Disclaimer: I almost owned Harry Potter. But I got outbid. Stupid 'Rowling869'.

A/N: Woohoo! I found Ginny's birthday! Thanks to Tina101 for leading me to hp-lexicon which is awesome BTW. Well anyway, this first part of the chapter is going to be in Ginny's POV. When you get to the X's it'll change back to Harry's.

Chapter 8: Go Find A Woman And You'll Find Love

"Can you believe her?"

"She just doesn't want to lose you."

Harry and Ginny were in Ginny's room and she was pacing her room and ranting about her mother.

"She treats me like a little girl."

"That's because in her eyes you are," said Harry from his seat at her desk.

"Well I'm not."

"Well then what are you going to do?"

She stopped and looked at him.

"I have no bloody idea," she said quietly. "I'm not going back to school. That's for sure."

"Well I think she got that loud and clear."

She supressed a grin. Why could he always make her smile even when she was angry or sad? Ignoring this cheesy thought, Ginny said,

"Why doesn't she get it though?"

"Well try and look at it in her perspective. Your youngest and only daughter is growing up. You've just lost one of your sons and your other kids are adults and starting their own families."

"I guess I'd be pretty protective..." Ginny mumbled.

"Exactly..." said Harry slowly. "So just give her some time, but don't let her forget you're not planning to go back." He stood up and walked over to her.

"Think you can do that?" he asked as he put his hands on her arms. He kissed her forehead and she grinned feebly and sighed. Please! she thought Have you forgotten who you're talking to? I'm clever, smart, stubborn, and... scared. Brilliant. Just brilliant. She could just see herself sitting on the Hogwarts Express with Luna and Neville. While Harry, Ron, and Hermione were off doing big and important things. Again. Without her.

"Yeah."

He smiled down at her before saying,

"Good," he yawned. "Well I'm exausted. I'm going to bed."

He kissed her cheek and headed for the door.

"Okay, but don't think I havn't forgotten," said Ginny.

"Forgotten what?" he asked as he opened the door and turned to face her.

"Last I heard you, Ron, and Hermione weren't planning to go back to Hogwarts either. And I don't remember you telling mum," she said slyly.

"Good night Ginny," said Harry as he backed out of the room.

"'Night Harry."

He closed the door and was gone.

XxxxX

"We're going to bury Fred today," said Mrs.Weasley gloomily as Harry entered the kitchen. "This evening."

What a nice way to wake up thought Harry. Ron seemed to be feeling the same thing, for he rolled his eyes and stabbed moodily at his pancakes. Harry sat down to his right and Mrs.Weasley sent a plate of breakfast flying his way. He drowned them in syrup and waited for someone to break the silence, but all he could hear was the sound of forks and knives on plates.

"We're going to bury Fred today," he heard Mrs.Weasley say. He was wondering why she was saying that again until Ginny sat down next to him.

"Lovely way to be greeted in the morning don't you think?" hissed Ginny.

After that things were continually silent except for the same greeting Mrs.Weasley gave as everyone had came down to breakfast. Errol came with the newspaper and Ron got up to relieve the owl of its burden. When Ron had unrolled the newspaper Harry asked, nodding to the paper,

"So anything new?"

"Er... Nothing really... just small things Kingsley is doing at the Ministry... Death Eater "sightings"... we should really talk to Kingsley Harry."

He sat back down and gave the paper to Hermione, who began flipping through it.

"Have you two come to a decision about all that?" asked Mrs.Weasley, talking for the first time in a while.

"Er... yes, actually," said Harry. "And... well, Ron and I have decided to take the jobs."

"Well that's wonderful," said Mrs.Weasley.

"But that would mean we wouldn't be going back to Hogwarts," he said quietly.

She sighed.

"I could sort of see that coming dears."

Ginny looked as if though she could throw something.Harry grabbed her arm and shook his head slightly. After a slight awkward few minutes Harry asked Ron,

"Is your dad back at the Ministry yet?"

"Oh, yeah Kingsley asked him to come back a few days ago."

"He's there right now," said Mrs.Weasley, pointing to something on the wall. Harry focused his eyes on what she was pointing. It was the unique clock the Weasley's had had since before Harry had even known them. He was glad to see that all the hands (which had each family member's picture on them) were no longer pointing to 'mortal peril'. Mr.Weasley's, though, was indeed pointed to 'work'. Without giving himself the time to change his mind he looked for Fred's. It was pointing to 'traveling'. Harry thought this was odd. But before he could dwell on this, Hermione said,

"There's something about Snape in here Harry."

She handed Harry the paper and pointed towards a small article in the bottom right corner of a page. Harry read aloud:

PORTRAIT OF FORMER HOGWARTS

HEADMASTER TO BE REMOVED

The Board of Governors announced today that

the portait of former Hogwart's Headmaster,

Severus Snape, is to be removed from the Head-

master's office at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft

and Wizardry. This action is backed up with the

information given that Snape was in league with

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. As with all Hog-

warts Headmasters, when they have passed on,

a portrait of them will appear in the Headmaster's

office. Severus Snape was announced dead after

the death toll of the Battle of Hogwarts was coun-

ted. Whether Snape perished fighting is unknown.

Severus Snape's prortait did indeed appear not so

long after his death. Alas, there had been many

complaints that a Death Eater should not be gran-

ted the honor of being displayed in the office, even

if he was a Headmaster at one point.

"There will be no Death Eaters displayed on the

honorable walls of that school," said a school gov-

ernor shortly after the announcement. "It would

be impracticle and dare I say, stupid."

When and how the portrait is to be moved is still

unkown, but hopefully, it will be done soon.

"But I though Snape had been on our side the whole time!" exclaimed Ron.

"He was!" said Hermione. "Hasn't anyone told them that?"

"Look, here comes another owl," said Ginny.

Harry turned and saw a large brown owl flying towards the window. Harry got up when it landed on the windowsill and untied the letter.

"It's for me..." said Harry, confused. Harry opened it and began to read.

Dear Harry,

Hope I'm not bothering you, but I was hoping we could arrange to talk. There are obviously some things we need to get straight about the battle that took place at Hogwarts. Does this Saturday at noon work? Please return your answer as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Kingsley Shacklebolt

P.S. If you and Ronald have decided whether you would like to take up my offer, please bring Ronald with you.

"It's from Kingsley. He wants to know the full story about the battle. And he wants you to come seeing as we've made our decision about becoming Aurors," he added to Ron.

"Well then you can tell him Snape was on our side!" said Ginny.

"Exactly," said Harry. "I'll be right back."

Harry rushed upstairs and found some parchment, quill, and some ink. He hurried back downstairs and into the kitchen. He sat back down and began to write.

Kingsley,

Don't worry you weren't bothering me in any way. Saturday is perfect. I'll bring Ron with me.

Hope you're well,

Harry

He sealed the letter and tied it to the brown owl. He gave the bird a piece of his toast, and it took off.

XxxxX

A/N: Ginny's POV.

Ginny looked at herself in the mirror. If she could convince herself she looked terrible she could decide to change, therefor postpone leaving her room. It wasn't that she didn't want to be there when they buried Fred; she just didn't want to be depressed again. The less she thought about the fact that her brother was dead and the more she thought about all the fun times they had when he was alive, she found she was happier. She was just about to go change out of her black cordaroys and shirt and into whatever she happened to find, when there was a knock at her door. She sighed and crossed her room to open it. It was Harry.

"Hey," he said tentatively. "You ready? Your mum says we're leaving soon."

"Yeah I'll be down in just a minute."

"Okay." He turned around and descended the stairs. Ginny took one last look at herself in the mirror and left her room. When she got downstairs almost everyone was sitting around the table. There was a little talking. She noticed that Harry, Ron, and Hermione weren't there. As though reading her mind, George said,

"They're out back."

She knew George was hurting so she gave him a hug. Then she left out the back door. Harry and Ron were sitting on a bench talking while Hermione tried to keep Crookshanks from attacking the gnomes. It wasn't working too well.

"She's fighting a losing battle you know," said Ginny as she sat down by Harry.

"Yeah but it's fun to watch her try," said Ron, grinning slightly.

Hermione then sighed and walked over to them.

"I give up. We should probably head back into the kitchen."

They followed her back inside. Mrs.Weasley gestured silently towards the door. Harry, Hermione and the Weasley's went outside behind her. Ginny, who couldn't Apparate on her own yet, grabbed Harry's arm. They turned on the spot and she was sucked into a dark, airless tube. Suddenly her feet slammed into the ground and she toppled sideways, but Harry kept her from falling.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

He gave her the smallest of smiles and grabbed her hand absentmindedly as everyone else started appearing.

"This way," said Mr.Weasley motioning towards a gate not too far away. They all walked through it and were about halfway through the cemetery when they reached where there was a large rectangular hole in the ground. Beside which was a shining velvety-black coffin. Everyone gathered around the coffin and the priest began to say a few words. Ginny wasn't listening. They never say anything really true or exact about them she thought. It's always so vague. She stared and stared at the coffin. She suddenly realized that no one had told her exactly how it had happened. Again, it had been vague. 'He died fighting.' Way to go mum. Suddenly Ginny noticed the coffin was being lowered into the ground. She squeezed Harry's hand without thinking about it. Even after the coffin was lowered, and the priest used a spell to bury it, Ginny continued to stare. She knew if she looked up at everyone else she'd break down again. And she loathed crying. Absolutely loathed it. She heard Harry say quietly,

"Ginny it's time to go..."

She nodded and he continued,

"We're going to Apparate now 'kay?"

She nodded again and gripped his hand tightly.

Crack.

They were back. Ginny loosened her grip on Harry's hand and looked at the Burrow. George had already summoned some firewhisky from the kitchen.

"Care for a drink anyone?" he asked as he summoned some glasses.

--

Alright. So I sooo wanted to finish this chapter over the weekend and put it up yesterday, but, well... I had a soccer game Saturday and Sunday (including having to go to my sister's games too), and then had soccer practice on Monday on top of that. So I guess you could say I was busy. Well anyway, please review and I will try my hardest to get the new chapter out. Monday at the lastest probably.

Review!! (: