Third POV. My character is Ginny Weasley. (Written for the Hogwarts Games Challenge: Running, Hurdles and Men's Archery.). Dedicated to my best friend. Also, thanks to me beta: MissingMommy.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter, although I'd love too :). Please r&r
She is the only child left at home now and naturally with every passing day, she feels more lonely than she has ever done before. Her eleven year old brother left for Hogwarts only a month ago, but it seems to her as if it has been over a decade since they last met.
Although she spends every morning gazing out of her bedroom window in anticipation of a letter from him, he only writes occasionally and the contents of the letter are always the same. He repeatedly talks about his two best friends- the Boy Who Lived and the brightest witch of her age. Her parents are happy with his choice of friends, but she is slightly envious and unsure. "He's moved on," she keeps telling herself, "and soon it'll your turn to move on too."
He comes home for the summer, along with her three other brothers with many a story to tell. Obviously, each one features the famous Harry Potter and the witty Hermione Granger. The majority of his time he now devotes to writing letters to both of them. He receives prompt replies from one, but not a word from the other and she sees that over time, he starts to look anxious.
On the 31st of July she awakes with a high-pitched shriek from her mother. She hurries down the stairs to find out what is wrong and is taken aback by what she sees. There, only a few feet in front of her, stands the famous Harry Potter, along with three of her brothers who are undergoing the painful wrath of her mother.
"How dare you take that enchanted car," she hears her mother scream. It isn't long before that she realises what had happened and her heart sinks. Once again she has been left out of the fun.
Through the course of the day, she finds that she as much as she tries, she can't face her brother's new friend. It is obvious that she admires his bravery and valiance, but when it comes to speaking to him, her own courage just disappears. Seeing her in this cowardly state, her brothers do nothing but smirk.
"Famous Harry Potter," a pale, blonde boy in the shop taunts, "Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."
From the moment she sees him, a dislike of the pale-faced boy forms up inside her.
"Leave him alone. He didn't want all that!" she retorts, before she can stop the words from pouring out of her mouth.
She hastily fixes her gaze on the ground as a pink tinge appears in her cheeks. The sight of her brother and the bushy-haired girl making their way through the crowd to their best friend's defence, however doesn't escape her notice.
The ride to Hogwarts is one of a kind and she enjoys it immensely. The only things missing from the delightful experience are her brother and Harry Potter.
"They'll be alright," her older brother, Percy, assures her. But she isn't so confident. Neither is the girl sitting at the extreme end of the compartment clutching 'Hogwarts, A History' in her hands, her mind most certainly not on the book she is holding.
She willingly spills all her deepest secrets to the boy in the book. She tells him about herself, her six brothers, even about Harry Potter and the close bond he shares with his two best friends.
Tom Riddle always tells her that in order to help her to get noticed by him, he needs to know more about the boy that she admires. She readily consents and supplies him with all the knowledge about the boy that she knows.
She is so engrossed in the diary that she even fails to see the trio, talking in hushed sounds about voices that only one of them can hear.
Attacks start taking place in the school and she can't remember where she had been when the crime took place. She becomes suspicious of Tom Riddle, and in vain tries disposing of the diary in the girl's bathroom.
In the meantime, rumours of the Boy Who Lived being Slytherins' heir spread through the school like hot fire. One of her brothers is slightly wary, two of them make a joke about the whole affair. The fourth red-head, along with the muggle-born girl just stand by his side, all the time.
She forces herself to listen to the boy narrating the story of how they once again saved the day to two bewildered teachers and to her parents, but she can't prevent the fat tears from rolling down her grimy cheeks.
Even though their friend was petrified, she soon finds out that the girl still played a big part in discovering who the culprit was.
The three had never become two. Even temporarily.
She hardly crosses their path during Third Year, but whenever she does, he is always with them. Over the past two years, their friendship has strengthened so much, it is almost hard to believe. Whatever they do, it is always together and she is confident that it isn't ever going to change.
She is as astonished as everyone else is when his name comes out from the Goblet of Fire. With all the enchantments and protections being taken, no one in their wildest dreams expect something like this to happen.
Her brother's jealousy of his friend, who always gets to be in the spotlight, now reaches no end. Thanks to his envy, they have actually stopped talking to each other. Deep inside herself, she knows this won't be for long. They need one another; they really do.
Each night after the first task, she observes them sitting together in the Common Room, in deep, intense conversation.
Every time she, or anyone else pass by, they lower their voices and talk only in muffled tones, until they are alone again.
Oh- How she wishes to be involved in their discussions, a part of their group.
Her eyes grow wide with shock and distress as she watches Harry Potter appear, through thin air desperately clutching Cedric Diggory's dead body in one hand and the Triwizard Tournament Trophy in the other.
"What happened in the maze? Who killed Cedric Diggory?" She longs to know, but is sure that she won't be one of the first to receive the answers.
She goes to seek advice from the brightest witch of her age one day, when they are all residing at the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix for the summer.
"Whenever he talks to me, I suddenly become so shy and then I just don't know what to do," she tries to explain to the girl.
"Just be yourself," is the reply she gets. "Move on."
Easy for her to say, she is one of them.
The DA is formed, and with great reluctance he agrees to teach them Defence spells. She thinks that this will make her more involved in their conversations and acquainted with the secrets they share, but is once again wrong. Their hushed conversations still continue and the only time they actually make conversation with the members of the DA, outside of meetings, is when they inform them about the date of their next gathering, through the enchanted coins they have been given.
She catches him for the third time, one night, coming back to the common room, with a pale look on his face, rubbing his temples vigorously.
Only this time- she manages to summon up the courage to confront him. As he is making his way to where the other two sit she walks over to him, holding her head high.
"Where have you been?" she asks, innocently.
"Umm...remedial potions," he uncertainly replies, determinedly looking down at his shoes, as if to avoid her questioning gaze.
She nods and watches as he walks over towards his two friends, whose eyebrows are arched in question and concern.
Is it only them who got to know the truth?
Finally, for the first time in her life, after much consideration, they include her in one of their adventures. At first, he disapproves of putting all their life in danger, but, after repeated persuasion, he agrees to let them join him.
Sometimes, she thinks, he behaves too nobly.
The only 'family member' he has left, who actually cares for him has just been killed and he shuts himself away from the rest of the world. The other two are sympathetic towards him and they both express their misery in different ways. The brainy one conceals her sorrow by burying herself in homework and books; her brother on the other hand sits in the corner on his own, in a world no one else is a part of. She watches the scene quietly, with a sadness tugging at her heart. They undergo too much for fifteen year old children.
They are back at Hogwarts; their friendship as whole as ever. Everything seems back to normal, but she doesn't fail to notice him disappearing from the common room after dinner, from time to time.
The other two wait anxiously for him to come back and engage themselves in a conversation with him almost as soon as he returns. Where is he going? What is he up to? Only the three of them have the answers and they are running out of excuses.
She is devastated when she sees her brother with the girl called Lavender Brown, and does all she can to comfort the girl who truly seeks his affections.
The Chosen One spends most of his time with his newly discovered Potions textbook, but the permanent look of worry on his face is very prominent. He is the only source now that connects the other two and deeply fears the thought of their friendship slowly ebbing away. She wonders if she is the missing piece of their puzzle and the three are actually destined to become four, but she is thoroughly mistaken.
For the third time now, the Weasleys are indebted to the Chosen One. This time- for saving their youngest son's life.
The other two visit her brother very often and one of them especially, is particularly delighted when they notice the red-heads relationship with the hyper-active girl slowly dying away.
She knows that they have ideas of who gave the poisonous mead to Professor Slughorn and who presented Katie Bell with the cursed necklace.
She herself has no clue whatsoever and although she has a strong desire to know who they suspect, they just won't tell.
His obliviousness to the fact that Gryffindor has just won the Quidditch Cup vanishes as soon as he enters the common room and everyone once again erupts in cheers on his arrival.
She runs to embrace him and, as he throws his hands around her, he does something that she hardly expects...
He goes on one of his adventures again, leaving the other two behind. No one knows where he is or what he is doing, except the three of them.
She has grown so close to him now and yet she is never a part of their secret activities. Why? -she just can't understand.
Her eldest brother is bitten by a werewolf, her headmaster is killed by a Hogwarts teacher and he tells her that they can't be together any longer, because it is dangerous for her to be with him.
The other two do not have to bear the pain of these lectures. Apparently it is safe for them to go with him, but not for her.
Why is it that they always get special treatment?
He informs her mother that they aren't going to return to school the next year and her mother looks aghast.
She has been expecting this, but isn't prepared for them to leave at all.
Her mother tells him that there is no reason for them to abandon their education, but he has made himself clear.
They are going and nothing will stop them.
She stares in horror and fright as Death Eaters arrive at her eldest brother's wedding.
Guests and relatives flee from the scene as quickly as they can, but the Death Eaters want only one person- him.
People rushing past, cloaks whirling around, she suddenly gets a glimpse of the person they are all looking for, with the girl with the bushy hair.
A look of relief mingled with terror appears on their faces as they catch sight of the red-head they are earnestly looking for and she watches as they grab her brother's hand and vanish though thin hair.
This is it. Tears well up on her eyes as she realises that this could be the very last time that she sees them ...alive.
The marquee is destroyed and she painfully makes her way to back to the Burrow with all her family members- except one.
Her father confirms that they are safe, but will not say a word about the location they are currently at. "We are being watched," he quietly tells them when asked why he won't give them all the comfort of knowing where they are. "All of us."
September arrives and although she has a strong disinclination to return to Hogwarts without them, she is carted off to school when her mother puts her foot down.
Things, however, are not as bad as they would have been when she discovers that Neville and Luna have returned as well.
The three of them are the new leaders now and unlike in the DA before, the decisions and strategies are theirs to make.
"We will stand up and fight," the once timid and shy boy says, "for him." She and the dreamy-eyed Ravenclaw student nod their heads in agreement.
In Muggle Studies, they are lectured by Professor Carrow on how ignorant and unworthy Muggle-borns are. It takes all her self-control to keep the anger inside herself and not let it out.
At night, when she returns to the common room, she has made up her mind that she will go to any extent to avenge the three, who are ready to sacrifice their lives for so many others.
She tries thinking of various strategies and plans, but only one seems worthy enough of them. If they are caught, it will surely result in major punishment, but she is ready for that. She will steal the sword of Godric Gryffindor.
Things are at their worst now and they have to take action.
"We need a place, in which won't ever find us." she says desperately.
"The Room of Requirement!" the boy on her right bursts out.
The answer is so simple and obvious, how did they possibly fail to see it before?
"They wouldn't," she thinks to herself, and knows that it's the truth.
Luna is taken away by Death Eaters from the train, when they are coming back from Hogwarts for Christmas.
Her parents hear about this and think that Hogwarts isn't safe any longer. Only a couple days before she is due to return to school, they decide against sending her back.
Just as well, because a few weeks later they get a message from Remus Lupin informing them that they must leave the Burrow immediately for their Great Aunt Muriel's to go into hiding.
He says that he has seen them and they are all right, but will not say a word of their location, only that they are being well looked after.
He also says that the Death Eaters know that her brother is with them and the ghoul in his bedroom is a counterfeit image of him with spattergroit.
As soon as he leaves them, her mother rushes around the house to grab a few essentials and together they apparate to their Great-Aunt's, only minutes before Dark wizards arrive at their now empty home in search of them.
The call for war, preparations for the final battle and the fear of losing them once again arises in her.
Less than an hour after she reaches the castle, her brother and the girl with him mutter something about a bathroom and are gone without any further explanation.
As she expects, the third of their party soon appears, desperately asking about the whereabouts of the other two.
She tells him the little bit she knows and he too takes off, leaving her puzzled and bewildered.
When she sees the half-giant carrying his seemingly dead body, pain, sorrow, dread and anger all fill her body.
She blindly screams for the loss of the one she loves and pictures of terror reigning the Wizarding World in the near future enter her mind.
In the midst of all the anxiety she is going through, she sees his best friend leaning against her brother, crying into his shoulders. A pang of jealousy hits her, as tears fill her own eyes. It isn't fair that they have one another and she now has no one at all.
Before she can do or say anything, however, she hears the sound of cheering surround her. Abhorrence and disgust now add to the misery inside her- how dare they cheer when one of the greatest and noblest wizards of the century has just been murdered?
Nevertheless, she lifts her gaze up and is amazed by what she sees before her. The former Hogwarts Gamekeeper's arms now lie empty and the Chosen One has vanished.
She joins the cheers as elation, exhilaration and relief replaces the misery she felt only seconds ago. She wonders how he once again escaped death, but her happiness overpowers her curiosity. He is alive and that is all that matters to her. He is alive...
The war is over and they have won, but their actions are not over yet. A fortnight after they celebrate their victory, they go to Australia to remove the memory charm that the wise girl placed on her parents before they went to complete their mission.
She shakes her head as they once again leave her. They haven't asked her to go with them; neither has she offered. After all they have recently been through, she knows that they would want to finish it off together.
They often talk about things that only the three of them can relate to, but only very little, if at all is kept a mystery from her now. She knows that whatever they did keep hidden was kept secretive for a reason, so it no longer bothers her when they occasionally stop talking when someone enters the area they are in.
She is together again with the boy of her dreams and nothing could make her happier than that.
His detailed explanations about what they did in the war fascinate her immensely, and it brings tears to her eyes when she hears him confess staring at her dot on the Marauders Map so very often, loving her all the way.
Their relationship is one of a kind; one that very few possess. She no longer wishes for the three to become four, their friendship is perfect the way it is. She loves each of them in her own way and is certain that they feel the same way about her. Their courage, loyalty and bravery has taught her many a thing and she is indebted to each one of for making her life complete.
She has won love and compassion from one of them, extreme fondness and trust from the other and brotherly affections and protectivity from the third.
She is happy with that and can not ask for more.
Whatever they did, it was for the best.