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slashluv18Rating: PG-13
Pairing(s): Harry/Ginny
Warnings: non-traditional ending? Bittersweet ending, maybe?
Summary: Ginny comes to a decision about her life.
Ginny Weasley couldn't believe this was happening. It was bad enough when her first born son went away to Hogwarts. At least she had two other children at home, and they helped distract her from the disaster of a marriage she had.
Then it was time for Albus to go to school. She still had her baby girl at home, though. Lily Luna was a fireball. She constantly had her hands on everything, and it took everything Ginny had to keep up with her. As a consequence, Ginny had no time to deal with her failings when it came to her marriage.
But now, her last baby was going away. James had one year left, Albus was a third year, and Lily was going to be a first year.
No one would home to take care of and that meant Ginny would have plenty of time to think, and no good ever came from thinking.
Ginny thought about all of her mistakes and realized one of the biggest ones was she got married so young. After the war, everyone had been so elated, so alive. They all wanted to celebrate. For Ginny and Harry, that meant they got engaged after only six months of dating and got married three months later.
Ginny cared about Harry of course. He was her friend, her confident. He was the father of her children, and he was a truly devoted father. Harry always worked to make sure his family had everything they ever needed or wanted, and that included Ginny. He was a wonderful provider.
But if Ginny was honest with herself, truly honest, she wasn't in love with Harry. She wasn't sure if she had ever been in love with him. She was able to ignore her feelings while there was at least one child at home, but she didn't think she could continue to ignore what was in heart.
She wasn't sure if Harry had come to a similar realization, but like her, had kept it a secret for their children's sake. Even if he didn't, even if he thought himself in love with her, Ginny would have to tell him the truth. Not only did Ginny deserve to find someone she truly loved and who loved her in return, but Harry deserved someone who would love and adore him as much as he deserved.
When Ginny told Harry a week later the truth about her feelings, there was no surprise in his eyes. "I always suspected there wasn't real love on your part."
"Harry, I care about you, but I didn't want to keep living a lie. With the children at Hogwarts—"
"With the children at Hogwarts," Harry interrupted, "We won't disrupt their lives too much if we quietly divorce. They'll still be upset though, Ginny."
Ginny forced herself not to cry. She started this so she'd be strong. "I know, and I know they may hate me for hurting their father, but I hope they'll forgive me one day. I just can't keep doing this. I love them, and I'll always be their mother, but I can't be Mrs. Potter any longer."
Harry nodded. "I'll sleep in the guest room tonight."
Ginny was once again surprised, but she shouldn't have been. She knew how absolutely wonderful Harry was. When they told the kids about the upcoming divorce, Harry never said it was Ginny who wanted it. Instead, he said it was a mutual decision because they simply fell out of love, and they thought that their kids were old enough to handle the truth now.
James and Albus took it remarkably well, probably because they believed Harry's words to be the truth. Lily was in tears, though. "Am I going to lose you guys?"
Both Ginny and Harry reassured her that they'd always be her parents and no matter what, she'd always be taken care of.
They wanted to settle everything out of court, to avoid public embarrassment. They split everything down the middle despite Harry being the wronged party. The custody arrangement was relatively easy due to all three being in school and James no longer a minor. They would share custody during the vacations, and both agreed to celebrate the holidays together, so their children could have both parents with them.
It wasn't ideal, but Ginny was content. She was finally getting a chance at finding a true love; she just hoped it wasn't too late, and she hoped Harry found someone special as well.
