Chapter 5

Many thanks to my betas, Cafe Mercury and PDRSJ56, and my muse, Poultrygeist99. All mistakes are mine; if it's wonderful, thank them.

Rating is for a later chapters.

The characters belong to JKR. Thanks for letting me play in your sandbox.

~oOo~

Oliver entered the Weasleys' joke shop with a little trepidation. After all, the last time he'd walked in, he'd found Ginny glued to Lee's lips. While he'd believed Fred's story that an accidental ingestion of a love potion had sent Ginny running into Lee's arms, he was never sure what to expect when he entered their shop.

Today, Oliver was relieved to find nothing amiss. He didn't see Ginny, but George was looking over the shelves at the right of the shop.

"Hullo, George," Oliver said, feeling a smile of relief on his face.

"Oliver, mate, what brings you in today."

"I'm looking for a birthday present for my dad. He was amused by the gift I gave my godson earlier this year. I thought he might appreciate something a little, er, light-hearted himself."

"I guess he would probably not appreciate Ton-Tongue Toffees?"

Oliver laughed and shook his head.

"No, I thought not. What does you dad like to do in his spare time?"

"Mainly, he works on stuff around the house and he likes to fish."

"Oliver, you are in luck. I have the perfect thing for your dad. We've not started selling these, but I have finished testing them. Let me go get it and you can try it out for yourself."

George headed to the back room of the shop and returned with a yellow box in his hand and Ginny at his heels.

"We can't keep using our friends to test our products," Oliver heard Ginny say sternly as they walked towards him.

"Ginny, we aren't using him. Fred and I just haven't received the stock from our supplier. I'm just letting Oliver try our prototype."

Oliver looked from one sibling to the other as they argued in front of him.

"Then you will have to go with him. Oliver has suffered enough as a result of our prototypes."

"Gin, you know I can't go. Why don't you take the afternoon and baby-sit our project. I'll even run upstairs and get a hamper of food for you to take with you."

"Does anyone care what I think?" Oliver asked finally.

"No!" both Weasley's said emphatically.

"Okay. Ginny, I guess we're going fishing. I'll go change into something more suitable and meet you back here in an hour."

"Sure, Oliver. That sounds good. Although maybe I should pack the hamper. I don't trust my brothers at the moment."

~oOo~

An hour later, Oliver saw Ginny standing outside the twins' shop. She was wearing a pair of jeans with a light blue jumper and a pair of trainers. Next to her sat the promised hamper of food.

"I wasn't sure where we were going," she said, indicating her clothes as Oliver approached her. Ginny noticed he was wearing a pair of chinos with a darker blue jumper. In his hand he carried two sticks approximately the same size as the average wand.

"You look great, Ginny. We're heading to my father's favourite fishing spot. It's in a Muggle area, but it's fairly isolated. I doubt we'll see anyone." Oliver looked at her for a moment. "Are you sure you want to come? I know George was a bit vague in his explanation of what the lure does, but I'm sure I'll be fine by myself."

"As often as these boys leave me at the shop while they take three-hour lunches, they owe me an afternoon out."

"Well, if you're sure." Oliver stepped closer to Ginny. "I'll Apparate us there, if you don't mind. It will be easier than trying to describe it to you."

Ginny picked up the hamper while Oliver put his arms around her. Ginny snaked her free arm around Oliver's waist and leaned her head against his chest. She closed her eyes and stifled a sigh.

~oOo~

When Ginny opened her eyes, she found herself standing on an old dock. She set the hamper down on the worn planks and reluctantly moved away from Oliver, missing his warmth.

She looked around for a moment, smiling broadly.

"Oliver, this place is beautiful! I love how clean and crisp the air smells. I can see why your dad likes this place. Look at the way the trees are reflecting in the water, and the colours of the leaves are amazing – the reds, browns, and oranges. I can almost believe the birds are singing just for my enjoyment. And the..."

Oliver smiled as Ginny described the lake to him. For as long as he could remember, he loved to come here with his dad. It always filled him with a sense of peace that eluded him except when he was flying.

"So, have you ever been fishing before?" Oliver asked, enlarging the two sticks in his hand until they were the size of standard fishing poles.

"No. The Burrow just has land surrounding it. My brothers turned part of it into a Quidditch pitch, so that didn't leave much room for a fishing pond.

"Oh, I would have loved to have a Quidditch pitch at my house. Then again, I suppose it wouldn't have been much fun without siblings to play with."

"So, what do we do next with the poles?"

As they chatted, Oliver had been putting the twins' lures onto the end of the fishing pole.

"Now, we put worms on the hooks. This can be done magically, but I always prefer putting them on by hand."

Ginny wrinkled her freckled nose. "Would you mind worming my hook?"

Oliver smirked as he put the worm on her hook. When he was finished, he handed the fishing pole to her. She walked closer to the water to where Oliver stood on the dock, took the pole, and tentatively held it.

"Now, we need to cast the hook into the water. Here, let me show you," Oliver said as he moved to stand behind her. He wrapped his hand over hers. "Now, just relax and let me move the rod. We need to pull the rod back and sort of throw the hook into the water."

Oliver moved Ginny's arm back and cast the hook into the water with her.

Once the hook was in the water, Ginny and Oliver stood together for a moment before they separated reluctantly.

"What now?" Ginny asked, as she held onto the fishing pole tightly.

Oliver walked to the food hamper and removed two cups. He transfigured them into stools and set one near Ginny.

"Take a seat and wait for the fish to bite. Oh, and don't hold the rod so tightly. Your hand will grow tired. The fish are small enough that a loose grip will still keep the rod from being pulled into the water."

Ginny sat down and watched Oliver cast his rod and settle in, watching the water.

"Well, we have some time," Oliver said with a smirk. "Would you like to tell me about you and Crabbe?"

"I can't."

"Why? I promise I won't laugh."

"I made him enter a wand oath with me. As you can imagine, I never wanted anyone to learn about this. Let's just say that if either of us reveals anything about that ... encounter, it won't be pleasant."

"So, what happened when the orb revealed your secret at your brother's party?" Oliver asked.

Ginny noticed that his voice only seemed to contain concern for her. "I didn't know exactly what would happen; that was part of the reason I ran out of the flat so quickly. But it seems that the orb revealing the secret didn't activate the spell."

"Oh."

Oliver and Ginny fell back into silence, watching the birds fly around the lake.

"So," Ginny started at the same time that Oliver began with "Why..."

Laughing, Oliver inclined his head toward her. "You first, Ginny."

"What was the most embarrassing thing you had to face publicly?" she asked with a grin.

"Well...after one match...the first year after I was moved up from the reserve team...I was taking a victory lap with the team. As I flew past the stands, someone threw something at me. I happened to hold it up to get a better look just as I was flying past the press and ended up with a nice picture of me holding up lace knickers in the Daily Prophet. My mother was mortified."

Ginny started laughing. "I remember that picture. It hung in the common room for days."

"Now, I'm really embarrassed," Oliver said, not looking embarrassed at all. "What most people don't know is that inside she wrote her hotel number."

"Did you stop by for a visit?"

Oliver blushed and looked at his feet.

"Oliver, do you recall that I have six brothers? I think I know what blokes are like." Ginny smiled at him.

"It was fun for the first few years. No matter where I went, there were always beautiful women wanting my company. It was a bit overwhelming. Eventually I got tired of trying to sneak out of women's hotel rooms before they woke up. That was when I met Sophie."

"Who's Sophie?"

"She was the friend of one of my team mates. I met her at a pub after a match. She insisted we'd met before, but I suppose I wasn't paying attention to anyone who might want something more than a quick shag. We saw each other for a couple of years when I wasn't out of town with the team. I was just ready to ask her to marry me when she decided that she wanted to be with someone who wasn't a Quidditch player."

"That must have been hard."

"It was. But, my best mate on the team is married. His wife helped me understand a bit. She told me it's very hard being married to a Quidditch player. I never thought about it much, but I suppose between the groupies who want nothing more than to be a notch on your broomstick to the press who always seems to be around just when you find yourself surrounded by beautiful witches ... you really have to have a strong relationship to survive."

Oliver stopped speaking and watched the water for a while.

"Anyway," Oliver said finally, "that was my first love."

Ginny made a small noise of sympathy. "It's hard when you have no control over the decisions the people you love make."

"Are you referring to you and Harry?"

Ginny shrugged.

"We tried to make it work, but after the war was over, it was too difficult. We had both changed so much. I didn't blame him. Thankfully, we managed to stay friends. I adore his wife; she really is perfect for him. He managed to meet a witch who wasn't from England and was more interested in him than in his 'boy wonder' reputation."

"So, how did you end up working for the twins?"

"I wanted something fun that didn't seem like a job. The boys asked me to join them. Mum wasn't too happy about it. She wanted me to become a Healer. While I had wanted to when I was little, I just wasn't interested when I left Hogwarts."

"You could always become one now."

"I love what I'm doing. I'm good at it. I'll leave the healing to others. Besides, I can't imagine the twins finding someone who can hex them the way I can," Ginny said with an evil little smile.

"I suspect you keep them in line. Ginny, do you want ... oh! I have a bite. So, when the fish bites, you start reeling it in like ... ARHHHHHHHH!"

Ginny watched in amazement as the pole pulled Oliver into the water with a big splash. As she watched him flail in the water, she felt a tug on her pole and found that she falling into the water after him.

As she hit the water, she started laughing. She looked for Oliver and began to panic when she found him still flailing.

"Oliver!" Ginny hollered, "Are you OK?"

"Can't. Swim." Oliver choked between breaths.

Ginny watched Oliver start to slide under the water and started to swim towards him as quickly as she could, reaching him just as he lost consciousness. She wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him back towards the shore.

As she felt the sand from the beach under her back, she finished pulling Oliver from the water and knelt next to him trying to determine if he was breathing.

Fuck!, Ginny thought, trying to stay calm. Why didn't I become a Healer? I don't know any of the healing spells for breathing. Fuck! Think, Ginny; what was that Muggle breathing method Hermione told me about? Right; now I remember.

Ginny tipped Oliver's head back and pinched his nose closed with one hand while opening his mouth with the other. She covered his mouth and puffed four breaths into his mouth. She then put two fingers against his neck.

Good; his heart is still beating, but he's still not breathing. Time to try again.

Ginny repositioned Oliver and tried breathing four more breaths.

She rolled Oliver on his side as he started coughing and sputtering water. As Ginny sat back on her heels, he promptly threw up.

"Don't get up," Ginny instructed as Oliver tried to sit up.

"What happened?"

Ginny laughed. "It seems George was trying to drown you. I guess it's a good thing I came along."

Oliver moved to get up again. As Ginny started to help him up, he brushed her off.

"I can get up by myself," Oliver snapped. He got up very slowly, but refused any attempts by Ginny to help.

"Fine!" Ginny exclaimed, her arms crossed over her chest. "Do it yourself."

Oliver stumbled up to the dock as Ginny followed. He sat on the dock and looked at his feet. Ginny stood next to him, still dripping water.

"I'm sorry, I just . . ." Oliver began.

"I'll pack everything up, and we can Apparate back."

Ginny packaged all their belongings back into the picnic hamper and walked over to Oliver, who stood slowly. Ginny wrapped her arms around Oliver. As she did, she remembered how much promise she felt when she did this earlier. Now, she just felt sad. Oliver put his arm around Ginny and she Apparated them back to the twins' shop.

"Maybe you should go to St. Mungo's to get checked out," Ginny suggested as she stepped away from Oliver.

"I'm fine," he said defensively.

"If you're sure. Oliver," Ginny started tentatively. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. I'll see you later."

Before she had the chance to say anything else, Oliver Disapparated. As she stood on the sidewalk, still dripping water, Fred walked towards her.

"Hey, sis, doing your best imitation of a drowned rat?"

"No, but if George is smart, he'll disappear before I turn him into a rat. He almost drowned Oliver with that new lure you created. He didn't think to mention to us that the lure drags you into the water as soon as you catch a fish."

Fred walked over to Ginny and put his arm around her.

"Come sit down and talk to me."

As Fred led Ginny to the bench next to the shop, he pointed his wand at her and performed a drying spell. Then, he pointed his wand at the bench "Finite. It should be safe to sit down. Now tell me what happened."

After they settled on the bench, Ginny told Fred about their adventures while fishing, leaving out the small detail that she thought Oliver had been about to ask her out just before he was dragged into the water.

Fred stood up. "Gin, it sounds like Oliver was just embarrassed. Give him a few days and things will be back to normal. Come on, let's get you cleaned up." He took Ginny's hand and pulled her up and into a hug.

They broke apart and Fred followed Ginny towards the shop, grinning as he pointed his wand to the bench.

"Amplector maximus," he muttered.

A/N: Amplector maximus means "large embrace," which anyone who sits on the bench would encounter.