The next morning, Harry woke up with another hangover. Now this was a usual thing. He actually came to cope with this feeling. The pounding head, and queasy stomach was normal now, and something he got used to. Harry hadn't left the house since he went to the Burrow. Maybe it was time he went outside for a change. Harry grabbed his jacket and a hat. Maybe he wouldn't cause attention if he was unrecognizable. Yet chances of that, slim to none. Harry took one step out of his flat and from that second on he regretted it.
"Mr. Potter, can you tell us why you have been avoiding the press?"
"Mr. Potter, can you answer a few questions on your obsessive drinking habits?"
"Mr. Potter, how do you like the title, The Boy Who Lived Twice?"
"Harry Potter, What did you do for the last six months?"
The questions were endless. How much did these people want to know? I wouldn't be surprise if they ask what toothpaste I use next. Harry thought with a small chuckle under his breath.
"I'm nothing special; I just got rid of one guy. Gosh does anyone care about my privacy? Can I just go and enjoy the day I have, without stupid reporters asking me mad questions like you all are? I'll talk about it when I'm ready, and that's not happening soon!" Harry practically yelled at the report wishing they'd get the hint. He marched through the crowd and apparated in front of his house, leaving the reporters practically shell-shocked.
Harry Potter is Nothing Special?
We all know it was Harry Potter who stopped He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, but why has he been avoiding the press? Yesterday reporters found Potter leaving his house for the day. After asking Potter a few questions on his triumph, Harry Potter screamed at all the reporters who calmly asked for some interviews. He said, "I'm nothing special; I just got rid of one guy. Gosh, does anyone care about my privacy? Can I just go and enjoy the day I have, with out stupid reporters asking me mad question like you all are? I'll talk when I'm ready, and that's not happening soon!" And with those few departing words Harry Potter apparated out of the crowd. When will Potter be ready? The reporters he pasted by have reported that he had a strong scent of alcohol and smoke. It seems to us at the Daily Prophet that Potter has been practicing a few new habits. So you decide. Is the Chosen One "nothing special" or is he? More reports soon.
Ginny scowled at this article. For more reasons than one. First for Harry's attitude about his situation. He acted like a complete arse in front of dozens of reporters. Even the Prophet picked up that Harry had a drinking problem. Then also because the reporters were invading his privacy. You can't just go onto Harry's property and ambush him with questions. And something about "calmly asking for interviews" seemed highly unlikely. Well the calmly part did.
Ginny was even more angry with Harry's response to Hermione's letter. Sorry. Is that really all he could write back to a letter his "sister" poured her heart out on? How could he? It's obvious that that can't be Harry. Harry James Potter was so much more sensitive to others feelings than that. No she can't just read this article and take it from the ghouls at the Daily Prophet. She needed to hear it from him. She planned to sneak out and visit Grimmauld Place. Maybe she could get through to Harry like last time. Because, maybe not to him, but to her, he was something special.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Ginny yelled into Grimmauld Place after Kreacher so kindly let her in. "YOU BETTER COME OUT HERE BEFORE THE COUNT OF THREE, IF YOU DON'T WANT TO GET BAT-BOGEYED THE LIVING HELL OUT OF!" Ginny heard footsteps coming out of a bedroom from above. And shortly after a man, who needed to shave, wearing untidy, dirty clothes and a tired expression showed himself. "YOU BETTER EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" Ginny could feel the blood pumping to her head as she yelled these words.
"Um, what's there to explain?" He said with a very moody face.
"Let's see, maybe that you…look like garbage, have a closet full of liquor, not eating properly, not bathing properly, can only reply to a letter with a simple sorry, oh and did I mention, LOOK LIKE GARBAGE!"
"One, there's no point of dressing up if the only person who's going to see me is Kreacher. Two, that closet full of liquor, is now just a closet full of empty bottles. Three, I'm not hungry anymore. Four, how can I reply to that letter, after what happened at the Burrow?" Harry's voice rising as he spoke.
"That's the problem, Harry. That liquor should have lasted four years. But you have drunk it down fully in the course of a week. And also you're not hungry, because your body has found that eating itself is quite as filling. And lastly, there shouldn't be an awkward tension with you and everyone because of a simple mistake."
"MISTAKE? SIMPLE? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"
"Harry, Bill was talking about a sensitive subject. I did it too! I ran out when they started talking about…." Ginny sighed and looked into Harry's eyes. The eyes she fell in love with a little over a year ago. "Look, this isn't going to be easy. This isn't going to be a walk through the park. It's okay to be sensitive about certain topics. Your only human, Harry. Apparently, you just never have known what human feels like."
"Ginny, I know what human feels like. I'm pretty sure I've been one for the last seventeen, soon to be eighteen, years. You lot keeps saying that 'we'll get through this' or 'we'll overcome this faze' but you guys haven't been apart of it. You're not the ones getting unwillingly drunk every night. You're not the ones going to sleep, unhappy with whom you are. You aren't the ones who look in the mirror and see a ghost of yourself. You have no idea!" Ginny's anger turned into sadness. He was right about a few of these things, but they were apart of it.
"Harry, we're your bloody family! We are apart of it!" Harry sighed. He didn't seem like he was going to win this argument. She understood everything. Harry turned around and walked into the kitchen. "Harry if you're even thinking about getting a drink, then you are completely mad!"
"It's the only way I can deal with this!" Harry said as he rummaged through the cupboards looking for some firewhiskey. When he finally found some, Ginny ran and grabbed it out of his hands.
"No it's not! Have you heard of talking through it? Have you heard of facing your pain? You're not going to weasel your way out of this. Tonight, this drinking is coming to an end!" Ginny was determined to set Harry straight. Hopefully lift him up and get him back on his feet.
"You're not going to like what I say, or how I say it. You're going to tell me all things I've already heard. 'oh it's not your fault' or 'oh you have no reason to feel that way' and I've had enough of that for a lifetime!" Harry clenched his teeth. Trying not to let his mouth get the better of him. But it seemed it already did. "Ginny, I appreciate the thought. And I appreciate the try but its not going to get anything far enough. You should just give up on me. I'm not worth it."
"You have to answer one question! Your answer will decide if I'm going to try to help you or not!" Ginny said trying to redirect Harry's attention to the big picture.
"And what is that?" Harry asked, sitting down at the end of the table and pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Do you still love me?" Ginny said turning her face into a hopeful expression. Harry looked up and met Ginny's eyes. For one second she could have sworn there was a twinkle in his eye. He nodded. He was always in love with Ginny. But he's not the kind to go flaunting his feelings around like a pair of newly shined shoes. "Well than I'm not giving up. You promised me that there would be a brighter future after Voldemort got killed. Every where else is bright but here with you isn't. That has to change. And I will get my happily ever after with the prince of my dreams." Ginny said smiling during the last part. Harry knew what she meant by that and to be honest, he felt the exact same way about her. Hopefully she was right; that she can help him find a better tomorrow and maybe someday they'd both get the ending they hoped for.
Ginny led Harry into the living room. The room was small and dingy, yet a lot cleaner than the rest of the house. She sat him down on the sofa and she sat across him in the recliner. For a second she just studied him. This made Harry uncomfortable. The first real one on one conversation with Ginny and he looked like trash.
"Well, first things first," Ginny struggled to find a way to start the conversation, "when was the last time you ate something?" Harry shrugged.
"The last time I ate something, or the last time I ate a meal?" Harry asked making sure he knew what she meant by what.
"Your last meal of course!"
"Um, at the Burrow…" Harry redirected his eyes to his shoes. He knew that his answer would get Ginny mad.
"Well that will have to change. When was the last time you took a shower?" She asked, wrinkling her nose at the smell and squinting her eyes at his greasy hair.
"Um, I haven't paid attention to the date since the Burrow. I just go to sleep when I'm tired and get up when I'm not."
"You have no clue what day it is? Well it's May 29. Exactly twenty six days since the Battle of Hogwarts." Harry shook his head. He didn't want to think about the battle. But Ginny looked like she wanted to talk about it. "How about you wash up before we talk anymore? I'm sorry but I can't stand the sight and smell of you!" He nodded and went upstairs to start the shower. Ginny couldn't help but chuckle when Harry listened to her without arguing. Maybe I'm just that bad arse that he can just cower to me like that! Oh this can come in handy. Ginny got up and returned to the kitchen, where the bottle of firewhiskey sat on the table. Then it hit her, "That closet of liquor is now just a closet of empty bottles." Harry words finally sunk in. That means he drank it all! Oh he's in for it! Ginny walked to the closet hoping Harry was lying. She cautiously opened the closet and found many empty bottles that looked like they were just thrown in there; a few on their sides, a few against the wall, and a few broken. She shook her head and started clearing out the closet. It seemed that no matter how many bottles she threw away, more and more appeared. Ok! How much booze can one man drink? Then suddenly a voice came from behind her.
"Can I help you?" The voice didn't sound angry or frustrated. It was the voice he used when he was making jokes, or giving Ron grief. She turned around to come face to face with a man with green eyes and damp hair. He was wearing a smirk but that quickly changed when Ginny spoke.
"HARRY WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS!" She was pointing at the closet. Her voice may have put Voldemort in his place if he was still alive. She walked back towards the living room with Harry following behind. She sat back where she did before Harry took a shower. She nodded her head in the direction of the sofa; telling him to sit there. Harry took a minute and thought of his options, either sit or run. Without wasting anymore time, Harry sat down on the sofa. "Harry you said you were getting 'unwillingly' drunk." Harry nodded as she recited his words, "Then why in Merlin's name did you decide to stock that closet, which by God was made for linens, with liquor and whisky and muggle beer?" The more she talked the more she got to Harry. Now she was degrading him? Maybe that's how you get better; degrade down before you build up?
"Gin, have you ever gotten drunk before?" She shook her head, the truth was she had once, but she was never going to tell anybody. "Well once you start you can't just stop. Every day you want that feeling in your head and that after taste in your mouth. It's not just a one time thing." Ginny didn't take that in. She got drunk once and never wanted to again. Did he really think he could past that on?
"Harry, you better come up with a better excuse than that. I know that's not how it works." Ginny was trying so hard not to say what was on her mind.
"How would you know, you've never gotten drunk!" Harry tried to defend himself but little did he know what was going to happen next.
"YOU KNOW WHAT HARRY! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! Harry I have gotten drunk! No one was supposed to know about it, but the people who were there. But you know what I'll tell you that the next day the only thing I wanted was someone to tell me what I did!" As soon as she said this she regretted it.
"You what?! But you're under aged and where in the world would you get drinks past your mum?"
"Maybe it wasn't anywhere near my mum. And as you have shown for the last seven years, age doesn't matter!"
"Where and when could you have gotten drunk?"
"Well, at the beginning of last year, we knew that the year was going to suck, we had a little party in Gryffindor Common Room. We called it 'The Last Night Of Fun' and that's it. We got drunk off of too many butter beers!"
"Butter beers have barely any alcohol! How could you possibly get drunk from them?"
"Harry, when you have around thirteen glasses of it, you get a little tipsy. Anyway I made a speech and I may of said stuff I'll regret for the rest of my life…wait a minute I'm not the one who is getting questioned here! I'm not the one with the problems! You are!" Harry giggled at this. Ginny was always known by Ron and Harry that she could get temporarily side-tracked. "What about this whole smoking thing?"
"What is there about it, I smoke that's it."
"No Harry, that's not it. Are you going to stop? Are you going to try and reduce it? Have you noticed it's not helping you?" again Harry's eyes returned to his shoes. She knew how to turn the tables and make him feel like trash all over again.
"Yes, I've noticed that it's no help in it. Yes, I've already tried to stop. But the chance of just dropping it is well beyond slim."
"I guess I should take what I can get. But what about your social life?"
"What do you mean? My social life is fine. I have Kreacher and I can talk."
"You're so incredibly thick sometimes! I mean are you ever going to talk to Hermione or Ron or Neville or Luna? Maybe George or Parvati or Angelina? Or me?" Her voice died down when she said that last person. She had no Idea if she was even still apart of the picture.
"Yes Ginny, I'm going to try and talk to Ron and Hermione. I can't avoid Neville or Luna; they're too close to me. And soon I'll pluck up the courage to talk to everyone else. And you Gin, well, you tell me?"
"What do you want to know?"
"Am I still apart of the picture? I want to keep my promise I made at Dumbledore's funeral. But that promise can only be kept if you want me to."
"Oh Harry, of course your still apart of the picture! And of course I want you to keep that promise! But Harry are you sure that you are ready for a relationship because last time I checked you were mentally unstable." Harry giggled again. Merlin, Ginny knows exactly how to make me laugh, or make me smile, he thought.
"Well, if I'm kept on a short enough leash, my mental stability wouldn't be a problem."
"So does that mean…that you're mine again?" She asked smiling. This was her dream that he was fulfilling. After all those nights of doubt she had while he was gone. All those thoughts that he would not want her to be his again were finally gone. She was his and he was hers. Nothing could ruin her day.
"If you'll take me!" Harry couldn't help but smile. Maybe his life was worth living. Maybe it was time to move on from his despair. She nodded. Then they both got up and hugged. It may not have been what either of them wanted to do. But a good snog could wait. Besides he had liquor mouth and not to mention the smoky smelling breath.
"Harry I think I should introduce my boyfriend properly to my family. It seems I didn't do that well enough the last time and I don't feel like getting attacked by my family again."
"Yeah, I don't want to get attacked by your family again either."
"Fair enough. But Harry I'm sorry but you smell too much like alcohol and smoke. You need to brush your teeth five times before we leave." Harry nodded but this time it wasn't a guilty nod, it was a nod full of laughter and enthusiasm. Maybe the hole he was stuck in, was rising and soon it would rise him back to the top.
