Harry Potter and all characters within belong to J.K. Rowling. This fic is in no way affiliated with said author
Death Holds No Fear for Me
by shrinni
Ginevra Weasley sat in a dank cell, waiting patiently for death to come for her. She hadn't been this calm when she first realized where she was and what was waiting for her, but that was a long time ago.
She had been shopping in Diagon Alley with her mum and Ron for gifts. Bill and Fleur's wedding wasn't far off and both Ginny and Ron had put off shopping until the last minute. Ron because he was planning some kind of trip with Harry and Hermione once Harry could escape his relatives, and Ginny because she was too depressed.
Harry's rejection after Professor Dumbledore's funeral had stung. Ginny understood his reasons, wool-headed though they were, but to have Harry distance himself from her, after she had waited for him for so long… She had stayed in her room for a week after returning to the Burrow, coming out only for meals. Hence the frantic, though relatively cheerful shopping she and Ron were doing under their mother's amused gaze.
The three of them were exiting Flourish & Blotts when the Death Eaters struck.
Dozens of masked figures Apperated simultaneously into the wide street; the sharp cracks of displaced air, so many at once, were deafening.
Molly Weasley, acting on instinct, knocked both her children to the ground roughly as the Death Eaters started firing curses into the startled crowd. Panic was instant and near-total. Most ran for cover, screaming as curses cut them down from behind. Those that could Apperated away to safety. Ginny had struck her head on the cobbles she had been pushed down, and she watched everything around her move with a liquid slowness.
Some though, some stood their ground and attempted to defend Diagon Alley, including Molly Weasley.
"Stay down!" Molly had hissed at Ron when he attempted to rise, "Ron, get Ginny to a Floo! Reducto!" this last was shrieked at the closest Death Eater, who had had the misfortune to appear facing away from the Weasleys. The hapless Death Eater was so close that the curse had splashed him across the street, soaking attacking Death Eaters and fleeing wizards and witches alike with gore.
"Mum, we can help!" Ron yelled up at their mum, his voice barely audible above the din.
Moving faster than Ginny had ever seen her, Molly was on her knees beside her children. She grabbed Ron's shoulders, "Ronald Weasley, get Ginny out of here. If you two don't get back to the Burrow safely, so help me I will lock you both in your rooms until you're fifty! Do you understand me?"
Molly and Ron Weasley had stared at each other for long seconds, and something seemed to pass between them. Ginny realized then with a jolt that her mum intended to cover their escape, and that she didn't think she would survive. Ron finally nodded slowly, and Molly jumped back to her feet and began firing curses so fast Ginny could barely understand the words.
She tried to beg her mother not to, tried to beg her to get away with them, but she was too dizzy to form the words. Ron grabbed her and hauled her too her feet, half carrying her towards Flourish & Blotts.
"Apperate?" muttered Ginny, fighting to stay conscious.
"Can't." said Ron shortly as her tried to navigate the wreckage blocking them from the shop's entrance. "I can't Side-Along with you, I'd splinch us both."
Suddenly the ground in front of them had erupted, knocking her out of Ron's grasp. She slammed into the street and blacked out.
When Ginny had regained consciousness, she was in a cell with fifteen other people. All showed evidence of injuries, most had been knocked unconscious before waking in the cell. The one person who hadn't, a tall man Ginny had never met, said that five minutes after the Death Eaters had appeared in Diagon Alley it was in ruins, and all the people that had stood their ground against them had been killed – there were simply too many Death Eaters, and too few wizards willing to stand up to them instead of running for their lives. The Death Eaters had then apparently grabbed anyone incapacitated but still living and escaped, dumping their prisoners in the cell.
Ginny had started sobbing when she heard this, sure that her mother was dead. She cried for hours, locked in an embrace with a total stranger who had seen her sister hit with a Killing Curse.
She didn't cry when seven of her fellow prisoners were killed when they charged the guards who opened the cell door for the first time.
She would have been in the charge if she still hadn't been too woozy to stand. She had thought that so many of them at once could overpower the guards – some of them would be killed, but they should have been able to get their hands on one of the jailer's wands.
Apparently this thought had also occurred to the Death Eaters, for when the door was opened there were ten of them waiting with wands trained on the door.
The desperate rush was shattered before it even began, the Death Eaters laughed as they rapidly cast severing curses at neck level. Blood sprayed the cell walls and the prisoners too injured to stand and join the charge. The other seven prisoners screamed in terror or sobbed hopelessly but Ginny sat silent, watching the Death Eaters.
They didn't wait to see if we were going to run at the door or not, she realized. we would have been killed if we were just standing around.
It was in that moment, while blood was still raining down from the headless corpses of her fellow prisoners, that Ginny realized that they had been dead since the moment they were taken. All that was left before her death was official was however many hours the Death Eaters decided to give her.
The realization was liberating – suddenly Ginny no longer had to worry about her future, about saving her strength for a rescue that would never come in time. Fear leaked out of her, until all that was left was a sadness that she would never see the people she loved again.
When the last of the bodies had fallen, one of the Death Eaters nodded towards them. "Dispose of the bodies," he commanded the others, "Make sure the heads end up somewhere… public." He grinned as the others moved slowly into the room and levitated the remains out of the cell and out of Ginny's sight. None of the prisoners moved a muscle, all but Ginny because they were too terrified to move and Ginny because she had just realized why the Death Eaters had bothered to take prisoners in the first place.
They wanted to wait, to let our families and friends hope that we'd be rescued… and all they'll find is our bodies, dropped somewhere with the sadistic intent of crushing everyone's hope.
Ginny wondered what her brothers would do when they found her body, and was thoroughly depressed. Better if she had died in Diagon Alley, then to let her family… and Harry… wait anxiously for good news that would never come.
As the last body was removed from the cell, the Death Eater in charge leered at the prisoners. "Be seeing you." he said, and closed the door.
Hours passed. Ginny's companions clutched each other, trying to reassure themselves that surely rescue was coming.
Ginny knew better, but she didn't see the point of telling the others. She didn't think they would find the same odd comfort in that knowledge as she had. She sat apart from the others, in the same spot she had been in when the Death Eaters had killed her companions, not bothering to wipe their blood from her face.
She stared at the cell door, but all her concentration was inward. She was going through her memories, reliving each one as best she could/
She was on her sixth birthday party, remembering the chocolate cake that Fred and George had hidden a Tickling Potion in, when the cell door opened again.
There were only two Death Eaters this time, and neither fired curses into the cell, as Ginny had been half-expecting. Instead, one of the Death Eaters swooped in a grabbed a woman from the small huddle of people on the floor. She screamed at tried to wrench her arm out of the Death Eater's grasp, but he pushed her out into the hall as if she weighed nothing at all. The door slammed shut without either Death Eater saying a word.
Perhaps an hour after that the door opened again and another woman was seized. Ginny, unmolested in her watchful seat opposite the door, saw a Death Eater walk by the open door, levitating the body of the woman who had been taken before along the corridor in front of him. Ginny supposed she and the other prisoners were supposed to see the body, so that they would despair.
One prisoner was taken every hour after that, and one body was floated past the cell door where the dwindling prisoners could see. The first two men tried to fight their captors, the last man and the two small girls all begged to be released.
Finally, only Ginny was left. Ginny and the memories that were becoming increasingly bittersweet.
She didn't know how long she sat there alone. She didn't have a watch, and the cell was a large windowless box. Days perhaps, or maybe only hours. She finished the replay of her life, and said goodbye to it like it was an old friend. Well, my life wasn't all that long, but I can't say that it wasn't worth it. She thought, and smiled sadly.
More time passed, and Ginny wondered why she was being left alive so long. Perhaps the Death Eaters knew Harry loved her, despite his efforts to distance himself from her, and were trying to draw him into a trap. Ginny hoped Harry wouldn't fall for it, she was certain that wherever the Death Eaters would draw him out it would be far from her cell.
When the cell door finally opened Ginny stood and let herself be lead without saying anything. She felt like she was floating in a vast ocean, where no emotion could reach her.
The walk was a short one; the Death Eater guided her down the corridor and pushed her into a room at the end, closing the door behind her without entering. She stood by the door facing the only other person in the room, the person who was to be her murderer.
The Death Eater stared at her for a long moment, then reached up and removed his mask.
"Miss Weasley." said Severus Snape.
"Professor." replied Ginny.
Snape studied her, and the silence stretched between them. "I'm told the others were all rather panicked when they entered this room." he said finally, "Understandably, given the circumstances." He pointed down, and Ginny saw that dried blood coated the room's floor. "So why do you remain silent?" he asked her.
"What would be the point?" Ginny asked, looking back up at his face, "I've been dead since Diagon Alley, just without the formality of having been killed yet."
Snape stared into her eyes, an unreadable expression on his face. He seemed to be searching intently for something in her expression. After a moment he slowly raised his wand. "Then I supposed we had better make an end, Miss Weasley." He said, sounding oddly formal.
"What, no torture?" Ginny asked. She had thought she would be tortured first, and though she was glad to skip that part she hadn't really been bothered by its threat. She knew nothing of importance, so the only thing torture would have accomplished would be to make her glad to be a dead woman.
"I have grown tired of the sport." Snape's mouth twisted, as though he had bitten something sour.
Ginny shrugged, "You know that when my brothers or Harry find out you killed me, they'll hunt you down." she said, calmly.
Snape stared at her for a long moment, wand pointed at her heart. "Merlin, I hope so." he whispered.
"Avada Kedavra!"
fin
Author's Note: This popped into my head after reading one too many "Ginny (or Hermione) gets captured and raped and falls in love with her captor!" stories. I was aiming for something a bit more realistic, though I realize since I have no psychology background this is just me babbling - especially since I wrote this without any preperation. I proofread as best I could, please forgive the typos/grammar mistakes I missed.