What's That On Your Chest, Harry?
Harry couldn't believe that it was all over. He had finally done it. He defeated Voldemort and had lived to tell about it. Now, he had to rebuild his life. He paused outside the gargoyle that guarded the Headmaster's, now the Headmistress's office. He had gone to talk to Dumbledore's portrait, to tell him he had hidden the Elder Wand where no one would find it.
He felt dirty, hungry, and exhausted. He needed some sleep, a shower, and a sandwich, in that order. Which came first, he didn't particularly care at that moment. He would wait until morning to go see Madam Pomfrey. He felt that he wasn't a priority.
He would have headed straight to Gryffindor tower, but something had stopped him. Something that he felt he wanted, no, needed to do first before he went to sleep.
He needed to go and check on Ginny and talk with her before he went up to the tower. He wanted to talk to her and make sure that things were okay between them. He didn't think he would last another minute without knowing if she wanted anything to do with him again. She had every right to say that she didn't want to see him ever again.
He hoped that wasn't the case and she wanted him back.
He headed down to the ground floor and entered the Great Hall. Once a beautiful room that greeted him every September first since he was eleven years old was now a room of mass destruction. Broken windows, rubble piled in the corner and signs that this had been the place of a war zone just a few short hours ago.
The bodies of the dead were moved to unused and undamaged classrooms on the ground floor near the hospital wing and the injured was moved to the hospital wing, some awaiting a portkey to St. Mungo's for further or more experienced treatment.
He looked around and found a cluster of redheads near the spot where Fred had laid, sitting on a table that had been moved just a little while ago. No one had moved from that spot since he had been down there earlier before he had gone to hide the Elder Wand.
Molly and Arthur were sitting side by side on the table. Arthur was holding his wife as she tried to calm her tears. While she had lost one child, she was thankful that her other six children had made it. If she had lost another one…she couldn't bear to think about it. It was hard enough to come to term losing one, which was one too many.
She looked up as Harry approached them and she was up in a flash and had embraced him with a hug so tight that Harry thought he couldn't breathe.
"Don't scare me like that again," Molly whispered in his ear, her voice, shaking. "I already lost one son. I didn't want to lose another."
Harry didn't know what to say. He didn't know that Molly and Arthur seriously considered him another son. The only thing he could think of doing at that moment was he returned her hug and said, "I'm so sorry about Fred."
"It wasn't your fault," Molly said, cupping her hand to his cheek.
She walked back to Arthur and sat down beside him. He knew that checking on them wasn't the only reason Harry came over here.
He scanned the table across from them and found the redhead he was looking, sitting on the table in between the two long tables that the Weasleys had commandeered. He carefully approached her, the girl he loved and had missed so much. He approached her with caution, knowing exactly what she was capable of. He was liable to get hexed.
"Ginny?" He asked, hesitantly. He didn't want to use her nickname, afraid he didn't have that luxury anymore.
She looked up and her brown eyes met his green eyes. She smiled softly at him. Then, without warning, she got up from her seat and climbed down from the table. She took his offered hand and then in the blink of an eye, she cupped the sides of his face and her lips crashed to his.
Harry felt every worry he had whether Ginny would take him back leave him at that moment. It felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
He ignored the whistles and catcalls from Ginny's brothers and the Gryffindors who were present in the Great Hall, Neville's the loudest of them all.
When it felt like an eternity had passed, they broke apart. Ginny ran her hand along the back of Harry's head, feeling of relief filling her to the brim.
"Don't you ever scare me like again?! Are you listening to me, Harry James Potter?" Ginny asked her voice stern and yet soft.
Her brothers all made a sound, similar to that of a whip and others waited patiently to see if Harry would be introduced to her bat bogey hex. Ron smirked at the sound of Harry's full name, while Hermione covered her mouth with her hand, either amused or worried. It was hard to tell.
"I won't, I promise. I hear you and I see you," he said, using something they usually said after an argument. It was more of a signal to the other person that they were being heard.
"Good," Ginny said, wrapping her arms around the man she loved. They hugged for a brief before they broke apart, their hands still laced with the others.
"Will you come up to the tower with me?" Harry asked softly.
Ginny turned back towards her parents, unsure. Harry met Arthur's eyes and he nodded, smiling softly. He even motioned for them to go with his hand, more so to tell his daughter it was okay.
With Arthur's blessing, Harry offered Ginny his hand and Ginny took it, grasping it tightly as if she would let go, Harry would disappear before her eyes.
They walked up the stairs to the Fat Lady's portrait and she let them in without the password. Harry helped Ginny through the portrait hole and they stood in the common room, taking in the fact that unlike the rest of the castle, Gryffindor tower had made it through the battle, unharmed with the exception of a cracked window.
Harry led Ginny to the stairs and up towards the boys' dorm. He led her in the seventh year boy's dorm where they would have some peace and quiet, especially when the Weasleys joined them.
Ginny followed Harry to the bed that had been his for six years, sitting down on the edge beside Harry. The room smelled the same to Harry and the Scottish sun was shining through the windows. Silence followed until Harry broke it.
"I'm sorry," he said, softly.
Ginny wasn't expecting this but decided to wait to hear what Harry had to say.
"I'm sorry I had to break up with you. It was for a very noble, but stupid reason." He paused to give Ginny a chance for this piece of information to sink in. "I didn't think I would be able to tell anyone, even what happened these past months, while I was away."
Pausing once more, mainly for Harry to find the words to explain to Ginny, he took a moment and looked at Ginny. She looked even more beautiful than she did last August. He had missed her so much.
"We were hunting Horcruxes, which are objects that someone had placed part of their soul in after they commit murder, a brutal murder," Harry explained.
"And you're telling me this?" Ginny asked, her voice above a whisper.
"I could hold this back from you in fear you wouldn't take it well," Harry admitted. "I know you're stronger than anyone, including myself, ever give you credit for. I need you to know what we went through to end this war."
If Ginny was surprised, she didn't show it. Harry never kept anything from her. He told her everything about the lessons with Dumbledore during his sixth year. When he learned the prophecy, he told her first before Ron and Hermione and neither of them knew she knew before them. Harry never kept anything from her. He didn't think he could.
"There are three things I need to tell you before I start. The first is Voldemort made seven Horcruxes, the diary was one of them, and so was I."
Ginny's breath hitched.
He began telling her the whole story, telling her all of it and not leaving a thing out. Ginny didn't interrupt him and tears never prickled her eyes for which Harry was grateful for because he found it easier to go on that way. He hated seeing Ginny cry, he especially hated to be the reason for her tears.
As he told her what happened over the last year, from beginning to end, Ginny couldn't help but become angry when Harry told her about the fight between him and Ron and he left him and Hermione. She couldn't hold back the gasp when Harry told her how Nagini tried to kill him at Godric's Hollow. She made a note to thank Neville for killing that snake. She let the tears flow when Harry told her about Dobby. She already knew about the break-in at Gringotts, but he had confirmed everything Ginny had heard. When he reached the part of Snape's memories, she took his hand and didn't let go, but squeezing gently. She didn't say anything, and really, she didn't need to. She said it all just by being there with him.
He told her about seeing his parents, Remus, and Sirius with the resurrection stone, this time with small tears of his own running down his face. She wiped them with her thumbs and kissed his cheek.
Harry told her about going into the forest and his conversation with Dumbledore. Ginny stopped him there.
"That's all I need to know," Ginny said, softly. "I don't need to know about your conversation with Dumbledore. You should keep that memory for yourself."
Harry yawned and Ginny realized that it must have been a while since Harry got any sleep.
"I think it's time for you to get some sleep," she murmured. She lightly ran her fingers through his messy hair and he closed his eyes at the gesture.
He stood up, after kicking off his shoes and tried to pull off his jacket and shirt, but was too tired to do so.
Ginny reached down and pulled off his zip-up hoodie over his head. She reached down once more and pulled off his T-shirt in one fluid motion as she had done with the hoodie. She dropped the shirt to the floor and looked up at Harry, smiling softly. Her eyes scanned his body, looking for anything that might need some attending to.
"What's that on your chest, Harry?" Ginny asked, noticing the new scar on his chest.
She was startled to see a long, jagged, lightning-shaped scar over where his heart would be. She gasped and stepped away.
"You were dead weren't you?" she whispered, her eyes filled with tears.
"My last thoughts were of you," Harry whispered. "How your lips felt on mine, how your hair felt in my fingers, and how you fit in my arms. I thought I would never see your smiling face again or tell you how much I love you."
After a moment, Ginny reached and laid her hand over the scar. She looked up and her brown eyes met Harry's green. Then her lips met his and they kissed like they had many times before.
It was short, but emotional kiss, unlike the ones they had shared thousands of times. This kiss was more special than the rest.
Once they broke apart, she leaned head against his chest, not before she placed a soft kiss to the scar, making Harry shiver.
She then led him towards the bed and turned down the sheets, crisp and clean from the laundry. Once done, she looked up at the man she loved.
"I love you."
"I love you too." Harry kissed her again, burying his hands in her hair.
When they broke apart again, Ginny guided Harry to bed. He laid down and brought Ginny with him. Ginny leaned over and kissed him, relishing in the fact she could kiss him again.
"Will you go out with me again?" Harry asked, his lips hovering over hers.
Ginny didn't need to think about it. "Yes, I will. But this time, it better be for the long haul."
He chuckled tiredly and laid back against the pillows.
"Of course," Harry murmured, realizing that he could have a future with Ginny. They lay in silence until Harry broke it.
"Will you stay with me?" he whispered.
Ginny looked him in the eyes, which were half closed and smiled.
"Always," she whispered, but he heard her.
Harry smiled, letting his eyes closed. He fell asleep in a way he had dreamed of for the last year: with the girl, he loves in his arms.