Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

I can go on record saying that I don't read other HP fics. If this Harry/Ginny twist is like other stories, don't accuse me of borrowing ideas from someone else (which is just a nicer way of asking if I'm copying), because I don't. And don't be so quick to assume that this story will be like whatever everyone else is writing.

Chapter Thirty-One: The Aftermath
……………………………………………………………

Is this even possible? thought Harry

'I didn't think it was!'

'Didn't think it was what?'

'Possible,' said Ginny. 'You just – oh! Did you think that, too?'

Harry nodded slowly.

'I – I can read your mind?' she asked quietly.

'You can't read a mind,' he said automatically. 'It's not like a book … it's a many-layered –'

He stopped, realizing he sounded like Snape.

Hermione shifted in the next bed and mumbled something.

'C'mon,' he told her, grabbing her hand and pulling her out of bed. 'Let's go to your room and talk about this. So they can't hear.'

They were halfway to the door when Ron's snores stopped. 'Where're you going?' he asked them.

'My room,' said Ginny. Harry winced. As if reading his mind (although, really, she probably was), Ginny continued: 'Oh, Ron, get over yourself. It's the middle of the day and more than half of our immediate family is scattered throughout the house. We'll leave the door open if it makes you feel any better, but we're going.'

Ron stared at them. 'I just asked, is all,' he said, rather easily, and then wrapped his arm tighter around Hermione.

Ginny rolled her eyes.

'Okay,' she said when they entered her room a moment later. Closing her bedroom door behind her, she looked at him and rolled her eyes again. 'No,' she said, 'we are not doing that. We need to talk about this! If I really can hear your thoughts, and this is how you're always thinking, I'm going to be a right state in a few days.'

Harry felt himself blush, and took a moment to ponder just how awful this strange connection with Ginny could be if it really was a connection. She could hear EVERYTHING. Not just the good stuff, like when he thought about how much he loved her or how beautiful she was. Shite, this was going to get him into a whole load of trouble, wasn't it?

Ginny sat down on the bed next to him. 'Think of something,' she said.

He stared at her blankly. 'Like what?'

'I don't know. Anything.'

I love Ginny Weasley, he thought.

'Did you do it?' she asked. He nodded. 'I didn't get anything that time.'

Brilliant. The one time he thought something nice, something that would at least secure him a snog later, she couldn't hear anything.

'Really?' he asked. She nodded and closed her eyes in concentration.

Come on, work! Why can't I hear him?

'You just – I heard that!' Harry exclaimed. 'It was – it was like you were talking, but you weren't talking. And your voice was echoing, sort of. Whoa! That was cool.'

The word idiot echoed in his mind, in a voice that was not his own, and he rolled his eyes at her.

I'm an idiot, but you're with me, he thought.

We can always change that one, she teased, sticking her tongue out at him.

Wait – stop it. We're talking in our heads and it's freaking me out.

'We still haven't figured out why this is happening,' he said aloud.

'We could go to McGonagall, I guess. But I doubt she'd be able to help,' said Ginny. 'Probably the only person we could ask would be –'

'Hermione,' Harry said.

'Yeah,' she said. 'Maybe we should try to figure this out a bit before we go to Hermione, though. After all, we don't even know how long this'll last. It might just be something that happens to witches and wizards after the … y'know … first time.' Her cheeks coloured slightly.

Harry cleared his throat awkwardly. 'Yeah, well, don't you think your mum would've mentioned that to you before?'

Ginny, apparently, hadn't considered this. 'Oh,' she said. 'That's probably true.' She sighed. 'So … are we going to be in each other's heads all the time now? I don't think I want to know everything that crosses your mind in a day, Harry. And I don't want you knowing the same for me.'

Harry nodded. Oh, this could be so bad. It wasn't as if he kept secrets from her. Still, there were things that one liked to keep private. He was rather sure she felt the same way. He didn't think he wanted to know everything a girl thought about, anyway. Of course, it could help him out sometimes. He often found himself in a situation where he had no idea what to do, and Ginny expected him to be able to know exactly what she wanted from him.

Suddenly, a light bulb went off in his head. 'Hey!' he said. 'D'you think we could block each other out? By using Occlumency, or something?'

'It's worth a try,' Ginny said. 'This could be useful at times, but definitely not all the time. I can hardly keep track of my own thoughts. I don't need yours running around up here as well.'

He hadn't even thought about that. Sometimes, it was so loud in a room that he couldn't hear himself think. Could it get so loud in his head that he wouldn't be able to hear himself think? Ginny talked an awful lot. She probably thought a whole bunch, too.

'Let's try it then,' he said, now determined to learn how to turn this connection on and off. He sat down on the floor and she joined him, so they were sitting cross-legged and facing each other. 'Erm, how should we do this?'

'If we can figure this out on our own, we might not need Occlumency.' Ginny closed her eyes. 'Just start thinking about things, and I'm going to try and close you off from my mind.'

They sat there for nearly an hour, but still, neither of them were able to keep the other out. Finally unable to ignore the noises their stomachs were making, they took a break and headed to the kitchen for some lunch.

Ron and Hermione were present at the table, as were the rest of Ginny's brothers. It was an awkward thing, Harry soon realized, to enter a room holding a girl's hand and have her brothers staring at him, most likely thinking very threatening – possibly even murderous – thoughts indeed.

But still, there was something in the air that prevented negativity today. They took their seats across from Ron and Hermione without a word. As they ate, there was a thought that bounced back and forth between Harry and Ginny, and he couldn't decide which one of them had thought it.

This is how it should be.

……………………………………………………………

They tried again after lunch.

Harry began mentally rambling on and on various things, some of which made Ginny laugh, while others made her blush. When he was finally on the verge of exhausting every topic imaginable, Ginny spoke:

'Did you stop?' she asked hesitantly, as though trying to focus on what she was doing in her head rather than what her mouth was saying.

'No,' Harry said.

She opened her eyes. 'I – I think I must've blocked you out,' she said. 'For a while there, I could hear everything you said. I just kept focusing on closing you off and then you were gone. Almost like I flicked a switch and shut you up.'

She cursed.

'I can hear you again. It takes a lot of concentration, and talking sort of makes me concentrate a little less, I suppose.'

'Maybe it'll get easier once we get used to it,' Harry suggested hopefully. He closed his eyes. 'Okay, my turn.'

Ginny's voice filled his head, and he tried his best to block out the incessant thoughts of a sixteen-year-old girl who fancied her gossip. She thought about what Colin had once told her about Romilda Vane, and how Neville and Luna both admitted to fancying the other but swore her to secrecy, and she sincerely doubted that either one of them would ever get round to telling the other one on their own. Rumours and juicy little semi-truths about Lavender and Parvati and Seamus were swimming around in his mind. For a short moment, he actually stopped concentrated and allowed himself to be amused by some of the things she was reflecting on. Then she got on the subject of Dean, and that was territory Harry did not fancy re-visiting.

He re-focused his attention on pushing her out of his head and clearing his mind, and suddenly her voice was gone. Still, it felt as though there was a small probing at the back of his head, almost as if something was trying to force itself back into his mind and gain access to all its contents.

'It worked,' he said. Almost as soon as he said it, though, he felt something give in his mind, and Ginny's thoughts were once again intertwined with his own. 'Oh. Never mind.'

'That happened to me, too,' said Ginny. 'Maybe there isn't a way to do this. Maybe we're just going to have to deal with this.'

Harry shook his head. 'No, we can do this,' he said. 'We'll figure out a way. It'll just take some practice.'

They practiced without interruption for another few hours, but still did not make much progress. Harry found that he was starting to figure out how to close his mind to her – it was almost as though he brought up a shield or wall of some sort, and it blocked her attempts to get into his head. Still, though, the invisible wall would eventually crumble, granting her access. The same was true for Ginny. And when Harry did manage to keep the wall up for a decent amount of time, he felt that unfamiliar sensation of something jabbing him in the back of his mind, and the wall gave in under the strange sort of pressure of Ginny unconsciously trying to get back into his head.

'Let's both try it at the same time,' he suggested, just wanting to see if that strange poking would stop.

It did. And with their combined efforts, they were both able to keep their individual walls up for several minutes. Until, of course, they fell again.

Just as Harry was about to suggest that they give up and try again after they'd gotten some sleep, there was a knock on Ginny's door. Charlie came in, greeting Harry with an odd look, as though he couldn't decide between being uncomfortable that Harry was with Ginny and being glad that it was Harry and not someone else.

'Harry,' Charlie said. 'Mum sent me up here to let you know that you have training soon.'

Harry glanced at the clock and sighed. He and Ginny had been at this mind thing for nearly two and a half hours. Now, he needed to go train with Tonks – something he was already not looking forward to as it was, but it seemed especially unappealing today, as he was running on virtually no sleep.

'Thanks,' he said. He was only vaguely aware of the strange look Charlie gave them as they got up off the floor. He said goodbye to Ginny and then left to go find Ron.

He was rather surprised to find Ron sitting in the kitchen with Hermione and his mum, dressed and completely ready to go. Mrs Weasley looked uneasy about the idea of letting Ron out of her sights so soon, but must've known that Hogwarts was the safest place other than The Burrow or Headquarters for him to be.

'About time,' said Ron, rising from his chair. 'I talked to Tonks already, and she said she'd let me train with you today. Hurry up. Let's go!'

Harry rolled his eyes. 'Y'know, if you're going to be this enthusiastic, I'm not going to let you train with us today.'

Ron grinned and clapped him on the back. 'Ah, c'mon, this is going to be great!'

……………………………………………………………

'This is bloody terrible!' panted Ron. He'd never done this much running in his entire life. Honestly, the Quidditch Pitch was for flying, not for running laps. 'How – how aren't you tired?'

Harry was running beside him, hardly breaking a sweat. 'Gotta do it. No time to be tired,' he said, and picked up the pace a bit.

'Talking is only wasting your breath!' called Tonks. 'Pick up the pace, Ron! There's only one more lap to go.'

Ron growled but pushed forward. His legs burned and his chest ached, but he didn't stop until Harry did. Then, he doubled over and failed in several attempts to catch his breath. 'Is – it – always – this – bad?' he asked.

'You get used to it,' Harry said. He seemed to be a little out of breath, at least. He reached up and wiped the sweat off his forehead. 'The running actually helps clear your head … it's the rest of the stuff that isn't so nice.'

Ron groaned at the thought of what the "rest of the stuff" could be.

Harry and Tonks had been training for weeks now, and had built up a rigorous workout program. Ron knew that this program was for Harry's sake, not his, and so he also knew that Tonks wouldn't take today's training down a notch just to accommodate Ron.

'Good warm-up,' said Tonks, coming over to them.

Warm-up? Ron nearly fainted at her words. That had been the workout of a lifetime! There couldn't be too much more, could there? He'd expected this training business to be challenging, but it was supposed to be a good sort of challenge!

Why did he ever want to accompany Harry on these stupid training sessions? He wasn't cut out for this. He was just the sidekick, the one who stood behind Harry and did a whole lot of nothing. He should just quit now, while he had a little bit of his pride remaining.

'I was in worse shape than you after my first run,' Harry said, and Ron thought that maybe he was just trying to be nice, but it made him feel better nonetheless. 'You'll get used to all this pretty quickly.'

'You think so?'

'You better,' Harry said with a grin. 'We have another session with Tonks tomorrow.'

Ron groaned.

'Come on,' said Tonks. 'We've got plenty to do and only a small amount of time to get it all done.' She paused for a moment and looked at them pensively. 'And keep your wands handy. You're going to fight each other later.'

Ron and Harry looked at each other in surprise. Their wide eyes and slack jaws quickly disappeared, replaced by two identical grins.

'Brilliant,' said Ron.

……………………………………………………………

Ginny's eyes were closed and she was sitting cross-legged on her bed, looking as though she was concentrating very hard on something. She looked up when Hermione came into the bedroom.

'Did Ron go with Harry?' Ginny asked.

'Yeah,' Hermione said. 'He was so excited about it.'

Hermione smiled at the memory. Ron had been incredibly excited before leaving. All he'd talked about while waiting for Harry to come down into the kitchen was how he couldn't wait to get started.

Ginny rolled her eyes. 'That'll probably change pretty quickly.'

'Oh, I'm sure it will,' Hermione agreed.

While the idea of training with Tonks, an Auror, was something exciting for Ron, the work would probably be very tough. Harry came home rather tired every night (he rose very early in the morning, and mental training was no easy thing), but Tuesdays and Wednesdays, when he was with Tonks, were the nights he was most exhausted.

'So,' Ginny said, leaning forward and lowering her voice. 'What happened last night when you and Ron were in his room?'

'Nothing,' said Hermione.

'Oh, come on! This is me. I won't tell anyone,' said Ginny.

'I know that,' said Hermione. She could feel herself blushing. 'But I'm telling the truth. We mostly talked.'

'Mostly?' Ginny asked.

Seeing that there was no way around having this sort of conversation with Ginny, Hermione sighed and sat down on her own bed.

'Well,' she said, slightly uncomfortably. 'We kissed a bit, I suppose.'

Ginny grinned. 'You sure that's all?'

'Of course I'm sure!' Hermione said, her voice coming out slightly scandalized. 'Ron just got home and I still don't even know where we stand and … well, wouldn't that make me a bit of a … slag?'

Ginny's eyes narrowed. 'A slag?' she cried. 'Hermione, you couldn't be a slag if you tried. And it doesn't matter if he just got home. This sounds incredibly sappy, but if you love each other, that's all that really matters.'

'I guess,' said Hermione. 'I don't even know what to do, though. I've never … the most I've ever done is … and Ron probably did some things with Lavender …'

'The only time Ron was ever with Lavender was in the Common Room,' said Ginny. 'I think someone would've noticed.'

Hermione wanted to believe what her friend was saying, but it was difficult. Especially since she distinctly remembered the night when they'd first gotten together and Harry had found her in an empty classroom. Ron and Lavender had stumbled in, clearly looking for a private place to do … whatever.

The part that bothered her most wasn't that Ron may have done certain things with someone other than herself (although that did bother her somewhat), but that Ron would have done them purely out of spite, and not because he had any feelings for Lavender at all.

If Ron had told the truth earlier when he spoke about his non-relationship with Lavender, he hadn't even fancied her. And wouldn't that mean he just used her?

Unless he really had fancied Lavender. But wouldn't that mean he'd lied straight to Hermione's face?

She hated this. Romance and love and boys were so difficult to wrap her head around and they were never a sure thing. If she could pull out a book and look all this up, she would. But really, even books couldn't help her with this. Why wasn't there a manual on relationships?

She knew that Ron loved her. And she knew that he'd tell her the truth if she asked him about Lavender. But that was the scary part. Did she want to know? What if she thought she was ready to hear the truth, but she really wasn't?

As for not having any experience with boys, she knew that she could ask Ginny for help and advice. Of course, it might be more than a little awkward, considering Ron was Ginny's brother. And Harry was the closest thing to a brother Hermione had. She didn't want any unpleasant images in her mind, nor did she think Ginny would.

'What if I do something wrong?' asked Hermione. She couldn't believe she was participating in this sort of conversation, let alone initiating it. 'I mean, I have no idea how to –'

Ginny laughed. 'Oh! We're girls. We've got it easy!' she said. 'Boys are pretty simple. Just … um, well … you can pretty much do anything. It's easy to tell if they like it or not.'

Hermione sincerely hoped that this was true, because this was probably the only thing she'd never read about in a book, and therefore was rather clueless about the whole thing.

'Trust me,' continued Ginny. 'My brother will just be glad to advance past snogging. It won't matter what you do.'

'So you and Harry have … advanced past snogging, then?'

'Shut the door,' Ginny said after a moment. 'It's about time we had some serious girl talk.'

……………………………………………………………

'That was good,' Tonks said, smiling at them both. 'But next time, stop when I tell you to.'

Harry stood up and limped toward Ron. 'Reckon we got a little carried away.'

'Yeah,' said Ron. He winced when he moved his shoulder but grinned. 'Let's, er, not tell the girls about this.'

'Course not,' Harry agreed. He couldn't hear Ginny is his head, and so he figured she must've figured out how to block him out.

'Ginny'd kill me if she knew what I did to you.'

'What you did to me?' said Harry. 'Mate, I must've thrown you at least ten feet that one time.'

Ron rolled his eyes. 'Yeah, right after I knocked you on your arse for the third time in a row.'

'In your dreams!'

'All right,' said Tonks. 'That's enough for today. I'll see you both tomorrow at half past eleven right here. Ron, be prepared to run laps again.'

Ron groaned. 'That's so early,' he said.

'You complaining, Weasley?'

'No,' Ron said instantly. 'Of course not. Half past eleven. I can't wait. See you then.'

Tonks nodded a goodbye and turned to walk into the castle. Harry rolled his eyes. 'Y'know, half past eleven isn't that bad. Try starting at six.'

'Six?' said Ron. 'No thanks.'

Harry smiled as he and Ron began to walk up to the castle, several paces behind Tonks.

'Er, Harry?' Ron said after a moment.

'Yeah?'

'I've been thinking,' said Ron. 'And, well, d'you think that maybe we should still go to Godric's Hollow?'

Harry found that his legs were suddenly incapable of movement. Ron stopped as well, looking at him with a curious expression.

Godric's Hollow? Merlin, he'd nearly forgotten all about that. He'd been so caught up with training and Ginny and Ron's return that the thought of taking off in the middle of the night with Ron and Hermione, leaving behind nothing but a short and rather vague letter, hadn't ever crossed his mind.

'D'you think that's smart?' asked Harry. 'I mean, your mum would have kittens if you tried to take off now. You only just got back.'

Ron looked guiltily down at his shoes. 'I – I know that,' he said, the tips of his ears turning red. 'But the sooner we set off, the sooner we can get back. It's not like we're doing this on a whim. The Horcruxes can't be ignored.'

'I know,' Harry said. He hesitated. 'But …'

'But what?'

Harry sighed. 'Nothing.'

In truth, he was beginning to wonder if he would be strong enough to pick up and leave everything. He knew that training was important, but he also recognized that all the training in the world wouldn't do him any good if there were still Horcruxes out there when he fought Voldemort. Ron was right, of course – the Horcruxes weren't something that could be ignored.

But could he just leave everything and … everyone?

Oh, hell, he might as well be honest with himself: He didn't think he'd be able to leave Ginny.

He thought Ginny was the only one who could read his mind, but apparently he was wrong:

'You don't want to leave my sister,' Ron said accusingly.

Something about the tone of his voice rubbed Harry the wrong way. 'What? No,' said Harry. 'I mean, yes. I just – I'm only – well, it's bloody easy for you to say, isn't it? Hermione would be coming with us. No problem for you.'

He sighed. Fighting with Ron wasn't something he wanted to do today, or any other day, for that matter.

'Ginny … she'd put up a nice fight to keep us at The Burrow, but it's not her decision to make. I – I haven't completely lost my head. Of course I'd leave. We still need to talk to Hermione, though,' he added. 'If we all decide that it's best, then … then that's that. And your sister will hate me, but that's just something that I'll have to deal with, I guess, yeah?'

Ron shifted uncomfortably. 'She won't hate you,' he said. 'She'll just be confused. And angry as all hell. We won't be able to tell her where we're going, and she'll be crazy worrying about us, but we'll make it back all right. I'm sure we will.'

Harry nodded. He vowed that he'd become a master on blocking Ginny out of his mind before the time came for him to leave with Ron and Hermione. There was no doubt that Ginny would follow him if she could, even if she knew how dangerous it would be. That was Ginny.

'I'm sure we will, too,' said Harry. 'C'mon. I'm exhausted. Let's get home.'

They started back to the castle and Ron laughed. 'You've sure got your hands full with that girl. Her middle name isn't Molly for nothing, y'know. She's exactly like Mum when she wants to be – bossy and stubborn and controlling in ways you wouldn't believe.'

Harry grinned. 'Ah, she's not so bad.'

……………………………………………………………