ALWAYS (Hinny)

Chapter 39 : Harry

"Harry!!" I called as I spotted him walking down the staircase that leads to the boy's dorms. "Harry!"

He smiled and walked towards me. I had been waiting for him to come down for ten minutes, and my mind was aching from boredom.

"I have to tell you something." I said in a low voice.

"Er...hello?" He smiled.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Hello. Now, I have something to tell you."

"Confidential I presume?" He asked.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Okay, come with me then." He took my hand and lead me through the corridors of the castle.

After a short walk, we stopped in a deserted hidden corner. He casted a spell -something like "muffliato" I think-, and we sat on a bench.

"Okay." I began. "I talked with Hermione."

"About what?"

"About us."

"Us?" He asked, puzzled.

"Don't interrupt me Potter." I said, putting my finger on his soft lips.

He nodded silently.

"So, as I was saying before you rudely interrupted me, I talked to Hermione about us. She wanted to know where we were and I said I wouldn't tell her, and she ...persuaded me. Well, she was totally right. So I told her everything. And she told me everything that she knew."

And I explained everything. The bond getting stronger after my memory loss, the death eaters that obliviated me to bring us down, on purpose. Naturally he understood by himself that we were in danger.

"Hermione thinks.. that they might not give up until we're dead. Or that at least one of us is dead, because either way.. you die." At that thought, I cringed.

"So they.. they want to kill you?" He said painfully.

"Yeah.. yeah that's what we think. Or at least torture me a bit so that you give up your life to save me. I don't know."

And naturally he freaked out.

"I can't let that happen." He said stubbornly.

"What can you do about it anyway?"

"I don't know!!" He snapped, running his hand through his hair.

"No need to be rude! " I said fiercely.

He sighed.

"We have to end that." He said bitterly.

"What?!" I nearly choked.

"We have to act as though the bond is nothing."

"We can't be apart, Harry."

"I told you you would be in danger." He argued.

"It's not my fault!" I said, outraged. "We didn't chose to like each other! We didn't chose to be bonded!"

"We should have ignored each other!"

"Harry! Everything that you're saying is absolute bullshit!!" I snapped.

He looked at me.

"I won't let that happen." He said confidently.

"That's exactly what I told Hermione earlier."

"It's my fault." He then said, and I gaped.

"What did you say?"

"Its my fault." He repeated, more distinctly.

"Is it your fault we're bonded? Is it your fault you are the chosen one? Is it your fault you're the Boy Who Lived? Is it your fault you won? Is it your fault Voldemort existed? Is it your fault? Is it your fault I love you?" I argued, and visibly, the last words calmed him down.

"Ginny..it's because of me that they're after you.." I was about to reply and tell him how stupid he was but he stopped me. "No! Listen to me. Hadn't it been for me, you would still remember everything. You'd be totally free. You would be safe. You would be happy."

"You can't possibly think I'd be happy without you.." I sighed.

"But Ginny.."

"Harry! It's nobody's fault, except the death eater's. " I said calmly. "Neither of us chose to be bonded. We just can't do anything about it. And honestly, Harry, you're the only person I'd ever want to be bonded with."

He thought for a moment, looking at the ground, head in his hands.

"I know you're right, Gin. I just.. I just don't want you to get hurt. I want to protect you. I'd rather die right now than seeing you suffer because of those cowards."

"Cowards?"

"They act when we're not prepared. They have to hurt you to get to me. They don't even have the courage to come to me. If they want to kill me, I don't mind, but if they try to use you to make me suffer, that's being cowards." He explained. "They want to kill me, without having to directly fight me."

"That's because they're scared of you!"

"But what did you do to them?!"

"I'm keeping you alive! Just like you keep me alive every second, of every minute, of everyday!"

He turned his face, and our gazes met.

He let out a big sigh. "I know you do. It's just that.. I can't.. I couldn't handle it, if.. if you died because of me.."

"But I won't." I said solemnly. "I won't die Harry. Not because of them."

"You promise?" He asked, and it seemed as though he was a kid, asking for his mother to promise she would buy him sweets. It made my heart melt, how cute, and yet how grown he looked at the same time.

"I promise." I said softly, yet my own conviction surprised me.

We both looked at the ground for a while.

"What about... heading down to breakfast?" I proposed.

".. yeah, why not, let's go." He agreed.

I smiled and we both got up from the bench. I was about to walk away when I felt a grab on my wrist.

"Ginny." He said.

"Yeah?"

"I love you too."

I smiled. He already told me, but every time he'd say it again made me feel wanted, loved, and complete.