Ginny stood on the parapet of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy as the witching hour laid its dark spells about the castle. All was still and quite, but it was anything but peaceful. Instead, it felt like the entire castle was holding its breath in terror, waiting for some ideterminate calamity to fall. The harsh shadows weren't helping Ginny's mood, for she knew what the impending doom was. Harry was reaching the end of his training, and when it was complete, he would have to face Voldemort and his followers on the field of battle to determine the fate of the British Wizarding Community and possibly the entire Wizarding World. If it was anybody else who was the center of so much hero-worship, Ginny would have laughed in thier faces and ignored their claims of greatness. Harry wasn't so easily dismissed. If it was anybody else who was cast in the central role in such a lofty prophecy, Ginny would have given up hope for her way of life long ago. Harry wasn't so summarily discounted. He definitely looked and acted the part of a hero, all gentle manners, deep eyes, cut physique and dark past. Ginny loved all of those things about him and more, but she knew deep in her heart that life wasn't a fairy tale and that heroes more often than not ended up dead. And so she was terrified, which was what lead her to be standing out on a cold and windy castle wall at midnight in the first place. Tonight, Harry was pushing himself even harder in his training, harder than most could survive, and he wasn't winning. Still, every time he got knocked down, he got back up and asked for more. When she and his trainer objected to the damage he was doing to himself, he simply looked them in the eye and told them that he couldn't take it easy because he couldn't expect any mercy from Voldemort. The way he said it, with such finality and grim acceptance broke her heart, and she'd fled the room in tears. That was the other problem with Harry, Ginny decided, every time he bloody looked at her with those deep, sad green eyes, she fell apart inside. She was a strong woman, blast it, and she couldn't let her brave (foolish), handsome boyfriend face all his problems alone. Even as she nodded fiercely to convince herself of that fact, she still couldn't aknowledge the fact that he might not surive the encounter with his arch-nemesis. Slowly, she streched and groaned as her back cracked and complained about the sudden movement after a long period of absolute stillness. She flexed her right wrist, and caught the wand as it dropped into her palm from the Auror's holster on her forearm. Hissing a little at the feel of the cold varshished wood on her numbing palm, she cast the Tempus spell. The hiss turned into a whispered curse as she realized that it was nearly three o'clock in the morning, far, far past time for her to get enough sleep before breakfast. She slowly trudged towards the Gryffindor common room, soon entering the warm castle and sighing in relief. As she made her way past the imposing suits of armor and sleeping paintings, Ginny could only remember the adventures and good times that she'd shared with her friends, back when the world was innocent and not a scary, dark place. Instead of bringing her encouragement, the memories only made her current life seem that much bleaker and more difficult because of the innocence lost so long ago. She was shaken from her dark thoughts as the shrill voice of the Fat Lady demanding a password. She gave it automatically, and climbed through the portrait hole on unsteady legs, wishing for nothing more than a few hours sleep in her warm bed before she had to face the next day. However, the tousled head of black hair that she saw resting on the end of the couch changed her intended course. Harry grunted, then startled awake at her light touch on his arm and met her quizzical look with an even stare from his bright green eyes. "Ginny, are you alright?" His voice radiated concern. "You ran out of the training room pretty fast, and I couldn't fine you all night. What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all. Just a headache." Ginny couldn't meet his eyes.
He gently cupped her chin and drew her head around so he had to meet his piercing gaze. "We both know that's not why you left. So, are you going to tell me what's actually going on?"
Ginny felt tears pricking her eyes again as her gaze dropped to the floor. "I... I..."
"Yes?" Harry prompted.
"Idon'twanttoseeyoudiebecauseIloveyouandeverytimeyougetyourelfhurtintrainingitjustremindsmethatyou'llhavetofaceVoldemortandnobodycanhelpyouagianstoneofthemostpowerfulDarkLordseverandallIcanseeishimkillingandyoudyingallalonebecauseIwasn'ttheretostopit." Ginny's words streamed out in an unintelligible rush as she burst into tears and buried her face in Harry's chest. Harry, somehow having understood his girlfriend's sudden outburst, wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on top of her head, slowly rocking her back and fort.
"Ginny, I can't lie to you. I'm scared spitless at the thought of facing Voldemort in a fight and I don't know how I'm going to survive against his years of experience fighting with the Dark Arts. However, the alternative scares me more."
Harry's admission penetrated through the fog of tears surrounding Ginny's mind and she looked up at him, eyes still puffy and leaking. "What could be scarier than death?"
Harry's eyes were solomn, staring down at her. "Knowing that true evil was there, and I didn't stand up against it. Evil is real, Voldemort is evil, and so he must be resisted. I don't care that there's a prophecy, that's just added motivation. Though it may cost me my life, I will face Voldemort because he is evil and he must be stopped."
Ginny's heart sank. "What about after? You almost make it sound like you plan on dying."
Harry shook his head. "I don't plan on dying, but I am realistic. There's a very strong chance that I won't make it out of the duel with Voldemort. However, I do have something that I think trumps the odds."
Ginny cocked her head. "What's that?"
"You." Harry's stunning smile showed even in the dark of the common room. "I love you, Ginny, and as long as there's breath in my body, I won't stop fighting to make it back to you."
Ginny buried her head back in Harry's chest and listened to his heartbeat. "I love you too, Harry. I don't want to lose you."
She felt more than heard his quiet sigh. "You won't, Ginny. I won't leave you."
Even though it wasn't a promise, even though he couldn't follow through on it even if it had been, that small phrase gave Ginny a small glimmer of hope. And now, today, in the early hours before the sun rose, with Harry's heartbeat and steady breathing in her ear, that small glimmer was enough. The evil one would come, and they would face him like they faced everything else. Together.
-A/N: Whoo for plot bunnies that force you to stay up late on a school night so you can write them down. Actually, the bunny wasn't the main motivation for this, any person who left a review asking for more stuff was. Thanks to you all for taking the time to provide some feedback. I actually am alive and I did listen. I'll be going back through my old stories, adding more content, and adding sequels. The next project that will be getting an update is Back In Black. So, yeah, stick around for that. Anyways, enough of my rambling. I hope you enjoyed this 1188 word story to prove that I do listen and that I'm not dead. Yeah... I'll go get some sleep now.
RoxasGuyXIII out.