Disclaimer: I hate writing these things, but if I don't, I'll get sued. So here

it goes. I own nothing except for the plot. Everything else

belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Chapter 12

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," said an older wizard, "You may kiss the bride." Harry's heart swelled with happiness as he watched his two best friends walk out of the hall as husband and wife. They looked truly happy.

Five years had past since they had all graduated from Hogwarts. Harry had stayed in touch with Ron and Hermione, but only through letters. He was shocked when Ron asked in a letter for him to be the best man for the wedding. He gladly accepted, but was still surprised. The two hadn't been very close in recent years. Harry hadn't had the easiest time during the past five years and distanced himself from everyone so that he didn't have to burden them with his problems. The problems in his life took a lot out of him and Harry looked a lot different than he used to.

Harry was brought back to the present time when Hermione's maid of honor took hold of his arm to walk out of the hall. Right outside the hall was the room where the reception was being held. Immediately, he walked over to Ron and Hermione to congratulate them.

"Congratulations you two," he said before hugging both of them.

"Thanks," Ron said with a huge grin on his face. Harry could tell that he was very proud at the moment.

"I'm glad we were able to see you again, Harry. It's been five years since we last saw you," Hermione said.

"Yeah, I know. It's been too long," Harry said in reply.

"Where are you living?" Ron asked.

"I really don't have a home. I've just been traveling around."

"Oh, well, if you ever need a place to stay, you're always welcome in our home," Hermione said sounding as if she was trying to think of a way to convince Harry to stay in Hogsmeade.

"Thanks. I'll remember that. Anyway, how's Ginny doing?" Harry asked.

"Oh, you don't know. She's -" Ron began.

"She's doing fine! She seems really happy," Hermione cut in looking at Ron to shut him up.

"What's with the look, Hermione? You look like you're ready to kill Ron. Is there something you're not telling me? Did something happen to Ginny?" Harry asked nervously. He didn't know what he would do if something horrible happened to her.

"No, she's just fine. Look, you can see for yourself. Here she comes now," Ron said pointing at Ginny who was making her way over to them.

"Congratulations you guys! I always knew you two would wind up getting married!" Ginny exclaimed practically ignoring Harry. This hurt Harry, he thought that they had gotten past when he broke up with her in his sixth year.

"Thanks, Ginny. Look who's here," Hermione said motioning towards Harry.

Ginny turned around and looked straight at Harry, but didn't recognize him at first. As I mentioned before, Harry looked very different now. What Ginny saw was a man that looked about 35 years old who had all happiness sucked out of him. Then she looked at his eyes. Even though they, too, looked unhappy, she could never forget those emerald green eyes.

"Harry!" she said so loud that everyone turned around to see what happened. Seeing that nothing was wrong and that Ginny was now a bright red, they continued on with what they were doing.

"Hi, Gin," Harry said smiling.

"It's so nice to see you. It's been a long time!"

"Yeah, I know."

"What's wrong, Harry? You look so sad. I didn't even recognize you. That's why I walked right past you."

"I really don't feel like talking about it right now. This is supposed to be a happy day."

"Oh, ok. If you ever need to talk, I'm here for you," then she added trying to make the conversation happier, "How's Sirius?" Little did she know that this topic would not make the conversation happier.

"Dead," Harry said so bluntly that it sent a shiver down Ginny's spine.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry, Harry. I didn't know."

"It's ok."

"I can't believe Ron or Hermione didn't tell me."

"Don't blame them. I didn't tell them about it."

"Oh. Well, if you don't mind me asking, what happened?"

"Voldemort."

"But you killed him. I read about it in the newspaper."

"Yeah, but that was after he killed Sirius. Sirius died right before I killed Voldemort."

"Harry, I'm not trying to sound mean or anything, but you don't seem bothered by this. You're not showing any emotion."

"This is going to sound stupid, but in a way, I can't show any emotion. Sure, I cried when it first happened. I mean, my God, I saw the man die! After a while, I couldn't cry anymore. Since then, I haven't cried."

"Oh, I'm sorry about bringing it up. I shouldn't have."

"No, it's ok. I probably would've asked the same thing. Anyway, let's get on a happier note. How's everything with you?"

Ginny looked as though this was a question that she didn't want to answer. Eventually, she answered. "Everything has been really good. I'm really happy."

"That's good. So, work's been good?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I mean, how good can work be?" she laughed. Just then, a man that Harry thought to be about his own age walked over to them.

"Hi, Michael," Ginny said to the man. Then seeing that Harry was looking at him said, "Harry, this is Michael, my fiancée."

Harry who had held out his hand to shake Michael's quickly pulled his hand back to his side. "Your fiancée?"

"Yeah," Michael said, "I was in your class at Hogwarts."

"I- I- I don't remember seeing you," Harry stuttered still being shocked by the news he had heard. He realized then that this was the bit of information Hermione didn't want Ron to tell him.

"I was in Ravenclaw. That's probably why you don't remember me."

Harry felt like shouting, "Who the hell cares what house you were in?!? Get your hands off of Ginny!" Instead, all he could say was, "Oh."

"Did you get the notice about the reunion?" Michael asked.

'Why is he being so nice? This is preventing me from hating the guy!' Harry thought.

"Did you?" Ginny asked. She had a confused look on her face. She couldn't understand why Harry was acting so oddly.

"Oh, sorry about that. I was just thinking about something. Anyway, yeah, I got it."

"Well then maybe we'll see you there. It's a shame we never got to know each other while we were at school, but maybe we can then."

"Wait a minute. Did you just say 'we'll see you there'?"

"Yeah, meaning Ginny and I. We're allowed to bring a guest."

"I forgot about that. Yeah, so, I guess I'll see you there. If you excuse me, I have to find the newly married couple."

"No problem. It was nice meeting you," Michael said holding out his hand.

"Yeah," Harry said shaking the hand, "Same here."

He then walked off looking for Ron and Hermione. When he found them, stood in front of them and said, "Why didn't you tell me that Ginny was engaged??"

"Harry, it's my fault," Hermione said, "Ron wanted to tell you, but I told him not to. I didn't want you to get hurt."

"How did you find out?" Ron asked.

"The guy walked over to us and Ginny introduced him. I felt like such a git!"

"Harry, I'm sorry," Hermione said.

Harry calmed down slightly and said, "It's ok. I'm just still in shock from the news. I can't believe that she's actually engaged."

"What did you expect her to do, Harry? Wait around for you?" Ron pointed out.

Harry looked at his feet. He had expected Ginny to wait for him. He thought that there was still a chance for them. "In a way, I did. I was hoping that today I could tell her the truth about what happened. I mean, Voldemort's gone. So there was no reason to protect her anymore."

"I'm sorry that things didn't work out. I'm sure that you could find someone else," Hermione said.

"I don't think I can. No girl is as perfect as Ginny is," Harry said looking over to where Ginny was laughing with Michael, "Listen, I think I'm going to leave. I'm really not in the mood to be celebrating."

"We understand, Harry. Are you going to the reunion?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, so I'll see you guys there. Congratulations again," Harry said. He then left the reception coming to the realization that the woman he loved was no longer his.

A/N - Wow! That's a pretty long chapter. I hoped you all enjoyed it. I know I only put Chapter 11 up yesterday, but I came up with this last night and I wanted to put it up before I forgot the idea. By the way, I own Michael. I would've put him in my disclaimer, but he came up out of the blue, so I didn't put him in at first. Sure, I could just scroll up to where my disclaimer is, but I'm too lazy to do that. Anyway, please review! My goal is to get 100 reviews. Please help me reach that goal. Thanks!!