Hi people. This is my first Harry Potter fanfic and only my second ever fanfic. For anyone who does read my Final Fantasy XIII fic I'd like you to know that I haven't given up on it however I had ideas for this and had to write it before it went out of my head.

This piece is entirely my own writing however it has been influenced by other works on this site. As a result there will be some similarities between this fic and some others however this is not intentional. I plan to go off in my own way.

Please R+R however I don't mind if you don't.

DISCLAIMER: As awesome as I am (not) I am not JKR and never will be so Harry Potter and all other things used in this fic are not mine.

They walked back to the Great Hall in silence, Ron and Hermione walked slightly ahead, surprised by what Harry had told them but content for now to leave it at that. They were currently walking with their arms round each other, proof that they had finally accepted their feelings for each other. Harry was walking a few steps behind them smiling slightly, thoughts of a particular redheaded girl filling his mind. They reached the Great Hall a few minutes later and Ron and Hermione entered without looking back to check that Harry was still with them, Harry himself had stopped and once again pulled out his Invisibility Cloak throwing it over himself. He knew that if he was seen he would again be swamped, by families of those who had fallen in the battle or people wanting to congratulate him or know the full story about how he defeated Voldemort and he did not want to face that yet. He slipped inside the Great Hall taking care not to bump into anyone as he slowly made his way towards where Ginny was wandering looking concerned. He watched walking slowly as she went up to Ron and Hermione gazing expectantly behind them as if hoping to see someone who wasn't there.

"Hermione, have you seen Harry?" Ginny asked when she was close enough for them to hear her.

Hermione looked round realising that he was no longer with them.

"He was with us right until we entered the Hall." Hermione said looking round slightly worried for a moment, "He probably went to Gryffindor tower to get some sleep." she reasoned.

"Yeah." Said Ron trying to be reassuring, "He must be exhausted."

But Ginny didn't believe them, knew they were curious as to where he was. She decided that it would be best to go to Gryffindor tower and wait for him there. She turned and walked away from Ron and Hermione heading for the exit and a second later vanished and felt a hand over her mouth to stop her screaming.

"It's me," Harry whispered in her ear, "I don't want to have to deal with others yet."

Ginny nodded to show she understood and Harry removed his hand from over her mouth. Ginny slowly turned round under the invisibility cloak and snaked her hands around Harry's neck and kissed him silently, he returned the kiss gratefully eyes closed wrapping his hands around her waist. After a few moments they broke apart.

"Should we take a walk?" Ginny asked quietly. "We don't want anyone bumping into us because they don't realise we're here do we?"

"Of course we don't." Harry answered just as quietly, "It might get in the way of other things."

Ginny smiled as they made their way quickly out from the Great Hall heading towards the entrance to the grounds. Once free of the hordes of mourning families they took the cloak off and Harry stowed it in his pocketed once again.

They walked out in silence, hand in hand, looking out at the grounds which had been cleared of the dead. The only movement was the wind rippling through the grass and the trees, they walked until they came to a tree by the side of the lake where they sat down as they had only a year previously when they had been dating and Ginny rested her head on his shoulders and closed her eyes.

"I think I owe you an explanation." Harry said.

"For what?" Ginny asked lifting her head and looking at him.

"For why I 'vanished off the face of the earth' this year," Harry replied evenly, "And I apologise for Fred... for what happened to him."

Ginny smiled sadly at him returning her head to his shoulder and closing her eyes again.

"No matter what people say you're going to blame yourself aren't you?" She said quietly. "It's not your fault, we knew the risks. We knew death was possible. That's why you didn't want me to fight isn't it? You didn't want me to die."

"Yeah that's why." Harry said stroking her hair. "And it is my fault. If I hadn't come back to Hogwarts this would never have happened."

"And the most feared Dark wizard of our time would still be out there getting stronger by the day. We'd all be living in fear and in little over a month at least half of us would be dead of worse." Ginny cut across him with only a hint of annoyance that he was blaming himself.

She had expected it of course, he was bound to blame himself because it was him that Voldemort was after and him that had told everyone that they were fighting. She didn't blame him for what had happened. Not for Fred's death or for blaming himself. It was natural to in his position. Harry sighed about to begin talking again but she once again cut across him.

"You walked past me didn't you. Under the cloak. When you went to..." her voice faltered.

"I...I'm sorry," Harry said quietly. "I had to."

"But what if you had died? What if you hadn't come back?" Ginny asked her voice showing the tears that she would not release.

"... I couldn't say goodbye." Harry said avoiding the question. "If I had stopped I would never have been able to go and Voldemort could never be killed."

"What do you mean he couldn't be killed if you didn't go?" Ginny asked sounding confused.

Harry said nothing but picked her up quietly as he stood. She wrapped her arms around his neck to steady herself. Slowly he started to walk back towards the castle heading towards Gryffindor tower.

"If you're going to understand that happened and why I'm going to have to start from the beginning." Harry began. "Not when I survived as a child. Before even that. I'm going to start fifty years ago when Tom Riddle was only eleven."

And he told her everything that Dumbledore had ever shown him or told him about Voldemort's childhood and the Horcruxes as he carried her through the silent wreckage of the castle, he reached the portrait whole at the same time as he got to the prophecy, the portrait of the fat lady looked at Ginny in his arms eyes wide open and listening to his every word and didn't even wait for a password before swinging open to admit them. As he climbed through taking care not to bump Ginny into the sides he told her how Snape had overheard the beginning of the prophecy before being caught at which she cut across him.

"Snape, heard the start of the prophecy?" she asked clearly shocked.

"And he told Voldemort what he heard." Harry said. "I know the full thing though."

He began to climb the stair to the boys' dormitories knowing that he couldn't get up to the girls as he recited.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. That was all Snape heard before being caught and rushed to tell his master, however he did not hear the ending which Dumbledore told me. And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have powers the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies." He reached his and Ron's old dormitory as he finished reciting it and pushed the door open with his foot carried Ginny inside and placed her gently on his old bed. He then walked towards the door shutting it and pulling out his wand muttering "Muffliato, Colloportus." Sealing the door shut with a squelch and preventing anyone who came up the stairs being able to hear inside although they could still hear out.

"So Snape told Voldemort that the only one able to beat him would be born at the end of July?" Ginny asked to clarify what had caused the attack on Harry as a baby as he came over to sit on the bed next to her and wrap his arms round her and pulling her close.

"And have parents who had escaped him three times." Harry said. "And Voldemort took that to mean me. Another half-blood, however Dumbledore told me that it could have also referred to Neville."

"I knew Snape was evil. So Voldemort chose you because you're a half-blood like him instead of a pure-blood like Neville?" Ginny said shocked.

"Yeah. Of course you know that led to the attack on my family when I was only one not long after you yourself were born. My dad tried to hold him off while my mum was to run for it with me." He said tears forming in his eyes at the memory, seen only through Voldemort's own eyes 5 months previously. "He didn't stand a chance; he had left his wand behind. After defeating my dad Tom chased after my mum who had ran upstairs with me. He told her to stand aside and that she had no need to die, that he only wanted me. She wouldn't move so he killed her before turning upon me. We all know the result of that." He said bitterly rubbing the scar on his head.

"But why couldn't he touch you?" Ginny asked.

"Love. My mother died because of her love for me to save me." Harry said before continuing with the story.

He told her of life with the Dursleys, how they had made him sleep under the stairs, how he had kept making things happen that he could not explain. How eventually Hagrid had came on his eleventh birthday and told him he was a wizard, how he hadn't believed him to start with; of getting to Kings Cross to get the train and not knowing what he was doing, of overhearing Mrs. Weasley mention muggles on the way to the platform and deciding to follow her and the 5 children with her all of whom had flaming red hair, how his heart had skipped a beat when Ginny had wished him good luck as he ran for the barrier and he had dismissed it for nerves; of meeting Fred and George and how he had watched Ginny and her mum fascinated by them and his first glance into a world where he was famous and knew nothing about. He told her of his, Ron's and Hermione's adventures during their first year, he even mentioned how Fred and George had indeed tried to send him a toilet seat as a get well soon after his fight and narrow escape with Voldemort. At this Ginny laughed.

"I know the next bit I was there," She said. "You came ours, recued me from the Chamber of Secrets later that year, I never did thank you for that properly as I was too shy." She paused to kiss him gently on the cheek. "Thanks for saving my life." She whispered in his ear.

"I would gladly do it again if I had to." Harry said returning the kiss.

He decided to then skip ahead to what had happened after Bill and Fleur's wedding. He told her about their being found almost immediately and having to fight the Death Eaters in a small cafe. How they had fled to Grimmauld Place. How they had found R.A.B. the person who had discovered the Horcruxes and how it had been Sirius' brother, their fight with Lupin; their break into the ministry, how they had given Umbridge what she deserved. He described life on the run, how he was always listening for news of her, how Ron had run out on them worried for his family, how he had taken to watching her dot on the marauders map while listening to Phineas Nigellus talk about goings on at the school. Ron's reappearance, destroying the locket, and many more things until eventually he said.

"And then you arrived, you know most of it from there, however there are a few things that you must also know." He proceeded to tell her about how they had snuck into the Shrieking Shack, watched as Voldemort used Nagini to kill Snape.

How Snape had given him memories as Voldemort left and declared a cease fire and for Harry to give himself up. How he had discovered that he was a horcrux that Voldemort had never intended to make, how he must die in order for Voldemort to be defeated. He told him how he had told Neville that the snake must die as he had never been able to kill it himself before hand; how he had struggled so hard to walk past her without saying goodbye believing it was to go to his doom, how his last thought when he was about to be killed was of her and keeping her alive. When he mentioned being hit by the curse Ginny gasped and demanded to be shown the bruising. After she had satisfied herself that it was not immediately a problem she let him continue, he told her of his dream like state talking with Dumbledore in the in-between. He told her how he had come back, how he had no choice but to remain still and fake death to survive and kill Voldemort.

Eventually he finished the story and rested his head on hers as they sat in silence. Ginny was crying silently, Harry was the most selfless person she knew even his own death had been for the benefit of others and the hopes that they could lead a happy life.

"So Snape was on our side all along then?" Ginny asked as he finished.

"Yeah. It surprised me too, but he loved my mother and worked to overthrow Voldemort because of it." Harry said.

Slowly Ginny drifted off to sleep still sat cuddled up to Harry, her head on his shoulder and his head on hers where he too finally drifted to sleep.

So what do you think? Again I realise there are some similarities to other, better fics already on this site but they weren't intentional.

I won't make any promises but I hope to have the next chapter up by this time next week. Don't be too surprised or upset if it's not. Please. My time keeping is awful.

Until then I hope you enjoyed it and if you can find it in your hearts to press the review button and tell me what you think then I will be most grateful.

Baueros.