Ginny sat next to her bedroom window, looking out at the blue, sunlit sky. Today was the beginning of a new era. The sun actually seemed to shine upon everyone today…everyone except the Weasley's. For them, today was a day of loss and despair.
They were suffering a great loss. Fred Weasley, a great brother and son. He was killed by a Death Eater during the war. The only bright side for the Weasley's today was that those Death Eaters and their master were dead.
Ginny had been very close to her brother Fred, as well as his twin brother George. And every time she thought of George her pain and grief doubled. Poor George had just had half his soul sucked out of him, like an incomplete Dementor's kiss. He would never be the same again.
Ginny did not want to believe any of this. Her brother had to be alive somewhere and there just had to be hope that they would find him, and hope that George would be okay…
But Ginny knew that was like hoping The Fountain of Fair Fortune was real.
Fred was gone, and what her family needed now most, was to be strong and hope that the best was still coming. And even as she suffered through this pain and grief, she could think of only one person; Harry Potter.
She wanted to see him so badly. But she was afraid. Harry had made it clear that they were no longer together. He had broken her heart. She remembered it so clearly. It had been during the summer after her fifth year. The evening of Bill and Fleur's wedding.
Harry had been standing near the small pond behind the burrow. He had asked Ginny to meet him here.
"Harry…what's wrong?" Ginny asked him.
"Ginny I need to talk to you," he said flat out, "Now this isn't going to be easy for me, but only because I don't like seeing people get hurt, not because it hurts me to say this. I don't want you to get the wrong idea…" he had been avoiding her eyes.
"Wrong idea about what?" she asked.
"I don't want you to get the wrong idea about us, Ginny, about our relationship."
"What do you mean by that?" Ginny asked. Suddenly she started to feel a storm brewing.
"Ginny…when I kissed you that evening after the quidditch match, it…" his voice trailed off.
"Harry? Tell me whatever is on your mind." Ginny said gently.
'It…it was a mistake…" he whispered. Ginny could not believe her ears.
"What?" she breathed.
"Ginny I…" he was hesitating. He could not get himself to say it.
"Harry if you really meant that, you would have said it properly." She told him.
"It was a mistake!" he bellowed "I never should have kissed you! I dragged myself into being with you, and I couldn't let go because I didn't want to see you get hurt! It was a mistake!" he exploded, like he had had these feelings buried inside for a long time and he could not keep them inside any longer. He had been straight forward and to the point. It could not have hurt more.
Ginny felt her heart cracking. She could not breathe. Her eyes were blurring with tears. She caught Harry's eyes but his expression was impassive. He did not say a word. It had been like he did not even care, like she was the only one whose heart would be broken tonight. That was when she had realized that he had never really felt anything for her. He never would.
Ginny sat back in her bedroom, eyes blurred by tears.
How was it possible? How could she feel something so strong for someone who felt nothing towards her? Why was she punished like this? Life was not easy, she knew that, but how was it possible to live like this forever. Ginny could not even imagine falling in love with someone else. But she so desperately wished she would. She could not go on like this. It hurt too much. It was like she was carrying the grief of the world on her shoulders.
But she knew that destiny had someone for her. Someone she loved and someone who could love her back. She had not met him yet, but she knew she would, because it could not be Harry. It would never be Harry.
Ginny got up early the next morning to help her family with the funeral. Everything seemed to move slowly and gradually. It seemed like the world was slowing down to a point where it would just stop spinning.
When Ginny had done all she could to help, she went upstairs to get ready to go to the cemetery where Fred would be buried.
She had a long silk, black dress set out on her bed and black flats that her Auntie Muriel had given to her. She never wore heals.
She smiled at the memory of Fred making jokes about how if Professor Flitwick's wife wore heals, he would need more books then he could carry.
She changed into her dress and started to head out her bedroom door, when she caught a glimpse of something shiny under her bed. She bent down and picked it up. It was a silver lining. And a sweet memory came back to her…
She had been standing in this very spot in her room with Harry, on his seventeenth birthday. He had been very nervous, and kept saying the most foolish things. Ginny had other things in mind. With every word of their conversation she was getting closer and closer to him. She had used this silver lining as an excuse to get as close as possible, since it had been right behind him.
"There's that silver lining I've been looking for," Ginny had whispered. And then she had kissed him, and he had been kissing her back. It had felt dreamlike. And then Ron and Hermione barged in the room and it all went away.
But however it had ended, it was the last sweet memory Ginny had of her and Harry. She would hang on to it. If her mind and body ever really did decide to let go of Harry, this would be the only memory she would hang on to.
She headed back downstairs to the kitchen where her father was sitting. He was waiting for her mother, Ron and George to come down. Ginny sat down next to him. They did not say a word to each other. But that was one of the best things about Arthur Weasley. He always knew when to speak, and when people did not want to be spoken to. They sat in silence. Ron and George came down stairs in their black tux robes followed by mum in lace black dress robes.
"Percy will be arriving in the cemetery at nine," mum told us, "Bill and Fleur are on their way. Does anyone know where Charlie is?" she looked around, waiting for someone to answer but no one knew where Charlie was.
"I'm sure he will be there Molly dear." Arthur said. He placed a hand on his wife's back and gestured them all out of the house.
Once they were outside of the house and beyond the boundaries of the protection charms, they all disapparated.
The St. Dragomir's cemetery was the last place Ginny wanted to be. It was the most gothic and depressing place a person could be. Vampires usually came here in the night. It 'relaxed' them.
The Weasley's could not afford anything else.
"Ginny?" Hermione Granger's voice called from behind her. Ginny turned around and before she knew it Hermione had sprung out at her, hugging her so tightly she could not breathe. But she hugged her back anyways.
"How are you Ginny?" she asked. If it was one thing Ginny knew, it was that when people asked 'how are you?' The really do not want an answer.
"I'm fine." Ginny said in a very matter-of-fact tone. As much as Ginny loved Hermione's company and friendship, she was the last person Ginny wanted to see right now.
Hermione let go and looked at her, sensing that something was off. Ginny thanked her lucky stars that Hermione had not said anything to her after that.
Ginny was not sure where to go or what to do now that she was here. She could not go near where Fred's coffin was. Not until it was necessary. It hurt too much. She walked along the path leading down the cemetery, away from everyone else. It was just her and her thoughts.
After a bit of walking and trying to avoid thinking about Fred or Harry, Ginny realized she would rather be away from her thoughts and around distractions. Her thoughts caused her too much pain.
She started to walk back towards the funeral. Suddenly she stopped in her tracks. Harry was here. He was here, and so were many other people, but Ginny only saw him. She started to retreat automatically. She just could not be around him. She went as far back is it was possible to go without completely disappearing behind the trees.
She felt a surge of anger at Harry. Why did he have to be here? Thanks to him Ginny could not even be there at her own brother's burial. But then all the anger shifted towards her. She was the one who could not even stand near him. Of course he would be there. It was Fred's funeral.
Ginny suddenly felt ashamed of herself. Harry was probably living his life better than ever now that Voldemort was dead. He had probably even- it killed Ginny just to think about it –found someone else, someone better. She had to be the one who would mourn over him while he moved on.
And now she was being so stupid she could not even show her face in an area where he stood. But no matter how ashamed she may be of herself for it, she could not go there. She could not face him.
So Ginny watched the burial from the trees around the cemetery. She felt horrible that she was not there with her family. Her brother was dead, being buried, and she did not have the guts to go and stand there, all because of a man who did not love her. Tears came to her eyes as she thought of what Fred would say.
He had known about everything between her and Harry. Things he had not even told George. That was how much Ginny could trust him.
When she had told Fred about the way Harry had broke her heart, Fred had wanted to beat the daylights out of him. Ginny had tried to explain to him that it was not Harry's fault. Fred was disappointed that Ginny had let her feelings come in and defend him where she should be angry and accusing him.
Bottom line was that Fred would be really disappointed in her if he was here right now. Ginny had not even noticed, but she was crying hard, gasping for air, her tears pouring out like water from a tap. She wished he were here. He was the only one who was honest with her when she was being stupid and still understood why. He was the only one who could give her the right advice. He was the only one who could crack a joke to make her laugh in the darkest times.
And even though Fred and George were so akin, Fred was the only one capable of doing those things.
She had fallen to the ground on her knees and was crying harder than ever now. He was gone. Fred was really gone. And he was not coming back…Ever.
After five minutes more of crying under the trees, isolated from the rest of the crowd, Ginny noticed that people had started to leave.
About an hour later mostly everyone was gone except the Weasley's, Hermione and Harry. Ginny stayed where she was. Harry had to be leaving soon. She would wait a little longer. Sure enough, Harry left two minutes later. Ginny walked towards her family, making up excuses in her mind for her absence.
"Ginevra Weasley! Where were you?" Molly asked sounding furious. Her eyes froze Ginny to the spot.
"Mum-I-err-I-." Ginny stuttered. What could she say? She was not there with the rest of her family while her brother was being buried because she was desperately in love with Harry and could not be around him. She definitely was not about to say that.
"Ginny I'm so sorry!" Hermione cut in quickly. "I should not have sent you off like that. I did not think the burial would start so soon. Mrs. Weasley please forgive me, I asked Ginny if she could go back to the Burrow and bring back the book I had left. It was very selfish of me." Hermione said looking Molly in the eyes with a very apologetic expression.
Molly sighed and nodded, looking annoyed, she disapparated. Slowly everyone else started to leave. It was getting dark. Hermione gave Ginny a sympathetic smile, as if she knew exactly why Ginny had not been there, and then disapparated, leaving Ginny alone in the cemetery. The sun had gone down now and the moonlight shone upon the dark cemetery. It looked more depressing than ever. Ginny knew that she should disapparated home as well, but something about not being there during her brother's burial kept her in place. She gradually started walking towards Fred's grave. His name, birthday and death day were all carved into a gray, rough stone.
She knelt down in front of it and placed her hand on the top of the tomb head. Her eyes blurred again. Her chest filled with agony at the thought of his tragic death. But her sorrow was short lived. She could feel someone's eyes on hers. She heard a twig crack nearby. Then another…and another...then it was right behind her. Crack.
She was breathing very heavily. In a split second before she started running, she remembered the deadly Vampires that came here at night. She got up and ran like hell. She ran faster than she remembered ever running before. But she could not here footsteps behind her. She turned around and saw that no one was there. She let out a sigh of relief. She was just hallucinating. But then, the minute she turned back to walk out the cemetery, she saw him. He was a tall man who looked around the age of seventeen. He had dark eyes that looked so deadly they left her breathless. She tried to make a run for it again, but it was no use. He grabbed her tightly by the waist and pulled her to his chest. He bent his head down to her neck and she started to scream before he had even done anything. The screams became a hundred times louder when his fangs sank into her skin. This was it. She was going to die. She would be joining Fred soon. And then she heard voices. And not just any voices…Hermione's…and Harry's. The man came to halt. He threw her on the ground and fled, running so fast she could not even see him.
"They came from over there!" Ginny heard Hermione's voice, very near. Then she heard footsteps running towards her.
"Oh God…" she heard Harry's voice. It was right above her. She could see a blurred figure with ebony hair kneeling down next to her.
"Ginny? Ginny if you can hear me then nod." She heard Harry's voice. It was so full of concern that it made Ginny's heart fly. She even forgot the agonizing pain for a minute. Then she nodded. "We need to get her to a hospital!" Hermione exclaimed. Harry lifted her up in his arms, and at that moment, the pain was gone. Nothing else mattered except the joy it brought her to be in his arms again. She gripped his shirt tightly, as if by doing that they would never let go of each other. She missed him.
Everything around her started to disappear and the last thing she thought of was Harry, before she passed out.
She woke up to the sound of her mother's voice. Her vision was blurred so she did not try to open her eyes yet, but her ears were wide open.
"Will she be alright?" She heard Molly's anxious voice ask someone who Ginny presumed to be a healer.
"Yes she should be fine. In a couple hours the venom will leave her system, and unless she – God forbid – has another near death experience, she should be healthy enough to go home."
It really had been a vampire, Ginny thought. How lucky had she been that she had actually escaped from the man. If Harry and Hermione had not found her, she would have been under the ground with Fred soon, and definitely not at home resting like the doctor said.
Ginny dozed off again before she could even tell her mother she was awake.
The next time she woke up, she was not half unconscious. She was awake and her eyes opened up to find Ron and Hermione sitting on either side of her bead.
"Hey…" she said weekly to the both of them. When she tried to get up they both pushed her back down from her shoulders.
"You need to rest." Hermione told her. She looked stern and Ginny did not argue. Then suddenly Ginny remembered something.
"I wanted to thank you Hermione. If you had not found me, I probably would have been dead."
Hermione shook her head.
"If it weren't for Harry you would be…" Hermione gulped but could not get herself to complete her sentence.
"Harry?" Ginny asked. Suddenly she was anxious to know what role he played in saving her life.
"Yes. I had come back because I had left my handbag – very stupid of me – and then we heard running. I waved it off as nothing, but Harry dragged me towards the source of the sound of footsteps. Just when we were close enough we heard screams. Harry so interestingly identified them as your screams." Ginny had to hold back a smile when Hermione said this. And she said it with a rather smug look. "I thought he was just being paranoid. But well, if he hadn't dragged me towards the source of the sounds, we would have been too far away to scare of whatever or whoever was hurting you." Hermione finished.
"Ginny, do you even remember Harry being there?" Ron asked. Ginny shook her head pretending to look bemused. She did not know why she was lying about it, she just was.
"That's quite peculiar considering the fact that you spoke my name right before you passed out."
Ginny's head shot up, her eyes darted towards the source of the voice. It was Harry's voice. He had been there the entire time, she realized, but she had not noticed him. Her cheeks went red. She came up with an excuse that would, if not Harry, fool Ron and Hermione.
"Well you heard me wrong." She said that a little harsher than she had meant to. Harry nodded his head in an, I'm-going-to-let-it-go sort of manner. He was not fooled, but Ron and Hermione did not seem to notice much of a difference in the air.
Ginny was not sure what Harry had told them about the breakup but she was sure he had not said it the way it had actually happened. He had probably left out the "breaking her heart" part. Ginny realized that this was the first time they had spoken since the breakup.
"Well Ron and I have to go. Your mum wanted our help putting things back in order." Hermione said. Ginny had almost forgotten that it had only been a week since the war.
"Are you coming?" Hermione asked Harry as she head out the door. It was what was expected of course, and that's why Ginny's heart skipped a beat when he said, "I'll catch up with you lot later." And Ron and Hermione walked out.
Harry turned to Ginny. She looked away from his eyes out of fear, as if he were a basilisk.
"Ginny." Harry said, sitting down on a chair next to her temporary bed.
"What?" Ginny asked him coldly, looking in the opposite direction.
"Look I understand that you're mad at me. You have every right to be. I wasn't exactly the nicest person on earth when we…broke up." He hesitated at the last two words.
"But half of what I said wasn't true." He said. Ginny's head jerked around to look at him, but he was looking at the floor.
"I wasn't just with you because you wanted it. I was with you because I wanted to be with you as well." Ginny tried not to get her hopes up, but she could not help it that her heart was flying.
"But," Ginny's heart sank, "I broke up with you because I couldn't really feel the spark, you know? I know I've already hurt you once and I'm not intending to do it again, but I think I at least owe you the truth." Ginny's heart fell like a bird that had just been shot from the sky.
"Well then why didn't you say so before?" she asked him, trying her best to keep her voice from shaking.
"Well, because I thought a clean break would be easier, just in case we never saw each other again. I didn't want it to hurt you as much as it would have if I left telling you that you were still a friend to me." He told her. His voice was gentle, like he was talking to someone whose feelings were fragile. In this case, he was.
"Still a friend, huh?" Ginny asked him matter-of-factly.
"Yes, Ginny. I may not be your favorite person right now, and I don't think I deserve to be, but you are my friend. There's no running away from that."
Their eyes finally met. There was something in his eyes that told her this was not the entire side of his story, but Ginny did not push him. Just being friends was good enough…for now.