Author's Note: Thank you all so much for the wonderful (and gentle!) reviews for the last two chapters. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to reply to all of you this time around…I've been pretty busy with midterms and studying and I wanted to spend all my free time getting you the next chapter! However, kiera14 sent me two very important questions (she also sent me her email address to reply, but FFnet blocks email addresses from going through). One of them I don't want to answer (hehe), but I think it would be helpful for me to answer the other one here:

1. Is this where the story starts to diverge?

No, it won't diverge for four or five more chapters, and I'll let you know in the A/N before it happens. Also, to clarify, when it diverges, I will be posting two chapters simultaneously (one chapter from each ending) until the end so that you can watch the two endings happen in parallel.

ALL RIGHT…after that uber-long author's note…on to the story! :)

Chapter 24: Not Like This

Ginny's hands were shaking hard and her body was heaving with sobs when she finally pushed open the door of her room and collapsed inside. Clenching her fist tightly around her wand, she threw Silencing Charms at all four walls. For a moment she stood there, next to the fire, biting her lip hard and exhaling deeply between her teeth, trying to calm herself. But the tears kept flowing, and the waves of pain kept rising up from her stomach to her chest, drumming against her heart. Finally she just allowed herself to fall back onto the bed. She curled up into herself, and let the sobs overtake her.

She didn't know how long she lay there, but a hard knock on the door pulled her forcibly from the haze. She ignored it, willing herself to sink back into mindless tears. Another knock, louder this time. Her frustration flared. "Not now, please!" she yelled sharply.

"Ginny." The voice was quiet, but just loud enough to filter through the door.

She squeezed her eyes shut against the tears. "Harry, please go away," she called back, but she couldn't keep her voice from hitching on the last word, and she knew he had heard. She wanted to kick herself.

"Ginny, please let me in." He paused. "Don't make me break the door down."

She thought she heard a touch of attempted humor in his voice at the last bit. He was joking. Probably. With a sigh, she swung herself off the bed and stumbled to the door. She paused, hand on the knob, and swiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand. Maybe if she could just keep herself under control, she could convince him to leave. She didn't want to talk about what had happened.

"Hi, Harry," she said, trying to force down the tears. "Now's not really a good time."

Harry's gaze swept over her in a moment and then he met her eyes; the bright green pierced straight the façade. "You forgot to put a Silencing Charm on the ceiling," he said softly.

Ginny bit her lip and clenched her fist hard at her side. "It's nothing, Harry," she managed through gritted teeth. "I don't want to talk about it."

He regarded her silently for a moment, not breaking eye contact. "All right," he said finally, brow furrowing ever so slightly, "You don't have to talk about it. But at least let me come in and make you some tea." She hesitated. Tea always made her feel better…Harry knew that. He walked past her into the room.

Ginny sighed. "I said now's not a good time, Harry," she repeated slowly, but it was half-hearted. He was already grabbing a mug and opening the box of tea bags.

He looked over his shoulder at her, expression serious. "I've known you for years, Gin," he said, "And I haven't seen you cry since you were eleven." He set down the mug and came closer, putting a warm, heavy hand on her shoulder. His eyes searched hers. "I'll go if you want, but I just want to make sure you're all right," he finished softly.

She immediately felt her heart constrict, and she sank onto the sofa. "No," she said, exhaling, "Stay."

He nodded and turned back to the tea. He said a quick spell to fill the mug with steaming water. "Milk and two sugars, right?"

She nodded, surprised he still remembered. "Careful, it's hot," he said, handing the cup over and sitting down beside her. She took a tentative sip – it was the perfect temperature – and then a bigger gulp. The hot liquid immediately filled her belly, warming her. Her gaze flicked back up to Harry, who was watching her, concern evident in his eyes.

"You haven't asked me what happened," she observed softly, curling her legs up under her.

"You said you didn't want to talk about it," he replied quietly.

Ginny swallowed hard. "Pansy Parkinson was there when I got there. They had slept together. We broke up," she said shortly. Just saying the words made the tears start to prick in her eyes again, and she swiped at them with one hand.

"Oh, Ginny…," Harry whispered. "I'm so sorry." His arm reach out to wrap around her, but he jerked it back suddenly, as if he had thought better of it.

Ginny felt a hard stab of something dangerous in her stomach. Her own words to Draco flashed through her mind: Harry would never have done something like this. He was so incredibly kind to her, and he was sitting there now in an old t-shirt and jeans, running a hand through his hair in that familiar gesture. But even more important than that in this moment, he wanted her. She had seen it in the way his hand had just jerked back. He was aching to hold her, to comfort her. And best of all, she knew he could make her forget everything that had just happened. The "something" morphed into a heady impulsiveness, and, without giving herself any time to think about what she was about to do, Ginny went for broke. She set the mug on the table and in one quick movement, she leaned across the space between them and pressed her lips desperately against his.

Harry stiffened in shock, but then his body reacted. His lips pushed back against hers. Hard. And just as she had hoped, all the thoughts were gone. Her mind went blank.

Ginny's arms came up around his neck and she was forcibly reminded of how much she had once loved kissing Harry Potter.

But suddenly, he froze. He jolted away from her, and Ginny immediately felt her stomach drop as the thoughts flooded her mind again and the pain started to seep back into her.

"Ginny, we can't," Harry whispered, breathing hard. He shook himself and ran an agitated hand across the back of his neck. "I want to, don't get me wrong, but…not like this…." He stood, stepped away from the sofa, and paced in a wide loop around the room, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides.

She felt the tears rising again, and this time, she couldn't hold them back. She sat up and swiped at them with the back of her hand. "Why not?" she asked softly.

Harry came back to stand before her and met her eyes. He smiled ruefully and brushed a tear from her cheek with his thumb. "Well, for one thing, you're crying."

Ginny swallowed. "Yeah," she managed, "Not exactly the most romantic thing in the world."

"Yeah, if there's one thing I learned at Hogwarts, it's that kissing crying girls never leads to anything good," he chuckled.

She forced a smile and pressed the bottoms of her palms against her eyes. "Merlin, I'm such a mess," she mumbled.

He sighed and sank down beside her again, but this time, though he hesitated for a fraction of a second, his arm came around her and he ran his hand gently up and down her shoulder. She curled into him, her cheek pressing against his chest, and his hand came up to stroke her hair. The gentleness triggered another wave of tears, and she felt her body begin to rattle with the force of it.

"It's okay, Gin," Harry said soothingly. "You can cry. It's okay..."

She cried in his arms for what felt like hours but was probably only minutes. The image of Pansy, fresh from the shower, and Draco's shocked gaze kept flashing across her mind…she screwed her eyes shut tight, but she couldn't keep them out. How could he have done that to her? He hadn't let her explain! He had disappeared! And now it was over, and it turned out that the three long years of their relationship added up to nothing at all.

Finally, the heaving sobs began to subside, to be replaced by a heavy tiredness. Harry seemed to notice her drooping. "All right," he said softly, "Let's get you to bed." He helped her into bed and tucked the covers around her. The blackness of a deadened sleep began to seep in around her. And the last thing she remembered before she succumbed to it was Harry leaning in and brushing a stray tear from her cheek, and his thumb lingering against her skin.

Ginny woke warm and comfortable, but in a moment the reality of what had happened last night came back to her. She braced herself, expecting the same all-encompassing pain to return, but it didn't. It all seemed to have collected into a hard ball at the base of her stomach. She couldn't feel it throbbing in her fingertips anymore.

She pushed herself up. Harry was no where to be seen. He must have gone back to his room last night after she had fallen asleep. She bit her lip with embarrassment at the memory of their kiss last night. What had she been thinking? She shook herself and slid from the bed and into the loo.

She surveyed herself in the mirror. She looked exactly as she felt: horrible. Her hair was disheveled, sticking up at odd angles in a red ring around her face. There were dark bags under her red-rimmed eyes, and she looked even paler than usual. She got in the shower and focused as much as she could on getting herself cleaned up. Anything to keep her mind off of…him. She scrubbed hard at her face, squeezing her eyes shut tight. Thank Merlin it was the weekend. She didn't think she could face classes today.

Three weeks later

"What time are we supposed to meet Ron again?" Harry muttered, crumpling the sheet of parchment before him and tossing it into the bin behind the sofa.

They were sitting in the Room of the Requirement – Harry's version of the Room of Requirement – both ensconced in the big, round couch.

"Um...five minutes, but he's always late. We can give it ten," Ginny replied, not taking her eyes off her book.

Harry nodded. "Toss me a crisp, will you?"

Ginny handed over the whole bag, wiping the crumbs off on her jeans. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Ginny?" She looked up and met his gaze. "Are you sure you're okay with this?"

"Okay with what?"

Harry rubbed his palms on his pant legs uncomfortably. "With shopping for the wedding. You seem like you're doing better…but I know Hermione and Ron would understand if you'd rather not go."

Ginny set her book down firmly on the end table. "I appreciate that, Harry," she said, "But I'm excited for their wedding, and I want to be a part of as much of it as I can. And that doesn't have anything to do with…Draco," she finished, only hesitating for a fraction of a second on his name.

He nodded, searching her eyes. He'd been doing that for weeks, trying to gauge how she was doing without having to ask. "All right. I just want to be sure you're okay. You were so upset…that night…and you've kept things pretty close to your chest since then. Which I understand," he said quickly, "Merlin knows I like to get over things on my own as well. But yeah," he finished awkwardly, "I just wanted to make sure."

She smiled reassuringly and patted his leg. "I'm fine, Harry. Not perfect, but much better. And you know what? I never did thank you for that night…for being there for me. I really appreciated it. So thank you."

"No problem, Gin," he said earnestly. He turned back to his papers, and they sat in silence for a few moments, but then he got the strangest teasing look on his face.

"What are you smirking at?" Ginny demanded, grinning and prodding him with her toe.

He answered without taking his eyes off his papers, "I was just remembering how you attacked me."

"Hey!" Ginny exclaimed, kicking his leg hard. "Don't make fun! I was distraught. I didn't know what I was doing!"

"Well, for your sake, you really shouldn't do it again," Harry laughed, meeting her eyes with a provocative gleam in his eyes. "I'm a nice guy, Gin, but not that nice."

Ginny laughed aloud at that and was a little taken aback by the sound. She hadn't laughed that hard or that openly in weeks. "Who would have thought," she mused jokingly, "Harry Potter trying to be bad. Let's go, then, you rebel." She prodded him one more time as she got off the sofa. "We've got shopping to do."

"Took you two long enough," Ron grumbled as they exited the castle. He was leaning, arms crossed, against one of the castle walls.

"Ron! What in Merlin's name happened to your face?" Ginny exclaimed, jogging the last few steps to her brother and turning his face to examine the dark bruise across his left cheek.

"That bad, eh?" Ron replied, "It was ten times worse last week."

"Well it's pretty bad now, mate," Harry said.

Ron scowled at him. "We were going after this guy who was causing trouble around the London suburbs. Small time stuff – smuggling and the like, but we thought he might know something about the cell that killed Danny. But the bloody git got me with a Punching Hex. I managed to Stun him right after, but it stung like crazy for days."

"My older brother, an Auror in the field," Ginny mused, patting Ron on the shoulder. "I never would have guessed it."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Always so supportive."

"We better go," Harry said, glancing at his watch. "We were supposed to meet Hermione at her office ten minutes ago."

"Remind me why she's working on a Saturday morning again?" Ginny said.

"Some big case…I dunno," Ron muttered. "But then again," he added, "When has Hermione ever not been working on a Saturday morning."

"True," Harry laughed.

They Apparated just outside the Ministry and made their way to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures on the fourth floor. It was a small department, and the whole space was filled with desks covered in stacks and stacks of papers. Right now, the office was largely deserted, but Ginny could only imagine how chaotic the place must be during the week.

"Ron, is that you?" Hermione's curly-haired head popped up from behind a huge stack of papers at the back of the room.

"Hello, love," Ron said, bounding over and giving Hermione an enthusiastic peck on the cheek.

"Careful, Ron!" she shrieked, but she was grinning brightly, "If you knock that pile over it'll set me back two weeks! Hey Harry, Ginny," she said, nodding to them.

"Just give me…one more second," she mumbled, pulling a pencil from its place behind her ear and made a note on the corner of a piece of parchment, "and I'm ready to go!"

"You work too hard, Hermione," Harry said, shaking his head.

"Tsk," Hermione chided, but she smiled. "Hey, Gin," she added, pulling Ginny into a quick hug. "Are you all right coming shopping?" she whispered.

"Of course," Ginny whispered back, smiling reassuringly.

"All right, I guess we're all set to go then," Hermione said brightly. As she turned to grab her bag, an big tawny owl flew in through the window, made a big loop, and dropped its envelope on Hermione's desk.

"Hang on, lemme just look at this," the older girl said, "There's a report from the field that I've been waiting for all week, and I think this might be…."

"Aw, 'Mione, come on!" Ron groaned, "Let's get the shopping over with!"

Hermione gave him a swift slap on the arm and flicked open the envelope. As she pulled out the contents, her smile faded.

"What's wrong?" Harry said. "Bad news?"

"Um…no…no, not bad news," Hermione stuttered. "It's good news, great news, actually, but…." Her gaze turned to Ginny. "It's the check for the department…from Malfoy." Harry and Ron both whipped around to face her.

Ginny chest clenched up at the sound of his name. No one had mentioned Draco since that night. She figured Harry had told Ron and Hermione what had happened, who in turn must have told her family. She had appreciated it…it had helped her keep her mind off things, but now the sound of his name hit her like a punch in the stomach. She cleared her throat, and then turned to face them.

"That's great, Hermione. Congratulations!" she said, forcing a smile onto her face.

"Yeah…," Hermione said tentatively, "It's really great for the department…."

Ron blinked several times. "I'm just surprised Malfoy still sent the check after what happ -,"

"Well, it's wonderful," Harry said firmly, and Ginny was grateful he had cut her brother off. "Tell us again what you're going to do with it, Hermione?"

Hermione glanced between him and Ginny, and then nodded. "Well we're going to start by hiring several more people to take on cases…that'll lighten the load considerably," she began. "And then…."

Hermione continued speaking as they made their way back to the elevators, and Ginny caught Harry's eye as they stepped inside. "Thank you," she mouthed. He smiled and nodded.

"So how are you doing?" Hermione said, fixing her with a gentle look from the other side of the dress rack, "Really."

They were alone in a back room of the boutique, a rack of bridesmaid dresses between them. Harry and Ron were in the shop next door, trying on suits.

"I'm good," Ginny answered, nodding. She pulled a champagne colored dress off the rack and surveyed it for a moment before replacing it. "Not great, but good."

"Good," Hermione said. "Have you seen him since?"

"No," Ginny replied. "Which is strange, I'll admit," she added. "To live with someone for years and years and then…," she paused and swallowed. "Nothing."

"I'm so sorry, Gin," Hermione answered, coming around and putting a gentle hand on her arm. "When Harry told us, Ron and I wanted to come by and see you, but Harry said it would be better to let you deal with it on your own."

She nodded. "Yeah…at the beginning, a lot of people fussing over me would've been overwhelming, I think. Although I do appreciate the sentiment. I think I'm getting over it though," she added, smiling, "Slowly but surely, right?"

Hermione nodded, looking a little less than convinced, but smiling back all the same.

"Harry's been a real saint," Ginny said, "That's been helpful."

"I'm glad you're both at Hogwarts," Hermione replied. "It's good for both of you to have someone there." She paused. "Ron's a bit worried again, though," she said hesitantly.

"About me breaking Harry's heart again?" Ginny said, meeting her friend's eyes. "I'm definitely not in any emotional state to be breaking hearts right now," she laughed.

Hermione shrugged. "I told Ron that the two of you are just being there for each other, which is perfectly normal. But I just thought I'd warn you. Ron's on the lookout again."

"He's impossible," Ginny grumbled. "I guess we shouldn't tell him that I kissed Harry the night Draco and I broke up."

Hermione's eyes bugged. "Ginny! You didn't!"

Ginny covered her reddening face, laughing. "I know, I know! It was absolutely ridiculous, and I was sobbing afterward…."

Hermione burst into laughter. "What is it with Harry and kissing crying girls?"

Fifteen minutes later, they left the shop carrying Ginny's bridesmaid dress in a long plastic cover, promising the sales witch they would be back in a week with Hermione's mum to look at wedding gowns. They met Harry and Ron in the street outside, and just as they were about to part ways – Ron and Hermione to go back to their apartment, she and Harry to head back to the castle – Hermione spoke.

"Oh! I almost forgot," she exclaimed, "Ginny! I know this is incredibly awkward, and horrible timing, but I need to know if you're planning on bringing a date to the wedding."

"Erm, don't think so," Ginny replied.

"I can set you up with a bloke from my department, if you want," Hermione said quickly, "There are some nice guys, and it can just be as friends. It's just that most everyone is bringing one, and I don't want you to feel uncomfortable…."

"Harry's not bringing one, are you Harry?" Ginny said, turning to him.

He shook his head. "Nope. Free agent."

Ginny grinned teasingly. "Rebellious, Potter," she smirked. He laughed and winked at her.

She turned back to Ron and Hermione, who looked utterly confused by this exchange. "Make that two free agents," she said brightly.

Author's Note: This chapter just did not want to be written. I wrote whole segments and then deleted them and re-wrote them multiple times...ugh. Anyway, I hope it turned out all right. Sorry it took a little longer than usual. Please review!