A Long Road Home
(The Difference Between Histories
(candle)
They light a candle every May 2nd in memory. Ginny says it's for Fred, for Colin, for Remus and Tonks and the numerous others who died on their behalf and Harry nods along, but really, it's for them. It's their way of remembering the past as it was, untainted and summery, one perfect day after another.
Shadows fall on their face and they grin, toppling backwards as they fall head over heals for each other again and again. It's bittersweet, this love; Ginny's kisses taste like sorrow and Fred's favourite brand of marmalade (she's only eating it because she doesn't know how to let go).
Harry owes the fallen for so much more than his life. He owes them for Ginny's.
They float in limbo, trapped somewhere between Heaven and Hell. This is not yet modern history, because they cannot move forward, but ancient history was three years and a broken, tumbling wall ago.
This is Harry and Ginny, falling for each other in the absence of their loved ones and fighting their way towards the future (only they don't need no Trojan horses or samurai swords to win.) (they only need each other.)
The last candle fades away.
