Disclaimer: JKRowling owns all of the characters and places.

Harry found Ginny in the same spot he had been sitting before leaving with McGonagall; she was half listening to Charlie explain his happenings of the previous night to Mr. Weasley. As harry made his way through the hoards of wizards towards her, he caught her snatching glances at the door leading to the grounds with a longing in her eyes. Hoping not to catch any attention he snuck up behind her in his invisibility cloak and leaned over her shoulder to whisper in her ear.

"Want to get out of here?" he felt her jump and her breath catch before she twisted around to face where his voice had come from. "Not hungry?" he added seeing her untouched plate of food.

"Not really," she said

"Hmmm," Harry breathed, looking her up and down. She was unhealthily thin and pale. Swiftly he reached out from under the cloak and loaded up a plate of supper and wrapped it up. "Come on, let's go for a picnic. You look starved to death."

Ginny stood up quickly; Harry pulled the cloak over her as well and then wrapped his hand around hers to lead her out to the grounds. Not up for a long walk, they sat under a tree by the lake while they ate off the plate he had brought along. As the last of the suns rays dipped below the horizon Ginny shivered slightly as another night inevitably closed in around them. Discarding the plate beside him, Harry put his arm around her and rubbed her shoulder to warm her up.

It was at that precise moment that it hit Harry; the fact of how much he had missed her. Being close to her and it being effortless like it had a year ago seemed so close again. Now she was there waiting to be with him and Ron was nowhere in sight.

"I thought you had died Harry," she accused, "my brother and then you in the same day… I couldn't have lived with myself knowing that I didn't try to make you stay. I just assumed that you would never actually give up yourself."

Harry felt curiously smug knowing that she would have missed him and he pulled her closer.

"Sorry," he murmured into her hair.

"For what exactly?" she asked, pulling back to look at him.

"Anything," he said quickly, "take your pick."

"How about ditching me last year like that?" she snapped unexpectedly pushing away to glare at him, "Letting Ron push you around all the time about you and me? And what about never sending a message to anyone about where you've been? I went through months thinking you could have run off to who knows where!" taken aback by her sudden furious rant, Harry was speechless.

"And then," she screeched shoving him non-too-gently, "You burst in without warning, and defeat You-Know-Who, but you don't even know what to do about your stupid ex-girlfriend who you expect to sit by and watch while you go kill yourself!" by the end of her speech she was glaring at him full force , her cheeks flushed with rage.

"Yeah, all of that," Harry whispered, shocked by her intensity.

"Prove it," she challenged, angry tears welling up, threatening to spill over.

"Do you honestly believe that I ever wanted to ditch you like that?" he asked fiercely. It was his turn to be angry, this time at her foolishness. "If I could have sent you a message, believe me I would have. In case you hadn't noticed: no owl, floo was out of the question, and Lupin was kind of pissed when I first saw him after the wedding. And I didn't want you killed because I was too daft to send you away from the fighting. I went to meet him because I had to. I would rather have died than left you in a world where Voldemort was still going to destroy everything and everyone I ever cared for!"

Finished, Harry looked over her petrified face and then he was kissing her, fiercely and intense as if to make up for al of the kisses they should have had over the past year. From the moment his lips touched hers, Ginny froze in shock and then stubbornly stayed so in determined anger until he broke away from her.

"I don't expect you to forgive me," he told her, "I just want to understand what you want from me."

"I wanted to know that you were serious about keeping me safe," she said, her eyes averted from his gaze, "that it wasn't just some excuse…to free yourself up for someone else or something."

"Merlin's pants," Harry whispered as her thoughts had finally become clear, "you are ridiculous."

Ginny just searched his face, looking for any trace of a lie.

"Honestly," he promised, reaching out to brush her cheek, "it was all I could do not to leave the mission right there after your birthday gift-thank you by the way- and stay with you."

"That was my way of guilt tripping you for breaking it off," she admitted looking away.

"It worked annoyingly well," He said, catching her eye, "but I couldn't help but wonder if you had found someone else, more to your liking. You know taller, stronger and better looking without the dorky glasses and a habit of running into near death situations."

Ginny just shook her head and laughed at his rant, and then kissed him for the first time in seven months. Harry welcomed the hesitant kiss and pulled her closer, holding her against him until she broke away.

"We should get back up to the castle he said realizing that the blackness of night was swiftly closing in on them, "your mother is probably thinking I kidnapped you." Hoping up, he reached down to help her up off the grass and then retrieved the discarded plate.

As they began to make their way across the grounds, Harry wound his arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head, utterly content. As soon as his arm had brushed against her side, Ginny involuntarily jerked away from him, tears suddenly welling up. He stopped short and saw her bite down on her lip and stepped in front of her.

"Are you alright?" he asked, worried even more now that she had wrapped one arm in front of her torso, clutching her ribs. She nodded stiffly but he wasn't even close to believing it.

"Ginny, what happened?" he demanded, stopping her from walking away.

"I got hit during the battle," she relented," I didn't even remember it until a few hours ago."

"Let me see," his brow was mashed together; what could have possibly happened that had caused Ginny to cry so easily?

"I'm fine Harry," she replied quickly.

"Don't be daft," he said roughly.

Much to his surprise she relented and lifted up the hem of her jumper a few inches and Harry swore loudly as he took in the deep green bruise that was spreading farther each moment across her ribs.

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