bLIFE AND LOVE/b
Ginny Weasley was standing at the altar of a small village church in Ottery St. Catchpole. She was standing before a priest hand-in-hand with her fiancé, soon-to-be husband, Jack Sloper. The church was full of the happy couple's relatives and friends. I, Hermione Granger, was Ginny's maid of honour, of course, and I wore beautiful blue robes, intricately embroidered with illustrious patterns. Ginny's dress, however, was pure white and very simple. It reached down to the floor, straight with very little shape to it, but on Ginny it looked magnificent. The whole church was smiling, except Molly Weasley who was crying, after all, it's not every day that one's only daughter is married. There was in fact one other person who did not seem happy about Ginny's impending marriage and that was the youngest of her six brothers, Ron Weasley. He was on the side of his best friend Harry Potter, who was still in love with Ginny as much as he had been over one year ago when Harry and Ginny had split up...
It was a cold winter's day, Ginny's first winter out of Hogwarts when it happened. Both Harry and Ginny were training to become aurors and both were top of their respective classes. Every day after training in the academy, Harry and Ginny would meet in the atrium of the Ministry of Magic and from there walk together to the apparition point where they would disapparate back to the modest cottage which they shared with Ron and I. Now, on that particular day, Ginny was slightly late because Kingsley Shacklebolt, the auror in charge of her training, had kept her behind because he wanted a word with her. And so, a couple of minutes later than usual, Ginny Weasley rounded the corner and entered the atrium, and nothing could have prepared her for what met her eyes. There stood Harry Potter with his lips pressed against another woman's, a woman who Ginny had never seen before. Tears filled Ginny's eyes but she fought desperately to hold them back. Harry had broken the kiss and stared at his true love, standing motionless, her face pale and her eyes glistening.
"Ginny," he had said and taken a step towards her.
"Don't bother, Harry," she had whispered, venomously, before turning tail and running away down the atrium to the apparition point.
Harry never caught Ginny, in fact he had never again looked into her eyes since that fateful day. Of course, Harry sent Hedwig away with many letters of explanation to Ginny, after all, the whole thing had been an enormous misunderstanding. Harry had been calmly waiting for Ginny, as he did every day when a strange woman had thrown her arms around him and kissed him. Then, as bad luck would have it, Ginny had appeared and seen them before Harry had had the chance to react. Harry sent Ginny's letters every day for a month, but no reply ever came, for Ginny through each letter into the fire unopened, as they arrived. She had run away to the house of Jack Sloper, one man who had always had a crush on her back in school, and had vowed ne'er to return to the man who broke her heart.
Two months after the day that Ginny left, she sent me a letter, stating that she and Jack were to be married and asking me if I would be her maid of honour. Well, there was no way that I was going to refuse her, so I agreed. She had told Ron, of course, about the wedding, but there was always a nagging feeling at the back of my mind. Should I have told Harry? In the end I didn't have to. It was Ron who told Harry about Ginny's engagement, and Harry, who has been so devoid of love his whole life, had his heart shattered into tiny pieces, by the only woman he ever loved. I can still remember how awful I felt, standing in the kitchen and watching him cry.
And so, for a year, Harry was typically Harry. The Harry who wallows in self pity and refuses to let anyone help him. Ginny on the other hand, couldn't have been happier, so she claimed, but I always felt that she wasn't as happy as she said. I knew that deep down she still loved Harry Potter and loved him in all her heart, and that she was only marrying poor Jack to spite him.
This brings me now to the day of Ginny's wedding. Ron and I left the house early in the morning leaving Harry alone in the kitchen, drinking firewhiskey. Luckily, I had cleaned out all but one bottle a few weeks earlier and made sure that neither Ron nor Harry purchased anymore. The drama began when Ginny and Jack were halfway through their vows. A muggle boy, no older than fifteen, burst open the church doors and sprinted down the aisle.
"Do any of you have a phone?" he shouted.
I almost felt like laughing. Three quarters of the congregation were pureblood wizards who had never taken a single muggle studies class, and therefore would have no idea what a phone was. I look around as people shook their heads with puzzled expressions on their faces.
"Why do you need a phone?" I asked him.
"There's been an accident outside," he explained. "A man's been knocked down by a lorry, whilst running across the street. Just outside here."
"What did he look like?" I pressed the boy.
I had an awful feeling in my gut. Something was terribly wrong, someone that we knew was lying there on the road.
"He's got black hair, dead messy it is, and he's wearing glasses, round'uns, oh, and he's got a funny zigzag line on his forehead," the boy told us.
I turned my head, swiftly, to look at Ginny. The colour slowly drained from her face. The hand that had shot to her mouth when the boy entered now hung limply at her side, and she stood quite still, momentarily paralysed.
"I need to call an ambulance," said the boy.
He hurried outside again. Ginny was staring into space. She was so pale that I was afraid she would faint. I knew it then. She still loved Harry, my instincts had been right all along. She loved Harry, she had never stopped loving Harry, no matter how much she pretended that she was over him.
"Go to him, Ginny," I told her.
She looked so distant that I wasn't sure whether she would hear me, but as soon as those words slipped off my tongue, she sprinted away down the aisle, pulling her veil off as she went. I followed her, and stood, watching at the church door as she dashed into the road and knelt by Harry's side. Muggles were gathering around to see what had happened, and it appeared that the messenger had at last found a phone as he was busy calling for an ambulance.
"Harry," Ginny said taking his hand.
She kissed his palm, gently, then lifted his hand to her cheek.
"I love you, Harry," I heard her whisper to him.
I'll never forget what I saw that day. Harry lay in a crumpled heap on the floor, his right arm was bent at a funny angle and a trail of blood was leaving his body. Ginny was knelt beside him, with tears running down her pale face, as her chocolate brown eyes gazed at the man she loved. She stroked the hand, which she held to her cheek and told him repeatedly that she loved him. I was surprised to find tears falling from my own eyes and I hurriedly wiped them away. Ron came up behind me, not long after I had left the church and put his strong, muscular arms around me, holding me tightly.
The wait for the ambulance to arrive seemed eternal, but I have never been so relieved to hear a person speak then when a paramedic shouted to his colleagues,
"He's still breathing."
I felt Ron, breathe a sigh of relief behind me as I breathed my own. When the paramedics had lifted Harry onto a stretcher, Ginny beckoned us forward. Ron and I both enveloped her in an enormous hug and we did not notice a paramedic approaching us.
"Who is his next of kin," the paramedic asked.
"He has no family," said Ginny quietly.
"But he lives with us," said Ron, indicating himself and I.
"What about her?" he asked Ron, pointing to Ginny.
"She used to date him, but now they are just good friends," said Ron.
"Well, I can only take one of you in the ambulance with him," said the paramedic.
"You go, Ginny," I said. "We'll come in a bit. I promise."
Ginny smiled briefly at me. I hugged her once more, then the paramedic helped her climb into the back of his vehicle. I saw Ginny take Harry's hand once more before the doors were shut and the ambulance drove away.
"They're taking him to a /I hospital," Ron said once the ambulance was out of sight.
"I know, Ron, I know," I told him. "But there's nothing we can do about it. We'll send Bill to St. Mungo's and ask a healer to come and see Harry, and we'll organise transport once Harry's in better health."
"Ok," Ron said.
Three hours later Ron and I arrived at the muggle hospital, carrying a change of clothes for Ginny, as I was sure that she would want to change out of her wedding dress. We found her standing outside a side room, holding up and extendable ear.
"Ginny Weasley," I said, trying to be stern.
"They wouldn't let me in," she explained. "I have to know what's going on."
"Fair enough," I said, pulling an extendable ear out of my pocket and watching Ron do the same.
"...lucky if he gets through," one of the doctors was saying.
"He's strong," said the other. "He's got a fighting chance."
"It was a terrible incident though. I've never seen a worse case, where somebody came out alive."
"I know, still, he's young, he's strong, and from what I can gather was in fine health before the accident. He's not out of the water yet, but I reckon that the odds are in his favour."
"Hmm, and I'm sure that one young lady will be all too happy to help him recover."
Ginny blushed.
"It seems like an awkward situation, doesn't it? Well, let's go and tell her the good news."
Ginny, Ron and I, quickly withdrew the extendable ears from the door.
"Miss Weasley," said the younger of the doctors emerging from the room. "It appears that Mr Potter has a good chance of survival. His condition is still critical, but time will tell. He's young and strong, he's got that in his favour."
"Thank you, Doctor," Ginny said, the blush fading from her cheeks.
"You can go and see him if you like," the other doctor said, following his companion out of the room.
"Thank you," said Ginny and entered the room.
Ron and I watched the doctors disappear around the corner before we pulled out the extendable ears again. We watched through the small pane of glass as Ginny took Harry's hand in hers. She kissed his fingers gently.
"I'm so sorry that I never read your letters, Harry. And I'm sorry that I never let you explain. I shouldn't have left like I did, I was just so hurt. I know that you didn't cheat on me, don't ask me how I know, because I have no idea. I can just feel it, deep down inside me. I'm sorry for leaving you, Harry, even after I promised you that I would never leave you. I love you, Harry. I never sopped loving you. Please don't think that I hate you, but I will understand if you hate me. I deserve it for what I did. Please get better Harry. I need you to get better. I love you so, so much. Please, Harry. Please."
Tears fell freely down her cheeks.
"I love you."
She stroked the hair away from his forehead. She must have hated to see him with so many tubes allowing him to live. I know that I hated to see Harry like that. He was always so strong, so unafraid. He could handle pain. It never bothered him. He was brave and he would do anything for anybody that he loved, and even those whom he hardly knew. I couldn't bear the thought of losing Harry, anymore than Ginny or Ron could. At least now, Ginny was with him and if he died, he wouldn't die alone.
For five days Ginny kept her vigil by Harry's bed and never left it, save for when the doctors came to examine him, and her one shower that she took, and toilet stops, of course. And for five days, Ron and I watched on from outside the small side room. Mrs Weasley and Mr Weasley visited on the third day, as did Bill with Healer Augustus Pye from St. Mungo's. Healer Pye had managed to arrange transport to the wizarding hospital for when Harry was awake, but he could not do anything for Harry whilst in the care of muggles.
Late in the evening on the fifth day, when Ginny was alone with Harry, and Ron and I were watching through the glass, Harry's eyes flickered open. Well, obviously, Ron and I whipped out the extendable ears.
"Ginny?" Harry moaned, groping for his glasses. "Is that you?"
"It's me Harry," Ginny whispered, kissing his palm.
"Why are you here?"
"I've been here for five days Harry."
"Five days! I've been in here five days?"
"Yes and I haven't left your side."
"But, why Ginny? You haven't spoken to me in over a year."
"I love you, Harry. I never stopped loving you. I was just hurt. I'm so sorry that I left you. Please forgive me, Harry."
Ginny was once again crying. I was thinking over and over, forgive her, Harry, forgive her, Harry. Ron snaked his arm around my shoulders. He was my only comfort during those days.
"Please, Harry. I love you," Ginny pleaded again.
"I forgive you, Ginny. I love. This last year has been agony without you. I love you so much."
I watched as Harry lifted his hand to her cheek and stroked her delicate skin. Ginny was gazing into his green eyes, something that I'd not seen her do for so long. Ron and I were both grinning. This is how it was meant to be.
"I love you, Harry. I called off my engagement to Jack. You're the only one for me."
She bent down and kissed his lips gently. She told me later that his lips were dry to the touch, after all he had not drunk anything for five days.
"Where am I, Gin?" he asked.
"A muggle hospital. We haven't been able to get you to St. Mungo's yet. The muggles sent for an ambulance before we could contact the healers."
"I was coming to stop the wedding. I had to let you know how I felt."
"I figured as much."
Ginny was smiling. I had not seen her smile for days.
"Listen. Ron and Hermione are outside, Harry. Do you want to see them?"
"Yeah. Will you tell them to come in?"
"No need. They'll be listening through some extendable ears no doubt. Come in you two."
Ron and I looked at each other guiltily. We opened the door and entered Harry's side room, trying desperately to hide our red faces.
"It's good to see you awake, Harry," I said.
Harry and Ginny were both smiling at us. Ron pulled up a couple of chairs for us and we sat down on the opposite side of the bed to Ginny.
"Yeah. We've missed you mate," Ron said.
"Sorry. I guess I just didn't see that truck coming," Harry said.
"It doesn't matter now," Ginny told him softly. "You're still here with us, and we're all together again."
Two days later Harry was transferred to St Mungo's hospital and was fixed up in no time by the expert healers Smethwyck and Pye. The portrait of Dilys Derwent winked at us as we walked past her. She must have recognised us from that Christmas all those years ago.
Anyway, as soon as Harry was discharged from the hospital he and Ginny were back together and catching up on lost time. In fact Harry proposed to Ginny about a month after his recovery. He organised a portkey to take them from our house, to the small Spanish island of Menorca, to a beach called Cala Galdana. It must have cost him a pretty penny as well. Portkey authorisation fees aren't small. And so Ron was saying, Harry had scoured the globe looking for the perfect location, and he chose the wonderful horseshoe beach with perfect white sand and wonderful, clear blue water. The portkey took them to Cala Galdana where the first went to a restaurant and shared a traditional Spanish dish call Paella. Harry then took Ginny for a walk along the beach and proposed to her and the ring is magnificent. It is a relatively small solitaire diamond set in white gold and rhodium. With twist of metal holding the main stone in place with diamonds encrusted into the rhodium plating. It is the perfect ring for Ginny, who was ecstatically happy when she and Harry arrived home that evening.
Now, we have arrived at the present. I am alone in the bedroom, which I share with Ron, writing this down on a scroll of parchment. The house is so quiet now, what with Harry and Ginny being away on their honeymoon. Today, we celebrated their wedding, which was a long time in coming. Ginny was the most radiant bride I have ever seen. Her dress today was again pure white, but more elaborate than her previous dress. I and my fellow bridesmaids, Luna Lovegood, Susan Bones and Lavendar Brown wore beautiful pale pink gowns. Harry, uncharacteristically, showed all his emotions of happiness and love today and an enormous grin never left his face. Ron, Harry's best man, and I had organised pictures of James Potter, Lily Potter and Sirius Black to be blown up and placed at the front, to one side. For Harry, this was the closest he could get to having his parents at his wedding. The ceremony itself was beautiful and went without a hitch. There were no near-fatal accidents, dramas or disasters this time. Unless you count the part of the reception when Hagrid knocked over the cake, but that was easily fixed with the help of a little magic.
Harry and Ginny left for their honeymoon this evening. They have returned to the very place where they first became engaged. Harry always was romantic like that. And as for me: well, I wish my best friends all the happiness in the world. They started out with a rocky relationship, and I just hope that they live happy lives from now on. What we went through as teenagers, with Voldemort, the war, the order of the Phoenix, Sirius' death and all the tragedies, nobody deserves happiness more than us, more then Harry Potter.
I"The path to true love never runs smooth... "/I but true love conquers all...
Ginny Weasley was standing at the altar of a small village church in Ottery St. Catchpole. She was standing before a priest hand-in-hand with her fiancé, soon-to-be husband, Jack Sloper. The church was full of the happy couple's relatives and friends. I, Hermione Granger, was Ginny's maid of honour, of course, and I wore beautiful blue robes, intricately embroidered with illustrious patterns. Ginny's dress, however, was pure white and very simple. It reached down to the floor, straight with very little shape to it, but on Ginny it looked magnificent. The whole church was smiling, except Molly Weasley who was crying, after all, it's not every day that one's only daughter is married. There was in fact one other person who did not seem happy about Ginny's impending marriage and that was the youngest of her six brothers, Ron Weasley. He was on the side of his best friend Harry Potter, who was still in love with Ginny as much as he had been over one year ago when Harry and Ginny had split up...
It was a cold winter's day, Ginny's first winter out of Hogwarts when it happened. Both Harry and Ginny were training to become aurors and both were top of their respective classes. Every day after training in the academy, Harry and Ginny would meet in the atrium of the Ministry of Magic and from there walk together to the apparition point where they would disapparate back to the modest cottage which they shared with Ron and I. Now, on that particular day, Ginny was slightly late because Kingsley Shacklebolt, the auror in charge of her training, had kept her behind because he wanted a word with her. And so, a couple of minutes later than usual, Ginny Weasley rounded the corner and entered the atrium, and nothing could have prepared her for what met her eyes. There stood Harry Potter with his lips pressed against another woman's, a woman who Ginny had never seen before. Tears filled Ginny's eyes but she fought desperately to hold them back. Harry had broken the kiss and stared at his true love, standing motionless, her face pale and her eyes glistening.
"Ginny," he had said and taken a step towards her.
"Don't bother, Harry," she had whispered, venomously, before turning tail and running away down the atrium to the apparition point.
Harry never caught Ginny, in fact he had never again looked into her eyes since that fateful day. Of course, Harry sent Hedwig away with many letters of explanation to Ginny, after all, the whole thing had been an enormous misunderstanding. Harry had been calmly waiting for Ginny, as he did every day when a strange woman had thrown her arms around him and kissed him. Then, as bad luck would have it, Ginny had appeared and seen them before Harry had had the chance to react. Harry sent Ginny's letters every day for a month, but no reply ever came, for Ginny through each letter into the fire unopened, as they arrived. She had run away to the house of Jack Sloper, one man who had always had a crush on her back in school, and had vowed ne'er to return to the man who broke her heart.
Two months after the day that Ginny left, she sent me a letter, stating that she and Jack were to be married and asking me if I would be her maid of honour. Well, there was no way that I was going to refuse her, so I agreed. She had told Ron, of course, about the wedding, but there was always a nagging feeling at the back of my mind. Should I have told Harry? In the end I didn't have to. It was Ron who told Harry about Ginny's engagement, and Harry, who has been so devoid of love his whole life, had his heart shattered into tiny pieces, by the only woman he ever loved. I can still remember how awful I felt, standing in the kitchen and watching him cry.
And so, for a year, Harry was typically Harry. The Harry who wallows in self pity and refuses to let anyone help him. Ginny on the other hand, couldn't have been happier, so she claimed, but I always felt that she wasn't as happy as she said. I knew that deep down she still loved Harry Potter and loved him in all her heart, and that she was only marrying poor Jack to spite him.
This brings me now to the day of Ginny's wedding. Ron and I left the house early in the morning leaving Harry alone in the kitchen, drinking firewhiskey. Luckily, I had cleaned out all but one bottle a few weeks earlier and made sure that neither Ron nor Harry purchased anymore. The drama began when Ginny and Jack were halfway through their vows. A muggle boy, no older than fifteen, burst open the church doors and sprinted down the aisle.
"Do any of you have a phone?" he shouted.
I almost felt like laughing. Three quarters of the congregation were pureblood wizards who had never taken a single muggle studies class, and therefore would have no idea what a phone was. I look around as people shook their heads with puzzled expressions on their faces.
"Why do you need a phone?" I asked him.
"There's been an accident outside," he explained. "A man's been knocked down by a lorry, whilst running across the street. Just outside here."
"What did he look like?" I pressed the boy.
I had an awful feeling in my gut. Something was terribly wrong, someone that we knew was lying there on the road.
"He's got black hair, dead messy it is, and he's wearing glasses, round'uns, oh, and he's got a funny zigzag line on his forehead," the boy told us.
I turned my head, swiftly, to look at Ginny. The colour slowly drained from her face. The hand that had shot to her mouth when the boy entered now hung limply at her side, and she stood quite still, momentarily paralysed.
"I need to call an ambulance," said the boy.
He hurried outside again. Ginny was staring into space. She was so pale that I was afraid she would faint. I knew it then. She still loved Harry, my instincts had been right all along. She loved Harry, she had never stopped loving Harry, no matter how much she pretended that she was over him.
"Go to him, Ginny," I told her.
She looked so distant that I wasn't sure whether she would hear me, but as soon as those words slipped off my tongue, she sprinted away down the aisle, pulling her veil off as she went. I followed her, and stood, watching at the church door as she dashed into the road and knelt by Harry's side. Muggles were gathering around to see what had happened, and it appeared that the messenger had at last found a phone as he was busy calling for an ambulance.
"Harry," Ginny said taking his hand.
She kissed his palm, gently, then lifted his hand to her cheek.
"I love you, Harry," I heard her whisper to him.
I'll never forget what I saw that day. Harry lay in a crumpled heap on the floor, his right arm was bent at a funny angle and a trail of blood was leaving his body. Ginny was knelt beside him, with tears running down her pale face, as her chocolate brown eyes gazed at the man she loved. She stroked the hand, which she held to her cheek and told him repeatedly that she loved him. I was surprised to find tears falling from my own eyes and I hurriedly wiped them away. Ron came up behind me, not long after I had left the church and put his strong, muscular arms around me, holding me tightly.
The wait for the ambulance to arrive seemed eternal, but I have never been so relieved to hear a person speak then when a paramedic shouted to his colleagues,
"He's still breathing."
I felt Ron, breathe a sigh of relief behind me as I breathed my own. When the paramedics had lifted Harry onto a stretcher, Ginny beckoned us forward. Ron and I both enveloped her in an enormous hug and we did not notice a paramedic approaching us.
"Who is his next of kin," the paramedic asked.
"He has no family," said Ginny quietly.
"But he lives with us," said Ron, indicating himself and I.
"What about her?" he asked Ron, pointing to Ginny.
"She used to date him, but now they are just good friends," said Ron.
"Well, I can only take one of you in the ambulance with him," said the paramedic.
"You go, Ginny," I said. "We'll come in a bit. I promise."
Ginny smiled briefly at me. I hugged her once more, then the paramedic helped her climb into the back of his vehicle. I saw Ginny take Harry's hand once more before the doors were shut and the ambulance drove away.
"They're taking him to a /I hospital," Ron said once the ambulance was out of sight.
"I know, Ron, I know," I told him. "But there's nothing we can do about it. We'll send Bill to St. Mungo's and ask a healer to come and see Harry, and we'll organise transport once Harry's in better health."
"Ok," Ron said.
Three hours later Ron and I arrived at the muggle hospital, carrying a change of clothes for Ginny, as I was sure that she would want to change out of her wedding dress. We found her standing outside a side room, holding up and extendable ear.
"Ginny Weasley," I said, trying to be stern.
"They wouldn't let me in," she explained. "I have to know what's going on."
"Fair enough," I said, pulling an extendable ear out of my pocket and watching Ron do the same.
"...lucky if he gets through," one of the doctors was saying.
"He's strong," said the other. "He's got a fighting chance."
"It was a terrible incident though. I've never seen a worse case, where somebody came out alive."
"I know, still, he's young, he's strong, and from what I can gather was in fine health before the accident. He's not out of the water yet, but I reckon that the odds are in his favour."
"Hmm, and I'm sure that one young lady will be all too happy to help him recover."
Ginny blushed.
"It seems like an awkward situation, doesn't it? Well, let's go and tell her the good news."
Ginny, Ron and I, quickly withdrew the extendable ears from the door.
"Miss Weasley," said the younger of the doctors emerging from the room. "It appears that Mr Potter has a good chance of survival. His condition is still critical, but time will tell. He's young and strong, he's got that in his favour."
"Thank you, Doctor," Ginny said, the blush fading from her cheeks.
"You can go and see him if you like," the other doctor said, following his companion out of the room.
"Thank you," said Ginny and entered the room.
Ron and I watched the doctors disappear around the corner before we pulled out the extendable ears again. We watched through the small pane of glass as Ginny took Harry's hand in hers. She kissed his fingers gently.
"I'm so sorry that I never read your letters, Harry. And I'm sorry that I never let you explain. I shouldn't have left like I did, I was just so hurt. I know that you didn't cheat on me, don't ask me how I know, because I have no idea. I can just feel it, deep down inside me. I'm sorry for leaving you, Harry, even after I promised you that I would never leave you. I love you, Harry. I never sopped loving you. Please don't think that I hate you, but I will understand if you hate me. I deserve it for what I did. Please get better Harry. I need you to get better. I love you so, so much. Please, Harry. Please."
Tears fell freely down her cheeks.
"I love you."
She stroked the hair away from his forehead. She must have hated to see him with so many tubes allowing him to live. I know that I hated to see Harry like that. He was always so strong, so unafraid. He could handle pain. It never bothered him. He was brave and he would do anything for anybody that he loved, and even those whom he hardly knew. I couldn't bear the thought of losing Harry, anymore than Ginny or Ron could. At least now, Ginny was with him and if he died, he wouldn't die alone.
For five days Ginny kept her vigil by Harry's bed and never left it, save for when the doctors came to examine him, and her one shower that she took, and toilet stops, of course. And for five days, Ron and I watched on from outside the small side room. Mrs Weasley and Mr Weasley visited on the third day, as did Bill with Healer Augustus Pye from St. Mungo's. Healer Pye had managed to arrange transport to the wizarding hospital for when Harry was awake, but he could not do anything for Harry whilst in the care of muggles.
Late in the evening on the fifth day, when Ginny was alone with Harry, and Ron and I were watching through the glass, Harry's eyes flickered open. Well, obviously, Ron and I whipped out the extendable ears.
"Ginny?" Harry moaned, groping for his glasses. "Is that you?"
"It's me Harry," Ginny whispered, kissing his palm.
"Why are you here?"
"I've been here for five days Harry."
"Five days! I've been in here five days?"
"Yes and I haven't left your side."
"But, why Ginny? You haven't spoken to me in over a year."
"I love you, Harry. I never stopped loving you. I was just hurt. I'm so sorry that I left you. Please forgive me, Harry."
Ginny was once again crying. I was thinking over and over, forgive her, Harry, forgive her, Harry. Ron snaked his arm around my shoulders. He was my only comfort during those days.
"Please, Harry. I love you," Ginny pleaded again.
"I forgive you, Ginny. I love. This last year has been agony without you. I love you so much."
I watched as Harry lifted his hand to her cheek and stroked her delicate skin. Ginny was gazing into his green eyes, something that I'd not seen her do for so long. Ron and I were both grinning. This is how it was meant to be.
"I love you, Harry. I called off my engagement to Jack. You're the only one for me."
She bent down and kissed his lips gently. She told me later that his lips were dry to the touch, after all he had not drunk anything for five days.
"Where am I, Gin?" he asked.
"A muggle hospital. We haven't been able to get you to St. Mungo's yet. The muggles sent for an ambulance before we could contact the healers."
"I was coming to stop the wedding. I had to let you know how I felt."
"I figured as much."
Ginny was smiling. I had not seen her smile for days.
"Listen. Ron and Hermione are outside, Harry. Do you want to see them?"
"Yeah. Will you tell them to come in?"
"No need. They'll be listening through some extendable ears no doubt. Come in you two."
Ron and I looked at each other guiltily. We opened the door and entered Harry's side room, trying desperately to hide our red faces.
"It's good to see you awake, Harry," I said.
Harry and Ginny were both smiling at us. Ron pulled up a couple of chairs for us and we sat down on the opposite side of the bed to Ginny.
"Yeah. We've missed you mate," Ron said.
"Sorry. I guess I just didn't see that truck coming," Harry said.
"It doesn't matter now," Ginny told him softly. "You're still here with us, and we're all together again."
Two days later Harry was transferred to St Mungo's hospital and was fixed up in no time by the expert healers Smethwyck and Pye. The portrait of Dilys Derwent winked at us as we walked past her. She must have recognised us from that Christmas all those years ago.
Anyway, as soon as Harry was discharged from the hospital he and Ginny were back together and catching up on lost time. In fact Harry proposed to Ginny about a month after his recovery. He organised a portkey to take them from our house, to the small Spanish island of Menorca, to a beach called Cala Galdana. It must have cost him a pretty penny as well. Portkey authorisation fees aren't small. And so Ron was saying, Harry had scoured the globe looking for the perfect location, and he chose the wonderful horseshoe beach with perfect white sand and wonderful, clear blue water. The portkey took them to Cala Galdana where the first went to a restaurant and shared a traditional Spanish dish call Paella. Harry then took Ginny for a walk along the beach and proposed to her and the ring is magnificent. It is a relatively small solitaire diamond set in white gold and rhodium. With twist of metal holding the main stone in place with diamonds encrusted into the rhodium plating. It is the perfect ring for Ginny, who was ecstatically happy when she and Harry arrived home that evening.
Now, we have arrived at the present. I am alone in the bedroom, which I share with Ron, writing this down on a scroll of parchment. The house is so quiet now, what with Harry and Ginny being away on their honeymoon. Today, we celebrated their wedding, which was a long time in coming. Ginny was the most radiant bride I have ever seen. Her dress today was again pure white, but more elaborate than her previous dress. I and my fellow bridesmaids, Luna Lovegood, Susan Bones and Lavendar Brown wore beautiful pale pink gowns. Harry, uncharacteristically, showed all his emotions of happiness and love today and an enormous grin never left his face. Ron, Harry's best man, and I had organised pictures of James Potter, Lily Potter and Sirius Black to be blown up and placed at the front, to one side. For Harry, this was the closest he could get to having his parents at his wedding. The ceremony itself was beautiful and went without a hitch. There were no near-fatal accidents, dramas or disasters this time. Unless you count the part of the reception when Hagrid knocked over the cake, but that was easily fixed with the help of a little magic.
Harry and Ginny left for their honeymoon this evening. They have returned to the very place where they first became engaged. Harry always was romantic like that. And as for me: well, I wish my best friends all the happiness in the world. They started out with a rocky relationship, and I just hope that they live happy lives from now on. What we went through as teenagers, with Voldemort, the war, the order of the Phoenix, Sirius' death and all the tragedies, nobody deserves happiness more than us, more then Harry Potter.
I"The path to true love never runs smooth... "/I but true love conquers all...