Most nights, Severus was in their sitting room. Ginny feared the man never slept. Some nights, she didn't go to him. She wanted to see if she would be okay without him but she lay awake all night, wondering if he was thinking about her. They spent their days at the ministry and came home just as night began to fall. It was mid-summer and she was beginning to wonder what was going to happen when Hogwarts reopened in the fall. She didn't ask, though, for asking made it seem so real. She didn't want to sit alone in this big house all year, sponging off him. She had what little there was in her family's Gringott's account but that had never been a large sum. She needed a job when the summer ended, that much was clear.

They took their meals together. Sometimes alone in the enormous, austere dining room, sometimes with McGonagall and Dumbledore and a few other Hogwarts professors who were around that day. Ginny felt horribly out of place when that happened, for Severus as well as herself. It made her look like a tag along and like his mistress. They hadn't discussed what sort of relationship they had. They had only ever talked but he had invited her to stay, to forever be a part of his life. Did she love him? she didn't know.

Dumbledore, though, took pains to keep her included in the conversations, somber as they were. Sometimes, at meals, Severus would bump his knee into hers and he wouldn't move it away. She was grateful for any contact with him.

At the beginning of August, she had her birthday and told no one. She lied to Severus that morning, citing she didn't feel well and stayed back at the, now, mostly empty manor. Today, she decided, she would return to the burrow. She wanted to take what was valuable to her and perhaps sell the rest. She would probably sell the house as well. She apparated into the front yard. The garden was overgrown and overrun with gnomes. Inside was the same. There were still dishes in the sink and laundry to be done. She looked at her mother's clock. Only three faces remained: hers, her father's, and Percy's. Both her father and Percy were at "lost". Apparently, the clock's magic couldn't recognize her father as the same person anymore. She watched her younger face move from "vacation" to "home". Vacation? She thought it strange. She went to her room first to retrieve her trunk. It was empty and she brought it back downstairs. She would not bring more than this away with her. She put the family photo albums in first, then the throw blanket on the sofa that had been there since before her birth. She decided to put in her family's collection of spell books as well as her mother's cook books. Moving through the rooms, she tossed in things.

In her mother's closet, she pulled a hat box down from the upper shelf. Inside was the gift her father had given to her mother on their wedding day. It was a beautiful, black, silk cone hat with a silver hat pin that had a bat at the end. Carefully, she piled her hair on the top of her head and put on the hat. She got her trunk and apparated away. She was no longer a child. Today was her 21st birthday and she was leaving this childhood, painful and wonderful as it was, behind.

Her mother never wore the hat. She said it was "too nice" but Ginny decided that she would wear it until it came apart at the seams and then she would have it repaired and wear it some more. She would find someone else to deal with the rest of the house. Perhaps if she gave the house to Harry, he would get out of St. Mungo's. He'd always loved the burrow most of all anyway.

It was still early, so she decided to go to St. Mungo's to see Harry. And, maybe, her father. Inside the building, the receptionist stared at her. For once in her life, she didn't match her name. She didn't look poor.

"I'm here to see Harry Potter." she said.

"Mr. Potter is not accepting visitors, today." she said, snidely, knowing she held such power over the hero of the century.

"He will see me." she demanded. "Tell him who I am." He saw her because he had not known she had survived. He didn't say anything when she entered. "Harry, I want you to have the burrow." she said, deciding to be straightforward. He opened his eyes to look at her, from the bed.

"I thought you all had died." he said, his voice hoarse from not speaking for so long.

"Well, I didn't and I no longer live at home." she said. "So it ought to belong to you."

"I couldn't…"

"You will. Get out of this place, Harry." she ordered. "And when you do, come find me and I'll show you what you need to know." With that, she left. She didn't have to ask anyone where her father was. She remembered. His room was quiet and he looked much the same. She sat in the chair across from him with a small, round table between them. She took his hands in hers and pulled the rubber duck from the pocket of her green robes. He took it and turned it around slowly. He moved to pull something from his robe and handed it to her. She felt her throat close. It was her mother's wedding ring. Leaning forward, she kissed her father's forehead and moved to leave. Her father had gone back to his catatonic state, but he held the duck to his chest.

Back at the manor, Severus was waiting for her in the hall outside their rooms.

"You weren't sick." he said.

"No, I wasn't." she said. "I went…" she almost said home, but realized that her home was here, at the manor, now. "I went to the burrow."

"Oh." The anger melted away to concern. "Oh. I would have…"

"I needed to…"

"I understand." he said. "Do you want dinner?" he asked. She shrugged.

"Perhaps in a while." she opened her door and walked inside. "You can come in, if you'd like." she offered. She removed her hat and she it carefully on the dresser. He watched her gentle movements silently. "I saw my father. I saw Harry." she said.

"Still in the hospital?" he asked, not knowing what to say.

"Not for long. I gave him the house." her expression dared him to stay anything critical. "Severus, what is going to happen when you go back to Hogwarts? I need a job. I simply cannot live off of you forever." she exploded.

"There is plenty for you to do, plenty of people who would hire you." he snapped. "I just thought you might want to rest for a while." Snape said. "Come to dinner or don't." he left, shut the door and stomped through the portrait. She sat on her bed sadly. She'd made him mad and it made her feel horrible. She looked around at all he had given her and felt selfish and ungrateful. When she went out to look for him, he was nowhere to be found. She waited up in the sitting room a while with tea and biscuits. Finally, she couldn't stand it any longer and checked to see if his bedroom was unlocked or unoccupied. The door opened noiselessly. His room was dark – dark fabric and dark wood. Without thinking, she climbed into his bed and fell asleep.

He came in late.

"I'm sorry." he said, touching her hair, pushing it out of her face.

"No, I am." she said. She pushed the covers back and made room for him to slide in to the bed with her. He hesitated but finally removed his outer clothes and carefully lay down. "Do you love me, Severus?" she asked, the dark making her brave. There was a pregnant pause. She could tell he was holding his breath. Finally, with a big sigh he said,

"Yes." She moved closer to him and put her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and the slept, heartbeat to heartbeat.

GreenEyesBlind: you're correct, but this story so so AU that i might as well leave it. thanks, though.

thanks to everyone who has been commenting and reading. i appriciate it.