Harry laid his head on the kitchen table with a sigh.

Ginny glanced at him over the top of her cookbook. "Alright there, Harry?"

Harry just groaned in response.

Ginny sighed and went back to her recipes. "Tough day at the department?"

Without lifting his head, Harry muttered, "Sixteen bloody days trailing Greyback's gang, and they keep slipping away. Dilmore's just about hexing us every time something goes wrong. This whole mission is completely botched, but they won't let us drop it. They're making us work extra hours to resolve the whole thing, on top of a 'specially designed training program' because of our less-than-stellar work these past weeks." Harry finally lifted his head and eyed Ginny wearily. "They're sending us on a two-week mission—maybe longer—in six days."

Ginny grimaced. "Two weeks? Why now?"

"To hell if I know," Harry grumbled.

Ginny gazed at him sympathetically. "You really do have the worst luck, don't you?"

"What did I do to deserve it?" Harry moaned, face on the wood once more.

Ginny went back to reading the recipes. There was going to be a big birthday celebration at the Burrow for Dominique's second birthday, and each family had to make a dish. Ginny was stuck with being in charge of the casserole, and was having a difficult time finding a casserole that didn't look like troll bogeys. "Harry, did you get the vegetables from the store like I asked?"

Harry groaned. "Damn, I forgot."

"Harry, the party's tomorrow! Those big bean things need to soak overnight!" Ginny snapped.

"I'm sorry if my brain's not all there right now!" Harry replied crossly. "I haven't had any sleep in thirty-six hours, and frankly, beans aren't real high on my priority list right now."

"This party is for your niece!"

"This job is for the world's safety!"

Ginny stood up, glaring fiercely. "Fine. Go kill your werewolves and villains. But I just thought, after all these years, you would have come to value family a bit more!"

She stomped out of the room, trying not to feel guilty at Harry's devastated expression.

X.x.X.x.X

Later that night, Ginny Floo-called Hermione.

"Molly told me to make the salad," Hermione told Ginny, wringing her hands in a total Hermione fashion. "But I can't decide: olives or no olives? Dominique hates olives, but almost everyone else likes them. I figured it was Dominique's birthday, but I'm just not sure."

"No olives," Ginny said firmly. "Olives are gross."

"They are not!"

Ginny made a face. "Seriously! They have some sort of vendetta against me!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Fine. No olives."

Ginny sighed. "How's Ron doing?" Ron and Hermione had gotten engaged almost a year ago, but a wedding had yet to happen.

"Dead asleep," Hermione said, glancing back into the house. "He said something about 'bloody Auror training', then collapsed."

"Harry's tired, too," Ginny said. Hesitantly, she added, "I think he's spending too much time with this job."

Hermione laughed dryly. "Ginny, you must be crazy if you think he's going to stop fighting evil in the world. It has impacted his life too much already. First his parents, then Sirius and Dumbledore, and then all the war victims. It has affected him more than the rest of us can even imagine. He doesn't want anyone to go through what he's gone through."

Ginny furrowed her brow. "He shouldn't let it control his life. I mean, family's more important."

"Of course!" Hermione said, her whole-hearted agreement thoroughly confusing Ginny. "But don't you see? That's why he's doing it! Family. He wants us to be protected. He can't lose us like he has the rest of those he loved."

Ginny felt her heart drop like lead as she comprehended the validity of those words. She instantly felt bad for yelling at Harry earlier. "I've—I've got to go," Ginny murmured to Hermione. "See you tomorrow."

X.x.X.x.X

Ginny frowned. She had checked every room of the flat, and then outside, but there was no Harry to be found.

She plopped down at the table and wearily rubbed her face. Harry and Ginny rarely fought, but like Ron had said years ago, when they did fight, absolute chaos ensues.

She didn't know how long she sat there, waiting for Harry to return. All she knew was that hours later, someone shook her awake.

"Gin."

"Mlurrrg."

"Ginny."

"Nuuuh."

"Ginny, wake up!"

Ginny opened her eyes to find herself face-planted on the table. The table had become quite the pillow the past twenty-four hours.

She raised her head slightly to find Harry staring at her. "What time is it?"

"Half past eleven."

Ginny yawned. "When did you get home?"

"Just now. Here, I got you your beans." Harry dumped a plastic Muggle grocery bag onto the table. A peek inside showed the beans that completed her recipe.

"Oh, Harry! This is great!" Ginny snatched them up and held them possessively to her chest. She tried not to cringe with guilt under Harry's silent gaze as she dumped the beans in a pot. He made no move to strike up a conversation, but seemed plenty content with watching her jerky movements without a smile. The silence was slowly suffocating her.

After about five minutes of awkward silence, broken only by the clangs of pans hitting each other, Ginny decided to speak. "Harry…I'm—sorry."

"I just love those words," Harry said with a half-attempt at a cheeky grin. "Merlin knows I don't hear them often."

"Stop making this so hard!" Ginny snapped, jabbing her wand at the stove. She found it easier to talk to him when she was angry. She didn't have to think about what she was going to say. "I had a little talk with Hermione."

Harry sat down. "Oh," he said, like that was all the explanation needed.

"And I understand your motives a bit better now. I shouldn't have said those things."

"Okay."

Ginny blinked and turned to face him. " 'Okay'? Is that all you're going to say?"

Harry glanced up at her with a confused expression. "Er…yeah. What else do you want me to say?"

Ginny shook her head to clear the images of a rampaging Harry from her mind. "I don't know. So, just to clarify, all is forgiven?"

"Not all forgiven, per se—"

"No, I'm not forgiving you, Potter," Ginny said, turning back to her beans to hide the traitorous smile that was creeping on her face.

But from the corner of her eye, she watched him lean back on two legs of the chair, hands behind his head and smile on his face, everything back to the way it was.

A/N: Ah, much better. Anyway, you guys really kept my spirits up. I have a flair for over-dramatics. I'm foreseeing about five more chapters, give or take a few. So…review. Tell me how I did. Come on…you know you want to…

Disclaimer: Just a mere thirteen year old girl here, totally innocent…not stealing JKR's characters at all here…