Chapter 5: June

The return of Seamus and Dean had been a godsend. Yes, each and every member of Ginny's family and her 2 closest friends helped her in her time of need, but it was the peace the Thomas family cottage and the guiding hand of her counselor Eilis, a squib cousin of Seamus who worked in the muggle world as a counselor but had both muggle and magical patients, that had the most impact.

It was through the sessions with Eilis and the time spent on reflection in the peace of the cottage that helped her see how she had defined and shaped herself until now.

She was the Weasley girl, the one girl among 6 brothers, she was a fiery redhead (something she had downplayed off the field because of Harry, but very much liked about herself), a fierce defender of muggles and muggle-born rights, a Harpy (a fact that was no longer true), a wife (a fact she would change as soon as her husband resurfaced or if Hermione's far-fetched plan worked), a friend, a defender, and alley, a reader (Hermione's influence), a home-chef and skilled baker (it should not have been so surprising her given who her mother was), a crocheter (something Eilis had recommended as similar but not the same as knitting and highly relaxing), a family oriented and loving aunt(per her mother's insistence after the war weekly family dinners were instituted. Every Sunday night everyone was expected to make the utmost effort to attend. It was something Ginny found she really enjoyed. It was like dinners when she was younger, but better. Now in addition to 6 brothers she had their wives to even out the odds during arguments, and their children to spoil, coo over, and play with). And the truth was that with the small adjustments of embracing her unique temper (to some degree) and finally being able to change 'wife' into 'ex-wife' she was absolutely fine with that.

But she would need to find a new job. She had saved over the years and even with the Thomas's refusal to let her pay rent and Eilis charged her the 'family rate' her savings were dwindling rapidly. At the rate she was going, she would be fine for a year or maybe two, but after that an income would be a necessity.

After her long holiday ended, the Harpies had quietly, but officially, let her know that due to the increase in hostility towards her, and by association the team in general, they would be breaking her contract for safety reasons. They thanked her for revitalizing the team and the brand (their words), and for being vital in winning last season (Again their words), but they simply did not have the resources to protect her and the team. There already had been several fights between Ginny's quidditch fans and Harry's Potterheads that had been messy and costly to the club.

All told Ginny could not blame them, it was disappointing and painful, but they were a company after all and money always had the strongest voice. But her experiences with the housing market and the team had led her to the decision to become an independent agent. She would not sign on with a new team (though there had been several offers all around the world, which had been tempting). Several quidditich publications, including Seeker Weekly, had already reached out to her for a correspondent position. If she were to remain an independent sports commentator it could be a way to stay in touch with the sport that she dearly loved could not be a part of in the same way.

Another avenue she was pursuing was writing a book in the form of a compilation of overlooked charms and small spells for first-year magic students. Simple long-forgotten and obsolete beginner's spells that she had learnt easily; modernized, amended and adjusted till the point that they were easily cast but with very practical and useful results that often caught her victims by surprise.

Being the youngest of seven and the last to go to Hogwarts she vividly remembered the envy she felt when her brothers would show off their casting skills, the excitement she felt the first time she was able to cast with perfect results, and how good it was to use obscure, obsolete, and long forgotten or overlooked spells to pay her brothers back for the tricks they used on her or when they teased her. She knew she was a good writer and story teller and if she told the story behind her discovery of the spell (she loved reading old journals of her ancestors stored in trunks in the Burrow attics and imagine herself in the stories she read), the changes she made to modernize them (or maybe just the results of her modernization), and the reaction she got when she cast them, it would be a best seller. Heck if she were to advertise it correctly it could be used as a textbook in history or charms classes in one of the schools.

It would take time, but she had plenty of that: she had no job, nothing that she needed to dedicate time to, and due to Harry's continued absence (it had been 5 months since the first story broke) she was still a social pariah and thus stayed away from the wizarding world as much as she could anyways.

Because there had been more than 5 months since she last had word from Harry, and she had excellent and non-refutable proof of his adultery (the East Asian woman, Kiran, had her baby –in London and without Harry- and a paternity spell showed that it was in fact a Potter baby) the ministry had agreed to grant her divorce sooner than the norm.

Normally several appearances at the ministry would be required to state, prove, and discuss the dissolution of a marriage but even the strongest of spells could not locate Harry, he had left with no prior word or plan. He had not checked into the Auror offices, nor had he responded to owls and notes at previously checked drop points. The only reason the world as a whole knew he was still alive was Molly's clock showed him to be "traveling"; the ministry had another reason to believe he was alive: money was regularly being taken from the Black family vault (that he had inherited from Serius) by a magical means that could only be done by the vault owner themselves; something they wanted to keep secrete for some unknown reason.

Therefore they had concluded that Harry had abandoned his wife and life, and if he did not respond to summons or communications by the spring equinox (a little over 10 months from the beginning of this whole nightmare) they would grant her a divorce. 12 Grimmauld Place (where the couple resided) and the contents of the Potter ancestral vault would revert back to Harry, but Ginny's vault (which Ginny deposited half of her paycheck to since the beginning of her marriage as a fund for their future children), and half of their combined vault would be granted to Ginny; and she could officially remove Potter from her last name and simply be Ginevra Weasley again. Ginny was counting the days.

Convincing the ministry that Harry was he was in fact hiding and not working a case played an integral part in the granting of her divorce, and oddly enough in her overall outlook and mental health. In essence Ginny had to prove that Harry Potter was not working on a case in his capacity of an Auror in some far reaching location in the world, as his fans insisted, but that he was hiding. He was perfectly happy to travel and wait out the storm while Ginny was left to face the fall out.

Ginny felt it funny that almost every woman that claimed to have had an affair with Harry, had virtually the exact same story: they met Harry on a case/in a pub/ during an interview, they immediately recognized him and told him how they were such a fan of his and they always believed in him, he would smile his little awkward half-smile and look flustered, they would be make small physical contact with him, he would look in their eyes, a connection was felt, and the pull was too strong. Some would hold-out in deference to his married state, but Harry would talk about how lonely he is on the job, how much stress he was under and how even though he loved his wife and was proud of her achievements, many times their schedules would mean they didn't see each other more than 3 times in a week, and how he appreciated having someone to talk to and who understood. Of course this would lead to Ginny becoming some sort of heartless villain (even though it was Harry who was away from home most of the time. And why did no one ask: if he wanted to spend time with his wife, what was he doing alone in a pub?) and Harry simply being in need of comfort from a friendly face, which often lead to several weeks/months of secret meetings which led to torrid/ passionate / kinky/ imaginative sex before Harry would feel guilty for "going behind his wife's back", or "need to focus on the case" and end the affair. It was always he who had ended the affair and when he left, he left. There was no more communication, no way to contact him. Nothing. So when a few of the women found themselves in the family way, they could not tell him, some miscarried, some didn't carry the babe to term, some gave the child to family, and some bore his children. To date Harry Potter had 5 children: 3 girls and 2 boys. Kiran's child was a girl.

The worst part of the whole ordeal was that Ginny had wanted children, Harry said it was too soon. He needed to be more settled in his job before he could be the kind of father he wanted to be, the kind of father he wanted to have, the kind he thought Serious or James would have been.

Utter shite the whole of it! Now Harry bloody Potter had 5 children he never saw or acknowledged and Ginny was illustrated as a cold carrier-oriented termagant that denied Harry what he needed most in the world: to be put first. Harry was out traveling the world, living large if the withdrawals from his bank vault was any indication and Ginny was forced into hiding and out of a job.

She was the object of scorn and rage, she was blamed for everything. And she had believed it at first; but Eilis had told her and proven to her that when a person desires to cheat, nothing will stop them, the smallest thing will serve as an excuse or justification and no one is at fault but them, but if a person is and want to be faithful nothing anyone says or does can tempt them or lead them astray.

It was not her fault that Harry had betrayed her trust and broke their vows. It is not a person's (man or woman) job to keep their partner faithful; each person must act the adult and either keep their promise or be respectful and mature enough to let the other person know that they are struggling and together they will find a solution. Even if the solution is separation, regardless of their love or attachment. It is never okay to hurt and deceive someone like Harry had. Anyone who says different does not respect others or does not understand the gravity of the promises of marital vows.

It was the complete and absolute belief in the truth of this that helped Ginny face day after day, to the point that she was able to shrug off her past and enthusiastically look forward to the future. It was this belief that motivated her to do things that she had always wanted but didn't before. She had wanted to spend time in muggle London and experience many of the things Hermione talked about, but Harry always insisted that his muggle past was too painful and doing things the muggle way brought back difficult memories so he vary rarely ventured out of the wizarding world and way of doing things. When Hermione would go to the 'cinema' and talk enthusiastically about 'movies' she saw, then and only then had Harry taken her and shown her what a motion picture was and spent a day seeing the sights. But even that was limited to a movie theater and a stroll in a park before Harry had claimed that he needed to leave.

Now, with the help of her new magic-adjacent friends, she had lived in the muggle world and in the muggle way for almost 3 months and she loved it. Yes it was an adjustment, but the Thomas cottage was well warded against prying eyes so as long as she kept her magical doings inside she didn't have to go "full muggle" as Ron had joked. There moments of absolute awe, delight, confusion, and mystery. The first time she heard and used a mobile phone and used the internet were memories that she would cherish and fondly remember for the rest of her life.

Now she knew how a microwave worked (though she still preferred magic), had her own phone number with a data plan she phoned, texted, and emailed her friends often. Hermione had told her that since it was muggle technology being used in the wizarding world, there were no restrictions against it and told her how she used a satellite hot-spot and a home networking system to be able to use those things in her everyday life. She even said she would help Ginny make similar purchases and help her set it all up whenever she was ready to return to the wizarding world. Just the thought of keeping in touch with people she had met when she was ready to leave made it all better somehow.

And Ginny had made friends, in addition to strengthening her friendships with Seamus and Dean, she had made friends with Dean's family. Dean brought her news of the wizarding world, kept her hidden, listened to her woes, took her to new places, taught her new things, and became one more person she could add to the growing list of people she called "friends good enough to be family". His sister, Mary, often invited Ginny to her Stitch-n-bitch sessions and introduced her to science fiction/action movies; his brother, Sam, was a chef who introduced Ginny to cooking techniques and the joy lemon flavored baked goods brought as well as the healing properties of salted caramel not to mention to absolute necessity of a variety of different dances and music. Dean's youngest sister, Cathy was an aspiring fashion designer who was heavily into cos-play and historic dress. She taught Ginny how to research and draft a well written article. Ginny loved all of them so much and knew she would have close contact with each and every one of them for the rest of her life.

But the absolute best thing Ginny learned from the muggle world was a personal computer. Dean had taken her to buy a laptop when she was constantly needing to borrow one from the family. He set her up with two email accounts: one for actual mail and correspondence and bills, and another for signing up for web sites and mailing lists. And that was when Ginny was able to take the satchel of papers and notebooks and organize them into separate, but linked, documents. She was a natural techie, a person only had to show her how to do something once and she would soon master it. Sam often said she was a master at OpenOffice and Gimp!

It was these things that Eilis had recommended: something productive that is completely separate and different from who you thought yourself to be, something new that will help guide you into finding those things you like for yourself, and not because you liked it due to some sense of obligation or loyalty. It had worked and Ginny was relieved to discover that she had not feigned desire for anything, though she had consistently not partaken in activities because of other people's (former team mates and friends) comments and opinions.