A/N Just a tiny little one-shot I wrote ages ago while still fuming over the 6th book. Enjoy, be nice please? Actually, whatever, I'd just be happy for a review. I've got this other story out, Faithful. According to the little record thingy, 1289 people have read it. And you know how many reviews it has? 11! Over a thousand people, 11 reviews. What is up with that? So just review, please? Make my day, just a couple words…
Save the World
People were filing away to the school. Harry watched as slowly the chairs emptied and it was just him, Ron, and Hermione standing by the placid lake. A warm breeze ruffled his hair as he sighed, staring once more at the ground. It was much too nice a day for life to be this bleak and hopeless. He looked up to see Ron looking nervous. Harry noticed he was looking slightly past his right ear, not at him at all. Hermione seemed to turn in from the world, arms crossed across her stomach, eyes still watering heavily.
"Harry, we're gonna go, ok?"
Harry turned to look over his shoulder, and saw what Ron was watching so nervously. "Right. Catch up with you later."
As they turned to leave, Harry walked down the lakeside. It was not a confident, resolved stride, but a rather timid creeping along the bank. Because there stood Ginny, wind rustling her robes and hair, staring out across the water to the mountains beyond it. He arrived next to her, and said softly,
"Ginny you've got to get back up to the castle."
She turned to look up at him, with a slight glare on her face, "I can take care of myself, thanks."
Harry was taken aback for a moment, then remembered what he'd told her earlier.
"I know that, Ginny-"
"No, you obviously don't. First sign of any danger and you put up the wall again. Well, don't think I'm going to let you have your so called 'nobility' that easily."
"Ginny, I-"
"I don't want to hear it! I don't want to hear any more about Death Eaters, or Prophecies, or bloody Voldemort!" The tone in her voice when she bellowed the name reminded Harry strongly of Dumbledore. "There's still going to be danger, Harry! Just because you distance yourself from everyone who loves you doesn't make that all go away!"
"Ginny, just listen-"
"No, Potter, you listen to me! I haven't changed that much. I am still a selfish little girl that wants her own way. And no one, not even Lord fucking Dark Knickers himself is going to keep me from what I want."
"Ginny, I care about you too much, don't you understand? I can't put you in danger, I just can't do it!"
"You think the danger's going to go away, just because you broke it off with me? Guess what, Boy Wonder, I still love you. And there is nothing you or any Dark Wizard ever in existence can do that's going to make that go away. You think Voldemort cares that we've split up?"
Every time she accused him of breaking up with her, he wanted more and more to say he hadn't.
"There's a better chance of it if-"
"Oh," she said, eyebrows raised, arms returned from poking him in the chest to their crossed position, "I get it. Now that you've dumped me, I don't matter anymore. So let's get this straight, Potter. If Voldemort captured me tomorrow, you'd just let me die, huh? I'm not good bait because, oh yeah, we aren't going out anymore!" Her soft voice, mocking though it was, returned to shouting in his face on the last words.
"Ginny that's not true." It came out as a tiny whisper. Because it wasn't true. Nothing he could do would protect her from Voldemort. Just because he tried to end their relationship didn't mean he still wasn't in love with her. And Harry Potter, the world's worst Occlumens, could not hide that from anyone, least of all the most accomplished Legimens of all time.
"Then why did you try and push me away again?" Her voice sounded hurt and tearful, "I wait all this time, and finally you notice me, and I have the happiest weeks of my life, only to have some half dead wizard ruin it for me? I don't think so."
"I didn't want to push you away, Gin. I just don't know what I'd do if-"
"You let Ron and Hermione stay with you, didn't you? Didn't they promise, no matter what they were going to stick by you to help? Well, why not me, then? I love you just as much as they do, why do I have to watch while you fight your cause?"
The hurt in her voice was too much for him to take.
"Because I can't lose you, Ginny!" he shouted. His voice cracked, he felt close to a complete breakdown, but he kept on, "I'm too scared. So fucking scared I can't stand it. I don't know what I'd do, I feel like we've been like this my whole life and one day without you… I just can't…"
Beaten and worn down, he pulled Ginny to him, and she leaned her head on his chest. Harry sighed. Why was life always like this for him? It seemed like every choice he was forced to make was between his happiness and the life of someone he loved.
"You won't loose me, Harry." She smiled against him, laying one pale hand on his chest, "I know it's dangerous, I know why you're afraid. Don't you know I'm a thousand times more afraid than you are? You're going to stop Voldemort, and I'm terrified for you. But you have to see, everything is dangerous. Life is dangerous, but does that mean we stop living?"
Harry laughed weakly with a new thought. "My entire life I've wished I could just be like everyone else. And now, with this perfectly wonderful thing I've been given the chance to have, just like the rest of the world, I'm still letting Voldemort control me, aren't I?"
Ginny smiled, "No, I'm taking up that post. I boss you around now, Potter. Voldemort, step aside."
Harry kissed her on the top of the head as she nestled closer to him, "Can we at least be discreet about it? I don't know what good it'll do, but I'd feel better-"
"Oh being discreet about it has got nothing to do with dark magic, Harry," Ginny laughed, "You're just too shy to kiss me in public-" But before she could finish, Harry leaned down and caught her in the most powerful kiss he could possibly manage. When he pulled away, they both were breathless.
"Fine," Ginny breathed deeply, with an uncontrollable smile on her face, "We'll pretend we've broken it off. I don't want any other girls around you, though, or you are going to get it."
Harry smiled, though he was carefully choosing his next words.
"You know, you can't always go with me."
She was glaring at him again. He quickly tried to recover,
"Not because I'm trying to protect you, though you know I always will be. Just because there are some things I need to do on my own."
Kissing him again briefly, Ginny smiled, "Oh I know. I won't drag you down, Mr. Potter. You've got to go save the world."
objectlesson