The Bench

Author's Note:

This is just a little one-shot. I hope you enjoy it.

The day was already turning into a hot one, it wasn't even noon yet and the temperature was hot enough that heat shimmers could be seen rising from the grass in the front yard. The trees in the orchard seemed to wilt as the leaves appeared to stop stirring and just lay on the branches as though waiting for something to make them fall. Even the birds had stopped singing, as if doing so would make the air even hotter.

Molly Weasley wiped her brow, she was tired and uncharacteristically wanted to return to her bedroom and go back to sleep. The dreams were still occurring, but thankfully at a much more random pace. After May, they had been happening nightly, and even Arthur's tender touch and love couldn't keep them at bay. Fred's body lying prone on a cot, his laughter and spark gone – a flash of green narrowly missing her only daughter, all the while hearing maniacal laughter screeching in her ears. She had finally started to see someone about what she had been through, she and Arthur both gone. And it had helped… a little. Being at home had begun to not sting as much as she watched her children come and go throughout the summer. But it was still a struggle and the mornings were the most difficult.

She heard footsteps coming down the stairs and a quiet, "Good morning Mrs. Weasley," muttered half-heartedly as the back door opened and closed. Molly moved to a window to watch the young man continue to move out of the backyard towards the pond. His dark hair messy and longer than she had ever seen it; he was wearing a faded blue t-shirt and his hands in the front pockets of the old jeans he was wearing. She watched him trudge slowly away noticing that his shoulders were slumped – it gave the perfect picture of someone in perfect misery. And as she watched the young man that she had begun to view as her seventh son so many years ago, she didn't realize the tears she was shedding until she felt them crash onto her hands.

"Mum," it was her daughter's voice. Molly turned to look up the stairs at her daughter.

Ginny was turning 17 soon, and while it was hard on Molly to realize that her youngest child and only daughter would be an adult within days, she was amazed at the young woman looking down from the stairs at her. Ginny wore a pale yellow and green t-shirt with a Holyhead Harpies insignia on the front and a pair of faded blue denim cutoffs that she had obviously somehow gotten at a muggle store.

Molly knew that Ginny was beautiful and smart, and had a wicked sense of humor and loyalty that rivalled any of her brothers. Molly was so proud of Ginny that she wanted to scream it from the Astronomy Tower of Hogwarts, but the soft brown eyes of her daughter so often shining with mischief and fun instead held only concern and fear in them, and Molly knew why.

"Come here Ginny, and talk to me."

Ginny walked slowly down the stairs to the kitchen table and sat down on a bench at the table looking up at Molly who had leaned her back against the kitchen sink. Molly knew her daughter, and didn't want to push her into a conversation, so instead asked, "Would you like something to drink dear?"

Ginny put her head down on her hands and looking at Molly shook it.

"Thanks Mum, but I'm not thirsty."

Molly smiled gently, she knew what the answer was going to be, but being a mother, she had had to ask. And given that fact, she also had to give her daughter a little push.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Ginny sat up, but kept her eyes looking down at her hands. She had turned them upwards and was looking at the lines and callouses on her palms. Ginny desperately wanted to say something, but wasn't sure how to even start.

"Is it about Harry?"

Ginny could feel her stomach lurch and cramp a little, her heart felt like someone was squeezing it from the inside, and tears were forming in her eyes though they did not drop.

Ginny silently nodded.

Molly knew that her daughter was torn. She had lost a brother but Harry, the young man who she had loved since she was a child had survived, and Ginny didn't know how to deal with that and was struggling with the guilt and sorrow she was feeling. Nor did Ginny know how to help her family through what had happened, while she so desperately wanted, "No," Molly thought, "Needed," to help Harry.

Molly had known that the two of them were going to end up together. Ginny's crush had long ago been replaced by something deeper, and even her letters home informing her mother of other young men she had fancied and dated, Molly knew that Ginny was trying to hide from the feelings she had for Harry. But, trying to be a good mother, Molly had said nothing and let her daughter come to that realization on her own.

Molly put her head down because she didn't want Ginny to think she was patronizing her as Molly grinned a little remembering the times that Harry had realized that he had feelings as strong for Ginny. He too had tried to hide them, maybe in a false sense of loyalty to Ron, maybe as a way to keep Ginny safe from those that were hunting him. Regardless, Molly knew that Harry had at some point in the last few years had fallen madly in love with her Ginny, and Molly was glad for it.

Molly made her way to stand behind Ginny and put her hands on Ginny's shoulders.

"Ginny, I know you're hurting. We all are. But in time our family will make it through this. I love you my daughter. Now please tell me what is going on."

Molly had taken a seat on the bench next to Ginny, who had looked up and into her mother's eyes. Tears sparkled in Ginny's eyes, as she sobbed and grabbed Molly in a fierce hug. Molly couldn't keep her own tears from falling as her daughter sobbed into her shoulder. All she could do was hold Ginny and pray that would be enough for now.

Harry finally made it to the spot that had become his quiet place, a place that he could go and just think. He quickly conjured a wooden bench similar to the ones he had seen at muggle parks growing up, and sat down.

It was hot today, but Harry didn't care and didn't even have the energy to hit himself with a cooling charm that may have taken the edge off of the heat. He could feel the sweat starting to prickle on his forehead and marveled that he wasn't hearing any birds singing or insects chirping – it was silent and Harry thought it fit his bleak mood perfectly.

He sat staring at the pond in front of him. But he didn't see the pond; he saw faces – their faces. And as each face came to his mind, Harry tried to memorize it, and then tried to think of what he could do to help that person's surviving family. But as he tried this, he failed. He didn't know what he could do… he had just celebrated another birthday, while these friends and family had paid a price that Harry thought too high – they would never celebrate another birthday, or anything else. And that knowledge made Harry ill.

So he pulled his feet up on the bench bending himself so that his chin rested on his knees and continued to stare at nothing. He fought desperately to stave off the helpless feeling that had begun to creep into him.

After several minutes, Molly heard a small whisper, "Mum, I love him… but it feels like last year again. The only difference is that he is physically here, and I don't know how to help him. He is hurting so much, but everyone is – and no one is blaming him for what happened."

"Shhh… you and I can figure this out Ginny."

Ginny had finally sat up and turned to face her mother, who had summoned a tissue so Ginny could wipe her eyes and nose.

"Ginny dear, can I ask you a question?"

The look on her daughter's face reminded Molly of the young girl that had tried to put on a brave face in spite of having skinned knees and elbows from falling off one of her brother's brooms. The only problem was that now Molly didn't have a quick spell and bandage to heal what her daughter was feeling, and Molly struggled not to start crying again as she watched her brave daughter look into her mother's eyes.

"Do you really love Harry?"

Ginny looked at her mother, and her brown eyes glinted with a fierceness that Molly knew.

"With all of my heart Mum, I can't go a day without thinking of him. When I am near him I feel like my life just fits, like it finally makes sense. And when he isn't around me, I feel an emptiness that… I don't know… like I can barely get enough air to breathe. When Harry smiles at me Mum, my breath catches in my throat and I feel like nothing in this world matters. I can't think of a life without him in it. Isn't that love?"

Molly was taken aback at the response. Her heart burst with joy, and taking her beautiful daughter's face in her hands kissed her forehead. Then looked in Ginny's eyes and quietly said, "Yes, because that is the same way I feel about your father. Now, have you told Harry this?"

Ginny broke the eye contact, and giving a great sigh said quietly, "Not in so many words."

"Then I think it may be time for you to tell him. I think it may be the one thing that would help him get through this more than anything else."

Ginny's eyes came up and met her mother's again. And as she looked at Molly, Ginny's face began to light up with one of the largest smiles that Molly had ever seen on her daughter's face. Ginny's eyes shone with their familiar fierceness and stubbornness and determination to help the man she loved.

"Thanks Mum! I love you!" Ginny stood up and kissed her mother's forehead before resolutely walking out of the backdoor.

Molly Weasley stood, and smiling at the lightness that her own heart felt, a lightness that she had not felt in a long time, and went back to work cleaning her kitchen.

Harry was still curled on the bench; still lost in his thoughts of loss. He was rolling over the what-ifs in his head.

What if I had done this…, or if I had done that… would it have mattered?

Then the major question, the one he had been beating himself up with for months:

Why am I still here and they aren't? Why couldn't have been me to die?

The tears came then… slowly… sliding down his cheeks… past his chin… and splattered on his arms as he finally put his feet down on the ground, bowed his head and cried softly. He couldn't stop the spiral and it scared him.

As he slid his hands up around the back of his neck as a small breeze blew past him and he thought he caught a small whiff of flowers, and his heart beat a little faster. He closed his eyes again hoping that she would come to him. He needed her.

Ginny was determined to not let Harry go through this by himself again. He wasn't alone anymore, and she knew that she had to help… more importantly her mother had given her a way that maybe she could. As she walked out towards the pond she could see his unruly black hair.

Harry was sitting on a wooden bench and his head was bowed. And as Ginny continued her trek to him she watched him slide his hands up to the back of his head like he was trying to hide from something. But he had stopped as a small breeze blew past her, and he put his hands down sitting up a little straighter.

Ginny drew closer to him and put a small hand on his shoulder, leaned over and gently kissed the top of his head. And in that kiss she poured everything of herself into it. Her support and love for the man struggling with the weights he felt he had to put on his shoulders.

She didn't say anything, but as she began to move, Harry grabbed her wrist and looking up into her eyes, softly whispered, "Don't leave me Ginny. I can't do this alone anymore."

Ginny looked into Harry's eyes – the once bright green eyes that had sparkled when they had been a couple back at Hogwarts were not there. Instead they were dark and sad and it looked like they were almost broken. And looking into them made Ginny's breath catch in her throat and her heart break.

Harry gave a gentle pull on her wrist and she collapsed into his lap. She wrapped one arm behind his head and one under his arm, pulling him into a strong hug.

Ginny whispered in Harry's ear, "You aren't alone, not anymore. Not ever again."

She felt his arms wrap themselves around her pulling her closer. She felt his tears on her shoulder and his ragged breath on her neck.

Ginny knew it was time, so she took his face in her hands and looked at him. Willing him to see how she felt even before she spoke.

"Harry, I need to tell you something. And before you interrupt me let me finish this OK?"

Harry silently nodded and the look in his eyes changed slightly from pure anguish to mix with a little curiosity and maybe a sliver of hope.

"Harry, I am sorry that I haven't told you this before… but… I love you."

At this declaration, Harry's eyes dramatically changed. They instantly began to brighten, and Ginny thought she saw the sliver of hope in them change to true hope.

"I can't keep going on without you in my life Harry. When I wake up in the morning, you are my first thought, and when I fall asleep it is to thoughts of you. When you walk into a room I only see you, and when you walk away I feel empty and hollow inside. What I am trying to tell you is that I love you Harry James Potter, and I need you. You remind of why I can carry on in life. So, this is the deal that I am going to make with you right here, right now."

Harry's eyes quirked at this and Ginny saw the laughter and joy in them. She knew she was almost there, just a little more to say.

"You have to promise to stop blaming yourself and stop the guilt. You didn't kill those people, you didn't kill Remus or Tonks or… Fred…. I need you Harry, but I refuse to lose you to these thoughts anymore. Do you understand me? I have lost you once already and that is once too many times for me to lose you ever again. If you want us, then you have to promise me to stop burying yourself under this rock of guilt and remorse. They wouldn't want that for you. Please, live your life… live your life for me and with me… Please Harry?"

Harry slowly closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened his eyes to look into Ginny's warm, loving brown ones, the ones filled with hope and kindness and love. And it made him smile as his heart began to mend from the words she had said.

Ginny would never forget the feeling she had as she looked into his emerald eyes that were now sparkling like they had before all of this, like they had when they had found quiet places in Hogwarts or under their beech tree as they sat together. She knew he had returned. He had come back to her.

Harry smiled, and taking Ginny's beautiful freckled face in his hands pulled her face into his so that he could kiss her. She had saved him from the brink, the same way he had saved her from the brink all those years ago in the Chamber of Secrets. Ginny had told him that she loved him, and he understood finally he could live his life, as long as she was in it with him.

He broke the kiss, and looking into her eyes whispered to her the first words that came to his mind, "I love you too Ginny. Forever."

-The End-

Epilogue

As the extendable ear began to roll back from where it was hidden near the bench where Harry and Ginny sat, Molly smiled with joy at what she had heard Ginny and Harry say to one another. She knew that there were still hard days to come, but she had no doubt that her daughter and the young man she loved like a son would be OK, and that knowledge helped her own heart begin to mend too.

Her last thought as the ear finally came back into her hand was, "Wow! These things really do work."