Chapter Three
Everything seemed to return to normal after the trial. All was quiet, weirdly so. Their days were filled with trying to strip down Grimauld Place, trying to finish what they had started years ago and make the place habitable. None of them had the money to buy a house and no one really wanted to move back in with their parents. Well, Harry hardly wanted to be around the Dursleys and given that Hermione's parents were muggles and couldn't quite grasp everything that had happened, she had been finding it particularly straining to be around them. Ron spent a lot of time at the Burrow. He usually slept there too, coming back in the mornings to help Harry and Hermione with the work at number 12. He wanted to be around them all but, it felt odd. A part of them was missing and everything felt, forced. It was easier to be with them in the evenings and at night when actual interaction was minimal. Ginny came over sometimes too. Though that was odd also. She, like Ron, wanted to escape the strangeness of the Burrow but, things with her and Harry hadn't seemed to settle after the war. They seemed stuck in this strange limbo, they weren't dating but they weren't quite friends either. They were awkward around each other, tentative.
One evening after Ginny and Ron had been helping to repaint one of the rooms, Ginny caught Harry's hand as he went to leave the room, pulling him back a little. Ron and Hermione had made their way downstairs and it was just the two of them and the smell of wet paint left in the half finished bedroom.
"So, things are kind weird right now huh?" Ginny said, still holding Harry's hand. He swallowed. Why was he so hyper ware of her hand in his. It felt small, slightly clammy. Too delicate.
"Yeah, yeah they have been a bit," he said with a small sigh. He didn't know why. Things just felt, strained, stressed, like the strings holding them together were thin and frayed. He pulled his hand out of hers under the pretence of pushing it through his long scruffy hair. It really needed cutting. She looked disappointed and he immediately felt guilty. "We should, go out maybe. Maybe it's being cooped up in here all the time," he suggested half heartedly. Her green eyes lit up a little and she nodded. Perhaps it would do them both some good.
"That sounds like it's probably a good idea," she smiled. Harry forced a small smile. He didn't really want to go out. Not really. He knew the minute they stepped out the doors into anywhere magical they'd be swamped by press. He didn't have the energy for it. But if she wanted to, he'd take her.
"Why don't we get lunch? We can go shopping for you school stuff at the same time?" he suggested. She gave a little nod, her red hair falling in front of her eyes as she did so.
"I like this plan" she smiled. "This will be a good plan. Shall we go tomorrow? The letters came this morning. They're repeating last year for obvious reasons but last year we never got a proper book list so, it's all new stuff." Harry was only half listening but he nodded and smiled where necessary. He was mostly dreading the paparazzi he knew they'd have to dodge. Could he do this under his invisibility cloak? No of course not.
"It's a deal then" he nodded. "I'll come and pick you up after breakfast?" And with that it was agreed. He'd actually be going out. Into the wizarding world. With Ginny. On a date. Was it really a date though? Well he supposed the lunch bit was at least. At any rate it was happening, and he wouldn't be able to get out of it.
The next morning Harry sighed when he woke up he sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. He'd been hiding in Grimauld Place, throwing himself into the work that needed doing with enough gusto to use it as an excuse to get out of almost everything else. When he thought about it, he wasn't sure when he'd last left here other than to get food from the local Sainsbury's. He'd gone into the ministry when Kingsley had asked him to. He'd visited the Burrow a little. But only sparingly. She'd stayed squirrelled away in Grimauld Place avoiding almost everyone other than Hermione and Ron. But he couldn't hide forever. Today was as good a day as any to try and haul himself out of is little hole. And if he couldn't do it for Ginny who could he do it for? After all, he was supposed to be in love with her right? At least he thought he was… or he had been…
Shaking his head he pulled himself out of his brain and went to shower, changing and grabbed his walled, filled with both wizarding and muggle money, and vanished with a loud crack. Mrs Weasley greeted him with her usual bear hug and ushered him into the kitchen. She already had a cup of tea waiting for him on the kitchen table. After the usual greetings she sat down opposite him, her own mug in hand and gave him that look only she could, like she was seeing straight through his smile to the core of him.
"How are you doing Harry dear?" she asked. "Hermione seemed a little worried about you. And Ginny said you haven't been out much recently. You look skinny are you feeding yourself?" Harry smiled at the questions shot his way. He'd missed her. Suddenly he didn't know why he'd been avoiding them all.
"I'm okay. I'm trying to eat. Sometimes forget," he said with a sheepish grin, to which Mrs Weasley scowled.
"You should come here for dinner with Ron," she said. "Honestly I don't know why you and Hermione insist on staying in the draughty old house all by your selves. You would both be welcome here." Harry gave her a smile, but said they were okay there for the moment. And that doing it up helped keep them busy. Besides, things were too stiff with Ginny for him to be here all the time. He never knew what to say.
It wasn't long before she had appeared at the bottom of the stairs, freckled face smiling, dressed in a green jumper and jeans.
"Ready?" she asked. Harry nodded, giving her a smile as he stood and thanked Mrs Weasley for the tea. They said their goodbyes and soon they had appeared in Diagon Alley with a loud crack. It was extremely crowded and sure enough it took only minute for one little boy to stop and point, tugging at his mother's sleeve as he shouted 'Mama look! It's Harry Potter!' Sure enough this earnt a volley of turned heads and 'oooh!"s and 'ahhhh!"s Harry put and arm around Ginny's waist and hurried her into Florish and Blots. They needed to get this over and done with as quickly as possible in his opinion.
"They only want to say hello Harry,' she sighed. She didn't get it. She never had. "They want to thank you for everything you did. You could be a little more gracious," she scolded gently. He gave her a vague 'mhm' as the guy behind the counter stared unblinkingly at him, his eyes darting from the scar on his forehead to his glasses and back again. Ginny started looking for her books and he followed. Hopefully if people saw that he was, you know, busy, with someone, trying to get shit done, they might leave him alone. But he should know by now that that was a naive hope. Barely five minutes had passed before there was a little kid tugging at the corner of his t-shirt. He took a deep breath, trying not to snap at him.
"Hey! Mister! Aren't you Harry Potter?" the kid said. Harry turned and gave him a thin smile. "No sorry. Think you got me confused with someone else," he tried. He also should have known by now that this didn't work. His face had only just started being removed from the papers and with the trial last week, there it was again. Everywhere he looked there was his damn face. It drove him insane. Why didn't people get that the whole war thing wasn't a one man show? Other people had been there too Harry, in his opinion, had actually done very little. Why couldn't they focus on other people? On the Order? On Ron and Hermione? On the people who created the resistance at Hogwarts?
"No, no you're definitely Harry Potter" the boy said. "I have a poster of you on my wall. You're a hero!" Harry resisted the urge to groan.
"Um, thanks," he sighed awkwardly, all too aware that Ginny was grinning behind him. "What, uh, what was it you wanted?" he asked. The boy grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
"Will you sign this for me?" he asked, holding up an old new paper clipping. It was a photo of Harry, helping to rebuild the school where it had been damaged after the Battle of Hogwarts. Harry gave a small nod.
"You got a…" before he could even finish his sentence the boy had thrust a quill into his hand and Ginny had found a bottle of ink lying around, passing it to him. Harry dutifully signed the clipping and the boy squeaked, running off to find his mum.
"There? Was that really so hard?" Ginny asked, before moving off to find the rest of her books. What she didn't see was that it happened twelve times more before she had paid. It was incessant.
By the time they had found everything Ginny needed for the new school year Harry was close to loosing his temper. On top of the usual books Ginny had needed new robes given that her one ones were torn and filthy from the battle, curses having scorched holes in them that had still been smouldering when she threw them out. It had taken them a good few hours, and a few dozen encounters with some extremely irritating people. Harry was hungry, and irritable.
Finally they ducked into a small cafe and took a seat in the corner, tucked into the window so that they could see out, but would be overlooked by passers by. Ginny chatted idly to him, mostly scalding him for how he reacted to the people who came up to him, for not getting out more.
"I just hate all the attention," he sighed. "Is that such a crime? You don't know what it's like to not be able to go out of the house without people hounding you Gin."
"You could just be a little more patient is all," Ginny said, picking up the menu to look at it. Harry opened his mouth to reply but his attention was caught by a scene unraveling outside of the shop window. He'd caught a glimpse of blonde hair, black robes stumbling. He recognised that figure. He watched, eyes widening as he saw Narcissa Malfoy backed up against a wall, her entire figure trembling as a group of four, three wizards and a witch, creep towards her, wands pointed. There was yelling, and through the din Harry could just about make out words like "traitor" and "filth" filtered through the window. A crowd was gathering now, people watching on as the wizards shouted at her, screaming about everything 'they' and 'their people' had done.
"Fuck," Harry muttered, pushing his chair back and sprinting out of the shop and launching himself in-between Narcissa and the advancing gang.
"What the fuck!?" Harry yelled, spreading his arms wide in front of them all. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" The oldest wizard of the group growled at Harry. He looked, Harry thought, a little bit like a rabid dog. All shaggy hair and barred teeth.
"Her husband killed my brother," he growled.
"Yeah. But she didn't. And they've been legally forgiven. So leave her alone," Harry growled back at him. Narcissa kept quiet, not making a peep.
"She shouldn't have been. She deserves to be locked up with the rest of them and rotting," the witch snarled.
"Yeah, well she saved my life," Harry snapped back. "So if it weren't for her I'd be dead and Voldemort would be in power. So. No. She doesn't." They looked at him, drinking in his words and held his gaze. The man spat, Harry recoiling as the spit ball hit the cobbles near his foot before he and the others left. The crowd was still staring and Harry shooed them away, ushering a still startled Narcissa into the cafe that Ginny was still sat in. She bristled a little when Harry pulled out his chair for the woman, her hands trembling.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked, passing her his glass of water. Ginny was just staring at her, not speaking. He knew that she looked at the Malfoys the same way that Ron did. Narcissa took the water and sipped, her teeth clattering lightly against the rim.
"Yes… they didn't actually get around to cursing me. At least not magically," she said, her blue eyes finding his. "This is the second time you've saved me Mr Potter," she said, the smallest hint of a smile pulling at her lips, though it was forced and she was still looking a little shaken.
"Seems you owe him now then," Ginny said tersely, and Harry shot her a 'Don't-be-like-that' kind of look.
"You don't. They shouldn't have cornered you like that," Harry said, looking back at her. "Has that happened before?" Narcissa hesitated, looking down at the water goblet before answering, her eyes not quite meeting his.
"A few times," she admitted. Harry grit his jaw. He wasn't surprised though. He'd expected there to be a lot of outrage about them escaping Azkaban. Most people didn't know what they'd done, even though it had been reported in the papers. People were all good at ignoring evidence that put their arguments into question. Besides, they had a right to be angry. It was true. Lucius had probably killed a lot of people and the relatives of the dead were always angry.
"If it gets out of hand, will you write to me? So I can try and sort it out?" he asked. Ginny looked shocked as she looked over at him and if he was honest the words falling so effortlessly out of his mouth surprised him. But he couldn't help it. He found himself wanting to help the woman. And if that meant helping her family along the way too so be it. Your perception of a person somewhat changes after they save your life. Narcissa nodded a little and tried for a small smile.
"Thank you Mr Potter. I shall," she said.
"Please, Harry. Not Mr Potter," he said, and Narcissa gave a tiny smirk.
"I'll stick to formalities if you don't mind," she said. "I'm more comfortable with them for now." He shrugged, trying his best to ignore Ginny glowering at him.
She continued to glower at him all the way home, her eyes fixed on him until they had exited Diagon Alley and he had apparated her to the field outside the Burrow where at last she exploded, demanding to know what he was doing, cosying up to the Malfoys. The day had been long, and tiring, and far from leaving things with Ginny better as the pair of them had hoped, Harry left the Burrow fuming. It was clear neither of them would be speaking to each other for a while.