Hi again! These are a series of stories I've been writing in my General Psyche class (not an assignment, I just get bored often). They're not directly related to each other, but all follow a central theme: while Harry, Ron, and Hermione are out doing the public world-saving, what is everybody else doing?
A few general assumptions: Hogwarts is open, the war is coming to a climax, muggles are getting a little too suspicious, the Ministry is trying to instil rigid rules and the Aurors don't really care what the Ministry wants anymore, and the Death Eaters are beginning to weed the unloyal out out of confidence in their imminent success. All belongs to Rowling, and this disclaimer sentence applies to all chapters.
Ginny slowly closed her eyes and rubbed them wearily, trying to ease the strain. The candle had flickered out over an hour ago, so the moonlight filtered through some of the stain glass windows was her only source of light. According to her watch, it had been five hours since curfew began- which meant it was nearing two in the morning. Instead of being in her soft warmed bed like her dormmates, however, she and Neville Longbottom were in the Hogwarts library, researching. They had been doing this for most of the school year, acting awake and coherent during the day and researching and owling what they find to a location Harry had access to at night. Neither of them had had more than six hours of sleep in months. At first it had been excruciating; now they were just used to it.
For the past several weeks they'd been trying to find anything on horcruxes, more specifically where some might be located.
"Harry said there wouldn't be any books on horcruxes, and we've been through all the books in the dark arts section and in the forbidden areas, so why are we still doing this? Finals are tomorrow." Neville glanced at his own watch. "Today."
"I already said why. We don't need to know about horcruxes, just whether or not there would be one related to the school, or in it somewhere, or on it, or something else."
"I got that part," Neville said, "But why couldn't we do this during the day?"
Ginny ignored him. They'd been over all of this to the point it had become habit. During the day there would be rules, witnesses, Madame Pince. At night, they could do anything. It was only them, the books, and Hogwarts' hidden secrets.
She dragged a thick dusty book over to her, recognizing it as Hogwarts: A History. They'd already been through this one, but it was a thick book, and she'd only skimmed it the time before. Maybe this time she'd find something.
Recognizing the emotion as hope, she tried to dismiss it as Neville began cleaning up their candy wrappers and reshelving the books on the table. She couldn't. The hope was already rooted in her, seeming out of place in the dreary nightlit library.
Walking back over and leaning against the table, Neville asked if she was done yet. They'd split the stacks and he'd finished first while she'd taken an unscheduled nap.
Ginny tried to focus on the text of the index, but couldn't focus her overworked eyes. She rubbed them again.
"I suppose so. We've done enough for tonight anyway. Haryy'll be okay until tomorrow night. You know, I'm getting so tired of this."
"Tired of what?" Neville asked as they finished cleaning up and headed towards the library doors quietly.
"All of this. Not being able to sleep even when I want to. Not knowing if my best friends and boyfriend are even alive, let alone healthy. Wondering who's going to die next and how close to me they'll be. I'm sick of this war. And on top of all of this," she said quietly as they rode the rotating staircase around to the seventh floor, "I hate being on the sidelines. I don't feel like I'm doing anything, just reading."
They were forced into silence as a patrolling ghost floated by, and remained that way for safety until they'd gotten into the Gryffindor common room.
"Ginny?" Neville said abruptly, pausing at the foot of the stairs to his room. Ginny did likewise at hers.
"Hm?" she asked.
"I'm tired too," he looked around awkwardly, as if a thousand ears could hear him. "But it helps that even if it's not a big one, we are making a difference. I think."
Ginny smiled sadly. "Good night, Neville."
He returned her sad smile. "Good night, Ginny."
They went to bed for a few hours, sleeping uneasily, as they had for months and would continue to for the foreseeable future. When they dreamed, bad things happened. But when they were awake they could hope, and just do what they could to help. Hopefully it would be enough.