The loss of her brother's ear had struck a cord within Ginny. For far too long, even whilst she fought in the ministry, she'd been naive enough to believe that her family would remain unscathed. Even when Sirius fell through the veil, she was ignorant to the fact that it could easily have been her mother. The only time she'd felt slightly anxious about their fates was when her father was in St Mungos- something she wrote off as a freak accident. Unfortunately war was already underfoot and conflict was on the horizon. Stupidly, she'd thought that war was purely good against evil. Now she knew most of it was played in the shadows.

She found her mother watching wearily as the gnomes crept back into the garden. The first rays of light dusted the dewy ground and her mother let a small sigh escape her lips. The slump of her shoulders and droop of her eyes told Ginny all she needed to know. "Mum?"

"Ginny!" She started and clutched her chest, eyeing her only daughter. "You just gave me a bit of a fright." Her kind eyes searched for something before settling on her hair, a small frown creasing her forehead. "Your hair?" Ginny self consciously twirled a strand. As much as she loved Fleur for trying, her sister Gabrielle was an absolute nightmare. Earlier Gabrielle had made a scathing comment about how Ginny's only good feature was her waist length hair. In anger Ginny had taken Hermione's wand and cut it to just beneath her shoulder blades. Apparently her mother didn't approve.

Instead of reprimanding her though, Molly Weasley pulled her daughter forward and folded her into her arms. "I think it's beautiful dear." Ginny felt her tears in her hair and awkwardly patted her mother's shoulder, finally being taller than her. "You remind me of myself a little bit. Not as Molly Weasley, but as Molly Prewett. Your father was the only person that I couldn't scare." She smiled fondly at the memories and they lapsed into silence.

Somewhere a bed creaked as one of the many occupants rolled over. Somewhere else the small chime of a clock echoed softly in the dark. They ignored it though, breathing in the silence and holding each other close. Ginny felt her eyes beginning to drop and her mother gently chucked her under the chin. "Off to bed I think dearie. Get a few more hours whilst you can." Her mother softly kissed her forehead before nudging her towards the stairs. A yawn escaped both of them and Ginny smiled tiredly at her mother as she slowly crept back towards her room, careful not to disturb Hermione.

As the result of a late night Ginny was late waking up. Unfortunately it was only as she was staring at the ceiling this remembered it was a certain exes birthday. Judging by the light streaming through her windows and the neatly made camp bed on her floor, everyone else was already up. It was at this time that she also remembered she'd forgotten to get Harry a present. She wasn't sure that he expected one from her though, she was his ex after all. But then again, their break up had been on mutual agreement. She was vaguely aware of voices and movement beneath her as she slowly dragged herself out of bed and began to get ready.

All the while the anxiety of Harry's birthday bubbled within her. Ron's loud and obnoxious voice drifted up the stairs followed by Hermione's slightly preppier one. It's not that Ginny didn't like them, it's just that she wished they'd snog and get rid of all the sexual tension between them. However, if Ron and Hermione's were there then that meant Harry wasn't too far behind. She leant her head over the railings and craned her neck, looking for the tell tale messy hair.

"Harry?" He popped into view, his green eyes sweeping the landing for her. Ron shot her a wary glance, one she brushed off as Hermione grabbed his arm. "Can you come up here a sec?" He bobbed his head and followed her into her room. She meant to explain to him that she hadn't gotten him a present, she meant to apologise and ask for forgiveness. Instead, as she saw him fiddling anxiously and staring at her possessions, she couldn't.

"Nice view." The dork. She ignored it. He bounced nervously on the balls of his feet and fixated his eyes on her poster of Gwenog Jones. Before he could say another stupid comment she stepped in.

"I didn't know what to get you." His eyes flitted across her face. Shocked she supposed. Shocked that she'd even wanted to get him something.

"You didn't have to get me anything." She rolled her eyes. Always the self sacrificing hero. Again she ignored him.

"Nothing too big, so that you can take it with you, yet nothing impractical either. I wanted to get you something that you'd remember me by." He looked confused so she elaborated. "Incase you meet any Veela whilst you're travelling." He smiled weakly.

"I don't think there's going to be my any dating opportunities." She smiled and stepped right in close to him. She had no idea what she was doing but she went with it.

"There's the silver lining I've been looking for." She kissed him. Soft and steady. A fire leapt between them and intensified the passion. She felt his fingers thread into her hair as she raised herself slightly on tip toes to get better access to her mouth. He was warm and firm. Something unmoving and solid. The years of playing quidditch was recognisable in the muscles in his arms. Both deepened it and maybe it would have gone further had the door not banged open and Ronald interrupted.

Harry guiltily leapt back and Ginny turned away. She felt the lump in her throat and whispered a quiet "happy birthday Harry," as her brother dragged him away. The door closed behind them and Ginny closed her eyes, forcing the tears away.

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