"Harry, when was the last time you talked to Ginny?" Hermione questioned, dipping her finger into the leftover syrup on her plate.
Harry felt his face inflame. He hadn't spoken to, or about Ginny since they moved out of the Borrow and she slammed her door in his face so hard Mrs. Weasley had to mend his broken nose before they departed.
"Leave the bloke alone Hermione. Ginny hasn't spoken to any of us." Ron snapped. It was obviously still a touchy subject to him.
"Well I was only wondering. I was talking to Mr. Lovegood, he came to do an interview at the Daily Prophet last week, and he asked how Ginny was getting along. Apparently Luna and Ginny have become rather close within the past months." She said this with a forced casualty; Harry was sure she was testing the waters to see how much further she could continue on the topic.
"He said that Ginny had been made Quidditch Captain for the year, Harry…"
"Yeah? Brilliant." Harry rinsed his plate off and sulked back into his room, slamming the door behind him. He could hear the raised voices of his friends; Ron was obviously scolding Hermione for her insensitivity. But Harry couldn't pretend he hadn't wondered about Ginny, he couldn't act as though the information Hermione had just provided wasn't what he had been aching to hear for the past two months. He rolled over onto his pillow and screamed, as loud as he possibly could.
"Gin..?" Harry knocked quietly on his girlfriend's bedroom door. It was only a couple hours after Harry, Ron and Hermione had announced to The Burrow at dinner that they would be moving to a flat in London. Ginny had stormed to her room before they had a moment to explain.
"GO AWAY POTTER!" She roared. Harry winced, "Can you please let me in? I want to talk to you about this." Harry heard a shuffling and then the door was whipped open so hard Ginny's hair flew in front of her face. She brushed it away irritably.
"What?" Ginny glared, her eyes were red like she had been crying. "What could you possibly want to talk about to make this better?"
"Ginny - I can't stay here, Ron can't stay here..." He trailed off lamely. Ginny's eyes narrowed. "Don't you DARE tell me what Ron can and cannot do. How do you think this makes me feel?! I lost a brother too!" Harry stared at his feet, "Gin you go back to school in two months." He stated this like it explained everything. Harry looked up, reaching to touch Ginny's hand which she slapped away.
"If you leave I'm done. You can't just run away from things that scare you, that hurt you. I thought you of all people would understand that." Her eyes were welling with angry tears, "I know you've lost people too Harry, that Fred - " Ginny's voice caught in her throat, " - that Fred meant something to you. But the answer is not running away. Stay here with me Harry. Stay here and come back to Hogwarts. Don't take the job at the ministry, please." It was Ginny's turn to reach out.
Harry stepped back, out of her reach. "I have to move on." He stared at her with tired eyes. He saw pain reflected in her eyes. "Ginny, we have to move on."
"Don't be cross with me Ronald. I'm not your mother, I'm not forcing you to do anything. And I'm certainly not here to guard your feelings when you're being insensible." Hermione broke a plate in her frustration. "Reparo" she muttered, continuing to tend to the dishes in the sink.
Ron ran a hand through his untidy mob. "Hermione, listen to me."
The seriousness in his voice alarmed her. She turned off the sink and dried her hands on the sink towel, turning to give her full attention to the red haired boy in front of her. He looked older, his freckles were fading, his eyes looked tired…like he didn't sleep much anymore. It was the first time Hermione had really looked at her friend in a long time. Her heart caught in her throat, she longed to touch him, to comfort him, to offer some type of consoling words.
"I don't want to talk about Ginny because it hurts me. Because I left my family when they needed me to stay. Because I was selfish and couldn't bear to help anyone get through this loss when I couldn't even face it. Because –" His voice trembled, Hermione started to reach out but pulled her hand back, "Because I haven't said out loud that Fred is dead. Because it was too horrible to believe. Okay? So please, just let it be." He stood up abruptly and walked back to his room, closing the door softly behind him. Hermione stood there, staring at the place on the counter where Ron's tears had fallen.
"I can't do this." Ron pushed Hermione away from him. "I can't be with you, not now."
"Ron, stop. What are you talking about?" Hermione's eyes filled with tears. "We have to support each other. I can be here for you!" She insisted, extending her hand to touch Ron's arm.
"NO! YOU CAN'T SUPPORT ME! NO ONE CAN SUPPORT ME!" he bellowed, pushing her hand away.
Hermione shuddered, stepping back from this stranger in front of her. Ron had never yelled at her before like that. He looked like a different person. She stepped back again, shaking her head, tears falling more rapidly.
"You – you don't know that Ron. I just want to be here for you."
"MY BROTHER IS DEAD AND I'M NOT IN THE BLOODY MOOD TO NURSE YOUR FEELINGS HERMIONE! YOUR PARENTS DON'T EVEN REMEMBER YOU! HOW ARE YOU OKAY WITH JUST PRETENDING NOTHING EVER HAPPENED?!"
Ron's face was getting redder by the second. It didn't take long for Harry to come bounding down the stairs.
"Mate, what's wrong? Calm down its midnight, you're going to wake the entire house up."
"Too late" Ginny mumbled, opening the door across the hall. "What are you – Ronald what did you do?!" Ginny put her arms around a sobbing Hermione, pulling her into her room.
Before Ron could take back anything he had said Ginny had slammed her door, engulfing the only woman he ever loved.
"Ron…" Harry started, taking a step towards his best mate.
Ron fell to his knees, buried his face in his hands and started sobbing uncontrollably.
It was the first day on the job as a trained Auror and Harry was surprisingly calm. He ate his cereal staring at the television in front of him. There were two more death eater captures this past weekend, McNair and Crabbe.
"Well…that's a plus I suppose. The more they catch now the less you'll have to deal with." Hermione fussed, towel drying her hair. She was in the process of getting ready for work when the TV caught her attention.
"Hermione you do realize that my entire job is catching dark wizards. Just because Voldemort is gone doesn't mean more wizards similar to him won't be trying to take over the world again." Harry retorted wisely.
She glared, shook her head and flounced back to her room to finish getting ready. Harry stood up to rinse off his bowl when something on the news caught his attention. He dropped his spoon into the sink and grabbed for the remote, turning up the volume.
"Breaking news! It was reported from an inside source that Headmistress McGonagall at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has fired the current Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. How will the students learn now?!" There was a shot of a short man with no hair making his way down the long cobblestone road with the castle in the background, he looked as though he did not know he was on camera.
"Hey guys! Check this out!" Harry called to his roommates. Ron joined Harry on the couch, Hermione poked her head out of her room, in the process of braiding her hair.
"Apparently Professor Scrimage was trying to teach first years how to perform unforgivable curses. Said it would make them prepared for the years to come. McGonagall didn't trust him, he was forced in by the ministry anyways." A young boy no older than 13 was talking to the camera, grinning from ear to ear as he delivered this awkward news.
"He's not camera shy." Ron muttered under his breath.
Harry turned the volume on the TV back down as the reporter moved on to talk about the re-building of Diagon Ally.
"The Ministry is interfering at Hogwarts again…" Hermione mumbled, "Did you two know about this?"
"No, I mean, I didn't. Did you?"
Harry shook his head. "I wonder if the Ministry doesn't trust McGonagall. I mean, that has to be it, right?"
Hermione finished her braid, "It means that nothing has changed. That all in all the Ministry is just a political statement. They don't do anything to ensure the safety of the population. I mean, honestly, who hires a Defense teacher who is still teaching unforgiveable curses? Shouldn't that be basic screening by now?" She bit her lip concernedly.
"It just doesn't seem logical that Kingsley would instate a teacher that McGonagall didn't approve of."
"That's just speculation." Corrected Hermione, "We don't know that for sure. That boy couldn't have been older than third year –"
" – and he was a Hufflepuff." Ron interrupted, as though that explained everything.
"Which is irrelevant…" Hermione continued, glaring at Ron, "You should try to write Luna, Harry. See if she knows anything."
"Why me?!" Harry exclaimed.
"Because you're friends with her. She likes you best anyways. And unless either of you want to write to Ginny she is our next best option." As though it was decided Hermione returned to her room to finish getting ready for work.
"Why doesn't she write Ginny if she's so concerned…" muttered Ron under his breath.
"She has…" Harry turned off the TV, "I think that's why she's been trying to get us to attempt it." He sighed heavily, "When we were in Hermione's room the other night I saw a stack of letters addressed to Ginny that had been returned, unopened."
"That explains why Pig has been gone lately."
"Yea, anyways. I think she's more upset than she's letting on. Ginny was the closest thing – besides us – Hermione had to a best friend."
Ron got quiet, he started shuffling his feet.
"Sorry, I know it's still hard to talk…about, well to talk about your family."
Ron shook his head, "You know, it is hard. It's really hard. But I was thinking after I snapped at Hermione last night…she hasn't talked to her parents because they don't remember her. How selfish am I that I can't let her suffer with me?"
Harry squeezed his best friend's shoulder. "You miss her." He said this as a statement, because he knew it was true. He'd watched the longing glances between his two best friends and knew that Hermione was too bruised to reach out to Ron again, it was going to have to be up to him to make the first move.
Ron nodded, "I'm scared because I don't know who I am anymore Harry. I don't know what I want or what I'm doing. I'm not in your shadow anymore, which means I can't hide behind you."
Harry blushed, uncomfortably embarrassed by this statement. He had never intended for Ron to be buried by his own fame, but knew that his best mate had dealt with that for the past seven years of their friendship.
"Give yourself time. Nothing has to be decided today." Harry put on his jacket, "Ready?" Ron nodded. With that, they left for their first days on the job.