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Category: Post-HBP Characters:Harry/Ginny, Other Genres: Action/Adventure, General, Romance Warnings: Sexual Situations, Violence Story is Complete Rating: R Reviews: 7 Summary: From the leaving the Dursleys' to Voldemort's demise. One shot, last chance, post-HBP, pre-DH fic. Hitcount: Story Total: 4068 Disclaimer: Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R. Note the opinions in this story are my own and in no way represent the owners of this site. This story subject to copyright law under transformative use. No compensation is made for this work. Author's Notes: I've really wanted to write a 7th year Horcrux hunt and final battle scene, and I never really got around to it before now. The week before the release of Deathly Hollows. My last chance at a Pre-DH fic without being AU. Beta read by the fabulous eimajunknown. Thank you so, so, so much, Jamie! |
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As he left the Dursleys' house for the final time it was never clearer, early in the morning of his seventeenth birthday, that he had a difficult journey ahead of him. It was around one-thirty in the morning when Harry Apparated outside of The Burrow, his trunk shrunk down in the pocket of one of Fred’s old jackets that he’d been handed down. The air was chilly, curling around him, and the stars twinkled brightly above him. He was of age now, and he’d be damned if he was going to sit around Number Four Privet Drive for one more minute than he had to. Sure it wasn’t legal for him to Apparate, but he’d just like to see a Ministry official try and snap his wand. He smiled to himself as he made his way up the back steps to the kitchen entrance. Just try, he dared them silently. Since the end of school, he’d been practicing dueling techniques with hard workouts at the park. He’d even played pickup games of football with some of the local kids to get his stamina up and work off some frustrations of being back at the one place he hated most. He’d run around the park, done pull-ups on the swings and crunches in the grass. All the while practicing spells in his mind. At night, he’d sit in the unnaturally spotless parlor and read while the Dursleys ignored him pointedly from the other room. They didn’t know that Dumbledore wouldn’t be back this year to collect Harry, and that suited him fine. Harry had put a lot of effort into planning his upcoming quest, but he’d yet to make any concrete decisions. He was waiting for Ron and Hermione’s input–in a secure location. Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Remus had all spent days with him during his month at the Dursleys' home, making good on their promise that he would not be alone. He usually had one of them over every other day, chatting with him, or sitting on the swings while he went through his routine. He’d received a paper-wrapped package from Ginny just after midnight that held a tin of lemon biscuits and a small singing card that made twinge of regret swirl into his gut. He’d packed his trunk as quickly as he could, using as much magic as he could, and went downstairs to say goodbye to his family with a few of Fred and George’s Wildfire Whiz-Bangs. It was with some hesitation that he opened the back door and stepped inside. The kitchen was dark and the table scrubbed to a dull shine. There was a pot of half-drunk tea on the counter and a small batch of lemon biscuits on a cooling rack. The air smelled of sugar and tea and home. He had hoped that someone would be up to welcome him, as there usually was, but they hadn’t been expecting him, had they? He took off his jacket and laid it over the back of a chair next to Ginny’s, smiling subconsciously. He filched a couple biscuits and made his way to the sitting room to make a bed on the couch. However, he found that it was already occupied. Ginny’s hair was mussed around her face, her mouth lolling open as she breathed deeply. She was wearing denim shorts and a small t-shirt that gave him a little peek of her side where it had ridden up. In the firelight, he noticed and admired the freckles along her knees that became sparse as his eyes traveled up her legs. Rising into his throat, his heart beat faster and he tried to swallow around it. She was beautiful, just as he’d known she would be. Always had been. He’d tried all summer to forget that. To forget how she made his pulse race, made him smile and laugh. It was no use, his heart betrayed him every time. Breaking up with Ginny was the hardest thing Harry had ever done. He’d take Voldemort any day over the dull ache that had settled in his chest over the past month. But, it was for her safety, he repeated like a mantra in his mind. Harry needed her safe. He needed something to come home to. He hoped that she’d wait for him. If she didn’t, he couldn’t fault her. He felt something in his chest clawing at him and rubbed his palm across his heart. Ginny let out a particularly loud snort and Harry unsuccessfully tried to stifle a giggle. From where she lay, Ginny opened one bleary eye and peered at him through her lashes. “I knew you’d be here tonight,” she said mildly, ignoring his laughter. “Mum said you’d wait for the Order to pick you up at the end of the week, but I knew better.” Harry smirked at her and crossed the room to sit next to her feet. “What made you so sure?” “I know you,” she replied simply. Harry felt the heat travel up his face when she caught him looking and he turned away. “Thanks for the biscuits,” he said weakly. Sitting up, she inched a little closer to him, seemingly unsure of herself. “Harry–“ she started a little nervously, “We can… We can still be friends, can’t we?” she asked biting her bottom lip. For a moment, Harry forgot himself and wanted nothing more than to take her bottom lip between his own teeth and let his hand wander over her freckled thighs as he ravaged her mouth. He nearly groaned out loud. He buried his head in his hands and ruffled the back of his hair between his fingers. Yes, he thought, he wanted to be her friend, and so much more. He wanted to be her friend, her lover, her husband–the father of her children. Someday, he thought wistfully, but not in this place or time. He had a job to do. Not trusting his own voice, he nodded in agreement and was thrown when he felt arms wrap around him. He could smell the wildflowers in her hair and the sunshine on her skin. He burned for her. Tentatively, he whispered, “I miss you,” and burrowed his face into her hair. He’d been here with her for five minutes and his resolve was shaky, how was he going to live through the next month with her, and then leave her behind? How could he be so foolish to believe he could? The fire crackled loudly against the silence. Harry felt Ginny trembling in his arms. In a blur, suddenly Ginny was on him, straddling him with her lips pressed to his. There were tears running down her cheeks, but she kissed him with a passion he’d never known and he met it with a fire of his own. Her hands fisted his hair and he pulled her hips closer. The beast in his chest roared in delight. Harry was very aware of his situation and growled when she wiggled her hips even closer. She pressed an open-mouth kiss just under his ear and whispered, “I miss you too, Harry.” And she settled down with her head tucked into the crook of his neck. Harry took a deep breath and held her tighter still. “I–we can’t,” he muttered shakily. “We can’t what?” she demanded sleepily. “Bugger it,” he replied, kissing her shoulder through the cotton of her shirt. He could feel Ginny smile into his neck. There was need clawing at him. A need to make Ginny his again. A need to protect her. “I don’t know what I’m doing anymore,” he admitted. “Which way is up?” Ginny snickered and kissed his throat, his jaw, nipped at his ear. “You’re doing fine, Potter.” “I’ve got things I have to do,” he reminded her. “Alone,” she finished. “Yeah, I get it, alone with Ron and Hermione.” Her voice betrayed her hurt, but she forged on, “I understand. I don’t like it, but I understand.” He shook his head again. “You don’t, not really.” This was it, after he told her, she’d either agree with him and stay home, safe, or she’d demand to come with him. He was betting on the latter, and though he wouldn’t admit it, hoping as well. So he told Ginny, in hushed tones, that the Daily Prophet was right, to a certain point on his “title”. Then he told her about his lessons with Dumbledore, leaving out the boring parts, and about the night of his death. She didn’t gasp in shock, or hide behind her hands like Hermione had. She nodded solemnly and kissed his lips. “Thank you,” she said nuzzling his cheek, “for telling me.” The couple sat in silence for a while, both mulling things over. He imagined that she was a little more shocked than she let on, and he let her have her time. He twirled the ends of her silky hair in his fingers and with his other hand at the small of her back, played with the hem of her shirt, letting his knuckles slide over the soft skin. Finally, Ginny sat up, pulling loose from his grasp. “I don’t like it,” she said, shaking her head. “You gallivanting off on your mission and leaving me here to do the wash.” “I know, but–“ “I’m going with you. Mum will have kittens, of course,” she said tossing her hair over her shoulder, “But this is important–the most important thing in this stupid war against You-Know–oh Hell, Voldemort.” She fixed him with a steely gaze. “Ron will have my head if I tote you off into danger,” he said resignedly. “When are we leaving?” she asked, ignoring him. “I’m not sure, but it’ll be after the wedding, and probably in the middle of the night,” he said quietly. “You can’t say a word about this to anyone, especially your mum.” Ginny smirked. “I’m not dense, you know?” “Yeah, well,” he said glancing up at the ceiling. “If your older brother gives me any indication, I’m best being brutally clear.” Ginny socked him in the arm, laughter playing on her lips. “Ow!” “Serves you right. Git,” she mumbled. Thoughtful, Harry wondered, “How will we get around the underage magic laws? I won’t have you unprotected,” he said fiercely. “Well,” Ginny thought for a moment, “I suppose, I can do magic anywhere there are adult wizards. I mean, the ministry can’t tell if it is me if I’m standing next to you, just that someone did magic. Like when you Apparated here, for all that the ministry knows, it was one of the Aurors stationed outside your house.” Harry nodded, “Yeah, I remember Dumbledore mentioning something like that before. You’re sure you want to come with us? It’ll be dangerous,” he reminded her, giving her one last chance to back out, to stay home with her family. “I’d go anywhere with you,” she whispered against his lips. “Anywhere.” *** The four young men and women left The Burrow early the morning after Ginny’s birthday. The wedding had gone by without a hitch as a small family affair, as had Ginny’s sixteenth birthday. They commandeered a small, three room camp tent that Mr. Weasley purchased off an old friend the previous summer, and shrunk it and their trunks into their rucksacks. It was nearing sunrise by the time they mounted their brooms and flew off toward Ottery St. Catchpole where they would buy a few supplies and Apparate away to their first destination, Godric’s Hollow. Not knowing where else to start, the group visited Dumbledore’s portrait at Hogwarts, with Professor McGonagall’s permission. They spent a few days between the library at Hogwarts and the Room of Requirement, which had provided most of Dumbledore’s notes and theories for them. The battles were frequent, and the nights long as summer faded to autumn and autumn to winter. After several months, the third Horcrux, Helga Hufflepuff’s cup, was found and destroyed and shortly thereafter, the fourth was located. It took two months, however, to obtain the wand of Rowena Ravenclaw from its place in Albania. Harry spent three days in St. Mungo’s before the quartet was taken home to The Burrow. Mrs. Weasley’s tirade was legendary, while Mr. Weasley’s silence was much worse punishment. They had destroyed two, and had two to go. Once Harry had fully recovered, they left again, this time without the secrecy. Ginny had Apparated directly from her mother’s grasp, who had forbid her from going. It was hard, Harry knew, but the fact was that he was used to Ginny’s company and he wasn’t sure he could go on without it. She was his light through the dark and his only joy in the war. He needed her. If Mrs. Weasley had found a way to keep Ginny, Harry would have found a way to get her out. It was another month before they managed to locate R.A.B.’s locket that happened to have been under their nose all along. It turned out that the locket was hidden in the childhood home of Regulus Black, Number Twelve Grimmauld Place where Kreacher had stashed it in his horrid little nest. With the locket finally destroyed, Harry was certain that the end was in sight. He believed that Nagini, what Dumbledore believed to be the last of the Horcruxes, would have to be destroyed just before Voldemort. It would take two more months before Harry finally did the deed. Nagini was destroyed via a very messy Reductor curse where she had been hunting outside of Malfoy Manor. The order Apparated in only moments later, and the skirmish became a full battle between good and evil. After that, the fight between Voldemort and Harry was mercifully short. Harry stepped up from the thick of the battle, Ginny at his side, where a furious Voldemort had materialized moments before. “Ahh, little Potter has come to play,” he sneered. “Ahh, little Voldemort,” Harry hissed back in Parselmouth. Harry held out the locket of Slytherin, taunting him. The sun glinted off the surface and there was no mistaking the etched serpent. Voldemort smiled. “Ah, I see. You’ve found my locket, Harry Potter,” he said softly. Harry tossed it to him, the black hole through the back visible as it spun through the air. The smile died on his snake-like face. “You fool!” he shouted, raising his wand, “You can’t kill me, I am Lord Voldemort.” And he laughed, low and cold, “This will end here!” Harry smirked and raised his own wand, “How right you are.” Harry raised his chin to Ginny, who dumped her rucksack on the grass next to Harry. The cup was melted with the symbol of Hufflepuff still visible, the Gaunt Ring was cracked in half, while Rowena Ravenclaw’s wand was charred and snapped in two pieces. Nagini’s corpse was a few meters away, what was left of it anyhow. “Ah,” Harry corrected him, sounding more like Dumbledore than ever, “But I can, Tom.” Ginny drew the sword of Godric Gryffindor from her waistband, handing it to Harry. And for the first time, Harry saw Voldemort looking at him without disdain or superiority, but with cold fear, “Avada Kedavra!” he said in a low, serpentine voice. Without thought, Harry called out, “Sectumsempra!” And just like in his fourth year, the spells hit one another and locked together in a display of purple and sickly green light fading to gold. Priori Incantatem Harry felt Ginny behind him, and he drew from her, power and love. He took a step forward as his wand vibrated in his hand. Threads of light flying, sparking around them formed the cage as they had in the graveyard. Harry took a deep breath. His palms were sweating and he fought to keep a grip on his wand with one hand and his sword in the other. Vaguely, he heard Ginny curse someone behind him and he took another step and another. He was just feet from Voldemort now. The threaded beam of Harry’s spell moved closer to Voldemort. Another step. Voldemort’s wand vibrated harder and harder, as he tried to force back the spell. He was sweating now. Just as Harry thought the purple thread of his spell would touch the tip of Voldemort’s wand, Harry thrust the jewel hilted sword upward into Voldemort’s unusually small heart. A scream pierced the night and Harry found himself saying, “Bow to death, Tom.” Voldemort’s wand dropped from his bony hand and Harry’s curse bloomed across his chest, splitting open his black robes and pale flesh. The blood flowed freely in spurts and gushes. Voldemort’s screams died in a gurgle and he lay motionless in the grass. What compelled him, he couldn’t be sure, but Harry removed the sword from Voldemort’s chest and swung it high over his head. With both hands he brought it down across Voldemort’s neck. The sickening sound of flesh and bone parting brought Harry back to himself. The Dark Lord’s head rolled over to rest next to his maimed and bleeding body. Harry fell to his knees and retched in the sticky grass. It was over. And with a feeling of needing to sleep for many years, magically drained, Harry welcomed the dark. *** When Harry stirred, it was dark and he felt the weight of something next to him. Upon further investigation, he realized that he was no longer outside. He heard a faint buzzing and rolled to see the diagnostic spell apparatus working, and the curtains drawn around his bed. He was in St. Mungo’s. Ginny was curled up next to him on the small bed and Fawkes the Phoenix was perched at the foot, singing softly. As he sat up, Ginny woke up and moved into him. The grin that broke across her face caused Harry’s heart to swell to bursting with love for this girl. This woman. His Ginny. “Thank Merlin you’re okay,” he whispered fiercely pulling her to his chest. “A broken wrist,” she said, “but it’s been healed.” “Everyone else?” he asked, carefully, his smile dying on his lips. Ginny thought for a second, “Percy. He’s–he’s gone. And Charlie, he’s in bad shape, but they say he should recover,” she sniffed, “and we lost Mad-Eye and Kinsley.” Harry pulled her closer still and rocked her when she started to cry softly. “I’m so sorry, Ginny. I’m sorry you had to see this, to be a part of it. I–“ he trailed off, his voice weaker. “It’s my fault. I didn’t make you stay home. Safe.” “Harry bloody Potter,” Ginny said through her tears, “if I hear you say that one more time, I swear to all that is holy, I will hex you into next week.” “I…” Ginny silenced him with a kiss. “You will not take the blame for my decisions. I am nearly an adult, and I take full responsibility for the things I do, and you best remember that.” Harry sighed resignedly. “I love you, you know that?” Ginny gave a watery smile, the temper dying on her lips. “Yeah, I do. And git or no, I love you too, Harry.” She settled her head on his chest and Harry’s heart sped up. It was over, really over, and he and Ginny had made it out alive and in fairly good condition. It felt right, Ginny in his arms. Despite everything going on in the world Harry smiled. Then without thinking, without considering, as though he had meant to do it all along, he whispered, “Let’s get married.” Ginny gave a strangled cry and tried to sit up, but Harry head her still, dropping a kiss on her hair. “You don’t have to answer right now, love.” But she did. She forced herself away from him long enough to turn and face him, her legs on either side of the hospital bed. She kissed his eyelids, his cheeks, his nose and finally his lips murmuring his name. Resting her forehead on his, she locked her gaze on his and said, “Yes, let’s.” The End Part of the end bit is a quote from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, pg 322 US. I’d like to thank Jamie (eimajunknown) for the on-the-fly beta! I really appreciate it!!! *Hugs* |
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