Harry Potter is alive (manwholives) wrote in inverted, @ 2011-08-28 21:14:00 |
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Entry tags: | harry potter |
Who: Harry Potter, Arthur Weasley (NPC, thanks Sara!), and Molly Weasley (NPC)
What: Harry needs to talk to Mr. Weasley about something important.
Where: The Burrow
When: Sunday night, after dinner
Rating: Low
Status: Complete: Mini-log
Harry apparated to just outside the Burrow and stared at it for a long moment before trudging up the lawn to the door. He stopped short of knocking, though, and wiped his sweating hands off on his robes. He took a deep breath and then knocked, so nervous he thought he might throw up.
Rising from his spot at the table where he sat reading the paper, Arthur Weasley made his way to the door. His children didn't generally bother with knocking, so he was quite curious as to who might be there.
He raised the curtain and peeked through the window, before a smile grew across his face. Opening the door widely he greeted Harry warmly. "Well, hello Harry! Come on in. Molly probably has leftovers from dinner if you're hungry."
"Oh, no thank you, Mr. Weasley, I ate at the office," he said by way of greeting. "Uh, hello." That and the fact that if he ate anything right now, he knew he wouldn't be able to keep it down. "I wonder if I might have a quick word with you — sir?" Was he supposed to be formal about this? He didn't know. It wasn't like he'd ever gone and asked a father for the okay to ask a girl to marry him before.
"Well sure," Arthur agreed easily, ushering the younger man inside and to the table. "Have a seat," he said, folding up his newspaper as he took his own seat. "What can I do for you? Work going alright? Oh, I have something to show you at some point, it's this Muggle contraption that I thought you could explain to me."
Harry blinked, sitting down, distracted by the small talk. Couldn't he just get to the heart of the matter here? "Work's fine. Busy. And sure, I can help you with that sometime. Later. Not now." He was being short with Mr. Weasley, and he really shouldn't be. But he didn't want to lose his nerve. Who knew this would be so difficult. "Well, actually, sir, I wanted to talk to you about your daughter. About — Ginny."
"Is Ginny in trouble?" Arthur asked, moving to stand up.
He shook his head frantically. "No! No she's not in trouble at all," he said quickly. Maybe he should have been a bit more specific. "As far as I know, she's fine. It's not like that." He rubbed the heels of his hands on his trousers and then rubbed the side of his nose. "I don't know if you know it or not, but Ginny and I have been seeing each other again, recently."
"Oh," Arthur said, relaxing immediately. "Well that's good then. You know I approve of that, Harry," he added with a smile.
Harry smiled, but he was pretty sure it came out looking like he'd eaten something sour. "Thank you. That's — good to know." He swallowed uncomfortably.
"Is that what you came to tell me?" Arthur asked, though there was a glint of mischief in his eyes.
"Half of it," Harry said. He put his hands, both of them, on the table top and spread them out, playing with the wood grains. He felt like a child. He'd stood up to Voldemort and defeated him but he couldn't ask Mr. Weasley if he could marry Ginny. Something was wrong here. "I'd like to ask her to marry me. If it's okay with you." Harry looked up at him.
The corners of Arthur's mouth had already started to tug upward, but when Harry finally asked his question his entire face broke into a grin. "Is it okay? I'd say it's about bloody time," he exclaimed, standing from the table and reaching out his hand to shake Harry's. "But you're going to have to tell Molly as well. We've been waiting for this day."
Harry shook Mr. Weasley's hand a few times, surprised at how easy that was once he'd actually asked it out loud. "Oh, well, uh — great, thanks, sir! Wow, honestly, I thought that was going to be harder than it was." He smiled now, for real, and felt a wave of relief wash over him. "You have?" he asked, surprised again. Ron hadn't been kidding when he'd said that then. "And of course I can tell Mrs. Weasley. I'd love to."
Arthur couldn't stop smiling, even as he called for his wife to come downstairs.
"You've always been part of this family, Harry. Now we can make it official." He reached his free arm around to give Harry a quick hug, one that couldn't possibly compare to the one his wife would have for Harry when she heard the news.
"Well, I still have to ask Ginny, sir," Harry said, and he realized he'd never called Mr. Weasley 'sir' so much in his life. "We haven't exactly talked about this yet."
Arthur just winked at the young man. "I don't think that will be an issue. Molly and Fleur driving you mental with wedding plans, sure, but I don't think you have to worry about Ginny's answer."
He breathed out, relieved, again. "I hope not. I hope I don't feel this sick when I ask her."
"I could tell you that you won't, but that would be lying. I was a mess right before I asked Molly," Arthur replied. "But it's worth it."
"I know it will be, sir," Harry said. "Thank you."
Molly came down the stairs, a knitting project hovering along behind her—a sweater vest. She came to a stop abruptly at the bottom of the stairs and stared between her husband and Harry. She yelped when one of the needles poked her in the back. "Oh, hello, Harry. Arthur, why didn't you holler to tell me Harry had arrived sooner?"
Harry stood up quickly and managed a smile at her. "Hello, Mrs. Weasley. That's a nice sweater. I just came by to talk to Mr. Weasley about Ginny," he said quickly. "About — well, about the fact that I want to ask her to marry me."
Molly squealed with delight and hurried across the room to him, taking his cheeks with both hands. "You silly young man, I don't know what the bloody hell took you so long." She giggled and threw her arms around him.
Harry felt his cheeks get pressed in from her excitement and then hugged her back. All these years and he was still unused to Mrs. Weasley's great hugs. "Yeah, that seems to be the general consensus lately," he managed to say, still trapped in her arms.
"With good reason," she said as she released him. Her concentration on the knitting project had long since fallen by the wayside, the sweater, yarn, and needles a heap on the landing. Molly backed up next to Arthur arms on her hips. "I am sorry to say I've lost a bet due your sluggish actions. I guessed this would've happened over a year ago."
Harry's eyes widened a bit as he looked between the two of them and then laughed nervously. "Sorry about that," he said. "I don't really know what took me so long." He still felt somewhat uncomfortable with the both of them looking at him with such fondness and affection. "I, uh, should get home. I have to get back to work early again."
He'd spent all weekend at work and had missed the Harpies match, disappointing Ginny, and would have to spend even more time this week there. He'd make it up to her soon, though. "Look, I probably don't have to say this, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell Ginny about all this. I kind of want it to be a surprise."
"We wouldn't ruin that for anything, Harry. Not to worry," Molly said, beaming at him.
"Thanks Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley. I really appreciate it. I'm sure I'll — I'm sure we'll — be back with news soon." Harry smiled at both of them, grateful.