Anywhere but in Between

Same as always. I only own the plot.

Chapter 5 – Enough

Ginny moved halfway between a run and a light jog, trying to put as much distance as she could between herself and the trolley as quickly as possible without looking like she was crazy.

Her legs moved almost on their own accord, and she was grateful for it. She couldn't have made a decision right now if her life depended upon it. Seeing Harry again after two years had thrown her into such an emotional tailspin that she was sure she'd be feeling the effects of it for months to come.

He had been in Bulgaria all this time. How many times had she just missed him in stores, on the street, riding back and forth to work? Just the thought that he'd always been here made her shiver, and she tried to focus on a place to go. She couldn't just run around all night until she collapsed. She had to sit and collect herself enough to take another trolley home.

She slowed her pace, finding a coffee shop on the corner of the block she was on. She tried to calm herself as she approached the shop. The last thing she had expected to happen today had happened, and now all she could do was deal with the memories it brought up. Percy, the war, Dumbledore, all of the students who lost their parents or their own lives.

Voldemort dying right in front of her.

The images and memories flooded over her at lightening speed, making her lightheaded.

She came upon the shop and with a trembling hand she reached for the door. Before she could open it, however, a hand shot out of nowhere and splayed across the glass in front of her.

Startled, she turned around, then immediately wished she hadn't. Harry was standing there, staring at her with those damned green eyes of his.

"Harry," she whispered, the sound coming out before she'd even had time to think.

He didn't say anything. He simply stood there across from her. His eyes weren't exactly trained on her face. They seemed to be looking somewhere behind her, through her; or maybe he was just looking back two years.

They remained like that, in the entrance of the shop, not speaking for what seemed like an eternity to Ginny. She tried to think of a dozen things to say to him, but every time she went to say something, her mind would fall in upon itself and she was rendered speechless. What could she say to him now, after all this time?

The door was yanked open then, almost causing Harry to fall forward into the store. She put an arm out to brace him, and cursed herself when his eyes clouded and practically burned a hole through the hand on his arm. She retracted her hand and looked at the sun setting over his right shoulder.

A young couple exited the shop, excusing themselves and giving the two of them odd looks as they scooted between them.

As soon as the couple had cleared them, silence reigned again. Ginny shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, which Harry noticed with a grimace. Suddenly, Ginny was angry. Why did he come after her if he wasn't going to say anything? She had been happy enough to get off the trolley and pretend like the experience had never happened. She wouldn't have even told anyone that she'd seen him. So why was he just standing there, practically glaring at her?

"Why did you run?"

Ginny blinked in surprise at the sound of his voice, not just because of the question itself. She realized that this was the first time she'd heard his voice in two years, and he sounded older. So much so, that she chanced another look at him to see if he was still as young as she knew him to be.

Her eyes met his brilliant green ones, and she mentally cursed him. His eyes had always gotten to her. They were so bright and clear, and whether he knew it or not, he wore all of his emotions in them, easily read by anyone who knew him.

She realized she had to say something, but she didn't know what. She opted for a shrug, and when his scowl deepened, she cleared her throat uncomfortably.

"Seriously, why did you run?" he asked again, not allowing her to remove her gaze from his. His arms folded over his chest, and at the slight gesture of defiance and annoyance, Ginny met her own limit of annoyance.

"I don't know why I ran," she retorted, trying, and failing, to keep a hold on her temper. How dare he look so angry when he was the one who had ran away and never thought to let anyone know where he was or how he was doing?

Harry blinked at her. "I haven't seen you in two years, Ginny. One day I get on a trolley and there you are. The next minute, you're sprinting away from me like I have the plague."

Ginny's anger was boiling to the surface now. All of the anger and frustration she had felt over the last two years at his absence came charging to the surface. Suddenly, she could remember with perfect clarity every crushed look of Hermione's when the post returned an 'I'm fine' letter from him, Ron's face whenever he talked about something he and Harry used to do in school, her mother's reaction when she was told that there still was no news from Harry during the holidays.

And her own anger. Anger at being left out of his life when she was the only other person who had seen what he'd seen, and experienced what he'd experienced.

"I'm not sure what it is you want to hear," she said, mustering up every ounce of self-control she had.

"I want to know why you would run away from me like that?" he said in a tightly controlled voice of his own.

Ginny's eyes narrowed, and she found she couldn't control her tongue any longer.

"You want to know why?!" she spat, causing several passers-by to stop for a moment and stare at the two of them before going on their way. "You want to know why I ran?!"

Harry took a small step back, as if he wasn't prepared for her anger. The surprised look on his face confirmed her suspicions.

"I ran because I have no idea what to say to you after two bloody years!" she stormed. "Seeing you was like seeing a ghost, and I had no idea how to deal with it, so I ran!"

The silence that followed her tirade was tense and long. She wasn't looking at him any longer, and she assumed he was trying to think of the quickest, least awkward way of backing away without flat out running in the opposite direction.

As it happened, she was completely overwhelmed by the next words out of his mouth.

"I've missed you."

It was that simple. All of Ginny's anger deflated in one long, shuddering sigh. She felt her eyes well up with tears against her will, and she blinked rapidly to keep them at bay.

He moved his head until her eyes once more caught his, and when they did, she saw the hurt and lonliness she felt mirrored in his own eyes.

She let out a small sound, and closed the space between them. She put her arms around his neck and leaned into him, allowing herself to show him just how much she'd missed him as well. When she felt his arms wrap securely around her waist, pulling her tightly up against him, she let the tears fall at will.

They didn't say anything as they hung onto each other. She didn't need explanations or rationalizations.

For now, having him here – holding her- was enough.