As the last weeks of July passed the household adjusted to Hermione's absence. Harry divided his time between hanging out with Ron, whether lounging in the garden or playing Quidditch, and replying to Hermione's rather long letters. If it had been up to Ginny the two of them would have spent every waking minute together, but Harry, unsure what to do about his demanding girlfriend, did his best to avoid her and Mrs Weasley conveniently insisted on taking her out to shop for new school supplies. Occasionally Harry wondered whether or not his friend was aware of his cooling feelings towards Ginny. At times when she managed to corner the two of them in the garden Ron would give him a sympathetic and understanding look before slipping away.
It could be that Ron was just relishing his newfound single status. Splitting up with Hermione didn't seem to have done his moods any harm at all; on the contrary he was happier now than Harry had seen him in months and when Hermione wrote her weekly novel to him Ron actually replied. Even more surprising was what happened the day Luna came to visit.
It was the week before she and Ginny were due to return to Hogwarts and the four of them had all been sitting in the garden watching one of the gnomes try to surreptitiously steal one of Percy's wellies - which was far too heavy for it to carry. Suddenly Ginny had decided that she and Harry had been asked to clean out the chicken coop and dragged him off inside. Annoyed at her rudeness in abandoning her friend and irritated by her fawning he feigned ignorance in her motives and rushed off to the see the chickens leaving a bewildered Ginny standing in the kitchen. By the time he got back to the garden she was nowhere to be seen. Ron and Luna however looked pretty content sitting side by side under the apple tree laughing at some joke Ron had made. Harry had watched them silently from a far corner of the garden, making sure they didn't spot him, and smiled as he saw Luna tenderly brush a blossom out of Ron's hair. Quietly he had slipped away.
Harry felt he aught to sort things out with Ginny before she left for school, but it never felt like the right time. If he was honest with himself he was too much of a coward to risk the damage it might do to his friendship with Ron, and he obviously didn't want to break her heart. Finally it was the night before she was due to leave and he felt that it was now or never. He found her sitting in the kitchen, unusually sombre, staring into a cup of hot chocolate. As he entered the kitchen she looked up at him and beamed, all trace of solemnity gone, and he felt his heart sink. Taking a deep breath he managed to speak. "Ginny we really need to talk."
"Sure," she patted the seat next to her, "take a seat."
He gave a twitchy shake of the head to indicate he would rather stand and launched into the speech he had been rehearsing for days.
"You see Ginny the thing is… the thing is you're going off to Hogwarts tomorrow and we might not see each other again until Christmas and anything might happen during that time. I feel as if this is just the start of my life. I don't have anything hanging over me anymore and I just want to take life as it comes without having anything tying me down. The thing is… I think maybe it would be best for both of us if we called it off…" His speech trailed off under her pitying gaze. To be honest he was slightly confused; where was the anger and indignation that he had expected? She didn't even seem slightly upset.
"Alright Harry I see where this is going."
"You… you do?"
Ginny sighed patiently, "Of course, you think that I'll have my head turned by all the guys at school who have a crush on me. Well you don't need to worry about it, you're the only man for me. You -"
"No Ginny, I don't think you do understand. I don't think we're working as a couple. We should end it for good."
Ginny shrugged in that annoying, self-confident manner that she had and got up to leave the kitchen. "Alright Harry, whatever you say."
She left him standing there feeling disorientated; the conversation hadn't gone the way he'd planned at all. It was all he'd thought about all week and she certainly hadn't reacted in any of the ways he'd expected, angry? -Yes- tears? -Almost certainly- but accepting it? That was not a Ginny-like reaction at all. With a sinking feeling that he hadn't heard the last of this, Harry left the kitchen.
The next day at the train station he hardly spoke to her and she seemed equally keen on avoiding him. Everyone got a huge hug before she boarded the train, but she very pointedly ignored Harry, which was fine by him, it gave him hope that she had realised he was being serious about the break-up. Harry was still in shock at how accepting Ron had been at this latest turn of events, unlike Ginny he was fully aware that the situation was permanent, but he didn't even seem marginally annoyed. It was almost as though he had, like Harry with Ron and Hermione, expected it. He almost seemed to agree that Harry had done the right thing, although Harry wasn't sure if this had more to do with how obviously childish his sister had been or Luna's new influence. Secretly he believed it was Luna.
It all seemed to have happened very suddenly one minute Luna was simply regarded as a slightly batty friend, the next Ron blushed whenever she was mentioned. Harry wasn't even sure when this transition had occurred, perhaps it was an attraction that had been there all along but Ron had never realised it because he had been so caught up with Hermione. Perhaps Ron was just relishing in his singledom, but Harry doubted it, Ron was far too decent a guy to muck around with a girl's feelings for fun - with the obvious exception of Lavender of course, although that had been more for revenge than fun. Before she got on the train Luna came over and gave both boys a peck on the cheek, to Ginny's obvious disdain, although the kiss Ron received looked far less distracted than Harry's.
As Ron blushed furiously the train began to move and Luna dashed to jump on. The two girls waved frantically at the Weasley's, Harry and Mr Lovegood who had just appeared behind them.
"Goodbye Daddy, see you at Christmas! Bye Harry, goodbye Ronald."
"It feels weird," Ron remarked as he continued to wave at the departing blonde, "not being on the train. I mean, I know we weren't last year but then we didn't even come to the station. It's just strange watching the train leave."
"The train or Luna?" Harry laughed as he ducked away from Ron's punch. It was true though. For once Ron knew what he was talking about; Harry did have mixed feelings as he watched the scarlet steam engine glide out of the station amidst the billowing smoke. If he was honest with himself though, his main emotion was relief. Ginny was on that train and it was moving away from him. He shouldn't think like that, and a part of him hated himself for it, but he did. It was just the way things were now.
As they turned to leave the station, Harry began to notice the sheer amount of people - both children and adults alike - who were staring at him. He had been aware of it on his way in and he realised it was bound to increase now that everyone knew how he had gotten rid of Voldemort for good, there had been nothing else in the papers all summer, but now that the train had gone it seemed as though every single person on the platform was staring at him. Embarrassed he grabbed Ron's arm and pulled him towards the enchanted archway.
"C'mon," he muttered, "let's get out of here."
The two of them sat in silence in Mr Weasley's car on the way back to the Burrow. From the look on Ron's face Harry guessed he was thinking about Luna, but for himself he was just glad to finally get a moments peace from Ginny after months of her constant chatter. The reaction of the people on the platform had also brought him back to earth with a bump, the last few months had been relatively normal; now he realised just how sheltered from the reaction of the Wizarding world he had been. His only real source of outside news had been Hermione, and she had carefully vetted her letters so that they left omitted things like that. She knew him too well.
When they reached the burrow, Harry got out of the car only to be promptly bowled over by an overly excited tawny owl flying at his head. Rather dazed he stood up brushing the dust from his jeans as he did so, only to be forced to duck again as the bird made another pass at him.
"Ok, ok, ok! Give me the letter then." He stuck his arm out and winced as the owls talons sunk into it on landing. "Ouch you little demon, watch what you're doing."
It was a hired post owl judging by the band around its leg, and they were notoriously unpredictable, so he knew who it was from even before he checked the address. Removing the letter from the owl's leg, Harry's face lit up as he turned it over and saw the neat precise handwriting on the front. Hermione.
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