The next morning, Harry met Ginny in the kitchen. She was in her robe and slippers, which were pink and clashed horribly with her hair. She was drinking a glass of pumpkin juice.

"'Morning," Harry said to her. He was still in his pajamas—a t-shirt and pajama bottoms. "Where's your mum?" They appeared to be the first two up.

"In the yard hanging clothes to dry-Harry we need to talk."

"Oh, that doesn't sound good…"

"Look, I was talking with Mum yesterday, and-"

And someone cleared their throat from the bottom of the steps.

"Mr. Weasley!" Harry said, jumping away from Ginny, even though he hadn't even been touching her.

"'Morning," he said, with a befuddled expression on his face. He sat down in his normal seat and poured himself some pumpkin juice. He had to push a gift basket out of the way to reach the jug.

Harry hurriedly grabbed the basket and moved it out of the way, hitting the jug. Luckily Ginny saved it with a hover charm before it spilled all over Mr. Weasley.

"Sorry," Harry mumbled, feeling heat radiate up out of his collar.

"Quite alright," Mr. Weasley said, and then took a sip of juice. Mrs. Weasley came in from the yard then with a basket balanced against her hip.

"Morning," Mrs. Weasley announced to the room as she passed through. She flicked her wand at the oven as she passed. On the countertop, a bowl of batter, which Harry hadn't noticed until now, started pouring dollops of itself into the pan on the stove.

Mrs. Weasley was making pancakes while she wasn't even in the room.

Harry and Ginny set about clearing this morning's gifts from the table in order to make spots for themselves. Soon after, Ron and George came downstairs. The pancakes flipped themselves.

"Morning," Ron mumbled, yawning. George said nothing as they both sat in their usual seats. It was relatively quiet until Mrs. Weasley bustled into the room and started serving everyone breakfast.

"So, my youngest son is moving out today," Mrs. Weasley said, breaking the silence as they started eating. Harry's stomach was churning. What was Ginny going to say before Mr. Weasley came down? He was tempted to just outright ask her here at the table…

"I'm going to head back to my apartment, too, Mum," George said without looking up from his plate.

"What? Today? Surely not," Mrs. Weasley said.

"I might as well get on with it," George said. Harry glanced over at Mr. Weasley, who glanced back at him and then to George.

"At least wait a day. I'll come with you and help you sort things out."

"Actually," George said, "Angelina said she'd come by and help me sort things out."

Harry wondered if anyone else noticed how Fred wasn't mentioned once.

"Oh," Mrs. Weasley said, as though mildly surprised, "Well then. Alright. I suppose I'll help Ron and Harry then."

"Harry's only got the one rucksack to his name, Mum. And I haven't exactly got loads of stuff either," Ron said, but then when he looked up at his mother he quickly added, "But you know, if you wanted to help us… you know I'm sure there's lots of cleaning to be done."

"No, no, I understand. You all have to flee the nest," she said. Harry was starting to feel bad about leaving, but really it had sort of been her fault. He honestly wasn't looking forward to living at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, but he didn't really have another choice at the moment that was much better.

"By the way, Mum," Ron said, glancing at her, "You don't happen to have the key to Harry's vault do you?"

"No, of course not. Harry, you don't have it?"

"No," Harry said.

"Well, that's peculiar," Mr. Weasley said.

"Yes, isn't it? You should have been given it on your seventeen birthday…"

"We were all a bit preoccupied that day, in case you don't remember," George said, wiggling his remaining ear.

"Oh, Hagrid must still have it then," Mr. Weasley said.

"I'll go visit him then at some point," Harry said, shrugging.

"Well, with the reconstruction after the battle still going on, I'm not sure they'll let you on the grounds," Mrs. Weasley said, looking to Arthur.

"Oh, yes, they didn't want any students helping."

"We're not students anymore," Ron interjected.

"But I added you onto the list of students coming back and haven't taken you off yet," Mrs. Weasley said, and then waved a hand as though trying to shoo a fly away, "I'll drop by Hogwarts today. I've been meaning to go by this week to see if I can help with fixing the dark magic destruction. I'll get your key off of Hagrid and then tell Minerva that you won't be coming back. I have to say, she'll probably be a bit disappointed."

"She'll get over it," Ron said with his mouth full of pancake.


After breakfast, Ron went up to finish packing up his things. Ginny, meanwhile, silently led Harry to her bedroom.

When she turned to face him, after he shut the door behind himself, he had a sickening feeling in his stomach. Like he was waiting for her to tell him that someone else was dead.

"What?" he asked finally, after it was quiet for a moment.

"Harry," Ginny said, swallowing hard, "Look, the last few days have been great, but I'm going to be going back to Hogwarts soon…"

"I know."

"And you're going to be busy in your new job as a novice Auror, with training and everything. It's supposed to be quite intense."

"Yeah." She dropped herself onto the edge of her bed and Harry sat down beside her.

"Things have been just moving too fast," she said, shaking her head as she finally looked up at Harry.

"Hold on," Harry said, finding it difficult to keep looking at her, "Are you finished with me?"

"Well," Ginny said, looking down at her lap, "I was talking to Mum… and…"

"And she told you to break things off with me?"

"No, but she helped me realize some things… I'm just not ready for this. It's too much."

"So you're finished with me," Harry clarified.

"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry."

"You're joking right?" He stared at her and she stared back until she looked away, out the window. That was answer enough.

"Were you just messing me about? Is that what this was?" Harry asked, feeling his temper rising. "Were you mad at me or something? Revenge for breaking up with you before?"

"No, of course not."

"Well, then it was just convenience then? I happened to be here so you took advantage of an easy shag…" Harry could hear himself and couldn't believe what he was saying. He knew he should hold his tongue but he just couldn't. He never would have imagined in a million years that Ginny would break up with him. She'd had a crush on him forever. The first time he ever saw her sprang into his mind.

"I'm so sorry Harry," she said. The tears in her eyes annoyed him. If she was so upset, then why break things off? "I just need to figure some stuff out. Things are just moving too fast."

"Got it," he said, "But I hope you realize that you are the one that made it that way." He forced himself to speak more quietly, "I didn't force you to sleep with me in the shed the other day. That was all you."

"I know, I know," she said, shaking her head again, "It was stupid of me. I'm sorry."

"God, Ginny," he said, running a hand through his messy hair, "What great timing. The same day that I'm leaving you break up with me. You have to realize what this looks like, don't you?"

"I know," she said again, and looked pointedly out the window again. Harry wanted to shake her but instead he simply left the room. He thought if he stayed in that room any longer, he wouldn't be able to keep his hand from the wand in his pocket.

He ran up the steps to Ron, who was still packing.

"Aren't you done yet?" Harry asked, the anger obvious in his voice.

"Just about," Ron said, looking up at him with a furrowed brow. "What's wrong?"

"Your sister," Harry said, gritting his teeth. He wanted to say that she was a slag, but he couldn't say such a thing to Ron, even if it seemed to be true.

"Did she hex you?" Ron asked in a sympathetic tone, his eyebrows relaxing again, "She's probably just torn up about you leaving."

"No. She's finished with me."

"What?"

"You heard me. Your sister is finished with me."

"And here I was always worried that you would be the one messing her about…," Ron said, looking around the room with wide eyes as though he'd just had an epiphany. "Here she was the one messing you about. How odd."

"Thanks," Harry said shortly. He picked up his rucksack and was sorely tempted to Apparate away from this very spot. "So are you ready?"

"Yeah," Ron said, glancing around once more, "I think so… I can't believe it. Are you sure you heard her right?"

"I heard her perfectly clear. You only have the one box?" Harry asked, momentarily distracted. But then he realized it just as Ron explained.

"Magically expanded. Like Hermione's purse."

"Right. Let's go then."


The two Apparated to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. Ron had Apparated to the front step, seemingly out of an old habit. Harry had Apparated to the front curb.

"Have you been here since that day?" Ron asked him once Harry had come up the steps to meet him.

"No." When he opened the door, which wasn't locked, he realized he should not have been surprised to find the house ransacked.

"I didn't kill you," Harry said quietly before the dust-ghost could pick up much momentum.

"Maybe we should keep that, it brings back memories," Ron said. Kingsley Shacklebolt had told Harry a spell that might work to remove the fake ghost and Harry was wracking his brain trying to remember it.

"Sevoco," Harry said and moved his wand the way Shacklebolt had shown him. There was a loud popping noise and a puff of smoke where the ghost usually originated.

"Come on," Harry said. They went back outside, leaving Harry's Rucksack and Ron's magically-enlarged cardboard box. When they came back in, Harry was rather pleased with himself. The fake ghost of Dumbledore was gone.

"Well done, mate," Ron said, clapping Harry's shoulder.

"Thanks."

"You know who we really need right now," Ron said as the two of them looked around the jumbled mess of torn papers and crushed china that was all over the place.

"Hermione," Harry said. Ron nodded in agreement as he pointed his wand at the nearest broken piece of china and muttered "Reparo." The china flew back together to reveal itself as an expensive-looking ashtray.

"Where is Pigwidgeon by the way?" Harry asked.

"Oh, Pig will be along. He was with my family last year and they didn't really have another owl since Errol died of old age. Anyway, he'd really been Percy's."

"Oh, sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, so I'm lending them Pig for a few days but then they said that I'd have him as soon as they got a replacement."

"Let them keep him, I'm going to get a new owl." Harry started Wingardium Leviosa-ing any bit of garbage he saw in his path. Soon there was a small swarm of garbage trailing behind him. Ron, of course, didn't think this was strange.

"We should have a party," Ron said.

"Why?" He didn't see much point. Who would they even invite?

"As a house warming… and your eighteenth birthday is coming up. And because you never properly celebrated the fact that you sort of achieved your life's goal."

Harry stopped dead at this.

"I did, didn't I?" Harry said. He'd honestly never thought of it that way. "Bit young for such a thing, don't you think?"

"A house party?" Ron asked, but then he said, after looking at Harry, "Oh, you mean the life goal part. Well, there's still the normal things people do… you know, get married, have kids, all that."

"Right," Harry said. Well that wasn't even in the cards anymore. He doubted he'd ever find a girl who would see him as just Harry and not something else. Probably Ginny had only seen him as a conquest. How could he have deluded himself into thinking he'd meant more to her?

He'd only ever dated Cho Chang before her and he'd been her rebound…

A knock came at the door that was so soft that if they had been speaking, they probably would have missed it. As it was, because of the ankle-deep rubbish over the floor, they hadn't even made it out of the front hallway near the door.

They both were immediately on guard. Harry was the first to relax, oddly.

"It's probably just your mum," Harry said, trying to laugh. He went to the door and opened it, reminding himself that it couldn't possibly be Voldemort or any of his worst followers…

"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed. She pulled him into a hug.

"Harry, I'm so sorry," she said.

"Wha—" was all Harry said.

"Is Ron-," she asked but then she quickly released Harry and ran into Ron's arms.

"Hi," Ron said, hugging her back. She kissed his cheek before releasing him.

"How'd you know we were here?" Harry asked.

"Well," she said, glancing over the rubbish on the floor and the stuff still floating behind Harry. "Er, well, I went by the Burrow just now and Ginny said you'd moved out. I was a bit put out that this is the first I'm hearing of this."

"Well, maybe if you didn't live under a rock with your parents then maybe you would have known," Ron said. Harry met his eyes and slightly shook his head. Ron made a 'well it's her fault' face. Hermione didn't seem to notice.

"Ron," Hermione said, "I'm sorry… I have just been feeling so guilty about my parents… and well, yesterday, they decided that they're going to move back to Australia. They know I can Apparate to see them if I need to… so they told me," she said, and she started wordlessly reparo-ing things near her feet. Harry was impressed by her wordless magic and was mildly distracted by it. "That they love me, but they can't go back to their old lives. And they're sorry."

Ron pulled her into his arms and hugged her. She hugged him back and quickly let go.

"So," she said, wiping her eyes, "What a crap day, huh Harry?"

"Yeah."

"Did you two only just get here?"

"Yes," Harry answered again.

"Right." She started doing spells of protection first, and did a locking spell on the front door. Then, she incinerated and banished the rubbish that had been floating behind Harry. The three then set to work with reparo and scourgify spells.

Later, after Ron complained most thoroughly that he was absolutely starving, and Harry mentioned that he was also hungry, the three of them started to walk to a little deli shop a few roads down. It was a hot day.

"I was saying to Harry before you came that we ought to have a party," Ron said to Hermione.

"Oh? What does Harry think of this?" Hermione was holding Ron's hand. Harry couldn't stop glancing at their interlocking fingers.

"Sure. I'm up for it," Harry shrugged. Maybe it'd make him feel a little better about Ginny breaking up with him.

"Ginny told me what happened, Harry," Hermione said cautiously, dropping Ron's hand and crossing her arms over her chest despite the heat.

"Yeah?" Harry really didn't want to talk about it. He was still utterly confused.

"She'll come 'round," Ron said encouragingly.

"I don't think so," Harry said. They'd made it to the shop and ordered food. Hermione paid as she was the only one with muggle money. Harry promised he'd pay her back but she waved him off.

"I went to Diagon Alley the other day to shop for school," Hermione said conversationally once they started eating at a little booth by the window. "And I saw Neville."

"Oh yeah?" Ron asked with a mouthful of sandwich.

"Yeah he's going to be the new herbology professor," Hermione said, "Professor Sprout is retiring. He said there's going to be a bunch of new professors. Oliver Wood is taking over for Madame Hooch. But he said Flitwick and Slughorn are both going to be back. McGonagall is headmistress now but they still haven't found a replacement professor for her. Or for Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"We ought to invite Oliver and Cassandra to the party," Ron said.

"Really?" Harry imagined himself as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for a minute, but even imagining it made him feel too much like a has-been. He wanted to be able to fight if was ever a fight to be fought. Not teach everyone else… though in fifth year, he did enjoy seeing everyone's progress in the D.A.

"When is this party going to be, anyway? There isn't even any food in the house," Harry pointed out.

"We don't need food for the party," Ron said, "I've sort of been taking all the firewhiskey and butterbeer that you'd been getting over the last couple of weeks."

"Well, I suppose that'll cut down on a bit of expense," Hermione said, raising her eyebrows. Harry only shrugged.