(All these delightful characters belong to J. K. Rowling, not to me. This story begins with some very real and painful situations- with moments of humor thrown in, of course- but never fear, my dear readers, it is primarily a romance. Slow and steady wins the race!)

Chapter 1: A Revelation

Ginny kissed James and Albus and tucked them into their bunkbeds for the third time that evening. Lily was already asleep, thank goodness. Then she kicked aside several toy cars from the doorway as she slowly made her way into the kitchen to have her nightly cup of tea. She was tired, and her favorite blue tea cup was gone. Albus had knocked it off the table by accident during dinner, and Ginny's feeble reparo spell had mangled the cup completely. What was wrong with her these days? It was a trivial thing, but she felt a tear moisten her lashes. It had been a long day. Harry did not know or care about the silly cup, or about the fact that his brilliantly competent wife couldn't mend it. Harry was brooding in his bed, just as he had been during dinner time, and for most of the past month. Ever since the miscarriage a year ago, he had retreated more and more from her and everyone. She had cried, begged, argued, lectured him, and was now wondering how much longer she could endure this situation. Damn the tea cup! Ginny took the kettle off the fire and went to try one last time to talk to Harry.

"Harry, we need to talk." she started nervously.

"Alright. I have a headache."

But Ginny was determined. "Harry, please talk to me! I'm exhausted. The house is a mess. The kids don't understand why they never see you any more. I feel like I'm always covering for you to the rest of the world. 'I'm sorry, Harry isn't feeling well today. Harry is too busy to see anyone right now, but I'll pass along your message!...' I just can't do it any more!"

"It's not like you've been bothering to do a lot of cooking and cleaning yourself lately, but I've been very understanding. And I've told you, I don't like all these nosy people intruding on our personal lives. Why can't you just tell them to go away?" he was immediately defensive.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to start a fight!" Ginny had learned not to argue with him. It was a guaranteed way to push him further into his shell. Every time this happened, she was reminded of the summer before he left to track down the last horcruxes. He was so good at shutting her out of anything he thought would upset her. She felt like he was slipping away, and was terrified of losing him. "I'm not complaining either. I just... I'm really worried about you, Harry! There's something very wrong. I know there is! This is not just about the miscarriage anymore, is it? What is going on that you aren't talking to me about?"

Harry looked Ginny in the eyes for the first time in ages, then looked away. After a very long silence, he stammered, "I- I- don't know how to tell you this, Ginny. It... I..." his voice trailed off.

"What? What is it? Are you sick? Did something happen? Please! Whatever it is, we'll figure it out together. You don't have to face this alone!"

More silence.

"I'll look the other way." Ginny turned around. "Can you tell me now?"

"I... I..."

"Are you dying?"

"No, Ginny, I...I think I'm gay." his voice was in a whisper.

"What?" she whipped around to face him. "What did you say?"

"I don't want to ruin everything! I didn't figure it out before, not till last month. And then I was afraid to say anything. I..."

Ginny was thinking very quickly, and listening with all her might. She suddenly sat down. "Of course you had to say something! But I don't understand. Please explain!"

"Well, I thought for ages that I must be bisexual. It was so confusing! You're beautiful. You turn me on. You do know that, right? But sometimes I find myself looking at wizards too, and I didn't know what to think. I thought, since we were married and I am attracted to you, it didn't matter. We'd be fine."

Ginny's eyes widened. She was trying to control her breathing. "...But you're always lonely, aren't you? We've talked about it for years, haven't we? And I never guessed. Oh my God, I never guessed!"

"Do you remember a few weeks ago when I went to see Hermione?"

Ginny nodded. "Wait! You told Hermione? Before you told me?! How could you do that?"

"No, no, no! I didn't tell her. She was the one who figured it out. I was so confused, and I didn't want to hurt you by speculating about something so sensitive... So I thought of asking Hermione."

"Alright then." A silent tear was now running down her face, but Ginny ignored it. "So what did Hermione say?"

"She said it made a lot of sense. That she and I had spent so much time alone together, but still I had always thought of her like a sister. And then the honeymoon-"

Ginny clapped her hands over her mouth "When you wanted to take a detour to visit Hermione and Ron for a few days!"

"Yes, and, and... And everything else between us. She'd been wondering for years about it. And then she did an orientation spell, ardento orientus"

"But that spell is dark magic!"

"Well, people think of it that way, but Hermione said it wasn't really. Just taboo for so many centuries. She explained it. If the drop of blood turns blue, that means you are gay, and red means straight... And my blood turned blue-violet." Now Harry's hands were shaking.

"It's okay. We're going to get through this." Ginny said, putting on a brave face.

"I do love you, Ginny. I never wanted to hurt you! I'm so, so sorry."

"Thank you for telling me this now. You can always tell me anything. I'm going to be alright, but I need to go think about this alone now. You understand?" and Ginny ran to her chair in the sitting room, out of earshot of the children, and began to bawl.

Ginny was in shock. She cried for as long as she could, but the urgency of certain unanswered questions moved her to get up . She drank a glass of water and went back to find Harry. Harry was still awake and pacing the room.

"Are you alright, Ginny? What can I do?"

"I'll be alright." Ginny said with as much confidence as she could muster. "Right now, I need to talk. Did you cheat on me?"

"What? Merlin. No! I mean, to be honest, I've wished I could... you know... find out what it would be like, to experiment I suppose... But I never did. I swear I never did- I'm- Well, I'm Harry Potter! It's not like I could just go out and try something. Everyone in the world would recognize me, and it would be all over the papers!... And of course, there were you and the kids to think about. I didn't want to do that to you. So, no. I did not cheat on you, Gin."

Ginny took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her graying but still fiercely red hair. "Do you still love me? I mean, you said your blood didn't turn totally blue. It was a little bit violet. What exactly does that mean for us?"

Now it was Harry's turn to take a deep breath. "I don't know. I think that, on an emotional level, well...I think of you more like a friend. A really amazing, wonderful, beautiful friend! After the war was over, I just wanted everything to be peaceful and normal. I thought being married was the answer. You were everything that was good and wholesome- to have a family, a home of our own... But maybe we should have waited. I'm so sorry! I just didn't understand back then. Now, I think now that I am always going to feel lonely if I'm together with a woman. I've been thinking about it for weeks. I can't ask you to share me with someone else, either. That's not fair. I just don't know what to do, and that scares me to death!"

"Merlin, Harry! All these years, I've been utterly devoted to you. I just can't believe you never said anything to me! Harry Potter's wife. It's been you, always you, for me since we met. I was never seriously interested in anyone else. You were all that mattered. You rescued me from Voldemort in the Chamber of Secrets! I thought- I just- I never expected anything like this. I know you've always been distant, but I always thought you just needed more time to get over the War. Or maybe if I just tried harder to be the perfect wife, I could fix it. I thought I understood you better than anyone. I- I don't even know who I am without you, Harry. Just...damn!" Ginny went away to cry more, and then returned again.

She was totally spent. "The children will be up soon. I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I have to try to get at least an hour's sleep. Tomorrow is Saturday. I'm taking the children to stay with mum, and we are going to make Hermione and Ron come over for the first time in ages, and we are going to sort this thing out. Good night." And she walked to the couch and curled up. Gradually, sleep found Ginny.

A few hours later, she woke up feeling like she had been run over over by an angry hippogriff, but determined to face the new day.

(Personal note: if any readers are going through something like this right now, they can go to straightspouse. org and find all kinds of support. You are not alone!)