Chapter 2


"Ron! Get your fingers out of that bowl! That is for after dinner!"

Ron snapped his hand back quickly. Though all of Mrs. Weasley's children were now fully grown, they still never disobeyed a direct order on pain of death. Hermione smiled at him as she supervised the mashing of potatoes and a rather large knife chopping carrots. Mrs. Weasley was pulling a large turkey out of the oven and it made Ron wonder how she'd even seen him put his hand in the bowl in the first place.

"Why don't you make yourself useful and go see if you're needed to help in the front room," she said, checking the temperature of the turkey. Ron rolled his eyes but stood from the stool he'd been perched at. He paused to give Hermione a quick kiss and left the kitchen.

Ron entered the living room to survey the long table set up for Christmas dinner. In the far corner, the large tree was amazing and the only thing more impressive was the massive stack of presents underneath, practically rivaling the tree in size. Ginny was sitting on the couch reading a picture book to Alice, who was snuggled in her lap.

"Oi! How come you get to sit around reading stories while the rest of us have to work, Gin?" Ron asked, summoning the extra chairs to the table.

Ginny stopped reading. "I am helping, Ronald. You try getting everything ready with a two year old running around underfoot. Besides, I've had a long journey and Dad said I could rest." She made sure Alice wasn't watching her before she stuck her tongue out at her brother.

"Ugh, it figures." He finished putting the chairs in place and went outside to help Charlie, who he could see from the window was chopping firewood.

Bill walked into the living room. "There you two are! Gin, I'll take her off your hands. Her mum wants to change her into her nice clothes. Thanks for keeping an eye on her," he said as Alice jumped up and ran to him. He scooped her up quite easily and she laughed as he hoisted her up over his head. "Come on, Miss Allie. Let's go get you ready!" They headed up the stairs and Ginny abandoned the book on the sofa and went into the kitchen to help her mother and Hermione.

………………………………..

"I'm just saying that he hasn't said anything to me about it. It doesn't mean he isn't going to, dear," Mrs. Weasley was saying as Ginny entered. She perched herself on the same stool Ron had occupied before.

"Is that fudge?" she asked eagerly, putting her hand into the bowl.

"Ginevra Weasley! Don't you touch that!" Mrs. Weasley gave her daughter a look and Ginny quickly withdrew her hand. Hermione snickered and Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Mum, I'm starving!" she whined loudly.

Mrs. Weasley turned to her daughter. "Well it's not my fault you were too lazy to get out of bed early enough to get a muffin before everyone else got one. Here," she handed Ginny a roll, "You can have one of those til its time to eat."

Ginny took a small bite. "Thanks, Mum," she grumbled. She spotted the gravy sitting on the counter and went to dip the roll in.

"Ginny! Don't dip that in the gravy boat!" Hermione said as she swept the gravy out of Ginny's reach.

"God, it's like there's some sort of ration!" Ginny said exasperatedly.

Hermione gave her a look and handed her the salad bowl. "Here, make yourself useful and toss the salad. Merlin, you're as bad as Ron."

"Ugh, please don't say that!" Ginny replied as she started to mix the salad.

Mrs. Weasley stood at the counter next to Ginny and was frosting a large chocolate cake. "So Ginny, is this Jeff fellow coming over today?"

Ginny sighed. "For the last time, Mum. No. He's with his own family. And besides, we've only been going out for a month. I don't think we're at the shared holiday phase of our relationship yet."

"No, they're at the Share-Everything-But-Family stage in the relationship right now," Hermione said wickedly as she transferred the mashed potatoes to a serving bowl. "Am I right, Gin?"

Mrs. Weasley looked from Hermione to Ginny and then made a disapproving sound in Ginny's general direction.

"Thanks, Hermione. Remind me again why I shouldn't tell everyone you sneak off to dear Ronald's room every night the two of you have been here?" Ginny ran out of the kitchen to put the now tossed salad on the table and to avoid being hexed by Hermione.

Mrs. Weasley glanced at Hermione, who blushed and turned away from her. Ginny came back into the kitchen and sat perched next to the counter again, watching Hermione arrange rolls in a basket. She tried to take another but Hermione slapped her hand away, obviously still angry that Ginny had divulged that last bit of information.

"So this Jeff, he's a…" her mother trailed off. Ginny rolled her eyes. Hermione watched the two of them back and forth, but she remained quiet.

"Yes, Mum. He's a muggle. And what exactly is wrong with that?" Ginny asked as she grabbed another roll from the basket before Hermione could slap it away this time.

"Nothing. Nothing, it's just that-"

"What, Mum? It's not nothing, I know its not."

"Well, I just think you would be better off with…someone more like you," she finished slowly, trying to word things carefully.

Ginny jumped off the stool. "What! Oh Mum, you are unbelievable! I can't believe you'd-"

Hermione moved next to Ginny. "Ginny, I don't think that's what she's trying to say. Perhaps his character is-"

Ginny pulled her arm away from Hermione. "I know exactly what she's saying! It's because he's not a wizard. She's never liked the idea of me going out with a muggle. You haven't even met him!" she said angrily.

"But Ginny, is all of this really necessary?" Mrs. Weasley moved closer to her daughter. "First your hair, then you move so far away, now this. It's all a bit extreme, don't you think? And why a muggle when you know plenty of other nice boys from school?"

Ginny backed away from her mother quickly and turned away, heading for the door.

"Ginny wait! Please, I just don't want you selling yourself short now and-"

Ginny whirled around once more. "Why do you keep comparing everyone I date to Harry? You know there's never going to be anyone else as good as he is in your mind so why bother? There are no more Harrys out there, Mum! I've come to terms with that. Why can't you?" She turned around again and pushed the door open rather forcibly.

Mrs. Weasley fell silent, looking rather hurt. Hermione walked over to her and put her hands on her shoulders. "Here, why don't I finish getting things ready. I'm sure Fleur and I can handle this. Why don't you go upstairs and have a bit of a lie in?" she said quietly. Molly nodded and climbed the stairs slowly.

"When Arthur gets here, just tell him I'm fine. And…don't mention that to him, will you?" Hermione nodded. "Thank you dear," she said and disappeared upstairs.

A few minutes later, Fleur came down the stairs, Alice in her arms. "'Ermione? Do you need 'elp?" she asked as she came into the kitchen. Hermione checked the clock.

"Thanks Fleur, that would be great. We'll be eating dinner soon, so most of this needs to get out to the table." Hermione smiled at Alice.

"Why don't you run along and find Gin-gin?" she asked, opening the door to the front room, carrying the large basket of rolls. The small girl followed her out, leaving her mother in the kitchen to finish getting things ready.

But Ginny wasn't in the living room. Instead, Charlie and Ron were playing a game of chess against Fred and George. Bill was talking to his father who had just come in, but stopped when he saw Hermione and Alice at the table.

"Is it time to eat yet?" Bill asked. Hermione shook her head.

"Daddy!" Alice ran and jumped into Bill's lap. He laughed and scooped her up onto his knees. Arthur looked up at Hermione.

"Is Molly in the kitchen?" he asked.

"She's taking a nap before dinner. She's been working so hard, I thought she could do with some rest beforehand," Hermione replied, placing silverware and plates on the table. "Did any of you see where Ginny went?" she asked.

Everyone shook their heads. "She's probably upstairs," Ron said absently as he stared at the chess board.

Hermione turned back to the kitchen. From the kitchen window, she could see that Ginny was sitting outside against the shed that sat at the edge of the Burrow's lawn. Hermione wiped her hands with a towel. "Fleur, I'll be right back," she said as she stepped out the kitchen door to the garden.

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Ginny looked up as she heard footsteps coming towards her. For a fleeting and terrifying moment, she thought it might be Harry. Ever since she had encountered him a few days ago, she hadn't been able to keep him off her mind. And it was frustrating her. He had left her three years ago, left everything behind and Ginny had been devastated. It had taken her a long time to move on after he was gone. And now that he was coming back, she was starting to feel things she hadn't felt since he left. She took a long drag of her cigarette.

"If your mum catches you with that, she'll murder you," a matter of fact voice said above her.

Ginny laughed. "Hey 'Mione," she said without even looking up. She felt Hermione move and slide down the wall so they were sitting next to each other. Ginny offered her the cigarette. Hermione refused so she tossed it away and looked at her.

"What's up, Ginny? You seem a bit-"

"On edge?" Ginny finished. Hermione shrugged.

"I guess you could put it that way. I just wanted to know if everything was ok. Just in general. I mean, you don't blow up that way very often. I just want to look out for you," she said, patting Ginny's hand in what she felt was a comforting manner.

"Yeah. I'm ok. I just, well I don't know. But she's always getting on my case about guys. You know what she's like, she worships the ground he walks on. Still! After all this time. After everything that's happened. And it just makes me angry," she stood up, starting to pace. "She has him up on some kind of pedestal, we all did, mind you, I'm not saying she's the only one whoever admired him. And he thanks us by abandoning us. Leaving me," she finished quietly. It felt good to talk about it, to get it off her chest, but it was still hard to say out loud.

"Gin, you can't really think that she compares them all to Harry. That's ridiculous," Hermione said, watching Ginny carefully.

"She may not do it directly, but you can tell that she thinks any other guy I date is never going to be as good as he was. None of them are going to live up to those standards in her head! And it's just frustrating, because deep down she's probably right." She sat down again as she seemed to run out of steam. "And it still hurts. After three years, it still fucking hurts," she whispered, resting her head on Hermione's shoulder so she couldn't see the tears that had started to form in her eyes.

Hermione stroked Ginny's dark hair comfortingly. And she thought about everything that had happened between them all. Of course it had hurt her and Ron immensely when Harry left, but it had been awful for Ginny. The day they discovered he was gone, Ginny had come to Hermione in tears. He had left Ginny a note that said he was leaving. There had been no warning, no sign that anything was wrong, he'd just picked up and gone. 'He had been happy, hadn't he?' she thought, as they sat there in the garden, watching the sun dip down behind the trees that dotted the Burrow's landscape.


A/N: Thank you, SilverMoonShining, DiscombobulatedDrummer for reviewing! I decided to put up the next chapter faster than I originally planned because I didn't wanna leave you hanging! And because I really am liking this story. Thanks! thoughtswithoutpurpose : )