The sky was still dark as Harry approached the door to the building containing his flat. It had been over an hour since he had left Cho's and the falling snow had found it's way into every fold of his jacket and throughout his hair. The old stone building seemed to should have felt inviting, a welcoming home from the bitter cold outside, but instead Harry could not help but wish he had a bit longer to himself. He had chosen to walk home, rather than apparate, in order to have some time to think about what had just happened at Cho's. Strolling through the dark London streets always seemed to soothe him, and that coupled with the silence of the snow and the briskness of the wind helped Harry to collect his thoughts as he made his way home.

Harry made his way up the steps to the door and with a quietly whispered "Alohomora," he made his way into the house. The lights in the kitchen and hallway were dark, and Harry could only assume Ron had gone to bed. As he made his way farther into the flat, Harry couldn't help but hear some noise coming from the living room. He slowly continued forward, wondering why Ron would still be up so late. As he began to enter the living room itself, he was able to make out a few words, spoken in a low, somewhat fabricated deep voice.

"Now, Miss Granger, have you really forgotten your homework again?"

Harry stopped in his place. He wasn't quite sure what he was hearing, and did not know whether he should continue into the room. He then heard another voice, this one higher than its usual tone.

"Oh I'm soooo sorry Professor! I've been so bad!"

Harry stopped in his tracks, completely horrified about what he had just walked into. It was then that his two best friends popped up from the couch, horrified expressions on their faces. Hermione let out a small scream and darted out of the room to a nearby bedroom. Ron stared at Harry from the couch, and yelled out an exasperated "Oy!" as he made himself decent. Harry took the final steps into the living room, making his way around to the couch. During his walk he heard Ron grumbling beneath his breath, but as angry as he might have been, his face was still as red as his hair from embarrassment.

Harry sat down on the couch and Ron glanced over at him. They both sat in silence for a moment before Harry broke the silence.

'What the hell was that?"

Ron sheepishly looked down again, glanced in the direction that Hermione had ran, and then looked back towards Harry before speaking.

"I don't know, mate...she likes it."

Harry shook his head slightly, whispering "bloody hell" under his breath. Before he could say anything else, however, he saw Ron look towards him with a smirk on his face and say,

"You should see when I give her detention."

At this comment both boys bursted out into laughter. They tried to contain themselves when they heard footsteps coming from the other side of the house, but were unable to stop by the time Hermione made her way around the corner of the hallway. She leaned against the wall and let her eyes drift to the other side of the room as she said with clear annoyance,

"I thought you weren't going to be home until later, Harry!"

The boys had finally stopped laughing, and Ron looked at Harry and asked the same question.

"Yeah, mate, I – er, we – figured you'd be at Cho's for a bit".

"Yeah well I...y'know..."

Harry was not able to come up with a plausible reason for his early arrival home before Hermione said the exact thing he dreaded she would realize.

"It was Ginny, wasn't it."

Harry leaned back on the couch and averted his eyes from his two friends. He heard Hermione's footsteps once again and when he looked up, she was sitting on the couch next to Ron.

"Hermione, really, it's fine..."

But before he could finish his defense she was already on him with hers.

"Harry, you can't keep avoiding this and pretending there isn't a problem. You and Ginny never worked things out after the war and now you're stuck in this state and you know all you have to do is talk to her! Tell him, Ronald!"

"Well, I don't know Hermione, I don't really think he did anything wrong...I don't see what he's supposed to do, really."

Harry then turned to Hermione and finally spoke his mind.

"Hermione, she was the one who stopped talking to me! I don't know what else I was supposed to do, I tried and she never came around and then I was leaving and she never said a word! I mean bloody hell, what did she want me to do! What do you want me to do?!"

Hermione just shook her head and let out a sigh.

"You boys...have no idea. You have no clue! Do you even remember how things were right after the war with you two? How she felt after the funeral?"

At this question, Harry could not help but think back to the weeks immediately following the Battle of Hogwarts. The effort to regroup after the final battle had left everyone exhausted, physically and emotionally. While many wizards and witches spent their time rebuilding Hogwarts itself, many others had to take time to mourn the losses of their close friends and family. Harry remembered finding Ginny after he defeated Voldemort and holding her for what seemed like hours. She and the rest of the Weasley's were mourning Fred, and all he could do was try and be there for her. The Weasley's and Harry took Fred's body back to the Burrow and were arranging his funeral, but as much as Harry tried, he could not escape the reporters, fans, and other side effects of having just defeated the darkest wizard in history. He remembered how Ginny had shut down, barely speaking to anyone including her family. He would try to speak to her as much as possible, try to get her to tell him what she was thinking, but it was always in vain. She was completely unavailable to him, and it broke his heart not knowing what to do for her.

He knew, of course, that her reaction was normal. She was always very close to Fred and George, and now she had lost one physically, and the other emotionally. George was even more absent than her, almost impossible to find on most days. Harry continued pleading to her, asking her to please talk to him, tell him anything he could do, but it was useless. As Fred's funeral day approached, Ginny only became more unreachable.

The day of Fred's funeral was bright and sunny. The weather, however, was a direct misrepresentation of the feelings of his friends and family in attendance. Aside from close relatives, however, hundreds of other wizards and witches arrived to pay their respects to the fallen Weasley twin. Harry remembered feeling overwhelmed by the amount of people who came, but only wished to be around the Weasleys and Hermione. He could not keep track of Ginny, however, and he was frustrated because he knew she needed someone and she would not let him in. As he walked around the landscape of the Burrow, searching for her long red hair, Harry could not help but think about the thing he had asked Ginny earlier, the thing he still did not have an answer for.

3 days earlier, Harry had received a letter, an invitation to begin auror training in the coming week. Ron had also received this letter, and his family was extremely proud and supportive of him, even through the grief they were facing at losing one of their other sons. Harry was excited as well, however he felt strong apprehension at leaving Ginny behind. Even though she had been distant, he couldn't imagine moving away from her at this time. He knew they had to talk, but there was never a time. Finally, on the morning of Fred's funeral, Harry just blurted out the news to her. She smiled slightly and looked him in the eyes.

"That's great, Harry, really."

"Ginny, just come with me, we can move to London and I'm sure the Ministry would love to have you."

"Harry...I don't know..."

"Just...think about it, okay?"

He had not seen her the rest of the day. Harry wandered, searching for her everywhere, but she was impossible to find. Harry couldn't help but feel somewhat frustrated – he had to leave the next day to begin training, and he knew she was grieving, but she couldn't do just this to him. He had to take the job, it's what he always wanted, but he could not imagine being there without her.

After some time, Harry's search slowed. He found himself lingering in the crowds, hoping maybe he would see her walking by. As his patience waned and his frustration grew, he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He turned around quickly, and he found himself staring at her large brown eyes. Harry was surprised – this was the first time she had sought conversation with him in weeks. He looked at her, silently waited for what she had to say.

"Harry, I'm sorry, I've been thinking about what you told me and I really think we should talk..."

But before she could finish her thought, Harry heard a faint "Harry Potter?" from behind him, and before he knew it, he was surrounded by 15 Hogwarts-aged girls. They immediately began fawning over him, asking for autographs, asking quickly-said questions about the battle, about Hermione and Ron, about his whole life. Harry tried to get them to stop, to tell them to leave, but when he glanced over his shoulder, all he saw was Ginny's long red hair swaying as she walked in the other direction.

After that, she didn't speak to him again. Harry spent the rest of the night trying to find her, even more urgent than before. He was infuriated, but not at her, at himself, at the girls who had interrupted them. For the first time Ginny had wanted to talk, to tell him what was going on in her head, to discuss moving to London, and she got shut out. He turned away to deal with little obsessed girls instead of ignoring them to listen to her. Now she would never talk to him again, he was sure of it. She tried, and she was shut away, and now she would never come back to him.

The next morning, Harry and Ron prepared to leave for London. The rest of the Weasleys gathered in the sitting room to send them off, Mrs. Weasley shed tears as she sent two of her boys off to be on their own. As happy as Harry was, he could not help but notice Ginny's absence. Again, he felt frustrated. How could she keep hiding away from him? And at the least, she could have come said goodbye to her brother. However, she did not make an appearance, and as the clock struck 10:00 am, he and Ron apparated into London.

All of this ran through Harry's head as Hermione lectured him. Of course he remembered, but what was he supposed to do?

"Hermione, I tried, she wouldn't talk to me."

"She thought she was a burden to you! The way you approached her, it seemed you were just angry at her!"

"Hermione, Harry really did try, I saw him looking for her..."

"Ronald! She is your sister! Don't sit here and make her out to be a lunatic. She felt alone and needed to talk, and she would have if you went to her like you cared, I didn't put a spell on her to talk to me! I just made sure she knew I cared about her!"

Harry's anger was quickly rising. Of course he cared about Ginny! All the did for weeks was try and talk to her, what else could he have done? What was Hermione even talking about, how could Ginny have thought he was angry at her?

Hermione, shaking her head, stood up and walked out of the room. Again it was only Harry and Ron on the couch, sitting in a silence thick with thoughts. As Harry glanced over at his friend, he nodded, walked to the refrigerator, grabbed 2 beers, and headed towards the staircase leading to the roof.

Harry followed Ron up several flights of industrial stairs, until they made their way through a heavy metal door and found themselves on the roof of their building. The dark and bitter cold night was inviting now, and he took a seat next to a pit as Ron whispered "Incendio" and a small fire began to burn. Ron sat down next to him, and they sat in silence for some time, before Harry broke the silence.

"I didn't know what to do, mate."

"Yeah yeah, I know. Hermione just gets all that girl stuff. I didn't think you were being a git or anything. I don't blame you for what happened."

Once again there was silence as they both sipped on their drinks. Flurries drifted down around them, much lighter than the ones that had fell on Harry during his walk home hours earlier.

"I care about her, I do."

"I know, mate. It'll work out. Just listen to Hermione, she understand this stuff..."

"...and we obviously do not."

They both laughed and continued to drink, and Harry allowed his mind to rest and enjoy the warmth of the fire and the lights of the city.