Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

"I never meant to start a war
I just wanted you to let me in
And instead of using force
I guess I should've let you win"

Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball

When Harry inserted his key into the door lock, he briefly closed his eyes in contentment; from where he was, he could hear James babbling like every one year-old child, trying to catch the attention of every person around him. And right now, he thought, the only person next to him was Ginny, James' mother.

During a second, Harry's thoughts drifted to his wife. How could things have turned so bad between them in just three months? To be honest, he didn't have the answer to this question. Several times, he had thought that he shouldn't be so inflexible, but another part of him couldn't get rid of the idea that their marriage was over. And with Hermione included in the equation, it was different; things were different.

Hermione gave him the stability that he needed so much, she was here for him whenever he needed to talk to someone... But wasn't it what a friend was supposed to be here for, too? It was, of course, but Harry also realised that his relation with Hermione wasn't based on friendship any longer; things had drastically changed during these three months, and he wasn't only talking about their physical encounters. It was so much more than that; he had seen her as a friend for so many years, and suddenly, he had understood that it wasn't enough for them: they needed more, they needed to share something stronger than friendship.

Hermione's bright smile was still a vivid image in Harry's mind when he stepped in his house, James' voice being more and more clear while he was approaching to the living room. When he managed to make eye-contact with his son, he also saw Ginny. Her scent was intoxicating, even from where the green-eyed wizard was. She was still wearing the same perfume, he realised. This mix of different flowers had always caught his attention; he had loved smelling her neck after a long day at work, his lips gently caressing her bare skin. He remembered having said to Ginny how good she smelt, and he thought that he'd never smelt anything like this on someone else; it was Ginny's perfume, and even now, he was under its spell.

"Hi," Ginny let out, her arms still around James' body, gently rocking him.

Harry gave her a curt nod in answer, his hands buried into his trousers' pockets. A glance at the clock was enough for him to realise that he was a bit late.

"I hope that you didn't wait too much."

Ginny shook her head, a shy smile on her face. "No, it's okay. I like being here with James, after all. And to be honest, I don't have to go back to training right now. It's preferable, since they have to give us our schedule for the upcoming week but... but I can go back tomorrow morning if I want too," she concluded in a slightly broken voice, before clearing her throat not to show any sign of embarrassment in front of her husband.

James started to yawn, and Harry took a step toward him, just to see Ginny take a step back.

"It's okay, I'm just going to put him back to his crib. I'd like to spend a few moments with him – if you don't mind."

She didn't move right away, as if she was waiting for his approbation. She was James' mother after all, and they were still married, so why was she acting like she was a stranger in her own house?

"Of course, you can," Harry sighed. "I know that things aren't easy between us but..."

"We'll have this conversation in a few moments," Ginny cut him off, before heading to the corridor with James in her arms.

Harry stayed ten long minutes alone, and he had the time to serve them two cups of tea. When he put them onto the coffee table, Ginny was here again.

"He played all the afternoon at the Burrow," Ginny explained, while sitting on the couch next to Harry. "I missed these moments with him."

Harry remained silent, his attention turned to the hot beverage in front of him.

"It would have been better if you had been there," she added in a breath, her bright brown eyes gazing at him with insistence.

"It would have been better if you hadn't left," Harry snapped back without looking at her, and the tone of his voice surprised him; it was full of resentment, full of well-hidden anger. He was sure that Ginny had heard it.

"Of course," she conceded, making Harry frown. Since when Ginny Weasley-Potter admitted that he was right about her departure? "Of course, it would have been better. Maybe that we would still have been together then."

That was something that Harry hadn't thought about, to be honest. He had been so moved – still was – by her departure that he hadn't thought about what would have happened if she hadn't left. Would they still be together?

And what about Hermione?, a little voice inside whispered to him.

"Don't you think?"

Ginny's voice shook him out of his torpor, and he tried to focus on her.

"Well, what is done is done; there is no need for us to think about what would have happened."

Harry started to play with his wedding ring, something that he had done unconsciously several times in the past three months. Of course, Ginny noticed it: she always noticed everything about him – everything, except his inner thoughts. This was something that Hermione was better at.

"But we can think about what can be fixed," she tried in a low voice, her hand over his in a soft gesture.

She was not as vindictive as she had been three days before, Harry noticed. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't forget the horrible things that she had said to him back them; he just couldn't.

"I'm sorry," she went on, biting her lower lip. "I'm truly sorry for what I said when I came back home, I know that I shouldn't have said all these things... I know. But you have to realise how hard it was for me to see you telling me that we should divorce, to see you so distant when all I wanted was to spend three amazing days with you and our son," she concluded, stressing the two last words of her sentence.

"Don't bring James into this mess," Harry warned her in a whisper, but inwardly, he was thinking twice about his wedding. But then, Hermione's face made an apparition in his head and he understood one thing: he couldn't do this to her.

"At least you had the opportunity to spend your weekend with James," he continued, trying to make his voice firm and straight. "I hope that you enjoyed your stay at the Burrow."

"Please, don't act like that... Don't be so distant, Harry," Ginny begged, her eyes suddenly full of tears. "I can't take it anymore, not after what I said to the team..."

She squeezed his hands harder, and when Harry looked up at her, he noticed that her head was lowered.

"What are you talking about?," he couldn't help but ask, even if he knew that he shouldn't have asked her this question; it was none of his business anymore, wasn't it?

"The team's proposition," Ginny quickly added, wiping her tears with a movement of her hand. "I sent them an owl yesterday to turn it down."

"But you told me th–"

"Yes, I told you that I accepted but... Harry, you have to understand that I want to save my marriage, I want to save my family. It's the least that I can do after all the damage that I've done to us."

"You didn't have to do such a thing," he retorted, but didn't remove his hands from her embrace.

"Are you serious? I had to do it. It's a proof of my desire to be with you, Harry. Don't you see? I'm ready to give up my dreams to be next to you," she whispered, her hands moving from his hands to his face.

She started to caress his cheeks, while her gaze drifted to his lips.

"I don't want to lose you," she concluded in a murmur, her own lips just a few inches from his.

Her smell... Her intoxicating smell was everywhere around him, surrounding him like a spiderweb, and her red hair was making a strange dance over her shoulders. Harry frowned, trying to get rid of this odd feeling, trying to focus on what was real instead of what seemed to be. What was real was the fact that Ginny had to leave late in the night, or soon in the morning after; what was real was the fact that she wouldn't be here for James in the upcoming months; what was real what that his heart was into the hands of someone else at this exact moment.

"Don't do this, Ginny," Harry said in a low voice before breaking free from her embrace. "Don't force me into a path that I don't want to follow."

"Are you seriously saying something like this even when you asked me to give up my dreams to satisfy you?," she asked in a disenchanted voice.

"I've never – ever – asked you something like this, Ginny," Harry retorted, before standing up and pacing the room. "I was mad at you when you took such important decisions on your own, but I didn't ask you to stay at home to please me."

Ginny remained silent, but Harry noticed that she was fuming inwardly. "You might as well do," she eventually said bitterly, while a last tear threatened to trace a path on her right cheek.

She stood up as well, and headed to her two suitcases.

"Aren't you staying for the night?," Harry asked, even if he perfectly knew what her answer would be.

"After being pushed away by my own husband? Well, I prefer not if you don't mind."

Harry listened to her little sobs while she headed toward the fireplace, dragging her two heavy suitcases after her. Once in the fireplace, she turned around to look at him a last time before many months.

"Now, you have at least three months to think about our situation before I come back, Harry," she said in a trembling voice, looking straight at him. "But trust me, I don't plan to agree so easily to a divorce, when both of us know that we can go through this with as little damage as possible – if you are smart enough to change your mind, of course."

Harry didn't have the opportunity to say anything back to her: she said her destination out loud a second later, and disappeared in a green smoke.

Ginny was gone – once again. But this time, he was relieved.

31 reviews for the last chapter? Damn, I love to see that you love this story as much as I do. At this pace, this chapter should be enough to go to the 300th mark, and to have our winner of the one-shot contest! But well, if it's not, it's not a big deal.

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See you soon.