“This is just wonderful,” thought Harry grimly as he walked down to the Great Hall. He was going to meet the Weasleys to Floo to the Burrow. “Hogwarts is practically destroyed, fifty-three people are dead, and I’m even more famous than ever. Really brilliant.”
He was distracted from his thoughts when he reached the Great Hall. Stepping through the entranceway, he saw a girl standing in a corner. She had several bruises, scratches and cuts on her face and her red hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail.
Ginny.
She may have been dishevelled and dirty, but to Harry, she still looked like a princess.
Just then, she spotted him and moved forward. Her face was quite empty of expression (which was a bit creepy). She stopped in front of him and seemed to ponder him for a moment before her face contorted with rage and she whacked him, hard. When she spoke, she sounded slightly hysterical, and she gave him another whack with each word.
“I—HATE—YOU!”
Harry didn’t make any move to stop her, just waited for her to finish. He knew where this was coming from. She had a perfectly good reason to be angry.
“NEVER—DO—THAT—AGAIN!”
Then she was crying, and he was crying, too. She launched herself into his arms, clinging tightly to the back of his shirt and sobbing into his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her, his mouth close to her ear so no one would hear what he said but her. Her hair, despite everything, still smelled like flowers...
“Gin,” he murmured. “You know I didn’t want to go, right? And do you know that... that when I was going, I passed you on the grounds? I really, really wanted you to know that I was there, I wanted to call out, I wanted you to make me stay back. Then, after... everything, you know... when you and Ron and Hermione called out... Gin, I wanted so badly to call back.”
They stood in silence for a few moments before they were interrupted.
“OI! You two! Break it up! We’re going now!”
Ron looked mortified when he realized that the pair had been crying.
“Oh... well... I’m sure we can wait... I’ll be by the fireplace...”
“No, it’s fine, we’ll come now,” said Harry, quickly charming his and Ginny’s faces clean. “Come on, Gin...”
He started to move toward the fireplace, but Ginny grabbed his elbow and held him back. She took a deep breath.
“Harry... I was thinking... now Voldemort’s gone... could we...? I mean, can we maybe...?”
“If you’re asking if we can get back together, Gin, then it’s a huge yes,” said Harry, laughing. “If we can figure out how to break it to Ron, that is.”
Ginny giggled. “Let’s see him try and stop us.” Then she said seriously, “You know, he doesn’t actually mind that much. He just minded on your birthday, because you broke up with me.”
“Hey, you know I didn’t want to do that either!”
“Yeah, I know. Come on, the others are waiting for us.”
They linked hands and walked together into the future.
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