Chapter 1: The Breaking Point

"Your stupid noble reasons won't work this time, Harry Potter!"

"Ginny, please, don't be like this." Harry dragged a frustrated hand through his already disheveled hair as he followed the angry redhead up the stairs.

At the landing, she spun and glared down at him. "We can't go on like this. I don't need you to protect me. I can take care of myself. You weren't the only one who fought in the damn war!"

The frayed edges of his patience only unraveled further. They had been rehashing the same arguments for nearly an hour. Why was she insisting on being so stubborn? He had plenty of reasons to back him up. Why couldn't she just listen?

With mounting frustration, he could no longer help shouting back. "You weren't supposed to be involved in the first place! If it wasn't for your mum, Bellatrix would have killed you."

"I—"

"And the night Dumbledore died, I saved you from Amycus, remember? And remember the Ministry of Magic? I knew it would be dangerous, but I let you come with me. And what happened, Ginny?"

He didn't think it was possible for her to look even more livid, but if this was what it took, then so be it. The price of a few hours of her anger was nothing. He would gladly pay it a hundred times over.

Hope rose in him when she seemed lost for words at last, but the moment passed, the intensity of her stare never once diminishing. She took a deep breath, and guessing her intended argument, he sprung to head her off.

"It matters, Ginny. You were the first one they targeted that night, and we weren't even dating then. When the fight broke out, you ended up with a broken ankle, and Luna had to help you out. Tell me, in all of your past run-ins with Death Eaters, when have you ever shown you could take care of them on your own? I'm sorry, but your infamous Bat-Bogey Hex isn't going to be worth squat when you're facing off against psychotic murderers."

He paled as he watched her reaction, rage and hurt twisting her face into a fearful visage. Too late, he realized his mistake. His words had been true, but they were too brutally honest to have won her over.

A strangled noise tore from her throat before she whipped around and bolted down the hallway.

He swore and rushed after her. "Ginny! Ginny, wait. You know that I don't mean—"

She stopped so abruptly that he nearly bowled her over. Her blazing eyes turned to face him, gold flecks in the dark irises flaring like embers of a stoked fire, her tone dangerous when she spoke. "You don't mean what?"

He let out an exasperated sigh as his hand reached out to cup her flushed cheek. She flinched back from his touch, but he persisted, meeting her eyes with an even gaze.

"I love you, Ginny, and I only want what's best for you. No one ever expects an underage witch to be able to hold her own against experienced Dark wizards. I know you see it as an insult to your pride, but it's not, Ginny. It's just the way things are, and we have to deal with it as it is."

The heat dissipated from her eyes only to be replaced by a wet sheen that drove him into a panic. He never knew what to do with a crying girl. Thank God Ginny wasn't normally prone to tears.

"If you love me..." She paused and took a deep breath as if to steady her voice. "If you really love me, then why—why does it seem so damn easy for you to leave me, again?"

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Girls could be so dramatic sometimes. Instead, he moved to hug her close and softly kissed the top of her head.

"I've only been trying to tell you ten-thousand times already. The breakup doesn't mean anything. It will only be temporary, just until all the Death Eaters are rounded up again."

She pulled back and looked up at him with hardened eyes. "Harry, that could take years."

He met her gaze with an equally stubborn stare. "We have time, Ginny. Years and years ahead of us. You've just graduated, and I don't even have a full year of Auror training under my belt yet. Besides, I'll be gone most of the time for training in the next couple of years, so it's not like we'll be missing a lot of time that would have been spent together. Why are you so upset? You were fine when we had to breakup at the end of your fifth year."

She glared back. "That was because I thought it was something you had to do alone. You have no idea how furious I was to find out Ron and Hermione were going with you. I knew I couldn't feasibly join you anyway because of the Trace, so I didn't bother to fight you on it, but I bet that reason never even crossed your mind, did it?"

Confusion swirled in his mind. What was her point? Ron and Hermione wouldn't have accepted it any other way, and how could he have turned his best friends down after everything they'd been through together? Good thing too as he likely couldn't have done it without them. Surely his girlfriend had to understand all of that. "Ginny—"

"But forget it. It doesn't matter right now. The point is, Harry, that thanks to your fame, everybody knows we were supposed to have been married yesterday if it weren't for the massive prison break at Azkaban a few days ago. Kind of hard to hide that fact, don't you think? Especially when every frigging wizarding publication has been speculating about our impending marriage since last year? A breakup isn't going to fool any Death Eater. I'll still be a target on top of having to act out your stupid breakup games!"

He could feel a headache coming on. Where on earth had she gone? The Ginny that would always staunchly back him on everything?

His tone was nonetheless firm when he replied, "Did you forget that with the right media spin people will believe just about anything? Lucius Malfoy got off scot free, for goodness' sake. The Death Eaters will be targeting whoever is closest to me, and my fiancée is going to be at the top of that list. So there is no way in hell I'm going to leave you in that spot."

When Ginny forcibly pushed him away, Harry realized that her anger hadn't abated at all. It had only been furiously simmering in the background, ready to boil over at any second.

This time, she only stopped once she had reached the doorway of their bedroom.

"If you insist on leaving me this time, then we're done for good. It's your choice." She had spoken so softly that he barely made out her words.

"What?"

"You heard me."

Harry could barely keep his voice calm. "That's ridiculous, and you know it. I love you, and I'll do anything to keep you safe even if I have to fight you on this. You're only letting your temper get away with you. We definitely won't be done just because of this, and once you've cooled down, you're going to come to your senses and realize just how silly—"

He never got to finish as she turned around and threw something at him before slamming their bedroom door shut in his face. The object bounced off his chest and clattered to the floor by his feet. In the dimly lit hallway, he could make out the glint of a tiny gold hoop sparkling with precious stones.

With another exasperated sigh, Harry plucked the engagement ring off the floor. A grandfather clock's heavy chimes echoed through the house, announcing the late hour. Damn it. Robards is going to have my head. He quickly pocketed the ring before dashing back down the stairs where he grabbed his cloak, checked for his wand, and headed for the front door.

He was going to be late to tonight's field training session, not having expected Ginny to take his decision as badly as she did. He'd always figured it was something she would understand. Her ultimatum, however, hardly worried him. They had barely ever fought before, and he didn't think Ginny could stay mad at him for long, certainly not over something like this. He'd seen her furious outbursts loads of time by now, mostly directed at Ron, but often not a whole day would have even passed before she was back to being her cheerful self. Her temper was something she needed to work on, but they would have plenty of time to make up later, and all would be well again.

On that thought, Harry stepped outside into the cool air of an early summer night and Disapparated away.

Author notes: The rest of the story will mostly be from Ginny's point of view with a lot more action coming your way. The story is canon-compliant for all 7 books except for the epilogue. As I've been able to outline the entire story all the way to the end, I hope to craft a tale where not everything is at it seems. Hope you enjoy! Please do leave a review and let me know what's working and what needs work. Thanks for reading. :)