Summary: The truth remains; you're gone.


Ginny paced around her room with her jaw set firmly in annoyance as she tried to figure out just where exactly Harry had disappeared to. She'd looked everywhere she could possibly think to look. It wasn't as if Harry had all that many places he liked to run off to.

She had searched the Burrow inside and out since before breakfast and had found no trace of Harry anywhere. Not in the orchard where they always played Quidditch during the summer holidays, and he hadn't been in the broom shed. Though she had inadvertently walked in on Ron and Hermione locked together in a rather long and deep kiss, and … well, that was not something Ginny really wanted to be thinking about just then.

She knew that Harry could be practically anywhere in London, or in the world for that matter, and hadn't bothered to let anyone know where he had gone off to. Mrs. Weasley had noticed Harry's absence at breakfast and had Flooed Mr. Weasley at the Ministry to see if Harry had turned up, only to find out that they'd seen neither hide nor hair of him all morning and had no reason to believe he would turn up. Mrs. Weasley had flown rather irrationally into hysterics, though Ginny had to admit, her mother had been less than fully rational since Fred had died. She had kept a very close eye on each of her remaining children, and that now included Harry and Hermione.

This is just so like him! Ginny thought angrily as she threw her hands up in the air. She could Apparate to Grimmauld Place and check in on him, because if Harry wasn't at The Burrow, Grimmauld Place was the most likely place to find him. The only problem with that, she soon realized, was that she was not yet old enough to Apparate on her own.

"Bugger!" She swore under her breath. "You are so cursed when I find you, Harry!"

Ginny continued to pace the floor of her room as she tried to think of the best way to find Harry. She could simply ask Ron or Hermione, chances were that they knew. They knew everything when it came to Harry. Though that would involve walking in on them snogging again and Ginny didn't really think that was something she wanted to see again anytime soon. She had fully accepted their relationship; she just didn't want to see it any more than they wanted to see Harry and her. She thought again about her options and decided she could probably get her mother to convince Kingsley to send the Aurors out searching for him, although that idea was dismissed as quickly as it had come. The Aurors were all out searching for Death Eaters that were still at large, and this was nothing more than Harry most likely deciding he needed a bit of space, not a matter of real importance.

Ginny sighed and flopped down onto her bed, watching as Gwenog Jones, captain of the Holyhead Harpies, the all-witch Quidditch team, zoomed into the poster that hung on the wall. She felt tears sting her eyes as she turned them from the poster to the ceiling. Harry had been the only reason she had been able to get out of bed and face each of the days that had followed Fred's funeral, because being with him made her believe that moving on wasn't such an impossibility, and that even though the pain of losing Fred would never fully go away, it would eventually hurt a little less to laugh or to smile or to just breathe.

And Harry had decided to vanish. Just like that.

Ginny swiped at the corners of her eyes with her hand and tilted her head up as the door burst open. Hermione stood in the doorway, out of breath and red in the face. She had either been running or she and Ron had been at it again.

"So you two do come up for air," Ginny mumbled tonelessly as she let her head fall back onto her bed. She imagined that if Hermione had heard her, her face would have turned a shade of red that would put even the Weasleys' trademark red hair to shame.

"Your mum sent me up to tell you that dinner's ready." Hermione said once she was able to catch her breath. She went to turn out of the room and stopped when she realized that Ginny hadn't moved to join her. "Ginny … are you alright?"

"I'm here, aren't I?"Ginny asked in answer.

Hermione had never heard Ginny sound so defeated, because defeated was one thing Ginny absolutely refused to be. She crossed the room and sat on the edge of Ginny's bed. She said nothing as she took in Ginny's watery eyes and her stiff jaw line. Something wasn't quite right.

Ginny finally sighed and turned her head to look at Hermione. "I just wish I knew where Harry was. He's not here, and the only other place I can think of is Grimmauld Place, but why wouldn't he have just said he was going there?"

Hermione could only shrug, which made her uncomfortable. She wasn't often at a loss for the answer to a question, but Harry had been much more difficult to read than normal lately. It was almost as if he'd succeeded in shutting them all out. "I don't know, Ginny."

"You don't know where he is do you?" Ginny asked pointedly.

Hermione shook her head. "No, but Grimmauld Place seems like the most logical place to start."

"And if he's not there?" Ginny asked as she sat upright and hugged her knees against her chest.

"Well," Hermione started. "You could always try Godric's Hollow. Harry might've decided to go back."

Hermione didn't elaborate and Ginny stared at her. "Why Godric's Hollow?"

Hermione stood with a small smile and walked to the door before turning back to Ginny. "Sometimes, Ginny, you have to look back on the beginning before you can move on to the end."

Ginny nodded slowly as Hermione left her alone once again. Of course, she thought after a few silent moments. The beginning. His beginning.


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