“It’s good to see you, Harry,” she said as she walked ahead of him.
“I almost didn’t come,” he replied.
“I’m glad you did. Now I can do this.” She wheeled suddenly and slapped him with all her strength. Her glove took some of the sting out of the blow, but the force was enough to send him reeling sideways a couple of steps. She followed him and drove him backwards, shoving him repeatedly in the chest.
“Harry Potter, you are the biggest idiot that ever walked the earth!” she shouted. “You’ve put me through hell this past month, and it was all for nothing!”
“What! I- you- stop hitting me!” Harry skittered backwards out of range. Ginny had that hard, fierce look on her face again, and her agate-brown eyes were flashing.
“Tell me again why you left me,” she said harshly.
Harry took a deep breath to still his whirling head. “Because I wanted you to be safe,” he said hoarsely. “I didn’t want Voldemort to find out about us and hurt you to get to me.”
“Think, Harry,” she replied, giving his forehead a little shove with her forefinger. “We weren’t exactly being discreet. Everyone knew we were going out. Even Snape and Malfoy.”
“Snape and Mal- oh no.” The pieces were falling into place in Harry’s mind, and he did not like the picture one single bit.
“Exactly. Snape had a few choice words for me about chasing celebrity. Chances are they’ve already told him about us. But how did you expect him to find out you’d left me?”
“I don’t- I didn’t-“ stammered Harry.
“No, you didn’t.” Her voice was a bit gentler now, but still fierce. She grabbed him by the lapels of his dress robes and pulled him in front of her. “Now tell me again: why did you leave me?”
“Because I want you to be safe,” he repeated hoarsely.
“Why do you want me to be safe? Tell me that, Harry.”
Harry took a deep shuddering breath, then spoke before he had time to think about it. “Because I love you, Ginny. I am utterly mad about you, and I couldn’t…“
Suddenly her finger was on his lips, hushing him. “That, right there. That’s important.” She placed the gentlest of kisses on his shocked mouth. “You need to tell me these things, Harry.” She drew him into the circle of her arms and whispered in his ear. “I was never quite sure of you. You always knew how I felt, that was no secret. But you never told me how you felt. There was always some part of me that said that this was just a fling, that I could never be anything more to you than just Ron’s little sister. I thought you’d leave me when you got bored.”
“I don’t do flings,” said Harry. “Besides, how could I get bored with you?”
He couldn’t see her smile, but he could feel her cheeks tighten up and hear it in her voice. “Flatterer.” She drew back to look him in the eye. The smile was gone. “Don’t ever do that to me again. I won’t forgive you so easily next time.”
Harry could only nod dumbly. His head was buzzing, and not just from being slapped. She kissed him again, harder this time, and he lost all ability to think for a moment. “I promise, if I make it through this…“
Her fingers were on his mouth again. “When, Harry,” she murmured. “When. You’re going to win.”
“How do you know?” Now Harry was really bewildered.
“Professor Trelawney said so last year, remember? She said you were going to be Minister of Magic and have twelve children.”
Harry chuckled. “It must be true then, if Sibyl Trelawney predicted it.” They began walking idly along the beach. “I could do without being Minister of Magic. Twelve kids though… that doesn’t sound too bad.” Ginny grinned up at him and leaned her head on his shoulder.
“Harry?” she asked after a moment. She halted and turned to face him. The look of fierce determination was gone, and now she looked nervous. “You meant what you said, right? You weren’t just getting carried away…”
Harry blinked, astonished. “Yes, I meant it. I love you, Ginny.”
“Why didn’t you tell me before?” She looked at him searchingly and smiled a wry smile. “You just figured it out, didn’t you?” Harry nodded, shamefaced. “I’m glad you did. Tell me again, I like the way it sounds.”
“I love you, Ginny.”
“And I love you,” she replied. “I don’t want you to promise to marry me or anything right now, that’s not fair.” She took the glove from her right hand and held it up to him. “Just take this, and think of me.”
Harry took her hand in both of his and raised it to his lips, then took the glove and put it in his back pocket. He gathered her up in his arms and buried his face in the curve of her neck, smelled her perfume and her hair and her skin, trying as hard as he could to fix everything in his memory. Nothing else mattered now, just for this one moment: there were no curses or prophecies or implacable enemies, there was only the sun and the sea and each other.
Eventually, they did go back to the others. Ginny abandoned her spot at the head table to sit with Harry and Ron and Hermione at dinner, and they laughed and chattered like two couples on a date. Harry took Arthur’s advice that night. He ate too much good food, though not enough to make him sick. He drank too much champagne and cider and mead, though not enough to make him drunk. He danced with Fleur and Hermione and Gabrielle and even Molly in their turns, but mostly he danced with Ginny. Occasionally his mind would stray to the tasks ahead of him, but then Ginny would take his hand or kiss him and bring him back to the moment. Not even going back to his narrow bed at number four Privet Drive was enough to depress him. Before he closed his eyes, he took Ginny’s glove from his trouser pocket and breathed in the faint scent of her perfume.
Tomorrow, he thought, tomorrow we can leave for Godric’s Hollow.
He rides a white charger, armed cap-a-pied. The sun shines high and clear on his brilliant white pennant and surcoat. Before him is an open field, leading to forest and mountains in the distance. He turns in his seat to look behind him. There in wild array are his friends and allies, all armed and armored in their fashion. He raises a horn to his lips and blows a long, clear note, and they come forward to stand with him. Together they walk towards the mountains, singing joyously. Though they know death and ruin lie before them, they still sing, because for now they still live…