"Harry Potter is dead…"
The high cold voice rang in her ears as the words sank in. No, Harry was not dead, it was a trick.
"We have his body for proof."
No. No it couldn't be true. Ginny ran outside through the Entrance Hall just in time to here: "NO!" a sound Ginny couldn't believe came from her transfiguration teacher, but there he was. Draped like a wet towel in Hagrid's shaking arms.
"NO!" she heard Ron and Hermione both scream, but they did not understand…Harry, her Harry was dead.
"Harry! HARRY!" she screamed hoping with every cell in her body that he would sit up and run to where she was standing and comfort her. She would never hear his voice again, she would never feel the sensation of his lips on hers. But Ginny's grief was sort lived as anger began to pulse through her blood. She would kill them, she would kill them all, and then kill Voldemort, murder him so painfully he would beg her to go through with it. She would make them all feel the pain she was feeling, like a stab in the back. She continued to scream his name and then began to run at Voldemort and his army, she sprinted, wand ready-but something grabbed her around her waist and hoisted her off the ground.
"LET GO OF ME!" Ginny screamed, infuriated. "I'LL KILL HIM! I'LL KILL HIM!" She screamed kicking the person that was still holding her off the ground, preventing her from running to her certain death.
"LET HIM KILL ME! I DON'T CARE!" She continued to scream.
"Ginny! GINNY!" Charlie yelled at her tightening his grip around her waist. "GINNY LISTEN TO ME!" he bellowed right before a silencing charm was cast over the protesting crowd.
How dare he stand there with Harry Potter dead at his feet, stroking his bloody snake all cheerful? How dare he be happy, how dare he even breath without feeling the constant pain of Harry's death! Ginny continued to kick her brother and struggle for freedom as Voldemort droned on, his words meaning nothing to her for all her rage diminished them. Neville went up and said something but Ginny did not care. Ginny did not care about anything at the moment. Then, all hell broke loose, everyone was dueling and curses were being casting every which way. Ginny whished one of them would hit her as Charlie swung her out of the way.
"HARRY! WHERE'S HARRY!" She heard Hagrid bellow and a trickle of hope drugged her brain, she had a reason to fight. She pushed Charlie away from her with enormous strength and ran into the Great Hall, she found the first death eater she could think of: Sirius's murderer, Bellatrix. Ginny, Luna and Hermione all began to duel her at the same time but all three of them together was hardly a match to Bellatrix's skill. A killing curse shot so close to Ginny she saw her life flash before her eyes in slow-motion, and then she was pushed aside onto the ground by her mother.
"NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!" I heard my mum scream as I watched her from my position on the ground fight to the death. One perfectly aimed curse, and Bellatrix Lestrange was no more. Voldemort screamed and there was a sudden swish of a cloak and people began to cheer and scream, Ginny stood up and peered over the crowd only to see a living miracle before her eyes. They circled each other as they talked, but Ginny again didn't care about anything except that Harry was miraculously alive. A bang like a canon, and Harry stood over Voldemort's corpse holding two wands. She ran at him, along with everyone else and longed only to touch him, to make sure he was real, to kiss him like she had been craving for the last nine months.
Ginny sat next to her mother and rested her head on her shoulder, she watched Hermione and Ron leave the Great Hall, she watched people sobbing over bodies of friends and loved ones. She watched her own family crying over Fred's body. Ginny stood up and mumbled something about getting some sleep. She walked to the Fat Lady's portrait and it just swung open without any password, she stumbled into the familiar common room, graciously unencumbered by the fighting. She fell lazily onto a couch and drifted off into tangled dreams of a dead Harry and Voldemort torturing Harry and she was not able to help him.
When she woke up she found herself clutching the couch screaming, sweat and tears were running down her face as she tried to calm herself down. The common room door flung open and Bill, Charlie and Percy appeared with Harry.
"Ginny! What happened?" Bill said rushing over to his sister's side who was now nearly hyperventilating while trying to take deep breaths, she was shaking all over and silently crying.
"Ginny? Ginny, talk to me please," Bill said in a worried voice.
"I f-f-fell as-s-l-eep, and I h-h-had a b-b-bad d-d-d-d-dream," she stuttered still trying to breath. Bill sat next to her and gathered her up in a hug, he rubbed her back until she stopped crying. Charlie was kneeling at her feet and Percy was standing shell shocked in the corner obviously un-experienced in the art of trying to calm down your baby sister. Harry, unseen by Ginny, was standing with Percy feeling helpless.
"Gin, what was the dream about?" said Charlie, as if he was talking to a wounded toddler.
"H-harry," Ginny cried, "he, he died and I c-couldn't h-help h-h-him or a-n-nything," she said.
"He is alive, okay Gin, he is right here," Charlie said gesturing to Harry in the corner. Harry stepped out of the shadows and walked up to Ginny on the couch with Bill.
"Harry!" Ginny cried as she stood up to embrace him.
"Ginny, Ginny im so sorry," he said into her hair and kissed her head tenderly. Ginny's brothers saw this unexpected act of kindness and gave Harry a look that said plainly 'we'll talk later'. The brothers then took their cue to leave. And when Percy's foot had gone around the corner Ginny looked up at Harry and he kissed her.
He placed his hands on her waist and kissed her passionately, he felt her hands go around his neck. The lack of contact for over nine months overtook the couple, Harry pushed her up against the wall and let his tongue explore her mouth, his hands moved lower and lower until they rested on her bum and lifted her so she could wrap her legs around his waist. Ginny moved her hands to his hair and ran her fingernails over his scalp drawing circles in his black hair. She dug her hips deeper into his which was greeted by a small moan. Now keeping one hand still under her bum the other went under her shirt to her stomach drawing circles with his fingertips, and then I went higher and higher. She felt his hand gently rest on her bra. His kisses moved down to her neck.
"I love you," he whispered.
"I love you," she responded. Another passionate kiss.
"WHAT THE FUCKING HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Someone roared. Ron had just opened the door to the common room and he was standing there in utter shock.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?" He shouted again, Harry put Ginny back onto the ground and gave her her shirt and then put on his own very sheepishly. Ginny however turned to face her brother.
"We are snogging, we were feeling each other up, and we were probably about this close-"she held her pointed finger and thumb about an centimeter from each other "from having sex, happy?"
Ron's ears seemed to be getting redder by the minute as he gaped at his little sister standing in front of him, hands on her hips, only wearing jeans and a black bra. Without saying anything, he turned around and walked back out of the common room. Ginny turned to face Harry who also was very shocked at her speech but then grinned at her.
"What?" she asked sharply.
"You are so sexy when you get mad," he said to his own surprise, he didn't intend to voice his opinion on the situation.
She blushed at the compliment, and began to put on her shirt, trying to hide her glowing red face.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"
"no, no it's not that…it's just nobody has ever told me that I was sexy. I didn't think I could be sexy…" she mumbled.
Harry walked to her and put his arms around her waist and kissed her forehead. "You are incredibly sexy, and beautiful, and cute…and amazing. God I missed you so much Ginny, I missed you so much."
"I missed you too…" she whispered. Putting her arms back around his neck and burrowing her face into his chest.
"You were the last thing I thought of…..before he-he killed me," Harry's voice cracked.
"You really died?" Ginny asked weakly into his chest.
"Yeah…I had to, I'm sorry Ginny I'm so, so, so sorry…it's just if I s-said goodbye I w-wouldn't be able to do it, it w-would of b-been too hard," he cried into her hair.
"Harry." She looked up surprised to see Harry, strong, noble, brave Harry, break down in front of her. "Harry it's over…you did it and I am so proud of you…I love you."
He clung to her as if she could slip away for a few moments, then Ginny broke the hug and suggested that they get some sleep. She took his hand and led him up to the boy's seventh year dormitories. She took off her jeans and he took off his jeans and shirt, leaving him in his boxers. They then crawled into Harry's bed and fell asleep in each other's arms immediately.
Ginny woke up and for one heavenly moment she forgot the previous day's events, until it hit her. Like a wave crashing upon her and she was disheartened. Grief now took its turn to torture her with taunting thoughts and images. She sat up in bed trying to escape the feeling of helplessness. She held her head in her hands and ran her fingers through her hair, scraping her scalp not in the way she did with Harry, but in an aggressive way. She pulled her hair aggressively and ripped out a few strands. The pain distracted her from everything else. She dug her fingers into her neck. She tried and tried to make the hurt go away but she couldn't. Out of frustration she began to cry, and the large mass lying next to her began to stir.
"Ginny?" a voice said groggily, "Ginny? Are you okay?"
"It won't go AWAY!" she screamed the last word as she stood up, running her fingers through her hair again. "MAKE IT STOP!" she sobbed and then fell back onto the bed, her body racking with her sobs. "MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!" she screamed again as Harry lifted her into his arms and cradled her like a baby, leaning against the headboard of the bed. She sat on his lap with her head on his shoulder and continued to sob his arms around her, rubbing her back and shushing her. It hurt him to see her in so much pain, her wild eyes looking around for an escape out of the hell she was experiencing. She was so vulnerable, so delicate in that moment. Harry heard running footsteps outside the door and the door flug open to reveal Ron panting.
"Ginny! Ginny is she okay?" he asked frantically gesturing to the shaking sobbing girl in Harry's arms.
"She'll be okay…it'll take time but she'll be okay," Harry said looking down at her and moving a lock of hair from her face to behind her ear.
"Im sorry, I shouldn't have overreacted when…you know…" Ron said bowing his head.
"It's okay mate, I would have done the same thing if it was my sister," Harry said, as Ginny's sobs subsided.
"I'm going to get mum, Ginny is in a right state," Ron said looking at his shaking sister, and then left.
Moments later Mrs. Weasley appeared.
"Oh baby," she said to Ginny stroking her hair worriedly. "Thank you dear but I can take her from here, very sweet of you," Mrs. Weasley said to Harry kindly, prying her daughter from his arms.
"NO! NO!" She screamed again and clung to Harry.
"Ginny, Ginny listen to me, you are alright," Harry whispered and kissed her hair gently, Mrs. Weasley was very taken aback by this and Harry later figured out that Ginny had not told her family about their personal history, but Harry did not notice her surprise as his attention was focused on Ginny.
"It's all temporary, it won't always feel like this, I promise…I love you Gin, I love you." He whispered loud enough for Mrs. Weasley to hear. Ginny immediately stopped crying and stopped shaking.
"I hate it," she whispered shakily.
"I know, me too…but you have to go through the pain so you can one day move on, it will always hurt, but it will get easier."
She looked up at him and kissed him right then and there, but Harry cut it short.
"Ginny…your mum…"
Ginny looked around the room and her eyes landed on her mother sitting on the edge of Harry's bed, smiling with tears in her eyes.
"Oh...mum I meant to tell you over the summer but, er, things got complicated." Ginny mumbled wiping her eyes.
"You two look just like Lily and James," she said ignoring Ginny's comment, and smiling she got up and walked out of the room.
"I wish I could have met them," Ginny said quietly, leaning against Harry.
"Me too," Harry mumbled and kissed Ginny's hair again.
An hour or so later they walked hand in hand down to the Great Hall, greeted by cheering and clapping. Reporters crowded Harry firing questions at him and taking pictures. Harry just bowed his head and walked through them pulling Ginny along behind him. They walked to the edge of the hall when Harry stopped short, causing Ginny to run into him. An older woman sat cradling a bundle of blankets. The woman had thick balck hair and heavily lidded eyes that seemed warm and kind, unlike her sister's.
"Mrs. Tonks," Harry said. The woman looked up and smiled at him sadly.
"Please dear, call me Andromeda." She said grasping Harry's hand with her free one. "Teddy should be proud to call you his godfather," she said tearing up.
Harry turned his head to hide his own tears. "I want to be a part of his life, I want to fund him, I want to be there for him," he said shakily.
Ginny stood behind him watching the scene unfold, until she stepped up next to Harry and said to Andromeda, "we can watch him for a bit if you want to take a break?"
"Thank you dear, that would be lovely," she smiled at Ginny as he handed the bundle to Ginny and then walked off. Harry wiped his tears on his sleeve and watched Ginny hold the baby, thinking about what an amazing mum she would make.
Ginny stared down at little Teddy and watched, mesmerized as his hair went from turquoise to ginger, just like her own. Harry was stunned by the little tiny fragile human, and how Ginny was at such ease while holding it.
"Here godfather," she said holding the baby out to give to Harry.
"I've-er-well…can you…er, I've never held a…a baby," he stuttered as she put Teddy into his arms and positioned him so that Teddy's head was supported.
"Good?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said as he held a small life in his arms, but his fear washed away as he was overcome by such love for the baby that he felt only as long as Teddy was in his arms he would be safe. He sat where Andromeda had been sitting and Ginny sat beside him, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"'Im not coming back here," Harry said, keeping his eyes on Teddy who just turned his hair to jet black.
"Me neither," she said.
And for that moment they understood each other perfectly.