Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge

**Well if you wanted honesty, that\'s all you had to say

I never want to let you down or have you go

It\'s better off this way**





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Harry stared at the door that Ginny had just slammed.





"Shit."





**





"That ferret face, fork-tongued, bastard of a git of a ... MAN!"





Ginny was throwing pillows, and vases, and figurines, and picture frames, and just about anything that her fingertips could grasp. Hermione was walloping each item that broke with a good ‘reparo’, so as to insure the sanctity of their home.





"Gin, calm down, please!"





Ginny had shown up on the quite-too-recently married couple\'s front door step. Her brother was frantically trying to figure out why she had interrupted their "special night" and Hermione was just trying to remain dignified while casting spells and clutching a hastily wrapped robe around her front.





"I cannot believe that that maladjusted perverted creep... he had better not be there when I get back!"





She had given up throwing things (much to Hermione\'s relief) and was pacing back and forth in the living room, the dumbfounded couple staring after her pendulum actions.





"Ginny, dear, if you would just tell us what happened… Or at least WHO you\'re talking about…"





"HARRY! I\'m talking about HARRY. Harry, bloody, James, effing, POTTER!"





Ron had never quite seen his sister like this before, and he glanced pleadingly at his new wife. Hermione took the cue fluidly and walked around the couch, previously protecting them from the girl\'s furious actions. She reached out tentatively, touching her elbow, and tried to stay as soothing as possible.





"Ginny, honey. Sit down. Here, have some tea."





She flicked her wand, and a cup of tea assembled itself as it flew towards them from the kitchen.





"Now, just calm down, and please, tell us what has happened."





Ginny accepted the tea and looked at her new sister with tears spilling over her lashes.





"Oh, Hermione!"





She dove forward, and squeezed a death grip around Hermione\'s neck. Ron swished his wand, catching the teacup before it scalded the two of the three women he loved most in the world. Ginny held on tight to Hermione and started to sob into her hair, effectively soaking away the sweet cherry oil that had carefully been applied before the evening had gone quite NOT the way as planned.





**earlier that evening**





Harry stumbled onto the front step of #12 Grimmauld Place, and swore as he almost lost it enough to fall over the railing. He caught himself, and giggled madly into his hand.





He was still high from his tryst with Draco.





Best. Fucking. Sex. He\'d ever had.





He leaned against the door, before opening it. He sighed remembering the smell of Draco\'s neck. The sight his hair made as it fell across his face. The delicious THWACK that rung through the room as he was slammed back against wall. And then slammed again. (And again). Oh, Harry was sure that nothing could ever kill this buzz.





And then he opened the door.





Ginny stood at the foot of the steps. She was in a long night gown, hair freshly brushed. Her arms were crossed in front of her. She didn\'t necessarily have an angry angry, just... A curious one.





"Harry? Where have you been?"





He was suddenly glad that the family had finally left his home. Officially, all cause for celebration was over. The baby was born, Ron and Hermione had just completed a slightly impromptu, very simple, ceremony, and... That simply left Harry and Ginny, should they choose to take their relationship to the next level. But that didn\'t seem too likely just yet.





"I was... um, getting a little stuffed out. I mean, there were just too many people in here, and... I thought I\'d get some fresh air."





He could not meet her gaze. Not after what he had just done. WHO he had just done... He wanted to shiver. Whether from shame or joy, he didn\'t know. He daren\'t let a single muscle so much as twitch, however. Women have a way of detecting any sort of weakness.





"Well, where did you go?"





"I... Well, I just, you know. Out."





"Harry, you smell like cigarettes."





He mentally cursed the fact that he\'d completely neglected to consider cleaning himself off; not just of Malfoy, but of that infernal club he\'d been to earlier in the evening.





"I\'m sorry; I\'ll go take a shower."





He made to move up the stairs, past her, but she was too close and she brushed against him. She also caught more of a scent on him which had nothing to do with cigarettes.





"Harry?"





Instinctively, he met her stare, and instantly regretted it. That small look was able to communicate more than anything he could possible have said to her.





"Harry."





She scanned his features and saw something she\'d hoped never to see on him, toward her.





Guilt.





She stepped back, just a fraction.





"Harry, what have you been doing?"





He couldn\'t take the pain in her voice. He couldn\'t take hurting her. And he couldn\'t take lying to her. After all, he still loved her.





"Ginny..."





"You\'ve been with someone, haven\'t you?"





It was less an accusation, then a statement; full of sadness, and heavy. Her voice seemed flat, almost as if she weren\'t feeling any emotion. This deeply scared Harry, and he couldn’t answer. Omission was more than enough, however. A single tear slid down Ginny\'s cheek.





"Who is she?"





Harry flinched as she said that. It reminded him of exactly who he\'d been playing with… Of what he\'d been playing with.





"Ginny..."





"Harry..."





Harry stepped back at the sudden change in her tone. She moved instantly from soft and quiet, timid and sad, to biting and sharp… warning.





"Harry, I have to know. Who. Is. She?"





She bit through the last part of the sentence, and watched carefully for any betrayal Harry\'s features might offer. The only move he made was to shake his head softly, eyes full of his own tears. The gesture confused Ginny. She wasn\'t sure what to make of it.





"No?"





Harry tried to speak, but his throat felt incredibly tight. He swallowed around the largest lump he\'d ever had, and managed to croak out two small words.





"Not she."





He looked away as soon as he said it, petrified by what she might react.





"Not... she... ?"





"No, not she," Harry whispered.





"You- you mean that... that you were just with... a... a... m-"





"Malfoy."





Ginny\'s eyes widened. She couldn\'t believe she had actually heard that name.





"Who?"





"Malfoy..."





Harry looked back to see the front door slamming shut.





**





"MALFOY??"





Hermione instantly whipped around and gave Ron a look that could put out a fire.





"Ginny, are you SURE he said \'Malfoy\'."





Ginny only cried harder into Hermione’s neck.





"I think that\'s a yes. Ron, would you please go get me a sleeping draught?"





Ron was reluctant to leave his sister, but knew she was in good hands. The only real thought going through his mind was that he was going to kill Malfoy, or Harry. He just had to figure out who deserved it more, first.





Hermione waited until Ron was out of earshot, and then pushed Ginny up off of her.





"Ginny, calm down. Just stop. I need you to take a deep breath, okay?"





Ginny spluttered a bit more, hiccupping, trying her hardest to get a decent breath in. Finally she managed, and sat up straight, looking pleadingly at Hermione.





"What am I going to do?" Tears threatened to assault again.





"No, no more crying. Ginny, you\'re going to be a woman."





"What?"





"How do you feel?"





"I\'m sorry?"





"Name some emotions. Anything, so long as you\'re feeling it."





Ginny looked doubtfully at her sister-in-law, but searched inside anyway.





"Um... Hurt."





"Good, that\'s good. Now, what else?"





"Okay, well... pain."





Hermione smiled gently. "Anything more?"





"Sadness. Fury. Helplessness. Confusion. Despair?"





"Anything else?"





Ginny paused. Then ventured to say the last emotion she could name.





"Love? I still love him."





"Of course you do. Or else you wouldn\'t be in our living room, interrupting our honey-moon, crying your eyes out on my best satin nighty."





Hermione\'s eyes twinkled as she got to the last part, and Ginny jumped up suddenly, as if realizing for the first time exactly what she had interrupted.





"Oh, \'Mione, I\'m SO sorry!!"





Hermione just shook her head.





"It\'s no problem. Unfortunate, but alright. Ron and I have the rest of forever to do this. I just need to make sure you\'re going to be alright."





"I... I don\'t know. I mean. Just remembering that I love him isn\'t enough, is it?"





"Well, that all depends. Can you forgive him? Under any specific circumstances, maybe?"





"I don\'t know... I mean, Hermione... He didn\'t just cheat on me, he shagged a guy. And not just any guy, but Draco MALFOY."





"But we don\'t know any of the conditions regarding this alleged affair. Maybe he was under a spell? Or raped? Or given a drug? I think you need to talk to him, rather than run out on him."





Ginny nodded. Of course Hermione was right. There was more to find out. She had to talk to Harry, even if just to tell him how much she hated him.





Hermione got up after a final squeeze to Ginny\'s shoulders, and went to find Ron.





"We\'ll be upstairs if you need us, Ginny. In the meantime you can sleep here and we can talk more in the morning."





Ginny smiled her appreciation, and nodded. She rolled over, snuggling closer to the cushions, and closed her eyes, trying desperately to just go to sleep. She didn\'t want to think about it anymore. She didn\'t want to think about the pain, the betrayal… The worst part was that she couldn\'t get their last attempts at love-making out of her head. How awkward and uncomfortable the entire event had been. How distant and disinterested Harry had seemed. The thought that he\'d be able to do it with someone else, presumably so easily, when he could barely even look at her was enough to make her cry again.





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**I\'m okay

I\'m okay

I\'m okay, now

(I\'m okay, now)**