The First I've Heard of You

Chapter One

"I can't do this right now, Ginevra."

Ginny cringed at her fiance's use of her full name. She rolled her eyes, refusing to look weak.

"I just need a break. We have this fight all the time. I'm tired of it." He sighed, closing his eyes as though she were his child who kept asking him for more dessert. It made her furious.

"You need a break? Harry, I'm the one who keeps trying to fix this with you, and you want nothing to do with it." She chewed the inside of her cheek. "We're engaged! This isn't some fling you can just get out of."

"Fucking hell. Stop playing the engagement card, Weasley."

"Why shouldn't I? We've made a commitment to deal with each other even when we're annoyed. Does that not mean anything anymore?"

He didn't speak.

"Well, there's my answer I guess. Consider this over."

"Fine by me."

Ginny stood for a moment, waiting for him to tell her it was some kind of sick prank. When he didn't, she crossed the small yard of her parent's home and apparated.

Tears threatened to fall from the young woman's eyes, but she refused to give him that power over her.

She had called Harry out into the yard to tell him something, and right away he had gotten on her for prioritizing quidditch over him, again. They had had this fight so many times before, and every time it wore them both thinner.

Why it had to be tonight that they cracked for the final time, though, she wasn't sure. She had wanted to tell him that she was pregnant. They'd been living together, sleeping together, for months. Their fights usually spurred angry "makeup" sex, and in the heat of it she figured they had forgotten protection one of those times. She'd found out earlier that morning, but knew she owed it to him to let him know.

Maybe not now though. She didn't think she owed him anything anymore.

Ginny couldn't face anyone. Her family would all either side with Harry and tell him, or they would threaten to kill him, neither of which she could stand the thought of.

So quickly, she apparated to their flat, hurriedly packed a suitcase and grabbed a decent amount of her money from their vault. She knew she'd need money, wherever she went. Just as she was about to leave their house for the final time, she thought of her family.

Ginny couldn't leave them with nothing. She quickly scrawled a note, i'm safe., on a napkin and secured it to their counter. Harry would let them all know.

Then, with one last look, she apparated. One of her friends from the Harpies quidditch team had told her about her sister who lived in America, and knowing she had to get as far away as she could, Ginny apparated there.

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The January air was brisk against Ginny's rosy cheeks as the young woman hurried up the thin Boston sidewalk. She was late, again. Work had ended almost on time today, but she had lost track of time talking to her coworker.

When she approached the courtyard, she was relieved to see four children still under the care of the teachers, but her heart sank when she saw one child sitting desperately alone under a tree. That wasn't like her.

Ginny came up to the outside of the fence and called out to her, "Bryn," A large smile plastered on the woman's face.

The child looked up, grinning slightly, and hurried over to her teachers who waved to Ginny.

Moments later, her daughter was in her arms, hugging her tightly. Ginny held her at arm's length, studying her features. Worry etched through the mother's eyebrows. "What's the matter, love?"

Her daughter didn't respond, just hugged her tighter. Ginny lifted her up, slinging the little girl's bag over her own back, and started back down the sidewalk to their flat.

"I'll tell you what. Let's go home, snuggle up in our pjs with some hot cocoa, and you can tell me about school today." She nodded slightly. "And guess what? Mom doesn't have to work tonight." That got her. Brynlee looked up from her mom's shoulder and kissed her cheek.

Once they got back to the apartment, they did exactly as Ginny had planned. Pjs and blankets accompanied them to the couch with hot chocolate and the TV.

"Bryn, honey, are you sad that mom was a little late to pick you up today?" Her small daughter didn't meet her eyes, just stared into her mug of chocolate.

"No," she said softly.

"Are you sad?" Her daughter just nodded. "Can you tell me why?"

"We learned about our family in school and I don't got a family." She looked down at her lap.

"Oh, honey," Ginny pulled her closer. "You have a family. We just don't live near them."

"I do?" Brynlee looked at her mother hopefully.

"You do."

"Why don't they live near us?"

Ginny didn't answer right away. "Let's talk about that a little later, baby. Can you push play on Rapunzel?"