A/N Hi! So, this story might sound kinda bizarre, but it just came to me one day when I was swimming and by the time I had done fifty lengths or so, it was all written out in my head. So, here it is! Please review, I appreciate them!
Saving Harry Potter
I'm not a fast swimmer.
I don't have a powerful front crawl or a fierce backstroke.
But swimming saved my life. Swimming stopped me from losing my mind.
One particular couple of months last spring were some of the worst I've ever experienced. I was on a long mission with a couple of other Aurors, Ron not one of them. Maybe if he had, it wouldn't have been so bad. But Ron had been assigned to a mission closer to home – he was only away for a week. My mission was different.
We were based in Albania. It seemed like other dark wizards had picked up some tips from Voldermort and a man responsible for several murders had been hiding there. He knew we were looking for him, so he hid. And we had to find him. Simple
Yes, it seemed a simple mission, which was why I took it. It didn't seem difficult. But it went on for a long time, longer than I've been away since before the Battle of Hogwarts when I was seventeen. I'm thirty six now, and I've been married fifteen years. My anniversary was while we were away actually. I missed it, and I couldn't even send a card. Why? Because Head Auror Bell had forbidden us to send any owls, whatever they carried, in case they were intercepted. Clearly, Head Auror Bell has no wife. Head Auror Bell has no Ginny.
Usually, it was Ginny who saved me. Ginny would talk to me, hug me close and hold my hand. Ginny wakes me from my nightmares, and holds me until I fall asleep. Even Ron can help sometimes, if we're both on a mission. He tells me how stupid I'm being, in his usual blunt fashion. If I was at home and had secretly gone downstairs so not to wake Ginny with my nightmares, Lily would sometimes hear me and follow me into the living room. She would tell me various stories about her life, something that had happened or something she was feeling. Lily knows her Daddy needs things to fill his mind that will push out the images that haunt there while I sleep. Even James and Al can help comfort me sometimes.
I had many people who can save me from my nightmares, dreams and worries. But in Albania, nobody was there to help me, to hold me. In Albania, I was alone.
I'm not sure why my nightmares were so bad on that particular mission. Maybe it was the length of time I was away from home, or maybe it was the fact that Albania reminded me of Voldermort, and every person he killed. Every person that he had killed, so I thought, because of me.
I suppose, partly, it was Cedric Diggory who saved me in Albania. I wish he were here for me to thank him. Cedric had said to me, when I was only fourteen "just mull things over in the hot water. It'll help you think… trust me." I know he didn't mean anything much by it, water was just the key to the egg, but for some reason, one night in Albania, his words came flooding back to me.
Just like I had in my fourth year, I didn't do anything about Cedric's words until it was almost too late. I was nearly out of my mind with stress, grief and worry. But the lake changed it all.
We were staying in tents near a dark forest. We placed regular undetectable charms around us, mostly the ones Hermione had taught me during the hunt for the Horcruxes. A short walk into the forest was a huge, clear lake. I walked over to it, and stripped off to my underwear. Taking a deep breath, I jumped in. It was surprisingly warm, and I soon began to swim, slowly and stiffly. Up and down, up and down I swam, touching the edges of the lake with my fingertips when I reached it. I soon lost track of time as I swam, mulling over everything on my mind.
I thought about my past. I thought about the wizard we were hunting. I thought about my children. I thought about every single person who had died. Most of all, I thought about Ginny, and how much I missed her. I loved her more than anything in the world and I would die for her in an instant. Not seeing, holding, kissing, writing to or talking to her for more than two months had ripped me apart inside. But somehow, thinking over everything as I glided through the water soothed my mind. And, finally, I began to heal the emotional scars I'd received in Albania.
So I went back the next day, and the next. I'd only miss a day if we were busy with the hunt. Slowly, day by day, my worries began to unravel and I let them float away across the lake. Everything made sense. I began to realise that I wasn't to blame for all the death and loss around me. I still missed Ginny of course, but I realised that the sooner I got my mind back into the mission, we could find the wizard and I could go back home to her. The only place I wanted to be.
I just kept swimming, every day, until I became too tired to lift my arms any more.
Up the lake,
And down.
Up,
And down.
I could soon glide smoothly through the water and with every stroke I was pushing away another thought, another worry.
With my head clear, I could concentrate on my job. I won't go into details, but we found the wizard. He was sent to Azkaban, and I was sent home. Where I belong.
I don't need to swim when I'm at home.
I have Ginny to save me.
A/N So, did you like it? Swimming does strange things to me, it really does unlock your mind. Anyway, please review! And maybe read my other stories? Thanks!