Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
His Eyes
By: ChoCedric
When Ginny finds out from Harry on one of their walks by the lake that it falls to him to destroy the remaining Horcruxes, she feels bile rise into her throat. She remains strong on the outside, but inside she is screaming. She looks into Harry's vulnerable emerald eyes; they hold so much fear and uncertainty. He feels he can only act this way when he is with her, she knows, and she tries to give him all the strength she can.
The shock of Dumbledore's death sends Ginny into a spiral of more emotions. She doesn't want to let her Harry go, and when he breaks up with her "for her own good," her heart fractures into tiny little pieces. But she understands why he did it; he doesn't want her to die, he can't bear the thought, just like she can't bear the thought of those beautiful emerald eyes being lifeless and empty.
And that is exactly what her nightmares hold over the following weeks. Every night she is assaulted by images of her love's open green eyes, staring at her with such hopelessness, and his face is frozen in a look of horror and shock. His body is stiff, unmoving, limp. He's dead. She bolts up in bed, tears streaking her face, and she is terribly, terribly afraid that this nightmare will become a reality.
When chaos reigns at her brother Bill's wedding, the fear intensifies tenfold. When a group of Death Eaters ransack her house, she is tortured for information about Harry. But she holds her ground, even when the Cruciatus Curse strikes her and envelops her, as though hot knives are stabbing her skin. She will not give Harry away, for she doesn't want those open, lifeless emerald eyes to become real.
As the school year progresses, she does whatever she can to fight the good fight at Hogwarts. She is forever taunted by Harry's eyes, and the Death Eaters perusing the school can see her fears in her mind. They forever belittle her, and whenever she gets caught painting graffiti on the wall or doing something to support Harry, she is reminded by the carrows that she will soon see Harry's body lying on the ground, all the life gone from it.
She is frustrated as all heck when she is made to go into hiding over the Easter holidays. She desperately wants to return to Hogwarts and continue fighting. Luna has already been captured, and she doesn't want to leave Neville by himself. Pictures of Harry's lifeless eyes still haunt her; they are the thing that keeps her fighting as hard as she does. She and Molly, her mother, do not speak for ages; the decision to go into hiding caused a rift between them. She knows in her heart that they should be closer than ever now, but she feels a vicious anger towards her, even though she knows her mother is only trying to keep her safe. But doesn't she understand that Ginny's forever haunted by Harry's eyes?
When the day of the Battle of Hogwarts arrives, a flood of emotions roil through Ginny when she sees Harry in the Room of Requirement. His green eyes are honest and full of life, so different from how she feared they'd be when she saw them again. She wants to go out and fight, but she feels so much love for Harry that she can't deny the request to stay safe. But when she is told to leave the room later on, she knows that now, nothing can stop her from fighting.
When Voldemort announces Harry is dead, Ginny's whole world comes crashing down. When she sees his body in Hagrid's arms, she loses all sense. "HARRY! HARRY!" she screams, tears streaming down her freckled cheeks.
But then, suddenly, she realizes something. She looks at Harry's eyes, and staring at them gives her hope. For they are closed, not open, and anyone hit with the Avada Kedavra usually dies with their eyes wide open. Could he be just faking? Could he really be alive? Unless Voldemort closed his eyes for him ... but she sincerely doubts that. Voldemort wouldn't be that kind.
The hope blossoms even more when Hagrid yells, "Where's Harry?" and she discovers that Harry's body has disappeared. The fighting resumes, and she is proud of Neville for standing up to Voldemort the way he did. Before she knows it, she is caught up in a battle with Bellatrix Lestrange. Luna and Hermione are fighting with her, and she fights with a ferocity she has never fought with before. A killing curse almost hits her, missing her by an inch, and it only makes her fight harder. She wants to live now more than ever.
But suddenly, her mother is taking up where she left off, pushing her out of the way and battling Bellatrix. Ginny knows she is sick with grief at the death of Fred, and the girl feels ill with it herself. Her lively, vibrant brother, gone. Of all the empty eyes she imagined over the year, she never thought they would belong to Fred. Seeing him lying motionless on the Great Hall floor caused a tidal wave of sadness to shoot through her.
Ginny is immensely proud of her mother when Bellatrix falls, dead. But fear rises when Voldemort points his wand at her, preparing for the kill.
"Protego!"
And there he is. Her love, her hope, her strength. Standing there, alive, and she knows now that it's going to be finished in a matter of minutes. Joy blazes in her, and she knows her nightmares of his lifeless emerald eyes were just that: nightmares. And, God, she's so proud of him as she watches the confrontation between him and Voldemort. She remembers the young, scared little girl she was at eleven, trying bravely to fight her possession by Tom Riddle, and her knight in shining armor saving her from the Chamber of Secrets. Now he's a man grown into maturity, and as she watches him confront Voldemort, , the first true smile she's smiled all night breaks out on her face.
And low and behold, their wands raise, and it is Voldemort who falls, and Harry who is left standing. Shrieks rise into the air, screams of pure joy and exultation, for Harry is victorious. And Ginny has no need to be haunted by lifeless eyes anymore, for the war is over, and her Harry is safe. They will have all the time in the world now, and as Ginny joins in the group hug with all the people who have supported Harry this entire year, she knows that things are finally going to be all right. Fred's death shook her to her very core, but she's a Weasley, and Weasleys are a strong bunch of individuals. And as long as Harry is here with her, in arm's reach, she is happy. And his emerald eyes are now wide open, but full of wonderful, beautiful life.