A/N: Hi! Yes, this is a multi-chapter fic taking part on Valentine's Day. A few points - 1: it's not all fluff. There's some bittersweet moments, particularly in ch2. 2: This fic, although sticking to the novels' timeline, does contain some references to the films, particularly the 'waitress' scene in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in this chapter. There's also a joke aimed at the much-maligned 'shoelace' scene in the same movie. The chapter title's not particularly original - its from a certain famous Phil Collins hit. Also featuring an in-joke about the play Equs, starring Daniel Radcliffe.

CH1: Another day in paradise

February 14, 1999

As their feet touched solid ground with barely a tap, Harry smiled as he looked around their frosty surroundings. Proceeding to whip the Invisibility Cloak off himself and Ginny, Harry's moment of bliss was interrupted with a loud yelp as a hyperactive squirrel hooked its claws into his trouser leg, his girlfriend's laughter shattering the still morning air. Shaking the rapscallion rodent off, he sighed and motioned for Ginny to follow him.

"Welcome to Hyde Park," he whispered. "Figured it was time to look around it, now we're, you know, together and…."

"Not chasing Dark Wizards?" Ginny finished for him cheekily, elbowing his ribs and draping her right hand over his shoulders. In spite of everything that had happened, Harry chuckled. Mornings with the radiant, youngest member of the Weasley clan had been the best form of therapy for all of the events of the War. Once they'd resumed their relationship, that was. And that had proven to be far more difficult than Harry had anticipated.

With a temper matching her mother's, a stubbornness outstripping any of her brothers, and a fierce loyalty to those she loved, it had taken almost two months of occasional hand-holding, periodic pecks on the lips or cheek, multiple nights of silence between the two and several blazing (and one-sided) rows before Harry had succeeded in resuming a stable relationship with Ginevra Molly Weasley. Then again, she had lost one of her siblings in battle alongside her favourite former Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and her role-model Nymphadora, had to co-run the DA with Neville under the oppressive Carrow-led regime at Hogwarts for the better part of a year, and had also been forced to endure the piercing agony of believing he, Harry, had been murdered by Voldemort, he reasoned. Not to mention how hacked off she'd been being locked out of the Horcrux hunt. After all, as she'd bellowed at him one stressful evening, she could've cautioned them all about how to treat the Locket, what with her experience with the Diary. Naturally, his only defence had been to splutter incoherently.

However, Harry was almost entirely certain those periodic eruptions had been her way of saying I love you, always did and were indescribably worried about what you were facing out there, and as a result, their reconciliation once it started had been smooth. Of course, it had been helped along by Ginny deciding on his birthday to tie up loose ends from one year previously exactly and ensure Ron never barged in on them (with Hermione's active assistance, he suspected.)

"So…" Ginny interrupted his faraway thoughts with a peck on his cheek. "Where to next?" Harry smiled as he looked out across the partially frozen Serpentine, where some brilliantly white swans were gliding along the unfrozen portion of the channel.

"The Mall and Buckingham Palace first?" he offered. "Then maybe…I dunno, Harrods or Oxford St before we pick up Teddy from Andromeda's. Did you know that Hermione had to Confund about five people at Hamley's Toys to rescue Ron this Christmas break?" Ginny chuckled and lay her head on Harry's shoulder.

"Absolutely typical, the ruddy prat," she snorted. "Confused Galleons and Pounds again, did he?"

"Yep. George and Bill have promised to take him to Harrods' at some point to give him a lesson on Muggle shopping."

"Mental. If only he listened to Hermione instead of trying to bluff his way through…"

The conversation subsequently moved onto other topics, such as the Muggle governing system (here, Harry desperately wished he had Hermione to fully answer Ginny's queries), and also matters such as NEWT assessments, how Professors Slughorn and McGonagall were doing, and countless other topics that Harry would barely recall later. But as they lined up beside a whole bunch of Muggle tourists from around the world braving the icy temperatures outside the Palace's front gates, Harry reflected that for the first time since those stolen few moments at the end of Sixth Year, he felt like he was an ordinary teenager in an ordinary relationship. No odd stares walking down the street, no need to be looking over one's shoulder, no immediate troubles whatsoever.

And he loved it.

This first weekend date with Ginny in the Muggle world was going swimmingly.

...

As it approached Ten-thirty, Harry was distinctly regretting introducing Ginny to fast food ("This is what you get when you date a Quidditch captain," Ginny had said as she noisily wolfed down another decent helping of hash browns), and was also pointedly embarrassed by another situation immediately afterwards as they both crossed Piccadilly Circus onto Oxford St.

"What's that?" she'd exclaimed, pointing to the back of a Routemaster bus where a large poster labelled EQUS and an image of a shirtless young man with a vague resemblance to Harry himself was emblazoned.

"Oh…" he'd replied. "That's a play. There's lots of them in the West End, everything from Shakespeare…."

"What's that? Sounds like some sort of venereal disease."

"…never mind, all the way to modern stuff. Often, Muggles take their kids to see these, but some aren't kid-friendly at all."

"What do you mean?"

"Violence, swearing and….." He didn't like the way Ginny's eyebrows had raised, and her pupils were almost shooting out sparks of mischief as she stared back at him in a manner that was simultaneously disarming, sweet and suggestive, becoming positively hypnotic as she drew nearer.

"All the more reason to go along," she breathed back, her mouth barely inches from his earlobe, making him recoil slightly. "Sometimes nudity too, if my source is accurate."

"N….no," he stammered.

"Where's your adventure?" she chided, playfully smacking his arm. "Hermione gave me a lesson on Muggle theatre right under Professor Binns' nose – not that that's difficult, mind you. And of course I know about Shakespeare – who do you take me for, Ron? Going would be totally worth it to wind him up. Then again, doesn't he still think I've seen your Hungarian Horntail tattoo?"

Harry gulped widely. Now, in the middle of one of London's biggest pedestrianized areas, was not the place to be even suggesting intimate matters. Even if they were a total fabrication. Then again, discussing such matters embarrassed him anytime, anywhere, which of course was precisely the incentive for Ginny to needle him.

"Ginny," he replied hesitantly. "You know how protective and sensitive about these sorts of things Ron is. We don't want to give him the wrong impression." Ginny snorted again.

"Oh please," she replied with some considerable mirth. "Ron swallowed the whole 'tattoo on your chest' lie hook, line and sinker, despite the fact that I hadn't even touched your upper button – then, that is."

Such comments were always guaranteed to make he, Harry, flush madly. As they strolled back towards Hyde Park hand in hand (and a guaranteed safe spot for Disapparating without attracting undue attention), Harry reflected on how far they'd come from the days of the singing Valentine in his Second Year. Her evolution (or were those traits always there, but buried as a result of the traumatic events of that year? He still didn't know) into the amusing, athletic, thoroughly irrepressible and all round stunning young woman he was now idiotically broom-tail over broom-head mad for was something to treasure, as was their refusal to let a war and all its accompanying grief permanently derail their relationship. Not to mention her ability to thoroughly embarrass Ron anytime, anywhere.

Conversely, there were the frequent times when it was he who the joke was on. But without that particular aspect of her character, he reasoned, she wouldn't be Ginny Weasley. That and the temper.

And the way she was, flaws and all, was absolutely perfect in his own biased opinion, he'd long concluded.

After all, the occasional suggestive joke at his expense was probably far more romantic than dragging her to the café around the corner where he, Ron and Hermione had been attacked by Rowle and Dolohov, Harry reasoned.

...

After visiting Andromeda briefly, it was time for their date to continue with Teddy in tow in a pram. After Harry had Apparated them to another scenic location, this time just outside of London, Ginny idly whistled to herself as she pushed Teddy. Looking over to gauge Harry's reaction she noticed with a shock Harry's demeanour had become far more mellow and sober. She slid her spare hand into his, pushing the pram with her right.

"What are you thinking about?" she whispered with some mild concern. Harry started guiltily at her voice, then sighed wistfully.

"Funny, isn't it, the places you Apparate to when you're thinking about the past. Any opportunity I got two summers ago, I'd get away from Privet Drive. No questions asked; they preferred it anyway. Took a few trains around London, lots in fact. Sometimes I'd take one out here, to Surbiton and Hampton Court. Wandering up and down the Thames banks here sort of helped me come to terms with the Prophecy, and with what happened to Sirius."

As Ginny resolutely ignored the somewhat disapproving stares from a handful of elder gentlemen (Teddy's little fuzzy tufts of hair, she noticed, had turned a vivid Weasley scarlet), she squeezed Harry's hand. She'd previously told Harry about the time she'd finally confronted her old demons in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom after a painful night's detention with Amycus Carrow, and knew fully how old memories could draw people to a certain location, even subconsciously.

"You didn't need to face that pain alone," she replied gently. "Unlike the previous year, Hermione, Ron and yes, myself were just one owl away – Dumbledore learnt his mistakes from locking you and Sirius away from human contact." Harry shrugged and looked out over the castle grounds in the distance. The Muggle castles she'd come across were, she'd had to admit, pathetically puny compared to Hogwarts. And just how did British Royalty, not to mention the various Lords and Ladies, enjoy their vast grounds with not a single backyard Quidditch game to break the monotony? She turned her attention back to the subject at hand.

"And you know another thing…" she added, and this time, Harry looked at her, the faraway expression in his eyes replaced with an intense focus on her.

"…You could have told me about the Prophecy. All of it. For goodness sake, I was brought up by Bill on stories of you fighting Voldemort from your cot – it wouldn't have been that much of a revelation, considering your background with stopping Quirrell, saving me, and dueling him all before you understood girls – wait, you still don't," she quipped, making Harry chuckle as he squeezed back.

"I couldn't have, Ginny," he said quietly. "If I'd told you about Horcruxes, the Prophecy….everything that Dumbledore was telling me, I'd have only put you in more danger." Ginny felt her hackles raise at that stupid old excuse that was about as worn out as the Whomping Willow.

"Yeah, getting possessed and abducted was really safe…," she shot back before registering the hurt on Harry's face and stopping herself. Being with Harry really had its unhealthy side-effects, she reasoned. Such as practicing self-control when frustrated.

"That's not what I meant," said Harry hastily. "Oh, fine then, it was," he finished exasperatedly. "Look, Gin, I'm sorry. You can handle yourself, but….still. I worry, all right. Part and parcel of being a boyfriend." At that, Ginny had to smile, as Harry began to stammer more, look at his ever-badly tied shoelaces, and become so shockingly scarlet Ginny wondered for a moment if Harry would metamorphose into a tomato.

"Anyway, I also didn't want to tell you because, well, what happened between us that year, that…..that was the highlight of that year. If I'd told you about being a marked man, well, either nothing would've happened, or else it would have been ruined. And I just wished I could be….normal. Even if it was for only five minutes at a time with you. That was what drove me in those last few weeks, and…."

Most other girls would've probably gushed about how sweet Harry was, Ginny reasoned. Not her. She preferred a more direct approach. Harry's increasingly erratic ramblings were cut off by an oomph! as her lips met his and her spare hand got lost in his hair. It was only when Harry tried to clumsily reciprocate, brushing Teddy's pram in the process, that she remembered where they were and who they were with. With an involuntary squeak, she broke free, noting with some satisfaction Harry's eyes had become comically glazed and his hair was if anything even messier than usual.

"Shoelaces," Ginny pointed out cheekily, staring at Harry's right sneaker. "You'll be nineteen, and passing your first Auror tests this year, so I won't help you with them this time. You need to learn how to do things by yourself," she added, in a mock severe voice, wagging her finger comically. As Harry grumbled while tying his errant laces, Ginny checked once again on Teddy, who now had bubblegum-pink hair like his late mother had once worn. Hopefully his metamorphosing would be restrained while in a café, she reasoned.

"Nice catch!" called out a young female passer-by with some sarcasm, pointing behind her to where Harry Potter, Vanquisher of the Dark Lord, Conqueror of the Chamber, The Chosen One, Triwizard Champion and The Boy Who Lived, was struggling frantically with his most challenging foe – a shoelace. Ginny gave a wry smile. "I know. What can a girl do?" she said resignedly, ignoring the muffled protest from Harry, who had stood up, looking satisfied, before the shoelace unraveled yet again.

Life really was great.

...

It was an odd choice for lunch – a train station – but then again, Harry Potter was full of surprises, Ginny concluded.

"Don't tell me this is your idea of commemorating how we first met," she whispered. Her ten year old self had after all acted like a brat trying to get onto the Hogwarts Express that time. It was still mortifying to think that performance was in front of none other than The Boy Who Lived. Harry raised his eyebrows. "I'd forgotten," he admitted. "No, this was another destination I went to a few times – oh bloody hell, no." For one fleeting moment, he looked as if he was going to grab the Invisibility Cloak and disappear.

"Bit of a tosser, really, aren't you?" came a young female voice, and Ginny turned to see a rather attractive young Muggle woman with frizzy hair, smirking slightly. "Long time, no see." Covering for Harry's panic, Ginny nodded kindly at the woman and accepted the two steaming cappuccinos.

"I….I don't mean to be too much trouble, but can we get some milk for Teddy here in a sipper bottle?" It seemed Harry had once again found his voice as he gestured to the pram where Teddy, now sporting jet-black hair, was happily sucking his thumb.

"Certainly," the woman replied with a smile that encompassed Ginny. "Good for you, mate. He looks so much like you." As she hurried off, Ginny turned to Harry with what she knew was a broad smirk on her face, while Harry stared back as if he'd encountered an Acromantula.

"You two have history, I see," she teased. Harry, wide eyed, tried to splutter a reply, but she cut him off.

"One word at a time, Harry. Please. And of course you two did. Since when were you a frequent customer at the Surbiton Station café?" Her tone was softly mocking, not accusatory. If she'd really suspected Harry had committed adultery, her first course of action would have been casting Sectumsempra in such a manner that he'd never have children.

Harry, relaxing at the obvious teasing, chuckled as another Southwest train roared away from Platform One.

"Okay, okay. If you must know, I was a little bored that summer. And lonely," he finished lamely.

"And did you two…."

"Oh, nothing ever happened. Though I perhaps was a little stupid reading The Daily Prophet in there, what with the moving pictures. The one time I was going to head to hers, I got interrupted by Dumbledore."

"That sly old wand-blocker," Ginny said idly, trying not to laugh at the thought of Dumbledore prying into his favourite pupil's love life. "He stopped you from having a little magic with that Muggle waitress? And I thought Ron was bad." Harry laughed loudly – they could afford to talk as the waitress was still busy, and there were only a couple of customers around.

"All joking aside," he added, "riding around on those trains really did help, Ginny, I'm sure you can understand."

"I bet," she shot back drolly, raising an eyebrow at him as the waitress returned with Teddy's milk. "Why did she call you a tosser?" Nodding her thanks to the waitress, she began feeding Teddy as Harry grinned sheepishly.

"My fault."

"I bet, what with Dumbledore crashing the prospect of a good date night and some…."

"Not that. She read a headline about me and asked who this 'Harry Potter' was. I just said he was a bit of a tosser."

"Most accurate thing you've ever said, Harry."

"Hey!"

"With you and your infuriating nobility complex, you deserve it," she shot back haughtily as she put Teddy's bottle down and pulled Harry into her embrace.