Flo & Gin

"Gin! Breakfast is ready!" shouted Florence from the kitchen. It only took a few seconds before Ginny appeared from the bedroom in a silky white robe. "That would be mine." Ginny shrugged her shoulders and walked over to her girlfriend, pressing a kiss on her cheek.

"It looks good on me too," she said casually, wrapping one arm around Florence's waist and looking at the food on the counter. "Hmm, banana pancakes. What did I do to deserve this?" Florence chuckled and looked over at the red-haired woman.

"Well, for starters, you look totally fit in my bathrobe," she teased. Ginny's lips formed into a smirk before pouting them. Florence pressed a quick peck on her lips before preparing them both a plate with banana pancakes as well as a cup of tea. Ginny sat down at her kitchen table, dropping two sugar cubes into her tea and stirring it.

"Do you have any plans for today, love?" she asked Florence, who was pouring some syrup onto her pancakes.

"I just need to finish a few things for work and then I'm all yours," Florence answered, not looking up. Ginny let out a snort.

"It's a Saturday, Flo! You can't be working," she said, shaking her head in disapproval. Florence looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. "You know you make work busier for yourself than necessary, love."

"I know. And you know I love my job so it's fine," Florence said, shrugging her shoulders. She took a bite from her pancakes and washed it down with a sip of tea.

"And I also know you deserve to stress yourself out a lot less than you do right now," Ginny continues, taking a bite herself. "Like, maybe take a day off so you can make me these incredible pancakes all day long." Florence chuckled.

"Yes, I'll take a day off so I can play servant for the Ginny Weasley," she teased back. Ginny grinned proudly.

"Why thank you," said Ginny rather smugly. "I shall be sure to leave a tip." Florence scoffed and rolled her eyes, bending over the Quibbler. She couldn't even get through half a page when Ginny asked her, "Anything interesting?"

"If you'd let me read, or better yet, read it yourself, you may find out," Florence told her, resulting in Ginny kicking her under the table. "Ouch! I just got attack by the Chaser of the Holyhead Harpies, that should make for a good cover story." She closed the newspaper of Ginny's friend Luna and looked at Ginny with a grin on her lips.

"Oh, yeah, I can totally see it. Holyhead Harpy Chaser Champion Ginny Weasley caught in Self-Defence fight with Magic Vision Marketing's Head Designer Florence Peakes," Ginny said, moving her hands through the air as if to show where the title would play out. Florence chuckled and shakes her head.

"That's rather long for a title, don't you think?" Florence said with a snort. Ginny shrugged her shoulders and poked her pancakes. "And I'm not head designer."

"Yet. Not yet. And well, I'm not shortening my title," she said, a grin on her lips. Florence rolled her eyes, unable to suppress a smile. "But when you're done, we could go to the park? I miss going to the park with you. And maybe we can have some friends over tonight? Angelina, Alicia, Luna, Neville, Padma, your colleague from work - what was her name? - oh, right Tracey, and Hermione too. I know she feels a little left out sometimes."

Florence swallowed hard. There was a reason why they left Hermione out sometimes. It was not a nice thing to do but Florence found joy in being able to be herself around her friends, which included being able to touch her girlfriend, talk about her girlfriend and sneak kisses in with her girlfriend.

But Hermione didn't know that Ginny was dating Florence, much less that Ginny was into women.

You see, Ginny had not told her family and since Hermione was now part of her family due to her relationship and engagement to Ron, Ginny hadn't told Hermione either. Ginny had been out to her friends, to her teammates, and to Florence's colleagues for a while, but her family remained unknowing of their relationship and Ginny's true sexuality.

"Yeah, I mean, sure. That sounds nice," Florence said, keeping her head down. It bothered Florence. She had been forced to hide her true self away for years and had always hoped that being in her twenties meant she could unapologetically be herself. Then she got with Ginny who with her beautiful red hair and wit pulled part of her back into the closet.

She loved Ginny more than she had ever loved anyone. She was patient, hoping that one day soon Ginny would take the big step of telling her family about her sexuality and them. She knew how hard it would be and that the outcome was unforeseeable, but she was getting tired of hiding Ginny and tired of Ginny hiding her.

"Soon, okay?" Ginny said in a whisper. Florence nodded and flashed her a smile. Soon. She always said soon. Florence was beginning to think they had two different definitions of soon.

After finishing the design for a new and big client, Florence stepped out of the bedroom and let herself fall down onto the couch next to Ginny who was reading a book. "I'm exhausted," said Florence, blowing out some air through her mouth.

Ginny chuckled and stroked her hair gently. "I know. I told you to take it easy and to take a day off," she said, raising an eyebrow.

Florence was quick to defend herself by saying, "And to make you pancakes all day long, which would have me in the same boat." Ginny pressed a kiss on her forehead. "But maybe that would still have been the better option. I am done now though, so I did meet the deadline."

"You work too hard, my love," Ginny hummed, putting the book down on the coffee table. Florence wrapped her arms tightly around Ginny and buried her face in her chest. As Ginny stroked her back gently, she relaxed in her arms and let out a deep sigh.

Her relaxation however did not last long. The sound of a doorbell snapped them out of their embrace and Ginny jumped up. The dangerous thing about their secret relationship was the way the Weasleys could and would drop by Ginny's flat at any second of the day and since Florence practically lived there (not officially but she saw Ginny's flat more often than her own), they had a doorbell installed on the Floo Network.

"Fuck, fuck! I didn't expect to see any of them today," Ginny said, panic in her voice. Florence nodded and kissed her quickly.

"It's okay, you didn't know. Write to me when the coast is clear, okay?" she said, respecting Ginny's wishes of her leaving whenever her family randomly shows up. Ginny nodded, a sorry look in her eyes.

"Of course. I love you!" she called out before Florence disappeared with a loud crack. She apparated back to her own flat and looked around, sighing. The last time she had been there was exactly three weeks ago.

Her owl, Spirit, always delivered her post at Ginny's place or wherever she was staying and since she had moved all her plants to Ginny's flat, there wasn't a reason for her to go back. Unless, of course, a red-haired person was on their way through the Floo Network.

She sank down on the navy blue couch and let her head fall back. Loving Ginny was easy, that wasn't the problem, loving Ginny openly was hard. Getting Ginny to love her back openly seemed impossible.

Florence, out of all people, understood. Though the world was growing more accepting of being not being straight and cis-gendered, it was still a gamble of who was on their side and who wasn't.

Florence had been thrown out by her family when she was fifteen and her younger brother had caught her snogging a girl at Hogwarts. She received two howlers, one from her father and one from her mother at the breakfast table the following morning and so was outed to the whole school.

Though she didn't mind being out, she would have rather have done it on her own terms. She would have rather kept it quiet that her parents and family disowned her for being a lesbian. She had been accepted by her friends right away and her friend, Padma, who had been made prefect that year, made an announcement in the Ravenclaw Common Room that if anyone were to bully Florence or treat her differently because of her sexuality, detention was surely on the table.

Florence appreciated her friends more than anything, especially during that period of her life. She also appreciated her DADA professor, Remus Lupin, and his husband, Sirius Black, who had called her into his office only a few days later. They had talked to her about her sexuality and ensured that she had time to figure out her label, but she told them she already knew and had known since she was twelve.

They were incredibly supportive and Sirius hadn't gone back to their house until he had made sure that she had somewhere to stay over the summer. She hadn't been worried about that because Padma had written to her parents right away and they had replied just as quickly saying that Florence was welcome any time for as long as was needed.

It remained hard. She had a lot of support but still, she had been abandoned by her family and her brother wouldn't even look at her anymore. Some people treated her differently and a few girls suddenly thought that she had a thing for them when she most definitely did not - she barely even knew their names. 

So, yes, Florence did know how hard and scary it was. She had never even had the choice, that choice had been taken from her. But she knew that people didn't always react the way you expected them to. She hadn't thought that her parents would throw her out at the age of fifteen.

Had she expected them to accept her right away? No. Had she expected them to give it time and continue to love her? Yes. Did it sting that she was wrong about that? Yes. But not anymore. Being openly gay and so being openly and unapologetically herself was incredibly freeing. She finally could be herself and figure out who she was without having to suppress parts of her identity. She wanted Ginny to be able to experience that same freedom.

She was sure that the Weasleys would react way differently than her parents had. Of course, you could never be sure but the fact that they were close friends with Remus and Sirius, had never once questioned Harry - who they treated as one of their own - when he started dating a guy after having dated a girl, and loved their children more than anything had convinced Florence that Ginny would be accepted with open arms.

Ginny still wasn't sure and Florence respected that. But hurrying off whenever they suspected a Weasley came over, having to hide her affection for Ginny whenever they were around and bearing with Ginny's family continuously trying to set her up with other men was becoming exhausting.

It hurt. To be someone's secret hurt. But she felt like it was unfair to get angry about it all the time. Whatever part Ginny would let her have, she would take. Having a part of Ginny was better than not having Ginny at all.

She walked over to the window and whistled on her fingers before walking over to the kitchen table and writing a note to Padma. She waited until Spirit came soaring her way and attached the note to her leg.

"Can you take this Padma Patil, please?" she asked, petting the bird over her head. "Thank you, Spirit." Spirit flew away again, soaring through the sky at a quick pace. Florence sat down on the couch again and pulled her knees up.

Dear Padma,

Emergency. Please come over asap and bring chocolate frogs, please. I need some comfort.

- F.P.

As children, they used to joke the P for Florence's last name stood for Patil. Especially after she moved in with them, Peakes lost all meaning and the true meaning behind the initial became Patil, to them at least.

Padma had been her best friend since they got sorted into Ravenclaw. Florence remembered Padma crying because she did not get sorted into the same house as her twin sister Parvati as if it happened yesterday.

Florence had spent the whole night comforting the poor girl and ensuring that being in Ravenclaw was cool too. They had snuck out of their dorm at night to sit in the Common Room and stare at the beautiful ceiling, proving that being in Ravenclaw was going to be an incredibly magical experience.

It took only fifteen minutes before there was a knock on her door. Padma lived nearby and it only took Spirit five minutes to deliver messages. It was wonderful to live so close to Padma and it was the one thing she missed when she was at Ginny's. Thankfully, they were witches and by apparating, they could be next to each other within seconds.

Florence opened the door and smiled when she saw Padma holding up a box of chocolate frogs. "Emergency?" Padma asked. Florence pulled her into the flat and sat down on the couch.

"Yes. Tea?" she asked. Padma nodded and Florence summoned two cups of tea. Padma opened the box and handed a chocolate frog to Florence, who opened it carefully, ensuring the frog wouldn't have its first and final jump into their tea or onto the dusty floor.

"So, what's going on? You haven't been crying, so it's not a disaster. What's the emergency?" Padma asked carefully. Florence sighed and tugged on the hem of her summer dress.

"So, I was over at Ginny's-"

"Obviously because you practically live there," Padma noted.

"Yes, well, someone came over. One of her family members. And she wanted to invite Hermione for tonight too and you know..." Florence sighed and took a bite from the chocolate frog.

"And the fact that it feels like she's hiding you and herself got emphasized again today," Padma filled in. "The fact that you can't openly love her, on all aspects,  got shoved into your face. Oh, honey, I'm ever so sorry."

"I just... I don't want to be someone's secret. I want her to be able to run towards me at the end of a Quidditch game and jump into my arms and kiss me just like her team members can. I want her to invite me to family dinners and meetings as her girlfriend, not the few occasions she has as a friend. I just don't want to lie to Hermione about it anymore either. If she's joining our friend group then I don't want to lie..." she sighed.

"I want to be open and out to you guys. I don't want to have to hide myself and my relationship away. I'm not made for hiding. I want to kiss Ginny and hug Ginny and hold Ginny's hand. I want to do those things in public, not just behind closed doors."

Padma nodded, understanding her friend's frustrations. "And you can't bring it up again because..?"

"Because I've asked her many, many times. And every time I get the same answer. I will do it soon. I shall tell them soon. Soon, soon, soon. When is soon, Pads? When is soon!? Rowena's sake," Florence huffed.

"I love Ginny with all my heart and I want nothing more to be her girlfriend but... I just want to officially move in with her, officially meet her family as her girlfriend, officially be taken to sports events as her girlfriend and openly show my affection and love for her," she further explained. "I get that it's hard. You know I get that it's hard. The possibility of her losing her family breaks my heart, but I'm getting tired of being a secret."

"I understand," Padma sighed, placing a hand on Florence's shoulder. "I get it, love." Florence sighed, tears forming in her eyes.

"I've been so many people's secret... So many girls pulling me into a literal closet to see if they liked kissing girls, begging me to stay silent about it and then telling me they are in fact straight. So many, Padma... I'm tired of feeling used for pleasure. I want something serious... I want... I want Ginny to take me and us seriously," she said, choking up.

"Hey... it's going to be alright," Padma said, though Florence knew that was a statement she couldn't promise.

"I don't want to lose her but... but I don't want to lose myself in the process of loving her either," Florence whispered in a sob. Hiding away made her feel like she was hiding part of herself away again and the freedom she had once felt was once again fading.

"I know, I know," Padma said, hugging her best friend tightly. "We'll talk to her about it, okay? I can be with you during it... or I can talk to her alone, ask her what her intentions are. You're twenty-four, of course, you want to be taken seriously and to be one hundred per cent yourself..."

"I do," she sobbed. "But I don't want to lose her either. I don't want to push her to do something she isn't ready for... It's complicated." Padma nodded and rubbed her back. Florence clutched onto her friend tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I know. You've never loved anyone as much as you love her, have you?" Padma said. Florence shook her head.

"She's the girl of my dreams. Flo and Gin for the win, she always chants," Florence said with a chuckle. "Flo and Gin..." 

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Hi! the first chapter is up! as you have probably just read lol

I hope you enjoyed it!

All the love! x L