Chapter 1 – Making Up.

Moving on was going to be difficult alright. So much damage had been done, so many lives had been lost, so many families torn apart. This was not going to be easy.

Harry sat on the sofa neither willing nor able to move from his slouched position. He felt drained.

He looked across the room not focussing on anything, but letting his thoughts swim around his head. It was dark. He didn't know quite how long he had sat there, he just knew that it was late. Everyone else had gone to bed long ago. The burrow was quieter that Harry had ever noticed.

Gone was the hectic bustle of noise, the clatter of cooking pots and the yelling of voices, even the old ghoul in the attic seemed to have given up bumping and moaning for a bit. The house was still, the silence punctuated only occasionally by the occasional snore or a grunt as someone turned over in their bed.

Harry felt tired but didn't want to sleep. He felt nervous that if he slept, then maybe he would wake up, still inside that tent, with Ron and Hermione - trying to work out what they would do next, the threat of Voldemort still very real.

Of course this was nonsense. He knew this, scolded himself for even thinking it. Voldemort's Death had been definite, final, and irreversible. Several people had checked, almost unbelieving, to make sure he truly was dead, but the deed was done, the curse had been deflected and had not lost any of its power. Voldemort was dead.

Yet Harry still felt numb. This family, that had looked after him, cared for him, supported him even, had paid a terrible price. They had lost a son and it was all his fault.

Harry had not wanted to go back to the Burrow with the others. Although none of the family blamed him for Fred's passing, he felt uncomfortable; after all it had been his fight really.

Mrs Weasley had hugged him tightly when he had mentioned this, he had been trying to think of an excuse not to go back with them. She had told him not to think like that, and that Fred would have felt ashamed if he had not 'done his bit.'

Harry felt no better though and simply sat silently as the family shared their grief with one another.

Ginny had sat next to him earlier, her small hand sliding on top of his and giving it a squeeze. He didn't look at her, but felt a tear build up in his eye. How could he have done this to her? The one person who kept him going all the time he was away, and he went and took away her brother. How could he?

One by one they had all drifted away to bed, wordlessly leaving the small living room, and climbing the creaking stairs. One by one Harry heard the doors shut and slowly the house had fallen silent.

Harry now closed his eyes, and tried to rid himself of all those hateful feelings, his feelings of blame and guilt, but it was no good, he felt miserable and supposed that he deserved to feel that way.

He opened his eyes and let a single tear streak down his cheek. Out of the corner of his eye noticed a small dark shape leaning against the door frame he had not heard any doors open, or any creaking from the stairs but he became more aware that he was being watched.

Quickly he wiped away the tear and turned to face the doorway.

Harry's watcher saw that they had been spotted and stood upright and walked slowly and quietly into the room. They stepped slowly out of the shadow and into the moonlight shining through the rooms' small window. Harry saw her long head of red hair, striking in the moonlight, and for the first time in ages looked up directly into Ginny's face.

"Hi" said Ginny softly as she stepped closer to Harry's seat.

Harry said nothing but smiled weakly at her as she moved to sit next to him, positioning herself so that she was sitting looking at him.

"I didn't hear you go up to bed so thought you must have still been sitting down here"

"I'm not tired" Harry said in a slightly false voice. Ginny noticed the lie straight away and half smiled at him.

"Liar!" she accused smiling slightly more. "I know you're as tired as the rest of us, that bit of sleep you got at Hogwarts wasn't enough. You need proper rest! You deserve proper rest!"

"I don't deserve anything" Harry moaned, "I have brought you all so much pain I don't deserve to be here."

"Now you listen to me Harry Potter. You have brought us freedom, not pain….Fred died not because you made him fight, but because he wouldn't have been our Fred if he didn't. He fought for all of us, for me, for mum and I think most of all for George, after all, he couldn't leave old 'Lugless' to fight on his own could he?"

Harry smiled at the thought of 'Old Lugless.' Ginny softly touched his face with her hand and pulled his gaze back towards her.

"Harry Potter, you're my saviour, and I'm never going to let you forget that!"

With that she leaned forwards and kissed him tenderly on the lips. Harry closed his eyes and let himself become drawn in by her.

Ginny sat back and with a smile noticed that Harry had taken both of her hands in his.

"What was that for?" Harry asked with a slight smirk.

"For saving my family," she replied "and this…" she leaned in closer again, "…is for saving me!" her lips connected with his again, a true feeling of ferocity in them this time, as she pushed him back against the chair and kissed him deeply. Harry didn't know what to think, he just kissed back as hard as he could, trying to convey all the feelings he had felt for her since their last kiss on this 17th birthday. Ginny seemed to feel the same need for him as she hungrily wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close to her.

Eventually breaking away from him Ginny looked longingly into Harry's eyes and panted "Don't you dare ever leave me again Potter!" Harry simply smiled wider than he had ever smiled before and nodded.

"Never again!" he whispered.

Ginny smiled broadly too and lay down on the seat next to him, resting he head on his chest. She pulled a blanket from a pile on the floor and draped it over the two of them. Cuddled up and feeling utterly exhausted they both drifted off into a long, warm, dreamless sleep.

Harry sleepily wiped his face with his free arm and straightened his glasses. Remembering where he was he looked down. With a warm feeling of happiness he saw Ginny curled up beside him, her cheek pressed into his chest and her hair slightly ruffled but looking to him, like the best sight in the world.

Harry's other arm was being clutched tightly by the sleeping girl, and quite happy where he was and with no wish to deprive her right now Harry fell back to sleep again.

Slowly the house sprang back to life, Mrs Weasley was the first to get up as usual, and she slowly descended the stairs, stopping at the open living room door. Thinking it strange that the door was open (Normally the last one to bed closed the door behind them) she peered round the doorframe and spotted Harry and her only daughter asleep on the sofa.

Mrs Weasley smiled to herself and felt a tear prickling in her eye, she walked away into the kitchen muttering to herself comments like, "About time…" and "…such a lovely couple"

Ginny woke to the sound of Hermione's voice calling her name. She opened her eyes slowly and noticed that Harry was slowly coming round too. She saw Hermione standing in front of the sofa fully dressed, with Ron looking awkward standing behind her. Ron shot Harry a look of warning but stayed silent as Hermione spoke to Ginny.

"We're going away for a couple of weeks, Ron and I."

Ginny looked a little confused for a moment or two before Hermione continued, "We're going to Australia to retrieve my parents. And I want to introduce them to Ron."

It was Harry's turn to look confused. He turned his gaze to Ron whose ears had turned pink and seemed to be smirking shiftily.

"We got talking last night" said Ron, "and I don't know what came over me but…"

"He told me everything!" finished Hermione.

Harry almost laughed out loud. For Ron to make an admission of his feelings to Hermione must have taken a lot of courage, and perhaps it had taken an event like the war to make him speak out. Harry managed to keep a straight face and yawned, "About time wasn't it?"

Both Ron and Hermione looked sheepish, but Ginny leapt up and hugged them both. "Now no funny business when you're away together ok?" she said in a very Ron-like tone.

Looking slightly indignant Ron almost opened his mouth to reply when Mrs Weasley came into the room, carrying a large wicker picnic basket and a huge thermos flask.

"They do have food in Australia you know mum!" said Ron, grunting under the weight of the picnic basket his mother had just thrust into his arms.

"I don't want you going hungry or having to worry about all that foreign food" replied Mrs Weasley. "Besides you can't get a better date than a nice romantic picnic."

"This isn't a date mum, we're going to fetch Hermione's parents" complained Ron, but she just gave him a knowing look and chuckled as she walked out of the room.

"You'd better get going if you don't want to miss your portkey" she called over her shoulder as she entered the kitchen.

"Bloody hell" burst Ron as he looked at his watch, "We'd better get going, we ARE going to be late if we don't get a move on."

They both said hasty goodbyes and stepped out through the kitchen and out the back door before running off down the drive.

Ginny leaned over to kiss Harry then stood up to stretch. Harry watched her, taking in every curve of her body, mesmerized by them, seeing her pyjamas rise slightly to expose her bare midriff. Harry's heart skipped a beat at the sight of Ginny's bare flesh. Ginny spotted his gaze and smiled.

"You like what you see Mr potter?" she asked slyly.

Harry nodded and looked up to see Ginny's amused face smiling at him. She winked and walked out of the room to get dressed for breakfast.

Harry walked into the kitchen to see Mrs Weasley talking to the fire. There amongst the flames was the head of Professor McGonagall. She turned to face the door and saw Harry standing there!

"Hello Mr Potter." She said quickly "Molly, I will be in touch again soon. If you could let Arthur know what we discussed and get him to send me an owl if he agrees?" Mrs Weasley nodded her agreement "I must be off, there's so much to do." With that there was a pop and the fire returned to normal.

"Harry dear," said Mrs Weasley "Breakfast? Toast, eggs, sausage?" Harry nodded and sat down at the scrubbed table while Mrs Weasley busied herself with breakfast.

"What did Professor McGonagall want?" asked Harry interested, as Ginny bounced into the kitchen and sat down next to him.

"What? McGonagall was here?" Asked Ginny.

"No, no dear," her mother started "She just called into the fire to talk to Arthur. Apparently there's erm…a lot to do to repair Hogwarts and she erm…wanted his help" She sounded slightly unconvincing, "Erm…Arthur has gone into work early to…erm… make a start on the Ministry clean up."

Ginny looked puzzled and looked like she was about to ask another question when her mum asked one of her own;

"So what about you two then? I saw you both asleep this morning, would I be right in saying that you two are going to recommence courting, or were you just tired?"

Ginny looked nervously to Harry, as she couldn't truthfully answer the question herself. She knew what she wanted to say, but wasn't sure how Harry really felt. They hadn't exactly spent much of the previous night talking.

Harry broke the silence. "Mrs Weasley, I care for Ginny very much, and I know that breaking it off with her couldn't have been easy, I mean…" he looked at Ginny "I would be honoured if she would agree to take me back and be my girlfriend again."

Ginny didn't wait to see her mother's response, she simply screamed in delight and threw herself at Harry, knocking his glasses slightly askew and nearly making his chair topple over backwards in the process. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and whispered in his ear,

"Do you know that was the bit I've been waiting for all year, my silver lining! Yes, yes and yes again!"

Harry grinned and Mrs Weasley shot him a conspiratory wink as she stood and left the room.

"Of course there is one condition," said Harry, causing Ginny to pull away form him slightly

"What's that?" she asked with a slight note of caution in her voice.

Harry grinned "That you let me take you on a proper date!"

Ginny grinned again, remembering that they had not actually been on a proper date before. "Deal" she said before Harry leaned forward and kissed her passionately.

A/N:Hi everybody. This is my first venture into fan fiction, and I'm not sure If I'm going to be any good. Please leave me feedback and let me know what you think. I'm planning on quite a few chapters here, and hope to get all of my ideas down to fill in what I think could happen, and what I would like to happen after the events in DH. Thanks for reading my first chapter.