Author's Note: As per normal - a huge thanks to mew-tsubaki for the beta work on this, and for reading Harry/Ginny when it's not really your thing!

This was a little idea that came to me one night that I've been working on for a while now. I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 1

Harry opened the door of the Leaky Cauldron. He was looking forward to a good lunch after all of the debriefing and paperwork he had been doing since the early hours of that morning. The pub was fairly busy with a lunchtime crowd, but he managed to find a spare table and quickly ordered the lunchtime special. As he waited for his food to be served, Harry looked around to see if there were any familiar faces in the crowd. The door of the Leaky Cauldron opened as he was looking in that direction, and his best friends Ron and Hermione walked in. Harry smiled as he saw them. It had been ages since he had seen them. Ron had obviously spotted him straight away, as he grabbed Hermione's hand and almost dragged her towards him.

"Hey, mate!" greeted Ron, slapping him on the back.

"Hi," replied Harry. He then stood up and gave Hermione a hug.

"How are you? You were away for a while. It seems like ages since we last saw you," said Hermione.

"It was a long and torturous trip. But we got them, eventually," replied Harry.

"Why is it always you going off on these missions? Surely there are some younger Aurors now that could be out there," said Ron.

"There are, but this one needed a little more experience," Harry said.

"Rubbish!" exclaimed Hermione. "You volunteer yourself for all these missions, don't you?"

Harry took a long sip from his butterbeer, trying not to have to answer the question.

"Why in the name of Merlin would he do that to himself?" asked Ron.

Harry watched Hermione try to answer Ron without actually saying anything. Ron just looked at her strangely.

"What are you trying to say, Hermione?" asked Ron.

"Ronald!" whispered Hermione, viciously.

"You can say her name if you want to," muttered Harry.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Ronald, he's keeping himself busy. That's why we haven't seen him since March," said Hermione.

"Oh. Right," said Ron. "It's been ages, mate. I think we've only seen you two or three times since Christmas. Hanging out with George isn't quite the same. And George really misses hanging out with you, too."

Harry stared at Ron. He had missed spending time with his two best friends. He just could not cope with them looking at him sympathetically and asking him what had happened with Ginny at Christmas. That had meant that he had distanced himself from the entire Weasley family and had buried himself even more in his work.

He had worked so much lately that he had been offered the position of head of the Auror Office. Usually it would mean that he did not have to go off on many missions, but he could not bear staying in the office with his thoughts too much, so he kept going off on missions and left all the paperwork to someone else. Between lengthy missions, training Auror recruits, developing a new training program, and paperwork, it did not leave him much time to do anything else except eat and sleep and occasionally exercise.

"Harry, what did happen at Christmas?" asked Hermione carefully.

"Hermione…"

"Look, Harry, she'll be back soon. Her contract in Australia is nearly finished and she's definitely coming home. I heard Mum talking to Dad about it. Surely things can be sorted out?" said Ron.

"Doubt it. Look, I really don't want to talk about this. I guess it just wasn't going to work out. Two years is a long time to be apart like that. I guess she's happy. I haven't even heard from her in ages," said Harry.

"Well, mate. Why don't you come and have dinner at the Burrow? Mum and Dad would love to see you. Hermione and I will be the only ones there. How about it?" asked Ron.

"I don't know…"

"Harry. Come on. Please. We've all really missed you. It'd be nice to catch up in a more relaxed place," said Hermione.

"Better food, too," said Ron. "What do you say?"

"Maybe," said Harry.

"Well, I guess that's better than no," said Ron.

"Please try, Harry," said Hermione as she stood up. "We've got to go. We'll see you tonight. Okay?"

Harry watched them leave the pub. Maybe he should join them tonight. It would be better going to the Burrow before Ginny came home. He still missed Ginny terribly and he knew that he still loved her, and that there would never be anyone else like that for him.

Xx-H&G-xX

The years after the Final Battle had been up and down for Harry. Work wise, things had been great. He went straight into the Aurors in the September following the battle and had never looked back. He loved the training, the missions, and as long as there was not too much, he put up with the paperwork.

His relationship with Ginny had seemed to be great, too. Even though Ginny had another year of school, they had managed to see each other and write to each other as much as possible. It had been fantastic when Ginny finished Hogwarts and had started playing Quidditch professionally for the Harpies. They managed to spend a lot of free time together in between his missions and her training and games. Their relationship had progressed to the point that Harry had even talked to Arthur Weasley about marrying Ginny. He was planning to propose to her on her birthday. That was when things had started to slide.

Ginny had come home to his flat after a special team meeting with some depressing news. The Harpies had struck a deal with an Australian Quidditch team to trade Chasers for two seasons. The decision on which Chaser would be traded was still up in the air but Ginny knew that one of the other Chasers was not going to be considered for family reasons. So there was a fifty percent chance that she would be the one that would have to go. Harry decided not to worry about it until the decision had been made. Four weeks later, Ginny appeared at his flat in tears. She had to move to Australia. She still had two years on her contract and breaking it would end her career in Quidditch, and possibly in many other fields.

Harry and Ginny spent the few weeks left together talking about how they would survive this hurdle. Ginny had to be in Australia by the first of August, which meant she would have to leave on Harry's twentieth birthday. Harry told Ginny he would come and visit her in Australia when he was able to get time away from his work. Ginny knew she would be able to come back for Christmas each year. They told each other repeatedly that it would be all right and that the time would fly by.

The first year was okay. Harry managed to visit Australia twice before Christmas and another time early on the next year. Then his work started to interfere. There had been a large group of Dark wizards terrorising the whole of Europe and Harry was appointed head of one of the teams hunting them down. This meant that he was only able to see Ginny for one very short week between March and the following Christmas. Ginny had managed to come home for her twentieth birthday but Harry had been called away on the third day of her visit and she had returned to Australia before he had come home. They had written to each other as much as possible but the time between letters grew longer and longer.

Last Christmas, Harry had been keenly looking forward to Ginny coming home. He knew there was little chance of being called away as most of the Dark wizards had been captured by then. So, he hoped they would have a very happy three weeks together catching up and just spending time together. This had not happened, though. They were unusually uncomfortable around each other which was not helped by all the Weasleys being there too. Not long before she had to leave, Ginny had pulled Harry aside and had said to him that if he met someone else he should act on it and go out with them.

Harry thought about this for the next week or so, and the only conclusion that he could draw was that Ginny had found someone else and she was trying not to hurt him too much.

From then on he had buried himself in work. He had devised a new Auror training program and had doubled the number of teaching sessions he took. Any mission that came up, he was the first person to volunteer. Kingsley had tried to get him to take some time off and go away for a holiday, but he had refused. He could not go and visit Australia and see Ginny happy with someone else, and he could not go anywhere else because he knew he would just spend all of the time thinking about Ginny.

Ron and Hermione had become engaged at the end of February. They had made him go to their engagement party, for which Ginny had been unable to return home. That had been the last time that he had seen any of the Weasley family until today when he saw Ron and Hermione.

Xx-H&G-xX

Harry thought that he had done more than enough paperwork that day. He was tired and hungry. He contemplated going and getting some takeaway but then he envisioned a Molly Weasley dinner and knew that was a much better option. Plus, he really did want to see Ron and Hermione again. Seeing them earlier that day had made him realise how much he had missed them.

It was late afternoon when Harry Apparated to the Burrow. He had almost forgotten how relaxing and beautiful it could be there. He walked through the gate and towards the door, feeling more relaxed than he had in a long time.

He knocked on the door and waited. Molly's head appeared around the door and he was immediately enveloped in an enormous hug.

"Harry! It has been far too long. Come in and sit down. Ron and Hermione are here. They said that you might come. I'm so glad that you have," said Molly.

Harry felt himself being hugged and dragged into the kitchen where Ron, Hermione and Arthur were seated. The three of them broke into huge smiles upon seeing Harry. Hermione jumped up and hugged him nearly as fiercely as Molly had done.

"Just as well, Harry," she whispered. "I was almost ready to come and find you and force you here. Everyone has missed you so much."

"I've missed you lot, too, you know," Harry replied in a low voice. "It just hasn't been the easiest of years."

"Oi. Potter. That's my girl you're hugging there," said Ron, chuckling.

"Yeah, yeah. I just need to give my adopted sister a long overdue hug," replied Harry.

Hermione hugged him again and when she pulled away he could see tears flowing down her cheeks. "Well you had better make sure that it's nowhere near as long before the next one."

"I'll try," he replied.

"Nicely saved, Potter!" joked Ron.

Harry laughed at Ron and at the same time looked around the Burrow. It looked and smelled the same as he remembered. He found himself sitting at the table with a delicious roast dinner placed in front of him.

"See. I told you the food's better here," said Ron.

"You don't have to tell me that. The food's always better here," replied Harry.

"Thank you, Harry. There's treacle tart after this. Dig in. Though I must say, even though we haven't seen you in a long time, it's good to see that you've been looking after yourself, and you're not skin and bone. Every other time that you've been away for a while I've had to feed you up," said Molly.

"Yeah. I can't afford not to eat with work. Kreacher has been keeping me fed and generally has been looking after things," said Harry.

"Harry!" exclaimed Hermione. "Elves shouldn't be…"

"Oh, give him a break, Hermione. Kreacher loves it. What else would he do?" interrupted Ron.

"As long as someone is keeping you well," said Molly.

"Harry, how did the last mission go? Kingsley said to me last week that it was taking longer than expected," said Arthur.

"It was pretty horrible, really. I can't remember how many different countries that I followed that guy through. I couldn't just capture him straight away; we wanted to get his cohorts, too. He was pretty sneaky but I eventually got him and a couple of others in Albania, of all places. It gave me shivers thinking about Voldemort being there not that long ago," said Harry.

"Who was it?" asked Hermione.

"I can't say just yet. Not until the trial comes up," replied Harry, as he looked around at the interested faces.

"Oh, right. Of course," said Arthur.

"Did he try and hurt you?" asked Molly with concern.

"No. Nothing major; no Unforgivables. He didn't actually get me with anything. He was just really hard to track. The only time he tried to jinx me was when I cornered him."

"From what I've heard at the Ministry, I wouldn't want to go near you in a duel. I hear none of the Aurors will duel you anymore," stated Arthur.

Harry looked at Arthur carefully. He was not sure if Arthur thought that was a good or bad thing. Seeing the smile in the older man's eyes he knew he could reply safely.

"I've been keeping myself busy training and so on," said Harry.

"Probably all day and night," muttered Ron.

"Not all night," said Harry. "I do sleep - quite well actually."

"That's not surprising with everything that you've been doing," said Arthur.

"Mmm," muttered Molly, looking slightly worried.

"I've also heard on the grapevine that Kingsley has offered you the …"

Harry looked at Arthur, wondering why he had stopped talking. He did not mind every one knowing about his new position, but he would have probably preferred to let everyone know himself. Arthur was looking at the fireplace, which had started glowing green. Suddenly a letter came flying through the Floo and into the kitchen. Molly hopped up and picked it up from the floor.

"It's from Ginny," stated Molly, looking at the envelope and then at Harry.

"Well, open it, then," said Arthur.

Harry watched Molly read Ginny's letter. She seemed to be happy with the contents of the letter, as a huge smile spread across her face.

"She's coming home. For good, she says. On the twenty-fifth," said Molly.

"That's in two days," said Hermione.

"No wonder the letter came through the Floo," said Ron. "She'd be home before the owl got here."

"What does she say, Molly?" asked Arthur.

"Oh, she says:

Dear Mum and Dad,

I'm coming home. The season is over. We made the playoffs, but lost in the semi-final, so I'm now able to come home. I haven't finalised a new contract with the Harpies but I don't have to stay here. I've organised an International Portkey and I'll arrive on 25 July at 3pm. It would be great if some of you could meet me there. I've missed you all so much. I hope you don't mind me staying at the Burrow until I organise somewhere else to live. I'm really looking forward to a nice family dinner. It's been too long. See you very soon.

Love, Ginny."

"Excellent," said Arthur and Ron at the same time.

"Oh, it will be so good to have her home," said Molly.

Harry did not know what to say. He looked around the table and he stopped when he got to Hermione because she was staring at him somewhat strangely.

"You okay?" she asked quietly.

"I guess," Harry replied.

"You want to see her, don't you?" asked Hermione.

"Well, yeah. It'll be weird though, especially as everyone will be watching us," said Harry.

"I guess it will be awkward. I'm sure everything will work out, though. You guys are meant to be together," said Hermione.

"Time will tell," said Harry. He then decided that it was time to stop that particular conversation with Hermione before it became too complicated. "Molly, did you say there was treacle tart?" he asked.

Molly looked at him and laughed. "There is. I'll just go and get it, shall I."

The five of them finished the dinner talking about safe things, mainly George's shop where Ron was now a partner. After he had finished his second piece of treacle tart, Harry decided that it was time to leave and let the rest of them discuss Ginny's letter properly.

"You don't have to leave just yet, dear," said Molly.

"I know, but I still have heaps of paperwork to do from the last mission, so I had better head off," he replied.

"You're not doing it tonight, are you?" asked Hermione.

"No. I just need to get some sleep," Harry said.

"When will we see you again? It had better not be another four months," said Ron.

"No it won't be. I promise," he said.

"We'll hold you to that," said Hermione.

"Harry, will you be there to meet Ginny?" asked Arthur quietly.

"Um …"

"We know that something happened between you but you're part of the family and I'm sure she'd love to see you. We've really missed you around here this year. She has asked about you in her letters. Please?" said Molly.

"I'll try," said Harry.

Xx-H&G-xX

Harry had not planned on going to meet Ginny. He had spent the previous day and that morning telling him that it was not a good idea to meet her when she arrived home. Most of her brothers and their partners would be there to meet her as well as Molly and Arthur. It would only cause awkwardness for himself, Ginny and probably everyone else if he was there.

So why was he here, at the International Portkey Station, at three in the afternoon? To torture himself probably, he thought. He was actually running a little late. She should have arrived by now. As he walked around a corner, he spied most of the Weasley family gathered around talking presumably to Ginny. Just then Ron and Hermione moved allowing Harry to see Ginny. Harry's heart started thumping in his chest at the sight of her.

At that moment, someone must have noticed him because George was running towards him with a huge smile on his face.