The Least Magical Town in Britain by Humean
Summary: AU: Harry never went to Hogwarts. Ginny was still possessed by Riddle's diary and opened the chamber but not until her sixth year, during the Battle of Hogwarts. Now Voldemort is dead and both Ginny and Harry must come to terms with the roles they played in the war.
Rating: PG
Categories: Post-Hogwarts
Characters: None
Genres: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Published: 2014.09.15
Updated: 2014.09.22
The Least Magical Town in Britain by Humean
Chapter 1: The Town of Fen's Landing
Author's Notes: Fen's Landing was the least magical place in all of Britain. That was why Ginny Weasley lived there. That was why she worked there. That was why she slept there. And more than anything, that was why Ginny Weasley hid there. Ginny Weasley had had enough of magic to last a lifetime.
She could still feel magic's absence, even after a year in that town. In normal towns, the stones were infused with magic. It was why so many old buildings still stood despite being poorly designed and built. In normal towns, the air itself held magic. Breathing this air was why people sometimes miraculously recovered from diseases. But in Fen's Landing no spell had been cast since the early iron age and the echoes of that spell had long since faded away. There were no miracles in Fen's Landing nor did Ginny expect any.
Her expectations were simple. Each day, she would get up, she would go to work at the town's bookstore. She would serve customers and smile and chat to the regulars while telling them nothing at all about her life and, in the entire day, she would do nothing that could hurt other people. And that was all she expected. And happiness? Well she didn't expect that and so she barely noticed its absence.
In fact, for the longest time, Ginny hadn't felt anything, except for a constant lingering sense of guilt. She had felt no happiness, no fear, no irritation. She had once been known for having a temper but even that seemed to have dulled since she had left the Burrow. Fury simply took too much energy. Instead of fury, these days she simply felt resignation. And after a year, Ginny was beginning to think that she might feel this way forever.
She was wrong.
#
Ginny let out a gasp as the man with the messy black hair walked into the store and she felt something that she hadn't felt for some time. She felt magic. She stared in shock as the man paused in the entrance, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the dimly lit shop. When he saw her watching him he smiled in a way that she could tell was forced (after all, she had become familiar with forced smiles in the last year) and then took a step toward her.
He cleared his throat. "Umm... I was looking for a book on gardening."
Ginny took a moment and when she responded her voice sounded cold. "Gardening?"
He blinked, obviously having picked up on the tone. "Uhh...yeah. Do you have anything?"
Ginny took a step toward him and poked a finger toward his chest. "You're looking for a book on gardening?"
He frowned and nodded slowly.
Ginny glared at him and her voice came out as a hiss. "I can feel the charms you've cast and you come in here asking for a book on gardening."
His eyes widened and he took a step back. "I don't know what you're talking ab-"
She took another step toward him and her voice grew louder. "Don't you dare claim ignorance. You know what a charm is. You know you've cast one and you know it's illegal to use magic in this town."
His eyes dropped to the ground and then he shrugged. "It's not much magic. I'm amazed you're even able to sense it, you must be very powerfu-."
Her eyes narrowed. "Flattery won't get you out of this. This is supposed to be a refuge. There are curses, you know, that mean you can die if you're exposed to magic? There could be people like that here. I could be a person like that. You could have killed me."
He shook his head slowly. "It's not enough magic to hurt anyone, even if they've been cursed."
"That's not good enough," Ginny growled, "This town is supposed to be a sanctuary from magic for anyone regardless of their reasons. You have no right to come in here trailing magic behind you."
By the time she finished speaking, she was shouting. "Now drop the charms."
He frowned. "I can't."
"You can and will. And if you don't I will tell the ministry."
The man swallowed and his voice was quiet when it came out. "Please..."
She hesitated a moment but then shook her head. "I don't know your story but I can tell you're hurting and I feel for you, I really do."
She sighed and then continued. "But this is the only place like this. This is the only place for people who want to escape magic. There are plenty of places that you could go if you wanted to keep your charms. There's nowhere else I can go to escape them."
He looked up and caught her gaze. He studied her in silence for a moment and then, eventually, he nodded. He reached into his jacket and, after a glance around them revealed no-one, pulled out a wand. Ginny felt her heart speed up for a moment at the sight but didn't know if it was excitement or fear.
The man pointed the wand at himself and then muttered quietly. "Finite incantatem".
For a moment, nothing happened and then, in front of her eyes, the appearance of the man began to shift and the feeling of the magic faded. As the man's appearance settled into a new form, Ginny's eyes widened.
The first thing she noticed was the scar on his forehead. The second thing she noticed, as he turned from her and began to walk toward the door without a word, was how skinny he was. With the charms removed, his clothes hung loose on him. His face was gaunt. He looked in danger of falling over.
"Harry."
It took Ginny a moment to realise that she was the one who had spoken.
The man winced, and turned back to her, a resigned look on his face. "Yes?"
"You're Harry Potter, aren't you?"
He sighed. "Yes."
Without thinking about what she was saying, she spoke again. "Have dinner with me."
Harry's whole body tensed and his expression switched first to one of anger and then to one of resignation. "Because I'm Harry Potter you want to have dinner with me?"
She frowned, confused, for a moment and then as she realised what he meant she let out an angry laugh. "No, because you look so skinny that you've clearly forgotten how to cook I want you to have dinner with me."
Harry spun and barked a sentence back over his shoulder as he headed for the door. "I don't need a mum."
An image of her own mum flashed through her mind and Ginny felt one of the barriers that she had constructed inside her break. She felt a moment of panic as she realised that wanting to have dinner had been motivated by more than just concern for Harry.
She raised her voice as he reached the door. "Then come because I- I need a friend."
Harry froze but he didn't turn around.
Ginny took a step toward him realising that now she had started talking to someone that knew about the world she came from, she couldn't bare to go back to being alone. "Please. Have dinner with me."
He turned back to face her. "I wouldn't make a very good friend."
She shrugged and lowered her gaze. "I don't deserve a very good friend."
There was silence and when she looked up Harry was looking at her and frowning, obviously trying to figure out what to do.
Ginny managed a smile. "Harry, when an attractive witch asks a guy out to dinner, he normal says yes."
He raised an eyebrow. "So if I say no?"
Her grin widened into a small smirk. "Then you must not think I'm attractive."
Harry stared at her. "I think you're attracti-"
He trailed off, blushing, and then, after a pause, nodded. "Okay, I'll go to dinner with you."
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