As soon as the bedroom door closed, Hermione rounded on Ginny with her arms crossed over her chest stubbornly. "Why?" she demanded, not unkindly. Ginny shot her a look before striding across the room and dragging her trunk out from under the bed. Her back turned resolutely towards her friend, she began stuffing random items into the trunk.
"Why what?" Ginny asked as the silence lengthened. Why could they not just leave her alone? Why could they not just accept her decision and say nothing more about it? Because they love me and are worried about me, she answered herself wryly.
Hermione's arms dropped and she walked over to put a hand on Ginny's shoulder. "Hey. I know things have been hard, really hard. But we'll get through it together. After all, isn't that what sisters are for?" she asked warmly. Ginny smiled in return.
"Yeah. I guess you're right. It's just that everything's different now, and I don't know how to deal with it," she admitted self-consciously. She had always been the strong one, the one people came to for advice. Now here she was admitting that she did not know what to do; it was a very humbling experience—one that she desperately hoped she would never have to go through again.
Hermione snorted, causing Ginny to blink in surprise. "Oh, come on. Of course you know how to deal with it! By letting others help you," she stated matter-of-factly. Before Ginny could reply, the door opened and Ron stalked into the room.
"Tell me you're joking! You can't be going back! Not after what happened!" Ron exclaimed. His sister scowled at him. "I'm going and that's final. Now stop telling me what I should and shouldn't do!"
Her temper had finally snapped from everyone trying to tell her to go back to Hogwarts, do not go back to Hogwarts, marry Harry, cheer up, eat more, blah, blah, blah. She did not need others to run her life. She knew what she was going to do, and nobody was going to stop her!
When Ron saw the familiar fire in her brown eyes, he smiled in satisfaction. Nothing gets her madder than being told what to do, he thought with a snicker.
Ginny suddenly realized what he was doing and returned the smile. "Oh, Ron!" she breathed, hugging him fiercely. "Thank you. You're the best brother in the world."
Cheeks flushing red, he gently pushed her away. "Yeah, well. You'll do good there. I know you will. In fact, you'll do fantastic because I'll be there to keep an eye on you and make sure you stay out of trouble," he added casually, his hands stuck in his pockets. Glancing up at them sheepishly, he awaited their reactions.
Hermione gasped in shock, her mouth forming a perfect 'o'. Finally, she snapped out of it and threw her arms around him ecstatically. "This is the best news I've heard in weeks! Now we'll all be together. Well, the three of us at least," she corrected herself quietly, her eyes downcast.
Ginny's lips thinned. Harry had refused to return to Hogwarts. Instead, he planned to go straight to Auror training. Kingsley was anxious to hire him for the job because so many of the Aurors that had worked at the old Ministry were either corrupt, dead, or inexperienced. Ginny could tell that becoming an Auror meant a lot to Harry, and she did not want to take that away from him by insisting he return to Hogwarts.
Hermione, on the other hand, believed he still needed his education. The two had had a fierce debate on the matter and had parted ways rather tensely. Today was the first day they had seen each other in two weeks. All their frustrations had disappeared as soon as they laid eyes on one another. Their friendship had survived much worse than a simple disagreement, and they knew the importance of forgiveness and compromise. However, the entire time they were arguing, Hermione had not mentioned that Hogwarts would not be the same without both of her best friends at her side. She felt that it would be a "hit below the belt," as Arthur Weasley was fond of saying.
"Muggles! They come up with the oddest sayings, don't you think?" he would ask cheerfully, much to his wife's exasperation. "Arthur, quit fooling around with those bizarre phrases and half-finished machines you have stuffed in the shed. You're a wizard, not a muggle. So quit acting like one, for Merlin's sake!"
Hermione shook her head and forced herself back to the present. Ron's incompetence at packing gave her the chance to ramble on about something and forget Harry's absence for the moment. It had worked before, and it worked now.
"Alright, let's go ahead and finish packing. Now, remember the proper trunk organization Mrs. Weasley taught us: clothes on bottom, books and other heavy items in the middle, with the lightweights on top," Hermione instructed as she demonstrated with her own halfway packed trunk.
Ron rolled his eyes at her. "I've been packing my own trunk for seven years! Give it a rest, 'Mione!"
Ginny smiled to herself as she watched the two argue back and forth on proper packing techniques. It was just like old times when Hermione had stayed over at the Burrow. They would fight over simple things and then get mad at each other for a few hours before finally making up.
They're lucky to have each other, Ginny thought with a sad smile, carefully folding a Weird Sisters shirt. Not everyone finds their other half, and those that do, don't always keep them.
