What if Ginny died instead of Fred? How would the Weasleys deal with her loss?
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Molly
She had killed Bellatrix so her daughter wouldn't die. Then, Harry had killed Voldemort, ensuring that no one else had to die. How could she have been so foolish? How could she have believed that killing their leader would mean safety? She should have none her family would not have stayed unscathed. Hadn't the first war taught her anything?
And worse, no one knows who killed her. No one saw the spell hit her. No one saw her fall to the ground. Everyone was rejoicing, happy. Trying to touch the "Chosen One" the "Boy-Who-Saved." The boy who could return from the dead, but not bring her daughter back.
Molly looked out the window- Ginny's window- and sighed, large tears rolling down her already wet cheeks. It wasn't fair of her to blame Harry. He wasn't at fault. No one was at fault except who ever couldn't accept the fact their master was dead and had to take the joy out of their family's life.
Molly stood up and looked around the room. It should have been dusty from disuse, but Molly found she had taken up to sleeping in her daughter's room for comfort. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Shouldn't Ginny be going to her room, trying to get comfort from a nightmare? Shouldn't Ginny be with her mother, making jokes about Quidditch, and complaining about how sexist her mother was for making only the girls cook, and… and…
… And this room was not Ginny.
And it would not bring her back.
And Ginny was not in this room. She wasn't in any room.
"Do you really think there are a Heaven and a Hell, Mum?" Ginny had asked, so many years ago it seems. "Because I do. And even though I'm not sure I'll be in Heaven, I like to think He believes in me just as much as I believe in Him"
"I believe in you, baby," Molly whispered, then left the room.
Arthur
Arthur was never a religious man. In fact, none of his family was. But these past seven years, he found himself praying more than he had for a lifetime.
He prayed when he learned that Ron was in danger (family clock) when he learned his son and his friend (Harry Potter!) had flown his car ('Dear God, don't let me lose my job!') when his daughter, his baby, was led to her sure death. When his daughter came back to him. When he learned his daughter shared conversations with God ("Tom told me he was God. I told him he was dumb and a liar. That was the first time he got angry at me…") When his daughter smiled at him even though she wasn't truly happy. When she smiled and was happy. When she healed herself. When Sirius Black escaped. Twice. He prayed many times. For all of his children, he found himself praying.
But the time he prayed the hardest was when Ginny didn't get up from the floor. When he saw her lying on the ground. When he almost didn't recognize her because she'd been crushed. She had been trampled by Harry's well wishers. When he picked her up and a clump of her hair fell out. When he saw blood pouring out of her head. When he saw her eyes were wide open. When he saw she had a shocked look on her face. When her realized his shaking wouldn't make her breath again. When he crushed her to him. When he screamed. When he begged God, pleaded with God to give him his daughter back. When he was denied.
He doesn't pray anymore. Instead, he waits. He waits to hear her laughter. He waits to hold her. He waits to tell her that he loves her so very much. He waits to hear her tell him that she knows. That she loves him too.
