dream-with-a-fever

[dream-with-a-fever]

every few lifetimes

by societysgot

part i: The thing was, that Ginny Weasley had always been — pretty. This was an undisputed fact, in Harry’s eyes. A known truth. But seeing her like this; ripples of laughter falling from her lips, fair yet sunkissed skin, collecting more freckles by the day, all curves and long legs — was different, was staggering.

(Or, the one where Harry and Ginny become more than friends).

CanonCompliant, Set in and around HBP, Missing Scenes, Harry/Ginny

Read on AO3

[dream-with-a-fever]

a hinny microfic for @ginnystrophyhusband’s march 2025 hinny prompt list ⋆. 𐙚 ˚

pairing: Harry/Ginny

word count: 1121 (sorry!)

prompt: button (day 6)

read on ao3 here

⋆. 𐙚 ˚⋆˚࿔ begged and borrowed time 𝜗𝜚˚⋆

The Burrow is a cacophony of sound the morning of Bill and Fleur’s wedding. There’s an excited buzz about the house — endless chatter, Mrs Weasley’s shrill voice echoing from floor to floor, busying everyone in the family with last minute decorating and cleaning tasks.

Mrs Weasley had spent a large chunk of the morning doing all her sons’ hair, including Harry’s (which, of course, proved to be the most difficult). She tried a several different charms and potions, attempting to tame his hair (which reminded him at once of Aunt Petunia forcing a comb through his hair before photo day) with varying degrees of success.

By the time she’s done with him, he’s ready for the momentary peace and quiet that awaits him downstairs (everyone getting ready on the upper levels), and aims a kick at Ron when he sniggers upon seeing his freshly gelled back hair. (Not that it matters all that much — he’ll be taking on the appearance of a freckled boy from the Muggle town nearby in an hour or so).

Harry leaves Mrs Weasley attempting to manage Ron’s hair next (“Mum, do you want a prematurely bald son? You’re pulling too hard!”), and makes his way downstairs to the kitchen, grinning to himself. It’s empty except for him and the sounds of pots and pans bubblin on the stove.

He greets Mr and Mrs Delacour as they pass by the entry way with morning jugs of coffee, and gets to work on his newest task.

He’s well on his way to finishing (charming white napkins to fold themselves into little doves), when Ginny emerges from the stairwell. And Harry’s breath catches in his throat.

The golden shimmer of the dress gives her an almost angelic look as it catches the light, a matching flower placed delicately in her hair. The dress clings to her body, like it’s moulded to her every line and curve, and Harry has to force his gaze to stay firmly on hers, without dipping beneath to the rather low neckline, her slight cleavage dusted with freckles.

She clocks him almost straight away, a satisfied smile on her face at his stunned expression no doubt. And he wants to say something, but his tongue has seemingly glued itself to the roof of his mouth. In awe.

“Harry Potter rendered speechless?” She comments, stepping towards him, “That must mean the dress doesn’t look as awful on me as mum said.”

He frowns before letting out a little scoff. The thought of Ginny looking bad in anything seemingly absurd. Impossible, even.

“You could never look awful,” He replies honestly, attempting a casual smile.

She snorts, dimples taking shape on her face as she smiles.

“You haven’t seen me when I first wake up, then.”

He allows himself a split second to picture it; auburn hair bundled up in a birds nest atop her head, eyes puffy with sleep, pillow creases down one side of her face, her body curled up against his side, body heat enveloping him.

It’s a comforting scene, one he had locked away deep in the depths of his brain — that still managed to sometimes slip through the cracks into his consciousness in the time between sleeping and waking.

A wishful glance into an alternate reality — where he hadn’t been born with a lightening shaped scar on his forehead.

“Harry?”

He looks up, blinking a few times in rapid succession. She’s smiling up at him, expectantly. He swallows.

“Hm?”

“I just asked if you could do me up?” Ginny’s eyebrows are raised in question, something like amusement laced through her features, “These buttons are a nightmare, I tell you.”

“Oh — yeah, sure,” He replies, trying to keep his breathing even, when she turns around revealing her bare upper back, the dress undone except for the bottom few buttons.

“Fleur picked it, you know,” She gestures to the dress, as he comes up behind her, “Said it wasn’t my colour but made me look more ‘ élégante .’ She’s making it very hard for me to like her.”

Harry laughs. “I don’t know, I think she might be growing on you.”

Ginny scrunched up her nose, sweeping her hair over one shoulder.

“Never,” But she’s grinning, Harry can hear it in her voice.

His fingers fumble with the small white buttons, stray strands of her long hair brushing against his cheek as he works, her familiar flowery aroma flooding his brain. He’s tempted to rest his head on her shoulder for a moment, hide there for the rest of eternity. Run away from everything that’s expected of him.

“It seems silly doesn’t it, a wedding,” He hears her say quietly, with a sort of forced joviality, “Given everything that’s going on.”

“Maybe it’s the best reason to have it — because of everything that’s going on.”

When he finishes, he finds himself reaching out to touch her, to hold her — out of longing, out of habit, out of necessity. But he stops himself at the last second, Ron’s words of warning fresh in his mind.

Neither one of them move for a moment, and then, she turns back to face him, a strained smile on her face.

“Thanks,” She says, brown eyes almost golden in the morning sunlight.

Harry stares at her, taking in every inch of her, trying in vain to memorise every crease, every curve, every constellation of freckles speckled across her collar bone, her shoulders. “You look beautiful.”

She beams back at him. “So do you.”

Harry shrugs, dismissively, and she shoves him lightly.

“You do ,” She says, firmly, “But, if you’re only going to look like yourself for a little longer, I’d rather see you as your regular self.”

Harry is about to question her meaning, when she reaches out and runs a hand through his slicked back hair.

“Who did this?” She asks, disapprovingly, hand sliding down to the nape of his neck and settling there.

“That would be your mother.”

Ginny rolls her eyes, ruffling up the tips of his hair. “I liked it before. It’s more, you.”

And then, she’s leaning in, pressing her lips to his cheek, and hovering there for a moment; her breath warm against his ear. Harry breathes deeply, wanting to savour the closeness — but it’s over all too soon, and Ginny is squeezing his arm before slipping out of the room. Harry watches her go, catching himself in the window reflection and ruffling up his hair until he’s satisfied it’s back to normal.

It’s only after she’s gone, (the warmth of the day gone with her), that he notices George leaning against the counter. Harry’s cheeks burn, as George sips his tea smirking, his head blanketed in a tightly wound bandage, that seemed to pull his eyebrows up in an amusing way.

“Morning,” He says, low and smug, as he stirs his tea with a wave of his wand.

Harry gives him a tight smile, mumbles good morning back and bolts out of the room.

He doesn’t think he’ll be able to look George in the eye for the rest of the day.

[dream-with-a-fever]

every few lifetimes

by societysgot

part i: The thing was, that Ginny Weasley had always been — pretty. This was an undisputed fact, in Harry’s eyes. A known truth. But seeing her like this; ripples of laughter falling from her lips, fair yet sunkissed skin, collecting more freckles by the day, all curves and long legs — was different, was staggering.

(Or, the one where Harry and Ginny become more than friends).

CanonCompliant, Set in and around HBP, Missing Scenes, Harry/Ginny

Read on AO3

[dream-with-a-fever]

every few lifetimes

by societysgot

part i: The thing was, that Ginny Weasley had always been — pretty. This was an undisputed fact, in Harry’s eyes. A known truth. But seeing her like this; ripples of laughter falling from her lips, fair yet sunkissed skin, collecting more freckles by the day, all curves and long legs — was different, was staggering.

(Or, the one where Harry and Ginny become more than friends).

CanonCompliant, Set in and around HBP, Missing Scenes, Harry/Ginny

Read on AO3

[dream-with-a-fever]

Amy, the gates of hell have opened and you are my plus one.

[dream-with-a-fever]

the way people say they don’t like ginny because she isn’t a ‘fully fleshed out’ character but turn around and say they’re obsessed with characters like regulus black and theodore nott; characters whose personality traits beyond a couple basic descriptions are largely fanon characterisations, like give me a break

[dream-with-a-fever]

every few lifetimes

by societysgot

part i: The thing was, that Ginny Weasley had always been — pretty. This was an undisputed fact, in Harry’s eyes. A known truth. But seeing her like this; ripples of laughter falling from her lips, fair yet sunkissed skin, collecting more freckles by the day, all curves and long legs — was different, was staggering.

(Or, the one where Harry and Ginny become more than friends).

CanonCompliant, Set in and around HBP, Missing Scenes, Harry/Ginny

Read on AO3

[dream-with-a-fever]

#look at them

[dream-with-a-fever]

every few lifetimes

by societysgot

part i: The thing was, that Ginny Weasley had always been — pretty. This was an undisputed fact, in Harry’s eyes. A known truth. But seeing her like this; ripples of laughter falling from her lips, fair yet sunkissed skin, collecting more freckles by the day, all curves and long legs — was different, was staggering.

(Or, the one where Harry and Ginny become more than friends).

CanonCompliant, Set in and around HBP, Missing Scenes, Harry/Ginny

Read on AO3

[dream-with-a-fever]

seeing all the new thunderbolt clips got me thinking about these two again….. stevenat u will always be loved by me

[dream-with-a-fever]

every few lifetimes

by societysgot

part i: The thing was, that Ginny Weasley had always been — pretty. This was an undisputed fact, in Harry’s eyes. A known truth. But seeing her like this; ripples of laughter falling from her lips, fair yet sunkissed skin, collecting more freckles by the day, all curves and long legs — was different, was staggering.

(Or, the one where Harry and Ginny become more than friends).

CanonCompliant, Set in and around HBP, Missing Scenes, Harry/Ginny

Read on AO3

[dream-with-a-fever]

there’s like no haysilee fics on ao3…… well… time to change that

[dream-with-a-fever]

#haysilee core

[dream-with-a-fever]

i am such a maysilee donner stan you can’t stop me and i don’t care that he called her ‘sis’ those two had 10x more chemistry than he had with lenore dove and ill take that to the sweet old thereafter

[dream-with-a-fever]

the main reason i struggled to connect with the haydove storyline was because so much of it was tell not show. haymitch recalling past interactions with his tRUe loVe at random moments throughout the book was less romantic and more irritating as a reader. i understand in the circumstances, there wasn’t the time to have them develop over time or see the course of their love, so when we just continually get told they love each other like all-fire it’s like…. okay? but like.. i’m still not that invested.

that’s why i was immediately drawn into his dynamic with maysilee. it’s all happening in the present. he’s had these long held views about who she is and what she does — she’s the most stuck up girl in town, she flounces around in nice dresses and nail polish, nicknames him itchy itchy haymitchy, supposedly looks down on everyone else in town — but he soon learns there’s a lot more to her than he realised. his perceptions of her are challenged, and he comes to not only really respect her, but genuinely like her. they form a trusting bond despite their initial dislike/mistrust of each other. they have a mutual disgust of the capitol and you’re lying if you think they don’t find it admirable and attractive, that the other doesn’t back down in the face of adversity and stands up to anyone who disrespects them, which could and does often result in disastrous consequences (haymitch placing louella’s body directly in front of snow, maysilee slapping drusilla right back, haymitch actively trying to dismantle the arena, maysilee attacking the gamemakers who are trying to fix the berms etc). and yes, we hear that lenore has done some of this too back in 12, but again i feel less connected to it because it’s all tell and not show. maysilee and haymitch’s acts of defiance are shown, not told.

not just that, but they actually get along? their little chats in the training room, the way they joke around together a lot in the arena (miss donner! mr abernathy!), the way they look out for each other and care about each other. that’s a gOOD STORY. that dynamic is so engaging and fun to read, and ultimately so tragic when they have to split up, and he ends up losing the girl he swore he didn’t give a stuff about? and he holds her as she’s dying, pinky swearing to tear down the capitol brick by brick. like??? him seeing her twin sister back in district 12 and running to her, screaming her name?? only to realise… it’s not her. but her face will haunt him forever. LIKE. my HEART. none of his reminiscing of lenore or their two three-page scenes managed to hit as hard as these two.

even his interactions with effie??? like i was SEATEDDD. i loved how she was still kind, empathetic and respectful, despite being brainwashed. she was still a good person, who had been completely indoctrinated into a set of ideals by her government. but clearly had the empathy from the beginning to change perspectives as the story goes on. the way they come to trust each other. the ‘i’m not going to hurt you’ ‘i know’ like???? nothing about their relationship gave romance (yet), but their interactions were so damn lovely, and knowing she stuck by him all those years afterwards, just adds to the sweetness.

in conclusion, sc should’ve made maysilee his love interest. she set it up perfectly. he didn’t need to have the girlfriend back home (she was like lucy baird 2.0 like….. we’ve seen it already) when the tension with his fellow tribute served so hard. him and maysilee basically acted like parents to half the tributes like are we SEEING THIS!!!! and the story still set up effie to be his second chance at love. like the slowest of slowburnnnnn. i need ten more books on that. it’s what i deserved and what the narrative should’ve followed through with, because those relationships were the pumping heart of the book (aside from louella/loulou).

[dream-with-a-fever]

effie trinket being the last person to see haymitch before he went into the arena

[dream-with-a-fever]

just finished sunrise on the reaping and all i can say is maysilee should have been Haymitch’s love. their chemistry ATE, she had amazing character development, a fire personality, their journey from enemies to begrudging allies to true friends??? perfection. like why force lenore dove when that story is much less interesting than a spoilt girl with courage and a heart of gold, teaming up with the selfless, brave lover boy, to work together, protecting the younger tributes (like PARENTS??? so cute), fall in love, and promise to raise hell on the capitol?!!!??! lord knows why the author felt the need to sister-zone maysilee like if you’re that worried that your beloved love interest won’t hold up against her maybe write a better one……….. effie and haymitch were also much more interesting and i LOOOOVE them together. sorry i said what i said. anyways hayfie and haysilee >>> haydore