A/N-Response to A Catholic Girl's Valentine's Day Challenge at HPFC. A short, semi-angsty return to writing Harry Potter again. Hope you enjoy!

Bruised

I sat in the Common Room with a mirror and my wand. The bruise surrounding my eye would not budge. Detention with the Carrows had gone as it usually did. Neville was curled up in a ball asleep in the chair nearest me. In the pale flickering of the dying firelight the scars he bore could be seen clearly. Since Snape and the Carrows had taken over, the House system had virtually been dissolved. The members of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were all subject to the abuses of the Carrows. Those that dared return for the year found that Hogwarts was not as they remembered. Hogwarts was not a welcoming place. Being one of the older students, I took it upon myself to help the first and second years. They would come to me in times of trouble and I would heal their wounds the best I could. I felt bad for myself for being stuck in this situation, but I felt worse for the first years that had no idea how amazing Hogwarts could be. They had no idea of the magnitude of the feasts, the Quidditch games, the trips out to Hogsmead…nothing.

Now, all alone, I could cry and not have to worry about looking strong in front of everyone else. The silent tears slipped past unannounced. Today was Valentine's Day. Halfway to the Easter holidays. This stupid non-holiday even had the Carrows in higher spirits. They gave out more detentions in one class than I have ever seen. Those who dared to hope tried to celebrate with public displays of mixed House affection, only to be swiftly punished.

I close my eyes for a moment and tried to think of a happier time. Quidditch, Yule Ball, Hermione, The Burrow, Harry…

No. That's no more. You can't go thinking about him all the time Ginny, you'll go insane. Harry isn't here to protect you; you can't go letting yourself get all down because he's off somewhere fighting unknown evils…

Still I could not stop my heart from hurting.

I missed him. I really, truly did. Now that I had known what a relationship with Harry was like, I didn't want it to end. Harry had a fairly legitimate reason (it was, after all, why he was out in the wilds of Britain now) but it didn't mean I had to like it. It was a stupid, noble thing to do, so that was why the stupid, noble boy went and did it.

The truth was that I ached for Harry, as well as Ron and Hermione. I wanted to see his face, hug him, kiss him, be around him. More truth, I knew that he would know what to do if he was here.

But he wasn't. I couldn't allow myself to get all emotional over someone who wasn't here. We weren't together, we hadn't seen each other since Bill and Fleur's wedding in August. We could not be together. It was too dangerous. I tried to tell myself that he would come back, and we could be together eventually, but as the months wore on, my bruised heart slowly came to realize that maybe he wasn't going to come back to me. Harry was in the real world now. I tried to avoid the thoughts of him meeting strange women in his travels but the thoughts came.

He isn't like that. You know that. Harry wouldn't go off with some 'scarlet woman' and abandon what he has to do.

I sighed to myself and dried the few tears that had slipped past. I winced slightly as my hand brushed under my right eye. This bruise was stubborn and painful. Bloody fantastic. I was tempted to wake Neville to see if he had anything that would help. My friend had spent his time with Professor Sprout, secretly working on plant based cures for the Carrow's punishments. I stood up and stretched. Stepping over my bag I moved to tap Neville before stopping and sitting back down. He looked so peaceful. I didn't want to disturb him now—I knew from many nights spent sleeping in the Common Room that Neville had been having trouble sleeping. His dreams were often of his parents, locked away in their minds. My nights were often spent soothing my friend as he cried out into the night. It tore my heart out to watch his sufferings. Being here was painful enough for him, being here without Luna was worse.

I watched Neville and Luna develop a strange friendship. Shy, unassuming Neville with bold, whimsical Luna. It was a sight to see. When Luna didn't return our letters during the Christmas holidays, we knew something was wrong. When Luna didn't return to Hogwarts, our worst fears were realized. I knew in my heart that Luna was fine; that Luna had to be fine. Neville, however, was not as much of an optimist anymore. He feared the worst.

The firelight flickered. I knew it was late, but I wasn't tired. I sat with arms wrapped around my knees staring into the flames. It was Valentine's Day, and I had no valentine to call my own. I smiled to myself as I thought of my first year, when my valentine had been tackled by a dwarf and forcefully handed my singing valentine. Yes, that had been mortifying at the time, especially when Riddle's diary fell out of Harry's bag, but now, looking back, it was rather humorous. I couldn't help myself from giggling out loud at remembering the school girl crush I had on my brother's best friend.

Neville stirred. He opened his eyes and looked at me, taking in my bruised eye and battered appearance.

"I take it the Carrows were bad tonight?" He said, yawning.

"No worse than normal, Amycus forgot about magic a bit when I refused to torture a third year so he kindly gave me this shiner. Then I think he cursed it or something because it won't go away no matter what I do."

"All because of a little bit of graffiti." Neville joked. Our latest bout of creativity had brought more recruits into Dumbledore's Army but resulting in me being dragged into Snape's office. Again.

"I know, right?" I said, laughing.

"Wonder where Harry is." Neville remarked lightly after a few moments.

"Yeah."

"Ginny he'll be fine."

"You don't say the same about Luna." I accused. He flinched.

"I know…but Harry and Luna are different people. You know that…"

"Luna may be strange but she's strong. She's resilient. She was picked on for years; I never once saw her cry about it." I replied.

Neville shrugged.

"Neville…don't give up, please. For all we know she's wandering Scandinavia looking for a Crumpled-Horned Snorkack."

"She doesn't like me."

"Neville! Of course she does!"

"Not in the way I want her to."

I shifted uncomfortably. I knew Neville had feelings for her; and I knew she did not return them.

"Neville, I'm going to tell you what Hermione told me when I was all obsessed with Harry. Go date other people. Don't focus on Luna. You'll never know what's out there until you try it."

"But you're with Harry now." My heart twisted in my chest. Although I had told him about our break up long ago, he maintained that I was still Harry's girlfriend. He swore on his Trevor that Harry would come back, alive and well, and we would ride off into the sunset or something like that. I pushed Harry to the back of my mind during the day. Not thinking about him while pursuing my own daily rebellions helped me stay in control of myself and my emotions.

"That's not important. I know that I did finally get to be with Harry, but I dated some really great guys. I don't regret my relationships with them."

He nodded. We sat together in silence for a while until Neville reached into his bag and tossed me a small container. I reached out and snatched it from the air. I opened it and was hit with a foul odor. I crinkled my nose at the smell and held it at arm's length.

"Gee Neville, I know you'd rather spend Valentine's Day with someone other than me but you didn't have to get me this."

Neville rolled his eyes. "It's for your eye. Sprout and I finally perfected our own bruise removal paste."

"Thanks." I said as I carefully applied the paste. I picked up my mirror and watched my eye return to its normal shade.

"You know, you could have given this to me when you woke up." I gave a small smile. The bruise had disappeared completely. It was only skin deep, just like the other injuries. They all healed. Everyone else's healed.

"Consider it a present. Happy Valentine's Day Ginny."

"Happy Valentine's Day Nev." I said, hugging my friend.

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