From Phlegm to Fleur

Ginny went slowly up to her dormitory in the Gryffindor Tower. Her mind was spinning wildly. The last twelve hours was the worst of her life. Even worse than her first year in the chamber. She had lost a brother. Friends. Him, almost. She had fought the darkest witches and wizards of her time, maybe of all the time. And now she was alone. Yes, the tower was full of fighters, but she was alone. Hermione had disappeared up to the boy´s dormitory with Ron and Harry several hours ago. Her parents were staying in the common room. "Just in case," they said. Ginny thought they weren't going to sleep at all that night. She wondered if any of them were going to sleep very well for weeks, even months. She didn't know if she was going to sleep at all. She dreaded what she would dream of, anyhow she was sure it wasn't going to be pleasant. She entered the dormitory and looked around. She looked at the other beds. All the seven of them had been through so much. Many had lost many family members during the last couple years. They had all tried to protect the younger students the last year, taking more detentions than was given to them. And last of all, fighting in the final battle. Two of them hadn't survived the fight, one was badly injured. Going in to the dormitory would never be the same. She would always feel the clump in her stomach looking at her classmates´ beds. She dumped down at the bed that had been hers for the last six years. She didn't have the energy to get ready for bed. She hadn't the energy to do anything at this moment. A soft knock on the door made Ginny jump. She was so lost in thoughts that she had forgotten for a moment there were other people in the castle. Ginny stood up to answer the door. At the door stood a silver blond haired woman. The natural beauty that always surrounded her, wasn't so present as usually. Her face showed marks of hours of hours of crying, dark marks were easily visible under her eyes, her clothing was ripped and bloodstained, her hair was almost as bushy as Hermione's was on a normal day. Her outlook was a totally mess, and Ginny could only guess who bad she looked, even though that didn't matter anymore. Maybe her looks would matter one day, but she couldn't find anything less important right now.

"Yes?" Ginny said after a long minute of silent between the two women.

"Can I come in? I don't want to be alone and Bill is looking after your brothers. Fleur looked expectantly at Ginny. Ginny was forced to remember that the woman in front of her was only five years older than herself, in a foreign country that had been in war with itself for the last couple of years, that she had been fighting alongside them sins day one, never turned away.

"Yes, you can come in. I don't think any of the other girls will sleep her tonight." She held open the door to let Fleur enter. "Actually," Ginny said almost as an afterthought "two of them will never sleep here again, and a third are so bad hurt that we don't know if she would survive until the morning." Ginny broke down crying as she finished her sentence. Fleur wrapped her arms around Ginny and guided them to one of the beds. She was stroking Ginny's hair and whispering soft words to her.

"Shhh. Everything is going to be okay Ginny. It hurts now, but we will get through this. Everything is going to be okay." Fleur repeated it over and over again. Ginny cried for what felt like hours, Fleur continuing to stroke her hair and whispering those soft words. When Ginny had emptied herself from tears, her sadness changed to anger. Her anger was directed at Fleur and her soft words.

"How do you know it is going to be okay? How do you know I will get through this? You don't know anything. ANYTHING. You don't know who it is to lose a brother. You don't know who I'm feeling right now." Ginny screamed on and on. Angry tears were streaming down her cheeks. Fleur let her scream on, just casting a silent charm around them, so that if there were any lucky one sleeping close by, they wouldn't wake up.

"Yes, I know" Fleur answered silent when Ginny had shoot herself silent. "Yes, I know everything will be okay. I know you would manage it. I may not know exactly who you are feeling right now, however I know how it is to lose a brother" Ginny just stared at Fleur.

"What" Ginny whispered.

"I once had a little brother. I was ten when he died. Gabriel was one, so she doesn´t remember him. He was seven. His name was Garon. He was this sweet little guy, even though I hated him sometimes. We argued a lot, like all siblings I know. I had just a couple of mounts left until I was going to Beauxbaton when it happened. We were fighting as usual. My parents weren't there. With a combination of underage magic and my Veale magic, I ended up hurting my brother. I hurt him so much that he died of the damage. My parents understood something was wrong when I began to scream. I panicked. Thought it was my fault. In one kind of a way it was my fault. My parents never blamed me for it. It was after all an accident. I screamed and screamed for hours. Didn't dear to sleep in my own bed for weeks afterwards. Each night I had terrible nightmares. My parents were afraid I wouldn't go to school as planned. We had meetings with Madam Maxime, made special assessment so I could go home anytime I wanted or needed, a silent charm around my bed so the other girls wouldn't wake up because of me screaming from my nightmares, but instead alerting one of the teachers. I suffered a long time from the loss of my brother and the guilt, but I came through it. Yes, I still miss him terribly, and there isn't a day when I don't think about him. He is the reason I'm so protective of Gabrielle. I don't want it to happen one more time, to lose my sister too. Moreover, I had to live on, not burying me in grief. And so do you. Yes, you lost many more people in this war than I did, but I have lost friends too. One of them was the very first victim of this war, one that the government didn't accept was a victim for nearly a year. Maybe I haven't seen many of my friends and family die, my friends and classmates tortured, but I know who it feels to lose those you love. And I know you can get through this. Bill has told me about your first year here. How much that was robbed from you that year. How you still after that can walk with a raised head. How you all this year has been a symbol and a hope for all those other students. You are a strong woman. You haven't been a child for years, and that takes a very tough person to do so. Yes, you are allowed to be sad. You can grief. Everyone are. You are allowed to laugh, because those who fought but didn't make it through, they fought for those who survived to be happy." Fleur smile at Ginny. A warm smile, but Ginny could see the sadness shining in her eyes.

"Thanks for telling me. You are right. We can't stop living just because some of us can't." Ginny smiled weakly back at Fleur, however she had a burning passion in her eyes. She knew it was going to be tough. Knew there were a long way back to her normal life, if there was something like a normal life. She knew she was going to manage to get back, if not the Death Eaters would win in a way. And with that though she declared she needed to shower before bed. At the threshold to the bathroom she turned around to Fleur "Do you mind Fleur, making my hair afterwards?"

"Of course not Ginny. I would love to do it." Fleur responded. With that Ginny turned and walked in to the bathroom. As the door shut close behind Ginny, both the women knew that Phlegm was no longer with them.