After Hogwarts
Prologue: Shattered Peace
'Harry!' Ginny Weasley yelled from the stairs of The Burrow. 'Harry get up, we all got to get up and degnome the garden!'
Harry Potter groaned and slowly opened his tired eyes. He didn't want to get up yet. He slowly rolled over and tried to drift back to sleep, but he couldn't now, because he could hear Ginny tramping up the steps towards his room.
The door to the room he was sleeping in burst open and Ginny stood in the doorway, and light shined into the dark room. Harry pulled his sheet over him, and Ginny laughed.
'Come on, get up lazy,' Ginny said. She walked into the room and grabbed Harry by his arm and dragged him out of bed.
'I need to get dressed Ginny,' Harry said bemusedly.
'O.K,' Ginny said letting go of Harry's arm and standing in the doorway. Harry looked at her expectantly, but she didn't leave the room.
'Ginny go away so I can get changed,' Harry said. Ginny laughed and walked out of the room. Harry quickly got changed before heading out the doorway. Ginny was leaning against the wall just outside of his bedroom.
'God give me some peace,' Harry said laughing.
'Well I decided I was too tired to walk down the stairs,' Ginny said, clearly mocking Harry for not getting up.
'And now what are you going to do then?' Harry asked.
Harry took a few steps downward, and suddenly Ginny launched herself, and landed on his back.
'I'm commandeering you to take me down the stairs,' Ginny said laughing harder than ever.
Harry tried to push her off, but she stuck firm to him, and in the end Harry sighed and walked down the stairway of The Burrow with Ginny on his back.
'Morning,' said Mrs Weasley, who was busy cooking breakfast. 'Did you have a nice sleep Harry dear? Ginny get of the poor boys back!'
Ginny obligingly jumped of Harry's back, and he let out a sigh of relief and stretched out his back.
'Sit down Harry, and here's your breakfast…' Mrs Weasley said whilst serving Harry an overly large amount of bacon and sausages, and drenching the latter in tomato sauce.
'Thanks Mrs. Weasley,' Harry said smiling.
'Oh now you're of age Harry you can call me Molly,' Mrs Weasley said from the kitchen as she bustled around cleaning pots and pans with a flick of her wand.
'Oh ok… thanks Molly,' Harry said, the words coming awkwardly from his mouth. He had never thought of addressing Molly Weasley as an equal before, but he supposed he had a right too now he was of age.
And he had defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort. Harry supposed that that would give him an equality to a lot of wizards, and set him above cowards like Death Eaters.
Harry quickly gulped down his food, and then walked out into the yard to witness the tail end of the degnoming process.
George had obtained the last gnome in the yard, and Ron was sitting down on the grass watching him with his arm around Hermione's shoulders who was sitting beside him.
'And of he goes,' George said laughing as he let the gnome fly, high and long over their back fence.
'Nice throw,' Hermione commented as Harry walked over to them. The gnome landed with a yell of pain, and George laughed and turned around, looking for someone.
'Did you see that one Fred?' George yelled, looking for his twin brother. For a moment the smile remained on his face, and his eyes searched, but then his body visibly went limper, and his smile faded from his face as he remembered that his twin had been killed.
Fred Weasley had been murdered in an explosion in the final great battle at Hogwarts where Harry had finally stopped Voldemort. George slowly turned and walked away, heading for the field that they had been flinging the gnomes into.
Ginny was right behind Harry, and Harry heard her snuffling softly. He turned and saw a look of intense sadness on her face, and she turned and walked back inside. Ron looked at the ground with a blank expression across his face, and Hermione looked like she was going to cry.
Harry hurried after George, feeling horrid. If he had given himself up before the final battle had begun there would never have been a fight, and Fred would never have died.
He caught up to George who was sitting on a gnome that was clearly caught in a full body bind spell. Harry transfigured the grass into a smooth rock, and sat beside George.
'I'm sorry,' Harry said softly. 'I should have given myself up before we fought, if I had no one would have died. Tonks and Lupin would be alive with their son, and Fred would be here with us.
'Don't say that,' George said, and a fierce expression came to his face. 'Don't you say that Harry. Fred gave his life fighting against the Death Eaters, fighting for you, trying to give you time to find a way to defeat You-Know-Who! He knew he might die but he was glad to if it meant that the wizarding world might be saved from his reign!'
'But I died anyway,' Harry said. 'And I returned to life, so Fred died for no reason.'
'Fred died for a reason!' George said viciously. 'He died to help you! And if he was going to die, then that was the way I'm sure he would have been proud to go. With a laugh on his face and fighting a few Death Eaters.'
Harry and George sat in silence for a little while, both of them silently thinking of all the things that Fred had done his life, his pranks, his creations for Weasley Wizard Wheezes, and how he had fought against Voldemort.
'Remember when you and Fred set of the fireworks when Umbridge was in charge of the school?' Harry said quietly.
'Yeah,' George said laughing. 'And we set of that swamp as well.'
They sat for a moment longer before George continued to talk.
'Harry he was proud to fight for you,' George said. 'He was fighting with the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One. He was proud to fight with someone who could take the pressure of expectation and destiny upon his shoulders, the pressure of being hunted by the most powerful wizard of all time. And I am too, and I made my sacrifice as well.' He pointed to where his ear used to be. 'But it was all worth it wasn't it? You beat You-Know-Who, and freed the world.'
George got to his feet, looking less grieved than before, and walked back to The Burrow. Harry looked into the sky and sighed. George, he knew, carried a lighter weight upon his shoulders now, and he knew it was because he had been able to express how fiercely proud he had been of his brother. How proud he still was of him.
Then Harry saw something. Dots in the clouds, that seemed to be getting larger and larger as he watched…
'George!' Harry roared leaping to his feet.
George whirled around, and Harry pointed to the skies and they both looked up. Above them broomsticks filled the sky.
Then they all dived, a swarm of witches and wizards, heading for…
The Burrow.
'They're going for the Burrow,' George said. 'We have to hurry!' But Harry could see even before they both began to run that they weren't going to make it.
'We have to Apparate,' Harry said to George. 'Or we won't make it in time!'
'No…' George said softly, pulling to a halt. 'Harry it's a trap, they must be after you, not anyone at The Burrow.'
'We can't just let them kidnap them!' Harry yelled.
'If you're kidnapped as well then what are we going to do to save Mum, Hermione, Ron and Ginny?' George snapped, grabbing Harry by the arm to stop him Apparating. Harry tried to turn on the spot to Apparate to The Burrow, but George's grip was iron.
'Harry think,' George said. 'If they get you then there's a chance they might just kill everyone else. But if they don't have you, they'll keep them as hostages.'
Harry saw reason in George's statement even though he didn't want to. With a growl of acceptance Harry stopped resisting George's words and hopelessly watched as the wizards and witches continued to head for The Burrow.
'Maybe they aren't going to The Burrow,' Harry said hopefully. 'Maybe it just looks like it.'
'They're Death Eaters.'
Harry looked closely at the faces of the diving wizards and his heart sunk. He could see the masks that identified the wizards as Death Eaters. And then Harry realised something.
'Once they're closer their sure to notice us!' Harry said. 'We have to hide somewhere!'
'Quick help me transfigure this grass into a rock we can hide under,' George said swiftly. He had Harry turned and pointed their wands at the grass and both waved their wands with the same movement.
The grass rippled and then formed into a large rock that was hollowed out in the inside. Harry and George dived beneath the rock and hid their.
They lay on their bellies in silence, both of them straining their ears to hear what was going on. George suddenly took two extendable ears out of his pocket and silently handed one to Harry.
They plugged the end in their ears, George only having one to choose from, and then the ear crawled out over the rock and they could hear the sounds of battle and the yell of spells.
'Ginny!' Harry heard Ron yell. 'No! Ginny!'
Harry turned and tried to get out of the cave, but George restrained him, holding him firmly inside.
'Let me go!' Harry yelled. 'Let me go!'
'GINNY!' Molly screamed.
Harry punched George in the face and ran out of the cave, but George tackled him to the ground, and then dragged him into the cave. Harry drew his wand and pointed it at George's face, breathing heavily.
'Harry you can't help them now,' George said, a tear rolling down his cheek. Harry continued to breathe heavily and his wand fell from his hand and onto the grass.
They lay on their bellies like that for several more minutes, but then, when all sounds of battle had vanished, they emerged from the cave and Apparated to The Burrow.
Scorch marks littered the ground of The Burrow, but that wasn't what attracted Harry's attention. What attracted his attention was the red headed figure lying limply on the ground.
'Ginny,' Harry breathed, running over to her.
He fell to his knees beside her, and lifted her onto his knees.
'Ginny,' Harry said softly. 'Ginny, wake up Ginny.' He tapped her cheek softly, and he saw the source of the damage, a vicious cut that went into her lungs and across her rib cage.
Ginny coughed softly and opened her eyes drowsily.
'Harry,' she murmured softly. 'You're alright…'
'But your not,' said Harry, 'just stay alive and we'll get you to St. Mungo's.'
Ginny coughed again, and blood dribbled out of her mouth.
'I'm sorry Harry,' she whispered. 'But I can't hold on.' Her voice was almost to faint for Harry to hear her.
'No…' Harry said, tears dripping down his cheeks. 'No Ginny, please don't let go! Stay alive you'll be alright!'
'I love you Harry,' Ginny said softly, then she closed her eyes, and then her head slowly fell back and then it hit Harry like a bolt of lightning.
Ginny Weasley was dead.
'No!' Harry screamed. 'No Ginny! Wake up Ginny! WAKE UP! Please…'
Tears fell freely from his eyes, as Ginny Weasley, the girl he loved so much, lay across his knees, never to wake again.