Disclaimer: J.K. wrote the books: we are not worthy, yet here we are again, making another brave attempt at this so-called 'art'. As always, constructive flames are welcome. There are ideas that were swiped, or as I like to think of them nurtured, from my absolute favourite author and idol, Gravidy; just sort of background stuff and character theories and the like.
I give the muffins to Rebecca, and the shoe-scuffing to Jill.
--
"Ginny."
Ginny slammed her teacup down. There was an ominous crack.
"Look, it's nothing you can't handle –"
She got up and left the room. She didn't want to hear it. There was a reason Hermione had always assigned groups for their team; Harry just wasn't any good at it. But Hermione was dead, and Harry didn't know how to delegate tasks to anyone but Ron, who was even worse.
Not to mention Ron was also dead.
Ginny slammed her forehead into the dining room table, gripping the sides in frustration. "Aaagh…"
"Ginny."
She half-turned in her seat to glare at Harry. "When I walked out on you, did you not get that we're finished?"
Harry closed his eyes, and when he opened them they were hard. "I'm not asking you a favour, Weasley. As your superior, I'm telling you that you'll partner him and do a good job."
"I'm your goddamned wife, Harry! Do you have a death wish for me?"
"I trust your capabilities." He was in full-on business appeal, not even looking at her.
"Well I don't!"
"Go home, Gin," he said, suddenly tired. "I have work to do. I'll see you later tonight."
She didn't budge.
"Go home," he snapped. "Or go get used to your new partner."
She snarled, but she went. Malfoy was sitting on his sofa with a whiskey and a cigarette.
--
Ginny had been working with Dean Thomas since the beginning of the war. Needless to say, this had pissed Harry off. Hermione insisted they were the best partners for each other, though, and as Harry had promised not to interfere, he let it be.
Ginny and Dean worked well together; they survived the first four years of the war because of this. Ginny had let her guard drop, and now Dean was in St Mungo's Extended Care with most of his limbs missing. Ginny was given a new partner.
"Neville Longbottom!" she shouted, as Draco poured her a strong drink. "I'll be dead in a week!"
"Don't say that," he said, handing her the glass and sitting across from her. She slumped back.
"It's not that I don't like him," she moaned, "I do. No, I do! It's just that he's no good at fighting."
Draco leaned back, crossing his legs at the ankle. "I think you're lying. Not about the duelling, you're right – he's a bloody pacifist. But you don't like him."
"Then what's this warm feeling I get when I see him?"
"Pity," Draco said with a grin, "you like your orphans."
"Hmph."
Draco got up and went into the kitchen. Ginny watched him clear up for under a minute before she said, "Will you sit already?"
"Aren't we the bitch today," he commented.
"I'm under a lot of stress."
"Mmm."
"And I'm not happy."
"I can see that."
Ginny watched him for another moment, and then opened her arms. He came over and pulled her into his lap.
"My poor baby," he said. "Shouldn't be fighting the big bad people. Why doesn't Potter let you stay home and cook like you – ouch!"
She poked him in the stomach and glared. "Don't be mean."
"Meaner than Potter?"
"Yes," she said, defiant. Then, "Well, no. But the potential is there."
"Where is he?"
"Huh?"
"I don't think I can make myself more clear," he said, rolling his eyes. "Do try to keep up."
"Um, he's at Headquarters. I think he'll probably stay the night. He's got a lot on his plate right now."
"Grr," said Draco, tickling Ginny. "When he's done saving the world, I swear to God I'm going to kill him."
"No, don't," Ginny said. "It isn't his fault, I knew what I was getting into."
"As always," he said, watching her this time. She turned her face into his chest and exhaled slowly. When she spoke, her voice was muffled so that he almost didn't hear her.
"Please fuck me," she said. "I need to unwind."
--
There was a raid the next day. Ginny fought her hardest but Neville still died. She wanted to blame it on Harry but he was still away, so she took it out on Draco. That was one of their few nights together; she stayed until morning, not even worried. She hadn't done this since Bill was slaughtered.
--
Later they would say they hadn't meant any of it; that it was an idle occupation, something to do when everyone else had someone of their own to hold. They wouldn't say it to anyone other than each other, of course – it was the kind of thing that was so small, it just wasn't worth mentioning. But it was their own, between the two of them, something good in the midst of so much violence.
She stayed with Harry. That was vital to her. She couldn't be happy without him there waiting for her, or at least there, in arms' reach. So when the war was over she left Draco without a qualm. There was no final farewell or teary kisses. A part of her was glad it was over, not because she thought she should be guilty, but because with that added contrast she appreciated Harry more than she had.
She accepted an internship under his guidance; for all their fights during the stress of the war, she worked well with Harry. They were well-known Aurors within months of entering the field, thanks to their prominence in past battles. They were settled into life, cared for each other, loved each other very much.
Ginny came home from work one afternoon hours after Harry had. Malfoy was sitting on their sofa with a whiskey and a cigarette. She froze.
"Harry?" she said, into the heavy silence. She was starting to panic, when he appeared in the doorway across from her.
"Harry, what's this? What's going on?" She was ashamed to hear the quaver in her voice. Harry opened his mouth but seemed unable to speak. Finally he turned and went back into the den.
"Oh, God," she said, dropping her bag to wring her hands more effectively. "Oh, my God, what did you tell him? What did you tell him?"
Draco took a sip and, looking over her shoulder as though bored, said, "The truth. I thought it was about time he stopped living his daydream."
She was taking deep breaths because her head was spinning dangerously. "How could you hate him so much?"
"Easily," Draco said, taking another sip, "but it was for his sake as much as anyone's. Never say I haven't been kind, Gin."
"Oh my God." She folded onto the couch and buried her head in her hands. "He's going to leave me."
"Probably."
"Fuck you!" She slapped his hand away, which had moved to massage her back. "It didn't mean anything, I didn't love him any less. Oh, my God."
"Ginny," he said, as gently as he could, "I told you I'd kill him. But honestly, now that we've been through this little episode, I don't think it will. I think he's a tough old dog and he's going to pull through. Maybe leave town – though that seems more to your style – maybe remarry." He leaned close to her and whispered, "If I'm not mistaken, he's been eyeing up that Bones girl. She's nothing on you, but she's cute."
Ginny didn't move. When Harry came out of the den and started shrinking his belongings and packing them into his travelling bag, she didn't lift her head. As the door banged open, and then shut, and when Draco stood to go, she kept it firmly between her knees. She thought if she moved she might be sick, or pass out.
"Ginny, know this," Draco said, "before I head off here, I've got a Portkey in twenty minutes. What you did was wrong. You were under pressure no one should face, but Potter's was worse, and you hurt him badly. That was very Slytherin of you. If you ever want a man who respects you for all the deepest, darkest parts of you that even you can't stand, well, I hear Zabini's single and I'd be glad to set you up."
Chortling to himself, he started to go. At the last minute he turned back. "Ginny."
She was sobbing quietly, staring at her feet. Her socks were already starting to soak through. She shook her head, willing him to go.
"If he turns you out, or anything, and you're stuck, you know I won't let you live in a hovel, right? You're better than that. Don't go live in a hovel. I've got spare rooms in case you can't stand me."
She mastered herself, sat up straight, and looked him in the eye. "Get the fuck out of my house before I hex you."
He shrugged. "I'm just saying."
She reached for her wand, and he got out fast. Behind him he heard the heavy door crack from the weight of her spell.
--
Ginny went to live in a hovel. She had had no family for a long time now. She couldn't work with Harry so she quit her job, or rather, was tactfully forced to resign. She had no home to go to, no friends to fall back on, no savings plans that weren't signed and sealed and protected by Harry. She realized now that it was stupid of her, to leave herself without any safeguard.
She thought of Draco occasionally, and his offer to protect her, but never without anger. Without doubting his sincerity, she had to doubt his goodwill.
She thought of Harry.
--
When Ginny first applied for a job in sales, the manager took one look at her and laughed. She went to the nearest bathroom and took a good look at herself, for the first time in years.
She was pretty. There was no denying that, she had always been a head-turner. She had fantastic hair, and glowing eyes, though nowadays they were closer to shiny; her features were perfectly proportioned, her skin flawless if freckled, and despite her poverty, she took care of herself.
However. She had a slice in her Protego charm, one she had never quite managed to seal over, right at face level; a nice, fat hole acquired the week before the war ended, when Dolohov had attacked her head on and hit his mark. The result was a scar of horrific proportions, that pulled her otherwise plump, doll-worthy mouth into a permanent sneer, and severed her eyebrow, and twisted her nose.
She figured she could pull it off with the right amount of charm. She went back, told the manager her credentials, flirted a bit, and managed to scrape herself a bottom-end job in, ironically, the beauty department. She would spend her days primping over-dressed women, whilst convincing them to buy over-priced makeup. She would charm her face within an inch of her life before she left her home every morning, or she would be fired.
So she did all that, and six months down the line she had a raise and a couple of friends. She sought out hobbies, worked a second job in a restaurant, generally found herself quite content.
Eventually the boss was impressed enough that she risked asking for a transfer to another department. With skills she had to attribute to Draco's influence, she convinced the company to sign a contract for her to spend a year studying pharmacology before coming back to work behind the counter. She went to the nearest college, where she met Susan.
--
Ginny was late her first day to school, no surprise. She ran in halfway through the first lesson and slipped into a seat next to a pretty blonde.
"Hi," she breathed, hauling out her books. "What'd I miss?"
Wordlessly, the girl handed Ginny a scroll of notes. Ginny returned her smile and copied them out.
"So," she whispered after some time had passed, "are all the classes going to be this boring?"
The blonde nodded, not taking her eyes off the instructor but with the beginnings of a smile tilting her mouth. As soon as the bell rang, she turned to Ginny and said, "Hi, I'm Susan."
"Ginny," she said, extending a hand. "Are we in all the same classes?"
"Mmmm… I doubt it, actually. Lots of them are options, so it's just what we happen to pick together." She peered at Ginny's schedule. "Yeah, look, we don't have anything together until Wednesday. Hey, do you want to grab a coffee when we're through? We can bitch about these so-called teachers over biscotti."
"That sounds brilliant," Ginny said with a grin. "Four o'clock at that shop on the corner?"
"Sounds good. See you then, Ginny." Susan ran off in the other direction, leaving Ginny to wonder if she could stand to have Susan as a friend based on sheer energy disparity.
--
After six espressos, this was no longer a problem.
"Oh my gosh," Ginny said, grabbing Susan's arm. "Look at that man's ears!"
"They're huge!"
"What an affliction! Oh, that poor man!"
"Do you know who has the sweetest, tiniest ears you'll ever see?" Susan clasped her hands in delight. "My husband. They're adorable!"
"Ooh la-la, married, are we?" Ginny waggled her eyebrows, reaching past Susan for the muffins. "Tell all. What's he like?"
"Faaabulous. Wonderful! We just got back from our honeymoon and we are in looove." Susan was unabashedly starry-eyed, making Ginny giggle into her mug. "How about you?"
"Hm. Well. Not married, rather not talk about it."
"No, no you have to!" Susan grabbed Ginny's arm, shaking her. "Sadly single? Hasty engagement? Tragic seperation?"
"That one," Ginny said dryly. "But it was years ago, not a big deal."
"How come you're so close-lipped, then?"
"It's a painful subject!" Ginny defended. "I don't talk about it."
"You have to sometime or it'll never heal." Susan put on a wise face and tilted her head. "How come you split?"
"Just… unsolved marital difficulties that built up over time and, you know, big fight, we realized we had married too young and that was that." Ginny spread her fingers in a 'who-cares?' gesture. "Now tell me more about your husband."
"Uh-uh. We need to set you up. I have enough male friends to feed an army, here." She pulled out her address book. "Mike? Tyler? Mmm, Dylan, he's cute. What d'you think?"
Ginny reached for the book, rolling her eyes.
--
"So."
Ginny stirred her cocktail despondently.
"Ginny, right? Susan was talking real fast in the Floo –"
"She tends to do that," Ginny said, and Tyler laughed.
"You look really familiar, Ginny. Do you have a surname?"
She nodded, ready for the explosion. "Weasley."
Tyler scratched his jaw. "Nope, never heard of it. That's funny, I'm sure I know you from somewhere. Do you get in the news a lot?"
She shook her head.
"Right. So. Do you feel like catching a show or something?"
They were finished dinner, and Ginny was tired. She hated this kind of small talk, it was why she hadn't ever dated again. Well, that and she was still in love with her ex-husband. "Oh, I don't know, Tyler, we've got this big assignment due Monday. I might have to call it a night."
"Oh, that's too bad. Want me to Apparate you home, or are you alright?"
"I think it'll be fine," she said, trying to smile. "Thanks for the lovely evening."
"It was great meeting you. Maybe I'll Floo next week?"
"If you like," she said, wincing at her own rudeness.
--
"Whaaat!"
"I'm sorry, Sue, he just wasn't my type."
"Tyler is everyone's type!"
"Not mine. Look, if I want to date I can find people, right? I'm not that sad yet, I don't think."
"Are you kidding? You are hot, honey." Sue narrowed her eyes at Ginny. "But you seem also to be emotionally flat."
"Oh, thanks." Ginny added milk to her tea and went to stretch out on her couch. "I'm also broke, which doesn't help, and busy, and men bore me."
"I see." Susan seemed to ponder that, before saying, "So what interests you?"
"Beaches, concerts, ice cream, walks in the park. You know, normal stuff. That normal, not-in-love people do."
Susan laughed at that. "Okay, yeah, I want to double date. It'd be so fun!"
"I'll come with my cat."
"Blech. Tell you what. Let's go to the beach on Saturday, and you can meet my husband like you want so badly –" Ginny smiled at this; she had been humouring Susan for a while now, because Susan wanted Ginny to meet her husband so badly, "- and maybe my good friend Draco will come along."
"No," Ginny said sharply, then, in a softer tone, "I know him, he's an asshole."
"Yeah, he can be. Just as well, my husband can't stand him. Okay, Ryan!"
"Fine," Ginny said, "but no promises."
"Of course not," Susan said, and did a little victory dance.
--
Ginny walked down to the beach by herself on Saturday, shoes in hand. She was distracted by her skirt, which was flapping in the wind, so she didn't see them until the last minute. Susan's back was turned; her husband was facing her, laughing at something she was saying and scuffing his shoe in the sand.
Harry.
"Oh, Christ," she muttered, backing into a shrub. "Oh, fuck, what the hell am I going to do?"
The first thing she thought of was running. When she was in a safe spot she Apparated home, slamming in the door and grabbing the first parchment and quill she could find.
Susan, she scratched out, I'm really sorry I can't make it but something came up with my brother. Hopefully we can figure something out for later, don't know how long this'll take. Then as an afterthought she signed it Ginny Weasley, and wasn't quite sure whether she hoped Harry would see it or not.
If he did it would make things easier for her. But if he didn't she could explain it to her advantage. She hoped Harry had forgiven her a little bit.
--
Ginny got a response late that afternoon.
Ginny,
Get the hell over here, we need to talk. Susan's out for a couple hours.
Harry
Oh, Christ.
--
Harry was waiting on the front steps. Ginny sat down next to him, hugging her arms to her chest.
"Your face looks good," he said at last.
"It's just charms. It's still the same."
"Oh." After a bit he said, "I guess you and Sue are real buddy-buddy now."
"Sorry. I didn't know." Ginny cleared her throat nervously. "She talks about you a lot, you know, just never mentioned your name."
"It's okay."
"Did you tell her?"
"I didn't have to."
Ginny's head snapped around. "What?"
"Draco Malfoy showed up here a few weeks ago," he said. "I guess they were old pals since before school, and you know how he gets to talking." Harry sounded more than a little bitter.
"He told her? She knows? Why didn't she say anything?"
Harry shrugged. "She wants to like people. She really likes you, she thinks you've got a lot of nerve."
"That doesn't sound too good." Ginny put a hand to her head. "Oh, poor Susan."
"I think she wants to spend more time with you, but not if it'll hurt me."
"She told you that?"
"More or less. I said I didn't care, but she worries." He shrugged. "I think the real question is whether it'll hurt you."
Ginny was startled at that. "What?"
"I've known you for a long time, Ginny," he said quietly, so that she had to strain to catch his words. "I want the best for you, whatever our history is." He waved a hand around, probably to relieve his nerves more than to express himself. Ginny hugged herself tighter, thinking.
"You should go before Sue gets back, she's kind of the jealous type." Harry gave her a sideways smile and touched her arm. "It was a long time ago, Gin. I think we can get past this."
He stood up slowly, hands in his pockets, and walked around the house. Ginny shivered there for a little longer, and then Apparated home.
--
"Draco," she whispers, creeping into his arms. "Where did you send him?"
"This is the last time, Gin, I promise." Draco rubs circles into her back. "No more worries."
"You sent him to Voldemort?"
"Straight to him."
"And he'll win?"
"Of course he will."
"It'll feel good to be loved again," she tells him, and he nods agreement. He's learned to look her in the eye, even when he's lying. They've both grown in that respect.
"It'll be perfect," he says.
--
Ginny called Harry the next afternoon to invite herself over. When Susan saw the awful scar on Ginny's face she understood at once why Harry wanted to protect her. Ginny was a quiet girl, but progressing nicely. They moved her out of that nasty flat and into a nice little house, where she lived alone. She came to visit almost every day.
--
FIN.