DAY ONE
The silence was weighted. All the big things had been said; Ginny had not held back. It had all poured out of her, and now she was an empty vessel. Her face was swollen and puffy from the tears she had cried. Harry was little better; there was a great swipe of dirt cresting from the bottom of his left earlobe to the middle of his scar. It was smudged around his eye, where a tear had fallen during the course of their discussion.
He had not bathed or showered before coming to find her, had just grabbed a nap. Not long enough of one, considering.
Ginny looked away, sinking further into the cushions, but there was no comfort to be had, just a numbness. It was that she sank into. A small part of her mind wailed a "Nooooo" but she let it dwindle away. Fred was dead. Harry had been dead, but now was not. She thought these words deliberately, but her heart remained beating at a steady, even pace. It was numb, too.
"Ginny..."
Ginny sniffled. Her face hurt, she had done so much crying. It was better to be numb, wasn't it?
Harry whispered a word, and a fire blazed up in front of them, spilling light over the common room of Gryffindor Tower. It deepened the reds in the fabric of the sofa. Something was dwindling away from her, but Ginny couldn't name what it was, just that a muffled part of her was panicking. Catch me, catch me, catch me.
It was at that moment Harry took her hand, twining his fingers with hers. Ginny drew in a deep breath at the contact. His palms were warm and dry. It was this contact that reminded her of how much she'd thought of him this last year, tossing and turning in her bed, wondering if he missed her the way she missed him.
"Your hands are like ice," he offered.
His thumb brushed over wrist, just above her pulse point, which gave a startled little jump. Hadn't she just been numb? But a little tendril of warmth rippled outward from his gentle touch. Ginny turned again, this time her whole body turned toward him. There was a look in his eye she didn't quite recognize, but it made nearly set her to crying again. But Ginny didn't have any tears left in her, so instead, she took his other hand in hers and held on as tight as she could, letting his touch push away the numbness.