Summary: Harry and Ginny Potter are enjoying an afternoon on their honeymoon, but when Harry catches a glimpse of himself in the water, he can't help but reflect over the past.
Rating: PG-13
Categories: Post-Hogwarts, Post-DH/AB
Characters: None
Genres: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: Scars Series
Published: 2016.10.06
Updated: 2016.10.07
A Marked Man by BkRmGrl87
Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Author's Notes: The sun warmed the small lake, where the peace and solitude was a welcome relief for newly married Harry and Ginny Potter. It was mid-August and it was after a joined birthday celebration that they had then departed for their honeymoon, for Ginny had Holyhead Harpies try-outs soon after they had married earlier in the year.
Reflections were a funny thing, Harry thought wryly. The scars he had collected in his short lifetime, though it felt indefinitely longer, were clearly visible though they were slightly distorted. The scars drew his eyes, even after the years that separated from the time he had received them to now.
The monster that had given them to him was long gone. Six feet under in fact, but yet Voldemort’s presence still haunted his dreams and woke him early in the morning sometimes. But it had gotten significantly better since marrying Ginny. These physical marks somehow showed just how much he had to be messed up inside. Harry knew not everything about the war was completely dealt with in his head, but he was working on it and some day he would be able to get a full night’s sleep and be free of the guilt for surviving, when so many people he cared about didn’t... A gentle hand covered his own, and his wife Ginny, oh how he loved to think “his wife,” bumped her shoulder to his, shaking him out of his thoughts.
“I thought we were here to have fun, not brood. What are you thinking so hard about anyway? Is it the Collins case?”
Lifting the other hand into Ginny’s beautiful fiery locks that he loved, Harry answered, “No, Ron and I were able to find evidence against Marcus Collins to have him put in Azkaban for a five-year sentence. I wasn’t brooding-
“Of course you weren’t.”
“I’m fine. I was just examining our reflections.” He said, ignoring her sarcasm.
Even if it was true that he might have been brooding... a little. It was amazing how well she could read him, and she only seemed to be improving the skill with time. But, he thought, it would be better to lighten the mood, and perhaps take their minds to a better, more exciting place.
“Your reflection is quite a one to see. I don’t think there is a more beautiful sight here. It’s very lucky that I seem to have you all to myself. Plus, with Muggle-repelling charms we’re quite alone, and I think we could have some fun here on this towel of ours.”
He fully embraced his wife and gave her a cursory kiss on the lips, but before he could do much else, she stopped his roving hands by touching the oval scar that lay just between his collarbone. The scar where he had almost been drowned by the golden locket that had held a piece of Voldemort’s soul if Ron hadn’t have come just in the nick of time. Although it had been a few years since he received it, Harry thought he’d felt the spot was more sensitive to Dark items. Harry mentally scoffed; nothing stops honeymoon thoughts like a Horcrux. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, he hadn’t ever thought that it would be Voldemort to disturb the two of them here, although he guessed it had been him to start it when he’d stared at those faded scars in his reflection.
“You were thinking of your scars, weren’t you?” Ginny asked.
She knew him too well. That’s why he knew they had been meant for one another. They had gone through so much, together and separately that they knew they had wanted to marry after life had settled down from the post-Riddle war efforts. She could practically read his mind sometimes, so much so that he was sure Mr. Weasley must have taught his daughter some form of Legilimency.
He nodded.
Ginny pulled her feet out of the water, crossed them under her, and clasped his hands into her smaller ones. Harry copied her movements and faced her, knowing even this early into their marriage, that she wouldn’t let him wallow in the mire when he got into a mood.
“Just because you have a few of these scars still,” her fingers ghosted over the scars on his forehead, chest, and then to the faint lightning bolt shaped scar over his heart indicating where he had been hit with the second killing curse, Avada Kadavra. “Doesn’t mean it will always affect you forever.”
Harry looked deeply into the dark, lovely brown eyes of his closest friend and beloved wife. She was so beautiful, and the seriousness of her tone moved him deeply to his very center. Ginny’s hands gently squeezed his hands tighter in hers.
“You and I will be better. The past is behind us and only good things are in store for us. Okay, so it won’t be perfect. We will have bad things happen in our lives, and yes, we’re going to explode and yell sometimes too, but we both love each other and deep down we know that we will always be there for one another. You might have nightmares that wake me up, but we both know that I will be there at night to calm you down, listening as we work through your insomnia. But you also stop me from keeping up my own facade I have as a safety net, so that I don’t feel vulnerable in trusting others. A scar of my own from Riddle. I support you and you support me. That’s what spouses are for. We aren’t perfect, but we’re helping each other be our best selves. Together we’re working through our problems and making sure we come out as sane as we ever were. If we ever were.”
Harry laughed.
Ginny always had that affect on him. She was always his shining sun; she was the most optimistic person he ever knew, and because of that she could shake him from whatever mood he was in. Plus, she had a temper that rivaled his own, and she was a strong enough person to be able to handle being married to Harry Potter and all of the emotional baggage that came with it.
“I don’t know about you, but with the childhood and growing up I had, I’m not sure sane really applies to me. But since you’re with me, what should I be worrying about? You could take care of any crazed Dark lord after my blood any day, better than I ever could.” Harry said jokingly, but he knew it was still true.
“And don’t you forget it!”
“Never,” Harry leaned over and gently kissed her forehead.
“We’ll fight this thing together Harry,” she kissed his forehead, where he knew his lightning bolt scar was. “Now, just before I started this whole mind healer session, where were we again? Think you could remind me?”
Maybe time really did heal all wounds. Ginny certainly knew how precious time really was… oh yes.
Harry smirked.
“I think we were just about here…”
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
This story archived at http://www.siye.co.uk/siye/viewstory.php?sid=130133