Disclaimer: JKR! JKR! It means that I don't own Harry or
Ginny. Come to think of it, I don't own Hercules, Hermes or Artemis.
Dang. I own next to nothing in this fic. Maybe that's why
it doesn't make money...
Dedication: Sakura, for whom I wrote it. To all the other sic
SugarQuillers, because I had Floo when I wrote this. And to Chelle-sama,
for coming up with the title. "Sure," she said, "it's
ambitious, or pretentious...a lot of 'ious' things...for such a small,
fluffy thing, but it works."
You are...
"That one," Ginny murmured, pointing. "Hercules."
Harry tucked the blanket, a wedding gift, more tightly around them
and set the swing in motion. "Hercules? The strong
man?" he snorted. "I know I've filled out a bit since
school, but really. I'm still Seeker for a reason."
Ginny released a soft hum of laugher and planted her toes to stop the
swing. Gripping the chains she shift just enough to kiss her husband
lightly. "You asked me which constellation I thought you'd
be and I told you," she rested her forehead against his and smiled.
"Are you going to argue with me?"
Smiling slightly, Harry nodded. "I think so, yes."
He kicked her feet away from the ground and began to rock the swing
again.
"I'm going to sound like Professor Sinistra," Ginny sighed,
turning to study the night sky again. "Hercules reaches its
highest point in the evening sky in late July, not quite on your birthday,
but close enough."
"Need I remind you which constellation hits its high point on
your birthday?" Harry asked, tongue in cheek.
"Oh, sure, Cassiopeia chained her daughter to a rock for the sea
monsters to eat...but I'm convinced she felt bad about it," Ginny
giggled. "Besides, she was a queen and everybody loved her."
Harry buried his face in her hair with a contented sigh. "I
love you."
Ginny's hands shifted from the chains of the swing to Harry's hands.
"I love you, too."
They swung in silence for a long space of silence. "So,
it's just because of my birthday?" Harry asked at length.
"No," Ginny stirred herself and focused on the sky once more.
"Beset by torture from the crab, Cancer, facing the lion, Leo,
Hercules was assigned tasks no man should ever be asked to endure.
He accomplished feats of greatness but at a cost he never would have
chosen to pay. He is kneeling. He has no bright stars at
all. The brightest is...class three?" She paused, thinking.
"Definitely a class three. But the funny thing is, Hercules
has this amazing cluster of stars...you can barely see where it is without
a telescope but once you look it's just spectacular."
"Ginny," Harry murmured, in awe of this amazing woman who
had chosen him despite the fact that he had once been, as she'd called
him, an idiot.
Ginny shook her head slightly, "Whenever he had troubles too great
to carry, Hermes and Athena would come to his aid. The most important
thing, I think, is that Hercules never, ever, wanted to be a hero.
He just wanted to be alive. He wanted the things that all men
want. Home, friends, family, love."
Harry buried his face in the back of her neck and breathed deeply,
smelling spring lilacs and Ginny. Her hair, inky in the moonlight
spilled around him and there was nothing in his world save her.
"Ginny," he released the swing and wrapped his arms around
her waist. The swing continued to sway, the chains clinking softly
in Ginny's hands. Harry breathed, drifting.
"You know, Hercules is kneeling, but I just don't see it,"
Ginny said softly. "He looks more like you did when you fell
off your broom during the match against Holyhead."
Head jerking up, Harry stared at Ginny's all-too-innocent profile.
"What?"
"It was a good thing that the Harpies Chaser managed to catch
you instead of the Quaffle."
"You think..."
"Well, look," bringing out her wand, Ginny pointed toward
the horizon. "Mind you, he's low tonight so the resemblance
is simply striking. Vestigium." Beams of blue
light seemed to travel between stars, connecting them into a wild shape.
"Ginny!" He couldn't stop the laughter.
"It's true," she argued, amused.
"That looks terrible."
"It's true," she insisted, biting her lip against
laughter.
Harry Potter rested his cheek against his wife's hair. "Ginny,
you are..."
"Such an idiot?" she asked, giggling despite herself.
"Hilariously funny? Witty? Wise? Charming?"
"Perfect."
