Chapter 3: Reunion

Ginny was sitting beside her mother, leaning into her, eyes closed. Arthur was on Molly's other side, holding Molly's hand and staring into space. Other members of the family were arrayed around them. No one was talking. They were simply drawing reassurance from being with each other, yet each still alone with their own thoughts, too numb to share, oblivious, too, of all the others in the Gryffindor common room with them.

They had all grabbed some sleep in various parts of the castle and had re assembled here about an hour ago. It had been agreed that they would all stay at the castle again tonight. No one wanted to go back to Aunt Muriel's. In the morning, Bill, Fleur and Charlie would return to the Burrow and make sure that no curses or other nasty surprises had been left for them and the Burrow was fit to live in again. They would re-establish the wards that protected it. No one knew if Death Eaters had visited the Burrow while it had been empty or if they had done any damage, but it was considered likely. Kingsley had insisted that the Burrow be properly secured before the Weasleys returned to it. There were still Death Eaters out there and the Weasleys were a prime target for a revenge attack. Arthur, too, wanted to make sure that their home was in its normal state before he took his wife back there. She was already deeply distressed over the death of their son. She would not be able to handle seeing the Burrow vandalised or damaged. If everything was OK, the whole family, hopefully with Ron, Harry and Hermione, would return to the Burrow in the afternoon. The whole family except Fred. He would be transferred to the morgue at Ottery St Catchpole, awaiting burial later in the week.

Ginny's face was blank, but her thoughts and feelings were going at a million miles an hour. Mostly she was thinking of Harry. She felt guilty about that, but it was just too painful to think about Fred. Of course it was painful even if she didn't think about him. His death had left her with an enormous gnawing empty pit in her stomach and a sadness that wouldn't go away. It was always there. It wasn't much less painful thinking about Harry. She had only been able to see him briefly after the battle before he had been swept away by the adoring crowd. Then he had disappeared – with Ron and Hermione of course. Now they were locked away upstairs and she couldn't get in to see them.

She desperately needed to know if Harry still cared about her, wanted to be with her. She had been persecuted all year, especially by the Slytherins, for being "Harry Potter's blood traitor girlfriend" so Harry's "noble gesture" of breaking up with her had made no difference – at least within Hogwarts. The trouble was she didn't know if she actually was still Harry's girlfriend.

At least she knew Harry was safe. Not knowing where Harry, Ron and Hermione had been over the last nine months or even if they were alive had been unbearable. Sure there had been sightings and reports and she had encouraged everyone else to believe that they were still out there fighting, but at times she found it hard to believe herself and she would sink into despair. Neville and Luna helped her a lot. When she had heard that Ron, Harry and Hermione had turned up at Shell Cottage she was elated, but when she heard that Hermione had been tortured and was injured her elation crashed to the ground. What other horrors and dangers had they endured, what more would they have to go through before their stupid secret mission was over, how long could their luck hold out if they were taking such risks? She was furious when she was forbidden to visit them. It is too dangerous both for you and for them, her father had told her. She would have gone to Shell Cottage anyway if she was able to apparate, but she hadn't yet mastered that skill. She had sat at Aunt Muriel's fuming. Her mother also fumed. She too had been told by Arthur in the strongest possible terms not to go to Shell Cottage. She had never seen her father forbid her mother anything ever before in her life, but there was no mistaking his firmness and determination that they not go.

Now Harry, Hermione and Ron were close by but she still couldn't see them. She had pleaded with the guards to let her in but they were adamant. Finally, they agreed to let her leave a note. She agonised about what to put in that note. She wanted to pour out her love for Harry but she also didn't want to make a fool of herself if he no longer wanted to be with her. Ginny Weasley was a proud girl. Her pride in who she was had helped her through the dark times of the last year. She also wanted Harry to know that he had hurt her, but she didn't really want to hurt him back. In the end, she decided on a light tone. She wanted to make it clear to Harry that she wanted to be back with him if that is what he wanted but enable them to both walk away with dignity if he didn't. She couldn't stop herself, though, from expressing her anguish, her anger at his pretended death.

Now a movement at the top of the stairs to the boys' dormitory caught her eye. Harry, Ron and Hermione were coming down. Ron and Hermione were hand in hand. She smiled to herself and thought "about time."

Ginny wasn't the only one who had noticed the arrival of the trio. Conversations halted across the common room and multiple sets of eyeballs tracked them as they walked steadily towards the large group of redheads and the one blonde who sat quietly together. There was no repeat of the applause and shouting that had greeted them earlier that day. There seemed to be common assent that this was a private moment and people seemed content to merely observe.

Ginny stood up and it was this, more than anything else, that alerted the rest of the Weasleys to the arrival of the trio and lifted them out of their private reveries.

Harry stopped ten feet away. He and Ginny simply froze, staring at one another other, afraid and unsure of what to do next, feeling the whole weight of their hopes for the future hanging on the moment. Then Harry opened his arms slightly. This was all the invitation Ginny needed. She rushed into Harry's arms and they held each other in a desperate embrace. All the emotions Ginny had held in check for so long broke free and overwhelmed her. She sobbed uncontrollably into Harry's shoulder. She sobbed for Fred, she sobbed for Tonks, she sobbed in relief that Harry, Ron and Hermione had survived, she sobbed for the nightmare that Hogwarts had become and the pain that Neville and Luna and Seamus and so many others had suffered and she sobbed because the man she loved was holding her tightly in his arms. Harry tried to pour all his strength, all his love into Ginny. He held her as tightly as he could. He whispered in her ear "It's going to be alright Ginny, I love you Ginny, it's going to be alright." Every second he stood there holding her in his arms he felt himself falling deeper and deeper in love with this girl and, for the moment, he too dared to believe that everything would be alright.

When Harry and Ginny had stood frozen, the whole room had also frozen. When they had moved to embrace, the whole room had become mesmerised. All else had faded from awareness except for the young couple. Then, slowly, as people realised they were observing a deeply private moment, the trance was broken. Many turned back to their own affairs, though most continued to watch with avid interest as the reunion between the trio and the Weasleys unfolded.

Ron, dragging Hermione along with him, left Harry and Ginny to their embrace and walked over to his mother. He was quickly pulled into a bone crushing hug.

"Ron, I was so scared," said his teary Mum. "I am just so relieved that you're OK."

"It's over now, Mum. You don't have to worry anymore."

"I'll always worry Ron." She held him tightly wanting to protect him forever, though she knew that she couldn't. After a long time, she released him and turned to Hermione.

"Hermione, dear." She pulled Hermione into a powerful hug. Eventually, Molly pulled away and looked into Hermione's eyes.

"Thank you for looking after him," she said quietly, on the brink of tears.

"We looked after each other," said Hermione.

Molly nodded. She inspected Hermione up and down and didn't like what she saw.

"Hermione dear, you have gotten so thin. I am going to have to fatten you up again."

Then she added with a wicked grin "We're going to have to give Ronald something more to hug than skin and bones."

Hermione blushed, but then she broke into a broad smile and the two women hugged each other again. Molly had long loved Hermione as a daughter. She had watched as her son's friendship with this extraordinary girl changed into something else, though the two themselves seemed to have no clue as to what had happened or what to do about it. She was glad that they now seemed to have worked things out. She knew that Ron would never find a finer girl.

Ron turned to his father who took a firm hold of Ron's shoulders and looked him in the eye, fighting to control his emotions.

"Son, I don't think I have ever been prouder of anyone ever in my entire life. What you have done, what the three of you have done…. It's just extraordinary – I am just so proud of you."

Ron was trembling, close to tears. These words from his father meant so much, far more than he had thought possible. Arthur pulled his son into a strong embrace.

Arthur then turned to Hermione and examined this fragile looking girl whom he too loved as a daughter. The memory that, only three weeks ago, she had been tortured and badly hurt overwhelmed him. He hugged her, tears streaming down his face.

"I am so sorry you were hurt, Hermione. I am so glad you are safe."

Ron watched his father embrace Hermione and found himself once again choking up. He turned back to look at Ginny and Harry who were no longer embracing. They were now kissing passionately, oblivious to anyone else. They must have become aware, though, that every eye in the room was now turning towards them, including the eyes belonging to every male member of the Weasley clan. They broke off, both blushing and looking sheepish. "Boy" thought Ron "Harry is going to get it now," secretly pleased. But he was wrong. Initially, both Arthur and Percy were stunned but then they too broke into the same broad grins already plastered on the faces of Bill, Charlie and George. They knew Harry's worth as a man and they knew Ginny's strength and independence. She had held her own in a family of older boys. If this was the way she chose to go then they were OK with that. Besides, who could blame a girl for kissing the hero of the day?

After a time Charlie called out "Hey Ginny, are you going to introduce your boyfriend to your brothers – Barry isn't it?" Both Harry and Ginny blushed more deeply, but then Ginny dragged Harry over to her family and they were both swallowed in a sea of hugs.

All around the room people were trying to suppress their laughter at Charlie's joke. It was, after all, meant to be a private joke between the Weasleys. Some succeeded.

For those who watched these scenes it was becoming clear that this large rambunctious family, often considered to be on the fringes of wizarding society, just a little eccentric and, by some, a laughing stock, had been right at the core of the struggle against Voldemort and his eventual overthrow. The more astute realised that Britain's magical community had just acquired a new "first family" and it would be this group and their friends and their values that would, in time, set the new standards in a new society.

One such observer was Oliver Grantham, Gryffindor, former Head Boy, senior partner of the old Wizarding legal firm of Bellbocks, Grantham and Popplefrock, member of the Wizengamot, pure-blood and now veteran of the Battle of Hogwarts. He would have to learn all he could about this family that so clearly dared to count both Harry Potter and Hermione Granger as members. Then, perhaps, he would make his move against them.