"Um, Ginny, we've got a bit of a problem." Ron enters the room where you are sitting. "Harry's… er, he's not here… yet."
You leap to your feet, a thousand emotions flooding through your head all at once: panic, fear, confusion, desperation, anger. "How could he not be here yet?" you ask. "Where is he? Is he alright? Ron, what's going on? Is he still on the mission? Is everything okay?"
"Gin, listen. You need to calm down, okay? Please. Harry's perfectly fine, he just had to have a word with Kingsley, he should be here any minute. No need to worry."
"You're sure he's alright?" you ask feebly.
Ron nods. "He wouldn't miss this day for the world, trust me. He hasn't stopped talking about it since you agreed to marry him in the first place."
You sigh softly. "I guess I should've expected this to happen. No one said it would be easy, falling in love with Harry Potter. It's not like I could help it. You're absolutely positive he's on his way?" you ask again.
"Yes, I've already told you that about a hundred times already. You just need to calm down, Gin," Ron replied.
"Thanks for letting me know. I guess I'll see you in a bit."
You take a few steps forward, pulling your brother into a hug. "I'm really happy for you, Ginny. You and Harry really are perfect for each other, you know."
You nod, holding back tears as Ron lets go of you and moves to the door. "See you on the aisle," he says.
Your life's moving so fast, you think. Here you are, sitting among layers and layers of chiffon and silk, a veil on your head and a ring soon to be on your finger. It seems like only a year ago that you were starting at Hogwarts, boarding the scarlet steam engine for the first time; like only a month ago when you watched your fiancée battle dragons and dance with another girl at a ball; like only a week's gone by since you fought alongside him against the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries; seems like only yesterday that you saw your final battle and your life changed forever. It feels as though he only proposed this morning, and now, here you are, about to walk down the aisle.
And you come to realize that you've been waiting on him to make a move all along. You waited ages for him to actually speak to you in the first place; waited for him to ask you to the Yule Ball when you knew it took him ages to find a date; waited for him to ask you out for all those years; waited with bated breath to see if he would break up with you once you finally got together. Right as you start your long-awaited relationship, of course he decides to make the noble choice. You saw it coming all along. You knew it was only a matter of time, but you didn't care about that. Knowing what would happen only made you savour the moments you did share, before it was too late. And you can say that without a doubt those days in your fifth year were some of the best to date.
And here you are, preparing to marry Harry Potter, saviour of the Wizarding world, man of your dreams. The one you've waited for for so long. All this time, something's happened that's pulled you and him apart in some way. Thankfully, today you can have Harry and no one will be able to take that away from you.
You walk over to the large mirror in the room and gaze at your reflection. You wipe away a cold tear and smile. Today is the day. You're getting married in under an hour. The only think you're waiting for now is the groom.
)o(
"Ginny! GINNY!"
You hear Ron's voice yelling your name from the hallway. "Yeah? I'm in here!" you respond, curious and anxious.
"Ginny! Come with me, hurry! No, don't worry about the dress just come on!" Ron yells, reaching out for your hand so you can Apparate.
You feel him turn on the spot, a blur of colours and objects run together in your line of vision, and you appear on a sidewalk in London. "Ron, where are we?" you ask.
Ron doesn't respond, but runs forward to a telephone box. You recognize this place as an entrance to the Ministry, the visitor's entrance. You hardly ever use this when visiting Harry at work, you simply Apparate into the Atrium. Ron pulls the door of the phone box open, and you see a—no, it can't be a body. You make your way towards it, misunderstanding showing deeply on your face. "Ron, what is that?" you ask, not entirely sure that you'd want to know the answer.
"Ginny, I'm sorry." There are tears on his face.
"Ron, what's going on?"
"I—I could've sworn he was safe, and I swear, I would never have left him alone if I'd have known."
You run forward until you're directly behind your brother. You look down upon your almost-husband in a crumpled heap in a telephone box in the middle of Muggle London. Both Harry and the interior of the phone box are drenched in blood. "Harry! HARRY!" you scream, hoping that all the world will hear your grief and come to his rescue. But, of course, they don't.
"Ron, we have to do something, why are we just waiting here? We don't have time to wait around, Ronald!" you finish this in a shrill voice that you never knew you possessed.
"Ginny, take a deep breath. We'll take him to St. Mungo's, it'll all be fine, I promise." Ron is stressed but he tries to hide it from you, to keep you calm. You give a shaky nod and take a step back. "I'll send a message to Parvati, to let her know we're on our way." He waves his wand and a silver terrier appears, which trots off into the distance. "C'mon, take my hand, let's go." You and Ron join hands, and he places a hand on Harry's shoulder. You Disapparate to Saint Mungo's, fear rushing through your veins.
)o(
You can hardly sit still. You occupy the chair to the left of Harry's bed, though you keep leaping up to see if he is still breathing. Your own breath stops every time you wait to see his chest rise and fall again. You glance tersely over at Ron every few minutes. He's standing over by the door talking to Parvati Patil, the healer working in Harry's ward. Her face is tense, Ron's is anxious. The whisper hurriedly to each other, though you can't make out what they're saying. Why aren't they telling me anything? you ask yourself. I'm the one who was supposed to marry him.
"RONALD WEASLEY, WILL YOU TELL ME WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON HERE?" you shout. Parvati jumps at your outburst, whereas Ron simply turns to face you.
"Ginny, please! We just need to sort this out right quick. We're not trying to keep anything from you, but just calm down! You'll know everything once we figure it all out." Ron retorts.
"Ron, I'm not even a year and a half younger than you, you can't keep hiding things from me because I'm younger! That ship sailed years ago! I'm not a baby anymore, you can tell me what's going on. He's not just your friend, Ron. He's my fiancée. We were supposed to be married and now I'm not even sure he'll—" your voice breaks off; he won't die, he's Harry freaking Potter for Merlin's sake. He can't die.
"Ginny, I know. I'm not trying to keep anything from you, I swear. I just didn't want to worry you! Not after all this stress you've been under all day. If you really want to know…" he sighs and turns to Parvati. "Mind informing her, Parvati?" he finishes.
"Ginny, you'd better take a seat," Parvati starts. You stumble backwards into your chair by Harry's bed. "He's very weak. As you probably know, he was hit with a few dangerous spells when he was trying to leave the Ministry's Visitor Entrance—"
"Why did he use the Visitor's Entrance? He always Apparates! If he'd only done that, he would've been fine," Ginny fumed.
"Ginny, please!" Parvati said in her soothing voice, "As far as we're concerned, he was planning to walk to the Marriage Hall as it's only down the street from the telephone box where he was attacked. It was the logical thing to do, Ginny. Maybe not the most practical choice, but still. As I was saying, he was hit with Sectumsempra—I assume you know the effects of that spell, correct." You give a weak nod, remembering that time back in your fifth year when Harry used that same curse on Malfoy. "Well, that spell obviously… um… took him down. We've used a counter-curse, mending the wounds and clearing away the blood. But—as if that's not awful enough, he was… he was also hit with the Cruciatus Curse."
You feel your face flush with terror and fear. Glancing over at Harry's maimed body, you wonder with spite who would ever attempt to harm him anymore. "Who? Who—did this? Do we know?" you ask weakly.
"No, at the moment we're not sure of who would've attacked him. We can only assume that it was one of the old Death Eaters who still holds a grudge, though we can never be sure on exactly who it was."
"So whoever it was just got away with attacking him?" you exclaim.
"Sadly, yes," Parvati replies.
"B—but he's Head Auror, don't you think he should've been able to defend himself?" you demand.
"Ginny, when I found him, his wand was in his hand. He tried, he just wasn't quick enough," Ron explains.
"I'm sorry, Ginny. I understand it was supposed to be your wedding day, I'm sorry you have to deal with this now." Parvati's face shows palpable sorrow and sadness for you and for Harry's condition.
"Will—will he… you know, be alright?" you ask, not sure whether or not you want to know the answer.
Tears seem to well up in both Ron's and Parvati's eyes, and you know the answer before they give it. "No, I'm afraid we didn't get to him in time, the wounds were too deep. We've mended them on the outside, so he doesn't lose any more blood, but there's nothing more we can do. It had gotten too deep. I'm sorry."
You don't realize when your shoulders slump, nor do you notice when your hand subconsciously moves towards Harry's. You don't feel the flood of silent tears falling quickly down your cheeks. All this time, you've been so strong; Harry had never even seen you cry. You've suffered so much, pulled your way through so much shit, and now here you are, sitting next your dying fiancée.
"Ginny, I'm sorry this all happened to you, especially today," Ron says.
"No, don't be sorry. It's not your fault." As you say this to him, you also find yourself subconsciously trying to convince yourself of the truth behind these words. It's not your fault, Ginny. You couldn't have controlled this, it's not your fault. You repeat the phrase to yourself a few times, though you can hardly believe that this may be the last time you see him breathing, the last time you see his chest's rise and fall with each steady breath. You look over to Ron as see silent tears sliding slowly down his cheeks. "Ron, I'm so sorry, I know he was your best friend for… for years."
Ron sniffles and stands up, arms wide. You walk forward as he envelopes you in a warm hug. You're both crying; Ron's shoulder is now wet from your tears, but you know he will take no notice of this. He lets go of you and stumbles back to his chair, head in his hands.
You move over to Harry's bed and place a gentle hand on his shoulder. His breathing is becoming thin and sporadic. You suppose that you shouldn't be surprised about this anymore—when you fell in love with Harry Potter, you knew it wouldn't be easy; you knew you'd have to face trials and tribulations that no one else would need to encounter, but you love him, and you wouldn't trade this for anything.
"Harry James Potter, I love you. I will love you forever and always. And from now until the end of time, I do, I do, I do," you say as you plant a kiss on his pale lips. You don't pull back until you feel the pressure let up and his breath stop. A single tear falls on his cheek and it isn't his.
A.N:
This was originally supposed to be a fluffy wedding fic, but then the plot bunny demanded that I kill off Harry, and the plot bunny gets what the plot bunny wants. No arguing.
Credit for the last line goes to Allie cause she gave me that as a suggested closer and she's absolute perfection.
Written for Camp Potter Day One-Archery Using the prompts waiting (mandatory) and the line of dialogue: "No one said it would be easy."
If You Dare using prompt 166-Tie the Knot
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Please review!