Broken

"I don't know when I got bitter,

But love is surely better when it's gone"-Tonic, "You Wanted More"

Ginny wound her way through the Ministry for Magic's crowded hallways. She was looking for Hermione's office, but wasn't having much luck finding it. Ginny quickly consulted a small map that was handed to her when she entered the building and saw that she was on the wrong floor. Sighing loudly, Ginny pulled up the skirt of her long dress robes and began trying to run down the hallway. She really wanted to find Hermione before she went to lunch to get her to look at the fliers she had gotten from the printer's. Unfortunately, the dress boots she chose to wear (or rather that Hermione chose) were no good for an all out sprint. A sharp pain spiked up Ginny's calf and she came to a halt. She leaned heavily against a door and began pulling up her dress robes to examine the damage she had just done to her foot. Suddenly the door she was leaning against opened and she fell to the floor. Ginny looked up, annoyed, to find Harry standing above her.

"Did you knock on my door?" Harry asked her politely.

Ginny grimaced and said, "Did it sound like a knock?"

Harry furrowed his brow and scratched his head. "No, it sounded more like someone bumped into it. Did you bump into my door?"

Still looking up at Harry, Ginny wondered if the Dursleys had dropped Harry on his head when he was a baby. She couldn't believe someone who had become an auror could not piece together the obvious situation in front of him. "No, I leaned against your door and then you opened it." 'My God! You're an idiot!' Ginny fumed inwardly.

"Oh! Did you hurt yourself?" He held out his hand to help Ginny stand up.

"Well, I thought I might have broken something in my foot when I started running down the hall in these boots." Ginny gestured awkwardly to her pointy toed boots with the clunky heels.

"No, I meant when you fell down. Are you okay?"

Ginny forced a smile onto her face. "Just my dignity." She grabbed the fallen fliers from the floor and stood again. "I know you're busy, so I'll leave you alone." She made to leave when Harry pulled her back into the room and cast a silencing and locking charm on the room. "What are you doing?"

Harry motioned for her to sit in the chair across from his desk. "I wanted to talk to you without anyone hearing our conversation." Ginny sat in the chair and Harry leaned against his large wooden desk. She could see his tennis shoes peeking from underneath his lime green work robes. Ginny briefly wondered when Harry had last cleaned his shoes. They were caked in mud. Perhaps he needed new ones, she mused. Would he buy muggle ones?

Harry sighed deeply and ran his fingers through his hair. Ginny knew this was a nervous habit of his. "Yes, Harry? What is it?" Perhaps she would finally understand why he was being so cold to her.

"Well, you see, I wanted to tell you why we couldn't be together."

Blood rushed to Ginny's face and she felt her face grow hot from embarrassment. This was a conversation she had wanted to have with Harry and was desperately trying to avoid. "Oh?"

"It's just that the Ministry is watching you and me very closely right now since to whole Draco incident. If they found out that I was involved with you, I'd probably lose my job and they'd investigate further into the events of that day." Ginny noticed that Harry kept his eyes on his shoes and did not look into her eyes.

"So you're telling me that you are not interested in dating me because you're worried about your job?" Ginny felt like her face was on fire. Anger began surging through her veins.

"Yes, but mainly to protect you! The Daily Prophet has already started speculating that you were really the one who killed Draco. I don't want people to think I covered for you because I was dating you."

Suddenly the words from earlier in the morning came back to her. "'The one who killed Draco Malfoy and was saved by Harry Potter?'" "I see," Ginny murmured and began inspecting the fliers she was holding in her now perspiring hands.

Harry got down on his knees and knelt in front of her. "You must understand I'm doing this for you. I don't want you going to Azkaban. Please say you understand."

Ginny pulled her hands from Harry's grasp. "I understand what you're saying. But that doesn't mean that I like it. I don't give a shit about what other people think. I think you're too cowardly to date me because of what The Daily Prophet is saying. You don't want to go through the same situation as the one you faced in your fifth year."

Harry snorted and looked at Ginny. "You think that I'm worried about my image? I want to keep my job, Ginny! This is all I have dreamed about since my fifth year at Hogwarts! I worked damn hard during that horrid year to get here! I can't let all my dreams die."

Ginny pushed her chair away from Harry. "Why did you say all of those beautiful things to me at St. Mungo's? I thought you loved me."

Harry sighed deeply and looked up to the ceiling. "I do love you. But you want more, more than I can give. I'm not sure I can handle the stress that having a relationship with you would bring."

Without meaning to, Ginny began to laugh. "And loving you has never been stressful? Are you joking?" Ginny began to wipe at the tears that were running down her face. "Cho certainly had an easy time loving you. And I was in love with you for three years at Hogwarts. Those were easy years for me, right? What about hearing about you fighting the basilisk and Sirius Black? Or better yet, the Tri-Wizard Tournament? It was so easy to love you and never worry about you."

"Ginny, we were never in a relationship at Hogwarts." Ginny hated how reasonable Harry sounded.

"That didn't stop me from loving you and worrying about you. You are one of the most stress causing people to love that ever existed!" Ginny stood suddenly, which caused the fliers to fall to the floor again. She bent down to pick them up and bumped her head into Harry's chin. She looked up to see blood trickling from Harry's lip. "Did I do that?" she asked stupidly.

Harry nodded and swiped at the blood with his fingers. Ginny swatted his hands away and pulled out a handkerchief from her sleeve. As she wiped the blood away and cast a healing spell, she looked into Harry's eyes and wondered how she could love someone who could be so cruel to her. And yet, here she was, in love with him. The problem was Harry had convinced himself that he was no longer in love with her. Ginny leaned in and watched as Harry closed his eyes, readying himself for the kiss. She gently kissed his lips and handed him the bloodied handkerchief. "If you think it's not worth it, I can't change your mind." Then she stood and left his office.