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The Cupboard Game
By Kate_AnguaPotter

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Category: Post-HBP
Characters:Harry/Ginny
Genres: General
Warnings: None
Story is Complete
Rating: G
Reviews: 11
Summary: At Privet Drive, Ginny realises just how out of the horcrux hunt she is. Reverting to childhood seems like a good idea.
Hitcount: Story Total: 3971







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Disclaimer: All things recognisable belong to JKR. I’m not making any money from this.

A/N: There is no way this would exist without the fantastic support of Ehnel and the superb beta of Lumos. This was written for the hpgw_ficafest on livejournal for their place challenge. This was in response to At Hogwarts: Broom cupboard.



~~~~~



Ginny had a preoccupation with cupboards. When she had been very little, she had crawled around in the kitchen cupboards while her mother cleaned. She used to curl up and hide while Molly opened up each door in search of her. When the door opened and the shaft of light fell onto her face, they’d both giggle and Molly would coax her out with promises of sweets. As soon as Ginny came out, Molly would sweep her up and hug her and they’d both grin and giggle in delight at their wonderful game.


When Ginny was a little older and had grown too big to crawl in the kitchen cupboards the game evolved. It didn’t take place half as often, indeed, only when Ginny was upset. She’d hide in her wardrobe, huddled up, until Molly found her. The resolution remained the same, Molly would open the door, Ginny would come out and there would be hugs and tearful giggles. The games grew less and less frequent and as Ginny became too big for the little wardrobe they petered out entirely. Ginny didn’t need to be found any more.


For the longest time the game was abandoned, even forgotten. If Ginny had stopped to remember it she would have recognised a warmth that surrounded the thought of the game. A comfort that people cared enough to look for her when she was huddled up small and hidden somewhere.


It was this, although she didn’t realise it, that when she first arrived at the Dursley’s made her gaze curiously at the small door leading to the space under the stairs. A broom cupboard, it looked like. Ron pushed her forwards and she forgot about it as she and Hermione went up the stairs to Dudley’s vacated room. They had a week in the Dursley’s house. Charmingly, the Dursleys had refused to remain in the house while Harry’s friends stayed over.


For the first day and night, they had caught up with gossip. On the second day, however, the conversation moved towards planning for the mission ahead. While Ginny pretended to listen an ache grew in her stomach. She wasn’t going with them; She didn’t want to go with them. It was some time before she realised that the ache was loneliness. Loneliness? Why was she lonely? She hadn’t felt lonely around the three of them for a long, long time. Feigning a desire to play with the muggle gadgets in the laundry she left them in the kitchen, intending to wander upstairs and have a bit of a sulk. As she closed the door behind her, however, the handle to the cupboard caught her eye. Automatically she opened the door and peered inside. It was bigger than she had thought it would be. It had a camp bed inside next to which there was a strange, brightly coloured object, mysteriously labelled ‘Hoover’, with a long tube extending from it. There were brooms, a bucket and a banister brush. Without thinking about it, she stepped inside and sat down on the bed. Feeling numb, she closed the door shut behind her and curled up as tightly as she could in the corner of the bed. The feeling of loneliness intensified and silent sobs escaped her normally rigid control. They didn’t want her; She was younger than them, they didn’t want her tagging along. Her mum wasn’t here; she wasn’t going to be here. And Ginny didn’t want her to be.


Hours passed. Ginny was aware of the time passing, of the hot breeziness of early afternoon. Her stomach gnawed inconveniently. She was fed up and no one had come to find her. Yet despite the hunger and annoyance, she didn’t want to move, a bizarre contentment had settled over her. She was just contemplating a little bit of illegal magic in the pursuit of sandwiches when the cupboard door opened a crack and a shaft of light fell across her feet. The door opened a little further and Harry’s head appeared in the door.


‘Ginny. We were, uh, looking for you.’ In the background, Ginny could hear Hermione and Ron talking in the kitchen. She appreciated the lie.


‘Well, I’m here.’ She whispered, wondering why she was. To her surprise,
Harry opened the door a little further and stepped into the broom cupboard, bending over to avoid hitting his head and somewhat awkwardly turning his head to look at her.


‘May I sit down?’ He asked quietly.


‘Sure.’ Ginny looked at him, her heart stabbed her unpleasantly and yet she could not help feeling ridiculously happy that someone had found her. There was a silence. Harry settled himself and sighed. Minutes passed. An air of contentment settled about them both, changing with each silent second, becoming more and more unbreakable and more and more comfortable.


‘I love cupboards.’ Ginny suddenly said, with an air of great effort. ‘They’re… good.’ She finished lamely as the effort suddenly seemed too much. Harry sighed.


‘Mmmm, I don’t know…’ He replied and scratched his head, ‘This one always felt strange to me.’
Ginny wrinkled her brow in perplexion then recalled with a small bolt of horror that Harry had lived in this cupboard until he was eleven. She looked over to see Harry sitting contemplating his hands.


‘I never liked how small it was, but it was sort of… mine.’ He looked baffled now and Ginny had to resist the urge to lean over and give him a small kiss to show that she understood. She had to make do with a small, sad smile that she knew Harry would understand.
‘It got boring and it annoyed me when I was locked in but, you know, once I was inside at least nothing worse could happen.’ He gave a small snort of laughter, ‘Until Dudley came running down the stairs.’ He caught Ginny’s eye and they both smirked, then lapsed back into silence.


‘I miss you, Harry.’ Suddenly, Ginny realised tears were running down her cheeks. ‘I miss talking to you. I miss laughing with you. I miss kissing you…’ Seeing Harry’s face, she added, ‘Oh I know I can’t come with you. I just…’ she gulped, and rubbed her hands over her face.


‘Ginny! Ginny…’ Harry pulled her hands away from her eyes and she saw a look of concern on his face. ‘Ginny, you just what?’ She looked away.


‘I miss you already and you’ve not even gone yet, and will you miss me at all? I just feel so young and so, so silly! And you probably won’t even miss… miss… me at all.’ Ginny looked back at Harry and found she couldn’t bear it, she looked away quickly. ‘I want to fight, Harry! I want to hurt the people who have hurt you! I just feel like you all think I’m so young, I can help, I can! I want to fight! Just… just don’t go into any battles without me. Promise me, Harry.’ Harry looked down at his feet. Ginny sniffed loudly, then pulled a tissue out of her pocket.


‘Ginny, I… You can’t come with us,’ seeing the look her face, he hastily amended, ‘You can’t come on our hunt with us. But I know you’re going to be useful, Ginny, you’re our eyes in Hogwarts, you have to help us with books and research and leading everyone back there! What about the DA? You should start them again, you could teach them, and you’re fantastic at Defence! You know it!’ He grabbed her hand and Ginny saw him blink furiously. ‘And of course I’ll miss you! I miss you like mad already! I can’t think how I’m going to cope away from you! I’ve got Ron and Hermione but they aren’t you, Ginny! I was so worried you wouldn’t miss me, that you’d move on… I’ve missed you so much, since the moment we…’ His voice cracked and he fell silent. Ginny offered no noise herself, she was stunned. They sat in silence for minutes. It was only broken when Ginny snorted.


‘I guess we were taking it in turns to look at each other.’ She smiled wryly up at Harry and was rewarded with an identical snort and wry smile. She put her hand up to his face and slowly, chastely, sweetly, kissed him, then rested her head against his. ‘Finding comfort in broom cupboards, hey?’ She sighed then let out a reluctant giggle and teased, ‘What would the Prefects say?’.


‘Lucky we aren’t at Hogwarts,’ Harry added and laughed. He pushed open the door, stepped out and looked around to Ginny. He reached out his hand, and pulled her into the light.
Reviews 11
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