How I Met Your Father

Chapter 3

Every eye in the room turned on Harry, awaiting an explanation. He sighed and tried not to squirm under the scrutiny. "She's been really busy at work," he explained, trying to sound cheerful and optimistic about it. "But she promised to make it to the bar later so…"

"Is she working late again?" Ron exclaimed. "Gods, what is that? The third time this week?"

"Close," Harry muttered. "It's the fourth time in two weeks." Or something like that. He had stopped keeping track after a while, really. All he knew was that it had been ages since they had spent a night together, let alone any real quality time.

"Well, maybe that's a good sign," Hermione replied bracingly. "She's been trying to move ahead at the WWN for a while now. Maybe they'll even put her on air. Merlin knows she deserves it and…"

The door suddenly burst open, cutting her off. Harry's eyes widened as Ginny stumbled in, grinning from ear to ear and flushed with excitement. "You won't believe what happened at work!" she informed them breathlessly. "I got promoted! I'm going to be on air at the WWN!"

Blaise was the first to react. He scrambled over and grabbed Hermione firmly by the shoulders. "Say 'maybe Blaise will get lucky with the hot blonde twins at the International Affairs Department'. Say it!"

Later that night, Harry lay next to Ginny in bed, still trying to get his head around things.

"So this promotion," he began, slightly irked by how cautious he sounded. "Kind of sudden, wasn't it?"

"Hm?" Ginny frowned slightly as she considered that and shrugged. "I suppose," she replied, putting her head on his chest. "To be honest, I didn't really ask a lot of questions. I was pretty excited." She grinned happily. "I'm going to be live on the Wireless Network," she whispered, sounding awed. "I can hardly believe it. Do you know how long I've been waiting for this, Harry? Do you have any idea what this means to me?"

He didn't, really. But he was starting to suspect that nothing else would ever be quite as important as this. And what did that mean for them?

Ginny smiled brightly and carried on. "When Dean told me I was in, I almost…"

Wait, what?

"What?!" Harry blurted, bolting up and turning to face her. "Dean? Dean Thomas? Your ex, Dean Thomas?"

"Yes," Ginny replied slowly. "He's going to be my co-host on the Evening News. He's the one who recommended my name for the program in the first place."

Harry just stared at her, not really sure if he wanted to laugh incredulously or succumb to a scream of frustration. "Imagine my surprise," he said blandly. "So...so what is this then? He just suddenly decides to do you a favour after you coincidentally left him for me?"

"No," Ginny shot back, her frown deepening. "He decided to recommend me for a job I love and deserve, because he knows I'm the best choice for it. I thought you'd be happy for me, Harry. Why are you acting like this?"

"Why?" Harry did laugh a bit this time. "Why? Maybe because I haven't seen you all month, Ginny. Maybe because we've barely spoken because you're just so damn tired when you come home that all you want to do is sleep. This is the first time I've stayed over at your place in weeks. And now I find out you're going to be out doing the evening news with your ex and I probably won't see you again for Merlin knows how long...really Gin, did you even consider that maybe he's trying to get you back?"

"Dean and I are done!" Ginny snapped, sitting up as well. "He knows that. We both know that! He gave me this job because I can do it, Harry. Why is that so hard for you to believe?"