AN: Write Bellatrix Lestrange and Ginny Weasley as rivals. 916 words.
Ever since the Department of Mysteries, Ginevra Molly Weasley had one goal: she would be better than Bellatrix Lestrange.
Bellatrix reminded Ginny of her horrible first year, under Tom Riddle's thrall. She saw in Bellatrix a similar situation. Bellatrix probably entered it voluntarily. But Ginny nonetheless saw the similarities between her and Bellatrix Lestrange.
It was Bellatrix's sheer power that first prompted that thought. Ever since Ginny could remember, she was adept with curses. Dark magic.
How else would anyone explain how well Ginny had done under Riddle's tutelage?
Admittedly, she didn't remember most of that, but the point still stood. There was something in her that, like Bellatrix, helped her excel under Riddle. She had that power, and that capacity for evil.
Then came the Bat-Bogey Hex. Ginny didn't exactly remember the first time she'd done it- Fred was the one who taught her, she remembered that much- but she was scarily good at it.
In the D.A., Ginny learned the Reducto curse- and her curse was more destructive than all else. The table she hit turned to a small pile of dust. Others' tables were in shards, or broken apart in a few pieces. Even Harry Potter couldn't turn it completely into dust. Not like she could.
Bellatrix Lestrange was a clearly talented dark witch. Only Dumbledore could scare her off.
Seeing that sort of power drew Ginny, with a charisma she couldn't understand. What Bellatrix reminded her of was the power within herself. From there, a wish was born- Ginny wanted to be the better of the two witches.
During the summer, in the privacy of her room, she practiced her spells. With Fred and George gone, it was a little harder to mask the sounds of her practicing magic, but no one ever suspected little old Ginny, anyway.
She needed to be better, stronger, more powerful. Bellatrix had shown her the baseline of what she could be- and she wanted to be better.
After all, despite her talents, she'd never be as evil as Bellatrix.
As her fifth year at Hogwarts went on, Ginny kept up with the news. She tracked the movements of the Death Eaters. Bellatrix was out there, ready to hurt her friends, but Ginny would be ready for her. At least, that's what she told herself.
Outside of class she dedicated herself to the Dueling Club, and practicing in the Room of Requirement. Despite what some people thought, she knew that the Death Eaters would come for Hogwarts eventually. It was only a matter of time, but that wasn't so much Ginny's concern.
She would be stronger, next time. She would beat that witch into the ground, if it was the last thing she did.
It was disappointing when Bellatrix never showed up for the Battle of the Astronomy Tower. Ginny knew she should have been relieved, but nonetheless she found herself wishing she could show what she had learned. She needed to be better than Bellatrix. It was just as important as defeating Voldemort, in Ginny's mind.
It was impossible for her to describe why she needed this so badly. She vaguely wondered, in the aftermath of the battle, if it might have been something like with Ron's desire to be special, to separate himself from the rest of his siblings.
To be fair, it wasn't like Ginny had to try particularly hard to be different from the rest of her family. She was the only daughter, the seventh one. That counted for something, in the magical world.
According to magical theory, seven was the most important magical number, as discovered by several arithomamcers Ginny couldn't even remember. The fact that she was an only daughter added to that, supposedly.
Yet there was something about her that liked being tested. It was a goal to reach, a cause to dedicate herself to- something to sharpen her. She didn't need to distinguish herself, like Ron did. None of this was about distinguishing herself. This was about becoming the best she possibly could for her own sake.
Anger boiled in Ginny's blood.
Her brother was dead.
Her friends were dead.
Harry was dead.
All this, Voldemort and his Death Eaters had taken from her. It was a relief when the fighting broke out again, and there was a dark joy Ginny felt when she laid eyes on Bellatrix Lestrange.
She now could show how she'd improved over the past two years, she now had a target for her anger and her grief.
"Reducto!" Ginny shouted. The curse whizzed past Bellatrix's matted curls, but it got her attention. Ginny ran forward, Luna and Hermione joining her side as Bellatrix began her retaliation.
Ginny could barely make out the names of curses through her own heartbeat and the shouts of the other duelists in the Great Hall. She fought, one spell at a time. She was grateful that Hermione and Luna were beside her: much to her frustration, she was not as good as Bellatrix, not yet.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a green jet of light. Everything seemed to slow down with it.
The Avada Kedavra. Death.
Even with how everything slowed down, Ginny didn't have the time to react, it seemed. Yet Death missed her by an inch, by one lucky inch.
She didn't even notice till it was too late that he own mother had taken up her fight.
"Not my daughter, you bitch!"
The words rang in Ginny's ears. She had lost, and always would.