Preface:
This story takes place after the war. This one shot contains ship scenes (not mature) of Hinny (Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley).
Dedicated To:
WriterGHP for being an amazing friend and supporter. Love you bestie!
Ginny loved to wake up. She looked forward to every morning because her breakfast would be prepared by a master chef and it would definitely be delicious.
When her eyes opened for the first time that day, she saw a blank space beside her. Not really minding Harry's absence, partly because she knew he'd be downstairs in the kitchen whipping up a surreptitious meal, she sat up and stretched. The screech of something unearthly broke her moment of peace and she scowled at the window.
An owl was standing impatiently at the windowsill, a package in its talons. She opened the window and untied the package before tossing it a treat she found in Harry's cupboard and sending it away. "Brr. . . it's cold," she muttered to herself and shut the window.
The package was addressed to Harry and it was from. . . Witch Weekly? Why would the magazine company be writing to Harry? Surely he did not subscribe for it. Curiosity got the better of her, so she tore the brown sheet open and saw Harry's face printed on the cover, his lips upward in a Cheshire cat smile. He was scratching the back of his neck and the pose was strangely familiar to her. The headlines read, 'Harry Potter, The Winner Of This Month's Most Charming Smile!'
Ginny felt an odd bubble of enthusiasm in her stomach. Oh, she had perfect blackmail material.
"Harry!"
***
Harry loved to hum to himself while he was cooking. He knew Wizarding as well as Muggle songs because of the beautiful radio his father-in-law had presented to him. More like repaired and gifted him but he liked it anyway. He was so used to turning it on each time he did dishes with Ginny or simply cooked alone.
"Bananas running down the street, na-na!" The radio sang in a shaky voice. Early morning signals were not strong.
"Bananas in jumpsuit jumping on the trampoline, na-na!" he sang the next lyric. Oh, how much he adored this life. Music about bananas was surely to be appreciated, he thought. So when the song suddenly paused, his face morphed into a frown.
"Harrys in Witch Weekly, smiling charmingly na-na!" This was a foreign tune but a familiar voice.
"Morning Ginny! Why'd you turn the radio off?" Harry exclaimed, turning around to face. . . his face. . .? "What the ruddy hell-?"
His wife lowered the book and smiled at him. Did he mention how her smile melted his heart even today? Along with his frown, that is.
"Merlin's beard!" she exclaimed. "Harry Potter smiled at me! HARRY POTTER!" she cried before dizzily spinning around. Thinking she was really feeling dizzy, Harry tossed the spatula away to catch her. He succeeded but then, "HARRY POTTER IS SMILING AT ME! OH MY AGRIPPA!" And she fainted in his arms.
"Ginny!"
***
Hermione Granger-Weasley enjoyed drinking her morning coffee in peace. With the birds chirping and the gentle drizzle of rain, the ambience was perfect. A shriek was the only thing that truly messed the serenity level.
"RON!" she shouted when she heard his shriek. The sound of him thundering down the stairs was heard and she ran to the landing. Unfortunately (or fortunately), he crashed into her and they tumbled to the ground. Something covered Hermione's face and everything went dark. "Geoff!" she managed. The weight on her shifted and she used her hands to take the thing off of her face.
"Harry?" she asked, almost disbelievingly when she saw Harry's face smile at her from the magazine. She sat up and looked at a panicking Ron. He was gasping for air like a fish. "Ron?"
"Harry! Charming smile! Ginny! Fainted! Break up! Ruddy hell! Socks! Merlin's! Beard! White!" he stuttered. Hermione gave him a hug, the best therapy to calm him down, before looking at him in eye. She was truly concerned. Did this award lead to Harry and Ginny's breakup? But they weren't that weak of a couple, were they?
"Quieten down and tell me what happened," she said.
"I got a letter. Ginny fainted. Harry's smile was the reason. We need to continue this act, not break it up!"
"Wait what?"
"You heard it right!"
"Ron!"
***
"Ginny, seriously you worried me so much," Harry stated, cupping her face with one hand. Ginny had woken up, not five minutes ago, from her mad concussion. "Are you alright?"
"Oh, Harry. It was a fantastic dream, the perfect fantasy!" she said, clutching her chest before looking at him. "You won the charming smile award!"
"Er. . . did I?"
"INDEED!" she shouted. "Oh, I can't believe this."
"Look Gin, I want to clear this up." She nodded for him to go on. "Just because they gave this. . . this silly award doesn't mean I want to charm people, except you perhaps," he grinned. Ginny, again, pretended to faint.
"Oh no. Harry Potter is flirting with me. I can't believe this -"
"Gin we are married-!"
"Agrippa's socks, he says we are married-"
"Have been for a year!"
"He just gave me a truly mesmerizing smile-"
"I can give you several of those but please listen-!"
"Dad, I'm going to faint! This photo was taken when he smiled at me!"
"Ginny!"
"This was exactly what I wanted to see, little sis." Harry tore his eyes from his apparently mad wife to look at his comedian brother-in-law, George.
"George? So you are behind her insanity?" he asked, his Auror mind bringing up several chances of what and where things could have gone wrong.
"How could you think that, Harry-Berry? You just won the award for the most charming smile and here I am to offer you a charm for your award!" George proffered something and Harry took it cautiously.
"Er, thank you," he said, smiling unsurely at him.
"Oh my Fred!" He suddenly jumped. "HARRY POTTER SMILED AT LITTLE WEE-ME!"
"George!"
***
"It's been annoying, really," Harry admitted. He was in the Granger-Weasley household, currently talking about his worries about Ginny and George's reactions to Hermione. "I mean, what if she really falls down and hurts herself or hits her head or worse, loses all her memories?"
"Aw, Harry. Honestly that is not going to happen. The most to happen would be getting a tiny scratch or a bruise -"
"No, please! There should not be a single scratch or bruise on her for Merlin's sake. This Witch Weekly has done something to her and George. I don't even want to attend the ceremony they are hosting this weekend."
"You care a great deal for them, don't you?" Hermione asked.
"George really needs to be cared for. He should never feel alone," Harry said. "And then there's Ginny. I don't have enough words to describe her amazing self." He smiled to himself at the thought of her. Ron had reassured him that he would talk to her and restore her sanity. He was probably having a heart-to-heart with her currently.
"Wait, good gracious!" Hermione exclaimed and Harry looked up at her, alarmed. His wand was already out by now. "Harry Potter smiled at my house's grass! I think I need a calming draught or atleast, my Ron!"
"Hermione!"
***
Teddy loved seeing his father's smiling face. The little boy saw stars in the man's eyes and they seemed to be much nearer than the ones in the sky.
So when Harry came to the boy's house without a smile, Teddy was sure to be disappointed.
"Hazza!" Teddy exclaimed, crawling towards Harry and reaching out for him with his tiny, fat hands. He was sure that would make Harry smile. As expected, Harry picked him up from the floor and smiled lightly at the now black haired and brown eyed boy. "You smile!"
"Teddy!"
***
Harry was totally fed up. He was done with life. When he was young, he was chided for always brooding. That was how his youth had been, always throwing life threatening problems at him. Now that he was embracing adulthood, he was teased for smiling. Happiness greeted his door after years and he was told to brood again.
"I'm not doing anything," he mumbled from below the blankie. Ginny had been trying for nearly one hour to get him to open up. "I'm not showing any one my horrible face and smile. Damn the damned magazine."
"Harry! Come on, now. I really want to see you," she said pleadingly but he was not the one to budge.
"And you'll faint and hurt your head. No, thanks!"
"Will you never see me then?" That question got him thinking. Then he got the answer.
"I can accio your photo anytime. A wise Auror always has his wand on."
"Oh shut up," she said and pulled hard at his blanket. He grabbed it at its sides and stayed put. "Fine then! I won't kiss you for the rest of my life!"
"Ouch. That hurts."
"Then show your handsome face."
"Okay. . ." He was about to emerge out of the blankets rather dramatically when a few more words escaped her lips.
"And your charming smile."
"Witch Weekly!"
Thank you for reading!
Miyoko x