Chapter 4: May-June
The coward, formally known as Harry Potter, had conveniently enough decided to follow a sudden lead on a highly secret Auror case he was working on. A lead that took him to Southern Africa of all places. He put in the paperwork, stating a "delicate and immediate situation" and that he would need to leave immediately, with no way of staying in communication. Something he had done often before, so… completely believable.
While Harry was MIA, the vultures kept hounding Ginny. There was not a single place she could go to that was not immediately swarming with fans raging and yelling at her intermixed with reports looking for a good picture, quote, or anything they could use to depict her as a wilting mess (which she sort of was) or enraged harpy on the war path (again… true enough, her fiery red hair and history on the field gave merit to that) to print in their gossip rags.
Just like with the Burrow, she didn't feel comfortable staying at Neville or Luna's places for long, especially after the crowds would swarm, so on her second day staying with the Lovegoods she decided to look for a place of her own. Easier said than done.
Some places didn't want to rent to "Harry's misery', or the owners were amenable (she was paying rent in cash) but always there was a tenet or two who would threaten any array of consequences if she were allowed to live there. Some places didn't want to rent to her while she was being followed by swarms of yelling people, and some places said they would rent to her but at an increased rent. 3-4 times increased rent.
Ginny wanted a place of her own, but not at the expense of not being able to eat. So when the crowds got too loud at the Lovegoods, Ginny moved to the Longbottom Manor and started searching farther away from London but was experiencing the same problems. After a month, the crowds followed her yet again and when Neville's grandmother was showing signs of stress Ginny decided to stay with Bill for a short time. She thought that the "swarm" (as Hermione called them) would have stopped looking at her family homes as a place she would go to and as a bonus Shell cottage was protected and maybe like with the Burrow, they would take longer to find her and not be able to get too close.
She was wrong. They showed up the second day she was there. Bill and Fleur told her it was not a problem and she could stay as long as she liked, or until Charlie returned to Romania from his dragon rescue mission, but Ginny felt as if she was keeping her nieces and nephew from being carefree children. She expanded her search parameters yet again but the only place she found was too pricey and she was hearing rumors from her teammates that due to a mix of the character assassination and theories being printed and said about her, plus the threats the club had been receiving she may not have a job next season; so she held back.
When Charlie's one week rescue mission had to be extended (due to the dragons being ill and in bad shape) to 'at least another 4-6 weeks', the guilt for what she was imposing on Bill's family, her worry and anger over Harry's mysterious and continued disappearance, the growing hysteria of the crowds (they were blaming her for Harry's absence and even claiming she had hurt him some way) the stress of still not hearing from Harry thus not being able to plan and take action for her future, and her own growing despondence in general she was ready to snap.
It was during this time that Dean and Seamus contacted her. They had been on a muggle ski trip while she was having her troubles and wanted to contact her to offer support when they got back but been unable to find her. It was Neville who eventually determined they really wanted to help and thus told them which form of communication she still received and checked in order to contact her.
It was them who told her how to convert Gallions to Pounds (something Harry had always taken care of because of "too much bureaucracy") and the incredible exchange rate, expanded on the rules and regulations about magic folk in muggle areas, and the genius and ease of hiding in the muggle world. Dean also told her how vital the muggle practice of 'going to therapy' was to him during his own recent marital trials, and how much being able to talk to someone who knew and understood the magical world as well as being trained in understanding the human psyche helped.
Dean had highly recommended Seamus's cousin (a squib who was a highly regarded therapist in both the muggle and magical world who worked in the outskirts of muggle London) to her and then the two friends spent the next hour basically rearranging her life. Ginny knew she should have been infuriated over it, but at that point she was out of ideas (even Hermione had recommended counseling but didn't know anyone that would be helpful to Ginny, which was a driving factory in Ginny being open to trying it) and too tired. They knew what they were talking about and she knew so little about the muggle world (when Harry would show her muggle things it was always very little and short, mainly they would apprarate* to an approved site, walk to a movie theater – the only part of the muggle world that he would show her-, then take a stroll in a park and have a treat, then apparate home) so she was more than willing to sit back and let two re-found friends take her in hand and lead her to a safe place they trusted.