Disclaimer: I wish, I wish, I wish...
Quick Word: HPB was amazing. I absolutely loved it. This was written basically just to see if I could still write Harry Potter fanfiction. It's pretty weird.
Safe
It is six years in the making.
Harry has never been one for particularly dwelling on things when he can help it. He prefers that the dwelling manifests itself into nightmares (high-pitched laughter reverberates), which he can wake from and pretend are not real.
However, there is something on his mind that he cannot quite shake. Something that is thousands of times worse than dead Cedrics, Siriuss, and Dumbledores swimming before his eyes. At least when his eyes open and the white plaster dots of his ceiling lay before him he can slowly shake the clammy feeling that has gripped his heart and is reluctant to let go.
There's no shaking the thought of her.
It's stupid. Harry knows that it's stupid. To be so in love with a girl he hadn't hardly noticed until months ago.
Falling in love with Ginny Weasley is more painful than the twitching, pounding headache of Snape's words echoing in his mind.
(Avada Kedavra)
Harry is a hero. He had never wanted to be a hero, but he is one. That is why he did the hero's deed. That is why he explained to Ginny that he couldn't stay with her. When he imagines Voldemort (Tom Riddle, so misunderstood, alone) taking Ginny for the mere fact that she is loved by Harry Potter his heart tears into tiny pieces. When he imagines this happening if she had refused to leave him, sometimes he thinks his heart stops beating.
There are only four more days at the Dursley's before Harry will be off again. Four days to cap the two weeks that will make Number Four, Privet Drive his home. A place that Harry has never wished to know, let alone make his home.
Ron and Hermione are waiting at the Burrow. Both are determined to not return to school. Hermione assures Harry that what they are doing is more important than anything. She assures Harry that he's making the right choice, that she and Ron are making the right choice (sharing knowing glances).
Harry thinks Ron and Hermione could be taken from him too. Just because he loves them in a different way doesn't mean the pain isn't there.
(Ginny smiles at him, tosses her hair and walks off. He has to run after her for a kiss.)
One cannot live while the other survives. Harry won't let himself fail. The wizarding world leans on him a little too heavily for a boy of sixteen. A boy who would rather run away and hide and take with him a head of bright red hair.
She doesn't care if she's in danger. She doesn't want to go back to Hogwarts either. Harry knows it's safer if she goes. Harry can't help but think with guilt that he'd rather she be safe. Ron and Hermione made this choice six years ago.
But so did she.
("I love you," Harry whispers, shocking even himself. She looks at him and smiles.)
