Ginny Apparated to the corridor outside her London flat. She leaned against the wall with a sigh and slid down until she was crouching on the floor. Inside the apartment she knew Dean would be waiting, they hadn't seen each other in 3 days and she did miss him. But the overwhelming guilt in leaving Harry alone was eating her away. He had asked her a dozen times that afternoon why she and her mother had argued. What did they know, that he, Harry, didn't? Was he ill? Dying? His worst fears rose to the surface when he asked Ginny if Voldemort was still alive. Ginny had tried to just pass the argument off as a family situation, but Harry was too smart for that. Ginny just kept dodging the questions, changing the subject, or passing them off as codswallop.
Ginny finally rose off the floor and inserted her key into the lock on the door. Upon pushing it open, a smiling face stood inside greeting her.
"Well, how is he?" Dean inquired, excitement abounding in his normally soft voice.
"Huh?" Ginny mumbled, slipping off her coat and hanging it on an old brass coat rack near the door.
"Harry! How is he? Merlin, I could hardly believe your note."
The excitement in his voice was murder to Ginny. The pain of knowing that only a few hours ago she had been kissing Harry, quite passionately, when she was betrothed to someone else. Someone good and sweet and utterly lovable. Someone who didn't deserve her.
"Oh, well he's doing alright. Still sleeping a lot. Seeing Remus today took a lot out of him. He is having a bit of a hard time realizing what's been going on in the last 5 years."
Dean smiled, ruffling up his curly black hair. "Poor bloke, can't wait to see him though. I've Owled the other Gryffindors from our year. We're all trying to coordinate our schedules to visit him together."
Ginny suddenly felt as though her stomach was in her throat. The prospect of having her former beau (even if he thought he was her current,) and her fiancee' in the same room was heart stopping.
"Now Dean, Harry's been through a lot. Let's give him some time to acclimate to life again." Ginny dropped the rest of her belongings and walked further into the apartment, it had become her haven over the last couple of years. Coming home from the hospital after a long day of work and spending time with Harry. The apartment's décor was homey, with lots of old antiqued things. Like a less cluttered version of The Burrow. Ginny loved her little apartment and would definitely miss it when she and Dean moved in together.
Dean shrugged, following along behind her. "I know, I'm just excited for him. He was one of my best mates at school."
Ginny turned abruptly when she reached the hallway and wrapped her arms around Dean's slender frame, burying her head in his chest. "I've missed you. She admitted, nuzzling his shirt and catching a scent of his cologne.
Dean smiled, holding her tight and lifted her feet off the floor. "Mmm, me too." he growled playfully. "Dinner's ready, have you eaten?" He gave her a quick kiss before setting her back down.
"Eh, I'm not hungry, just tired." She looked the flat again. Granted she hasn't been here much in the last few days but it was immaculate. Much cleaner than when she Apparated out this morning. Dean confessed that he had been there since early afternoon, eager to see Ginny, made dinner, cleaned the apartment and put in a full day of work himself. What wasn't to love about him?
"I have a wonderful idea." Ginny declared, locking her arms around Dean's waist.
He raised an eyebrow. "And what's that?"
Ginny smiled bashfully, diverting her eyes, and slapped his chest. "How about I run a nice, long, hot bath and you come join me in five minutes?"
"Deal." He confirmed, pressing his lips softly to Ginny's forehead. Their presence there was comforting. "Meet you in 5."
Ginny made her way thru the living room to the hallway. Her bare, little feet made soft slapping sounds as she stepped onto the cool bathroom tile. The countertop was bare, all her brushes had been neatly put away and the glob of toothpaste that oozed out of the tube was cleaned up. The magical version of Botticelli's Birth of Venus showed Venus sitting on the edge of her shell, brushing her long, blond hair while she hummed a little tune.
Ginny let out a sigh of content and began to fill the deep, white, claw-footed, porcelain bathtub and added a splash of jasmine scented bath oil. She disrobed as the tub filled and cautiously dipped a foot in.
Ahh, heavenly. Ginny thought as she climbed into the deep tub. She sunk beneath the water's surface, thoroughly drenching herself. Strangely enough, Ginny felt more calm under the water than above it. She ran her hands through her smooth, wet hair, disrupting the floating red fan at the water's surface. Ginny opened her eyes and stared up at the gold leaf ceiling through the crystal water. The bath oil stung her eyes a little, but it was a welcome pain. Why could she not get Harry Potter out of her head?
Ginny felt her body gently rest on the smooth porcelain bottom of the bath. Why do my problems haunt me even here?
Closing her eyes she let out a frustrated scream, causing an eerie sound and a churn of bubbles to escape her lips. She opened her eyes once again to see a blurry, dark face peering down at her.
She surfaced from the water with an audible gasp as oxygen refilled her constricted, deprived lungs.
"What on earth were you doing Ginny?" Dean demanded, not without a scowl of concern. He grabbed her around the arm, more forcefully than he intended and hoisted her from under the water. "I called for you."
Ginny was blushing as she stammered out a response. "Oh, I was just, er, washing my hair."
"Why'd you scream?"
"I was startled?"
Dean regretfully started to smile. "Is that a statement, or a question? You don't sound too sure."
Ginny only shrugged, pulling her knees up and locking her arms around them.
Dean sighed with defeat, she was clamming up on him. "Well, budge along if you want me to get in."
The bath consisted of a lovely chat, a backrub and more than a little snogging. The safety and comfort of Dean's strong arms surrounding her was exactly what Ginny needed after the hectic two days she'd just been through. After toweling off Ginny entered her bedroom to find the bed invitingly turned back and her favorite nightgown laid out.
Dean was standing there waiting for her with only his towel wrapped around his waist.
"Thank you." Ginny whispered, taking a hesitant step toward Dean and letting her chin drop a little.
He placed his hands on her shoulders and kisser her forehead. "It's nothing. You've had a rough couple of days, you deserve more."
Ginny stood on her tip-toes leaning in to his kiss. "No," she contradicted. "You do."
She did a quick drying charm on her hair and changed into her nightgown. The cool, crisp, lavender sheets felt good against her warm skin as she climbed into the tall, 4 poster bed. Ginny sighed happily as Dean pulled the covers up around her and tucked them in.
Ginny raised up in bed with a certain amount of fear reminiscent in her eyes. "You're staying aren't you?" She asked with alarm.
Dean only nodded, moving around to the far side of the bed. He set the small alarm clock on the bedside table and Accio'd his bag from the front room. After he stepped into his pajama pants and turned back to the bed he found Ginny asleep.
Harry had read in books what a battlefield smelled like and now that was on one, he knew he'd never forget it.
A cloud of smoke obscured his vision and he was choking on the horrible ash and dust. Screams of fear and cries of lament filled the gloaming. Harry had lost track of Ginny, Ron and Hermione so early on in the battle. He couldn't bear to think about where they might be and what condition he would find them in.
Behind him he heard what had haunted his dreams for years.
That laugh.
Harry's mind rapidly changed gears and he could hear Ginny's weeping voice, she was inconsolable and screaming with despair as Harry could feel someone dragging her away from his lifeless body.
He flashed again. This time Ginny was singing Christmas carols, sniffling intermittently between verses. She was visiting him here at St. Mungo's on Christmas Day.
Harry's mind lurched again, sending back to the final battle. He was shielding his face from an explosion of light. He felt himself go weak and fall to the cold, hard, ground.
Harry gasped loudly for air, sitting straight up from the bed. Hot tears stung his eyes and his cheeks. It was only a dream. He tried telling himself. But they weren't just dreams, they were memories.
Across town, at the cusp of Muggle and Wizarding London, Ginny Weasley awoke with a start.
She threw the covers back and tore out of the bed frantically.
"What is it?" Dean asked, struggling to awaken from sleep.
"I don't know." Ginny admitted, rummaging around in her dark bedroom. She tossed her hair over her shoulder as she looked over at the clock- 12:34. She didn't know what the trouble was, only that there was something terribly wrong. It felt as though a Golden Snitch was fluttering around in her stomach. Her heart was pounding and her head ached.
"What do you mean Ginny?" Dean asked, folding the covers over as he heard the clang of a shirt being pulled of it's hanger in Ginny's closet.
"I don't know, I just know something's wrong." Ginny snapped, tossing her nightdress over her head and shimmied into her jeans and pulled a jumper on.
"Where? It's the middle of the night Ginny."
Ginny hurried across the room to the edge of the bed. Even in the dark she instinctively found his lips and kissed him.
"To St. Mungo's." She stated briefly, glad it was dark so she could not read his expression.
"I'm sorry, I have to go, he's got nobody."
Dean sighed dejectedly. "I know." He admitted. "Go."
Ginny screwed up her face and Apparated to St. Mungo's.
Ginny arrived at St. Mungo's Apparition Point and raced through the halls. Her mind was swimming with what she might find when she reached Harry's room She couldn't ignore the sense of fear that threatened her. The only thing she knew was that Harry needed her.
She was nearly breathless when she arrived at Harry's room. The door was closed and the lights were off. Ginny was beginning to think she had made a stupid mistake, when she heard the sound of sobbing coming softly from within the room.
Without hesitation Ginny threw open the door, finding Harry sitting on the edge of the bed, his feet dangling a few inched from the floor. He was bent far forward, cradling his head in his hands. Harry's shoulders shook with each lonely sob.
"Harry?" Ginny's voice shook and trembled with worry.
Harry didn't need to hear the voice or see her face to know who was standing at the door. He could only see her silhouette illuminated by the hallway lighting and he didn't have his glasses on anyway. But it didn't matter, Harry knew her body, granted it had been 5 years since he'd experienced it. He knew her aura, the glow that just seemed to accompany her and radiate to those who surrounded her. Harry knew it was Ginny out in the corridor by the way she made him feel. Her presence was calm and comforting, like a life preserver in the waters of agony and turmoil that had been his life.
Harry looked up when Ginny spoke his name, slightly startled by her appearance. He shook his head, trying to shake with it the negative emotions. It didn't help.
Ginny didn't wait for an invitation. She stepped inside the room letting the door close behind her, in effect blocking out the rest of the world. She took off her coat, throwing it down onto the floor. It slid across the tile and came to a stop at the foot of the little table with the water pitcher.
Ginny hurried over to him, falling to her knees at the bedside and extending her hands to him. Harry saw her concerned expression and discovered, for once, he didn't really mind it. She was here and that was all that mattered.
"Harry, love, what is it? Ginny asked with heartache as her hands moved up to cradle his face and wipe the tears away.
Her palms felt soft and cool against his warm, tear-stained face as he leaned into those wonderful hands trying to catch his breath. "T-tell me it's all over." He whispered bitterly. "Tell me life is going to get better. Promise me you won't ever leave."
Ginny swallowed hard. She never had any intentions of ever abandoning Harry, she would always be a part of his support system, but she had already chosen to move on with her life without him. Hadn't they always been friends, regardless of whatever labels they placed on themselves?
"Things have steadily been getting better since the moment you opened your eyes, and you know I'll always be here Harry. I couldn't leave if I wanted to. I woke up knowing you needed me so I rushed over. Now tell me what spurred all this."
Ginny brushed the remaining tears off Harry's face and swept his hair behind his ears with her fingertips. She rested back on her haunches and waited for him to speak when he was ready.
"I may have killed Voldemort, I don't know, but he isn't totally gone. Ginny, he's invaded my mind and my thoughts, and he cowardly waits until I fall asleep to do so." His voice was broken and raspy and his breath came out in short huffs.
"You're having nightmares again, aren't you?"
A single tear escaped his emerald green eyes.
"I'm remembering Gin."
Alarm swelled up in Ginny before sympathy did. "W-what are you remembering Harry?"
Harry sniffled and shook his head, staring down into Ginny's chestnut brown eyes was already counteracting his gloom. "I'm not 100 for sure. I think some flashbacks of the final battle. I'll need some collaboration with that." Harry paused, screwing up his eyes in concentration, trying to remember the order of the flashbacks. "Then, I think I had some memories, or flashbacks, whatever, of being here in the hospital. You were here singing Christmas songs."
"Was I crocheting?"
Harry shook his head. "I don't know. I couldn't really see you, I only heard you singing."
Ginny was flooded with old memories too. There were so many days that she sat in the chair next to the bed, unsure of how to pass the time. She interrupted him before he could continue. "Mum suggested I take up knitting, crochet, and quilting to pass the time while I sat here with you. It not only turned out to be productive but therapeutic as well. You've got a lovely, warm quilt waiting for you at home." She smiled. Her new hobbies helped her keep her sanity while she insisted on spending so many hours in that room.
There was a long pause before Harry finally spoke again. "Truthfully the memories don't scare me, it's just sad knowing I missed so much and caused everyone so much grief." Ginny made to speak but Harry pressed a finger to her lips to silence her. He needed to speak his words now while Ginny's presence gave him the courage. "Voldemort, Ginny, He seemed so real. I heard his laugh, saw his eyes, and just felt so cold , empty and utterly alone."
Ginny raised up and looked in Harry's eyes, placing her hands on either side of his face, her fingers traced each fine line that his distraught face forced into his skin. "Hear me now. I am here and no matter what, I always will be. We'll get through this, just as we've gotten through everything else. Voldemort is gone Harry, I watched him incinerate. If he has a hold on your mind it's only because you let him. Stop him, don't let him have the power over you anymore. Use you Occlumency! You're the strongest person I've ever known Harry, you've had time enough to suffer, move on!"
Her face was close to Harry's. He could see the intensity in Ginny's eyes. She was strong, beautiful and smart. She was undoubtedly the living angel he so needed to grace his life, the reason she made all his battles worthwhile.
She was slightly out of breath from her dissertation. Her cherry coloured lips that so perfectly complimented her fair skin, were parted ever so slightly. In their closeness, Harry was happy to see the freckle that still lingered about the left side of her top lip- like that Muggle actress, Marilyn Monroe.
Caught up in the moment, he leaned forward and kissed her, slipping his hands under her arms and pulling Ginny off the floor. She obeyed his wishes and sat straddling his lap, her mind too tortured by feelings of betrayal toward either of the men in her life to do anything different.
He parted her lips with his tongue, drawing her into his mouth and by so doing, drawing proverbial strength from her spirit.
Harry's lips were strong and his kisses were forceful and exciting. The feelings that swarmed her made her want to do so much more, but the little voice in the back of her mind began to cry out again. Quietly at first, but then finally screaming disparagingly.
Two-timer! Traitor! Charlatan!
A part of Ginny didn't care if she was betraying Dean, and the other part felt as though her heart might break.
Nevertheless, Ginny's fingers entwined in the back of Harry's ebony hair, pulling him closer. When Harry's hands began to stray Ginny halted the kiss, nipping at his top lip as she did so.
She smiled slyly, placing a finger to his lips. "Hey, let's get you back into bed. I'll stay here with you tonight. No more nightmares." Harry kissed her finger before resolving himself to the fact that she was right- he was dead tired. Ginny tenderly settled him into bed and cuddled in beside him.
Harry closed his eyes and yawned as he slipped one arm around her to keep her nearby. With a contented sigh he nuzzled into the curve of her neck.
"I love you Gin." He whispered softly, his breath tickling her skin.
Ginny's breath caught painfully in her throat. Stonewalling, she brushed the fringe off his forehead. Even though only yesterday she had told her mother she loved Harry, saying it a loud to him today was out of the question. Ginny knew if she actually verbalized those words, there would be no going back.
"And I you." She replied, choking back the tears.