"Happy Birthday, gin!" Harry hugged Ginny tightly and kissed her forehead and temple twice before letting go.

"Thanks, Harry" Ginny kissed his cheek in return. "Hang on a minute, Bill's calling" She was about to reach for her phone but Harry snatched it.

"Ah no, not now. You better cut this cake first, I'm hungry"

Ginny laughed. "You brought a cake? What are we, 8?"

"if being 8 is what it takes to cut a cake for a birthday then yes you are 8 not 18" Harry set Ginny's phone on her bed and lit a candle on the chocolate cake.
"ok, make a wish" he insists.

Ginny laughed again. "omg, you're behaving like an 8-year-old for sure." she blew the candle "I wish our friendship stays eternal. Nothing or no one ever jeopardizes it. Okay, good enough?"

"perfect" Harry grinned. "Now, the cake please"

"ugh, I know you bought this cake for yourself, not for me." Ginny places a piece of cake in front of Harry's lips, he takes a big bite along with Ginny's fingers, making her scream. They have a cake fight for like fifteen minutes before they both settle on Ginny's bed with Ginny cuddled to Harry comfortably.

"You and I, we are going out tomorrow. I know a place that I know you would like." Harry says rubbing soothing circles on Ginny's arms that made her relaxed and drowsy.

" Just you and I? Are you asking me out, Potter?" Ginny teased, raising her eyebrows as she looked up at him. 

Harry smiled "Maybe I am" he says making Ginny chuckle.

"As much as I'd like to say yes, we can't leave Ron behind, it's his birthday too tomorrow."

"of course, gin. What I'm saying is we along with Ron and Hermione will spend the day together. In the evening, you and I go out. See, simple?"

Ginny couldn't help but feel chills every time Harry mentioned 'you and I '
"Okay, sounds good. Although, I still wonder what's your plan, either propose or kill?"

Harry laughed. "kill you, no, I don't think I could ever do that even if I want to--"

"you would want to kill me though?" Ginny asks but Harry ignores the question.

"propose? I definitely will, in the future, wasn't planning on doing it tomorrow though" Harry says, his voice both funny and serious.

Ginny blushed and thanked the god that Harry can't see her in the dark. She cleared her throat,
"Me? You'd propose to me, seriously? You have like so many girls in school or so many you would meet along the way. I'm sure I'd watch you propose to some other girl with high heels, blonde hair and ridiculously attractive. I think I'll even help you select the ring"

Harry doesn't answer for some time.
"Really? I don't know, gin. All I ever imagined is proposing to you. Who says I want high heels and blonde hair? Maybe I want sneakers and red hair with freckles and yes ridiculously attractive" he chuckled, messing her hair.

Ginny groaned and slapped his hand. "you are such a flirt, Potter" she says, yawing and cuddling more into Harry.

Harry yawned too, bringing up the blankets to cover them "Only with you" he said and kissed her forehead for the tenth time that night before they both fell asleep.
______________________________

Ginny's heart fluttered looking at him holding her watch like it was a trophy. Is there a chance Harry still loves her? After everything she did?

Ginny almost stumbled losing her balance but she held the window tightly making a loud noise and snapping Harry from his reverie. Harry instantly opened the window letting Ginny in by holding her elbow. Ginny would be lying if she said she didn't feel like embracing Harry in a warm and tight hug just from the simple touch.

Ginny's eyes haven't darted from how Harry's holding her like she's a piece of glass, that's how he always treated her and now she broke him. Harry followed Ginny's gaze and immediately let go of her, coughing uncomfortably.

"uhh..." they both say at the same time. Ginny played with her fingers and Harry rubbed the back of his neck.

"I--" Ginny got interrupted by Harry suddenly grabbing her watch where it lay on the bed and handing it to her.

"I found it in the gym. I was supposed to give it to Ron and return it to you" he says. If Harry decided to keep the watch and never return it prior, no one has to know.

I want you to keep it. Ginny wants to say but that would be stupid.
"Umm, thanks"

"Is that it?" Harry asks after some uncomfortable silence.

That made Ginny wince and hurt. Of course, he doesn't want her here.
"No, uh I came here to apologize."

"for?" he sat on the bed, trying his best to sound uninterested.

"for everything" Ginny answers quickly. "It wasn't you who beat Theo"

Harry sighed, hands rubbing his head. "Yeah, I think I know that"

"Right, I'm sorry. I mean it was Blake, y'know, Claire's boyfriend, he beat Theo up that night because Theo was advancing on Claire. I was drunk and I didn't know that. It was Peter and Theo who pushed all the blame on you. I was--"

Harry snorted interrupting Ginny "You're naive to still think I care, Ginny. I don't care who blamed me, you chose to believe them, that's the point. You accused me of something that I never expected."

"No, Harry, I'm so sorry, I didn't believe them but I saw you the next day, you're wasted and you told me that you visited Cho's party and I had to--" Ginny's eyes filled with tears as she stepped closer to Harry but he only stepped back.

"I.dont.care, Ginny!" he yelled. "You, yourself said that I don't have to care and that I'm making your life harder. You don't want me to get involved. That's exactly what I'm doing, I'm staying out of your life, now why are you trying to lure me in? I don't want to be a part of your life, I'm delighted with my own."

Every word pierced through Ginny's heart, delivering endless pain. She chokes on her first sob, trembling like a leaf. She deserves this after everything she put Harry through, she deserves this. But only it hurts so bad as it has never before. She doesn't dare to look up into Harry's eyes instead she stared at the floor, ready to leave before she falls onto her knees and cries.

"I...I never meant to hurt you, Harry. I did hurt you though." Ginny spoke between silent sobs "Asking for your forgiveness is huge. If I could turn the time, I'd eliminate the past month, we could go back to being you and me again. But I messed up and in the process, I lost my best friend...and I lost myself. Please don't forget this, the ginny with Harry is the real ginny. Without Harry, there's no Ginny, it's just a shadow."

Ginny reaches the window and turns around one last time "I'm happy for you and Hermione. You both belong together" unlike us "Hermione had this huge crush on you since freshman." Ginny smiled brushing away her tears.

Harry looks up but doesn't answer for a minute, he gazes at Ginny like he's searching for something in her eyes and finally gives a slight nod looking away.

Ginny walks back to her house silently, her head facing the ground and heart heavy. She doesn't regret talking to Harry though, at least now she knows how hurt Harry has been, and at least she got to apologize. A selfish part of her thought Harry would forgive her, she wanted Harry to still love her but that's unfair for Hermione.

Ginny didn't spare a glance at Molly as she sprinted to her room. She settled on her bed bringing Harry's book to her heart and sobbed heavily. As the sobs turned into sniffles, Ginny drooped into an exhaustive slumber.
_________________________________

Ginny woke up when her phone kept buzzing. She wiped her eyes, pushing away the book in her arms to grab her phone from the nightstand. Her inbox is filled with wishes and she had 3missed calls from Bill and 1 from Charlie.
She checked the time, 12:12, 11th August. Right, she even forgot her own birthday.

Ginny was surprised to see a text from Hermione.

Hermione💓: Happy Birthday, Ginny! I wish you a lot of happiness. Hope we can go back to being us again. xx

Ginny smiled through tears, she felt warm knowing that she hurt Hermione too in the past but the effort Hermione's making to keep her friendship.
She also got texts from Claire, Dean, Neville, Luna, Tonks and her brothers. She isn't interested in replying so she set her phone aside. It's funny that she expected a text from Harry. After he made it clear that he wanted no part of her life, it was stupid to think he would text or remember her birthday.

She switched on the light, grabbing Harry's book again reminiscing her last year's birthday. She went through pictures of Harry, Hermione, Ron and her. There are also two pictures of Harry and her, near the Riverside where Harry took her that day and made a picnic with lights and all. It only made her cry more at the irony of how Harry planned everything for her birthday and now she didn't even get a wish.
After another twenty minutes of flipping through the book, she drifted off.

Ginny woke up with Arthur, Ginny's father, knocking on the door.

"Happy birthday, Sunshine" her father wished and Ginny thanked him by hugging him.

"We will have breakfast together, come down fast" he informed and left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We don't want a party, Mom." Ginny refused.

"But Ginny dear, we didn't have it for your last birthday. I say we should--"

"Mom, please. My birthday, my wish" Ginny says sternly.

As Ron finally decides to join the breakfast, Ginny gets up and hugs him "Happy Birthday, Ron"

"you too, sis" he hugged back.

"Tell Mom we don't want a party"

"party? Really? C'mon Mom, we don't want any of that sort"

"Molly, let the children decide, they don't want it, so let's not have it" Arthur interjects.

"Thanks, Dad," they both say at the same time.

After breakfast, Ginny gets back to her room carrying the presents from her parents and brothers. But, she is not least interested in opening them, so, she set them aside. That's how Ginny spent the whole day. Ignoring texts, calls, and people and waiting for Harry's message which never came.

She finally decided to go out to get some air. She somehow ended up at the same riverside Harry brought her last year. She liked the place because it was pleasant and mostly because Harry was the one who showed it to her.

Ginny didn't know how much time she spent there admiring every inch of the place but a buzzing sound from her phone startled her.
She picked up her phone and unlocked it, a new message waiting for her, the message she wanted so badly since the beginning of the day and Ginny almost cried from happiness.

Harry👽❤️: Happy birthday, gin. xx

Before she can get lost in it or reply, the message was deleted.
Within a minute, she got another ding sound.

Harry👽❤️: Happy birthday, ginny.

Now, Ginny almost cried from sorrow. Only she knows how much difference the two messages had.

_________________________________

Okay! I think the story is close to the end. So, if anyone has any epilogue ideas please drop them in the comments.

Do vote and comment.
Thanks for reading❤️