Chapter 20: Forgiveness
Harry appeared in Ginny's house. It was quiet, too quiet. He couldn't find her in the kitchen or living room, so he walked to the staircase.
"Ginny?" He called hopefully.
Yet there was no answer. Eager to apologize and be with her again, he disapparated to the Burrow to see if Molly or Arthur knew where she was.
He appeared in the kitchen, startling Molly and Arthur, who were talking over tea and hearty vegetable soup.
"Harry!" Molly gasped, swallowing with some difficulty and dabbing her mouth with a napkin.
"Hello" Harry said anxiously. "Is Ginny here?"
"Yes" Arthur said quietly. "She and Hope have been here ever since she met with you in the hospital." Harry thought he sounded angry with him for hurting his daughter, and honestly, he had every right.
"Before you go up," Molly said carefully. "What are you intentions? We refuse to let you go up there if you've got nothing… pleasant… to say to her" Molly said uneasily.
Harry's heart sank. He had really hurt Ginny if her parents were being this protective over her.
"I need to apologize to her. I love your daughter very much and I want to be with her." Harry said simply.
Arthur and Molly glanced at each other and Arthur nodded.
"She's in her room."
Nodding, Harry silently headed for the staircase. Every step he took, he felt worse. He loved Ginny, he always had. He felt sick to have told her he didn't want to be with her anymore…
He finally reached Ginny's door, took a deep breath and knocked. There was no reply at first, but then, Ginny's voice floated through the door.
"What?"
"Ginny, it's me." Harry said quietly.
Ginny was silent for a while, but then, "What do you want, Harry?"
"To talk to you," Harry said hopefully. "I'm the biggest idiot in the world, you know…"
Ginny didn't open the door, so he decided that she'd rather talk through the door.
"Ginny, I love you… I always have. I was just… so afraid of what I was going to be treated as next. I've always had people judging me just because I was the baby who Voldemort couldn't kill… The whole time I was in St. Mungo's, I was thinking about you… what you said, what Kyra told me about the pendent. And when I got your package, I kept thinking, if I lose Ginny again… I'll never survive. You mean the world to me, Gin. You and Hope are my life, and without you, I don't have anything." Harry broke off for a moment.
"I didn't mean to hurt you, and I want you to know, that whether you forgive me or not, I'm going to be there. My life will be nothing, though I'm going to be there when you need me, to watch Hope grow up, to guide her."
Ginny still said nothing, so Harry continued to talk, hoping this was getting him somewhere. "I know how you feel about me, and how I hope you still feel about me. But I'm not sure if you know how I feel about you, so I'm going to tell you how I feel about you, Ginny Potter. Whenever I see you, my heart skips a beat, and I just want to be with you. You're beautiful, you're a clever witch, you're pure of heart, and you're… perfect. I see it in our daughter… she's going to be just like you… perfect in every way."
Harry didn't notice Molly and Arthur standing on the stairwell, peering around the corner and listening.
"I'll understand if you won't forgive me, but… I don't know what I'd do without you. I know that I'm babbling on and that I'm the biggest prat in the world to think that I deserve another chance after the way I treated you."
There was a horrible silence, where Harry stood there, waiting for her response. He half-expected her to sob and yell for him to go away, but when she slowly opened her bedroom door, he realized just how true his words were.
"You are the biggest idiot in the world." She told him quietly. Harry wasn't sure if he should smile or not. "But you're my idiot." She added, a smile playing across her lips.
Harry felt happiness rush to his heart and she stepped into his embrace. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, and kissed her head, wanting this moment to last forever.
"I love you." Ginny said with her face pressed against his robes.
"I love you more than you'll ever know" Harry replied truthfully.
They stayed like that for a few moments, until Ginny stepped back, and said, "Hope misses you too. She's been asking for you at least twenty times a day!"
Harry smiled sadly, and went into Ginny's room to be with his family.
On the staircase, Molly and Arthur smiled and gazed at each other, never ending love and understanding passing within their gaze.
"They're perfect for each other," Arthur said quietly. "Just like us"
Molly smiled lovingly at her husband, kissed his cheek and took his hand. They walked back downstairs to the kitchen, hand-in-hand.
Ginny shut the door, and watched Harry walk up to Hope, who was sitting on the floor, surrounded by toys and dolls, on a fluffy pink blanket. Hope smiled and reached out for her father.
"Dadda!"
Harry smiled and sat down. Hope carefully got to her feet and walked into Harry's lap, where she fell on her bottom, turned around, and hugged her father. Harry's heart was about to explode with how happy he was to have his family back.
Hope went back to her toys and picked up her cow and her stuffed horse. Ginny sat next to Harry, who grinned at her, and wrapped his arm around her waist.
"I love you," He repeated softly.
"I love you too, Harry." Ginny said softly, leaning against her husband.
Hope held out the stuffed horse to Harry, a cute smile on her face.
"Daddy," She said clearly, as Harry took the horse. "Horsey!" Hope said brightly, clapping her hands together. "Cow!" She added, holding up the cow for her Dad to see properly. "Moo!"
Ginny couldn't help but beam as she scooped up Hope, who squealed in delight.
"Come here you little monster!"
Harry kissed Ginny's cheek and wrapped both arms around her again. Ginny rolled her eyes at him.
"Daddy's silly, isn't he, Hope?"
"Silly Daddy!" Hope giggled, attempting to grab his glasses.
He chuckled and pushed them farther up on his nose. "You little imp. Leave Daddy's glasses alone!"
They both shared a laughed, and then a kiss, which was interrupted when Hope began to struggle to get down. Ginny set her down and glanced at her, as she crawled back to her toys.
Ginny then flicked her eyes back to Harry, and he pulled her into his lap, resting his hands on her jaw, he kissed her, making a vow to never put himself in a position that would tear him from his wife and daughter. They were his world…
He pulled himself back slightly, and asked, "Ready to go home?"
"Do we have to? I'm getting pretty tired of being a muggle." Ginny asked, a smile on her face again.
"To my house?" He asked, holding her closely, still.
"Yeah. I think it's time we moved on, don't you?"
Over the next few days, Harry and Ginny took time to move all Ginny's possessions into Harry's manor, which was actually his grandparents' old house. It had been unoccupied for years until Harry graduated from Hogwarts and moved in.
When everything had finally been arranged, and cleaned up, it was 8:30 at night, and Harry and Ginny were sitting on the sofa, while Hope sat on the floor, playing with their pet kitten.
Harry had bought Hope a kitten after the first day of moving in. It was a small, young, fluffy white kitten that Ginny had named Zoey. Hope immediately loved the little kitten. She had never been around a cat before, and Harry wanted to get Hope something special. Zoey, to Harry and Ginny's surprise, didn't mind Hope following her everywhere, occasionally pulling her tail, and scaring her by jumping out from behind corners wearing dress-up cat ears.
Hope was laying on her back, on the floor, closing her eyes, a smile on her face while she wiggled her fingers. Zoey would pounce on her fingers, and Hope loved it. Zoey was like a fluffy cotton ball. She had her claws clipped, and couldn't bite to the point that it hurt yet.
Ginny was curled up on the sofa with her head resting on Harry's shoulder. Harry had wrapped her arm around her, and was watching Zoey play with Hope. The lights were out, and the only light Harry had bothered with was the fireplace's light.
"Hey Gin?" Harry began quietly, watching Hope giggle, and close her eyes again.
"Hm?" Ginny muttered in content, her eyelids becoming rather heavy.
"This worked out perfectly, don't you think?" He asked softly.
Ginny sat up slowly, a smile on her face. She curled up closer to him and nodded.
"For something that started out so wrongly to turn into my dream come true is a miracle."
Harry smiled, and tightened his hold on her. "I love you, Ginny."