Ginny took her head off her mother's shoulder and turned around in search of Harry. To her surprise, she found him talking quietly to Luna. Luna then exclaimed and pointed towards the far end of the hall and in the few moments that everyone's head was turned Harry disappeared.

"Mum, I think I'm going to go to bed." said Ginny

"Alright sweetheart, sleep well"

Ginny avoided people's eyes as she slipped from the hall. She didn't want to get distracted. She saw the portrait of the Fat Lady closing just as it came into view and she knew that she'd guessed right. Harry has entered the common room only moments before her. She proceeded up the stairs to the boys dormitory to find him sitting on his bed with his hands covering his face.

He looked up with a gasp at the sound of the door closing.

"Oh, Ginny, you gave me a fright. I didn't think anyone else would be coming up here"

Harry noted the flash of hesitation and confusion that crossed Ginny's face before she made her way over to sit down beside him. She just looked at him for a few moments and he could tell she was trying to find her words.

"Harry, I-"

"You've met someone else..."

Shock and hurt showed in Ginny's expression so he continued

"No, it's ok. I was expecting it really. I mean you hardly go a few weeks without someone new falling for you. I could hardly expect you to go 10 months-"

"So does that mean you've found someone new?" Ginny cut in sharply.

"What? No, how could I find someone new?"

Harry stopped himself from saying that he didn't want anyone but Ginny to save her feelings but it felt like someone had just dropped a brick into his stomach. She had been his lifeline, his resilience, his prize. He'd convinced himself that if defeating Voldemort came hand in hand with a long happy life with Ginny. But he has broken up with her, and left her. If she'd found someone else that made her happy while he'd been gone then he would do his best to support them.

Without realising it, he'd buried his face in his hands again. Ginny tentatively peeled them apart.

"There's nobody else, Harry"

He looked up searching for her eyes. They were open and clear, hiding nothing. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her but this time he only hugged her. He hugged her really tight and for a really long time trying to pour all his feelings into it; his guilt about leaving her, his anxiety about not being able to protect her, his relief when she'd gone into hiding with the rest of her family, his fear that she'd move on.

He couldn't kiss her yet. She deserved to know everything before going that far. He was still afraid that she was wrapped up in the relief that he was alive and that the war was over. Or seeking comfort after Fred's death. No. He had to give her time to take it all in before forcing her into a relationship. But-

"Ginny, could you sleep in here tonight? I'm not really looking forward to being alone"

To his surprise, she giggled

"I was going to anyway. I was just trying to figure out how to tell you"

He loved the glint of satisfaction in her eye.

Moments later found Harry lying in bed on his side waiting for Ginny to return in her pyjamas. Eager as he was to see her again he couldn't stop his eyes from closing. She returned just in time for him to wrap his arms around her and pull her to him before he drifted off into what he knew would be a dreamless sleep.

"Not Harry, please no don't kill him, take me, kill me instead —"

It was dark. For a second Harry thought he'd dreamed of his mother's dying words again but-

"Fred, not Fred. Come back! No, no Fred"

"Ginny, Ginny, wake up!"

He wished he could say that it was all a dream but he couldn't. Fred was never coming back.

Ginny gasped as she awoke. On seeing Harry she burst into tears. He pulled her to him as she buried her face in his shoulder. All he could do was make soothing shushing noises and rub circles on her back and wait for her to calm down. Looking around the dormitory Harry noticed that Ron was occupying the bed next to them. He couldn't help but wonder what Ron's reaction had been when he'd walked in and found his best friend and his sister sleeping soundly together. Perhaps he had been hoping that Ginny had moved on. Or maybe after all that's happened he would be able to accept their relationship as one of the lesser evils in the world. It took a moment for Harry to realise that Ginny had once a again fallen asleep across his chest. He pulled the duvet back up over her back and crossed his arms around her and he was asleep again.

"Oi, you two! Wake up, it's time for breakfast."

They'd slept for almost twenty four hours straight and with a crude groan from Harry's stomach he knew it was time to get up. He relished the pressure as Ginny pushed herself off him into a sitting position to scowl at her brother.

"So, you two back together then?"

Harry and Ginny both looked at each other and grinned.

"I'll take that as a yes then"

and with that he disappeared into the bathroom with a towel.

Ginny flopped back down onto the bed, her head beside the elbow that Harry was using to prop up his head.

"So, we're back together then?" she said matter-of-factly

"If you'll have me"

Ginny pulled Harry's face down to meet her own and they were in a world of their own. It didn't take Harry long to push the duvet out of the way and roll over so that Ginny was lying on top of him. He loved the way her body felt against his. So warm and solid. So comfortable.

It took him a minute to notice that Ginny's hand, which had been playing innocently with his hair, was now very successfully taking off his t-shirt.

"Whoa, Gin-" he exclaimed as his head came free again.

But she wasn't done. With a brazen look in her eye her hand now started trailing it's way down his chest, past his stomach-

"Ginny!" he yelped.

"Yes Harry?" she innocently replied.

"I, eh, I'm not sure now's exactly the best time"

She giggled in return, but removed her hand and brought it to lie on the other one across his chest with her chin resting on them.

"Ok fine, I just missed you is all"

He grinned.

"I missed you too. I'm just really not sure how well Ron would react if he came out of the bathroom and-"

As if on cue, the door to the bathroom opened. Ron looked from Harry's t-shirt on the floor

to Ginny lying on top of him. Harry hastily removed his hand, which he hadn't realised was resting on Ginny's bum.

"Not cool, mate" he said with a scowl and proceeded to walk out of the dorm. "If you two aren't down in five minutes flat I'm sending Hermione up to get you.

"How right you were, Harry. That would not have been a good start to the day" Ginny admitted as she gave him a quick kiss on the lips and went to get dressed in the girls dorm.

He wasn't looking forward to going down to the common room. Chances were the Ron was there ready to lash into Harry about boundaries, or about hurting Ginny or about being his best friend. Fortunately though, Harry only had to endure a second or two of Ron's blood-curdling glare before Hermione emerged from the girls dorms causing Ron's glare to swiftly change to a dopey crooked grin. As they started to walk towards the portraithole Harry hesitated looking towards the entrance to the girls' dorms. Hermione swiftly took his arm and pulled him onwards and the look on Ron's face told him why. He ducked his

head down to avoid Ron's glare and continued through the portrait hole to breakfast.

After about fifteen minutes in the sombre presence of the Weasleys, Ginny appeared in the Great Hall. She slipped onto the bench beside Harry and grasped his hand underneath the table. They passed the rest of breakfast like this with Harry giving Ginny's hand and occasional squeeze when he noticed her eyes glazing over and her staring into space. When everyone started getting up to go about the various things that needed to be done to prepare for the funerals and repair the castle, Harry swiftly removed his hand from Ginny's with a furtive glance towards Mr and Mrs Weasley. He noticed Ginny looking at him exasperatedly so he continued to avoid her eye and walked towards the entrance hall with Ron and Hermione.

She fell into step beside them though as they reached the door to the entrance hall so he hung back from the others a small bit.

"They're going to find out eventually, you know"

"I know Ginny, I'm just not sure that now's the right time. There's so much going on and so much to do-"

"All the better then, Harry! Believe me, it'll make them happy. Anyway, because of the fact that there's so much to do they'll be paying much less attention and it won't be nearly as big a deal as if we put it off. There's no need to build it up Harry"

"I know it's just, they don't even know that we were together last year. They'll think it's just something that happened since, or because of, the battle and frankly that idea disgusts me a bit"

"What do you mean?"

"Well can you imagine if we just got together for the first time and a load of people had just died? It's completely insensitive and belittling their deaths and the war. It's disrespectful!"

"...like Ron and Hermione?"

"No, not like that. You know that's been building for years! It's just I don't want people to think I'm using you as some sick way to forget everything."

She turned to face him with the same hard, blazing look in her eyes as she had when they had first kissed and he knew he'd lost.

"If they do then they're wrong and they'll realise how wrong they are when they see us together. But for them to do that they have to know first."

And with that she pushed him backwards, hard, against the banister and kissed him. The effect was immediate. The chatter that had disguised their heated argument stopped abruptly. The silence was deafening. But it was all Harry could do not to pull Ginny closer to him. He reluctantly accepted when she broke away but they maintained eye-contact. For Harry, it was because he didn't want to see anyone else's reaction to what had just happened. For Ginny, it was so Harry had somewhere to look.

"Ahem"

Bill clearing his throat broke Harry's nerve and he quickly shifted his gaze to the floor. Ginny on the other hand -

"Need a glass of water, Bill?"

And Ginny unabashedly slipped her hand into Harry's and continued up the stairs. At the top Harry risked a glance back towards the rest of the Weasleys and Hermione. Hermione had a small smirk on her face and a hand resting on Ron's shoulder. Harry couldn't help but wonder if she'd held him back while he and Ginny had been kissing. Whatever his initial reaction had been, he know had a resigned look on his face. Bill was looking confused. George was looking somewhat indifferent. Harry couldn't help but think of the jokes he would have been making if Fred was still alive. Mr and Mrs Weasley, most importantly, were both beaming from ear to ear. Harry gave them a cautious grin before Ginny pulled him around the corner and out of sight.