Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, any characters or places named in these stories. They belong to JK Rowling.
He'd tried to find her? She had no idea. She thought that he didn't want to, that once he'd found a family of his own he wouldn't have wanted to find them again.
She hadn't known this was where Hermione had come, but the silence in the kitchen; broken only by Percy's lecture, had made her realise how selfish leaving Harry like that had been.
She toyed with the idea of revealing that she was listening, but wanted to hear how much else Harry would reveal to Hermione. It was easier to listen when Harry was not talking to her, because she didn't have to formulate an answer for him.
"After Louise died people kept telling me I needed to find someone else. I didn't want James to grow up without a mum, but that's how it worked out. I went on a few dates with people, friends set me up all over the place, but none of them came close to Louise. I hadn't thought of Ginny for years; every time her name came up I realised what I'd left behind. Then one morning James asked me who Ginny was."
"What?" Hermione was clearly as confused as Ginny was, and she was glad Mione was asking the questions for her.
"Yeah, I nearly choked on my breakfast. Apparently I'd been calling her name in my sleep, but he'd assumed I was on the phone. I told him she was a friend from work; I don't think he's made the connection with the Ginny he knows now, Hugo's aunt."
"You'd been dreaming of G-"
"Don't make it sound so past tense."
"Oh, Harry. I had no idea." Ginny could hear movement as if Hermione had made to hug Harry. "You need to tell Ginny how you feel, she's mad at you because she still loves you after all this time and thinks you don't love her back."
"I do, but I can't-. I don't know ho-. I wante-. Loui-."
"Harry" Hermione interrupted his vague attempts to convey something and nothing. "I know I never met Louise, but I'm guessing she would have wanted you and James to be happy. And that doesn't include forcing yourself to be lonely for the rest of your life just because she's gone. I know Ginny likes you, that's why she's being like this. And that's why she's listening outside the room."
"What?"
Ginny was as shocked as Harry. She hadn't made any noise at all, she'd been careful to make sure they couldn't know she was here. Drat Hermione for being so clever, why did that lady have to know everything? Resisting the urge to flee back down the stairs, she stayed where she was, hoping that Hermione was just shooting in the dark and didn't really know she was out here.
Back in Harry's room, Harry was looking at Hermione as if she was mad. Deciding that Ginny was neither going to run or come in, she winked meaningfully at Harry.
"Oops, must have imagined the floorboard squeaking then. How much longer are you planning to stay?"
While talking she made movements with her head and arms trying to tell Harry to look outside the door.
"A few more days I guess. I'll probably leave when the kids go back to school; Molly and Arthur deserve their peace and quiet back after this house invasion."
Having said enough, Harry decided to trust Hermione and moved quietly towards the door. Having almost reached it, he could see the mass of long red hair between the door and the frame. He knew it must be Ginny, it was too tall to be any of the children and too straight to be Molly. He nodded at Hermione, who beamed.
"Are you going to tell Ginny how you feel?"
"I don't know. How do I know that she still feels like she used to? I'm not the person she fell in love with, I've got a muggle life and a kid now."
"I don't think she's going to care Harry. She's been waiting for you for fifteen years now. She knows why you didn't come back, and unless she's more mad than anyone realises, she's going to forgive you, because she's still as in love with you as she was in our seventh year."
"Mione, I-"
Hermione winked at Harry and raised her voice slightly so that Ginny outside the door could not miss a word.
"She knows she walked out on you today. If she feels like I think she does, she'll just want some alone time with you. We'll go to Luna's and she can show you around the garden or something."
Harry heard the stairs creak slightly, and knew that Ginny had got the message. He beamed at Hermione.
"We're lucky you're so clever."
Hermione had the courtesy to blush.
By mid afternoon James was whining about having missed the showing of chicken run because the Weasley's didn't have a television. Harry was reminded of Dudley slightly, and laughed as James then had to explain TV to Arthur.
"And there are people in the box?"
"No, you see them in the box, but it's a picture that comes along the wires from the studio."
At this point Arthur looked at Harry for help, and James took the opportunity do run outside. Harry promised to show Arthur a TV next time he could, agreeing that James was not very good at explaining muggle items.
"Ron, Harry and I were going to visit Luna, would you like to come?"
Ron looked like he wanted to say no, but a piercing glance from Hermione convinced him that was not a good idea.
"I'll get my coat then."
"Coming Ginny?"
Ginny hesitated, but nodded, avoiding Harry's eyes. She suspected that Harry knew she'd been outside him room earlier, but she wasn't about to admit it to him now.
Luna's house looked exactly as Harry remembered it, except the handmade signs now read 'Luna Scamander, The Quibbler', 'Keep off the Dirigible plums' and 'Fish your own Plimpies'. Harry grinned, she obviously hadn't changed.
"What happened to her dad?"
"Oh he's around. Owl's mum a lot. We've never told her exactly why we hate him. We only go over when Luna's back and he's never spoke to us. Wonder why."
Harry grinned, he was not about to forgive Xenophilius for trying to sell them to death eaters during their search for the horcruxes.
Luna came out to greet them. Harry noticed that her butterbeer cork necklace was gone, though she was still wearing her Radish earrings.
"Harry! Wow it's good to see you. I thought I'd read the letter wrong when Molly said you were back."
She ushered them into the lounge and served them with drinks, Harry was very glad to see she had not inherited her fathers taste in refreshments. He much preferred his tea to whatever he had been served last time.
Luna, Harry noticed, was the only person not to pester him with questions about where he had been. Either she had already been told, or she was just accepting that it was really that easy for him to come back. Whatever the reason, Harry preferred it that way.
"Ginny, why don't you show Harry around the lake? He's never been here before."
Ginny tried to look surprised, but she couldn't quite pull it off. Ron and Luna didn't notice anything, but Hermione grinned to herself at the knowledge that she had been right, Ginny had been listening.
"Erm, OK." Was all she managed to stutter.
Luna filled the ensuing silence. "Take some nets with you; Harry won't have been fishing for Plimpies yet."
Harry accepted a net, wondering what on earth Plimpies were, knowing that he had only ever heard them mentioned whilst being in the Lovegood household.
As he and Ginny crossed the garden, he wondered how the lake was not frozen, with the snow everywhere it was absolutely freezing. He voiced this thought to Ginny.
She looked incredulously at him. "There's a warming charm around the lake."
"Oh yeah." Magic; of course. He never thought of that as an answer anymore.
There was a difficult pause, and Harry was trying to think of something to say when Ginny beat him to it. Having decided to come right out and say it, she couldn't think of away to fit it into the conversation, so resolved to just tell him, straight out.
"I'm not really mad at you. I just keep thinking that you're going to go away and leave me behind again."
Harry was shocked, but knew that if she really felt as Hermione thought she did, this conversation could only go one way.
"I'm not going to stay here forever, that's not fair on your parents. But I do have my own house now, and it can feel a bit empty at times."
Ginny couldn't believe it, was he really saying what she thought he was?
Well, you can tell it's the weekend! I'm writing these chapters fast now because I've got a full timetable next week so won't be able to update then. Keep reviewing for me please and I'll update as frequently as I can!