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Category: Alternate Universe Characters:Draco Malfoy, Harry/Ginny, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black Genres: Angst, Drama, Fluff, General, Romance Warnings: Intimate Sexual Situations, Mild Language, Rape, Violence Story is Complete Rating: R Reviews: 239 Summary: What really happened to Ginny, Neville and Luna while the Trio were off on the Horcrux Hunt. Repurcussions, jealousy and lies would cause friendships to end. 5 years later, will Harry get his answers? And will he get back the only girl he could ever love? Hitcount: Story Total: 111621; Chapter Total: 4836 |
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Ginny Weasley was feeling frustrated. She'd been looking for a house to rent for three weeks now and had found nothing suitable. And although there was no real hurry for her to leave Grimmauld Place, she did want to get settled before Sam and Sarah arrived in a few weeks time. The press had found out she was back in England and she'd been hounded by them, which made it near impossible to venture out with Teddy. She'd decided to give the house hunting a miss, and. after a half day training session was done, she decided to apparate to Hogsmeade, hoping to give the press the slip. An hour later, she was in a better mood. There was no sign of any press, it was a nice day and wandering through Hogsmeade reminded her of happier times. The first meeting of Dumbledore's Army, the wonderful sweets of Honeydukes and fun times with her friends. She decided to see Aberforth at the Hogs Head before a quick visit with Rosmerta at The Three Broomsticks. She didn't expect to see her brother drinking at the bar, where he'd obviously been for awhile. “... and then we were in disguise and broke into the Ministry of Magic! Nah mate, wasn't that hard, lots of people going in and out, you know, just slipped in, all three of us! Ta mate, I'd love another drink! And then we... well looky here, it's my sister, the Quidditch star,” he said snidely, slurring his words. Ginny moved to his side. “C'mon Ron, I'll take you home,” said Ginny quietly, taking his arm. “Home? Where's home for you, Gin, shacking up with Harry... ,again? Or are you going to run off to Australia... ,again? Or is it Paris with that Wagtail git, hmm? Or are you finally giving Neville a chance to ...?” “Shut it, you git! What is your problem? And by home, I meant The Burrow. Now c'mon, get up, we're leaving, ” she said, trying to pull him away. “Oh come on love, leave him here, he was telling us how he helped Harry Potter defeat You Know Who,” whined a middle aged man, picking up a glass of ale and putting it in front of Ron. He picked it up and raised it at the man as if in a toast, then downed it in one go. “Another one, handsome?” asked the woman behind the bar, her heavily made up face making her look older than her middle twenties. She indicated his glass and Ron nodded, sliding over his empty one, his eyes checking out her low cut top and the cleavage spilling out of it. “Don't you think you've had enough?” asked Ginny angrily. “What are you, my mother?” snapped Ron. “Home a month and I've hardly seen you, Miss Big Shot Quidditch Star. Too good for your own family these days, eh?” “Training has been pretty full on, Ron, and I just want to relax when we're done. I've been to The Burrow often, and I went by WWW to see you and George but you weren't there. Don't you work there anymore? George didn't say anything when I saw him for his birthday. ” Ron slammed down his drink. “Their birthday, it was their birthday, the twins. George AND Fred. And yes I still work there! I'm just... taking a break for a few days, you know, hanging with friends." The two other patrons and the barmaid cheered at that and lifted their mugs of ale and shouted, “To friends,” and skulled the drinks, half going down the front of their shirts. They were too pissed to notice. “Friends,” said Ron, looking into the bottom of his glass. “Ron, please let's go and...” THUMP. Ron had turned with his arm flung out and he didn't see Ginny slightly bent over to pick up her bag and his arm connected with her face. Ginny gasped, her hand covering her cheek and her fingers massaged her temple. “Oh shit..., oh God..., Merlin Gin, I didn't..., I mean I... ,here sit down, hey somebody get a wet cloth for my sister,” he yelled, getting off his stool. “You're so pretty,” grinned one of the drunken patrons, stumbling over to stand next to Ginny. “I love your hair,” and he ran his fingers through it. Ginny shuddered, her cheek aching and her head pounding. “Oy, leave her alone, Barry, get your hands off her,” yelled Ron, trying to pull Ginny away from him. “Let the pretty girl speak for herself,” said Barry, smirking. “I think she likes it!” and he pulled Ginny's other arm. Ginny felt a pop in her shoulder, and then, when Barry suddenly let her go, she slammed back into Ron, hurting her back. She winced but steadied herself and, without a backward glance at Ron, she made her way to the door. As she was about to leave, Aberforth came in, took one look at Ginny and shooed his goat away. He took her into the back room, grabbing some ice from the bar. “Five years later and trouble's still following you around Weasley!” His gruff voice belied his tender touch as he wrapped the ice in a towel and applied it to her face. “I don't like the look of that shoulder,” he said. “Want me to get Pomfrey from the school to take a look?” Ginny sighed. “No, I better head back and let the team's Healers take a look. They're not going to be happy with me. Nor will mum if I miss dinner at the Burrow. Thanks Abe,” she said. She started to leave but turned back to ask , “Abe..., my brother, does he do this often?” Abe looked at her a minute before answering. “Aye love. And my place ain't the only one he frequents. It's the time of the year, you know, business always picks up around Remembrance Day.” “Will you come to Hogwarts for the ceremony?” asked Ginny, preparing to leave. “Nah, business will be booming, I won't have time for that,” he replied. Ginny nodded, accepting that a ceremony wasn't Abe's, or everyone's way, of remembering the war. Everyone had to deal with it in their own way. Was alcohol Ron's way? How long had this been going on? She decided she'd bring it up at dinner tonight. She left the Hogs Head and apparated to Dartmoor, where the team had been training, hoping the healers would still be there. **************************************** *************** Four hours later, Ginny was in her bathroom. The Healers had popped the shoulder back straight away, gave her some potions for the pain, applied some bruise paste to her back and cheek and given her a sling to keep the shoulder immobile. She was glad she had showered after training. She'd decided to give dinner a miss, flooing Molly from the stadium that she was held up at training, a 'small white lie', so her Mum wouldn't worry. But she just wanted to go home and go to bed. She'd deal with the Ron situation another day. Ginny had managed to remove her t-shirt and pants, but had struggled with her bra, so she decided she'd sleep in it. She'd applied the bruise paste to her cheek, and was wondering how she was going to manage the paste on her back, when she heard the sound of someone coming home via the floo and coming up the stairs. “Hello, girl in need of some TLC in here, ” yelled Ginny, assuming it was Sirius. “You need something..., Holy Hell, what happened to you?” asked Harry, looking alarmed. “What are you guys doing at training these days?” Ginny had her head down and her hair covering her face muffled her reply. “I'm sorry, what? ” asked Harry “I said it didn't happen at training,” repeated Ginny. “Then how?” Harry was quite concerned now. “Did the press get too crazy? Because we can press charges, you know, did you get a name, we can get them banned, or a restraining order or... , or...,” Harry was rambling now, getting worked up. “Harry..., Harry..., HARRY, BREATHE! Here,” said Ginny with a sigh, handing him the bruise paste and lifting her hair off the nape of her neck. “Um Gin, you're going to need to take your bra off,” said Harry, embarassed. Ginny froze. Why did it have to be Harry to have been the one to come home, why not Sirius? She could feel herself getting sleepy from the potions, and if the paste didn't have overnight to heal the bruise, she knew she wouldn't be able to fully train the next day. "Can you undo me," she told Harry. "Then turn around." He did so, starting to feel a bit hot. She struggled to get her her bra off over her sore shoulder then grabbed a towel to cover her front. “Okay, you can turn around now,” she told him. He did, looking at her back and smiling. “Finally got the tattoo finished, hey? It's beautiful, Gin. So colourful, it reminds me of Fawkes." She nodded but didn't say anything. He undid the jar, applied the goo to her back and started rubbing, looking at her back with concern. She winced at first but it felt better the longer Harry was doing it. “It was Ron,” she said quietly. Their eyes met in the mirror. “What?” he said, his voice like steel. “I decided to go to Hogsmeade after training was done. Ron was in the Hogs Head, getting pissed, telling tales of his great adventures with you. I tried to get him to come to the Burrow with me, he turned around with his arm out and accidentally struck me on the face. Then one of his drunken mates decided to play tug of war with me, popping my shoulder out. When he let go, I slammed into Ron, giving me that bruise," she finished, looking over her shoulder at him rubbing her back. “Turn around,” he instructed. Ginny turned to face him. He took her chin in his hand, tilting her face to the light, making her blink. Her towel slipped and she rushed to gather it back up. Brown eyes met green eyes, and suddenly, electricity was in the air. Ginny turned back around to face the mirror, eyes down. Harry hesitated, then got some more paste and kept rubbing her back. “How long has he been like that, Harry?” she asked quietly. Harry tensed, his hands still on her shoulders. Then he continued rubbing, thinking before answering. “I think he's been doing it since Auror training. You know, at the time, you and I thought something wasn't right with him and Hermione when they got back from Australia. Then, when you girls went to school, he was just scraping by at Auror training, but he'd always go out with the guys for drinks at the end of the week. Things were off and on with him and Hermione after Christmas that year...,” his voice trailed off, and again, brown eyes met green eyes in the mirror, as they both remembered what happened between them during that school break. They'd lost their virginity with each other. Ginny looked away first. Harry took a deep breath and spoke carefully “ After our accusations, I er, know you didn't want to see us. And I don't blame you. Everything you said to us that next day was true. Gin, I'm so sorry. So sorry I hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you.” Ginny had tears in her eyes, she didn't want to re-live any of those memories tonight. Or any time soon. Harry sounded genuinely remorseful, but it was too much to deal with right now. She could really feel the potions kicking in now. “Tell me more about Ron,” she encouraged softly, starting to feel sleepy. “We were put into different groups at training, so I didn't see him every day. Some days he was fine, it was like he was my best mate again, and some days, well, it was like he didn't want to know me. I began to hear stories off him slacking off. By now Hermione was working at the Ministry, so I thought we should get together to talk about Ron. And that's when the press started making up the stories about me and Hermione. Next day, Ron comes up to me and throws a punch. I thought we were over all that. The jealousy thing, I mean. I decided to give him some space, next time I saw him, we were fine and they were back together. He'd have good days and bad days. Then I found out that Kingsley was going to be mentoring me to step up and be Deputy Head Auror in a few years. It was around then that Hermione left. I thought he'd be pleased for me, but when Ron realised I'd be his boss, he quit and went to work with George. I'd meet up with them every now and then for a drink, but it always ended badly. Because he'd always end up asking me about Hermione. He'd beg me for information about her, where she was, was she seeing anybody, that sort of thing. But I didn't know anything. Last time he asked me, she'd been gone for over a year. Now, we don't mention her at all.” He'd finished rubbing the paste on her back, but was massaging her shoulders as he talked, lost in memories. He traced the outline of her tattoo, surprised that in some places the skin felt rough. “Do you keep in touch with her?” yawned Ginny curiously, unconsciously leaning into his touch. “No,” said Harry simply. “Do you miss them?” she asked. “Of course. They were my best friends. We went through so much together. I couldn't have got through that time without them,” he said. “I know,” said Ginny softly. “That's why it hurt so much when we all went out separate ways. It didn't surprise me after what had happened with you..., but I didn't expect it to be so final..., with them. I guess I thought they'd find a way back to each other, just like... " “I'm sorry you lost them,” said Ginny, yawning again, interrupting him. “Maybe she'll come back and you'll all make up, and it will be like nothing ever went wrong." “Maybe,” said Harry sadly. “C'mon, you need to go to bed.” He guided her to her bed, turned down the covers and helped her get in, then tucked her in. She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. She didn't feel Harry's hand brush the hair from her face, or caress her swollen cheek. Nor did she feel him squeeze her hand as he whispered, “Night,Gin.” Sirius saw everything. |
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