The Breakup
Chapter 7
The Breakup
"Harry," Ginny started. "You need to get ready. We're supposed to be at Seamus' pub at half seven. "
"I wasn't planning on going to Seamus' tonight, Gin." Harry replied. "I was planning on listening to the Harpies game on the wireless. Remember what we talked about?"
"Please go with me, Harry," begged Ginny. "Everyone will be there. It won't appear that we're together. Seamus will have the game on there. It's been a dreadful day. I just need to get out."
"Alright, alright," Harry smiled. "I'll be ready. Just let me get cleaned up."
While Harry was showering, he wondered what the night would bring. The Dark Wizards had been laying low for too long. He hoped that they'd be content with that for one more night.
"Ready?" Ginny asked as he came from the bedroom.
"Can we talk about this some more?" he asked. "I'm nervous about people seeing us together and risking your safety."
"Harry, please don't start this again. If you are nervous, stay home. I'll be going and I'll be fine."
"Just let me check in at the office, first. I can meet you there. That'll give more of an impression that we aren't together." Harry offered.
"Whatever." Ginny sighed. She allowed him to kiss her cheek and then disapparated.
An hour later, Harry arrived at the pub. The match was just starting on the wireless.
"Harry!" shouted Seamus over the din in the pub. "What're you doing here?"
"I'm meeting…er…some friends." He screamed back. He couldn't believe what he'd almost said, in a loud voice, in a crowded pub. THIS was why he didn't want to go out with her. THIS was what he was afraid of happening and it almost had, because of him. He didn't know what he'd do if he slipped and she was hurt because of a stupid mistake.
He found Ginny in the back in a group of people, most of whom he didn't know very well.
"Harry!" Ginny called as she launched herself at him.
"Er…Hey, Ginny" Harry said as he backed off from what would surely be a public display. He could smell the alcohol on her breath already.
You're sposed t'be here a loooooong time ago." Ginny slurred.
"Sorry," he answered. "I got held up."
"Well, you're here now."
"That I am." he responded.
"Ginny, baby, come sit back down" a young wizard leered at Ginny.
"Maybe I'd better not be here." said Harry as he forced down his anger.
"Pish posh!" exclaimed Ginny, leading Harry back to the table. "Everyone, Harry's decided to join us."
The group gasped when they realized who was joining them. A cacophony of voices made excuses and made their way from the table, leaving Ginny and Harry alone in the back of the pub.
Ginny giggled drunkenly. "You sure know how to clear a room sweetie." she said.
By now whispers were all over the pub the Famous Harry Potter, Defeater of Dark Wizards was in their midst. Faces were staring at him unashamedly. Harry tried to pay it no heed. He found it difficult.
"Oi! Harry! What's your poison?" shouted Seamus from across the bar.
"Just a butterbeer," replied Harry.
Seamus came over with the beverage and sat down with Harry. Ginny got up and went back over to her friends.
"Sorry about that, Harry. They mean no disrespect."
"I know. I just wish…I don't know what I wish, come to that." he responded sadly. "I think I'll just finish this," indicating the butterbeer, "and head back home."
With that Seamus picked up the empty glasses off the table and carried them back to the bar. Harry found Ginny. It wasn't difficult. The crowd seemed to part whichever way he walked. He felt annoyed about it. It didn't help his mood to see a wizard draped over his girlfriend.
"I'm leaving." he said sharply.
"You just got here! You can't go yet!" Ginny shot back.
"You seem to be well in hand." he said to her.
"You're jealous!" Ginny laughed.
"This is not the time or the place." Harry growled. "Come by if you want." he added more gently. "I think we need to talk."
Ginny shrugged and wobbled back to her group. Harry left.
Around half past one, Harry heard a knock on the door. With wand raised, he opened it.
"Hiya, Harry." Ron said, entering and carrying an inebriated Ginny over his shoulder.
"Can't you put a lead on your girlfriend?" he asked dumping his sister unceremoniously on the bed in the guest bedroom off the living room. "This is getting to be a habit of hers. I can't take her home like this. Mum would go spare!"
Harry groaned.
Ron went on, "I thought you were going with her tonight. What happened?"
At that, Harry lost his barely controlled temper. "What happened? I'll tell you what happened. I get to the pub, right? I find her and she's already pissed. This bloke is all over her. I can't react, can I? I can't tell him to take his filthy hands off of her because no one is to know we are together. I know she's just trying to draw attention away from us, but I can't just watch that. I can't! Everyone at the pub stares at me like I'm some kind of freak, watching to see if some new Dark Lord is going to challenge me to a duel or maybe I'm going to lose it and start A-K'ing everyone in the place. I just can't take it, Ron. I just…" He picked up a vase and threw it hard against the fireplace. He heard a satisfying shatter of glass.
"Easy, mate." Ron said as he laid a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder. Just then a Floo call came into the fireplace.
"Potter! Are you there?" asked Kingsley Shacklebolt loudly.
"I'm here." said a resigned Harry. He knew he was being called for a raid. In his present state of mind, he knew he shouldn't trust himself on a raid.
"Roll call is in forty-five minutes. Can I count on you?" Shacklebolt asked.
Harry sighed audibly. "I'll be there." he said in a resigned tone. "Listen, Ron. I've got to go. Did you want to stay here and keep an eye on her?"
"I would, mate," Ron explained, "but I've got to…er…do stuff. Let me see if Hermione is out with Blaise. Maybe they can do it."
Harry was just leaving when Hermione apparated into the kitchen. "Hey, thanks for this. I owe you."
She gave him a quick friendly hug. "Just be careful, Harry, please. And hurry back. I hear Ginny gets grumpy with a hangover."
"You don't even know." Harry sighed then he apparated away.
Harry arrived home early the next morning exhausted and disconsolate. The raid went well. Several Dark Wizards had been apprehended; however it seemed to Harry that whenever they locked one up, another was ready to fill his place.
"Oh. You're home," Ginny yawned. "What happened to you last night? You said you'd come."
"Please let's not get into this right now." Harry pleaded. "I've been up all night and I'm not in the mood for a row."
"What are you in the mood for?" Ginny teased.
Harry sighed. "Just sleep."
Ginny frowned. She wrapped her arms around Harry's neck. "I missed you last night. I hate sleeping in your guest room all alone. It makes me feel so…unwelcome."
"You are welcome anytime, Ginny. You know that. I'm not sure you knew you were alone, though. You were pretty pissed."
"I was not drunk!" Ginny exclaimed.
"If you say so." Harry said with an almost sad chuckle.
"What's wrong, Harry? Have I made you angry?"
"Not angry, no." replied Harry. "You really want to talk about this now, do you?"
"I'd like to clear the air before I leave. I need to look for a position. You're so lucky. You've always known what you wanted to do. Your life is so perfect. I wish…"
"PERFECT?" Harry sputtered. "What do you know about it?"
"I know plenty!" Ginny shot back. "You never have to worry about how much you spend. You never worry about what to wear, what you look like. You were offered a stack of jobs after school. You could take your pick! You don't care what people think about you. You are above all this. It's actually freakish. 'The Great Harry Potter' and all of that rubbish. People bend over backwards for you and you can't trouble yourself to even show up."
"If you are meaning yourself, then I'd be careful, if I were you. I knew you were 'bending over', the part I question is if it was for me." Harry said angrily.
"Don't be crude, Harry. What are you on about?"
"I stopped by work, and then went to Seamus'. You were in the back with your friends. They left when I joined in. You went with them. Who was the bloke with his hand on your arse, anyway?"
"What bloke? With his what? Oh. That must have been Ian. I only pretend to be interested in him, for your sake. You don't want anyone to know we're going out, so he pretends to be interested," said Ginny accusingly.
"I don't like it. I don't like it at all." Harry replied.
"I want to go out. I want adventures. I want to make a name for myself. I can't do that sitting here all of the time. It's the same as sitting at the Burrow. It's dead boring."
"I think I've earned my share of boredom, thank you very much." Harry retorted.
"I know you have. You've had an exciting life. You still have an exciting job. I want that for myself. I want to be more than the Assistant Minister's daughter."
"Maybe we want different things." said Harry.
"Are we breaking up?" asked Ginny plaintively.
"It appears so." said Harry. "Can you see an alternative? We're only making each other miserable."
He tried talking to her for an hour more, attempting to make her see his point of view, as well as see hers. Every thing he had came with a terrible price. He wasn't sure if it was all worth it.
"I wish it could've been different," offered Ginny.
"See?" Harry said with a small smile. "I don't get everything I want."
Ginny smiled back sadly. "I'll let you get to bed. I'll see you around, Harry."
Ginny left and Harry trudged up to bed. When he awoke it was nearly noon. He took his tea out to the balcony, as was his habit. He looked out over the city and pondered his broken relationship. "Maybe I am boring," he thought. "Maybe I'm better off alone." He heard a Floo call in the other room and ignored it. He never let anything disturb his morning tea. He reserved this time for introspection and decision-making. The newspaper could wait. Floo calls could wait. Voldemort, himself, would have had to wait, if he were still alive.
Harry heard a *pop* of a guest apparating into his kitchen. He ignored that, too.
"Harry? Are you here?" It was Hermione. If she found him, he'd talk to her, but he didn't make his presence known.
"There you are." she said at last. "I knew I'd find you out here. So, what major tribulations are we solving today?"
Harry snorted in reply.
"Ginny came by to see me. Are you okay?" she asked softly.
"I'm fine." he said in reply.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked.
"Nothing to talk about, really." he replied.
"Don't give me that rubbish." Hermione said. "I know you're hurting. What can I do?"
"It's no big deal." Harry stated. "Relationships fail everyday. I am no different."
"It is a big deal. What you are feeling is entirely normal. I've been there."
"I don't want to talk about this, Hermione. Please, just let it go."
"Can I ask what happened?" she asked laying a hand on his shoulder.
"According to Miss Weasley, I am a boring freak. She's called me that twice now, you know. That seems to be a general consensus. She wants excitement and I can't provide her that. I only wanted to keep her safe. I only wanted to protect her."
"I'm sure she knows that. And I'm also sure she doesn't fully know your childhood history. If she did, I'm sure she never would have said those things."
"The words don't matter. The meaning behind them does." he said sadly.
"Do you have work today?" Hermione asked.
"No, I worked until six this morning. I'm not on again until my trip to Romania on Friday."
"Oooh, Romania in the winter sounds exciting, in a frigid sort of way."
Harry laughed quietly. "Really! Why can't the Death Eaters just wait until it's nice outside? And why Romania? At least I can drop in on Charlie while I'm there."
"How long are you gone?"
"Ten days. It couldn't have come at a better time, though. It's a good time to get away."
"Want me to watch Hedwig while you're gone?"
"That'd be great. She likes staying with you better than Ron. Pig seems to annoy her."
"Who doesn't Pigwidgeon annoy?" laughed Hermione.
"How is Blaise?" Harry asked.
"He's fine." she responded. "He makes me content."
Harry pulled her into a soft hug. "I'm glad," he said. "You deserve it."
A guilty look fleetingly crossed Hermione's face. Harry wondered what that was about, but kept silent. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked him.
"I'll be fine." he answered.