#Ginny’s birthday

[mrsnerdygirl]

When I started reading the “harry Potter” books , my first favorite characters was Ginny, and now she is forever in my heart . I hate it when people do not understand her . She was the iT girl , beautiful and what not , but she was also a teenager that went through a lot . I hate it when fans forget what she went through , and while the books were focused on Harry , people shouldn’t forget that she nearly died and got possessed all because of her first ever friend . I am the youngest and while I don’t have as many siblings as she does , I can understand how lonely she feels . Ginny’s favorite brother was Bill and I think that the reason behind that is because the oldest always treat you somehow better, and you just really like that , but as you grow older , you feel even worse because now you wanna do things and like things that probably no one in the family wants you to. This girl literally had to sneak out and get the brooms of her older brothers and teach herself how to fly , because no one in the family allowed her too .I don’t think that her crush om Harry really says much about her , though people like to look into it . Ginny simply finds it hard to move on , probably has attachment issues , which I understand, because me too. I hate to think that some fans see her as a love interest, because she is actually important to the plot . I defiantly think that she was out casted in her second year , and I would love to hear about how she started being so popular . In her third year , she started changing little by little ,and maybe it was then that she started being more sociable and started hanging out with people . We see that she became friends with Neville , and went with him to the Yule Ball . Also during these chapters I think that we see more to Ginny . She had a chance to go with Harry, her crush , but didn’t go with him so to not reject Neville and make him feel bad . It was around this time that Hermione gave Ginny her very smart boy advice “try being yourself around Harry , go out with other people “ , which we see Ginny do , and it resulted in her being less shy around him . In order of the phoenix , Ginny was the only one who wasn’t scared to tell Harry to stop being such an asshole . I can’t explain why , but maybe it was just her energy , though harry didn’t mind opening up to her about how he felt in that chapter in which they shared chocolate (Moony would be proud), on the library talking about how lost Harry felt and how he needed to speak to Sirius . Ginny handles a bunch of grown up death eaters like a champion and walks around with a broken leg , without once complaining . When Harry tried to keep her safe at school she wasn’t scared to show him off again for treating her like she was fragile .After Sirius’ death she didn’t walk around Harry like he could break , but just like last year , she was calm and playful . She broke up with her boyfriend of a year because he didn’t appreciate her like he needed to , and then got herself another one right back . Blaze Zabini , a popular and rich Slytherin had a crush on her , and while he never did anything about it , I think it showed exactly how pretty and well known she was (also let’s not forget Victor Krum finding her attractive and wanting to ask her out ). Her best skill was Quidditch , and she could play amazingly in more than one position . She made the team twice , which meant that from everyone there she was the best , and won in each match . She played as seeker twice , both times were the finals , and won the cup , and then became a professional player in her dream team .

In her sixth year we see her defend Luna and Neville because she hated bullies and these two were her best friends . The fact that she could be friends with anyone and yet was closest to “the weirdoes of the school” , means a lot to me.

She fought in the battle of Hogwarts , and handled the school year like a champion . Another thing I love about her is how understanding she is towards Harry and how cute the fact that even though they broke up they still supported each other . She survived Bellatrix Lestrange’s attacks , and was a very good dueler , as well as a powerful witch .

There is so much to her character , that would take me too long to analyze , but overall the idea is that Ginny Weasley needs to be appreciated more for what she has done through the books , because without her we wouldn’t have some amazing moments .

Happy Birthday , to the icon herself !

[virginiaweidlerremembrance]

Gosh! I went a full year between web posts. That is bad.

It is again the day of days! The one that sadly comes but once a year! Yes, I do realize all days come but once a year, except February 29, but I digress.

IT’S GINNY’S BIRTHDAY!!!

Most of you know the rules, but for any newcomers here we go. On Virginia’s birthday, Ginnyfans worldwide (which I can now safely say since Danny is in England) watch her films or at least clips from her films while eating cottage cheese, which was her favorite childhood food. For those looking for a non-dairy alternative, Ginny often ate raw veggies on set, and those are also acceptable.

If you are looking for Ginny material, YouTube is the go to source. Girl of the Ozarks, a film starring Virginia from 1936, resides there. You will also find Outcasts of Poker Flat (1937), The Under-Pup (1939) starring Gloria Jean with Ginny in strong support, Souls at Sea (1937) with Virginia in a smaller yet pivotal role, and The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939) with Ginny as his would-be detective daughter. For the most part, these are films not available on TCM.

One later film, The Youngest Profession (1943) can be found there, broken into ten parts to avoid fair use problems, I guess.

Stuck for time? Check out the Ginny clips there, especially ones on the ginny fan channel.

Mostly, have fun! And enjoy the celebration! And thank you for caring and participating!

[izharmilgram]

happy birthday voldemort :3

[alwayshinny]

Harry James Potter - Happy birthday m’boy 🎂 🎉

[ticklygiggles]

Late night company | Diluc x Venti

A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOOOOVE ( @otomiyaa ) ❤️🎉🧁🎂 I hope you enjoy this little gift~ I'm still on time hehe ❤️

I'm wishing you the best, sweetie 🥺❤️ I loooove you so muuuch MWAH 💕❤️

Summary: 🤭🤭🤭

“Until tomorrow, Master Diluc!” 

“Yes. Have a good night.”

Slowly, the last customers began to leave, the employees yawning and wishing Diluc good night after their shift. Diluc stayed inside the tavern, finishing arranging some chairs, cleaning some tables and perhaps, doing a little inventory to see if anything was missing for tomorrow. 

He worked in silence, adjusting here and there, his cheeks a little flushed from the heat inside the tavern and his feet a little tired after having played not only bartender but also as a waiter, but being busy also kept his mind busy and there were times when he just didn't want to listen to his own thoughts. 

Luckily for him, there was something else that was still keeping his mind more occupied than the work he was doing. 

Well, actually... someone. 

He couldn't resist, his eyes just moved on their own to the bar where a very drunk Venti was talking and talking about archons know what. In fact, Diluc could barely understand half of his words. He was stuttering, unable to form very long words and slurred his speech. The r's became b's and some vowels changed sound too. It was kind of funny and cute.

It was already a habit for Diluc to have Venti accompany him until late at the tavern when everyone else had already left. At first Diluc thought it was just so he could drink more, but no matter how much he asked him to leave, Venti flatly refused, and if Diluc was honest, Venti's company didn't bother him at all. 

The nights passed like this and over time, Diluc began to notice Venti. Really notice Venti. He had a lovely face, really adorable. His blue eyes always sparkled while he talked and talked with a huge, toothy smile; his rosy cheeks looked like apples about to fall from the tree. Diluc's heart began to race at the thought of spending more time with Venti and he looked forward to every night, even his duties as a Darknight Hero were affected, but that was another story. 

In short, Diluc had fallen in love with Venti, but there was no way he was going to confess. That would be... complicated and overwhelming not only for him, but for Venti as well, plus, the bard was usually too drunk to understand a word Diluc said. It just wasn't worth it. 

“And then, and then!” Venti continued his story, his arms flailing around and his legs kicking a little. “The traveler was there and- and I was-” 

Traveler this, traveler that. He certainly didn't make any sense, but his face lit up at the mere mention of the traveler. It bothered him. He has never been a jealous person, not even when Kaeya came into his life, but now... why did he feel that way? 

“And then, the traveler grabbed his sword and-”

“You've been staying overnight for almost a month.” His voice came out a little too abrupt and dry. Venti finally stopped talking and the silence was deafening. 

Venti tilted his head to the side. “And?” 

“And?” Diluc put down the rag he was wiping down a table to look at Venti, his arms crossed over his chest. “You haven't paid me. Not even a single day. Do you think you can drink for free just because you stay late?” 

He didn't really care, but making this scene had worked to get Venti's dazed brain to stop thinking about the traveler. Diluc took it as a victory. 

“I thought you liked me keeping you company.” Venti pouted and Diluc felt the tips of his ears heating up and his heart tingled when Venti giggled. “I will pay you, definitely!”

Diluc raised an eyebrow. “Will you now?”

“Yes! I'll definitely pay you… with a performance!” 

Diluc's brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed. The bard laughed nervously and it seemed like his cheeks had reddened even more. Diluc looked at him for a moment and then walked over, stopping right in front of him. 

“A foolish performance isn't enough to settle your debt." Diluc leaned forward, placing his hands on the edge of the bar, caging Venti in his arms. Venti leaned back as far as he could, stuttering as he tried to speak again. 

“W-What are you s-saying! My performances are a-always s-so- so good!” The bitter smell of alcohol hit his nose and he wrinkled it slightly, it was a smell he had never liked, however, in Venti, Diluc thought it wasn't so terrible. The bard gulped and Diluc saw his pretty eyes moving from side to side, looking for a way out of his predicament. 

He didn't seem as dizzy as he had been a few moments ago, but his brain really couldn't handle his own limbs yet.

“Th-Then, I'll-” His warm breath hit Diluc's cheeks again. Now that he thought about it, his cheeks not only looked like apples, Venti also smelled like one. “I'll p-pay you with-”

“Your body.” 

Silence reigned and Diluc was sure Venti had stopped breathing as his eyes widened. His heart was also beating hard and now the shells of his ears started to get warm, but he tried to act calm. He let out a soft chuckle and his hands closed around the other's waist. Venti squealed and he kicked a bit, but Diluc easily lifted him up and sat him on top of the bar, placing himself between his legs as he pulled Venti’s body closer to him. 

“W-What are you d-doing?!” Venti squirmed, his cheeks and ears reddening. “M-Master Diluc, this is not appropriate, I- I can't pay you with my body… here.” 

“Yes you can,” Diluc said calmly, just a couple of centimeters away from Venti's face, their noses almost touching, their breathing mingling. “And you will.” He moved a little closer to Venti's face. Diluc felt him tense, his breathing quickening as his eyes closed tightly. What was Venti expecting exactly? He couldn't help but feel butterflies. 

Diluc smiled softly as his hands began to move on Venti's waist, tickling him. 

Venti jolted and gasped and Diluc fought the urge to laugh when he saw him opening his eyes wide as his lips started to tremble into a smile. “What- what are y-you- no! Nohoho! Why?!”

“Hmm? Didn't I say you'd pay with your body?” 

“Not like this!” Venti's hands wrapped around Diluc's wrists, trying to push his hands away. 

“Oh? Did you have anything else in mind?” He smirked, his hands squeezing Venti's tiny waist. “Please do tell me what it was.” 

Venti's face turned incredibly red and Diluc couldn't help but blush as well as his heart skipped a beat. However, his hands did not stop for even a moment, he wiggled his fingers up and down Venti's sides, squeezing here and there to make him squeal and jolt as if he had been touched by electricity. 

Venti was laughing wildly, trying to make Diluc stop, his smile was really huge and his nose was scrunching up a little, making him look even more adorable and carefree. His laughter was so bubbly and funny, Diluc had to chuckle himself as his fingers gently dug into Venti's ribs, pinching and rubbing each bone, causing Venti to squeal and cackle and arch his back. 

“M-Master Diluc!” He gasped between laughs. “I c-cahahan't!” 

“We’re not even halfway through it.” Diluc moved down to Venti's tummy and Venti giggled brightly, curling forward, his forehead resting against Diluc's shoulder. “At this rate, I'll have to do this for weeks until you pay me off.”

Venti shook his head, unable to speak as Diluc vibrated his fingers against the center of his stomach and he laughed and laughed like a little kid. His hands still desperately tried to push Diluc's away and cover the spots Diluc went after. 

“Tch.” The tickling suddenly stopped, but Venti could barely relax before Diluc grabbed his wrists with his hands. “These pesky hands are on the way, don't you think?” 

“H-Huh?! N-Noho! They're d-dohoing their work defending me from your pesky finge-e-ehehers! Lehehet gohoho!” 

Diluc gathered both Venti's wrists in one of his hands behind Venti's back, exposing his torso completely to his tickly fingers. The bard tried to fight him off, but Diluc's grip was like iron and so Venti could only kick his legs and squirm from side to side like a little fish out of water. He looked at Venti fondly, his smile gentle. Oh, he was so head over heels for him. He really, really liked him. He really wasn't going to do anything about it? 

“AHAHAHA! Not thehere! Nohohot there!”

“Stop moving.” 

Diluc's hand had found Venti's armpit. His fingers wiggled, dug and vibrated against the spot, making Venti shriek with laughter, little tears gathering in the corner of his eyes. His head low, face so close to Diluc's. So close, he could angle his head up just slightly and their lips would meet. Just… a slightly… tilt of his head and…

The laughter suddenly ended and a sharp breath echoed through the Angel's share as Diluc pressed his lips against Venti's smiling mouth. Diluc closed his eyes, his lips parting slightly to poke his tongue out and touch Venti's lips. Venti gasped, opening his mouth and Diluc pushed his tongue in, kissing him deeply, one hand holding Venti's waist, pulling him close. The other was still holding his hands behind his back. 

The bitter taste of alcohol filled his mouth, but he couldn't care less. That felt so good. Pleasant chills ran up and down Diluc's spine, his heart hammering against his ribcage, he was sure Venti could feel it because he could feel Venti's. The bard seemed to have turned to jelly in his arms. His body practically melted against Diluc's, kissing him slowly and gasping softly every time the tip of Diluc's tongue touched the roof of his mouth. 

Diluc also felt like jelly, his knees shaking a little and his hands trembling. He didn't want to stop, what would happen next? He didn't want to know, but Venti was already breathless from laughing so much and Diluc was scared he would pass out from the lack of oxygen, so he slowly pulled apart, enough to look at Venti's eyes, their noses gently touching. 

Venti opened his eyes slowly and he blinked a couple of times, the tears falling down his cheeks. Diluc didn't know what to say, but he was glad Venti did:

“T-That kiss was worth like one m-month of payment.” 

Diluc widened his eyes slightly before letting out a bright laugh. “Yeah… I guess you're right.” He let go of Venti's hands and he quickly wrapped his arms around Diluc's neck, bringing him closer to him. Diluc gasped, holding onto the bar. 

“Now I really want to pay you with my body, you know?” Venti smirked, leaning close to Diluc's ear. “And I'm not talking about tickling, Master Diluc.” 

Diluc breath hitched. He shuddered, feeling Venti's warm lips against the erratic pulse on the side of his neck and then his hot tongue licking a path to the hollow under his ear, making him whimper slightly. 

“... Don't forget about this in the morning.” Diluc whispered, his hands untying Venti's corset. 

He giggled. “I won't, Master Diluc. How could I?” 

Diluc was going to have to clean the bar again, but it didn't matter. Not when Venti was making sounds that sent shivers down his spine and his soft skin felt like silk against Diluc's. 

Venti looked at his eyes and smiled. “I like you, Master Diluc.”

Diluc smiled back and kissed him deeply. Yeah, he liked him too. Very much. 

[hinny-canons]

Hush!

Ginny was laying in her bed, listening to the rukus downstairs, contemplating whether or not to check on it.

It was the morning of her birthday and she supposed Harry made sure none of the kids woke her. They were making a surprise breakfast for her, thinking they were being quiet.

"Can I put the flowers?" Ginny heard Lily's little excited voice.

"Shh! Lily, you can't be too loud!" James whisper-shouted back. "And yes, you can put the flower in."

Ginny chuckled, deciding to let them come up to her as to not ruin their surprise.

"Alright, who wants to take this up with me?" Harry asked them, much quieter than his children.

Ginny smiled. Harry always prepared surprises for her on her birthday and she loved it every single time. Ever since they had kids, it became a tradition to bring her breakfast in bed. However, the thrill of surprising their mother never dwindled for them.

"Okay, Al, you can take this with me. Lily, James, take the card."

She could hear their excited giggles and Harry trying to shush them. Ginny rolled over on her side and pretended to be asleep when they entered.

The door slowly creaked open and the first voice was Lily's. "Happy Birthday, Mummy!"

"Lily, we were supposed to say it together!" Albus cried.

Ginny sat up, smiling at them all. "Oh, wow, you guys did all of this?"

They nodded eagerly. "Dad barely helped," James said smugly.

Harry's brows furrowed. "Actually-"

"Didn't help at all!" James repeated with a proud smile causing Harry to shake his head.

Harry carefully put the tray on her lap. "Happy birthday, Gin," he smiled at her softly.

"Thank you." She kissed him lightly just as Lily bounded to the other side of the bed and climbed up.

"Read the card, read the card!" She waved it in Ginny's face and Ginny gently took it from her, amused by her energy. Given how early it was, Lily wasn't exactly a morning bird.

Ginny opened the card to see a kaleidoscope of scribbles and drawings with an inscription printed out on the other side.

Happy birthday to the best mom in the world! it read. Ginny felt her eyes slightly welling up.

"Harry?" She said breathly.

"Yes?"

"Can you move the tray for a moment so I can hug all of you?"

Harry moved the tray, laughing, as James, Albus, and Lily jumped on the bed and hugged her tightly, giggling and shouting.

Ginny looked up and reached her arm out to Harry who took it and moved closer. He picked Albus up and put him on his lap so that he'd have room to sit.

"I'm not sure about the best, but I'm defintely the luckiest mom in the world."

[constancezin]

Happy birthday Harry!

My favourite character in the whole series

So i draw him happy and peaceful with his soulmate.

I like to imagine her very protective of him and always showing her love by small attention for him to never feel alone or unwanted anymore.

Hinny for the winning

[briarpotter]

Happy Birthday Harry!

It's Harry's birthday! My sweet, sweet, perfect guy (who is already married and has kids)

Reflections of Courage

Harry Potter stood in front of the mirror in his cozy, dare he say big, manor in London. The soft morning light filtered through the curtains, casting a gentle glow on his reflection. It had been two years since the Battle of Hogwarts, and life had settled into a new kind of normal. Yet, some mornings, he still found it hard to believe that the war was truly over.

As he adjusted his Auror robes, Harry's thoughts drifted to the past. He saw the faces of friends and mentors, both living and lost, flash before his eyes. Sirius, Dumbledore, Lupin, Tonks, Fred—each one a reminder of the sacrifices made and the price of peace. 

A soft knock on the door pulled him from his reverie. He turned to see Ginny standing there, her eyes warm with understanding. “Ready for your first day back?” she asked, stepping into the room. Harry smiled, the sight of her comforting him. “As ready as I'll ever be. It feels strange, going back to work after everything.”

Ginny walked over and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his shoulder. “You'll be brilliant, Harry. You've faced worse than this, and come out stronger every time.” He held her close, drawing strength from her presence. “Thanks, Gin. I just… I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing.”

Ginny pulled back slightly, looking into his eyes. “You are. You're helping to build a better world, the one you fought so hard for. Don't doubt yourself.” Her words resonated with him, and he nodded, feeling a renewed sense of purpose. “You're right. It's just… sometimes it feels like there's so much left to do.”

“There always will be,” she said softly. “But you're not alone in this. We're all in it together.” With a final kiss for luck, Harry left the house and made his way to the Ministry of Magic. The familiar bustle of the atrium greeted him, and he was struck by how different it felt now that he was part of the Auror Department. No longer the hunted, he was now the protector. His first day back was filled with meetings and briefings.

Yet, as he moved through the corridors, he noticed the respect in the eyes of his colleagues. It wasn't the awe or fear he had once encountered, but genuine respect for his courage and determination. During a break, Harry found himself in front of a window, looking out at the bustling city below. He thought about the journey that had brought him here, the trials and triumphs that had shaped him.

He realized that each step, no matter how difficult, no matter how hard, had led him to this moment. A voice interrupted his thoughts. “Harry, mate, ready for the next briefing?” He turned to see Ron, his best friend and partner, standing there with a grin. Harry grinned back, feeling a surge of confidence. “Yeah, let's go.”

As they walked down the hallway, Harry felt a sense of peace settle over him. He was where he was meant to be, doing the work he believed in, surrounded by those who mattered most. And with Ginny by his side, he knew he could face whatever challenges lay ahead.

That evening, back in their house, Harry and Ginny cuddled together, the warmth of the crackling fire filling the room. Harry took her hand, feeling the steady beat of her heart. “Today was good,” he said softly. “I think we're going to make a real difference.” Ginny squeezed his hand, her eyes shining. “I never doubted it for a second.” In that moment, Harry felt the weight of his past lift, replaced by the hope of the future. He had faced the darkness and emerged into the light, ready to build a world worth fighting for, with the people he loved beside him.

[crowbarsfavorite]

My friend modelled and printed me the cutest jason robin for me to paint im obsessed i love him so much

[whinlatter]

Harry’s thoughts of Ginny in the Forest: a meta

‘Nothing too big, because you wouldn't be able to take it with you... I wanted you to have something to remember me by.' - DH, p. 99 (UK edition)

Here I am, on a rainy Thursday, doing re-reads for some writing and thinking about the parallels between Harry and Ginny's kiss on his birthday, and Harry’s thoughts of Ginny as he goes to his death. 

I’m thinking differently about Ginny’s motivations for the kiss these days. I used to think about her words to Harry that morning, and the act of kissing him, as a promise she’ll wait for when he comes back. Lately, I’m wondering if it’s not something sadder, and more profound. I think what Ginny does on Harry’s seventeenth is the act of a person who is starting to process the fact that the person she loves is likely going to his death — that he might not be coming back. It's a scene of a person bracing for grief and thinking about love after death, and it will set the stage for how Harry meets his own death in the Forest.

So here’s a much-too-long meta to help me think through these ideas - about the kiss, Ginny’s suspicions about Harry’s fate, and what it means that Harry returns to the memory of Ginny at the end of his life. (Stick the kettle on for this one and if you worked this all out long ago before me, just give me an eye roll and forgive me).

I’ve always taken Ginny's words to Harry before their kiss at face value. I thought of it not quite as a fun scene - it’s certainly sad - but sweet, a little sexy, and sort of reckless, even a bit mischievous on Ginny’s part.

It’s the birthday of the boy Ginny loves. They’re not together anymore. She knows he's going away. She wants to give him a birthday present, but she doesn't want to give him something he has to haul around or might lose. She does want to let him know that, despite their separation, her feelings are still the same. She craves a moment with him before he goes. She is still in love with him, she is deeply attracted to him, and part of her still feels a bit possessive. Although she’s not really concerned Harry’s going to crack on with some Veela, she does want him to have a memento of their time together. She wants him to have a happy memory, of physical intimacy and emotional comfort, to keep him going while he's away, to feel less alone.

Most of all, I used to think of the kiss (and whatever Ginny imagined might come after the kiss) as a promise. I still love you. Even though we’re not together and I respect why you have to go, I’m still all in on this. I’ll wait for you for when you come back. I want you to have the memory of this, as proof.

Harry’s reveal

But the more I’ve thought about it, the more I think about the context of when this kiss happens, after Harry and Ginny's last conversation before his birthday. It's the one a few days before, when Harry and Ginny are laying the table for dinner, and Harry lets slip to Ginny what he, Ron and Hermione will be doing when they leave:

'‘And then what does she think’s going to happen?’ Harry muttered. ‘Someone else might kill off Voldemort while she’s holding us here making vol-au-vents?’ He had spoken without thinking, and saw Ginny’s face whiten.‘So it’s true?’ she said. ‘That’s what you’re trying to do? ‘I - not - I was joking,’ said Harry evasively. (DH, 78-9, UK edition)

This is a desperately sad scene, but it’s also an important moment. Harry, so used to having his guard down with Ginny, realises he’s accidentally confessed something big: that he’s going on the run to try and kill Voldemort himself, with Ron and Hermione’s help. 

Ginny is shaken by this. As a character, she tends to either take things in her stride, or yells first, processes later. But this catches her off guard. Her words suggest there has been speculation about what it is the three of them are going off to do (‘So it’s true?’ suggests that Ginny, and perhaps other members of her family or the Order, have been speculating about this for some time). But both she and Harry realise here that he’s flippantly confirmed something huge that Ginny did not already know for sure. He’s spoken aloud the task is that Dumbledore has left him. 

It is a sign of how close Harry feels to Ginny, how safe he feels in her company, and how difficult he finds managing keeping secrets from her, that he lets this slip. He won’t come as close to telling the truth to anyone else, even people he trusts. The scene before this, in his conversation with Mrs Weasley, he didn’t let on nearly as much (though he admits that he found affirming the importance of secrecy difficult when he looked at Mrs Weasley and saw Ginny’s eyes staring back at him):

‘Well, Dumbledore left me . . . stuff to do,’ mumbled Harry. ‘Ron and Hermione know about it, and they want to come too.’ ‘What sort of ‘stuff’?’  ‘I’m sorry, I can’t—’  ‘Well, frankly I think Arthur and I have a right to know, and I’m sure Mr. and Mrs. Granger would agree!’ said Mrs. Weasley. Harry had been afraid of the “concerned parent” attack. He forced himself to look directly into her eyes, noticing as he did that they were precisely the same shade of brown as Ginny’s. This did not help… ‘Dumbledore didn’t want anyone else to know, Mrs. Weasley (…)  I didn’t misunderstand,’ said Harry flatly. ‘It’s got to be me.’ (DH, 77-8)

Later, he’ll also refuse to give any information to Lupin, for the same reason. 

'‘Can you confide in me what the mission is?’  Harry looked into the prematurely lined face, framed in thick but greying hair, and wished that he could return a different answer.  ‘I can’t, Remus, I’m sorry. If Dumbledore didn’t tell you I don’t think I can.’  ‘I thought you’d say that,’ said Lupin, looking disappointed.’ (DH, 173-4)

But with Ginny, he’s accidentally gone much further. He hasn’t said Horcruxes, but he’s as good as. The trio are setting off to try to kill Voldemort, the most dangerous task imaginable in this war. He tries, in vain, to undo it, but the damage is already done. Ginny knows more now than she did before: that the journey he’s about to go on is one that very likely will claim his life. 

What does Ginny know about Harry’s fate before this moment? 

It's clear from this interaction that Harry has never discussed any of this with Ginny before. In their breakup scene, Harry repeatedly said that he was breaking up with her for her own safety. He said he did not want her to be used as bait, as she already had been previously, and as Sirius was: 'Think how much danger you'll be in if we keep this up...' (HBP, 602). The focus was entirely on the risk to Ginny's life, a risk Harry says he cannot live with.

Ginny’s remarks at Dumbledore’s funeral told us something about how she, at that point, understood the path ahead for Harry. She made her half-joke that Harry was always busy saving the Wizarding World, and says she thinks he 'would never be happy', never fulfilled or satisfied, unless he were 'hunting Voldemort' (HBP, 603). She showed she interpreted his actions as choices being made by someone brave, determined, and personally committed to bringing about the end of Voldemort, not someone destined to. Harry’s motivations and reasons are ones she respects and empathises with. She knows the path ahead is dangerous. She doesn’t yet think of it as lethal. 

Harry didn’t respond to her assessments at the funeral, neither correcting nor confirming them. He didn’t let her know, at that stage, exactly what it is he is going to set off to do. The closest Harry came to revealing the road ahead for him in the break-up scene was this:

'It’s been like… like something out of someone else’s life, these last few weeks with you,' said Harry. 'But I can’t… we can’t… I’ve got things to do alone now.' She did not cry, she simply looked at him.’  (HBP, 602)

This is a pattern throughout their relationship, both as friends and later as romantic partners. Ginny knows a little, but not a lot, about Harry’s path. She thinks of it almost entirely as a decision he has made himself. Conversations about Harry’s destiny - about the Prophecy, about being the Chosen One, and, eventually, about the Horcrux hunt - happen near Ginny, but never with her. She does not seem to believe that Harry is the Chosen One or in any way bound to Voldemort's own fate. At the start of HBP, on the train in Slughorn’s carriage, Ginny states publicly her belief that any speculation about Harry being the Chosen One is nonsense: 

‘We never heard a prophecy,” said Neville, turning geranium pink as he said it. ‘That’s right,’ said Ginny staunchly. ‘Neville and I were both there too, and all this ‘Chosen One’ rubbish is just the Prophet making things up as usual.’ (HBP, 140)

Ultimately, before DH, Ginny has been given very little information. We can assume that she’s decided to respect Harry’s decision to keep any information from her and not to push for it. She has reason to fear he might be in danger, but she doesn’t yet know the full extent of it.

Ginny’s response

The immediate aftermath of Harry’s confession at the Burrow is very telling. 

‘They stared at each other, and there was something more than shock in Ginny’s expression. Suddenly Harry became aware that this was the first time that he had been alone with her since their stolen hours in secluded corners of the Hogwarts grounds. He was sure she was remembering them too.’ - DH (79)

It’s important that, immediately after this confession, Harry’s mind immediately takes him to private time spent alone with Ginny at the end of HBP. His certainty that Ginny, too, is reminiscing about them is typical of their wordless displays of understanding. They both reach for memories. And the memories of the last time he was alone with her, when they were still together, suddenly trigger an intense emotional and sexual tension. They are soon interrupted, and the dinner afterwards is extremely awkward. Harry wishes he were further away from Ginny, and tries, with great difficulty, to avoid touching her at the dinner table. The energy between them is intense and charged, anticipatory and frustrated. There are lots of ‘unsaid things’ that have just passed between them, and both are aware of it (DH, 79).

There are important themes being introduced here. Whenever Harry thinks about memories of his time with Ginny in DH, he does so consistently in two clear ways. To him, those times were private, intensely intimate moments which carried huge personal significance. It is strongly implied those were moments of sexual intimacy between the two of them, and where they shared an emotional closeness neither has found with any other character. But those moments with Ginny are also something Harry feels he was wrong to take. His relationship with her was something that, in retrospect, he embarked upon against his better judgement. He now feels it was something he was not entitled to, on account of his own burdens and obligations. Those were ‘stolen hours’ that were ‘something out of someone else’s life’. If we look to the wedding scene, we can see this most clearly:

‘‘Yes, my tiara sets off the whole thing nicely,’ said Auntie Muriel in a rather carrying whisper. ‘But I must say, Ginevra’s dress is far too low cut.’  Ginny glanced around, grinning, winked at Harry, then quickly faced the front again. Harry’s mind wandered a long way from the marquee, back to afternoons spent alone with Ginny in lonely parts of the school grounds. They seemed so long ago; they had always seemed too good to be true, as though he had been stealing shining hours from a normal person’s life, a person without a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead…’ (DH, 121) 

There are certain tropes at play here, that will that recur again and again in Harry’s thoughts of Ginny until the point of his death: the memory of time alone, the feeling of shared emotional and physical intimacy, to an intense degree; the sense of their time together being something stolen, both in the sense of it being snatched from within darker times, but also being forbidden, given with Harry’s fate when it comes to Voldemort. That Harry recalls these moments at a moment as two other characters make lifelong vows of marriage to each other is not insignificant: all is set up to maximise the sense of tragedy.

Ginny processing Harry’s fate

Ginny is not naive. Harry’s confession seems to change something about how she thinks about what he’s about to do. She may once have dismissed the prophecy of Harry as the Chosen One as nonsense. But she now has reason to suspect that might not quite be true.

She may well re-trace what she does know. After all, she was at the Department of Mysteries two summers prior, where she learnt that Voldemort, at least, thinks there is a prophecy of significance that involves Harry directly. She knows Harry has been having one-on-one lessons with Dumbledore: she even gave him one of the invitations (HBP, 228). She also knows that Harry and Dumbledore left school for a secret mission alone on the night the Astronomy Tower was attacked and Dumbledore was killed. She observed how Harry saw Dumbledore’s death as a catalyst to prepare for a path that required him to step back from her. Above all, we also know that Ginny is a character who understands Tom Riddle intimately. She is one of the people who comes closest to understanding the stakes of your life being bound, in some way, to Voldemort.

It is also significant that Ginny is a character canonically intrigued, and touched, by death, and by powerful Dark magic. The diary, and her own near-death experience, is the most obvious example. But in the Department of Mysteries during OotP, we are told she is also one of the characters most drawn to the veil, despite having far less direct experience of loss and grief than Harry, Luna, or even Neville:

‘[Harry] took several paces back from the dais and wrenched his eyes from the veil. ‘Let’s go,’ he said. ‘That’s what I’ve been trying to — well, come on, then!’ said Hermione, and she led the way back around the dais. On the other side, Ginny and Neville were staring, apparently entranced, at the veil too. Without speaking, Hermione took hold of Ginny’s arm, Ron Neville’s, and they marched them firmly back to the lowest stone bench and clambered all the way back up to the door.’ (OotP, 775)

I don’t mean to suggest Ginny knew what was coming for Harry, that she foresaw him having to go to his death. She knows nothing of Horcruxes, she doesn’t know the contents of the Prophecy, and she certainly doesn’t know Harry himself is a Horcrux. Harry, of course, doesn’t yet know the certainty of him going to his own death, at this point in the text. But given the information she alone has been handed, inadvertently, by Harry, she has plenty of reason to begin to suspect the path Harry is on is one that might end in death, moreso for him than for an anyone else in this war.

Ginny doesn’t appear much in the following pages, other than in her role helping to prepare the house for the wedding. Over the next few days, she has lots of time to consider Harry’s words. We know she’s also sharing a bedroom with Hermione, who is actively preparing for their imminent departure, and watching the three of them try to sneak off together to make plans. This is time for Ginny to start to digest the information Harry has unwittingly divulged. She can now begin to think about how she ought to respond to the prospect of him leaving for a mission that will, likely, cost him his life.

The kiss itself

We can see Ginny has planned this interaction with Harry in her bedroom. The false casualness of how the scene opens - ‘Harry, can you come in here a moment?’ - and the actions of the bedroom’s other occupant, Hermione, suggests some level of premeditation and collaboration. For the first time, Ginny brings him into her bedroom, with the door closed. The setting is obviously intimate and suggestive.

Harry describes Ginny as seeming nervous, but purposeful, like she is readying herself for something - she ‘[takes] a deep breath’. She is looking at him ‘steadily’. Harry is nervous, too: he cannot bring himself to look at her, finding it almost painful, like ‘gazing into a brilliant light’ (DH, 98). Her trademark blazing look is in full force. She doesn’t entertain his attempts at small talk: she is serious about what she’s about to do.

‘‘I couldn’t think what to get you,’ she said.  ‘You didn’t have to get me anything.’ She disregarded this too.’ (DH, 98-9)

Ginny opens by revealing how difficult it has been for her to work out what she could give him, under the circumstances. She is, in her own way, acknowledging how hard she is finding processing what it is he has to do now. She has been struggling with the prospect of Harry’s departure, and the possibility, even the likelihood, of his death. But she has decided she wants to make that path easier for him. Despite his reassurance, she insists she wanted to give him something. 

‘‘I didn’t know what would be useful. Nothing too big, because you wouldn’t be able to take it with you.” He chanced a glance at her. She was not tearful...' (99)

These lines are so significant. The first two lines in particular are deeply profound. They read very differently to how I first thought of them, if seen in this light. I didn’t know what would be useful, she says, because she doesn't know what she can say that will be useful. What could possibly make this easier, to help Harry think about the enormity of his situation, or to help guide him on a path requiring him to accept his own likely death? 

She doesn’t want what she gives to him now to be too heavy, too sad, or too serious, because she knows Harry will not be able to deal with it (‘nothing too big’). Anything too declaratory, too sentimental, or too enormous, would be impossible for him to leave with. In the last part of the sentence, her words are deliberately vague: because you wouldn’t be able to take it with you. 

I think this is the most poignant part, and it suggests the part of Ginny's mind that believes in, and is curious about, what happens beyond, after death: the voices on the other side of the veil. I think there is some part of her that thinks Harry might be going somewhere she can’t reach him - what Dumbledore will later call going on. Ginny does not openly speculate about where Harry will be taking whatever she gives him. That it could be to his own grave, or beyond, is left unspoken. He looks at her, finally, after these words, because he seems to understand, on some level, what she is trying to say to him.

‘She took a step closer to him. ‘So then I thought, I’d like you to have something to remember me by, you know, if you meet some veela when you’re off doing whatever you’re doing.’’ (DH, 99)

Ginny has decided: the thing she will give him is a memory, one that he can take with him when they part. Something to remember me by. She wants the memory of her, of them, to be useful, to serve him in some way, and to be something that he might be able to take on with him after death. She tries to soften what she’s trying to convey, with the joke about the veela. But both seem to understand what she is really saying: that she isn’t really asking for his loyalty or fidelity. She doesn’t say she’s giving him ‘something to remember me by’ for when he comes back and they can be together again. Her words are very final. The joke is supposed to make it easier for him to hear what she is saying: she’s telling him, quietly, how to think about her when he leaves, whatever leaving might mean.

Harry, for his part, continues the joke. (‘I think dating opportunities are going to be pretty thin on the ground, to be honest.’) She plays along, sort of, in a very sad way (‘there’s the silver lining I’ve been looking for’). But both seem to know that there is no real silver lining to this. 

And then there’s the kiss itself: 

‘There’s the silver lining I’ve been looking for,’ she whispered, and then she was kissing him as she had never kissed him before, and Harry was kissing her back, and it was blissful oblivion, better than Firewhisky; she was the only real thing in the world, Ginny, the feel of her, one hand at her back and one in her long, sweet-smelling hair —’ (DH, 99)

It all comes to a head here. Harry recognises that this kiss feels exceptional, unlike any other they’ve ever shared - that Ginny has never put so much into a kiss before. It is ‘blissful oblivion’, this moment of extraordinary intensity, where she kisses him and allows him, for a moment, to think only about her and them together. It’s heady and sexual (‘the feel of her’). It’s a gift for Harry  to be able to forget everything and let this moment be a vacuum, to focus only on her. The crescendo effect of the short causes and run-on sentences allows the moment to build and build, a crescendo effect that anticipates something to come. 

Of course, their moment gets interrupted, again. Unlike when Ron interrupted her with Dean, Ginny doesn't rage at him this time: she is subdued, a response that is far more appropriate for her processing the fact that she may have just had her final kiss with the boy she loves. Harry suspects she has started to cry, something he notes is out of character. Ginny had imbued a lot of meaning into this interaction: this is a portrait of a character whose heart is breaking.

When Harry and Ron are discussing the kiss outside on the lawn, after the initial shock of being yelled at by Ron for going anywhere near Ginny, Harry has his own, shattering realisation of what all of this means for himself and Ginny:

‘Yeah, but you go snogging her now and she’s just going to get her hopes up again—’ ‘She’s not an idiot, she knows it can’t happen, she’s not expecting us to— to end up married, or—’  As he said it, a vivid picture formed in Harry’s mind of Ginny in a white dress, marrying a tall, faceless, and unpleasant stranger. In one spiralling moment it seemed to hit him: Her future was free and unencumbered, whereas his . . . he could see nothing but Voldemort ahead.’ (DH, 100)

Thinking aloud, Harry says it would be idiotic for he or Ginny to imagine they could be together, either now, or at any point in the future. He expects her to find someone else; he cannot even begin to imagine a future for himself after the task set out for him. He does not say his inevitable death - he has not yet embraced that reality - but he remains caught in the certainty of an existential battle with Voldemort that he knows he may well not survive.

Later that day, Harry will receive the snitch from Dumbledore’s will. Though he doesn’t know it yet, he now holds the resurrection stone, the item that will open at the close in the forest. It is a birthday that starts and ends with hints about what little time he has left: the stage is set for an arc that, now, has to end in his own death.

Foreshadowing Ginny and the Forest

Moments foreshadowing the significance of the forest are all over Deathly Hallows. Sometimes, they mirror the moment of his own death; often, they are related to Ginny. When they leave the Ministry, with Ron splinched, clutching the Horcrux locket, they arrive in a forest. For a moment Harry’s heart ‘leaped’ at the thought that they were back in Hogwarts’ grounds, the site of so much of his earlier happiness with Ginny (DH, 221). When the trio hear that Ginny, Neville and Luna tried to steal the sword of Gryffindor, it is the Forbidden Forest they are sent to by Snape as punishment (248-9). Harry does not fear the Forest, and is consoled by the thought of Ginny serving detention there rather than anywhere else.

In the Forest of Dean, the scene where Ron returns begins with Harry thinking of Ginny. He sits at the mouth of the tent, wanting to look for Ginny on the Marauders’ Map, until he remembers it’s Christmastime and she is at the Burrow (297). Later, in a moment that mirrors his later walk to his death, he follows his mother - Snape’s patronus, the doe - into the woods, in order to recover and destroy the Horcrux, inching Harry’s own life closer to its close:

Though the darkness had swallowed her whole, [the doe’s] burnished image was still imprinted on his retinas; it obscured his vision, brightening when he lowered his eyelids, disorienting him. Now fear came: Her presence had meant safety. “Lumos!” he whispered, and the wand-tip ignited. The imprint of the doe faded away with every blink of his eyes as he stood there, listening to the sounds of the forest, to distant crackles of twigs…  He held the wand higher. Nobody ran out at him, no flash of green light burst from behind a tree. Why, then, had she led him to this spot?’ (DH, 299)

Foreshadowing Harry's end in the Forest means also foreshadowing Ginny's own appearance at the moment of his death.

Harry’s ‘death’ in the Forest 

In the final battle, Ginny is the last person Harry sees before he begins his walk into the Forest. He takes the words she says to the child on the ground as her final act of comfort. Harry hears them as if they are being spoken to him: 

‘He was feet away from her when he realised it was Ginny.  He stopped in his tracks. She was crouching over a girl who was whispering for her mother.  ‘It’s all right,’ Ginny was saying. ‘It’s okay. We’re going to get you inside.’  ‘But I want to go home,’ whispered the girl. ‘I don’t want to fight anymore!’ ‘I know,’ said Ginny, and her voice broke. ‘It’s going to be all right.’  Ripples of cold undulated over Harry’s skin. He wanted to shout out to the night, he wanted Ginny to know that he was there, he wanted her to know where he was going. He wanted to be stopped, to be dragged back, to be sent back home (...) Ginny was kneeling beside the injured girl now, holding her hand. With a huge effort Harry forced himself on. He thought he saw Ginny look around as he passed, and wondered whether she had seen someone walking nearby, but he did not speak, and he did not look back.’ (DH, 558-9)

Harry believes that this is his final moment with Ginny before he goes to die. A part of him wants her to know that it’s happening: he is leaving, at last. But he can't call to her, because he worries she will try and stop him, and he might let her. Instead, he walks on, and doesn’t look back. After watching Ginny comfort the girl crying for her mother, Harry then goes on to the Forest, and summons his own mother, his own family, to walk with him to his death.  

‘His body and mind felt oddly disconnected now, his limbs working without conscious instruction, as if he were passenger, not driver, in the body he was about to leave. The dead who walked beside him through the forest were much more real to him now that the living back at the castle: Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and all the others were the ones who felt like ghosts as he stumbled and slipped toward the end of his life, toward Voldemort. . . .' (DH, 561-2)

Harry is already preparing to go on from this world: his living loved ones are the ones he now feels furthest from. He stands now with the dead he has summoned, who recognise him and seem to have memories of him. He doesn't fear the dead: he is going to join them.

It’s the death scene itself that I think has subtle, but important parallels with the kiss scene much earlier. In both imagery and in writing style, the scene recalls that earlier moment, where Harry found himself on the edge of another kind of oblivion. There is this mounting, febrile sense of anticipation. There is a tension that is almost sexual, a dynamic injected into the scene through descriptions of Bellatrix’s body language and behaviour towards Voldemort:

‘Bellatrix, who had leapt to her feet, was looking eagerly from Voldemort to Harry, her breast heaving. The only things that moved were the flames and the snake, coiling and uncoiling in the glittering cage behind Voldemort’s head.’  (DH, 564)

The ugly parallel of Bellatrix and Voldemort is not supposed to show the pair as the mirror image of Harry and Ginny. Rather, it is a theme that recurs throughout the series to demonstrate the gulf between Harry, with his immense capacity for love, and Voldemort, with none. Bellatrix and Ginny are memorably paralleled twice in the series: once, at the Department of Mysteries, where Bellatrix moves to ‘torture the little girl’, and Harry steps in to prevent her (OotP, 783), and again in the final battle: 

'Bellatrix was still fighting too, fifty yards away from Voldemort, and like her master she dueled three at once: Hermione, Ginny, and Luna, all battling their hardest, but Bellatrix was equal to them, and Harry’s attention was diverted as a Killing Curse shot so close to Ginny that she missed death by an inch—  He changed course, running at Bellatrix rather than Voldemort, but before he had gone a few steps he was knocked sideways…’ (DH, 589)

As Harry waits for the killing curse, we see the most direct parallel with Ginny's final kiss to him:

‘None of the Death Eaters moved. They were waiting: everything was waiting. Hagrid was struggling, and Bellatrix was panting, and Harry thought inexplicably of Ginny, and her blazing look, and the feel of her lips on his — ’ (DH, 564)

There's such an intense physicality and breathlessness to the whole scene, and an enduring pseudo-sexual tension, with Bellatrix audibly panting. Even the sentence structure even invokes the kissing scene: the run-on build up of clauses, the repetition of the present participle to actively hold the reader in one present moment, building and building and ending on a dash, the promise of something more.

At the end of his life, Harry returns to the memory Ginny gave him. She meant for it to be useful, if he was to go to his death. And at the close of his life he chooses to use it, as he prepares to leave her behind in this world and depart for the next. Just as the Resurrection Stone helped accept death, so too does the memory of Ginny. He feels the memory of her, the sensation of physical touch and of being kissed, the look she gives him that he knows as one of love and great courage. As he is killed, he remembers her last gift to him, the certainty of her love for him impressed upon him.

--

There's a line in OotP that I think is such an underrated line that sums up who Ginny is as a character. Harry is trying to get to Umbridge's fire to speak to Sirius when he thinks the latter is being tortured at the Ministry; Hermione suggests using Ginny and Luna as a distraction, despite Harry's objections:

'Though clearly struggling to understand what was going on, Ginny said immediately, ‘Yeah, we’ll do it,'... (OotP, 736)

This is who Ginny is. It's especially who she is to Harry, during the war. She doesn't fully know what's actually being asked of Harry (and, by extension, what is being asked of her, as the person who loves him, and who has most to lose if he is to die). But even when kept in the dark, she is enormously selfless, and her biggest act of bravery is extremely quiet. She keeps the secret Harry accidentally bestows on her, and she realises, in some sense, before he does, what it will likely mean for his life. She chooses to let him go on, knowing that he is loved, to make the path that he is on a little bit easier, even when she has realised that it will take him away from her for good.

[stitched-mouth]

I’m in my era of writing smut with murderers

[theazkabandreamer]

For Harry’s Birthday, Ginny would try baking Harry a cake. She wasn’t good at it and the edges were always burnt, but Harry would always laugh and say that it was the thought that counted.

As he was Harry’s little helper in the kitchen, Albus would help Ginny by reading out the recipe. He would correct her whenever she was about to make a mistake and as he grew older, he would take charge. 

Lily would be there, waiting to decorate the cake with flowers made from icing as well as fairies, gnomes, golden snitches and a ziggy zaggy pattern that she would say is Harry’s scar.

James was mostly there to lick out the bowl. Although he would help by getting out the utensils and pretend to have a sword fight with them.

Although Harry would say that he didn’t want anything for his birthdays, Ginny could tell that he was touched by their gesture and she did it to remind Harry that he’s loved now.

[radiofree-america]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEE

Alien/space themed party + gifts 🛸🛸

+ the man himself👾

Anyway I love all my buddies❤️❤️

@neutron-star-collision @first-unmanned-flying-desk-set @social-anxiety-and-poetry @pittsie-boy @phonecall-fromgod @knoxious-overstreet @therealrichardcameron @ginnylovestheatre @miss-chris-noel @ask-captain-keating

[alwayshinny]

Ginny Weasley - Happy birthday, queen! 👑

[ticklygiggles]

Day 6 - Ginny's birthday Extravaganza

A/N: A volleyball coach and a literature sensei being cute together, I hope you enjoy precious babies my deeeear! @otomiya-tickles

Summary: Takeda-sensei refuses to give up on his volleyball practice, but his tenacity and stubbornness will be his downfall because his boyfriend, Ukai-kun, is really mean.

"You suck at this."

"I never- huff, huff- s-said I was, haaah, good at s-sports..."

How hilarious it was to see the always perfect Takeda-sensei so short of breath. His face was flushed, his glasses askew, and his forehead was covered in a layer of sweat. 

Ukai never thought that Takeda would actually agree to play volleyball with him after the boys quickly finished their practices, but stubborn and tenacious as always, Takeda had accepted without a second thought, and now he could barely form a coherent word between heavy breaths and gasps.

It was foolish of Ukai, though, to think his cute boyfriend would decline a challenge. That was just not his personality and Ukai couldn't help but fall a little deeper in love with him for that.

He chuckled to himself when Takeda failed to send the ball to the other side of the net where Ukai was ready to receive it. Maybe this little sensei had had enough.

"Okay, I think we should stop now, you're not doing this right," he teased him, smirking when Takeda glared at him, fixing his glasses. 

"If I give you," he gulped, taking a deep breath, "a literature- huff, test, you would fail it, but I won't fail this."

Ukai felt his heart flutter. He loved Takeda's determination, it was one of his favorite traits, but he also knew that Takeda wouldn't be a volleyball genius just because he wanted to, that is to say, he needed more practice than just Ukai throwing ball after ball at him. 

But he would amuse him just because he could, and Ukai would also amuse himself, of course.

"Okay, fine. Tell you what, if you manage to serve the ball properly this time…" Ukai had to fight the urge to laugh when Takeda frowned. "... Dinner's on me, but if you fail then I'll, hmm, oh! Then I'll tickle you for… five minutes."

Takeda's face, already red, flushed brightly, finally making Ukai finally laugh out loud. 

"That's stupid!" Takeda squeaked. "Why would you say that?! Now I'm too nervous!" 

"Are you going to try or are you not? Make it quick, I'm counting. One…"

"H-Hold on! I need to think- 

"Two!" 

"I'm telling you to wait, I-

"Three!

"Okay, fine! I'll do it, dammit!" Takeda grabbed the nearest ball and got himself ready. Ukai watched him amused, he could tell Takeda was trying to copy Kageyama's movements, but it was useless. "Here it goes, get ready! I'm gonna blow off your head!"

Ukai laughed again. "Why are you threatening me?!" 

Takeds took a deep breath and threw the ball up, he jumped and hit it and it… didn't even make it to the net. He watched with pure disbelief in his eyes as the ball was propelled just a few feet in front of him when he hit it. Ukai knew that Takeda had used all his strength to hit that ball, but he had already practiced a lot, there was not much energy inside his body now.

Ukai couldn't help but start laughing while Takeda's ears turned red.

"S-Stop! I- I was not ready, the ball was deflated so it didn't- no! D-Don't come any closer, I'll scream! Don't- ahahaha!" 

Ukai chuckled, his hands all over Takeda's body. "The ball was deflated you say? I see it pretty well inflated, though?" 

Ukai had wrestled Takeda to the floor, straddling him, as he tickled his sides, squeezing up and down and watching with a bright smile how Takeda broke into hysterical giggles. He was so adorably ticklish. 

"It's nahahat! Tihihickling is nohohot fahahair! Ahahahagh!"

"It is fair. You accepted the terms and conditions. I forgot to set the timer, though. I'll have to calculate the time myself," Ukai said, teasing his boyfriend with a wide smirk. 

Takeda shook his head. "Y-You ahahahare teheherrible ahahat mahahath, we wohohon't- AHAHAHA! I'm sohohohorry!" Takeda cackled, squirming and weakly pushing at Ukai's hands as they climbed up towards his ribs. 

"Now you're sorry after being a little shit, huh? I don't think so. I'm adding two more minutes to your punishment."

Takeda shrieked, kicking his legs behind Ukai. "Nahahaha! I sahahahaid I'm sohohohorry! Ahahaha, plehehease!" 

"How long do you think it's been? I estimate about 10 seconds at most?" Ukai said, his fingers crawling up Takeda's ribs, looking for the ticklish spots under his arms. "You still have a long way to go."

"You ahahahare the wohohohorst!" Takeda laughed, throwing his head back as he desperately tried to protect his underarms from Ukai's fingers. "I hahahahate yohohou!" 

Ukai gasped, "you hate me? Sensei, you hurt my feelings. That'll add two more minutes of tickling." 

"PLEHEHEASE, Ukahahai-kuhuhuhun!" 

Ukai laughed softly. His darling was already crying of laughter, would he really stand being tickled for more than five minutes?

The answer was no. 

"Maybe I'll stop if you invite me to dinner?" Takeda nodded, too busy laughing his head off as Ukai's fingers wiggled under his arms, tickling him like crazy. "You also have to clean the gym up before we leave."

"I'll do ahahahanythihihing, plehehease!" 

Ukai stopped at once, and he watched with great pleasure that lingering smile on Takeda's face and heard his adorable residual giggles. He looked so adorably flustered, Ukai couldn't help but lean down to press a tender kiss to his lips. 

"Let's get going," Ukai said, standing up and helping Takeda on his shaky legs. Once he was up, Ukai lovingly fixed his glasses and put a sweater around Takeda's shoulders before placing a water bottle between his shaky hands. "Let's make the kids clean tomorrow, I'm starving."

Takeda gulped on the water and when he caught his breath again, he nodded with a warm smile. "Okay. I'm starving too, it's all because of you though." He rolled his eyes playfully and giggled when Ukai poked his tummy. 

"Yes, yes, yes. Let's get going, sensei. Unless you want me to tickle you again?" 

Ukai laughed when Takeda pushed him out of the gym, urging them both to leave. Ah, he felt like a high schooler in love, but maybe that wasn't so bad at all!

[restandbloom]

✨Happiest of Birthdays to my favorite snitch-seeking, sassy, brooding, kind-hearted boy. We all love you to the moon, stars, and back 🌙✨ —Ginny

✨✨I celebrate Harry’s birthday every year in honor of all the kids who felt and still feel like Harry growing up. You made me feel a little less alone and still do. And your sense of humor is and always will be top shelf in my book 🍻⚡️

✨✨Also, please meet my favorite Harry fancast Elijah Hewson.