Mum, I’m going to collect Harry from the Muggles,’ Ginny heard her brother call out before he appareted with a loud crack. What she wouldn’t give to go along with him. She thought she would explode if she listened to Fleur’s annoying French accent for another second. Fleur, her eldest brother’s unbelievably snobby fiancé, was taking her sister Gabrielle and Ginny through the wedding ceremony for about the billionth time. Their wedding was tomorrow, and Ginny, being a bride’s maid, was forced to sit through Fleur’s excruciating lecture. 

She still couldn’t believe Bill was doing this. Why Fleur? There were thousands of girls in the world, and yet, her brother had picked the snobbiest, most self-centred one on the planet. When Bill had first announced his engagement to Fleur a year ago, Ginny had been shocked at the lack of taste in her brother’s choice and since then, she and her mother had tried their hardest to break up their engagement. 

However, ever since Greyback’s attack on Bill a month ago, and Fleur’s promise that she would love Bill no matter what, Ginny’s mother had lost all willingness to hate Fleur. In fact, Mrs Weasley and Fleur were getting along very well now, and it seemed that Ginny was the only one who still despised her. Well, when she thought about it, she didn’t really despise Fleur; she just found her completely unbearable. 

‘So remember, first Gabrielle walks down ze aisle, and zen you wait for five seconds before following ‘er, all right Ginny? Ginny? Ginny, are you even listening to me?’ 

Fleur’s shrill voice drilled through Ginny’s thoughts. ‘Yes, Fleur, I know how I’m supposed to walk down the aisle because you’ve only told me about a million times!’ Ginny snapped at her, a bit louder than she intended to. 
Fleur glared at Ginny for a few seconds and, choosing not to say anything to her, turned her gaze towards her little sister and gave her a warm smile. ‘You are going to look beautiful in your pink bride’s maid dress, ma chere. But I don’t know ‘ow you will look, Ginny.’ She added, turning her eyes back on Ginny. ‘Ze dress is probably going to clash with your ‘air.’

Ginny glowered at Fleur furiously and was just about retort when two loud cracks put Fleur completely out of her mind.
‘Mum, we’re back!’ said Ron’s voice from the next room. Ginny heard her mother run down the many stairs to greet them as Fleur and Gabrielle rushed out of the kitchen, leaving Ginny there all alone. ‘Oh, Harry dear. How wonderful to see you again,’ Mrs Weasley said in a kind voice. 

‘Oh, ‘Arry, I am so delighted to see you.’ 

‘Those Muggles haven’t been feeding you, have they? You look like skin and bone. Come on; let’s get you something to eat.’ 

Ginny heard their footsteps get louder as they came nearer and nearer to the kitchen. She couldn’t possibly face Harry, not after what happened last month anyway. What would she say to him? It would be far too awkward. She would have to leave the kitchen. But how? The only way out of the kitchen would lead her right to Harry. She had no other choice. She was going to have to hide somewhere. Ginny got out of her chair and was frantically looking around for something to hide behind, but it was too late. All too soon, Harry, Ron, Mrs Weasley, Fleur and Gabrielle had entered the kitchen. Ginny, lost for words, just stared stupidly at the lot. After what seemed like forever, Harry broke the silence. ‘Hey Ginny,’ he said, smiling awkwardly. 

Ginny felt herself go red. ‘Hullo,’ she mumbled staring at the kitchen floor. Then, she dashed upstairs to her room and locked the door. She flopped on to her bed and buried her face in her pillow, deep in thought. Harry was going to stay with them for the rest of the summer. She couldn’t avoid him for the entire time. Harry had said the reason he broke up with her was because he loved her, which as bizarre as it sounded, made perfect sense to Ginny. 
‘But a lot can change in a month,’ said a nasty voice in her head. Ginny tried not to listen to it, but it wasn’t easy. 

‘He loves me. Of course he does. He said so himself. What better evidence do I want? And as soon as this whole Voldemort business is over, we can get back together.’ Ginny thought reassuringly. But the nasty voice spoke out once again. 

‘Who knows when this whole Voldemort business is going to end? What if it doesn’t end for ten, even twenty years? What if by the time it does, Harry’s found someone else? Besides, how can you be so sure Harry is going to defeat Voldemort at all? Voldemort could kill him, for all we know.’ 

Even the thought of Harry’s death brought tears to Ginny’s eyes. She couldn’t picture herself with anyone else. She had loved Harry for as long as she knew him and during the brief time that they were dating, Ginny had felt like the happiest person on earth. They were just so right for each other. Ginny knew this because while Harry had been mesmerized by Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw seeker, she, Ginny, had been dating other people because Hermione had told her to do so as a way of getting Harry out of her head, and she had never felt the same way about any of them. Ginny had no idea what she was going to do, and at the moment, locking herself in her room, undisturbed by all the residents of this house seemed like the perfect solution. 

Ginny rolled over and stared at the ceiling, her hands behind her head. Her thoughts drifted to the few weeks she had spent with Harry not too long ago, and a dreamy smile stretched across her face as she dozed off. 

However, the dream she had was not nearly as comforting. She dreamt that Harry had finally defeated Voldemort, but as she had run towards him, Cho Chang had appeared, as of no where and Harry had held her hand and confessed his never ending love for her. Then, He had embraced Cho and kissed her passionately; completely oblivious to Ginny’s presence, as though she didn’t even exist. 

Ginny woke up with a start and heard a loud knocking on her door. ‘Who is it?’ she asked.

‘Open up Ginny, it’s me, Hermione.’ 

‘Hermione?’ Ginny said, surprised. ‘When did you get here?’

‘About an hour ago. Now open up.’ 

Ginny jumped off her bed and opened the door. She and Hermione quickly hugged and Hermione came inside and sat on the edge of Ginny’s bed. 

‘So, how’re you holding up?’ Hermione asked, sounding concerned. 

‘Wh – what do you mean how am I holding up? I’m completely fine.’ Ginny said, trying to sound casual, but she was very unconvincing. 
Hermione gave her disbelieving look. ‘Harry said you’ve locked yourself in here all day.’ 

Ginny couldn’t hold in her worries any longer. They just spilled out of her. She told Hermione all about how awkward she felt around Harry, how much she loved him and how worried she was that he was going to find someone else. 

‘Don’t worry, Ginny,’ said Hermione kindly. ‘Harry really cares about you. Believe me. He was so worried about you just now. In fact, he was the one who asked me to come up and see if you were OK. And besides, it’s not like you guys are over. You’re just on a break, that’s all. As soon as Harry kills Voldemort, you guys can get back together.’

‘But what if we don’t get back together? Or worse, what if Harry doesn’t kill Voldemort?’

‘Oh, don’t say that,’ said Hermione uncomfortably. ‘The reality is that he likes you now and that’s all that matters, isn’t it? Just come downstairs for dinner and act like nothing’s wrong.’

‘I’ll try,’ said Ginny, ‘but it’s not that easy, you know.’

‘Oh, come off it, Ginny,’ said Hermione, sounding exasperated. ‘You’ve been doing it for two years, and that’s when you thought he didn’t like you. I’m pretty sure you can get through dinner.’ 

‘All right, all right,’ said Ginny in a defeated voice. ‘By the way, how’re you holding up? You know, with Ron and everything?’ Ginny asked as they made their way down to the kitchen.

Hermione suddenly turned scarlet and she quickly changed the subject to their NEWTs without answering Ginny’s question. Ginny smiled to herself. So Hermione only knew exactly what to do when it came to other people’s love lives. She was just as clueless as everyone else when it came to her own. That is, if you could call her relationship with Ron love. Hermione had had feelings towards Ron since their third year at Hogwarts, and even though Ron never talked about anything with Ginny, let alone his love life, Ginny was very sure Ron felt the same way towards Hermione. Although, as both Ron and Hermione were very stubborn, neither of them had ever admitted how they really felt and so, for the past four years, they had both lived in denial and had tried their best to remain oblivious to their feelings towards each other. However, during their sixth year, Hermione’s feelings for Ron had deepened to such extents that now even the mention of Ron’s name made her blush furiously. Of course, Hermione had never told Ginny such a thing, but she didn’t really need to, as it was quite plainly written on her face. 

They reached the kitchen table which was completely hidden beneath all the food Mrs Weasley had made. Everyone was helping Mrs Weasley set the plates, so Ginny and Hermione’s arrival went quite unnoticed, which was perfectly fine with Ginny. She and Hermione sat down quietly as everyone took their seats. To Ginny’s horror, it was Harry who sat down next to her. She had almost gotten out of her seat to sit on Hermione’s other side, but a stern look from Hermione made her sit back down. Ginny had no choice. She was going to have to get this over with.

It was very awkward, sitting next to Harry with absolutely nothing to say. Ginny turned around to talk to Hermione and was disappointed to see that she was deep in conversation with Fleur. She had a shrewd feeling that Hermione was only talking to Fleur so that Ginny couldn’t talk to her and would therefore resort to talking to Harry. The reason she thought this was because Hermione had never shown much interest in anything Fleur had to say before now. 
Harry didn’t speak to Ginny at all. But he did give her a sideways glance full of concern every now and then. There was no one else Ginny could talk to. Bill was laughing at Fred and George’s jokes. Ron and Charlie were having a very serious conversation about their Quidditch teams and Mr and Mrs Weasley were having a rather heated argument about Percy. 

‘Oh, don’t say that Arthur, he’s your son! He has every right to come to his own brother’s wedding,’ said Mrs Weasley sternly and the table went suddenly quiet as everyone looked up at her.

‘He is no son of mine, Molly. We didn’t bring him up to be like this. And he has no right what so ever to come near my house or my family,’ Mr Weasley said angrily. 

Mrs Weasley huffed crossly and glared at Mr Weasley. After a few seconds she turned her eyes to her food and began to eat silently. This was not usually how arguments between Ginny’s parents ended. Not that they argued a lot anyway. Mr Weasley, being completely terrified of his wife’s rage, usually tried his best to not anger her and on the rare occasion that he did, he never stood up to her. But of course, the subject of Percy was very different. Merely the mention of Percy’s name upset Mr Weasley. 

It took everyone a few minutes to get back to their conversations, and still, Ginny had no one to talk to. Ginny sighed. She had never sat through a longer dinner in her life. 

At long last, the last servings of desert were over and people were making their way back up to their rooms. Ginny went up to her room, changed into her pyjamas and flopped on her bed. She was staring at the ceiling, thinking, when she heard someone knocking on her door. It must be Hermione again, she thought. She’s probably coming to criticise me about dinner. 

‘Come in,’ Ginny sighed. 
The door opened and to Ginny’s utmost horror, it was Harry who came inside. Ginny jumped off her bed quickly and just stared at Harry, completely dumbfounded. 

‘Ginny,’ Harry said cautiously. ‘Can I talk to you for a moment?’
Ginny considered saying no, telling Harry that she had had a very long day and that they could talk later. But she knew that would only make things between them more awkward than it already was, and so she nodded silently.

‘Just because we can’t see each other any more, doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. You don’t have to avoid me, you know.’ He said all this very fast, as though he was trying to just get this conversation over with as quickly as possible.

Oh no, it had come to the worst. Harry wanted to be friends, just friends. Ginny couldn’t take it anymore. She couldn’t believe he had lost his feelings for her so quickly. She was going to give Harry a piece of her mind. 

‘You know, Harry, if you wanted to be just friends, you should have said so from the beginning. This way, you’d have saved both of us a lot of trouble,’ she said angrily. ‘I can’t believe you’re so shallow that you can just forget about everything in a month.’

Harry scowled at Ginny. ‘How could you possibly think I forgot everything?’ he said incredulously. ‘I thought you knew better than that. I thought it was pretty clear how I felt about you. Don’t you know that there is not a single second that goes by without me thinking about you? I can’t even begin to explain how much I want to be with you. Do you even know how hard this is for me? Every time I think about you, I have to stop myself because I can’t bear to even imagine what might happen to you if Voldemort found out about us. Don’t you remember how he used you as bait before? And that was when he thought you were just my best friend’s sister.’ Harry sat down on the edge of Ginny’s bed and sighed. ‘I just don’t want you to get hurt again. Don’t you see what Voldemort is doing? He’s killing off anyone he thinks I care about. Look at what he did to Sirius and Dumbledore.’ At this, Harry sighed again and buried his face in his hands. As mad as she was, Ginny just couldn’t stand to see Harry like this. She sat down next to him and put her arm around him.

‘It’s going to be OK,’ she said comfortingly and she patted his shoulder. 
Harry looked up straight into Ginny’s eyes. She didn’t know why, but looking into those startlingly green eyes made her feel truly calm for the first time in a month. They just looked at each other for a long time, and slowly, very slowly, Harry moved his head closer to Ginny’s. They were almost about to kiss when suddenly Harry jerked his head back. He jumped off the bed and was very careful to look at anywhere but Ginny. 

‘Uh, I-I think I should go. I’m re-really tired.’ And he left the room as quickly as he could. 

Ginny sighed and lay down on her bed. At least now she knew Harry still loved her. This was the most depressing relationship she had ever been in. What if she and Harry weren’t meant to be together after all? Every time they had come even remotely close to having a real relationship, an obstacle had come between them. But she loved Harry so much, and by the looks of it, he loved her too. Maybe she would just have to take a leaf out of Hermione’s book and act normal, at least for now. 

Ginny rolled over and drifted into an uneasy sleep. She dreamt that Fleur was forcing her to shave her head so that her hair wouldn’t clash with the revolting frilly pink dress she was wearing. She tried to tell Bill to make Fleur stop, but Bill merely chuckled and said that as his wife, Fleur meant more to him than Ginny did and so she had every right to do whatever she wanted.