Title: Losing Faith

Summary: It's the summer after Ginny's sixth year, and Voldemort is dead. But still, things are not how they should be. How will everyone cope now that the worst threat is over? HG RHr

Genre: Romance/Drama

Rating: T

Author's Note: This is not a sequel, though things might seem a little confusing. All will be explained in time, so please give me the benefit of the doubt, read, and review!

V I V I V

CHAPTER ONE

It was with a heavy heart that Ginny Weasley stepped off the Hogwarts Express and into her parents' relieved embraces at the end of a long, exhausting year at the school. Burying her face in her mother's shoulder as the middle-aged woman wrapped reassuring arms around her; Ginny blinked back the tears stinging at her eyes, hating the familiar lump that had once again risen in her throat. She scrubbed at her face as Molly pulled away to greet her youngest son Ron and his girlfriend Hermione Granger, both of whom looked tired and sad. Not a single word beyond a greeting was exchanged as their trunks were lifted onto trolleys and pushed through the barrier to where the Ministry car was waiting to take them all back to the Burrow. For the first time, Ginny realised with a jolt of shock, since Voldemort's defeat.

"How was school, dears?" Molly asked in a falsely cheerful voice as the five of them piled into the backseat of the car, the driver slamming the door shut after them. "How did your exams go?"

"Okay," Ginny murmured reluctantly, though her words were drowned out as Hermione launched into an eager step-by-step account of her revision timetable and her exam papers, oblivious to Ron looking at her with a mixed expression of fondness and exasperation. Tuning out as Hermione began relaying the questions of the Potions paper to Molly, Ginny leant back against the leather seat and gazed out the window, watching the city of London flash by through distracted eyes.

Blood... the tangy scent of it amongst the smell of charcoal and burned wood… air thick with death…

Ginny clapped a hand to her mouth as bile rose in her throat at the memory of the attack in Hogsmeade. Closing her eyes briefly, she struggled to regain control of the emotions tumbling around inside her, and, finally letting out a long whistle of breath through her teeth, she opened her eyes to see her father staring at her in concern. She gave him a forced smile before averting her gaze back to the window, uncomfortably aware of the fact that Arthur had not yet moved his own eyes from her.

Screams and sobs… furiously thrown curses in all directions… arrays of different coloured hexes that lit up the sky like fireworks, though there was nothing beautiful about them…

"Ginny!" Ron's voice, tinged with annoyance, snapped her out of her reverie and she turned to him, plastering a glare onto her face. "We're here." Ron motioned to the open door, and it was then that Ginny realised they were parked just a little further down the street from the Order Headquarters, and the rest of the occupants of the car were waiting impatiently on the pavement. "Oh, wake up, will you?" Ron snapped as Ginny struggled to pull herself completely out of her memories. He slid out of the car with her close behind and, between the five of them and the driver they managed to negotiate the trunks up the street to 12 Grimmauld Place. As soon as the Ministry car had driven off they stepped inside, Ginny shuddering involuntarily and feeling increasingly uncomfortable at being in that house of all places, even if it was for only a few minutes.

It was Harry's house after all, and though they had all spent plenty of time in it when Harry hadn't been there, this time was different. Furious that her mind had drifted back to him once more, Ginny kicked her trunk as she set it down, cursing inwardly as her toe started to throb. "Let's go." She said abruptly, pushing it towards the empty fireplace and ignoring the startled glances she was getting. "Come on!" She insisted, reaching for the pot of Floo power on the mantelpiece.

"What's the rush, Ginny?" Hermione asked in a kind, almost patronising tone. The redheaded sixteen-year-old struggled to stop herself from raising her voice at her friend.

"I don't like it here." She said firmly. "I want to go home." Feeling the tears stinging under her eyelids again, she threw the powder into the fireplace, feeling a great satisfaction as the green flames roared up. Then she stepped in, dragging her trunk behind, shouted "The Burrow!" and was gone from sight.

"Well, that was interesting." Ron said from where he had perched himself on the top end of his own trunk, unaware of the worried looks his parents were shooting each other. He gave a yelp as Hermione hit him gently on the back of his head. "What was that for?"

"I can't believe I didn't see it." Hermione said, shaking her head. "Of course she doesn't like it here. Not only was it basically the hiding grounds for us when Hogsmeade was attacked, but its Harry's house officially." She sighed. "There are far too many bad memories attached to this place."

An awkward silence descended as the eighteen-year-old's words sank in. Molly looked on the verge of tears as she succumbed to her husband's embrace, and even Ron's fervent use of language that she usually would have risen at did not bate her.

"Ron." Hermione said instead, warningly.

"No, this isn't fair." Ron said furiously, standing up so suddenly his trunk swayed and toppled over. "I hate this! Why – why does it always have to be this way? You-Know-Who's gone, and we should be bloody celebrating, not going around looking like the world's just ended!" He took in a sharp breath, trying to control his temper. "And I want to be angry, but there's no one left to be angry at."

He grabbed the handle of his trunk and dragged it towards the still burning fireplace. His ambition to become an Auror had become even stronger over the past year and at that moment it was burning inside him, eating him up as he itched to get revenge on the evil that had made his life, his family's lives, and his friends' lives hell over the years. Throwing another pinch of floo powder into the grate, he too yelled out his childhood home and was gone in a crackle and spark of the flames.

Not bothering to wait for the rest of her family to arrive from Grimmauld Place, Ginny dragged her trunk up the stairs, unused to the silence of the Burrow. She hadn't seen it since the previous summer, and it was much the same, only dustier, and without the familiar feeling of being lived in around the clock. Dropping her trunk just inside her bedroom, she collapsed on her back on the bed, staring up at the whitewashed ceiling. The memories were threatening to surface once more, and this time she had no distraction. Rolling over onto her stomach, she punched her pillow several times in a bout of anger, wondering just how she was supposed to cope with the summer holidays. Things were going to be so different.

Buildings crumbling… unstable, blackened frames of shops and pubs toppling in over and under one another regardless of those still underneath… flames soaring up in great painful waves of heat…

Several thuds from downstairs told Ginny that the rest of the family had arrived; it wouldn't be long before the twins showed their faces just in time for dinner. She couldn't help but smirk at that – they would once again be the ones that they all relied on to bring a little laughter and smiles to the family. It was all too strange and unwelcoming now that they no longer lived at the Burrow.

"Ginny?" Hermione was knocking softly on the door, and Ginny remembered with a start that the brunette would be staying in her bedroom for a few weeks of the summer before she returned to her own parents. Despite the fact that they had plenty of spare bedrooms now that she and Ron were the only ones living at home, having Hermione in the same room brought a great deal of comfort, and made Ginny feel a lot less lonely. Sliding off the bed, she padded across the room to open the door, tugging off her shoes as she did so. Hermione gave her a wavering, unsure smile as she dropped her trunk at the foot of the opposite bed. "Are you okay?" She asked finally, sitting down on her bed and unlacing her own shoes.

Ginny shrugged. "I've been better." She said truthfully. "But I'll deal."

Hermione bit her lower lip hard. "I know it's hard, but…"

"No, you don't." Ginny interrupted. "I'm sorry but you have absolutely no idea. Do you know what it's like to be constantly worrying about where he is and if he's okay even though it should all be over, even though technically it's over? And I miss him so much it hurts just to think about him, and I want to hate him for going and trying to cope with this by himself and to leave me here alone because he thinks it's better for me." The tears were pooling in Hermione's dark eyes by that point and Ginny could feel them falling down her own cheeks but now, opening up, she found she couldn't stop. "But I can't hate him because I love him, because he's so bloody stubborn-minded and headstrong and caring even though he never understood the prospect of love before he met my family. It frustrates me because he still hasn't learned that everything isn't his fault and he doesn't have to deal with these things alone – because his Muggle relatives made him think that no one cared and he still doesn't totally get it – so he thinks he can just bugger off because it'll be better for everyone if he doesn't burden them with his own problems!" Her voice was hoarse with yelling and the tears that were lodged in her throat. "And I'm so scared Hermione, because what if – what if he doesn't come back?"

She leant back against her headboard, burying her head in her hands as her body wracked with sobs. Hermione hesitated only a moment before sliding onto the bed next to her friend and putting an arm around Ginny's shoulders.

"He will come back." She said firmly, with as much certainty as she could put into her voice, though there was that twinge of doubt in the back of her mind. Ginny was right about Harry – he didn't like burdening other people with his problems. What if he decided that he would be better off just keeping away from them, like he tried to so many times in the past for their own protection?

Sniffling, Ginny pulled away from her friend's embrace, drying her face on the sleeve of her jacket, and shakily got to her feet. "Come on." She said in a cracked voice. "I could really do with a cup of tea." The smile she gave Hermione was filled with gratitude as she turned and made her way down the rickety wooden staircase to the kitchen where her parents and Ron were settled, lost in thought.

"Oh, there you two are!" Molly jumped to her feet and hastily summoned the teapot to her. Pouring out two steaming mugs for the teenagers she set them down as Hermione slipped into the chair next to her boyfriend and Ginny sat opposite, hoping her eyes weren't too red. For once it was a comfortable silence that the family settled into, Arthur's head already buried in the daily newspaper and Molly eyeing the kitchen critically, obviously itching to get her wand out and clean it up a bit. Ginny couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy as she watched Ron's hand cover Hermione's as she flipped through the many job offers she had extracted from her trunk before coming back downstairs. He had that familiar look on his face, a quirky, uneven smile playing on his lips as he watched her with eyes full of love. Breathing in the sweet aroma of the tea, Ginny traced her finger over the dents in the table, pinpointing the story of each crack from the many adventures her brothers had gotten themselves into.

He was pulling her away from the Three Broomsticks as it dissolved into a mass of dust and brick… someone had grabbed her other arm and was shouting words she couldn't quite make out… before she knew it a Portkey was thrust into her hand and they were tumbling back into the safety of Grimmauld Place…

"Little brother and little sisters!" A loud voice dragged Ginny out of her thoughts and she found herself swept into a tight hug around the neck from Fred as George did the same across the table, wrapping his arms around both Ron and Hermione and knocking their shoulders together. "Long time no see!" Fred continued gleefully, his eyes twinkling mischievously. Ginny rolled her eyes and reached up, pulling Fred's arms from around her neck.

"Honestly, the two of you, you're upsetting the tea." Molly said with a sigh of irritation as the table wobbled precariously, spilling the hot liquid over the surface. "Dinner won't be for another few hours so if that's what you've come for, you'll have no luck."

George pressed a hand to his heart, looking mock-indignant. "Well, I never!" He gasped throatily. "See what our own mother thinks of us, Gred?"

"I'm hurt, Mother, I really am." Fred sat down with a thump next to Ginny, almost overbalancing his chair. "Can we not come to welcome our little siblings back home for the summer?" He wiped a fake tear from the corner of his eye. "Ah, our Ron and Hermione, finished school for good now, all grown up. When's the wedding?"

Ginny snorted with laughter as Ron turned bright red and started to splutter incoherently, while Hermione suddenly found the wall behind their heads extremely interesting.

"That's enough." Molly said firmly, though there was a twinkle in the eye. It was without a doubt; Ginny thought wryly, that her mother would be the most delighted of them all when Ron and Hermione tied the knot – if they ever did. "What do the two of you want, really?"

George heaved a loud, exaggerated sigh. "She knows us too well, brother." He said mournfully as Fred nodded fervently. "As a matter of fact, dear Mother, it is not anything from you that we wish to have, but from our beautiful and oh-so-talented sister here."

Ginny blinked in astonishment. "Me?"

"No, Ron." Fred said, rolling his eyes. "Of course you." He suddenly looked serious. "With You-Know-Who gone, business has really soared." A proud smile stretched across his face. "We're doing quite well, if I do say so myself."

"I don't see where this is going." Ginny said blankly.

"We've bought a place in Hogsmeade." George rubbed his hands together, grinning. "But with business booming in Diagon Alley, we really cannot spare the time to get everything up and running in the other shop."

"I know nothing about retail!" Ginny gasped. "Zilch – nada – can't you hire a few people to take care of it?"

"We could." Fred submitted. "And we probably will – but we're not about to trust just anyone to get the shop off and running. We're both needed at Diagon Alley, it being the larger of the two. You surely can't expect us to let a stranger take on this job? It's very important, you know."

"Plus, we didn't know a thing about retail either, before we opened the shop." George added. He looked almost pleading. "Come on, Ginny, you'll be able to boss the assistants around, you know how much you love doing that. We'll pop over now and again to help out if there's any problems, but its summer time. Peak season and all that."

"Hold it." Molly broke in, looking stern. "Have you two completely forgotten that unlike Ron and Hermione, Ginny has not yet finished at Hogwarts?"

Fred snorted. "No, we didn't forget – we just want her for the summer, Mum. By the time she has to go back to Hogwarts, things will have calmed down and we'll hopefully have found someone we trust enough to take over as manager of the Hogsmeade branch."

"Ginny is not yet seventeen – how can you expect her to take on such a massive role?" Molly snapped. "Like she said, she has no experience with retail, or handling customers, not to mention the finance side of it."

"I said we'll be popping over to help!" George said indignantly.

"Hey!" Ginny leapt to her feet as her mother opened her mouth to argue some more. "Don't I get a say in this?"

"Why can't you ask Hermione or Ron?" Molly continued, ignoring her daughter. "They're both legally adults, and level-headed – together they would make quite a team."

"Oi!" Ron yelped. "What if we don't want to help? I don't want to spend my summer working. I have to do that for the rest of my life!"

"Ronald, this could be a wonderful experience!" Hermione interjected, her eyes shining. "Imagine taking on a whole store ourselves – imagine how it would look on our resumes!"

"I want to be an Auror, not a bloody shop keeper!" Ron retorted, snatching his hand from his girlfriend's and glaring at her. "I refuse."

"That's all right, dear brother, we never asked you." Fred replied, standing up and placing a hand on Ginny's shoulder. "Why don't we hear what our Gin has to say about it?"

"That's right – what say you, Ginevra?" George added, ignoring the piercing glare his sister gave him at the use of her full name.

"I say…" Ginny paused. The thought of taking on an entire shop alone was daunting, and she had at first had an instinct to say no straight away, but the thought of a long, boring and lonely summer soon chased that instinct away. Making her mind up on the spot, she nodded, a proper smile stretching over her face for the first time in what felt like weeks. "Yes, I will."

The twins and Ron let out whoops of glee; Hermione's face fell with disappointment and Molly looked torn between outrage and relief that for once Ginny was actually looking happy. Arthur merely looked up from the paper and gave his daughter a delighted smile.

"Excellent!" Fred said, patting his sister's shoulder so hard she was almost bowled over. "Now, we must get to work as soon as possible. If you would be as kind as to floo to 'Hogsmeade Wheezes' tomorrow at promptly eight o'clock sharp, we shall see you there."

Ginny nodded, picking up her empty mug and taking it over to the sink as Fred sat himself back down, resting his chin in his hands.

"Now we've got all the trivialities out of the way… what's for dinner?"

V I V I V

After an evening of the various members of the Weasley family coming in and out to welcome Ginny, Hermione and Ron back to the Burrow, Ginny retired to her room, trying to ignore the fact that she had seen her friend disappear into Ron's bedroom seconds earlier. Sprawling out on her stomach on the rug next to her bed, she paused for several moments in thought before tugging a piece of parchment and a fresh quill out of her bag. She had sent several letters to Harry since he had left, none of which had been returned, though for some reason she suspected that he did receive her letters and enjoyed reading them.

Dear Harry,

Well, Ron, Hermione and I arrived back at the Burrow today. Hermione will be staying with us for three weeks before she goes back to her parents. I think that her and Ron are definitely taking advantage of their time – I saw them going into Ron's bedroom just now, which conjured up a mental image that I would definitely like to get out of my mind as soon as possible! Anyway, we hadn't been home for any more than half an hour when, surprise, the twins appeared. Not for dinner (shocking, I know, but it was only four o'clock in the afternoon) but to offer me a job! They've just bought a space in Hogsmeade and want to do it up as a second Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes but, it being summer, have their hands full with business in Diagon Alley. So they've offered me a position as manageress at the new shop! We've always known that they were crazy but this is in the flesh evidence.

I'm looking forward to earning some money over the summer and that it won't be as boring as I thought it would be, though I'm still terrified – I've never had a job before, so they've really plunged me in at the deep end! I start tomorrow… I still think, though, that it will be great fun and really interesting. Though no doubt I'll have to be extra careful handling their products if I don't want to sprout purple feathers or turn into a canary.

I know that you don't want to see me at the moment, Harry, but please at least just let me know that you're getting my letters and that you're safe. That one letter you sent to my mother last month was simply not good enough. You don't need to tell me where you are. Just please; write me something, so I know you've not really disappeared off the face of the earth.

All my love, Ginny.

With a sigh, Ginny got to her feet, arching and stretching her sore back with a groan, and went in search of Pigwidgeon. He was fluttering around the living room, hooting happily, and she had to leap around after him for several moments before she finally grabbed him by one of his legs and dragged him down to her level. Her gaze flickered to the doorway as she attached the letter to an indignant Pigwidgeon's foot, and she froze.

There was Harry, leaning against the doorway, a smile quirking on his lips at the sight of Ginny jumping around after an owl.

"Harry?"

Ron frowned. "You okay, Ginny? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Blinking several times to get Harry's face out of her head, Ginny drew her attention back to the owl and sent him with a gentle push out of the window. "Great." She muttered under her breath. "Now I'm going crazy."

V I V I V

Ginny slumped down in a chair at the breakfast table early next morning and yawned into her coffee, ignoring her mother's amused glances. "I'm never going to be a morning person." She said, disgruntled, as she bit into a piece of toast that had been set in front of her. "First day of summer and I'm up at the same time as I am for school."

"Welcome to the world of work, my dear." Molly said cheerfully, and Ginny winced, struggling to stop herself from remarking that the only work her mother knew of was being a housewife, which was slightly different. She decided that would probably not go down well as she took a final swig of her coffee and clambered to her feet, staring ruefully at the magenta robes her brothers had insisted she wear to 'look the part'.

"This does not go with my hair." She grumbled, moving to the fireplace and taking out a pinch of floo powder from the pot. "I'll see you later, Mum."

"Will you be back for lunch?" Molly asked anxiously, moving forward and brushing down Ginny's already spotless robes. The redheaded sixteen-year-old shrugged.

"No idea, Mum. If I'm back, I'm back." She threw the powder into the fire, gazing into the green, crackling flames for several moments before stepping into them and shouting out the Hogsmeade store.

"Bloody – hiding away like a coward!" He spat, wrenching away from her grasp and moving towards the fireplace… she hurried after him, the tears cutting tracks through the grime on her face… then there was a flare of green and he was gone from sight… before she could follow there came the sound of a strange, wailing alarm and the fireplace had sealed itself over.

Ginny stumbled out into a small, bare room lined with shelf after empty shelf – no doubt the stock room. She noted three doors, one next to the fireplace that she discovered led to a lavatory, one on the right hand wall that led out into a back-alley and another opposite the fireplace that, she found upon walking through it, led into the shop. It was a fairly large room, though by no accounts as large as the one in Diagon Alley, and empty but for a counter in front of the door to the stock room. Two pops seconds later told her that the twins had arrived, and sure enough their voices were heard as they tumbled in from the stock room.

"Right on time!" George said approvingly. "What do you think, Ginny? Does it suit?"

"Of course." Ginny agreed, moving across the shop floor to the large window. She found herself looking out on the main street of Hogsmeade. After the attack the entire village had to be complete renovated and it all looked so unfamiliar. Most of the businesses had reopened in the same locations, though the buildings, having just been rebuilt, seemed cold and unfeeling. Few people lined the streets as none of the shops or pubs had opened yet; it was the shop keepers and assistants that were hurrying on their way to work.

"Right!" George clapped his hands together. "Let's get started!" He hopped onto the counter, dangling his legs as Fred conjured two chairs for himself and Ginny. He had several pieces of paper in his hand and he cleared his throat, pressing one hand against his heart and holding the other out as if he were about to make a grand speech. Ginny couldn't help but laugh; it seemed that her job would be even more interesting than she had first thought.

"Okay, here's the inventory – this is the list of the stock we'll be moving in – prices here…" George said, handing the sheets of paper over to Ginny. "You're going to need to know the ins and outs of the products for when customers need your help, so here's more information on the stuff." He gave her a rather bulky set of papers. Ginny looked at them in horror.

"I have to memorise this?"

"Pretty much so." Fred shrugged. "You'll know each and every product off by heart by the end of the week, trust me. You know the basics already." Ginny smirked. She had rarely been used as a test subject – the twins were too scared of her temper – though she had often seen Percy, Ron and even their father as product testers.

"We've got a new range of products out this month, so they're going to have to go on display in the window." George continued, tugging the papers out of Ginny's hands and pointing at a certain one.

"Taunting Teddy?" Ginny read in disbelief. "A seemingly innocent teddy bear that teases and taunts anyone who hugs it?"

"Or sleeps with it in their bed." Fred added.

"Not intended for anyone under the age of eleven, see." George hastily intervened, seeing the look of indignation on his sister's face. "We're not that cruel to invent a product that would probably make kids cry. Eleven year olds, however…"

The morning was spent taking the new stock from the store in Diagon Alley to the new shop, and, loathe she was to admit it, Ginny realised that the twins really did come up with ingenious ideas. More often than not she creased up with laughter as she enquired on a product she hadn't seen before and one of the twins promptly showed it to her by trying it out on the other. After George had turned back from a purple singing canary for the fifth time (Ginny pretended she didn't know what it was, and Fred quickly caught on) it was lunchtime.

"Food!" Fred leapt to his feet. "And afterwards, we've got to leave you to it."

"What?" Ginny stared at them in horror. "You're joking, right?"

"Sorry, sis, but we can't leave Verity with the Diagon Alley store for the entire day." George said apologetically. "We just need you to check the inventory – make sure we've not forgotten to bring anything over. Not hard – you can count, right?"

Ginny put her hands on her hips and glared at George. "Fine." She said huffily. "But you owe me."

"Yes, two sickles an hour." Fred joked, raising his hands in mock defeat as her glare turned onto him. "Okay, okay. Now I'm starving, let's go and get lunch from Mum before Ronniekins eats it all."

The three disappeared into the store room, unaware of Pigwidgeon that had squeezed himself in through the small window above the door and was flying in circles cheerfully, a letter attached to his leg.