The Cost of Friendship

Chapter Ten

Hard Choices

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Tension was high as Harry and Ginny continued to stare at each other intently. Ginny was eyeing the ring in the box, not daring to touch it. She turned it over several times as if something was going to happen or it was going to vanish from her hands. Harry's mind was racing, he wanted to ask her, he longed to ask her but not like this, he didn't want to propose in bed…how cliché.

As Harry racked his brain, one thought continued to drift through his mind, she said she wasn't' ready for marriage. How could he possibly ask someone that wasn't ready for the question? He had hopped that Hermione's wedding mite spark something in her, some sort of womanly excitement, but if it had, he didn't see any change in her. However the longer he watched her with the ring and the slight glimmer in her eye he wanted to shout to the world just how much he wanted to be with her.

"Harry, is this for me?" Ginny asked sheepishly.

God she's cute. Harry thought. "Well yeah but I wasn't…that is to say…I was going to…" Harry stuttered stupidly.

Ginny smiled at him sweetly and handed the box back to Harry who took it a little to quickly. "It's okay Harry, take a breath. If this isn't how you want to do it then don't. It wasn't right of me to take it from you, If I had known what it was I wouldn't have…"

Harry sighed and held the box tightly in his hands and looked Ginny in the eyes, "What will you say…when I…you know…"

The look in Ginny's eyes could have made any man run for his life, the sadness and confusion was written all over her face. Oh my god, what will I say to him? Ginny thought frantically. Look at him just watching me, say something! Ginny's mind was racing to fast to understand her own thoughts. She needed Hermione more than she had ever needed her in her life. She needed her best friend to talk to.

"I umm…" Ginny managed to spit out.

Harry blushed then leaned back onto his pillow and looked away from her. "It's okay Gin, you don't have to answer."

A thought suddenly stuck Ginny, if he thinks I'm going to say no he will never ask me but if he thinks I'll say yes he will ask me now. What do I want to say? Ginny continued to search her mind to find her true feelings, she had never been in this situation before.

"Harry look, I know in the past I haven't wanted to talk about marriage much but I think a lot of that had to do with dealing with Hermione and Ron's wedding. Now that its over I haven't had time to think about it, you know…" Ginny said as she recoiled from Harry's sad eyes.

Harry opened his mouth to respond but at that very second an odd tapping sound was coming from their living room. Harry shot Ginny one last fleeting glance and sprung out of bed, ring box still in hand. Harry reached the living room only to find a rather large tawny owl outside the window, tapping on the glass with his beak. Harry rushed over to the window and quickly opened it to let the bird inside. With a hard thump he landed on the arm of the couch and held out his leg to reveal a letter attached to it. Harry removed the letter, gave the owl a pat on the head and watched him as he flew away.

Harry sat down on the couch with the letter and started to open it when Ginny came out of the bedroom and joined Harry on the couch. Harry shot her a quick glance then looked back down at his mail. He noticed right away the it was from the ministry, a seal he hadn't seen in months.

Mr. Potter,

Your presence has been requested in the Office of the Aurors by nine tomorrow to discuss your return to the department. Your help has been requested by High Chief Gawain Robards.

Malinda Goahwank

Auror Department Secretary

Ginny who was reading over Harry's shoulder said excitedly, "Harry, they want to give you your job back!"

"I know, something must be going on because they wouldn't want me back for no reason. But you know what this means don't you Gin?" Harry ask as he folded up the letter and turned to look at Ginny.

Ginny seemed to be thinking it over carefully, "Oh, it means that you won't be coming back to S.P.E.W."

"Are you okay with that?" Harry asked.

Ginny couldn't help but feel that this day was going horribly wrong. The fact was that the new S.P.E.W. office was just getting off the ground and Ginny needed Harry's help. But more importantly she liked working with Harry it made her feel safe, it gave her someone to talk to and more importantly, she wanted to be with him every waking moment of the day. And that's when it hit her, she did, she did want to marry Harry! She just hoped that she didn't blow it for them but not saying yes right away.

"I won't lie Harry, I like working with you. But I know how much you wanted to be an Auror, you need to do what makes you happy." Ginny said.

What would make me happy is to know that we have a future. Harry thought sadly as he thought about what Ginny said. "I'll think about it Ginny, I at least want to hear what they have to say tomorrow."

"Fair enough." Ginny said.

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Ginny sat nervously at her desk in the Diagon S.P.E.W. office the next morning. A post card from Hermione and Ron sat on her desk as she played with her quill, stroking the tip with her fingers and flicking ink in all directions. All around her people were writing away happily, answering phone calls from other counties and excepting notes from the many owls that zoomed in and out all day. Everyone was wrapped up in their work, their mind stress free, except for Ginny.

At this very moment Harry was off talking with the Heads of the Aurors office and more than likely talking happily about what he will do when he returns to work. Ginny had this twisted image of Harry sitting around with large beefy men drinking firewhiskey and smoking large cigars as they told dirty jokes and celebrated Harry's return to the office. Ginny of course knew that Harry would never do such a thing but the idea of him leaving the S.P.E.W. office had her more and more upset by the moment.

Ginny's sudden realization of how much she wanted to be with him, hit her hard. It wasn't until she thought she mite be separated from him for even a moment did she realize just how much she wanted to be with him. Her fears that Harry would never ask her to marry him now was overwhelming that it almost made her sick. If only she had realized this before she could have saved them both from so much hassle and heartache.

"Ginny, can you sign this please?" Called the voice of a young girl.

Ginny looked up from Hermione's post card to see that there were several S.P.E.W. workers who were needing her assistance or signature for various forms. Ginny had to shake herself out of her day dreaming so she could focus on her work, the only thing to keep her mind off Harry. But as she answered questions and worked away the hours she couldn't help but glance over at Harry's empty desk every chance she could. The room was packed full of people coming and going and yet it felt so empty.

Meanwhile, on the second floor of the Ministry of Magic Harry was sitting in a rather dark room that belonged to the current Head of the Aurors office, Gawain Robards. He had now been waiting for almost an hour, waiting for Mr. Robards to return to work and Harry was getting rather impatient. He wasn't exactly sure why he was here in the first place, he was fired after all and to his surprise he actually enjoyed working with Ginny. But for some reason he felt that because he had spent three years in training that this was what he should be doing. Being an auror was the only thing he ever dreamed of being and if he had a slight chance of getting back in he wanted to try.

Finally after what felt like hours, Harry's old boss, Mr. Robards walked in and sat down behind he large cluttered desk. He looked at Harry for a moment before he pulled out a large quill and a stack of parchment. He looked up, smiled at Harry and dipped his quill into a bottle of ink. Harry watched him as he made several marks on the paper in large loopy hand writing. Harry was trying to read what he was jotting down but was having trouble due to the angle he was sitting.

Finally after several moments of intense writing Mr. Robards looked up at Harry and put his quill down. "So, Mr. Potter. It is a pleasure to see you again, its been quite awhile hasn't it?"

"Yes sir." Harry replied politely.

"Well, I'm going to get to the point Mr. Potter. You didn't leave here on the best of terms, I daresay your anger got the better of you. But I'm willing to over look that for the time being. We have a case that we think you would be well suited for. A small band of self proclaimed death eaters have emerged in Scotland and are causing havoc. Obviously they are being copycats but we need someone with death eater experience to handle this." Mr. Robards said rather quickly as if he had been rehearsing what he was going to say. "So, what do you say Mr. Potter."

Harry thought deeply for a moment but one thing stuck in his mind, He was willing to overlook the anger for now? What did that mean? He didn't want to come back, do their dirty work then be let go all over again. Harry could tell that Mr. Robards expected an answer and quickly, but Harry didn't like this feeling of being rushed. Harry choose his words carefully before he spoke.

"If I come back, will it just be for this one job or will I be hired on full time." Harry asked.

"Ahh, I'm glad to see your finally using your head. Yes, we were just wanting you for this job but if you do a good job and get us what we want we can talk about a full rehire." Mr. Robards said with a crooked smile.

"Fair enough." Harry said. "So, what do you need me to do?"

"Right, well first off I need you to sign this paper." Mr. Robards said as he handed Harry a piece of parchment and a quill.

Harry took the quill and looked at the paper, "What is this for?" He asked.

"It's a statement saying that if you lose your temper and yell at an authority figure again you will be terminated immediately." Mr. Robards said with a stern face.

Harry put the quill back on the desk, pushed his chair back and stood up. "I'm sorry Mr. Robards but I can't take this job. If I sign that paper I will have to walk on pins and needles around everyone who works here. My every move will be watched and every time I even get slightly frustrated I will feel like my job is on the line. I'm sorry but I refuse to have my every move monitored, I lived most of my life like that and I wont do it again."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that Mr. Potter, but if you turn this down you will never have another chance at the Ministry of Magic, I'll make sure of that." Mr. Robards said as he stood up and looked Harry squarely in the eyes.

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Harry was sitting on his couch later that afternoon, looking out his window. He was as nervous as he had ever been. His leg was shaking, his face flush and he was playing with the hem of his shirt out of habit. He was still full of adrenalin from the events that took this afternoon. His dream job had been handed to him for the second time in his life and he turned it down. If felt good to walk away from Mr. Robards because he knew in his heart that wasn't where he wanted to be. Now as he sat waiting for Ginny to get home from work his nerves were steadily increasing. The little black box that has been haunting him for weeks was resting in his pocket, getting heavier by the moment.

Moment's later, what felt like years to Harry, Ginny walked through the front door looking exhausted. She took her cloak off and hung it on the rack by the door and took a look around the room. "Oh, there you are. I have been wondering about you all day. I thought you would stop by the office after the…Harry? What's wrong, you look ill." Ginny said as she got a good look at Harry's face.

"No, actually I have never felt better." Harry said in an usually high pitched voice.

Ginny, still sensing something was wrong walked over to Harry and sat beside him on the couch. "How did your meeting go today?" Ginny asked trying to force a smile as she secretly hopped he didn't take the job.

"Well, they wanted me back but only if I signed a statement that I wouldn't get angry anymore." Harry said, trying not to smile over the look on Ginny's face.

"So, you didn't take it then?" Ginny asked hopefully.

Harry turned himself so that he was facing Ginny. He took a hold of her hand and said very sweetly, "I couldn't do it Gin, when I was sitting in that office there was only one place I wanted to be. I wanted to be with you. I always want to be with you."

Ginny practically screamed with delight, something that was very unlike her. "So your going to stay with S.P.E.W. then, Oh Harry that's so wonderful." Ginny said as she flung her arms around him.

To Ginny's surprise Harry pealed Ginny away from him, Ginny looked confused. "Harry why…" She started to say but was interrupted.

"Wait Ginny, before you get to happy, we need to talk. I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you but I can't be with someone who doesn't feel the same way. So, there is something I need to ask you because If I don't I think I'll go insane." Harry said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring. He opened the box to reveal the stunning silver band, Ginny was watching him intently.

"I have asked you several times how you feel about this and you have never really answered me. But this time I'm not letting you get away. I need to know Ginny that we are in this together. I love you more than anyone I have ever met. You are all I think about night and day and I want, no…need to be with you. I know your scared Ginny but I will be there with you. We have been friends for a long time and if you don't know by now that I will always protect you, then you haven't been paying attention. You mean the world to me, I would never let anything hurt you. So, Ginny Weasley...will you marry me." Harry finished his speech and looked into her eyes.

Ginny couldn't believe her own heart, just days ago she was so unsure of what she wanted. But the whole day the only thing she could think about was being with him, Harry, the man of her dreams. Tears started to form in the corners of her eyes as she clutched the side of her face. For a moment she seemed as if she was hesitating but she was simply gathering herself to say, "Yes, with all my heart yes!"