Ginny stood in the kitchen her hands deftly moving as she prepared some food. They had been in the cabin for three days now and she knew her family would be going spare by now but she didn't care, she wanted this time with Harry. Thinking of him she turned to look out of the tiny window over the sink and smiled as she saw him moving swiftly around the small patch of garden out the back of the cabin. His face was blank, lost in concentration but he didn't look any less impressive. She loved to watch his exercises and once or twice she had joined him.
As she turned back to the stove, stirring the contents smoothly her mind not one what she as doing. She was so lost in thought that she didn't hear Harry enter and was only alerted to his presence when his arms slipped around her waist.
"Mmm that smells good," he said and she turned so she could kiss his jaw.
"Mum had to teach someone to cook and Ron was always more interested in eating the food then preparing it," she said and was happy when she felt the buzz of his laughter.
"Unfortunately my mum isn't the best of cooks, she tends to burn everything if you don't remind her what she's doing every few minutes," he replied and Ginny laughed as she reached over and flicked the little stove off.
Both of them had decided to keep their magic to a minimum to minimize the chance of someone discovering them and once Harry had shown her how to work things, she had found she quiet liked cooking the muggle way.
Moving the pan off the heated hob she moved to spoon the contents out into a bowl.
"Could you grab the bread please," she said as she moved t take the bowls over to the little table big enough for just them.
Harry simply followed her orders grabbing the bread from the little pantry and snagging a pitcher of juice at the same time. When he turned he found Ginny bent over the table arranging things and he couldn't help but smile at her.
She didn't know what she had given him in the last few days and he didn't know how he could explain it. Everything had been so blissfully normal, and since his life had been anything but normal up until that point it was wonderful. He loved watching Ginny as she moved around the little house, doing little domestic things that made him smile. It was silly really but he could see in the few days they had spent alone what she would be like when they had their own home.
And he would think of it as when and not and if because he desperately wanted time with her forever. He could see it in his head, waking to the sound her making breakfast and wanting nothing more than to see her warm smile. What it would be like to spend evenings curled on the couch in front of a fire and talking about their normal days. It felt like a silly dream compared to things others wished about but he didn't care it was what he wanted.
Ginny turned then smiling at him and he returned the smile as he walked forwards to place the bread on the cutter board she had laid out. She scooted around him as he moved her fingers trailing over his arm and he shivered at his touch. He watched as she moved around to the small kitchen to gather the cutlery and found his mind wandering again.
What would it be like to do this with her every day? As he watched her move back towards him he had a flash of another possibility that had his heart racing. What would it be like if it wasn't just the two of them, if they could add another to their unusual family? Suddenly he had a flash of an image that made him gasp. Ginny was walking towards him but her stomach was rounded with his child as she smiled at him, her love plain to see as she ran her hand over her stomach.
In a blink the image was gone and Ginny was stood in front of him smiling but a little frown between her eyebrows.
"You alright Harry?" she asked and he looked up at her his smile widening.
Reaching out he snagged her wrist and pulled her against him, "never better love," he replied and kissed her thoroughly
She pulled back from him laughing and detangled herself from his grasp so she could circle around the table and take a seat. Shaking his head slightly he slipped down into the seat opposite her and dug into the amazing stew she had made.
Hermione sat watching Ron as he helped his mother clean the kitchen. Molly hadn't been right from the moment Ginny had left, but she was trying and it made Hermione happy to see Ron trying as well. She still knew he seethed with anger; she could see it in his eyes whenever anyone mentioned Harry or indeed even Ginny. She knew that he held more than anger though, he was worried as well. He loved Ginny with a fierceness that her other brothers didn't. They were so close that he had always taken it upon himself to protect her and he had been the first one to accept everything about what she was.
With a sigh she turned to look out of the window again noting that it was growing dark outside. With this sunset the couple hadn't been sighted for five days, but even stranger then that things had been quiet. There had been no more attacks from the death eaters as if they were waiting for something. Hermione was nervous they never went this long without at least causing some mayhem somewhere, but there had been nothing.
The order had stepped up their sweeps, roping everyone they could into helping. Ron had moved them back to the burrow the night after Ginny left so that they could be there for Molly, and Hermione didn't mind but she did miss her home. Looking back to Ron who had now sat his mother down at the kitchen table with a cup of tea, she couldn't help but smiling. He could be a dunder head sometimes but she knew he loved her and he was loyal beyond belief. She couldn't help but get the feeling that if he actually got to know Harry he would like him. But then it was destined that he'd never like him since he was dating his baby sister.
"I think I might get a quick nap," Molly said suddenly and after kissing Ron on the cheek she disappeared up the stairs.
Ron watched his mother leave and with a shake of his head turned to walk across the kitchen into the living room where Hermione was sat.
He collapsed down on the couch next to her and flung his feet up onto the coffee table. Hermione would have normally called him on his actions but she could see the wariness etched into his features so she bit her tongue.
"When Ginny reappears she's going to have a lot of explaining to do," he mumbled as he scrubbed his hand over his face.
Hermione starred at him for a moment and then turned to look at the growing darkness outside, "can you really blame her Ron. Sometimes living with your family is like living under a microscope," she said and turned to find him staring at her with a small frown.
She sighed shaking her head at her boyfriends naivety, "honestly Ron," she turned and took his hand in hers squeezing it softly, "Ginny has never had it easy being what she was. Then suddenly out of nowhere she's gifted with this person, who is just like her and wants her for her, no wonder she ran away with him."
For a moment they stared at each other and Ron's blank face left her guessing what he was thinking, but soon she could see that her words hadn't had the effect that she had wanted. His eyes clouded with anger again and he slipped his fingers from her grasp.
"I've never said she had it easy Mione, but I have never been anything but her brother and all I want is to keep her safe. But what she has done now is wrong, we are in the middle of a war and she has abandoned her family, I will never forgive her for that," he stood and disappeared into the kitchen.
A moment later Hermione heard him climb the stairs probably thinking on checking his mother. Hermione couldn't help but think of her own parents for a moment. She had sent them away when she had been fifteen, when the war had started to spill into the muggle worlds. She checked on them regularly but she hadn't seen them properly after all they didn't even remember having a daughter.
With her mood suddenly plummeting she climbed to her feet and headed for the kitchen thinking of a piece of the chocolate cake Molly had made earlier. She was stood in the middle of the pantry contemplating some very strange concoctions for food when the kitchen door slammed open.
"Help!" someone screamed and Hermione spun on her heal and rushed out to find Bill stood in the middle of the kitchen with Fleur cover in blood in his arms. With a gasp Hermione flew across the room the plate slipping from her fingers to smash on the floor.
Ron came clattering down the stairs at the sound of his brother, his mother hot in his heels and she let out a squeak when she saw Fleur so pale in her husband's arms.
"Dear god Bill," Molly whispered and pushed past Ron who had stalled at the bottom of the stairs.
"She came to see me," he said as he walked forwards and once again the kitchen table was transformed and he laid her out on it stepping back with shaky hands, "Gringotts has been one of the safest places, the goblins have their own power, I didn't even think twice about her coming for lunch."
Molly slipped past him with a bowel of water in her hands and Hermione pulled him to take a seat at his wife's head. He was beginning to shake and Hermione knew he was going into shock.
"There was an attack," he said and Ron moved forwards to grip his brother's shoulder, "Death eaters broke into Gringotts, I didn't think I would ever see the day," Bill said reaching out to take Fleur's hand were it laid limp at her side.
The kitchen was a flurry of activity for the next half hour while Molly assessed Fleur's injuries. It turned out she had a head laceration, hence all the blood, and a mild concussion. Once Molly had the bleeding under control things seemed a lot less grim. The call went out to the other order members and soon the house was full to bursting again. It seemed everyone had gotten a little lapse in the last few days the calm lulling them into a false sense of security. Gringotts hadn't been the only attack, safe houses all over the country had been hit and so there were scores of witches and wizards on the run.
Bill took Fleur to one of the guest rooms while everyone convened and stayed with her not wanting his wife to wake alone. Soon the front room was full of loud discussions and all Hermione could do was stand at the kitchen sink trying hard to wash the memory of her friends blood from her fingers. Fleur wasn't much older than her, and when she had married Bill she's left France to be with him. For a time she had been lonely but when she had been thrust into the family she had gravitated towards Hermione and they had become close friends. Seeing her like that had brought the reality of their lives crashing down around her.
She jumped almost screaming when she felt a hand on her shoulder and turning she found Sirius' calm eyes staring down at her.
"Are you alright?" he asked softly and with a hitch in her chest she fell against him burying her face against his chest.
He wrapped his arms around her and simply held her as she began to cry. He whispered soothing nonsense to her and eventually she calmed and pulled back from him scrubbing her fingers against her cheeks.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled trying to force a smile.
"Nonsense," he said smiling openly at her, "you got a shock, holding it in isn't going to help you."
She nodded to him and this time when she smiled it was genuine, "but then I would have expected Ron to be here," he said and the smile slipped from her face.
She turned away from him to stare out of the kitchen window again, "yeah but he's too angry at everyone at the moment to even remember me most of the time," she said throwing a dish towel against the counter.
She gripped the counter lowering her head for a moment trying to keep her emotions in check, the last thing they needed right now was for her to lose it right now.
Sirius placed his hand against her shoulder and felt a shiver run through her body, "it's going to be alright Mione," he said unsure what else he could possibly say.
"I know, it always is," she said her voice flat and he knew she didn't believe that, "I know you know where they are Siri, please go and get them. We need Harry right now, Ron won't admit it but since he arrived there's been a charge in everyone that wasn't there before. After this we need him," and she needed Ginny here.
Gin had become her sister and she needed that right now. She turned in time to see Sirius nod and she sighed with relief.
"If someone asks," he said and she gave him a little push.
"Don't worry I've got ya covered," she simply said and he smiled at her before slipping out of the back door.
Hermione breathed out settling herself for the moment and then turned her attention to the may lay in the front room.
She walked forwards and pushed her way through the masses of people crowding in the small room until she reached the couch where Molly was sat with Arthur at her elbow and he was talking animatedly with Kingsley.
"Excuse me," she said and no one even batted an eyelid, "I said EXCUSE ME!" she yelled over the din and everyone stopped turning to look at her as one.
She huffed and straightened the hem of her shirt as she calmed her breathing, "alright that's better. I think we should wait before we start any big discussions. Sirius has gone to get Harry and I think we should wait for all three to get back," she said her voice shaking a little at the end.
For a moment the room was silent completely, not even the sound of people breathing could be heard and then suddenly everyone burst out at once and she sighed rubbing the bridge of her nose, this was going to be a long day.
A/N: a bit of a bridging chapter but I really wanted to put a bit of what Harry wants for the future in there to show that he does want a life even if he thinks he might not get it. Hope You enjoyed, I'm hoping to get another chap up soon since my comp is being nice to me right now but i have a few stories on going to its not the top of my list haha. As always enjoy and please review x