returning to school, well, to her, had been one giant mistake. in fact, the only reason ginny had gone to complete her final year, was due to her mother insisting that she complete her newts, despite already securing a position on the holy head harpies. much to her annoyance, && her mother’s satisfaction, she reenrolled, doing her best to achieve decent marks. this, however, proved tough when every corner of the school reminded her of the year the carrows ran amuck, && each && every time she sat in the great hall, she remembered finding her brother in their -- lifeless. life without fred was still empty && pointless, but she was slowly pulling herself out of the hole she was in earlier this year, which in part could be thanks to being quidditch captain && getting to fly a broom whenever she wanted (( the one thing that made her feel somewhat like herself again. ))
the burrow was decorated to the nines this year, she noted, entering the living room with her travel bag over her shoulder. this was of course due to her mother throwing herself into the holiday to avoid missing fred. her family as a whole each had a different coping mechanism, though none were exactly the healthiest. her eyes wandered around the room, counting the number of stockings -- her heart fell, noticing that there was one missing, the giant stocking embroidered with the letter ‘ f ’ was gone. dropping her bag to the floor, a heavy sigh could be heard escaping her mouth, head shaking slightly in disbelief. it had already been six months without fred, yet it felt like worlds longer.
trying to forget about her departed brother, she walked into the kitchen, knowing there had to be something to eat. her mother warned her not to fill up on sweets since she was hosting a rather large dinner tonight to celebrate her coming home, which in a way, gave her something to be excited about. she hadn’t seen her brothers in months, so this family dinner could be good. what took her off guard though, was seeing harry potter standing in her kitchen. of course, she wasn’t completely surprised -- her mother viewed harry as one of her own, so naturally he && hermione would be invited to a family dinner, but ginny hadn’t spoken to harry in months, so seeing him so soon && without warning caused her heart to stop momentarily, her mouth widened slightly in shock.
“ harry ! ” she exclaimed, though her tone wasn’t all that telling. it wasn’t displaying any type of emotion other than shock. “ i wasn’t expecting to see you here. ” she simply stated the obvious, not daring to get all that close to him. while they weren’t on bad terms, they were no longer dating, so ginny wasn’t entirely sure of what was normal && what was overstepping boundaries. she tried to be mindful of that. “ uh, how’ve you, er been? ” not one to usually be at a loss of words, she was trying her hardest to fill up the uncomfortable silence.
