The little town of Godric’s Hollow was quiet as the sun slowly slipped behind the horizon. Night was approaching and everyone was in their nice, warm homes and no one was wandering the streets. Well, almost no one.

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger walked through the shadows of the buildings, making their way to an old home at the edge of the town. The last few months had been pure misery for the trio. Right after Bill and Fleur’s wedding and Harry’s seventeenth birthday, they had left the Burrow to search for Voldemort’s remaining Horcruxes. The journey hadn’t been easy and all three of them had been injured at some point or another, but they had finally done it. They had finally destroyed all of the cursed objects and now they only had one thing left to do. And, as much as they didn’t want to admit it, Ron and Hermione knew that they would have to let Harry take on Voldemort alone. They would only be a hindrance to him, and that would be a fatal mistake.

So, they walked down the now dark street, trying to be as inconspicuous as they could until they reached the house. The last time they had been here, Death Eaters had attacked them before they had even made it to the house. So, they had been forced to leave on their journey without visiting the past home of James and Lily Potter. That is, until now. Now, Harry was determined to see the old house at least once. Just in case.

As they reached the house, they didn’t feel the two pairs of eyes on their backs or see the shadow that sprinted behind the house and through the back door. Turning back to Ron and Hermione, Harry spoke softly.

“Look, you guys… Would you mind if I went in… alone?” he asked, pleading silently with his eyes; this was something that he knew he needed to do by himself. After some argument, the other two reluctantly agreed to let him go alone. Thanking them, he moved toward the house while they drew their wands and stood under a nearby willow tree. He stepped up on the front porch, taking the doorknob in his hand. Pausing for a moment, he took a deep breath and opened the door.

Out on your own,
Cold and alone again.
Can this be what you really wanted, baby?

The house was dark inside, dust and cobwebs everywhere. It took Harry a moment before his eyes adjusted to the atmosphere; it seemed to be darker in here than outside. Looking around the small foyer that he had entered, he sighed. It was quite obvious that this house hadn’t been lived in since Halloween of 1981.

Harry began to walk forward, turning into the small parlor off the entrance hall. He was unprepared for the fresh wave of guilt and pain that hit him when he saw this room. There was a window on the opposite side of the room, red curtains adorning it. Under the window was a small baby’s play-pen with a few stuffed animals still inside. Beside the pen was a reclining chair, a blanket folded over the top. A couch was on the other wall, framed pictures hung above it. Looking closer, Harry saw that they were pictures from when his parents were in Hogwarts to various points after he was born.

Harry put his hand on the arm of the recliner and closed his eyes. He had always felt somewhat guilty about what had happened to his parents, but never more than right now.

Blame it on me,
Set your guilt free.
Nothing can hold you back now.

Opening his eyes, he knew that he had to keep moving. Standing here was not going to do anything but waste valuable time. He turned around and went to the stairs, knowing that what he really needed to see was upstairs. It was strange; he had always felt that it would be better if his parents had been there. But the truth was that he would be a completely different person if they had lived. It wasn’t that he didn’t wish they were alive, he just knew that life would have been a lot different. As horrible as his life could be, even with what he had to do, he wouldn’t change his life or his friends for anything. He wasn’t sure why, but being in this house brought all of this into sharp perspective.

Now that you’re gone,
I feel like myself again.
Grieving the things I can’t repair and willing…

He mentally shook himself, walking slowly up the stairs. When he reached the upper landing, he was surprised to see that nothing looked damaged. He had expected some burn marks or some sort of destruction, but nothing looked any different from the other parts of the house. There were two rooms on each side of the hall and a bathroom in front of him. Turning to his left, he saw a glimpse of a baby’s crib and knew that that was the room he was looking for.

Walking into the room, he only had a minute to take in his surroundings before he realized that he was not alone. Drawing his wand and turning around in a split second, he found himself face to face with… Ginny Weasley?

She looked a bit surprised to have his wand pointed in her face, but smiled softly after a moment. “Well, it wasn’t exactly the welcome I expected, but that’s alright,” she giggled.

Harry’s wand hand dropped to his side as he stared at her in disbelief. “Ginny? What are you doing here?” Suddenly, his confusion turned to anger. “How did you get here? Don’t you realize how dangerous th-----“ She silenced him by putting a finger up to his lips.

“I came to help, Harry,” she began. “I followed you here. You left me behind and didn’t even send any word until a week ago. I know you didn’t want me involved, but I couldn’t just sit by and do nothing,” she explained fiercely.

“But, Ginny, I told you I didn’t want you involved,” Harry said, more worried than angry now. “Look at what happened in the Chamber of Secrets. I almost lost you then; I will not let that happen again. I won’t.” He saw her face soften as she took a step forward and looked him in the eye.

“I know. But I want to help,” she replied softly. “I felt so guilty, just sitting around waiting for you to come back. Please, let me help. I can help.”

To let you blame it on me,
And set your guilt free.
I don’t want to hold you back now love.

Harry sighed, smiling gently at her. Although it was hard, he finally saw what Dumbledore had meant about love being the greatest power that Harry had. No, he couldn’t change his fate. No, he couldn’t make his life any easier. But now, he realized that he couldn’t keep those that he loved out of the fight either. And that made all of the difference.

I can’t change who I am.
Not this time, I won’t lie to keep you near me.
And in this short life, there’s no time to waste on giving up.
My love wasn’t enough.

“I know you can,” Harry finally answered. Ginny looked at him, a determined gleam in her eyes.

“But are you going to let me help you?”

Harry grinned. “I don’t think you would let me have it any other way,” he said, feeling her slip her small hand into his. Not needing to say anything else, they left the room and walked down the stairs to the ground floor. Together.

And you can blame it on me,
Just set your guilt free, honey.

“Hello, Harry Potter. We meet again.” A high, cold voice stopped them at the front door. Turning slowly around, the couple saw Lord Voldemort himself standing before them, a triumphant sneer on his face and his wand pointed at the two of them. “And Miss Weasley. It has been too long,” he added, turning his attention to Ginny before looking once again at Harry. “I suppose it ends here.”

Harry glared at him before looking at Ginny. She moved her eyes to meet his and grinned. It was then that he knew that, come what may, they would face this evil together. Nothing could tear them apart now. Not again.

“I suppose so, Tom.”

I don’t want to hold you back now love.

---

Well, that was my first experiment with romance. I hope you enjoyed it and I give a huge thanks to Tagidi Riva and nuw255, once again, for the inspiration. The song is really wonderful, so I hope you will listen to it when you get a chance. It is very Harry/Ginny. Please leave a review and tell me what you think. Thanks so much for reading!
~Moony