Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Authors Notes: Here is the next one!! :) Keep up the reviews!! - Rhiain

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Chapter 4

Discoveries

~*~

Friday morning…

Harry sat down at the kitchen table between his two Godparents.  Sirius had arrived a few days ago.  Once he had gotten over the initial shock of him being there, Harry had thrown himself into Sirius' open arms, secretly grateful and relieved to see him again.

Apparently Remus had given him the address of an 'old friend', someone Sirius thought Remus had met whilst Sirius had been in Azkaban.  But when Anne opened the door… well, it was amazing that he hadn't woken Harry.  Sirius had only been there about half an hour when Harry made an appearance.  They spent the rest of the day talking, Anne telling them about her life, Sirius told Anne about Azkaban and how he had escaped, and Harry told them both about the Dursley's and his adventures at Hogwarts.  You can imagine the look on Anne's face when Harry spoke about life with the Dursley's.  Sirius and the Weasley's knew how bad they were, but not many people could believe how awful they really were, not to mention how different they were to Lily and James.

For Sirius and Harry to sit down and have this sort of conversation though, was quite liberating for Harry.  What with Sirius in Azkaban, Harry at Hogwarts and a war to fight, they'd never really had the time to get to know about each other's lives.  Harry was really grateful of this time with Sirius.

Harry and Anne also brought Sirius up to speed regarding the search for Ginny.  Sirius' eyes bulged when Harry told him that he had found her.  After some discussion, they decided that they would go to one of Ginny's gigs and in the meantime, speak to Emily to see if she could work on Ginny.  The gig was tonight.

Harry walked down the stairs heading to breakfast, thinking about yesterday morning and the letter Ron and Hermione had sent with Hedwig.  She had flown through the open kitchen window and presented Harry with a letter.  "Hedwig, it's so good to see you," he had exclaimed, delighted to see his devoted pet and friend again.  "Here, I'm sure you could use a few owl treats, a drink and then a nice long nap.  Stay with me at least until I reply to this letter, okay?"  Hedwig, had flown onto Harry's shoulder, nuzzling his ear affectionately, before flying off to where Ruby, the family owl, sat, on the other side of the kitchen having breakfast herself.

He looked down at the letter Hedwig had delivered to him and re-read it.

Dear Harry,

We hope this letter finds you well.  Everyone here is worried about you and we hope you come home soon.  How is the search going? 

In answer to your questions, here goes… the twins' shop is going great.  They have come up with a new line of new tricks and pranks, and quite frankly, in my opinion, some of them are frightfully dangerous.

I heard they're opening another shop in Hogsmeade.  I'll have to remember to warn them not to sell anything too dangerous to the students.  Oh well, at least if they do, I'll know where to get the counter curse from…

Little Leo is gorgeous!  He has just started to walk.  He just needs to learn to bend his little knees!!  He is sooo cute.  He takes three or four steps then falls over looking around to see if anyone has seen him, when he sees someone he starts applauding himself.  He is also trying to talk.  He makes noises that sound a bit like 'bub' and 'da da'.  You can imagine how proud Percy and Penelope are.  I have included a photo of him that was taken at the last family Quidditch match.

Harry looked at the photo they had sent and smiled, it was full of red heads… the whole family was there smiling at him

Yes, everyone is coming to the wedding.  Bill and Charlie should be here around mid July.  They have decided to come early so they have a bit of a holiday whilst they're here.  Molly hasn't been too bad.  Now that it's getting close I go around there every weekend and we spend it planning.  I think Ron is getting a little annoyed at having to give up his weekends to planning instead of playing Quidditch…

Hogwarts is great!  Professor Flitwick thinks I will be ready to start teaching by myself next school year, and I can't wait!!  I will start with first and second years… I love having Remus here.  He's really helpful.  Whenever I'm having a hard day or having trouble with a way to teach a charm, he always finds time to help. 

Ron is doing great.  He has just been promoted again - from Field Auror into the Strategy Department.  What with Quidditch, chess and everything that we've done, planning future raids will be no problem.

Harry… when will you be home?  We miss you.  I miss you sooo much… Promise me if you haven't found her by the wedding you will stop looking.  I know you love her, and we all miss her too, but you are missing out on living your life.  Come home.  We want you back here.

Please…

Love Always

Hermione & Ron

xoxo

Harry walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table pensively, thinking about Hermione and Ron.  How he missed them… everyone…

"What ya reading kiddo?" asked Sirius talking with a mouthful of toast.

"Just the letter Hermione sent yesterday.  My regular update from home, they sound good," replied Harry with a smile.  "I forgot to show you yesterday.  Do you want to have a look?" he said handing the letter to Sirius.

"What would you like for breakfast Harry?" asked Anne from the other side of the table.

"Just some toast, please" he replied.

"Are you sure you don't want something more?"  She was regarding him with concerned, motherly eyes.  Harry shook his head.  "Okay, here you go" she said magicking him over a plate with two bits of toast, some eggs and bacon… for good measure.

"Bu.." he didn't get to finish protesting before Anne interrupted.

"You're a growing boy, you need to eat more…" said Anne going into mother mode.  She looked at Sirius who was sniggering and said, "and you," she shot Sirius a firm look, "you're much too skinny too!"

"What time is the gig tonight?" asked Sirius in a not too subtle attempt to change the subject.  "And since when does Ginny sing?  I didn't even know she could sing."

"She's been singing for a long time.  Just never told anyone, except me," explained Harry, with a secret smile on his face.  It always made him feel special that he was the only one who knew her secret.  He'd wanted to tell her family on many occasions, but Ginny had never been ready to be that vulnerable with her family, especially with the daunting prospect of having to put up with endless teasing from her older brothers.  Ron would have been really proud, as would Percy, but the other four would never have been able to resist the temptation to mercilessly tease her, and so she'd never told them.

"Anyway," said Harry shaking himself out of his reverie, "the band will be on stage about ten o'clock, but we should get there at 9.30ish to be sure…" said Harry, "it's a popular pub.

Now that he knew that Ginny still loved him, he was feeling nervous.  He didn't know if he could go tonight and not go and confront her.  He knew from what Anne had told him of her conversation with Ginny, that she didn't think Ginny was ready, that Emily needed to talk to her first.  But he hated having to wait.  What if Emily told Ginny that he was here, accidentally, and she ran again.  What would he do then?

"Hello!  Earth to Harry?" said Sirius elbowing Harry in the side.  "What do you plan on doing today?" he asked.

"I was thinking about going into Muggle Melbourne, just to wander a bit.  What are you two up to?" he replied.

"Well, I was wondering if I could tag along, actually?" asked Sirius.

"Sure," said Harry.  "What about you Anne?"

"I have to go to work today… I took the last week off as family leave… but you only get a few weeks a year…" said Anne.

"What time will you be home from work?" Sirius asked Anne.

"I should be back by five.  How about we go to dinner before the gig?" said Anne.

"Sounds good, we'll be back before five then.  I'll just go get dressed and we can get going Sirius." said Harry.  He stopped at the foot of the stairs and looked back at Sirius sitting at the kitchen table in his wizard robes.  "You should probably change into Muggle clothes Sirius.  You did bring some with you, didn't you?" Harry said playfully, dodging the piece of toast that Sirius had just sent flying towards him, and running up the stairs two at a time.

"Well, I'm leaving for work now, so you two have a good day," said Anne, leaving the two of them to banter away at each other.

She had to laugh at those two.  It felt good to have them in the house.  She knew they hadn't had much time together just to talk, so most of their time since Sirius had arrived had been spent catching up on each other's lives.  She found that Sirius had just as good of an effect on Harry, as Harry had on Sirius.  If you didn't know any better you would think they were father and son.  She'd never really thought of Sirius as a father before.  He'd never seemed the marrying type, even before Azkaban.  She was thinking about this as she went to work.

~*~

"Sirius, are you ready yet?" called Harry up the stairs, Sirius had gone to get dressed half an hour ago and left Harry waiting downstairs.

As Sirius walked down the stairs Harry's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious Sirius?" he said laughing at his terrible pun.  "Don't you have anything else to wear?"

"Nope this is it, what's wrong with it?" said Sirius looking hurt.  "I wore these when your Dad and I went into Muggle London years ago, before you were born," said Sirius, looking down at his dark green velour bell bottom pants, and orange and white striped shirt.

"That's the problem, Sirius, wizard robes may not have changed much, but Muggle clothes have.  The first thing we are going to have to do is get you some new clothes!" said Harry.  "Come on I'll lend you some of mine… they should fit" he said dragging Sirius up the stairs.

"Okay, though it seems a real shame to not be fashionable," teased Sirius, bursting out laughing at the horrified look on Harry's face.  "Actually, I'm surprised they still fit me.  Still after twelve years in Azkaban and Voldemort, I shouldn't be surprised.

"So where are we going today?" asked Sirius as Harry pulled out a pair of jeans, a blue polo shirt and a denim jacket.  "Can't I just wear my cloak?"

"No.  I don't want to attract any more attention than we have to, okay?" replied Harry firmly.  "Now, Anne told me that a good muggle clothes shop is Myer, but I have to change some money, so we'll have to floo to The Two Wands," said Harry.  "It's the pub at the entry to Tin Pan Alley," he added when Sirius gave him a questioning look.

Harry walked over to the fire, stepped in, threw down some floo powder, said 'The Two Wands' and green flames engulfed him and he was gone.  Sirius followed him a few moments later.

~*~

Dear Emily,

How has your week been?  It's nice to be able to send you letters directly now… I hope Ginny is doing okay.  I was wondering if you could come home for a little bit tonight?  I need to talk to you about something.  Please don't tell Ginny where you are going and I will explain everything tonight.  I should be home around five pm, so I'll see you then.

Don't worry about replying, just come at five tonight…

Love always

Mum

Anne had Apparated home during recess to send Emily the owl.  She thought it would be strange for her to just show up to Ginny's gig without notice; she thought it would be too suspicious given recent events, so she had decided to tell Emily what was going on, before they left that evening.

Anne tied the letter to Ruby's leg.  "Get it there quickly Ruby," she told the owl.

~*~

Sirius landed with a 'thud' coming out of the fireplace in the Two Wands.  As he got up he saw Harry standing there doubled over in laughter.  "What's your problem?" Sirius asked grumpily, brushing soot off his clothes.

"You… you can't even land on your feet…" Harry laughed.

"Well, look at you, you're just as filthy as I am!" Sirius shot back at him.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!  I just expected you to land on your feet, I still remember my first trip by Floo Powder," said Harry shuddering at the thought.  "I landed in a shop in Knockturn Ally, and had to hide in a cupboard because Lucius and Draco Malfoy came in to sell some things… Draco Malfoy all but opened the door and found me…"

"I hate floo… we just don't get along," laughed Sirius.  "I might have landed on my feet once before, maybe twice.  I just never got the hang of it."

They spent the next half hour getting money from Gringotts and changing it into Muggle money, then they headed into Muggle Melbourne to get Sirius some decent clothes.

About two hours later they were standing in the men's department of Myer, Sirius complaining loudly about having to try on endless amounts of clothes.  So far he had tried on five different styles of jeans, finally deciding on two different styles, various shirts, t-shirts, jackets, etc.  He was now trying to find an outfit to wear to the pub that night.  It took awhile, but Sirius decided on a pair of jeans and a black, short sleeved shirt and a leather jacket.  Harry had bought a pair of black cords and a deep sea green shirt.   If only Mrs Weasley could see him now.  He could almost hear her voice "Ahhh lovely, Harry.  That shirt brings out the green in your eyes…."  He smiled.  She had been such a great support to him over the years.  Almost like a mother…

The rest of the day they had spent doing normal Muggle things.  They went to the top of the Rialto building, took a tram ride around the city, played many arcade games and went to see a movie at Crown Casino.

They Apparated into Harry's bedroom at Anne's place at around ten to five that afternoon.  They ran down to the kitchen talking about the special effects in the movie they had just seen.  Harry came to an abrupt halt at the bottom of the stairs, Sirius didn't see him stop and slammed into Harry, knocking him to the ground.

As he picked himself up off the floor, he noticed Sirius was standing in attack position, wand ready.  The reason Harry had come to a dead stop, was in the kitchen.  Emily, Ginny's friend, was at the table eating toast, and had looked up and seen Harry as he'd come down the stairs.

"Sirius, put your wand down.  Now," Harry said firmly.  "Nice to meet you Emily," he put emphasis on the last word, trying to give Sirius a hint.  "Your Mum didn't mention you popping by."

"I… it, it's you.  Oh my God.  It's Harry?  Harry Potter?  Isn't it?  What are you doing here?  Oh my God.  I have to warn Ginny.  Did Mum contact you?  If she did I'll kill her…" Emily rambled.  She went on talking rapidly, Harry trying to get a word in, for another minute, before he walked over and caught her firmly by the shoulders, shaking her just a little to get her attention.

"Emily, listen to me," said Harry looking directly into Emily's eyes, which were looking back at him a little fearfully.  "Your Mum didn't tell me Ginny was here.  I found her on my own.  I saw Ginny singing at the pub and followed you both here from your dorm."

~*~

She only had an hour to get ready before her gig, but she and Emily didn't have any food left, so she'd had to make a short pit-stop into the supermarket.  She quickly ran home.  They'd been short of food ever since they spent the weekend with Emily's mum.  They'd got out of their weekend routine and hadn't quite got back into it yet.  But the week had just flown, and Ginny could hardly believe it was Friday night already.

She got to her dorm room and tried the door, but it was locked.  She'd been expecting Emily to get home before her. She guessed that Emily had probably gone to the library after her last class to do a bit of research for a paper that was due in next Tuesday.

"Shit," she said to herself, realising it was locked.  She dug around in her bag trying to find her keys, and let herself in.  After dumping her school stuff in her room, she went to the wardrobe and pulled out some clothes.  She looked down at what she was wearing.  All the clothes she had bought since leaving home had been from op shops, and because she didn't earn much money she hadn't gotten new clothes for ages, only the necessities.

She looked inside the wardrobe again and put her old clothes away.  Emily would be sooo proud of her!  She pulled out a pair of Emily's black hipster pants and a shiny, midnight blue halterneck top, she grabbed her underwear and towel and went into the bathroom.

As she stood under the hot spray, she couldn't help thinking about what she had learned the previous weekend.  She almost couldn't believe what Anne had told her.  She'd thought about little else all week.

Harry.  Her Harry, had been looking for her for three years.  "What did I do to deserve him?" she asked herself.  She knew the answer – they were simply meant to be together, they always had been.  There was no one else for her but Harry, and she knew he felt the same way about her.  She started to wonder about her family again.  What were they all doing now that the war against Voldemort was over?

She thought about Ron and Hermione.  Were they married?  Did they have kids?  What about the rest of the family?  What about Penelope and Percy, did they have kids yet?  Her Mum and Dad… Bill, Charlie, what did they all think of what she had done?  She had always wondered what had happened after she fled The Burrow, but she had been too scared to have any contact with the magical community at all, after what she had done.  She had been too ashamed, and no amount of logic seemed to help.

She couldn't help but laugh though… she was always so careful when making friends, and normally kept people at a distance, but there had always been something about Emily that made her forget her self imposed rule… she'd always wondered what was at the root of her decision to finally let in Emily, and of course, the discovery that she and her mum were witches… it explained why she felt such a strong bond of kinship with Emily.  It was obviously her magic that drew Ginny to Emily and Emily to Ginny.

As she started shampooing and conditioning her long hair, she still had to pinch herself when thinking about the weekend she'd just had.  Firstly, the shock of discovering that Emily and Anne were witches, and that Anne knew Harry's Mum and Dad.  That connection alone was quite amazing.  I mean of all the witches to finally meet, and she meets the one that knew Harry's parents.  It was a one in a billion chance of ever happening and yet it had.  Ginny wondered, fleetingly, if fate wasn't playing a hand in her life.

Then the shock, even to herself, of finally telling someone her biggest secret, the whole horror of what had happened the night she killed Neville Longbottom.  She was still terribly saddened by it, but Ginny felt that speaking about it out aloud had finally allowed some of the guilt that had been plaguing her since that night, to dissipate.

She thought back to the weekend at Anne's place.  They had spent it doing normal Muggle things.  Anne and Emily took Ginny to some of the big shopping centre's and to Anne's local hairdresser and after much serious girly consultation, decided to change the colour of Ginny's hair.  She now had auburn, caramel and blonde streaks here and there, and the effect, when finally blow dried, was quite stunning.

Also, after much discussion, all three decided that Ginny would keep her muggle name, Grace, and only refer to her as Ginny in private, to avoid awkward questions, and also to protect their secret.

The highlight of the weekend for Ginny, though, had been to venture into Wizarding Melbourne, known to the wizarding community as Tin Pan Alley.  She hadn't ventured into any part of the wizarding world in three years, for fear of being discovered.  But with her new hair colour and muggle baseball cap, no one recognised her as they wandered through the world that they knew the best.  It had been really hard to leave it; to return home Sunday afternoon.  She still remembered the conversation that they'd had before she and Emily to return to Uni.

"Don't forget Ginny.  It wasn't your fault.  It never was and it will never be!  Nothing can change what happened, but you didn't kill Neville, Voldemort did!  Always remember that.  If you ever need to talk, or need anything, remember I'm here for you, we both are. Okay?" said Anne.

"Thank you," said Ginny tremulously, a little overwhelmed at Anne's kindness and generosity.  "Thank you for everything.  It's been wonderful being back in a wizarding household again.  I don't think I really realised what I was giving up three years ago, but thank you for easing me back into it the way you have.  I really appreciate it," said Ginny.

"Don't worry mum, I'll keep an eye out for her.  Can I take Sandy home with me?" asked Emily looking quite excited.  Ginny raised her eyebrows bemusedly.  "She's my pet owl, but I couldn't keep her at the dorm because you didn't know that I was a witch, and there just isn't another explanation for a muggle to have an owl in their room now is there?" she explained matter-of-factly.  Ginny just laughed.

"Well, I guess if nothing else, that will save you money won't it?" replied Anne.  "Sure take Sandy with you.  She definitely misses you when you're away at Uni.  She'll be glad to have your company again I should think."

"Thanks Mum,"

"I'll just get our bags," said Ginny.

When she had gone upstairs, Anne turned to Emily adding, "Mind you, there's no excuse now for not keeping in touch with me regularly," she said teasingly.  "Keep me up to date on things, okay," she said quietly.  "Especially in regard to Ginny."

"I will, you know the only reason I didn't write regularly was because I didn't have access to an owl!" said Emily indignantly, but smiling just the same.  She realised that her Mum was only teasing, but she loved rising to it.  They had been doing it for years, and they both knew there was nothing mean behind it.

Ginny came down the stairs with their bags, pausing just before reaching the bottom, looking pensive.  She'd overhead the last bit of their conversation and realised how much she missed the playful banter with her mum.  She felt another pang of guilt in her heart, staring down at her shoes, not moving.

Anne saw her out of the corner of her eye, not missing the brief, painfully sad looked that flittered across Ginny's face.

"All ready Ginny?" asked Anne.

"Yep, ready to go," replied Ginny, quickly changing her expression, continuing down the last few steps into the kitchen, hoping no one had noticed.  "We'd better get going or we'll miss the bus Emily."

"The bus?  Why don't you just Apparate back home?" enquired Anne, a confused look appearing on her face.

"I know we could do that, but I'm just not ready to go back to it, boots and all.  You know?" said Ginny, hoping that was enough of an explanation.

"Take your time Ginny," Anne said understandingly.

Ginny shook herself out of her reverie, checked her watch and gasped.  She turned off the shower taps, got out, towelled herself dry and started get ready for the gig that night.

As she did her makeup, like Emily had done for her the week before, she allowed herself the luxury of thinking about Harry.

Harry.  She sighed.

Just thinking of him made her heart beat faster, and her legs feel a little unstable.  She hadn't lied to Anne.  She loved him more than anyone in the whole world.  She could barely imagine a life without him.  Leaving him without explanation had been the hardest thing she'd ever done.  It had been excruciating not seeing him practically every day.

And knowing that he had been searching for her all this time.  What did it mean?  She didn't want to get her hopes up – it could just be Harry doing the noble thing, what was expected of him.  Could it mean that he loved her as much as she loved him?  She loved and wanted him so much.  But would he forgive her?  How could he ever forgive her for killing his friend?

Harry had always kept his emotions to himself, it was just part of his nature to be guarded.  But with Ginny it was different.  They'd started dating in Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts.  They took it very slowly.  Just hanging out together, holding hands, talking, spending time with Hermione and Ron.  The four of them became an inseparable group by the end of the year.

It had been an unusual courtship in many ways, for her and Hermione.  Voldemort had returned at the end of Harry's fourth year, and although being at Hogwarts was about as safe as you could get, the war was distracting.  Harry was never allowed anywhere without plenty of protection.  That year they'd learnt spells that were strictly for defence and protection, and advanced for fourth and fifth year students at Hogwarts.  They were practically studying NEWT level Defence stuff.

Even going to Hogsmeade hadn't been an easy thing.  For Harry it had just been difficult; trying to live a normal teenage life knowing that one half of the wizarding world was keeping an eye on you, whilst the other half was trying to kill you.  It made it difficult to get any time alone with each other.  She smiled to herself… actually the Invisibility Cloak had come in handy in that respect!  Except when Professor Moody was around.  That magical eye of his could see through them, but he'd always respected their right to privacy, as long as he could warn them to have "constant vigilance!".

Harry had really opened up to Ginny.  Apart from Ron and Hermione, she was the only other person in the world that he'd been that free with, from what Ginny could tell.  Deep down inside she knew she was right about that.  She'd never pitied Harry, just loved him.  Always.  Unquestioningly.  Unwaveringly.

Tears welled up as she applied her mascara.  'Get a grip Ginny' she thought to herself.  She needed to sing, she thought to herself suddenly.  Whenever she felt like she was losing control, she sang.  And she always felt better afterwards.

And there was a particular song that she had in mind.  The band would be surprised by the new addition to the set.  It was only a small change, just one song.  She needed to express what she was feeling, creatively at least, and only one song could sum up how she felt about Harry.

She'd been writing it for a couple of years now, but she had added the finishing touches last weekend at Anne's place.  It seemed that now she had told the whole story to someone, it had allowed her to finally finish the song, like speaking the truth out loud had unblocked her in some way.

She'd always found it easier to write music than words.  She knew she'd been closed off somewhat when it came to expressing herself verbally, so, comparatively, the music had come easily.  But she felt like she'd poured all her emotions into this one song.  She didn't sing it very often; firstly because it meant so much to her and secondly, she hadn't been ready to let people hear this song – she'd written it about Harry, and she'd never sung it for anyone but herself.  The regular crowd at the pub had never heard it and her band certainly hadn't.  Not a soul.

But Ginny just felt that tonight was the night she would sing it for the first time in public.  For herself.  And for Harry.  Wherever he was.

~*~

Ginny was just finishing putting her makeup on when Emily Apparated into the bedroom, giving Ginny a fright.

"Oh gosh, don't do that Emily!" exclaimed Ginny in shock.

"Sorry Ginny," apologised Emily, "I didn't know which room you'd be in, and it's so great to be able to Apparate in and out again; I guess you're just not quite used to magic again, huh?"

"No.  Sorry Emily, it's going to take some time to get used to it all again," explained Ginny.  "I've lived completely without magic for almost three whole years!  I've worked my way from England to America, from LA to New York to Australia, all the muggle way, not using even the tiniest bit of magic."

"Okay, so we'll just take baby steps, but right now we should get out of here and get to the pub, just let me change," said Emily in a rush.

"Yeah, where have you been?"

"There was a particular outfit I wanted to wear and I didn't have it here, so I quickly popped back home to get it," said Emily quickly changing clothes and putting on her latest outfit.  "What do you think?  I made it myself."

"It looks fabulous as usual," said Ginny enviously.  "Have you noticed what I'm wearing though?"

"Yes, and I'm very proud of you, and those black hipsters look great on you by the way.  You'll drive the boys wild," said Emily, her glinting wickedly in Ginny's direction, "especially with your new hair colour.  It just looks absolutely gorgeous!"

"Thanks, but you know that's the last thing on my mind.  I don't have time for any of that, what with school, studies and the band."

"Hmmm, yes, and the fact that you're completely in love with Harry Potter probably has a bit to do with it, too, I would imagine," said Emily tentatively, looking at Ginny carefully.

Ginny didn't reply straight away, just played with her outfit, straightening it in front of the mirror.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it, but I'm your best friend Ginny," pleaded Emily gently.  "Can I ask you a question about Harry?"

"Okay, I'm not sure if I'll answer you, but go ahead," said Ginny looking nervous and unsure of herself.

"Have you thought about what you'll do if he finds you?  I mean you love him, don't you?" said Emily.

"Yes, I do love him, you know I do," began Ginny tentatively, "but I've been gone for three years…."

"And he's been looking for you for three years, doesn't that tell you something?" interrupted Emily.

"….. I didn't leave a note, I've never contacted him or my family in any way.  Do they know what happened?  Harry probably told them.  He saw everything.  How can I ever go back home?" said Ginny desperately, barely pausing for breath.  "How can I ever look him in the face again?  I don't know what I'll do if he finds me.  Part of me misses him so badly; oh Emily if I could just hold him one more time, sometimes I think that would erase all the bad stuff, but I know it's just not that simple," Ginny paused briefly, taking a steadying breath, looking at Emily.

Emily walked towards Ginny slowly.  "I think a man who follows a woman all around the world to find her must love her very much, and probably desperately wants to hold her too.  I have no doubt that Harry feels the same way about you Ginny.  I think you just need to have a little faith…" said Emily hoping she wasn't giving too much away.

Emily was on Ginny's side, but she was on Harry's too.  Like most young girls, she loved romance, and this was the perfect love story in her opinion.  But she respected Harry to want to do this right, now that he'd finally found her, and she also respected Ginny's right to not want to see anyone from her past again.   It was an interesting double-edged sword.

"Well, honey, I think we should hit the road, or else the band will think you've forgotten all about them," said Emily on a lighter note.

"Yeah," said Ginny shaking her head as if to clear it.  She needed to get focused on the evening ahead.  "Let's get going."