Chapter 12: Strained Relations

"Since when is it this bright at sunset?" Gunny mumbled to herself sitting up and rubbing sleep from her eyes while trying to focus in on Harry's clock that hung on the far wall. "Six in the morning!"

"Huh? What is it, Ginny?" Harry asked startled and sitting up suddenly at her outburst.

"We slept all night, Harry! Damn, Ron is going to flip out!" She answered jumping out of bed, grabbing her shirt off the nightstand and pulled it over her head as she searched around the room for the rest of her clothes that were shed during their lovemaking.

"What does Ron care?" asked Harry confused. "He said he didn't mind-"

"He just told you that to satisfy you!" Ginny cried cutting Harry off short and pulling her jeans on. "He is just as bad if not worse than he was about my private life then when we were in school!"

"Why should it matter to you about what he thinks?" Harry asked slipping into a pair of boxers and sitting down next to Ginny on the bed.

"It doesn't matter to me, but I'm just so sick of rowing with him about my life, regardless if it is my private life or not!" She nearly yelled her voice cracking. "We were supposed to be gone a couple of hours, not all night! I can only imagine what kind of shit he is going to be throwing up at me!"

Harry pulled her into a tight and loving embrace, placed a tender kiss on her lips and then when her sobs subsided laid her head in his lap, slowly running his fingers through her hair to help calm her more.

"If he is as upset as you think he will be then what are you going to do? Harry asked after several minutes of silently consoling her. "I mean, if this has been going on for ages then why do you stay with him at the Burrow?"

"I won't know what I'm going to do until I get to the Burrow, but if he's going to be flying off the handle at me today then I have an idea." Ginny answered rolling from her side to her back so she could see Harry's face. "Our arguments don't happen often, but when they do it can get a little ugly."

"What is his problem with you, love?"

"As far as I know, his self-esteem is still low like it always has been. Things got better when he was promoted to the Head of Magical Games and Sports, but his insecurities started to creep back in on him when they gave him Wilksborough as his assistant. For some odd reason, Ron thinks he is a threat to him."

"Isn't he the one Ron left in charge while he is on holiday?"

"Yes, but I don't know why seeing as Wilksborough couldn't find his ass with both hands and his wand to point the way." Ginny said seriously. "But right now I think I need to go to the Burrow alone and make sure he isn't going to flip his lid with me as well as you."

"Are you sure you want to go alone?"

"Yes, I don't need you two getting into a brawl over his attitude." She answered sitting up with a sigh. "Sometimes I wonder if he even knows what he is doing when he gets like that."

"OK, since you want to do this alone, I'll reopen the Floo for a couple of hours that way if things go south between you two then you can come straight back here instead of staying and taking whatever he says to you."

"I just hope Hermione is still there," Ginny said getting off the bed and wiping away what were left of her tears. "If someone is there besides him and me then he won't say anything to me about last night and he won't act like a damn child."

"Maybe he got lucky with Hermione and it won't matter?" Harry teased.

"Harry! I did not need that mental image of Ron and Hermione sleeping together." She answered with a small smile.

"Well, it got you to smile and that is all that matters to me." He said embracing her again, giving her another tender kiss and whispering 'I love you' in her ear.

"You will always make me smile, Harry, always and I love you," replied Ginny returning his kiss. "But I do need to go before he gets up just in case he is in one of his moods."

She kissed Harry once more then backed away, giving him a loving smile, and apparated away leaving Harry in the silence of his home hoping her fears would come to nothing about Ron.

Ginny apparated almost silently into the kitchen of the Burrow and cast a nervous glance around to make sure Ron wasn't lying in wait for her before making her way quietly up the stairs to her room to gather a few things together for herself. From the moment she had woke this morning and realized what had happened she was determined to get away from Ron and the Burrow for a little while.

She slipped into her room and headed for the closet where there was a small suitcase she had bought three months ago just in case a day like this came. She tossed the suitcase on her bed, still listening to Ron's snores from above, and began to throw her essential clothing into it without much thought on how they went in. Lost in thought about where she and Harry could go away to for a bit, silence invaded her ears and then the sound of Ron moving about stopped her heart in her throat.

Ginny rushed across the room, closed the door to her room and shot the lock hoping that if he came down he wouldn't try peeking in on his way down to the kitchen. She stood rooted to the floor listening to Ron descend the stairs and then stop outside her room before knocking twice.

"Ginny, you in there?" He asked through the door trying to turn the knob.

Ginny tried biting her tongue, but knew if she did not answer he would just unlock the door with his wand and come in anyway. "Yes, Ron, but give me minute and I'll meet you in the kitchen."

She held her breath until Ron walked away from her room door and headed down the stairs. When she was certain he was gone she began to toss her things more haphazardly into the suitcase then rushed into the bathroom to gather up a few personal items before locking the case. Ginny cast a Featherweight Charm on the case before carrying it downstairs into the kitchen hoping for the best to come from this meeting with her brother.

"What's with the suitcase, Gin?" Ron asked as she made her way into the kitchen.

"I'm going to stay with Harry for a little while instead of him coming here right away." She answered sitting the suitcase next to the fireplace.

"Why the change of heart?"

"I decided-"

"You slept with him didn't you?" Ron cut in angrily. "I knew as soon as Hermione suggested us getting Harry out of hiding you would go and turn into the village slut all over again with him around!"

"It is none of your concern what happened or will happen between Harry and me, Ron!" Ginny retorted her anger rising despite her best efforts. "And I have never paraded around Harry as a slut!"

"None of my concern is it? Well, as long as you live here-"

"Which is why I'm getting away for a little while, Ron!" Her face flushed with anger at look of disgust on Ron's face. "From now on you are not running my life and if you can't live with that then...I guess I can't live or be around you anymore."

"I have never tried to run your life, Ginny!"

"What are you doing now? Are we having a civilized conversation about what I want to do or are we yelling at each other about what you think I am?" Ginny asked tears now rolling down her cheeks from anger and heartbreak over Ron's attitude. "I love you, Ron, but you make it harder and harder for me to want to stay around you for that to be possible for too much longer."

"How can you say that, Ginny? After all I've done for you?" Ron asked trying to sounding hurt.

"You treat me like I am still a child, Ron." She explained. "I may be your 'baby' sister, but I am not a baby any longer. I'm twenty three since you seem to forget every time something comes up that I want to do."

"I let you do what you want." He grumbled out.

"That's a lie and you know it!" said Ginny loudly. "When I wanted to open my business in Torquay you tried to tell me it was too dangerous or I would just wind up going under against all the fast food places, but you were wrong! I have been there every summer for the past three years and I'll reopen again next May!"

"It's just luck you haven't folded that business yet and sooner or later it will happen!" He yelled back at her. "And Harry will just wind up going more nutters than he already is and leave you brokenhearted and probably pregnant to boot!"

"Harry may have problems, Ron, but at least he is doing something about them!" Ginny replied.

"You little bitch! How dare you-" Ron started pulling his wand from his dressing gown.

"Ronald Weasley!" Hermione scolded sternly from the back door. "I would never have believed what I have just been hearing you say to Ginny if I didn't just walk in on it!"

"Hermione, we were just talking-"

"No you weren't, Ron, and I think it's best if you just repocket your wand, sit down at the table and let Ginny leave without further comment." She said a little louder now and to quiet him down had drawn her own wand on him.

Ron slid back down into his chair not wanting to test Hermione's anger or ability with a wand these days and giving Ginny a look of deep loathing.

Ginny breathed a sigh of relief at Hermione's timing and nodded her thanks as she grabbed up her suitcase and stepped into the fireplace Flooing back to Harry's home in Godric's Hollow.

"Harry, I'm back!" Ginny yelled from the fireplace in Harry's kitchen.

When she did not get a response she set her suitcase on the tiled floor of the kitchen and set out for the stairs. As she made her way upstairs she caught the sound of running water and soft singing or humming. With a smile she stopped outside the bathroom realizing Harry was in there singing as he showered.

"I'm gonna take you by surprise and make you realize, Ginevra!" Harry sang to the tune of Boston's Amanda. "I'm gonna tell you right away I can't wait another day, Ginevra!"

"I hate to interrupt that beautiful solo, Harry, but I just wanted to let you know I got back OK." Ginny said reluctantly enjoying Harry's shower singing, peeking inside the bathroom door.

"Hey, love!" Harry replied shutting off the shower and reaching for a towel that he wrapped around himself as he stepped out not showing the least bit of blush from being caught singing in the shower. "Did everything go OK with Ron?"

"Not really, but we'll talk about him later." She answered pushing the door the rest of the way open. "Luckily, Hermione showed up just in time to catch him in one of his moods."

"Luck had nothing to do with it, Gin, I Flooed Hermione right after you left and told her to make sure everything was going to be alright over there."

"Yea, she came in just as he was drawing his wand I think, but she was saying how she couldn't believe the way he was acting."

"I told her a little of what you said to me about Ron and she tried to shrug it off or was just refusing to believe what I was telling her, but I finally convinced her to go for my sake at least." Harry said grabbing another towel from the rack and starting to dry his hair.

"I guess since the Burrow is out of the question right now and I assume you don't want to stay here too much longer I have an idea about where we could go."

"You are right about me not wanting to stay here, but where did you have in mind?"

"My shop in Torquay has a two bedroom flat above it that isn't used during the off season and I thought we could stay there for a few weeks." Ginny said nervously. "Normally, Brianne and Lynn, the two girls who help me run things, stay there during the summer months so it may be decorated a little on the girly side, but you'll be away from here."

"It sounds fine to me and really who can resist a walk on the beach every morning even during the fall?"

Ginny smiled, gave Harry a quick kiss on the cheek when she realized he wasn't going to put up a fuss about staying there and slipped out of the bathroom to give him his privacy while he dressed. When she made it back to the kitchen the memory of her argument with Ron came back to the forefront and she slipped into one of the chairs, laid her head on the table, which she cradled in her arms as her tears began to flow again.

Harry came downstairs ten minutes later, his gym bag slung over his shoulder. He took Ginny into his arms after seeing the look in her eyes that the grief from her argument with Ron was still bothering her and let her cry into his shoulder, whispering words of encouragement to her. After several minutes Harry lifted her off his shoulder, looked deep into her eyes and kissed her, letting her know in his own way that things for better or worse would be OK in the end and apparated away to Torquay to begin a life with each other.