SIYE Time:0:53 on 4th December 2024 SIYE Login: no | | |
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Category: Post-OotP
Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley
Genres: Angst, Fluff, Songfic
Warnings: None
Story is Complete
Rating: PG
Reviews: 9
Summary: Leaving it all behind. Laying it all out. Following Voldemort's defeat, there's a lot of healing to be done.
One-shot.
Hitcount: Story Total: 4350
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Cruz
Disclaimer: I don't claim anything as someone's probably done something like this before. The song belongs to Linda Perry and Christina Aguilera. H.P. and co. belong to J.K. and all proper publishing companies. OotP cannon.
Author's Note: It's been forever since I posted something.... maybe this'll get me a few reviews.
"I'm leaving today
Livin' it, leaving it to change"
Hermione ran her fingers over the hood of the old ford and nodded slowly. "Yes, this will do." She nodded to Harry, who handed the man the total amount in cash. This looked normal to anyone who might happen by. Two teenagers going for a summer holiday, paying in cash so their parents couldn't trace them.
Neither Harry or Hermione were normal teenagers. Both were seventeen, just out of school, and magical. They had left school only two days ago, and they decided with their other best friend, Ron Weasley, that it was time to go.
They didn't know where they were going yet, but they would know it when they found it. It was Harry who had insisted that Ginny come along. The younger girl had done almost as much as they had over the years, and she probably needed a break as well.
Harry felt his muscles loosen as Hermione drove the car out of the car park and onto the road. They were going to do it. They would be free, if only for a while.
"Slowly drifting into a peaceful breeze
Tongue tied and twisted are all my memories
Celebrating a fantasy come true
Packing all my bags, finally on the move"
Ron threw the finale bag into the boot and slammed it shut. His sister, Ginny, leaned against the passenger door and smiled at him. Harry had just released his pet owl, Hedwig, and Hermione was going over the checklist once more.
The sky was a dull gray, ominous for four teenagers about to set out on their own. A cool wind blew through and Ginny rubbed her arms in effort to keep warm.
"All right, Ginny?" Ron called, concerned for his younger sister who had only left the hospital the night before. Her figure was so different from the previous summer. No longer did she have a healthy glow, but an almost albino tone to her skin and her normally vibrant hair lacked it's luster.
"All right, Ron," she said quietly. "Are we leaving?" Ron turned to Hermione and she nodded.
"We're leaving now," Hermione opened her door and slid into the driver's seat. Ginny climbed in the other side, sitting in the back seat. Harry slid in next to the red-headed girl and Ron lifted his seat back into place and slid into the front next to his girlfriend.
Hermione's hand hesitated over the ignition. She opened her mouth and Ron stopped her. "It's now or never," he said quietly and Hermione turned the key, bringing the car to life.
"I'm leaving today
Livin' it, leaving it to change"
Hermione's head rested on one hand as the other steered along the motor way. Ron was stretched out along the rest of the bench seat and Hermione smiled, admiring his form. It seemed impossible that this man was the boy she had met seven years ago on a train ride, but he was.
What she had thought even more impossible was that this whole trip had been Ron's idea. He said they should go somewhere, anywhere, for the summer. They should go and live the last of their childhood together. And he had been right. They all needed a holiday after what Voldemort had put them through, and what they had been through afterward with Ginny.
In the review mirror Hermione could see Ginny's face, staring out the window and Hermione tried not to remember Ron's face when they had found her. A voice in the back of her head had whispered that she was dead, and Hermione had frantically told the voice that Ginny was stronger than that. As it turned out Ginny had been stronger, but she had been in a coma for almost two months. No one knew exactly what happened to Ginny, but she was found only a foot away from where Voldemort was taken down, and Harry had visited her everyday at St. Mungo's.
Harry hadn't been seriously injured during that finale battle, but he had become very quiet, keeping even more to himself than ever before. He played more chess, flew by himself more, and took his studies more seriously than he used to. Hermione barely recognized the boy who had once been seventeenth in their class grade wise and became seventh in the last two months of school.
Hermione slipped a hand from her head to the wheel and the other to the top of Ron's head, running her hands through the hair of the man she loved. She pretended she was just a teenage girl in love for the first time, and forgot about battles and death and sacrifices.
"As I'm driving I'm captured by the view
So much beauty the road becomes my muse
The heat is rising and my hand surfs through the wind
Cool, calm, collected is the child that lies within, see"
The wind rushed through the windows and Ginny's hair flew about her head. She glanced down at her hands and tried to hold back her amazement at how much weight she had lost after... that night. She shivered and felt Harry press his jacket into her hands. She smiled and placed it over her.
Sliding down into the seat she leaned her head against the door so only her eyes were visible. It was nice to see something besides darkness and her mother's bustling figure. It was heaven to feel the wind, to hear the roar of the other vehicles. She wanted to take in as much as she could as quickly as she could. This wouldn't last forever, and she had spent far too much time alone as of late.
It felt good to be with her brother, who had been so close to her in childhood but had felt distant in recent years. Ron had always tried to protect her from what he and his friends went through, but he rarely succeeded. Ginny had decided as a child that anything her brothers could do she could do, better even. The one thing she did as well as Ron was find trouble, but that came with the territory that was being Harry Potter's friend.
One arm slid through the window and laid against the side of the car, waving lightly in the wind and Ginny enjoyed the sensation. Harry's coat hugging her body, the cool metal of the car against her skin, the wind stirring emotions and memories that had been dormant. Ginny stared wearily out the window and felt her eyes fall. Her last thought was that even if she didn't have Harry, she did have his friendship.
"I'm leaving today
Livin' it, leaving it to change
I'm leaving today
Livin' it, leaving it to change"
Ron closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensation of Hermione's hand on his head, running through his hair. This of course lead to thoughts of Hermione's hands running other places and his hands running other places and it was best to stop that train of thoughts before it got started.
He hadn't thought like that in a while. Sure, there had been the frantic night before the battle. The night when Hermione thought they would be killed and Ron couldn't say that they wouldn't be. There had been a flurry of hands, then there had been passion, then there had been tears on both parts and finally exhausted sleep. They hadn't made love since that night and Ron didn't want to push her.
Ron knew that Ginny had fallen asleep in the back seat and that Harry was watching her. He wasn't sure of exactly when he noticed his best friend's attitude change towards his little sister, but he had. Ginny's gentle snores, like Ron's only lighter, reached his ears and he felt a smile cross his lips. Leaning up on one of his elbows he looked over the top of the seat and through his lengthening hair. Harry had raised his eyebrows at Ginny and then he turned to face Ron. Ron snorted and dropped his head back into Hermione's lap.
Ron smiled at the shirt peeking out from beneath Hermione's gray jumper. So she hadn't thrown his Cannon's shirt out. Her face was beautifully devoid of any make-up, that nonsense that only girls like Lavender and Pravati messed with. Her hair was tied back and Ron pulled on one of the locks lovingly. Taking her hand in his, he kissed her fingers. She smiled down at him quickly and he smiled as well.
"But somehow I miss it, I think I'll really miss it one day
I turn up the radio and I feel like I've never felt before
Turn down the memories of yesteryears and broken dreams I bring
Finally Free"
Harry's eyes watched Ginny intently. He had wanted to take her along just as much as he had wanted her to stay. The extremely selfish part of himself asked her to come. The rest of him was currently telling him he was the biggest moron in the entire world.
She seemed smaller than usual, more fragile. This was to be expected when you were in a coma for one month, three weeks, five days, seventeen hours and thirty-two minutes. She should have been at home, under the care of her mother, not in a car traveling south to an unknown destination. She shouldn't have to be exposed to anything except love and caring. She shouldn't have to be in danger because she chose to stay by his side.
Harry felt the day he had relived so many times before flood into his brain. He tried to fight it back, but it was no use. Voldemort. The spell. Nothing but a circle of soot before him. Another spell coming from behind him. Ginny's scream. Then turning and no one was there. Later he would learn Ginny hadn't been hit by Avada Kadavara, but something a bit milder. Her pale face and fantastic red hair lying against the pillow of a bed at St. Mungo's Hospital still haunted his dreams.
The look on Ron's face when they finally found Ginny was permanently embedded in Harry's brain. The moan he let out when he lifted his little sister from the ground rang in Harry's ears from time to time. Hermione's watering eyes were always on the edge of his vision. His own heart slowing and racing at the same time so that it seemed it would explode could still be felt.
It was strange that a girl he didn't truly notice until her life was in danger could cause such a reaction from him. But Ginny had been the first girl to ever have a crush on him. She had been the first girl to ever get over her crush and become his friend. She had been the second woman to be willing to give up her life for him. And things like this made a man think.
"Hermione, turn on the radio."
"Slowly drifting into a peaceful breeze
I'm leaving today
Livin' it, leaving it to change
I'm leaving today
Livin' it, leaving it to change
I'm leaving today
Livin' it, leaving it to change"
Hermione switched the radio on and a song from the local pop station played through the speakers. Both Harry and Ron made faces and Ron twiddled with the knobs for a moment. He found an oldies rock station, currently playing an old version of "I've Got the Blues".
"My baby's left me alone, All I've got is this bar, And I've got the blues." Hermione smiled as she sang along, silently thanking her father for the summer in the States.
"The sun's setting, My world's goin' dark, And I've got the blues." Hermione smiled at Harry in the review mirror as his tenor voice joined in. Ginny stirred slightly and Harry situated her so that her head rested in his lap.
"I think I'll leave this old bar, I think I'll be on my way, And I've still got the blues." Ron's foot tapped against the car door in rhythm.
Hermione took the next exit and drove another five miles as it slowly became dirt. She sang along with the song and followed the winding road.
"But somehow I miss it, I think I'll really miss it
One day"
Ginny opened her eyes slowly and felt the rough fabric of Harry's blue jeans against her cheek. She ran her hand over his knee and forced herself up into a sitting position. She gave Harry a sleepy smile and settled against his arm, which was laid across the back of the seat. He blushed slightly and smiled back.
Hermione began to hum along with the song on the radio and Ginny listened to the sounds. The tires kicking up dust. Hermione's soft alto. The slightly out of tune speakers. The wind. The consistency of the wind. Ginny looked at Harry, who was looking at her and she slowly remembered what it was like to just be a teenager.
Memories were left behind for a while. Terror left Harry's eyes as he kissed her cheek. Pain left Ginny's bad shoulder as her body warmed beneath his touch. Hermione would drive them into the unknown, calm, cool and always thinking. Ron would be the ever-faithful knight, hot-tempered and foul-mouthed. Harry would be the hero and keep them all safe. Ginny would be the comforter, the motherly figure.
If any memories were to creep there way back, they wouldn't stand a chance.
The End
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Reviews 9
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