as much as i’m down for the “harry and ginny elope a few short years after the war” headcanon, what if they … don’t.
because really, they’re in their early twenties when james sirius rolls around. ginny’s career with the holyhead harpies is at its peak, and by then harry has realised that being an auror is pretty much a 24 hour job. and then ginny is pregnant.
and of course getting married crosses their minds. it has since they moved in together. it does the day they find out about the pregnancy. it does when ron and hermione get married. it does when they’re out and about with teddy, and then james, and then both of them, and well-meaning strangers who don’t take a close look at their bare fingers mistake them for husband and wife. it does when they’re at one of the ministry parties that harry dreads so much, and ginny refers to him as her fiancé, without thinking twice - because he is, in a way. in some stupid, teenage way, he probably has been since they found back to each other after the war. nothing else ever made sense.
when they’re on their way home from that same ministry party, harry doesn’t think to bring it up, but ginny must have noticed his quiet isn’t his usual annoyed, introverted, i-hate-these-parties-with-a-burning-passion kind of quiet. so when she asks, he says: “nothing - just - you called me your fiancé.”
“did you mind?”, she asks. no trace of sarcasm - it’s a genuine question.
he doesn’t. obviously. and when he looks at his life, he reckons it really only makes sense: they’re in their late twenties by now, their careers are skyrocketing, his at the ministry, ginny’s at the daily prophet. they’ve got a house, two kids, and ginny a notable baby bump. he reckons they’ve outgrown boyfriend and girlfriend a long time ago - he just feels sort of silly he never actually ended up making it official.
he does, a few months later. him, ron and hermione have spent an entire sunny saturday painting lily luna’s bedroom walls yellow, while ginny is spending some much-needed time with her mum. his friends are the only people who are in on his plan, and they’ve volunteered to babysit james and al for the night. ron spends the whole afternoon alternating between giving him pep talks and all sorts of proposal tips, to which hermione always laughs and says, “you’ve got this, harry, don’t worry.”
when they leave with the boys, harry makes dinner (”seriously, mate, just get take-out. it’s gonna save you about five years of your life.”), and ginny comes home a little later. they end up talking for hours - time like this is rare and precious. apart from that, harry’s nerves are going wild.
he does propose, though, when the sun has long set. it’s nervous, and personal, and ginny says “yes” about five times before harry has even stumbled to the end of his speech. and then she says yes a dozen more times and grins when she kisses him. after what feels like a sunny little lifetime rushing past them, she looks down at her baby bump and says, “reckon it can wait ‘til this one has relocated?”
“sure”, says harry, who feels like he’s floating an inch above ground. “speaking of - wanna see her room?”
being engaged doesn’t make their lives any less crazy, though. it turns out that just because you have now officially agreed to get married, plans don’t make themselves. ron pokes good-natured fun at them for this a lot, but they don’t mind it much: they have a plan, and that’s all that counts, for now. it baffles harry a little every time he thinks about it: that there’s a whole life in front of him, just waiting to be lived, and no reason at all to rush it.
before they know it, lily luna is five. on new year’s eve, at the burrow, ginny wraps her arms around him, puts her chin on his shoulder, and says, “we’re getting married this year. there, i said it. it’s a plan, no take-backs. deal?”
harry grins at her. “deal.”
that spring, they build a treehouse for the kids, with the help of half the weasley family. ron and hermione stick around the longest, and since the weather is unusually lovely, they take dinner to the garden. “have you decided on names yet?”, asks hermione.
“yeah, i’m taking yours”, says ginny, turning to harry, who looks at her, a little baffled.
“are you sure?”
just then, albus swears loudly from inside the treehouse, and a few seconds later, james drops out of the tree, right on top of the cushioning charms. “yeah, this family has more than enough weasley in it, don’t you reckon?”
they know it’s not just that, but it’s all the affirmation harry needs.
and so they get married on a warm, sunny weekend in 2014, a year before james is off to hogwarts. luna puts sunflowers in ginny’s hair, and ron watches harry get ready in their old bedroom. “just try and enjoy it”, hermione tells him when she stops by, “i spent way too much time worrying about everything when we got married.”
“we can get married again”, says ron, and harry grins at his reflection in the mirror. he is failing at flattening his hair, but that’s alright: today is not the beginning. it’s all good.
“she knows i wasn’t kidding, right?”, says ron, the second hermione has left their bedroom. “i know getting married was probably the most stressful thing she’s done in her life, but between me and you, it’s also really fun. i reckon she’s right, just enjoy it, mate.”
ginny wears sneakers under the long, white dress. james, albus and lily run around the burrow carrying baskets full of flowers that magically refill themselves no matter how many they toss on the ground. the burrow is chock-full of life and a whole new generation of weasleys. and the long wait, that never felt like waiting to begin with, was worth it.
