Three days.
Three days, and a certain black- haired, green- eyed someone was still in Percy's room, still out cold, still oblivious to the world.
Ginny felt like screaming. Her mother had promised her that he would be quite alright. That he would wake. However, three days had gone by, and even the infallible Molly Weasley was getting quite worried.
Mostly, Ginny was occupied by her morbid thoughts and nightmares of what would happen if Harry happened to die. And at least five times every hour, she would be reminded of her horrible treatment of Harry, and the fact that despite her treating him like something disgusting, he had still taken a very dangerous curse for her.
When he did wake up, she planned to first apologise to him. She had finally realized that it was no use pretending to hate Harry Potter- she would love him anyway. And then, even if he did not accept her apology, she planned to scream at him for being a noble prat and taking a curse for her.
But first he needed to wake up.
She also spent every moment possible being near him. She had not slept in a bed for three days. Her neck ached from sleeping in a chair. Every one of her brothers and Hermione had tried to persuade her to sleep in a bed, but they had finally relented when she hexed Ron with flying bat bogies.
Very little colour had returned to Harry's cheeks, after that horrible moment when he got hit by the curse, despite her mother reassuring her that he was okay, and on the road to recovery. They had to turn him on his side and when one walked around to the right side of the bed, they would see a long scar stretching along his bare back.
Because, after all, they had to remove his shirt, she thought with a blush. It wasn't as if she had never seen him without his shirt off. She had seen him plenty of times with his shirt off, mostly in dark corners of the school-
She could now feel herself turning crimson.
She was seated at the left side of the bed, staring at Harry's pale face. Ginny peered more closely at his face. He did look very vulnerable, lying on his side, black hair in stark contrast with the white pillow. Like a little kid. He was definitely not a little kid, though, the way she had seen him shoot curses and battle with Bellatrix Lestrange like some sort of avenging angel.
She shot up straight in her chair when he stirred. Her heart thudded as his eyes fluttered and opened, exposing two irises of green.
HG
The first thing Harry noticed was that his back felt as though Hagrid was playing the bongos on it. Surprisingly, his head remained clear.
The second thing Harry noticed was that his stomach was at war, and he might hurl soon.
The third thing he noticed was a sweet, flowery smell that overpowered his senses- it seemed to calm his stomach.
He opened his eyes blearily, wondering bleakly what the hell was going on, and then his eyes went wide at the sight of a (beautiful) puffy- eyed Ginny.
Only Ginny Weasley could cry and still make herself look like the setting sun.
They stared at each other, and somehow Harry was reminded of the battle. Fighting with Bellatrix, being tortured, holding Ginny in his arms, and then taking the curse for her.
That explained his back, then.
Harry then realized this was the second time Ginny was looking at him like he was all she could see, and not like he was Malfoy, or someone she hated.
He realized his throat felt dry. "Ginny-"
His dry, cracked and hoarse voice jolted Ginny out of the trance she was apparently in, and she leapt up from her chair. "You need water! I am so sorry, I didn't realizeā¦"
She filled a glass with water and gave it to Harry, who sat up trying to ignore his throbbing back and gratefully sipping at the water, regarding Ginny with barely veiled amusement as she babbled, "I am so sorry, I didn't realize you needed water, I am the biggest idiot in the world, Hermione is much better than me at this-"
He set the glass down and told Ginny gently, "Its only water."
"But you could have died!" Ginny suddenly wailed, clutching her hair in anguish. "You could have fallen into a coma, again, all because I was stupid enough not to give you water, not understanding that you needed the water-"
"Ginny- "
"- and I am such a big prat, because I treated you so horribly like you were a pile of rat dung, and you didn't even say a word, and I am such a big unfeeling brute because I didn't give a damn about your feelings but you clearly gave a damn about my feelings-"
"Ginny-"
"- I am the worst person in the world, and I wouldn't blame you if you hated me now for life because I clearly deserved it and this past three days have been the worst days of my entire life and I wouldn't mind if you treated me like- like dung, because I deserve it, but please please don't die because I can't bear it if you died and I have been having nightmares about you dying, in my arms-"
Harry's jaw dropped. So she didn't hate him after all! The fact that she was babbling now, and crying, with tears rolling down her face, told him so.
She was now muttering that if he hated her, she would never blame him. He decided there was only one way to make her- well, shut up.
"My scar hurts." He declared in a flat voice. She raised her head from her hands and stared at him. "What- you, your-"
"I was kidding, really. My scar didn't hurt." He raised his voice over her cries of outrage. "Look, I do not blame you for- for-"
"Treating you like you were shit?"
"Well, yeah." He admitted. Then he clenched his fists and looked down on the blanket. "I understand, I guess, that you think I didn't care about you or something."
She looked at him, wide-eyed. "How did you know that?"
He shrugged. "Figured it out from your tirades. But that's not the point- the point is, the point is, I can't bear for you to get hurt. And if we are still together, there is a high chance of you getting hurt. And I don't want that. So, so what I guess I am saying is that I don't want you getting hurt all because I was too selfish to let you go. I- I couldn't bear it- I guess, I care about you too much."
He peeked at her from beneath his eyelids. There was a look of complete bewilderment in her eyes. Her jaw was hanging wide open.
He cringed. And waited for the onslaught.
What he didn't expect, though, was her response.
"Do you fancy yourself as Spiderman?"
HG
Ginny looked expectantly at Harry, who looked very shocked, as though he was hit over the head with a hammer.
"What did you say?"
"Well," she cleared her throat, "Spiderman broke up with Mary Jane to protect her. Unlike Ron, I do keep up with Muggle entertainment." She was lying, of course. Hermione had forced her to watch the movie, when she was seething over Harry. She had finally realized why she had shown her the movie.
"No," he said, lips quivering in amusement. She shook herself and tore her gaze away from those lips and stared into his eyes- which wasn't all that better. "Then," she said firmly, "You shouldn't feel the need to jump in front of every single curse meant for me." She took a deep breath. "The feelings you would feel whenever I get hit by a curse are exactly the same feelings I felt when you got hit by that curse three days ago." She shuddered as she remembered begging Harry to awaken, and crying herself to sleep beside his prone form, thinking it was all her fault. "I didn't- I thought it was all my fault." Thos treacherous tears made their presence known again.
She heard Harry gasp softly before she was embraced in a set of thin, but wiry arms. She buried her head in his chest as she heard him say, "Its not your fault. It was never your fault. It was my choice to step in front of that curse."
She raised her blotchy face from his chest and stared up at his wide, earnest eyes. "Then, you should never think that if I ever get hurt, its all your fault."
He looked unconvinced.
Ginny decided to try from a different angle. "I have got my wand, and you are the one incapacitated in a bed. Do I need to convince you further with a few creative spells?"
Harry paled slightly and shook his head vigorously. Then he said grudgingly, "The way you saved me from that cruciatus, I don't think there is any doubt in Voldemort's head that we are together." He peered at her. "Thanks for that, anyway."
She giggled, feeling deliriously happy. "Thanks for stepping in front of a curse for me."
They looked at each other, and it was like that moment, back in the heat of the battle. Only this time, no one would interrupt them, Ginny decided, and she pressed her lips to Harry's, as he fell back on the bed, taking her with him. There was a chorus of birds singing in her head, and the whole experience was otherworldly-
"Hey, Ginny, mum wants to know- OI! PUT YOUR SHIRT BACK ON, POTTER, AND GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER!"
Ginny sighed. She was definitely not counting on her brother to interrupt them, she thought, as her hand inched towards the wand left on the chair.
HG
"We are not going to leave?" Ron yelped, dismayed. "Damn, Harry, what brought this on?"
Hermione looked disgruntled. "Not what, Ron. Who."
The three of them were strolling through the backyard. Harry glared at the both of them. "The decision was mine and mine alone. We can stay at the Burrow. We can research, practice spells with Order members, look for horcruxes and come back again-"
"- and you can snog my sister, do not lie, Potter." Ron snorted. "I can still feel the effects of that bat- bogey hex she set on me."
"She doesn't need you to protect her virtue, Ron," Hermione said in a faraway voice.
Ron gaped at her, spluttered, and then fell silent again. Harry tried hard to stop a snigger from escaping, and failed.
Ron glanced at him.
"If I," he threatened, "ever catch you in a bed with my sister, missing articles of clothing, ever again, I can confirm that you shall miss certain anatomical parts of your body-"
"No," Hermione cut him off dryly. "Ginny would try doubly hard to protect those anatomical parts she is so fond of."
Ron and Harry both turned crimson.
After getting over the embarrassment, Ron looked at Harry again. "I approve of both of you, mate. God knows she never left your side those three days."
Harry's interest was piqued. "Really?"
Both Ron and Hermione gave him an exasperated look. "It was pretty obvious."
He turned away to hide his glee and laughter, and set his eyes on Ginny, leaning against the broomshed, his Firebolt slung over her shoulder. A slow smile spread over her face, and he winked at her. She blew him a kiss, and he pretended to swoon, ignoring Ron's faked retching beside him.
Harry didn't particularly want a lot of things in his life- but what he did want was that fiery, red- headed girl leaning against the wooden walls of the broomshed, laughing at his antics gleefully.
Author's note: My knuckles hurt from typing so fast. Yes, this is the end. As always, please review.
