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SIYE Time:11:31 on 29th March 2024
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And Virtues Are Rewarded
By Calliope

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Category: Post-OotP
Characters:Harry/Ginny, Ron Weasley
Genres: General
Warnings: None
Story is Complete
Rating: G
Reviews: 23
Summary: "They say patience is a virtue." "Yeah? What good do virtues do you in the end?" (Fourth and final installment in the It Takes a While series.)
Hitcount: Story Total: 5790







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Harry couldn’t help but notice Ginny sitting by herself, far away from the bonfire and everyone else. Most of the Weasleys were absorbed in Fred and George’s demonstration of their newest product. As raucous laughter drifted over while Fred went into some sort of complicated ballet routine, Harry walked quietly over to Ginny and sat down.

“Hi.”

“Hi,” she replied softly, hugging her knees to her chest and shivering slightly in the late-night chill that settled over them even in summer.

Harry frowned and was about to ask why she didn’t move a little closer to the fire when she tucked a short lock of flaming hair behind her ear. He quickly clamped his mouth shut as he realized exactly why she didn’t move closer.

“Cold?”

“No.”

Harry got up and brought her a blanket anyway, and she looked at him sheepishly as she wrapped it tightly around herself.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

They watched Fred and George tango for a bit.

“You know…” began Harry. “I like your hair short.”

“Nah.”

“No, really. It makes you look older or something.”

Ginny looked at him doubtfully and pulled on a section of her hair as if tugging on it hard enough would make it grow. She laughed after a minute, though Harry didn’t quite see what was so funny.

“Who would have known that having my bed set on fire would be the best thing to happen to my looks, eh?” Her tone was light, but Harry thought he could detect a hint of mourning in it. She replaced the bit of hair she had been tugging on, and as she turned her neck Harry caught a glimpse of a faint burn scar underneath her collar.

Not knowing what to say, Harry turned back to the twins, now doing what looked like some sort of waltz.

“Aren’t you cold?”

“No, I’m okay.”

“You’ve got goosebumps.”

“It’s just a little chilly.” Harry rubbed his arms, left uncovered by his t-shirt.

Ginny ignored him and rearranged her blanket so they could share.

“Thanks.”

“It’s fine.”

“So are you just going to avoid fire for the rest of your life, then?”

Ginny looked at Harry so quickly he thought he heard her neck crick. “No.”

“Just making sure.”

“Why?”

“You’re taking N.E.W.T. level Potions next year. Snape’s not going to accept pyrophobia as an excuse for not going near a cauldron.”

“Yeah, I know. How did you ever survive two years of N.E.W.T. level Potions with Snape? I’ve only been through one and I’m about ready to curse him.”

“Just imagine every single ingredient you have to slice and dice as his head. It worked all right for me, although I did do a little damage to the table more than once.”

Ginny snorted.

“Hey, you laughed.”

“That was not a laugh. That was a snort.”

“Same thing.”

“No, it’s not.”

“It is for you.”

“Maybe. Why does it matter?”

“You haven’t been doing much of that lately.”

“Neither have you.”

“Sure I have. Just yesterday I laughed at Ron when you tripped him.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Nice one, by the way.”

“He deserved it.” Ginny’s tone was not defensive at all.

“I’m sure he did.”

“No, really. He did.”

“I believe you.”

“Just making sure.”

More laughter drifted over from the fire. Harry glanced over and saw George trying to make Ron do the foxtrot.

“You really think my hair makes me look older?”

“Sure.”

“I guess maybe you’ve got a point.”

“I do.”

“The hair doesn’t even bother me that much. It’s…” she gestured to the scars Harry had noticed earlier.

“They’re starting to fade. Are you using that stuff Madam Pomfrey gave you?”

“Yeah. But even that didn’t make Ron’s scars go all the way away.”

“Ron’s scars were thought scars. Yours aren’t. They’ll go away.”

“I hope so.”

“Look on the bright side.”

“What bright side?”

“If they don’t go away, you can just grow your hair back out eventually to cover them up. Ron would have a little trouble with that.”

“I don’t know. He could give Bill a run for his money…and give Mum someone else to nag about hair.”

Harry grinned.

“Since when is your motto to look on the bright side?”

“Saying it once doesn’t make it my motto.”

“Every motto starts with it being said only once.”

“Maybe.”

“Do you have another motto then?”

“Never thought about it.”

“It could be ‘never tickle a sleeping dragon’.”

“I think that’s taken.”

“Maybe. How about ‘it is better to burn out than to fade away’?”

“I wouldn’t mind fading away every once in a while.”

“’The meaning of life is that it ends’?”

“Isn’t that kind of morbid?”

“Well, you can be a rather morbid person, Harry.”

“Then maybe my motto should pull me out of that.”

“Fine. What about ‘live forever or die trying’?”

Harry paused. “I could live with that.”

“You could?”

“If not, I’ll die trying.”

“Cute.”

“I thought so.”

They both glanced across the yard to see the twins pulling the whole family into a conga line.

“Do you have a motto, then?”

“Sure.”

“What is it?”

“’You shouldn’t care what people think. They don’t do it very much.’”

Harry laughed softly.

“What?”

“Nothing. It suits you.”

“Yes, I thought so.”

“Sometimes you just have to be patient with people, though, you know. They say patience is a virtue.”

“Yeah? What good do virtues do you in the end?”

“Well, they say that virtues are rewarded.”

“They seem to say an awful lot.”

“Yeah, they do tend to go on and on.”

“Okay, fine.” Ginny turned to Harry, looked him square in the eye, and raised her right hand. “I solemnly swear that I will, from now on, work diligently at being patient with people in general.”

“Good.”

“So what will my reward be?”

“We’ll think about that when the time comes. First you have to do well, then you get a reward.” Harry couldn’t help but notice he has started to sound like he was speaking to a small child. He cringed inwardly.

Ginny had obviously noticed, too. “Harry, I’m being very patient with you right now.”

“Then here’s your reward.”

“What?”

Harry carefully disentangled himself from the blanket. “Dancing the conga line with the twins.” He stood and extended a hand, which Ginny accepted. He pulled her up.

“I can deal with that for now.”





A/N: J.K. Rowling owns the world.

“Live forever or die trying” is from Catch-22. I thought it kind of fit.

This is the final installment in this nice little four-part series. Thank you all for indulging in my little whims.

Wanna review it?
Reviews 23
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