DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, settings, phenomenons, or plots mentioned in the books or movies. I simply borrow them for fun. Hope I don't destroy them too bad. :) I bow down and beg the forgiveness of the merciful and wondrous J.K. Rowling for massacring her masterpieces. :)
A/N: This takes place in the end of The Deathly Hallows, before the epilogue. I was inspired by a scene from The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (movie, obviously), and couldn't help writing it. A sweet Harry/Ginny reunion moment. I know there are too many of these, but Harry and Ginny are just so sweet together, and a couple of the things that Ginny says I just had to write down. I don't like Fan Fictions where Ginny's really sweet and welcoming and understanding when Harry returns, because she's got a temper, and, yeah, she understands why he did what he did, but she's not going to be too happy with him for trying to protect her. She'd defiantly have something to say about it all. And I don't like the Fan Fictions that show her as being overly harsh and angry with him for leaving her. As I said before: She understands why he did what he did. And she's most certainly proud of him for it. :) Ginny Weasley is my all-time favorite character, and I wanted to (attempt to) portray her accurately.
That said, enjoy!
Harry broke away from Ron and Hermione first and began walking back towards the Great Hall.
Ron started after him, but Hermione said, "There's something he needs to do on his own."
The House tables had been replaced, but everyone was jumbled together: Teachers and students of all Houses, kids' families, and Hogsmeade villagers.
He retraced the steps he had taken earlier, grinning weakly at Hagrid when he passed, who couldn't help but give Harry a second bone-crushing hug.
When Harry finally found who he was looking for, he couldn't bring himself to say anything at first.
Ginny was sitting with her head on her mother's shoulder, her eyes closed. Her hair was tangled, her face dirt-streaked, a trickle of blood beading on her forehead, her shirt and jeans torn and grimy.
She had never seemed so beautiful.
As though she sensed he was watching her, she opened her eyes, a hard-to-define smile playing across her face.
"What?" he asked quietly, and now Mrs. Weasley looked up, giving Harry a small, sad smile of her own, and watching with interest.
"'Hi there,'" she murmured, with just the smallest trace of her old, mischievous self.
Harry blushed. "Yeah…I was…."
He let the sentence hang.
Ginny shook her head, and stood.
"Are you going to say it first, or should I?"
"Which thing?" Harry asked, grinning a little himself.
"What do you think should be said first?" she challenged, crossing her arms, but she was clearly affectionate.
There was a long pause, then, "I'm sorry!" They both blurted the words out at the same time, then, their eyes met for the briefest space in time, and they shared a tiny smile.
"I was wrong," Harry said after a moment.
"No," Ginny replied, shaking her head. "You were a noble git, but you were never wrong. Not about what you had to do. Not that I cared."
"Then maybe I wasn't being noble. Maybe I was being selfish. Maybe I knew you didn't care, but I did, and I didn't want you to be one of those fifty people and have to know that it was my fault. Maybe I didn't want to give you up…I wanted someone to come home to….Maybe I didn't want to get my own hopes up.
"Or maybe it was both," Ginny murmured.
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, I tend to think that if you cared about me enough to want to get your hopes up, there would've been some nobility in there somewhere. Besides, it's just what you are: A selfless, noble git."
A grin fought to take over her face.
Harry shook his head, and for the first time, Ginny seemed truly angry.
"Oh, really? Then why'd you go into the forest? Why'd you try to die? Hell, Harry! Why did everyone think you were going to go into the forest? Why did Voldemort even try?"
(Mrs. Weasley, still listening and beginning to catch on, did not reprimand her daughter for swearing, perhaps not wanting to interrupt, but also thinking that after the scene with Bellatrix, she'd allow it to slip by…just this once.)
Harry met her gaze: She was staring at him with that familiar blazing look.
He said nothing, but the look on his face was enough for her.
"There's a second part to this, you know," Ginny whispered. "Something I need to hear - we both need to hear."
Harry nodded. "There are a lot of things you deserve to know," he said hesitantly.
"Explanations can wait," she said so quietly that he barely heard her, and she moved towards him.
He stepped forward as well, heart in his throat.
"I should have said this to you a long time ago," he murmured.
"You're stalling," she said, and, though her voice was quite steady, it was soft, and tears were building up in her chest. She took another step. Just one was left before they were in each other's arms.
Harry took a deep breath.
He looked back at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, at all Ginny's brothers, and Neville and Luna, Hermione and Fleur, and Hagrid and Kingsley and McGonagall, all of whom had joined them and were watching silently.
Their family stood all around them.
Harry smiled. He needed to take the final step.
Even above the din surrounding them, the sound of his trainer hitting the floor as he closed the inches between himself and Ginny seemed to resound in the air around the group.
"I love you."
He said it loudly and clearly, wanting everyone to know, yet having eyes only for the redheaded girl in front of him.
"I love you too."
Her voice matched his in it's firm, unshakable quality, and her brown eyes did not waver from his green ones.
In a rush of passion and grief, they were in each other's arms, and finally, finally, they kissed.
Ginny wrapped her arms around Harry's waist and leaned into him, and he held her close, feeling an odd mixture of relief and tension.
Through the oblivion of their kiss, applause reached them. It took a second to realize that not only was their group clapping, but the entire Great Hall was filled with cheers and laughter. A few idiots - most likely George and Lee - were wolf whistling.
It took quite a while for them to break apart, and when they did, Ginny lay her head on his shoulder, and Harry thought: Riddle was wrong about many things…but his biggest mistake, his most crucial error, the thing that he was so utterly wrong about that it had ultimately been the thing which had destroyed him, was Dumbledore's favorite weapon.
A/N: Right…another short, sappy one-shot down, about a million others swirling around in my head…I could really do with a Pensive. :) I KNOW YOU GET THIS ALL THE TIME, BUT IF YOU HAVE COMMENTS, PRAISE, OR CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM, PLEASE REVIEW!
~PhoenixFlameGinny67