Sooo I was listening to Stupid Boy by Keith Urban and it made me think of how everyone turned against Ginny in DH cuz she was underaged. Look up the lyrics if you haven't heard the song before, so you understand the reference.
Reviews always GREATLY appreciated.
"Mum's right," said Bill gently. "You can't do this. Everyone underaged will have to leave, it's only right."
"I can't go home!" Ginny shouted, angry tears sparkling in her eyes. "My whole family's here, I can't stand waiting there alone and not knowing and - "
Her eyes met Harry's for the first time. She looked at him beseechingly, but he shook his head and she turned away bitterly.
"Fine," she said, staring at the tunnel back to Hog's Head. "I'll say goodbye now, then."
xxx
Ginny paced the Room of Requirement anxiously, leaving tread marks in the plush carpet wherever she stepped. Her eyes never left the crystal ball that the room had supplied her. It showed the battle, the image constantly switching from one area of the castle to another. Constantly she would jump, or let out a small scream as someone she cared for narrowly missed catching a jinx square in the chest. It was torture, being caged up like an animal, treated like a child. The trio was risking their lives when they were much younger than her, Mum never screeched at Ron for it. Fred and George spent the majority of their youth playing with potions and hexes that had sent more accomplished wizards to St. Mungo's, Bill never told them they couldn't. She was smarter than Ron, more careful than the twins, it wasn't fair she was being treated like this.
Of course, she did understand where her family was coming from. She was the youngest, she was the only girl, and her last encounter with Voldemort had nearly cost her her life. It made sense from their point of view. Her family just wanted her safe, she couldn't blame them.
She blamed him though, oh how she blamed him.
The anger that boiled up inside her was so strong it made red sparks shoot out the end of her wand. He'd seen her train, he'd seen her fight, he knew she was just as capable in battle as anyone, better than some. He knew she deserved to be out there.
It was that damn hero's complex of his. He had to be her great protector, he couldn't let her fight because if anything happened he'd be responsible, he was a knight and shining armour and she was a fucking damsel in distress. Hermione could fight, because she was smart, because she was of age, because he hadn't snogged her...
Ginny fell into a chair in the corner of the room, her body clenching with anger, and her eyes ever trained on the crystal ball, her only link to the battle. She knew her anger was juvenile, but it was so frustrating to be left behind again. Fred and George never left her behind...why couldn't one of them be the bloody Chosen One.
A scream escaped Ginny's throat as a hand closed on her shoulder. Jumping up, she aimed her wand at the unwelcome intruder, then dropped it when she saw Tonks before her, hands up in surrender. She must have been too lost in her thoughts to hear her come through the tunnel.
"Give me a heart attack why don't you!" said Ginny angrily. Tonks simply smiled.
"Sorry, Love. Where is everyone?"
"Fighting," Ginny muttered. "Defending Hogwarts, defending Harry."
"Ah," said Tonks, with a kind of careful gentleness that suggested she had guessed Ginny's predicament. "And you aren't?"
"Nope," Ginny said, doing her best to feign indifference. "Apparently I'm an incompetent child who can't be put in danger." Emotion was creeping into her voice now. "I have to sit here and watch while my brothers, my friends, Harry..."
She never finished her sentence, but Tonks understood anyway and put a hand of comfort on her shoulder.
"I know how you feel. I'm supposed to be with Teddy but I just couldn't stand not knowing if Remus..." she too left her sentence unfinished, but Ginny nodded her understanding. Tonks drew a deep breath and put on her trademark smile. "Well, let's sit and keep an eye on things, shall we?" Another chair turned up next to the one Ginny had been sitting in, and they both plopped down to watch the battle raging on in the small glass orb.
"This is maddening," Tonks said after twenty minutes or so had passed. Ginny nodded her agreement.
"I've been here for three hours."
"Well how long do you plan on staying?"
Ginny raised an eyebrow at Tonks. "Until someone comes for me, I suppose..." Tonks scoffed.
"Please. Let me share a little secret with you Ginny, strong women like you and me have to take what we want. When I was training to be an auror, I had to put my mentor in St. Mungo's before he would stop pussyfutting around me. Fred and George seem to respect you enough, how did you earn that?"
Ginny smirked. "I made their bogeys attack their faces."
"That's an interesting way to go about it, but the end result is the same. You showed them you wouldn't take their crap. I get the distinct impression Harry needs the same lesson." Ginny nodded slowly, considering this.
The door to the Room of Requirement flew open and Ginny jumped out of her chair. Harry looked at Ginny, and she saw a kind of pain flash through his eyes. She held his stare firmly, brown battling green, until he finally stepped out of the doorway.
"Ginny," he said slowly. "We need the Room. But you cannot join the battle, do you understand? You have to come back here, where it's safe."
A dark look shaded Ginny's features, a cold, Slytherin smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth and she bowed to Harry, never once taking her vindictive stare off him.
"As you wish, Potter."
The malice on her voice stunned him more than the use of his surname. With one last venomous glare she brushed past him, and walked out into the hall, into the battlefield. Harry's eyes followed her down the corridor. She maneuvered around groups of duelers, ducked stray hexes expertly, but never once drew her wand. They second she disappeared out of his line of vision he heard her voice ring out, quickly followed by what he recognized as a Death Eater screaming in agony.
Cursing under his breath, Harry made to chase down the hall after her, but Tonks grabbed his arm when he was halfway out the door.
"No, Harry," she said quickly. "Let her go."
"I can't let her fight Tonks, I can't lose her too."
"It's not about you!" Tonk shouted, trying to force her words into his stubborn, 17-year-old psyche. "You can't fence in someone like Ginny. She's strong, and wild, and as much as I know you're relying on her for your sanity right now, you will break her if you try to keep her caged up."
"Tonks you don't understand - "
He was cut off by Tonks' hand coming in sharp contact with the back of his head. She looked down at him with a kind of disgust he was used to seeing directed at him by Snape.
"Stupid boy," she muttered. "Just do your job and forget the girl."
And with that she took off down the hall, wand drawn, entering full force into the fight.
xxx
Twenty-seven fatalities.
Twenty-seven.
Twenty-seven families that would never be the same.
Twenty-seven souls that would never know their full potential.
Twenty-seven.
It had cost twenty-seven lives to defeat Voldemort.
But Harry couldn't help but think, as he looked down at the grave in front of him.
That maybe, just maybe, if he hadn't been so stupid,
if he had put his faith in her,
given her something to fight for,
the way she gave him something to fight for,
maybe,
it would only be twenty-six.
You stupid boy, oh you always had to be right
And now you've lost the only thing that ever made you feel alive...