Chapter 10: The Many Reasons Why

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Harry Potter. If I did, I wouldn't be on fanfiction.net. That just wouldn't make sense...

I nearly fell out of my seat. "But how did we-"

"Magic," he said with a half smile. He took another sip and glanced around the room nervously. His voice was lighter now, less confident than how I remembered. "How are they?"

"Who?" I asked.

"Ron, and Mione," he said sadly.

"Oh, they're... together."

"Finally!" he said. "But how are they doing, I mean?"

"You could say that they're okay, I guess. Ron's the worse of the two. Little things still set him off, like Quidditch. Sometimes he'll just go down to Hagrid's abandoned hut and stay there for a while. We all let him," I told Harry, who nodded. "Hermione's just trying to hold the group together."

"And you, are you okay?"

I stared at the ground. "No."

"Why?"

"I saw you."

"What do you mean?"

"I saw you in Diagon Alley, watching us," I said.

"So you knew?"

"Yes, and no. I didn't know if you were still alive or not."

"Gin, I'm so sorry..."

"Don't be, Harry. You're back now." He began to squirm uncomfortably.

"I may not be," he said.

"Yes you are. You're alive, you can come back to us, everything will be right again," I reasoned.

"Ginny, they did kill me."

"That's impossible-"

"They still are. things aren't as simple as they would have been. Everyone wants me dead. Voldemort, Fudge, they're all after me."

I stared at him, confused.

"Let me explain. It started with the Ministry. Everyone under Fudge was dying to get me out of the picture."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because Voldemort is after me, and they thought that if they got rid of me, they'd get rid of Voldemort. So they tried to have me killed over the summer."

"But Fudge would never do something like that-"

"Fudge has been mental ever since Pria died."

"Who?"

"Pria was his daughter. Voldemort murdered her one month after summer holiday started," he told me.

"Oh."

"They sent a band after me. Three correspondents: Camina Small, Rydell Scotts, and Fudge himself. All of the Ministry hadn't agreed to it, but they were magicked by Fudge. They came to the Dursely's. I was in my room. I had no idea, no idea at all as to what they were up to..." he trailed off, his face flickering with remorse. I felt myself go soft for him. "Fudge wouldn't go through with it, so he sent Camina and Rydell in. They told me what was going on, and what they were supposed to do. But they had a better idea, apparently. They didn't want to kill me, they just wanted Voldemort to stop all the killings, so they decided that if everyone thought I was dead, he would stop.

"They faked my death, told Fudge that I was dead and disposed of my body. I ran away from my home with nothing, sending Hedwig loose before I escaped. They took all of my things, lied to all of the people I loved, and brushed it over like it was nothing. They thought that they had done the right thing. I saw what people thought about my death, most of them were glad that the I was killed so that Voldemort was over. They truly believed that with me gone, things would be back to normal." He laughed to himself.

"But Voldemort sure does know how to handle things right. He knew that I wasn't dead, and I found out when I discovered that Camina had been killed not a week later. So he stopped the killings. He focused on gaining power, repairing what arms he needs. People are beginning to believe that he's gone for good now. Soon all the precautions taken will be lifted, and it will be easier than ever for him to take over. Fudge is gone, we have no leader.

"I've been keeping in touch with Dumbledore, Sirius, and Rydell. They are the only ones who know that I'm still alive, besides you." He nodded in my direction.

"Harry," I said slowly. "If you didn't want me to know, you could just put a memory charm on me. I would never know."

"Do you really want that?"

"No, I want to help you."

"Then stop singing at that club."

"Why?" I asked.

"The manager is in alignment with Voldemort. He wants you dead. He wants me to come back out, so the public will blame me again and he can go back to killing. I don't want him getting to you. Malfoy had no idea what he was doing."

I sucked in a sharp breath.

"Promise me you won't go back."

I nodded slowly, closing my eyes. "I wish that I-"

"I know. It isn't fair. Living four months without human contact isn't fair either."

"I'm so sorry Harry."

He ran a hand through his hair. "It was nice to see you. On the stage and all."

I raised my eyebrows. "Was that always you there?"

He winked at me.

"You never clapped," I complained jokingly.

"What did you expect?" The look one my face caused him to laugh.

"Its good to see you smile," I said after his laughter died. "Its good just to see you again. Things were so wrong without you, I'll never be the same."

"Don't say stuff like that, Gin. One friend couldn't have brought you down that much."

"But you did."

"Then I'm sorry I hurt you," he said, avoiding my eyes.

"You will always hurt me," I said quietly. "And you always will, because I'll never have you. I'll never have us," I admitted even quieter. "But you're strong, Harry, I know you are. Think of all the countless times you've saved Hogwarts, or me for that matter! You can do this."

"I'm losing it. You have no idea..." he trailed off. Suddenly I found him staring at me peculiarly.

"No I don't," I said back.

He snapped out of his trance.

"Harry?"

"Hm?"

"How do I know that its really you?"

A/n: haha! Explanation enough for you? Review!