Disclaimer: Don't owe, don't sue.
Just as a note of warning, this has not been read by betas, so please overlook any possible mistakes. I'm not at all happy with the way things went in this, but I wanted to post before I left on vacation on Sunday. Expect the next instalment in about 12 hours ^_^'.
Anyway, this was my attempt at showing how people who no longer love each other end up going their own way…and it's not very pretty.
Happy Ever After
Chapter 2: Strangers separating
Harry sighed as he stepped through the door of the cabin he'd rented for the weekend--on Hermione's suggestion. They'd only been here a few short hours, and Ginny was already becoming disagreeable. He still didn't know what he'd done wrong this time. He was about to call out to tell her he was back, but he sighted her before he could, kneeling in front of the hearth with her head hidden behind a curtain of green flames, her hands beating the ground and making rather infuriated images. What was she so roused up about?
Thinking that he needed to find out, he pulled an extendable ear from his pocket and threw it expertly in the flames, in a corner where it would very likely not be seen.
"--the whole thing seemed so promising you know?" he heard his girlfriend explaining in a very exasperated tone. "A vacation just the two of us in an isolated place, but instead of being romantic, what does he do? He asks if I want to go take a walk with him to explore the area!" Harry stared at Ginny's hands hammering on the floor. What? Was that why she was mad? Because he'd suggested they go explore?
"Ginny," he heard a familiar voice sigh in return. A voice that perked the little dormant monster right up. Hermione. Great, Ginny was talking to Hermione. Just what he needed. "Didn't you think Harry was trying to be romantic? You know how he loves any kind of adventure, right? He did become an Auror after all. Don't you see that he was trying to share that with you? Of have fun with you?" Merlin, she knew him so well!
"I don't care, Hermione!" She replied viciously. "I'm tired of waiting, I want him to propose and I want him to do it quickly!" Harry held back an irritated growl, that the beast inside him didn't bother hiding.
For a moment there was silence, and, finally, Hermione asked, with a little suspicion in her voice, "Why are you so anxious for this?"
"Because, Hermione!" she exclaimed as though it were obvious. "I've been his girlfriend long enough! I want to be his wife, now, I should be already! I thought he was going to pop the question right after the war, and instead it's been years, and we're not even living together!"
"Ginny! Haven't you thought about what Harry might be feeling at all?" Hermione's voice was rising quickly, her already short patience broken. "Didn't you stop to think once that maybe he doesn't fell ready, or that he wants to consider this a little more thoroughly? You're talking about marriage, you know, it's something serious. Maybe he doesn't want to rush into it! And you, sitting there, getting mad at him for it is not going to speed this up! He hates when people push him into things, you know that! Look at what you're doing! If you stopped pestering him for one minute about it maybe he'd eventually ask you on his own, but your insistence is only making things worse! You should know all this; you've been his girlfriend for five years now!" The last had been shouted, and it seemed to stun Ginny.
He could have kissed Hermione.
"Did he tell you this?" Ginny finally asked, some venom coming through in her voice.
"He didn't need to," Hermione's tone was clipped, and a little accusing. "Everywhere he goes there are people asking him when he'll ask you, and it's really grating on his nerves."
"Who told you that lie!" the redhead sounded outraged.
"Nobody told me!" oh, she was genuinely angry now. "And I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes!"
"Oh, yeah, and when did you see this?"
"Just the other day!" Hermione yelled. "I brought some things to Harry's floor and I saw three people, including Neville Longbottom, asking him when he was--and I quote--'going to make an honest woman' of you! And each time Harry got more irritated. He practically slammed the door in Neville's face! And you should know Harry hardly ever closes that door to begin with!" Which was true, he found that people from other departments liked to pop in, while often giving information they shouldn't, if he made himself easy to find.
"Oh," Ginny's voice was small now, which irritated Harry more than her shouts. 'Oh,' indeed! It seemed to have the same effect on Hermione, who gave a loud and angry sounding growl, before taking a deep breath and calming herself. "But…"
"But what?" Hermione did not seem softened by Ginny's tone.
"I just want to have him mine," she admitted, whining slightly.
"He already is yours! You're the only creature he's even recognized as female in the last six years!" That was definitely not true, thought Harry, but maybe it was better if they both thought that.
"That's not what I mean, Hermione!" Ginny sounded exasperated, as though she thought that the cleverest witch of their age was really quite dumb, while Hermione sighed, as though she'd understood perfectly well what was being discussed.
"Look, Ginny, you've got to understand, this is not about you. It's about the both of you. Pressuring Harry will only put him farther away from you, but if you really can't wait...well, you should think about this a little more on your own."
"What are you saying?"
Again, Hermione sighed. "Nothing, just that you should take into consideration everything. Harry's wonderful, and he really does care about you. If you care more about marriage than you do for him, well, then that's a problem you're going to have workout yourself, because I have no wish of taking part in his heartache, and he's already stressed out enough about this."
Ginny's voice was poison again. "You just want him for yourself; don't think I didn't see it. My brother's not enough for you anymore, is he? You've had enough of the sidekick, now you want the hero, don't you?"
"Think what you want," Hermione's voice was irritated again. "But if you want a piece of advice, don't say that to Harry's face."
"What, afraid he'll pick me over you, like he will?" He'd never heard such a tone on Ginny's voice before. Dumbledore's beard, she sounded almost like Malfoy gloating! Was that what the whole `I want him to be mine' was about. He was really starting to think he didn't want to be anymore.
"Ginny, I'm really sad for you if you don't even understand what I'm saying," she sighed again. "If you force Harry to choose, he won't, because you'll have made the choice for you, and, in any case, that's not what I was saying."
"Oh, really? And what were you saying?"
"Just that if you tell Harry that he's only a hero, he'll understand that you don't deserve him. Goodbye Ginny," and with that the green flames dispersed. He had just enough time to retract the Extendable Ear and lie down on the bed, exhausted, before his so-called girlfriend stood straight and noticed him.
"Harry!" Her tone was not only startled, but a little scared. "When did you get back?"
He threw an arm over his eyes so that he wouldn't need to look at her. "Just a few minutes ago," he told her, though he did think it was a few minutes too long. When had Ginny become someone that he didn't recognize anymore? Her sigh of relief almost roused his anger. "So," he tried nonchalance, "who were you talking to?"
"Oh, just Hermione," he really didn't like the tone with which he said her name. They were supposed to friends, for Merlin's sake, when did things change so drastically? "She wanted to know how we liked the place."
He looked at her, raising an eyebrow. She hadn't seemed to like it much when he asked her to take a walk. "What did you tell her?"
She shrugged. "That it was pretty boring actually." Ginny had always been the life of the party, as she liked to be.
"I like it. The villages around here are really nice, and there's this big market not far away that I thought you might have liked," not that it mattered now anyway, and before he could stop himself, he found that his mouth was working on his own, pronouncing the words, "it could be great for a honeymoon." He wanted to slap himself, but Ginny seemed to perk up at this, as though he'd just told her there was going to be one.
"Well, I always thought maybe Paris, but Rio would be very exotic wouldn't it?" She asked, laying down next to him and playing with his hair. He wasn't able to suppress the wave of repulsion that overtook him. When had she had that effect on him?
He thanked whatever gods were on him that day, however, when, right that second, the fireplace roared back to life, the face of Kingsley Shacklebolt, head of the Auror Division, floated among green flames. "Harry, finally, I found you! I've been flooing for almost twenty minutes now!"
Getting up from the bed quickly he kneeled before the hearth, "You could have owled," he said half heartedly. He was really glad for the interruption.
"No, it wouldn't have reached you on time. I need you here in one hour!"
"Why, what's going on?" Oh, this was too good. An excuse to escape!
"I've got Morgan Phlips in the interrogation room," Kingsley said as the only explanation.
"That's fantastic!" Harry said excitedly. He'd been trying to catch the 'Muggle Hunter' for months now. "How'd you do it?"
"He turned himself in, but you need to get here right away, he said he'll only talk to you, and if you're not here within the hour those blasted criminal defence laws will let him out," the dark man said quickly.
"Right, I'll be right there, let me just get my stuff and I'll Apparate," and with that the communication was over, the flames dying for a second time. He grabbed the duffel bag that he'd brought for the trip, throwing on the bed, just in time to catch Ginny giving him an angry annoyed glare. "Sorry, Gin," he said quickly, "I'll try to be back quickly."
"Sure you will," she responded gruffly. "Tell me, Harry, how did they know how to reach you?" She had her arms crossed over her chest, for the world looking like he'd faulted her.
"I always have to let the office know where I'll be if I'm out of town, in case of emergencies, you know that," and she did, more than once he'd had to leave in the middle of one of their dates to fly off and catch some felon, yet it never bothered her more than expected.
"Harry there weren't supposed to be any interruptions to our weekend!" She told him greatly irate.
He sighed. She was overreacting quite too much, really. "Look, we'll talk about this when I get back, right now I don't have time."
"Don't have TIME!" she screeched. "I am your girlfriend; you have to make time for me!"
Harry looked at her, surprised by her outburst. He held his tongue for fear of saying something that could not be taken back in a delicate moment. "I'll see you later, Ginny," and with that he Disapparated, hoping that when he did, a better scene would be awaiting him.
°*°*°
He returned over six hours later, and the scene was just as bad as it had been before. When he'd first stepped into the cottage, he thought she might have been asleep, all the lights were off and there wasn't a sound to be heard in there, yet, the second he went to put the remaining things he'd brought along for the trip into the duffel bag her voice startled him out of nowhere.
"Where are you going?" Startled he drew his wand, lit it, and took a defensive stance. She was sitting on the bed, still with her arms crossed like she'd had them before, looking like she hadn't budged in the last six hours. Using a non verbal spell he lit the cottage and lowered his wand, though the defensive stance remained.
"I've been assigned a new mission," he explained. "I can't give you any details, you know that. I have to leave right away, but I should only be gone a few weeks," he expected her to be upset; she generally was in these cases.
"A FEW WEEKS?!" She screeched.
He nodded, not feeling very sympathetic. "No more than three, I've been gone for longer periods." He had, his longest being six months.
"Will you write?" She asked in a clipped tone.
He blinked at her. She'd never asked that before. "You know I can't."
"Why not?"
What was wrong with her? "Because it's a covert operation, I can't give away our position by sending owls."
"Well, then how will I know you're alright?" Now she sounded angry.
"Er-" Harry was really starting to get confused. "What?"
"How will I know if you're alright? Will someone come and tell me that something's happened to you?" Her voice was rising now.
"Er-"
"Someone would if we were married! I'd be the first to know because I would be your wife, but I'm not, so I won't know."
Harry suddenly felt very aggravated. That was what she was getting at, a new angle from which to pressure him. "If something happened to me you would be the first person to know. You're the first person on my list of contacts in case of emergencies, and you know that, you've already been contacted several times when I ended up in St. Mungo's."
She blushed, as though she'd just realized what a weak excuse she'd given.
"Harry, I want you to ask me to marry you!" She finally said, deciding to use the straightforward approach, the only one she had not tried.
"What?!" Harry asked, more than slightly upset.
"You heard me, Harry, I've waited for you too long already, and I won't wait a second longer. I don't care if you don't have a ring ready, we can buy that together later, but I want you to ask me, and I want you to ask me, now!" She shouted, standing up from the bed and stomping her feet, for the world of her looking like a capricious child. Harry looked at her, wondering when things had become different from what he knew them as, and turned his back on her, beginning to gather the things he'd come for.
"What are you doing?" She asked angrily from behind him.
"I'm getting the protective items I left here," he replied, his voice void of expression.
"What protective items?" She watched as Harry took several things that she had never seen from hidden corners, the only one she recognized being a Sneak-o-scope.
"The ones I placed around the cottage," again, his tone was empty.
"What for?"
At that, Harry stopped, and turned around to look at her. "What?" He was angered and outraged, and he spoke in a manner that was nearly menacing. "What do you mean, `what for'!? Did you forget who I am Ginny?"
"No, of course not!"
"Then why are you asking me what these are for? You should know. How many times did you hear one of them go off when in my house, or even Ron's or Hermione's?"
"What do they have to do with anything?"
Harry chuckle was dark and it scared her enough to make her back down a step. "They have a lot to do with it, Ginny. They were there. They helped me destroy the Horcruxes. They helped me get to Voldemort so that I could kill. They are the ones that, like me, still get chased by his followers. They are the ones that, like me, risk their lives every time they go outside and have to protect everyplace they go to. And if you want to know, you are the one that has nothing to do with it," and he turned back to his packing, his movements chopped and angered.
"What are you saying?"
Harry shook his head, not even bothering to look at her anymore. "You tell me you want me to propose, Ginny, but what will happen if I do?"
She furrowed her eyebrows. "We'll get married, live together, and maybe raise a few kids," she told him simply, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Again, he shook his head. "No, Ginny. If we get married, my address will change, and we will live together, but it won't feel like it to you. I'll always be away, I'll come back home late every night, and people will want to hurt you, just because you're married to me, and let me tell you something. Riddle's diary will look like a stroll in the park compared to them. You have no idea what kind of scum is after me, and they will come after you."
"They never have so far!" She told him loudly, as though she thought he was only giving her an excuse.
"Oh, yes, they have Ginny, they just haven't been able to get you, I made sure of that," at her surprised face, he gave her a sick smile. "Yeah, didn't you notice? Your office, your home, the Burrow are all thick with protective spells that Ron and Hermione helped me put there, and, when I can't, they keep watch over you. We've been protecting you for five years and you never even noticed, which is fine because that was how I wanted it."
"So what?" Her tone was defiant. She'd wanted him to propose for years, she'd dreamed of it since she'd been a child, those trivial matters would not stop her from getting her wish.
"So, Ginny," Harry turned to her, his facial muscles drawn as though he were trying to hold back from bodily harm, "did you ever, in all your years of daydreaming about it, what it would actually be like to be married to me?"
She never had. All her fantasies went as far as the wedding ceremony, some pushed as far the honeymoon, but nothing beyond that. Giving her a sharp look, he turned for the door.
"Harry, if you want to marry me, you'd better propose now."
He laughed. He guessed she thought it was a threat. "Or what, Ginny?"
He saw her narrowing her eyes at him in anger. "I won't wait anymore, Harry. Either you propose, or I'll leave."
Harry sighed, staring at her. "No, Ginny, in case you haven't noticed, I'm the one who's leaving, and you were never really in it to begin with."
He was about to exit the cottage, but was stopped by her outraged screech of shock. "Are YOU breaking up with ME!? You can't do that!"
He gave her one last sad look. "I just have. Goodbye Ginny."
The resounding pop of his Apparition echoed for a few seconds in the empty cottage, and was then filled with Harry Potter's ex-girlfriend's scream of outrage.
To be continued.
Do not worry people, the fluffy romance, and the end, will come soon. Reviews are always appreciated, thank you
Pearl Drop Angel
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