How can you mend a broken heart?

Chapter 5 - the regretted decision

When she walked outside, she could feel the hot sun shining brightly at her skin and she quickly observed the quiet street's people walking amongst her.

Finally, she arrived at the condemned department store, Purge and Dowse, Ltd. and after taking a deep breath and collecting herself, she leaned closer to the glass window and said to the dummy, "I am here to see Harry Potter."

As usual, the dummy nodded and beckoned with its jointed finger. Ginny looked around her to see if any muggles were watching her and when she saw that no one seemed to spare her a glance, she stepped through the window.

On the other side of the window, was a crowded reception where multiple witches and wizards sat upon wooden chairs waiting. She went over to the floor guide and when she discovered which floor Harry most likely was found, she walked through a narrow corridor and climbed several sets of stairs.

Finally, she reached the fourth floor for spell damage, which looked a lot like any other hospital floor. In the short-term stay section, she finally found the room with Harry in it.

Nervously, she turned the door handle. Before she had entered the room, she had expected the worse, however, when she saw her brother, Ron smiling, she knew everything was okay.

"Hello, brother dear," said Ginny as she quietly closed the door behind her as to not wake up the other patients sharing the same room. The room was very quiet and every patient's eyes were closed while their chests rose and sunk in unison of their breathing. Some were snoring, talking in their sleep or sweating, while others lied as still as death itself.

"Sister dear," Ron nodded with a smile.

Ginny cracked a smile, " Am I not to receive a hug from my dear brother?"

Ron smiled at her sister and gave her a warm hug. He smelt of melted butter and chicken, she noted.

He released her from the hug and went serious; clearing his throat, folding his arms across his chest and frowning slightly.

"What happened to him, Ron?" Ginny asked, looking over at Harry who had a bruised forehead and an arm in a cast.

"The same as always; he stupidly went into battle alone,"

Ginny went over to Harry's side and studied his calm expression. He seemed so careless where he slept; not a worry in the world. Her heart leapt as she saw the innocence in his youthful face, the messy hair living its own life and the way his lips looked so soft and red. NO, she thought. She could not think that way.

She shook her head to get out of the daze, but she could not seem to escape his beautiful aura.

"This time he even volunteered as bait."

Ron's comment had done the trick and she found her head turning to face her brother faster than she had ever thought it could turn. "He did what?" she hissed. The urge to smack Harry across the face in frustration tempted her more than ever and she had to fight the urge to not hit an unconscious man.

"He was the bait," Ron said, grinning. "Of course, Kingsley opposed the idea as soon as he volunteered, but the muggle prime minister insisted on it being the best option. He fell on a rock when he deflected all of the spells." He had to fight the urge to laugh and Ginny could not properly comprehend how her brother could find time to laugh in serious times like this.

She was happy that Harry had not suffered more than a fall, but she could not say she was very happy about him volunteering as bait.

"Am I allowed to slap an unconscious patient?" Ginny asked very calmly.

Ron swallowed the laugh and said, "Normally not, but I do think Harry deserves special treatment as he always does." There was no bitterness in his voice, but Ginny noted his playful tone and decided against it.

"Stupid muggle prime minister ..." Ginny muttered.

Ron playfully nudged her shoulder. "He did defeat all of the death eaters by himself though."

"Still, bloody stupid plan." Ginny countered.

Then it went quiet. She did not mind it at all, in fact, she rather enjoyed the silence as this allowed her to study Harry's beauty, which all the more made her regret her decision from four years ago.

Why, o why did she have to call everything off? She had regretted the decision ever since she said that love wasn't enough and Harry had walked away. She had regretted it even before she had said it.

Her mind was strongly influenced by the war and she clearly had not thought straight.

To make matters worse, she had sent him off to some other girl and that was a decision she could not blame on the war. That was all her doing.

Ron loudly cleared his throat, "I heard you guys had fun last night."

She snapped out of her thoughts of regret and Harry's beauty and nodded, whispering, "Yeah, I think we did."

"I am surprised you made him go out with someone, sister dear," Ron said with concern in his voice. He looked her deep in the eyes and Ginny could sense that he knew that she was not alright. "You know, if you want to get out of this mess, you should just tell him that you fucked up and that you actually want him."

Ginny looked down at her yellow shoes, "It's not that easy, Ron." Her eyes grew hot and sore and a lump grew in her throat. Seeing the state of her sister, Ron gave her a comforting hug, something he rarely did.

She wished that he would never let her go, but alas, he let her go after a while and she immediately longed for the warmth of his hug.

Her mind was telling her to get over Harry, but her heart told her not to let go of him.

Desperately, she asked Ron, "Do you think I should get over him?" A hot shining tear rolled down her rosy, freckled cheek.

Ron sighed, placed his hand on her shoulder and glanced over at Harry. "Hermione has made me read a lot of romance novels lately and if there is one thing that I learned from it; you should not give up on a love that is returned."

She did not respond to his answer regarding her choice, but she did with a shaking voice joke about him reading romance novels. He chuckled lightly and said that they had cursed his life with their stupid cliches and words of wisdom.

After some time at St. Mungo's with no luck of Harry's awakening, Ginny returned to the burrow and although Ron had told her to not let go of true love, she gave herself a silent promise that she would try to get out in the dating game again. Hopefully, it would not hurt her, she thought.