Oh, gosh, I hate sad fics, but this had to be written or it would have driven me nuts. Anway, I think the first chapters longest, I'm not sure about the others.
I don't own anything.
Fred shook his head as he watched his grieving family. For the first time, he regretted having such a big family. He certainly had his work cut out for him.
He looked around at the bunch of redheads. He'd start with the youngest. He never could stand to see his baby sister cry.
Ginny hated crying, but she couldn't stop these past couple of days. She had finally gotten away from her mother and was hiding out in the garden. Ever since—the battle—her mum almost always had her arms around her young daughter, as if to make sure she wouldn't go away too.
Oh, Fred! She thought. She felt the tears coming back. Some girls loved to cry at everything, like (she nearly gagged) Cho Chang. Ginny was never one of those girls. Her brothers had 'taught' her early on that crying would get her picked on. Fred had taken it upon himself to pull her hair when she cried over things like lost toys.
She wiped away her tears and watched a gnome chase after a lightning bug in the night air.
"Ginny?" she recognized Harry's voice anywhere, "I-I saw you walk outside, and I thought-but you want to be alone, I'm sorry, I'll just—"
"No," Ginny said. If he had come a mere minute earlier, she would have let him leave, but a breeze had passed over her like a wave that told her Harry would make it better. "Sit down, please."
Harry paused for only a moment and then came to sit next to her. "Ginny," he said slowly, "I wanted to wait, because I know you're still mourning. We're all still mourning,"
It was at that moment that it dawned on Ginny that Fred was the first loved one she had really lost, but Harry had lost several, almost all of his loved ones. Why hadn't she thought of that before? "Oh, Harry, now I know what it was like for you, except it must have been ten times worse. I'm so sorry."
"No, no don't be sorry." He said, as if this conversation wasn't going in the direction he planned, "What's done is done, it's all over now, and I-" He swallowed, "Ginny, it's been about a year since Dumbledore's funeral, and yet everything is different now." He looked her in the eyes and then glanced back to the gnomes. "Last year, I thought I was destined to die, and I thought my entire future would go into defeating Voldemort." Ginny was surprised that after sixteen years of shuddering at the name, she didn't even flinch. Perhaps seeing him die had made her immune. "and I didn't want that for you."
Ginny looked up at him. Of course, Dumbledore's funeral! It was where he had broken up with her, and yet it seemed like they had been together up until Harry left. "But Voldemort's gone now." He continued, "I know there are still other Death Eater's on the run, and I plan on hunting them down too, but I find that my future is suddenly free and-" He swallowed and looked her straight in the eyes as if he had dared himself to say these words to her. "And I want you in it."
Ginny found herself at a loss for words, which was something that rarely happened to her. "Ginny?" Harry asked, "Would you-I mean-I want us to be together again." He bit his lips, waiting for her response.
The wind passed over her again, pushing her closer to Harry. "Harry James Potter, I can't believe you." She said, "If you really thought that the moment I saw you again we were still considered broken up, I think the wizarding world needs to do a little more thinking about it's chosen hero's or whatever."
Fred had always hated your tears a voice said from inside her head, That's why he always pulled your hair, because he wanted you to stop. Fred liked making people laugh, not cry. Suddenly she found she was smiling. Harry smiled back at her. For no reason she could see, she started laughing. Confused, Harry continued smiling until Ginny swung her hands around his neck and pulled him into a kiss.
They stayed in the garden for several minutes, telling each other how much they missed each other while they were separated, but secretly they were both using each other to heal. Soon, they stopped talking and simply embraced each other.
Ginny whispered so low that even Harry didn't hear her, or else he chose to ignore it, "Thanks, Fred."
