A/N: Well let's get this out of the way in the beginning. MAJOR HBP SPOILERS! DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE BOOK!
There, now you can't blame me. I can't believe Dumbledore is dead. I'm in a state of shock. Am I the only one who hates Snape more than Voldemort now? I mean he had Dumbledore's trust, and then…I HATE HIM SO MUCH! And this whole thing about Harry not going to Hogwarts next year…what the? Oh well, JKR knows what she's doing.
Let's say this again. HBP SPOILERS. I REPEAT. HBP SPOILERS.
Now let's have a moment of silence in memory of Dumbledore.
Ok, moment's over. This story picks off where the book left off. It's a missing moment from the end.
Disclaimer: HBP SPOILERS! HBP SPOILERS! Well I hope I've said that enough. And nothing here is mine.
…he felt his heart lift at the thought that there was still one last golden day of peace left to enjoy with Ron and Hermione.
"Harry!"
Harry turned to face the girl running towards him, her red hair streaming behind her. When Ginny reached him he felt his stomach seize up.
"Harry," Ginny said out of breath. "Harry, I don't care!"
Harry groaned. "Ginny, please. Please don't make this any harder than it already is."
"Let's go for a walk Ron." Hermione said quickly, grabbing an open-mouthed Ron's hand and dragging him to the other side of the lake.
"But I don't care!" Ginny insisted, stamping her foot. "I can take care of myself! I got invited into the Slug Club because of my defense skills!"
"Ginny, you are an amazing and talented witch." Harry said, grasping her shoulders. "But hexing Zacharias Smith and facing Voldemort," Harry could tell Ginny tried very hard to suppress the usual shudder at the sound of the name. "are two very different things." He finished firmly.
"I could do it." Ginny grumbled.
"I don't want to find out whether you can or can't Ginny, that's the point!" Harry said exasperatedly. "All I want is for you to be happy."
"You make me happy!" Ginny said determinedly. "And I know I make you happy."
"You could be happier." Harry plowed on. "Someday you'll find a good, safe, complete man that makes you happier than you could imagine, a man I couldn't even hold a candle to."
Ginny shook her head. "Never Harry. Never. I know we're young, I know you're "The Chosen One", I know there are hundreds of creatures out there that want you dead, and want me dead for being associated with you. But the thing is, I don't care. When I'm with you nothing else matters. When I'm with you I feel safer than I ever have, or ever will."
"But you're not Ginny!" Harry exclaimed. "If we stay together and you die I could never forgive myself. Voldemort can't know how I feel about you! Voldemort can't know I love you!"
A ringing silence met his last words. He began to walk away but Ginny pulled him back and grasped both his hands.
"What did you say?" She croaked.
"Nothing." Harry replied gruffly.
"I heard you!" Ginny said, eyes blazing. "I heard you, so don't you dare try and deny what you just said!"
"I didn't mean it." Harry said blandly, looking at his feet.
"Look me in the eye and say that."
Harry looked up at Ginny slowly. Her eyes pierced into his soul, searching him, seeing everything. Harry feebly began to speak. "I…I…I can't do this. Damn it Ginny, we can't do this!"
"Why not?" Ginny said impatiently.
"Because!" Harry said, wrenching his hands from Ginny's hold. "Everyone I love dies, everyone! I have to keep you safe! Voldemort can't know how I feel about you."
Ginny regarded him for a moment. "But he'll find out somehow, won't he?"
"What do you mean?" Harry asked quickly.
"Well, last year, I remember that bond between you and Voldemort. How he could see your thoughts and you could see his…an emotion as powerful as love, that would be hard to hide, wouldn't it? And you were never very good at Occlumency, were you?"
Harry's insides were boiling. "I'll find a way to hide it." He said through clenched teeth. "I'll find a way to stop loving you."
"Then you're letting," Ginny sucked in a deep breath, "Voldemort win, aren't you? You're destroying love, trying to breed indifference."
"To keep you safe!" Harry interjected.
"Is that what Dumbledore would have wanted Harry?" Ginny continued, unfazed. "For Voldemort to destroy more love? For people to be unhappy? For Voldemort to ruin more lives, for him to dictate something else? I've been told the one thing Voldemort can't understand, always underestimates, is the power of love. Who knows, maybe it's our love that will stop him in the end!"
"And what if it's our love that ends up killing you?" Harry said frustrated.
"That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." Ginny said resolutely.
"Well I'm not willing to take that risk Ginny!" Harry said as Ron and Hermione came back into sight.
Ginny sighed deeply and looked over to Dumbledore's tomb. Harry followed her gaze, and with a jolt he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard a phoenix song in his ear. The melody began to fade and Dumbledore's reassuring and familiar words filled his head.
"There is a room in the Department of Mysteries, that is kept locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than forces of nature. It is also, perhaps the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that resides there. It is the power held within that room that you posses in such quantities and which Voldemort has none at all. That power took you to save Sirius tonight. That power also saved you from possession by Voldemort, because he could not bear to reside in a body so full of the force he detests. In the end, it mattered not that you could not close your mind. It was your heart that saved you."
And unbidden, unwanted, memories of Dumbledore's speeches continued.
"Yes Harry, you can love. Which, given everything that has happened to you, is a great and remarkable thing. You are still too young to understand how unusual you are Harry."
"You are protected, in short, by your ability to love! The only protection that can possibly work against the lure of power like Voldemort's! In spite of all the temptation you have endured, all the suffering, you remain pure of heart, just as pure as you were at the age of eleven, when you stared into a mirror that reflected your heart's desire, and it showed you only the way to thwart Lord Voldemort, and not immortality or riches. Harry, have you any idea how few wizards could have seen what you saw in that mirror? Voldemort should have known then what he was dealing with, but he did not! But he knows it now. You have flitted into Lord Voldemort's mind without damage to yourself, but he cannot possess you without enduring mortal agony, as he discovered in the Ministry. I do not think he understands why, Harry, but then, he was in such a hurry to mutilate his own soul, he never paused to understand the incomparable power of a soul that is untarnished and whole."
Snippets of the conversations began to swirl around in Harry's brain.
"A force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than forces of nature. It is also, perhaps the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that resides there…"
"…soul that is untarnished and whole…"
"…it mattered not that you could not close your mind…"
"…you are protected, in short, by your ability to love…"
"…saved you from Voldemort for he could not bear to reside in a body so full of the force he detests…"
"…only protection that could possibly work against the lure of power like Lord Voldemort's…"
"…power held within that room that you posses in such quantities and which Voldemort has none at all…"
"…yes Harry, you can love."
"Harry?"
Harry snapped out of his trance at the sound of Ginny's voice.
"It's going to be dangerous." He said gruffly.
"What?" Ginny said slowly, obviously trying very hard to keep her voice level.
"It's going to be dangerous. I can't promise both of us will make it alive." Harry said, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible.
"Are…are you saying what I think you're saying?" Ginny said in disbelief.
"You need to promise me though that if I ever tell you to hide, if I ever tell you to flee, if I ever tell you to run and save yourself. You must obey. That's the one condition I have. Do I have your word?"
"Harry, I—"
"Do I have your word?" Harry repeated.
"I really—"
"Your word." Harry said emphatically.
"Yes." Ginny sighed. "You have my word."
Harry enveloped her in a hug and Ginny whispered in his ear, "I love you Harry. I always will."
Harry filled with warmth as Ron and Hermione reached them. He broke the embrace and stood with his arm around Ginny. Harry was surprised to see Ron's arm was around Hermione in the same way his arm was around Ginny.
"So I take it…" Harry trailed off, not wanting to embarrass Ron if it was not true.
"And you as well…" Ron said, obviously thinking along the same lines.
"Yeah. But if you hurt her mate, I swear—" Both boys halted when they realized they had been speaking in unison.
As the four began laughing Harry caught the faint wafts of a phoenix's song. They began to walk aimlessly around the grounds, allowing Harry's mind to wander and to ponder the question of if he had done the right thing. Almost immediately Dumbledore's smiling face appeared in his mind's eye. "I'm still your man." A reassured Harry told Dumbledore in his head.
"I always will be."
A/N: (Sniff) I wish it ended like that. The Harry/Ginny thing almost upset me as much as Dumbledore. For a long time I was in denial about Dumbledore's death, but once I read that his picture was up on the wall in his office I was just like, "Wow…he's really gone. He's not coming back." Oh well, this is my first real H/G fic. Did you like it? Or if you want to join the Dumbledore's Death Support Group I'm considering forming, drop a review.
I still can't believe he's gone…Harry Potter without Dumbledore?
Thank you for reading.