~oo00oo~
The room was cold and damp. A small girl was huddled in the corner, shivering from fear and pain. Tears rolled down her face as the ache in her side increased, her stomach sore and swollen from where the thugs had kicked her. She wanted her mummy, she wanted her so badly. She wanted her mummy to kiss her head and hold her tight. She wanted her daddy to swing her up and tell her it would be all okay.
Her red hair lay plastered around her pale and gaunt face, unwashed she had last been outside, in the rain. She buried her face in her knees, sobs filling the silent night.
Ginny hated this, this misery. It was so much a part of her daily life that she almost didn't remember what it felt like to be a normal child with loving parents. It had been so long since she had felt the warm embrace of her mother, the reassuring hand of her father on her shoulder.
The familiar feeling of numbness crept up her limbs. She pulled her thin jumper closer to her, snuggling into its worn threads she had watched her mother knit her for Christmas the last time they had been together.
It had been years since that fateful day when she was separated from her family. She could just barely remember what they looked like, her mother with her warm smile and her father with his strong arms, her brothers, too, loud and obnoxious and funny.
She remembered the man who dragged her away from her mother while they were shopping. She remembered his piggy eyes and his pug nose, as he clapped a dirty hand over her mouth and snatched her away.
She had been tossed into a locked room with a bunch of other terrified children, crying and wailing for hours on end. They had been kept in there for months, before she had managed to pry the rusting bars off and escape into the night.
An old woman, blind and mute, had taken her under her wing, showing her the ways of the streets. She had always made sure that Ginny had enough to eat, even if it meant she went hungry herself. And then she too had died, gone to sleep and never woken up.
A woman had coaxed her inside a building, promising food and a warm bed. There had been neither. Instead, she had been locked in this room, alone with only the pale glow of the moon through the broken window ten feet above her head.
She gave a sob as pain spiked through her side, putting her head on her knees and squeezing her eyes shut. Her grip on reality began to fade, and she felt herself begin to fall asleep. Maybe she could dream of being safe and happy with her family…
Light and warmth suddenly covered her whole body, and she brought her head up to squint at the source. A boy was floating in front of her, his bright smile just as blinding as the light illuminating from the ball of pure energy by his side.
He held out a hand to her, and she stared distrustfully at it.
"Hi!" he said. "I'm Harry Potter. I'm looking for my glasses. Have you seen them?"
Ginny shook her head no, trying to both shrink away from the strange boy and get closer to the radiating warmth. He beamed down at her, his smile contagious.
"Can you help me find it then? We can go on an adventure! You won't have to be lonely, 'cause I'll be your friend forever!"
His attitude was infectious, and Ginny found herself nodding. Harry gave her a radiant smile. Slowly, she took his offered hand, and felt a shock like electricity and liquid sun spread through her body at his touch, warming her to the tips of her toes.
A smile graced her face, and she happily stood to her feet. Harry positively beamed at her.
"Are you ready?"
She nodded, laughing happily as he sprinkled faerie dust on her. She felt her feet begin to leave the ground, and felt panic start to grip her heart, but Harry was there to help her.
He grabbed his hands up in hers, his tinkling laugh easing her fears.
"It's okay, trust me. All you have to do is believe; believe me, and trust your heart."
Ginny closed her eyes and relaxed, and felt the stony grip of fear slowly release, to be replaced with wonder and amazement. Together, they flew through the broken window and to join the Lost Children of Neverland.
Ginny never realized that from the minute Harry appeared, her pain and fear had melted away like dirty snow. She never realized that when she flew away to the land of dreams, she left behind the body of her mortal suffering, a serene smile on cracked and bloody lips.
When the thugs went to check on her the next morning, they found her body. A smile that struck fear in their dark hearts was on her face, an expression of happiness and victory. They found footprints, blackened with heat and sunken into the concrete. One pair smaller and feminine, the same shape as the bare feet of the red-headed girl they'd killed, and another, just as small but more boyish, that seemed to dance even as they never moved. No amount of scrubbing would ever remove them, just like no scrubbing could possibly remove their sins from their souls.
Severus Snape hated his outfit. It was garish and ridiculous, and very unbefitting of a man like him. But he wore it, day in and day out. Always had, and always would.
He would never quite have the afterlife he had thought he would, but in a way, this was so much better. He would never have his perfect heaven, but he could make one for these kids.
They needed a villain, they needed someone to play bad guy. So Severus did it. Because if he didn't, then these children would create their own. They were the children of hard lives, and miserable deaths. They intimately knew the evils of the human race, and none of its good facets. If he didn't play the villain, their imaginations would bring forth the demons from their own pasts.
So he wore the silly pirate outfit, and he played the part. He watched as the laughed and played, and he was happy. They would eventually forget about the horrors they had experienced, instead filling their minds with friendship and family and happiness.
He entered the captain's quarters on his ship, noticing the log book grow another entry. After the details of Hermione Granger's and Dean Thomas' lives and deaths, the newest child's appeared.
Ginevra 'Ginny' Molly WeasleyDate of Birth: 14/7/1981Date of Death: 24/12/1988History: Happy family life, kidnapped at age six, escaped to live on streets, kidnapped again, beaten. Died of internal bleeding, organ failure, and hypothermia.Last thoughts: Wanting to be with her family again.
'Captain Hook' snapped the book closed, sinking into his desk chair and reaching for the alcohol. He felt the tears and anger on behalf of the children in his care well up, and he threw his tumbler at the wall, watching the falling shards of glass catch the light.
It was better that he be the harmless villain than to have the real monsters of the human world appear. They had been through too much already, they deserved all the eternal happiness and love Neverland could offer.