All ideas and characters associated with this story are the property of J.K. Rowling.
Prologue - The Funeral
Harry Potter stood against the cold, his black trench coat whipping in the brisk winter breeze. It was hard for him not to cry as he walked down the gravely walkway, unable to stop the incessant thinking going on inside his head, the on and on pattern of grief followed by regret. He knew it was a bad idea to be alone, he knew his friends would be missing him soon, but he couldn't help it. This was the only place that felt right to be.
Reaching the end of the pathway, he forked left into a sprawling graveyard, knowing instinctively where to go. He'd always wondered how people were supposed to find their loved ones in this mass of gravestones, but today he could understand. It wasn't an earthly force that guided him to the grave, it was something instinctive, an emotion that super ceded rational thought.
He wove through the graves of Allen and Davey, and Fulton and Hilly, too many names to count really, until he reached that name so famous in the wizarding world. He read the lettering, engraved carefully into the polished slab of granite.
Here lies Ginny Potter.
Courageous, Bold, Bright.
He had put a lot of thought into those three words- he thought she would want something like that, not too mushy, but everyone who read it had to know she was something great.
Kneeling in front of the stone, he placed down a single yellow flower, picked from the garden Ginny had dug out in only a day- with only a little help from her wand. Taking a moment to look at the other bouquets scattered about the field, he thought his was the most beautiful. Not in its bright color, or excessive beauty, but in its solidarity, did Harry find it transfixing. It seemed to possess the same spirit Ginny once did, independent, blossoming in the most unlikely of places.
If only she had blossomed just a little longer. If only she hadn't decided to drive all the way home that day...
A single tear rolled down Harry Potter's cheek, followed by another and another and another...