It had been four days since the Battle of Hogwarts. Almost everyone who fought in the battle had stayed to either help the healers with the patients or prepare Hogwarts for rebuilding. The Weasleys had yet to return home; returning home meant accepting the fact that they aren't a family of nine anymore.
Ginny and Harry had gotten back together about two days after the war, even though it wasn't a direct move on either one of their parts. They just stayed near each other and held hands, not even asking one another if they were okay with it. They just knew they were.
…Well until one morning, when Ginny questioned everything…
She woke startled; plagued by nightmares that showed no mercy. She sighed, knowing that it was going to be that way for a while. She stretched out her tense back muscles before getting ready for the day, noticing only one other person in the dorm. Heather. Ginny and Heather never really spoke throughout their six year of rooming together. Small talk, was obviously apparent, like asking what they missed in class when they were ill, or asking when certain dates were occurring, but Ginny never really got to know Heather, and its not as though she had tried.
Quickly, after getting dressed, she walked out of the common room and down to the Great Hall where the 'Golden Trio' were eating breakfast.
"Hey, Gin." Harry smiled as she sat down next to him.
"Hey, Harry." She said kissing his cheek. His smile turned into a goofy grin while he took her hand and finished his toast.
"Did you two hear the rumor about the castle?" Ron asked them when it seemed fit to intervene. He didn't really understand how they could get together so quickly especially after such a long time of being apart.
"What rumor?" Harry asked.
"They might not rebuild Hogwarts. Well, rebuild it here, per say."
"What do you mean?" Ginny asked.
"I had overheard that the ministry is trying to convince McGonagall that they should keep this place like this as a memorial of the war and rebuild Hogwarts some where else." Hermione said.
"When did you hear that?"
"Yesterday; after Ron and I went walking the grounds."
"I don't think she'll agree to that. I mean, everyone's staying here to start rebuilding this place already." Hermione shrugged as a response, she really didn't have an answer.
The four spent the rest of the day relaxing, walking the grounds and just keeping each other company. Until, finally, Ginny and Harry were left alone to each other by their old spot at the lake.
"Hey, Ginny, I know this is kind of bizarre, and fast but…well, I have something for you."
"What is it, Harry?"
"Well, I know that leaving you for an entire six months was probably painful…at least it was for me, and I want you to know I'll never do that to you again. And I just have this for you to let you know that no matter what, I won't leave you or—"
"Pretend to be dead in Hagrid's arms." Ginny cut in.
"Yeah," Harry said with a guilty smile, before handing her a box. "Open it."
Ginny opened the box to find a beautiful necklace with a small, green gemstone hanging from the silver chain.
"Oh Harry, it's beautiful. How do you get it? You haven't even left Hogwarts since you got here."
"Well, I got it for you back in sixth year…but I decided then that it was probably stupid and I just kept it and thought I'd give it to you on your birthday. And well, I didn't get to stay at the Burrow for that long." Ginny gave Harry a sweet smile and handed him the necklace.
"Can you put it on me?" She asked, turning around, and lifting her hair. Harry clasped the necklace on and Ginny turned back to meet his eyes. "Thanks, Harry. You're the best."
"You're welcome." Harry said before pecking her on the lips.
Ginny knew she'd probably never take that necklace off. It came from her boyfriend. Someone, she was almost sure, was the one she loved.
The next day, Ginny woke up to, yet again, no one important in her dorm. But this time, no one, was in her dorm. Just her. Of course that wasn't unusual, Ginny almost always slept in late.
She got dressed and brushed her teeth as usual. But this time stopping at her nightstand to put on her necklace Harry had given her yesterday.
She walked down the stairwell and out of the common room with an absent mind. Well, absent until she saw two people in the hallway.
It was Harry and Heather. Heather was talking to Harry about something that Ginny couldn't make out. She kept watching the two pushing the thought that she was becoming an overbearing, stalker girlfriend less than a week after getting together with Harry. Heather looked as though she tried to pull a joke and Harry gave her a warm smile. But it didn't look suspicious; Harry was probably just talking to her because she approached him or he may have bumped into her or something. But there was one thing about Heather that Ginny never seemed to like.
Heather was gorgeous. She was a perky blonde with bright blue eyes, kind of like Fleur. She had perfect teeth, perfect smile, perfect nose, perfect bangs; the whole nine yards. Her blonde hair fell to her shoulders with bouncy curls and she always stood with confidence and poise. Ginny never really paid much attention to her but, it was always something she noticed. Ever since Heather sat in front of her in Transfiguration in third year.
Ginny stood close to the corner of the wall making sure they couldn't see her. It wasn't Harry that she didn't trust; it was Heather. Harry could have gained many more crushes after defeating Voldemort. You never know, Heather may try something. But no. Heather said something else that made Harry give her another smile, and walked away. Okay then. Nothing was wrong.
Ginny let Harry walk a little before speeding up behind him.
"Oh, hey Ginny." Harry said grabbing her hand.
"Good morning, Harry." She said joyfully, trying to seem a lot more pleasant than she usually is.
"How's your morning been? Or did you just wake up?"
"It's been fine…you?"
"Fine." Harry said nodding casually.
Ginny didn't know why but, she felt a small twinge of jealousy about Heather and Harry talking. She promised herself a long time ago that she wasn't going to be one of those overprotective girlfriends to any of the guys she dated, but she was curious what the two were talking about. Yet if she brought it up she knew that that would give away that she had watched them for a little bit.
But Harry was completely trustworthy. She had literally nothing to worry about. Right?
Well, until later that day when she left Harry behind to help her mum out in the 'clinic' for wounded fighters. She came out of the clinic to find Harry and Heather talking again. Why were they talking again?
Heather was facing toward Ginny, meaning Harry's back was facing her as well. She was almost sure Heather didn't see her before she jumped back into the clinic's room that was originally Professor Flitwick's charms classroom. She stayed stoic, listening in onto their conversation.
"…well…I guess I—" Harry's voice said before being cut off with,
"No, no, no, come with me. I'll show you to prove it." Heather said, causing Ginny's mind to start racing. What was she trying to prove?
"Fine." Harry said kind of shortly before she head footsteps fainting away. What the hell is going on?
Now Ginny's mind was going a million miles an hour. Was Harry double timing her with Heather? Why would he be doing that? But maybe he's not. Maybe you're just tuning in at the wrong time and you missed a whole lot of the conversation. Yeah, that's probably it. She thought, pushing all thoughts aside. Harry was too noble to do something like that.
The night came soon after. Ginny didn't even get to see Harry for the rest of the day. But she convinced herself that he's Harry Potter, probably talking to some ministry employee about the war, or where he went, or job ideas, or something. Plus she found her chest swell with relief when she entered her dormitory to find Heather sitting on her bed with a copy of Witch Weekly in her hands.
Ginny set her stuff on her bed and sighed as if she was tired, when really she was just pure relieved.
"Hey, Ginny." Heather spoke up from her bed.
"Um…hi, Heather." Ginny said confused. Since when does Heather greet her when she comes into the dormitory?
"So…how's it going?" She asked. Ginny paused and looked up at her.
"Fine…How about you?" Ginny asked a little taken aback.
"Well, to be honest, not that great." She replied setting the magazine down.
"Why? What's wrong with you?" Ginny asked as sincere as possible. Heather got up and sat down on the end of Ginny's bed motioning for Ginny to sit as well.
"Well. It's a boy. We've been seeing each other for a while, kind of, and he's so sweet. But he also has a girlfriend," Ginny felt a lump in her throat, "He keeps telling me that she's not important, and that they're going to break up soon, and then we'll start to go out. But, I don't know, you'd think after him kissing me, we'd be official." She said twiddling her fingers. Ginny stayed as solid as a statue. She felt like screaming. Heather looked so genuine, like every word she was saying was true. And Heather had never steered her wrong about a homework assignment, maybe she was trying to let Ginny know something.
"Why are you telling me this?" Ginny asked trying to keep her voice from cracking.
"Because, I don't know, you have a good run with boys." She sighed, "Oh well, I guess I'll just confront him about it tomorrow. G'night Ginny." She said before crawling into her own bed and closing the curtains.
Ginny sat for a second. What was happening?
Ginny woke up with coldness resigning in her chest. She was pissed. While she slept, the anger had brewed. She was being double timed and she didn't like it.
She walked down to the Great Hall and sat down next to Harry, and across from Hermione, who was sitting next to Ron. She didn't even bother looking at Harry; she didn't know what she'd say to him.
Harry smiled at her and went in to kiss her cheek but she leaned away so he couldn't reach her. Still not making eye contact. Harry stopped smiling, confused by her sudden coldness toward him. He went to grab her hand but she grabbed her fork with it and started eating her scrambled eggs, still ignoring his eyes.
Harry glanced at Hermione and Ron with eyes that wondered what was going on. They both shrugged and sent him apologizing looks.
"Ginny, are you okay?" Harry asked.
"Wow, looks like I lost my appetite." Ginny said getting up from the table and walking out of the Great Hall.
Harry watched her leave, completely bewildered by what just happened.
"Do you know what you did that pissed her off somehow?" Ron asked.
"No." Harry answered honestly, "But it looks like I must have done something." He said trying to think of everything he's done.
"Harry she could just be in a mood from…the loss and maybe she's just, I don't know, not feeling up to talking to anyone." Hermione said, not even convincing herself.
Ginny avoided any contact with anyone that morning. She tried to stay out of the way by walking in usually abandoned corridors in the castle. That way there wasn't so much of a chance of running into Harry.
She walked down a hallway that had rubble from the war all over the ground. She looked around at the ruins; it didn't look like anyone even inspected the corridor. She was alone. Well, until she heard a girl's voice. A strangely familiar girl's voice.
"But Harry—" The voice was cut off by silence. Ginny cautiously walked toward the hallway and looked around the corner to see Harry with Heather kissing. Her world was tumbling down, what the hell was she thinking? Of course she meant nothing to him; she was just a girl who was an easy target to the new 'hero'. She felt her lip tremble as she yanked the necklace, breaking the chain, and threw it on the ground at her feet. She ran from that hallway, ran through the ruins, ran through the castle, and ran away.
Harry pulled away from Heather, finally getting out of her grasp.
"What the hell, Heather? I said I'm not interested! I have a girlfriend! Why can't you take a hint?" Harry said angrily. Ginny was already angry with him for something, and to add to that, now he had to explain to her that one of her dorm mates kissed him and that he really was not interested. Because if he didn't let her know, it was going to come back around to kick him in the rear.
"Harry let's be honest here. You know that I can be a lot more fun." Heather said getting closer to him.
"No! I told you 'no' yesterday, and I'm telling you 'no' today. Ginny is my girlfriend. And I'm not interested in you because I'm happy as I am." He said turning around to walk away from Heather. He didn't know where the next hallway led but he knew he needed to get away from that girl. He glanced behind him to see Heather had disappeared down the other hallway. Good. That might've meant something finally clicked.
He turned the corner to find a hallway full of ruins. He paused wondering if he should go that way or not. He glanced around the rubble until a sparkle caught his eye. He walked closer toward the gleaming light that reflected off whatever was behind a small rock. He kneeled down to find a necklace…Ginny's necklace. A pang went off in his chest. Ginny was there. She saw Heather kiss him.
He didn't know where he was really going. He couldn't feel his legs moving but he was going somewhere. He didn't stop to find Hermione and Ron; he just kept searching the castle for even an essence of Ginny's presence. But nothing. Where was she? He needed to talk to her.
"Hey, Harry." Neville stopped him.
"What, Neville?" Harry asked harshly.
"I thought you'd want to know that I saw Ginny floo out of the castle…" Neville said kind of hushed from the edge in Harry's tone.
"Flooed? Where to?" Harry asked loudly.
"I don't know, I just saw her running and then she went into the fireplace in the common room with some floo powder …and well flooed."
"Thanks, Neville, I'll be back." He said running to the common room.
"Harry?" Hermione's voice echoed the hallway but Harry decided to ignore it. He had a feeling where Ginny had flooed to. He didn't know how or why but he just knew.
Ginny ran up the stairs until she got onto the floor with a room that had light, yellow walls and a few Holyhead Harpies posters. She slammed her door behind her and plopped down on the bed. Never in her life did she imagine this would happen to her. She buried her face deep in her soft pillow hoping that the deeper she was in her pillow, the father from reality she'd be.
Well until she was greeted by a voice at her door; a voice she didn't want to her at the moment.
"Ginny?"
"Go away, Harry." She replied simply.
"Please, Ginny, we need to talk."
"No, I don't want to see you."
"Ginny, it's not what you think. Heather is nothing to me, literally."
"Obviously not since I've seen you together three times!"
"I've only spoken to her three times. Trust me…And today, she kissed me. I was trying to get away from her but she wouldn't let go."
"Oh yeah? Then why did she tell me about her little romance with a taken man who was going to break up with his current girlfriend, last night?"
"I don't know, I've never even come close to being anything of much meaning to her." There was a pause of silence. "Ginny, will you just open the door?"
Ginny sat for a second, did she really want to? Did she believe that what Harry said to her was true? She slowly got up and unlocked the door, but before he could catch a glimpse of her face, she turned around and stared out her window.
"Ginny, I would never see another girl behind your back. There is a really good reason why I stayed single for you on the hunt and I want you to know that you're more than just my girlfriend to me." She still hadn't turned around.
"Harry, I believe you, okay. I do. I just…I'm just frustrated that Heather would stir the pot like Romilda would."
"Does that mean I can give this back to you?" Harry asked. Ginny turned around to face him and found his hand out with a broken chain and a green gemstone on it. Her lips started to tremble a little but she tried to conceal it by taking a deep breath.
"Harry. I'm so sorry! I was angry about seeing the two of you…you know…kiss and I acted rationally and just tore it off."
"Its okay; I understand…Do you want it back?"
"It's broken now."
"Are you a witch or not?" Harry asked smiling before taking out his wand and muttering, 'Reparo'.
"Can you put it on me?" Ginny asked with a small smile.
"Sure can." Harry said letting Ginny turn around and lift her hair before clasping the newly repaired chain around her neck.
"Thanks, Harry; I'm really sorry about everything. I should learn to talk to you before assuming things." Ginny said guiltily.
"Don't worry; I'd probably do the same."
"Anyway, want to go back to Hogwarts? I have a few choice of words I'd like to say to Heather." Harry laughed and took her hand.
"Can I join you?"
