Chapter 2

Ginny let Harry have ten minutes to himself before she moved to go after him. She knew where he'd be, at the end of the orchard doing those stupid Auror exercises he resorted to when stressed.

Harry had joined up to train as an Auror as soon as he was medically cleared for service. The Ministry were overjoyed to have him on board although Molly had thought it was a terrible idea until he was emotionally adjusted. So they'd struck a deal, Molly wouldn't bother Harry to quit as long as went and spoke to the psychiatric Healer once a week at St Mungo's. Ginny knew he'd hated it originally, but her Mum was right, he needed this.

The problem was that although Harry was rather brilliant at defence he was only adequate in many other areas. When he excelled at forming an ingenious and unexpected plan, he also ruined it by his impulsivity in training. So Auror Jones, who Ginny had only met once or twice, took him on for focus mentorship.

Auror Jones was an old, retired Auror who had been brought back to train many of the new recruits after the death of so many in war. He was old fashioned and gruff but Harry had taken to him and vice versa.

So for the first month for Harry in the program, Jones taught him to be patient, how to focus, and extended his journey into rational thinking.

Under this program, Harry had begun to excel at Occlumency, he'd actually sit and read the old Auror journals to learn, and he'd stopped relying on first thoughts and really tried to flesh out his plans.

Jones had begun by assigning Harry three exercises to repeat over and over again in an Auror training room for three hours a day. Jones would sit and Harry would repeat his exercises until he needed a quick break and then he would start again. There was no magic, no fun, and it was all focus. It worked because Jones was the first person of authority to enforce this patience training with Harry but to still care about him. It also meant Harry had reached his peak physical ability.

Ginny hated these exercises, she knew how much they'd helped Harry but now he just ran through them when he was stressed and they were fighting.

As she walked to the end of the orchard she could see she was right, there Harry was completing the rounds. 10 press-ups, 10 jumping jacks, and 10 short, explosive sprints. This routine repeated, gain and again and again…

She watched him for a minute, the frustration evident on his face, before calling out,
"Harry Potter!" she yelled,
"We need to talk!"

"Not now, Gin" he called back, puffing heavily between each word,
"I'm busy,"

"Stop doing those stupid exercises and come talk to me Potter"
"Not stupid," muttered Harry under his breath but he stopped regardless, recognising his girlfriend wasn't going to give up.

Then they were there, just an inch away from each other, sweat beads on Harry's forehead, and Ginny with a cool expression masking her emotion
"What, Gin?" Harry sighed.
"You know what, Harry. You run off whenever I ask about your family."
"Why do you want to meet them?" Harry asked, sounding slightly confused, "They're horrible, they don't like me, and I don't want you to know them. I haven't seen them in ages anyway."

"I want to know them because you won't tell me anything," Ginny said, grounding out her words a little as she tried to hide her frustration,
"I love you and I we should share our lives together and you won't let us!"
"What do you want to know, Gin?" Harry threw his hands up,
"My relatives treated me dreadfully as a kid, I came to your family when I could, and I'm glad I don't have to talk to them anymore. Let's just leave it in the past. Ok?"

"Not okay, Harry. It's not healthy to not talk to me about this" Ginny folded her arms, and stared at her boyfriend.

Normally this was the point where Harry would apologise, then Ginny would apologise, then they'd sneak out to their favourite Indian restaurant in a muggle town and eat together. This time was different, Harry just walked back up to the house.

Ginny immediately followed him as he went to grab his backpack from the front hall cupboard,
"Where are you going?" She demanded, "You can't just leave."
Harry looked like he was going to collapse from stress and Ginny actually felt a little afraid,
"I just need some space, Ginny" he ground out,
"I'm going to Grimmauld Place. Please don't follow me."

Then just like that he was gone again.

Ginny was stunned for a moment but it didn't take long for her to go and grab the Floo powder,
"I'm going out, Mum" she called as she stepped into the green flames, Harry meant far too much to her to sacrifice over this ridiculous argument.

AN: I hope you enjoyed. Please leave a review!