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Author: Robert Owen Story: Invictus Rating: Teens Setting: Pre-HBP Status: Completed Reviews: 4 Words: 146,488
A/N: Well, here we are, the next to the last chapter (plus an outtake or two). He let out the breath he’d been holding as he surveyed the empty room. No, not completely empty. Harry knew, even before he’d looked around, who would be waiting for him even at this late hour. He slowly walked over to the fire, and as he had known, found Ginny asleep in the chair by the fire. She lay curled up in the chair, her head lolled to one side, her left arm dangling over the side, an open book of poetry precariously balanced on its spine and kept from falling only by the pressure of her fingertips. He watched for several minutes as her chest rose and fell beneath the light blue dressing gown that had been his birthday present to her. He also noted with amusement the steadily-twitching noses of her bunny slippers as they watched him impassively with their beady eyes. With her hair falling around her face, she looked so fragile, yet, Harry well knew the strength and power she possessed, and again he marveled at how lucky he was to have her. Finally, he knelt beside her, swept a few stray locks from her face, and quietly whispered her name. “Ginny?” At first there was no reaction, then her eyes flew open and Ginny flung her arms around his neck, a torrent of tears soaking his shirt. Harry wrapped his arms around her and the two lovers stood motionless, time at a standstill, the only sound that of Ginny’s sobs. At last, Ginny regained her composure, wiped her face, and pulled back slightly to look up into his eyes, a million questions mirrored in her own. However, before she could speak, Harry placed two fingers over her lips. “Shh. Later.” She looked deep into his eyes and was startled at what she found. Gone was the look of pain, the hurt, and most importantly, the look of shame that she’d seen that morning in the hospital wing. Now, she saw something different. Strength. Determination. Purpose. And layered over it all, his love for her. A love so intense and deep that it sent a slight shiver down her back Confused, Ginny said nothing; however, her mind was racing at the speed of light. “Sweet Merlin, he’s back! I don’t know what happened today after he left the hospital wing with Dumbledore, but he’s back! I know he’ll tell me when he’s ready, but for right now, I’m not going to ask how or why. I’m just going to be grateful to every god in the Universe that he’s here, right now, with me and I’m never going to let him go!” Harry could see the emotions swirling in her eyes and could almost guess at what she was thinking. He silently sighed in relief as Ginny slowly nodded her head and then laid it against his shoulder, her arms tightening ever so slightly around his waist. Holding her tight with one arm, Harry gently slid the other up and down Ginny’s back, not saying a word, but letting the gesture speak volumes in the silence of the room. Finally, Harry reluctantly broke the embrace and led Ginny over to the right side of the sofa closest to the fire. Sitting down, he pulled Ginny onto his lap, where she immediately curled up against his chest, both arms still wrapped around his body, her back supported by both his arm and the armrest of the sofa. Neither spoke. Ginny was content to let Harry be alone with his thoughts as he stared into the dancing flames. She knew that there would be hell to pay if Ron found them like this, but she didn’t care. She had Harry back and that was enough for her. Still, there was one thing she needed to say. “Harry?” “Yes, Ginny?” Harry smiled down at the sleepy face peering up at him through a curtain of long red hair, which he gently pushed aside so that he could see her chocolate-brown eyes, dark with emotion as she stared up at him. “I love you. Don’t ever leave me.” The simple phrases, with all the unspoken words and feelings behind them, hit Harry in the pit of his stomach. It took a few seconds to regain his composure. “I know that, Ginny, and I won’t. You have my word of honour,” and Harry sealed the promise with a gentle kiss. Ginny relaxed again in him arms. She could feel the steady beat of his heart and the slow measured rise and fall of his chest. Soon she began to drift off to sleep, secure in the knowledge that Harry would not only be there in the morning, but for the rest of her life. As Harry felt her body go limp in his arms, he again recalled what Professor McGonagall had said earlier. “They are your family.” Family, yes, they were his family: Ginny, Ron, Hermione, the Weasleys, Sirius, and Remus. The Dursleys might be blood relatives, but these people were his real family. He thought back over the last year. The scene between Bill and Uncle Vernon when he’d come to collect Harry at Privet Drive. Hermione’s arrival and the birthday party at the Burrow. Hermione opening up about her own lack of self-confidence. The two magical days the he and Ginny had spent running around London before heading back to Hogwarts. The Death Eater attack, their encounter with Lucius Malfoy, and their rescue by Clarke. The ride on the Express to Hogwarts. Ginny’s surprise birthday party. The terror Harry had felt as he and Ron chased Pettigrew and the other Death Eaters across the grounds as they attempted to kidnap the girls on Guy Fawkes Day. The desperate effort to save Ron’s life in the rain. He and Ginny standing in the hospital wing as Hermione poured her heart out to the comatose Ron. The subsequent revenge the twins had taken on Malfoy. Harry still didn’t know how they did it, but the pictures Colin had taken as Malfoy awoke to find his bed balanced on the spire of Gryffindor Tower were priceless! Christmas at the Burrow. Harry smiled as the memories opened up like a kaleidoscope. The long walk the two had taken to Ottery St. Catchpole to see “The Princess Bride.” Ginny standing in the dressing room door in the Muggle wedding dress. Watching Ginny dance to the music from Arthur’s karaoke machine as Remus and the others sang. Sirius’s surprise visit. Ron being stalked by Ginny’s enchanted bunny slippers. The light in Ginny’s eyes when she’d opened her gifts. Kissing Ginny under the mistletoe. The return to school. The Muggle Costume Ball. Beating Slytherin in Quidditch and Malfoy’s humiliation at the hands of Hermione. Ginny’s and his private Valentine’s Day celebration. Harry now understood why Dumbledore had given Beth a Hogwarts Acceptance letter, even when he knew she was a Muggle, and about to die. She’d wanted a family and a home and in giving her the letter, he had given her both. The thought of attending Beth’s funeral in two days sobered Harry quicker than any charm ever could. He’d been right to insist on speaking for her at the service but that didn’t make the knowledge that another person had died because of him any easier a pill to swallow. “One day, Voldemort,” Harry quietly whispered, “one day you will answer for all you’ve done.” He would marry Ginny and have a family of his own, and his children would grow up in a world without a man like Voldemort. A world where… CRACK! The sound of the log snapping in the fireplace startled Harry out of his silent reverie. He looked down at the sleeping form snuggled against his chest, her left arm still wrapped around his waist, her right hand laid protectively over his heart. He smiled at the innocent expression on Ginny’s face and thought again about how much he loved her. He knew now that he could never keep the promise made under the mistletoe to not think, or worry, about the future. If he intended to marry Ginny then he had better start considering the future, with all its ramifications. Just then, he felt Ginny give a little shudder and Harry realized that the temperature had dropped over the past several hours. Harry reached for his wand and, not wanting to wake the sleeping angel on his lap, quietly summoned a soft cotton blanket to cover the two of them. He knew Ron might have something to say about it in the morning, but for the moment, he didn’t give a damn what his best mate’s reaction would be. Putting his wand back down, Harry looked again into the dancing flames and turned his thoughts from the past to the future. The future he had nearly thrown away. His future. Ginny’s future. Their future. He wasn’t okay, and he doubted he ever would be completely all right. But, as Clarke had said in his message, what mattered was how he went on afterward. And as he mulled over the myriad of details that came to mind, Harry once more heard Ginny’s voice reciting the words. Out of the night that covers me,
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