*sobs uncontrollably* This is the last installment of A Touching Romance, everyone. It seems really strange to give this to you, knowing I can't post anything any more. I guess I just need to throw myself into something else. You haven't seen the last of me, obviously. I'm coming back with a great and terrible vengeance!
What exactly am I vengeance-ing?
A Touching Romance
Chapter 13 ~ An end to it all
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Harry stood, curled fist extended, in front of Ginny's bedroom door. Breakfast had long since been eaten, and Ginny had retired to finish up some homework. Harry had spent a few hours playing chess against Ron and Hermione, who always managed to slaughter him.
Now he was silently steeling himself for the painful encounter he was just about to have. Hermione had left him a few moments before after giving an extremely encouraging pep-talk, but he still wasn't sure he was quite ready to talk to Ginny.
Just do it, he told himself. With a deep breath, he knocked softly on the door.
"Just a moment!" called Ginny's voice from inside. Harry waited impatiently, his insides squirming unpleasantly.
Ginny opened the door and peered out. Her face lit up when she saw Harry standing there. "Oh, it's you!" she said, smiling. "I was hoping you'd come up so we could have some alone time."
"Yeah, great," said Harry absently. "Listen, can we talk?"
Ginny looked surprised. "Okay," she said. "Come in." She moved out of the way, and Harry stepped over the threshold and took a seat on her bed. She sat beside him, uncomfortably close.
"What's wrong, Harry?" she asked, reaching out for his hand.
Quickly, Harry snatched his hand back. Don't be stupid, he instructed himself sternly. "I have some things I really need to discuss with you," he told her, trying to look her in the eye, as Hermione had advised.
Ginny nodded. "Yeah, I've got a few things to say, too," she replied.
Inwardly, Harry felt a little relieved. Ginny must have noticed that something was going on. "You first, then," he said.
"I'm really glad you're here, Harry," she said, smiling fondly. "I know you can't have enjoyed being at Hogwarts all alone all that time."
"I wasn't alone," Harry said forcefully. "Hermione was with me."
Ginny smiled indulgently. "Well, alright," she said, still looking at him with an infuriatingly knowing look. "But we both know that you couldn't have had a good time with her."
"Hermione is my best friend, Ginny!" said Harry furiously. "The only person I've been friends with longer is Ron."
Ginny looked affronted. "Well, you don't have to get to tetchy!" she cried. "I just thought that maybe you would have liked to spend Christmas break with your girlfriend!"
Harry scooted away from her quickly. "Right, that's what we have to talk about," he said then. He stood up and began pacing the length of the room, unable to bear Ginny's closeness any longer.
"What do you mean, Harry?" Ginny asked worriedly. "Is something wrong between us?"
Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "You know I love you very much, Ginny," he said, at which she smiled happily. "But something happened recently that made me rethink my priorities."
Ginny stood up. "Was it something Hermione did?" she asked angrily. "Because anything she said can be -"
"This is not about Hermione," said Harry. "Or, well, it is, but not right now. Ginny, we found out about the potion that you put in my drink."
Ginny blushed scarlet immediately. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said stubbornly. She sat back down on the bed and crossed her arms over her chest, staring resolutely out the window.
"Yes, you do," said Harry. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. Why'd you do that, Ginny? Didn't you trust me?"
Ginny sighed, defeated. "I trusted you, Harry, really I did," she said. "I just didn't trust Hermione. I knew that if I was gone all that time, with just you and her together, she'd jump at the opportunity to - to hit on you or something."
Harry sighed. "Hermione would never have done that. She's not like that. She respected the relationship that you and I had before you left, even though she wasn't happy with it."
Ginny looked up quickly. "She told you that she fancied you?" she asked, watching Harry closely.
It was Harry's turn to blush. "Erm, no," he said. "That was a sort of accident, actually. I can touch her, Ginny. I don't know how it happened, as even I didn't know that I had feelings for her until the day we discovered what the potion was. I guess I'd just been suppressing what I felt to make things easier."
Ginny looked murderous. "This can't be right," she said. She stood up and strode over to him quickly. "It's me you want, Harry." Without another word, she pulled him into a forceful kiss. There was a loud sound like an explosion and Ginny was thrown back against the wall.
Harry glared down at her furiously. "What did you go and do that for?" he said angrily. "That was a really stupid thing to do. I mean, you know what the potion does to people who touch me, Ginny."
But Ginny would not be deterred. "You're messing it up," she said. "You're casting a spell or something. You belong with me, Harry, everyone knows that."
"Well, everyone's wrong," Harry said, not unkindly. "We were good together last year. But I've changed a whole lot since then, Ginny, you know that. I'm not the same boy I was then. The war against Voldemort really took a toll on me, on all of us."
"But I was here for you when you got back," said Ginny, looking a little desperate. "I stayed with you through everything. I never once doubted you or left your side."
"That's not true," said Harry. "You couldn't follow me into Voldemort's hiding place. You were too worried about saving yourself to save the others."
But Ginny shook her head. "No, no, I had to stay, I had to. There was too much at stake."
"A risk that saves lives is a risk worth taking, Ginny," Harry said calmly. "You don't understand that. But I really wouldn't expect you to. You haven't seen any of the things that Ron or Hermione or I have."
"Oh, right, it's all about Hermione, isn't it?" Ginny said hysterically, picking herself up off the floor. "Precious, perfect Hermione. You listen to her and do everything she says because `she's seen what I've seen.'"
"She's my best friend, Ginny, why don't you get that?" Harry said. "I am not going to throw away seven unbelievable years of the strongest friendship I've ever known just to make you comfortable. You know that I love you; I've told you that I do. But Hermione - Hermione has a place in my life that will always take precedence over everything else."
"Don't stand there and tell me you love me," said Ginny furiously. "It's obvious to me that you have feelings for Hermione, and you can't hide them from me."
"I'm not hiding them," said Harry. "I'm telling you that they're there. Hermione and I are together now, and you're just going to have to accept it."
Ginny stared up at Harry for a few moments, then grabbed her wand off the bedside table. "I refuse to accept it," she said, and poked Harry hard in the shoulder with her wand. "I'll just have to do something about it." With that, she sprinted to the door, wrenched it open, and raced down the hallway, shouting Hermione's name.
"Ginny, no!" Harry cried, dashing after her. "Listen to me! Don't you dare hurt her, Ginny. Ginny!" She showed no signs of even hearing him, continuing to race through the house looking for Hermione.
"Granger!" Ginny shouted as she came to a screeching halt in the living room. Hermione, who was playing chess with Ron, looked up, frightened. "How dare you take him?" she yelled, her eyes flashing dangerously. "What spell did you cast on him?"
"I didn't do anything to him, Ginny," Hermione said, her fingers wriggling as she waited for a moment in which to grab at her wand.
"Liar," Ginny spat. "Harry would never choose you over me unless he was under the influence of a spell."
"You're wrong," said Hermione. "Harry's chosen me. You have to accept it."
Ginny laughed mirthlessly. "Oh, that's what he said. But there is no accepting to be done on my part, oh no. Harry is mine, not yours."
"That is for Harry to decide." Hermione spoke very calmly and rationally, hoping to calm Ginny down. "You can't make him love you, Ginny."
"But you've found a way to do just that, haven't you?" Ginny said. "You've gone and done something to him to -"
"I've done nothing," said Hermione, speaking over Ginny sternly. "I would never resort to trickery to have Harry return my feelings for him, and I would never lose my trust in him like you did."
"You don't understand the bond -"
"It's you who doesn't understand!" cried Hermione, flying to her feet. "Harry and I have something that you never had with him. We are attached at the heart, at the soul. You cannot break us apart, no matter how hard you've tried or will try."
"He doesn't want you," whispered Ginny, looking stricken.
"No, Ginny," Hermione said quietly, just barely refraining from shouting again. "He does want me. Accept it, please, accept it."
Ginny, it seemed, had finally come to terms with the knowledge that Harry didn't love her, for she collapsed then on the floor, sobs racking her small shoulders. Ron, who had remained silent up until then, shook himself out of his reverie. "What's going on?" he asked sharply, staring around at Hermione, and at Harry, who had just entered the room.
Hermione sighed. "We keep meaning to tell you," she said. Moving to stand beside Harry, she continued. "Harry and I are together now."
Ron looked back and forth between them with a stony face. "Why?" he asked finally.
Harry glanced down at Hermione. "I realized that I couldn't live with myself while I was with Ginny," he said. "Something wasn't right. And then this potion came up -"
"What potion?" interrupted Ron. Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"I think we better just tell everybody at once," said Hermione.
"I'll go get the rest of the Weasleys," Harry said. He squeezed Hermione's shoulder comfortingly, then strode out of the room. Hermione took a seat on a couch and braced herself for what she knew would be one of the hardest moments of her life.
OOOoooOOOoooOOO
The talk with all the Weasleys had been painfully uncomfortable. Explaining about the potion, finding out what it did, and, finally, that the two of them were a couple had been extremely difficult for the both of them, especially as Ginny's sobs punctuated their words.
Now they sat together in the small sitting room Fleur had found them in that morning. Hermione was curled into Harry's arms, just on the brink of sleep.
"It's done," Harry whispered suddenly.
"Hmm?" Hermione sleepily nuzzled Harry's neck with her nose.
"It's done," Harry said again. "We told them everything."
"And nobody died," said Hermione with a happy little smile.
Harry stroked Hermione's hair absently. "Nobody died," he repeated, sounding thoughtful. He froze suddenly. "Hermione?" he asked.
"Uh-huh?" said Hermione, looking up at him.
"Was it worth it?" he asked her, cocking his head to the side curiously.
"Was what worth it?" Hermione moved back in his arms so she could look him in the eye.
"You said a few days ago that it didn't matter that Ginny was going to hate us," he said. "Or that talking to the Weasleys was going to be hard, so long as you were with me. You said it was worth it. Was it?"
"Oh, Harry," she breathed, smiling. "You're worth everything."
He studied her face. "You mean that?"
She nodded firmly. "Every word," she said. "I love you, Harry, and you love me. I'd do anything to keep that."
Harry smiled. "I love you," he told her.
"Yes, I love you, too," Hermione said. "We've already established this."
Harry chuckled. "But, oddly, I never get tired of saying it. And even less tired of hearing it."
Hermione hummed happily. "Well, then. I love you. I love you. I love you."
"Mmm….say it again."
"I love you."
"I love love love love you."
"I know."
"Say it again."
"Harry."
"Please?"
Hermione huffed exasperatedly. "I love you, now go away."
They sat together in silence for a few minutes. Then Hermione snuggled deeper into Harry's arms. "Hey, Harry?" she said.
"Hmm?"
"I love you."
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*happy sigh* Done. Over. Finished.
WoW.
I love all of you so very much for giving me your sweet reviews; they make me so unbelievably happy. I can't even tell you. So many of you have left messages that have me smiling and laughing. A special thank you to Diana Black, AmericanMione, madm_05, starromance14, Izod, tiger111991, fledge, sannihun, gabbywolf, katediggory, Ravenclaw's Heir, ladylaughalot, starsofrock21, canoncansodoff, bluetomotapasta, fire spikes (astig!), greenlantern, MandaEvelyn, aracne, luv4books, time_turner_22, and gingercat for sticking with me through this whole thing, always leaving a sweet review, and giving me great ideas and critiques.
A big Muchos Gracias! to Amethyst for being a ridiculously cool author in general, and for always making me laugh.
Gah, I just want to marry all of you! : D I can't wait to write again!
Violet Kefira
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