Disclaimer: The characters and world don't belong to me
A/N: I used to have a long note here, but managed to erase it. It was mostly just tripe anyway. This is my first foray into writing in the Harry Potter fandom, I hope you enjoy
Chapter One
Early August, 1997
Judging by the mess in the Weasley's garden, Bill and Fleur's wedding had been a successful one. Plates still bearing leftovers of cake and food and glasses with varying levels of glittering multicoloured liquids littered the small round tables surrounding the dance floor. Chairs sat crowded together around several of them, leaving others empty, suggesting that the prior occupants of said chairs had blatantly ignored the suggested seating arrangements and instead moved their chairs around the accommodate their own conversations and gatherings. Fleur had talked Hermione into charming fairies to fly overhead during the reception once it got dark, providing thousands of moving twinkling lights, enveloping the entire garden in an ethereal shimmering light. Slightly above the fairies were great swaths of filmy white tulle and pale gold ribbons, magically enchanted to gently weave in and out of each other, giving the impression of an immense, luxurious tent overhead. Echoes of conversations still floated down from the brightly-lit Burrow and danced across the makeshift tent from the few people still remaining. Everyone had fun; there were no unexpected visitors or bad news to darken the day. Yes, by all standards, the wedding and the party following had been an incredible success.
Harry sat between his best friends and at a table near the edge of the magic roof and watched Ginny flit between the tables gathering abandoned plates and glasses. She was still wearing her pale gold bridesmaid dress and her long red curls were pinned up on the top of her head. Looking at her, Harry thought to himself that she must really love her oldest brother, to actually be wearing the dress where others would be seeing her. The colour really was a good one on her, but the style was much better suited to the other bridesmaid, Fleur's 11year old sister, Gabrielle, than it was to the young woman that Ginny had become. The dress could best be described as poofy; made out of some stiff material that Harry couldn't identify, but could hear it clear across the garden every time Ginny moved. He had to admit to himself though, that even with the atrocious puffy sleeves and big bow on the back, she still looked beautiful enough to make his heart ache every time he looked at her.
On either side of him, Ron and Hermione were bickering. Since this was their preferred method of communicating, Harry tuned it out soon after they started in, this time arguing over Ron's choice of beverages at the party. The summer that just a few days ago seemed to be dragging forever was now as good as over. Remus Lupin had convinced Harry to wait until his birthday to start on his quest for the horcruxes. Not that Lupin knew what they were looking for, only that they were leaving to finish what Harry had started with Dumbledore the prior school term. Harry tuned back into his companion's conversation only to find that they had moved on to arguing over what Hermione had worn to the wedding and whom she had danced with. Harry tuned them out again.
Harry had done as he promised Dumbledore, and spent his obligatory few days at number Four, Privet drive. He wasn't sure what the Dursley's knew of the happenings in the wizard world, or if someone had spoken to them, but when he showed up on the doorstep, two weeks earlier than expected, with Ron and Hermione in tow, the expected outrage and argument never came, much to his surprise. Aunt Petunia even went as far as putting up Hermione in the guestroom, but not another word was said for the week they were there. Dudley was still at Smelting and Uncle Vernon pretended like they didn't exist, even when he caught them in the kitchen fixing meals, or caught sight of Hedwig or Pig zooming in and out with the post. Not a single member of the Dursley family spoke to any of the teens until the day they left, when Harry walked into the kitchen and announced he was leaving for good. Even then it wasn't much, a quick grunt from Uncle Vernon and a reminder from Aunt Petunia that she had done her duty, and that Harry was completely on his own now. He thanked them for their hospitality, and surprised even himself that he actually kept a straight face while doing it.
Raised voices brought his attention back to Ron and Hermione. Apparently Ron mentioned that he wasn't entirely packed for their upcoming departure, and Hermione was lecturing him on it. Taking another sip of his butterbeer, he let his mind wander again. Lupin had pulled out all the stops in convincing Harry not to leave immediately after the funeral. In the end, it was Lupin's promise to accompany Harry to Godric's Hollow that persuaded him to wait until after his birthday to leave on his search. In some ways, Harry was grateful for the short reprieve. After the week in Little Whinging, Harry accompanied Lupin back to London and the place he least wanted to go, number 12 Grimmauld Place. The house was haunted by memories of Sirius, just as he knew it would be. But he needed to be there. With the help of Lupin, they updated the magical protections on the house, making sure that the powerful enchantments recognized him as the rightful owner, and making sure that the house remained a safe haven for any member of the Order who required it. With Harry's promise that he would join them in time for the wedding, Ron and Hermione went back to the Burrow, and Harry remained with Lupin. Together they visited the place where he had lived with his parents, and where they had died. This wasn't the trip for him to go searching for clues and horcruxes, this was the trip for him to spend time with the last remaining Marauder and revel in the memories that Lupin was only too willing to share about Harry's parents and godfather.
And throughout all of this, his thoughts kept straying to Ginny. He knew that he'd made the right decision ending things when he did, and he knew that she understood the reasoning behind it. One thing he didn't count on however, was just how much he actually missed her. They'd spent so much time together, he missed her smile, her downright wicked sense of humour, and just the chance to talk with her. The easy friendship they had developed prior to becoming a couple was missing, and it's absence left a very noticeable hole in his life. He desperately needed the chance to talk to her face to face prior to leaving on his search for the pieces of Voldemort's soul, and ultimately, the evil wizard himself.
He'd returned to the Burrow the prior day, as promised, to find the entire place an insane flurry of activity. He had been looking forward to the chance to chat with Ginny, but he'd barely had a chance to say more than hello to everyone before he was pressed into service. He'd helped de-gnome the garden, helped setup chairs and tables and even been pressed into service helping in the kitchen. His new apparition license was put to good use as he was sent out on multiple errands to pick up forgotten items, to the nearby village to pick up the ribbons that now gracefully danced overhead. He went to Diagon Alley to pick up Bill and Charlie's dress robes from Madam Malkin's. He was sent to Hogsmeade to pick up an extra case of butterbeer. By the time night rolled around and he had fallen into bed completely exhausted, he hadn't even had the time to carry on a proper conversation with Ron or Hermione, let alone Ginny, who, if anything, had been even busier than he had been. In fact, this after party laziness, where he could sit and watch her without her noticing, was the first chance he'd had to relax since he'd shown up the morning before.
He realized that the bickering had stopped, and that his friends were now both staring at him. He looked back and forth between them. "What?"
"Go talk to her." Hermione wasted no words, and Harry didn't even bother to ask whom she was talking about.
Ron chimed in. "She's been pretty upset these last couple of weeks. She's not said much, but she wasn't happy when we showed up without you. And I know she's worried about us leaving tomorrow."
"I'm just surprised that she's not asking to go with us." Hermione looked away from Harry to gaze at Ginny. "She's been pretty quiet these last couple of weeks."
"Yeah, me too" said Ron. "I really expected that she'd be begging to go, or at least plotting to follow us, but she's not. It's strange, not like her at all, you know she always wants to tag along no matter what we're doing. But Hermione is right, you really need to go talk to her."
"I don't know what to say." Hermione shot him an incredulous look. "I know. It doesn't matter what I say, just go talk to her. I'm going." And he did, winding his way through the tables to where she was continuing to collect abandoned dishes. "Do you need some help?"
She apparently hadn't seen him coming, because she jumped when he spoke, dropping the plate she'd had in her hand, which broke. Pulling out his wand, he repaired it, then picked it up and put it in the tub she was using to collect the dishes.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome." The moment stretched as they stood awkwardly looking at each other. Finally Harry cleared his throat. "So... Having a good summer so far?" He wanted to take back the inane words the second they left his mouth.
But she did respond. "Not so much. You saw what it's been like around here. Fleur's family showed up a week ago and I thought they were going to keel over in shock when they saw what their daughter was marrying into. They've got loads of money mind you, old money. I wish I knew how to speak French, cause she yelled at them for over an hour and whatever it was that she said, they were completely cowed after that. I was beginning to think she was going to hex them."
"That would have gone over well." Harry lugged the tub to the next table. "But you shouldn't be surprised, I mean she's a really good witch. She did well in the Tri-Wizard tournament, and she managed to win your mum over, that's no small task."
"True. And speaking of Mum, she's on the edge of a nervous breakdown. She's so flipped out about you lot taking off tomorrow, plus with Dumbledore and the school closing, and Dad and Bill and Charlie right in the middle of everything. She's been putting so much time and energy into getting ready for the wedding that she's not been able to dwell on it too much, but now that it's over, I'm really worried about how she's going to handle everything."
"Is it really that bad?" Harry knew that Mrs. Weasley's greatest fear was losing a member of her family.
"Yeah it is." She gathered up a few more glasses, setting them gently in the tub he carried. "I keep catching her staring at that ruddy clock with this look of terror on her face. I want to smash it to bits so bad, but she never actually says anything, she just hovers. The twins get it to some extent, but they're not here often, they're really busy at the shop, so she doesn't get to fuss over them too much. Dad gets it a little. Fleur dotes on Bill so much that Mum doesn't get a chance, so instead, she's constantly after me. I leave for five minutes to go to the loo and she's starting to panic by the time I get back."
"I'm sorry." They moved on to the next table.
"It's not your fault. We all know that you've got to finish whatever it was you and Dumbledore started. It just sucks being the youngest. I'm the only one not of age yet. Add into that being the only girl and I don't have a chance. With the school closed, I don't even get a reprieve in going back to school. And I promised Dad that I wouldn't run off or do anything stupid, so now I'm stuck." She leaned across the table to gather the last of the flatware.
Realization dawned on Harry with her last comment. "Is that why you didn't ask to come with us?"
"Yep. Dad cornered me just a few days after I got home. He said that he knew that even if I was underage, that I'd find some way to tag along with you lot and he asked me not to even try. He's really worried about Mum, she's afraid that if I left too, that the stress would just about kill her. So now we've all got our jobs. Bill and Charlie get to fight, Percy gets to continue to be a prat, Fred and George keep going with their shop, Ron goes off as part of your entourage and I get to stay home and help Mum cook and clean and deal with Fleur. Lucky me."
"I'm sorry."
"Quit apologizing to me. You didn't do this. You didn't force me to say yes to him and agree to stay."
Harry didn't quite know what to say to this. She just seemed so defeated, almost like she'd given up, which was so unlike her. He wanted to apologize again, but that didn't quite seem right either. He put the tub down on the table and turned to her. "Your Mum isn't watching right now. Want to go take a walk?" She nodded, and they turned and headed away from the tables, from the enchanted fairies and dancing fabric overhead.