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Harry Potter and Voldemort's Demise

by lookimacloud

Chapter

I Might Love You

The most Harry could do lying in the bed at night, was ponder his life and all of the people who died because he lived. Harry felt like it was his fault and even though he knew that it was his destiny to kill the murdering Lord Voldemort. He didn't expect to live long doing it. That was why he was so uncomfortable. Harry Potter stared at the ceiling of his best friend Ron Weasley's room. He could hear his friend snoring not five feet away from him. It had to be just before sunrise, but still Harry had not slept since coming to the Weasley's for the remainder of the summer. He had received his school letter in the mail the day of his arrival, but he knew that he could not return to Hogwarts now that his beloved Headmaster was murdered.

Here he was under his best friend's roof, with a mass murderer after him, and all he could do was wait. Ron, and Hermione, his other best friend, had told him that they too would skip their last year at Hogwarts so that they could help him on his mission. But he didn't want that. All Harry ever wished for, was to be normal and to be loved. He knew that his friends loved him, but what he wanted was his ex-girlfriend's love. He wanted Ginny Weasley to be with him. That was why he'd broken up with her at the end of the school year. Voldemort would go after anything or anyone he could, if it would hurt Harry. If he had Ginny as his own, Harry knew that Voldemort would hurt her somehow to get to him.

"Not now…I have plans with Hermione…" grumbled Ron in his sleep.

Harry glanced at his friend and knew he had to be telling someone about a date he was going on. It was one of the few benefits of having your two best friends dating. He always knew exactly what they were both doing and when. Ron rolled over and stuck his thumb in his mouth. Harry cracked a smile and gave thanks for small mercies, at least Ron wasn't snoring anymore.

Harry wondered how long he should stay in bed. He also wondered how he was going to avoid Ginny again this day. Pulling himself into a sitting position, he looked out at the rising sun through the window. It was hardily bright out yet but if he stayed alone with his thoughts a moment longer, he feared he would lose his mind. By the time he was done taking a quick shower and throwing on the first clean clothes he could find, it was morning. Harry grabbed his wand and thought about all of the ways he could wake Ron up without making him scream too loudly. Finally coming up with a good spell he lifted his wand and said, "Tickoly Gnomfardia"

All at once Ron was covered with gnomes bent on tickling him out of his sleep. Ron laughed and laughed and then cursed Harry when he couldn't throw the gnomes off of himself. Harry gave the counter spell and sent the gnomes back to the Weasley's garden. Ron was not a good sport and Harry knew that, but still, he was not prepared when Ron's spell sent him standing on his head.

"Ron!" Harry moaned.

"Sorry mate but you started it."

There was a knock on the door that broke Ron's concentration and sent Harry falling to his side. "Harry, Ron? Are you two up yet?" it was Hermione. "Mrs. Weasley said that you both should come down for breakfast before there isn't anything left."

"Right Herm." Ron choked out. He too threw on the first clothes that he could find. But Harry couldn't resist laughing, when Ron stopped in front of his full-length mirror to check out his appearance.

"Trying to impress someone special Ron?" Harry teased. Even though he hurt on the inside, he would never want his friend to feel the same way.

"Yeah, you. Are you impressed yet Harry?"

"Well maybe if you combed your hair once in a while I would be."

"Speak for yourself." Ron grumbled, even as he reached for his comb and made sure not one piece of hair was out of place.

Harry grinned and left him to his perfection. Down in the kitchen, Harry noticed that only four Weasleys were there. He sat down next to Mr. Weasley who greeted him accordingly. Mrs. Weasley was cooking up a storm as always, but stopped what she was doing to say good morning and give him a motherly hug. Across from him sat Hermione and the twins Fred and George. Fred and George were at the Burrow visiting for the summer. In fact though, it was amazing that they were even sitting at the meal table, or that they even left their room. According to George, they were working on something that could make their business increase their revenue by half and so they needed to be left alone to concentrate.

A few minutes later Ron walked in and sat next to Hermione. Everyone stared pointedly at him until after he gave a blushing Hermione a good morning peck on the cheek.

"So Ron," asked George.

"When are you going to ask Hermione to marry you?" Fred finished.

"Eat gildy weed." Ron shot back.

Fred smiled but Mrs. Weasley glared. "When are you two going to get settled? Ron is not yet out of school. You two have been for years. Where are your lady-loves?" Ron shot a thankful glance at his mother but her attention was still centered on the twins. "When are you going to give me grandchildren? Bill and Fleur are getting married. Even your brother Charlie has a girlfriend now who works with dragons, to say the least." The disgusted look on Mrs. Weasley's face told the rest of the room exactly what she thought about that.

"Molly," Mr. Weasley consoled, but once she started, Mrs. Weasley would not stop until she'd said everything.

The twins glanced at one another in despair because they knew that this would not be the last time they'd get this speech. "Stop making fun of your brother and sister because of their relationships when you won't even bother to find nice women to love you." Now that her Weasley temper had deflated somewhat, she turned back to the stove and dished out the now burnt bacon onto plates handing it to them all.

Harry had stopped paying attention to the ranting the minute he heard that Ginny was in a relationship. With who, he wondered. And why was she not at the table with the rest of the family? Was she avoiding him like he was avoiding her?

After breakfast, Harry spent a few hours trying to 'bump into' Ginny. He almost even followed her into the loo before he realized that was where she was headed.

After lunchtime, he watched her play wizard chess with Ron and lose horribly. The minute the game was over however, she made some excuse to steal Hermione away from her book and stomped up the stairs with her toward their shared bedroom. She never looked at him and it was driving Harry crazy. Harry suspected that they were going to have some private 'girl talk.' He would bet his best chocolate frog card that it wasn't about him. At that moment, he was really temped to ask Fred and George for a pair of extendable ears. Instead, he grabbed Ron and asked Mrs. Weasley if there was anything they could do to help her.

"Harry." Ron hissed, "You are going to get it mate. I am going to set boils all over your face and you will never get another date."

"What was that Ronald?" Mrs. Weasley handed each of them an apron.

"Nothing mum." Ron grumbled. Harry was starting to feel sorry that he'd dragged Ron into chores. That was, until they got outside and Ron punched him in the shoulder. Suddenly he felt Ron deserved it.

"So," Harry began, now picking vegetables from the Weasley garden for dinner, "what is going on with Fred and George's shop? Any new products?"

Ron grunted.

"Come on Ron. There was nothing else to do anyway." Harry said.

"Yeah but you didn't have to go to mum. We could have found something to do. I think I found Fred's lost sock." He grumbled holding up a black dress sock caked in dirt.

"I don't want it." Harry exclaimed when Ron tossed it to him. "So who is Ginny going out with?" He finally managed to ask.

"Why? It's not like you would care anyway. She didn't come out of her room for two weeks after you dumped her Harry. I don't think mum liked that much. So don't go getting any ideas."

Harry was baffled. Sitting back on his hunches and throwing another carrot in his pile, he glared at Ron. "I was just asking. I don't want to date her again anyway." he lied. "And you know why Ron, so don't make it seem like I am the bad guy here."

"I know, I know." Ron sighed. "You just don't want her to get hurt by You-Know-Who so you don't want to date her. We all get it Harry. Ginny went on for weeks about how stupid you were acting and how if You-Know-Who wanted to kill someone close to you it would be Hermione or me." Ron turned back to his picking then.

"But she is not dating anyone is she?" he asked again. Harry was getting more agitated by the minute. Ginny thought that he truly didn't want to be with her? Where was the logic in that?

"She was talking about dating Colin but…"

"What? Colin? The boy who still won't stop taking pictures of me, The-Boy-Who-Lived, to send to his family?"

"Yes but Harry…"

"So she is going to date Colin because I want her to be safe. Colin can't protect her from Voldemort Ron." Harry felt himself getting even more frustrated by the minute. His mind was whirling and the only thing that registered in his thoughts were of Ginny hugging Colin around the waist and kissing him, like she used to do when they were dating.

"Harry!" Ron shouted.

Harry jumped and fell backwards. Ron was now so close to him that their faces were practically touching.

"Sorry mate but you were acting like you got hit with a freezing spell."

"That's okay. Thanks Ron."

"But Harry you weren't listening to what I was saying."

"I heard. Ginny is going to date Colin. I heard you just fine. So what are you going to do to stop them?"

"What?"

"Oh come off it Ron. You hated me dating your sister and I am your best friend. Colin is no good for her."

"But she's not dating Colin, Harry. You didn't let me finish. What has gotten into you mate?"

"She has. Ron I can't stop thinking about her. Ever since I broke it off with Ginny, she never leaves my mind. Every moment of every day I want to be with her but then there's Voldemort. I don't want to lose her."

Ron winced at the usage of the Dark Lord's name, but Harry didn't notice. After a few minutes in silence Ron took an apple from the pocket of the apron his mum gave him, and started eating it.

"I want to date Ginny, but I can't be around her. What am I supposed to do?"

"Well you aren't going to date my sister again Harry unless you decide that you are not going to break her heart. I can't be around her if she gets in a mood like that again."

"I won't"

"Alright, well…I'm hungry so lets go see what mum's going to cook with all of these." Ron gathered up all of his vegetables in his arms and started heading toward the house.

"Harry you coming?" he called back.

"In a minute Ron." Harry sat for another half an hour thinking to himself. Ron was right. Voldemort could kill either one of them at any time. Just because Harry wasn't dating Ginny didn't mean that she couldn't get killed along with them. Was there any true protection? And would his not dating her, stop her from trying to help kill Voldemort? Harry knew the answer to that one. He had to talk to her. He wanted her. He loved her enough to marry her.

Gathering up the rest of the afternoon's pickings, Harry headed off toward the house he loved.

…

Ginny had no idea what was wrong with her. She'd felt terrible since she'd been separated from Harry. He was ignoring her too. He hadn't said a word to her the entire time she was playing chess with her brother. She'd have thought he would at least have greeted her.

That night during dinner Ginny couldn't keep her eyes off of Harry. She snuck glances at him to find him doing the same. Were they not so different in their feelings for each other then? The summer was almost finished and she already had no idea how long this pretence could stand before one of them cracked. Ginny knew that Harry had a good reason for breaking up with her, but she wished that he would let her take care of herself.

"Excuse me." She heard him say. "That was a very good dinner Mrs. Weasley. I think that I am feeling a little sick though and I need to lay down." He caught Ginny's gaze and held it for all of three seconds.

"Oh of course Harry dear. Is there anything that I could do?" Her mother replied.

"No, no." Harry hurried. "I am just going up to Ron's room to an early night."

"Goodnight then." her mum said.

"We will see you in the morning. Be better dear." her mum nodded with a pat to Harry's cheek.

Harry got a, "Goodnight mate" from Ron, while the twins just grinned knowingly at him. Hermione sat very still. Ginny knew what was on the three of their minds. The twins were applauding Harry for getting out of after dinner chores, and Hermione was trying very hard not to look like Ron had his hand on her knee under the dinner table.

Ginny knew she had to tell him then. Harry had to know. It didn't matter what her family thought about it. She was going to be with Harry if it was the last thing she did. She loved him. Excusing herself from the table, Ginny made her way up the stairs to Ron's room.

…

Harry had just gotten into bed when he heard a knock on the door.

"Yes?" he called.

"Harry?"

It was Ginny.

"Harry can I come in?"

Harry jumped out of bed and sprang to the door. The last thing he wanted to do was be inhospitable.

"Harry we need to talk."

"I'm all ears." He grumbled. Harry didn't want to make it seem like that was what he'd been trying to do all night.

All throughout the dinner meal he had kept trying to strike up a conversation with her. Something neutral to begin with, like "So, I hear you have a new boyfriend," or "Ginny, I want you to be with me even if Voldemort kills you." Realizing that they still stood in the doorway, Harry gestured for her to come in and sit on the bed.

"I have something to tell you Harry."

Oh no here it came.

"I think I might love you." Harry just stared at her. What was he supposed to do? Was he supposed to tell her the same thing? She looked oh so tempting. Her hair was pulled back into a bouncing ponytail and her purple corduroy overalls made her look eleven years old again. But Harry knew better. This was no eleven-year-old, this was Ginny. His sixteen, almost-of-age Ginny.

Author's Note: Please let me know what you think, good or bad.