Author's Note: Written for…

Russian Roulette Challenge. Prompt: Harry/Ginny

Open Category Competition 2. Category: Canon

Rebuilding

There were times in the last year that Ginny thought of running away from Hogwarts and the darkness that lived there. Times, even, when she believed she'd never come back. Not once in the year the death eaters controlled the school did she believe she'd one day soon be giving up her summer to spend day and night rebuilding the castle.

It was only the beginning of June, but the sixteen-year-old felt like she'd been working much longer than a few weeks as she dragged herself out of bed after a measly five hours of sleep. She couldn't remember the last time she'd gotten any more than that, before the nightmares woke her.

It was still dark out. She didn't have to report downstairs for work for a few more hours, allowing her enough time to take a long, hot shower and braid her hair.

There was a letter waiting on her pillow when she returned to the dorm. She smiled at the neat handwriting and tore the envelope open impatiently.

Ginny,

Meet me in the kitchens at your earliest convenience.

Love,

Harry

She dropped the letter and hurriedly pulled on her jeans and a green tank top, and ran from the dorm, through the disturbingly quiet common room, and to the marble staircase.

The staircase's moving charms had been removed after the battle, locking it in a very specific pattern to avoid the stairs that had been destroyed or led to collapsed corridors. The result was a much faster route down to the ground floor, and then it was just a short flight down to the picture of the bowl of fruit.

Ginny was slightly out of breath by the time she was tickling the painted pear.

She didn't see anything out of the ordinary as she first ventured into the kitchens. The elves were already hard at work preparing breakfast – which looked like a lot of food considering there were only about twenty people working in the castle at any given time.

She heard someone clear their throat behind her, and turned to see Harry standing next to a tiny table in the corner. It was set with a single lit candle and plates of pancakes.

"It's not much," he said, shrugging. "But Kreacher let me use one of the stoves so I could make them myself. And I smuggled some butterbeer in."

"It's perfect, Harry. Thank you."

He pulled out a chair for her and poured the butterbeer into glasses, and it was all very fancy and romantic considering they were sitting in the basement of a dilapidated castle in jeans and runners with about forty pairs of eyes watching them.

"I just thought you deserved a proper meal – n-not that the food hasn't been great," he added hastily with a quick glance to their hosts. "But I noticed you haven't been eating much lately."

"I haven't had much of an appetite," she admitted.

"Yeah, same with me," he said quietly, though neither of them seemed to be having any trouble cleaning their plates now.

"I've missed you, Ginny."

To anyone else it would seem like a strange comment. They hadn't gone a day without seeing each other since the battle, but they hadn't spent much time alone either. The few days spent at the Burrow were dismal and depressing, preparing for funerals. They'd agreed to stay in their old dorms to avoid distraction and spend more time working on restoring Hogwarts, but they never worked on the same area at the same time.

"I miss you, too," she muttered, and reached across the table to clasp his hand. "And this is … lovely. Just what I needed."

"We could do it again, if you want."

"I think we'll annoy the elves."

Harry laughed. "We'll find another spot. Somewhere more private."

"Okay. I think I'd like that."