| Firecrab
Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: melbourne
Posts: 887
|  For Abi, Angie and Soph x
Chapter Four
“Harry” said a voice,
He’d fallen asleep against the wall, “What?” he muttered,
“Get up” Ron replied,
“Why?”
“Because you’re sleeping next to a wall on the floor and it ain’t right”
“She’s still on the other side?”
“Well Hermione hasn’t got the door open so we’re guessing that”
He knocked on the wall gently with his good hand, “Ginny”
“Harry?” she spoke quietly, as if she’d just woken up too and he smiled absentmindedly,
“Hermione wants to come in”
“Oh, ok” He heard her get up and he did the same,
“So what’s the deal with you two now?” Ron asked,
“I don’t know” Harry sat on the bed “Can we not talk about it?”
“What happened to your hand?”
Harry gestured his head to the wall, he was pretty sure something was broken but couldn’t be bothered with it right now. Ron conjured up a bandage and threw it at him,
“Angry much” he said watching him wrap his hand up,
“You don’t shut up and it won’t be the wall” he muttered and then realised it was parsel tongue again when Ron stared,
“Not again” Harry sighed and rubbed his scar with his good hand.
“Is it burning again?”
“Hasn’t done it in ages, it’s just a scar”
“It’s more then that, it’s a mark that-”
“Do you not know when to shut up?” Ron was staring again; Harry swore “It came out in flaming snake didn’t it?”
Ron nodded,
“Quit staring” Harry said getting up and leaving the room. He threw himself on the couch in the living room, as well as this craziness he still had to track down four more Horcruxes and there were no more leads on two of them.
He didn’t hear her footsteps, he was to consumed by what he had to do,
“How are you feeling?”
“Fine” he shrugged,
“We’re not going to talk about it again are we?”
“No”
“Ok so let’s talk about something else, we can do that”
“I might be looking at the floor a lot” he smiled his eyes still down and she smiled too,
“That’s ok, talking is a start” she sat on the couch opposite “What’s your favourite colour?” she already new but she wanted to make sure. He glanced at her and then focused his eyes firmly on the coffee table “Red – yours?”
“Green” he didn’t need to see her smile, he could hear it in her voice,
“What’s your favourite food?” she asked,
“Your mum’s roast potatoes”
“Mine too” she let a small laugh escape, “This is getting weird isn’t it”
“A bit”
“And awkward”
He couldn’t look up still “Just a little” he sighed “Why does it have to be so hard?”
“It doesn’t – you can make things a lot easier”
“I thought we weren’t going to talk about it”
“You can’t scare me away Harry” she got up and sat beside him, and sighed when he flinched. “I can’t help the way I feel about you”
“You need to, for you own sake”
“Please stop fighting it, your not going to win” her hand reached for his and he let her hold it, “See what I mean”
“Hmm” he mumbled looking at her delicate fingers entwined with his own
“Are you going to go back to normal Harry soon?”
“You don’t know a normal Harry”
She took a deep breath and held his damaged hand to her cheek, “Silly billy why’d you punch the wall”
“I was angry and it was that or Ron for telling you I didn’t want you”
“You should have hit him” she mumbled, letting go of it and moving to sit opposite him again
“It’s not that I don’t want you, it’s that I can’t have you”
“You can have what you want”
“But you can’t have me and Merlin knows I can’t be allowed to have you because I’m not Harry; I’m the chosen one”
“There’s a Harry in there that I know, one that saved me from death on more then a few occasions, one that – that – that kissed me like never before in front of a common room full of people, there’s someone in there that rescued me from a prison full of death eaters because he’s the only one that believes me, that held me one night when I thought I’d never be able to sleep again. There’s a Harry in there that I love and I know loves me just as much”
He looked up at the last sentence; he looked her right in those beautiful browns eyes. So much for staying away… One moment he was sitting opposite her the next he was kissing her so fiercely it would have given Ron a heart attack if he saw.
He broke away, staring at her and then stood up,
“I – I – I” he stuttered and she stared at him, he was getting annoyed with himself, he didn’t know what to say to her, he wanted to say sorry to tell her it was a mistake and he’d led her on without meaning to but he couldn’t, angry muttering in parsel tongue came instead. She stood up walked round the couch to stand in front of him looking up into his eyes,
“I know why reds your favourite colour” her hand went to his cheek, “You know why greens mine” the thumb tracing under his eye, her hand moved down neck to his chest and she could feel his heart beat racing under her fingertips,
“I understand what you’re trying to do but it won’t work, I don’t want to be protected, let me fight with you”
He held her hand at his chest, “I can’t do that; I can’t lose you because it would kill me before he ever got a chance to”
“He won’t hurt me; I won’t let it happen because nothing is going to keep me from you”
He shook his head “I’m going to keep you away” he stepped backwards letting go of her hand, it fell to her side,
“Don’t do it please” she pleaded looking into his eyes, “I’m begging you Harry don’t do this”
“I’m sorry, I know it doesn’t feel like it means much but I am, I’m so sorry” tears rolled down his cheeks, she reached out but he stepped back again “I wish things were different but there not, we can’t do this not now”
“I’ll wait then”
“You can’t hold on waiting to see if I survive, it will only hurt you more, you need a clean break”
Her stomach churned and her hand went to her mouth, shaking her head,
“Hermione!” he called out, “Hermione!” he said it again more urgently, she opened the door and looked out,
“She’s going to be sick” he stood watching as she rushed Ginny off to the bathroom, he had to stay away, he had to go, she’d be safe with them. He went to his room, grabbed his backpack and cloak,
“What are you doing?”
“Take care of her ok” he left the room,
“Harry – Harry where are you going?” Ron called out; Harry paused at the door that appeared before him,
“I’m going to end this”
He threw on his cloak and opened the door, just like he asked it opened near the tunnel and vanished behind him before Ron could get to it.
“You just let him go?!” Hermione said furiously,
“What did you want me to do stun him?!”
“Anything to stop him”
“It’s his choice to leave and anyway he had his cloak on I couldn’t see him”
“What did he say?” she heard Ginny vomit again in the bathroom and the crying after,
“To look after her and that he was going to end this”
“He’s going to find the Horcruxes and then fight him himself, it’s suicide” she turned away and went back to the bathroom,
“He’s gone hasn’t he” she mumbled wiping her mouth with a handful of toilet paper, Hermione nodded,
“I’ve pushed him too far, he’s going to die and it’s my fault”
“Don’t think like that”
“But it is… I’ve lost him forever” she curled up on the floor,
“Gin you can’t stay here”
She didn’t say anything, “Ginny” Hermione gave up when she knew she wasn’t going to get answer and went to get Ron. He lifted her up off the floor and put her into one of the beds, covering her in the quilt and tucking her in. He set up a makeshift bed on the floor beside her and Hermione took the other bed. He lay there watching her, she didn’t move her eyes were open and she rarely blinked. He fell asleep watching her, Hermione was next to give in, but Ginny couldn’t let go. She lay awake all night seeing his face and hearing the words that smashed her heart into minuscule pieces -“You need a clean break”.
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RIP JD Salinger |