Author's note:

We made it! Here's the final chapter of IAL. Thank you to everyone who's read it, seeing your comments, likes and follows regularly makes my day.

If there is something that I never answered or something you're still curious about or even if you just want to say hey, I'm over on tumblr as the-words-in-my-head 12

Stepping out of the fireplace, Ginny shakes her head a little to clear the lingering effects of Floo travel and then looks around the small room. It always manages to surprise her how similar these places all look. Off-white walls, evenly tiled flooring, gray desks and a single green plant in the corner to separate the rows of fireplaces from the check-in desk; it's always the same no matter where in the world you might be arriving.

Yet, for as familiar as the place might seem, it's not enough to stop a nervous spike of dread from shooting through her when the attendant usures her forward to check in. There's no doubt in her mind that when the man takes her credentials, he is going to be able to easily recognize her name.

Despite her and Harry's best attempts to keep knowledge of their involvement to a minimum, the invasion of the Rosier Manor and the subsequent rescue of the women and children made headlines all over. Now, it's not just her last name and her relation to her brother garnering attention, she is a spectacle all on her own.

Losing the anonymity she used to crave has made her latest traveling ventures more challenging, but some uncomfortable appreciation and a few awkward questions are a small price to pay for having them all home and safe. With that in mind, she moves forward, pushing a smile onto her face.

The nevers linger, not quite as strong as they once might have been until suddenly they are soothed by a calming hand on her back. She turns her head slightly to see a dishevelled Harry, clearly not any more accustomed to Floo travel despite the numerous tips they've taken through it in the last few months and the smile on her face doesn't need any assistance.

"Oh, are you together?" the attendant asks, looking up from the paperwork spread out before him at Harry's arrival.

Ginny looks back to Harry and he smiles down at her with his special, her smile, the one that he's used at just about every one of these points. After that, she's able to answer the question with ease. It took a while, they both had loads of issues to overcome, both together and apart, but slowly, they worked to a place where they are clearly definitively a team.

After the events at Rosier, there wasn't any chance of hiding secrets from her family, not with her name tied to the event so closely, but still Ginny hoped that maybe she'd get a chance to pull herself together a bit more before the inquisition started. Those hopes are dashed however, the moment she steps into the Burrow, not even a full day since the traumatic events, Harry a few steps behind her, to find her entire family sitting in the living room waiting for her.

For a second, feeling the weight of a dozen sets of eyes looking to her for answers, Ginny considers running up to her room or better back out the door, but then she spots her Mum's hands twisting together, her Dad's kind eyes, and she forces herself to take the seat left open to her.

The time for running is long gone. For as much as she wants to just brush the past aside and move forward, she knows that they deserve some answers; they deserve to get to know the real her and she deserves to be able to move forward without her past hanging over her like a heavy weight at all times.

Still, she doesn't know quite where to start and judging from the silence radiating across the rest of the room, it is going to be up to her. She looks to Harry then, standing at the doorway to the room like he isn't sure he belongs and asks him silently for help. Even though she knew that this moment was coming, knew to expect it, now that it's here, the words she'd planned to say are all stuck in her throat.

With their eyes on her, watching her every little movement and scrutinizing it, the panic that's been lingering just under the surface of her skin threatens to overwhelm her. The reality is that she doesn't know how to start, where to start. There's so much that they don't know, years and years of half-truths and straight up lies.

There's no logical reason for turning her attention to Harry, their relationship, if they can even call it that, is still unstable at best. She doesn't even know what she's asking of him, but luckily, he seems to understand.

He holds her gaze for a long moment, instilling her with the confidence that she knows deep down already lives inside her. Then, when she thinks that maybe, she'll be able to do this, he nods a little, more to himself than her and pushes himself off of the wall.

Slowly, he makes his way over to her, weaving through her family without looking at any of them. He pauses beside her and then takes her hand in his after a moment of hesitance.

She looks at him questioningly, but holds on tightly. She trusts him.

"It's not really just Ginny's story to tell— well it is, but she can't tell it without including some of my past, things that you don't know about me... maybe we should start with the first time we met?" he asks her, turning his gaze on her instead of the random spot on the wall he'd been staring at before.

She nods, her agreeance, feeling a weight lift off of her chest. Together they can do this.

And they do.

It takes most of the afternoon, but by the end of it her family knows just about everything that either of them have ever kept secret; the danger, the hurt, the deception and some of the good times too, rare as they were. Everything is laid bare. There are tears, mostly from her Mum, some yelling, mainly from people outraged on their behalf, and more than one gasp of astonishment.

She's exhausted by the time it is over, but it's a good type of tired. For the first time when they sit down for dinner, she doesn't feel like she's dragging a pile of rocks behind her. Honestly, it's a relief. A relief that she can't help but know that Harry feels too when she looks at him out of the corner of her eye from across the dinner table. There's a lightness to her movements, an ease to his smile that she's only seen when it was just the two of them. It gives her hope for a brighter future.

That hope is what gives her the courage to follow him outside after he says his goodbyes to the family.

"Well, well, well, fancy seeing you here," she greets him with a grin when she finds him waiting for her with his back resting against an old tree.

"The night is beautiful and I thought- well, I thought maybe you'd sneak out to see me."

"No sneaking," she tells him. She walked right out after him in full view of her family, not caring about the knowing looks she received. She's done trying to pretend to be something she's not.

His eyes widen in surprise and then a faint blush covers his cheeks. "I'm really glad I waited then."

She watches him and the peace she felt inside with her family, grow. Moving, she positions herself beside him so that their arms are just touching. Finding their way back to each other won't be easy or simple, she knows that, but looking at him under the soft glow of the moonlight, she knows that it will be worth it.

"Yes, we are together," she repeats for the attendants benefit.

Harry runs his hand across her back, silently reminding her how happy he is with how everything has turned out and takes over the talking, answering the required and not quite necessary questions. He does it all with an ease that is remarkable, but one she now knows is just as much an act as her forced smile. He's real to her now in a way that he wasn't before. He's allowed her to see the broken bits without reservation and that changed everything for the better..

Her anxiety still isn't totally gone, even with him standing beside her, but she's made her peace with the fact that it probably won't ever be. It's a part of her story just like the scars that line her back and the man standing beside her. She doesn't need to erase it to move past it.

"You're both from England?" the attendant asks even though he undoubtedly already knows, there was no attempt to mask their accents this time. She thinks back to England, and then inevitably her thoughts drift to home and her family.

"You're coming back, right?" Ron half jokes from his place opposite her at the table. The mood at their last Sunday family lunch for the foreseeable future is rather dim.

"Yes, I promise," she tells him, trying to inject every ounce of sincerity she can into her words. She knows that her leaving is not what any of them want, that much is clear from the way she can see her Mum's mouth press into a thin line from across the room, but she has to do this. Moreover, she wants to.

Finally, she's ready to try and start to heal, but she can't do that here, not with her family and moreover the world, watching. She needs some time to figure out how to just be again, maybe to how to be for the first time ever. How to be comfortable with herself, but also to figure out how to be comfortable with the man sitting beside. Maybe, then they will actually be able to make whatever it is between them work this time.

She turns to look at Harry sitting next to her, expecting to find him looking at her with a smile. A look that is becoming more and more frequent, but instead, she finds him locked in a silent conversation with her brother, a crease starting to form between his brows.

With a start, she realizes that Ron's question wasn't posed to her or at least not just to her. Ginny looks at her brother again. He doesn't look angry or even irritated, but that doesn't seem to be reliving any of the anxiety radiating off of Harry. Quietly, she slips her hand under the table and entwines their hands, offering a silent show of support.

It shouldn't surprise her that Ron is just as concerned around his best mate leaving as his little sister, but consideration for how her family would take him leaving had never crossed her mind. It really should have, she knows that the relationship between the two friends has been strained.

Surprisingly, most of them took what they had to tell them well, each of them suspecting in their own way, some version of what happened. It was Harry's revelations about his past, especially his past involving her, that shocked them, particularly Ron.

They were all understanding, supportive of him in a way that she knew from the start that they would be, but that didn't stop the occasionally, too sharp comment from Ron about not really knowing his best mate, from slipping out. In the following weeks, she knows that they have come to an understanding, at least as much of one that they could in such a short amount of time. Still, she knows that doesn't fix everything.

She looks at her brother again, still watching Harry, waiting for a response and she's able to identify the emotion that she couldn't at first glance. He's worried.

"We'll be back," Harry finally answers, looking straight at Ron. Then more teasingly he adds, "I can't let you go and get married without me."

Ron holds on to his stern expression for a moment longer and then a broad grin takes over his face. "Be sure you don't, or I'll replace you with one of these lot. I'm sure Percy would jump at the chance to be the best man."

It's all lighthearted in a way that she knows Ron is most comfortable with, but underneath is a promise that she knows neither of them take lightly.

Ginny looks around the room at her family, smiling to herself, and then to Harry. She can't wait to leave, to go on an adventure around the world, but she also knows that she'll miss them. She may be leaving again, but this time feels completely different.

She's not running anymore.

"From there you went to..."

As Harry describes their itinerary, she gets lost in memories.

Throwing the towel she was using to dry her hair on the ground, Ginny reaches down into her bag to grab something before bounding over to the bed. Landing with a bounce on her knees, she directs her attention to Harry lying easily across from her with a pleased grin. So far, they had been here for two days and they have yet to leave the hotel room. A matching smile overtakes her face. It has been a good 48 hours.

"I've got something for you," she tells him, fiddling with the figurine in her hands behind her back.

"Oh really," he says, perking up in a way that she knows is mostly for show. He doesn't like reviving gifts, she's learned, but she's fairly confident that he's going to like this one.

"When did you get time to do that," he adds on after a moment teasingly.

For a second, she considers answering him, creating some elaborate story just so she can enjoy their unique banner, but instead she just displays her hand in front of her. Palm opened wide, shiny stag on display. She's held on to this for long enough.

She watches tensely as a range of emotions flirt across his face. Amusement and confusion. Recognition and then disbelief.

"Where did you…" he starts with a gasp, fingers reaching out to brush lightly against an antler.

This right here is the moment that she was avoiding. The hunch she had years ago that the strange token was important to him, is confirmed for her now by the glassiness of his eyes.

"I took it," she confesses softly, "I don't really know why, I told myself when I grabbed it that it looked expensive and that I could sell it..."

"But you didn't," she can hear the unasked question in his voice, feel the burn of his eyes on her face, but she can't quite make herself look at him yet.

Instead, she continues to focus her gaze on the ornament in her hand. "No, I didn't. At first, I told myself that I kept it as a reminder— a reminder not to let people get too close, but later..."

Ginny trails off, needing the extra moment to gather her courage. She knows that she needs to do this, that what they are is never going to work if she can't learn to be vulnerable, but that doesn't make it any easier. He lets her have the time, waiting patiently across from her, silent and steady while she gathers her thoughts.

"The truth is that you mattered to me, even when I thought you didn't... I wanted something to hold on to."

The air feels heavier after confession, but not uncomfortable like she would have expected. At least, not until she feels the bed shift beneath her. She looks up just in time to see Harry's back as he moves towards the corner where their bags landed.

"What-" she starts to say, some additional noises, somewhere between distress and rejection, following, but he quickly cuts her off.

"Just one second," he promises, his back still turned.

When he lands back beside her, she's pleased, yet surprised to note a careful smile on his face. He opens his hand revealing a worn, stretched out black hair tie to her proudly.

"Thank you," she says somewhat questioningly, taking the offering from his outstretched hand.

A second passes and then he lets out a laugh. Not the quiet, half restrained puff of air that she's grown accustomed to hearing, but a true, full body laugh. She feels her own chuckle taking hold, even though she doesn't have a clue what's so funny.

It takes him a moment, but when he eventually calms down, he sends a look her way that is so full of unabashed fondness that it takes her breath away.

"I still don't remember the moment that I left you," he runs his hand nervously across the bedspread, "maybe it's something that my brain knows I don't really care to experience again— but somehow in the missing time, I acquired this little thing. I didn't recognize it, had no idea where it came from, but still I couldn't bring myself to toss it."

A smile graces his lips, "I wore it around on my wrist for a good year and then even after I took it off, I always made sure to keep it close, safely in my bag, sometimes in my pocket. It brought me comfort for some mysterious reason and that was enough to hold on to it."

"It didn't make sense to me until I saw you again." He reaches towards her slowly and then twists a strand of her hair between his finger types reverently, and she lets out an involuntary shutter, tension of an entirely different kind building between them. "With your fiery hair and your teasing smile. Then it wasn't just a hair tie anymore; really, it never was just a hair tie. It was a way for me to keep the memory of you alive even when they were gone."

"But I don't need it anymore," he continues with a sweet smile, "because I'm never letting you go."

The attendant nods his head in understanding, "and you were in...?"

The sun is warm on her back as she lays on the beach with her eye closed. She knows that she should move, sun blocking charms can only do so much with her fair skin, but the thought of getting up seems insurmountable. For the first time in probably a decade Ginny feels truly content. She's happy, truly and completely, unadulteratedly happy.

She opens her eyes, squinting at the brightness of the southern sun, to see Harry splashing around happily in the crashing waves. He's not the sole provider of her new found peace, she'd never allow herself to be put into that position again, but there's no denying that he's played a huge part. These last couple months of travel have been everything she could have ever asked for.

A smile makes its way onto her face as she watches Harry jump dramatically in the water as each wave makes its way to the shore, trying to avoid the splash. She can hear the childish shrieks of laughter all the way from her position halfway up the busy beach.

While she seems to have figured out how to enjoy the stillness, she's learned that Harry is still more comfortable in action and he's in his element here. As much as he likes to deny it, there's something about him, a magnetism that just draws people to him.

She loves that here, surrounded by people who don't know who he is or what he's done, he's able to freely embrace that part of him which she knows he's often hesitant to show. She watches for a moment longer, before the pure joy radiating of the group is too tempting to resist.

Slowly, she sneaks up behind him, putting a finger to her lips to signal to the children to keep quiet and not give away her presence even though she knows that he's already realized what she's doing. Some things never change and some instincts are impossible to simply turn off.

She waits until the water is almost up to her waist before she makes her move. With a final wink towards the kids, she leaps on to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. There's a brief moment where she's out of the water completely and then she's using her combined momentum and weight to send them both crashing below the surface.

The water fight that ensues could rival the ones that she used to have with her brothers in the Burrow pond, both of them being competitive by nature. It doesn't end until he's got her pinned securely to his chest, so far out into the water that her feet don't reach the bottom and the sounds of laughter at the shore are muffled.

"Merlin, I love you," he tells her with a bright grin, water dripping off his hair and down his face.

She lets out a carefree laugh and then levels him with her best smirk, "of course you do. What's not to love?"

There's a beat of silence, silence of the best kind, and then he's shaking his head with a fond smile, before throwing his weight backwards, sending both of them crashing under the surface.

And the game is back on. Sun and sand, laughter and then half hearted threats, the rest of the afternoon passes quickly. So quickly that it's not until hours later, back in the hotel room, showered and changed that she comprehends exactly what he said. She expects panic to follow the revelation, it's a big step, one that would have sent her running not only a few months ago. Yet, she feels no need to flee at all.

Listening to the sounds of Harry moving around in the bathroom, she just feels another wave of peace wash over her. She loves him. She's not sure when it happened or how, but she knows it with a surety that she's known few other things.

The way that he said it was easy, simple and perfect in a way that she thinks might be telling of a better future. Still, he needs to know that it's not a joke to her.

He opens the door, a billow of steam accompanying him. She notes with some disappointment that he's already dressed, but then she notices him towel drying his hair and has to bite back a smile, the move so inherently him.

"I love you,"

Harry's eyes widen slightly, the seemingly random confession probably taking him off guard, but then he's watching her with a blinding smile.

"Yeah?" he questions a little bashfully, rubbing the towel still in his hand across the back of his head.

Biting her lip, she registers the hope in his eye with joy, "totally and completely."

She lets the moment hold for a minute, savoring the feeling of loving and being loved. It's everything she never even dreamed she'd have, but a few minutes later, when Harry asks her again, this time with a teasing glint to his eyes, it's just as fulfilling.

"Nope, I take it back," she tells him with a grin, "don't know what I was thinking."

He lets out a lough, which she echoes, before rushing to embrace her where she sits on the bed. He lands in a heap, knocking her backwards. She lets out a gasp, half surprise and half laughter and then he's kissing her firmly. Then she's kissing him back, infusing every emotion she feels for him with the movements of her lips.

Then he moves his mouth across her neck, until he's right beside her ear, before pausing with purpose. Her skin tingles with anticipation as she waits, the ghost of his breath dancing across her.

The tension mounts and then just when she's ready to break, he leans closer and whispers, "I love you too."

The man continues to ask his questions and with each a vision of the place flashes before her min. A quiet café and a crowded street. Breathtaking mountains and a simple cabin. Harry's body pressed against hers, his soft smile in the morning.

"Are you here for work or pleasure?"

"Pleasure," she says speaking up for the first time in a while, "he's showing me all his favourite places."

"We're showing our pasts to each other," Harry explains wrapping his arm around her more fully.

She knows that they probably look like lovesick idiots, the kinds of people she used to judge, but she can't bring herself to care. She's happy and there's no stopping the world from seeing it.

The man smiles at them, not in a condescending way like she'd expect, but with a glint in his eye as if he knows the beauty of what they share. "It looks like everything is set then," he places a stamp on each of their documentation. "Welcome! I hope you enjoy your stay."

They both thank him and then continue on their way. Each with their own bright grin because they know that this place will be everything he claims it to be. Not because of the fantastic scenery or the lively nightlife, but because they are together. Eventually they'll go home and find a new place, a new adventure. For now though, this is exactly the life that she wants to have.