Broken and Burned

Harry watched Ron and Hermione go back into the castle. When they had disappeared behind the great oak doors, he turned to look at the rubble spread in front of him. Little by little, he began to nudge the pieces of rubble off the bridge and into the water below. It was cathartic to watch them sink, creating giant ripples where they fell. He came across a particularly large rock, and instead of using his wand, he bent down and began to push it. He used all his strength, reveling in the feeling. It was similar to digging Dobby's grave. It was similar to lifting Fred's lifeless form to move him to a safe place.

He stood back and watched this rock fall, panting slightly from the effort. He thought he could be content spending the rest of his life doing this rather than face what was inside of that castle.

Then he heard her. He could not mistake the sounds of her footsteps anywhere. He turned his head slightly to see her, standing at the other end of the bridge. Her long hair was pushed to one side of her neck, and her face was blotchy, puffy and soot covered. His eyes met hers and found the blazing look that he knew he had definitely fallen in love with.

But it wasn't like out of a book. She made no move to run and kiss him. Instead, she stood there, her eyes still locked on his. He straightened himself and began to walk to her. He would finally be able to touch her, to hold her, and to never let her go from his sight. He would no longer have to be noble or play the hero. He no longer had an entire wizarding world to save. He wasn't the chosen one. He had a beating heart, a soul that was entirely his own, and a girl to love.

He moved closer and saw a cut under her eye and a gash on her long neck, which was still slightly bleeding. He moved his hand up to brush her skin, and she made no move to stop him.

"Ginny, I—"

But he found that he could not get words out. She had begun to cry. The girl who had never succumbed to tears was suddenly drowning in them. And in that moment, he pulled her roughly to him. She buried her head in his chest and shook. A moment later, she withdrew as if he were fire to her touch and turned so that her back was to him. He knew she didn't want him to see her cry.

She still shook slightly, and when she spoke, her voice was uneven and thick with emotion.

"I thought you were dead," she said. Her voice came out harshly, angrily. He stared out onto the expanse of ruined castle. A ruined home. He found that he did not know what to say to her. He knew she was hurt, and most of the pain was from losing her brother. He settled on the truth.

"I had to. He had to believe I was dead." Harry suddenly felt that she was far away from him. Too far for his reach. "I can explain, Gin," he said softly. She didn't say anything for a while, and he stood there, wishing that she would. He wouldn't even mind if he turned around to yell at him, or hex him. Anything would be better than this silence. He had thought they would have hours, days, years to talk.

Finally, she turned to look at him, her eyes soft and sad, no longer blazing. She took her hand in hers, and looked down at it, turning it around in her fingers, as if it wasn't real. He wanted to pull it away. His hands were dirty and grimy, but her touch felt nice. He watched her, still managing to smell that some, wonderful flowery smell as if the entire castle wasn't lying in shambles around them.

"I know that," she said quietly, "you don't have to explain. Let's just go in. Mum sent me in to get you. Everyone wants to see you."

He didn't want to, but just as the night Dumbledore had fallen – nearly a year ago – the soft pressure of Ginny' hand was leading him back to the castle.

Ginny reluctantly extricated herself form her mother's arms. She knew that her Mum needed to make sure that her remaining children were all present and accounted for. Molly Weasley looked down at her daughter, and sudden fear flitted across her features. "I'm just going down to find Ron," Ginny said, kissing her on the cheek. Her mother nodded absently, and patted her cheek clumsily.

Ginny knew that it had already been a week since the battle had ended, but the days and nights seemed to have blended together into one horrible nightmare. They had already buried all of their lost – including Fred, Lupin, and Tonks. She moved quietly though the castle. She was looking for her brother of course, but she was also looking for Harry. Harry, her Harry. Her chest tightened at the thought of him, because she inevitably thought of him dead in Hagrid's shaking arms. How had he been so convincing? How did he trick You-Know-Who? He told her that he needed to, that it was part of the plan, and she accepted that. But it still didn't explain how he managed it. He had offered to explain it to her, but she didn't push it. She felt that he didn't really want to confide in her, that he felt that he was obligated. She didn't want any information that way.

She fought her rising emotion and kept walking. The castle seemed so much smaller now – broken and burned. But still resilient. She still used the giant wooden doors to leave the castle, though the wall was blown away and opened straight onto the grounds. She hugged herself. There was a chill in the air, but her shivering had little to do with it.

She saw him. He was there, under the tree by the lake, sitting with her brother and Hermione.

Ginny was too far to make out their facial expressions, but she was sure they were talking about something important. Perhaps Harry was finally filling them in on how he managed to hoodwink You-Know-Who. After all, Ron and Hermione were just as devastated as she was when they spotted Hagrid carrying him onto the castle grounds. Her chest tightened again. She tried to walk towards them, but she was suddenly gripped with fear. It washed over her suddenly and unexpectedly. She hadn't spoken to him since their brief moment on the bridge.

But it was Harry. Just Harry. She was being silly. She loved him. It almost killed her last year how much she loved him. How much she ached to be around him. But there was something. Something that kept her wanting to stand in that spot and watch him from afar. She was scared of him. Scared of what he could do to her. She always prided in her strength. And he managed to destroy that delusion of herself fairly quickly.

There was more. He was older now. Not just his age – but, he seemed like he had lived many more lifetimes since she had last seen him. What if he had outgrown her?

Ginny instead walked in another direction – towards the freshly instated memorial for those who fought and died in this battle. She found her brother's name and sat down, staring at it. "Fred," she whispered, reaching her fingers out to touch his name, engraved in the white marble. His name was listed beside Dumbledore, Lupin, Moody, Tonks, Dobby… Ginny's chest tightened again. It was perfect. He would've been proud beyond belief to have joined this list.

"Ginny?"

Ginny turned to see Dean Thomas standing a few paces behind her. She smiled at him, and he came forward to sit down next to her. "I haven't seen you in ages, Dean. I'm glad you're okay."

"Yeah, I've been on the run. Didn't know if my dad was a wizard or a muggle." He looked towards the memorial and frowned. "Are you okay?

"Not really," she said, "but I will be one of these days."

"He will want you to be happy, I'm sure," Dean said, nodding towards the memorial.

Ginny nodded. Dean looked a little awkward, but sat down next to her.

"Have you spoken to Harry?" Dean asked. She looked over at him curiously.

"A little," she said, shrugging, "Not too much. He – well, he has a lot of people he has to talk to."

Dean cleared his throat but said nothing. He put a comforting arm around Ginny and she leaned into him. She missed Dean. They had a lot of fights towards the end, but that was ages ago. She was comfortable with him, and she always had been. He was a great listener, and a nice person. Obviously, it was nothing like it had been with Harry. But it was still nice.

"Where's Seamus?" Ginny asked him. The last time she had seen him, he was setting one of those giant spiders on fire. And he wasn't among the fallen, so she assumed he was okay. She hoped he was okay.

"He went home to see his mum. But he'll be back."

"That's good," Ginny said. They sat that way for a while until Ginny felt her chest loosen slightly. She could breathe a little bit.

A/N: I know, I know, I've got two stories going at once. I've just been inspired lately! Check out Chasing Roses (ScoRose)! Hope you enjoy :) Leave a review if you so desire!