Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Harry Potter/Wizarding World. They were all created by the genius that is J.K. Rowling.
Author's Note: Again (and I'm sure you're tired of reading it) thanks to everyone who's reading and reviewing I'm glad that you're all liking it. To Claire57 I write as things come to me and I suck when it comes to grammar. Honestly your comments didn't offend me so no worries there I actually really appreciate the criticism very much.
Chapter 28: Fine
Viktor appeared with Ginny inside of his flat, when he first left with her he'd been stumped for a place to take her. A few years before he'd acquired a flat in the greater London area and seeing as how he preferred keeping his private life private, especially after the havoc Rita Skeeter had reaped a few years before, he decided how own home would be the last place Death Eaters would look for her. "You vill be safe here until we get vord from your family." He said. "If I let you go vill you not faint?"
Ginny nodded then finally found her voice again, "I'm fine." She said but couldn't bring herself to look up at him with her eyes that were still red from crying.
They both knew that she was lying. Viktor didn't call her out on it, he wasn't good in these situations. Emotions were foreign to him; from the time he could really remember he'd been breed for greatness on the Quidditch pitch. "Are you hungry?" he asked.
Ginny shook her head. "I'm fine." She said again before walking over to one of the large picture windows that over looked the city. She wasn't sure when it had started to rain but it kinda suited the turmoil going on inside of her.
Viktor nodded and walked out of the room and into his bedroom. He paced the floor for several minutes trying to figure out something to say to her. He knew that he would never forget the way she'd screamed the boy's name and the grief that was still in her beautiful eyes. It had spoken to him in a way that he'd never felt before. Sure, he'd known plenty of women but none of them made him feel like he'd been smashed in the stomach with a bludger.
Harry walked up behind Hermione and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. While they were on their way to Grimmauld Place, they'd been caught in the rain shower that had engulfed London. Though it was the end of July, the rain and brought with it a chill. He knew that she was upset over the fact that she'd made a mistake by dropping the bag. He couldn't make her see that it was her one mistake in her pretty much mistake free life, but that hadn't gone over all that well either. After they'd arrived at the townhouse, they'd went through it casting spells to make sure that there was no one else there and to gather supplies that was stored in the kitchen. Among what they'd found was a large pot of Poly-Juice Potion. Ron was able to take a dose mixed with the hair of a person they'd ran into on the street and head over to Leaky Cauldron to see if anything new was being reported. While Harry and Hermione were sure that nothing would be, they understood Ron's need to make sure that his family was well. "I found something dry for you to wear up stairs, we need to get you out of these wet clothes." Harry said his hands running down her arms causing Hermione to shiver.
"Thank you." Hermione slipped from his arms her teeth chattering.
"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked watching her.
She nodded, "Just cold."
"I'll build a fire." He said as she walked out of the room not really sure if she was in fact alright.
Hermione walked quietly up the stairs; it seemed like a life time ago since the last time they'd been there. It was like the house had frozen in time. She half expected Sirius to pop out of one of the upstairs bedrooms singing Christmas carols off key or Mrs. Weasley scolding Fred and George. She knew that it had to be to be horrible for Harry to be back here with the memories the place held.
Harry had just finished tossing some logs on the fire he'd build, without the aid of magic, when Hermione came back down dressed in a pair of pajama pants, that he was pretty sure had once been his and a tee shirt, while drying her hair with a towel. "Come here." He said motioning for her to join him on the couch.
Hermione curled up in his arms, her head lying on his shoulder. "Do you think it was a good idea, letting Ron go to the Leaky Caldron?" she asked.
"I don't expect him to really find out anything more than we already know. It was something that he wouldn't be able to settle down until he went and looked for himself." Harry said playing with her hair.
"I can't believe that Dean is…Ginny must be devastated." She shivered and cuddling against him more.
"I know." Harry said kissing the top of her head as he pulled a blanket off of the back of the couch and covered her up. He wanted to say that they knew going into this, that not everyone would make it out alive. That seemed like the wrong thing to say considering they didn't know who else at the Burrow had been killed. "Ginny is strong though she'll be alright."
"I hope so." She said. "Fleur is probably crushed."
"Why do you say that?" Harry asked.
"This is supposed to be the happiest day of her life and it was ruined. From now on it won't just be the day she married Bill. It will also be the day that the Death Eaters attacked the Burrow and the day that Dean was murdered." She said.
"It's the reason I wanted to wait until after this was all over to have our wedding." Harry said causing Hermione to laugh. "What?"
"Could you imagine it? 'Please Lord Voldemort can you wait until after we've said our vows before sending your Death Eaters into the chapel to kill us. In fact, if you don't mind could you wait until after the honeymoon we might be able to squeeze them in then.'" Hermione laughed harder.
