After what felt like only a few minutes of sleep, Harry woke up to the beam of sunlight shining through the windows of the dormitory. Just as he decided to get up and close them, he realized that he was not alone.

"I was just making sure no one came in and tried to bother you, I figured you'd want some rest." Ginny Weasley was sitting on the bed next to him, legs crossed and facing him.

"Were you watching me sleep?" Harry said jokingly.

"Am I not allowed to do that?"

"You can do whatever you feel like, Ginny." The past year of separation hung between them like a heavy fog, making it hard for Harry to think of anything to say, so for a while he said nothing.

"Do you want to go back to sleep?" Ginny inquired after the silence became unbearable.

"No, not really," more silence, and then, "is everyone still, um…."

"With Fred, yes. They're moving him to the burrow soon. I said I'd hang back with you and meet them there."

"Are you sure you don't want to go now?"

"Of course I'm sure, who else would force you to come if I weren't here?"

She always could tell exactly what he was thinking, because right now the last thing Harry wanted was to face the Weasleys, not when he was the reason that Fred had died.

"It's not your fault," Ginny said, furthering Harry's suspicion that she's a legilimens.

"I know," Harry said, even though he didn't.

"No you don't," Ginny smiled. Harry didn't reply. Her smile slowly faded. "I thought you were dead," she said softly. Her tone changed dramatically in those five words. She was no longer joking, but Harry couldn't determine exactly what it was that made her sound so different from how she normally sounded.

"Well, that was kind of the point. I needed to get back in the castle."

"You couldn't've told me it wasn't real?" And that was when Harry realized what he was hearing: hurt. Ginny had always been so brave and so strong, he had never heard her sound hurt before. Even when they broke up last year she put on a brave face. Harry was shocked silent as a single tear fell from each of her brown eyes.

"I didn't know it wasn't real, not at first. I didn't know the curse was going to fail until after it did. I knew the only way to defeat Voldemort was by going in the forest and letting him kill me. Only it didn't work this time either."

"So you thought you were going to die and didn't say goodbye to me?"

"If I had, would you have let me go?"

Ginny was silent, and Harry knew it was because she wanted to say 'yes,' but she didn't want to lie, either.

"And how was I supposed to say 'Hey, I'm about to go die, but how about one last kiss?' I would have never been able to stop kissing you. I wouldn't've been able to let you go."

"You let me go once."

"And it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I couldn't do it twice."

"You've done plenty of more difficult things, you're Harry Potter! You've fought Voldemort a million times before you were even of age, and you defeated him!"

"Trust me, Ginny, that was infinitely easier than the day I told you I couldn't see you anymore."

"Well, I guess. But I'm still not happy about it."

"Hey, I'm alive now."

"Yeah, I know," Ginny looked at him, "you didn't meet any veela while you were traveling, did you?"

Harry laughed, and then he kissed her. This kiss rivaled that last one they shared, and Harry had a hard time pulling away. "How could I when I had that nice gift to remember you by?"

Ginny chuckled, and looked down at her hands. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Gin."

She climbed into bed with him and hugged him hard, but pulled away when he released a gasp of pain.

"What? What happened?" She inquired, looking all over his body for some sign of an injury.

"Nothing, it's just sore. That's where I got hit."

"Right here?" She asked, pointing to a spot in the center of his chest.

"Yeah."

She jabbed it hard with her fingers.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Now we're even. And next time you're planning on sacrificing yourself for the good of the wizarding world, let me know first, okay?"

"Fine, but in all honestly I don't think I'll be able to survive the killing curse again; I'm pretty sure my luck's run its course on that one."

She giggled softly, and pulled in closer to him. They lay silently in each other's arms, letting all the noise from the outside world drown out, until they fell asleep. The last thing Harry remembered thinking before he lost consciousness is how happiness is like a phoenix; you will always find it rising out of the ashes of a tragedy, even if it sometimes takes a while.