Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related names and places are the legal property of J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury, and AOL Time Warner and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: This is something that came to mind after thinking about my father. He and I went through something similar to this after my mother's death.

Ginny stood in the doorway, listening to him bumping around in the dark. Her nose wrinkled as she caught the familiar scent; alcohol and a great quantity of it. She sighed as she heard the sound of him crashing into the sitting room table.

"Damn!"

He stumbled into the room where she stood with her wand tip alight. Blinking into the light, he smiled at her.

"There's my little girl. I'm home, Ginny-girl!" The words slurred together.

She gave a derisive snort. "I know; I smelled you coming up the walk."

Arthur stumbled close and peered at his daughter. Then, giggling, he held up a bottle. "I found the funniest damn thing and had to bring it home to show you. Look it's got your name!" Pointing to the label on the bottle, he swayed precariously. "See? It says Gin and your name's Ginny! Isn't that funny?" He unscrewed the top and took a long drink.

"Yes, dad, it's hilarious. Now why don't we get you upstairs?"

Ginny managed to maneuver the bottle away from her father and set it down. She gripped his arm and tried to pull him up the stairs. He continued to sway, until suddenly his foot caught on the step and Ginny had to hoist him back to keep him from falling.

Arthur stopped suddenly and looked at her. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but instead gave a great wretch. Ginny wasn't quick enough and received the full brunt of it.

"Dad!"

He slumped against the wall, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Sorry, baby-girl."

Ginny stomped and gave a disgusted groan. This was her favorite dressing gown! She pulled it off, letting it fall to the floor. "I'll have to wash it later."

Giving her father another push up the stairs, she stayed behind him, not wanting another shower of booze and God only knew what.

Getting him to bed wasn't too much trouble. He'd passed out as soon as he'd fell back onto the bed. Ginny pulled off his shoes and pulled the blanket over him. Standing over him, she felt a hot rush of anger. This was happening far too often.

The smell was disgusting. She held a cloth over her mouth and nose, but the scent wasn't to be stopped. She'd vanished the actual mess and now stood watching the scrub brush glide over the floor issuing pink foam. Her dressing gown was soaking in a large tub of hot water; hopefully the stains weren't permanent.

Tears prickled and burned in her eyes as she climbed into her own bed an hour later. It was three in the morning and she was supposed to be at work in two more hours.

"Work! I'm supposed to be in school, not cleaning up his messes."

November had settled on them at last. The air was bitterly cold and the sky was a constant steely grey. Ginny fought back the urge to howl in misery as she thought of previous Novembers. Laughing with her friends in the corridors, training for Quidditch, huddling close to the fire...

"You can't think about that anymore! That's all in the past; the past is dead and gone!"

The past wasn't the only thing dead and gone though. Nearly everyone one of the friends she had giggled with were gone. Almost half of her family was gone. Charlie, Percy, Fred; they had all died during the last battle in June. Her mother had died only a week later in a bed in St. Mungo's. And now Ginny was left all alone with her father.

Bill had taken his old job back with Gringott's, so he and Fleur were now living in Egypt. Ron had decided to go to Romania and work with Charlie's friends at the Dragon Sanctuary there. Of course, Hermione had followed and was training to be a Healer. George, well, there was no telling where George was this month. He flitted here and there to what he claimed were "business meetings". Ginny guessed that he was trying to keep busy to avoid thinking about losing his family.

They had all done it. Almost as soon as the dust had settled and the dead were buried, they'd all ran as far as they could. Not Ginny, though. She decided to stay.

"Decided; that's rich! What choice did I have?"

Hogwarts had been all but destroyed. Repairs were expected to take at least until the beginning of the next year. All students were given the choice of attending other magical schools throughout the world or waiting for the re-opening. Ginny had received letters from several other schools offering her a place to finish her final year. She'd seriously considered Beauxbatons; she wasn't sure if she wanted to attend a new Hogwarts. However, after the boys all ran off, the decision had been made for her.

Arthur was in a horrible state after Molly's death. It was almost as if he had lost a great part of himself and now couldn't function properly. He milled about the house, never speaking, never acknowledging anyone else. Ginny knew that he couldn't be left alone in this state. No, she would wait and return to Hogwarts in January. Surely by then her father would be ready to rejoin the living world...

He'd rejoined the world alright, but it hadn't been in the way she's anticipated. Arthur had found alcohol; and a great quantity of it. Now, Ginny was no prude. She had experimented with firewhiskey several times at Hogwarts; hell, she'd even gotten completely trashed after her break up with Justin.... but, if her experiences had taught her anything, it was that no matter how drunk you get, you have to go back to everyday life once you were sober.

And she knew that that was exactly what her father was trying to do. Truth be known, Ginny was partially to blame for it all. She had been down at the Leaky Cauldron picking up dinner for them, when she ran into Mundungus Fletcher. He was sitting at the bar, obviously trying to drown his memories of the war in a Hagrid-size tankard of mead, when Ginny casually suggested that he stop by for dinner sometime.

"I think Dad would love to see you."

Dinner came and went and so did Mundungus, only taking Arthur with him. They had been gone the entire night. Ginny found her father, passed out, on the front steps the next morning. And so the cycle continued in that fashion since late August. Her father branched out with his drinking buddies, though. Also, his selection of pubs got wider. Ginny hadn't had much trouble finding him in the beginning. He was either at the Leaky Cauldron (and thankfully Tom would send an owl when Arthur started getting too far along) or the Three Broomsticks. Eventually he and Mundungus stumbled upon muggle pubs and found that they had a much larger variety of "pain-killers". Lately, there was no way of knowing where they would wind up. Ginny had no choice but to simply wait for him to come stumbling home.

Soon, Ginny's thoughts carried her off to sleep.

She seriously tried to stay cheery...okay so cheery was too strong of a word....perhaps awake; yes awake would do it. She tried to stay awake while pinning up the twelfth possible dress for the bridesmaid.

"I don't think so Eliza; this blue doesn't do a thing for my eyes. I need something green to really bring them out. Can't you just change the colors?"

Ginny tried to contain the groan that was fighting to escape. She desperately wanted to choke the snotty girl on the stool. She'd already tried six different gowns on, but none was apparently good enough. The bride, Eliza, looked just as annoyed.

"Oh, no problem Delia! I'll just go and cancel all the orders I've put in so far. I'll have them do everything in green to match your eyes."

Even though Ginny could practically see the sarcasm dripping from Eliza, Delia actually believed her. Her hand fluttered to her throat and she smiled.

"Oh, Eliza! You're so sweet to do that! Ow!"

Ginny looked up with apologetic eyes. "I'm so sorry, miss. The pin slipped."

Eliza smiled at Ginny and then turned cold eyes on her cousin. "I am certainly not going to change my entire wedding just for you, Delia. Ginny, we're going to go with this one. I'll schedule a time to have them all come in for a fitting, alright?"

Fifteen minutes later, Eliza and Delia left, still arguing over the effect a blue dress has on green eyes. Ginny was left thinking about green eyes....

Merlin, she hadn't thought of him in a while. Somehow, though, Harry Potter had a way of creeping into your mind when you least expected it. She wondered where he was now. His last letter had put him in Egypt.

Dear Gin,

You were right! These pyramids are amazing. The things these creepy old wizards did to people are horrifying. Did you know they used to stick red-hot pokers up dead people's noses, then scramble around their brains, and then pull the whole mess back out? Disgusting! Well, I guess that's better than burying people alive with those scarab things....

Well, I've been to see Bill and Fleur. They both say hello. You should see Fleur now. She's huge! I got to feel the baby move...it was really strange!

Well, I don't know where I'm off to next. I'll write when I get there!

Love from,

Harry

That letter had come about three weeks ago, and Ginny still had no idea where Harry was. He had sounded happy; heaven knew he deserved it. How he had ever gotten out of that battle with his life, Ginny would never know. In the end, he had fulfilled that damned prophecy. Voldemort was sent to the deepest circle of Hell, the wizarding world was once again safe, and Harry was left with his whole life ahead of him. He decided quickly that he was going to take advantage of it. As soon as he was able, he set off to see the world. He skipped around so much, that there was no logical way of tracking his progress. One week she would receive six different letters from four different places, and then weeks would pass without any word from him.

Ginny found herself missing him every time a letter came. They had grown to be quite good friends those last two years at Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione's new relationship had inadvertently left Harry as a third wheel, and Harry seemed to tag her as his newest confidante. Ginny didn't mind; it was nice having someone who knew your darkest secrets and not judge you. Now that she could finally see him as "Harry, the person" instead of "Harry, the hero", she felt comfortable around him. They talked about everything. She cried to him every time her romantic life crumbled around her, he ranted to her about Snape being a git, they both talked about Voldemort. No subject was off-limits. Rumors spread like wildfires that they were secretly dating, but they would both laugh. Nothing romantic ever happened between them, with one possible exception. They were sitting on the sofa in the common room together. Harry was listening to her rant about her break up with Justin, they both had had far too much firewhiskey, and they were completely alone. Before either knew what was happening, Ginny found herself pinned beneath him on the couch, kissing him intently. Barely a second later, they had broken apart, breathing heavily.

They had avoided each other for a few days before finally chalking the incident up to too much alcohol. Nearly a week later she was dating Dean Thomas (much to her brother's dismay) and Harry had broken up with Hannah Abbott. Neither talked about the incident again. Then a few months later, Voldemort made his appearance at Hogwarts and all hell broke loose.

Ginny was lost deep in her memories and didn't hear Madame Malkin calling to her. It wasn't until fingers snapped in front of her that she came to her senses.

"Sorry Madame Malkin! Did you need me?"

Madame Malkin smiled nervously. "Actually, I need to speak to you." Then looking around, she added, "In private."

Ginny felt worried. Had Madame Malkin seen the pin-slipping incident? Was she in trouble?

She sat in the seat her boss motioned to and faced the older woman.

"Ginny, you know as well as anyone that things haven't been progressing very well with Diagon Alley's reconstruction. The Ministry is really trying to get Hogsmeade and the school up and running." She looked uncomfortable and kept wringing her hands. "Well, the truth of the matter is the shop isn't doing well. There's so much construction going on that people are steering clear of the Alley. Why the only customers we have now are those who already had large orders placed before the attack." She turned her back to Ginny and looked out the window.

Ginny started to feel sick. She had been feeling that this was coming, but she hadn't really prepared for it.

"Well, you see, there simply isn't enough money coming in to pay for two seamstresses. And Marie has been with me for near thirty years, plus she's got three children, and with what happened to poor Robert..."

"Madame Malkin, please, don't. I need this job. I'll take a pay cut or whatever, just please..." A year ago, Ginny would have never begged for anything, but these were different circumstances.

The old woman turned around. She looked truly and genuinely sorry. "I'm sorry, Ginny. I really have no choice; I'm going to have to let you go."

Ginny dropped her head in defeat. Now what would she do?

"You can finish out the day of you like. And I'll pay you for the remainder of the week..."

Suddenly, Ginny was filled with anger. She stood quickly and caused her chair to fall backwards. Jerking open the door, she yelled back, "You needn't bother! Just give it to Marie and her three precious kids!" She slammed the office door and grabbed her bag from behind the counter.

Marie jumped to the side as Ginny stormed towards the door. "Tell your kids to have a Happy bloody Christmas from me!

Fifteen minutes later, she was standing in line at Gringott's, quite ashamed of herself.

I shouldn't have lost my temper. It wasn't her fault. Maybe I should go back and apologize later...

"Miss! Do you need help, or are you just here to enjoy the floor tiles?" called an angry goblin at the desk.

"Oh, sorry." Ginny stepped forward and pulled the vault key from her bag. "I need to know my current balance and make sure all my transactions were deducted." Handing over the key, she watched as the goblin checked the number and then disappeared behind a large shelf. Soon he emerged with a large black ledger, marked with her family's vault number.

Ginny was still amazed at how quickly the bank had gotten back into operation. Merely days after the attack, people were able to access their vaults. The centuries of paperwork had been reorganized in a matter of minutes.

Maybe I should have paid a bit more attention to Binns...there might have been something about the bank in all that nonsense....

"Here you are. This column shows your deposits and this one shows your personal withdrawals and the third shows withdrawals from third parties."

Ginny quickly scanned down the columns. Surely that couldn't be right! After paying all the monthly expenses she barely had ten galleons in the vault! And the payment to St. Mungo's hadn't been paid yet!

"Are...are these current amounts?"

The goblin sneered, as though having his calculations questioned was a serious offense. "Yes, all the vaults were tallied up this morning."

Her hands were shaking. Dad must be taking money from the account! I should have taken away his key!

"Is there anyway to switch this account over to another vault? And make sure that I am the only one who can access it?"

"Of course, but I'll need to verify your identity. You'll also have to fill out these..." He hoisted a large stack of parchment onto the desk. "And we'll have to have written permission from all other names attached to this account."

Ginny felt her head swim. There was no way she had the time for that paperwork, and she certainly couldn't get her father to just hand over the account. Unless...

"Alright, I want to switch over the vault."

"Very well, fill out this paperwork. Get this waiver signed by all those associated with the account. Bring it all back with a Ministry-issued identification paper. Your vault will be placed on hold until everything is completed. Money will not be allowed to be taken out; only deposits will be accepted."

Ginny stuffed the paperwork into her bag and left the bank. She had walked halfway down Diagon Alley before she'd even realized where she was going. Stopping and looking around she noticed she was in front of Florean Fortescue's. She dropped down into a chair and laid her head on the cool table top.

How on earth am I going to get by? Even with two jobs I could barely make all the payments.

Things seemed quite hopeless at this point. She was going to have to find another job, but that wasn't going to be easy. It had been five months since the war ended, but Voldemort's power of destruction was still being felt. Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, St. Mungo's, and even Knockturn Alley had been attacked during the final few months of the war. Rebuilding was taking longer that anyone had expected. The school and the hospital were the top priorities for the ministry at the moment. The occupants of Diagon Alley were suffering from a lack of money to rebuild and also there were so few people who were qualified and trained to rebuild.

Ginny had applied for Ministry jobs, but they only wanted witches and wizards who had graduated school. She's even seriously considered trying her hand at construction; when you're desperate you'll do anything. In the end, Madame Malkin had been kind and took her on. A few days of begging had landed her a job at the Leaky Cauldron as an evening shift waitress. The pay wasn't great, but it had been enough. At least, up until now it had...

"Dreading a busy night, Miss Weasley?" Ginny smiled up at Mr. Fortescue. He sat down across from her. "Tom says Friday nights are the worst at the Cauldron."

"Yes, they are. All of the people working at the school and the hospital flood in. I'm worried that they're going to bottle up the Floo one night."

"I can't believe Rosmerta isn't going to open the Three Broomsticks back up. Does anyone know why, yet?"

"My brother said that she's decided to leave the country altogether. Says she just can't stay here; she lost her husband in the attack."

Mr. Fortescue sighed heavily. "Well, I suppose I can't blame her. Maybe she can start over somewhere nice." He leaned forward and smiled at Ginny. "How is your family, Miss Weasley? I've only seen your brother George twice since he reopened the shop."

Let's see...Dad's a raging alcoholic, George is depressed beyond belief, Bill pretends we don't exist, Ron's too happy snogging Hermione to care, and I'm flat broke and in desperate need of a job. We're fine thanks, how about you?

"Not bad. We're getting all getting together in December for Dad's birthday." Fat chance of that...

"Well, that's lovely. Good to see you're all getting on with life." Sitting back he gave her an unnerving smile. "And have you heard from Mr. Potter?" Mr. Fortescue sat back and looked reminiscent for a moment. "I remember the summer that he lived at the Leaky Cauldron. He would sit right at this very table and work on his school work. Poor boy, it looked as if just getting to be out in sunshine was the greatest thrill of his life. I kept giving him sundaes every hour." The old man allowed himself a chuckle.

Ginny couldn't help but grin, either. "I got a letter a few weeks back. He was in Egypt then, no idea where he is now." She looked down at her watch and realized the time. "Oh, I'm so sorry, but I have to run! I've got to be at work in half an hour!" Pulling her wand out of her bag, she waved goodbye and disapparated.

"Alright, Dad. I've left the chicken in the oven, its ready whenever you get hungry. I've got to get to work." Ginny yelled up the stairs as she buttoned up her freshly ironed shirt.

Arthur came downstairs. "I don't like you working all the time, Ginny-girl. A girl like you should be out having fun."

"Yeah well, I know that. However I don't have the luxury of doing that, now do I?" Ginny snapped. Immediately, she felt bad for being cross with her father. His face had dropped and he stood looking at the floor.

Pulling her hair back into a low ponytail, she crossed to him. "I'm sorry, Dad, I shouldn't have snapped at you. I lost my job at the shop today and I'm not in a great mood."

Arthur smiled down at his daughter and pulled her into a hug. Ginny liked the moments like this; when he was sober and almost normal again. He was being the father she loved.

"Well, I'd better be going. It's probably going to be a late night. I should be home around midnight, though." She kissed his cheek and disapparated.

Things were just as hectic as she had imagined. The crews working on the reconstructions flooded in around six o'clock. Ginny and her fellow server Constance were the only two on duty and even with magic things were getting out of hand.

"Tom, I need those orders for table eleven."

Ginny groaned as she heard the door open, admitting who knew how many more customers. It was past ten o'clock and there seemed to be no end in sight. Instead of the crowd thinning out, the pub seemed to become fuller every hour. She hadn't had a break yet and her feet were aching.

"Listen Tom, I'm going to dash to the…er…well just give me two minutes."

Tom waved a hand in acknowledgement to her and Ginny set off happily down the hall. Plopping down into one of the small chairs that sat outside the women's' bathroom, she sighed. The only good thing about nights like this was the tips that customers left. She could usually make more on Friday nights than the rest of the days combined.

Her hair was sticking to the back of her neck and it was irritating her. The elastic band she had tied it back with earlier had broken and left her hair hanging loosely. Pulling her wand from her apron, she twisted her hair into a knot on the back of her head and skewered it with her wand.

"You know one of these days you're going to set your hair on fire doing that."

Ginny fell out of the chair and landed hard on the floor. Squinting she looked up to see who had scared her.

"Now, really Ginny, I know it's been a while, but I can't have changed that much."

A/N: This was really going to be a one-shot, but it seemed to be getting out of hand. I decided to separate it into two chapters and be done with it. I do promise that it will only be two. Ginny's relationship with her father is the main theme of this piece, but she's going to end up forming a new relationship. I think you can all guess with whom, but don't let that stop you from reading! This is going to give her some much needed rest, and a sort of new way to see the world. But don't expect a happy ending, I've been doing too many of those…

After I finish this, The Lost Phoenix's sequel will be my main focus. I've got a great deal written, just not enough where I'm comfortable posting the first chapter yet. Patience is a virtue!