Fanfiction Contest
Harry and Ginny
An Addubitation [Suggestion of doubt]
Un-Ending
Short Story
The man was sitting in a comfortable armchair. A few stray hairs around the top of the untidy black mop danced slightly in the summer breeze coming through the half-open window. The Daily Prophet was open in his lap, but he paid little attention to it. His mind was elswhere. With his ex-wife and who he thought was the love of his life. Ginny Weasley. A light tapping on the window pane stirred him from his thoughts and he got up to let in the tawny owl. A roll of pale parchment was tied to the bird's scrawny leg. Harry Potter untied it egerly, guessing that it would be from one of his children at Hogwarts. Unrolling it, he sat down to enjoy the short piece of news from one of his sons. Alas, it was not what he thought it was. As he read, his face fell. His mouth hung open in disbelief. This was not happening. No. Not to him. Not more pain. More hurt. More badluck. Surely? He had suffered enough, had he not...?
Harry rushed to the front desk; anxious to know. Anxious for news - be it good or bad. He just hated to be in the dark.
"Ginny Weasley!" He practically screeched at the receptionist.
She gave one of those looks. The raised eyebrows, the half-smug, very forced, thin-lipped smile and said, "Second Floor."
He raced towards the staircase and took them two-at-a-time. Flinging open the door, he stopped and looked around. Panting. His heart beat fast and hard. He looked around for... There! Two people were seated around the narrow bed. Two people he had not seen in a while. Two people who had not contacted him since the split. But nethertheless, they were two people he loved. Two people he smiled at the thought of. Two people who had been his best friends for about 30 years. The bushy haired woman spun around, and a small smile spread across the lips. She stood up;
"Harry."
He started towards her and into her open arms. She hugged him tightly and then pulled away and held him at arms length. Concern showed in her deep brown eyes. He smiled. And then reached out towards his other best friend. Ronald Weasley hugged him briskly but tightly and patted his shoulder.
"You got our owl, then, mate?" He said as he sat down again.
Harry collapsed into the chair on the other side of the bed, "Yeah... How is she?"
He visited everyday. He never left her side if he could help it. But she never knew. She would never know. She didn't know that he still loved her. She would never know. She didn't know he cried for her. She would never know. He knew this. But still... Every night, after Lily had gone to sleep, and he could stop his facade. He could stop being strong. He could stop smiling for his daughter. He would go out into the garden, into a space he had shared with her so many times before. He would sit on the grass. Just sit there. A single tear rolled down his cheek.
"I still love you" He thought, and he wished he had said it. Before it was too late.