Fic: Talking (Harry/Ginny), PG-13
Title: Talking
Author: lyras
Rating: PG-13
Length: 2000 words
Summary: Now that the battle's over, Harry and Ginny have some "talking" to do.
Notes: Written for the hpgw_otp fortune cookie challenge. Thanks to r_becca for beta-reading!
Ginny was no longer in the hall by the time Harry made it back there and pulled off his cloak, but her parents knelt with arms entwined beside Fred's prone figure. Harry considered backing away silently; he needed rest, needed a quiet place to think about everything that had just happened. He needed to think about the people who hadn't survived the night. But he needed Ginny more, so he stepped forward with a cough.
Mrs Weasley rose and opened her arms. "Oh, Harry!"
He embraced her gladly, and for the first time in his life it felt like an embrace between equals. He owed her so much; if he could comfort her even a little bit, it was the least that he could do.
Mrs Weasley pulled away first and smiled shakily. Up close, her eyes were puffy but she looked controlled, a world away from the furious woman who had killed Bellatrix Lestrange just a few hours earlier.
"I'm so proud of you, dear." She patted his shoulder. "You were wonderful." As she kissed his cheek, he screwed up his courage and asked if she knew where Ginny was.
"I tried to send her to bed." It was Mr Weasley now, shadow-eyed and grey. "But she said something about looking for - someone."
Had she gone looking for him? Or - Harry's throat convulsed - someone else? He suddenly realised that he had no idea how she felt about him, or what she'd gone through over the past year, apart from stealing the fake sword and being punished for it. What if she'd fallen for somebody else?
"We're going to round up the - the rest of the family." Mr Weasley blinked hard for a few seconds. "If you'd like to come home with us, we'd love to have you, Harry. For as long as you like."
With an effort, Harry focused his thoughts on the present again. "Thanks, that would be brilliant. But are you sure you - I mean, I don't want to intrude."
Their strained faces relaxed slightly. "You are family, Harry," said Mrs Weasley, "if you want to be."
He suppressed an impulse to hug them both again: their self-control looked too shaky to stand more emotion. "You're - I'm so grateful to you," he croaked.
That earned him a strangling embrace from Mrs Weasley, and Mr Weasley shook his hand for a long time before they turned away. Harry watched them go, touched by the way each of them seemed to be leaning on the other, and then looked down. Fred was almost unrecognisable without his cheeky grin, his body no longer in perpetual motion, and yet somehow less solid.
He put his head in his hands. "We could all do with a few laughs," he had told the twins when giving them his winnings from the Triwizard Tournament. How were the Weasleys supposed to laugh now? How could any of them laugh?
Beside Fred was Remus; a vivid image arose in Harry's mind of the man who had appeared to him last night with Sirius and his parents: younger, happier, more colourful, somehow. It hurt to think how little happiness Remus had been allowed in life. But at least last night - both times they had met, on this side of death and on the other - he had seemed happy.
Harry snorted, perilously close to tears, as he remembered Remus showing Fleur Teddy's baby pictures to try and defuse the tension of Percy's reunion with his family. It was so like him.
There would be no more of that now. He sighed and moved on to the next person; he refused to think of them as "bodies" when he might easily have been among them himself.
Tonks's hair was dark red; he assumed that she had changed it during the battle, but in the dim hall it looked uncannily as if her scalp had been soaked in blood. Touching her gingerly, he was relieved to find the hair dry and soft. He wondered how old she was. Only a few years out of Auror training; not so much older than himself. Ever since their first meeting in the Dursleys' kitchen, he'd felt oddly comfortable with her, and now she was gone. Teddy was an orphan, just as he had been. He thought of his mother, of whom he now had a better memory than the one that had haunted him for years. Had it been worth it? He had to say yes. And yet, would Teddy think so?
He passed several figures whom he only vaguely recognised: one an Auror, he thought; one a boy he recognised as being a Slytherin from the year below his own. So they'd come back? Or some of them had, at least.
Colin Creevey looked taller than he remembered, but otherwise terribly like the eleven-year-old who had been so proud of his photographs and almost paid for it with his life. Harry swallowed hard. What right had he to stand here when all these others were dead? What had Colin ever done to anybody? Not nearly enough; he'd never leave Hogwarts and get a job, get married, have children. How must his parents feel? Their son had died fighting for a world they'd never even known. It wasn't right, it wasn't fair; it wasn't fair.
He jumped at a touch on his arm and realised simultaneously that he was crying and that Ginny was standing beside him, red-eyed but apparently calm. Her hair was tousled, her t-shirt filthy, and Harry thought she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. He'd had months to plan what to say to her, but now he could only sniff and swipe at his cheeks with the flat of his hand.
"Dad said you were looking for me," Ginny said, her face unreadable.
"Yeah." He took a deep breath. How humiliating! "I wanted to - talk."
"Just talk?" The corners of her mouth etched a tiny smile, and she pulled at his hand. "Let's get out of here."
He followed her blindly along the corridor, past innumerable people, all of whom seemed to want a word with them.
"Can it wait a bit?" Harry heard her say several times, and, "Sorry, in a hurry. We'll catch you later!" Then they were out in the courtyard, populated by just as many people, but at least there was more space - and then out onto the broad, grassy bank that led down to the lake.
By the time they reached the shore, Harry was feeling better. Ginny made a show of patting down the grass before seating herself and gesturing for him to join her. "So," she said politely, "you wanted to...talk to me?"
"Yeah," he said, and seized her hand. "I -" But now, far from being lost for words, he was overwhelmed by all he had to say. "It's good to see you," he finished lamely.
She leaned towards him. He had just enough time to inhale the flowery scent of her hair before her lips touched his tentatively and a jolt of joy shot through him.
When she pulled away, her eyes had that gleam in them that he recognised from their first kiss, and her cheeks were flushed. She smoothed back her hair with her free hand.
"Was that what you wanted to talk about?"
He smiled at her breathless tone. "Yeah. I suppose it was."
Her hand, still clutching his, convulsed suddenly as she looked down.
"I was going to give you such a hard time," she said, and her eyes flickered up to meet his briefly. "I mean, you dump me, because you're so focused on being a suffering hero that you can't imagine that maybe I don't care what happens as long as we're together; then you disappear off on some exciting quest for months - and yeah, I know it wasn't like that," she said as he opened his mouth. "But it was hard to remember that in detention with the Carrows or holed up at Auntie Muriel's with nothing to do except worry about you and everyone else I knew. Then, when you do turn up again, you disappear off immediately, and then..." Her voice wavered. "You turn up bloody dead." This time when she glanced up, her eyes were wet. "I could've killed you. Merlin, Harry!"
Harry's hand was hurting; gently he peeled back her fingers and rubbed them. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't think about how it would look to everyone until it was too late." He heard Professor McGonagall's scream again in his mind and guilt twisted inside him. "I was playing it by ear, sort of."
Ginny's eyes blazed. "About how certain were you that you'd come back from the forest alive?"
"About zero percent," he admitted.
She sighed and looked away.
"Anyway, I was going to give you a hard time." Her tone was softer now. "I figured you owed me a few apologies before we got back together - assuming you still wanted us to." She flushed. "But then I saw you, and - well." Her dark eyes met his. "I'm here, if you want me. That's all."
"I do," he said, and kissed her.
Finally the words came, crammed between kisses because he had so much to tell her - he'd seen his parents! And Sirius and Remus! Dumbledore...Snape...Snape had been his mother's friend. He wasn't sure he wanted to think too much about that right now. And there were the interminable months on the run, eking out food and relying on Hermione's wits; rescuing Dean and then Dobby rescuing them all - but oh, he'd missed touching her, exploring her, the feeling of her lips on his, her bare skin against his bare skin that was the best feeling in the world.
Finally, he pulled back, the worst of his urgency expiated. "I - I'm sorry."
Her lips twisted into that faint smile again, and he felt an urge to make her smile properly, even if it took years. Especially if it took years. "What for?"
"Everything. For breaking up with you, even though I still think I was right. If you'd been kidnapped, like Luna, I...I couldn't have stood it. I'm sorry I couldn't write to you. I thought you were brilliant when I heard about the sword. I'm sorry you had to see me and think I was dead. I'm sorry about - about Fred. Really sorry."
She kissed him again, and when he opened his eyes, he found that hers were shining with unshed tears. "Thanks."
Harry caught movement in the corner of his vision, and looked around. Several figures had appeared at the top of the hill: Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ron and Hermione, and someone suspiciously Percy-shaped. He sprang to his feet and pulled her up with him. "I think your parents are looking for us. Sorry, I just remembered, your dad said something about rounding everybody up so we could go home."
Ginny swore. "Let's get back up there."
"Hang on. Just - one more thing."
"What?"
He pulled her close, wondering how long it would be before the joy of touching her again abated. "You're amazing," he said earnestly.
She grinned, and his heart exulted. "Oh, Harry! Only you could say that just hours after defeating Voldemort."
"Well, I didn't do it alone." He thought of her, Luna and Neville stealing the fake sword, keeping the DA going; and remembered the battle: Ginny, Hermione and Luna fighting Bellatrix; Mrs Weasley fighting Bellatrix...Neville standing up to Voldemort. "You were all amazing...wasn't Neville amazing?"
"Neville is amazing," corrected Ginny. She tugged at his hand, and together they made their way up to the courtyard, where the rest of the Weasley family were waiting to go home.
Home, Harry thought, and looked at Ginny, marching up the hillside beside him. Home! Yes, home.
Author: lyras
Rating: PG-13
Length: 2000 words
Summary: Now that the battle's over, Harry and Ginny have some "talking" to do.
Notes: Written for the hpgw_otp fortune cookie challenge. Thanks to r_becca for beta-reading!
Ginny was no longer in the hall by the time Harry made it back there and pulled off his cloak, but her parents knelt with arms entwined beside Fred's prone figure. Harry considered backing away silently; he needed rest, needed a quiet place to think about everything that had just happened. He needed to think about the people who hadn't survived the night. But he needed Ginny more, so he stepped forward with a cough.
Mrs Weasley rose and opened her arms. "Oh, Harry!"
He embraced her gladly, and for the first time in his life it felt like an embrace between equals. He owed her so much; if he could comfort her even a little bit, it was the least that he could do.
Mrs Weasley pulled away first and smiled shakily. Up close, her eyes were puffy but she looked controlled, a world away from the furious woman who had killed Bellatrix Lestrange just a few hours earlier.
"I'm so proud of you, dear." She patted his shoulder. "You were wonderful." As she kissed his cheek, he screwed up his courage and asked if she knew where Ginny was.
"I tried to send her to bed." It was Mr Weasley now, shadow-eyed and grey. "But she said something about looking for - someone."
Had she gone looking for him? Or - Harry's throat convulsed - someone else? He suddenly realised that he had no idea how she felt about him, or what she'd gone through over the past year, apart from stealing the fake sword and being punished for it. What if she'd fallen for somebody else?
"We're going to round up the - the rest of the family." Mr Weasley blinked hard for a few seconds. "If you'd like to come home with us, we'd love to have you, Harry. For as long as you like."
With an effort, Harry focused his thoughts on the present again. "Thanks, that would be brilliant. But are you sure you - I mean, I don't want to intrude."
Their strained faces relaxed slightly. "You are family, Harry," said Mrs Weasley, "if you want to be."
He suppressed an impulse to hug them both again: their self-control looked too shaky to stand more emotion. "You're - I'm so grateful to you," he croaked.
That earned him a strangling embrace from Mrs Weasley, and Mr Weasley shook his hand for a long time before they turned away. Harry watched them go, touched by the way each of them seemed to be leaning on the other, and then looked down. Fred was almost unrecognisable without his cheeky grin, his body no longer in perpetual motion, and yet somehow less solid.
He put his head in his hands. "We could all do with a few laughs," he had told the twins when giving them his winnings from the Triwizard Tournament. How were the Weasleys supposed to laugh now? How could any of them laugh?
Beside Fred was Remus; a vivid image arose in Harry's mind of the man who had appeared to him last night with Sirius and his parents: younger, happier, more colourful, somehow. It hurt to think how little happiness Remus had been allowed in life. But at least last night - both times they had met, on this side of death and on the other - he had seemed happy.
Harry snorted, perilously close to tears, as he remembered Remus showing Fleur Teddy's baby pictures to try and defuse the tension of Percy's reunion with his family. It was so like him.
There would be no more of that now. He sighed and moved on to the next person; he refused to think of them as "bodies" when he might easily have been among them himself.
Tonks's hair was dark red; he assumed that she had changed it during the battle, but in the dim hall it looked uncannily as if her scalp had been soaked in blood. Touching her gingerly, he was relieved to find the hair dry and soft. He wondered how old she was. Only a few years out of Auror training; not so much older than himself. Ever since their first meeting in the Dursleys' kitchen, he'd felt oddly comfortable with her, and now she was gone. Teddy was an orphan, just as he had been. He thought of his mother, of whom he now had a better memory than the one that had haunted him for years. Had it been worth it? He had to say yes. And yet, would Teddy think so?
He passed several figures whom he only vaguely recognised: one an Auror, he thought; one a boy he recognised as being a Slytherin from the year below his own. So they'd come back? Or some of them had, at least.
Colin Creevey looked taller than he remembered, but otherwise terribly like the eleven-year-old who had been so proud of his photographs and almost paid for it with his life. Harry swallowed hard. What right had he to stand here when all these others were dead? What had Colin ever done to anybody? Not nearly enough; he'd never leave Hogwarts and get a job, get married, have children. How must his parents feel? Their son had died fighting for a world they'd never even known. It wasn't right, it wasn't fair; it wasn't fair.
He jumped at a touch on his arm and realised simultaneously that he was crying and that Ginny was standing beside him, red-eyed but apparently calm. Her hair was tousled, her t-shirt filthy, and Harry thought she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. He'd had months to plan what to say to her, but now he could only sniff and swipe at his cheeks with the flat of his hand.
"Dad said you were looking for me," Ginny said, her face unreadable.
"Yeah." He took a deep breath. How humiliating! "I wanted to - talk."
"Just talk?" The corners of her mouth etched a tiny smile, and she pulled at his hand. "Let's get out of here."
He followed her blindly along the corridor, past innumerable people, all of whom seemed to want a word with them.
"Can it wait a bit?" Harry heard her say several times, and, "Sorry, in a hurry. We'll catch you later!" Then they were out in the courtyard, populated by just as many people, but at least there was more space - and then out onto the broad, grassy bank that led down to the lake.
By the time they reached the shore, Harry was feeling better. Ginny made a show of patting down the grass before seating herself and gesturing for him to join her. "So," she said politely, "you wanted to...talk to me?"
"Yeah," he said, and seized her hand. "I -" But now, far from being lost for words, he was overwhelmed by all he had to say. "It's good to see you," he finished lamely.
She leaned towards him. He had just enough time to inhale the flowery scent of her hair before her lips touched his tentatively and a jolt of joy shot through him.
When she pulled away, her eyes had that gleam in them that he recognised from their first kiss, and her cheeks were flushed. She smoothed back her hair with her free hand.
"Was that what you wanted to talk about?"
He smiled at her breathless tone. "Yeah. I suppose it was."
Her hand, still clutching his, convulsed suddenly as she looked down.
"I was going to give you such a hard time," she said, and her eyes flickered up to meet his briefly. "I mean, you dump me, because you're so focused on being a suffering hero that you can't imagine that maybe I don't care what happens as long as we're together; then you disappear off on some exciting quest for months - and yeah, I know it wasn't like that," she said as he opened his mouth. "But it was hard to remember that in detention with the Carrows or holed up at Auntie Muriel's with nothing to do except worry about you and everyone else I knew. Then, when you do turn up again, you disappear off immediately, and then..." Her voice wavered. "You turn up bloody dead." This time when she glanced up, her eyes were wet. "I could've killed you. Merlin, Harry!"
Harry's hand was hurting; gently he peeled back her fingers and rubbed them. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't think about how it would look to everyone until it was too late." He heard Professor McGonagall's scream again in his mind and guilt twisted inside him. "I was playing it by ear, sort of."
Ginny's eyes blazed. "About how certain were you that you'd come back from the forest alive?"
"About zero percent," he admitted.
She sighed and looked away.
"Anyway, I was going to give you a hard time." Her tone was softer now. "I figured you owed me a few apologies before we got back together - assuming you still wanted us to." She flushed. "But then I saw you, and - well." Her dark eyes met his. "I'm here, if you want me. That's all."
"I do," he said, and kissed her.
Finally the words came, crammed between kisses because he had so much to tell her - he'd seen his parents! And Sirius and Remus! Dumbledore...Snape...Snape had been his mother's friend. He wasn't sure he wanted to think too much about that right now. And there were the interminable months on the run, eking out food and relying on Hermione's wits; rescuing Dean and then Dobby rescuing them all - but oh, he'd missed touching her, exploring her, the feeling of her lips on his, her bare skin against his bare skin that was the best feeling in the world.
Finally, he pulled back, the worst of his urgency expiated. "I - I'm sorry."
Her lips twisted into that faint smile again, and he felt an urge to make her smile properly, even if it took years. Especially if it took years. "What for?"
"Everything. For breaking up with you, even though I still think I was right. If you'd been kidnapped, like Luna, I...I couldn't have stood it. I'm sorry I couldn't write to you. I thought you were brilliant when I heard about the sword. I'm sorry you had to see me and think I was dead. I'm sorry about - about Fred. Really sorry."
She kissed him again, and when he opened his eyes, he found that hers were shining with unshed tears. "Thanks."
Harry caught movement in the corner of his vision, and looked around. Several figures had appeared at the top of the hill: Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ron and Hermione, and someone suspiciously Percy-shaped. He sprang to his feet and pulled her up with him. "I think your parents are looking for us. Sorry, I just remembered, your dad said something about rounding everybody up so we could go home."
Ginny swore. "Let's get back up there."
"Hang on. Just - one more thing."
"What?"
He pulled her close, wondering how long it would be before the joy of touching her again abated. "You're amazing," he said earnestly.
She grinned, and his heart exulted. "Oh, Harry! Only you could say that just hours after defeating Voldemort."
"Well, I didn't do it alone." He thought of her, Luna and Neville stealing the fake sword, keeping the DA going; and remembered the battle: Ginny, Hermione and Luna fighting Bellatrix; Mrs Weasley fighting Bellatrix...Neville standing up to Voldemort. "You were all amazing...wasn't Neville amazing?"
"Neville is amazing," corrected Ginny. She tugged at his hand, and together they made their way up to the courtyard, where the rest of the Weasley family were waiting to go home.
Home, Harry thought, and looked at Ginny, marching up the hillside beside him. Home! Yes, home.