Mistake - Harry Potter
Pairing: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley
Rating: M
Summary: He wanted freedom. He wanted to have fun. He wanted a divorce. Now? Now all he wants is to get her back. Is her shattered heart too broken to mend?
Note: Not entirely DH compliant (Sorry, couldn't kill Fred off!). Also, Harry is slightly OCC for the purpose of the story making sense (though he'll return to the "Harryness" we all know and love soon enough).
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Story based on the song: "She's Gonna Make It" by Garth Brooks.
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Now
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Samuel and Abigail Granger cordially invite you
to witness the union of their daughter
Hermione Jean Granger
and
Ronald Bilius Weasley
Saturday, second of December
Seven o'clock in the evening
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Due to couple's abundance of fame,
RSVP before the twenty-fifth of November.
The location shall be delivered the day of the wedding.
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When the owl dropped off the letter in front of Harry Potter's front window, Harry thought the bird managed to locate the wrong house. Naturally he knew about their engagement, for they'd been engaged for over a year. However, Harry hadn't spoken with Ron in nearly seven months, not since...
Well, since.
He figured - correctly - Hermione had a lot to do with it. He could practically hear her now, pleading with Ron to let their longest and closest friend come to their wedding. He could definitely hear Ron's huffs of annoyance as he acted indifferent (though he most definitely was not). Eventually she probably looked teary-eyed, only done in the most extreme cases, and he gave in if only to appease her. Harry knew Ron didn't want him there. He knew none of the Weasley family wanted him there.
Obviously it hadn't always been like this. In fact, for years everything had been great after graduating from Hogwarts. The war was over and he no longer dealt with the stigma of being "the chosen one" everywhere he went. Fame still followed him and people came up each day to ask for autographs, but he no longer dealt with the burden of worry. The people he loved were safe, which, in turn, made exhaling significantly easier. Ron and Hermione had been with him throughout it all and they started their lives together.
Dating Ginny at Hogwarts brought Harry more joy than he could describe. In a world of chaos, she gave him stability. Naturally when the war ended he asked her out again and they embarked on an incredible romance, with more love than Harry thought possible. After waiting a year following Ginny's graduation, Harry proposed during an intimate dinner, followed by a romantic broom ride.
A few months followed before Harry married Ginny, the only daughter of Molly and Arthur Weasley and the baby to six older brothers. The affair had been absolutely stunning with Ginny draped in white silk and lace, white flowers in her red hair, and no shoes. He thought her a vision. They laughed, cried, danced, and kissed, only leaving at the persistence of their hormones - Ginny practically assaulted him the second they were out of sight, attaching her lips to his in a searing kiss. They made love the entire night, waking up only to do it all over again and again and again.
Perfection.
A quaint apartment sucked them in just on the outskirts of Diagon Alley. Harry and Ginny invited Ron and Hermione over to help paint (though Ron hardly called it an invite; rather manual labor, something Hermione playfully smacked him for) and move furniture, with the help of their four trusty wands.
Picturesque and idyllic came to mind once the apartment was completed.
For four years they lived as a married couple doing things married couples do. They stayed in at night to experience the others' company, enjoyed the wonders of morning sex, spent quality time with the Weasley family and Hermione, conversed about anything and everything, relished moments of silence, and overall, gave themselves over to one anther.
Now?
Now they were divorced and leading separate lives.
Harry asked for the divorce. Ginny seemed bemused when he brought up the subject, much to his annoyance. He thought she'd at least take responsibility for some of their problems. Didn't she notice the rut they were in, the mediocre life they settled for? Didn't she realize his potential for happiness didn't begin and end in that house with her? Sure, he wanted some normalcy and he certainly wanted it at first (meaning after the war), but having it thrust upon him so quickly (after never experiencing it) caught him off guard. The coldness he felt for her turned into a blizzard once she asked him to tell her why, why was he doing this to the both of them. Slamming the door, leaving her after he watched her crumble to the ground in tears, Harry didn't look back.
Harry craved more excitement than she had to offer. Instead of staying in each night, he wanted to go out and have some fun with more than just her. Sure, he loved her, but the perks of married life weren't always as peachy as so many made it out to seem. He didn't think he'd lose his friends because Ginny needed him every second of every hour of every day. Suffocated, that's what he felt like. What's more, Ginny couldn't even understand where the anger was coming from. Everything, in her eyes, he thought with a sneer, was just bang on (and he resented her for it).
The day after he left, he spent the night getting hammered at a pub, allowing the girls to approach him and make a pass. He snogged a pretty blonde, ignoring the gasps of the other women and the cheers from the man, all of whom were elated to see the famous soon-to-be-divorcé practically shagging some girl in the corner.
Harry waited three weeks before he finally slept with someone else. He'd only ever slept with Ginny and so it surprised him how different sex could be with someone else. Not better or worse, but just...different.
It bothered him that he couldn't tell whether that was good or bad.
For five months Harry partied like a quidditch player, allowing Golden Trio groupies to make a pass and succumbing to their charm. Waking up in random strangers' houses became routine, one which lost its entertainment value quickly.
Eventually the new house he'd bought felt far too lonely than he cared to admit. When they split up, he offered Ginny alimony, seeing as they were married for several years, but she turned the offer down. He thought she was just being stubborn and prideful, told her so as well, but still she did not accept any money. Ginny kept the apartment only because he didn't want it. The new house he bought suited him much better, a more bachelor pad type of atmosphere. Yet, loneliness crept up on him once the pseudo-happiness wore off and the same girls began to make him cringe.
Pride certainly played a factor in keeping him estranged from Ron and Hermione. When the divorce first occurred, Hermione maintained some semblance of friendship and support. Ron, along with the rest of the Weasleys, were downright hostile. One of the hazards of your ex-wife being your best mate's little sister, he'd thought at the time. Ron even had the gall to slug him the first time he saw him. Harry figured Ginny had something to do with it, a sort of revenge thing. Hermione later told him Ginny barely spoke a word about him and when she did, she only said good things. Only made the resentment grow - it's as if she wants me to feel bad, he'd thought darkly, days after the divorce. Ron warned him he'd regret it, that he'd see the error of his ways eventually and it would be too late.
Harry's pride refused to allow him to admit it. At least, to anyone other than himself.
Five months since he left Ginny and each day became harder than the last. Sure the parties and the drinking and the girls had been fun at first, a blast even, but no longer. Now they didn't even serve as a distraction.
At first he only noticed the loss of big things such as the three in the morning sex, the kind where she'd wake him up in the most amazing ways. Then the cooking, another one of her many talents. Growing up with so many siblings, especially all with Y-chromosomes, forced her to learn the ways of the kitchen. Harry always loved coming home to smell bread rising or hear the tapping of her foot as she unknowingly used her wand, instead of a spoon, to stir the sauce.
Then came the smaller, more obscure things - the kind of things only a lover would notice. He missed the smell of her scent on his pillow, on his sheets, and on him. He missed the sound of her voice when she sang in the shower or the sound of her hum as she dressed herself. He missed the way she tucked her hair behind her ear or the way she bit her lip when nervous.
He missed her smile.
Naturally he couldn't discuss this with anyone, not even his closest friends. Ron sided with Ginny, mortified by the news at first but later growing angry at Harry for "first taking Ginny away and then throwing her back into the mud" which he voiced with a growl. Harry felt it slightly unfair how Ron didn't even take in his point of view, to even consider his feelings on the matter. He tried to explain to his oldest friend how things changed between them, how he no longer felt any spark, but the enraged redhead wouldn't hear any of it.
The rest of the Weasley family cut off ties with him as well. He became a pariah to their home. Molly and Arthur refused to talk with him, instead giving all their comfort to their daughter. Harry got the distinct impression Charlie and Bill wanted to throttle him the one time he spotted them in a restaurant in London with their significant others. If Fleur hadn't grabbed the sleeve of Bill's shirt, they probably would have succeeded. When he built up the nerve to venture to Diagon Alley for the first time, George and Fred stared at him with such contempt he thought he would die on the spot. Surely they couldn't 'Avada' him with their eyes.
At least, he hoped not.
Even Percy, the arsehole who turned their back on the family years prior to the war, managed to disdain him. Just another reason for him to avoid the Ministry.
Hermione, on the other hand, reserved judgment, doing her best to support both Ginny and Harry. Seeing as Harry no longer had contact with the Weasley family, Hermione made sure to fill him in on certain things. However, she never spoke to him regarding Ginny, even when he asked about her. Even broaching the subject about how Ginny was doing, what she'd been up to, caused a stir for Hermione. Giving him the typical "fine" came naturally.
She never led on just how much Ginny was hurting.
Harry knew, of course. Well, he'd learned of it about a month ago when he followed her for the day, determined to see her new life. After realizing she no longer worked for The Prophet, he ventured over to Diagon Alley and spotted her at a bookshop. Surprising, seeing as he knew how much she loved her job in the Magical Gaming and Sports section. As a little spitfire, she promised herself and all the other reading witches out there that she'd bring female aspects to what men considered their sport. Did they have some layoffs at the paper?
Clearly the job was new for her, he could tell. Through the window he could see her having trouble with some of the transactions and appeared to get lost in some of the rows of books. The sight of her like that tugged at his heart.
An elderly man in a grey and yellow sweater approached her at around noon, the regular hour of a lunch break. Harry wished he could hear their conversation, but he settled for watching, noting the way the old man put a comforting arm around Ginny. The way he held out his arm, pointing to various aspects of the shop with a smile, no doubt informing her of all the potential the shop offered her, made him feel great gratitude for the man. Apparently Ginny needed the job and needed to hear whatever words he said.
Harry sat on a bench with a book in his hand, making sure to check frequently for any Weasleys and purposefully avoiding the gazes of fans, watching Ginny through the window. He watched her until five in the evening when she left, giving a small, meek smile to the same man and an older woman next him (probably his wife). Once she walked past him, her expression the epitome of despondency, he followed her, keeping a good distance between them so she wouldn't spot him.
Instead of walking to their old apartment right outside Diagon Alley like he thought she would, she went into the Leaky Cauldron and flooed to 'Quiet Grove'. Knowing the place, he followed her about a minute afterward and saw her walking a short pathway to some shabby flats.
"She lives here?" he said aloud, so baffled and confused he muttered it aloud.
He couldn't understand it.
He couldn't understand how she went from working at The Daily Prophet to working at some no-name bookstore.
He couldn't understand how she went from a nice, upscale apartment to some grungy, low-rent flat.
Harry couldn't understand anything about Ginny.
The whole time, too, she looked a dreadful mess. The Ginny he loved (still loved!) had been full of life, energy, and enthusiasm. He received the greatest comments about his wife; her vivaciousness, outlook on life, and general pleasurable company.
Now?
Now she looked half-dead, a shadow of the woman he married. A shadow of even the woman he left who just so happened lived a shadow of their life together.
He didn't sleep much that night.
Or any following night.
Each time he closed his eyes he saw her - saw her smiling at him over her shoulder as they took a broom ride together. He saw her dancing by herself in the kitchen, singing into the spatula along with the lyrics of a Janey Cauldron song. He saw her sitting next to Hermione in the living room, short black dressed hiked up dangerously high on her thigh, tempting him in spite of their company.
He saw all the things he took for granted.
Waking up in a cold sweat in his bed - his empty bed, his lonely bed - became an unwanted routine.
Harry felt completely foolish when the realization hit him - he'd lost his parents before he had the chance to know them. He lost Sirius, the only adult he truly felt loved him as a parent loves a child. He lost Dumbledore, his mentor and his ally, the man who died for the greater good and believed in Harry even when he didn't believe in himself. Even Dobby, a house-elf whose life mirrored some of the lowliest creatures in the world, died for him.
Now?
Now he'd lost the only woman he ever dared to love and all on his own doing.
Mistakes are made everyday, but not to this degree. Harry knew he never should have left her. He knew he never should have questioned his marriage, his only stability in life. Harry knew he never should have tried to stop loving Ginny.
He never could.
Now he had to venture to some wedding between his two best mates if only to attempt to salvage their botched friendship.
No, he refused to lie to himself further, to live in this world of deluded deceit. Shaking his head back and forth, an anxious gesture, he marched into his study to grab some parchment and a quill. Dipping the tip into the inkwell and then placing it against the smooth surface of the paper, Harry began to write:
Things to do:
1. Get Ginny back
2. Get my life back
A/N: Here is my first story (not one-shot) attempt at a pairing other than Draco/Hermione and first Harry/Ginny fic altogether. I've got most of the story mapped out - with a few tweaks in between - but I really like this one. This idea came to me yesterday in a sudden spark of imagination after listening to a Garth Brooks song. I highly suggest a listen so the story can make better sense. I apologize for this chapter - tons of information, I know - but I'm really excited about the next chapter! My other story, A Dream Worth Keeping, should be updated soon!
Mistake is the work of fanfiction. The characters belong to J.K. Rowling, but the featured story is mine.