Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I wish I did, but I don't. This story however is mine.
A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who read chapter one and a special thanks to those of you that took the time to review. Here is chapter two, I meant to get this out last week, but I've been so busy with work and kids and the five dogs currently snoozing on my family room carpet.
When You Wish... Chapter Two
They walked into the shadows without talking, but before they had taken ten steps, Ginny suddenly stopped and pulled her shoes off. Giving Harry an apologetic look, she transferred them both into her left hand and started walking again. They could still hear the echoes of laughter and conversation behind them, but they faded away into nothing but a murmur as they walked.
"Feet hurt?" He asked her, reaching out and taking her free right hand like it was second nature.
She looked surprised, but laughed at his question. "Like you wouldn't believe. Mum must have charmed these half a dozen times trying to get them to fit correctly, but it was no use. I think Fleur picked them specifically to torture me. She must have heard about me calling her Phlegm."
"The dress too?"
"No, the blame for the dress goes directly onto Gabrielle. She loved it, and was so excited I didn't have the heart to tell her no. I figured what's one night out of my life looking like a fluffed up snidget if it made everyone happy. "
"But you're a very cute snidget" He grinned at her. She stuck her tongue out at him before continuing.
"I would have preferred something a little more elegant but as long as everyone else was compromising, I could too. I didn't realize how much it was stressing Bill out to have everyone fighting over everything. And I figured if he was brave enough to deal with what Greyback did, I could at least be brave enough to handle Fleur and her mother and sister. So I smiled and agreed with everything."
"So you don't call her Phlegm anymore?"
Ginny smiled. "She's really not that bad. She loves Bill and makes him happy."
They walked in silence for a few more minutes, climbing a slight grassy rise, which allowed them to overlook the garden and observe the activity still going on. It appeared that Mrs. Weasley had convinced Ron and Hermione to help her clear away the last of the dishes. Ron still sat in his chair, using his wand to levitate the dishes from the table to the washtub that Hermione was lugging between tables. Harry looked at Ginny, a silent question and agreement passing between them, and they sank down into the grass, sitting side by side. Ginny sighed and laid back, staring up at the stars that twinkled above them.
A light shot across the sky, burning brightly before dwindling away to nothing. Ginny turned her head to look at Harry. "Do you ever wish on falling stars?"
He shook his head. "No." He continued to stare straight ahead and the quiet night stretched between them. Finally he spoke. "I never had the chance. I never saw one until I came to Hogwarts."
"You can't be serious."
"Well my little cupboard didn't have much of a view, and I was never really allowed out after dark. I usually got locked in right after cleaning up from dinner. By the time I got to Hogwarts, so many of my wishes had come true, I hated to push my luck."
"I'm sorry" Her voice was little more than a whisper.
"Don't be." It was quiet for another long moment. "You know, sometimes I'm a really late bloomer. Most kids start wishing on stars when they're little. I didn't start until I was fifteen. And even then it wasn't your typical star, it was one in particular."
"Which one?"
He raised his left hand and pointed. "That one."
She looked in the direction he was pointing. "Which one?" she asked again.
"Do you see Orion?" He pointed again to where the constellation lay sideways, low slung in the early August sky. She nodded. "Okay, look a little to the right, under the feet."
Her mind raced as she thought back on numerous astrology lessons. Under Orion's feet, the dogs of Orion, Canis Major. She looked again at the bright star, and it seemed to twinkle at her as understanding dawned. "Sirius." She reached out and took his hand in hers again.
He nodded. "I know it sounds stupid." She gave a murmur of disagreement. "But it really helped a lot when he first died. I mean, I just missed him so much. Still do really. But those first couple of weeks back at the Dursley's last summer, I'd sit in my window and wait for it to rise. Then I felt like I could still talk to him. He couldn't answer me back, but I still felt that connection to him. Even back at Hogwarts, I'd still look for him to rise. And every time I see it, I make a wish."
"And what does Harry Potter wish for?" Ginny asked him quietly.
"I wish that Voldemort was gone for good, so I could live a normal life. I wish I didn't have to deal with all this 'Chosen One' rubbish. I wish that for once I could feel free to love someone without worrying about them being the next one to die."
"Oh Harry" She didn't know what else to say, she knew the burdens he lived under day to day and knew that no stretch of her imagination could tell her how it felt to deal with them. She inched closer to him.
He continued. "I wish I had a little more confidence that I knew what I was doing. I mean, I'm supposed to leave tomorrow, and lead my two best friends off who knows where with no real idea of what I'm supposed to be doing. I wish I could be sure that your family will be safe, and that I'm not putting them in even more danger just by being here." He paused for a second, then so quietly that Ginny had to strain to hear it. "And most of all I wish I could be free to love you without the horrible feeling that I'd be signing your death warrant if I even dare to say the words."
She propped herself up on one elbow to be able to look at him. Slowly she reached out and laid one hand on his cheek, turning his head to have him look back at her. "Harry..." she began, but was interrupted when he sat up suddenly.
He brought his knees up, rested his chin on them, wrapping his arms around his legs, staring straight ahead. "And what does Ginevra Weasley wish for?" He teased her with her words from earlier.
She answered him simply and honestly. "You." He turned to look at her and raised one eyebrow. Feeling a little self-conscious, she laughed. "What can I say. I've got a one track mind." She sat up next to him, pulling her feet in close to her body and wrapping her arms around her legs to mirror his pose. The skirt of her dress rustled noisily. "Don't get me wrong, all the other stuff you said is included in that, but more than anything else, I want to be able to be able to be with you, to love you. I'm not ready to plan out my entire life yet, but I want that option available."
"I wish I could promise that to you." He scooted closer to her and wrapped his arm around her waist. She responded by letting her head fall to his shoulder. "I can't tell you that I'll be home soon, I can't say I'm going to write, it would put you in too much danger if it's intercepted. I can't even promise that I will be back someday."
"I don't want you to give me a promise that you can't keep. I just want to know, if, when it's all over, if you are at all capable of coming back, will you?"
"That I can promise you. If I am in any way capable of returning after it's all over, I'll be back here as soon as I can." He turned away from her, staring straight ahead again. "But I can't ask you to wait for me."
"You're not asking, I'm offering."
"Ginny, it could be years."
"I don't care. I'll be waiting for however long it takes."
"You're only fifteen, how can you say that."
"Come off it Harry. I'll be sixteen in a little over a week. You don't think I'm old enough to know what I want? And you're a fine one to talk. You only just turned seventeen a couple of days ago and the fate of the entire bloody world rests directly on your shoulders."
"Not exactly your every day run of the mill teenagers are we?" He pulled her closer into his side. "I feel guilty leaving you behind, with no way of getting in touch with you. You need to move forward and live your life."
"I have no life until you come back." He turned to her, one eyebrow raised in question. "That's not what I meant. Well not entirely. I'm not exactly one to sit around all day doing nothing but pining for you. But Hogwarts is closed indefinitely; Mum won't let me out of the house for anything. Everyone's scared and stressed. Until you succeed in killing Voldemort, my life consists of nothing more than trying to keep up on my studies by myself and helping Mum around the house. And it's not just my life Harry, it's everyone's. We are all counting on you."
"I know. And it's so scary knowing that. Like I'm supposed to be this great hero, Harry Potter, the savior of us all. But deep down inside I'm still little scared Harry, being told over and over again that I'm nothing special."
"You are something special." He shook his head at her. "I'm not talking about everyone else, you are something special to me. Maybe I'm just blinded by the fact that I love you, but I believe that you can do anything."
"And everyone else thinks-"
"Screw everyone else!" She jumped to her feet, her eyes flashing at him and her voice rising in anger. "Put all of them out of your head, who cares what they think."
"But they all expect me to be something I'm not."
"I don't. I don't expect you to be anything but yourself. Quit worrying about what some stupid reporter thinks you need to do. I believe in you. Sirius and Dumbledore believed in you. Ron and Hermione will follow you anywhere because they trust you. My parents, Luna, Neville. Should I go on?" He shook his head, stunned by her angry outburst. Her voice softened as she continued. "We all believe in you, not because of some stupid prophesy or that scar on your head, but because we know you."
He didn't know what to say, but instead took her hand and tugged on it, trying to persuade her to sit back down next to him. Once she sat, he pulled her close into him once again.