CHAPTER 3
It felt worse than being attacked with the Cruciatus Curse. All he could feel was hurt and rage. Had he not been sexually frustrated too? She was Gryffindor too, where was her sense of loyalty? It was pretty stereotypical, but Harry valued loyalty above anything else. He had spent a whole day cooking and getting their room ready, and here, Ginny has slept with another man because she was SEXUALLY FRUSTRATED. Tears were coming out of Ginny's eyes, but Harry didn't notice it. He had Disapparated.
He Apparated right to the Leaky Cauldron's bar and ordered the strongest bottle of Firewhiskey in the house. Being the Boy-Who-Lived, Tom the bar tender obliged and appeared almost instantaneously with a bottle of Firewhiskey, a glass and some ice. He brought it to a little booth so that Harry had his privacy. When Tom went away, Harry loaded his glass with Firewhiskey and ice, determined to drink away his hurt and feeling of betrayal.
Harry drank the whole bottle pretty quickly. Or it might have been an hour. Or two. Who knew? All Harry knew was that his throat and stomach was on fire, and his head and vision cloudy, but these were welcome factors. He welcomed them like old friends. But, the fire and cloudiness was not enough. He needed more. He held the table tightly, and got to his feet. The whole world swayed in the sudden movement, but the sturdy table made sure he didn't fall. Grabbing hold of various objects in his path, a very drunk Harry made steady process to the bar to get more drunk.
As he slowly entered the bar, his eyes focused on a red head. He thought it looked familiar, then the head turned. He blinked, his eyes trying very hard to focus through the cloudiness. By the time his eyes could focus, the red head and face came to him and hugged him. "Oh Harry! I didn't mean to upset you!" the red head said. The voice and the red cut a path through his cloudy brain. Ginny. That was who the red head was. Then, the memories of what had landed him up at the bar came rushing. "You cheated on me." Harry mumbled, pushing her away. "What?" Ginny asked, as she couldn't make out what he had just said. It was a slur. Anger fueled by the Firewhiskey rose like an inferno inside Harry. "YOU FREAKING CHEATED ON ME!" he shouted. The noisy bar came to a stand still. Everyone was silent. The Boy-Who-Lived never swore, nor did he lose his decorum in public. Something was wrong, and everyone wanted the tit bit of juicy gossip, especially since it revolved around the Saviour of the Wizarding World.
"I was drunk at the time! And I was sexually frustrated!" Ginny argued. "SO WHAT?" Harry roared. "YOU ARE A FREAKING GRYFFINDOR. GRYFFINDORS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE LOYAL! AND WHAT DO YOU THINK I AM? SOME SORT OF TOY? YOU DON'T THINK I GET SEXUAL FRUSTRATION? TRUE, I MAY HAVE FLIRTED WITH OTHERS BUT I KNEW THAT IT WOULDN'T DO TO CHEAT ON YOU! I BARELY ASKED ANYONE ON A FREAKING DATE AND HERE YOU TELL ME THAT YOU FREAKING SLEPT WITH SOMEONE? HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BE OKAY WITH THAT, GINNY? EVEN THINKING OF ASKING SOMEONE ON A DATE MADE ME FEEL LIKE I WAS BETRAYING YOU! I HAVE BEEN TREATED LIKE AS IF I HAVE NO FEELINGS, LIKE AS IF ALL MY LIFE IS DEDICATED TO DESTROYING VOLDEMORT AND BEING EVERYONE'S HERO! AND WHEN I FINALLY THOUGHT I FOUND SOMEONE I THOUGHT WOULD LOVE ME, AND TREAT ME LIKE ANYONE ELSE, SHE FREAKING SLEEPS WITH ANOTHER MAN BECAUSE SHE WAS FREAKING DRUNK AND WAS SEXUALLY FRUSTRATED!"
By the time Harry had finished his rant, tears were pouring out of his eyes. The one person he had doted on, loved, had not thought a bit about his feelings.
"Harry," Ginny choked. She was crying too. She tried to take Harry back into her arms, but he had had enough. Before she even touched him, he Apparated back to Grimmauld Place. He stormed into the bedroom he used when Ginny was away and barricaded himself inside. His anger had reduced his drunk state, but the moment he reached the room, all the Firewhiskey he had consumed threatened to make a reappearance, so he dashed to the bathroom and puked his guts out. Once he was done, he called Kreacher and asked him to get him a Sleeping Draught. Kreacher did so and left Harry alone. He uncorked the potion and swallowed it in one gulp. He didn't bother changing his clothes, but just plonked onto his bed, waiting for the potion to take effect.
The next day, once the Sleeping Draught's effects wore off, Harry had a throbbing bad head ache. All he could do was moan in pain, and each small movement made his head feel like as if there was an earthquake happening inside, and his stomach felt weir too. Like as if a tsunami of vile stuff was happening inside his gut. "Kreacher!" he mumbled, his face in his hands. "Hangover Potion!" he moaned. Kreacher, God bless that elf, appeared immediately with a crack (which almost cracked Harry's head into two) and a flask of Hangover Potion. He handed it to Harry, bowed and left with another head cracking (for Harry) crack. He uncorked the flask and gulped it all down. The massive earthquake in his head and pounding tsunami in his stomach subsided to something much more tolerable. He sighed in content and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. His mouth tasted very vile.
As he sluggishly stood in front of the mirror, brushing his teeth, Harry noticed that he was still in the clothes he had worn the previous day. The previous day; that brought back a memory. A memory where Ginny told him she had slept with someone else at a party for her Quidditch team. It still wrenched his heart apart, just the thought, but he didn't feel as bad as the previous day. He remembered screaming at her, swearing and ranting at the Leaky Cauldron at the top of his voice; that little show ought to have had the desirable affect Ginny and he was pretty confident that she would be feeling utterly horrible now. That made Harry feel smug. Once he freshened himself, he opened the door of his room. What he saw stunned him. Ginny was sitting near his door, her face covered with tear streaks. When she heard the door open, she immediately stood up, tears glistening in her eyes. She didn't try to touch him, but stood still, fiddling with her fingers and looking down. Once she plucked her courage, she raised her head to look Harry in the eye. "I never wanted to hurt you Harry. I was very, very, VERY drunk that night. I must've completed at least three fourth a bottle of white wine, and I'm also pretty sure that the… other man gave me something very strong too. I just didn't realize it. I would never want to hurt you, because I love you." She said in a quavering voice. Once Harry heard what she said, his heart melted. He took Ginny in his arms. "It's OK." He said soothingly, stroking her hair. Ginny heaved a sigh of relief, and the couple just stood embracing each other in front of Harry's spare bedroom.
After some time, Ginny reluctantly pulled away. "What you said yesterday was a hundred per cent true and correct. No sane human being can go that long without any physical contact, be it me or you." She started. "I have thought of a deal for the both of us, and I hope you find it fine, because then we won't have to worry about cheating on each other."