Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Colorless

By: ChoCedric

There was nothing but pure rage coursing through Harry's veins as he ran through the grounds of Hogwarts. Snape, the traitor who had just murdered Dumbledore in cold blood right before his eyes, had Disapparated, and the fire of a fight still burned inside Harry. How could Dumbledore have trusted Snape so much when he was nothing but a deceiver? Harry would never forget the look of pleading on the old man's face before he was mercilessly struck down.

As he ran, he came upon a sight that took his breath away with fear. Ron and Hermione were both duelling a few remaining Death Eaters, and Ginny, his Ginny, the woman he loved, was fiercely fighting too.

Harry ran even faster, feeling a stitch in his side but not caring at all, because he had to get to Ginny, he just had to. Out of everyone in the whole world, she was someone he could not stand to lose. He knew that if she were to die, he would be broken for the rest of his life.

"You can't dance forever, my pretty," mocked the Death Eater Ginny was fighting as Harry drew closer to the scene. "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Harry lost all sense then. Duck, Ginny, move! he screamed inside his mind as he wildly tried to get there in time so he could take the curse for her.

But he was too late.

In slow motion, he watched the green light illuminate Ginny's entire body, and then she fell like an angel. She landed on the hard ground, eyes open and wide with shock, the fierce determination not quite leaving her face.

He heard the Death Eater cackle in victory and yell for him and his comrades to leave Hogwarts. An icy chill seared through Harry's body, and as much as he wanted to go after them, he knew that Ginny was his main priority right now.

Ron and Hermione both stood, their mouths gaping open, staring at the lifeless figure on the ground, the girl who was not getting up again. This seemed absurd to Harry in his fuzzy mind; Ginny always got right back up again. Nothing could keep her down for long.

In seconds, he had reached her side, bending down and taking her hand, which was still warm. This gave him a little hope; surely, if her hand was still warm, that meant ...

But no. As the seconds lengthened, with harry staring into her eyes and begging them to blink, her hand rapidly grew cold. "Come on, Gin," he said frantically, rubbing her hand within his own to try to make it warm again. "Gin ... you have to wake up. C'mon ..."

Ron now ran to his sister's side, and his face was full of pain. It looked like he'd finally grasped what had happened. Hermione knelt over Ginny too, tears streaming down her face as she said to Harry, "Harry ... it's no use. She's gone."

"No ... no," Harry said softly, still in denial. Just yesterday afternoon he and Ginny had been sitting by the lake, and she had peppered kisses all over his hands, his face, his messy hair. How could someone so alive, fiery, and vibrant, someone with so strong a spirit, be taken down by a mere flash of green?

Hermione wrapped an arm around him, still sobbing heavily. Ron was on his other side, shaking convulsively, and he shook Ginny's shoulders roughly. "Come on, Gin!" he shouted. "We have to go ... we have to go to the hospital wing!"

But Ginny didn't move, and her eyes continued to stare blankly at the stars, the same stars she and Harry had made wishes upon just the other day. In her presence, Harry hadn't felt like the Boy-Who-Lived, the only one destined to defeat Voldemort. With her, he'd felt like a normal teenage boy in love. But now, his task pressed heavily upon him again, and he knew this was the end of normalcy, the end of vibrance, innocence, youth, and laughter as he stroked her lifeless face tenderly.

"Wha-what happened?" Harry finally choked out, staring at his friends. "You-you-didn't all of you take Felix Felices before I left?"

"Ginny let us both take some, but she didn't want any for herself," Hermione wailed. "We tried to persuade her, but you know how stubborn she can be. I'm sorry, Harry, I'm so sorry!"

Ron's face was chalk white now as he took the hand that Harry wasn't holding. All three stared at the girl who had been so stubborn, and it had led to her end.

"She's not the only one who we lost tonight," Harry said in a dull monotone, looking at his two best friends with hollow eyes. "Snape killed Professor Dumbledore."

Ron and Hermione gasped. "Snape?" Hermione squeaked.

"Yeah," said Harry. But now, instead of feeling the corrosive anger he had once felt towards Snape, he just felt hollow and dull. All the meaning had just been taken out of his life in one fell swoop. It was true that he and Ginny had only shared a few weeks together, but Harry knew that she had been the first girl he had ever truly loved. Her soulful spirit, her vibrant nature, her sparkling eyes ... they were all gone now, snuffed out by a vicious monster.

Professor Sprout came walking over to the three, gazing down at them with sorrowful eyes. "It's time for us to go in now," she said softly. "I'm so sorry ... for everything that's happened tonight."

"I'll take Ginny in," Harry offered, feeling that it was his duty to take his beautiful, special, heroic fighter into the school. This is all my fault, he thought miserably as he picked her up in his arms. If she had never loved me, if I had never given into her, this would never have happened.

And slowly, they made their way into the school, and Harry knew, from then on, that his life had lost all the meaning it once held; his world was now colorless.