Lost Chance

Apollo, Ginny's pet owl had just returned from sending a letter to Harry. Her brown eyes danced happily. She hadn't seen him in ages, since he had lost contact with the Weasley family for many years, until she and Ron both found letters from him suddenly coming from an unknown location.

She walked into the living room of her beautiful home and sat down on a red push chair to read the letter. It said:

Dear Ginny,

So good to hear back from you. I'll explain everything once I can finally see you and Ron again. I know it seems awful of me to ask you both to drop your plans for me, when I've been out of contact with you for so long, but it's urgent and I really miss you both. Meet me at The Three Broomsticks next weekend. I'll be there around 3 pm on Friday. I really hope you can come.

Nice to hear from you again.

With all my love, your friend,

Harry

Ginny sat back in shock. Harry wanted to see her. It felt weird, those schoolgirl feelings coming back violently to her rapidly beating heart. In the middle of her reverie, the front door opened. Into the room ran five children. One young boy was short and a little chubby, with freckles and sandy blond hair. The tall teenaged boy, obviously the eldest, had bright green eyes and bright red hair like Ginny's. There was a set of twin preteen girls with long mousy blonde hair and brown eyes. The last child to enter the room was a lean red-haired girl with blue eyes, who only looked about five years old. She ran up to Ginny and hugged her. "Hi Mommy!" she said, breaking her mother out of her trance.

"Hello Mary. How was your day? Did Dave take good care of you?" she asked her daughter, while looking up at the teenage boy.

"Uh-huh! He bought me candy at Hogsmeade!" she exclaimed, holding up a small bag of various candies.

"That's so sweet of him," Ginny said, smiling at Dave. He blushed and little and bent down to give his mother a peck on the cheek. Meanwhile, the three other clamored around their mother to tell her all about their adventures at Hogsmeade with their eldest brother, whom they all idolized.

"Ah, I see my family is all home for the day," said a voice from the doorway. It was Neville, albeit a taller, less clumsy, more dignified, Neville. He beamed a smile at his wife, and then said, "Kids, I need to talk to your mother. Tell the rest of your stories at dinner time tonight, all right?"

The children all smiled at their father and nodded. They all went upstairs with their goodies and left Ginny and Neville alone.

Neville looked at his distraught wife and asked, "What's wrong? Who's the letter from?"

Ginny didn't say a word. Instead, she just held up the letter and looked into his soft eyes, that looked so concerned for her. She felt guilty for feeling those old feelings again, when she had a wonderful husband who had loved her for years, and asked her to marry him, even when she was still desperately in love with Harry. She only accepted at the time because she was lonely, and she had thought that Harry would never come around to loving her.

Neville took the letter from her hand and read it over quickly. A weary smile came to his slightly round face and he looked up. "Well, at least we know he's alive. Are you going?" He asked, not caring that the letter was from Harry, the man that could steal his wife away from him. he didn't seem worried, well, about that fact. He was mostly just concerned about the look on Ginny's face.

"If you don't mind. I want to see him again. We could take the children down for the weekend and you could take the children to Diagon Alley on Friday, while I meet with Harry at the Three Broomsticks. That way, we could go shopping for the children's school supplies at the same time," she said hurriedly. She took a deep breath and looked at Neville.

"That sounds fine," Neville said, smiling. He then knelt down and kissed her softly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and felt suddenly secure. This was her husband, not Harry. This was the man she truly loved and wanted to spend eternity with. Nothing could change that.

*****

The next weekend, the Longbottom family took the Floo Powder route to Hogsmeade from their home in Lancashire. Ginny had already spoken to Ron. He wasn't able to make it, because he, Hermione and their children were leaving for vacation with Percy, Penelope and their young son on Thursday.

Ginny said good bye to her family, after they checked into the Inn, and proceeded to the Three Broomsticks. As she walked in, she was suddenly reminded of her days as a student at Hogwarts. Every time she had gone to Hogsmeade with the school, she had either stayed with Hermione and Neville, or just sat in the Three Broomsticks with Neville, the ever-patient admirer. She had never really noticed his feelings until 6th year. Harry was going out with Cho Chang and she was very upset. Neville had sat with her at the Three Broomsticks while she told him everything. He comforted her and she realized then how he felt. he had always been a sweet boy, but now, she was noticing that he was no longer a boy, but a young man. Neville pursued her after they both graduated and after Harry disappeared, the two were married.

Suddenly, the sound of a familiar voice calling her name from behind her brought her back to the present. She whirled around and caught sight of Harry. He was taller now, clean-shaven and had a touch of gray at his temples. His hair was still very dark and messy, and his eyes were no longer behind glasses. Those beautiful green eyes sparkled at her, and he said it again. "Ginny? You look lovely! I got Ron's letter about his vacation. It's a pity he couldn't come. I miss him terribly. Come, sit down with me. I want to talk," he said, while leading her to a table near the back. On the table were two mugs of butterbeer. She sat down and looked at the drink in front of her. "Yes, that's for you, my friend," he said, sitting down next to her.

Harry couldn't stop staring at the woman next to him. He had always remembered her as a quiet red-haired girl. Now she was a beautiful redhead, with chocolate brown eyes, round breasts, and a lovely hourglass figure. He was entranced by this beauty!

"Harry, what happened to you?" she said, cutting to the chase. She didn't want to spend so much time alone with him. She suddenly felt like she was under a microscope. It was unnerving.

"Well, I left to get away from everything in England. I went all over the world and visited so many countries. I stopped writing, because I wanted no ties. I thought that if I just cut all ties with England, I could forget. My past is so dark. It's rather painful. I wanted to forget. But now, I'm back, because I missed everyone. I was sitting alone on day in California in the US, and I suddenly had the urge to see you and Ron. Especially you," he said, enhancing that to make her squirm a little.

"Harry... I have to tell you something," Ginny said, shifting her eyes away.

"As do I! I must confess, I never treated you right when we were younger. But that was twenty years ago. We're older now. I know you loved me. And I realize now how much of a fool I was. I want to make up for it," Harry said, leaning in close. he was so close that she could smell his masculine scent. It was a combination of cologne and sweat. It smelled wonderful, yet repulsive at the same time. She pulled back, and looked down at her lap.

"Harry, I'm married," she said, avoiding his eyes.

"To who?" he asked urgently, suddenly staring at her with wide eyes.

"Neville. I love him. We have five children. I couldn't wait forever for you," she said, staring back at him now.

Harry was thunderstruck. This was not how he planned it. He had wanted her to be thrilled and jump into his arms and shower him with kisses. Instead, she was starting to stand up to leave.

"Harry, I was in love with you. But that was a long time ago. You disappeared. Neville had always been there for me. You never really loved me. You need to find someone else. Don't always assume just because you are the Famous Harry Potter, women will throw themselves at you. I'm leaving. I have to go school shopping for my children," she said, spinning on her heels and marching out the door.

A few of the patrons heard her speech, and actually clapped. Harry glared at them then, slumped down in his chair. He had lost his chance.