A/N: Thanks for all the positive feedback from everyone. Everytime someone follows me or reviews the story i jump on the computer and start typing away. You guys truly are the greatest! Thanks for reading this far!

It was Christmas day. Ginny hadn't been downstairs since she entered her bedroom last night without saying anything to her family. She was afraid to go downstairs. She was afraid that they would tell her off. But one thing was for sure, she'd be totally freaked out if they all were in the same places that they were in when she went to bed. She slowly crept down the stairs and into the kitchen to steal some food. Ginny checked the living room quickly to see if they were they're. To her delight no one was in there and they must have all gone to bed.

Ginny set the table with a bowl and a spoon. She decided on a muggle cereal that she had never heard of before. But on the box, it said that there were blueberries and raspberries in it, even if they were dried up, so she decided to give it a try. After setting the milk down on the table, Ginny sat there puzzled. What was she supposed to do? She had both hands on the table while she leaned on it slightly. She gave out a heavy sigh while contemplating which gets poured in the bowl first, the milk or the cereal?

But something hugged her from behind and she jumped a little. She was fully on guard until calmed by a head resting on her shoulder. It was Harry. She took her hand off the table and ran it through his hair.

"Are you okay?" Ginny asked turning around in his grip.

"Am I okay? What about you, are you okay?" Harry let go of her small waste and stepped back a little.

"I've been better, yet again, I've been worse."

"Well, what are you making?" Ginny turned around and looked at the items on the table frustrated.

"I just want a simple bowl of cereal, but I have no clue on how to make it. Which comes first, the milk or the cereal?" Ginny was tapping her foot while she stared at the table.

"It doesn't matter, but I always pour the cereal first then milk." Harry poured some cereal out then poured a little bit of milk.

"They need to put instructions on the bloody box. Thanks, Harry." Harry sat across from her.

"Your welcome." He stared at her for a moment and she knew exactly what he was thinking about.

"Harry, please, don't make me feel even more of an outsider."

"What? No, I'm not trying to, I think everyone's still trying to face the fact that you've seen hell. Worse than anyone else, yet you've been so strong and patient with everyone. If anything, they're guilty…and so am I."

"Why are you guilty? Harry, you didn't do anything wrong." Ginny reached across the table and held his hand.

"For an entire month I sat and moped in my own selfishness, telling myself that I had nothing to live for, but you had seen even worse. I'm the worst boyfriend in history. I hate saying this, but you should have been the one drinking and what not, you had a reason, I didn't."

"No, Harry, the reason I didn't fall into a depression was because I'm not that stupid. You apparently are," Harry snorted, "Anyway, I've never thought about my past. I mean, not since last night. I always told myself that nothing mattered anymore because I was going to die in the end. And when I heard the Carrows the one night saying that…" Ginny decided not to continue that sentence. That part of the story was going to be saved for a later date. Harry could tell that she didn't want to talk about that last part. He decided that he shouldn't push it.

"Gin, you're THE bravest person I've ever met. I'm so proud of you."

"You are?"

"Of course why wouldn't I be?" Ginny's smile faded and Harry was anxious to know why.

"Because I made terrible decisions," Harry's smile faded, "No! Don't worry! It's nothing to do with a boy or a girl or anything romantically. It was my thoughts, my theories."

"Which were what exactly?"

"My plan…was that I would cause the Carrows so much hell that they'd kill me." Ginny let go of Harry's hands and stared at her half eaten cereal.

"Why? Did you seriously want to die?" Harry's eyes were wide with surprise. Why would Ginny want to kill herself? Was it because of Harry breaking up with her?

"Well, I kept having the same dream over and over again. It was the same scenario of you and the other two dying of starvation, or killing each other from madness. And I wanted to join you…" Ginny had one glistening tear fall from her face.

"Ginny, I told you sixth year that I wouldn't leave without a proper goodbye and I'm sticking to that promise for the rest of my life." Ginny was left speechless. She couldn't find the words but 'me too'. So she quickly followed her heart.

"I think I can keep that promise too." Harry chuckled.

"So, are you mad?" Ginny squinted her eyes in confusion, "With everyone, after you ran upstairs everyone thought you were mad at us. It was really that we had no idea what to say. I mean, it's hard to take in that one person could go through so much and still be strong."

"I'm not mad, just a little embarrassed. Now do you understand why I never wanted to tell anyone? I wanted to keep it a secret from everyone but thanks to Neville, I couldn't."

"How did Neville get you to talk?"

"Well, he told Hermione a detailed outline of last year, and she pressured me to talk. And then I decided that I shouldn't keep everything from my family."

"Ginny, I know your going to bend what you say. You said that you were going to keep 'everything' from us but you never said that you were going tell us everything. But if you want to keep things in the past, I won't mind. Hermione, Ron and I are keeping a few things in the past. I mean, until we are ready to talk about it. Well, it was really between me and Ron and then Hermione got caught in the middle of it, but, I'm not telling anyone what happened."

"Let me guess, you guys got in a fight."

"Yeah…" Harry drifted into a daze as he recalled the night when Ron left Hermione and him while on the run.

"Thanks for valuing my opinion, Harry."

"Well, that's what good boyfriends do. Anyway, Merry Christmas, Ginny."

"Oh my god. I forgot that today is Christmas!"

"I think everyone did, Gin." That didn't change Ginny's worry.

"No, Harry, you didn't." Harry just shrugged it off. "Where's everybody?"

"Asleep, why?"

"Well, usually they're up before me on Christmas."

"Well, we stayed in the living room for awhile after you went upstairs. I don't know what time I went to bed. I tried hard to listen for any sounds coming from the hallway because I was afraid you were going to leave again."

"I was afraid I would too."


The family was gathered around the Christmas tree later that morning. They were accompanied by Andromeda and Teddy. Harry had been in charge of Teddy every other weekend since he was still only eighteen. Teddy was always happy when he was with Harry. He liked it when Harry shot multi-colored sparks from his wand. The presents had come around and were opened. Everyone was spending their time telling stories of their childhood Christmases.

"Harry. What about you?" Hermione asked.

"What about me?" He knew Hermione was oblivious to the fact he was an abused child; she thought that he just hated it there.

"Tell us a story about one of your Christmas's in a muggle family." Arthur said enthusiastic. He was always intrigued by the muggle world.

"Um, er,…I guess I had one….I was in my…room…and I was eating as much…um….Christmas cookies as I could for my….um natural size…" Harry stuttered as he made up his story.

"I don't think that's true." Ron said simply. "You always show you're lying or nervous when you stutter like that. I think he's a bit of both." Harry just glared at Ron.

"Guys, obviously Harry doesn't want to talk about it so just let him be." Ginny said loudly and holding Harry's hand. He nodded appreciably to her. No one spoke but you could tell that they didn't want to drop it.

"Well, how about a nice Christmas supper?" Molly said before walking to the kitchen. Everyone was still silent. No one knew how to make a conversation.


It was the last day of winter break and Ginny was far from happy. All she wanted to do was to stay there with Harry and her family. But her mum wouldn't let her. She was staying with Harry in his flat for the day and she didn't want to be disturbed by outsiders. All she wanted to do was spend the day with her love.

"So, Ginny, what do you want to do?" Harry asked. They were both sitting on the couch but Ginny was snuggled up in Harry's side.

"I don't care. I just want to be with you." Harry snorted.

"Your going to leave this decision with me? You know that I'm terrible with making decisions. Once, while you were at Hogwarts, I went to the market and couldn't choose between two cucumbers because one was riper than the other, but the other was cheaper." Ginny chuckled at Harry's patheticness.

"So which one did you choose?" Harry looked down at her smiling.

"I bought both of them. And then I never ate them and they rotted." Ginny rolled her eyes.

"So, you went through the trouble of choosing a cucumber that you weren't going to eat." Harry turned a little red.

"No, I saw this really cool meal on the television and I wanted to try to make it. But then, when I got home, I didn't want to make it anymore."

"Lazy arse."

"I think I knew that I couldn't make it as good as your mum probably could, so I just gave up on it. It was a little strange looking."

"That's why I'll be the one to cook in this relationship." Harry giggled at Ginny.

"That is perfectly fine with me. I can make a killer breakfast though."

"Harry, cereal isn't a killer breakfast." Harry's smile faded a minute then returned.

"No! I can also make scrambled eggs and bacon. I learned how to way back when I was six…" Harry's smile faded completely and he looked away from Ginny.

"Six? As in years? As in you were cooking on a stove when you were six years old?" Harry nodded slowly but kept his eyes away from her. "Harry, you can't avoid me forever. You can always talk to me." Harry looked back at her, his eyes a little watery.

"I already told you I was abused as a child."

"You told me where you slept at night. You said nothing about cooking or cleaning."

"I cooked fine and that house was usually spotless. Done."

"But what if you burned yourself?" Harry snorted.

"Well, unlike you, Gin, I learned quickly after one burn. My lesson was learned."

"But if they were just going to be cruel to you, why didn't they send you to an orphanage?"

"Because Dumbledore scared them into keeping me. But I sometimes wish he didn't." Harry shrugged than changed the subject. "I wish you weren't going to school tomorrow."

"So do I. I mean, Hogwarts is brilliant as usual but, I hate it without you."

"It can't be any different than before we were dating."

"No, it is different because even though we weren't dating, you were still there. You know…eye candy," Harry laughed a little, "But now I don't even get that. And then you decided to finally give me a second look and of course we get separated. It's just my luck." Harry's arm was still around her shoulders and he was still looking into her eyes.

"No, Gin, it's my luck. Think about it. Where ever I go bad things happen. That's why I'm so surprised you still want to be with me."

"Harry, I've wanted to get with you since I was eleven. You should know that it means something if I stuck around five years to be with you and then waited for you to get back and still wanted to be with you."

"I guess, you're right, as always. Anyways have you thought about what you're doing after Hogwarts since we talked about it last?"

"Yes, I did. I mean I have different plans for different scenarios. But I think most of them are based on the same mind set as before."

"That mind set was?"

"Move out of the Burrow. I love Mum and Dad of course, it's just I don't want to spend the rest of my life living there. With Charlie and I both leaving tomorrow, no one will live here with them. But I'm positive that Ron and George will stop by every so often because they can't make a decent dinner for themselves."

"Yeah, I ate dinner at Ron's flat one night. Not the best food. I ended up stopping at some muggle restaurant for an after meal that was decent."

"I feel bad for Hermione. When they get married she'll have to cook all three meals. I would only have to cook two." Harry smiled at her.

"That's if you want the same thing every morning. I can make eggs, bacon, sausages and pancakes because that's all the Dursleys would eat."

"That'll be fine for me. I won't have to get up in the mornings." Harry bent down and kissed her lips hard. The parted but were still centimeters away.

"You know, you just told me that you want to marry me." Harry whispered and Ginny smiled a little.

"Now it's up to you to get the ring."

"I thought I told you, I suck when it comes to this stuff."

"Not this stuff though." She now was the kisser. They kissed for a long time only parting to catch a breath every so often. But Ginny was the one to part it completely. "You never told me if you felt the same you know." Even though it was a serious statement she was still smiling.

"That kiss didn't mean anything? How about I put it in words, great minds think alike." Ginny's smile grew larger and she set the mug that was in one of her hands down on the table. She wrapped her arms around his neck and played with his hair.

"Well, if great minds think alike, then what am I thinking right now?"

"That you're dying to kiss me again. And you can't wait until you're out of Hogwarts so that we can pass kisses."

"Wow for once your spot on." They smashed their lips together once more. They really did love each other. And 'til death do us part, Ginny thought to herself. She pulled away and stared back into those incredible eyes.

"Hey, we're not dead, why did you part?" Ginny gasped.

"Can you read my mind?" Harry snorted then brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face.

"No, it's just, Great minds think alike."

"Alright, Ginny, you have all of your books, and all of your clothes?" Molly asked again on Platform 9 ¾.

"For the last time, Mum, yes. I have everything." Molly kissed her daughters cheek and stepped back.

"Don't cause trouble. That's the last thing I want to hear happen about you." Arthur said giving his daughter a fleeting hug.

"I won't. I promise." Ginny said back rolling her eyes.

"Take care of yourself, kid." Charlie said patting her shoulder.

"I'm not a kid, Charlie."

"I forgot what the Hogwarts bathrooms look like. Send me a blasted toilet seat, will you?" George said hugging his little sister.

"Will do, George, will do."

"Don't be taking any of that potion Luna gives you to get rid of Narghals. Even though she's a good friend, that stuff creeps me out." Ron said after hugging goodbye to his girlfriend.

"I'll dump it down the drain." Ginny hugged her brother then turned to her boyfriend.

"I'm going to miss you." Harry hugged her quickly.

"I'm going to miss you too. But don't worry I'll write to you. And I'll try not to get killed."

"Wow, thanks for the reassurance." Harry shrugged. Ginny went up on her toes and went to his ear.

"I love you, Harry." He looked back at her as she went back onto her flat feet.

"I love you too." But their moment was interrupted by Molly bursting into tears.

"Did you hear that, Arthur? Did you hear what Harry said? You two are perfect for each other!" Harry blushed.

"Mum." Ginny said in a your-embarrassing-me-and-might-ruin-this tone.

"Don't worry Gin, I don't mind at all." Harry give her one last hug and she boarded the train.

A/N: CAUTION the story might end in the range of one to three chapters. I'll add an author note at the end on how to get to my next story in the series. Thank you so much for everything. I'm so blessed to even get views on my story! Also occasionally I've been writing some one-shots, but I've started another story that doesn't particularly link with this one. It's a time travel story with the next generation. I wanted to do one for a long time. If you want to check it out it's called "to make life more complicated" Let me tell you it's not your average time travel story. Anyway, please review this chapter and sorry for a long author's note. :)