I'll Always Remember You

By Duck Goddess

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. They belong to JK Rowling.

basketball15 – LOL, yeah, that does sound familiar!

Bowlingstar – AARRGGHH! Back to school! I'm already at school and it sucks 'cause I'm a 12-year-old who's doing GCSE work in Science...how absurd! Turning 13 soon, though!

KRB91 – I'm glad you liked the part where the happy couple and Luna were spying on Ginny and Harry. Oh, she DOES fancy him but she doesn't know yet…still living in denial.

superspunky7 – Thanks! Their relationship is getting better, though!

HarryGinnyfan23 – Thanks! LOL, if only…I love H/G kisses…

Chapter Five – The Anniversary

It was the day after Ginny's and Harry's 'date' and Molly Weasley had invited everyone to have dinner at The Burrow as she had not seen her children since Ginny had come back from Hogwarts. Bill was happily married to Fleur and had a daughter, Charlie was married as well and was still working with dragons and Percy was long gone.

Fred and George had wives and the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes was a big hit with the Hogwarts students (they opened a new store at Hogsmeade) to Filch's disgust and Ron was living with Hermione.

That week, Ginny made frequent visits to The Burrow as she was currently unemployed (jobs at the Ministry for Hogwarts graduates started in September). As Harry predicted, Ron and Hermione were busy 'planning the wedding' so he decided to join Ginny and help Mrs. Weasley out. They had de-gnomed the garden, helped her cook (well, Harry did) and ran some errands for her.

"Harry, dear, could you contact Ron and Hermione for me about the dinner tonight? I would really like a family gathering and they CANNOT use the wedding excuse! I know what they do when they say that! Ginny, don't stir it like that! Stir it like THIIS!" Mrs. Weasley said, taking the wooden spoon from her daughter.

Ginny looked put out as her mother was very annoyed that her only daughter couldn't cook at all despite what she taught her. Harry grinned. She would NEVER be able to cook, no matter how hard she tried. He remembered that Ginny blew up a blender on one of their trips to the kitchens (A/N: that actually happened to me once!).

Harry grabbed some floo powder from the flower pot and threw it into the fireplace. He stuck his head in and said, "Number Ten, Godric's Hollow!" His head started spinning and soon, he was staring at Ron and Hermione's feet. Neither of them noticed that he head-flooed there.

"No, Ron! How many times do I have to tell you? There are going to be Muggles there so we CANNOT have the twins'canaries display!" he heard Hermione snap.

"But, Herm!" Ron whined, "They're cool!"

"Merlin, Ron! Do you have any idea what kind of trouble we could get into with the Ministry? And we WORK there!" Hermione said exasperatedly, rolling her eyes. Harry cleared his throat pointedly to show he was there.

"Harry!" Ron cried. He shot them cold looks. He still hadn't totally forgiven them for tricking him into going on a date with Ginny, no matter how much he missed being alone with her.

"Your mum wants me to tell you that she's having a dinner at The Burrow tonight and you'd better be there because she's not going to buy the wedding excuse," Harry said coolly.

"Great!" Ron said brightly, "I've missed her cooking so much! Hermione's not the best in the world…"

"Ginny can't cook either," Harry couldn't help saying.

"Cozying up with my sister, eh?" Ron said. Harry couldn't tell if he was angry or pleased.

"No, we've just been helping your mum out since SOME people are too busy snogging!" Harry retorted, "I think I'll go now."

He removed his head from the fireplace and looked up to see Ginny staring down at him, smirking. He looked straight ahead and saw her creamy, slim legs and gulped.

"Did Ron actually say 'cozying up with my sister'?" she asked, clearly amused.

"Er, yeah," Harry replied, feeling the heat rise in his cheeks.

"And that's coming from the person who kisses his fiancée every minute he has with her," Ginny said, rolling her eyes.

"Uh-huh," he answered. Don't stare at her legs, don't stare at her legs, don't stare at her legs.

"Wait, what's the date today?" she suddenly asked as the smirk vanished from her face.

"The 5th of July. Why?" Harry asked, frowning. What was so special about today?

"Nothing," Ginny said hastily, "Just…realizing something."

"Okay," Harry said slowly, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, no, it's no big deal. I'd better get back to 'helping' Mum," she said, using air quotes and smiling a strained smile. Harry frowned. What was wrong with her? Things didn't look okay and he could tell that her smile was forced. What happened?

"Ginny, set the table! People are coming soon!" Mrs. Weasley ordered. She obeyed and opened the drawer to get the cutlery. Harry noticed that Ginny was shuffling and her head was bowed. Mrs. Weasley didn't notice as she was singing along to Celestina Warbeck on the wizarding wireless.

Soon, Mr. Weasley, Bill, Fleur, their daughter Chloe, Charlie, his wife Amy, twins Arthur and Amanda, Fred, Angelina, their son George, their daughter Alicia, George, Alicia, their son Fred, their daughter Angelina, Ron and Hermione arrived, drooling as they saw the food set on the table.

"I'm starving!" Ron cried as he sat down, "This looks great, Mum!"

"Thank you, Ron," Mrs. Weasley replied, beaming, "And I'm glad you decided to come. I actually have some ideas about the wedding –"

"Molly, not now," Mr. Weasley said gently, "So…how is everyone? Let's start with Ginny."

"Huh?" she asked at the mention of her name. Harry noticed that she was looking down before and picking at her food.

"She and Harry have been helping me with the housework," Mrs. Weasley said, replying for her.

"You know what?" Ginny piped up suddenly, "I think I'm going to go outside."

"But, Ginny…we've only just started!" Mrs. Weasley reasoned, frowning.

"I'm not hungry. Its okay, Mum. You guys just eat without me. I'm going into the garden." She stood up and left the room.

"What's wrong with her? Are you overworking her, Mum?" George asked.

"No! She seemed fine before! Even when I was telling her that her cooking was horrendous! Besides, I want her to get familiar with housework again. She's been at St. Mungo's and Hogwarts for a year without cleaning anything!" Mrs. Weasley said indignantly.

"I can go check on her," Harry offered. Without waiting for an answer, he stood up as well and left.

"Wash gob iddo erryun?" Ron asked, his mouth full of food.

"What did you say?" Angelina said, clearly disgusted.

"He said 'what's got into everyone'," Hermione explained, used to Ron's mouth-full-of-food-language.

Harry found Ginny sitting down on the ground, with her knees to her chest.

"Ginny?" he called softly. He saw her turn around, her brown eyes guarded.

"What, Harry?" she asked quietly, "Why aren't you in there with them?"

"Ginny, tell me what's wrong," he said, sitting down beside her, "I'm your friend, aren't I?"

"Nothing's wrong," Ginny said so quietly that Harry thought she was whispering.

"Well, if you need someone to talk to, I'll be here," he said, looking at her closely. He felt a sense of de ja vu as he remembered that Ginny had said the exact same words to him in his seventh year.

He stood up and turned to leave when – "Harry, wait!" He turned around. Ginny was standing in front of him. Some tendrils had come out of her loose ponytail and were framing her face. Harry resisted the urge to reach out and tuck them behind her ear.

"I'm ready to talk," she finally said, looking down at her feet.

Suddenly, it felt like she was in a totally different place. She was in the…Hogwarts library? Ginny looked around and jumped when she saw that Harry was sitting right in front of her. He looked about 15 and looked very troubled.

"Well, I really want to talk to Sirius," he said quietly, looking around him warily.

Then, Harry's face swam in front of her and she saw his older,18-year-old face again.

"Are you alright?" he asked, looking at her carefully.

"Where am I?"

"The garden in The Burrow," said Harry slowly.

"Oh, okay. Let's sit down." They sat down on the ground again. Ginny turned to look at him and started to speak. "Do you know what the date is, Harry?"

"Yes, the 5th of July," Harry replied, not getting why this date was relevant to why Ginny was so distraught.

"Do you know what happened a year ago on this day?"

Harry searched his brain. Then, he finally understood. The battle at Hogwarts had happened a year ago on the 5th of July.

"Oh," he finally said. It was on this day that Ginny lost her memory.

"Yes, OH," Ginny said bitterly.

"Why are you so upset? You have most of your memory back," Harry questioned. She had seemed so happy to be with her family and friends again.

"Well…I haven't talked about this with anyone," she admitted.

"You can tell me," he persisted.

"This is going to sound stupid but…I just keep thinking…what if I hadn't got hit by that spell? Apparently, that spell wasn't even aimed for me but I was stupid enough to jump in front of it! So what would have happened if I hadn't jumped in front of it?" Ginny asked herself. Harry looked down guiltily. That spell had been aimed for him. Should I tell her that?

No! She'll hate you forever!

Well, it wasn't exactly MY fault!

What were you thinking about when you spent that year in France?

I've changed since then. I'll tell her.

"Ginny," he began, "That spell was aimed for me. I think Lucius Malfoy was planning to destroy my mind so that I wouldn't be able to defeat Voldemort. What you did…was really brave. If it hadn't been for you, Voldemort would still be on the loose, killing more people and basically wreaking havoc. YOU saved the world. I think you should be proud of what you did. Sure, it's a pain sometimes but the world is peaceful." He was inwardly scared that Ginny was going to blame him for what happened to her.

Ginny DID look angry. Harry's heart sank. Oh no.

"Why the hell did you go to France?" she demanded. He looked up. That was NOT what he expected her to say.

'Because I'm in love with you and I was overwhelmed with guilt'. No, he couldn't say that.

"Because I wanted to see what France was like," Harry said weakly. He remembered his brief fling with a girl called Renee from Beauxbatons. They didn't have any real feelings for each other – it was purely physical. When Renee found out about Ginny, she convinced him to move back to England. By then, she was already at Hogwarts and Harry couldn't find the courage to go to The Burrow whenever she visited.

"Yeah? Well, I could have used you rather than the St. Mungo's Healers! It doesn't mean you've 'healed' me or anything. But your speech does make me feel better," Ginny said, half-smiling.

"So you were upset because you didn't think losing your memory was worth it," Harry said.

"Basically," she replied, sighing, "I know, it was kind of selfish of me to think that. It just…it hurts to think that you could be living a life where you feel like you've known your family and friends your whole life."

"Everyone thinks of another life to live. When I was younger, I used to imagine what it would be like to live with my parents, what it would be like to have a brother or sister. But…I learned to accept that I can't bring back the dead and just move on."

"You're right. But I don't know why I jumped in front of that spell, though," said Ginny, frowning.

Harry remained silent. Hermione mentioned something about her still being in love with him and that she didn't want the wizarding world to live in ruins. But he couldn't tell her that!

"Erm, I don't know. But what matters is that you did it and you need to accept it," said Harry.

Ginny stared at him. Then, she flung her arms around his neck. Harry nearly fell over because he was so surprised. He put his arms around her awkwardly. This was the first time he had been so close to her since seventh year.

"Thank you," she whispered in his ear.

"For what?"

"For saving me," Ginny said softly. Harry smiled at the irony of those words. She didn't release him and he just held her until she claimed that she was hungry. They had saved each other.

A/N: Thanks to Joy1 for giving me tips on the flashbacks! Please review!