A/N: Hello, Hello, My name is Lexi. Today is October 2, 2016; this is a fic of mine that I started when I was a junior in high school, back in 2012. Recently I've delved back into the glorious world that is Harry Potter and have become quite enraptured by quite a bit of Jily fanfics; it inspired me to come back to this.
So what I will be doing is updating this story. As I update each chapter, I will post each one when it's finished, depending on how quickly I can accomplish this, they might all be updated tonight, which means that I could potentially start writing new chapters soon. Anyway, I haven't really been writing much as it is, but I have to think that my grammar and spelling surely have gotten better in the past four years.

If you read the story before today, the Second of October 2016, you might want to consider restarting from the beginning, though I doubt it'll be truly necessary.

Disclaimer: one more thing, I doubt any of you actually think I'm JKR but just so you know. I don't own HP. Glad we cleared that up cause I KNOW there must have been someone thinking that

Cheers,
Lexi

Chapter One

It was over. All of it. The running, the fighting, it was finished. It all came crashing down on Harry as he walked out of the headmasters study, tugging the Invisibility cloak out of his pocket while he went down the spiral staircase. He pulled the ancient cloak over himself while processing the horrible damage that had been to the castle. He felt a twinge in his chest, this was the first place that made him feel like he had a home, and here it was, in disarray and damaged.

He made his way towards the Gryffindor common room thinking longingly of the sleep that awaited him in the four-poster bed that had once been his. He reached the fat lady's portrait and realized he didn't know the password. He slipped off the cloak looked up at the portrait the guarded Gryffindor tower.

"Oh, um, I don't know the password," he said awkwardly as he looked up at the portrait.

"That's quite all right, Harry dear, go on in." and she swung forward to admit him to the familiar common room.

Harry felt like a first year all over again as he walked into the Common room. The room did not look the greatest, it seemed that there had indeed been some fighting done here. While the majority of the damage had been down on the lower levels of the school, Gryffindor tower hadn't escaped it. There were holes blasted near the windows of the towers, scorch marks where missed hexes had hit the walls. Harry could only assume that this was where some of the defenders of Hogwarts had perched themselves, picking off the attacking Death Eaters down below. Using the height as an advantage. He made his way up the staircase that led him to the dormitory that had been his all his years at Hogwarts. The room looked the same, almost. There were signs that there had been some fighting done in here as well. Torn bed curtains littered the floor; the bed that had once been his was missing one of the four posts. Snapped in half, by the looks of the splinters.

Harry looked down at himself, and for the first time he noticed that he was covered in dirt, blood and Merlin knew what else. He walked into the bathroom turned the taps on and began to wash it off all. He grabbed a spare towel that was lying on the floor, wetting it and scrubbing his face, arms and hands, wincing as he ran the towel over some cuts and wounds he hadn't realized he had received.

He wanted to take a shower, but Hermione had all of his clothes, if she still even had her small beaded bag. He decided against it and walked out of the bathroom, stopping abruptly in the doorway seeing Ginny sitting on the bed that had once been his. He stood there, staring at her and she stared back, they both seemed to be drinking in the others presence.

He hadn't been planning on talking to her until later. Preferably after he had a shower and had gotten some sleep. He hadn't a clue what he was going to say to her. He had planned to talk to Hermione about it, tomorrow. Not tonight, when all he wanted was to be alone, to wrap his head around everything that had happened, all the lives that had been lost, everything that was going to change. Most importantly, he wanted to sleep, to forget everything, even if for just a few hours. Looks like he wouldn't get that chance, not till later.

"Um, hi" He said after an uncomfortable amount of silence had pass. He ran a hand nervously through his hair. He stayed in the doorway unsure of what to do. Should he go to her? Did she hate him? Should he apologize? What was he supposed to do in this situation? All he wanted to do was cross the room and pull her into his arms and never let her go. Neither of them moved, despite his thoughts. Despite whatever was inevitably going through her head, neither of them spoke for another uncomfortable amount of silence, both just silently staring at each other.

Ginny broke the eye contact and looked out the window, seeming lost in thought, before she took a deep breath and stood up. Harry remained stock still in the bathroom doorway as she slowly walked up to Harry catching his eye again and staring deep into them as she made her way closer and closer to him. Harry watched her apprehensively, as each step she took brought her closer to him. Happy that she was coming to be near him, apprehensive because the look on her face was one he was used to seeing when she was near hexing someone with one of her bat-bogey hexes. She stopped right in front of him, looking up at him, her brown eyes capturing his green, standing there for a solid thirty seconds. She slowly raised her hand and Harry not knowing what to expect stood there and watched her as she raised her hand.

She slapped him. Ginny slapped him as hard as she could across the face. Harry stared at her with a mix of hurt and incredulity on his face as a bright red mark started to blossom over his cheek.

"What the bloody hell was that for?!" He exclaimed. Nice. Not exactly the first words he wanted to truly say to her after everything had happened.

She glared right back at him. Her glare made him take a small step backwards but she stepped with him.

"Harry James Potter," Ginny glared at him, her voice low and rough with emotions that were threatening to overflow and consume her, "Don't you ever do that to me again," and with that she closed the space between them, throwing her arms around his neck, yanking his face down so it was level with his and crushed her lips to his.

Harry stood there in shock over what just happened while Ginny's mouth moved against his. He honestly didn't know what to do so he just stood there. How can she be kissing him? Her brother is dead! Because of him! She should hate him! After a few moments of not being kissed back, Ginny pulled back and looked up at Harry, she was the one looking apprehensive now, dropping her hands and taking a step back.

"I don't understand. I thought," She sighed. "Was I foolish to think that you still had feelings for me, Harry?" Her back was straight, trying to hide how much pain she was in; emotionally and physically, they would all be in a lot of pain for a long time.

Harry walked forward and took her hand, leading her to the bed that had been his, despite the broken post that was there. He sat down, pulling her down next to him. Ginny looked down at their hands, a small smile playing on her exhausted face.

"Gin, I think we need to ta-" Harry started to say and the smile faded from her face as quickly as it appeared and she pulled his hand gently from his.

"Things have changed for you, haven't they? You don't feel the same anymore, am I right?" She was looking at her hands, folded in her lap, attempting to keep her voice light, to hide the pain that was threatening to overwhelm her. How much more could she take?

Harry reached over and picked up her hand again, enveloping it in both of his, ensuring that she wouldn't be able to pull it away this time. He looked at her face until she met his gaze. "Ginny, would you please stop interrupting me?" He asked, a faint smile on his over exhausted face.

She stared back at him for a moment, her cheeks going a very light pink, typical of the Weasley line and nodded.

He tears his eyes away from hers, suddenly nervous and looks down at her hand in the pair of his. "Of course I haven't found anyone else. I've been on the run for almost nine months now. Ron, Hermione and I haven't exactly been in places that give much opportunity for dating." He was trying to make a joke about it, albeit a terrible one, but he could clearly see that she wasn't going for it and he sighed, looking back at her, staring into her chocolate eyes. "Ginny, if there had been any sort of opportunity for me to date while I've been gone, I most certainly would not have taken the opportunity to do so. Not with how I feel for you."

"Then I guess I just don't understand, why didn't you kiss me back?" She stared him down, the blush on her cheeks, creeping up towards her ears, but she held her gaze steady with his, not backing down.

Harry looked at her with a downcast look coming across his face.

"Don't you hate me?" Harry asked softly. "Doesn't everyone? I know that everyone seemed happy in the Great Hall after everything was officially over. But that could be just nerves. Once it all sits in…" As he said this Ginny looked up at him in shock, looking like she might interrupt him but he continued, "It's all my fault. All of it, that Fred, your older brother, is dead. It's my fault that Teddy Lupin is an orphan and is going to grow up without parents. My fault that Colin Creevey is now de-" during his rant, something broke inside him, and like a dam that had collapsed, tears started to run down his face. Ginny lifted her free hand and put it gently over his mouth to stop him from saying anything else.

Ginny stared at him intently and took his hands in both of hers. "Harry James Potter," she whispered, "Absolutely none of this is your fault." She took a deep breath to steady herself so she could continue. "We all knew that death was always a possibility when we came here tonight. Fr-Fred knew he might die. We all did, and we came anyway. I don't blame you for his death, Mum and Dad don't blame you for his death, and George doesn't blame you. None of this is your fault Harry. None of it. You-Know-Who is defeated because of you. So please stop blaming yourself, for all of this. If not for you, who knows what sort of world we would all be living in. As for Remus, he knew what could happen when he left Tonks and their baby at Andromeda's house. And when Tonks followed him here, she knew she might be leaving their beautiful baby boy forever. But that was their choice to make. They chose to come here, to fight. For you, with you, against Vol-Voldemort," she said his name in an almost hushed tone but kept talking. "They knew what the possible outcome would be of their actions, we all knew, and we were all here anyway. We chose to fight. You do not get to shoulder the blame of that. Remus and Tonks knew what their actions could mean and that's why they appointed you Godfather and made me his Godmother-"

Harry had been silent all throughout this, gripping onto her hands as if she were his life line, listening to every word she said, shaking his head at some point, feeling the need to shoulder the blame regardless of what she said, but this bit of news was new information to him and he couldn't help but interrupt, "Wait, you're Teddy's Godmother?"

"Yeah, you didn't know?" she asked in shock as Harry shook his head. "Oh, well, now you do, my point is Harry, they would not have made us his godparents if they didn't think we would be able to give Teddy a great and happy life if anything had ever happened to them." She squeezed his hands gently in hers.

"And as for Colin? He made the choice to sneak back in after certain precautions had been made for students like him. Hell, I was supposed to stay in the bloody Room of Requirement, I didn't listen either." She was staring up at him, trying desperately to get him to believer her.

"All of them died heroes of this war. That is nothing to be ashamed of. Was it too soon for them? Absolutely. But, I don't think Fr- Fred would have wanted to go any other way. Neither would Remus or Colin. And Tonks, she was an auror! Do you honestly think she would have died any other way than fighting off Vo-Voldemorts supporters in the great battle of Hogwarts? She deserved to die this way! They all did. They all died as heroes, it's honorable and I know that none of them would want you blaming yourself for something that they chose to do! This was a war, a war that has been going on long before either of us was born. Great losses were going to be made, by both sides. None of the deaths tonight were your fault. Well except for Voldemorts death," She said a small smile on her face, "I think we all give you credit for that. I don't hate you. My family certainly doesn't hate. We all love you so much Harry. I love you so much" She stared at him for a minute more before looking down at their hands realizing just how much she had said and how long she had been talking, the blush creeping up her cheeks again.

Suddenly there were hands on either side of face, pulling her face up, angling her to look him in his emerald green eyes, and he stared at her. His gaze was powerful, like he wanted nothing more than to believe all the words that she had just said to her. He was staring at her, drinking in everything about her again, letting it all sink in just how much he loved this red headed girl sitting next to him.

"Really? You don't hate me?" Harry asked softly, not taking his eyes off her. He looked like the world had just been lifted off of shoulders, but there was the small echo of a fear that told her she was afraid that weight might come crashing down at any moment. The look he was giving her made her stomach flutter around and she smiled at him under her curtain of long hair.

"Of course not Harry, I can't believe you ever thought that I could ever hate you! I've been in love with you since I was 10 years old!" she exclaimed at him.

"Did you really mean what you said?" Harry asked looking at her seriously.

"Every word of it." She said with a small smile on her face.

For the first since going off on his own he broke into a real smile, albeit a small one and leaned forward to touch his lips softly to Ginny's. At the touch of their lips, Ginny responded in a way that neither of them expected and threw her arms around his neck pulling him down on top of her deepening their kiss. She ran her tongue across Harry's lips and he sighed opening his mouth to hers, their tongues getting a feel for the other before she caught his bottom lip between her teeth, nipping it softy, eliciting a moan from Harry and he moved his face down to her neck, kissing and nipping at her skin softly before returning his lips to hers.