A/N: A few people were asking about it, so here you go:
Timeline for the years between Harry’s final year at Hogwarts and where this story begins:
1997 “ Harry defeats Voldemort, leaves for America to train for the DMLE
1998 “ Ginny graduates and starts an internship at the MoM, Hermione enters Wizarding college, Ron gets picked as the standby keeper for the Chudley Cannons and is “quickly elevated” to permanent keeper
1999 “ Remus and Tonks get married, Harry travels to Washington DC on his first assignment, meets Emily and romance blooms (gag me!), Ron and Hermione continue to date/bicker
2000 “ Harry proposes to Emily, finds out about her betrayal, goes back to England and moves in with Remus and Tonks, Ron and Hermione continue to date/bicker
2001 “ Harry works for the DMLE in England, gets Draco Malfoy a job and finds his own apartment in the city, Ron (at last!) proposes to Hermione
2002 “ Ginny moves in with a new roommate (Riley), applies to the Auror academy and is rejected, Ron and Hermione get married (finally!)
2003 “ Ron becomes the player-captain of the Chudley Cannons, Hermione graduates from college and gets different on and off jobs
2004 “Harry leaves the DMLE “officially” but does side jobs with Draco for Remus who works for WSM, Ginny applies to the Auror academy and is rejected again
2005 “ Harry begins repairs on his parent’s old house in Godric’s Hollow
2006 “ Ginny meets and starts to date Edward, he also convinces her to not apply to the Auror academy again
2007 “ Hermione opens her own law firm, Harry moves into the house on Godric’s Hollow, Hermione announces she’s pregnant
2008 “ Ginny applies to the Auror academy again despite Edward’s warnings, Remus appointed to head of WSM, Beginning of “Head Over Feet” story
(Note: I keep thinking somewhere that I wrote that Ron and Hermione had only been married for 4 years, but it is supposed to be six. I couldn’t actually find the place I wrote that, but if anyone does find it, just know it’s a typo!)
Chapter 9 “ Since You’ve Been Gone
“And it only hurts when I'm breathing
My heart only breaks when it's beating
My dreams only die when I'm dreaming
So, I hold my breath--to forget.”
- “It Only Hurts When I’m Breathing” by Shania Twain
----
The silence was becoming his best friend. He found it easier to handle than noise. For one thing, silence meant peace. For another thing, silence meant he was alone.
He could vaguely hear noises outside his door but chose to ignore them.
His uncomfortable hospital bed had driven him to get up and stand near his window as he watched the sun begin to rise over the horizon, the first day this world would be without the terror of Voldemort looming over it. The lights the pierced the sky seemed so unfulfilling compared to what Harry could be feeling…should be feeling.
Without warning, his door opened and shut quickly, bringing the noise in with it but chasing it out just a quickly. Harry had a guess of who it was and didn’t bother to turn, just continued to lean on the windowsill and watch the sky.
“Harry?”
“Hi, Gin,” he said softly, without turning around.
The door burst open again, startling both Harry and Ginny and he whirled around to see Ron glaring over at Ginny, a fresh bruise on his face. “Come on, Ginny.” He grabbed her arm forcefully and she fought his grip for a moment before Harry finally had the nerve to speak.
“Leave her be, Ron,” he said quietly, looking thankfully at his best friend, knowing how protective both Ron and Hermione had been over him during the last few hours.
Ron at once dropped his sister’s arm and glanced up at Harry questioningly, but remained silent. Harry could see others outside the door trying to inconspicuously look in and see what was going on, but he kept his gaze on Ron.
“It’ll be fine,” Harry spoke softly, reassuring Ron.
Ron bit his bottom lip tensely for a moment before giving Harry a short nod and backing out of the door, closing it softly and leaving Harry and Ginny alone again.
Ginny looked positively amazed as her graze fell back on Harry. Obviously she had been planning on fighting to stay in the room with Harry, though, by the bruise on Ron’s face, Harry guessed she must have fought a bit already.
They just stared at each other for several moments, neither quite knowing how or where to begin.
Harry gazed over her body, mentally wincing at every scrape and cut he could see. His gaze rested on her bandaged hands.
Flashes of the battle spring into his mind and he blinked several times to wipe them away.
When he finally looked back up into her eyes, he saw them rapidly filling with tears.
Without warning, she launched herself into him, throwing her arms around his neck and though she didn’t sob, Harry felt her tears fall onto his neck as he tentatively wrapped his arms around her waist, allowing himself a moment to hold her.
She was the first to pull back, but she didn’t go very far. Harry’s hands rested lightly on her waist as she looked up at him, taking his face in her hands.
“Please say something….” Her voice was so quiet he almost couldn’t hear her. “Anything…”
“What do you want me so say?” he hadn’t said such a long sentence in a while…his voice sounded dead, even to his ears.
Another tear fell down her cheek. Her face was so close to his. “Blast, Harry, it’s not what I want!” she pleaded, her voice still a whisper. “None of this is what I wanted.”
“But it’s what happened,” he answered, nodding his head a bit. “It’s what had to happen.”
“Yes, Harry,” she said patiently. “But it’s over now…it’s over.” More tears fell.
He pulled out of her grasp, turning back towards the window and leaning on the ledge. He breathed out a long sigh. “Yes…it’s over.”
She didn’t understand… he knew that. None of them really understood. He couldn’t just explain it; there weren’t words for that sort of thing.
“Talk to me…please?” She pleaded from behind him.
He didn’t say anything.
“I said I’d wait, Harry.” The abrupt change in topic made him turn back to her, but not move closer. “I promised I would be there for you when it was all over…well,” she spread out her arms, “here I am. Talk to me. Yell at me. Hug me, kiss me…Merlin, Harry do something!”
“You still want me to kiss you?” he asked abruptly, stopping her.
Her face softened and she nodded.
“Why?” he asked, dead serious. “I’m a murderer.”
Her reaction wasn’t at all what he expected, quite the opposite in fact. She took two steps forward, brought her hand up and smacked him across the face. Hard.
“Don’t you ever say that again, Harry Potter.” Both her voice and her pointing hand shook as she spoke. “Don’t you dare.”
He looked at her with surprise, resisting the urge to hold his throbbing cheek. If he was truthful, he knew that was exactly how she would react. She seemed to be the only one who had no qualms about putting his boy-who-lived arse in its place. He loved that about her. It was a refreshing change.
Neither of them spoke, but Ginny finally dropped her hand and, huffing, reached down, taking his hand and leading him over to his bed, sitting him down and going back into the small bathroom that connected with the private room. He didn’t have time to consider standing back up before she walked back into the room holding a wet towel. As she sat next to him and placed it on his throbbing cheek, he could feel the ice she had wrapped in it and his cheek started to feel considerably better. She held it on his face for a few seconds before he reached up with his own hand and covered hers, holding it on himself.
“Thanks.”
She nodded curtly, pulling her hand back and looking away from him again, starting to twiddle her fingers.
“I can’t believe you said that,” she said in disbelief, her gaze straying to the window he had been standing at.
“I’m sorry.” He meant it, too. It was an idiotic thing for him to say, especially after all that the both of them had been through, but he couldn’t get the idea out of his head. It was probably what was bugging him the most.
“You should be,” she scolded, finally looking back at him.
“Thanks,” he said again after the silence hung for a few more seconds.
She smirked. “You already said that.”
“No, I meant thanks for…well, being you. For still treating me like Harry and not ‘the chosen one’.” He glanced back at his closed door. “They seem to think I’m made of glass at the moment, afraid to say anything to upset me.”
Ginny smiled out of the corner of her mouth. “Lucky I know you better, huh?”
“Yeah…” he said distractedly, his gaze sweeping across his small private room, finally landing on Ginny again. “You do know me better.”
He saw a bit of blush rise to her cheeks but she fought it back with a raised, curious eyebrow. “Yeah?”
He broke her gaze, reaching down and taking her hand in his before looking back up at her again. “I’m going away, Gin.”
She blanched. “What?”
“To America.”
Confusion etched the lines of her face. “Whatever for?”
He looked down, unable to face the disappointment in her eyes. “I’ve got to get away for a while. Remus said they have a brilliant training program set up over there for Aurors. I’d travel all over.” His eyes found hers again and he managed a smile. “In a year or two I could even go to Washington DC, the capital.”
“Is that where you want to be?” she hesitated and he could see her holding back her bitter comments.
“I can’t just stay here, Gin. Please try to understand-“
“No, Harry!” She jerked up, glaring down at him. “I can’t try to understand because I don’t understand at all! What in the world would make you want to leave your friends and family?”
“Family?” he scoffed at her. “What family?”
She looked tempted to slap him again. “Damn you, Harry,” she gritted her teeth.
He stood, setting down the towel covered ice and laying his hands on her shoulders. “I know you wanted it to just be the same…I wanted that too…Merlin,” he shook his head, “I wanted that so bad, even though I knew it wasn’t going to happen.” She didn’t look at him so he reached down, bringing her chin up to look at him. “Listen. I love you. I do.”
The tear now fell down his cheek as he realized what he was about to do.
“I love you too,” she mumbled, not breaking eye contact.
“But this isn’t right now….for either of us.” Her eyes went wide with fear and distress and a hint of anger.
“I’ve already had this lecture from you, Harry,” she said through gritted teeth.
He shook his head. “No, no, this is so different…gods, Ginny,” he pulled her into an unexpected hug. “I need you right now….just you…please, please understand.”
Merlin, he hope she understood…the idea of a romantic relationship right now wasn’t something he could handle, but loosing Ginny’s friendship looked a million times worse.
Thankfully, her arms finally rose up, holding him back. “I’ll always be your friend, Harry.”
Tears of relief ran down his face and he finally let her go. They both pulled back, gazing over each other one more time.
“Promise me one thing,” she said softly.
“Yeah?”
She reached up, grabbing his chin. He looked apprehensive.
“Write me every day.”
A grin slowly formed on his face, splitting it in two as they looked at each other one last time. He reached up, kissing her gently on the forehead. “Of course.”
When Ginny exited the room a few minutes later, Harry heard her softly tell the others that he was sleeping and wanted them to go home and rest. As the voices died away, Harry breathed a sigh of relief, but couldn’t stop his heart from aching as he heard Ginny’s footsteps fade softly down the hallway.
----
“What are you going to do?” the voice on the TV asked.
Ginny heard Hermione sniff a little and wordlessly passed the bowl of popcorn to her across the couch. Her gaze was locked on the television in front of them playing the muggle movie “Sleepless in Seattle”, one of the few romantic movies that Ginny owned due to the fact that she didn’t cry during it. Hermione, so far, hadn’t been doing very well in that department.
“Well, I'm gonna get out of bed every morning... breathe in and out all day long. Then, after a while I won't have to remind myself to get out of bed every morning and breathe in and out... and, then after a while, I won't have to think about how I had it great and perfect for a while.”
Without warning, Hermione burst into sobs again, a combination of hormones, Ron, Harry and the heart wrenching movie that only girls could really understand. Ginny quickly scooted over next to her sister-in-law and gathered her in a tight hug, mentally cursing Ron again and, for good measure, Harry as well.
The movie was drowned out by Hermione’s sobs and tears as she went through tissue after tissue, neither of the young women speaking. Finally, Ginny turned from the TV as Hermione spoke.
“You…you know what the worst part of this is?” She sniffed.
Ginny just shook her head slightly, tucking a strand of Hermione’s wild hair behind her ear.
“To think that this is hurting me more than it’s hurting him…” she was staring off into space, her bottom lip quivering and her eyes rapidly filling up with more tears.
“I seriously doubt that, Hermione,” Ginny reassured her, rubbing her back soothingly. “Ron worships the ground you walk on. There’s no way this isn’t hurting him just as must, if not more, than you. Besides,” she let herself smirk, “I bet Harry’s laying it on him thick anyway.”
Hermione cracked a smile and chuckled a bit. “Yeah, Harry…”
Ginny glanced over to her clock on the wall and saw that it was past two in the morning. “Look, Hermione, it’s getting late, I’ll go set up the bed in the guest room.”
“Oh no,” Hermione said quickly as Ginny began to stand, “no, you don’t need to do that,” She sniffed again, looking away.
Ginny just rolled her eyes, grabbing the remote to the TV and flicking it off as she grabbed Hermione and started leading her up the stairs. “As long as it’s my halfwit brother who’s being an arsehole, I insist.”
----
Light rarely woke Harry up. He had learned to sleep through worse than that during his days at Hogwarts. But for some reason the beams of light that streamed through his open window landed right on his eyelids and gradually jolted him out of an uncomfortably tense sleep.
He sat up, realizing that he was still in his clothes from the day before which brought back all the memories of what exactly had occurred in the few hours where his life had basically been gambled away.
As he rubbed the last remains of sleep out of his eyes and headed for the shower, a nagging thought in the back of his mind kept telling him that he had forgotten something.
It hit him like a freezing curse and he rattled off a few choice swear words before grabbing a fresh cloak and racing down the stairs.
Ginny Weasley’s temper wasn’t the best thing to face at seven o’clock in the morning.
----
The incessant knocking drummed at Ginny’s head like a hammer and she tried to move faster down the stairs, but just managed to trip up a bit and slide down the last few steps on her bum.
“Ow…” she winced, scrambling up as quick as she could. “Alright! Alright I’m coming!” she yelled to the person who was banging on her front door.
She rubbed her sleepy eyes before finally reaching the door and flinging it open. Only after she saw who it was did she regret the effort she put into it.
“Oh. It’s you.” She managed to sound sarcastic even this early in the morning. Vaguely she heard Hermione start descending the stairs behind her, but she kept her annoyed gaze on the man outside her house.
“Ginny, look, I’m so sorry-“
“Harry? Harry!”
He was tacked a moment later by a messy haired Hermione Granger who was dressed in an oversized t-shirt to cover her large belly and a pair of Ginny’s old sweatpants.
Ginny smirked at Harry’s surprised expression as he gingerly patted Hermione on the back.
“Are you alright? Is Ron alright? You’ve seen him, haven’t you?” Hermione blubbered, finally releasing Harry from her death grip and looking up at him anxiously.
Harry looked hesitant and Ginny saw his gaze flicker over to her several times before he finally answered Hermione.
“Yes, I’ve seen him. We talked for a bit yesterday.” He hesitated and coughed. “He got a bit, er, angry with me and stormed out. I don’t know where he went.
The words sent Hermione into a crying fit again and Ginny watched passively as Harry reached out and held her comfortingly. She looked at him curiously, knowing that he wasn’t telling the whole truth. It was quite obvious he was lying, but Hermione seemed too distraught to notice.
A bit of Ginny’s anger cooled as she realized that the reason Harry hadn’t shown up last night was due to Ron’s visit. But if Ron had stormed out after a fight, what had Harry been doing the rest of the night? And why hadn’t he flooed her? More importantly, where had he gone when Hermione tried to go visit him at his house?
Hermione’s sobs started to die down and she started hiccupping.
“Merlin,” she sniffed. “I’m a bloody mess.” She made to pull out of Harry’s grasp, but he held tight.
“Take it easy, Hermione,” he said softly, leading her over to Ginny’s family room and sitting her in the nearest armchair. When she was comfortable, he stayed by her side and let her grip his hand as she softly cried.
Over her quieting tears, Harry turned back to Ginny.
“I really am sorry, Gin,” he said softly. “I should have flooed.”
“Yes,” Ginny said shortly, wishing now that she had put on a robe over her thin nightclothes, “you should have.”
They stared at each other for a few silent moments, both unwilling to take the conversation much farther, especially with an obviously distressed Hermione sitting in the room with them.
Finally, Ginny huffed out a sigh and came around to Hermione’s other side, laying a hand gently on her shoulder. “Let’s get you back to bed, Hermione.”
Both she and Harry were surprised as Hermione made no complaint, merely nodded and allowed Ginny to lead her back up the stairs.
“I’ll be right back,” she called over her shoulder to Harry as he stood stiffly in the same spot.
He didn’t reply, so she focused on Hermione for the next few minutes, making sure she was comfortable in her guest bed before closing the curtains in the room and being sure to shut the door as she left the room, Hermione’s quiet sobs already died down to a restless breathing as she drifted to sleep.
As she descended the stairs she stopped short at seeing Harry gazing at the pictures that decorated her walls and small side tables. She watched as his eyes stopped on a picture of her and him from Hogwarts, lounging by the lake on a nice spring day. For some reason, blush sprang to her cheeks and she cleared her throat, making him straighten up quickly, looking around at her with an impassive face.
“Is she alright?”
“I think so.” Ginny descended the last few steps slowly. “Those hormones really do something to her, huh?”
This earned a chuckle from him and he smiled at her. “I’ve heard enough about them from Ron, but to experience it first hand,” he shivered playfully, “I don’t want to be around when she gets mad.”
She laughed this time and was pleased to see that he enjoyed the sound.
“Speaking of Ron,” she thought suddenly, “you really don’t know where he went?”
Harry just shrugged, holding both his hands behind his back. “He got pretty pissed at me. I wasn’t able to follow him.”
“Why not?” She raised a suspicious eyebrow.
She swore she saw a bit of blush creep onto his cheeks, but he merely gave her a knowing look. “Because I’m in idiot.”
“Glad you finally noticed,” she couldn’t help but say, though she knew the words were too harsh.
“Look, Ginny, I just wanted to come and say I’m sorry,” he said apologetically, brushing off her rude comment. “Last night…you have to believe that last night I would have greatly preferred going to a concert with you than what I did end up doing.”
“Yes? And just what was it you ended up doing?”
It was the first time he hesitated in replying. It was only for a moment, but Ginny noticed it.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me,” she said with a challenging look.
“Look, the point is, if I had any time at all to floo and tell you I would have but I didn’t!” He seemed to be getting a little annoyed at her insistence, but she kept it up. Did this boy know anything about apologizing? She snorted. No, not likely. She should know, after all. She’s the one who dated him.
“I’m not your mother, Harry. I’m not your babysitter, or your girlfriend, you don’t have to explain yourself to me.” She spoke in an agitated voice, walking over to clear off the couch of the sweets and drinks that she and Hermione had been consuming the night before.
She didn’t realize he had come around behind her until his hand reached down, grabbing her wrist and she turned suddenly to come face to face with a very serious looking Harry Potter.
“I want you to trust me, Gin. Please.”
He had a pleading but determined look in his eyes as he stared at her and she felt the blush rising to her cheeks as she realized how close their faces were. Her other hand loosened its grip on the butterbeer bottle she had been holding as she felt a shiver run through her.
“I do trust you,” she said in a small voice, not daring to pull away.
He didn’t seem to know how to reply just continued to hold her gaze, his face impassive but his eyes continuing to bore into hers with a gaze she couldn’t define.
She didn’t know which of them started moving first, but their faces seemed to slowly inch towards one another.
She licked her lips.
She could feel his breath on her face.
She felt her lips just barely touch his when they jumped apart, a voice sounding from the fireplace next to them.
“Ginny?” Edwards’ accusing and harsh voice snapped her neck towards his head floating in the flames. She took in his amazed and angry face for a second before turning quickly back to where Harry had been only seconds before, but now no one was there, and the sounds of the front door slamming shut drowned out Edwards enraged shouts behind her.
----
A/N: Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing! I love you all!