Disclaimer: All J.K Rowlings…
Broken Reflections.
**
Situations change, people don't.
Rain beat down on her, and wind swept past her. It engulfed her, pushed her and controlled her until she was powerless to resist. The rain wanted it like this, it wanted her to bow her head in submission, and it wanted her to run.
But she wouldn't. Not yet.
She threw her head back and closed her eyes. The skies tears massaged her skin. She could hear her heartbeat above the persistent drumming of the storm. It beat fast, triggered by her brain's unnecessary feelings of panic. She felt as if she was drowning.
She was drowning… but at least she was living!
She stood on the hill and sniffed the night air, hair soaked, skin chilled to the bone, skirt whipping around her and stockings clinging to her skin and she savoured these feelings of helplessness. She had forgotten which way was up and which way was down through the onslaught of water, but it didn't matter.
She could feel the rain pulsating through her veins.
Thunder rumbled through the sky and she laughed when she heard the sound.
~~~~
"What makes thunder?" Five year old Ginny asked her brother, Bill, as she huddled next to him as a storm raged outside.
"Thunder happens when you forget to brush your teeth." He told her wisely, smiling as she laughed. The sound was so sweet, almost like a song. He would do anything to hear her laugh.
"No, Billy! It happens when giants are making their snow machines so they can dust the world with icing sugar!" She nodded firmly and grinned at him, obviously pleased with her explanation. He just shook his head and smiled.
~~~~~
A fork of lightening lit up the sky as if it was slicing it in two. She pulled her coat tighter round her now violently shivering body.
~~~~
"Ginny! Come inside right now! You'll catch your death out there playing in the rain!" Molly Weasley yelled out the kitchen window to where her youngest child and only daughter was dancing in the rain.
"But Mum! The sky is crying!" She pleaded with her mother, her brown eyes opened wide.
"Ginny! You'll catch a frightful cold! Inside, and I'll make you a cup of hot chocolate!" And that settled it. Ginny trudged through the house, dripping water everywhere as her mother sat her down in front of a blazing fire.
~~~~
She missed her Mother's hot chocolates now. There was no time for such simple pleasures any more.
She could no longer feel her legs; they were so numb with cold. She turned and ran across the fields. She really did need to find shelter, not that it would make any difference, she was already drenched.
She could just make out a line of trees through the water dripping into her eyes.
~~~~~
"Never stand under a tree in a storm, Ginny. It's not safe." Arthur Weasley pointed out a tree through the window that had fallen over. "And be careful near the Whomping Willow at Hogwarts, Gin! Though I do say you will find out about that soon enough… Now, I want you to run up to your Mother and tell her dinner's ready! And if she says anything about wanting to have helped, you tell her that it's Mother's day and she will do no such thing!" He sent Ginny upstairs as the smell of roast chicken wafted through the house.
~~~~~
She kept on running past the trees and came to a halt outside a tin shed. She didn't think about the fact that this was someone else's property as she forced the door open and rushed inside.
~~~~~
"Always knock before coming into my room, Ginny." Percy told her sternly through his open door as he leaned over a piece of parchment sitting on his desk.
"Oh! Don't listen, Gin! He's probably only writing a letter to his girlfriend." George whispered from behind as Fred sent a few fireworks into Percy's room. Ginny quickly pulled the door shut after him and ran down the stairs, laughing with Fred and George.
"Fred! George! GINNY!" Percy came running down the stairs and chased the three of them outside into the rain. They only laughed harder.
~~~~~
It was dark and she couldn't see anything. She could smell dust, thick on the hard floor around her, and could hear the rain, seemingly ten times louder as it slammed against the tin.
She shook her coat off her shoulders and squeezed some of the water out of her hair, making puddles on the floor.
She lit the end of her wand and looked around. A glimmer of light drew her attention and she glanced up to come face to face with herself.
A broken mirror was resting against the wall, smeared with dirt. She crept forward until she was right in front of it, until she was staring fiercely into her own eyes, until they were staring back.
It was an older Ginny, a fresh out of Hogwarts Ginny, no longer a child but not yet an adult. It wasn't what she wanted to see.
The reflection she remembered was one of happiness, smiles, home made sweaters and Honeyduke's candy.
~~~~~
"Here, I bought you back some lollies form Hogsmeade. Charlie says these ones are the best." Ron informed her as he poured the sweets into her lap. "Sorry the bag got a bit wet, but it was hard to keep it out of the rain." He sat down next to her and they shared the lollies between themselves.
~~~~~
The reflection she was looking at, it was broken. It had experienced death and destruction and war. But it hadn't really changed.
Her dark red hair was still plastered to her forehead, in the way that it always was after one of her escapades in the rain, her freckles still clashed with her pale skin, her eyelashes still curled up ever so slightly.
Ginny sighed and crawled into a ball on the floor. She fell asleep with only the rain to keep her company.
When she woke in the morning, the whole room was bathed in sunlight. She took one last look at her reflection before she gathered her things, stood up and wrenched open the door.
She was still in love with the rain, she still remembered the rhyme Bill had taught her when trying to show her how to tie her shoes, and her reflection… it still reflected hope.
And it wasn't going to change.
***********
Ok… I don't really know about this… I don't think it makes sense and I'm not sure that I got it across the way I wanted but anyway… And all the memories, I tried to link them with the whole rain thing. Also, all the flashbacks are meant to be in italics but I couldn't get it to work.
Please review and tell me what you think.
-Ally.