Weakness and Strength
Ron, Hermione and I all ended up back in Ron's Bedroom after a hot shower and a change of clothes. Hermione had started sorting books out already into what she needed and didn't.
What am I doing? Of course I can't take Ron and Hermione with me. They have too much to live for: Each other. I can't let them come with me. I need to do this alone, so that no one else can die for me.
"Ron, Hermione, I want you to hear me out here." I looked at them expectantly and they seemed to be listening, "You're the best friends any man could ever want, and for everything you've done over the past few years is more than I can ever repay you for. But-"
"There he goes," Hermione said,
"Like we knew he would," Ron carried on,
"Telling us not to go."
"Well we're coming, Harry."
"You can't come with me this time." I said with a bit more force.
"And what's you're reason this time?" Hermione asked with a slightly exasperated voice, and kept sorting out books.
"Loads of reasons! I can't let you come with me because you've got too much to live for-"
"Why haven't you?" Ron asked.
"Well…this isn't about me-"
"I would think it is" Hermione cut in.
"I have to do this-"
"So do we"
"No you don't-"
"Harry!" Hermione shouted as loudly as she dared, "We're coming with you, and nothing you can say will stop us."
I ran a hand through my hair, trying to figure so way of getting them to stay.
"I'm not expecting to come out of this alive." I finally admitted.
"Don't you think we know that?" Ron moaned as if bored with the whole conversation.
"I won't let you die because of me-"
"Well it's not really because of you is it? It's because of Riddle." Hermione reminded.
"Yeah, but it'd be my fault-"
"Harry where else would we go? Seriously? Don't you think we know anything you've got to tell us?"
"But you'd have a chance of getting out of this alive if you didn't come-"
"Oh yeah, because me being a mudblood and Ron being a blood traitor would of course be forgotten."
"You're not listening-"
"No, Harry, you're wrong. We've been listening to you since our first year at Hogwarts, with absolutely not regrets. We're coming with you. So don't ask anymore. Do you know what we've done?"
They then told me about her parents and the Ghoul upstairs.
Even though I still didn't want them to come, I couldn't help but feel an immense wave of gratitude for the kindness and loyalty my friends showed me.
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*Ginny POV*
The day passed quickly, and I soon found that I was called down for dinner by mum. I stood by my decision. I needed to go with Harry. I could put up with not knowing what they were doing, but I couldn't put up with not knowing if he was alive or not.
As I opened the door I almost bumped straight into him…That seemed to be happening a lot lately.
"Harry, I just wanted to say-" I started, and then realised Ron was behind him, so I grabbed him hand and pulled him into my room, "We'll be down in a minute Ron!"
As soon as I shut the door on Ron's quizzical face, I turned back to him.
"Harry, I wanted to tell that you that I'm sorry if you think I've been putting you through a hard time…I just, I keep thinking about you leaving and its killing me not to be with you." I blabbered.
He stepped closer to me, gazing deeply in my eyes as my legs practically turned to jelly.
"I just…I just…I didn't mean to…Because I love you-"
"You…love me?" he asked, in a voice I'd never heard him use before. Deep and almost husky, like he was happy but holding back tears.
"Well…Of course I love you-"
Then my blabbering stopped, for he kissed me. A sweet yet fierce kiss that made me melt into him, my fingers instinctively reaching for his raven hair as I pushed his face further towards mine as his hands did the same to me. My heart pounded happily against my ribcage and I was surprised he made no signs of hearing it or at least feeling it. There was nothing else but me and Harry that mattered. After a while, we had to stop, realising that Mrs. Weasley was knocking on the door, telling us the food was getting cold.
We rested out foreheads together as only one thought came to my mind:
"Now there's the Harry I've been waiting for."
"Oh no-"
"What?"
"I can't stay away from you for half a day for your own good: what chance do I stand against Voldemort?"
"I think that the more love you let yourself have, the more chance you have of beating him you have, because the more separate it makes you both."
He smiled at me softly,
"Your starting to sound like Dumbledore." He commented, finally saying our deceased headmasters name since the funeral.
"Well I can't stay away from you." He admitted
"Maybe you don't have to; we can keep it a secret, even from our friends. If they don't know, and we're careful, then no one on the other side will know now will they."
"Okay. But we better get down for food or they will know something's up." He gave me one last light kiss, before he held the door open for me.
If a heart could dance, then mine was dancing like there was no tomorrow.
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(Ginny)
As we entered the dining room, we realised everyone had started, we quickly sat down in the two empty seats next to each other and mum started to dish out Shepard's Pie.
Underneath the table, I reached out for Harry's hand hesitantly, which he accepted and held in his strong, warms hand. After a quick squeeze, we let go, and dug into another of mum's fantastic meals.
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(Harry)
The next week passed all too soon for my liking, being that we had to get ready for Fleur's wedding, who was arriving tomorrow, meant that Ginny and I barley saw each other, let alone had a moment alone thanks to all the chores Mrs. Weasley had given them all. Surprisingly, at the start of the week Harry had only dreams of Ginny, which was blissful compared to keeping himself awake at night. But by the middle of the week his nightmares started returning, growing worse and worse throughout the week.
The morning of Fleur's arrival came and went. Although greeted warmly, there were death glares behind her back. He felt sorry for her at first, until she started ordering them around.
"I can't BELIEVE she wants me to change the sheets on their bed when I changed them YESTERDAY!" Ron moaned.
"I'll help you-" I offered
"No 'Arry, you should put ze cheek-eens avey" Fleur ordered, appearing out of nowhere and making us both jump..
"Okay."
I went outside to find Ginny already trying to put them away.
"Fleur, I'm already doing something! At least let me finish-" She flustered until she saw me, "Oh."
"Let me help you?" I offered
"Thanks Harry" she accepted
Ginny went around the right hand side and I went around the left as we herded them into their enclosure. We somehow got them all in without too much effort.
"Do you think they'll miss us for half an hour?" I asked hopefully.
"Probably…So let's go!" Ginny whispered back, grabbing my sleeve and running towards the woods in the outskirts of the Burrow before anyone else could say otherwise.
Once we were in the shaded part of the forest, we wasted no time making up for being separated the last week.
"Have you given any thought into letting me come with you?" she asked
"I have."
"Have you made a decision?" she pressed
"Not yet." I admitted
"Harry do you really need more persuading?" she tempted, her hips pressing further into mine as I bit back a growl that surfaced somewhere in the back of my throat.
"Ginny…" I warned
"You like it really" she whispered softly, and I couldn't help but smile at her.
"I'll let you know next week okay?"
"Before or after your birthday?"
"Oh yeah! I forgot about that!"
"You would" she smiled
"Which day is it on?"
"Tuesday"
"Okay, I'll tell you on the day okay?"
"You do know that if you say no I'll have to persuade you anyway don't you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow
"mmmm…that almost makes me want to say no…"
"You. Are. Very. Very. Bad. Harry. James. Potter" she mumbled, punctuating each word with a kiss.
"Oh ho! Speak for yourself!" I rivalled back,
"I-"
"VER 'AVE ZE GOT TO?" A throaty voice rang out over the grounds.
We both groaned,
"Come on, best not keep her waiting." I said, starting to move away
"You don't get off that easily." She threatened and pressed me against the trunk once more to give me a passionate kiss.
"'ARRY? GIIIINNNNY?!"
"WE'RE COMING!" Ginny yelled back, swooping in to finish the kiss,
"Ginny! We really need to go!" I laughed, pushing Ginny off me reluctantly.
"I thought it was usually the female in a relationship who decided when things started and stopped?" she asked innocently
"If that was the case then we'd never stop."
"True, true."
"'AAAARRRRYYY?!"
I turned and started running out of the trees, Ginny in hot pursuit.
"Sorry Fleur, we thought we'd lost a chicken in the woods, but remembered there were only 21 of them which Ginny came to remind me. Sorry." As far as lying goes, I knew I was particularly bad at it. But Fleur thankfully bought the story and insisted that the jobs get done a bit quicker or we'll never be done in time for the wedding.
By the end of the day everyone was feeling worn out from all the chores, and thankfully for me, I got another dreamless sleep.
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(harry)
The day before my birthday I awoke early, and decided to ask Mrs. Weasley if it was okay that Ron, Hermione, Ginny and I take the morning off so that we can talk about some things.
She wasn't too happy about it, and at first dismissed it, but soon rounded on me and kept asking what we were doing. I escaped eventually, and awoke to tell the others.
Soon enough we were all assembled in my room.
"No offence Ginny but, why are you here?" Ron asked
"She's here," I cut in, "because she wants to come with us."
"WHAT?!" Ron shouted
"Keep your voice down!" Hermione scolded before looking at me with a puzzled expression, "But Harry I always thought that you wanted to keep Ginny safe-"
"And what better place than where ever you'll be?" She cut in
"You're kidding right? I mean you're actually kidding?" Ron asked, looking at us both. When we remained serious, he got up and muttered a string of curses under his breath before fixing me with a murderous stare.
"I thought you were better than this, Harry! How can you even think about bringing her along! Ginny's not even of age-"
"Which doesn't really matter any more since the Ministry's no longer monitoring under aged magic. Not that I'd risk using any." Ginny retorted
"That doesn't make sense." I said,
"Well it's true, I guess since the Death Eaters have been placed in there they're naive enough to believe no one under age poses any kind of threat and they've got more important things to do than send howlers." Hermione offered
"No, It's too dangerous-"
"Hermione, Ginny, can you let me talk to Ron for a minute please."
"Sure, Harry." They both said, getting up and leaving the room.
"Harry? Why?"
"Ron, you know how I feel about her-"
"Isn't that more reason for her not to come!?"
"How would you feel waking up every morning and not knowing if Hermione was alive?" At this Ron softened slightly, "It's the same for me and Ginny."
"But…You haven't told her about the horcruxes yet have you?"
"No. I haven't said anything."
"Wait…are you two back together."
He looked straight at me and something inside told me not to lie.
"Between you and me…secretly…yes."
Ron let out a long, steady sigh.
"doesn't that completely defeat the purpose of breaking up with her?"
"Ron I…I can't explain…I've tried, really I have I just can't stand being away from her." I tried to say, "She says she just wants to come with us. She doesn't need to know what we're doing or need to come with us for anything. She's said that she won't be much safer anywhere else, especially Hogwarts, so she wants…to be somewhere where she won't constantly have to worry if I'm still alive. And I'd like the same, that and for her to be safe. But no where's safe so…I just don't know what to do." I finished.
I ran a hand through my hair before chancing and glance a Ron. He was leaning back, face dark and deep in thought.
"If you could make Hermione stay…would you? I mean, honestly, would you be able to make her stay? And not know if she was okay?"
A lengthy silence spread between them
"No. No I wouldn't be able to." He admitted. "Harry, I've realised for a while that this is going to be a lot, lot harder for you than any one of us can possibly imagine. If, for some reason, it give you comfort to have Ginny there…well…I guess I can't stop you can I?"
"You've really grown up haven't you?"
He snorted, "I've had to, you're a good man, Harry."
"You're a better man, Ron." He snorted again.
Feeling that the situation was too corny, I gave him a light punch on the shoulder.
"Come on, let's let the girls back in."
When he opened the door he found them whispering rapidly to each other.
"You can come back in now."
"Oh, well I think I'd better start helping Fleur before she comes up here anyway." Hermione smiled, "I'll see you guys in a bit."
"Yeah I'll help too. See you later."
All of a sudden Harry and Ginny found themselves alone.
"Did he say I could come?" Ginny whispered frantically
"Eventually…yes!"
"Oh good." Ginny said, before giving me a crushing hug that could rival her mothers.
"What did Hermione say?"
"She said it'd probably best for you and me. So, yes basically. Oh, she figured out that we were back together."
I laughed, "Yeah so did Ron. Are we really that transparent?"
"Nope! Just you." She smiled.
"Hey-"
But she let me talk no longer for another few minutes.
"So does that mean I'm coming?" She asked
"Well…I still have to say yes. But I'll tell you tomorrow."
"We maybe I should be doing something to tip the scales my way." She said, giving me an evil smile.
"Ginny, we shouldn't spend to long up here-"
"Harry why don't you let yourself be happy?"
Good question. "I guess it just always ends badly, so I avoid it as much as possible." I replied with a shrug.
"That's sad."
"Yeah. But unfortunately true. You're my weakness, you know that?"
"Yeah, you just can't resist me." She leaned in as if to plant a kiss, but instead traced her warm tongue against my bottom lip.
I couldn't stop a growl from escaping as we met in one of the fieriest kisses we'd every experienced, her flowery scent evading my mind and letting loose all sense of precaution.
Before I even knew it, we'd both somehow ended up on the bed, my shirt unbuttoned by Ginny, her small hands exploring my waist and chest.
"Ginny!" I exclaimed, quickly sitting up as reality crashed over me.
"Oi, come back here I wasn't finished kissing you…" she moaned.
"If I start kissing you now then I won't be able to stop."
She opened her eyes and gave me a coy smile, before starting to tug at my shirt.
"Then don't"
"That would end badly." I assured
"I would have thought that to be a good ending." She smiled wider, still pulling at my shirt.
"Not if Ron comes and interrupts half way through like he usually does." I said, and on that thought, I found the will power to tug her hands loose of my collar as I tried to sit up.
"I'm not finished yet." She protested.
I weakly put my head on the pillow next to her head.
"Ginny…" I moaned and joked, "I'm only a simple man… I don't know how much more of this I can take…"
"then don't!" she laughed, kissing my neck.
"I thought it was the woman who usually had the common sense!" I exclaimed, trying to wriggle away before any sense I actually had flew out of my mind completely.
"Well then you picked the wrong woman."
So I started to button up my shirt whilst backing away to the far corner of the room.
"Right, you stay there, and wait until I've calmed down." I instructed, the monster inside of me roaring away.
"You are so fun to tease."
"As you keep reminding me." I replied, whilst running my hands through my hair and then stuffing them in my pockets.
"Right, let's go and help Fleur out."
"Oh alright." Ginny agreed, following me down the stairs so we could complete some more aimless tasks.
