To:
miss_daizy Title: Protect and Serve
Author/Artist:
jtavPairing: Harry/Ginny
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1100
Summary: A request to help with her Shield Charm leads to Harry discovering that Ginny's plans aren't quite what he thought they were. Canon compliant. Ignores interviews.
Author/Artist's Notes: Thanks to
lyras for fantastic beta services.
"Mind doing a review of Shield Charms at the next DA meeting?" Ginny asked. "Mine are getting sloppy."
Harry looked up from his Defense homework. The late afternoon sun did truly remarkable things to Ginny's hair and skin. She was all reds and golds, a true Gryffindor. It was a fine, mild sort of day. Dozens of students, Harry and Ginny among them, lounged by the lake, doing their homework or just talking. It was all so... normal. Harry had thought he would never see normal again after Voldemort's death, but here he was.
There had been changes of course. Andromeda-he couldn't think of her as Professor Tonks-had taken up the Defense post. Flitwick was Headmaster. And Ron and Hermione were gone. That was the most incredible change. Ron had decided he'd "had enough school to last a lifetime" and was working in George's joke shop. He and Harry had made plans to meet at the Three Broomsticks during the next Hogsmeade weekend. Hermione had gone to Australia in a desperate attempt to restore her relationship with her parents.
Despite all that, so much was still the same. He and Ginny had come back together as if they'd never been apart. Even the DA has been reformed, though it was little more than a study group. Harry wouldn't have restarted it, but Andromeda had asked him to Harry prayed the only thing they'd ever need it for was exams.
One thing puzzled him though. "Why do you want to work on Shield Charms? We’re not studying them this year, and it's not like there’ll be any more Death Eaters taking over." It wasn't as if Ginny was going to be an Auror, or anything, and her Shield Charms were more than adequate for almost anything else. She'd earn her Charms and Defense NEWTs with no problem.
"Kingsley says they're a bit sloppy, and if I want to be accepted into the Auror Training Program-"
"What?" Harry turned the phrase over in his mind if I want to be accepted into the Auror Training Program. Ginny wanted to be an Auror? The idea seemed incredible, unbelievable. He'd always assumed that he was the one who was going to be an Auror. He would be the one Mrs. Weasley and the others fretted about every time he was five minutes late coming home from work. He was the one who would be risking his life. Ginny had risked her life enough during the last war. She wasn't supposed to deal with anything more dangerous than a Bludger ever again. "I thought you wanted to join the Harpies."
"I did before...before last year." Her eyes were suddenly pained and her face closed in on itself.. "Get hit with the Cruciatus Curse enough times, and a Quidditch career seems a little unimportant."
Harry winced. "If I'd known what was going to happen..." He trailed off helplessly, unsure of how to continue. He'd thought when he'd broken up with her that he was doing his best to keep her safe. That was what you did when you cared about people, wasn't it? Only he hadn't kept Ginny safe, because the Death Eaters had taken over Hogwarts. Everyone said that she had been so brave, helping Neville lead the resistance and standing up to the Carrows. Harry agreed with them. Ginny had been brave. That she had been put into a situation where she had been forced to be brave, though, still felt like a failure on Harry's part. "Being an Auror is dangerous."
"And being in the DA wasn't?" There was something coild within her now, waiting to lash you out.
"It's not the same." Harry ran his fingers through his hair. He didn't know how to explain it to her, at least not in a way that wouldn’t earn him a Bat-Bogey Hex. He could remember the battle at the Department of Mysteries. He could remember the way he'd forgotten how to breathe for half a second when Ginny had twisted her ankle. And then there had been that last terrible battle. He'd agreed with Mr. Weasley that she ought to remain behind with the other students who were underage, only half believing that she would stay in the Room of Requirement. It hadn't made the sight of her dueling Bellatrix-Voldemort's right hand, the woman who had taken Sirius from him-any easier to bear. He wasn't sure he could deal with that fear day after day, for years. Moody had been a fantastic Auror, and he'd still been maimed and eventually killed. Harry didn't want to think about that happening to Ginny.
"I'd worry.” he said. “So would your Mum and Dad."
"Good thing it's not their decision. Yours either." Her voice was sharp and bitter in a way it had only been once before. I forgot.Harry edged away involuntarily. "If it was Ron who wanted to be an Auror, you'd be jumping at the chance to help him. I'm just as good at taking care of myself as he is."
Harry opened his mouth and then closed it again. He helped me take down a troll and find the Philosopher's Stone before you even started Hogwarts. Ron had always been his partner in crime, his introduction to the wizarding world. Ginny had always been on the fringes of his existence until the day she hadn't been any more. The only exception had been saving her from the basilisk, and that was so long ago that it seemed to be from another lifetime.
Ginny glared at him. "I'm not the little girl you've saved all those years ago. I'm not going to sit around and let you have all the fun. I'm bloody well not going to stay at home and darn socks for you."
Harry frowned, puzzled. "Who said anything about socks?"
"I mean, I won't be your reward. If you want me to stick around, you're going to have to deal with me wanting to be in danger right along with you. You won't change my mind, so don't try." Her expression softened a little, and the tightness that filled Harry's chest had nothing to do with attraction. "But I do want your help." She stood up and held out a hand to him. "So, what will it be?"
Spend every day worrying about Ginny or have Ginny furious with him. Maybe even lose her altogether. It was an astonishingly easy decision after everything that had happened, after knowing that she'd been tortured.
He took her hand and let her pull him to his feet. "Fine. We'll go over Shield Charms. Just let me see if I can filch a Calming Draught from the hospital wing. I might need one for a while." He wasn't sure how he'd deal with her being an Auror, but maybe that took it's own kind of bravery.
Ginny laughed, and the sound echoed through the grounds. "It's a start."