Prologue

I wish I could pinpoint the moment where things started going wrong, but I can't. Maybe it was when I first met him, maybe it was when he asked me out for the first time, or it could have been before I was born, maybe it was the moment he was born or it could have been as late as the moment he left.

But there is no point in trying to pinpoint the moment everything changed. The fact is, it just happened, it wasn't intentional, not on my part at least.

Ginny's POV

I sat on the stairs crying in Hermione's arms, I had always known that this moment would come, the moment he would finally realise how much better he could do, the moment he would leave me. I had just hoped that it wouldn't be so soon, but my heart, my heart always knew.

I had known for such a long time that I loved him so much more than he loved me, but I hoped that maybe the love he did have for me would be enough for him to stay. And it was enough for a while, but then the day I knew was coming arrived. The day he realised how much he was missing out on with me and he went out to find someone who could be more for him.

"He was too good for me Hermione." I sobbed.

"Ginny! Don't you ever say that; don't even think it, because it isn't true. YOU are too good for him."

"Oh sure, that explains why he can, and probably will, have every girl in this entire school. Because I am too good for him?" I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. Hermione opened her mouth to speak but I cut her off. "No Hermione let me finish. I always knew this would happen, but I figured that it wasn't worth worrying about. It has always been obvious that I love him a lot more than he loves me, if he loved me at all, that is. I thought that when this time came, I would be okay with that. Because having some time with him was better than nothing. And now, I can look back on these days and remember the best days of my life. It just hurts to think that I'm only sixteen and the best days of my life have already passed me by."

"Ginevra Weasley, listen to me. They were not the best days of your life. He is nothing, nothing okay? Harry used to be one of the best people I knew, but, well I don't know what happened to him, he just changed. He used to care, he used to be kind and he used to love you Ginny. I think he knows something about his future we don't, I think maybe he doesn't think he has much time left, so he's trying to push us away so it won't hurt as much when he is gone. I don't think he understands he's only making it worse. But, it doesn't matter why he's doing this, you don't deserve it he's treating you terribly." Hermione said, close to tears. By now tears were streaming down my face.

"I can't even breathe properly when he's not around, I don't know how I'm going live without him… a-and I've re-really messed u-up Hermione." I stuttered through tears.

"Ginny! It's not your fault he's behaving like this!" Hermione exclaimed. She seemed almost angry that I could even suggest it was my fault. But she didn't know half of the story.

"Hermione, I'm not talking about the way he's acting… I've REALLY messed up, worse than that…" I started. Hermione stared at me, she looked puzzled. I took a deep breath and said "I-I-I'm pregnant."

"What?!?! You slept with him?" she yelled outraged. I just nodded; I couldn't form words through my tears, which were now falling thick and fast. "What were you thinking Ginny?" she said.

"I love him. For me there was never anyone else, I never had a crush on a famous Quiddich player or Gilderoy Lockhart. For me, it has only ever been Harry James Potter… and I don't think that's ever going to change." I said. My voice was surprisingly confident, considering how helpless I felt.

"W-well, how far along are you?" Hermione asked nervously.

"Three months already." I replied.

"And it's taken you three months to realise?" Hermione said, while she looked at me with a face that said 'are you completely daft?'

"No… of course I suspected it… but I didn't want to accept it." I said meekly.

"Well, it's too late to do anything about it now, your going to have to have this baby. I know you're only sixteen… but you have plenty of people who will help you raise it" said Hermione.

"But Harry isn't one of them." I whispered, just loud enough for Hermione to hear.

"I don't want to believe that he's changed that much Ginny, the old Harry never would have left you to raise this baby, but the old Harry wouldn't have slept with you without protection either." Hermione said. "I think loosing Sirius was what did it Gin, I don't think he thinks he has anyone left anymore."

"But he does Hermione! He has me, you, Ron, my whole family… well apart from Percy." I exclaimed.

"I know, but I don't think he does. Don't rule Harry out just yet, he might come around." Hermione replied.

15 years later

"Ginny, I think it's time you tried to find someone; I know you get lonely sometimes." Hermione said quietly.

"Hermione…" I began, hissing through her teeth. "Remember when I told you that for me, Harry had only ever been the one and I didn't think it would ever change?"

"Yes" Hermione said slowly.

"I was right; I haven't felt for anyone else, not even a tiny bit. It's been almost sixteen years. He was the only one Hermione."

"Oh, Ginny!" Hermione said sympathetically. She put her arm around me and tried to comfort me, but it was much too late for that. I was already in tears.

"Imogen sent me a photo of her and her friends laughing today…" I began. I hadn't seen Charley in almost a year because she hadn't come home last holidays. Instead she had gone to Romania with Hagrid and a small group of care of magical creatures' students, to see the dragons. "…She looks so much him! I mean, she always did, but not like this, it's incredible." I whimpered.

"You'll be okay; everything's going to be alright." Hermione whispered.

"No Hermione everything will not be okay! Do you have any idea what it's like to not be able to look at your own daughter without having your heart ripped to shreds all over again?" I screamed. "No, no you don't. Because you don't even know what it feels like Hermione! You have Ron; you got the one you loved. And you certainly don't know what it feels like to not be able to look at your own child without causing yourself pain. You have no idea how much it hurt every time someone saw you with Katie and commented on how much she looked like you and Ron. You have no idea how it felt when people saw you together and immediately said 'this must be your daughter.' Because that has NEVER happened to me Hermione, and it's never going to." I paused, breathing heavily after my rant.

"Gin, I'm so sor-" Hermione began.

"No, I'm not finished. Just listen. Remember when Immy first needed glasses? Well there was a sign in the optometrist above a pair of glasses that looked just like his. It said 'look just like the chosen one.' And she wanted those ones Hermione. But I told her no. And I picked her out some glasses which were as different from the ones she wanted as I could. Well, she never did like the glasses I picked her. She knew what she wanted when she was six and she never changed her mind. She got some new glasses; she's wearing them in the picture, look."

Hermione took one look at the picture and gasped. Immy certainly did look like Harry. She had waist length messy jet black hair, his bright green eyes, but she had always had those. There was something different. As Immy had matured, her looks, naturally, had altered. Now, she had the same nose, her lips had begun to form the same smirk Harry's had. When she laughed in the picture she threw her head back just the same way Harry did when he laughed, and with the glasses, the resemblance was uncanny.

"She didn't inherit anything from me. It's all him. You can't even tell I'm her mother… if someone saw Immy and him they would KNOW they were related… but me, well when you look at her, anyone could be her mother, if the two of them met somebody and told them that Immy's mum was some random tramp… they would believe it." Ginny said quietly.

"It's okay Gin, we know, and that's all that matters."

"But, Hermione… I can't even look at this picture for more than a few seconds without almost breaking down… I don't know how I'm going to look at her again. And I know how bad that sounds, like I hate my own child, but I don't! You know I love her more than anything… but I don't think I can stand to see her. Yet, at the same time I miss her so much, I don't think I can NOT see her again. Either way, I won't be able to cope."

"Couldn't you just… try to forget him?" Hermione asked.

"How many times have I explained this to you?!?" I screamed. "I can't just get over him, I fucking love him okay?" I accentuated every syllable as I spoke. "And sometimes I forget the way he ruffled his hair, or the way he threw his head back when he laughed, and I panic, because I never want to forget a single thing about him. Then I look at Imogen and I'm relieved, because with her around I know I'll never forget anything about him. And I think, well that's not so bad. But when I realise that no matter how much I remember him, he will never be mine, that's when I crumble. And to be perfectly honest, I don't think I can live without him for much longer, since he's been gone it's just gotten harder and harder to breathe. It's like when you cut the head off a chicken, it doesn't die, but it just gets weaker and weaker, until eventually it dies. I'm that chicken Hermione, and I'm about to collapse and die."

"I thought you were stronger than that, I really did. If you did just die what would happen to Immy? This isn't just about you! Think about how it would affect all the people you love."

"Don't you ever accuse me of being weak, you have no idea Hermione. Imagine if when you were pregnant with Charley, Ron left you, do you think you would ever get over that? But you were pregnant with Charley when you were twenty weren't you? Okay, well imagine that same scene… only you were sixteen…you hadn't even finished school yet, that is my life. And I don't regret Immy, not for a second. But do you understand why it's so hard."

"Jesus Ginny…" Hermione began.

"I love him, I need him, and I can't wait anymore."

"And you don't have to." Came a voice from behind Hermione and I. Hermione turned around with a puzzled expression on her face, she had no idea who it was until she saw his face. But I knew, I knew from the second the words left his mouth. I could never forget the sound of that voice.