DISCLAIMER: The characters in this story are the property of JK Rowling. This story has been written without her knowledge or permission.
He tried to wrap himself in his cloak, but the bitter wind still stung against his face. It was late enough to be almost early, and in a few hours the sun would rise and shine across all of Hogwarts.
He'd come here, to the highest tower, because he couldn't sleep. It wasn't as if there were prefects about to stop him. Most people were still recovering from the battle. It had already been a full day, but most of it had been like a dream. It still didn't quite feel real...
Harry was surprised to notice he wasn't the only one on the highest tower. Standing near the edge, looking across the grounds, was a familiar figure with her arms wrapped around herself, with the occasional long, red hair blowing across her face. He walked over to her, but she did not turn as he approached.
"How are you?" he tried to say when he drew level with her, but found he couldn't muster any sound above a whisper. She wouldn't have even heard him above the wind.
He raised his hand to touch her shoulder, but stopped halfway through the motion. He cleared his throat instead.
"How are you?" he asked again, more clearly this time. She took a moment to answer.
"Cold," Ginny replied.
Harry thought for a moment about handing her his cloak, but it seemed like a silly thing to do if it meant he'd be cold as well.
"How's your family holding up?" he asked.
"They're devastated, of course. Dad hasn't had much time to cry, he's been trying to comfort everyone else. Especially George..." At last she looked at him. "I don't know if he'll ever recover."
Now he could see her face he was worried. The fiery determination she'd always had in her eyes seemed to have faded. Now her eyes betrayed what she really was: a lost child in a war she didn't belong. Her brothers had always said it and it had infuriated her, but she was still so young. So was Harry. So were Ron and Hermione. So were Colin... Fred... even Tonks.
"I feel awful," Ginny said, breaking the silence. "I – I loved Fr – Fr – Fred." She winced as if it hurt. "But when the battle was over I was... happy." She lowered her head as if ashamed. "When I saw Hagrid coming with your body I was..." She let out a soft sob. "But you were alive, and I couldn't grieve for Fred because I was just so happy you were."
"I'm sorry," Harry said, but Ginny gave no indication she'd heard him. She turned back to the grounds, but never raised her head to look at them.
"So what happens now?" Harry asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I've missed you."
Ginny didn't say anything for a moment.
"What is this Harry?"
"What's what?"
"What's this we have going on Harry. Why did you miss me?"
"Because," Harry began, but he found himself hesitating. "I like you so much."
"Why do you like me?" she asked. Harry wondered what she was getting at.
"Because you're so much fun, and you're so beautiful and smart and funny and... beautiful," he finished lamely.
"Do – do you think you'd like me if I wasn't beautiful?" Ginny asked.
Harry hesitated. He knew immediately that he shouldn't have, but he couldn't help it.
"Of course," he said.
Ginny wiped something away from her eyes, which were now firmly pointed downwards.
"You see, now I'm sad again," she said. "And not because of Fred. It's you."
"I'm sorry. I don't want to make you sad."
"You know why?" she asked. She sounded like she was about to cry, and Harry silently prayed she didn't. "Because I love you, Harry. But I don't know if you love me or – or..." She looked at him. "...Or my family."
Damn, now she was crying.
"I – I," Harry stammered. "What?"
"I don't want to believe it," Ginny said. "But it's there. Part of me thinks that you see me as the way to becoming a Weasley. Ron's your best friend. Like a brother, almost. And all my brothers always looked out for you. And my mum loves you. I think you love her too. More than you love me."
"Ginny, how can you say that?" Harry asked. "I've always loved you, in a way." The last part caused Ginny to sob and turn away from him again. She pulled a hand to her face as if to shield her tears from Harry. He reached out again, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.
"We're perfect together, Ginny," Harry said. "We get along so well, we like all the same things and your brothers like me enough not to pound on me when they find out," he finished with a sight smile. It didn't cheer Ginny up that much.
"I worry about these things, Harry," she said. "I worry that maybe you just want to have a family that cares about you so bad you'll marry anyone. I worry that if we do get together and it doesn't work out you won't let me go because you don't want to lose that family. And worst of all I worry that you don't love me at all, that you just saw this little girl who's been head over heels in love with you since the moment she laid eyes on you and you're taking advantage of her just because it's easiest."
"Head over heels?" Harry repeated slowly, pulling Ginny into a tighter embrace. "I though back then it was just a crush." Ginny choked out something between a sob and a laugh.
"I'm pathetic," she said.
"No you're not."
"I pinned after you for five years. Then I finally got you and you left, running off to Merlin knows where with my brother. You could have been dead or anything and I would never have known!"
"I'm sorry. I didn't want you to worry."
"Of course I worried. I stayed awake every night worrying about you. I guess I just thought that sooner or later you'd send me some sort of message or something, but the longer I went without news of you the worse I got."
"I – I'm here now."
"Yes, and last night Hagrid carried your lifeless body up towards the castle whilst screaming his heart out!"
"Ginny, I'm sorry."
"It was the worst moment of my life. I didn't want to believe it. But then everything just exploded and I charged into the Entrance Hall. I saw Bellatrix and I – I wanted to hurt her, as if hurting her could bring you back from the dead. I almost died myself. If my mum hadn't saved me..."
Harry didn't trust himself to say anything, so he just grasped her tighter, holding her against him. She really was cold. He slipped off his own cloak and wrapped it around the two of them.
Eventually she managed to look back up at him.
"I'm sorry," Ginny whispered to him. "I know you're not good with this sort of thing."
"That was one of the things I liked about you," Harry said. "After Cho I think I'd just about had it with crying girls. I liked that you never seemed to cry at all. Don't worry," he added, seeing the look on her face. "I can get used to crying women. Look at Hermione. She's like my sister and she's the most emotional girl I know!"
That didn't really seem to cheer Ginny up that much, but at least she'd stopped crying for a while. Harry supposed they'd better go inside soon or Ginny might catch a cold, assuming she hadn't already.
He was about to suggest it to her when their eyes met again.
"Can I kiss you then?" he asked.
"You've never asked before," Ginny said.
"I wasn't sure you wanted to kiss me this time."
"For the record, Harry," Ginny said standing on her tip toes to touch her lips gently against his. "There's never been a time I didn't want to kiss you."
"Even just now when you were worried I don't love you?"
"Do you love me?" Her eyes seemed to be pleading with him to say yes.
"Of course I do," Harry replied.
"And you're not just saying that to get a kiss?"
"No, I'm saying it because it makes you happy. And I'll to anything in the world to make you happy."
"But you do mean it, right?" Ginny asked. He could see the doubt in her eyes.
"I wouldn't say it if I didn't," Harry replied. Ginny stepped up and kissed him, perhaps harder than she'd ever kissed him before, almost as if she was afraid he would leave if she stopped. Eventually she had to stop. She was panted slightly as she looked at him.
The doubt was still there.
In her eyes Harry could still see it. She doubted his love, though in fairness he wasn't so sure of it himself. He wondered if maybe he was in over his head. But if he was, how could he ever get out of this? Without realising it he'd probably pushed himself into a commitment from which he could never escape.
"You know what my family will do if we tell them?" Ginny said. "They'll be thrilled. Hell, they'll probably start planning the wedding already."
"I'm not ready for that," Harry said. "I might not be for a long time. I'm sorry."
"Don't apologise," Ginny said. "There's no guarantee that we will get married."
"What, just live together without getting married?" Harry blinked.
"No," Ginny replied. "I mean this might not even work out and we could break up."
For some reason Harry couldn't help but picture a sobbing Mrs Weasley at this point.
"No, it'll work," Harry assured her. "I'll do what I can to make this work." He had a vision of all her brothers standing in front of him, looking very angry.
So in his own mind he added, "Or else."
Nineteen years later they would look back on that day, as their son boarded the Hogwarts Express for the very first time.
"Did I do it?" Harry asked.
"Do what?" Ginny asked.
"Did I make you happy?"
Ginny watched as her son waved to her as the train sped off. She looked down at her daughter, who was sobbing as she watched her siblings ride away towards their new school.
"You made it work," was all Ginny said. She led her daughter back to the car by the hand, leaving Harry to follow a few feet behind her.
A/N Let me know what you thought, I appreciate any reviews I can get.