Ta-da! An early post! I was inspired by all the beautiful reviews (although all apologies to Jason for not posting this as AU) and by the fact that it's the weekend! Which means I didn't have to go to work today and I don't have to go to class tonight! Just as a heads up, for those of you who plan on succeeding in college, it's actual work. I know, terrible.

And a big huge thanks for all the reviews! But don't worry, the story still has a ways to go. It ended up being 17 chapters and I rather like the ending. When I thought of this story, it was the first part I planned out in my head, so it's been building up for me for a very long time. You're not the only one who had to deal with the anticipation

Why didn't Mum just send me to deal with baboons? Baboons are at least amusing. Ginny's mind grumbled as she stood on the doorstep of Ron and Hermione's small house, listening to the two of them arguing on the other side of the door.

"I don't want her in here! It's bad enough she's ruining my parent's home!" Ron was yelling.

"It means a lot to your mum to piece this family back together!" Hermione yelled back. The door opened just a crack before slamming shut again. For the third time since Ginny had knocked.

Ginny just rolled her eyes, helping herself to a cookie, this would undoubtedly take awhile. She heard something, sounded like a plate, smash to the ground and then Hermione yell something inaudible, and then a spell fixing the plate. Ginny was almost sure she heard the word "every time," so the two had never really gotten over their habit of fighting.

"Look, I really need to use the toilet, so can you two pretend I'm not in your bathroom instead of not on your doorstep?" Ginny yelled at the peep hole of the door.

"And if we don't?" Ron called cautiously from the other side of the door.

"Then I'll pee in your bushes." A great deal of muffled arguing followed that in a very small amount of time, and then the door opened.

"I am not sacrificing my geraniums just because you won't try to make amends!" Hermione hissed as the door slid open.

Once done with the facilities, Ginny found her brother and sister in law glaring at each other across the kitchen table, milk and three glasses set out. Ron had a milk mustache that he was apparently unaware with and Hermione was glaring so hard it was quite possible that she didn't even see it.

"So…nice loo." Ginny said, breaking the very tense silence.

"Thanks. Get out." Ron stated back, never taking his eyes off his wife.

"Don't you dare! I refuse let this family fall apart over your little episode, Ginny! I have worked very hard to make conversation and pleasantries and pretend everything is okay, and I will not have my work and research thrown away because RONALD CAN'T GET OVER HIS TEMPER TANTRUM LONG ENOUGH FOR COOKIES." Hermione seethed.

"I haven't said no to any cookies!"

"You researched this? Like reading books about it?" Ginny asked.

"I--yes."

"You mean to tell me there are books about what to do when your best friends sort of girlfriend who's also your husband's little sister runs off without contacting anyone for seven years?"

"Not exactly…I read several books."

Ginny just snorted in response.

"What?" Hermione demanded, her temper now flaring up like Ron's.

"Was it in Hogwarts, a History or something? Gods, Hermione you never could play anything by ear."

"And what is that supposed to mean?!"

"Oh, sorry, sorry. You're not going to try and pretend to be fine and then secretly cry, are you? You always did back in school."

"That is true, Hermione." Ron admitted, his looks softening slightly.

"It is not!"

"Is to."

"You're agreeing with her, Ron?!"

"You're just bitter because when you tried to make amends on Friday she wasn't nice and willing to play fair! Because she's an inconsiderate prat!" Ron spat those last words at Ginny, who merely shrugged.

A very long silence followed as Hermione pretended not to be upset, Ron tried to figure out if he could get away with getting another cookie and Ginny wondered if it'd be rude to leave the plate or if her mother wanted it back that night.

Finally, Ron decided to say something: "Ginny, you should apologize."

"Okay, I'm sorry."

"No! I mean you should mean it, I want you to sincerely apologize to Hermione and me. For everything. And I mean sincere!"

"Fair enough. I'm sorry you two and Harry didn't feel the need to defend me over the nose ring and started the whole chain of events that led to me leaving for so long."

"That's not an apology!"

"Is too, said sorry."

"That is not the criteria for an apology."

"Yeah!"

"Well, obviously you two are not about to forgive me, even if you claim you are, Hermione. I know you were put up to talking to me the other night. And you think it's totally selfish that I ran away, and it is, and you think I'm an absolutely horrible person, and I am, and you probably don't want me to smoke in your kitchen even though it would make me feel tons better, so I won't. But I won't apologize for leaving." Ginny said as the two shifted their eyes onto her and her alone.

"So you admit that it was selfish to leave." Ron said, slightly smug.

"Yep."

"But you won't apologize?" Hermione asked, her brow furrowed.

"Nope."

"Why not?" They asked at the same time.

"Because."

"That's not enough reason, Ginny."

"Because the alternative was horrible."

"The alternative to what?" Ron asked, thoroughly confused at this point.

"The alternative to leaving: staying. The thought of just taking the nose stud out and pretending to be okay with it, and not dealing with the fact that you three made no attempt to stand up for me and no one worried about what I wanted and constantly pretending everything's okay when it wasn't and not being able to get away in any sense and never knowing if I could make it on my own, and then the thought of coming back reached the point of being unbearable. Crawling back, completely ashamed, doomed to never hear the end of my failed attempt at freedom, always wondering what would happen if I went just one more place, constantly having the horrid feeling that I'd settled whispering from the back of my mind where I would store it until one day I completely blew up and yelled so much that my heart would give out and I would die by forty. And let's not forget I was only eighteen , and even though that was the oldest I'd ever been at the time, I must say, it's quite young."

"You just monologue'd." Ron gaped, not finding what she said to be logical at all, while Hermione shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

"Say it." Ginny prompted to Hermione, grabbing a cookie.

"Say what?" Ron asked dumbly.

"Say it."

"Well…that does almost make sense…"

"No!"

"Hear me out, Ronald. I mean, it all remains quite stupid and selfish, but being able to tolerate the feeling of abandonment while trying to prove to yourself that you're an adult and then leaving and becoming trapped by those feelings and unsure of what to do exactly, but being convinced coming back isn't the answer until you absolutely have to…well, it is very human."

"You're on her side?!"

"No! I'm just saying, that, well, though it was taken to an extreme, it's not exactly inconceivable…"

"I knew you were thinking something like that!" Ginny cheered.

"I can't believe you were thinking something like that!" Ron countered. "After all my family's been through, all because of her, you're on her side!"

"I'm not on her side, I'm just saying that human emotions are often irrational, and the fact that she felt unable to return to the family for fear of the repercussions, well, it's not that far fetched…"

"If you two are just going to insist on talking about me like here, I'm just going to duck out for a quick smoke, be right back…probably." Ginny said, escaping the skirmish.

"It is too far fetched! It's beyond far fetched, it's…not even fetched!"

Ginny slipped out the back door to a small, well kept lawn with one small tree and very well trimmed grass. She sighed as she stood on the small cement slab of a porch. It would be a good long while before the two of them would be in any condition to speak to others, so she went ahead and lit up, glad to finally have a break long enough to actually smoke.

This certainly was a fine mess. Although, not terribly surprising. She knew what was going on now, Ron and Hermione were probably going to need to go to St. Mungo's before long. She took another long drag, much as she hated to admit it, she really did need to quit. It would make running easier…

"Okay, Ginny, come back in, we're ready to talk." Ron was the one speaking, but both of he and Hermione were standing in the doorway, arms wrapped around each other, two sets of googley eyes in action. Ginny took a moment just to gape.

"You're done fighting? Really?"

"Yep."

"How?"

"We just are. How could I fight with him for so long? He's just so sincere…"

"And she thinks everything through so much…"

"All right, that's not fair, give me some of the alcohol you two have obviously chugged."

Ron scowled and Hermione chortled something about being responsible. Ginny just shook her head, realizing why Ron and Hermione worked as well as they did.

The two had passion. Unbridled, unrelenting, uncanny passion for each other. They fought like wet cats, but that was the trick, the two were willing to fight. It was sweet in a masochistic kinda way.

"So, you forgive me now?" Ginny asked, not expecting much.

"Hardly." Ron snorted.

"Ron and I have decided that we will give you a second chance, seeing as you did come back and seem to want to make amends, but we will not trust you." Hermione declared.

"At all." Ron tacked on.

"And we don't appreciate what you did to Harry!" Hermione added, a bit harsher than before.

"Right, 'cause he's obviously been pining after me, wishing I was still here as he went off and got engaged."

"That's not fair! He was really upset when you left!" Hermione shot back.

"So upset that he's marrying someone else! I just don't think it's fair that you want to use that against me when he's obviously moved on."

"It's plenty fair, he's our friend! And you two were together when you took off!" Ron interjected.

"Hardly! We barely spoke anymore, and he hadn't touched me in who knows how long."

"He touched you?!"

"Still, it's not fair for you to just leave him!" Hermione responded, both females ignoring Ron in his little fit.

"He didn't feel the need to stop me, so I took that as his way of deciding to end it."

"That's not fair, and you know it."

"I do know it, doesn't change that that's the way it ended up. We all know that a single moment can be far more important that any of us realize till the moment's done. That's life. It sucks, I know, but it's all we got."

Hermione crossed her arms, frowning. She recognized this as a fight that she would never be able to win. Thoughtfully she started rubbing the back of her now hyperventilating husband as she watched Ginny. She was so resigned to the situation as hopeless, so sure of everything, it was almost bizarre.

"You never gave up on him before." she pointed out.

"I never felt abandoned by him before."

"But he'd left you."

"To go fight a war! I kinda saw that one coming. Ties into the whole nobility thing, but simply throwing in the towel when I needed him, blindsided me a bit."

"You're being a bit harsh."

"So?"

"So it's not fair!"

"So?"

"Where did he touch you?!"

"Oh, get over it, Ron! I'm 25, I've been touched before and I'll be touched again!"

"Thanks, Ginny. This is just what I need, help me get my husband off the floor."

"Leave him there, trust me, he'll be fine in a few minutes."

"How do you know?"

"I taught a boy who was prone to the same type of tantrums."

"Taught? You're not serious."

"I am!"

"What could you have taught?"

"English. I speak it good."

Ginny smiled down at her convulsing brother, her mind filling with the memories of her time in St. Petersburg.

Ginny looked around, unsure of what she was going to do exactly. She had stepped off the train just a few hours ago, thinking St. Petersburg sounded like the friendliest place in Russia. So far, she had misheard. Sitting in a small café, life looked bleak. She had money, but she had no drive, and was one rib short of a set.

"I am coffee drink." she heard the woman one table over say over and over again, her accent thick. She was by herself, a slim, well put together blond woman with cold brown eyes and an outfit that looked like it cost more than Ginny did.

"Sorry, ma'am? It's I am drinking coffee." Ginny finally corrected, her nerves were not doing so well and hearing the woman say it wrong over and over again was far too grating for her to handle at the moment.

The woman gave her a sharp look, scanned her messy hair and wrinkled clothes with obvious distaste, but slid the empty chair at her table in Ginny's direction.

"Come, interview." the woman commanded.

"Interview? For what?" Ginny asked, but she moved anyways. She really needed some help in Russia.

"I have son, Mikhail. He need help with English. I interview you, you good enough, you watch and teach him."

"How do you know I'm not crazy?"

"Even if you crazy, Mikhail will break you. I need strong, not sane."

'She's a nut, an absolute nut.' Ginny thought to herself.

"All right, interview me." she said anyways.

Ginny followed the strange little woman into her mansion, now convinced that she was indeed insane. But, part of the deal was free room and board with food in exchange for watching the little brat, and who can argue with that?

"Now, you interview with Mikhail. He like you, you have job. He not like you, you leave." the woman, or Mrs. Romanikov as she preferred to be called, stated. She took Ginny into the library of the house, with the walls completely covered in books so much that Ginny felt that she was walking into an old movie, the room of the house where the murders always took place, to find a small, sly boy, who looked quite a bit like his mother, spinning a globe so fast there was a chance that the real earth didn't even move that quickly.

"Mikhail!" the woman said sharply, and then ordered him around in Russian. With a deep sigh he slumped over to the two women.

"I no like." he stated, staring at Ginny's rumpled state in disdain.

"It's I do not like." Ginny corrected, and then added 'you little prat.' under her breath.

The boy just sneered at her.

"You two interview, I come back in few minute for decision." and with that the woman marched out of the room with plenty of formality.

"So, you're Mikhail." Ginny said, strolling around the room, examining the books. Which really did no good since they were all in Russian.

"I do not like you." Mikhail stated, watching her.

"Look kid, I really don't care if you hate me, love me, or hope I catch on fire, I need a place to live, and your mum thinks you need someone here to keep an eye on you. Let's make a deal. You let me get hired, I don't hold you back too much. What do you say?"

The boy stood, deep in thought, his brow creased in all seriousness.

"We have deal."

"We have a deal."

"Stop doing that!"

"Very good."

The deal was made, and Ginny made herself a deal, too. Sure, the kid was a pain, but she could handle this free living for a year. One little year. That's all it would take to prove that she was more than just a flake who got lucky but someone who could actually do something with her life by her own means.

It was an okay deal, Ginny got a huge bedroom all to herself, and a full bathroom. The best part was her view though, her window looked right into the gorgeous steeples St. Petersburg was known for. The whole nannying tutor deal how ever, wasn't so great, however this deal got a bit easier when, two months in, she found the liquor cabinet. Which was very necessary since Ginny soon discovered Mikhail was not only mean, he was violent. It didn't help at all that his mother was constantly busy with some type of society work, the classic upper class mum, one more concerned with image than substance. The father was never around, and Ginny knew for a fact he had at least two mistresses.

So the kid had reason to be messed up, but then again, he took it to the extreme. It was almost exactly one year after being hired when Ginny had the last bit that she could stand.

"I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU!" Ginny roared at the devious, vicious now teenager. Mikhail stood there, a small grin on his ironically angelic features.

"What is problem?" Mrs. Romanikov demanded, stomping into the living room where the meltdown was occurring. It was one of the rare occurrences when she was actually home.

"HE TRIED TO SET ME ON FIRE!" Ginny said, pointing a very angry finger at Mikhail just in case there was any question.

"True?" the mother asked, her eyebrows raised with suspicion.

"She said it would be okay." he shrugged.

"When?!"

"When I first met you. Last year."

"I said it'd be okay if you wanted to, not if you ACTUALLY TRIED!"

"Just misunderstanding, back to work." Mrs. Romanikov ordered as if this was just a small dilemma.

"No, not a misunderstanding! A vicious, cruel action! I have had enough of this, enough with his tantrums when I tell him no, enough of your never being around, enough of this whole bloody situation! I quit!"

"You're leaving?" the boy asked, his eyes growing big. With his arms still behind his back, he stepped towards her, his eyes shining in the light. "You leave me? I never see you again? We are not friends?" he asked, his voice just dripping with need. "Can I have hug?"

"Nice try, but I know you still have the matches behind your back. I'm going to pack and I'm going to leave and I am never going to see any of you again." Ginny stated.

Mikhail through his matches down in frustration.

"Where you go?" the older woman asked, her voice showing she wasn't quite sure if Ginny was really going to go or just suck it up like she had been for the past year.

"Phoenix, Arizona in the states. It's hot, dry, I'm partial to the name, and NONE OF YOU ARE THERE."

"I cannot see you as a teacher." Ron said, pulling himself off the floor.

"Well, I wasn't a very good one…my only pupil did try to burn me."

"Burn you?"

"Yeah, you know, he wanted to fire me, and took it to the extreme." Ginny giggled. Ron and Hermione didn't laugh.