"Well, some nights, I wish that this all would end
Cause I could use some friends for a change." –Fun, Some Nights.
A tear ran down my face as I left the ancient castle. It wasn't out of happiness, but it wasn't out of sadness either. It was just there. It seemed to just represent all the emotions the place had ever given me; from happiness to sadness, excitement to disappointment, fear to confidence… this building had been the backdrop to most of the pinnacle events in my life for the past seven years. I'd had my first kiss here, my first… time here, first real exams here, first boyfriend here, first breakup here, first near death experience here, first real duel here, first and only time I'd seen a brother of mine dead on the floor here.
Admittedly it hadn't all been good, but it hadn't all been bad either. And this last year, the first year without the trio to look up to, the first year I'd been the only Weasley at the school, I'd even managed to get head girl! And, even more importantly, Gryffindor once again got the quidditch cup. Worked hard for it too, I must say.
But not it's gone, finished, ended. The chapter has been closed, if you will, no more house cup, no more school quidditch, no more trips to Hagrid's hut, no more feasts in the Great Hall, no more sneaking out at silly o'clock in the morning, no more homework down by the lake.. Gosh I'm going to miss this place more than I ever imagined.
Anyway, I'm in this state as I sit on my own on the Hogwarts Express. I don't know why I'm alone really, it just seemed fitting. Every year I would sit here with Neville and Luna. The trio would always be in a compartment a few down; we'd often share a carriage with them afterwards up to the castle. But that's all changed. Harry's dead (I think), Ron and Hermione are on the run (I think), Luna's moved to an African colony with her dad until everything had 'died down' (I think), and Neville is off helping refugees of the war (Or so I've heard). But no, my parents had insisted that I go back to Hogwarts for the rest of my educated years. Well, it was only a year really but still. I suppose I can't complain though, I loved Hogwarts, still love it to be fair. I know the final battle was there and all that but still, the majestic beauty of the place just overtook the senses and overrode all emotions. It was a truly exceptional place. But it would never be my home; as much as I love it I will always love The Burrow more. Everywhere I go there I'm reminded of Fred and Harry. To start with I hated the fact, but now I've grown to accept it. It's nice in the way that when you're older you can walk around the areas you frequented as a child and just be filled with these bittersweet memories of days gone by. Of past happiness's and sadness's.
The Hogwarts Express pulled into Kings Cross Station. This'll be the last time I get to pull into the station and meet all of my family off of the train. An odd excitement starts to build up in my belly. I'd stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas so I haven't been home in ages. I miss it, I honestly do.
Except when I get off of the train it's not my entire family waiting there for me, well it wouldn't have been Fred or Ron anyway but you know, it's just Percy. Don't get me wrong I love him to bits. But still. Percy? I honestly don't think I can deal with his incessant ponderings the whole journey home. I can just hear my mother's voice right now: 'Be grateful you have him. People have had entire families wiped out in this war.' Because, you know, all she can ever talk about it war. It's all I hear, war this, and war that. I'm sick of it. It's not as if I'm immune to the consequences. I've lost friends and family and teachers alike, mum just seems to forget all of this. She cries all the time too, tells us we all need to stay strong but then goes and cries anyway; and when she's like that nobody can comfort her. Not me, not Percy, not Bill, not Fleur, not even dad. I still remember that time last year as if it was yesterday. It was just after the war. Mum was sat on the sofa. Her body was rattling with empty sobs, empty because she'd already used all of her tears up. She hadn't eaten in two days. She looked frail and ill and not how a mother should look. At that moment George walked through the door, he looked pale and lacked his usual smile. He was wearing a jumper with a large F on the front. He still does that, you know, wears Fred's clothes just to feel closer to him. But mum didn't know that. She thought it was Fred walking through the door. It broke my heart to see it, mum's face lighting up with a smile, she ran across the room with more energy than I'd ever seen her use and threw herself on George. She started just muttering his name over and over again, except she was muttering Fred, not George. His face when he had to explain who he was to his own mother. She broke down, he broke down, we all broke down. It was just a messy situation in general to be honest.
"Ginny, over here!" Percy shouted, interrupting my thoughts as I hopped off the train. As if I actually couldn't see him anyway. He was right there; his red hair and spectacles weren't actually conspicuous.
"Percy." I mumbled it's not that I liked sounding ungrateful; I just wanted to see my entire family for the first time in months.
"We have to walk about half a mile and then we get a portkey to The Burrow. Okay?" Business like as always, our dear Percy.
"Okay sounds good." I suddenly feel drained of all energy; I can't even muster up a proper reply. What is wrong with me?
And then we begin to walk to the portkey. I just follow Percy; as much as I love him we really have nothing in common except a gene pool so I really struggle to make conversation. Instead we just lapse into a comfortable silence. Silence, it's a weird thing; I used to hate it. It just used to be this awkward thing that made time goes slow. But now I love it. The calm it brings, the emotions it can hold so close to itself. Silence is my friend. One of the only ones I have left.
"Ah. Here we are." Percy smiled; obviously he was proud of himself for performing such a menial task. I mean finding a portkey, wow. It's not like he's surrounded by amazing witches and wizards who have fought tooth and nail for the cause that they feel is right, no matter which side it falls on. This time the portkey just so happens to be an old copy of a British newspaper, the Daily Mail. If the situation had of been different I would have made sure to keep the newspaper afterwards and show it to dad, but right now everyone's just too distracted to care. I miss the old times. The simpler times. Times without war. They were so much easier and way more fun. It felt like I had a proper family, not just a small cluster of people who clung together because it meant a tiny bit more protection from other small clusters of people on the other side of the fence. Funny really, nobody calls it family any more.
"Ginny, if I were you I'd be a little bit careful around mum today." Percy warned me.
"Oh right, why?"
"She's a bit," he began to wave his hands around a bit as if for emphasis, "distracted today. We got a letter. We think it might be from," he suddenly stopped talking before leaning in closer and mumbling in my ear, his breath tickled my neck and not in a nice way, "Ron." Wow, a letter from my brother. Big news.
We then looked around to see who was looking and grabbed the newspaper, I closed my eyes and I felt the familiar tug at my naval before landing on the sounds ground. I didn't even need to open my eyes to know where we were. The sweet scent of home filled my nostrils. Of dewy grass, of wild lilies in the pond, of the British countryside rolling around us… gosh I'd missed this. I slowly opened my eyes and rose to my feet, the whole side of my body that had hit the floor was damp but I couldn't even care. I didn't even care about what Percy had warned me about, I just wanted to be in the house and be at home. I began to run towards the house, our house, my home. But wait, what was that? A fleeting vision of a black cape, someone running. No, it couldn't be. I ignored it as best as I could, blamed it on my imagination running away with me. It had to be, right?
"Ginny!" I heard Percy shout behind me before I felt myself being thrown at the floor, his body covering mine. Simultaneously I heard an earth shattering Bang. The ground beneath me seemed to shake with the force of it before a shower of shrapnel fell over us.
"Go." Percy demanded.
"But-" I began. I was not used to this new, harsher Percy.
"Just go." He muttered before standing up and pulling me to my feet. He then gave me a small push towards the gate; I turned towards the house only to see it up in flames. Percy pushed me again, harder than before. I couldn't even formulate a simple sentence; I just did as I was told and turned and ran away from my home. The one place I'd needed. The place in flames. I caught a fleeting glimpse of Percy running towards the house before I felt my wand in my pocket and apparated away.