Chapter One: Over
The rain fell against the window with a loud, rhythmic thrum, a rain that hadn't relinquished since the day it started, almost two weeks ago. I sat wrapped in a blanket I'd had all my life, one with little bunnies and roses dotted across its threadbare cotton, my forehead leaning against the cold, hard glass. The days had been melting slowly into one another, I could barely tell the day from the night.
I had been there, sitting sullenly in silence, for the past couple of hours, a way to think and pass the endless days I had developed out of boredom.. I started shivering…it was always so cold in that god-forsaken house. As I gathered the small blanket around me tighter I suddenly felt a presence behind me, and strong, tan arms snaked around me, making me jump at first, but I recognized those arms. Slowly, I relaxed into them, growing warmer and happier by the second. He wrapped his arms tighter around me, and I leaned into him, savoring the moment as I always did.
He rested his chin on my head and sighed, and I knew he wished we could stay like that forever.
I wished that too.
After what seemed like an eternity of bliss, just sitting there with him wrapped around me, but what was probably just a few minutes, I shifted, turning my face and body towards his, looking into the eyes that had been in my dreams since the first time I had met him, on that train platform all those years ago. Things were so simple then.
The eyes that used to hold such life and light in their emerald green depths now held only sorrow and grim determination, and I knew that it would be soon. He'd have to leave me again soon, and once again, I would be alone.
We didn't say anything. There was nothing to be said. I had imagined this moment ever since he first told me he'd be leaving, possibly never to see me again, and I had thought of so many things I wanted to say, and what I wanted him to say to me…but those things were simply words, words that could not possibly explain the feeling between us. No one really knew just how much we cared for each other, though if anyone had been there in that moment they might have had a glimpse of it.
This thing called love; I never really thought I'd succumb to such a clichéd, whimsical notion as love. But right then, as I looked at him, and he looked at me, I knew I had already been defeated. Without ever having fought, Ginny Weasley had been defeated by love.
As he lowered his head toward mine, slowly, agonizingly slow, both our breathing quickened. I could practically feel my heart bursting out of my chest, it was beating so wildly. Every thought flew from my mind, and only one thing escaped my lips before he claimed them.
"I love you..."
…
"Ginny… Come on, Gin, get up, get up!" whispered a tall, lithe blonde to the sleeping form of her red-headed best friend.
Ginny stirred lightly and finally turned over onto her side to face the other girl and tell her to go away. However, when she saw her friend's face, every thought except one was banished.
"Is it over?" she asked, sitting up quickly and pulling on her discarded sweatshirt from the night before that had been lying beside her cot.
The blonde's face was one of barely concealed excitement, not to mention fear, as she replied, still whispering, "Yes. It's finally over, the storm's gone. They're letting people outside."
Ginny stared at her friend at first with excitement, and then with anxious anticipation as she thought about what it could mean, and what they might find when they finally did emerge from their hiding.
"Luna…Has anyone been out yet? Do you think, maybe…they'll find them?"
As Ginny said this, she could hear the others waking around her, and the commotion of people running about in the floors above them.
"Hey, Gin, what's going on?" came a tired voice from her left, her brother George's to be exact.
As George emerged from the shadows of the darkened room, she could see the others moving about and confused whispers gaining volume as more and more became aware of a change in the air.
Luna stood up from her crouched position next to Ginny's cot and cleared her throat before taking out her wand and whispering "luminos magnos," bathing the large room in a bright yellow light.
Luna again cleared her throat, this time louder as protests emerged from the still slumbering occupants of the room.
"Everyone, just stay calm. I have been told to inform you all that it's all over. They're gone, really gone. The Ministry officials are letting people out now, and the storms are over. We're all going to be okay."
With that, Luna plopped back down on the floor as shocked silence filled the room, followed quickly by the joyful shouts and laughter of the occupants of the room.
Ginny looked around at everyone hugging and crying, their captivity finally over, and wondered to herself what was left out there to be joyful for. A destroyed world, death and devastation, the lives of thousands obliterated in a single, defining moment.
'Nothing is ever going to be the same out there,' she thought sullenly to herself. She watched her brother and Alicia Spinnet wrap around each other in happiness, watched as their innocent hug quickly dissolved into a passionate kiss. She looked away quickly, old tears springing up suddenly in her dull amber eyes as she thought of who couldn't be here to celebrate with them. Who she was supposed to be passionately embraced with, and who she probably never would be with again.
Quickly dispelling these old thoughts of woe from her mind, she wiped the unshed tears from her eyes and proceeded to get up and join in the celebrating. No one noticed her half-hearted smiles, her limp hugs. She followed the rest out of the grand double doors, down the cold stone corridors, up all six flights of stairs she had become so hatefully accustomed to, and into the brightly lit Grand Atrium of the Ministry of Magic, joining in to her brother's goofy song only when prodded.
When the group emerged smiling into the atrium, they were met by the sight of hundreds of others, shouts and laughter greeting their ears.
Ginny looked around for her mum and dad, and was instead greeted by a rush of silvery blonde hair and long, graceful arms wrapping around her middle so tightly she could barely breathe.
"Fl-Fleur!" she managed to choke out as the beautiful witch squeezed the air out of her lungs. "Fleur you're kind of choking me!"
"Oh! I'm sorry, Gen, I am jest so 'appy! We are finally going to be able to go home, oh, the baby won't have to be born een this 'orrid Ministry!" cried Fleur, tearing up as she released Ginny, who was currently gasping for breath. After grabbing hold of Ginny one more time for a brief but still relatively painful embrace, Fleur flounced off happily looking for her next victim.
As Ginny straightened out her shirt, a shout from behind her caused her to turn toward the largest fireplace in the Atrium, where she could see a crowd forming.
"This way, this way everyone! The first fireplace is currently being opened for public use! Please be orderly, now, no shoving," shouted the magically magnified voice of a Ministry Official over the culminating roar of the excited refugees.
Ginny made her way through the ocean of people now congregating in the Golden Atrium, pushing unceremoniously past those in her way to get to the fireplace.
"Ginny!" yelled a familiar voice from her left. She turned to see her mother's fiery red messy bun bobbing toward her through the mass of bodies, and was relieved to see it accompanied by her father's ratty old green cap he had become rather fond of lately.
"Mum! Dad, I'm over here!" she yelled back as she was shoved further toward the fireplace by the overenthusiastic crowd.
Thankfully, her mum's tired face emerged from the forest of people and grabbed her away towards a more sheltered alcove, where she could see the rest of her family waiting.
Molly practically tossed Ginny into the alcove before jumping in herself, barely escaping the new rush of people emerging from the overflowing lifts. Finally, Arthur joined them and the Weasley's were reunited, save one, of course.
"Ah, there now, everyone's all together, let's see one, two, three…" began a slightly out of breath Molly Weasley as she reenacted a mother hen counting her chicks.
Ginny shuffled over to where Bill and Charley were sitting, their faces barely masking the overwhelming desire to rush out of the hell-hole they had all been living in and find their brother, the very same desire Ginny herself was having a lot of trouble overcoming.
"Hey, Gin," said Charley quietly, looking up at her from behind long red lashes, the look in his eyes one of rekindled hope and determination. Ginny knew she could count on her brothers to help her find Harry just as much as she could to help find Ron and Hermione.
"Hey, Char," she whispered back, her eyes reciprocating the feeling.
Ginny knew it was the opportune time to bring her inevitable argument into light; she was not going to take no for an answer
"I hope you two know that I'm going with you, out there. There is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it. Don't even try to argue with me, please," she said her voice at first holding a tone of authority and hardness, but ending in a slightly more pleading fashion. Not exactly what she'd hoped for, but, by the looks on her brother's faces, she had gotten her point across quite nicely.
"Hadn't even dreamed of it, Gin. Who could win?" said Bill resignedly, looking up at her for the first time.
"We want you to go with us, I mean, he's your brother too, isn't he?" added Char, a brief flash of pain crossing his face at the mere mention of his lost brother.
At first, Ginny was a bit taken aback by their abrupt agreement to let her go, but then again, she knew these were not the only Weasley's she would have to win over.
….
"Absolutely not!" yelled an extremely irate Molly Weasley, her hands on her hips, death glare set on anyone who dared tell her otherwise.
"Mum, there's nothing for you to worry about. I'm not a little girl anymore. I'm an 18 year old woman, and there is absolutely nothing you can do or say to convince me not to go out and look for my brother. Nothing," replied Ginny, "can keep me from going out after any of them."
"She's got a point, mum. I mean, Ginny is 18. That's younger than you were when," began Charley, but he was cut by Molly.
"Oh, don't start all that nonsense again; I know very well how old I was when I joined the war. But, Ginny, this is different. We still don't know enough about what's happened out there. Sure, they're telling us it's safe to go out, but how do they know so well? The storm could begin again and then where would you be? I forbid it, Ginny. I will bar you myself if I have to."
With that, Molly folded her arms across her chest, heaved a great, loud sigh, and ended any further discussion with a piercing glare that any of the Weasley's could've told you felt like a knife wound.
Ginny glared at her mother, shook her head, and turned around to face her brothers.
Fred looked down at her, mouth opening in further retaliation, until he saw the look on his sister's face. His jaw clamped shut, and he turned to George and nodded to the least crowded fireplace that had just been opened.
The twins looked back at their mother, still resolutely staring down any opposition from her younglings, and then turned to Charley and Bill. They all nodded, and without warning, Fred drew an inconspicuous hand out of his pocket, flicked a tiny black pebble to the floor at Molly's feet (who noticed nothing) and proceeded to walk toward the hearth, George at his heels.
Bill grabbed Ginny's elbow, who was still turned away from her mother as if in anger, and started tugging her off as if to talk to her privately. Ginny started without hesitation and Charley followed, right before the tiny black pebble at Molly's feet made itself known to the rest of the inhabitants of the Atrium.
It gave an incredibly high-pitched whirring noise before it erupted into a cloud of putrid black dust, leaving Molly and the rest of the unsuspecting crowd of refugees in total darkness.
Ginny, Bill, Charley, Fred, and George all hurried toward the fireplace, wands a light with a special spell designed to see through the smoke. George was the first to reach it and he dug around in his pocket for a handful of old floo powder he had handy just in case.
The rest of the Weasley children finally reached the hearth and crammed in, George throwing the floo powder down and yelling "Diagon Alley" as loud as he could over the confused and angry screams of the disgruntled folk left in the dark.
AN: well, I'm guessing you can probably tell this is my first ever attempt at writing fan fiction. I hope I didn't do too bad, and I would extremely appreciate any constructive criticism as long as it won't make me cry…so have at it and review please!!