Awkward Silences

Harry had finally arrived back at 12 Grimmauld Place. He felt so out of place there. Sirius, his godfather and owner of the house, was gone forever. Yet inside were the people who cared for him and treated him like family: Mr and Mrs Weasley, Tonks, Professor Lupin, Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, and... Ginny.

The youngest of the Weasley children, and the only girl, had plagued his mind since the term ended. Was she still with his fellow sixth year Gryffindor, Dean Thomas? Did she still care for him even though she could now openly talk in his presence? Was she ever jealous of his brief "relationship" with Cho Chang, a seventh year Ravenclaw? But most of all, did she fell the same as he did? Ginny was always in his dreams every night and in his thoughts every day. Why did he insist on ignoring her so the last few years even though he cared so much for her in his heart?

Harry took a deep breath and knocked on the door. After what seemed like hours to Harry, Mrs Weasley opened the door and beamed at him. Ushering him in, she whispered, "Oh Harry! You made it! I'm so glad! I told Arthur that you should have a guard, but he said that you would be fine on your own. I was so worried about you. Well, go on up to your room, and then back down. We have a splendid dinner just for you. Remember, Mrs Black is still up so go quietly."

Harry smiled and nodded as Molly Weasley greeted him back into the house that was full of memories, both happy and sad. Grabbing his trunk and Hedwig's cage, he maneuvered himself up the stairs to the room that he and Ron shared last year. Arriving at the door, he set his trunk down and opened it. Inside the room, a curly brown-haired girl who was an average height and a tall gangly red-haired boy were arguing. Harry let a little smile creep onto his face as he shook his head.

"Ron, Hermione, will this ever end?"

Ron and Hermione, both still red in the face, turned to face their best friend, the Boy-Who-Lived.

Hermione pointed a finger at Ron. "Harry, tell that bumbling oaf that it's stupid and he knows it!"

Ron stared at Hermione with contempt. "Yeah, well, at least I care about something instead of always having my nose stuck in a book! Isn't that right, Harry?" asked Ron as he turned to him.

'Oh damn,' he thought. 'I let myself get pulled right back into another stupid argument.'

"Um... ah... well," stammered Harry.

"Know what?" said Hermione. "This is just plain stupid. I'm finished." With that Hermione stomped out of the room.

Ron quickly ran after her. "Hermione! It's not stupid. Get back here!"

~-~

After Ron and Hermione left, Harry put his stuff at the foot of his bed and made his way to Ginny's room. Quietly knocking on her door, he entered.

"Hey, Ginny," he said.

"Oh! Hey, Harry," Ginny replied as she flung her hair around. That simple fling made Harry's heart and stomach tie themselves into knots. "How was your summer?"

"Hmm, not bad. Dudley still hasn't figured out how to stop being an annoying git though."

Ginny laughed, making Harry to forget every trouble that had bothered him for so long. He shuffled his feet, starting to feel uncomfortable just standing there. He moved to sit down on the bed next to her. "So how about you, Ginny? How was your summer?"

'Oh my god, deep breaths, Ginny. He's only sitting next to you, for crying out loud. He's done so a million times,' thought Ginny as she could feel her heart palpitating. Then another voice inside of her spoke up. Yes, but he's never sat next to you on your bed.

"It hasn't been too bad considering. I've only gotten like one owl from Dean. He's probably out somewhere with some girl having a snog fest.

'Stupid Dean! How dare you treat her like that? What! What am I saying? For all I know, she's still keeping up her joke from last year.' thought Harry. Harry struggled to keep his voice steady as he said that he was sorry.

"I was really worried about you though, Harry. How you would take everything and such."

A pained look crossed Harry's face. 'She doesn't know the whole story. She doesn't know how much it hurts. She's never had the grief of losing someone so dear to her.'

"I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't -," said Ginny hurriedly.

"It's okay," grunted Harry. "Don't worry about it, Gin."

'Gin! Did he just call me Gin?' Ginny's cheeks turned a faint pink as she felt her stomach tighten. Ever since she saw him six years ago, she loved him with all her heart. Her second year was hard since Harry refused to say anything else about saving her life during her first year. But that was nothing compared to last year. How she despised Cho for going with Harry. And now here he was, in the room she shared with Hermione sitting on the bed next to her. She gazed into his emerald eyes, lost forever in her love for him. Gently shaking her head, Ginny stood up.

"Come on. I'm starving. Let's go get something to eat," she said as she extended her hand to him.

"Okay," Harry replied holding her hand in his.

With an internal gasp and a little impulsive thinking, Ginny drew herself closer to Harry and gave him a hug. Her head just barely reached his shoulder. Tilting her head up, she whispered, "It'll be okay, Harry. We're all together again."

Letting go, Ginny flashed him a small smile and bounded down the stairs two at a time.

Harry looked longingly at the retreating back of she who he cared so deeply for. He could tell Ginny wanted to say something else, but he shook it off and headed downstairs to his first feast at 12 Grimmauld Place of the summer.

~-~

Thanks to Molly Weasley's fabulous cooking, everyone ate so well that they became downright sleepy from all the food. Finally at ten, everyone headed into his or her own rooms. Ron fell fast asleep as soon as his head it the pillow, while Harry just lay there. All these thoughts kept running through his head, laying there for what seemed like ages. He thought about Ron and Hermione, why they continuously fought, the Weasley family, the Order, his own family, and Ginny. Memories of her ducking behind a door or under a table, and sometimes she would just look up and beam at him. Without warning, a third memory of Ginny resurfaced. This one was different though. She was laying face down with her flaming red hair sprawled out in every direction. Closing his eyes, Harry tried to forget about his second year. A green flash suddenly replaced the image of an unconscious Ginny, and then Harry began to hear voices.

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off -"

"Not Harry! Not Harry! Please - I'll do anything -"

Harry squeezed his eyes shut even harder. "Mum... Dad..."

The voices and green light disappeared, replaced by a memory that was all too recent. Harry's eyes popped open as he watched Sirius get hit by a curse and then fall through the veil, never to return.

'That's it,' thought Harry. 'I have to get out and do something.'

Grabbing his Firebolt and Invisibility Cloak, Harry got ready to fly out the window. The clock said 1 AM Saturday Morning.

~-~

The next morning at breakfast, Professor Lupin pulled Harry aside.

"So Harry, couldn't sleep?"

"What!" said a surprised Harry, "How'd you know?"

Closing his right eye and tapping his head, Remus replied, "I have my ways. Just try not to go flying out in London, even if you have your Invisibility Cloak on. We don't want to lose you, Harry."

"Sorry," mumbled Harry.

Lupin placed his hand on Harry's shoulder and steered him towards breakfast. Molly Weasley immediately began piling his plate full of eggs, sausage, and biscuits.

Harry took his plate and sat down. Unknowingly, he sat next to Ginny. He could feel her presence next to him He suddenly had an urging to gather her up in his arms, just like last night.

'You idiot!' he thought as he shoveled eggs down his throat. 'She's Ron's little sister. You'll have five people after your hide if you keep thinking like that.'

'He's right next to me. Oh stop biting your lip, Ginny! It is just Harry. Just... Harry.'

No one else was as quiet as Harry and Ginny except for maybe Ron and Hermione. They got into a huge fight and wouldn't even look at each other, let alone talk.

'That idiot! He had no right taking my things from me! No right!'

'Just because I've been actually paying attention to her doesn't let her get angry with me. All I did was borrow some books from her stack. God knows she has plenty.'

Fred and George were groggily putting bits of their breakfasts into their mouths, along with the occasional napkin corner.

The rest of the adults were chatting gaily, except for Mrs Weasley. Her eyes kept darting to the young people who still attended Hogwarts. She finally took a deep breath and broke their silence.

"You know, I think we all need a change of scenery."

"What do you mean, Molly?" asked her husband.

"Well, I just think we need to get out of London for a few weeks before the term starts up again."

Ron's head, along with Fred's head and George's, shot up. "You mean we can go back to the Burrow?" said the three of them at the same time.

Molly smiled. "Yes. That's exactly what I mean."

~-~

12 Grimmauld Place seemed to have been given life again. Everyone was running around trying to gather up his or her stuff. Harry had the least to do because he had only been there for a day. Hermione finished up next, and so she and Harry went down to the living room to chat.

Hermione smiled as she heard the Weasleys shout at each other. "You know that they were planning to stay all summer here? They stayed for like a week at the Burrow to gather up their things and then came here."

Harry knew she was just making small talk, skirting around the topic that she wanted to talk about, the very same topic he wanted to avoid. So he nodded and said, "Really? I didn't know."

Hermione looked warily at him. "You know that we've been worried about you, right Harry? Are you sure that you're okay?"

Harry stood up suddenly. "You know, I'm thirsty. I'm going to go and get myself a butterbeer out of the kitchen," he said gruffly, and then walked angrily out of the room.

~-~

It was their last night there, the last night for the summer. Harry wasn't even sure he wanted to come back. But there was one thing he had to do.

'One last late night wandering for me here.'

Without his Invisibility Cloak for once, Harry walked down to where Sirius showed him a tapestry last year.

Across the top was written "The Most Noble and Ancient House of Black."

Harry's fingers traced the lines of lineage starting from the oldest man on there all the way down to the scorch mark that was Sirius Black.

"Sirius... Why was I so stupid? Why did you leave me? How can I even begin to move on? You have to come back! You must!"

Harry pounded the wall with his fist.

"Harry?"

He spun around to see Ginny standing there in a pale blue nightdress with her dressing gown over it.

"Ginny," he said hoarsely.