Deathly Hallows - the Missing Fluff

Author's Note: I am indebted to SnakeEyes16 at ffnet for encouraging me to write some romance for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and for suggesting three scenes that he thought could use some "embellishment." There may be more later, but I'm starting with those. The first is in the Room of Requirement, when the members of Dumbledore's Army are gathering.

Room of Requirement

As everyone prepared for the impending battle, Lupin had convinced Ginny and her parents to accept a compromise - that Ginny would stay in the Room of Requirement, close enough to find out what was going on but out of the action. Of course, Harry knew that, with no one to enforce her end of the deal, Ginny would only too readily slip out and join in anyway. Therefore, he pulled her aside briefly.

"Please do it," he pleaded with her bluntly. "Please stay here." Ginny, however, was not in the mood to take requests.

"You could have stood up for me back there," she accused, folding her arms. She tossed her mane of red hair behind her, eyes flashing brightly. God, she was beautiful. Harry quickly shook that thought out of his head as she continued. "They'd have listened to you, Mr. Boy-Who-Lived. You know I can fight."

"Of course I know that," he retorted, his voice full of quiet urgency. "That's not the point. I've put you and your family in danger enough. I can't control what the others do, but--"

"You can't control me, either, Harry Potter!" she snapped. Harry winced. This was not going the way he wanted it to.

"No, I - that's not what I meant! The fact you're under 17 is a convenient excuse, but I just...I can't stand the thought of losing you!" If Harry had thought this admission would mollify Ginny, he was dead wrong.

"Lose me?" she said in a deadly whisper. She brought her hands down to her sides, clenched into fists. She advanced on Harry and spoke through gritted teeth, voice rising in pitch with each word. "Lose me! You gave me up! Or have you forgotten?"

Harry recoiled as sharply as though Ginny had slapped him. He almost wished she had. Forgotten? Of course he hadn't forgotten! It was one of the hardest things he'd ever done, and given his life, that was really saying something.

Suddenly, though, all of it seemed incredibly foolish. Breaking up with her when Snape and Malfoy had already left knowing they were a couple; keeping the information of the Horcruxes from her, even though she'd previously been possessed and nearly killed by one piece of Voldemort's soul, making her already involved; not grabbing her right now and kissing the life out of her. Maybe he had been wrong to take Dumbledore so literally. Ginny had also proven herself trustworthy, and she was, in many ways, an extension of herself. Even if she couldn't join them on their quest, she deserved to be let in on it.

Harry had made so many mistakes, but he didn't have time to remedy them right now. He could feel Voldemort drawing closer.

"No, I haven't forgotten!" he exclaimed finally. "I know I don't have any right to ask you to do or not do anything right now. Breaking off with you was probably the biggest mistake of my life, but I can't take it back. Everything I did was to try to protect you. I see now how stupid that was. I...I'm sorry."

Surprisingly, the last two words did what nothing yet had. Ginny's posture and expression completely melted.

"I know," she sighed resignedly. "I forgive you." She flashed him a small smile, the first since they'd seen each other again, and then turned away to go to a far corner of the room with some of the other underage students.

Watching her go, Harry realized that she had still not promised she wouldn't fight. However, giving a bemused smile of his own, he knew that she wouldn't be the girl he loved if she had. He hoped that he might actually be able to tell her that someday soon.

--

Author's Note: Okay, so it's not that fluffy, but it's still more than what we got in the original. You may notice that some of my opinions of things that occurred in books 6 and 7 are in here as well. Anyway, immediately after this, Harry notices that Ron and Hermione are missing, and the scene proceeds on as normal.