Chapter 1

Moody was dead.

George's ear was blown off.

So many of the people he had loved the most had nearly died, and all because of him. But he wouldn't let anyone else he loved be hurt. He refused. Before Mrs. Weasley and Lupin and Ron, Hermione...and Ginny love was just a meaningless word; now he understood it and felt it. He would not put them in danger anymore.

But they forced him to stay. Even knowing as they did that each second longer he stayed with them brought them into greater danger. So he was stuck in Ron's tangerine bedroom, staring at the Chudley Cannons' keeper saving a goal and then winking out of the poster over and over again.

Harry welcomed sleep, although it brought nightmares of the worst sort with it. The sort of nightmares that felt completely real, but in the back of your mind you knew you had to be asleep, but no matter how hard you tried you could not wake yourself up. Tonight was no different. Harry knew this particular nightmare well, for it had plagued him unrelentlessly each night since Dumbledore's funeral. He woke with a start, bolting upright and drawing his wand. The only realization he could draw from the empty blackness was that he had woken from one nightmare only to find himself battling a darker, inescapable nightmare: reality.

"Harry" A voice next to him whispered. He whipped his head around and searched frantically for the wand he had dropped just seconds before. A warm, soft hand touched his arm. Harry did not have to say "lumos" to know who it was.

"Ginny, what are you doing here?" Harry asked the redhead kneeling at the edge of his bed.

"I heard you from my room. I think I was the only one awake though, no one else would have heard - Weasley's can sleep through anything," Ginny assured Harry, gesturing to a snoring Ron who had not so much as batted an eyelash since she had come in.

"Nightmares again?" She asked gently, although she didn't need to hear the answer to know the truth.

Harry nodded.

"Come on, then. I have just the thing." Ginny picked up Harry's hand and led him out his bedroom door into the hallway. When they reached the stairs Ginny threw her arms up to stop him. She held her index finger in front of her lips as a silent warning. "Shh..."

"Thought you said 'Weasley's can sleep through anything,'" Harry teased.

"We can," Ginny assured, nodding proudly. "It's in our blood - the thing is, Mom's a Prewett. I swear she could hear a pin drop in her sleep!" Harry chuckled and Ginny shushed him again. "Now, the stairs creak horribly so watch carefully and step only where I step. Got it?

Harry nodded quickly while Ginny expertly maneuvered her way down the stairs. Harry stepped more gingerly paying close attention to Ginny's footfalls on the honey colored wood. At the bottom of the staircase Harry raised his eyebrows at her.

"What? Fred and George aren't the only ones in this house who can cause mischief - as you very well know."

Ginny was referring to their walks around the Black Lake every Friday night after Slug Club meetings. They always found some way to sneak out and ended up staying out way past curfew each time, but thanks to Harry's invisibility cloak and the fact that the twins taught Ginny nearly everything they knew (including some rather useful distractions) they had never gotten caught.

Before Harry realized what was happening, Ginny had seated him at the kitchen table. She sat beside him with a quart-sized carton of ice cream and two spoons. Harry tore the cover off the carton and plunged his spoon into it. He recognized the smell: his favorite flavor, chocolate chip cookie dough. Before he went to Hogwarts, he always used to sneak a spoonful or two when the Dursleys were out.

Harry and Ginny sat in comfortable silence, licking ice cream from their spoons and leaving the other to their own thoughts. It was another one of those moments when they knew exactly how the other felt. In times like these, words just weren't necessary.

Harry studied Ginny carefully. "You're not going to try to convince us not to leave after the wedding?" Harry asked cautiously.

Ginny's eyes did not leave her ice cream as she slowly shook her head.

"You're not going to try to get us to talk about where we're going?"

Ginny shook her head again but met his gaze as she placed her spoon on the table. "You don't need me bothering you, too. If you wanted to tell me you would have told me already." Ginny paused, "You know I'm always here if you want to talk."

Harry nodded and smiled sadly. Ginny locked eyes with Harry and held his gaze for a minute before speaking again.

"Harry, please don't do this again." Harry attempted to interrupt but Ginny continued speaking before he had the chance to open his mouth. "This is what happened after Sirius died. You have to stop blaming yourself; you have to stop pushing us all away."

"Ginny, you don't get it. The longer I'm here, the more danger you're in."

"We're Weasleys! We're in danger whether we're hiding you here or not."

"Ginny, you don't understand-."

"I don't understand?" Ginny repeated bitterly. Harry's words had ignited the temper she inherited from her mother and tinged her cheeks a color that rivaled her hair.

"Harry James Potter," the infuriated redhead whispered fiercely. "You can go and break up with me because of that...that hero complex. You can leave me here alone while you're off on that stupid saving the world thing. And you can break my heart one more time because that's what you always do," Ginny spat, each syllable colder and harsher than the last. "But don't you ever tell me that I don't understand - because you bloody well know that I'm the only one that does."

Ginny's voice had risen to an octave and volume than challenged even Mrs. Weasley's most enraged outbursts. She spun on her heel and stormed towards the stairs.

"Gin, please wait. Ginny..." Harry caught her wrist and gripped it tightly despite her attempts to wrench it away. "Ginny, that's not what I meant. Ginny, listen to me."

Ginny turned slowly to face him but refused to look him in the eye as she continued her tirade.

"Just because you're Harry bloody Potter doesn't give you the right to tell me what to do," She raged. Her eyes flashed with fury, and her face was flushed, causing her hair to shine an even darker shade of scarlet.

How is it possible that she looks even more beautiful when she's angry? Harry mused, every second cursing his hormones and the fact that he thrived on impulse as he grabbed her waist and pulled her to him, pressing his lips to her soft rose-colored ones.

Initially, Ginny was too shocked to respond to the unexpected contact, but soon, to the surprise of both, was kissing him back. After a minute, she slowly pulled away.

"If we still can't be together..." Ginny whispered.

Harry would have none of her protests. He captured her lips in yet another kiss, efficiently silencing her tongue.

After a moment, Ginny once again pulled away. "If we still can't be together," Ginny closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Then you have to promise not to kiss me like this."

Ginny slipped from his grasp and retreated slowly up the stairs, turning before she could see her pain mirrored in a pair of emerald green eyes.

A/N: This chapter was a bit angstier than expected...Next chapter is either Harry or Ginny's POV in first person - I think I might switch off with a chapter in third person/both perspectives and one from Ron or Hermione in between. In the next few chapters we'll find out what Ron and Hermoine are up to, Ginny will show Harry her scar from the Chamber of Secets and they'll find out that their scars share a few secrets of their own...! Thanks for reading! Please review - it only takes a second and is much appreciated!