"Nobody said it was easy, it's such a shame for us to part. Nobody said it was easy, no one said it would be this hard. Oh take me back to the start"

The Scientist, Coldplay –

Chapter10.

***

Running out the front door of Zabini Manor Virginia looked over her shoulder as Blaise chased her. It was a warm afternoon and the sounds of her laughter could be heard over the constant thumping of their feet on the ground. Jumping over a flowerbed she could feel Blaise gaining on her. Her long red curls flying over her hair she gave up as she reached the edge of the manicured gardens and let Blaise catch her. Laughing together they fell to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs, he underneath her cushioning her fall.

Brushing her hair out of her eyes Blaise looked up at her in wonder.

"What?" she asked smiling at the way he was watching her.

"It's good to see you laughing again" he said simply before leaning forward and claiming her lips with his.

They lost themselves in the moment enjoying the warm summer sun and just the presence of each other. Not having to worry about the imposing war, the differences in houses at Hogwarts or the fact that her family had kicked her out and practically disowned her only days before hand. They were simply two teenagers enjoying being with each other.

Pulling back gently he smiled at her whimper with the loss of contact, that smile quickly being replaced with a look of seriousness. "They don't deserve you Rose. Your family, if they loved you with all the power of their souls for a lifetime, they couldn't love you as much as I do in a single day" he said quietly"

Her eyes darkened as she tried to blink back the tears that threatened to fall. Leaning down she kissed him again, not with the intensity of their previous session but a light kiss like a butterfly skimming over your skin.

"I love you Blaise" she said as she gently nestled her head in the gap between his head and shoulder. Both of them falling silent as they slowly drifted off to sleep.

That was how Rohan and Cassandra Zabini found them an hour later, a tangle of legs with Blaise's arms wrapped protectively around her waist.

"He really does love her" Rohan murmured to his mother as she fondly watched her youngest child.

"Yes he does. She's a special girl. I dread to think what this war will do to her. She's been torn apart from her family already..." Cassandra trailed off.

Her heart went out to Virginia, she too had been in a similar situation years earlier. When Voldemort was gaining power her husband had been an impressionable Slytherin who had been taken in by the promises off power and prosperity. She had been Cassandra Norrington back then, a Ravenclaw, as had all her family. The Norrington's were pure bloods and direct descendants from Rowena Ravenclaw. She had lost most of her family in the war in some way or another. Her parents hadn't liked the fact that she was dating a Slytherin in fact they had forbidden it. Not that it did much good. Cassandra followed her heart and fell in love with Jonathan Zabini.

She had become estranged from her parents in her final year at Hogwarts and when the killings started her twin sister Sarah (there was always a Sarah Norrington in every generation) had been a casualty in an attack on Hogsmeade. Her last thoughts were of Cassandra and through her sister death she was reunited with her parents, if only for a short time. After the funeral which her brother, Benjamin, had come back from America for Cassandra's parents left for America and haven't been back since.

Despite this family was extremely important to Cassandra Zabini and she installed these values in her sons and her daughter. She kept in sporadic contact with her parents and brother in America and now her daughter had moved there as well. Sarah Zabini, her only daughter, had done what no Zabini or Norrington had ever done, she had married a muggle. Her husband was Adam Anderson a doctor who had made quite a career for himself. They kept in close contact with Sarah whom she named in honor of her twin sister and her daughter Jessica in America and the Zabinis regularly visited the family over there. Cassandra was proud of her family and now it looked like Virginia would one day become a part of it.

***

Virginia Zabini was roused from her sleep by an insistent voice. "Wake up Gin. Virginia!" the voice called.

Groaning she rolled over and tried to swat away whoever was making the noises. Trying to remember where she was a vision of her dead husband standing in the living room staring at her flashed through her mind.

"Blaise!" she said loudly sitting up, startling the other person in the room.

"Gin?" a male voice said softly to her right.

She turned to face the voice and found herself staring into Harry Potter's concerned green eyes. Looking around she found herself in the living room right where she had seen Blaise.

"Where is Blaise?" she asked urgently grabbing Harry's arm.

Harry frowned as he looked at her clearly confused.

"Blaise is dead Gin, don't you remember?" he asked her gently.

Shaking her head trying to clear her thoughts she sighed deeply. Looking at Harry again she tried to smile at her but found it was to much effort.

"I know, I think I must have knocked my head when I fainted" she said quietly lying to him, knowing that she saw an apparition of her husband.

"Are you ok? I was coming to see you and one of your house elves said that you had just fainted. I was getting ready to take you to St Mungo's" he said to her as he helped her to her feet.

Letting herself be lead over to the couch she sat down next to Harry. Seeing that he was looking for some type of explanation she sighed again and ran a hand through her ponytail.

"I haven't eaten today, I just felt really faint all of a sudden and the next thing I know I was waking up with you here" she said casually looking over towards the window where the curtains had swayed earlier.

"You sure?" Harry asked taking her hand and making her look at him.

"I'm fine" she replied forcing a smile onto her face. "So what were you coming to see me about?"

"Uh I thought that we could go out for dinner tonight, a chance for us to catch up and talk" he asked slightly nervous his eyes not meeting hers.

"Oh" she said surprised not to sure what to say.

Taking that as a no Harry quickly let go of her hand and stood up. "It's ok if you don't want to. I know that you busy with Josh and Grace, the shop and Christmas coming up. I was just hoping that – "he said quickly before being cut off.

"Harry shut up! I'd love to come tonight" she said smiling at his behavior.

A smile lit up over his face and she knew that she had made the right decision. Standing up next to him she touched his arm gently and led him out of the room. "Where about's and at what time?" she asked him.

"I'll come here to pick you up at 7 o'clock is that ok?"

"That's fine with me. Now I hate to be rude but I've got to get some work things done" she told him steering him towards the front door.

"Your sure that your all right?" Harry asked as he paused before leaving the manor.

Nodding at him she shooed him out the front door and was about to close it when he called her name again.

"Wear muggle clothes tonight" he said to her before apparating away.

Closing the front door Virginia rushed back into the living room her wand in hand. Carefully looking around she found no trace of Blaise or that anybody had even been there. Putting her wand back into her robes she smiled sadly at the portrait of the three Zabini children; Rohan, Sarah and Blaise. Thinking she must be going crazy she smiled up at the portrait and left the room once more.

Deciding not to go back to work that afternoon she flooed the girls at the shop and told them to close up at five and go home. After getting a glass of red wine Virginia decided to do some reading. Strolling into the library she grabbed a muggle book "Gone With the Wind" and went back to her bedroom to relax and read.

***

Hermonie Weasley apparated back home after her argument with Virginia nearly in tears. She entered the kitchen to find Ron, Fred, George, Charlie and Bill talking around the table a plate full of sandwiched in front of them.

"Hermonie how was lunch?" Ron asked her as he got up from his seat to give her a quick kiss.

"It was ok" she said quietly obviously lying.

Ron sighed and looked over at his brothers. "Did Ginny go?" he asked her.

Nodding Hermonie went and fetched herself a glass of water.

"And?" Fred asked her butting in to the conversation.

"And what Fred? She was there, she ignored me and then I followed her out when we left wanting to speak to her. We got into a fight and she apparated away ok" she said coolly.

"Sorry" Fred said as his shoulders sagged.

"She's got so much anger in her. And it hurts me to know that I helped put some of it there" Hermonie told Ron, and then faced the rest of them knowing they were listening as well.

"I don't think she will ever completely forgive any of us. What she has been through, she's carried so much anger and hurt for all these years it's not something that you can easily let go of" Charlie muttered sadly.

"I just hate not knowing. The fact that none of us know her. She fought in the war, got married, and had children. She has this whole life that we don't know about." Bill said thoughtfully.

"Is she coming to the Burrow for Christmas?" Bill asked Hermonie.

"Only for dinner. She said they are spending Christmas Day with the Zabini's and Malfoy's but she would come for dinner" she explained as she leant back into Ron. She smiled to herself as he placed an arm around her waist and gently rubbed her stomach. It was only three months to go till the baby was born. They were both hoping for a girl this time around but would be more that happy to have another son.

"If only Percy was still here..." George said out loud speaking for the first time.

"What?" numerous male voices said at the same time. They didn't really talk about Percy much. His death hurt their parents very much. Losing him had been like losing Ginny all over again he had been their last link to her.

"You know how much Percy loved her. He was always her favorite even after everything he did. He stood by Gin when none of us did. You know they were in contact with each other right up until his death. He knew about her wedding, about everything. If anyone could bring this family back together again it would be Percy" he stated sighing deeply.

"He must have been there at the wedding. He would of met Zabini." Fred stated talking to himself more than anyone else.

Ron and Hermonie exchanged glances, which didn't go unnoticed by everyone else.

"What?" someone said voicing what everyone else wanted to know.

Ron left the room and came back a moment later with a black photo album. Putting it in the middle of the table everyone could see gold letting on the covering, a fancy swirling of the letters B and V entwined with each other. Opening up the front everyone saw a photo of Ginny and Blaise dancing together, staring deeply into each other's eyes.

"Wedding photos? Where did you get these?" Charlie asked awed.

"Penelope bought then over a few months after the war had ended. She came to the Burrow one day with a box full of some things of Percy's. She said that we didn't deserve to know. That Percy would of never of forgiven us for the way we had acted. But then she said that one day Ginny would return and it would be up to us to make it up to her. That was the last time Penelope came to the Burrow" Hermonie said softly.

"Apparently everyone at the wedding was given an album like this as a gift" she continued.

They all turned back to look at the book as they flicked through the twenty or so pictures. They stopped about half was through on a picture of Ginny and Percy walking down the aisle together.

"He gave her away" Ron told them.

The continued looking through pictures of the various guests; Dumbledore, Professor Snape, Professor McGonoggal, Remus and Tonks, a few Hogwarts students. And of course the Zabini's.

The final page was two individual shots one each of Ginny and Blaise. They focused on the shot of Ginny. She was outside that much was obvious. She was standing under a birch tree which had no leaves left on it due to winter. There was a very light snow on the ground and there were delicate snowflakes falling through the air. She looked truly stunning. She wasn't looking at the camera but rather beyond it, her eyes twinkling merrily as she laughed at something.

"We will just have to make it a special Christmas this year. Make Gin feel really welcome, let her know that we love her" Bill said.

All of them silently agreeing.

***

Staring at herself in the mirror Virginia smiled as she put on a pair of diamond drop earrings. She was ready for Harry who would be picking her up for dinner soon. Dress muggle, he had told her. So she had. She was wearing a black formfitting knee length cocktail dress with matching heels. Her hair had been curled and was placed in a simple bun on top of her head. She was wearing the jewelry that Draco had given her upon the opening of Malfoy's. A pair of modest diamond drop earrings with a matching pendant, which hung from a gold chain around her neck. Turning to face her children who were lounging on her bed she grinned at them.

"How do I look?" she asked twirling around.

"Like a princess!" Grace said happily looking up from her coloring book.

"A princess hey?" Ginny said as she kissed her daughter on the forehead.

"Josh?" she asked looking at her son who had been silent since finding out she was going out to dinner.

"What?" he said grumpily not looking at his mum.

"Josh hunny it's just dinner. I'll be free tomorrow afternoon so the three of us will do something then ok?" she said softly sitting in between the two of them on the bed.

Looking down at her son she found him smiling up at her. Reaching over she hugged him tightly and ruffled his hair.

"I love you both very much" she said softly into his hair but loud enough for him to hear.

The soft popping noise interrupted the comfortable silence in the room as a house elf appeared.

"Mistress, Harry Potter is waiting for you in the foyer" she said before disappearing again.