The war had ended, but it didn't really feel like anyone had won. There had been so much death on both sides. Many of the Death Eaters had fled or plead cursed or blackmailed, and the aurors had so much to sort out. There was still a lot of unfriendly feelings towards muggleborns- even witches and wizards who fought against Voldemort felt as if the war had been caused by halfbloods and muggleborns. The ministry had hoped Harry would be able to help piece things back together, to act as a figurehead, but as the sun rose that morning reports came in that Voldemort was dead, and that he had taken Harry with him.
Ginny had felt broken when she heard the news. There were Fred, and Percy, and Tonks and Lupin and so many countless others, and she had held her parents and her brothers and Hermione and they had all sobbed together. But when she got the news that Harry was gone, she couldn't cry. She was devastated. She felt like her whole future had been taken away from her, and how did it matter that the war was over in the face of something like that? But still, she couldn't cry. She retreated into herself.
She didn't remember being shuffled to the remnants of the dorms. She barely recalled the funerals. They all blurred together, with so many services held so close together. So many bodies to get into the ground. So many markers for the bodies that were never found. Then they took her home. She didn't really remember that either. She felt like she was sealed off from those around her, like there was a thick layer of plastic all around her. All color was dulled, all sound muted. They left her alone for awhile but quickly realized that was a bad idea. Unless she was told, she forgot to sleep, forgot to eat, forgot to shower. Didn't get up in the morning. They had to put her on a schedule. She did what they told her to with a mechanical air about it. She didn't think, just did. She wasn't sad exactly. She was numb.
The summer peeled by. There were lots of debates over what to do this upcoming school year. Hogwarts was still destroyed. There had been people working on it all summer, but it was far from finished. Many parents had decided to send their children to magical schools away from home, outside of the country. Even more still decided to keep their children home. All across the country, home schools were set up, and the parent/teachers were taking in students around their areas. Then the ministry decreed that any student whose trace had been broken was not required to return to school.
Bill and Charlie had long been out of school. Fred was dead, and George had been out of school for awhile as well. They all lived off on their own. Ron and Hermione had gotten engaged at the end of the war. She was back home with her parents for now. They had both been offered ministry jobs, so Ron was not going back to school either. That left Ginny. Her trace would break before the term started. When her parents asked her what she wanted to do, she had shrugged. She lay in bed at night and listened to the sounds of their debates floating up to her room. If they kept her home, she'd be mostly alone, and she would stay in the rut she was in. If they sent her to school, they wouldn't be there to lend their support to her if things got worse. All her brothers were gone, so there would be nobody there to watch out for her. They did not know what to do.
Ginny honestly didn't care. Finally they reached a decision. They called her down to breakfast, and she found a barn owl on the table. As she mechanically ate her toast, they told her she wouldn't be going back to school, but she wasn't going to be staying here either. For the first time in months, she lifted her eyes to meet theirs. They were going to send her to stay with George.
He had sent them a letter, inviting her to come as an alternative to going back to school. He lived above his shop in Diagon Alley, and he had been having a hard time since Fred died. He needed help running the shop. They could help each other heal, her parents told her, and she would be right in Diagon Alley, so she would be around lots of people, and kept very busy. Ginny had always been closest with the twins out of all of her brothers. She nodded and went back to her toast. When she was done, she went up to start packing. Her parents looked at each other with a glimmer of hope. That was the most they had gotten out of her since he had died.