A moan escaped her lips as she struggled to pull herself into a sitting position. Whispers could be heard all around her and in the distance cheers could be heard. The sun had just recently set and the sky was a brilliant blood red.
"Fitting," she muttered to herself after seeing the colour of the sky. She pulled herself to her feet and pain shot up her legs but she couldn't let that stop her. She had to find him, she needed to know.
She forced herself to walk up the steps to the mansion that until that morning had not seen human life in decades. Through the rooms she walked searching for him. She did not find him on the first floor, or the second and the third was completely deserted. She hobbled back down the stairs trying to hold back her tears.
'He's just gone somewhere else, he can't be dead there's no way he can be dead,' she kept repeating to herself. Over and over again she said it until she was back outside the mansion. Every person she passed she looked at but they would quickly turn away. Nobody would look her in the eye. Finally she came upon the familiar face of her best friend and her brother. Tears were running down her friends face and her brother was trying his best to wipe them away. They were huddled together and holding each other tightly. When they spotted her walking towards them they jumped to their feet and rushed over to her.
"You're hurt," her friend exclaimed.
"I'm fine," she muttered, "Where is he, where's Harry?"
Her brother looked down at the ground and whispered something.
"Ron where is he," she practically screamed.
"We don't know where he is," Hermione whispered, "He was fitting Voldemort and then Voldemort went down but Harry disappeared. We don't know where he is or if he's alive or dead."
"Oh god, oh god," she moaned. She felt her knees give out and she crumpled into a heap on the ground. Tears started to pour down her face but she made no attempt at brushing them away. It felt like she was being suffocated, she couldn't breathe and she couldn't see anything. She didn't notice when a pair of arms picked her up and apparated her to Grimmauld Place.
xxx.:.x.:.xxx
She woke up to the sound of arguing floating in through her open door. For a moment she didn't remember what had happened the day before but then it all came rushing back to her. After not seeing Harry for two years she caught a quick glimpse of him fighting one of the many Death Eaters but then she had to turn away because a stunner had been shot at her and she had to deflect it. That was the last time she saw him. She untangled herself from her sheets and got out of bed. She walked downstairs and into the kitchen. When she opened the door everyone turned away from her. Ron was comforting Hermione who was quietly sobbing. Nobody would look her in the eye.
"Stop it, everyone just stop it. Can't any of you even look me in the eye?" she screamed, tears were running down her face as she turned and ran up the stairs. She ran down the corridor and pulled open the front door. A blast of cold air hit her face and rain pelted her but she just kept running. Her injured leg was throbbing but in no way was it worse than the pain she felt over not knowing where Harry was. She ran through the streets and over a little wooden footbridge. Halfway across her foot hit a particularly slimy spot and she came down hard on her back. After getting her breath back she sat up and curled into a ball.
"Harry," she called out to the empty pathway, "Oh god, where are you? I love you. I always have, you know that right? Ever since I saw you at the platform when you came up to us lost I knew you were the one for me. The way you never though of yourself as a hero I loved or how you never thought what you did was amazing. You were so modest and I loved that. How can this be happening? You don't deserve this, I don't deserve this."
The wind was howling through the trees and the temperature was quickly dropping but Ginny felt a sense of calm wash over her. It was an odd feeling considering her emotion just seconds before. It felt like somebody was whispering to her, telling her to be strong for herself and for everyone else. She picked her wet self up off the bridge and started to find her way back to Grimmauld Place. It took her awhile because she did not know the surrounding streets very well but finally after almost ¾ of an hour of wandering she heard voices calling her name. She turned around and saw Bill and Fleur about a block away.
"Ginny, thank god everyone was so worried," Bill said when they were close enough not to have to yell.
"Zou are soaking wet, zou will catch zour deaz," Fleur exclaimed. (a/n You are soaking wet, you will catch your death.)
"I'm fine, honestly," Ginny muttered.
"Your legs all cut, here let me fix it," Bill said.
"Bill I said I'm fine, please just leave me alone."
"Okay," he said in surrender.
Fleur transfigured a leaf off the side of the road into a cloak and handed it to Ginny.
"Thanks," Ginny said.
Nobody said word all the way back to Grimmauld Place. Once inside Ginny went upstairs to change out of her wet clothes. She came back down the stairs and into the kitchen and pulled a chair out and sat down.
"Ginny," Tonks said.
"What?"
"They, they found Harry's body," she whispered.
Everyone was tense, expecting tears and even screaming but Ginny just nodded her head and said, "Okay."
"The funeral is going to be Saturday, at Hogwarts."
xxx.:.x.:.xxx
Saturday came quicker than one would have thought. Ginny, Hermione and Ron were some of the people asked to speak at the funeral. They all turned the offer down at first saying that Harry would never have wanted a large funeral, but after the Minister for Magic came personally to ask them to they agreed.
The funeral was to begin at 11:00 but by 10:15 it was standing room only. The first 2 rows of seats were reserved for Order Members and behind that Ministry Officials. The rest of the hall was filled with students that were at Hogwarts when Harry was there, and the general population who thought that Harry was the best thing to happen to the Wizarding World. It was a dreary day but the rain was so far holding off.
At eleven o'clock the minister stood up and began the wake. McGonagoll, Hagrid and some of the other teachers told tearful stories of Harry. Finally it was Hermione, Ron and Ginny's turn. They walked up onto the stage and Hermione and Ron went to the podium. They were going to do their speech together.
"We'd first like to thank everyone for coming today, it means a lot to us to know that Harry will be rememberedā¦" Ron began
Every sentence they said made Ginny's heart ache, it was all a show. Nothing that they were saying was true. They hadn't written their speeches, a speech writer had sat with them and wrote it for them. Ginny felt her fist clench around the piece of parchment that was her speech. Ron and Hermione finished and Ron quickly led Hermione off the stage.
Ginny felt her feet carrying her up to the podium. She didn't have the slightest clue what she was going to say but she knew that what she had to say was the truth. She looked out at the audience where nobody was moving, waiting to hear her paint a pretty picture of Harry's life. She took a deep breath and began.
"First off I want you to know that this was the last thing Harry would have wanted. Maybe he was a hero to you but to him and to me he was just Harry, the boy I fell in love with years ago. You tormented him for all he was worth, you bought papers that told lies about him and spread those lies to everybody that would listen. You didn't stop to think what it was like for him. You thought it was hard for you well I can guarantee it was harder for him. I know most of you lost somebody you loved or knew and that's why you hated this war so much but what you forgot was that Harry also lost people. He lost his parents at the age of one. He was sent to live at his magic hating aunt's house where for ten years he was no better than a slave. There he never was told that he was a wizard and always wondered why his relatives hated him so much. Then he found out he was a wizard and that was the best day of his life because he thought he had found a spot were he wasn't different from people. Little did he know that he would never be and equal to most people, he would either be worshipped or would be treated like dirt."
Ginny was surprised at how easily it was coming to her. She saw Hermione and Ron sitting in front of her and they smiled at her.
"His first year he battled Voldemort and also in his second year. In his third he found out a madman was after him then he heard that this madman was his godfather and innocent. Fourth year the Tri Wizard Tournament and battling Voldemort again. In fifth year he battled Voldemort and Death Eaters and lost somebody who had only been a part of his life for a very short time. He lost his godfather and that hurt him so much. He also found out that he was the one that had to kill Voldemort, it was his destiny. To either kill or be killed. Can you imagine having that burden placed on you when you are fifteen? Fifteen, still a child, you haven't even finished school yet and already you are told you are going to have to fight for you life and for the lives of everybody. In his sixth year he began that fight and saw his mentor die not five feet in front of him. Then he spent the last two years off searching for Horcruxs. He wanted to avenge the deaths death of his parents, godfather, mentor and friends. Harry's motto in life was do the right think. He lived more in his short 18 years than any of you have."
She knew she was doing what Harry would have wanted, he always wanted the truth.
"Ninety percent of you here today I bet have never met Harry, you came here to pay your respect. All I ask of you is to respect him how he would like to be respected, by not talking about stuff that you don't know about. Pay your respect today and then remember him as he would have wanted to be remembered as somebody who didn't want all the glory he got, he just wanted friends and a family. That's why Harry fought, not for the glory or for the place on the front page, but so others didn't have to live like he did. All I ask is that unless you have been invited to please do not come to the burial. It is for those who knew him personally. Thank You."
Ginny walked off the stage and back to her seat.
"Do you think I over did it?" she whispered to Hermione.
"No it was perfect."
The funeral ended and people had refreshments provided by the house elves. Finally it was time to go to the burial. It was to be held at Godric's Hollow. The Ministry wanted to bury him in the cemetery that had been created for the war victims but Ginny had put her foot down and said he was to be buried with his parents.
It was a quiet ceremony much different from the previous one with only about a hundred people in attendance. People gathered around the quiet little cemetery and told stories of Harry.
After they laid Harry in his final resting place everyone went their own ways except Ginny. When nobody was around she knelt down on the freshly turned earth and pulled all the flowers together. She didn't know how long she sat their but eventually she stood up and walked down the little street to the house were it had all begun. She sat on the ground with her back to the fence and cried.
For the rest of her life once a week she would go to the grave yard, tidy up the grave and then go to the house that the Potter's had lived in and only there did she let herself cry. Nobody came with her and that's how she wanted it. They knew it was her grieving time. She married, had two beautiful children, had a great career but still nothing could make her ever stop loving Harry Potter.
xxx.:.x.:.xxx
a/n What did you guys think. Was the speech to much? Please review
