Molly Weasley stared, confused, out of the kitchen window, wondering why in the world smoke was rising from the woods and completely ignoring the tomato sauce on the stove, which was bubbling a little too enthusiastically.
Footsteps coming down the stairs startled her, and she turned to see Hermione Granger enter the kitchen. She looked tired and sweaty and her hair was very frizzy.
“I gave Ron the potion, Mrs. Weasley,” Hermione said, walking quickly to the stove and removing the tomato sauce from the heat.
“Thank you, dear,” Mrs. Weasley replied, returning her gaze to the window. “Come over here. What do you think that is?” She pointed at the smoke.
Hermione peered out the window.
“Someone’s in trouble!” she whispered.
Back in the clearing, Harry had fallen asleep. Ginny lay beside him, her hair in his face, tossing and turning again. Her fever was slowly rising and her dreams were troubled and painful.
The signal fire burned on, and the clearing became smoky. When two hours had passed, the logs were mostly burnt and the sooty embers glowed ruby red.
A girl walked carefully into the clearing and screamed.
Harry woke with a start, standing up and staring fearfully around. Through his drowsiness and the haze in the clearing, he could just barely make out a figure with bushy hair. Very bushy hair…
“Hermione?”
“Harry!”
The next thing he knew, he was caught in a very tight hug and Hermione was screeching in his ear.
“Oh my goodness, Harry, I found you! We’ve been so worried! How are you? Where’s Ginny? I just came to see who was burning something in the woods and oh, Harry! Oh, I was so scared for you!”
She stepped back and looked at him.
“You look terrible, Harry. We need to get you back to the Burrow.”
“Ginny needs the hospital,” Harry told Hermione. “She’s…dying.”
Hermione’s eyes filled with tears and Harry immediately wished he hadn’t chosen such blunt words. Ever since the attack on her parents during the war, which had landed them in a ward in St. Mungo’s, Hermione had been very emotional.
As quickly as the tears had come, they vanished, and she switched into a mode of pure efficiency. She packed up Harry’s knapsack, conjured a pair of pants for Ginny and a new shirt for Harry, doused the fire and buried the ashes, and conjured a stretcher for Ginny.
“We can’t Apparate,” she explained, “because we’re in a Muggle inhabited area, and the Burrow has a bunch of protective wards. We have to walk, but it’s not far.”
Harry remembered little of the journey to the Burrow, especially because he was not yet strong enough for that kind of journey, and passed out in bed about five minutes after they arrived at the Weasley family home.
About two days later, Harry felt well enough to get out of bed. He was delighted to learn that Ron, who had not needed St. Mungo’s, was also well. Harry had not seen his best friend since the final battle, and missed him quite a lot.
The two were forbidden by Mrs. Weasley to play Quidditch, but they spent endless hours playing wizard chess in the Weasley’s sunny living room, often joined by Hermione, who would watch, or read one of the many books she felt she needed to read since they had never gone to their seventh year at Hogwarts.
Harry would sometimes borrow these books and spend an hour or two in Fred and George’s old bedroom reading them. This gave Hermione and Ron time alone, time he was sure they spent walking in the garden and kissing behind the rosebushes. Their relationship was blooming in the aftermath of the war.
When three days had passed in this happy fashion, Mrs. Weasley finally agreed to take them to visit Ginny. Ron and Hermione had asked for news of Ginny every day, and Harry had pestered Mrs. Weasley about Ginny’s condition once every few hours. They were thrilled when the hospital had deemed it appropriate that they should visit.
The journey to the hospital was uneventful. Fred, George and Fleur joined them, but the rest of the Weasley family had too much work at the Ministry.
As soon as they walked in the door, Harry’s nerves were on fire, anxious to see Ginny. They walked quickly to her ward on the fourth floor, Harry in the lead. They burst into her room, Mrs. Weasley and Hermione sobbing already.
Ginny was sitting on the bed, the Daily Prophet open on her lap, looking pale and slightly tired, but definitely very well indeed. Harry could see several bandages on her arms, and the part of her neck not covered by the thin hospital gown was bruised and dotted with white scars.
She grinned widely when she saw them. Mrs. Weasley immediately engulfed her in a hug. Hermione and Ron rushed forward to greet her, Fleur and the twins close at their heels. Harry waited until the babble of noise had subsided a bit before moving towards Ginny.
Ginny looked at Harry, her eyes blazing and one tear falling gently down her cheek. He sat down beside her on the bed, feeling his eyes go watery. Ginny gave him a small smile, and before he knew what was happening, she had taken his face in her hands and was kissing him very deeply. He pulled her closer to him and responded with equal passion.
The twins wolf whistled and Mrs. Weasley, Fleur and Hermione smiled appreciatively. Ron looked slightly surprised, but not angry. Ginny and Harry broke apart, smiling, but a bit embarrassed.
Everyone began to speak again, congratulating Harry and Ginny for finally getting together again, and generally talking excitedly about how much they had missed Ginny when she had been captured.
Harry thought, as he looked at Ginny’s joyful face, that this was the happiest he had felt in his whole life. Their lives might never be peaceful, or easy, but no matter what tragedies battled their bodies and brains, no matter what sobs and screams shattered a quiet night, Harry and Ginny would walk on, loving each other.
And Harry felt, in that moment, that there was nothing at all, in the whole world, that he could possibly be scared of.
What Are You Scared Of? by smiley10792
Chapter Notes: Well, this is the last chapter of my first fanfic. I hope you enjoy it. I have had a great time writing this, and I'm glad to say that it was recieved well by all of my readers. Thank you so much for the supportive reviews. I have another fic that I am submitting (Ron/ Hermione) and I hope you can read that as well. Thank you for a wonderful welcome into the fanfic world.