Chapter Text
“I am sending you a survey from Ginny, can you fill it in?” Ron asked, holding his phone.
Harry nodded. “Yeah, sure. What’s it about?”
“She is helping Luna; it’s some relationship experiment, so they’re looking for a good match for Ginny, to make sure the experiment goes well, hence I can’t join,” Ron told him, already sending the link.
Harry guffawed. “And I should?”
Ron rolled his eyes. “They’re looking to get 200 men to sign up so they will have a good selection, it’s highly unlikely you’ll get chosen.”
Harry shook his head and opened the link. “Name, age… Okay, this is the easy part.”
Ginny walked in. “Harry, can you do me a favour and fill in this survey and send it to any of your straight male friends?”
“Ron’s ahead of you, filling it in right now,” he said, lifting his phone to emphasise his point. “Single? Very.”
If you sign up for this survey, you agree to take part in the experiment. This will somewhat simulate a real relationship, but you will receive your instructions on what to do from us. There will be regular checkups. There will be no sexual actions required or allowed. You will only need to take part if you are selected from the pool of survey participants.
While the complete purpose of the experiment can not be shared so as to not mess with the result, we will research the progress of a relationship and the increase of affection and attraction throughout the dating process.
He looked up. “This seems intense,” he mumbled. “Are you really leaving it up to your friend to select you a man?”
Ginny shrugged as she settled down on the couch. “Dunno. The survey should result in me getting to do the experiment with a man I am highly compatible with. I trust the process. It’s for science.”
“Bold,” he told her, looking back at the survey.
“And Luna did give me a veto vote just in case,” she ended. “But I won’t use it unless I think it would impact the research, like exes or someone really ugly.”
“Looks aren’t everything,” Harry told her.
“That’s easy for you to say, you know who you’d be up against,” she commented, pointing to herself. “I could be getting anyone.”
“True.” He started filling in the survey, filling in his personal information. Then he proceeded to the part where it asked about what he’d be willing to do for the experiment. “Would I be willing to kiss the other participant? Oh, with a photo included, how convenient.”
Harry nearly jumped from Ginny’s voice came from behind him.
“Yes, so people know who they would be smooching with,” Ginny explained.
He turned to look at her. “And you’re okay with that?”
“I would actually be paired with someone I’m supposed to like. It’s not like they’re going to have me make out on day one. I am supposed not to mind… it made sense when Luna explained it, trust me,” Ginny told him, leaning over the back of the couch.
He turned back and hesitated ticking the ‘yes’ box. He looked back up. “Can you please stop hovering? You’re going to influence the survey and then my entry is invalid.”
She shot him an amused look but then nodded. “Alright.”
He looked further down. “How do I know my love language?”
“Click the link and do the test!” she replied as she climbed up the stairs. “It’s fine, we just need a big enough sample to pick from. You won’t be chosen!”
“I was chosen?” he asked, talking to Ginny’s friend on the phone.
“Yes,” Luna told him cheerily. “I just need you to come in for an interview to sort out the details but we will likely be able to proceed with the experiment.” There was the sound of typing. “You’re still up for it, right?”
He looked out the window, considering it. “Yes, I’m still up for it. When do you want to meet?”
He found himself going to meet Luna that afternoon so they could proceed. He wasn’t really sure what to expect, and how he was going to explain this situation to his friends—if he was allowed. If he was chosen and contacted, it also meant Ginny had seen he had been picked and had not used her veto.
He knocked on the door and Luna opened it a moment later, letting him inside. She led him into her office and told him to sit down.
“I will start with a few questions to establish we can go ahead and then after that, all interviews will be recorded with a camera. Are you okay with that?”
Well, he was in it now. He may as well commit. He nodded at her. “Fine.”
Luna asked about his prior relationship with Ginny, which he could only qualify as friendly without more. She asked about his availability and more details about his dating history. He had nothing too exciting to tell.
“Will you inform your family about this?” she asked him.
Harry paused and then wondered if he had mentioned it in the survey. He supposed he didn’t. “My parents are dead and I don’t talk to the rest of them. There is my godfather and his husband though. I would consider them family.”
“And you have met Ginny’s family?” she asked, typing away on her laptop.
He nodded. “I tend to hang out there, I basically lived there for a while.”
“Did you get closer to Ginny at that point?”
“No, she wasn’t around much then,” he told her. “She was still in high school and went to boarding school. When she came home for vacations all her siblings were there, so it is not like we spent that much time together.”
Luna nodded. “And did you ever think of her romantically?”
“She is pleasant, but no. She was just my friend’s sister for the most part so I didn’t consider her like that,” he told Luna honestly.
“That’s good, that would influence this experiment. You both need to come at it with a pretty neutral opinion of each other.” She moved towards the camera. “That means we can go ahead with the experiment. Are you ready? I’ll start recording.”
“One question,” he said quickly. “Will Ginny see these recordings?”
Luna paused her hand above the record button. “Definitely not until the end of the experiment. After that, it would be up to both of you, but I could make them available to you.”
Harry winced. “I don’t know, she can be pretty ruthless. I don’t know if my pride can handle it.”
Luna chuckled. “We can discuss that after the experiment is over.” She pushed the button. “Recording.” She sat back down in her chair. “Please state your name, age and current relationship status.”
“I am Harry Potter, I am twenty-one and currently single,” he told her. He avoided looking at the camera, because he felt like that would make him nervous.
“In terms of looks, how would you rate Ginny?” she asked.
He was immediately glad he had asked if she would see these videos. He considered it. She had a pretty face and expressive eyes. Her long hair framed her face well and she often had that cocky smirk on her face. “Out of ten?”
Luna nodded.
“A ten, I guess. She’s quite pretty.”
“And what about her personality?” Luna continued.
“I don’t know if I can answer accurately,” he thought out loud. “I feel like I know her well enough to be friendly but not enough to truly know her.”
“You might after this experiment, we’ll see if that increases or decreases your rating,” she answered with a smile.
“She is overall pleasant, I’d say, but it’s one of those people you don’t want to get on the bad side of. She can be a bit scary if she’s angry. Probably a seven and a half?”
“And do you think this experiment will bring you closer together?” Luna asked him.
He sighed. “I don’t know. We will likely become better friends, especially if we are compatible I suppose.”
“And romantically?” Luna tried.
“I haven’t had much luck in the area, so I’m not too sure if an experiment would change that. I don’t know how I feel about that with Ginny; it would take some adjusting, but I suppose that is what the experiment is for.”
“I know this is a difficult question but how would you rate your romantic feelings towards Ginny at this moment?”
Harry chuckled. “A definite zero. Sorry, Ginny. If you ever see this, I hope you’re not offended.”
Harry walked up to Ginny, who was waiting on the half wall by the campus café. She pushed off it when she saw him nearing. He halted in front of her silently. She blinked up at him without saying anything either.
“You won’t be chosen,” he quoted her.
Her cheeks flushed as she looked away from him for a moment. “I couldn’t have guessed we’d be highly compatible.”
“The most out of 200 men?” he asked.
She looked back at him, almost looking peeved. “350.”
“Oh, wow.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t have guessed that either.” He looked at the café. “If this is a date, am I paying?”
Ginny excitedly whipped out a card. “No! Our dates are funded by the research budget.”
“That’s nice,” he commented. “Let’s go inside and get a coffee.”
Ginny agreed and then pulled open the door for him. “You know, if you had clicked ‘no’ on kissing me, you wouldn’t have made the list.”
“My bad,” he commented drily. He looked over at the coffee list. “Oh, too many choices. What are you getting?”
“Vanilla latte, I think,” she muttered as her eyes flitted over the menu.
“I think I’ll go for a Caramel Macchiato, but if they start asking tough questions you have to help me out,” he told her with a smile. His voice dropped to a whisper. “They stress me out.”
She chuckled. “You got it, big guy.”
He eyed the rewards card in her hand. “I see, you’re getting loyalty points for it. You are gaining something out of this.”
“Yes, and you’re not getting the free doughnut with that attitude,” she teased, meeting his eyes playfully.
“Dang it,” he muttered with sarcasm.
They ordered and then sat down at a table with their drink.
“Are you the type of guy that always orders the same thing because you don’t know what else is good?” she asked him.
He nodded, eyeing the coffee he always ordered. “Yes, you see right through me. You don’t?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I like changing it up and they have so many choices!” She looked at him curiously, as if he was a puzzle to solve. “Am I allowed to recommend you coffees to try? I think I can get a hang of your taste buds.”
“I think we are meant to keep taste bud exploration for a future date,” he responded.
Ginny laughed, resulting in a rather indecent snort and she clasped her hand in front of her mouth, eyes wide.
He chuckled. “Now that’s cute.”
Her eyes dropped down to the table and her ears turned red. “Stop it, I absolutely hate when I do that.”
“It’s nice, it means your laugh is genuine.” He offered her a grin to emphasise his point. “And I’ve been told my humour is rather dark, so I’ll take any laugh I can get.”
“That’s good, I wouldn’t want my laugh to ruin this experiment,” she told him. She got out her phone. “We should start on our questions.”
“Ah, right.” He got his phone out too. He opened the email and read the questions. “You first?”
She nodded and read off the first question. They were high-level questions to get to know each other better. It went back and forth for a little, then Ginny paused at a question.
“Jeez.” She looked uncomfortable. “You don’t have to answer this. How did your parents die?”
“It’s okay,” Harry assured her. “I told her it was fine to talk about, but you know how my parents died.”
“Not really.” Her hands wrapped around her cup of coffee. “I know they were shot at home but…”
He nodded, that’s what most people knew. “It was a mob thing, they had the wrong house. My dad opened the door and begged them but they didn’t believe him. He was shot first. My mum ran to me and told me to hide in the closet.” He let out a big sigh. “They had already seen her run across the landing so there was no point in her hiding, she knew if they found her they wouldn’t keep looking, keeping me safe.”
Ginny was frowning at him, her brown eyes big. Except he didn’t see the usual pity in her eyes, mostly compassion.
“I saw them shoot her and I couldn’t go to her until—until they had left… I did call the ambulance but my dad was already gone and my mum followed soon,” he continued. “The guy responsible ended up turning himself in out of guilt.”
She let out a small sigh. “How old were you?”
“Fifteen. Old enough to want to act tough but you don’t really tough out losing your parents. I do think it made me mature faster, because my godfather tried… but he wasn’t cut out to be a parent and he was torn too by their deaths. We coped,” he told her.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” she said genuinely.
“On the bright side,” he continued, trying to lift the mood again, and failing. “My parents were incredibly in love. My dad always said he didn’t want to live a day without her… I find some comfort knowing they never had to live without each other.” He wiped a stray tear away.
Ginny patted his hand and then quickly wrapped it back around her cup. She cleared her throat. “Do you want to ask your next question?”
“Right,” he said. He glanced at the list. “What was your worst class in high school? Wow, these questions are all over the place. I know the answer to this one, it was PE.”
Her jaw dropped. “You know that’s not true! I was great at PE, I won awards… my worst class was physics.”
“Understandable,” he replied. “Mine was chemistry.”
She nodded. “And my next question..” She looked down to read it. “Rude, she could have given me the answer. What’s your love language?”
“Words of affirmation, I’ve found out,” he said. “Touch being a close second… I think it’s the trauma.”
“Probably,” she agreed. “Mine is touch and I suppose quality time as well.”
He thought for a second how that would work in reality. “Okay, so like cuddling would work well for you?”
“Yes,” she replied. “And I can tell you nice things in the meantime.” She grinned at him.
“I can see how that would work,” he replied. “I wonder if they took that into account.”
Ginny shook her head. “I don’t think so, though it’s useful to be aware of each other’s so you can meet their needs.”
“No,” Ron said as they walked into the Burrow hand in hand.
“We are meant to hold hands,” Ginny told him. “It’s part of the experiment.”
Mrs Weasley glanced over at them. “Ginny told me you were the one.”
“Scientifically approved,” Harry told her with a smile.
“And how has it been so far?” Mrs Weasley asked.
“Pretty good,” Ginny confirmed, glancing over at him to see if he agreed. She let go of his hand to get them drinks. “We’ve been on three dates so far. Did a few phone calls… The mandatory texting is a bit of a hiccup because it drives me nuts that we keep having to check what we were supposed to be talking about—it is easy to get sidetracked.” She turned around to him. “Coke?”
He nodded.
“I am going to need to get used to this.” Ron shook his head warily.
Harry looked at his friend. “You sent me the link. Besides, it’s nice to be able to contribute to research that doesn’t involve getting injected with questionable drugs.”
“At least that pays good money, I am pretty sure you’re losing money on my sister,” Ron responded.
Ginny winked at Harry.
“I’m not,” Harry told Ron. “It’s paid for. They fund any activities we do.”
“I am a little confused,” Mrs Weasley said. “Harry has been right there, what do you need the science for?”
“Yeah, Ginny,” Harry said. “Why now?”
Ginny handed him the coke. “I could ask you the same thing!”
“One’s best friend’s sister is dangerous territory, everyone knows that.” He pointed to Ron. “He proves it.”
“I just never considered Harry that way…” She looked at him. “He’s a little…”
His eyebrows raised. “I’m what?”
“You’re a little closed off,” she told him resolutely.
He shook his head slowly. “I don’t know what gave you that idea.”
“I have learned more about you since the experiment started than all the other years before,” she told him.
“Does she know more about you than I do?” Ron asked.
“No.” He quickly glanced at Ginny. “Not yet.”
“Wow, you have a lot of nail polish!” Harry said, looking over all the colours.
She smiled, setting more colours out on the desk. “You buy a colour for an event and then it never matches your outfit again…”
He sat down on the chair in front of her. “I think we should go with matching colours.”
She paused, squinting her eyes at him. “Are you sure?” She picked up one of the bottles. “We can just do a clear coat as well.”
“I think I may as well commit,” Harry said.
“Great.” She smiled at him. “So what colour do you want?”
“That shimmery dark purple looks nice.” He pointed at the bottle. “But I bet reds or oranges would look great on you.”
She looked from him back to the nail polishes. “What if…” She picked out three bottles and showed them to him. “We go for a darker green and then pair it with a white or black?”
“Why green?” he asked her.
She held the green bottle up beside his face. “Yes, goes nicely with your eyes.”
“Ah.” He chuckled. “Green is good. You can do my nails first, so I may observe your technique.”
She held out her hand. “Let’s see the state of your nails.”
Ginny was quite efficient in painting his nails, chatting easily in the meanwhile, moving from one nail to the next. That’s why Harry had been optimistic about his own attempt.
“You know my nail stopped right over there, right?” She pointed to the end of her nail, the surrounding skin covered in polish.
He sighed. “It’s not my fault you have tiny nails!”
“They’re not tiny,” she retorted. She told him to pick the brush back up. “Gently…” She carefully guided his hand with her own, while trying not to touch his still-drying nails.
“Oh…” he went when he saw how she started by the end and then carefully pushed forward. “I think I got it.”
His next attempt was already much better, only getting a bit on the sides. Ginny praised him softly, keeping her hand still as he worked. He moved on to the next nail.
“Don’t forget to breathe,” Ginny teased.
He breathed in, realising he had been holding his breath. “This is hard.”
“It takes practice.”
When he was done, Ginny cleared up the edges a bit. “Not too bad,” she commented.
She put their hands together and took a picture of it. She put her phone down. “Should we start on toenails now?”
She was already grinning, so he knew she was joking.
“I think this was enough of a challenge for today,” he said. “I do think it looks rather dashing on me.”
She nodded in agreement, smiling broadly. “It does. You make it look manly.”
“Can you tell Ron that?” Harry asked, sure her brother would be eager to make comments.
She picked up her phone. “I’ll text him and tell him.” She started typing a message to Ron, attaching the photo.
“Thanks,” he said with a chuckle.”