A/N: In response to some confusion: Ginny's list in a previous chapter was of characteristics she felt she used to possess, but not longer does – it's a list of things that she wants to become once more. Hope that clears things up!

Last chapter before the epilogue! Enjoy :)

Little Victoire was absolutely beautiful, and her party had gone off without a hitch. Ginny's 'Wow, I'm an aunt!' mantra was broken only when Harry arrived – a little late due to some Auror business he'd had to finish up at the Ministry. Someone had obviously warned him. Ron, probably, she thought. His eyes seemed to search instantly for her, leaving him preoccupied as he greeted their family. When his gaze finally caught hers they smiled awkwardly at each other. Ginny's stomach filled with raucous butterflies, and she blushed slightly in her nervous excitement. Oh how she'd missed him.

They didn't speak much beyond a tongue-tied greeting. She felt like she was eleven again, and only just meeting this boy she'd idolised. It was different now though. She didn't idolize him, she loved him. She didn't crave his attention – she craved his arms around her, and his gentle kisses to her temple; she wanted to talk with him and to play Quidditch with him, and to go to silly family gatherings with him. The feeling made her feel incredibly young, and yet somehow also more mature than she'd ever been before. Is this growing up? she wondered idly. She wasn't sure, but it certainly felt like it.

Her relationship with Blaise had been heartbreakingly shallow - a petty search for a connection she should have tried to have first with her husband. He had been passion and romance and all the things she'd imagined she needed; the candlelit dinners, the long walks in remote locations, the secrecy adding to its potency – it all made her sick, now, to think about. Could she really have done such awful things? Could she really have felt them to be justified? She sighed. How could she and Harry have any hope after everything? She couldn't imagine how something so broken could be fixed.

She found herself wondering what Harry was thinking as he mingled with everyone – so at home with the family he'd made for himself. If only she could see his thoughts... Her mother had said he wanted to work things out, and he was wearing his wedding ring, but what if he also hated her? What if he wasn't ready to work through things yet? What if he was only wearing his ring to avoid the masses of fan girls, and the relentless press?

She forced herself to push the worries away and enjoy the evening. Being surrounded by her family once again was an amazing feeling, and she happily sank into the long-forgotten sense of belonging and of peace. She couldn't quite understand how she'd let herself fall so far… But there would be time to think about that later. For now she was home, and there was so much to catch up on.

Teddy was there with Andromeda, and though he'd spent lots of time visiting over the past two years, Ginny couldn't remember having spent any time with him herself. Luna was there with her husband – they'd eloped a year ago, and though she knew she'd been told a hundred times, she only just found out that evening that his name was Rolf. George and Angelina were engaged, and she really wasn't sure she'd even been aware that they'd been dating. Percy and his wife Audrey were there – she'd never spoken with the woman before that evening, but they got along marvellously.

Late that night, as people began to leave for home, Hermione approached her with an enormous hug. "We've missed you crazily," she whispered to Ginny, pulling away.

Ron came up and put his arm around his wife. "We're really glad you're back," he said awkwardly, but solemnly.

She hugged them both close. "I've missed you all so much… I just mostly didn't know it," she added with a self-deprecating laugh. "It's really good to be home."

Hermione sighed, "About that, Gin, Harry's been staying with us…" she trailed off, unsure of where to go from there.

Ginny saved her the trouble. "That's probably a good idea. I'm sure we both need the space. Living together probably isn't the best idea any time soon."

Hermione's look was compassionate; Ron still looked awkward. Another round of hugs, and they were gone.

She heaved a weary sigh. "Would you like to stay here?" Arthur Weasley set his arm around his daughter's shoulders, and she leaned against him, considering.

"I would," she said contemplatively, "But you know, I'm not sure it's time to curl up in my childhood bed in search of comfort."

He squeezed her shoulder in approval. "In that case, there's someone inside that I think would like to speak with you."

Harry, her mind whispered nervously. She thanked her father and headed bravely for the living room.

"Hey," Harry said awkwardly as she entered the room. "You look… You seem…"

"Like me?" she prompted, taking a seat on an adjacent couch. At his nod, she continued. "I feel like me again."

"That's good, Ginny. Really good."

"Yeah," she smiled briefly, "it really is." She searched her mind for the right words to explain. "When you proposed, Harry, even then I wasn't really me. We'd just been through a war of all things and I'd lost one of my closest relatives. I'd really like to believe that I would have made a lot of very different choices in the right circumstances. Maybe not," she acknowledged, "but I'd really love the chance to prove to you that I'm ready to make them now."

"I feel more myself than I ever have," she laughed softly. "I'm not sure if that makes sense to anyone but me, but gosh, it's true. I know that what I've done to you… That it's not something I can make up for, and I can't even begin to properly apologise for it. I'm not silly enough to believe that we can just start over, pretend it never happened, and I can't even imagine how I might gain back your trust. But if nothing else, Harry, I want you to know that I am truly, deeply sorry."

Harry looked at her contemplatively. "I've thought about everything over the last few months – a lot, like a bloody broken record – and I forgive you, Ginny, I really do, but I'm not … I'm not 'okay' with it. I can accept that you were going through things - that you weren't yourself – but I can't understand it. I can't imagine doing something like that to you. I can't understand why you never said anything, why you didn't try to work things out first. But I guess… I realise that I played a part in it, too. It's not all just your fault-"

"Harry-"

He shook his head. "Not you and Blaise, maybe, but for a relationship to fall apart like ours did…" He ran his hand through his messy hair. "I knew things weren't right and I never said anything. I never spoke with you about it. I never tried to fix anything." She could hear in his voice that he was frustrated with himself for this, and the idea blew her away, for all that she should have anticipated such a reaction from him, of all people. "I just stood there and watched as you slipped farther and farther away."

He fixed his eyes on hers. "Don't get me wrong, what you did, Ginny, that's not on me, and even after three months it can't just go away. There's trust to rebuild, among other things, but I don't feel like this is just my problem or just your problem – I feel like it's our problem… And I'd really like to try to work through it with you."

His unguarded eyes bespoke an intense vulnerability, a vulnerability he hadn't displayed to her in ages, and she wanted nothing more than to throw herself into his arms and kiss it softly away. The resurrection of this feeling – foreign to her since before the end of the war – made her giddy. Ginny pushed it aside only reluctantly, reaching out with restraint to lightly grasp his hand in hers.

She smiled brilliantly at him, "I'd really like that, Harry."

His vulnerability washed away, leaving behind his shy confidence – something she loved about him. She grinned at the thought.

"So, you, er… Want to go out for lunch this Friday?" He asked a little uncertainly, like he wasn't sure whether her many relatives, who had likely recommended the move, were right in doing so.

Her already lightened heart felt buoyant. "I'd absolutely love to."