we’re almost done.”
“Have we even started?”
Ginny laughed and tossed a bottle of Butterbeer to Harry who caught it as Ginny Disapparated. When he looked down at the bottle he noticed a note attached. He unrolled the parchment and again read another clue.
“Go to the place where we first saw each other, but make it quick and not in 9-¾ minutes.”
Now Harry was perplexed. He and Ginny had actually seen each other for the first time at the barrier between platforms nine and ten outside of Platform 9-¾, but Ginny seemed to be directing him to the actual platform. He stood there thinking about what to do for several minutes. He could Apparate into King’s Cross Station and risk being seen by Muggles or he could Apparate directly onto Platform 9-¾ where he figured Ginny was actually waiting. He finally decided to Apparate onto the actual platform rather than taking a chance to be seen by Muggles in the train station. When he arrived Ginny was pacing anxiously back and forth and gave a sigh of relief when she saw him.
“I was afraid the clue was too vague or you didn’t remember where we saw each other for the first time.”
It was Harry’s turn to grin. “We actually didn’t see each other for the first time on Platform 9-¾.”
Ginny stared at Harry in surprise. “We didn’t?”
“No. It was before we went through the barrier. Your mum helped me get through and you were standing next to her.”
Ginny’s face lit up in amazement. “You’re right. That is where I first saw you.” She seemed to think about it for a moment and then got a wide grin. “Oops! My mistake. I’m glad you found your way here. It would have been a little disappointing if you had gotten lost.”
“Yeah, believe me, I know,” Harry commented as he stepped toward her. “Now, are we about done with this . . . fun?”
“Ah Harry,” Ginny teased, “there needs to be a little bit of build-up to . . . “
“Okay, okay,” Harry said.
“Just one more clue, Harry.” Ginny smiled as she reached into her robes and withdrew a small gold ball. “I haven’t seen this work yet but George promised me it will do exactly as I asked.” Her smile turned into the kind of grin Harry had seen whenever she was about to make a really good play in Quidditch. “So, hopefully it will give you the final clue and won’t just explode. If you haven’t arrived in ten minutes, I’ll contact St. Mungo’s and come as quickly as possible.”
“Oh thanks,” Harry replied dryly, “that really gives me a lot of confidence.”
“I thought it would.” She quickly tapped the golden ball with her wand, threw it up in the air and Disapparated. Harry took an involuntary step back as the ball exploded into a miniature fireworks display that turned into a pyrotechnic heart of reds, oranges, and yellows with words in the middle that said, “Come to where we were one year ago tonight.”
Harry chuckled quietly, again checked his robes pocket for the small package, and then quickly Disapparated. He arrived at a quaint little stone and timber cottage on one of the smaller, lesser known lakes in England’s famed Lake District. Darkened images of the surrounding trees reflected on the mirror-like surface of the lake under an autumn starlit sky. Wisps of smoke rose lazily from the chimney. There was soft music coming from inside the cottage and a faint light emanating from the windows. Harry opened the wooden door and went in.
The cottage was basically one room dimly lit by floating candles. In the center of the room was a crackling fire in a large stone fireplace. To one side was a small kitchen with a candlelit table laden with a delicious dinner and champagne on ice. On the other side of the room was an over-stuffed large double bed covered with thick handmade quilts.
Ginny was standing next to the bed, the fire and floating candles accentuating the various shades of red and brown in her hair. She was slowly unbuttoning her robes. There was a mixture of humor and passion in her eyes as she said, “Ah, you made it. No nasty explosions; no getting lost in transit; no stopping off at the Leaky Cauldron for a shot of fire whiskey. That’s good.”
Harry smiled, carefully watching her fingers as they handled the buttons. “Yeah. Besides,” Harry’s eyes darkened with desire, “I think I’m on fire enough.”
Ginny smiled back. “Oh, that is good. So, did I do a good job at playing hard to get? Would my mum be proud of me?”
“You did a great job.”
“I’m glad.” Ginny was almost done unbuttoning her robes and Harry was hungrily eyeing the hint of soft pale skin and lingerie. “I hope I was worth the chase.”
“You always are” Harry responded as he unbuttoned his own robes. “I’m just wondering if we’re going to do this every wedding anniversary.”
Ginny laughed as she undid the band from her hair and let he hair fall free onto her shoulders. “No, I just thought for our first wedding anniversary we should come back to where we spent our wedding night and we should do it in a way that’s fun.”
“Oh it will be,” Harry grinned as he finished unbuttoning his robes.
“Aaah,” Ginny put on her best sad face but still had that twinkle in her eyes, “I thought it was fun.”
“Actually it was. It was a great idea.”
Ginny gave a wicked grin. “You’re just saying that because you want to . . .”
“Yes I do,” Harry interrupted with a sly smile, and then continued, “seriously, Ginny, this is wonderful. It makes my gift for you pale in comparison.”
“Oh, so you did remember it was our anniversary.”
“Of course I did,” Harry replied, trying but not succeeding in sounding hurt. “I have it with me.”
Ginny, who was about to pull her robes off, stopped, folded her arms and cocked an eyebrow questioningly.
“Really!” Harry said as he reached into his robe pocket and pulled out a crumpled little package. “I shrunk a bouquet of flowers and an anniversary card.” He took out his wand and enlarged a bouquet and card wrapped in paper. Both, however, were a little worse for wear. A couple of the flower stems were broken and dangling precariously while the card was bent and crumpled. “Damn, they didn’t travel very well.” Harry looked very apologetic but Ginny just laughed.
“They’re beautiful. Thank you, Harry.”
Harry waved his wand and the flowers and card sailed smoothly to the nearby table. He turned back and smiled at Ginny. “Now, where were we?”
The passion returned to Ginny’s eyes as she said, “I think, Harry Potter, that we were about to make love.” With that, she let her robes drop, revealing very lacy black bra and knickers.
Harry sucked in his breath and stared admiringly at his wife. He dropped his own robes and walked over to her, taking her in his arms and kissing her. “Happy anniversary, Sweetheart, I love you.”
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Harry/Ginny
Playing Hard to Get
Harry Potter entered Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes and looked around as he slid his hand into his robes’ pocket and felt for the small package just to reassure himself it was still there and okay. George, who was finishing with a customer, looked up and grinned, “Hi, Harry. Just a moment.”
“Hi, George. Is Ginny here? She sent an owl telling me to meet her here as quickly as possible.”
“She’s back in the storeroom.” George said as he watched the customer exit the shop. Harry thanked him and walked toward the back but had only taken a few steps before George called to him, “Oy, Potter. I don’t want you shagging my sister in my own shop, okay?”
Harry spun around and gave George a puzzled look to which George responded, “She’s dressed up in some sexy robes and wearing expensive perfume. What else am I to think?”
Harry growled an inaudible response and hurried into the backroom where Ginny stood waiting. Harry stopped and sucked in his breath at the sight. Her fiery red hair was pulled back in a pony tail and she was wearing emerald green robes which were unbuttoned at the top showing quite a bit more cleavage than she usually allowed. She gave Harry a mischievous grin and handed him a little parchment scroll which he eagerly accepted and read.
“Dear Harry, I know what you want and believe me, I want it too. But my mum always told me to be a good girl and not just give it away. So, I’m going to play hard to get. If you want me, you better follow me back to where I kissed you on your seventeenth birthday.”
Harry looked up to see the sparkle in Ginny’s chocolate brown eyes and then she was gone in a flash. He cursed and Disapparated too. When Harry Apparated into Ginny’s room at the Burrow she was reclining comfortably on the bed with an ample portion of well-toned leg showing. She smiled expectantly at him as he eagerly approached her and bent to kiss her. Ginny quickly raised her hand in front of her face so that Harry ended up kissing the hand rather than her lips.
“Uh, uh,” Ginny said quietly, “my mum and dad are downstairs. We’re not going to make love with them right downstairs.”
“But, …” Harry started to protest but was quickly shushed by Ginny.
“Sorry, Harry. If you want me, then follow me to the home of your two best mates.” And then she was gone.
“She’s got to be kidding!” Harry exclaimed with obvious frustration, he checked his pocket and the package to make sure it was still there and then quickly followed.
Ron Weasley looked up with surprise from the wizarding chessboard as Ginny Apparated into the Weasley living room. Hermione put the book she had been reading down and bounded over to Ginny. “How’s it going, Ginny?”
“Perfectly,” Ginny replied with a laugh. “Except I think this one really surprised him.”
“Good,” Hermione laughed back.
At that moment Harry Apparated into the living room. Ginny grinned at him and then Disapparated. Hermione laughed again and handed Harry a small parchment roll. He groaned, opened it and quickly read.
“I know where you want to be, but right now follow me to a certain cottage by the sea. You know the place, we’ve been there often. Hurry, Harry, I’ll be waiting.”
Harry crumpled the parchment, looked up at the ceiling and muttered, “I can’t believe this.” With that, he was gone.
Ron, who was still sitting at the table and chess board, holding a pawn that was kicking and shouting to be let down, looked at Hermione in bewilderment. “What the bloody hell was all of that about?”
“Nothing,” Hermione chuckled, “Ginny was just playing hard to get.”
Ron looked at his wife incredulously, “Isn’t she already got?”
By the time Harry arrived at Shell Cottage, Ginny was sitting comfortably on a davenport next to Bill and Fleur Weasley. Harry sighed in relief, again checked the small parcel in his pocket and was about to speak when Ginny, grinning teasingly at Harry, said, “It took you long enough to get here.” She stood up as Harry took several steps toward her. “Fleur has a message for you.”
“Ginny!” Harry exclaimed in frustration but she was already gone.
Fleur smiled at Harry, “Ginny says to go to zee place vhere zee two of you keesed on your first Hogsmeade treep together.”
“Good luck, Harry,” Bill chimed in laughing. “But be careful. Those Weasley women are dangerous to mess around with.”
Harry shook his head in disbelief. “Does the whole family know?”
“Of course,” Bill answered, “why wouldn’t we?”
Harry didn’t hear Bill as he was already Disapparating. He arrived in Hogsmeade in front of the Three Broomsticks and quickly checked his pocket to see if the small package was still there. He gave a small sigh of relief when he felt the package. Rather than going inside where the sound of talking, laughing, and clinking of glasses could be heard, he walked around to the back of the building where Ginny stood waiting. Her face lit up as she saw him.
“I thought you might not remember that we spent an hour here snogging the . . .”
Harry cut her off in mid-sentence by raising his wand and crying, “Expelliarmus.”
Ginny, however, was too quick for him. “Protego!” she yelled and then gave him a satisfied smirk. “I had a feeling you might try something like that. Naughty, naughty, trying to end the fun.”
“I’m glad one of us is having fun,” Harry grumbled.
“Don’t worry, Harry, we’re almost done.”
“Have we even started?”
Ginny laughed and tossed a bottle of Butterbeer to Harry who caught it as Ginny Disapparated. When he looked down at the bottle he noticed a note attached. He unrolled the parchment and again read another clue.
“Go to the place where we first saw each other, but make it quick and not in 9-¾ minutes.”
Now Harry was perplexed. He and Ginny had actually seen each other for the first time at the barrier between platforms nine and ten outside of Platform 9-¾, but Ginny seemed to be directing him to the actual platform. He stood there thinking about what to do for several minutes. He could Apparate into King’s Cross Station and risk being seen by Muggles or he could Apparate directly onto Platform 9-¾ where he figured Ginny was actually waiting. He finally decided to Apparate onto the actual platform rather than taking a chance to be seen by Muggles in the train station. When he arrived Ginny was pacing anxiously back and forth and gave a sigh of relief when she saw him.
“I was afraid the clue was too vague or you didn’t remember where we saw each other for the first time.”
It was Harry’s turn to grin. “We actually didn’t see each other for the first time on Platform 9-¾.”
Ginny stared at Harry in surprise. “We didn’t?”
“No. It was before we went through the barrier. Your mum helped me get through and you were standing next to her.”
Ginny’s face lit up in amazement. “You’re right. That is where I first saw you.” She seemed to think about it for a moment and then got a wide grin. “Oops! My mistake. I’m glad you found your way here. It would have been a little disappointing if you had gotten lost.”
“Yeah, believe me, I know,” Harry commented as he stepped toward her. “Now, are we about done with this . . . fun?”
“Ah Harry,” Ginny teased, “there needs to be a little bit of build-up to . . . “
“Okay, okay,” Harry said.
“Just one more clue, Harry.” Ginny smiled as she reached into her robes and withdrew a small gold ball. “I haven’t seen this work yet but George promised me it will do exactly as I asked.” Her smile turned into the kind of grin Harry had seen whenever she was about to make a really good play in Quidditch. “So, hopefully it will give you the final clue and won’t just explode. If you haven’t arrived in ten minutes, I’ll contact St. Mungo’s and come as quickly as possible.”
“Oh thanks,” Harry replied dryly, “that really gives me a lot of confidence.”
“I thought it would.” She quickly tapped the golden ball with her wand, threw it up in the air and Disapparated. Harry took an involuntary step back as the ball exploded into a miniature fireworks display that turned into a pyrotechnic heart of reds, oranges, and yellows with words in the middle that said, “Come to where we were one year ago tonight.”
Harry chuckled quietly, again checked his robes pocket for the small package, and then quickly Disapparated. He arrived at a quaint little stone and timber cottage on one of the smaller, lesser known lakes in England’s famed Lake District. Darkened images of the surrounding trees reflected on the mirror-like surface of the lake under an autumn starlit sky. Wisps of smoke rose lazily from the chimney. There was soft music coming from inside the cottage and a faint light emanating from the windows. Harry opened the wooden door and went in.
The cottage was basically one room dimly lit by floating candles. In the center of the room was a crackling fire in a large stone fireplace. To one side was a small kitchen with a candlelit table laden with a delicious dinner and champagne on ice. On the other side of the room was an over-stuffed large double bed covered with thick handmade quilts.
Ginny was standing next to the bed, the fire and floating candles accentuating the various shades of red and brown in her hair. She was slowly unbuttoning her robes. There was a mixture of humor and passion in her eyes as she said, “Ah, you made it. No nasty explosions; no getting lost in transit; no stopping off at the Leaky Cauldron for a shot of fire whiskey. That’s good.”
Harry smiled, carefully watching her fingers as they handled the buttons. “Yeah. Besides,” Harry’s eyes darkened with desire, “I think I’m on fire enough.”
Ginny smiled back. “Oh, that is good. So, did I do a good job at playing hard to get? Would my mum be proud of me?”
“You did a great job.”
“I’m glad.” Ginny was almost done unbuttoning her robes and Harry was hungrily eyeing the hint of soft pale skin and lingerie. “I hope I was worth the chase.”
“You always are” Harry responded as he unbuttoned his own robes. “I’m just wondering if we’re going to do this every wedding anniversary.”
Ginny laughed as she undid the band from her hair and let he hair fall free onto her shoulders. “No, I just thought for our first wedding anniversary we should come back to where we spent our wedding night and we should do it in a way that’s fun.”
“Oh it will be,” Harry grinned as he finished unbuttoning his robes.
“Aaah,” Ginny put on her best sad face but still had that twinkle in her eyes, “I thought it was fun.”
“Actually it was. It was a great idea.”
Ginny gave a wicked grin. “You’re just saying that because you want to . . .”
“Yes I do,” Harry interrupted with a sly smile, and then continued, “seriously, Ginny, this is wonderful. It makes my gift for you pale in comparison.”
“Oh, so you did remember it was our anniversary.”
“Of course I did,” Harry replied, trying but not succeeding in sounding hurt. “I have it with me.”
Ginny, who was about to pull her robes off, stopped, folded her arms and cocked an eyebrow questioningly.
“Really!” Harry said as he reached into his robe pocket and pulled out a crumpled little package. “I shrunk a bouquet of flowers and an anniversary card.” He took out his wand and enlarged a bouquet and card wrapped in paper. Both, however, were a little worse for wear. A couple of the flower stems were broken and dangling precariously while the card was bent and crumpled. “Damn, they didn’t travel very well.” Harry looked very apologetic but Ginny just laughed.
“They’re beautiful. Thank you, Harry.”
Harry waved his wand and the flowers and card sailed smoothly to the nearby table. He turned back and smiled at Ginny. “Now, where were we?”
The passion returned to Ginny’s eyes as she said, “I think, Harry Potter, that we were about to make love.” With that, she let her robes drop, revealing very lacy black bra and knickers.
Harry sucked in his breath and stared admiringly at his wife. He dropped his own robes and walked over to her, taking her in his arms and kissing her. “Happy anniversary, Sweetheart, I love you.”