Chapter 9: Remembering the Past

"Ginny, if it's okay with you, I'd like to talk to Harry alone for a few minutes," Ron said looking at his sister, "It's not about you, it's personal," her added as Ginny had gone to open her mouth in protest. She nodded her head, she understood he had majorly messed up with Harry and needed to apologize.

"I'll be upstairs then," she said hugging Harry. He walked her to the stairs to continue trying to walk off the lack of feeling in his legs.

"I'll tell you if it's about you," he whispered as he kissed her.

"You better, I don't think you'd like to be on the receiving end of one of my hexes," she smiled. Harry walked back into the room where Ron was still standing

"Muffilato," Ron muttered toward the stairs. "This really isn't about her. It's about me and Hermione." Harry was surprised at this.

"First of all, I'm really sorry for what happened. She's my little sister. I'll do anything for her. I know you will too. You love her in a way that we can't. Percy just had us so riled up. I'd rather pretend she'll never sleep with anyone," he blushed.

"I accept your apology Ron," Harry smiled.

"Thank you. I wanted to talk about Hermione though," he said, skipping right into what he wanted. "I had this really great dinner set up for her, I had the ring in one pocket; protective potion in the other…" he trailed off and then looked at Harry horror stricken, "you two did use the protective potion right mate?" he asked. "I'll personally beat you right here and now if you didn't, Ginny won't be able to save you since she won't be able to hear you scream."

"It's okay Ron, of course we did," Harry craftily lied. There was no need to tell Ron they forgot, all three times. He was sure they'd be okay and Ginny wouldn't end up pregnant.

"Good, now, as I was saying, I was all ready for this big night with Hermione, when her parents showed up," he paused. Harry wasn't quite sure what he was getting at.

"They're moving back to Australia. They liked it there and are having trouble readjusting here again," he said putting his head in his hands. "Hermione's going with them for a while." Harry then understood why his friend was upset.

"Have you tried talking to her about it?" Harry asked.

"She says she has to go," he replied sadly.

"Does she want to go? If she doesn't really want to go, then you could try and convince her to stay with you. I'm sure that'll be hard, and try not to make it sound like you're making her choose you over her parents. Or, I have a better idea," Harry said, "Let her leave, give her a few days and then go after her. You're smarter than you give yourself credit for, find out where they're staying and follow her." He put his hand on Ron's shoulder until Ron's blue eyes were staring into Harry's green ones. "You never know what will happen." Ron sighed.

"You're right. Thanks mate I'll try to talk to her again in the morning," Ron stood up and reversed his silencing spell.

"Let me know how it goes, you're both my best friends and I don't know what I'll do if you both leave. I hope she decides to stay," Harry said. Ron nodded his head and then turned to apparate back to the Burrow. He stopped himself; there was one more thing Harry should know.

"Harry, one more thing," Harry looked at his friend quizzically, "Since Hermione's parent's are moving to Australia and she wants to be with them for a bit, we decided that we aren't going back to Hogwarts when they open again." Harry was surprised at this. He had completely forgotten that his two best friends had originally made plans to go back to school.

"Thanks for telling me that mate, I had forgotten about that," Harry said. Ron nodded his head and finally left. Harry made his way upstairs to find Ginny lying on the bed.

"Hey," he said as he sat down beside her. She didn't move, but continued to watch the patterns on the ceiling.

"He was telling the truth, it wasn't about us, it was about him and Hermione," Harry began, "although, he did say something that makes me worry about us." Ginny rolled over on her side giving him her full attention. He sounded really worried.

"What did he say?" she asked wide-eyed. "Do I need to punch him?" Harry chuckled.

"No, if you want to punch someone you should punch me," Harry leaned over the edge of the bed and retrieved a bottle from the nightstand. When he held it up Ginny immediately knew what had him worried.

"We forgot the protective potion!" she whisper yelled as she sat up. He nodded his head. She looked at the bottle for a moment and then looked at him.

"I'm not going to punch you," she said, "I'm at fault in that too. How did that come up in your conversation with Ron? Did you tell him we forgot? That stupid git has no right to be upset about us sleeping together if he and Hermione are!" she exclaimed.

"No, he was telling me how he had this big night planned for Hermione, and then stopped himself and asked if we used it. I told him of course we did, I hope that's okay," He hung his head like a child who'd been caught doing something wrong.

"As long as he believed it. What happens if they find out we forgot?" She asked.

"I don't know. I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Its okay," she replied moving closer to him.

"Ginny," Harry said. He didn't know if he could talk her into skipping her final year of school to be with him or not.

"What's wrong?" she asked. She knew when something was bothering him.

"Ron also told me that he and Hermione aren't continuing their seventh year," he said. Ginny stopped him before he could continue.

"I've been thinking about that too. Luna told me a few days ago that her dad is going to homeschool her for her last year," Ginny admitted, "I was considering asking Mum to do the same for me."

"Why? Do you not want to continue?" He asked. He wanted her to finish of course, but part of him was excited she wouldn't be leaving him.

"Not really. I enjoy school, not as much as Hermione, but I do. Being back at school would be hard for me though. I only went one year without you, Ron, and Hermione, and it was hell. I'm glad that Neville and Luna were there, but they aren't the three of you," Ginny said, "I also don't want to be away from my family again so soon, plus it'll be easier to train with the Harpies," she looked at Harry and smiled. "Besides, I like being able to apparate to you whenever I need you," she leaned over and quickly kissed him. "If I go off to school I'm not sure I can keep the nightmares away on my own. Being around you, being able to see you whenever I want, it helps ease my pain," she looked down at the small space of bed between them.

"I didn't know you were in pain," Harry said worriedly. She'd never said anything about being hurt before.

"Last year was hell Harry. I know it doesn't compare to what you went through, but I was miserable. I don't know how mum and dad put up with me. All I could think of was that you were already dead or you were going to die and it was only a matter of time before they found you.

I didn't worry about just you though, of course you were my main concern, but I worried about Ron and Hermione too. Ron's my big brother. He's the youngest of them, sure, but he's my closest brother. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have him. Hermione is the sister I'll never have. She picked me up when I fell for you. She told me how it was done, and when I finally had you, I was able to throw her own ideas in her face to get her to realize she was going to let the love of her life slip away if she wasn't careful," Ginny chuckled, "That girl is full of logic, and she's the smartest witch in a long time, but she hasn't got the least bit of idea on her own love life," this made Harry chuckle too.

"You've got that right," Harry said, "I think she's finally realized that there isn't always a right or wrong answer to everything. Sometimes life is gray and not just black and white. You should have seen her when Ron left us," Harry paused. He and Ginny hadn't really gone into any details about the year they had been apart.

"He left so angry, so bent out of shape. She cried for more than a week. She won't admit to this to anyone but maybe Ron, but she'd wake up in the middle of the night and start crying and saying his name over and over."

"When we were trapped at Malfoy Manor, Hermione was tortured. It was the worst thing in the world to hear her scream in agony. I can't imagine what it was like for Ron. He would have snapped Bellatrix's neck if we had been able to get to her," Ginny gasped, "Please don't say anything to either of them. I don't think Hermione wants very many people to know she was tortured to begin with, let alone that it was Bellatrix." Ginny shook her head.

"I won't say anything," she whispered, as she closed the distance between them by pulling him down on the bed beside her. "I'm glad that you loved me enough to remove me from harm before anything could happen. I'm actually glad that I wasn't with you too. After hearing bits and pieces of what you've been through, I'm not sure I could have handled it either."

"My year was hell too. I don't want to go over all the details of what happened all in one night, it'll take some time for us to talk all of them over, but I do want you to know, the only reason I walked into the forest to die, was you. I was under the cloak at the time, and I saw you not far from where I entered. You were talking to a little girl, telling her it would be okay even though she was already dead. I almost stopped. I decided that I loved you enough that I'd walk forward and die for you."

"You saw me and didn't say anything? I almost can't blame you. If you had said something of course, there was no way I would have let you leave me again, but yet, if I could have seen you one last time before you "died" I wouldn't have wanted to kill you when we found out that you were alive," she rested her forehead against his so she could look into his eyes, "You are the bravest man to walk this earth. You're the greatest wizard of our generation, and one day, our children and all of our nieces and nephews are going to be proud to have you as their father and uncle."

"How I managed to leave you, I'll never know," Harry said. He leaned forward and kissed her.