Ginny
5.
"You having a good vacation?" asked Ginny as soon as she got a hold of Harry.
"I am, actually" he answered joyfully.
Ginny snorted a laugh. She didn't know whether to be irritated, or amused at Harry's behaviour.
"It's been a week already" she commented with the same ease one would comment the weather "any plans on returning?"
"Oh, but darling I'm having such a good time" now he was doing it just to annoy her, she knew, and yet she wasn't annoyed, she instead laughed like she hadn't in a while.
"Where are you, by the way?"
"Not telling you" he mocked like a kid would, when he was getting away with a lie.
"Are you in Europe?" she asked, cause she could tell he really didn't mind telling her. She was relieved to hear that he was doing okay, even if his first reaction was get as far away from them as he could.
"Yup"
"London?"
"Not even close"
She giggled.
"Well, I hope you're having a good time"
She debated about what to say next. She was rather proud of herself for getting to this point. It had took her awhile to just understand when she woke up and Harry was gone, and then she woke up two days later and Harry was still gone. She didn't get how it worked. How could Harry benefit from just being away, why did he do it, how did it help him, why did Hermione always said that they should let him.
In her mind, being away for a problem would only make her more anxious, she didn't believe the problem would fix itself, and she wasn't there to fix it. She didn't understand how hiding under the table for three hours straight would help him feel safe.
But somehow it did. She had witnessed that. She could see the weight that disappeared from Harry's eyes after he ran. She hated it, because if Harry left to feel safe, that meant that she was the danger he was escaping from. Logically, she knew that wasn't true, that Harry running didn't mean he was actually in danger, it was just what his mind wanted to convince him of. She knew Harry knew that too. But that didn't stop him from running, that didn't stop her from feeling that way.
Back on track, she was debating on what to say next. She wasn't as good at this at Hermione, she felt like she was walking on cracked ice. She wasn't sure whether she should ask him to come back, or she should tell him to take as long as he needed. She felt like she needed to talk about what exactly had drove him away in the first place, but she didn't want to set him back now that he was doing so well.
"You know" she started without knowing where she was going, because she knew they had been in silence for a minute now "I wish we could talk about it"
"There's nothing to talk about" he said quickly, and his voice didn't sound so relaxed anymore.
Great, Ginny thought. He sounded embarrassed. He had no reason to be, but she understood, he had difficulties to understanding his own needs, often cringed at needing food and water to survive, how dare he act like a human.
"I think there is something to talk about" Harry didn't say anything, she didn't want to press, but can you blame her? she still didn't know what the hell had she or someone else done to send Harry away like that, she had no idea. This call was the first contact he had with Harry in a week, that was a long time, even if there had been longer ones. "Harry, what happened?"
"Nothing happened" he stayed silent, Ginny waited "it was stupid, alright" he blurted out.
"I don't think anything that made you get away like that can be stupid" she sighed "look, babe" when she called him that, she was often making fun of him, they were jokingly acting like a grossly sweet couple. She didn't know why she was now calling him that, with how serious she was.
"I just wanna know what I did, it must be really scary for you, but it's really scary for me too. I just" her eyes were teary now, but it didn't make any sense, she wasn't so upset about this two seconds ago "I wake up, and you're not there and I have no idea why and... I hate the fact that I might be hurting you and I don't even realize it"
The line stayed in silence for a long time after that. Ginny was managing her breathing, Harry was probably lost in his own head, or giving Ginny time to pull herself together. But they were okay being in silence, they weren't bothered by it.
Ginny grew up in a house with six older brothers, she was used to loud, she was loud. She talked a lot, even if she didn't feel like it, just to fill the silence. She started to actually appreciate the silence once she started coexisting with Harry sometimes for weeks straight. Harry could be really loud, in a lot of situations, but in the majority of the domestic time they shared, he was quiet. So quiet that it stressed Ginny out, because she was used to domestic life being super loud. But with time, she learned being in silence did wonders with her patience, stress, and anxiety. It was a form of meditation, not being uncomfortably waiting for someone to talk, but instead hearing each others breathing, sometimes having soft music in the background.
"It wasn't anything you did" Harry finally said, and she was about to respond, to call him out. Because he was full of bulshit, he shouldn't lie just to make her feel better, and he should... "I got a call... From my aunt" Oh.
"Yeah. 'oh' is an excellent way to describe it" Had she said that out loud?
"What did she wanted?" she asked carefully.
"Um..." he doubted "To twist the knife? I don't know, I didn't really stayed to find out either... I just hung up, and I... I couldn't look at the phone, I'm sorry, I panicked"
A beat.
"Wow" she said softly, but then she frowned a little "although, I find weird that you didn't hear what she had to said"
He sighed. Deeply, as if he was fearing she said that, and she did.
"I... did hear her"
She should probably let it go of it, he already sounded disliked, she didn't want to keep pressing and destroy the peace that Harry had got from getting away for a week, but curiosity got the best of her.
"What did she wanted?"
Harry snorted a laugh, but it was empty of humor.
"I... She... Gin, please" as in, Gin, please, save me, don't ask me that, I don't want to say it out loud. Ginny's heart broke a little, because she couldn't save him from this, even if she stopped the conversation, she couldn't take the weight off Harry's shoulders, she couldn't cure his pain
"She... Um... She wanted money" he said with the tiniest voice ever. She could picture him right now, blushing, full of shame, feeling humiliated. At the edge of tears, not because sadness, but because the frustration, embarrassment, hate, impotence, and anger, all being too much to keep in "I really thought she had called to... I don't know... God, I'm so stupid..."
Maybe Harry had this incredible thick walls in which he cried only in the most extreme situations, and was able to keep it in, but Ginny didn't. When she cried as little, her mother made her tea and told her to get it all out. So she couldn't keep tears in now. There weren't sad tears either, they were extremely angry tears, Merlin forbid she ran into any of the Dursleys in the street, because her heart had no mercy for them.
"You're not stupid, okay? I'm so sorry she did that, babe, she shouldn't have..."
"I gave her the money" he interjected. "Seems like Vernon is having some financial problems, Dudley is the only one working, they needed the money, alright? they may have to sell the house..." he talked like he expected her to be mad at him.
"Okay, it's okay. It's your money, y'know. You did a good thing, that just proves you're not like them..." she didn't believe her own words. In fact, what she actually wanted to say would go something like 'let them rot, they don't deserve even hearing your name, tell them how powerful you are, threat to turn them into frogs if they don't leave you alone' but she wasn't about to say that. This only proved how pure Harry's heart still was, that sometimes surprised Ginny, how can someone be so good after living through so many shit.
"I didn't want to talk about it on the phone" he confessed, chuckling a little.
"Not the best way" she laughed "but at least you got it out of your system now"
They stayed silent.
"I'll be back tomorrow morning"
"Really?"
"Yeah, I'm tired of this, I want to go home"
"Alright" she sighed, and heard him do the same "hey"
"Yeah?"
"Where are you?"
He laughed more enthusiastically now. And then he used a mysterious voice to say. "You'll never find out"
"Alright, alright. See you tomorrow"
"See you"
He hung up, and she was left with her silence alone.
To Ronnie. 6.14 PM
got a hold of him
he'll be back tomorrow btw
She was sure that her brother would pass the message, she had no energy to send anymore texts, she was seriously considering dropping dinner in favour of sleeping more.
To Ginnn. 6.14 PM
what happened
To Ronnie. 6.14 PM
long story
longer than i wanna tell right now
Ron took a few seconds to answer, like he was debating what to say next.
To Ginnn. 6.15 PM
i'll step by tomorrow and we'll all talk
To Ronnie. 6.15 PM
k