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SIYE Time:1:59 on 29th March 2024
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Seeking the Truth
By Been Reading

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Category: Post-OotP
Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley
Genres: Drama, Fluff
Warnings: Death, Sexual Situations
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 364
Summary: *** The author has been reminded via the e-mail address on file that this story is listed as incomplete and has not been updated since 2006 ***

**March Dumbledore Silver Trinket Award winner for Best Drama and Best Romance**

Ginny Weasley's excited about starting her first real job after finishing school, except for one small thing: she'll have to face Harry Potter for the first time in over a year. Ginny struggles to deal with feelings she thought she had long put behind her, and with figuring out what really happened between Harry and Ron to fuel Ron's sudden hatred of his ex-best mate. Ginny is forced to make the ultimate decision... true love or family loyalty.
Hitcount: Story Total: 93593; Chapter Total: 4714
Awards: View Trophy Room






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Ginny sat at her vanity in her bedroom at the Burrow. It was the night before her birthday and she was getting ready for a private celebration with Harry after a very busy week. She was going stir crazy from practically being under house arrest, and her limited time with Harry was constantly being interrupted.

It seemed like every night when Ginny arrived in Harry’s flat he was either out with Hermione or Hermione was there. The one night she arrived to find Harry by himself Hermione showed up asking for help while they were having their dinner. Being a mother wasn’t coming as naturally to Hermione as she had assumed. At first, Harry didn’t seem to mind but after a week of interruptions, Ginny could sense he was starting to get annoyed as well.

Ginny was trying her hardest to understand that Hermione was still in the adjustment period, but Hermione wasn’t making it easy for her. It felt like for the first time Hermione really understood the life she had condemned herself to when she decided that Ron would be better off without her. Hermione S also seemed to think that Harry would always be at her back. Ginny was giving her a month to get her life in order before she said something to Hermione about her dependency on Harry.

The good news was that Harry had assured Ginny there would be no interruptions tonight. He said that he had tactfully informed Hermione that he had special plans for the evening for Ginny’s birthday.

Ginny glanced down at her watch; she was supposed to Apparate to Harry’s flat in thirty minutes. He had sent her shopping to buy a nice dress for tonight’s occasion. Fortunately for Ginny, Tonks traded shifts with Michael so Tonks could help her pick something out. Ginny couldn’t imagine shopping with her ex-boyfriend for a special outfit she’d wear to dinner with her current boyfriend.

Things with Harry had been a little tense lately, too, and not just because of Hermione. Harry wasn’t thrilled with Michael being around Ginny all of the time, and being under constant guard himself was also grating on his nerves. To top it off, Harry was upset because practices weren’t going well as they had hoped. Steven had been brought in to replace Dustin, who was still unconscious, but the team didn’t seem to be clicking the way they had before the match with Japan. The team’s next match was against Austria, who pulled off the upset over a talented Mexican team. Austria also had one of the best Seekers, and Harry could feel the pressure on his shoulders.

To make matters worse, the romance had seemed to evaporate out of Harry and Ginny’s relationship. After being caught in such a compromising position by Michael, they were scared to let things get too heated. They knew that there was always an Auror lurking outside the flat and Hermione might pop in without notice at some point during the night. Their nights in bed had literally turned into strictly for Ministry purposes. With each day that passed Ginny looked forward to the World Cup being over more and more so her life could go back to normal.

Ginny glanced down at her watch again: fifteen minutes. She opened her jewelry box and searched for her mother’s old sapphire earrings. Ginny found it hard to believe that a month ago just looking at the earrings could make Ginny break down. She was proud of herself for how far she had come since she had left school. Of course, she did break down, but she was better and happy now. Or at least, she was on her way to being happy.

Ginny touched the bracelet on her wrist. It was her one constant connection with Harry until they could go public with their relationship. She had stopped using it to get to Harry even if she knew he was at his flat after several bad landings, but it was nice to know that they could be with each other if they needed to.

Going public with their relationship was still an issue for Ginny. She still had to tell Ron what was going on and get him to understand. With every day that passed, her guilt from sneaking around increased, especially since Ron had taken over most of her workload without any real explanation why. Between work and Ron’s dates with Padma, Ginny hardly ever saw him. It was hard to arrange for Ron to run into Hermione when Ginny never saw him herself. She just hoped that Hermione would come clean and Ron would apologize to Harry. At least she knew that they had the support of the rest of her family as soon as Ron knew the truth.

Ginny looked down at her watch again and smiled. She could leave for Harry’s. She had left some of her things at his flat so she wouldn’t have to bring a bag every night. Ginny left her room and headed downstairs where she knew her father was reading the paper in the sitting room.

“I’m going over to Harry’s, Dad,” she said when she found him settled on the sofa.

“All right. Have fun tonight, and don’t forget about your plans with us tomorrow night,” Mr. Weasley replied, looking at her over his paper.

“Are you sure you won’t tell me what Ron has planned?” Ginny asked hopefully.

Mr. Weasley chuckled and shook his head. “Sorry, Ron’s sworn me to secrecy. He decided he wanted to plan something, so I’m playing by his rules.”

Ginny sighed. She had found it very odd for Ron to plan a surprise for her birthday. She was more than a little nervous as to what her brother had up his sleeve, but she assured herself that he’d been far too busy lately to really get into too much trouble.

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Night, Dad.”

“Night, Ginny.”

Ginny arrived in what she thought was Harry’s living room. She was surprised to see that the room had been transformed. There was a table off to one side, and the rest of the room had turned into a dance floor. There was a wonderful smell coming from the kitchen and soft music was playing in the background. Ginny couldn’t help but smile; Harry had really gone all out for her birthday.

“Right on time.” Ginny felt Harry’s arms wrap around her waist from behind and she leaned back against him. “Happy Birthday.”

“It’s not my birthday yet,” Ginny replied.

“Close enough. Are you hungry?”

“Famished.”

“Good. I’ve been slaving away in the kitchen all afternoon and I’d hate to think it was for nothing,” Harry replied teasingly.

“You sure are in a good mood,” Ginny said, turning around so she could look at him. He looked very dapper in a black Muggle suit.

Harry shrugged. “I’ve been looking forward to this for awhile. A night for just the two of us; no interruptions. I’ve threatened Tonks within an inch of her life if she finds some reason to come in here tonight.”

“Good.” Ginny was glad that their lack of alone time and privacy had apparently been bothering Harry as much as it had been bothering her. “So, what’s for dinner?”

“Chicken and ham pie, although I dare say it isn’t anywhere near as good as your mum’s.”

Ginny smiled. “I’m sure you did fine.”

“Well, let me show you to your seat.” Harry led Ginny over to the small table and pulled out her chair for her. He took the seat across from her and two steaming plates appeared on the table. “There was a trigger for the food on my chair,” Harry explained.

“It looks delicious.” Ginny picked up her silverware and began to eat her food. She was touched that Harry waited for her to start eating before he did. They ate in silence for a few minutes before Harry spoke up.

“Practice is still going horribly.”

“Any word on Dustin?”

“The Healers say he’s stable, but he’s still showing no signs of waking up. I think that it’s pretty safe to assume he’s out for the rest of the Cup.”

Ginny sighed. “I hate that. I know Beth must be a wreck.”

Harry let out bitter laugh. “I think Perry is taking it the worst. I can’t believe I used to like that man.”

“He’s just very goal-oriented… Not that I’m very fond of him anymore, either.”

“Ron was at the manor today,” Harry said nonchalantly. “I think he was torn between wanting to play with us and wanting to hex me.”

“Hopefully he’ll know the truth soon,” Ginny said sympathetically. “I’m just interested to see what he has up his sleeve for my birthday.”

“Probably going to try and brainwash you against me.”

“Very funny. You should know by now that that can’t be done. We’re celebrating my birthday and I don’t want to hear any more of that negative attitude tonight.”

Harry set down his silverware and looked at her intensely. “Are you done eating?”

“Yes, it was very good.”

Harry stood up from the table and walked over to Ginny’s chair. “May I have this dance?” he asked as he extended his hand to her. Ginny nodded, feeling almost shy all of the sudden and stood up from her chair. Harry led her out onto the dance floor and took her in his arms. They began to gently move with the music, simply enjoying being together. With the flat looking like a ballroom and the slow music playing, Ginny forgot about her worries.

“I want to give you the first part of your birthday present,” Harry spoke up suddenly, never pausing from their dance.

“Just this right now is enough,” Ginny replied softly.

“You’ve done so much for me that I wanted to do something nice for you. Unfortunately, since the press is all over me I couldn’t really go shopping. So when the World Cup is over, I’m going to take you to Paris so you can shop.”

Ginny was so shocked she stopped dancing. “Harry, that’s too much.”

“It’s nothing compared to what you’ve done for me,” he replied. “But that’s only part of it.”

Ginny shook her head. “I couldn’t accept anything else.”

“You can and you will. This second thing doesn’t have any monetary value, but I think it’s something you’ve wanted for a long time.”

Ginny was racking her brain trying to figure out what he could be talking about when she heard an all too familiar pop! behind her. She couldn’t hold in her groan.

“I’m so sorry to interrupt,” Hermione began, “but I’m worried about Lily.”

Ginny turned around and looked at Hermione incredulously. She couldn’t believe that Hermione had the nerve to interrupt them when Harry had talked to her about how special the evening was supposed to be. Before Ginny could say anything, Harry already did.

“Hermione, is she breathing?”

“Well, yes, but…”

“Is she bleeding?”

“Well, no, but…”

“Was she well enough for you to leave her?”

“Well, Mrs. Hooper from next door is staying with her so I could come here…”

“Hermione, I am not a Healer and I know next to nothing about babies. If she were under attack by Death Eaters, then by all means you should come to me for help. But you can’t come here every time she cries or refuses to sleep. You have to figure out how to do this on your own. I can’t always be there for you. You knew that tonight was important to me. I asked you not to come over unless it was an absolute emergency.”

“You’re right,” Hermione said awkwardly. “I shouldn’t have come. Sorry to intrude.” Before Harry or Ginny could say anything else, Hermione Disapparated.

Harry let out a long sigh. “I have to apologize to her later for being so harsh.”

“Honestly, I think you let her off the hook,” Ginny replied.

“She’s going through a hard time right now,” Harry said defensively.

Ginny saw her opportunity to go on the record about how she felt regarding the Hermione situation. “Well, I’m sorry if I don’t feel too sympathetic. She made her own mess and she has to deal with it. She could be raising Lily with Ron right now instead of by herself. She can’t expect you to just fill in like you’re her husband and Lily’s father all of the time.”

“I don’t mind helping her,” Harry insisted.

“I’m sure you don’t,” Ginny said with a shrug. “But she’s taking advantage of you. She decided to move out to start her own family, not so that she could have you to bail her out every time things got hard. If she’s determined that she has to be alone due to that curse, she has to accept that.”

“It sounds like this is something you’ve thought about a lot.”

“Well, I like to think of us having a family some day. I wouldn’t like it if I were at home with our baby and you kept getting called away to be Lily’s father.” Ginny wasn’t sure if she had crossed a line by admitting to Harry that she wanted to have a family with him, but she figured that at this point she might as well be honest about where her feelings were coming from.

“You think about us having kids?” Harry asked.

Ginny nodded. “Somewhere down the line if our lives ever settle down a bit.”

“I do, too,” Harry admitted. “Sometimes the thought of one day starting a family with you is what keeps me sane.”

“What do you mean?” Ginny asked.

Harry took a long breath. “I guess this is getting into the other part of your birthday present.” He paused, leaving Ginny confused, but she knew the best thing to do was let him say what he wanted to say at his own pace. Harry waved his hand and his couch appeared in the middle of the dance floor. “We should probably sit down for this.”

Ginny followed Harry over to the couch and sat down beside him. She noticed he looked nervous so she took one of his hands in her own for support. “Take your time.”

“I guess it all goes back to the meeting I had with Lupin and Dumbledore. They told me they had heard Voldemort was planning to come after me either on my birthday or Halloween. It was that same meeting where Lupin convinced me that if I really liked you I should ask you out.” A small smile crossed Harry’s lips. “He told me I’d be a fool to let a wonderful girl like you slip through my fingers without even knowing how you felt.”

“I always liked Lupin,” Ginny said with a grin. She was trying to keep from getting her hopes up, but it sounded like Harry was finally going to tell her everything that was in his file.

“Dumbledore felt that what I’ve learned from Hogwarts wasn’t enough for me to defeat Voldemort. Sure, I’d had some extra training, but Voldemort was getting stronger all the time. Dumbledore said that the only way to learn some things was through time and life experience, but unfortunately time was not something we had much of. So Dumbledore suggested that we use a very old and rarely known spell that would increase my knowledge in a very short period of time. It was very dangerous, but I agreed. Lupin was against it, he thought that the possible consequences were too dangerous, but I trusted Dumbledore. Now I wish I had listened to Lupin.”

Ginny thought the last comment sounded like it was directed more towards himself than her.

When Harry didn’t speak again Ginny tried to prompt him, “But the information on the timing of his big attack was wrong?”

“Apparently Voldemort purposely fed Snape the wrong information so we would be lulled into a false sense of security. Lupin never trusted Snape; that was why he was against basing all of our plans on Snape’s information. It really was a good plan; we just didn’t have enough time to execute it without invoking the negative consequences.”

“Harry,” Ginny said gently, “I know this is hard for you but you’re still not really telling me anything.”

Harry turned to look her in the eyes and Ginny braced herself for whatever it was he was going to tell her. “How were you in Herbology?”

Needless to say, Ginny was a bit disappointed and frustrated by his question. “I was fine,” she replied, her voice revealing her annoyance.

“Well, one of the most important things you have to know in Herbology is that it takes time and care for a plant to grow and develop. You can’t just plant a seed and then leave it alone and still expect it flourish. You have to tend to it, work with it. Hell, with some magical plants you actually have to spend time with it.”

“I did take the class, Harry,” Ginny said tensely, having no idea where he was going with his ramblings.

“I’m sorry, I bet you can’t see where I’m going with this at all,” Harry replied, letting out a nervous chuckle.

“No, I can’t,” Ginny said. She was trying her hardest to smile, but knowing that she would get to finally learn the truth but she still wasn’t anywhere near it, she found that her patience wavering.

“The problem with the spell Dumbledore suggested was that it needed three to four months to develop properly without possibly putting a serious kink in my magic.”

The reference to Herbology suddenly clicked in Ginny’s head. “You needed time to take care of it like a plant.”

Harry smiled and nodded enthusiastically. “Exactly! We didn’t have the time to develop it properly, so while my magical abilities increased, I also lost a great deal of control over them. If I ever lose control of my emotions, my magic is likely to respond on its own.”

“Like at the party.”

“Right. It can be dangerous if I get too worked up over something stupid.”

“Has it ever been affected by anything other than anger?” Ginny asked.

“A few times right at first, but those emotions tend to be easier to control,” Harry explained. “Actually, at first we didn’t think that anything was wrong at all. My knowledge had increased and there were no visible side effects. We thought that all of the rumors about the side effects weren’t true.”

“Rumors?”

“Well, the spell isn’t actually written down in any text. It’s just passed down from a great wizard to another. I probably shouldn’t have even known of its existence, much less had it performed on me. It hasn’t actually been performed in several generations, but Dumbledore felt that most wizards hadn’t had to face their enemy so young in life. I think that’s where the biggest problem came from–Dumbledore underestimated me. He thought that I was too young to handle what I was destined to do so he wanted to give me the benefits of all his knowledge.”

“He cared too much about you,” Ginny said softly.

“It got him killed.”

“Harry, let’s not go into that again tonight. Everyone who was involved in the war knew what they were getting themselves into.”

Harry closed his eyes briefly. “I’ve learned how to meditate. Every time I feel my emotions starting to get the best of me, I have to think of a place where I’d be happy and relaxed. That’s what I meant earlier when I said that you’ve kept me sane. I’ve always imagined that we were together, with your entire family’s blessing, living a quiet, peaceful life somewhere. That’s my happy place, as corny as it sounds.”

“Oh, Harry,” Ginny said. She kissed him softly. She couldn’t believe that Harry thought things like that. Just hearing that was worth all of the time she waited to find out what was going on.

Harry smiled at her as she pulled back from him. “Don’t distract me with that just yet. I’ve not finished the explanation.” Ginny grinned sheepishly and nodded. “The first time I realized things were wrong was when I started drinking too much. I had spent most of my time before that out of the hospital, and I hadn’t been allowed to use my magic, so I hadn’t noticed the problem. I’d wake up in the morning finding everything in utter chaos, and I’m not just talking about destroying my bedroom. I’d talk to the bartenders and find out that I’d gotten in a fight and sent a number of blokes to the hospital. I was a walking disaster and I didn’t know I was doing any of it.”

“That’s terrible!”

“I know. That’s when I went to Tonks, or better yet, when Tonks came to me. She convinced me that I needed help.”

“And that’s when the Ministry got involved,” Ginny commented.

“Right. When Minister Bones found out what Dumbledore had done, she was livid. She felt that the use of that kind of spell should only be done under Ministry approval. Actually, I’m lucky it was she in charge. Most other people would have tried to use me to their advantage instead of trying to find help for me and keeping things under the utmost security.”

“Harry, not to rush you or anything, but you haven’t actually told me what the spell did yet,” Ginny said hesitantly.

“That’s actually one of the simplest things to explain,” Harry said with a shrug. “When I said that Dumbledore wanted to give me the benefits of all his knowledge, I meant that quite literally. The spell is called the Mentoring Charm. It was developed when great wizards used to take on apprentices. One of them decided he was far too important to waste his time spending years training someone so he developed a charm that would act like a short cut. He became very popular and passed down his knowledge to many young wizards.”

“But you said the charm wasn’t well-known. It sounds like it was used a lot.”

“It was, before they first started noticing that if the charm wasn’t given adequate time to develop there were nasty side effects. The wizard who was performing the charm started doing it so often that he wasn’t spending enough time with the apprentices. The apprentices started losing control of their magic. Some of them even accidentally killed themselves while trying to perform a simple spell. Of course, there were the few occurrences when it actually increased their ability, but they still lost control.”

“Why would Dumbledore want to do something that could be so dangerous to you?” Ginny asked, shocked that it would have even been considered.

Harry sighed. “We thought we had time. Dumbledore trusted Snape’s information and he thought that we had enough time.”

“So what did it actually do?” Ginny asked again.

“It was like it took all of Dumbledore’s knowledge and enclosed it in a little seed. The seed was then planted in my mind.” Ginny’s jaw dropped. “It was like I had lived a lifetime I couldn’t remember. That’s why the training process was so important; I needed the person whose knowledge belonged to pull them to my consciousness.”

Ginny was having a hard time grasping what Harry was telling her. “So you have all of Dumbledore’s knowledge just floating around in your head somewhere?”

“Something like that. The things that I was able to work through with Dumbledore are just like everything else that I know now, but the things that we didn’t work through are just jumbled up in my mind. Sometimes I’ll have these random facts pop up in my head and I’ll have no idea where they came from. Sometimes I’ll perform a simple spell but I won’t be able to. Simply put, I’ve lost control over my magic. If I do a Cheering Charm, I’d end up putting a hole in the wall. I’ve been working with the Ministry so I have better control now, but sometimes if I let my body get too worked up I lose control again.”

“Like when you’re dreaming.”

“Well, we actually think that some of my more violent dreams are actually Dumbledore’s knowledge trying to fight its way out. They think that’s why I have such a strong reaction when I’m drunk; I don’t have control over my body and this knowledge that I don’t actually have a grasp on is able to control me.”

Ginny was left speechless. She didn’t know what she had been expecting, but this definitely wasn’t it. “Wait,” Ginny said suddenly, “So does this mean you have all of Dumbledore’s memories as well?”

Harry shook his head. “The person who performs the charm gets to chose what they want to include in the seed.”

“Oh.” Ginny reached over and gently brushed her hand against Harry’s cheek. “But at least it wasn’t all for nothing. You were able to defeat Voldemort.”

Harry let out a bitter chuckle. “Actually, the only thing the charm did was help me fight longer in the attack on Hogsmeade. When it came down to just him and me, I didn’t end up using anything I learned from Dumbledore. It all came down to what was in me; it came down to what was in my heart.”

Ginny didn’t know how to respond to that. Harry had been put through so much in his life, and now he had lost control of his magic without any real gain? It wasn’t fair. “I still don’t understand why the need for such tight security,” she said finally.

“Do you think people would take well to the fact that I have some of Dumbledore’s greatest secrets locked away inside my mind? If they want me to just fix all of their problems now, what do you think they’d do if they found out about this? And my enemies? They would do anything possible to get the secret of the spell out of me, because I’m the only living wizard who knows how it works. Not to mention they’d probably try to get all of Dumbledore’s knowledge out of me, most likely turning my mind to mush in the process.”

“But if no one even knows about the spell, how would they know about any of this?”

Harry let out a long sigh. “The spell required two people to oversee its performance. The people performing and receiving the spell were the only two people who left with knowledge of how it worked, but there had to be two people there to keep a watch on both participants the whole time the spell was being performed. Lupin watched over me…”

“Snape,” Ginny cut Harry off. “Snape was the other person there. He was the second witness, the one who watched over Dumbledore.” Harry nodded sadly. “And he betrayed you?”

“We don’t know for sure. Dumbledore trusted him, and Snape said he didn’t tell anyone. But somehow Voldemort knew what we had done. He actually tried to possess me again to figure out the secret to how we had done it.”

“Oh my,” Ginny said, collapsing back into the couch. “So anyone could know. Voldemort could have told any of his Death Eaters.”

“We just don’t know.”

“So, for the record, you weren’t having any problems until after Dumbledore died?”

Harry nodded. “Things were going brilliantly until the attack on Hogsmeade. I think I started having some side effects after the battle, but I didn’t realize it at the time. Dumbledore was just impressed that I had been able to pull forward some of his knowledge that we hadn’t gone over yet. We didn’t realize that it was a bad thing.”

“But you just conjured this couch out of thin air without a wand,” Ginny pointed out.

“Conjuring is one of the things I’ve been good at since it all happened. I think it’s because I went through it with Dumbledore right after we performed the spell just to make sure everything was still functioning properly. In doing so we cemented its place in my mind, keeping it separate from all of his knowledge. Unlocking spells, on the other hand, are something I didn’t try again until after Dumbledore had died. My first attempt sent the door flying into me and knocked me down the stairs.”

Ginny’s mind went back to when she and Harry had been locked together in his bathroom. “It just seems so funny to think that you can’t just do everyday spells anymore.”

“Tell me about it,” Harry replied. “It’s a good thing I was raised as a Muggle. Otherwise, I’d be struggling to live right now. That’s one of the reasons I live in a Muggle neighborhood.”

“So, this is what’s in your file that you couldn’t tell me about,” Ginny mused, leaning against Harry. She was fighting the urge to freak out over this bit of knowledge, but she knew it was taking a lot out of Harry to tell her and she didn’t think he would appreciate her freaking out very much.

“Yeah, this is my big secret. I got those letters back from you and Ron right at my lowest point. I cracked. I knew I needed to get myself together before I could ever expect to face either one of you again. Tonks took me to the Ministry, and everyone decided that playing Quidditch would be my best choice. It took a lot of work, but I finally got myself functioning on a somewhat normal scale again. If it hadn’t been for Tonks and Hermione, I don’t know what I would have done.”

“Which is why you feel like you have to help Hermione every time she asks,” Ginny said gently. “You think you owe her.”

“Well, I do.”

“But Harry, things would be so different if she had just told Ron the truth. Obviously you had your own problems to deal with at the time.”

“She had a lot to deal with, too.”

“Harry, you keep taking up for her! We all had a lot to deal with! Do you think it was harder for her to lose her parents than it was for us to lose Mum, Bill, and Percy? Does she deserve special treatment forever because she was hit with a terrible curse? At least she got to live!” Ginny knew she was crying now, but she couldn’t stop her tears.

Harry pulled her close in his arms and rubbed her back. “I’m sorry; I know she wasn’t the only one to go through a hard time. But she was like me; neither one of us had a family to turn to.”

“We were your family, Harry! Hermione was the one that took that away from you!”

“Ginny, you have to accept that Ron is just as guilty as Hermione,” Harry said gently.

Ginny brought a hand up to wipe her face. “I know he is.”

“She still loves him.”

“He’s fighting loving her with all his might. I’m not going to push it beyond just getting them talking again, though; he seems happy now with Padma.”

“Hermione has to accept the consequences of her actions.”

“I thought they would be together forever,” Ginny admitted.

“So did I, Gin. So did I.”

Ginny leaned over and kissed Harry softly. “Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me this.”

“Thank you for putting up with me.” Harry was looking deep into Ginny’s eyes, as if he were searching for something. “Ginny, I… well, I mean, I just wanted to tell you that…” Harry’s voice trailed off and he took a visible gulp of air. “I, um, I want a cup of tea,” he finished very quickly. Harry jumped up from the couch, leaving a stunned Ginny behind him.

Was he just about to say what I think he was going to say? Ginny asked herself, still in shock. She stood up from the couch and followed Harry to the kitchen. She was halfway there where Harry came back out of the kitchen. He had a determined look on his face as he strode over to where Ginny now was frozen in place. He grabbed her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. There was something there in that endless pool of green Ginny had never seen before.

“Ginny Weasley, I love you,” Harry said before crushing his lips against hers. Ginny could barely respond to his kiss, she was so surprised. She felt him lower his hands to her waist, but before he could pull her close she pulled away from him. Harry’s cheeks immediately turned bright red and he dropped his gaze to the floor.

“What did you think you were doing?” Ginny asked, trying to keep the amusement out of her voice.

“I’m sorry, I just couldn’t hold it in any longer,” Harry replied dejectedly. “I understand if you don’t feel the same way.”

Ginny took Harry’s face in her hands and made him look at her. “I meant, what did you think you were doing, telling me you love me and then kissing me before I could tell you that I love you?”

Something sparked in Harry’s eyes. “What?”

“I love you, you big oaf!” Ginny said, laughing. A wide grin broke across Harry’s face and he picked Ginny up off the floor and spun her around. He finally put her down and kissed her again.

“I never thought I’d actually live to hear you say that to me,” Harry said in between kisses.

“I never thought I’d live to hear you say it, either,” Ginny replied with a giggle. Suddenly, all of her problems didn’t seem to matter much. Harry loved her. Harry loved her!

Ginny felt as light as the air. She felt like she could fly as long as Harry never stopped kissing her. She felt like his hands were everywhere at once. Just the feel of his skin against hers was enough to send her into ecstasy. Ginny suddenly realized that there was a breeze in the room and she was feeling oddly exposed.

“Oh shit,” Harry muttered, pulling away from her. “I am so sorry.”

Ginny’s face was bright pink. She was standing in the middle of Harry’s living room wearing nothing but her bra, knickers, and high-heeled shoes. She quickly brought her arms up to try to cover herself as Harry turned around so his back was to her.

“Where did my dress go?” Ginny asked as she searched the room for something to cover herself with.

“I think I accidentally Banished it,” Harry admitted.

Ginny couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. “Well, if you hadn’t paid for it I would be very cross at you for losing my new dress.”

Harry joined in her laughter. “I guess I’ve found another emotion that’s as hard to control as anger.”

“Love,” Ginny said softly. “I have to say I like this one more than anger. Now be a good boy and stay there while I put something on.” Ginny giggled again as she hurried to Harry’s bedroom where her things were. She was having an internal debate whether or not she had overreacted to Harry Banishing her dress. On the one hand, it definitely showed how much Harry loved her to have that kind of a reaction, but she was definitely still not quite ready to move to that step in their relationship. She may have loved Harry for most of her life, but she was still very inexperienced and didn’t feel the need to rush things. She was actually really enjoying their current pace.

Ginny changed into an old, oversized t-shirt and a pair of cotton shorts and walked back out into the hall. She could see that Harry had changed the room back into its original state. He was sitting on the couch, staring at a painting on the wall.

“Now, that had to have been a lot of magic you used to change this room,” Ginny commented, sitting down beside him.

“Well, Tonks helped me set it up. All I actually had to do was cancel the spells that she used. Not that big of a deal.” Harry paused and took her hand. “I really am sorry about your dress. I know we agreed to slow things down a bit.”

Ginny smiled at him warmly. “Don’t worry about it. If Banishing my dress means you love me, all you have to worry about is replacing my wardrobe. I don’t think anything could bring me down right now.”

“I do love you. I don’t think I ever stopped loving you. I just tried to push it away because I thought I had lost my only chance with you.”

“I never stopped loving you, either. I think it just became clouded by my anger.”

“This just feels so right,” Harry said. “I wish I hadn’t been too scared and stupid to figure this out sooner. What kind of an idiot doesn’t realize he’s in love with his best friend until after she stops speaking to him?”

“You considered me your best friend?” Ginny asked. To her, that was big news. She never knew he considered her to be his closest friend over Ron and Hermione.

“Well, yeah,” Harry said with a shrug. “I mean, Ron and Hermione were so wrapped up in each other, trying to figure out their relationship, that I really began to depend on you. I even preferred your company over theirs. I just didn’t realize why until later. They were always there for me, but you were there for me in a completely different way.”

“That means a lot to me.”

“Would you rather have me telling you that you were my best friend instead of that I loved you?” Harry asked teasingly.

“I’m glad you told me both,” Ginny replied with a chuckle. “Now, let’s go to bed. I’m tired.”

“Are you sure you’re ready for bed?” Harry asked, pulling her close.

Ginny felt a shiver go down her spine. “Well, when you put it that way…”

It was over an hour later that they finally made it to bed. Ginny drifted off to sleep that night with images of Harry and little raven-haired children dancing through her head.
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