The battle against Voldemort had ended. Voldemort lay dead. But, the victory came at a huge price.
Harry's POV—
By Syracusethedog
I did it. I defeated Voldemort. But, I'm also gone. My body just lay there. I'm dead. Now I really am the Boy Who Lived. LIVED. Past tense.
Voldemort was about to kill Ginny. He cast the avada kedavra curse on her. But, I instinctively applied the reflecto charm on her right before he did it. The curse reflected off her shield and hit me. I knew I was gone before I even hit the ground. I just hope it worked.
The curse then rebounded off my already dead body and killed Voldemort.
I lay there on the ground waiting. Waiting for Ginny. It was only a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity. I wanted to know she was safe. Ginny came running over and reached my body. She was in such despair as she was crying over me. I was glad she was still alive, but wished she didn't have to see me like that.
All of a sudden, without any warning, she collapsed. She went limp and her head fell onto my chest. She lay there as limp as I was.
Ron and Hermoine came running over. They both checked us for pulses and for heartbeats. There wasn't any, for either of us.
We can't both be dead. I knew my fate was going to be to die. I never looked forward to it, but I never feared it. I just sort of accepted it. But, Ginny doesn't deserve it.
It's all my fault. If I hadn't fallen in love with her, she wouldn't have been in the battle in the first place. Then, maybe I did the charm wrong. Maybe I made a mistake and the protection only delayed the avada kedavra's effect on her. Maybe by running over to me laying there dead, I just gave an opportunity for someone else to kill her. Maybe after the curse rebounded off me and killed Voldemort, there will still some of it in me to rebound to kill her when she came over to my body.
Whatever happened, I know it's all my fault. Mrs. Weasley said I was as good as a son to her. Would she still feel that way after I was the reason why her Ginny is laying there lifeless?
Our bodies were taken to Madame Pomprey's. Our bodies were placed next to each other on a bed. Her beds were always so comfortable. I spent so much time in them over the years.
The avada kedavra curse can not be detected in a muggle autopsy. But, the ministry developed a potion to enable them to detect it. Our bodies were stripped, so the potion could be applied to us.
My whole entire body glowed bright blue when the potion was applied to me. There wasn't even a single inch of me that didn't glow. There was no question that my whole entire body absorbed the blow. There was no point in attempting any kind of resuscitation.
I had known I was dead. But, seeing that confirmation made it seem so much more real. I started thinking of everything that I could never do again. I will never be able to catch the snitch. I will never be able to fly on my Firebolt. I will never be able to go visit Hagrid. The worst parts was I could never go on another adventure with Ron and Hermoine and I could never have a family with Ginny.
Poor Ginny. I wanted to reach over to protect her. I wanted to cover her up, help protect her privacy. No, that's not really it. I want to protect her by bringing her back to life. But, all I could do was just lay there. I can't console Ron and Hermoine or Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, who had come in at some point. I was officially pronounced dead.
Here I was laying there dead and all I could think of was her. I'm not trying to play the hero. I always accepted that I could die against Voldemort. Like I said, I never feared it, even though I never looked forward to it. But, I just can't accept Ginny's death.
Attention was then turned to Ginny. The potion was applied to her. But, nothing happened. You could see what a big contrast it was--me laying there glowing in blue, her not glowing at all.
Someone asked whether she was really dead. No, dummy. She just liked to let people strip her and lay motionless next to another naked dead body while she didn't breathe or have a heartbeat or a pulse.
Then, I started thinking maybe she really wasn't dead. The potion had never failed to work before. The morgue started filling up with other casualties. All of them had some glowing. Nobody was like me. Everyone else was hit just a little bit. But, it was clear that they all had some glowing. Why is it working on the rest of us, but not her?
Mr. Weasley started to say something, but was interrupted by Mrs. Weasley. She told him not yet, let's see what happens first.
Many different spells were then applied to Ginny. Nothing was working. A few times, her body flopped around a lot, as though a muggle super defibrillator was being applied to her. But, there was no success. She just continued to lay there. In a room full of bodies with some glowing, or in my case, complete glowing, she really stood out.
I know it's my fault. I was the one who got her into this mess. I lay there trying desperately to summon my wand and figure out some way to bring her back. Of course, I couldn't.
They kept on trying to revive Ginny. But, still nothing worked. More spells were applied to her. Different potions were applied to her. Her body had flopped around some more, but each time, there were no signs of revival.
When it became clear that nothing could bring her back, Mr. Weasley finally told us what happened. Ginny had suffered from a disease that only affects girls after a bunch of only brothers were born or boys after a bunch of only sisters were born. They always knew that one day Ginny would fall dead without any warning. The fact that it occurred today was just a coincidence.
I felt a little relieved that it wasn't my fault. But, I still felt so bad for her.
Our bodies were covered up. The next day, we lay in state in the Great Hall. Dobby clothed us for the wake in our quidditch robes. Our bodies had stiffened overnight, but just his touch allowed his elf magic to remove the rigor mortis and then he was able to maneuver our limbs to get the robes on.
The day afterwards was our funeral at the Burrough. I really didn't want to have to lay in my coffin alone forever. So, I was so relieved when Ginny and I were placed together in the same coffin.
Our coffin lay open near the gravesite. Dobby had one more ceremony to perform for us. It was an ancient Gryffindor tradition—the Golden Dust. Dobby reached into the coffin and removed the blanket covering Ginny and me up to our shoulder area. Dobby hovercharmed Ginny out of the coffin and then down to the ground next to him. Dobby then lifted Ginny's arms and head as he slid the soft fabric of the quidditch tunic off. Ginny's head lolled to the side and her arms dangled precariously. Ginny's naked body was hovercharmed back into the coffin and the process was repeated with me.
Our robes will be transfigured into the Golden Dust. Removal of the robes that the body initially lay in the coffin wearing both symbolizes the separation of the body from material items and commemorates the fact that we came into the world bare and naked and go out the same way.
The dust will be sprinkled at our favorite places. Part will go into the Hogwarts quidditch pitch, with the rest going into the sacred area set aside in the Gryffindor common room. While our bodies will lay forever at the Burrough, the remnants of our robes will always be at Hogwarts, thus keeping us at our favorite places.
After the eulogy, the coffin was about to be closed when Ron bolted forward to prevent it. Nobody was really sure what he was doing, as he grabbed Ginny under the shoulders and started to raise her limp torso. Her head lolled forward. Eventually, Ron got her up enough that he then removed from one of his hands from that project. Ron grabbed ahold of my left arm, which was lying by my side. Ron extended my arm outwards so, when he returned his lifeless sister's torso back to its original position, my arm was under her and then my hand was positioned onto her shoulder.
Ron knew he couldn't lift me up as much as he had Ginny, to maneuver her arm into a similar position, without disrupting what he had already done. Hermione offered to just magic Ginny's arm under me, but Ron knew this was something he needed to do himself. After Ron slipped Ginny's arm around me, the coffin was closed and our lifeless bodies were lowered into the ground.