Chapter 1

"Oi! Harry! Better get down here, Mum needs us to set the table!" called Ron up the crooked stairwell of the Burrow.

Harry scowled, and looked back out the window of the room he and Ron shared, catching his last glimps of a beautiful sunset. He had been thinking of her again. It seemed that no matter where he went, Ginny invaded his mind. She had been shattered after Fred's death, and he had held her as she cried at the funeral. But since then she had been very distant. She didn't avoid him, (which would have been rather hard, seeing as they were both living at the Burrow) but gave no indication that they had a future as anything more than friends, a future Harry desperately wanted to change.

He loved her, he had since he rescued her from the chamber so long ago. First as friends, then as a brother, and now with something so deep seeded and fierce that he wanted nothing more than to march up to Ginny and tell her exactly how he felt. Again and again he came up with elaborate schemes to win back her heart. He thought of cornering her after a meal and asking her to go for a walk with him. Then he would profess his love for her, come what answer may. But something held him back every time he thought of doing this. Two somethings in fact, the first of which being Ron.

Ron was his best mate, and he had suffered alongside him in his quest to destroy Voldemort, through all seven years of the battle. Ron had stayed loyal and true to him, despite being the butt of many jokes. He had even sacrificed his last year of magical education to travel with Harry in search for the horcruxes. He had lost family and friends with Harry. Harry thought he owed it to Ron to respect the one thing that had caused a rift in their relationship since sixth year; Harry's tumultuous relationship with Ginny.

The second reason was Ginny herself, or rather Harry's growing fear that she would not return his feeling. She had always been successful with the boys, catching eyes, turning heads and breaking hearts. Her stunning looks and outgoing personality made sure of this.

Harry knew it would not be hard for her to find someone else, and he lived in constant fear that she would turn up one day over the summer with a boy draped over her shoulder. A boy who hadn't dumped her and disappeared for over six months, a boy who didn't have the burden of a lightning shaped scar on his forehead.

But no such boy had appeared so far. Harry's true fear was of when she returned to Hogwarts in September in a little over a month. There, surrounded by eligible young wizards, he felt sure she would find someone. He longed to claim her for his own, but his intense fear of her rejection, or even worse, loss of her friendship, kept his feelings to himself.

"Charlie is coming in from Romania, Bill and Fleur as well, and Percy is bringing his girlfriend for us to meet. And I believe Angelina will be round as well, yes Georgie?" asked Molly Weasley, who was overseeing the preparation of dinner with a motherly smile, standing at the stove boiling potatoes.

"Yeah, she's coming" said George dreamily, playing with a fork on the table, lost in his own world, which Harry was sure was full of nothing but Angelina and new Joke shop ideas. Mostly Angelina, however.

"Good, I always liked that girl." declared Mrs. Weasley, as she turned to the dough that was magically kneading itself on the counter next to her. She deemed it satisfactory, and with a wave of her wand, sent it into a nearby pan and floating into the already open oven door. She turned again, a slightly careworn expression on her face, and said "Oh, and Harry dear, did you remember to invite Neville and Luna?"

"Yes Mrs. Weasley, they said they would love to come." said Harry, wiping up the table and laying out the green and gold table cloth.

He tried to help out as much as he could around the Burrow, depite Mrs. Weasley's incessant claims of "Oh Harry dear, you really don't need to, I can manage on my own." Harry helped nevertheless, because he felt bad about living with them as they mourned for Fred. He felt as is he was intruding on something private, but he literally had no where else to go. He had been unsucsessful in his attempts to locate the Dursleys, (albeit they were halfhearted, there was no love lost there) and even if he had found them, he did not fancy living with them again.

He had simply left Hogwarts after the funerals with the Weasleys, his tear streaked face echoing theirs. Going home with them was natural to him, the Burrow was more like a home to him than Number Four, Private Drive ever was. His true home, Hogwarts, carried to many bad memories for him to remain there. It wasn't until a week later, when he walked in on Mrs. Weasley sobbing over one of Fred's forgotten socks, that he truly felt like an intruder on the family's grief.

He had voiced his concerns on this to Ron one evening in their room, and he had immediately been shot down. "Mate, your being ridiculous. You're a part of this family as well, you are missing him as much as we are. Besides, it would have crushed Mum's heart. You know she's always looking for someone to look after." Harry had conceded to that, and had simply resolved to help Mrs. Weasley as much as he could.

He wasn't the only non-Weasley living at the Burrow, or having a hard time locating relatives for that matter. Hermione was living in what used to be Charlie and Bill's old room, and her search for her parents had, as of yet, yielded no results.

Apparently, under their obliviated state, her parents had decided to vacate the apartment Hermione had left them in in Queens, Australia, and nobody in the vicinity had heard from them since. Hermione had long since accepted the fact that she may never see her parents again, but it was blatantly evident to everyone that she missed them desperately.

Harry felt awful for her, and as he was cutting carrots for Mrs. Weasley's soup he thought of ways to coax her into talking about it. So far she had refused to discuss the topic, feigning deafness whenever it was brought up. Seven years of knowing Hermione told Harry that if she didn't talk about it soon, she would explode with emotion at the slightest catalyst.

Hermione's voice from another room interrupted his thoughts. He hadn't realized she was back from the Ministry yet, as she had been touring the department of Magical Creature Relations.

"How many more chairs will we need Mrs. Weasley?"

"Hold on dear, let me count." answered Mrs. Weasley. "Well let's see now, we have five in here now... The eight Weasleys (this she said with a pained expression, before Fred's untimely death there had been nine of them) Harry and Hermione make ten, Fleur, Angelina, and Percy's friend make thirteen, plus Neville and Luna makes fifteen. Hermione, we'll need to gather ten more."

"Ten!" Harry heard Hermione grumble from the other room and she stalked away, no doubt to go conjure up some for Ron to carry in.

They had just finished a glorious dinner, courtesy of Mrs. Weasley, and were now just sitting around and catching up, and also becoming acquainted with Audrey, Percy's girlfriend. Harry rather liked her. She seemed perfect for Percy anyway, and was rather good looking as well. She was muggle born, from London, but her family moved to Ottery St. Catchpole when she was accepted at Hogwarts to be closer to wizarding people. She was very graceful, kind, and accepting of the whole family, and (Harry was glad to see this, as she didn't often view her brother's girlfriends as anything more than an annoyance) was getting on particularly well with Ginny.

Harry had been in a discussion with Angelina, who happened to be a chaser on the Hollyhead Harpies all-witch team, about pitches. Angelina had excused herself to run to the bathroom, so Harry just sat and observed his segregate family. He saw Bill and Fleur across from him, Fleur absentmindedly playing with Bill's hair as she talked to Luna, who, Harry was very pleased to see, was holding hands with Neville. He caught Neville's eye and glanced down at he and Luna's entwined hands. Neville's face slpit into a gigantic smile, and he motioned Harry out the door, so as to talk. They rose simultaneously, Neville kissing Luna's forehead as he did, and slipped out into the cool relief of the yard.

"How long mate?" asked Harry, noting the look of pure happiness that was etched onto Neville's face as they stood outside, the hum of conversation still floating from the Burrow.

"Since a week after the battle. She found me crying by the lake, you know, after the funerals." Neville stopped, and a quick moment of silence in remembrance of that terrible day enveloped them. Neville was first to break it. "And she comforted me, staying out at the lake long after dark, just talking to me. It was then that I knew how I truely felt about her. It had been coming on for a while, but it just hit me that night. I'm a bit dense when it comes to these things. " he confessed with a grimace, and Harry laughed. He knew exactly how he felt. "Anyway," continued Neville, "I asked her the next morning, and you know Luna. I may as well have asked her to marry me, the way she jumped into my arms. Grans not to pleased, she was never a fan of Xeno, but she says she trusts my judgement. We moved into the cottage in town a few weeks ago. We wanted to be closer to everyone."

"Wow, Nev, thats great!" said Harry, smiling and clapping him on the back.

"Thanks Harry," replied Neville, smiling. Suddenly, Neville's smile faded, and he asked "How are you and Ginny?"

"Honestly, Nev, we are a disaster." replied Harry, frowning, but relieved to have someone else to discuss his mixed up feelings with.

"Want to talk about it? asked Neville. "I don't want to pry," he added quickly, "but she and Luna are very good friends, and she comes over a lot. Luna kicks me out of the room a lot so they can have 'private talks' and perhaps its just me, but I think they are about you."

"I just don't know what to do Nev." said Harry, after revealing all his fears and personal thoughts about his situation with Ginny to Neville as they sat on a bench in the Weasley's overflowing and somewhat gnone-infested garden.

"Well, its obvious you love her." said a dreamy voice from behind them. Luna was walking up, her usual spaced out look on her face, but Harry didn't let that fool him. Luna was a very perceptive person. "I hope you don't mind Harry, but I needed some air, and I overheard as I was coming up." she said as she sunk down into Neville's lap.

"Of course not Luna. I trust you as much as Neville."said Harry, suddenly excited. Neville had said she and Ginny were friends, maybe she would know how Ginny felt about him. He was just opening his mouth to ask when Luna said

"I'm sorry, Harry, but I can't tell you anything about how she feels about you."

"Oh." said Harry, his excitement dying as suddenly as it had come up. "I just thought you might know, since she spends so much time with you." he said, the disapointment evident in his voice.

"Oh, I know exactly how she feels about you" said Luna, staring at him with her large, owlish eyes.

"You do?" Harry exclaimed, confused. "Well then why can't-"

"I cannnot tell you anything because everything Ginny told me is a secret. She told me in confidance, and I cannot break her trust. She is my friend, just as you are, and to tell her secrets would break the rules of friendship. I will say this, however," Luna said, wearing an expression of serenity, completely oblivious to Harry's disappointment. "That it is very obvious that you love Ginny. And I think if you don't act on this soon, you will regret losing her for the rest of your life. If there is anything this war has taught me, its to trust your instincts, and act on your wishes. There may not always be a tomorrow for them." She trilled in an annoyingly cheery voice, squeezed Neville's hand, and stared at Harry.

He nodded, and through his bitter feelings, he felt a surge of love for this odd girl. As strange as she could be, she was the first person Harry would trust with a secret. He didn't need to tell Luna not to mention this conversation to Ginny, he knew that Luna held her friends all in the same light. She would not betray him to Ginny any more than she would Ginny to him. With that he rose and excused himself, heading back to the Burrow's warmpth.

Seated next to Neville's empty chair were Ron and Hermione, and there was never a couple so obviously in love as them. Ron had his arm draped around the back of her chair as he spoke to Charlie, who sat across from him, and Harry thought had never seen his best mate look happier. Harry smiled as he walked back into the kitchen and slipped silently into his chair.

George and Angelina appeared to have slippped off somewhere, so Harry sat alone in his chair, drinking in the kitchen full of happiness he had worked so hard to make possible. Hermione was listening to Ron and Charlie, casting Ron looks of adoration and making small comments here and there. Harry looked around again, glancing at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley laughing and talking with Percy and Audrey, who Arthur was questioning about muggle medicine and the concept of X-rays. This earned him an eye roll and shushing from Molly.

And at last, his eyes found her, Ginny, seated a few chairs down from him, who had slipped into Luna's abandoned seat and was talking to talking with Fleur and Bill. As he observed her from a distance, he was stunned yet again by her ability to be flawlessly beautiful without seeming to try. Harry loved everything aboout her, even the freckels dotted across her nose and cheeks, a feature she tried very hard to cover up.

He wanted so much in that instance to stand up and announce his feelings to her right then and there. What did he care that there was a kitchenful of prying eyes? He loved her. And with courage searing through his body like firewhisky, he half rose from his chair and was just about to open his mouth when Bill's voice rose above the din.

"Excuse me everyone, Fleur and I have an announcement to make." Fleur rose and stood next to Bill, and Harry coudls see his chance was lost. He sank back into his seat, his burst of courage and resolve gone, and he thought to himself bitterly I call myself a Gryffindor? I defeated Voldemort, brought a whole world to peace, and I can't even tell the love of my life how I feel? Some Gryfindor I turned out to be. Harry was so wrapped up in his self shaming that he almost missed the announcement Bill and Fleur were obviously dying to make.

"I am pregnant!" said Fleur, happily, big smiles plastered across both her and Bill's faces. Silence held for a heartbeat, and then everyone was cheering, the women shrieking with hand held over thier mouths in excitement, and everyone was standing to shake hands with Bill and hug Fleur.

"How far along are you?" asked Mrs. Weasley, and the room quieted again.

"Oh, well-" started Bill sheepishly.

"Eet ez alright Bill." said Fleur, taking his hand and squeezing it. "Two months. I'm very sorry we deedn't tell you all zooner, but Maman 'ad a very 'ard time 'aving me and my seester, and we wanted to be compleetely sure before we told you all."

After this, there was more hugging and shaking of the hands, family clustered around the happy couple, women discussing names and baby showers, men (mostly Mr. Weasley) talking to Bill about the experience of a pregnant wife. Harry listened halfheartedly as Mr. Weasley explained to Bill the pains of midnight cravings and morning sickness.

He snuck upstairs as soon as he could, silently leaving so as not to disturb the happy couple. When he reached Ron and he's room he flopped onto the bed without bothering to change into pajamas, upset over his lack of courage when it came to Ginny. When Ron came up an hour later looking for him to join in the late nightcap the family was having to celebrate Bill and Fleur, he feigned sleep. He needed to be alone, and unknowingly Ron obliged, backing out of the room and closing the door behind him.