Harry slowly approached where Fred's lifeless body lay, surrounded by his family. The Weasleys were sat in silence, their arms around each other, or clinging on to Fred in the hopes that he might wake up and tease them for being so forlorn.

"Hey," he said quietly, and to his surprise everyone looked up and smiled at him. Ginny looked up too, and even though her face was stained with the tear tracks of loss, she too managed a smile that made Harry's heart melt.

"Hey," she replied softly. Her eyes seemed to be seeing right through him, right into his soul. There was nothing Harry wanted more than to pull her into a tight embrace and never let go, he wanted to erase all the pain from her face and from her heart and to just make things okay again. That's all he wanted, for all of the Weasley family. After all, it was his fault that Fred had died in the first place.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Harry asked, hoping that she would say yes, that she could, but he could see in her eyes the reluctance to leave her family, and her now-dead brother.

"Sure," Ginny replied, though a frown was creasing her forehead. She stood up, one hand still on Fred's chest, and the other hand on George's shoulder. She slowly removed her hand from Fred, and gave George's shoulder a gentle squeeze, to which he wordlessly replied with an understanding smile.

"Will you be okay?" she asked him quietly.

"I'll be fine, go with Harry," he assured her softly, grabbing her hand and giving it a soft squeeze. He then removed his hand and looked up at Harry. George's eyes were red-rimmed, from crying, no doubt; but he still managed the mischievous grin that Harry had come to know so well.

"Alright there, Harry?" he asked, to which Harry replied with a cautious nod.

"Alright, you?"

"Alright," he replied, though it sounded forced, even to Harry's ears.

Ginny carefully made her way over to Harry, touching various members of her family on the shoulder as she passed. When she came to Percy, Harry half expected Ginny to ignore him; or to send him a look so vicious that he wouldn't dare say anything. Instead, she pulled him to his feet and into a fierce hug. Harry looked awkwardly away as the tears started to fall from both their eyes once more, and he could hear Percy muttering 'Fred, Fred, Fred' in anguished tones.

"Where did you want to go?" Ginny asked Harry, when she finally let go of Percy, her voice breaking slightly at the end, though Harry pretended not to have noticed.

"There's this little place outside the castle we can go to… if you're up for it," he added, not wanting to sound as though he were trying to tear her away from her family- at a time when they desperately needed each other.

"Yeah… yeah it's fine," she assured him.

They manoeuvred their way out of the Great Hall slowly, because Harry was constantly stopped for people to give their thanks to him, for defeating Voldemort and for saving all of their lives. He always replied the same, 'it's nothing', because he wanted nothing more than to get out, away from all of the dead and the dying and the people that thought him a hero.

When they were outside the Castle, Harry looked at Ginny, who was silently weeping.

"Gin?" he spoke softly, but Ginny heard, lifting her head up to meet his, and wiping her eyes on her sleeve, apparently embarrassed at showing so much emotion.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry. It's just been… it's just been a rough couple of days," she whispered.

"I know," he murmured. Harry didn't know what to do, he wanted to comfort her, but at the same time, Harry knew that sometimes it was best to leave people who were grieving alone.

"Where are we going, Harry?" she asked suddenly, glancing upwards. The lake was in the distance, shimmering blue in the light of the dawn. It was beautiful, but Harry couldn't appreciate it, nor could Ginny. After so much pain, and so much death, it was hard to see the beauty in anything, even when there was so much beauty to be appreciated.

"Just a little place… I wanted to ask you something," he replied softly.

They walked in silence until they came to a cluster of trees, just in front of the lake. Harry caught hold of Ginny's arm and pulled her to a tree, in the middle of them all. They stood there for a few minutes, before the realisation hit Ginny and she gasped.

"This is… this is…"

"Yeah, these are my parent's initials," Harry smiled softly, "Gin; I want our initials up there with my parents. Would you… would you want that? I mean, would you want to be with me?"

To Harry's dismay, Ginny started to cry. Without a second thought he pulled her close, into a hug that he knew she needed. She clung to him, so tight that Harry thought she was going to squeeze the life out of him, but he didn't care.

"You don't have to be strong now, Gin. I'll do that for the both of us," he whispered into her hair.

She pulled her head backwards and glanced up at him, the tears still falling from her eyes. "Will you?" she asked.

"Of course I will," Harry smiled. He leant forwards and bought his lips against hers, only for the briefest of moments, but it was enough. She sighed and huddled against his chest for warmth. Harry gave her the gentlest of squeezes, enough to assure her that he was there, that he would always be there.

"I love you, Harry."

"I love you too, Gin," he replied, smiling into her neck.

"Can we…. Can we write our initials up there, with your parents? I want to be with you, Harry."

"Yes, we can," Harry beamed, withdrawing his wand from his pocket. He walked over to the tree, with Ginny in tow, and raised his wand. He began writing their initials, right underneath his parents. After Harry had finished, he drew a heart around the two sets.

"We'll be here forever, Harry. You and I and your parents."

"Yeah," he agreed, pulling Ginny into another kiss. It lasted longer this time, and was full of emotion. When they broke apart, Harry kissed Ginny's forehead lightly, overwhelmed by the rush of feelings that hit him.

"Maybe we should head back up to the Castle," Harry suggested quietly. Even though being with Ginny was what he wanted the most, he wanted her to be around her family too, where she needed to be.

"We can stay here for a little while, right?"

"Sure," Harry replied, kissing the top of her head. Ginny's hand found his, and she squeezed it tight. She sat down on the grass, pulling Harry with her, and together they sat watching the sun rise over the lake.

J.P + L.E

H.P + G.W

Hi c: hope you enjoyed this chapter! I've got seven chapters written already, and I'll be posting them weekly, and after that I'll be posting as soon as I've gotten it done (so the updates could become a little more irregular after then, especially since I'll have University work to be getting on with). Thanks for reading! c: