"Ginny, where are you going?" the girl's mother asked as Ginny left the living room.
"Just going to Diagon Alley to get some air. Don't worry, I'll check in with Fred and George every now and then!" Ginny called over her shoulder. She walked outside into the cool morning air. The sun had only been up for a few minutes, and the world looked brand new with a touch of fog obscuring the view.
"Ron, why don't you go with your sister?" the plump woman suggested. A gangly teenager looked up at her with sullen eyes. "Oh, don't give me that look. You have to find a job sooner or later." Ginny turned around and walked back into the living room. If she hadn't she surely would have been yelled at for being rude to her brother.
"Harry and I were going to be Aurors together. We promised each other we'd go into training together," Ron said with a raspy voice. Mrs. Weasely's smile faded at the boy's name. Ginny set her jaw and refused to let a tear escape her eyes.
"Come on now!" Mrs. Weasely said, her voice unnaturally high-pitched. "You'll be much happier if you keep busy. You know he's not dead, so there's no use mourning over him now."
"It's not just Harry," Ron said, his eyes looking at the pictures of the family that graced the mantle on top of the fireplace. His eyes stayed on one in which Charlie had taught Ron how to fly on a broomstick. Mrs. Weasely eyed the picture. Her emotions were unreadable. She reached toward it as if she was going to grab it, but stopped halfway there.
"He wouldn't want you to be so miserable, either one of them," Mrs. Weasely said, pulling back her hand. "Ginny, tell your brother to go to Diagon Alley with you," Mrs. Weasely commanded the girl.
"Ron?" Ginny asked, an unsaid invitation hung in the air as Ron looked at his sister.
"Fine, but we're not staying long," Ron said. He stood up. He bowed his head and slumped his shoulders and followed Ginny out to the front yard, scattering chickens as they went.
Ginny flagged down the bus and led Ron up to the door that opened in front of them.
"Back again are you?" Erik asked the girl that climbed onto the bus. The girl smiled at him and nodded.
"Are you working today?" she asked.
"Yeah, but it won't be too much longer. Do you want to meet together for lunch?" he offered. Ginny looked back to her brother. He didn't seem to be paying attention. "Sure."
Mrs. Weasely stared at the spot where the bus had disappeared. Her eyes filled with tears. "Why Harry? Why must you plague my family so?" she asked the air. She shook her head sadly and walked back into the house.
"Hey, Gin, who was that guy?" Ron asked. His eyes were staring at the ground, unable to look at his sister. She wouldn't give up on Harry that easily, would she?
"Oh, just a guy I hung out with last time I was here. Angelina knows him, don't worry," Ginny said, quelling her brother's fears before he got a chance to voice them out loud. "What do you say we go say 'hi' to Fred and George first. Then we can walk about," Ginny suggested, lightly changing subjects.
"That works." Ron looked to be the picture of dejection. He and Harry had made elaborate plans when they had gone into the final battles. They were going to go into Auror training; and they were going to get a flat together until they could afford their own homes. They had even decided what their first meal would be after The Battle. It had been for that that Ron had refused to eat for days after the Battle. He kept saying that Harry would be back and that they were going to share their feast with each other, but Harry had stayed away and Ron had finally resolved himself to a life without his famous best friend, and it wasn't at all pleasant.
Ginny sighed when she looked at Ron. Before Harry's disappearance, he would have been jumping down her throat about this older boy, but not now. It didn't seem like Ron could care less and he didn't even bother to ask the boy's name. Why Harry? Why couldn't you just come home with the rest of us? Ginny asked herself.
"Hey Ron! Look at that funny looking witch!" Ginny whispered, giggling uncontrollably in Ron's ear. It was one of their favorite pastimes when riding the Knight Bus. Mrs. Weasely chastised them for being so rude every time, but it was still fun.
Ron looked uninterestedly at the witch with a veil over her face. "It's not nice to laugh at hags," he said. Ginny scowled at her brother and fell back into her seat.
"Ron, he'll come back eventually. Until then we might as well have fun," Ginny said exasperatedly.
"Ginny, I'm surprised that you of all people can say that so soon!" Ron said in a pained voice. "Although, you have been keeping the local guys busy!"
"What are you talking about Ron?" Ginny yelled. A few fellow passengers looked at the brother and sister. The low murmur of multiple conversations stopped suddenly and there was a ringing silence except for the quiet roar of the engine.
"Fred and George told me about yesterday! Don't deny it! First you got off of the bus, and you weren't alone like you told Mum, you were flirting with that guy, Erik! Then thirty seconds after you were batting your eyes at him, you and Dean wouldn't stop cuddling! I thought that you of all people would miss Harry! I thought you would feel horrible! I never in a million years thought I'd see you flirt with both your ex-boyfriend and some new guy that's two years older than you in the same day! Especially not two weeks after Harry disappeared. What happened to those promises you made to each other? Huh? What about that 'I love you' crap? If you love him then why did you forget about him so soon?" Ron stopped shouting and started breathing heavily. For the first time since last night's dinner when Fred and George had told him all this, Ron looked at Ginny in the eyes. Ginny's jaw dropped and she tried to think of something to say. How could they know all that?
"Fred and George," she said quietly, as if she was talking to herself.
"Would like to explain your actions? It's no wonder Harry won't come home! Why would he want to come home to find his girlfriend snogging every guy on the street?" Ron still shouted. His eyes blazed.
"Ron!" Ginny shouted back. How could he accuse her of keeping Harry away? "First of all nothing happened with Dean and I! We're just FRIENDS! And with Erik? He just so happens to be a nice guy!" Ginny's eyes flashed, how dare Ron accuse her of such things! Erik turned around in his seat at the front of the bus. He blushed slightly as Ginny continued to explain how he was a nice guy. "And do you think I forgot about Harry? His stupid owl is sitting in my room as we speak! And I do love him! But he obviously doesn't love me! Consider me dumped!" Ginny stopped yelling and tears began to form at her eyes. She glared at Ron who was looking back at her, flabbergasted. Furiously, she wiped the tears away. Just at that moment, the bus appeared in front of a small dingy pub. She stood up and got off the bus, her angry aura pushing everyone away from her. She paused briefly at the front of the bus and turned to Erik. "Lunch?" she asked quietly. He nodded his head once. He needed to talk to her, if only to figure out why she had been yelling at her brother about Harry. Were they talking about Potter?
After a shocked moment, Ron stood up and rushed after his sister. There was a bang and the bus was gone once more. Ginny wheeled around inside the pub. She glowered at her brother. "Don't follow me." Her voice was quiet and deadly. Ron stopped in his tracks and watched mutely as Ginny walked out of the pub and into the small garden in the back.
Ginny looked around herself once she was in Diagon Alley. Once more she had beaten the crowd. She walked purposely to the bookstore. At least in there she would be sure to find a quiet place to be alone.
The bell tinkled above her as she opened the door. She walked quietly over a corner that was hidden from view by a large stack of books. She read the titles on the spines. There was no organization. The books didn't even seem to be on the same subject. A small sign on top of the books answered her question though. This was the sale area. Every book was a used book and for sale for half price. She sat down in the corner and held her head in her hands. Was Ron right? Was she pushing Harry away?
"Hey you," a soft voice said to the top of Ginny's head. She looked up. It was Dean. "What's the matter?" he asked. His voice was full of compassion.
"Nothing," she said stubbornly and turned away from Dean.
"Nothing doesn't usually bring tears to a pretty girl's face," he said quietly as he traced the track of a tear with his thumb. He kneeled down beside her. "Talk to me," he ordered calmly.
"Am I pushing Harry away?" she asked, looking at the ground.
"What made you think that?" Dean asked sharply.
"Ron said that Harry wasn't coming home because of what I did yesterday."
"I only held you so that you could get some sleep for a change!" Dean said, surprised that Ron would think that that was so bad.
"I also kind of hung out with this kid named Erik," Ginny said morosely.
"Did you kiss him?" Dean asked carefully.
"No, we just talked."
"Then quit worrying. You're allowed to have other friends that are guys!"
"I don't know. What if Harry's staying away because of me?" Ginny asked, wringing her hands.
"Well then I'm going to pummel him for making your life so miserable!" Dean said furiously.
"I have brothers to do that," Ginny smiled.
"Seriously, Ginny," Dean said, pulling Ginny closer to him. "Harry's had plenty of time to recuperate from The Battle. He needs to come home and either say it to everyone's face that he's done with us or get on his knees and grovel for forgiveness. He's making so many people miserable by being so selfish. When he gets home, I am going to pound him for giving you a look in your eyes that doesn't belong in a sixteen-year-old's eye."
"Dean, don't," Ginny said.
"Ginny…are you or are you not miserable?"
"Well…maybe a little," Ginny confessed.
"A little is too much. You have too much on your plate as it is! You're going into seventh year, N.E.W.T.s year, you're quidditch captain, and you're only sixteen! You should be having fun before you have to work for a living next year!"
"But…" Ginny started to protest, to say that it wasn't Harry's fault for staying away so long, but Dean hushed her by placing his index finger on her lips.
"Hush," he whispered. He leaned in closer to her. He closed his eyes and kissed her. When he pulled away, Ginny looked at him with a pained expression. She touched her cheek tenderly where he had kissed her.
"Dean…Harry…" she said.
"He's not the only one that loves you," Dean said quietly.
"But Harry…"
"Shh, Gin, that was just between friends. You're like the sister I never had," he said, combing his fingers through her hair.
"And you're like the brother I don't need," Ginny said, joking, as she gently took his hand from her hair.
"Are you okay now?" he asked her as she stood up.
"Yeah, thanks, now I've got to go make things right with Erik," she said.
"Remember what I said. If Harry doesn't grovel for your forgiveness and just expects you to love him like you did before, then you deserve better."
Ginny nodded her head in recognition before ambling out of the bookstore. She touched her cheek again. It had been so long since anyone had kissed her. Harry had put all of his energy into getting ready to defeat Voldemort; he had barely even held her hand. Ron had only awkwardly hugged her when Harry had not come home, and Mrs. Weasely hadn't so much as touched Ginny since after The Battle. Ginny guessed it was because seeing her reminded Mrs. Weasely of the lack of Harry. The twins hugged her goodnight every night, but it just wasn't the same. Those hugs were automatic and held no emotion. Dean's kiss had been nice. Somehow, Dean had managed to fill the short peck with a brotherly love she hadn't felt in ages. She smiled when she saw Erik walking towards the fountain where they had sat the day before.
"Erik!" she called out. He turned around. When he saw her, he stopped walking. Ginny tried to read his facial expression, but she couldn't understand it. She ran up to him.
"When were you going to tell me?" he asked coldly.
Ginny stared, taken aback by his hostility. "Tell you what?" she asked, stammering slightly.
"About Harry! Why didn't you tell me that you have a boyfriend, let alone the Harry?"
"You heard," she said quietly, hanging her head.
"Everyone within five miles heard you!" Erik said, throwing his hands up into the air.
"I…" Ginny tried to explain, but couldn't find the words. She looked at him, silently begging him to understand.
"Let's just get some lunch," he said. He reached out and took her hand. She looked dumbly at the joined hands. He started walking towards the pub and she followed him silently. When they were about halfway there, he stopped abruptly and turned to face her. "Did you mean everything you said?" he asked quietly, looking intently into her brown eyes. "Do you honestly think he doesn't love you anymore?" Ginny looked at the ground as tears filled her eyes. He grabbed her chin with his large hands and forced her to look into his eyes. His expression softened when he saw the tears, though.
"If he loved me, he would have come home by now!" Ginny cried, the tears overflowing her eyes and spilling onto her cheeks. Erik wrapped his arms around her and kissed her soundly on the lips. Ginny returned the kiss, but before long, she pulled away. She pulled herself away from his grasp. "I can't…" she gasped. "I can't do this to Harry."
"Why are you so faithful to him?" Erik said. He tried to reach out and pull her into his arms again, but she spun away. "You said so yourself, why would he still be away if he loved you?" He took a step closer to Ginny and grabbed her hands. She tried to pull them free, but he was stronger than she was. "You said to consider you dumped, well you're not acting like you think you're dumped. If Harry really loves you, then he'll be chasing you down. He'd be ready to kill me for that kiss, but I don't see any boys running down the street at us." Ginny stopped struggling and looked at Erik. Was he right? Did Harry really not love her anymore? She leaned into him and let the tears flow. He kissed the top of her head softly. "I didn't mean to hurt you, but you needed to hear the truth," he said. She stopped crying and looked up into his eyes. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.
"Thank you," she whispered. They continued to walk to the pub in silence. Ginny closed her eyes briefly. What was she going to do if Harry came home? How would he forgive her for being so fickle? He had disappeared and two weeks later, she was forgetting about him. But he had left her hanging. He should have come home sooner. All of this was his fault! No, Ginny told herself. It's entirely your fault. If he had known how much she loved him, then he wouldn't have ran away, but she hadn't let him know.
"Ginny?" Erik asked the girl walking beside him. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. "It's not your fault he didn't come back from The Battle," he said as if he could read her mind. She smiled at him and the opened the door into the small, crowded pub.
"What was that?" Fred shouted angrily. Several customers jumped at the shopkeeper's outburst.
"Fred," Angelina said quietly from her position behind the cash register.
"He kissed her!" Fred shouted, whirling around to face his girlfriend.
"George, take my place," Angelina said to the boy that was rearranging a shelf of products so that there was no sense of organization. According to him, the neatness took away from the atmosphere of the store. He nodded his head and looked at Fred concernedly. "Come with me," Angelina said to Fred. She took his hand and pulled him out of the store.
"That dirty Slytherin kissed her!" he said again.
"What Slytherin? What her?" Angelina asked calmly.
"That Erik kid from yesterday and Ginny!"
"Fred, it's okay. You heard Ron earlier, Ginny considers herself to be dumped by Harry."
"But a Slytherin?"
"How is she supposed to know that he used to be in Slytherin?" Angelina asked, as always the voice of reason. She stopped and turned to face Fred. She took his other hand in her free hand. "Why can't Ginny kiss another guy if she thinks she has no boyfriend?"
"Because…" Fred started to say, but couldn't find a good reason. Angelina wrapped her arms around Fred.
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on his cheek. He smiled and kissed her on her lips. When they broke apart, Fred asked, "You said you know that kid?" Angelina nodded her head. "How?" Angelina broke eye contact with Fred and looked at the ground.
"He and I are friends," she mumbled.
"You're a friend with a Slytherin?" Fred asked incredulously. "Well, at least you aren't evil," he said, smiling. She looked up at him again. She returned his smile. "Is he at all evil? Was he a Death Eater?" Fred asked. Angelina's smile disappeared. Fred crinkled his brow in concern.
"Yes," she said. "He was a Death Eater, he escaped The Battle before it ended." Fred opened his mouth to say just what he thought about his little sister kissing a Death Eater. Angelina kissed Fred on the lips again. "But he's a good kid. I'd trust him with my life. I promise he won't try to hurt Ginny," she said quietly. She didn't beg Fred to give Erik a chance. She just told Fred with all the sincerity she could muster just how much she trusted Erik. "I'd trust your life to him," she said. Fred bit his bottom lip. He trusted Angelina's judgment with all his heart, but she was asking an awful lot for him to trust Erik with Ginny. Angelina looked at Fred patiently.
"How long have you known him?" Fred asked. Angelina could see the wheels turning in Fred's mind. He wanted to trust Angelina's opinion, but he couldn't bring himself to trust a Slytherin who also was an ex-Death Eater.
"I've known him since we were kids. He lived down the street from me." Angelina looked at Fred. "And yes, I did know he was a Death Eater while he wore the mask, and yes I would've trusted him with my life then too," Angelina said, answering Fred's questions before he had a chance to ask them.
"Algae, you know I trust you completely," Fred said slowly. "But you're asking me to trust a Death Eater…" Angelina opened her mouth to protest but he silenced her with a finger to her lips. "Once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater. But you ask me to trust a Death Eater with my sister, alone. If she was just any other girl, I'd trust him the way you speak of him, but she's not just any other girl. She is a Weasely, and Weasely's are marked as blood-traitors. Not only that, but she's Harry's girlfriend. Even if she thinks that their relationship is over, she is still a way for any escaped Death Eater to get to Harry both physically and emotionally. Then, once they get Harry into their grasps, then they could avenge their master. I'm sorry, but I can't allow Erik to see Ginny alone. It's not a risk I'm willing to take. I don't want to lose either Ginny or Harry. There has already been enough death in the family." Angelina didn't beg Fred to change his mind. She didn't cry at his statement, she merely looked at him. "Algae…he's just trying to get revenge for his dead master!" Fred said exasperatedly.
"Okay," Angelina said, shrugging her shoulders. "They're in there if you want to break them up," Angelina said, pointing her thumb over her shoulder at the small pub.
Fred started to walk towards the pub, but stopped as he became shoulder to shoulder with Angelina. "Okay, you win, I'll give him a chance," Fred sighed. He turned around and started to walk back to the shop. Angelina grabbed his arm and stopped him.
"Thank you," she whispered. She kissed him passionately, putting all of her gratitude into the kiss. They pulled apart slowly, unhappily, and walked back to the twin's store, hand in hand. Fred had a hard time forgetting the fact that an ex-Death Eater was currently eating lunch with his little sister, but he managed to at least ignore the fact. When they got back to the store, Fred put all his energy into messing up the shelves that Angelina painstakingly organized each morning. She rolled her eyes. He leaned over the counter and kissed her cheek gently.
"I love you," he said.
"Not as much as I love you," she said, her eyes twinkling. George looked briefly at his coworkers and laughed. It was amazing the effect Angelina could have on Fred. He could never stay mad for long if she had anything to do with it. Those two really were a perfect match for each other. He turned back to cleaning the window that showed passerby their latest inventions.
Author's Note: Wow, I am SOOO sorry that it took me soooo long to get this up, but like I said I had a play at my school to do, and so I've been at school fro like 7a to 9p, so, basically I've been swamped with work, and this week has been almost as busy, trying to catch up on everything…but yeah, you don't need to know my life story.
Response to Reviews: Okay everybody! I am disappointed for a couple of reasons. 1.) I only got 5 reviews for this chapter, but I got 10 for the previous chapter, not very uplifting. Is my story losing its appeal? And 2.) There were 85 hits on the chapter alone, and only 6 of those hits had reviews to go with it…let's raise the number, shall we, I say we go for 10! Oh and 3.) None of my friends (the ones I actually know in person, all reviewers are friends ) ) reviewed this chapter…'( However, to the five of you that reviewed my story and told me what you thought, thank you very much, you made my week more bearable.
Ketta dragontamer- oh, I wouldn't call security! (I'm too poor :p) I'm glad there are lots of questions; it means maybe you'll keep reading! D and I'm glad my mysteriousness makes the story great, and Harry's coming home…eventually
Whowantstoknow- I'm glad you like it! And as for Remus…x hehe, I'm not saying! And as for when Harry and Ginny will get together…again, I'm not saying, but it's coming up. And depending on your definition of soon, they'll meet "soon"
ThE bEsT pArT oF bElIeVe Is ThE lIe- believe me, I agree with you! He should get back to Ginny, but eh, he's not under my control… sadly
Bookwrm17- I'm glad you like my interactions! I'm terrible sorry it took me so long to update… I hope you're still around to read this
crystal butterfly- I'm glad you liked the chapter! And I'm REALLY glad you think my story is great!
