After Dumbledore's Funeral

Harry Potter allowed the setting sun to wash over his face as he gazed out the window of the Hogwarts Express. Hermione sat across from Harry, her head resting heavily on Ron's shoulder as she dozed. Tears still glistened on her face from silently crying herself to sleep. Ron held Hermione's hand in both of his, and his heels were perched cross-legged on the seat next to Harry. Ron looked at Harry every few minutes, as though checking to see if Harry had not suddenly vanished somehow. They were on their way back from Hogwarts, on their way back from Dumbledore's funeral.

Ron glanced down at his wizard's watch- a gift which he had just managed to understand only a few months ago- and gently shrugged his shoulder a few times as he rubbed the back of Hermione's hand in order to wake her.

"'Mione...wake up... we have to patrol again..." Ron tucked a wild curl behind Hermione's ear as she sat up. The broken silence roused Harry from his trance of gazing out the window and slowly, he looked over at them.

Harry watched Ron smile gently at Hermione as he wiped her tears away. She looked dazed as she was probably still only half-awake and for a moment, Hermione looked like a child. At some point that day, Harry realized, Ron grew up: he would never again feign disgust or confusion over such matters as holding hands or wiping tears away; rather, he now had a very gentle, careful air about him. Dumbledore was dead: the entire world, so it seemed to Harry, was forced to grow up very abruptly.

"See you in a few," Harry said to the two of them with a polite smile forced upon his face. Ron was on his feet, stretching. Slowly, Hermione stood as well.

"Yes, see you..." Hermione said to Harry and she politely returned Harry's smile. Hermione slid the door open and grabbed Ron's hand as she did so. She began to lead Ron into the hallway of the train, but Ron held her back.

"We'll be back as soon as we can," Ron told Harry over his shoulder. Harry nodded to show that he heard. Ron looked at Harry for only a moment longer, as though he were going to say something else, but then turned and allowed Hermione to lead him away. The door slid shut on its own accord.

Harry was left alone. He noticed that the sky had changed significantly since he had turned his head away only few minutes before. It was now a blazing purple to pink gradient and the sun was almost completely hidden by the earth. Somehow, the sunset triggered something deep within Harry that he had not allowed to run its course. Harry noticed vaguely that his heart felt like it was being squeezed in a vice. As he clutched the arm rest in one hand, willing himself not to cry, he slipped his glasses off and pinched the bridge of his nose. All he could hear was the whoosh-whoosh of his pulse in his ears. Thoughts of Ginny drifted hazily through his mind. The silence in the compartment of the train was deafening to him. No sooner than Harry noticed this silence, the door slid open again. Harry did not look up, but forcibly cleared his throat.

"Back already?" he asked as he lowered his hand to find his glasses. Harry relaxed his grip on the armrest, slid his glasses on, and hitched the same polite smile on his face as he had given Hermione. Only, when he finally looked up at who had slid the door open, he did not see Hermione or Ron there.

"Harry... they said... they said you probably didn't want to be alone... I'll understand though if..." Ginny began. Harry stood suddenly as though an electric jolt had surged through his body. Harry could only stare: it took all of his concentration not to take two large strides to the redhead in the doorway and take her into his arms.

"It's fine Harry. Really, it's okay...Erm, I'll just let you alone with your thoughts..." Ginny began to turn to leave but stopped when she felt a hand on her back. Harry could not recall taking those two large strides, but somehow he was now only inches from her.

"Wait," Harry whispered. Ginny turned back to Harry and looked up at him. Harry did not have a fake smile on his face anymore. Rather, he was only barely keeping the tears from leaking out of his eyes.

"Stay with me, if you want," he managed to murmur. Ginny gave him a blazing look and did not say anything for a few moments. But then, almost mechanically, she put her hand on Harry's chest and gently pushed him back into the room. She stepped in swiftly and slid the door shut. When she turned back to Harry after shutting the door, she saw that he had already resumed his seat and continued to gaze out the window. It was nearly dark now and the skyline no longer had any pink- it was only purple and black. Ginny did not know whether she should sit next to Harry or as far away from him as she could, so she simply continued to stand.

"Harry..." Ginny began. She was unsure what she was about to say. Perhaps she just wanted to hear his name as reassurance that he was still alive, sitting next to the window, still able to hear her voice. Harry looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue.

"Erm..." Ginny attempted. Harry, seemingly reading her mind, spoke into the silence.

"I'm here Ginny," he said to her. Without preamble or warning to herself or Harry, Ginny began crying. Soon, great, rattling sobs tore through her and she could no longer stand. She stumbled into the nearest seat, clutching her torso with one arm and attempting to cover her face with the other. Harry, not sure what to do, as he had not seen Ginny cry like this since his second year, slowly stood and walked over to her. Cautiously, he placed his hand on her head and began stroking her long red hair. Gradually, he sat down next to her and quickly noticed that she was trembling. Her sobs subsided a little after a few minutes.

"Harry, you shouldn't... I should go back... they'll be back soon..." Ginny stumbled over her words as she roughly pushed the tears from her face. Harry was still running his fingers through her hair. He thought dimly that this rhythmic motion seemed to be the only natural thing to happen in the whole day. Because of this realization, he couldn't stop doing it. Impulsively, Ginny threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. Harry, who still had a handful of her hair, stiffened at the suddenness of her actions.

He felt himself hug her in return. Against his better judgment, he breathed deeply into the flowery scent of her hair. An overwhelming feeling of love flooded over him when he did this and his breath hitched in his throat. What was wrong with him? He wondered this, and a tiny voice in his head, which sounded remarkably like Hermione, scolded him. You shouldn't be touching her... You're just going to make this worse...

"I only feel safe when I'm with you..." Ginny whispered into his ear. Harry began shaking his head. You're not safe...he thought.

"Don't Harry. Don't push me away," Ginny demanded as she clung more closely to Harry. He hadn't realized that he we trying to push her away.

"Ginny, you can't... we can't..." Harry tried.

"No Harry. How would I be safer without you? All this just isn't worth living if I've died inside. I'm going with you, wherever you go... please Harry... I'm going with you!" Ginny was trembling in his arms but Harry did not know whether she was crying or not. Harry clutched her tightly to attempt to make her stop shaking.

"It's going to be too dangerous," Harry tried to reason again.

"I don't care. I'm not giving you a choice! Really, you don't have a choice. I'll follow you. I'm going with you..." Ginny said, still trembling, and lightly kissed his neck. Harry noticed that her kiss was very wet and realized that she must be crying again. Ginny readjusted herself so that she sat on his lap, her legs bent up on the seat. She rested her head on Harry's shoulder; her forehead barely grazed his neck. Harry held her close, as though he were going to carry her through a threshold after being married.

They sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Harry leaned his head back on the headrest of the chair and shut his eyes. He knew at Dumbledore's funeral that his resolve would not hold if they had talked about this more. His mind was warring: She can't come, it'll be your fault when... if...but she said that I don't have a choice... Ginny's breathing began to slow and she stopped shaking again. ...of course you have a choice... you need to choose to keep her safe at Hogwarts... but Hogwarts isn't safe anymore... nowhere is safe...but in the ministry she was such an easy target last year...

Without warning, the door slid open. Ron and Hermione were back from patrolling the hall.

"I think they're asleep..." Hermione whispered to Ron, but Ron shook his head. He knew somehow, perhaps from all the years of observing each of them sleeping, that they weren't asleep.

"So," Ron said, announcing his presence as he dropped a number of pumpkin pasties on an empty seat. Harry reluctantly lifted his head and opened his eyes. Ginny swung her legs down and sat next to Harry, taking his hand in hers as she did so.

"So, Ginny's coming, then?" Ron asked causally. Ron dropped into a seat and Hermione sat down slowly next to Ron without taking her curious eyes away from the other couple.

"Erm..." Harry began. Ginny turned to Harry and gave him that same blazing look again.

"Yes," Ginny said, still holding Harry's gaze, "I'm coming with you."

"Well, you're going to need to train up a bit then," Ron said lightly as he took a large bite of a pumpkin pasty. Hermione looked at her watch.

"We'll be arriving soon...erm...will Ginny be joining us to Privet Drive?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"Well, you're going to have to run that by mum first," Ron said nodding once to Harry. Harry realized then that Ginny probably was supposed to help with the wedding preparations and felt as though the air was knocked out of his lungs. Reality crashed down on his head. What would Molly say about her youngest daughter leaving school before she even entered her sixth year? Or Ron for that matter?

"Mum will understand; could you toss me one?" Ginny said to Ron as she gestured to the pumpkin pasties. Ron tossed her one without ever putting down his own.

"Ginny, go with Molly to the Burrow when we get off the train okay? We'll wait to tell her that you're coming with us until after the wedding is over. She shouldn't have to worry about this until later." Harry spoke quickly because he saw that Ginny was ready to cut him off.

"Yes, Harry, I think that would work best," Hermione agreed without looking at Ginny, but rather, began struggling to get her trunk down from the overhead shelf. Ron noticed that Hermione was struggling with it and hastily stood to help her.

Harry felt Ginny relax next to him and she simply said, "Fine."

Harry turned toward her, this time with a genuine smile. He felt as though more must be said but he could not find the words. So instead, he only leaned toward her and kissed her lightly.

"I love you," Harry said, having barely leaned back from their kiss. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Hermione and Ron seemed to freeze mid-movement. He didn't care if they heard him.

"I love you, too," Ginny said and now it was her turn to kiss him.

As though Ginny's words were a signal to stop, the train began to jerkily slow. Harry noticed with some embarrassment that Hermione and Ron were still in the compartment. While Hermione seemed very busy with some dirt under her nails, Ron was struggling to get his own trunk down. As the train came to a full stop, Harry stood and slid his trunk down to the ground and grabbed Hedwig's cage (Hedwig flew home). Then he and Ginny left to retrieve her trunk from her other compartment.

"What's with them?" Ron said jokingly. Almost out of tradition, Hermione pursed her lips, trying not to smile, and put her hands on her hips.

"You could learn a thing or two from them, you know," Hermione said matter-of-factly.

"Hermione, you know I love you. Do you really need reminding?" Ron asked indignantly. The corners of his mouth twitched as though he were trying not to smile. Hermione stopped trying not to smile and laughed lightly.

"Come on, let's go to meet Harry's family," Hermione said as she began to drag her trunk out of the compartment but stopped. She realized that those people were not really Harry's family. "Well, his blood relations..." she corrected herself as she began to drag her trunk again.

"Right," Ron agreed as he dragged his own trunk following her.

"And Ron, I think it'd be best if you kept your wand in your pocket while we're there..." Hermione said causally as they made their way down the hall to the door. Ron raised his eyebrows at her and caught her eye.

"Does that mean you'd like for me to take my wand out of my pocket otherwise?" Ron said and winked at her.

"Oh, Ron! You know what I mean!" Hermione said exasperatedly as she rolled her eyes. Ron only laughed.