Now he could move through the Hall without interference. He spotted Ginny two tables away; she was sitting with her head on her mother's shoulder. There would be time to talk later, hours and days, maybe years in which to talk.
There were in fact hours and days to spend talking. Harry re-entered the Great Hall with his two best friends, Ron and Hermione, who had stuck with him through the worst of it. How serene it was to think that despite the devastating losses, love was all around him. He couldn't have been more grateful for it all. Their gazes met, and the silence spoke for them. "Could you guys give me a minute?" They nodded and sat respectively in a corner, never daring to let the other go.
She was walking towards so gracefully yet she carried herself so low. As she lost distance between them, Harry had to leap to catch her from collapsing. It was as if the whole world had eyes on them, weighing them down, which was true in a sense, as the whole Hall had broken into silence, anticipating and mentally cheering.
"I thought I'd lost you," she sniffed, fighting back glistening tears and physical pain. She hated that feeling, she felt so vulnerable.
"Come now, Weasley, don't get sappy on me," she smiled and forced out a laugh that sounded as genuine as his newly mended wand. Her arms fell around him and the whole Hall jeered and clapped, whistled and laughed, among their dead.
"Is this how it's going to be?" Ginny whispered to Harry.
You did it!
NO! We did it!
Harry Potter saved us!
Yeah!
"Yeah, I think so," he laughed, pulling her closer. He kissed her lightly on the cheek and looked back at the rest of his family. "Harry James Potter. You saved us," she smiled at him and then at the rest of the enormous crowd. He really saved them all, he lived up to his name and unfortunate expectations and even the dead corpses of old pasts, and sad history was worth the brilliant future that was to come. "No, we did. We all did." And at that moment is seemed, to Ginny and Harry, there was more to come, especially by means of replacing the horrors of yesterday.
Funerals long past, however memories lasted, nights were spent at the Burrow, and hours sifting through Godric's Hollow. This was Harry's current future. Ginny'd accompany him on most days as she knew that just stepping in the house itself was hard for him. Night sweats and terrible nightmares were not yet a thing of the past. Not only was Ginny being supportive, but also attempting to keep from a new wave of admirers. She had always been popular among the boys and even the women, but since her large role in the Battle of Hogwarts in May, she was having a hard time keeping out of the press and other boys' silly fantasies. And not only that, but as Harry's unspoken new girlfriend, the Daily Prophet was having a blast.
However, to Harry, what Ginny was really good for, was the endless starry nights with simple talks and longing whispers. They had essentially resumed their previous relationship which was put to an unforgivable end (according to Ginny) as a result of Dumbledore's death and the apparent rise of death in general, though neither would admit it. The omniscience of their newfound relationship made it all the sweeter, bubbling butter beer on their tongues.
One night, when Ron and Hermione were in Ron's room reading, her to him, her head on his lap, and George was at the shop refusing to think, Angelina, his girlfriend doing her best to console him, and it was all Mrs. Weasley could do to keep from crying, Ginny and Harry only spoke. They circled the yard countless times before finally admitting that it was time to eat. However, all of a sudden there was a break in the conversation when Ginny exclaimed, "Harry! We forgot your birthday!"
"Oh, yah, well it was months ago, it doesn't matter," Harry sighed, shrugged the thought off and laid his head on her shoulder. He could say with great certainty that he had forgotten it himself and hardly cared.
"It does to me, Harry James Potter. You're eighteen now and I didn't celebrate it. How could I forget?" Silence engulfed them for a moment before Ginny stopped in her tracks and an enormous grin overcrowded her face. "Let's go away. We've been here for ages; we've walked this field for days on end. I don't know where we'd go, perhaps to see Andromeda and Teddy, anything to get me out of this place!" Harry's ears perked up at her fantasy. He'd do anything to make amends for leaving her. And then he got it.
"Ginny! Ginny!"
"Harry! Harry!" she smiled, mocking him.
"Grimmauld Place!" there was no response except to be transported miles away in from of the house owned by none other than Harry Potter.
Inside, it looked as though no one had ever lived there before, let alone Death Eaters tearing it apart. The house was spotless everywhere, yet it still had the integrity to keep the items belonging to his godfather Sirius Black. Harry hadn't been to the home since Yaxley had caught a hold of them nearly a year before.
"Kreacher!" Harry called. The elf instantly appeared and Ginny jolted her had free from Harry's grip. "Yes, Master Potter!" the elf responded.
"Did you clean this place?"
"Yes, sir, did Kreacher do something wrong?" he asked.
"Thank you, Kreacher, for everything, removing the enchantment as well." The elf nodded, gleaming from praise and Disapparated.
Turning to Ginny, Harry asked, "do you think your Mum will mind if I move in here? No offense, but another tearful night in what was Fred and George's room might actually make me hate myself," Harry sadly grinned, taking Ginny's hand and walking deeper into the house. It had been at least two years since she had stepped inside and to Harry, a tour was in order.
"Can I live here?" she laughed, meaning it as a joke.
Not thinking, Harry replied, "Yes." She looked at him, "do you mean it?"
"Yes, of course. There are plenty of rooms. Sirius' family was pretty big," she kissed him on the lips this time, like they used to, and it loosened the awkward silence that loomed between them.
"We better get back before your mother finds out that we left," Harry whispered and they Disapparated.
The next few days were spent coaxing a very hesitant and protective Mrs. Weasley into letting Ginny move in with Harry. George and Arthur even were very happy for her, that she'd be safe and free with Harry; after all her last year of Hogwarts was nearly half way done. Ron had been against it at first because he was his best friend and she was his sister, but "it's not like they'd be in the same room," Hermione reasoned, which was fair as she was spending nearly every night of the winter vacation in Ron's room. By the end, it was Ron who had convinced his mother of the arrangement.
"The war's over Mum, and who better to watch her that Harry Potter. You'll know where they'll be and can visit them whenever. I mean, after all that's happened this is the least of your worries."
"Thanks, Ron." Harry raised a quizzical brow and Ron shrugged.
"But she's only seventeen. I can't let her go yet."
"Honey, in a year, Harry will be trying for a position as an Auror as will Ron, Hermione will have graduated and decided on a career path, most likely in the Ministry or Archives if I know anything, and as far as we know, Gwenog Jones wants Ginny for the Holyhead Harpies. I know you'd like all your children to remain in this house for the rest of your life, but Molly, that's unacceptable. Everyone's nearly left as it is," Arthur added, choosing his words carefully as so not to make his wife cry.
After biting her lip and perpetually frowning, Molly finally gave in, already setting rules, "alright, but not until she has finished school and…" she trailed. Ginny hardly would hear the rest of it. She embraced her Mum and hugged her Dad, so grateful for that great freedom.
And so, in the meantime, vacations were spent at Grimmauld Place by day and the Burrow by night. Harry had already prepared a room for her will all her favourite posters and books. It was quite the replica. Harry had also done up a room for his godson Teddy Lupin for his weekly visits at the urging of Ginny.
Though visits were short, the news of a restored Hogwarts warmed Harry's heart every time he heard of Neville excelling in Herbology, Hermione's high marks on her Newts and Seamus' pyro techniques. However at any mention of Dean, Harry's would quickly quiet and slowly stop brushing Ginny's matted hair with his fingers. This always made Ginny giggled, at his stupid jealousy, but she'd stop and continue with Professor McGonagall or a new memorial placed around the halls.
"You know there are plenty of you," she raised an eyebrow and looked up at him from where she'd rest on his chest.
Ignoring her with a clever smirk, Harry inquired about one for Snape, his once worst professor to "the bravest man I've ever known."
"Yes, Harry. It's in the Gryffindor hallway…where it belonged." Harry couldn't but agree. Yet what was really amazing to Harry was Ginny's cheerful spirits, though he was sure objectifying her like that would no doubt "piss her off." She seemed as though she'd forgotten the battle altogether or at least dismissed it from her mind. Harry couldn't account for this, but it would be known later that it was him that made each day brighter for her. And this is not to say Ginny Weasley forgot the horrible battle of May 2, 1998. Perhaps, the quiet tears were her way of saying goodbye.
