Ginny's Secret Grief
This is an extract from my other fan-fic Restarting the Heart. It's a one-shot and mostly a bonding moment between Bill, Fleur and Ginny, but the rest of the Weasleys are in the second part.
Everyone in the Weasley family thought that there was something strange about Ginny's behaviour after Ron, Hermione and Harry's departure, but had said nothing, thinking she just missed them because they were the closest to her age, and she treated them like brothers and sister.
Bill was the only one that Ginny trusted with her secret. After eavesdropping on a conversation between Bill and her father, she learnt that they had turned up at Shell Cottage, Bill and Fleur's house, with a host of other people, with talk of capture, torture and Malfoy Manor.
Ginny had immediately set up a plan to get to Shell Cottage and see them. She had 'borrowed' one of Fred and George's invisibility cloaks, escaped the protection around her Aunt Muriel's house and disapparated to near Bill and Fleur's house. She had stayed at a safe distance and watched Harry digging a hole at the edge of the garden, between some bushes.
He was covered in sweat, dirt and, to her horror, blood. She walked further into the garden, so she could see the rest of the house. She glanced towards the house and saw Bill and Fleur watching Harry from the kitchen window. She headed in Harry's direction, and saw down on a rock near him. She sat in silence and watched him dig. 'He's digging a grave' she realised.
When she looked at his face she saw wounds all over it, he had some open cuts, some new scars, and his face was bruised and swollen in places. She also noticed that he had tears in his eyes, a few of which fell as he dug. This made her insides cry out in pain. She had never seen Harry cry and the only time she had seen him with tears in his eyes was at Dumbledore's funeral.
'It has to be someone closer to him than Dumbledore' she thought and there were only two people other than her who were that close to Harry. 'It has to be either Ron or Hermione' she thought, looking at the grave. It didn't look big enough for either of them, but they could charm it to make it bigger. She watched as he took a step back and wiped his eyes, and she noticed that he looked years older than he had before they left; his face had a tired look Ginny had once seen in Dumbledore.
She gasped in shock as people began to come out of the house, first came Dean Thomas, a boy from Harry's year who Ginny had once dated, followed by Ron. 'So it must be Hermione' thought Ginny sadly as the tears began to well in her eyes. Shock hit her face at Harry's first question.
"How's Hermione?" he asked; his voice was barely louder than a whisper and he spoke in a grave tone.
"Better," replied Ron in the same grave tone. "Fleur's looking after her."
Relief washed over her, but it was soon followed by a wave of despair; who was dead? She watched as Ron conjured up two more spades and began to help Harry dig. They dug in silence for a while, until Harry climbed out of the hole, which was now plenty deep enough for a grave, and picked up a small body, wrapped in his jacket. 'A child?' thought Ginny.
Ginny watched Harry as he wrapped his jacket more snugly around the body, and Ron as he sat down, took off his socks, and handed them to Harry who put them on the figure. She saw Dean hand Harry a woollen hat, and as he put it on the victim, she saw that it was a house elf, and one she recognised from somewhere. As they were dressing the elf, more people joined them.
Bill, Fleur, Hermione and Luna Lovegood stood slightly back, and Ginny was shocked at the state she found the latter two in. Both looked pale and shaky, Luna looked a little better though. She was wearing a borrowed coat; Hermione was dressed in a dressing gown, and looked like she had just had a run in with a dementor, which Ginny knew could have been the case. Bill spoke, alerting the others to their presence.
"We should close his eyes."
Ginny watched as Hermione took a nervous step forward, and grabbed onto Ron's arm, using it for support. Luna also stepped forward, reached down and closed the elf's eyes.
"There," she said softly, "Now he could be sleeping." Harry reached down and laid the elf into the grave before Luna continued.
"I think we ought to say something," she said. "I'll go first, shall I?"
It was clear from the looks on all their faces that they expected Harry to speak, but Ginny didn't think he would. Luna leant down and addressed the elf that lay in the grave.
"Thank you so much, Dobby, for rescuing me from that cellar. It's so unfair that you had to die, when you were so good and brave. I'll always remember what you did for us. I hope you're happy now." Luna looked expectantly at the rest of them, who muttered their goodbyes and thanks.
After taking a while to review Luna's goodbye in her head, she realised why Harry was so upset. Dobby had died trying to save them, and Harry's extreme guilt and selflessness must have been bothering him. He would think that it was his fault that Dobby had died.
Bill raised his wand and the pile of earth the three boy's had dug from the grave fell into a mound over the elf. Everyone waited a second, then turned to go inside, everyone except Harry.
"D'you mind if I stay here a moment?" he asked softly, his voice almost breaking more than once.
The others murmured words of support and patted him on the back, before turning to go inside. When they were gone, Ginny wanted to pull the cloak off and comfort and talk to him. She knew she couldn't, because he would freak-out and tell Ginny it was too dangerous for her to leave the house.
Harry went over to the pile of rocks where Ginny was sitting, and for a moment Ginny thought he had seen her. She guessed that he hadn't seen her, because he selected a rather flat stone from near her feet and placed it on the grave. He pulled a wand out of his pocket and craved something into the stone. As he got up and left, Ginny went over to examine the stone. She saw the words 'Here lies Dobby, a free elf' inscribed on the stone. She looked back towards the house and saw Harry go inside, closing the door behind him. For reasons she didn't know, Ginny began to cry.
She pulled out a photo from her pocket and held it tightly in her hands. Knowing that Ginny was missing Hermione, Ron and especially Harry, Colin Creevy had put together a scrapbook of all the photos he had of them for her for Christmas. She had removed one of her and Harry so she could constantly feel like she still had a part of him. She heard a loud gasp behind her and turned around to find Fleur not far behind her. Her wand was drawn and she was exclaiming in French. Ginny had noticed she did that when she was angry and was not looking forward to her reaction. Even though she suspected that the charm on her cloak had worn off, she pulled it off and looked up at Fleur.
Fleur's reaction was the opposite of what she had expected. When she saw she had been crying, she pulled Ginny into a tight hug and comforted her.
"Oh, Ginny Weasley, what will we do with you?" she muttered, half scolding, half comforting her. When Fleur noticed the picture in Ginny's hands she asked to see it, and Ginny handed it over reluctantly. Realisation dawned on Fleur's face as she saw the younger versions of Ginny and Harry together. They were sitting on one of the armchairs in Gryffindor common room together. Ginny was sitting on Harry's lap, reading through a large pile of notes while Harry stroked the back of the hair. Colin had taken it when they were not looking, and he had a lot of pictures of her and Harry.
"Zis is why you came, eez it not?" Fleur prompted, pulling Ginny back into her arms. "You came to see 'Arry." Ginny nodded and sat up.
"Yes," she whispered softly, wiping her eyes. "I had to see him." She shot an apologetic look at Fleur who smiled weakly and understandingly. She knew what it was like to be young and in love.
"You will come inside, will you?" asked Fleur, not waiting for Ginny's answer before continuing. "Zey are upstairs, you can go to mine and Bill's room. Zey will not see you."
Ginny nodded weakly before getting to her feet. Fleur waited for her before walking inside with her. Bill greeted them in the kitchen, nearly dropping the glass he was carrying when he saw Ginny. Ginny sat down at the table and let Fleur explain, handing over the picture when Fleur asked. Bill was surprised when he saw the picture and at first his older brother protectiveness was irked, but he knew that Ginny could make her own decisions.
"When was this?" he asked, pointing to the photo, when Fleur had finished. The two of them looked much younger than they did now, but it couldn't have been more than a year ago.
"Start of June last year," replied Ginny, smiling at Bill's shocked expression.
"You managed to keep this from all of us for this long?" he enquired. "You aren't exactly hiding it are you? I suppose Ron knows?"
Ginny sighed. Although Bill was the most understanding of her brothers, he was still her older brother, and to him, it was his job to protect Ginny.
"Yes, Ron knows and no we weren't hiding it from him. The only reason I didn't tell you all is because …" she hesitated, not sure how Bill would react. "We broke up, just after Dumbledore's funeral."
"Why?" he asked. She saw Bill's anger building up on his face, but he controlled it, which she was grateful for.
"He thought You-Know-Who would target me if he found out how close we were, and he wanted to protect me. He also knew that he had a mission from Dumbledore and that he had to do that so we couldn't stay together." She said sadly.
Bill's face softened at her answer, but his curiosity peaked.
"Ginny, do you know what their mission is?" he asked eagerly. "Did Harry tell you about it?"
Ginny thought carefully about her answer, but tried not to hesitate too much.
"Well, I probably know more than the rest of you, judging by how Mum and Dad are acting. He didn't want to tell me much about their mission, he only told me about it by accident. Sorry Bill but I can't tell you anything."
Well, I'd better get you back to Muriel's then." Bill sighed. "You ready?"
As Ginny stood up Fleur caught her arm.
"'e will be alright Ginny," she reassured her. "Il est fort."
Ginny smiled at her and stood up. "Thank-you," she said. "Thanks for understanding."
While Bill led Ginny outside, Fleur quickly made a copy of the photo for Harry. She would leave it for him to find somewhere.
"Ginny," called Fleur after them, holding up the photo. "Don't forget zis!"
Ginny smile appreciatively at her, took the photo and hurried back to where Bill stood, ready to disapparate. Ginny sneaked into the house and up to her room, ready to pretend she had been there all day.
"Gin ... Can we talk?" Harry asked cautiously, and the use of Ginny's nickname flared her temper.
"Fine," she said stiffly, giving him the best death glare she could manage. She could see it worked to some extent from the anxious look on her face.
"Come with me?" he asked, looking hopefully into her eyes. She couldn't resist his eyes; they were like an open view into his mind, and she could tell from the look in them that he was sorry.
"Lead the way," Ginny said, a little softer and followed her out of the hall.
After Harry and Ginny had left, Bill turned to Charlie smirking. "Bet you they come back a couple," he said confidently.
"A galleon?" asked Charlie, who was trying to sound equally confident. Bill nodded and the pair shook hands. "Ron would never allow it, and I reckon Harry's too good a mate to go against him."
Bill smirked to himself and watched Ron blush. Charlie looked between the two of them and groaned to himself. 'They must know something I don't' he thought.
Meanwhile, Bill had turned to Fleur, who handed him a picture. It was the copy Fleur had made of the picture of Ginny and Harry which Ginny had had at Shell Cottage. Fleur had left it under Harry's pillow for him to find the next morning, but as far as she knew, Harry had never seen it. When she had gone to change the sheets on the bed, the picture had fluttered to her feet.
Bill handed it to Charlie who gaped at it for a moment before handing it to Ron. Charlie's eyes grew wider when he showed it to Ron who simply shrugged and handed it to George.
George smiled at the image of the two who looked so happy. "Honestly," he said. "You're telling me you never guessed?" He passed it on to Percy who muttered something under his breath about Ginny being too young to have a boyfriend.
He handed the picture to his mother, who nearly fell off her seat. "Harry and Ginny!" she cried happily. "Oh, I wondered why she was so sad all year! She said she was having boy troubles but I never knew it was Harry! And they hid it from us all this time!"
Charlie was stunned at his family's reaction. He had expected them to play the defensive brother roles and go have a very serious talk with Harry, but they all took it very lightly. When Arthur saw the photo, he simply smiled at how happy the couple looked, smiling back at him. He placed it down on the table and Charlie turned to Ron.
"Since when?" he asked, still feeling annoyed that everyone else seemed to know or at least suspect something about Harry and Ginny's relationship except him
"Quidditch final last year," he said, looking down at his feet.
"And they hid that all summer?" Charlie asked. "They don't look like they're hiding it there!"
"Eh, well, no, they didn't exactly hide it." said Ron sheepishly. "And they broke up at Dumbledore's funeral." Sensing that this wasn't enough to satisfy Charlie, Ron continued. "Harry knew we had a mission from Dumbledore and he did it to protect Ginny. He thought Voldemort would go after her if he found out they were ... close, like he did with Sirius."
The protective older brother in Charlie was not happy, but he had to admit he couldn't blame Harry for breaking up with her.
"She's crazy about him, you know," Bill said, looking up from the photo. "When you guys were at Aunt Muriel's house, she overheard me telling Dad that Harry, Ron and Hermione were at our house. She ran off and came to find them. Fleur found her watching him outside, and she had this picture with her. When we brought her inside, she told us everything. Fleur made a copy of the picture to give to Harry, but he never took it."
"He's crazy 'bout her too," said Ron reluctantly. "He talks in his sleep. When we were gone he would say her name over and over again."
They fell into silence again before Hermione spoke up. "I think Colin took that photo," she said, and tears came into her eyes as she said his name. "Colin Creevy. He was always taking pictures of everyone and I'm sure I saw him by the lake that day."
"How'd they get together?" George asked, finally speaking up. The question brought smiles to both Hermione and Fleur's faces, while Ron shook his head. It was Hermione who answered.
"For that Quidditch match, Snape gave Harry detention, so Ginny had to play seeker. Well, we won anyways, and when Harry came into the common room, Ginny came running at him, and he kissed her."
"In front of the whole of Griffindor?" asked Charlie, unwilling to believe what he had heard. "What did Ron say?"
"Well, Ron wasn't too happy about it at the start, but he came around," replied Hermione. "He was the reason they weren't together sooner actually, because Harry was afraid of what Ron would think."
"Anyways, Hermione, how do you know so much about Harry's feelings?" asked Charlie. "You'd expect him to tell Ron, but since it was Ginny, I can see why he didn't."
"Well," said Hermione evasively, biting her lip. "Ron had a girlfriend that year, and so Harry and I were feeling the same things." She finished the last sentence it a rush, blushing furiously.
The rest of the Weasley family smirked at them; both of them were blushing and looking down at the ground.
Charlie sighed and turned back to Bill. "May as well hand over that galleon now." he said, pulling a galleon out of his pocket and handing in to Bill.
If anyone who doesn't speak french was wondering what Fleur said ('Il est fort') it means 'He is strong'. Aswell, if anyone wants to check out my other story: .net/s/7898376/1/Restarting_the_Heart
Thanks! Any constructive criticism would be appreciated on either story! ~emer