Harry thought about running after Ginny, grabbing her and making sure she was alright, but then again an inner voice (which sounded like Hermione, obviously) told him not to. Grief was something personal. He would talk in to her later.
Suddenly he wanted to go somewhere private. More private than his house. He wanted to go somewhere where only he and Hermione came. He wanted to mourn because of Sirius, because of Lupin. Because of his mom and dad.
'Are you joining me?'
Hermione knew where he wanted to go. She recognised the look in his eyes. She nodded, entwined her fingers with Harry's and left Grimmauld's place.
The tomb of his mom and dad were still as white as the first time Harry visited it. He took good care of their grave; he had placed flowers, scrubbed the gravestone and placed a bench just a few feet away from the grave, so he could sit down quietly, hearing the birds sing their song and look at the white marble. He never thought or did anything while sitting there. He just sat. And he closed his eyes and listened and enjoyed the sun on his face, or the rain, or the mist, or the snow. When he wanted to clear his mind, he went there and sat down and looked and enjoyed and felt connected.
He never visited the place with Ginny. He knew what she would do: she would jabber away, talking about Fred's grave and his stone, talking about their, according to her, "soon to be new home". He could see the rooftop of the house from the bench. He knew for sure he didn't want to live there. He would be confronted with the smashed house of his parents every day.
Hermione went to the grave as well. Sometimes with Harry, sometimes alone. He would visit the grave and find a coronet of pink or red roses, and he always knew that she had placed them, like the first time they went to see the grave. He never asked why she went, but he knew. She enjoyed the quietness, the peace, as much as he did. And she knew how it was like to lose your parents.
His fingers traced the names of his father. He then kneeled down and kissed the cold stone. He would have felt embarrassed with anyone else watching him, but with Hermione he didn't mind. She kneeled down as well and made a circling movement with her wand. The roses appeared. Harry smiled and entwined his fingers with hers once again. The walked to the bench and sat down. They shut their eyes. And they thought of nothing.
They sat there for more than a quarter. Harry was the first to move. He walked to the grave, petted the tombstone, whispered "goodbye mum and dad" and walked away. He waited at the port for Hermione to arrive. She came some minutes later and they decided to get a drink in "The Troll's cudgel". Hermione ordered two butterbeers.
'It's always nice to visit your mum and dad,' Hermione said, 'it's such a beautiful place over there. It calms me down right away. It was the perfect spot to go.'
She sighed.
'I feel so embarrassed now. I threw a vase at Ron! For just some… Some stupid misconceptions!'
Harry said nothing because he didn't want to burst Hermione's bubble.
'And I'm really sorry for getting Ginny upset, Harry. It wasn't mine intention.'
'I understand,' Harry said, 'I'm glad you did. Someone needed to tell her to back off. I just don't have the guts to do it.'
Hermione laughed playfully.
'I beg your pardon? Harry Potter, the boy who lived, the Chosen One, doesn't have the guts to tell his girlfriend to behave?'
She gave him a light-hearted slap on the arm and Harry chuckled, but felt inconvenient. Hermione caught this in an instant.
'Harry,' she proceeded, 'this is serious. She moved into your house without asking you for permission, am I right?'
The fact that Harry didn't bare to answer was enough.
'Merlin, Harry! She has overtaken your life! Is this why you stopped working in the field? Did Ginny tell you that she thought it was too dangerous for her precious little boy to go out there and do his job as an Auror?'
No sound.
'Harry, please tell me this is a joke. It is a joke, right?'
Nothing.
'You hate paperwork! You loathe it with your life! I thought you did it for the salary at first, but now I… Are you so serious about Ginny?'
Harry had never felt as awkward. Everything she said was true. He couldn't deny it. Yes, he stopped doing fieldwork after a huge row with Ginny; she had cried so much she nearly made the house flood and begged him not to become a Fred as well. So yes, he accepted his job as an office worker. It was boring, there was no variation in his work whatsoever, but Ginny liked it so he did it. Yes, she was moving in with him. He had noticed, of course. It started with bringing some clothes over. Harmless, it seemed. But she began to bring shoes and shawls and jewellery as well, and at one point she started to buy towels and she put her shampoo in the shower. When she brought her family pictures over, he knew it was going wrong. But he couldn't bear the thought of telling her that he wasn't ready for this yet. She wanted this so badly.
Hermione couldn't stand it anymore.
'Harry, for everyone's sake! You deserve better than this forced life!'
'Hermione,' he rasped and looked at her with a broken smile, 'this is how I deal with it, okay? I know it's not the smartest decision and I may be unhappy for the rest of my life, but I don't care. I'm making people happy by leading this life so I will continue leading it.'
Hermione looked like she had been stupefied. For a moment, nothing but unintelligible sounds came from her mouth.
'You can't mean that,' she whispered after a good 10 minutes. The butterbeers had already arrived and Harry nearly drank halve of his before Hermione spoke or moved for that matter.
'You deserve someone who truly loves you for you. You don't… Harry, don't make yourself do this. You suffered enough. It's time for the happy life right now. You need to feel free, to laugh and live your life like you always wanted to! You defeated Voldemort! If there's anyone who deserves a good life, it's you, don't you-…'
'It's my fault Fred died,' Harry said snappy and he rose from his chair.
'Make sure you and Ron talk it over, alright?'
Then he left, feeling completely numb.