Drarry One Shots

I'm Sorry

A/N The concept for this story has come from @Hemmat­_samy who messaged me with a beautiful idea for a soulmate story. They asked me to write an angsty storyline where the most genuine and heartfelt words someone's soulmate will say to them appears above the heart. They envisaged these particular phrases used in the story for Harry and Draco. I don't want to give too much away but I hope I do their story justice.

***

'I'm sorry, Harry,' Ginny said quietly.

She sat next to him on the sofa at Grimmauld Place, holding his hand like she was comforting a child made of fragile bone china. She didn't need to say anymore. There was a finality in that apology which spoke volumes.

'No, I get it,' he sighed, trying not to show how much it hurt.

'Neville has written to me. He... I told him... He became such a good friend while you were away –'

'Ginny...' he said, slightly croakily.

'Nothing happened. I always told him that I was waiting for you. And I did, Harry. There was no one else. It's just... things aren't working between us... I'm miserable...' she paused, looking guilty, tears trickling down her pretty face, '...you don't mind...? About me giving things a go with Neville...?'

Of course he minded but he couldn't say that. And she was right, in less than two months it was abundantly clear that things weren't working between them.

'No, no...' he said, his heart breaking. 'He'll look after you. You'll be good for each other. It makes sense...'

'Thank you, Harry.'

An awkward silence ensued. Neither of them had anything to say. He wanted to brush her tears away but he couldn't do that. Not now, it wasn't his place now.

'I promise, Harry, nothing's happened between us. We've just been talking a bit. The odd Owl. I said that I needed to focus on you, that you and I...'

'I know, Gin. But you're right, it's not been working, has it?'

'No,' she said sadly. 'I'm sorry,' she repeated.

'It's not your fault, mine really...' he faltered. He blinked away the tears that threatened to form.

'Both of us,' she said with that determination that suggested she wasn't to be argued with. She suddenly laughed through her tears and he thought it was like sunshine breaking through the clouds, 'after all that time and it turns out we're just not compatible. I can't believe I've been yearning after you for six years. It's positively embarrassing.'

'Yeah, right...' he smiled weakly.

He didn't think it was embarrassing. He thought it was very romantic. But he also knew she was right, things weren't working between them. It had been too much, too soon. He was still dealing with the aftermath of the war, everyone wanted a piece of him, and he just wanted to hide. Harry felt oppressed, is if the weight of the past seven years, and before then, still weighed on his shoulders. He had neither the energy nor the time to give her what she wanted, not on top of the press interviews and public functions and calls to be here, there, and everywhere just to shake someone's hand, even though he had no idea who they bloody were. There were days when he just wanted to hide under the duvet or just sit in a park somewhere where no one knew him. The problem was that now he had stopped he had time to dwell on everything and he could feel the anxiety taking a hold in his chest. Sometimes, if he didn't distract himself, he felt like he couldn't breathe.

In contrast, what Ginny wanted was to celebrate. Nine months of separation, the fights and private battles at Hogwarts under Snape and the Carrows, four months of her being in hiding, and she now felt a new freedom. They were utterly at odds with one another and nor did they totally understand what the other had been through. They'd only just managed to survive a disastrous two-week holiday together in Spain, where he'd slept and she'd sat by the pool, she went clubbing and he read a book, she got drunk and he stayed sober, constantly looking over his shoulder. Neither of them truly relaxed, even the sex felt obligatory until they both found excuses not to be intimate.