Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Warnings & Spoiler Alerts: Please note that this story will deter from cannon heavily. I also have taken liberty with the Auror ranks and departments.
Please Note this story was written many years ago and I'm reposting it here and AO3.
BORN FOR YOU - Chapter One: Gryffindor Courage
They say that true love lasts a lifetime. That it is rare and therefore should be grabbed onto with both hands, but Harry knew that to be a lie. A pretty fiction that people, muggle and wizard alike, would write in order to give them hope the real world denied them.
And if Harry Potter knew anything, it was that the real word denied. Oh, but it would give too. After all, everything was give and take, push and pull. It would give you the greatest promise, a promise of that lifetime of love before it would take your dreams and hopes and the tiny shred of happiness you tried to cling to and snuff it out.
And after a lifetime of fighting Harry was tired. Too tired. So he grabbed what he understood, what he knew he could handle and took hope and love, the notion of true love, and vanished it within his mind the way he would a piece of rubbish with a flick of his wand.
Magic would not give him what it took from him as a child. Magic would not give him what he craved. Magic would not console him when it dangled hope in front of him, only to snatch it away and magic would not heal broken hearts. Especially not the one he himself had broken. Broken on a vow to control his own life and make his own fate.
Magic had told him how to live. It had even told him how to die and when, finally, it had dared to tell him who to love, he refused. He refused to succumb to its temptations and its promises of a greater tomorrow and in doing so, he had destroyed his own happiness just as magic destroyed his hope for a normal life. As normal as a life with magic could be, anyway.
"Take cover!"
He threw himself down upon the ground as dirt and rock flew all around him. His head vibrated with the deafening roar of the last explosion. It was close.
Too close.
He picked himself off the ground and through the dust he tried to see, to make sense of it all. But all he saw was the scattered teams of his men, blinding lights of the fight below and the scarred ground of battle.
"Where is my goddammed Battalion Chief?" He shouted, almost unable to hear his own voice through the ring in his ears.
He felt the ground tremble beneath his feet and the heat of the fire forced him back. A massive wall of flame and ash grew, keeping him and his men from advancing on the hideout.
"Captain!" Harry whipped his head around to see one of his Junior Auror's running towards him. "The Battalion Chief sends word. They tried to move around the back road to advance but they are cut off. Someone fired off… it's Fiendfyre, Sir. They won't be coming anytime soon."
Harry wiped the sweat and ash from his brow with his arm as he nodded, trying to gather his wits about him. He saw Ron run up to him wheezing, his breath coming in harsh bursts.
"Harry! We're down eight teams we can't take much more— "
Just then another great explosion rocked the ground, more rock flew towards them as Harry quickly threw up a shield between his Junior Auror and the debris.
The man looked at him with eyes wide, shock at the quick spellwork.
Harry looked around for Ron and found him several feet back on the ground, holding his arm as blood seeped down.
"Fuck! Ron!" He yelled as he ran towards his friend but by the time he made it Ron was already standing.
"I'm alright," he said quickly. "This has nothing on being Splinched, trust me."
Harry nodded and looked back at the fire. "They have us completely cut off on both sides. We're taking a beating out here, Ron, and they are only three men."
"Three of the most wanted Death Eaters to have ever lived, no big deal, right?" Ron asked with a quirk of his brow.
"We need a water source," said Harry looking around the local ground.
"The Battalion—"
"Cut off from the rear, Fiendfyre."
"Fuck," said Ron as he, the same as Harry, looked around for any kind of water source. "There is nothing."
"Gather the front line, we're moving forward."
"But, Harry, they're firing from the roof and without water—"
"Then well have to make our own."
Ron stared at the wall of fire scorching four stories high and wide enough to cover their entire hideout. "I don't think a quick Aguamenti is going to cut it, Harry."
Harry gave him a look that said, you think? before giving his orders. "I want the entire front line to push forward, the only thing we can do is create our own water source in force."
"You think that will work?"
"It has to. They are the last, Ron. When we get them, it's over."
Ron nodded as he ran towards the front line to send the teams back in with instructions to cast on his mark.
Harry took a deep breath and reached for his magic. His brow furrowed as it took him longer than expected. The battle had gone on too long and his magic was rapidly being depleted.
He walked towards the front and knew this was his best chance to catch them. Finally cornered and outnumbered they had fought them desperately, but Harry wouldn't let them go easily. Not without a fight.
Ron trotted up next to him before turning towards the fire. "Ready at your command, Captain."
Harry smirked at Ron and leveled his wand at the fire, his men following suit. "Wands at the ready! On my mark! FIRE!"
Shouts of Aquamenti were heard all around as water sprang toward him from all directions. He twisted the mass of water, pushing with all his magic, gathering and controlling until he levitated the mass into the air.
He saw a man to his right falter, his magic depleting. "Hold the line!" He shouted as he pushed the water forward, sweat on his brow and his face pale from the effort. The water grew until it towered over the flames and he smiled. His men had never failed him.
With a great yell, he pushed the water onto the flames before throwing up a mass shield to protect his men from the blast of hot steam and ember.
He fell to his hands and knees panting, trying to catch his breath and level his magic.
"It's down!" Yelled Ron.
Harry looked up at Ron. "What are you waiting for? Take them down, Deputy," he said with a grin.
Ron smiled and rushed forward, commands coming forth and Harry watched as Ron lead his men, their men, into battle. He knew then it was done. Walden Macnair and the Lestrange brothers were going back to Azkaban, and with them, it was the last of the old Death Eaters.
The war was finally over... once and for all.
Harry walked towards his office still dirtied and weakened from battle. All he wanted was his chair and a hot cup of tea. And silence, he couldn't forget the silence.
As he made it to the door he saw Ron waiting for him and he quickened his pace. "What are you doing? I sent you to St. Mungos to have that arm looked at."
"I know but I thought you'd like to see this." Ron reached out, handing Harry an envelope. One he recognized instantly.
"It's from the informant?"
Ron nodded. "It's spelled for your eyes only."
Harry looked up into Ron's eyes, surprised. For years the informant had been sending them letters and every single one had lead to the arrest of a major player for the other side. Though never before had they been addressed directly to him.
Harry had tried everything to locate the man, even if just to thank him, but his letters always came written on a muggle typewriter and sent from various locations with different owls. No magical signature clung to the letters, not once, but this one felt different. He knew this magic. Intimately he knew it.
He stared down at the hawthorn wand in his hand and felt the magics connect.
"My God…" Harry trailed off and looked at Ron, probably the only other person in the department that would recognize the informants magic.
Ron shuffled his feet, unwilling to meet Harry's eyes. "What are you going to do?"
"I don't know," Harry said without hesitation. "I bloody well didn't expect this."
"You know, Harry, you only have one more year…"
Harry nodded and swallowed hard. "What do you think it says?"
"Only one way to find out, Mate." Ron clapped him on the shoulder and walked away leaving Harry to stare dumbly at the letter in his hand.
"Why would you do this?" He asked the letter but of course, there was no answer. He walked the last few steps to his office and unlocked the door with a flick of his wand before rounding his desk. He lowered himself gingerly into his chair, his body starting to tremble and ache from the overuse of his magic.
He lay the letter and the wand down on his desk in front of him and watched as the two signatures swirled and found one another. Just a play of faint light that he conjured to confirm what he already knew.
"Draco," he whispered.
He lifted the letter, slid one finger underneath the seal and broke it. He felt the rush of magic inspect him and allow him to continue as he pulled the parchment free from its envelope.
Taking one last breath he held still, unable to breathe as he looked at the fine hand upon the letter that said one simple word…
Goodbye.
Harry laid the letter back down upon his desk and again watched the slight play of light dance between the two objects.
"Thank you," he said to no one and only slightly wished somebody was there to hear, that he could feel his gratitude.
Eleven months later….
Harry was sat in his favorite chair, a chair that usually brought comfort and a nap at the day's end but today was not that day. His knuckles went white from the grip of his hands on the armchair, his anger at its finest tipping point. "I don't understand," he said. "I thought this was what you wanted… what we both wanted."
"It is what I want but it's not what you want."
Harry swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue, after all, it was an old argument. One where he swore in anger that he knew perfectly well what he wanted, that he could decide for himself, but repeated words and anger never gained him anything with Ginny, so instead he tried to maintain his calm. "How can you say that? I have been nothing but loyal to you…"
Ginny sighed and looked away from her longtime fiancé. "Yes, Harry, you have shown me loyalty and kindness, but not love. Not the kind that will make a happy marriage for the next hundred years."
Harry's lips tightened along with the last threads of his control. He couldn't believe this was happening, not after everything. After all the people that had suffered in order for them to be together.
"What you're saying doesn't even make sense, Ginny, how can there be loyalty without love? One cannot exist without the other, so how can you say I don't love you?" Harry asked not for the first time, hoping for her to finally see reason.
"I understand your meaning, Harry, but you're wrong," she stated. "Some degree of love or caring would be needed for someone to show loyalty to another person. Especially with the amount of loyalty you have shown to me and my family, but that in no way means you love me, Harry, really love me the way I want and deserve."
Harry's nails scraped against the soft fabric as he tried to not grind his teeth. He wanted to shake her and ask why she was toying with the one thing that kept him sane after everything had happened to him.
"You wanted this, that is why we… and I wanted you too, Ginny. It's not like we didn't want to be together or know the consequences. So why are you doing this all of a sudden? You knew what this was the moment we agreed to be together and make it work despite everything." Harry stopped to think, raking his hand through his hair.
"I know I agreed to do this with you, Harry, but is it so wrong that I want to find someone who wants me and only me? Not my family or your ability to trust me or my… ability to carry your children?"
"Merlin, Ginny," Harry muttered as he hung his head low, he couldn't argue with most of what she said, though her blunt words cut deep.
"Look, you know I love you, and I think we would have been happy if not for the way fate intervened." Ginny stopped talking when she heard Harry scoff across the living room of their shared apartment. "Yes, it was fate, Harry. I know you think that is some kind of dirty word, and who can blame you after everything it expected of you, but we were stupid to try and go against it. Look where it has gotten us."
Harry could see and hear the frustration and fear in her voice, trying to convince him of their folly, but he just couldn't let go. He didn't want to give in or to obey.
"We were doing fine. It's only you who wants to break our engagement."
"I know about the dreams, Harry," Ginny said, her eyes sealed eyes shut, tears threatening to escape.
Harry paled. "Oh, God. Those… they… it's nothing, Ginny. They will go away like all the other symptoms, the books all say…"
"I know what the books say," she snapped. "I've read the same ones as you, and frankly I'm tired of living my life according to what the books say will happen to you next because of the separation. The bottom line is I'm not happy and you're not happy, not really, not in the way it matters for a married couple and were not even married yet. For Merlin's sake, what will it take for you to see that this is a failure and there is only one way this can end? Only one way you will ever truly be happy?"
"And you? What about you and your happiness? I asked you to marry me Ginny, not anyone else. I chose you."
"Did you? The way I see it, you settled for me. I want a relationship where I'm really wanted and desired. I know I had just as much to do with this as you did, and Ron, he was a major contributor to your decision, but I think even he regrets it. I know Hermione does. In my barely sixteen-year-old head, it all sounded so lovely, so romantic. Screw the plan the fates had lined up for you so we could be together, so we could be in love. And I know we wanted so badly to be in love then, to pick up where we left off, but now I just feel ashamed. We were selfish."
"Stop, Ginny, please, just stop," Harry interrupted, his beautifully tanned face devoid of all color.
"I know you regret it, Harry. I can see it in your eyes when you look at me and I hear it every night while you dream of him. I know you're only with me today because you think it will all have been for nothing if we don't stay together. You think it will be worse if we don't work it out because of what you gave up…"
"That's not true, Ginny…"
Ginny sighed. "I'm not saying that you don't care about me, hell, none of this would have happened if you didn't, but I'm not going to let this go on any further. I won't let you hide anymore and ruin your one chance at true love because of me. We're not idiot children anymore, we're adults and we both know that this feels wrong. Let me go, let me find someone else."
Harry nodded, finally giving in to what he had fought for years. "It's too late for me— "
"It's not too late," she argued.
"It is," he said with finality. "It's been seven years…"
"No, it's been six years and fifty weeks, Harry. You are exactly to the day, two weeks from being too late," she said, giving him one of the famous Weasley grins that only promised mischief. "Two weeks, Harry, that's a fortnight to find him and make him forgive you and for you two to live in that little elusive land called 'Happily Ever After'."
Harry choked on the ridiculousness of the thought. "You're barking! That's not nearly enough time, plus there is no way in hell he would forgive me after what we did to one another, what I did to him."
"But you forgave him."
"That's different…"
"He will forgive you, Harry," she insisted. "It's bred into him to do so."
Harry's lips thinned. "Don't say that. I told you I wouldn't be a part of that, I won't."
"I'm sorry, Harry, I only meant he will, at the very least, listen to you."
"What if he doesn't want to listen? Did you ever think of that? You know my sway over him dulls the less we see of each other as time goes by, and it breaks completely after seven years of no contact. So, what if he's ready to be free of me finally? I can't take that from him."
"Aren't you assuming a little too much? You won't know until you talk to him. Even if that is his plan, he still would be happiest with you. You only have to make him see it."
"I don't think it's assuming when you receive a letter saying only the word Goodbye. He wants to move on, Ginny."
"Why are you taking away his choice? Why won't you even try?"
Harry glared at Ginny, she knew exactly how to manipulate the situation to what she wanted and threatening him with taking away Draco's choice was a low blow.
"How would I even approach him after everything? No, forget that, how would I even find him? He's exiled to some community made up of his own kind."
"Exactly! Hermione said that will make it all the easier to find him."
"You told Hermione? Oh for the love of…and Ron knows too, I expect?"
"Of course," she said easily as if it was nothing to worry about, even though Harry wanted to lose it over his friends plotting behind his back. "I had to tell them, Harry, if only to cut off Ron's temper at us calling off the engagement. This way he can't blame you and pull his normal 'I'm angry at the world so I'm going to ignore everyone' routine. Besides, you're going to need help."
Harry snorted. "And you think Ron is going to help me with this? He never approved before, why would he now?"
"I told you, Harry, Ron and Hermione regret what happened. Ron may not like it, but he is willing to put the past behind him and help you. In fact, it was Ron who suggested our first course of action."
Harry held his breath to the point of making himself dizzy before he took a shuddering breath. He couldn't believe this was happening. Was he really considering going after him? The thought filled him with both hope and dread, and if he was honest with himself, a small bit of anger.
"I have work—"
"Oh, please. Kingsley will understand, Harry. You rounded up the last Death Eaters a year ago. Frankly, it's time you took a vacation.
Ginny waited patiently while she watched a barrage of emotions flash across his face. She was scared. Half scared he was going to refuse and insist on them making it work and half scared that he wouldn't protest at all. She knew it was useless for them to continue, but still, a part of her wanted the perfect life with Harry she had envisioned as a child.
That was the problem. She longed for a dream that was never hers, should never have been hers. She watched him sigh heavily while rubbing his tired eyes behind his glasses, seeming to finally come to a decision. She waited.
"I… it's not that I don't appreciate the thought you have put into this or your concern over my happiness, but you're making it sound as if we're not happy at all."
"I know we are mostly happy, Harry, but when we're not it's like... it's like this huge weight of depression just sits down on top of me and at the same time, I know it's not the typical depression. It's so much more dense, much heavier, it's like the guilt is sentient. Fate, she is angry with us for ignoring her decision and I know the only way I can be free of the guilt and heaviness is if we right the wrong that was done almost seven years ago."
"You're acting as if fate is a living breathing being."
"Isn't it? It's caused us both physical pain every time we tried to be intimate. We can barely do so much as hold hands and I haven't kissed you for almost over seven years because of it. The longing you have for him haunts your dreams more than Voldemort ever did, not to mention everything else that the books told us would happen has happened… to a degree, It's because I've taken you away from your predestined soulmate. If that's not the consequence of giving fate the two-finger salute then I don't know what is. I'm not willing to anger her anymore. I want to be free, to find happiness without the burden of this on me. I know that's selfish, especially after keeping you for so long."
"We've almost made it through, seven years is almost over and the bond will break in a few weeks. We would finally be able to marry, finally be able to touch each other again. This was the plan that we made, it's what I could always count on when things got bad, that there was a purpose to it all. That purpose was the future of us. Something we decided, not fate or magic or any other damned thing."
"Harry, this time I've decided. It's over. So go to him, be happy.
Harry shook his head. "We don't know if he will even be receptive to seeing me..." He said before trailing off. This was a disaster waiting to happen, he knew it.
"Then make him see you, show yourself to him…"
"I can't do that! That would be taking the decision away from him again. I did that to him once, I won't do it again."
"Well, this is where Ron's plan comes in–"
"Ron's plan?" Harry asked warily.
Ginny gave him an annoyed look for having interrupted her yet again. "Yes, his plan. It's actually more like advice and fairly simple to follow. We only have to ask Fleur what she thinks the best course of action is. I'm sure she knows where most of the Veela settlements are located. We know he lives on one so you can start there."
"We?" Harry asked with a grim smile.
"Yes, we," she said in what he knew was her most annoyed voice. "I will talk to Fleur with you, if for nothing more than for her to see that you're serious. She won't tell you anything if she doesn't think your absolutely serious, Harry, and it will be nice to see her for once not treat me as the 'other woman'. Honestly, we were together first."
Harry snorted while trying to hide a smile. It was a sore spot for Ginny that her sister-in-law regarded her as a home wrecker. "Alright, I can't believe I'm about to say this but, when do we start?"
Ginny gave a relieved yet watery smile. "You won't regret this, Harry, not this time. I promise you that."
Harry gave her a small nod in return and hoped to Merlin that this time, they were right.
"Harry! It's so good to see you. I can't believe that this is happening. Are you really going to speak to Fleur and try to find him?" Harry was almost knocked over by Hermione's enthusiastic hug as he barely made it out of her Floo.
"Calm down, 'Mione," said Ron. "You can't be running and jumping on him like that, especially with all that extra weight in front. What if you knocked him back into the Floo and he disappeared, then how is he supposed to go and search for the git?" Ron teased as he dodged his wife's hand.
"I think there is a rule about mentioning your pregnant wife's weight, Ron," Harry reached out and clapped his best friend on the back. "Pretty sure it says not to."
"See, even Harry knows your being an arse," she scolded.
"But look at you, only five months gone and you look like you're about ready to pop, it's kinda frightening actually. What are you going to look like at nine months?" Ron asked innocently, not paying attention to how red his wife's face was becoming. "I swear we should get a second opinion on if you're having twins."
Harry cringed as he watched Ron stupidly dig himself a deeper hole. Hermione's weight gain had been a bit more than what was normal but nothing serious. In typical Ron fashion, he had absolutely no delicacy in dealing with it.
"I'm not having twins, Ronald!" she exploded. "One more word about it and so help me I will tell your mother you called me fat."
Ron paled while Hermione snickered and moved off into the kitchen presumably to devour it if the suspicious look on Ron's face said anything. "She's barking I tell you," he said to Harry in what he thought was a whisper. "She's always threatening that she'll tell my mother. She has absolutely no grasp on the situation; all I'm trying to do is keep her cravings under control. There are all sorts of things that can happen if you eat the wrong things, you know. The other day her ankles looked like Snuffaluff pods because she ate too many crisps! That can't be healthy," he said in all seriousness, while Harry hurriedly covered his mouth lest he give away that he was smiling.
"I can still hear you, Ronald, our flat isn't that big and your whispering is about as quiet as a hippogriff tearing through the forbidden forest," Hermione yelled from the kitchen as Ron sputtered.
"Err… So I guess Ginny already talked to you both?" Harry said trying to draw the conversation off of Hermione's cravings before Ron got himself bludgeoned with the nearest kitchen utensil.
"Oh, right, that," Ron said as if he would rather discuss anything but that. He walked Harry into the kitchen to take a seat at the table, while Hermione set out some tea and biscuits that Harry eyed warily like he used to do with Hagrid's rock cakes.
"Don't worry, Mum made those. Hermione has all but given up trying to bake." Ron smirked as he dodged another blow aimed for the back of his head.
Harry felt a twinge of jealousy at their easy-going manner. Even at the best of times, things were still so fragile with Ginny. He had never had this kind of laid-back attitude with her and it was something he craved.
At the beginning, he was always afraid he would say something or do something wrong, and she was always worried he would run off if she did anything to offend him. Then came the fights. Not the loving jabs that Ron and Hermione used or even the passionate anger some couples had. No, they knew how to blame and cut, and cut deep with their words just for the purpose of hurting. They didn't fight all the time, but when they did it was damaging for days and sometimes even weeks. In the end, his relationship with Ginny had turned into the one he ran away from. It was toxic, just like his past.
"So, I gather you're here about what Ginny came to us about last week, Harry?" Hermione said as she took a seat.
"Err… yeah, I guess? I'm still a little unsure as to what you know, so maybe we should just start with that?"
Hermione shared a quick glance with Ron, another thing that gave Harry a pang of jealousy. "Alright, stop with the couple telepathy and tell me what was said. What do you think?"
"Ron, I think you should tell him. I think it will mean more coming from you since you were more opposed back then," Hermione said, all seriousness returning to her tone.
"Yeah, alright. Well… basically… we wanted to tell you... we think we might have been... bloody hell, why is this so hard?" Ron said, rubbing his forehead.
"Right, so now I'm starting to get worried." Harry looked between his two friends and wished they would just spit it out. "Ginny said that you… that you maybe regret what happened?" He asked.
"Regret it?" Ron snorted. "That doesn't even begin to describe what I feel. What we did, what we pushed you to do—"
"You didn't push me…" he tried to argue.
"Come off it, mate, we pushed you. We didn't trust him, with good reason from his past and his family connections and he was so damned hateful, Harry. Not only to us but to you. We couldn't understand how it could possibly work with him. You shouted all the time, were angry all the time, Harry, you even punched one another. But, I could tell at the end that you were starting to care for him...no that's not even it, no more lying to ourselves," Ron said as if he was arguing with himself more than talking to Harry. "We all could tell that you had fallen for him a bit and he you, but we still encouraged you. We basically ripped you apart from your soulmate for our own selfish reasons, so you would be with Ginny, someone we could trust. So, yes, I regret it, every day I regret it." He finished as he closed his eyes unable to look Harry in the eye.
Ron's flood of emotion brought him back to one of his worst days. You'd think to lose a loved one to death or even losing oneself to death would have been his lowest of low, but it wasn't. The day he became so angry that he punched Draco was the worst of his life. It had also been his wedding day, only moments before they were to bond themselves to one another. Draco had pushed and picked at him to his breaking point, and Harry knew he had done it on purpose out of fear, same as he. That didn't stop their anger or both of their fists from flying.
"Harry?"
Harry looked up from his hands at Hermione's voice, wondering how long he'd sat in silence. "How..." He stopped talking, having to swallow and regain his composure. Remembering that day always discomposed him. "How long have you felt this way?"
"Almost from the moment you sent him away," Ron admitted. "We read the books, we did the research but we just didn't get it. We took you away from someone who was, for all intents and purposes, born for you. At the time I don't think I could even fathom what that really meant but he really was born to love you, Harry." Ron swallowed thickly.
Harry laughed, a bitter noise crackling from disbelief. "Born to love me, huh?" Harry asked just above a whisper. "Is that why after we bonded he turned into a completely different person? No cutting words, no mind of his own and no fight at all. Just resignation and… sadness. Is that love, Ron?" Harry spat, anger finally lacing his voice. "Do you make Hermione so miserable that she can't even talk to you without having to look away from your eyes or does she fear your control over her? Love? Magical manipulation is what that is, so don't call it love."
"Harry," Hermione said, tears now in her eyes. "Please stop. You'll never be happy if you can't accept this, you have to stop viewing this thru your muggle upbringing, the same way I had to."
Harry shook his head at her, ready to speak but Ron did instead.
"Bill came to the Burrow once and he took me aside. The things he said, Harry, you should have heard him. He tried to explain it to me that day. How that the few of us that fall in love are damn lucky, but those of you who have predestined mates, like you and Bill, are more than lucky. You have a destiny to love someone who was put on this world for you. How many people can say that?"
"Destiny? Are you really trying to sell me destiny, Ron?"
"Oh, Harry," said Hermione, a sigh on her voice. "Its almost been seven years since Voldemort's death. When will you stop being so angry? When do you get to be happy?"
"Maybe when the fate of the wizarding world stops interfering in my life. It touched literally every damn facet of my very being and demanded too much…"
Harry trailed off, nothing more to say. It had been a good long while since he vented his frustrations like this. This day had been emotionally draining.
"We can't help you with that anymore, Harry," said Ron, worry on his brow and sorrow in his voice.
"I know," he said pitifully.
"All I know is that the world gave you someone who would love and be devoted to only you."
"I betrayed him," Harry whispered, unable to make himself say more.
"Yes," Ron agreed, "but he betrayed you too. Still, in the end, there was no doubt in my mind that he did care you, no matter how he treated me or Hermione, but by that time we were so deep in everything with Voldemort's Horcruxes that it was too late to go back and fix things. And you had already sent him away and no one knew where he went. It seemed best to just leave it alone, give you and Ginny a chance once the war was over, but I have to be honest, mate. I don't think that's going to happen. I think we fucked up, fucked up real bad, Harry."
"I think, what Ron is trying to say in his own colorful way, Harry, is that we made a mistake, and we all realize it, and now we only have a small open window in which to correct it. Roughly two weeks," Hermione whispered as she absent-mindedly rubbed her belly with one hand while holding Ron's hand with the other. "I'm…we are so sorry, Harry, we should have tried harder to accept him," she said sadly.
"Stop it, the both of you. You may have encouraged me but you didn't think anything that I didn't already think myself, besides he was a right git to both of you. How could I expect you to try harder, Hermione, when his every other word to you was horrible? Ultimately it was us who hurt each other, you two were just easy targets for his anger."
Harry shuddered as a part of the horrible memory worked its way to the surface before he pushed it back down. "The way I told him to leave... I was horrible," he muttered, shaking his head.
"You did it for both of your sakes, Harry," Hermione interjected. "Besides he will forgive you, it's in his nature…"
"That makes it worse doesn't it, Hermione? That he has to forgive the bastard that treated him horribly?"
Hermione looked down unable to argue, but Ron picked up where she couldn't. "How does it make it worse, Harry? He's your destined and since he is the one with the creature blood fueling the magic that pulls you together, the pull is naturally strongest on him. It is what it is, not worse or better. You and Hermione need to realize that not everything can be categorized in a neat little box of good magic and evil, labeled for your convenience. Some things just are what they are," he tried to explain, for what he felt was the hundredth time.
Being raised in the Muggle world, Harry just couldn't understand Ron's reasoning of some things and he knew Hermione had trouble as well. For them, they didn't grow up thinking things just did what they did because of the magics, no explanation needed. Things happened because someone made them happen or invented something to do it for them. Things like house-elves and soulmates were just such a strange concept they had trouble understanding. What about free-will?
"I don't know what I want to do," Harry said.
Ron chuffed. "Stop lying to yourself, Mate. You need to show yourself to him before the bond breaks. We can leave for Shell Cottage tomorrow morning and go from there. Ginny will meet us so we can convince Fleur."
"I'm not going to use the bond that way, Ron, it feels dishonest; like I'm using it for my own gain."
Ron threw his hands in the air. "Are you serious? Of course it's for your own gain! That's the whole purpose of a bloody bond, to benefit those involved."
"Ron, calm down," Hermione tried to interject before her husband cut her off again.
"You need every advantage you can get. The magic is there so use it!"
"'The magic is there so use it?" Harry asked incredulously. "So according to you the magic of creating Horcruxes is there so we should all use it? Just because it's something you can do, doesn't mean you should do it, Ron!" Harry said angrily.
"Did you really just compare your marriage to Malfoy to creating Horcruxes? For Merlin's sake, it's a completely different matter! Just forget that part of it, alright? Tomorrow we will go to Shell Cottage and you can worry about the rest when it is actually time to see him."
It didn't go unnoticed to Harry that when Ron said marriage and Malfoy's name he had flinched. It was something they rarely did, mention the man's name or the fact that they were bonded in marriage.
"Harry?" Hermione scooted forward and took Harry's hands in her own. "I know you want to go about this in the best manner possible, but promise me that you won't throw this chance away, use anything you can to grab what you want as long as it doesn't hurt either of you," Hermione pleaded. "Don't lose him a second time. Discuss it with Malfoy, make the decision together. Don't take control of the situation from him this time. I think he would appreciate that."
Harry listened to Hermione's argument and knew she was right. "What about Ginny? And your family?"
"You don't need to worry about that, Harry!" Hermione said rather harshly. "He should be your first priority if you are going to do this. We will make sure Ginny is fine, besides this is all her doing remember? She also wants you to be happy; she's setting you free so you can be."
"Ouch, it felt like you channeled Professor McGonagall there for a second, 'Mione, you know how to make it sting."
"Oh, Harry, you know I don't mean to sound preachy…" Hermione trailed off at the scoffs from both men. "Fine, I at least don't mean to sound preachy but Malfoy really does need to be your first priority and whether you like to think of it or not, he is your husband. Shouldn't he be the one that gets your loyalty first now that you're going after him?"
"I… I don't know how to give him that. I don't even know him really," he said pitifully.
"Well, then use these two weeks to get to know him. Honestly! Why do men always make things harder than it needs to be? It took Ron ages to pluck up the courage to ask me to marry him when he knew I would say yes. Gryffindors indeed!" Hermione stomped away in a huff back into the kitchen.
"Great, see what you did, mate? It will take me all night to get her out of there now."
"I heard that, Ronald!"
Harry sighed at his friend's sheepish look despite his own dire circumstances. He was nervous about seeing Fleur the next day. Sure he had seen her at many family functions but she always treated him with a chilly civility. Tomorrow his future depended on her giving him information he would need to try and find Malfoy and then it was all up to him to make it work.
Just the thought of everything that had happened in one day made him tired, so he trudged off to the Floo, giving his friends a lazy farewell. As he called out his address he wondered if Ginny had already left or if she would still be there packing. The thought left him depressed on top of his worry about the next day. He knew he was in for a rough night.
Thank you to DreamsReality for editing this story. :)