Chapter 2
A Brother's Comfort
A/N: Thanks to Dracoginnylover24 for the review and lucky wishes. Please remember reviews are always welcome. Big thanks to my beta Lbandoly for her hard work.
No copyright infringement intended. All characters are the property of JKR, Scholastic, and any number of other companies with more money than I've ever dreamed of seeing. I didn't make any money off of this, so please don't sue.
Fours weeks had passed since Ginny Weasely Potter had been left by savor-of-the-wizarding-world Harry Potter himself. She had left their, no her, flat once in that time just two days after him leaving her stunned and in tears. She wouldn't have gone then if it hadn't been required by the ministry of matrimony to sign the divorce decree. Normal wizarding law normally required a six month separation period before allowing a divorce to be finalized, however there were two notable exceptions to that rule. If a marriage was never consummated and could be proven, the wedding would be absolved without question. The second and far more likely to happen was in cases of infidelity. Apparently the boy-who-lived didn't even bother to lie to the ministry about his reason for seeking a separation from his wife when applying for a legal separation a fortnight before. He was granted not only a separation but a full divorce. Due to his wandering eye he was forced by wizarding law to give Ginny half of his. Ginny had been called to the ministry to sign the documentation required to finalize the divorce and transfer the estate into her name.
Despite her burning humiliation she had been kind enough to not agree with the ministry's decree to give her ownership of Godric's Hollow but instead insisted that she would prefer the London and Hogsmead flats in its stead. She frankly had no desire to own either, but she didn't fancy going back to the Burrow either.
So here she sat on the corner of the sofa in her London flat, skin pale from lack of sun light, eyes darkened and hallow from weeks of tears. Her already tiny frame was only marginally thinner even after weeks of no appetite as the hurt and humiliation boiled into raging anger.
That's how her older brother Charlie found her when he came to check on her at the end of the forth week of her solitude.
A knock at the door drew her up from her spot on the sofa. She walked to the door and opened it to find her favorite brother on the other side. Launching herself into his arms she cried in the hall like it was the first time she had done so since the night Harry had left. After what seemed like an eternity Charlie picked her up and carried her into the flat and sat on the sofa as she continued to cry with an openness he hadn't seen from her since before her time at Hogwarts.
"Gin bug you have to stop crying. It will all be okay, I promise."
Between sobs and hiccups she managed to get out an "I know." Charlie knew how hard it was to lose someone. Not from personal experience mind you, but he had seen more than one couple lose their hold on a relationship. It was a common known fact that dragon trainers made bad husbands; the job it just too dangerous. It does nothing but put strain on relationships. In his camp he had seen no less than three divorces among fellow trainers. Watching it from the man's point of view was one thing. Watching a woman go threw it; much less his baby sister was something entirely different. But since the only piece of advice he knew was meant for the men he watched go through this he figured it would have to do. After all, each of the three had been left by their spouses; maybe the same would work for her after all.
"Ginny I know this sounds awfully callus of me, but maybe it's time to get back on the dragon so to speak."
She lifted her head and cut him a questioning look that just begged to know what he was talking about. "Come again?"
"Maybe you should clean yourself up and go out on a date."
"It's only been a month Charlie how do you expect me to just drop it and go out and start something new?"
"I didn't say you had to marry the first bloke that crossed your path sis. Get out, have fun, have a few drinks, dance a few dances. Go out waste some poor bloke's money on dinner a few nights then cut him loose and move on to the next guy."
"You can't be serious Charlie. That sounds like something the twins would tell me."
He laughed. "They probably would. Hell they would probably go out with you just to see how many hearts you could break in one evening."
"I don't know. It sounds infinitely better than sitting here crying over something that can never be fixed. But it also sounds like a recipe to destroy what's left of my reputation. I can just see the Daily Prophet gossip pages now. `Potter's Wife Turned London Harlot.' If mum didn't kill me Ron would."
"They don't have to know."
The scathing look of disbelief she cut him was priceless. "How, pray tell, am I gonna go out and find these men of loose morals without everyone in the magic British world not finding out about it?"
"Go into muggle London. Certainly you can find something there to have a bit of fun with. It's not like you have to go out and announce that you're a witch to unsuspecting strangers."
"I guess that could be fun. Luna was telling me about some clubs called Goth that she thought I might like. But I don't own anything I could wear to any kind of club anymore."
"Like you need an excuse to shop," he scoffed.
"Okay Charlie, I promise to get out of this flat and go find something fun to do this weekend. Would it make you feel better if I took Luna as a witness?"
He laughed. "No but an owl every now and then to let me know you're having fun wouldn't be unwelcome. Now go get dressed and let your big brother take you out to dinner. If I know you there isn't anything in that kitchen of yours to eat but coffee and pumpkin pasties."
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