Altered Paces

Summary: The Final Battle ended three years ago, and everything changed. Voldemort is gone forever, but Harry paid a price he wasn't sure he was ready to pay. For three years, he was out of the country trying to put his life back together, but now he's ready to return. What he didn't put into consideration was the fact that his past wasn't ready for him.

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, of course. Must I even say it?

Chapter 3

To Ginny, seeing Harry was like seeing someone rise from the dead. For some reason, the poor girl had convinced herself that Harry had left and was never going to return, and that she best get over it before she let the idea take over her life. You see, Ginny believed that the faster she moved on, the sooner he would leave her thoughts, so the instant she came to this realization, she found herself a boyfriend.

Ashton was only going to be a rebound, but it didn't take much for the heartbroken girl to fall in love with him. He was tall, charming, and American. Not to mention she hadn't met a more handsome wizard in her entire life. He fell in love the moment he laid eyes on her, and the rest was history. Everyone expected they would be married soon enough.

But now back to the story. No matter how ignorant Ginny's plan for getting over Harry may seem, it worked. She still had nightmares about him, yes, and certain things reminded her of him, but Ashton was the man she loved now, and Harry was a thing of the past. She built walls around herself, blocking out every thought of her past love, and let herself forget about him. So, seeing the man she considered 'dead' standing in front of her was a bit of a shock. She wasn't ready for this. She was happily frolicking through her own world just a few moments ago in "The Great Gatsby", but now reality hit her full force in the face, and she didn't know if she could stand the blow.

"Ha-Harry?" she choked out. There was a lump in her throat, but she hardly noticed. She didn't really recollect much of her surroundings, actually. The hall and table slid away, as did the walls and Ashton with them. They disintegrated into the back of her mind, and the only thing she could see was the-boy-who-lived, standing in his full glory in front of her.

Harry wasn't having the easiest time, either. He was, of course, a little more prepared than Ginny, but he found his entire world started swirling around him when she said his name. Memories were flooding back to him and he couldn't stop them, and if he were any less dignified of a person, he would most likely be tearing up right about now. He stared down at Ginny, catching her eyes and not letting go. He could see her entire life tear into pieces through the blue, and his stomach lurched into his throat from the guilt. He shouldn't be here.

"Hello, Ginny," he said in a calmed voice. His body was screaming, yet here he was, speaking to Ginny like they were just about to enjoy a pleasant cup of tea. She shook at his voice, but it was hardly noticeable. "I-I've come back,"

His sentence ended weakly, as if he regretted what he was saying when he was halfway through. Ginny tensed up and allowed herself to stand taller, firmer, but she was still shaking inside.

"I can see..." she replied, keeping her voice as level as possible. Things were starting to come into focus around her, and at that moment she remembered Ashton. She let out a soft 'Oh' as she spotted the look on his face. He was a jealous person, and it was etched over his entire visage that he didn't like the looks of this Harry figure. Ginny didn't think another second. She didn't think of her perfectly set up world that was falling to pieces around her. She didn't think of her heart, which was now furiously tearing at the walls that she placed around herself the second Harry left her. All she thought about was what she had, and how she couldn't let a person from her past ruin her plans, no matter how important that person was.

She sent an apologetic look Ashton's way, and with every ounce of strength she had in her, she turned to Harry with a blank stare. It tore her to pieces, and she had to resist everything her body was telling her, but with a swift, strong swing of her arm, Harry was standing back outside the door and her hand was on the knob.

"I'm sorry, I don't think you belong here," she said simply, though she was screaming inside. Without a second glance, she closed the door on Harry and on her dreams.

- - -

Harry felt as if the gust of wind the door created could have simply blown him away. Three minutes had already passed, but he stayed rooted to the spot, not a thought crossing his mind. He'd stopped thinking the moment the locked clicked inside, because he found that thinking only hurt. He thought he could stay out there on Ginny's doorstep until he melted into the mat and became one with the house, but the coldness was beginning to eat into him, chilling him to the bone. This and only this caused Harry to move his sleeping feet and turn to stare into the world that suddenly seemed so pointless.

His whole body was lead, but he just walked. He focused all his energy on each movement each second and didn't allow his mind to wander further than that. It wasn't much of a battle, though, since his head was completely empty. He lifted his foot, he moved it, he lowered it, and he picked up the next. He probably looked like a robot, but not a soul in the world was watching Harry Potter at that exact moment, so the truth will never be known.

Inside the home, the chilling cold had penetrated through the walls and was attacking only Ginny. Of course she wasn't as thoughtless as Harry. Ashton was still there, a million thoughts zooming through his head at hyper speed, and she had to accommodate his confusion. With an apologetic smile, she turned to him.

"Oh, he was just an old friend," she said, but the confusion only spread on the jealous boy's face. He tried to question her on why she would push an 'old friend' out the door like that, but she only smiled and nodded, not listening to anything he was saying.

Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived, the conqueror of all evil, had returned. She almost smiled at the thought that he went to her house, out of everyone he knew, first, but it didn't stay long. She started to think about what she did and tried to reason why, in fact, she did it, but nothing came instantly to mind and the pain of lingering on that subject was too much, so she let herself slip into a kind of subdued day-dreaming state, where he mind wandered from one pointless topic to the next.

Meanwhile, Harry had finally reached 'home' and was planning his next visit. He wiped the encounter with Ginny from his mind and fancied that he hadn't, in fact, ventured into the wizarding world at all. Tomorrow it was time to visit the second most important person in his life, and she definitely wouldn't slam the door in his face.

Hermione Granger had become a bit of a stranger to everyone she used to know. Life took a turn for her after Harry left, and her plans were crushed as she was spun into a different direction by a series of events. The day of Ron's funeral, Hermione discovered something she didn't believe was possible. She was late, and she was never late. Never. But they had used protection...the best spells out there, in fact. Of course there is the chance that she performed them incorrectly...but that was so unlikely.

Something went wrong, though, because nine months later, Elise Granger was born, and a beautiful baby she was. Hermione was sure this was going to end her life as she knew it. How could she pursue her ambition of working along side Minerva McGonagall with a child to take care of? But then another twist came into play.

Just when Hermione thought everything was over, when she lost her best friend, her life's ambition, and all hope of becoming successful, Alexander Harrington moved to town. He was a high-paid ministry worker from Spain who was transferred to Britain to work in the Department of International Magical Cooperation as a correspondent in International Magical Trading Standards Body. He was tall, dark, and handsome, not to mention brilliant, and he was the talk of the office.

It just so happened that the day he was transferred, Hermione Granger was searching for a secretary position. No one thought the most brilliant girl in her year would be reduced to working as a secretary for a successful businessperson, but a child changes everything. Her life was ruined for those three seconds after she was denied, once again, but then something different happened. Alexander, heads turning as he walked, approached Hermione Granger and the two instantly fell in love. Well, not quite, but they were sure they were at the time. He hired her up as his personal assistant, and it took only two months for the two to be in a steady relationship. Today, a proposal is certainly only around the corner, and everyone knows it.

Except Harry Potter, of course. Ginny may have changed, but Harry was sure that Hermione would be at the address Tom the bartender gave Harry, sitting alone working herself to death over a complicated job that only she would be qualified for. Yep, Hermione would be exactly the same.