Thanks to SnowflakeGinny, Maria, and The Shieldmaiden-Lady of Rohan for reviews!

A/N: Sorry it took a bit longer to update than usual, I've been going through a bit of a writer's block as of late. I've started this story off, but I'm finding it difficult to keep pace with what I want to happen. I'm interested in getting a Beta-reader who is highly Harry/Ginny and good with plot lines, so if you are or happen to know one of those, let them or me know.

Anyways, enjoy!

The Stronger Love

"Woman, by heaven you've stung me now!

Who dared to move my bed?

There is our pact and pledge, our secret sign,

Built into that bed—my handiwork

And no one else's!"

The Odyssey by Homer; XXIII.208-209;213-215.

Harry passed Ginny's old room on his way to breakfast. The door was open. Making sure that nobody was around, he peeked inside. The bed was unmade and clothes were on the floor. Ginny's cleaning habits hadn't changed in the least amount since the last time he saw her. She must have stayed home last night. He was tempted to look around her room, but doubted it would make his situation any more excusable if he were caught sneaking around her stuff.

"Good morning Harry!" Mrs. Weasley chirped as he walked into the kitchen. "How'd you sleep dear? I certainly hope it was well, your first time in so many years."

Harry smiled at her. "I slept very well, thanks."

A plate of breakfast made it's way into his hands as he noticed Ginny sitting at the table. Cautiously, he sat down across from her. Looking at her, he noticed that she had changed little in the past seven years. He wasn't sure what Fred and George said yesterday when they told him that she was different now. The same wild red hair framed her face, which was still peppered with freckles everywhere. Her skin was still as pale as he remembered, and her eyes were still large and brown. If anything, she only looked prettier to Harry; but then again, she always would.

He just hoped she would not get sick at the sight of him again.

She stared at him for a moment or two. "Hello Harry," she said, her voice tinted with hardness. Harry got the feeling that he was not welcome.

"Hey Gin," he said, trying to loosen her up a bit. He didn't like the unfamiliarity that governed her voice. "How are you?"

She frowned and looked at him sardonically. "How am I? I'm good. I was good. Thanks for asking," Ginny's voice was so sarcastic, Harry doubted he would ever manage to conjure the same spirit. "How have you been over the last seven years?"

Harry realized how stupid his question had sounded. How could you sum up all of your feelings from the past seven years? Impossible.

Just then, Mrs. Weasley bustled over. "Ginny, Jason flooed while you were asleep and said that he would be coming over in a few minutes to pick you up. What were the two of you going to be doing again?"

Ginny stared long and hard at Harry before answering. "We're going to pick out the cake," she said, lifting her chin.

Harry did not like where this conversation was going. He had to get one thing cleared up before he did anything else.

"Who exactly is this Jason bloke anyway?"

Mrs. Weasley had a worried expression on her face. She didn't like where this conversation was heading. Ginny looked back at Harry and searched his face, as if hunting for a sign that she should go on. Harry wondered what the big deal was.

"That 'Jason bloke' is my fiancé, Harry," she said calmly. "We are getting married in August."

Oh. That was the big deal. That prick was Ginny's fiancé? Since when was she getting married to someone else? The anger coursed through Harry's veins.

"You're getting married?" Was all he managed to say.

"Yes, Harry. I am getting married to Jason."

Harry swallowed hard. Now he was the one that felt sick; his breakfast didn't look in the least bit appetizing. Ginny was supposed to be his, not someone else's. That was the way it was meant to be. He loved her. He always had, and the point was that they would spend the rest of their life together. His mind refused to grasp this fact; the fact that she was engaged to another man.

Obviously, the association of Jason marrying Ginny left Harry with a loathing for this man; the man that thought he could marry the girl that Harry loved. He wanted to give this bloke a piece of his mind, a piece of his fist, rather. But that would not be tactful; and it was not right to be thinking these thoughts in front of Mrs. Weasley and Ginny, who were looking at him as if trying to gauge his reaction to the news.

"Harry, are you alright?" Mrs. Weasley carefully asked. "I know it's all a bit sudden to hear, but it's been awhile since you've talked to Ginny." This time, he could sense a small defensive edge to her voice, as only a mother has when one of her children have been hurt.

It's been awhile since you've talked to Ginny.

Harry wasn't so daft as to not realize why Ginny was putting on such a cold, disgusted front. She was punishing him for leaving so suddenly, and without warning. It wasn't easy for him to leave, he practically had to cut his heart away from her in order to do so. He knew how she felt, he knew it was hard for her. He needed to tell her that he understood.

"Mrs. Weasley, do you think I could talk to Ginny alone for a minute?" he asked.

Mrs. Weasley looked apprehensive, as if one second alone might kill the two of them. But when she saw Harry's confused face, she had to give in.

"Alright," she said, turning around and hurrying out of the kitchen.

A minute of silence passed.

"Look, if you don't have anything to say to me, I have to get ready to go," Ginny said, standing up.

"Do you love him?" Harry was tired of beating around the bush. He went straight to the question he wanted an answer to.

"Do I love him?" She repeated, her eyes narrowing sharply.

"Do you love Jason?"

"Yes, I do. I love him, and I want to marry him. I am going to marry him."

Harry felt the anger again. "Why didn't you wait?"

"Wait? Wait for what?" She asked sharply. "Wait to marry him? I did wait. We got engaged a year ago, so I am pretty sure I know what I'm doing."

"No, Ginny," Harry rubbed his temple. She was being frustrating on purpose. "Why didn't you wait for me?"

Her eyes changed from sharp to dagger points. "I did wait. I waited and waited and waited. And after I waited that long, I waited some more. So you are wrong, because I did wait. But you would have no idea about that, would you? Because you never knew just how long I waited, since you never bothered to care."

Harry felt pain smoothing out his anger in inordinate amounts. "What makes you think I didn't care? You were all I thought about every minute of the day! I understand Ginny, I really do. I went through the same thing that you did. I had to wait, there was no other option, but I always knew I would come back."

Ginny turned her head away and angrily said, "That's where we differed Harry. You knew, and I didn't. For all I knew, you could have left me forever. It could have only been two months. But two months turned into a year, and one year turned into many." She shook her head and looked back at him, voice rising. "So you have no place to come back, expecting me to still be waiting here, the same person as I was before. A lot can happen in one year alone. Multiply that by seven and you can have a completely different person."

Harry was stunned to silence. Ginny was looking at him with that expression; the one that killed him. It was anger mixed with all sorts of emotions, ranging from loathing to sadness. But he could only see the despising, he could only feel the hate, and it would be some time before he could see the wholesome sadness present in her eyes.

There was an obnoxiously loud pop that exploded in the silence of the room and Jason appeared. Immediately, Harry was filled with a sensation that could only be described as jealousy, mingled in dislike and loathing. Envy evilly overtook his brain as Jason came up behind Ginny and snaked his arms around her waist and kissed her ear, commencing to ask her how she was feeling. Ginny of course smiled gorgeously and kissed him back, assuring him that she was fine.

That was where Harry was supposed to be, with his arms around her waist, kissing her and asking how she slept. The fact of there being another man in that position made Harry glower.

"Harry, this is Jason Fields," Ginny introduced him. Wanting to face him somewhat like a man, Harry stood up and shook his hand, making sure to tighten his grip as hard as he could without looking too suspicious to Ginny. "And Jason, this is Harry Potter."

"Harry, it's nice to meet- Harry Potter? The Harry Potter?" Jason looked incredulous. "Ginny, how do you know this man? By the way, I am very pleased to meet you," he said amiably.

Harry narrowed his eyes. He did not like this man at all; he smiled too much. Or possibly Harry was just biased because it was Ginny's future husband, and it was not him. He took this moment to brag.

"Ginny and I go way back, Jason," he said, standing up straighter, so that he was an inch taller than Jason. "I've known her almost all of my life, and we were very good friends at one point."

Behind Jason, he saw Ginny's eyes narrow a fraction or so.

"Oh, really? She never mentioned you before," Jason said slowly. His tone was becoming defensive to counter Harry's words.

"Well, I was away for a while," he said as he swiveled his eyes to meet Ginny's. "But I'm back, and I am planning to stay." He hoped that she would understand his jargon; he was not going to give her up without a fight.

As she watched the two men size each other up, Ginny realized that it would not be simple getting rid of Harry. His eyes constantly swung her way, his tone was challenging Jason, and his words showed possession.

She sighed. It would be difficult, but she had to persuade Harry that she wasn't going to let him into her life like before. But she accepted the fact that his personality dictated that he go down fighting, and she prayed that Jason keep his sanity, because Harry wouldn't make it easy. It annoyed her, but was unavoidable nevertheless.

Jason stood shorter than Harry by at least one inch. Whereas Jason was lean and tanned, Harry was dark and broad. Jason's hair was neatly styled, Harry's was the usual maelstrom. They were complete opposites, and it was funny how Ginny loved or had loved both at one point in time. She supposed part of the reason she was attracted to Jason in the first place was because he didn't remind her of Harry.

Ginny immediately knew that Jason sensed that Harry was bad news too, and his next words proved it. "Well, it'll be nice having you around." The smile didn't reach his eyes, and Ginny saw his hand clench instinctively behind his back. This was not a good situation.

"Well, we'd better be going," she intervened, taking Jason's hand. "We'll talk to you later, Harry."

Once out of the house, Jason turned to her. "I don't like him," he stated plainly. "Even if he is the famous 'Boy-Who-Lived', I still don't like him. He's got this air about him, it's like this dominating and superior demeanor, you know? Did you get that feeling?"

"Yeah, yeah," Ginny said. "I did. I know how you felt." It couldn't be nearer to the truth.

"Was he always like that, back when you were at Hogwarts?"

Ginny reflected on the amiable and sweet boy Harry had been, to the lonely person Harry had been before Voldemort's fall, to the humble man he turned out to be afterwards. Dominating seemed to be the one word that did not fit in his description.

"Yeah," she lied softly. "I guess he hasn't changed much."

"And he said you guys were good friends," Jason recalled, tilting his head ever so slightly in Ginny's direction.

Oy vey, this conversation was becoming tricky. Then again, she supposed it was good that Jason disliked Harry; this way, he could be on his guard against Harry's possessive character, the one would not take "no" for an answer.

"Well, he was Ron's best mate, and he still is today. He, Ron, and Hermione were all best friends, and I was with them a lot, so it was pretty much friendship by connection," Ginny explained, halving the reality of what their relationship once was.

"Right, well, he shouldn't think so highly of himself just because he killed You-Know- Who. I mean, it was just by chance that he managed to kill the most nefarious wizard alive at only seventeen. I'm sure there were other, more experienced wizards who could also have killed You-Know-Who. He is out of line, believing he's better than the rest of us."

Ginny cast her eyes downward, not able to respond appropriately. This was where she really couldn't confabulate the past. It was Harry's sensitive subject; other people thinking that he was a spoiled rich boy who developed an "I'm-better-than-you-are" attitude because he killed Voldemort. It was false, it was wrong, it was cruel, and he had spent many years combating the public's opinions on his personal life. Ginny and her family helped him fight this battle, so when Jason proceeded to assume things about Harry's personality, she did not comment nor disagree.

"Damnit Ron! Where are you?" Harry stomped around his best friends' flat as he searched for Ron. Anger was obscuring his brain, preventing him from thinking clearly.

"Harry, mate, what's wrong?" Ron came out of a room down the hallway.

"What's wrong? That's a good question Ron, thanks for asking," Harry said sarcastically.

Ron frowned. "Alright, you're welcome. Now what's wrong?"

Harry rolled his eyes impatiently. "The problem is the fact that there is a ring on your sister's finger, and it is not mine, and I didn't find out until this morning."

Ron's face started turning red. "Oh, that…"

"Bugger, Ron! Why didn't you tell me in the letters? We wrote hundreds of them; the only person I asked about in every single bloody letter was Ginny, so why am I finding out a very important piece of information about her today?"

"Harry, keep your voice down!" Ron whispered urgently. "Hermione's here, and if she finds out about the letters, she'll get very angry and… you know what she's like when she's angry."

"Ron, I am angry. How could you not tell me this?"

"I very bloody well couldn't have."

"Enlighten me."

"I couldn't, Harry. Just like you had to leave."

"What, crazy Cornelius Fudge jumped out of nowhere and told he'd send you to Azkaban if you revealed this rather critical information to me?"

"No, not like that," Ron paused, and sighed in exasperation. "I was- we all were- a little bitter. Not about the engagement, but about you leaving Ginny."

"So not telling me was some sort of punishment for leaving?"

Ron didn't say anything. He sat there, staring at his lap.

"You've got to understand," he said. "Jason came along at just the right time for Ginny. We were all very impressed with him, and Ginny was taken with him…"

"Ron, I'd rather prefer that you didn't tell me everything about how they fell in love. I'm not in the mood to hear it; I don't think I'll ever be."

"I think that you should hear this," Ron stated quietly. "Anyways, when he started dating Ginny, we were all apprehensive. But soon, it became clear that she was happier than she had ever been since you left. That was when I decided that telling you was wrong; that if you came back because she was dating another man would be worst for her."

"Just bloody admit it Ron: half of it was punishment."

He didn't say anything at all, and they sat in silence until Ron finally spoke up.

"I don't think he's right for her anymore. No matter how perfect they seem together, there are little things," Ron admitted. "Jason- he likes to work too much. Gin puts up with it, but I can see she gets annoyed by it. She puts up with it now, but when they're married, who knows? He's so absorbed in his business, I can't help thinking that she will end up unhappy."

Harry thought for a moment. "Ron, would you give me permission to do something? Would you allow me to get Ginny back?"

Ron looked at him sharply, as if questioning whether his intentions were honorable.

"That depends," he said slowly. "Are you planning on packing your bags again?"

"I'm staying. For good," he added. "Unless she really does marry Jason. Then I might be tempted to get away."

Minutes passed as Ron thought it over. He respected Harry's wish to get some form of permission before he really started bugging Jason. He also respected the fact that Harry was still in love with his little sister, and was determined to get her back. Furthermore, he trusted his best mate more than he trusted Jason. He understood Harry's reasons for leaving.

"Permission granted," he nodded solemnly, fighting the urge to smile.

Ginny was so elated that she was unable to describe it. In all her sixteen years, Harry managed to make her the nicest person on earth. He made her so joyous that her perspective on everything- from world issues to her daily chores- changed dramatically. Everything she did made her smile, she skipped around the house with a huge smile on her face. He made her a nicer person. She even felt physically altered; she knew she was prettier when he was around.

After many boyfriends, she was finally denuded and her emotions laid bare for him to look upon. She wasn't ashamed or self-conscious; Ginny felt confident and her self-esteem soared high. She wanted to share all of her feelings and thoughts with him.

It was one of those things. Ginny saw fire and she knew it was hot. She saw snow and she knew it was cold. She saw knives, and she knew they caused pain. She saw Harry, and she knew she was in love.

That summer was the happiest time of her life thus far. Although Harry would not be at Hogwarts next year, she was excited since it would be her last, and then she would be out, free to live life in the world. Free to be with Harry without time restraints. Not having one little summer to be together before they had to separate, but a whole lifetime.

For the present time, she and Harry soaked up the summer, living each day without regrets, trying to stretch time to accompany their wishes and last longer.

Two weeks before Ginny had to go back to Hogwarts for her final year, Harry took Ginny out for a walk. For the first mile or so, they held hands and chatted over frivolous subjects. Then, Harry suddenly stopped.

"After you leave Hogwarts," he blurted suddenly. "I want you to promise me something."

Ginny felt confused, and she half-smiled, eager to know what he had to say. "What?"

"Promise me that… that you'll…" he struggled to find words to express his wish. "I want to be with you Ginny, for the rest of your life. I'm not joking, I'm perfectly serious," he stated. When Ginny looked in his eyes, she saw the truth in them; he was perfectly serious, there was no joke expressed there. "I want to marry you Ginny. I want to be with you everyday, every night, all the time."

She felt a pleasant shiver soar up her spine and tinge her cheeks.

"But we can't do it now, of course, and we can't do it when you're only seventeen. We need to wait, but I know I'll always want this. We're too young now, we should wait till we're at least- twenty or something, I don't know. But can you promise me, Ginny? That you'll wait… wait for me?"

"Harry," she soothed. "Of course I'll wait for you. Besides, what are you talking about? You're acting as if we're all going to die or something like that… What's wrong?"

"I can't guarantee that it'll be easy, Gin," he continued, not answering her question. "It'll be hard for both of us… waiting, you know? But please, please promise me." He tightened his hold on both of her hands, and looked hard into her eyes.

Although she had no clue as to what he was talking about, she trusted him, and when he asked if she would wait to marry him, she pressed her lips to his in answer.

Two weeks later, the Hogwarts Express came to whisk Ginny off to school and away from Harry. They bid each other goodbye, promised to write, see each other at Christmas. Waving from her compartment window, Ginny got a long look at Harry. It would be a very long time till she saw him again.

Heh. The flashbacks are easily becoming my favorite thing to write.

Anyways, please spare a minute and (gives pleading look) review. Thanks!