A/N: This is my first fanfiction. It is a bit short but I needed something short to get me going. Reviews are appreciated, as all authors will say. I hope you enjoy and maybe you will see more of my work.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, because if I did I would be hard at work writing HP 7, not fanfics.
Our Sanctuary
Be brave, do this for him.
It was the evening after the wedding. The sun was finally setting after a long, hot day. The wedding was wonderful, much more emotional than I would have guessed, but nice all the same. People were starting to piddle out now. Harry was sitting at a table on the far side of the lawn with Ron. Hermione was inside helping to clean up with mum. Even though the wedding was wonderful, I hated knowing that Harry was there and we had only exchanged a quick hello.
I stole another glance at him as I had been doing all day. The setting sun hit his raven hair perfectly. Be brave for him. I said to myself again. Ron got up from the table at which he sat. He moved toward the old, paint-chipped door that led to the kitchen. I smiled to myself knowing that my brother was off to find Hermione, forearms deep in suds.
My eyes flicked back to Harry. We were now the only ones in the garden. Alone at last. I knew this was going to happen, but it hurt all the same. The final goodbye. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were leaving at two o’clock the next morning.
Harry walked over to me slowly. He could die you know. The thought had bounced through my brain ever since Dumbledore’s death, but I always just pushed it out. Now, it was weighed down by something heavy in my mind and no matter how much I pushed, the thought stayed rooted.
“Can we talk?” The words came slow and quiet. I just nodded my head and beckoned for him to follow me. I was leading him to one of the most special places I knew of at the Burrow. It was a little clearing in the wood where a fairly large, flat rock lay slightly raised from the ground. It used to be that only I knew about the clearing, and I would come out there as a little girl to play dolls. Then one day Fred and George followed me, and my little sanctuary wasn’t safe anymore. All the same, I went there to play, and as I got older to sunbath and dream about love. I stepped onto the smooth rock. It was still a little warm from the blazing heat, even though the sun had completely set and only the beautiful colors were left in the sky.
Harry was still standing on the grass on the edge of the stone. I laid back and looked at the sky waiting for him to speak. He wanted to talk to me; I wasn’t about to make this any easier for him. My mind drifted when the silence remained intact. I thought of Dumbledore, and the Order, and of a little black book I had found in my first year. I thought of Voldemort, and of Harry, and of all of the horrible things that could happen to him while he was on his mission. As I thought about these things, I started to feel nauseous. I sat up and planted my feet firmly on the ground and looked at the grass, trying to get a hold of reality.
I turned to look at Harry. His green eyes held a heat that had not been there before this summer. He had accepted his destiny and he was going to do everything to make sure Voldemort was defeated. I has seen this same heat at Dumbledore funeral, just before he had broken up with me.
Harry opened he mouth to speak, but I knew what he was going to say. He was going to say that he cared about me and that he wanted to keep me safe, away from all the evil he was going to fight. I knew he was going to say those things, but I didn’t want him to. I wanted him to say that he wanted me by his side as he fought Voldemort, that he needed me. I didn’t want him to speak and tell me all the things I knew he would, sealing my future with him, so I moved my body towards his and pressed his lips against mine.
At first our kisses were slow, they slowly gained speed. I felt his lips slide against mine, and I was brought back to the common room at Hogwarts. I could think of nothing but him aqnd our time together. I thought maybe if we just kept kissing he wouldn’t have to go away, that the world would stop and we could just stay in the clearing, in our sanctuary.
But soon, Harry started to pull away and a feeling of dread washed over me like a wave. I can’t handle this, I can’t do this. “Ginny, I lov-“
“Harry don’t make this any harder than it already is.” My voice was harsh. It didn’t sound like my own, but I couldn’t here him say those words, not then, not when he was just going to leave me.
“Well,” Harry said timidly, “I guess this is goodbye.”
“Yeah, I guess it is.” These words were quieter, but still held the pain that I felt. I then turned my back on Harry and first walked, then sprinted to my room.
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It was one o’clock, one hour before Harry had to leave. Even though I had been in my room since seven, I hadn’t slept at all. What if that was that last time you saw him. What if those were the last words you spoke to him. I hated myself for putting me into this position. If he didn’t come back, I would never be able to forgive myself. I needed to get out of my room, I felt like the walls were closing in around me. I quietly moved from my room down the stairs and to the back lawn. I needed to be somewhere I felt safe, even if it was only for a little while.
I walked into the clearing with my head held down, carefully watching every step I took. I sat down on the flat surface just like I had hours before. The stars were twinkling in the sky, but not in a mocking way. They were trying to tell me everything was going to work out, but that just increased my feelings of dread and guilt.
It felt like a lifetime ago that I had first met Harry. And maybe it was. I remembered it so distinctly, and I knew I would never forget. Things were so different then, things had changed. Maybe I had changed and Harry had changed and the whole world had changed, but I didn’t want it to change anymore.
I smelled the air. It was a perfect summer night. There was a slight breeze that encircled my shoulders and held me like a hug. Then I heard a noise; a crack of a branch. I dared not move, but I didn’t think it would matter anyway since I was sure whoever it was could hear my beating heart.
I saw his eyes before anything else, glowing green in the moonlight. He walked up to me and sat down on the rock. At first everything was stiff, but then he put his arm around my shoulder and I leaned my head against him. We sat like that for a while in comfortable silence. We knew what the other was thinking there was no reason for words. At least that’s what I thought until Harry spoke.
“Ginny, I wanted to tell you something before.”
“I know”
“But I don’t know if you want me to say it?” He said the statement as a question.
“Do you have to ask?” There was a long pause.
“Gin, I love you.”
“I love you, too.” At first, the conversation was a bit light-hearted, but at this moment things were serious. He meant what he said and so did I. I knew that this was not an ending, but a beginning, as cliché as it was.
I will always remember that night, no matter how long I live, or how long Harry lives. Even if he finds someone else, or if he doesn’t come back, I will always love him. And the clearing by the Burrow will always be our sanctuary.
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