p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"strongemOnly Half Weasley/em/strongbr /br /p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"strongemChapter 23/em/strongbr /br /p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; border-top: none; border-bottom: 1px solid #00000a; border-left: none; border-right: none; line-height: 108%; padding: 0in 0in .01in 0in;"strongA/N/strong: I think if this chapter had a title it would be 'Revenge and Forgiveness.' One of the blessings of me having waited so long to continue with this story is that my life experience has changed the way I am approaching this story. I'm about the same age as Ginny is in the story and looking back at my early twenties, I know I made a lot of dumb mistakes and I don't view the life problems the same way anymore. I wonder if I'll think that way 14 years for now? In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the chapter and all that is to come!br /br /br /p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Since Holly's adventure in the Forbidden Forest had been such a mystery, naturally the entire school knew about it. Holly was visited by Cynthia, Daniel, and Michael while she was still in the hospital wing, but once she was back in the Common Room, she was annoyed to find herself the center of a group of curious students hanging onto her every word./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""It wasn't exciting," Holly told Cynthia as they made their way to Potions. "It was the most terrifying thing I have ever experienced!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Besides falling from your broom and almost dying?" Cynthia asked./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Worse!" Holly exclaimed. "I fell from a broom, broke my leg, and I was about to die in the middle of nowhere!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Do you remember what happened?" Cynthia said a low voice as they entered their class. "Ryan said something came from the forest and hit you! And by then time he got control of his broom again, you were gone!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""That sounds about right," Holly mused. "I should probably thank him. If he didn't tell someone, I would probably be dead."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Cynthia raised an eyebrow. "He didn't, Holly."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""What!?" Holly nearly shouted, earning several startled glances./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I went to Professor Potter when you didn't show up in the common room with Ryan," Cynthia explained, keeping her voice low. "Ryan admitted he wasn't going to tell anyone because you guys weren't supposed to be out flying. He didn't want to get into trouble, you see."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Holly's mouth hung open, flabbergasted. "That little—"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"But whatever Holly was going to say, it was interrupted when Professor Vane walked into class and the room went silence. That didn't mean that Holly wasn't seething the entire time she dropped beetles into her basic healing potion or that she daydreamed of dropping Ryan off a broomstick. In fact, by the time class was over and it was time for lunch, Holly was furious. Once in the Great Hall, she didn't hesitate to walk over to the group of third years eating at the far end of the Gryffindor table and confront the piece of scum./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; border-top: none; border-bottom: 1px solid #00000a; border-left: none; border-right: none; line-height: 108%; padding: 0in 0in .01in 0in;""You lying, deceitful cockroach!" she shouted, her wand pointed at the spot between Ryan Mason's eyes. "Going to leave me in the forest, were you? Let me die so you didn't get into trouble?"br /br /The Great Hall suddenly grew quiet and students craned over their neighbors' necks to find out what all the commotion was about. For Holly, all she could see was /br /"Not true!" Ryan denied, wide eyes fixed on Holly's wand. "I was going to tell Professor Potter! Honest!"br /br /"That's funny," said Daniel from next to Holly, his wand out. "We saw you heading to bed. You said you didn't know where Holly was."br /br /"That wasn't a lie!" Ryan /br /"You knew exactly where I was," Holly hissed, "you ugly—"br /br /"Miller! Weasley! Stand down this minute!"br /br /Holly lowered her wand but her eyes didn't leave Ryan's frightened face. She wanted nothing more than to hex him into the next century and told Professor McGonagall so when the Headmistress arrived on the /br /"Hexing is not allowed, Miller," the witch said sternly. "No matter how justified it is. Now, back to lunch before I take points from Gryffindor."br /br /Holly glared at Ryan before she turned away, her cheeks hot with anger and betrayal. She had thought he was her friend. If she was being honest with herself, she had been harboring a crush on the third year since the moment she saw him on the Quidditch field. Yet he made it quite obvious just what he thought about her and she felt her heart break in half. Sadly, that was the end of their flying /br /While Holly finished her lunch and headed outside for a much-needed cool down, elsewhere in the castle the Gryffindor seeker was lying on the ground covered in giant welts oozing puss all over his body. "Don't ever mess with a Weasley," one of the boys said as they left the unconscious lump for someone else to find. br /br /br /p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny stood in the middle of her small kitchen, her hands nervously gripping the edge of the counter while she watched her mother survey her muggle flat. Her mother's lips pursed at the electrical kettle sitting next to the stove, the light switches that her father kept enthusiastically flipping on and off, and the pictures that decorated the mantle that didn't move nor did the people in them wear robes. Her mother stopped in front of the picture of Ginny and Alex on their wedding day. Unlike typical wedding pictures, he was dressed in nice slacks and sweater and she wore a simple, dark blue dress that she was particularly fond of. Ginny hadn't wanted a fancy wedding and Alex was kind enough to let her have her way./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Well?" Ginny asked, dying to know what her mother really thought about all of it./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Her mother turned away from the wedding picture. "It's very nice, Ginny," she said quietly. "It's…different."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I think it's splendid," her father piped up from the bathroom. "The ingenuity! I don't know how muggles do it! And how you lived all this time without magic!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny blushed. She didn't live entirely without magic. There was no way she was scrubbing floors or folding laundry like a muggle. But she did have to watch herself when Holly was around. She couldn't always explain away self-washing dishes as a new muggle invention./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Would you like tea?" Ginny offered./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Her dad nearly squealed in delight and stood right at Ginny's side as she turned on the electrical kettle. It didn't take long to prepare and she hid a smile in her cup as Mr. Weasley tried to explain the mechanics to Mrs. Weasley./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Really, dear," Mrs. Weasley said in exasperation to Mr. Weasley. "We did not come all this way just to ogle at muggle contraptions!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""But Molly—"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I want to hear the whole story," Mrs. Weasley interrupted with a sharp look and then turned pointedly to her daughter. "From the beginning."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny had been preparing for this moment since she received her mother's owl. Despite her mother's forgiveness, the gap between them did not disappear overnight. Even her brothers' response had been mixed between the twins' laughing it off as a huge prank while Ron refused to even acknowledge Ginny since the hearing at the Ministry. They may forgive her, but it was clear that her relationship with her family was irreparably damaged. A thorough explanation was only the beginning to mending the wounds./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Well" Ginny said slowly, "the real beginning was after the war…"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny took her time with the story, describing in detail what she could, and her parents were careful not to interrupt. Her parents sympathized with her broken heart over Harry, her rebound with Alex and the complex emotions that led her to elope. She recalled the moment when Harry returned, the conversations with Hermione, and how had been too ashamed to reveal everything to her family. When she described Holly's birth compounded with Alex's death, her mother burst into tears./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""My poor baby!" she wailed, pulling out a large handkerchief and blowing her nose with a loud honk. "I would have never allowed you to raise your baby like a muggle!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Molly!" Mr. Weasley said sharply./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny rolled her eyes, her misty eyes quickly drying. "Really, Mum," Ginny retorted, folding her arms in protest. "I am more than capable of taking care of myself and my child, thank you very much."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""But with Muggles!" her mother cried again. It was no use./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Her mother couldn't understand Ginny's determination to live as a muggle and continued to mumble under her breath how Ginny was just like her father, determine to live in deprivation, and had Mrs. Weasley had her way, Ginny and Holly would have lived with her at the Burrow despite Ginny's protests. As it was, Mrs. Weasley insisted Ginny and Holly spend the week with them at Easter and at least a few weeks during the summer./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Oh Mum," Ginny mumbled, both pleased and embarrassed, as her mother and father took a handful of floo powder and were able to make their exit./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Mrs. Weasley sighed before embracing her daughter goodbye. "You don't know what these last twelve years have done to me, Ginny," she said. "To have you back again…"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I know," Ginny answered in her mother's shoulder./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""And for heaven's sake," Mrs. Weasley said as she took one last look at her daughter, "buy yourself some decent clothes!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; border-top: none; border-bottom: 1px solid #00000a; border-left: none; border-right: none; line-height: 108%; padding: 0in 0in .01in 0in;"Ginny looked down at her dark blue slacks and stripped shirt and smiled. Some things never changed./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"The next morning Ginny was still contemplating her parents' visit as she made her way to the bookshop. She had been so nervous about what her mother thought about the situation and was relieved that her mother didn't break down as soon as she arrived. Her mother didn't hate muggles; she just couldn't understand why Ginny would live without magic no matter what Ginny told her./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"With that out of the way, Ginny was looking forward to the new day. Sunday mornings were quiet at the bookstore which is why Ginny enjoyed opening. She could grab a coffee at the café next door and spend the morning restocking shelves, reading the latest novel, or catching up with news. By lunchtime, the store would be humming with tourists, students from the local university, and regular customers. But she knew something was instantly wrong when she unlocked the door and heard a shuffle of feet./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Without skipping a beat, she pulled out her wand and point it at the source of the noise. "Stupefy!" she cried./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Bright red light flashed across the room and a loud thud of something hitting the ground. Any normal person would have run for their lives. Ginny, on the other hand, ran straight through the shop, her wand held out in front of her ready to attack./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Harry!" Ginny cried, coming around the counter, to find the Hogwarts professor lying on the ground completely stunned. "Oh my goodness, I am so sorry. What in Merlin's name are you doing here? Oh, rennervate. Harry!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Harry jumped up, wand at the ready, until he saw Ginny leaning over him in concern. "You carry a wand in a muggle shop?" he said incredulously, rubbing the back of his head. "What are you thinking!?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Me? What are you doing, breaking and entering? That's illegal in the muggle world, you know," Ginny shot back./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I broke nothing," Harry said coldly. "And I entered through an unlocked door in the back."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""The door was unlocked?" Ginny gasped, looking over him and through the door into the back of the shop where boxes and boxes of books and supplies were stored. "It's a self-locking door! You can't leave it unlocked!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Must not be a very good spell then," Harry mused./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny scowled. "You know that's not what I meant."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Harry raised an eyebrow. "Do you really expect that door to keep criminals out? That was nothing."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""You opened it with magic!" Ginny accused./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""It wasn't hard. A simple first year spell," Harry said sheepishly./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny marched through the back of the shop and peered into the back alley. After satisfying herself that nothing had been tampered with, she came back to the front where Harry was still favoring a spot on the back of his head./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""You're lucky I didn't kill you," Ginny told him when she returned. "I could have you know. I thought you were a criminal."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Harry made a face. "Well, I wasn't expecting to be attacked."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Well I wasn't expecting you to be lurking in a bookstore! What were you expecting?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Oh, I wasn't expecting to get caught," Harry assured her, brushing a spat of dust from his cloak./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny couldn't help feel a tad bit smug. "What happened to all that Auror training? Getting rusty?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Harry returned the smile. "Something like that," he answered. "I found this notebook on top the desk back there and recognized the handwriting. I didn't know you wrote." He held up a simple green spiral notebook that Ginny had bought at a stationary shop./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"The blood drained from Ginny's face. "I don't," she said, snatching the book from out of Harry's hands. "This was my private notebook. What are you doing reading it? Hell, what are you doing here? Has something happened to Holly?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny looked around the shop expecting her twelve-year-old daughter to pop out at any minute. When the room revealed nothing but solid books on display, she turned back to Harry./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""No, I came here on my own," Harry admitted. "Though the boy responsible for her adventure in the Forbidden Forest is still recovering in the hospital wing. Seems he was on the wrong end of a bad Boil Bursting curse. Madam Hertz can't seem to get the oozing to stop." He made a look of disgust as he recalled things he'd rather not have seen./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Serves him right. Holly didn't get expelled, did she?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""You're assuming the perpetrator got caught," Harry pointed out. "But I doubt she's responsible. That's a tough spell. I doubt a first year could master it enough to use it let alone put another student in the hospital wing."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""If she's not in trouble, then why are you here?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I came to see you."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny's heart stopped. "Why?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I didn't like the way we ended things before."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ended things before? At his office? What could he possibly have to say about that?/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I don't…understand," Ginny said slowly./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Harry sighed, resting his hand on the counter for support. "I've been kicking myself ever since I left you twelve years ago, Gin," he began. "I was so angry and, for a while, I never thought I wanted to see you again-"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Oh, that's nice."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Can you let me talk?" he said exasperatedly. Ginny pursed her lips and moved her hand across her mouth like a zipper which startled Harry enough to break his concentration. "I haven't seen anyone do that in a long time. You really are a muggle now, aren't you?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny rolled her eyes but as promised, kept silent./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Right," he continued. "All I've thought about these last ten…twelve years is how much I really missed you. Well, I was angry for a while. But once I got over that, I have been blaming myself, thinking it was maybe me that caused you to leave. Of course, I didn't know the full story until the hearing. But I shouldn't have been so angry with you. You were right to move on with your life. I took you for granted and I'm sorry. Will you forgive me?/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Oh, you can talk now," he added./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Oh thanks," Ginny said, stretching her jaw while she thought how best to respond. "So…you are apologizing to me?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"It was Harry's turn to look at her questioningly. "Isn't that what I just said?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I'm just…surprised. I thought that was my job."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""For what? Finding someone else when I left you on our own?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny waved a hand in the air as if to conjure the past before them. "Well, yes, that," she agreed. "But for disappearing and making you and everyone else think I'm dead. For hiding myself. I mean, Ron has practically disowned me for life. You're being more charitable that I expected."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""If you want to apologize for all that, I won't stand in your way," Harry mused, but then grew somber. "I never wanted to believe that you died. To think that you had…well, I can't begin to explain how that felt. I should be angry that you lied to me but I'm not. It's just a relief to see you again at all."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""It's good to see you, too," Ginny agreed, looking down at the coffee cup still warm in her hands. "And I'm sorry for this mess. I really am. If I could do it all over again…well, I should have been honest in the first place. It would have saved my family some pain. Forgive me?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Yes."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Can we be friends again?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Harry looked at her for a long time before responding. "If that's what you want."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I don't want to be enemies."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Neither do I."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny read the meaning in his face. "I'm not the same person I was eighteen years ago," she reminded him. "Heck, I'm not the same person I was six months ago. I've spent the last twelve years being a mum and living in the muggle world. And you have your job and life. We're different people now."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I know that," he said slowly. "Friends then?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Friends," Ginny answered with a smile. "Is that enough for you?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Harry shrugged non-committedly. "For now."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"strongemChapter 23/em/strongbr /br /p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; border-top: none; border-bottom: 1px solid #00000a; border-left: none; border-right: none; line-height: 108%; padding: 0in 0in .01in 0in;"strongA/N/strong: I think if this chapter had a title it would be 'Revenge and Forgiveness.' One of the blessings of me having waited so long to continue with this story is that my life experience has changed the way I am approaching this story. I'm about the same age as Ginny is in the story and looking back at my early twenties, I know I made a lot of dumb mistakes and I don't view the life problems the same way anymore. I wonder if I'll think that way 14 years for now? In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the chapter and all that is to come!br /br /br /p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Since Holly's adventure in the Forbidden Forest had been such a mystery, naturally the entire school knew about it. Holly was visited by Cynthia, Daniel, and Michael while she was still in the hospital wing, but once she was back in the Common Room, she was annoyed to find herself the center of a group of curious students hanging onto her every word./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""It wasn't exciting," Holly told Cynthia as they made their way to Potions. "It was the most terrifying thing I have ever experienced!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Besides falling from your broom and almost dying?" Cynthia asked./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Worse!" Holly exclaimed. "I fell from a broom, broke my leg, and I was about to die in the middle of nowhere!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Do you remember what happened?" Cynthia said a low voice as they entered their class. "Ryan said something came from the forest and hit you! And by then time he got control of his broom again, you were gone!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""That sounds about right," Holly mused. "I should probably thank him. If he didn't tell someone, I would probably be dead."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Cynthia raised an eyebrow. "He didn't, Holly."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""What!?" Holly nearly shouted, earning several startled glances./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I went to Professor Potter when you didn't show up in the common room with Ryan," Cynthia explained, keeping her voice low. "Ryan admitted he wasn't going to tell anyone because you guys weren't supposed to be out flying. He didn't want to get into trouble, you see."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Holly's mouth hung open, flabbergasted. "That little—"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"But whatever Holly was going to say, it was interrupted when Professor Vane walked into class and the room went silence. That didn't mean that Holly wasn't seething the entire time she dropped beetles into her basic healing potion or that she daydreamed of dropping Ryan off a broomstick. In fact, by the time class was over and it was time for lunch, Holly was furious. Once in the Great Hall, she didn't hesitate to walk over to the group of third years eating at the far end of the Gryffindor table and confront the piece of scum./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; border-top: none; border-bottom: 1px solid #00000a; border-left: none; border-right: none; line-height: 108%; padding: 0in 0in .01in 0in;""You lying, deceitful cockroach!" she shouted, her wand pointed at the spot between Ryan Mason's eyes. "Going to leave me in the forest, were you? Let me die so you didn't get into trouble?"br /br /The Great Hall suddenly grew quiet and students craned over their neighbors' necks to find out what all the commotion was about. For Holly, all she could see was /br /"Not true!" Ryan denied, wide eyes fixed on Holly's wand. "I was going to tell Professor Potter! Honest!"br /br /"That's funny," said Daniel from next to Holly, his wand out. "We saw you heading to bed. You said you didn't know where Holly was."br /br /"That wasn't a lie!" Ryan /br /"You knew exactly where I was," Holly hissed, "you ugly—"br /br /"Miller! Weasley! Stand down this minute!"br /br /Holly lowered her wand but her eyes didn't leave Ryan's frightened face. She wanted nothing more than to hex him into the next century and told Professor McGonagall so when the Headmistress arrived on the /br /"Hexing is not allowed, Miller," the witch said sternly. "No matter how justified it is. Now, back to lunch before I take points from Gryffindor."br /br /Holly glared at Ryan before she turned away, her cheeks hot with anger and betrayal. She had thought he was her friend. If she was being honest with herself, she had been harboring a crush on the third year since the moment she saw him on the Quidditch field. Yet he made it quite obvious just what he thought about her and she felt her heart break in half. Sadly, that was the end of their flying /br /While Holly finished her lunch and headed outside for a much-needed cool down, elsewhere in the castle the Gryffindor seeker was lying on the ground covered in giant welts oozing puss all over his body. "Don't ever mess with a Weasley," one of the boys said as they left the unconscious lump for someone else to find. br /br /br /p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny stood in the middle of her small kitchen, her hands nervously gripping the edge of the counter while she watched her mother survey her muggle flat. Her mother's lips pursed at the electrical kettle sitting next to the stove, the light switches that her father kept enthusiastically flipping on and off, and the pictures that decorated the mantle that didn't move nor did the people in them wear robes. Her mother stopped in front of the picture of Ginny and Alex on their wedding day. Unlike typical wedding pictures, he was dressed in nice slacks and sweater and she wore a simple, dark blue dress that she was particularly fond of. Ginny hadn't wanted a fancy wedding and Alex was kind enough to let her have her way./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Well?" Ginny asked, dying to know what her mother really thought about all of it./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Her mother turned away from the wedding picture. "It's very nice, Ginny," she said quietly. "It's…different."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I think it's splendid," her father piped up from the bathroom. "The ingenuity! I don't know how muggles do it! And how you lived all this time without magic!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny blushed. She didn't live entirely without magic. There was no way she was scrubbing floors or folding laundry like a muggle. But she did have to watch herself when Holly was around. She couldn't always explain away self-washing dishes as a new muggle invention./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Would you like tea?" Ginny offered./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Her dad nearly squealed in delight and stood right at Ginny's side as she turned on the electrical kettle. It didn't take long to prepare and she hid a smile in her cup as Mr. Weasley tried to explain the mechanics to Mrs. Weasley./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Really, dear," Mrs. Weasley said in exasperation to Mr. Weasley. "We did not come all this way just to ogle at muggle contraptions!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""But Molly—"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I want to hear the whole story," Mrs. Weasley interrupted with a sharp look and then turned pointedly to her daughter. "From the beginning."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny had been preparing for this moment since she received her mother's owl. Despite her mother's forgiveness, the gap between them did not disappear overnight. Even her brothers' response had been mixed between the twins' laughing it off as a huge prank while Ron refused to even acknowledge Ginny since the hearing at the Ministry. They may forgive her, but it was clear that her relationship with her family was irreparably damaged. A thorough explanation was only the beginning to mending the wounds./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Well" Ginny said slowly, "the real beginning was after the war…"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny took her time with the story, describing in detail what she could, and her parents were careful not to interrupt. Her parents sympathized with her broken heart over Harry, her rebound with Alex and the complex emotions that led her to elope. She recalled the moment when Harry returned, the conversations with Hermione, and how had been too ashamed to reveal everything to her family. When she described Holly's birth compounded with Alex's death, her mother burst into tears./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""My poor baby!" she wailed, pulling out a large handkerchief and blowing her nose with a loud honk. "I would have never allowed you to raise your baby like a muggle!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Molly!" Mr. Weasley said sharply./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny rolled her eyes, her misty eyes quickly drying. "Really, Mum," Ginny retorted, folding her arms in protest. "I am more than capable of taking care of myself and my child, thank you very much."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""But with Muggles!" her mother cried again. It was no use./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Her mother couldn't understand Ginny's determination to live as a muggle and continued to mumble under her breath how Ginny was just like her father, determine to live in deprivation, and had Mrs. Weasley had her way, Ginny and Holly would have lived with her at the Burrow despite Ginny's protests. As it was, Mrs. Weasley insisted Ginny and Holly spend the week with them at Easter and at least a few weeks during the summer./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Oh Mum," Ginny mumbled, both pleased and embarrassed, as her mother and father took a handful of floo powder and were able to make their exit./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Mrs. Weasley sighed before embracing her daughter goodbye. "You don't know what these last twelve years have done to me, Ginny," she said. "To have you back again…"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I know," Ginny answered in her mother's shoulder./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""And for heaven's sake," Mrs. Weasley said as she took one last look at her daughter, "buy yourself some decent clothes!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; border-top: none; border-bottom: 1px solid #00000a; border-left: none; border-right: none; line-height: 108%; padding: 0in 0in .01in 0in;"Ginny looked down at her dark blue slacks and stripped shirt and smiled. Some things never changed./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"The next morning Ginny was still contemplating her parents' visit as she made her way to the bookshop. She had been so nervous about what her mother thought about the situation and was relieved that her mother didn't break down as soon as she arrived. Her mother didn't hate muggles; she just couldn't understand why Ginny would live without magic no matter what Ginny told her./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"With that out of the way, Ginny was looking forward to the new day. Sunday mornings were quiet at the bookstore which is why Ginny enjoyed opening. She could grab a coffee at the café next door and spend the morning restocking shelves, reading the latest novel, or catching up with news. By lunchtime, the store would be humming with tourists, students from the local university, and regular customers. But she knew something was instantly wrong when she unlocked the door and heard a shuffle of feet./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Without skipping a beat, she pulled out her wand and point it at the source of the noise. "Stupefy!" she cried./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Bright red light flashed across the room and a loud thud of something hitting the ground. Any normal person would have run for their lives. Ginny, on the other hand, ran straight through the shop, her wand held out in front of her ready to attack./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Harry!" Ginny cried, coming around the counter, to find the Hogwarts professor lying on the ground completely stunned. "Oh my goodness, I am so sorry. What in Merlin's name are you doing here? Oh, rennervate. Harry!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Harry jumped up, wand at the ready, until he saw Ginny leaning over him in concern. "You carry a wand in a muggle shop?" he said incredulously, rubbing the back of his head. "What are you thinking!?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Me? What are you doing, breaking and entering? That's illegal in the muggle world, you know," Ginny shot back./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I broke nothing," Harry said coldly. "And I entered through an unlocked door in the back."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""The door was unlocked?" Ginny gasped, looking over him and through the door into the back of the shop where boxes and boxes of books and supplies were stored. "It's a self-locking door! You can't leave it unlocked!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Must not be a very good spell then," Harry mused./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny scowled. "You know that's not what I meant."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Harry raised an eyebrow. "Do you really expect that door to keep criminals out? That was nothing."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""You opened it with magic!" Ginny accused./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""It wasn't hard. A simple first year spell," Harry said sheepishly./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny marched through the back of the shop and peered into the back alley. After satisfying herself that nothing had been tampered with, she came back to the front where Harry was still favoring a spot on the back of his head./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""You're lucky I didn't kill you," Ginny told him when she returned. "I could have you know. I thought you were a criminal."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Harry made a face. "Well, I wasn't expecting to be attacked."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Well I wasn't expecting you to be lurking in a bookstore! What were you expecting?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Oh, I wasn't expecting to get caught," Harry assured her, brushing a spat of dust from his cloak./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny couldn't help feel a tad bit smug. "What happened to all that Auror training? Getting rusty?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Harry returned the smile. "Something like that," he answered. "I found this notebook on top the desk back there and recognized the handwriting. I didn't know you wrote." He held up a simple green spiral notebook that Ginny had bought at a stationary shop./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"The blood drained from Ginny's face. "I don't," she said, snatching the book from out of Harry's hands. "This was my private notebook. What are you doing reading it? Hell, what are you doing here? Has something happened to Holly?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny looked around the shop expecting her twelve-year-old daughter to pop out at any minute. When the room revealed nothing but solid books on display, she turned back to Harry./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""No, I came here on my own," Harry admitted. "Though the boy responsible for her adventure in the Forbidden Forest is still recovering in the hospital wing. Seems he was on the wrong end of a bad Boil Bursting curse. Madam Hertz can't seem to get the oozing to stop." He made a look of disgust as he recalled things he'd rather not have seen./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Serves him right. Holly didn't get expelled, did she?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""You're assuming the perpetrator got caught," Harry pointed out. "But I doubt she's responsible. That's a tough spell. I doubt a first year could master it enough to use it let alone put another student in the hospital wing."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""If she's not in trouble, then why are you here?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I came to see you."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny's heart stopped. "Why?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I didn't like the way we ended things before."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ended things before? At his office? What could he possibly have to say about that?/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I don't…understand," Ginny said slowly./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Harry sighed, resting his hand on the counter for support. "I've been kicking myself ever since I left you twelve years ago, Gin," he began. "I was so angry and, for a while, I never thought I wanted to see you again-"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Oh, that's nice."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Can you let me talk?" he said exasperatedly. Ginny pursed her lips and moved her hand across her mouth like a zipper which startled Harry enough to break his concentration. "I haven't seen anyone do that in a long time. You really are a muggle now, aren't you?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny rolled her eyes but as promised, kept silent./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Right," he continued. "All I've thought about these last ten…twelve years is how much I really missed you. Well, I was angry for a while. But once I got over that, I have been blaming myself, thinking it was maybe me that caused you to leave. Of course, I didn't know the full story until the hearing. But I shouldn't have been so angry with you. You were right to move on with your life. I took you for granted and I'm sorry. Will you forgive me?/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Oh, you can talk now," he added./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Oh thanks," Ginny said, stretching her jaw while she thought how best to respond. "So…you are apologizing to me?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"It was Harry's turn to look at her questioningly. "Isn't that what I just said?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I'm just…surprised. I thought that was my job."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""For what? Finding someone else when I left you on our own?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny waved a hand in the air as if to conjure the past before them. "Well, yes, that," she agreed. "But for disappearing and making you and everyone else think I'm dead. For hiding myself. I mean, Ron has practically disowned me for life. You're being more charitable that I expected."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""If you want to apologize for all that, I won't stand in your way," Harry mused, but then grew somber. "I never wanted to believe that you died. To think that you had…well, I can't begin to explain how that felt. I should be angry that you lied to me but I'm not. It's just a relief to see you again at all."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""It's good to see you, too," Ginny agreed, looking down at the coffee cup still warm in her hands. "And I'm sorry for this mess. I really am. If I could do it all over again…well, I should have been honest in the first place. It would have saved my family some pain. Forgive me?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Yes."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Can we be friends again?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Harry looked at her for a long time before responding. "If that's what you want."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I don't want to be enemies."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Neither do I."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Ginny read the meaning in his face. "I'm not the same person I was eighteen years ago," she reminded him. "Heck, I'm not the same person I was six months ago. I've spent the last twelve years being a mum and living in the muggle world. And you have your job and life. We're different people now."/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""I know that," he said slowly. "Friends then?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Friends," Ginny answered with a smile. "Is that enough for you?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Harry shrugged non-committedly. "For now."/p