Title: Secret Weapon.

Author: dem bones

Genres: Romance

Pairings: H/HR and a bit of RW/LL

Summary: After the war, Harry's given up on pursuing any romantic relationships. Hermione reveals a secret she has kept from him but that's not the only secret she has. What will happen when Harry discovers about her other secret?

Disclaimer: I do not own HP.

A/N: I wrote this as an experiment solely regarding the Super! genre. I'm curious if the presentation is sort of Deux ex Machina so tell me what you think. This is also for the 'Pairing Diversity Boot Camp' with prompt 29: denial, 'The Ultimate Shipping Extravaganza', 'The AU Diversity Boot Camp' with prompt 30: Wimpy, Hugs and Happiness Challenge written for Zellarest, Broaden Your Horizons Challenge and the 'Ultimate Het Love Competition' with the prompt: Forgiven.

Chapter 1:

With a retreat was the end of a brutal war. Harry sighed as he walked back inside. The school had been filled with dead and injured students for weeks and was no longer in session.

He had been staying there even after the war was over but eventually they would send him home. Truth was he wasn't really old enough to be employed in any muggle job.

Madam Pomfrey had insisted after the war that she do a complete brain scan to remove any natural memory blocks induced by traumas of war.

She explained that this tended to happen when one subconsciously used their magic to block out traumatic events. With removing a memory block, she had been certain to remove the memory from his mind. She told him that she did this to make sure that he wasn't overwhelmed by bombardment of traumatic events.

The memories within the memory block were placed in the pensieve so that the good memories could be carefully removed along with the bad memories completely separate from the emotions associated with them.

Madam Pomfrey had completed this by the end of the week and Harry had used that time to examine both the good and bad memories discovering new things about himself.

It was during this time that Kingsley had dropped by the school wanting to talk to him and his friends.

Harry readily complied gathering Hermione, Ginny, Ron, Neville and Luna before approaching Kingsley.

"With the end of the war and everything, I'm sure it will be hard to get employed in the wizarding world so I'm here to make a proposal. Since you all did such a great service to the wizarding world, I'm willing to give you all offers to become aurors without the need to take your NEWTS."

"Really?" Ron asked with eyes lit up.

"Really." Kingsley said.

"This is the perfect opportunity, Harry. You've always wanted to become an auror." He said patting Harry on the shoulder.

"I'll think about it." He said turning away. None of this seemed real, it was as if a war had never happened. Everyone seemed to forget who had died: Fred, Dobby, Remus, Tonks, Moody. Harry had been very close to Remus and Dobby.

With war it seemed people forgot the personal significance of each and every person who had died in the war.

Ginny it seemed had caught on to what Harry was feeling and followed him.

"Why are you sitting alone by yourself?" She asked upon spotting him outside the door of the Great Hall. He was under the stairs hidden in the shadows.

"Just leave me alone."

Ginny ignored him and sat next to him.

"Do you really think with everything that had gone on that people would forget about the war?"

Harry turned to look at her.

"Well, do you?"

"Yes, I do. I have every right too. Everyone thinks us kids are naive that we're just pawns who are easily manipulated for the sake of the greater good." Harry said. "I hope and not as stupid. If Dumbledore wasn't gone I wouldn't have spoken so freely about this but...I knew about his manipulations from the start. I was aware of the reasons why Dumbledore put me at the Dursleys."

Ginny looked at him as if he were insane.

"There was a time when I was a child that the Dursleys took me to therapy. After talking with the psychologist for several sessions she had concluded that I was being abused. I asked her how she could have possibly known that. Then she told me." He explained. "At the time I harboured suspicions that the Dursleys hated me. She suggested we have family sessions and during the first family session I remember she asked Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, 'Mr and Ms Dursley, do you despise your nephew?' "

Ginny nodded.

"They denied this and I asked 'If that's true why do you two always act as if you hate me?' I remember tuning out what they said because in my mind I always thought they were liars."

"So what happened afterwards."

"Uncle Vernon quit the sessions after calling me a worthless piece of space. I had refused to be more upfront about my feelings during the session because I remember feeling betrayed by them. I saw the memory though, they had been trying."

"You don't need to justify them, Harry."

"Uncle Vernon had claimed he had took care of me when I was sick and the weird thing is I discovered the memory in the memory block. I blocked it out because I had a nightmare that same day. Aunt Petunia said that her family had often overlooked her as a child and was especially stern to her. At the time I ignored it, but the psychatrist said that people like that always have high standards of approval solely due to the fact that their parents demanded high standards of approval."

"Logically it makes sense, I suppose."

"The weird thing about it is the fact it makes sense. I mean with everything I found out from Snape's memories."

"You obtained his memories?"

"He gave them to me." Harry said. "My mother always seemed to hold the idea that everyone had the potential to be good and overall idealistic view of the world. From the way she was talking it seemed her parents showered her with all the praise why else would Petunia have wrote Dumbledore if there wasn't some merit for her jealousy."

"So you really think the Dursleys liked you?"

"Mental, emotional and physical abuse isn't uncommon even with families that care for their children."

"You think the Dursleys are just misunderstood."

"I always put them down because they lied to me but this whole business with Voldemort happened solely because I decided to go to Hogwarts. Their lies could have been their way of protecting me." Harry said. "This doesn't excuse them for the abuse but I'm certain they were trying their best in their own way but it will probably take some time before I forgive them."

"What will you do now that the war is over?" Ginny asked.

Harry wasn't naive he knew the real question here. She wanted to know if he was willing to give 'them' another chance.

Truth be told he never had a way with woman and millions of books could tell people that he did initiate the first kiss but at the end of his sixth year at Hogwarts Slughorn had been upfront with him.

Felix Felicis had a chemical compound that induced it's victims with good luck and with it impulsive activity. The potion also doubled as a nice aphrodisiac.

It was true he had feelings for Ginny towards the beginning of the year but he had also observed that Ginny loved impulsive guys. Harry was quite shy and insecure, Ginny wouldn't have found him handsome. The Dursleys didn't so why should she.

Personally Harry wasn't used to kissing a girl on impulse.

If he was being manipulated by Dumbledore to find information about Voldemort's memories why shouldn't he have let himself be manipulated if it meant getting the girl of his dreams.

He had liked the kiss for what it was but Harry knew that they couldn't be together solely for those terms. The whole reason he had broke up with her in the first place was due to the fact she hadn't understood him at all.

"Do you remember what you said the same day that we broke up?" Harry asked her.

"I remember saying I knew you wouldn't be happy unless you were pursuing Voldemort."

"Why?"

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked in bewilderment.

"Why did you think that?"

"I guess when I looked back at it I always thought you were a hero."

Harry chuckled.

"Do you know why I broke up with you?"

"You said you didn't want to put me in any danger."

"At the time you didn't refuse. You backed down, at the time I wondered why. You would never let me tell you what you could or couldn't do." Harry explained. "You said I wouldn't be happy unless I was pursuing Voldemort. Do you think I wanted to be involved in this stupid war? You don't get it at all."

Ginny's eyes widened.

"I'm not a hero. I pursued Voldemort because I had to. I don't think I'm ready to put an effort in any relationship." Harry said before he stood on his two feet.

Ginny saw that he seemed upset.

"Perhaps I don't." She said. "I'm not going to give up trying to understand you though."

Harry was amazed at her lack of tears.

He tensed before chuckling.

"I'd hope you wouldn't."