A/N: Once again a HUGE thank you to all my reviewers! I hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as the last one. Just remember, that after this one there's only one more left…
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: One Night of Well Deserved Fun
One week later the initial phase of re-construction to the Hogwarts castle and grounds had begun. The real work would start the day after tomorrow when the remaining students left for the summer holidays. Professor McGonagall had promised the seventh years a graduation ceremony even if she had to do every bit of work herself. With the commencement a little more than sixteen hours away, Hermione continued to scribble down lines for her speech at a more furious pace than ever before.
"Your speech is going to be fine. I don't know why you're worrying so much," said Ron, rubbing her shoulders affectionately. "Even if it's lousy, they can't take the valedictorian title away, right?"
He was teasing, but Hermione swatted his hands away nevertheless. She had to finish a decent copy by first thing tomorrow morning because Professor McGonagall would be making a copy for every graduating student.
"Maybe if you left it alone for a bit – " Harry ended his suggestion right there seeing the look of aggravation forming on Hermione's face.
"I appreciate you two trying to make me feel better, but I'm never going to finish this if you keep interrupting me."
Any further words of encouragement Harry and Ron were going to give her were silenced. The last thing they wanted was to make her any more anxious then she already was.
"I reckon that if Lucius Malfoy has half a brain he's out of the country by now," said Ron, changing the subject.
"Draco's probably with him," Harry added.
No one had seen Draco Malfoy since the day the school was attacked. It was presumed he had run off like his father to avoid a lengthy prison sentence in Azkaban. If they were able to link his father to playing a crucial part in the invasion of the school, chances were that Draco had at least been a party to it.
"Do we have to talk about the Malfoy's?" Hermione said to them.
Both boys shrugged in response, but let the matter drop.
"Seamus said there's a party in Hogsmeade tonight, do you want to check it out?" Ron asked Harry.
"I suppose we could go," Harry replied. He hoped Ron didn't want to leave right away. He didn't want to make it obvious that he was waiting for Ginny to get back.
"Thanks for asking if I'd like to go," said Hermione, looking up from her pages of writing. "You just assumed I would say no without even bothering to ask."
Ron's mouth fell open in astonishment and although Harry was shocked he wasn't quite so much as Ron.
"I think writing all those NEWTS made you blow a few brain cells," said Ron, stunned, "because I think you just said you wanted to go to a party full of immature teenagers doing things you normally wouldn't approve of."
"I am entitled to one night of fun, aren't I?"
Ron turned to Harry and said, "I think I've fallen into an alternate reality where this Hermione Granger is the exact opposite of the person we know."
While they both laughed, Hermione turned away looked rather insulted. "If you two are going to keep laughing at me, then we'll all stay here. How does that sound?"
Their laughter died immediately, and deciding to take advantage of the situation, Hermione piled up her parchments in her hands and rose to her feet. "If you two don't mind, I have to finish this before the party starts."
Even after she was gone they thought it best not to make fun of her in case she was listening in. But after everything they had been through, everyone – especially Hermione – needed one, worry-free and fun-filled night.
It was Ginny's responsibility to clean up the spell books and potion ingredients lying around the hospital wing at the end of the night. Normally, she wouldn't mind the task but on that particular evening she couldn't be bothered to do it, so she was rushing through the job. Hopefully, Madame Pomfrey wouldn't notice. She supposed she might go into Hogsmeade for the graduation/victory party that was being held in the newly reconstructed Three Broomsticks. She wondered if Harry would be going. His mood had greatly improved since Ron's release from the hospital wing, so there was a chance he might be up to socializing in a large group.
She heard someone coming up behind her, and thought it was Madame Pomfrey coming to check on her progess. She was bound to notice the slight disarray she was leaving the hospital wing in, but when the voice spoke it definitely did not belong to the Hogwarts Matron.
"I guess you've had your hands full around here this last little while," said Sirius, glancing around at the few remaining patients still waiting to be transferred to St. Mungo's.
"I haven't done that much," she said modestly. "Madame Pomfrey and the ministry doctors did the real work."
"Not the way my godson talks. He makes it sound like you've had a hand in saving mostly everyone that's come in here."
She blushed at the praise Harry had given her. At first she had thought he would be angry because of the sleeping drought she had given him, but surprisingly he had harboured no ill feelings towards her. "That's nice of him to say that, but it's not really true."
"You know it's not easy for Harry to let people in to his life," Sirius began, "but he let you in, and you have no idea how sorry I am that I ruined that. I thought I was looking out for him, but all I did was add to the personal hell he'd built for himself."
"It wasn't entirely your fault, Sirius. Harry and I had other problems."
"Even so, I should have let him make his own choices."
She finished putting away the pain killer sedatives, and turned to Sirius. "It was never meant to work out with us. I know that now."
"Don't give up on him, Ginny. He may yet surprise you."
With those words said, Sirius departed, leaving Ginny with her mind on tidying up the hospital wing even less than before. Though things had changed between her and Harry – for the better – since the final battle, she had not wanted to put any additional pressure on him. He had already seemed so – she didn't want to say fragile, but that was the only word she could think of to describe him since the end of the war. The last thing he needed right now was a relationship, or so that's what she kept telling herself because she was probably just as scared as him at the idea of starting things up again. When she really thought about it she wondered how things could be any different this time around. Harry may not have the weight of the wizarding world on his shoulders anymore, but he still had a lot of emotional baggage. Though it was partially her fault the way their relationship had ended up, she wasn't sure if she could handle it all again.
After she was satisfied that Madame Pomfrey would not behead her in the morning for the state she had left her hospital wing in, Ginny made her way back to Gryffindor Tower. When she got there, she found her brother and Harry locked in a game of chess. Almost from the moment she walked in Harry's eyes locked with hers, and she got the distinct feeling he had been waiting for her.
Ron kicked him under the table. "It's your move, mate."
Harry immediately glued his eyes to the chessboard, muttering, "right, sorry."
"Are you coming tonight, Gin?" Ron asked her, while he awaited Harry's next move.
Ginny watched Ron's knight decapitate Harry's pawn. She had seen that was the wrong move to make just by glancing at the chessboard once. He was obviously distracted. "Sure, why not? When are we going?" She decided that a night of no responsibility was definitely in order.
Ron jerked a thumb towards the stairs leading to the girl's dorm. "When her Royal Highness finishes changing – or at least that's what she said she was going to do. She's been up there for twenty minutes. I don't know how it can take you girls so long to pick out clothes."
"I'll have you know I was not spending all that time deciding what to wear," said Hermione from at the top of the landing. She began walking down, saying, "I had some new lines come to me that I had to add in to my speech."
"Starting right now and for the rest of the night you are not allowed any more inspirational thoughts," Ron said to her, in a mock serious tone.
Hermione took the bait. "And if I do?"
"Then I get to rip up your speech and write you a brand new one – complete with grammar and spelling mistakes."
Ginny caught Harry's eye and they both started laughing. While Ron and Hermione took a few more friendly jabs at each other during the most docile row Ginny had ever seen them have, she looked at Harry and after they had both stopped laughing, asked as casually as she could, "are you coming with us?" It was his prerogative if he wanted to stay behind, but she really wished he would come out and enjoy himself.
"It's not as if I have anything more pressing than a party at the moment." He was actually smiling as he said it.
Shortly after, Ron and Harry were packing up their game of chess and together the four of them made for the portrait hole, destined for Hogsmeade.
It was a surprisingly humid June night, and Harry was glad they had decided to forgo any cloaks. Even stranger then the humidity was the calmness he felt as they crossed the Hogwarts grounds and took the path that lead into Hogsmeade. He wasn't tensing for an attack or holding his wand out for protection. It had been quite a long time since they had been able to walk at night in the open, without having to fear for their lives. Harry had almost forgotten what this freedom felt like.
"What do you reckon is going on with them?" Ginny asked from beside him. She indicated towards Ron and Hermione who were walking several feet in front of them.
Harry shrugged in response. "They seem to be more comfortable around each other now." He wasn't sure what to make of Ron and Hermione's relationship these days. They seemed to be on the verge of trying to work things out, but neither Ron nor Hermione had said anything about it, and he hadn't felt right asking. He had faith though, that everything would work out between them.
"If they were both smart, they would hurry up and fix things already."
"We're not deaf," Ron growled without turning around. "We can hear everything you're saying."
Ginny muttered the word 'good' only loud enough so Harry would hear and then let the matter drop. They were at the Three Broomsticks now anyways. Ron pulled open the heavy wooded door and music, laughing, and shouting filled their ears. He and Hermione walked in, and Ginny held the door open as if to go in, but stopped when she saw Harry hanging back.
"Aren't you coming in?" She asked him. He looked like a man with a million thoughts going around in his head, but unable to put any of it in to words. He was staring at her so intently it was starting to frighten her. She let the door to the Three Broomsticks shut. "Harry, what is it?"
The silence seemed to stretch forever before he finally spoke. "You were right."
She had no idea what he was talking about. "What was I right about?"
"An argument we had before we broke up," he started, "you accused me of being emotionless with you, and you were right. I was too afraid of what you made me feel, so I took the coward's way out and let you go. Sirius may have had a hand in the way things turned out, but I'm the reason we're not together. I couldn't understand how someone could be so love in love with just me and not 'Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived.' I've hated myself for not being the person you deserve to be with, and for not being able to tell you how I felt when you needed to hear it most."
"Harry, I – I don't know what to say," she said, fumbling for words.
"You don't have to say anything. You've already said more than you should have to," he said to her. "I've never told anyone I loved them before – not Ron or Hermione, or even Sirius. But it's different with them," he tried telling her. "It's always there, it just never gets said. I think the problem is me. I didn't know what real love was while I was growing up, so I don't know how to express it. I would have given anything to grow up in a house like yours and Ron's, where everyone's so open and says what they're feeling, regardless of whether it's appropriate or not. Maybe if I had been encouraged to talk about what I was feeling as I was growing up, I wouldn't have such a hard time dealing with my feelings now. I know there's nothing I can say or do to make up for the last seven months, but I want to try, if you'll let me." He paused briefly, his gaze unwavering, and said, "I love you, Ginny Weasley."
It was funny how three words could change your life. Three words she never thought would come out of Harry Potter's mouth had been said - and meant for her alone. She couldn't describe the joy she was feeling, just that the tears rolling down her cheeks were far from sad ones.
Harry closed the gap between them and gently thumbed away the tears that had fallen. Looking at him then, he seemed a completely different person to her, almost as if he were a stranger – but in a good way. Instead of being closed off and guarded, he was more open and vulnerable then he had ever allowed himself to be with her before. He tilted her face up to meet his, and before she was even aware of what was happening, Harry was guiding her mouth up to meet his. Kissing Harry was everything she remembered it to be and more. Any of the barriers that had been between them before were gone now. He was passionate and gentle, and acting like the person she had fallen in love with so long ago. He let his hands travel down her back until they were resting on her waist, a spot she never thought she would feel his hands on again.
When they parted, it still felt too soon, even though they were both out of breath. Letting her face rest against his shoulder, with both of Harry's arms still around her, she whispered, "I love you too."
It felt like they stayed that way, so close to each other, for an eternity. When they finally pulled away from each other completely, Harry's hand found hers and squeezed it tightly. Not letting it go, he held open the door to the Three Broomsticks for her, and they walked in with their fingers intertwined together.