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She was the love of my life. Hair a flowing river of red and gold, eyes like warm chocolate, and a laugh that could warm a man half frozen to death. Everything about her made me love her more. From the way she scrunched her noise when she was thinking, to every last freckle that covered her body. Yes, Ginny Weasley was the one girl I decided I could actually settle down with. She was the perfect match for me. The trouble was I wasn’t the right match for her.
So, this is not the story of how I sweep her off her feet, nor is it the story of how I single handedly saved her. This isn’t a fairy tale that ends happily ever after; at least not for me. You see, this is the story of how I, Harry James Potter, learned to let her go.
It was the middle of spring in what should have been my seventh, and final year at Hogwarts. Instead, myself, and my two closest friends, were off trying to save the world from impending doom at the hands of a crazed half-blooded maniac, fondly known to the Wizarding world as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and You-Know-Who. But the truth was, his name was Tom. Tom Marvolo Riddle.
But this story isn’t really about Tom, nor is it in fact about me. This story belongs solely to Ginny Molly Weasley. She was a brave girl during the war, showing her true Gryffindor spirit as she helped to lead the resistance against the Death Eaters at Hogwarts. But it was the eye of another that she caught that year as well.
I had always seen Draco Malfoy as the scum of the earth, worse, maybe, than some of the Death Eaters I faced out in the real world. But the truth is, as much as I hate to admit it, he wasn’t so rotten of a person after all. Sure, he had been brainwashed by his father, and no matter how much I defend him now, he is still a right prick, but there was good inside of him. It took Albus Dumbledore to see that good; I think Dumbledore could have found something good to say about a clod of dirt. Regardless, it was one of Dumbledore’s final requests that the Order of the Phoenix give Malfoy a second chance.
I was, of course, whole-heartedly against this second chance, but I couldn’t help but to feel sorry for the guy. He had been given an ultimatum: kill a man he was never too fond of, or watch his mother killed in front of him. All things considered, I probably would have tried to kill someone too, if my mother had still been alive.
Ginny hadn’t had the natural aversions that everyone else had seemed to have though. Oh, she still gave him a hard time, teasing him for falling victim to her Bat-Bogey hex back in his fifth year, but the truth was, she was treating him normally. I’m pretty sure Ginny could also find the good in a lump of dirt, or at least in a snake.
She went on to pester him relentlessly with her chatter, something I had always found to be adorable about her, and I missed it. You see I was the only one she wasn’t really talking to at this point. I had decided to be what I thought was noble; knowing that I wouldn’t be going back to school, and that I would be putting myself in all kinds of danger, I broke things off with her. She had seemed to take it well enough, a smile and a shrug, but I could tell I’d hurt her, but in the end, she promised she would wait for me. That didn’t stop her from distancing herself, maybe to protect her own heart.
It was the attention that she was bestowing upon him that perhaps made me hate him more, but it was hard to hate someone who didn’t gloat. He just seemed to soak in her attention, never seeking more, and never trying to shove it in my face as I had expected him too. He drank her in like his live depended upon it. And maybe it did.
When he had come to us, gone was the Malfoy of old; instead there stood a young man, actually ashamed of what he had done. In the beginning, and even during the school year, he sunk into periods of depression, or so I was told. It was the news of his mother’s death that actually sent him over the edge. I would hear from others later on that it was Ginny who was able to bring him back from the farthest holds of the depression that threatened to consume him. I wasn’t surprised. There was a passion for life about her that was absolutely contagious.
News of the time they spent together angered me at first, making me think that she was betraying me, with Malfoy nonetheless, but my sources assured me that they were on a strictly friends bases. It wasn’t until after Hogwarts was closed down that I knew I had reason to be jealous.
With the Order back together, and inducting members that would have normally been too young, I began to actually watch the way that Ginny and Draco, yes Draco, interacted with one another. I had hoped it would give me reason to hate Draco more, but the truth was it only made me respect him. He was patient with her sudden burst of energy, playful with her even, in his own slightly detached way. But it wasn’t until the night when I walked in on them in the kitchen when I realized I had met my match.
The two of them were sitting on the floor, huddled in a corner closest to the still burning fire. Her face was buried in his shoulder, and his hand was lightly rubbing circles on her back while he made comforting noises. Instantly, I wanted to burst in, accuse them of…well… I wanted to accuse Ginny of cheating on me, but I stopped myself with the realization that I had let her go. And so, with my tail between my legs, stayed and watched the pair of them.
Listening, I learned that she’d had a nightmare, and this hadn’t been the first time. It had been about Tom. Hearing his name, the pieces of the puzzle finally began to click into place. For years, Ginny had been having nightmares, always replaying the horrors that had happened to her in her first year, things I had known about, but had never thought to ask about. I realized that I had been so caught up in the sorrows and struggles of my own life, that I had never thought to ask about her. I had always assumed that she had been happy, because that’s what I’d seen on the outside.
Malfoy…Draco…on the other hand, had been willing to see past her smiles to see the still suffering girl that everyone else was all too willing to over look. Apparently, he had been doing this, comforting her, since the night she had saved him from doing something recklessly stupid back at the castle. He had been her protector from the memories that lurked inside, unwilling to let her alone.
On the battlefield, he was her constant protector. Sure, she was fully capable of handling herself, but ever the same he was there, watching her back in a way I never could have. Draco knew the tricks of the Death Eaters before they could execute them, and he was all too willing to damage their ranks to protect her. I wasn’t stupid; I knew he didn’t truly care much for our cause. He just wanted revenge for the life that had been dealt to him, and to protect the one he one day hoped to lead.
On the day that we knew would be the final battle, I could see in his eyes how badly he wanted to kiss her for luck, but with a short glance in my direction, and a curt nod, he squeezed her hand and walked away. I couldn’t believe that Draco-Blood-Malfoy had just done something so ridiculously noble. I’d never thought he had it in him.
Walking over to Ginny, I kissed her cheek lightly. ‘It’s him you want’, I whispered.
She had tried to apologize to me, but never once did she lie, and for that I was grateful. With one last chaste kiss to her forehead, I set her free. Watching her run to him, I couldn’t help but smile. With a gentleness I didn’t know he possessed, Draco Malfoy brought his hand up to the side of her face, bringing his lips slowly to hers. When they were done, he looked back to me, gratitude in his eyes. I knew I had done the right thing. I knew that Ginny deserved something more than I could give her; she deserved him.
So, this is not the story of how I sweep her off her feet, nor is it the story of how I single handedly saved her. This isn’t a fairy tale that ends happily ever after; at least not for me. You see, this is the story of how I, Harry James Potter, learned to let her go.
It was the middle of spring in what should have been my seventh, and final year at Hogwarts. Instead, myself, and my two closest friends, were off trying to save the world from impending doom at the hands of a crazed half-blooded maniac, fondly known to the Wizarding world as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and You-Know-Who. But the truth was, his name was Tom. Tom Marvolo Riddle.
But this story isn’t really about Tom, nor is it in fact about me. This story belongs solely to Ginny Molly Weasley. She was a brave girl during the war, showing her true Gryffindor spirit as she helped to lead the resistance against the Death Eaters at Hogwarts. But it was the eye of another that she caught that year as well.
I had always seen Draco Malfoy as the scum of the earth, worse, maybe, than some of the Death Eaters I faced out in the real world. But the truth is, as much as I hate to admit it, he wasn’t so rotten of a person after all. Sure, he had been brainwashed by his father, and no matter how much I defend him now, he is still a right prick, but there was good inside of him. It took Albus Dumbledore to see that good; I think Dumbledore could have found something good to say about a clod of dirt. Regardless, it was one of Dumbledore’s final requests that the Order of the Phoenix give Malfoy a second chance.
I was, of course, whole-heartedly against this second chance, but I couldn’t help but to feel sorry for the guy. He had been given an ultimatum: kill a man he was never too fond of, or watch his mother killed in front of him. All things considered, I probably would have tried to kill someone too, if my mother had still been alive.
Ginny hadn’t had the natural aversions that everyone else had seemed to have though. Oh, she still gave him a hard time, teasing him for falling victim to her Bat-Bogey hex back in his fifth year, but the truth was, she was treating him normally. I’m pretty sure Ginny could also find the good in a lump of dirt, or at least in a snake.
She went on to pester him relentlessly with her chatter, something I had always found to be adorable about her, and I missed it. You see I was the only one she wasn’t really talking to at this point. I had decided to be what I thought was noble; knowing that I wouldn’t be going back to school, and that I would be putting myself in all kinds of danger, I broke things off with her. She had seemed to take it well enough, a smile and a shrug, but I could tell I’d hurt her, but in the end, she promised she would wait for me. That didn’t stop her from distancing herself, maybe to protect her own heart.
It was the attention that she was bestowing upon him that perhaps made me hate him more, but it was hard to hate someone who didn’t gloat. He just seemed to soak in her attention, never seeking more, and never trying to shove it in my face as I had expected him too. He drank her in like his live depended upon it. And maybe it did.
When he had come to us, gone was the Malfoy of old; instead there stood a young man, actually ashamed of what he had done. In the beginning, and even during the school year, he sunk into periods of depression, or so I was told. It was the news of his mother’s death that actually sent him over the edge. I would hear from others later on that it was Ginny who was able to bring him back from the farthest holds of the depression that threatened to consume him. I wasn’t surprised. There was a passion for life about her that was absolutely contagious.
News of the time they spent together angered me at first, making me think that she was betraying me, with Malfoy nonetheless, but my sources assured me that they were on a strictly friends bases. It wasn’t until after Hogwarts was closed down that I knew I had reason to be jealous.
With the Order back together, and inducting members that would have normally been too young, I began to actually watch the way that Ginny and Draco, yes Draco, interacted with one another. I had hoped it would give me reason to hate Draco more, but the truth was it only made me respect him. He was patient with her sudden burst of energy, playful with her even, in his own slightly detached way. But it wasn’t until the night when I walked in on them in the kitchen when I realized I had met my match.
The two of them were sitting on the floor, huddled in a corner closest to the still burning fire. Her face was buried in his shoulder, and his hand was lightly rubbing circles on her back while he made comforting noises. Instantly, I wanted to burst in, accuse them of…well… I wanted to accuse Ginny of cheating on me, but I stopped myself with the realization that I had let her go. And so, with my tail between my legs, stayed and watched the pair of them.
Listening, I learned that she’d had a nightmare, and this hadn’t been the first time. It had been about Tom. Hearing his name, the pieces of the puzzle finally began to click into place. For years, Ginny had been having nightmares, always replaying the horrors that had happened to her in her first year, things I had known about, but had never thought to ask about. I realized that I had been so caught up in the sorrows and struggles of my own life, that I had never thought to ask about her. I had always assumed that she had been happy, because that’s what I’d seen on the outside.
Malfoy…Draco…on the other hand, had been willing to see past her smiles to see the still suffering girl that everyone else was all too willing to over look. Apparently, he had been doing this, comforting her, since the night she had saved him from doing something recklessly stupid back at the castle. He had been her protector from the memories that lurked inside, unwilling to let her alone.
On the battlefield, he was her constant protector. Sure, she was fully capable of handling herself, but ever the same he was there, watching her back in a way I never could have. Draco knew the tricks of the Death Eaters before they could execute them, and he was all too willing to damage their ranks to protect her. I wasn’t stupid; I knew he didn’t truly care much for our cause. He just wanted revenge for the life that had been dealt to him, and to protect the one he one day hoped to lead.
On the day that we knew would be the final battle, I could see in his eyes how badly he wanted to kiss her for luck, but with a short glance in my direction, and a curt nod, he squeezed her hand and walked away. I couldn’t believe that Draco-Blood-Malfoy had just done something so ridiculously noble. I’d never thought he had it in him.
Walking over to Ginny, I kissed her cheek lightly. ‘It’s him you want’, I whispered.
She had tried to apologize to me, but never once did she lie, and for that I was grateful. With one last chaste kiss to her forehead, I set her free. Watching her run to him, I couldn’t help but smile. With a gentleness I didn’t know he possessed, Draco Malfoy brought his hand up to the side of her face, bringing his lips slowly to hers. When they were done, he looked back to me, gratitude in his eyes. I knew I had done the right thing. I knew that Ginny deserved something more than I could give her; she deserved him.
Author notes: So, not my normal cup of tea, but it’s finished now. I would love for you to tell me what you think!
The End.
Pipperstorms is the author of 21 other stories.
This story is a favorite of 14 members. Members who liked Let Her Go also liked 1421 other stories.
This story is a favorite of 14 members. Members who liked Let Her Go also liked 1421 other stories.
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