Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Broken Beyond Healing

By: ChoCedric

After Harry, Ron, and Hermione have finished burying Dobby, they go back inside Shell Cottage and sit down on the couches. Harry has a terrible, inexplicable feeling that something is dreadfully wrong, and he doesn't know where this intuition came from. It's just a feeling deep in his gut that he can't quite describe.

This is horribly confirmed when Bill sits down and faces the trio, an expression of the deepest sadness and sorrow on his face. "You three, I need to tell you something," he says softly.

"What is it?" Ron asks, instantly on alert.

"It's Ginny," Bill sighs, the lines on his face growing more prominent. "Ginny was tortured while you were on the run, a few weeks ago. The Carrows ... they tried to get information about your whereabouts out of her."

"What happened to her?" Harry asks, a sick feeling swooping over him. He gets to his feet, and he begins to shake violently. He thought that breaking up with her would keep her safe!

"She ... she ..." Bill chokes out, a few tears slipping from his eyes. Hermione bursts into hysterical sobs as Ron's face goes white. "Snape contacted us, and we brought her back here. She ... she didn't make it. They used the Cruciatus too much, she lost too much blood."

"NOOOOOOO!" A raw scream of agony emanates from Harry's throat, for it is entirely his fault. Hermione clings to Ron, sobbing, and Harry feels a numbness deep within his heart.

Ron gives Harry a fierce glare. "I should've known you being with her would get her killed!" he says viciously. "I told you not to mess with her!"

Harry falls to his knees, the weight of the entire world on his shoulders. "Where is she?" are the only words he manages to get out.

"We haven't buried her yet," Bill weeps, and Fleur puts an arm around him. "She's upstairs, in the first room on the right. I've put a charm over her body to stop it from ... from ..." He can't even say the last word.

Harry seems to be going on autopilot as he tears out of the room. "Harry, don't you dare!" Ron snarls after him. "You have no right to see her! You killed her!"

"Ron, no!" Hermione shrieks, and Harry, through his numb and disbelieving state, can see her tightly holding on to his arm. "It's not his fault," she says through her tears.

The next thing Harry knows, he is upstairs, and in the room where Ginny lies. She is covered in a white sheet, and the sight of her still form sends pain rocketing through his body. Her eyes are closed, but her face is not peaceful; it looks like she went through endless amounts of pain, and that pain was caused just because of him. He should've known that the children of Death Eaters would have seen them together the year before, would have known the perfect way to get to Harry. And all he feared has now come to pass. Cuts are all over her face; she barely looks recognizable as his Ginny.

All the memories of the bond they shared tear through Harry's mind as he recalls their happy hours by the lake. He remembers watching the sunset with her, them sharing their hopes and dreams, and her sweet, sweet kisses. He knows that she had a good heart, that she wouldn't have given in to the Death Eaters even if she had known where he was. He believes that Ginny was truly his soulmate, a kindred spirit. It was the love of a lifetime, and now Harry has forever lost her, forever lost her to those monsters called Death Eaters.

Severus Snape enters his mind then, and the thought of him makes Harry so angry that he lets out an earth-shattering bellow of rage. Why didn't Snape do anything to stop the Carrows' horrific torture? Didn't he have any humanity left in him whatsoever? Apparently not, he thinks viciously. He wants to tear Snape limb from limb, crucio him until no pulse beats in his body.

He takes Ginny's cold, limp hand and whispers in a voice choked with raw emotion, "I really loved you, you know, Ginny. Gods, I'm so sorry, love. I didn't mean for this to happen! My leaving you at Hogwarts was supposed to keep you safe! If I'd have known, I'd have taken you with me!" Guilt buckets over him, almost making him immobile. "You were the love of my life," he continues, "and losing you ... Merlin ... I just can't deal!" He breaks down into sobs, laying his head on Ginny's dead chest. He remembers the times when he used to lie with her in his arms and hear her heart beating. But now, there is no noise in the room except for the sound of his racking sobs.

Anger churns in his gut at the other Weasleys then. Why hadn't they written him a letter? Harry would have gone to Ginny's side immediately, he would have done anything for her! But the anger evaporates as quickly as it came: they probably didn't want to contact him because they were furious that a member of their family was dead because of him. He doesn't blame them for that, and he decides that from now on, he's going to try to distance himself from the Weasleys. Once the final battle is over, he's going to stay away from them; he caused them enough pain to last a lifetime.

Harry kisses Ginny's cold lips, sadly lamenting the fact that she isn't responding to his loving caresses like she used to. "I'll avenge you," he promises her, stroking her hair gently. "Snape will pay, and so will the Carrows. Take care of Sirius for me, won't you? And tell Dumbledore, Cedric, Moody, and Hedwig I said hello."

He tenderly kisses her lips one last time. He doesn't want to leave her side, but knows he has to pay his condolences to the Weasleys, even if they don't want to see him. He knows his heart is forever broken beyond healing, and he'll never love another girl like he loved his beautiful Ginny. It depresses him so much that he won't have her to come back to when all this is over, but his resolve remains strong that he will avenge her. "I'll love you for always, Gin," he whispers as he leaves the room, softly shutting the door behind him and leaving his heart there with her.