A minute - H/G Story for the Passage of Time Challenge
A minute - H/G Story for the Passage of Time Challenge
Title: A minute
Word count: 855
Rating: G
Summary: Harry finds Ginny at the lake, a few days after the final battle.
A/N: I'm afraid this is unbeta’d! All comments and concrit are welcome, please feel tree to lend a helping hand *g*. Written for the Passage of Time Challenge at hpgw_otp
A minute
A minute of perfection was worth the effort.
A moment was the most you could ever expect from perfection.
Chuck Palahniuk
The sun was setting, leaving its amber glow lingering over the lake. The warmth of the day slowly giving way to the cool of the night. The summer was hot on their heels and though this was not unusual for May, Harry felt strangely at odds with the season. If he just closed his eyes, he could still taste the wetness of the autumn, feel the penetrating cold of the winter and hear the howling of the storms in spring. He breathed in the fresh air as he started to make his way down to the lakeside and forced himself to focus on the present.
It was not long before his feet, by force of habit, led him to his favourite spot where he had spent, hidden from the castle’s view, countless hours over the past few years. Here, he had enjoyed some of his best memories with his friends and with Ginny, although it had also been his refuge of choice in the most desperate, painful and grieving hours when he wanted to draw back from the world and ponder his gloomy fate. He knew he would find her here now, and though he was not quite sure what to do or say, he was drawn to her and to this place like a moth to a flame.
“Hey.” His welcome was loud in the stillness but he was not surprised when she didn’t flinch or move at the sound of his voice.
Harry leaned against a small tree near the water and alternated his gaze between the lake and Ginny. She sat on a large rock with her arms on her knees for support, her hair was tousled and her clothes dirty from a day of hard work in the debris of the battle. Her face was set in a stony expression which Harry had come to know over the last few days as her way of holding the tears at bay - Ginny didn’t like to cry.
“It’s strange how this place hasn’t changed a bit.” He left out, when all the world around us has, but knew she understood nonetheless when she rewarded him with a fleeting smile.
“I came out here a lot this year…” Ginny’s voice was hoarse and Harry felt, not for the first time, a stab of something in his stomach at the idea of what she had been through while he had believed she was safe from all the horrors of his world.
She fell silent again and then continued softly, “I felt close to you here, somehow. Safe, even.” She looked up at him and when their eyes met there was no accusation, only an invitation.
Harry cast his glance down and shuffled small stones around with his feet. It was time to start telling her his story, not all of it tonight of course, but a start anyway. She needed something to hold on to and Harry could understand that only too well. He started grinning a little and he realized he was blushing when he spoke, “I…uhm, I stared at your spot on the Marauder’s Map for hours and hours when we were away.”
She turned at his admission with a mischievous glint in her eyes that did strange things to his belly.
“You did?” It was a question much more innocent than teasing and Harry was glad he’d shared his little habit with her.
“Yeah,” he sent her a genuine smile, “I suppose it was a bit silly…” He shrugged and hesitated at his next words, “But sometimes it got me through the day …,” He swallowed hard, “Because, because I didn’t think, you know, that I’d ever get to be with you again.” The words came unplanned but still felt very right.
After the final battle, the moments he had spent with Ginny were few and far between. Harry realized much was left up in the air between the both of them but, being with her now in this place, he did not want to waste another minute.
Ginny still had not spoken and looked increasingly distressed.
“Do you still want to?” Her voice was fragile and it belied the almost angry scowl on her face.
On instinct, Harry grinned at the bluntness of her question. It was only one of the things he liked about her. He did not waste time on pleasantries either as he tried to convey his feelings in one simple word.
“Yes.”
Harry stepped forward, a few long strides and he was beside her. Their hands touched and it was an affirmation of something that didn’t need words, at least not right now. She gave him a smile, a real smile, that lit up her face even as the darkness was setting in. He felt something like excitement run through him and, on the spur of the moment, he kissed her, long and hard. His hands tangled in her long hair and he let out a contented sigh as their heads touched in an intimate gesture. It was only a minute of perfection, a moment was the most you could ever expect from perfection. But moments like these, Harry knew, made all the difference in the world.