The wedding ceremony was going rather well.

Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour shared a kiss as the minister pronounced them husband and wife. The crowd went wild. Applause and a standing ovation ensued. The couple broke apart and grinned at each other, pure happiness evident on their faces. The audience clapped some more as the couple turned to face and beam at them. The sunshine that seemed to be peeking from the clouds the whole day finally went out of hiding and sent some rays to the couple. The newlyweds walked down the aisle as everybody followed them with their gazes.

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Harry Potter was not having a good time.

Sure, he was overjoyed at the fact that Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour are now married, but couples' surrounding him just wasn't working out great for him. One particular reason for this is his end of relationship with the best girl he's ever met. Ginny was looking very good this day. The color gold radiates the beauty of her red hair, but Harry can't help but notice that the glow on her face was fake.

Harry and Ginny had been avoiding each other's gazes lately. They weren't caught alone together, although everybody assumes that they try to get some time alone as much as possible. One day before the wedding, everybody tricked them into being at the same room at the same time. Nobody eavesdropped at them, so after a minute's silence and becoming strangely interested on the floor, Ginny muttered, "Well, I'll just be going now…" Harry didn't stop her.

So far, they had succeeded on avoiding suspicious questions and looks sent their way. Nobody had any suspicions about them yet. Harry was, despite the heaviness of the situation, amused because the couples around them are supposed to be experts at noticing something's wrong at a relationship. But, as unexpected as it is, nobody knew anything yet. At least that's what Harry and Ginny think so.

Harry set his glass of oak-matured mead down at the table and excused himself for the bathroom. On his way back, he heard a slow music playing and figured that couples are now probably slow dancing. He passes a hallway, but halfway, he halted. Ginny was standing at the end of the hallway, watching the dancing couples, her back on him.

"I want to ask you something," she said in a little voice.

"Alright," Harry said.

"When you broke up with me, did you feel nothing at all?"

Even though Ginny had her back on him, Harry couldn't help but look at the ground.

"You said everything so calmly and strong. Were you not sad at all?" her voice broke.

Harry closed his eyes. He didn't know what to say. If he said he was, Ginny would just chase after him her entire life. He couldn't stand hurting her more than making her expect that he still felt something. He wanted her to move on, to forget about him, as stupid as it sounds. She would be better off without him. He might die doing this mission of finishing Voldemort, and he couldn't bear the thought of her cry over his dead body. It would hurt her greatest among the other people he knew. He opened his eyes.

"No," he said in the most expressionless voice he could muster. It sounded strange to him. He knew he'd hurt Ginny greatly when he said it. He expected her to fight back, to slap him, to punch him, to curse him, but to his disdain, she didn't. Instead, she turned around to face him, with tears falling down her eyes. She looked as if she expected to see a lie on his eyes, but she looked like she received the same impression of being expressionless from Harry's face. She gave a tiny sob before running past him and entering a room without slamming the door. Harry walked quietly to face the door, running his hand through it, knowing full well Ginny's crying quietly on the other side. He wanted to comfort her, to hug her once again, to smell that flowery scent ever so close. He stopped running his hands over the door and clenched it. He couldn't bring trouble to Ginny, not now that he has done what he has intended to do; to push her away from him. His desire to hold her strengthened the feeling of his heart breaking as he moved away from the door, letting tears of his own fall.

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Harry found Ron and Hermione on Ron's room, chatting while playing a game of chess.

"Hey, it's my sister's birthday, get your butt down there and make her happy," said Ron jokingly. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"What's up, Harry?" she asked.

"Can I talk to you guys for a moment?" Harry asked. They stopped their game and turned to look up at him.

"Well, you're already talking to us, aren't you?" said Ron.

"Right," said Harry, "well, you know that going to this mission is probably the most dangerous thing we're about to do."

"No lies," said Ron. He earned a glare from Hermione which shut him up.

"I need to know that both of you are really in to this thing," said Harry seriously. "No turning back, no backing out."

"Haven't we told you this enough times now?" asked Hermione impatiently.

"Just answer the question," retorted Harry.

"Yes," they both said exasperatedly.

"Then if there are times where there's the most trouble, you must follow what I say."

"What d'you-"

"I mean that when the situation calls for it, I'll command you to do things that you'll probably think stupid, and you'll probably do otherwise."

"No, we won't-"

"Yes you will," snapped Harry. "Trust me on this, you will. Even I tried to do it, but I promised that I'd keep my word. Dumbledore told me to do everything he told me to do, and it was hell when I did. He forced me to keep on chugging that potion down his throat even though he's crying for me to stop it and to kill him."

"But Harry-" began Hermione.

"You have to promise me this Hermione. Especially you because you tend to think that everything Ron and I do are wrong, and you stop us all the time. Those may be for doing a prank or something, but this is serious stuff, Hermione. Both of you have to follow everything I tell you to do."

"Fine," said Hermione. Ron nodded in agreement.

"If I tell you to leave me and save yourselves, you'll do it?" Harry asked, remembering that this is the very same order Dumbledore gave him before they went off, looking for the fake horcrux.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other then back at him. They nodded seriously.

"You're sure about this?"

They nodded vigourously.

Harry smiled at them. "Good, glad we straightened that out."