So, this is my first Harry Potter story. It literally just came to me about 2 hours ago, and I couldn't let it get away. It's inspired by A Beautiful Lie by 30 Seconds To Mars, and in Ginny's point of view during the seventh book. I think it nicely sums up what she was feeling during the war =)
Feedback would be wonderful. Criticism, especially. I want to know what to do better in the future because I have an HP fic in progress right now, and think it's gonna be pretty awesome. So, review please =)
A Beautiful Lie
"Lie awake in bed at night
Think about your life
Do you want to be different?
Try to let go of the truth
The battles of your youth
Cuz this is just a game."
-A Beautiful Lie, 30 Seconds to Mars
It was all so unreal. Hogwarts couldn't look like this, it just had to be physically impossible.
And yet, it did.
Stones from the formerly majestic building were buried in the dirt. Statues had been removed from their homes inside the castle and relocated to as far as the Forbidden Forest. Desks and chairs used in classrooms could now be found anywhere inside and outside the building, especially in the hallways. A lot of passageways, both secret and known to the general public, had been collapsed in either self-defense or offense, or maybe just purely by accident. Professors' offices were destroyed, and many of their priceless possessions were missing. There was even a Professor himself still missing, and many had given up hope that he would ever return – not that many were hoping in the first place.
It wasn't home anymore.
I walked through the maze of grey stones near the lake, wondering how the stronghold could have ever reached this degree of desolation. It was incomprehensible, unimaginable. No one wanted to believe that the safest place in all of the world could be infiltrated and destroyed. We all wanted to lie to ourselves, to live in the delusion that we were safe at one place on the earth. No matter how long we lie to ourselves, reality always catches up. Hogwarts wasn't safe, and it wasn't always strong and unable to penetrate. We weren't safe, not really. I discovered this quickly when I returned for my 6th year, only to find that I would have to fight for my life this year. Being a Weasley, especially the last Weasley present at Hogwarts, I would have it harder than some. I fought, though, and that's when reality began to find me.
I fought hard – not just against the Carrows, but against reality. I wanted so hard to believe that it was all just some crazy nightmare, not something that was really, truly happening. The truth was too hard. Too painful. Too much. I didn't want to face the truth, not then, not now, and not ever. The lie was so much easier for me to believe, and it was easier for me to tell everyone. They needed a good leader, one that encourages them. But how was the truth encouraging? I wouldn't want to continue on at Hogwarts if I knew that my whole life was in complete danger. I would want out.
Unfortunately, out wasn't any safer than Hogwarts.
The lie did help me in some ways. I made it until Easter, when the truth really caught up. I left, and left the lies behind me. I thought I was going somewhere safer – the beginning of my second lie. No where was safe. If this was how Harry lived all the time, I can only imagine all of the lies he told himself – or maybe he knew how to take the morbid truth of things. I sure didn't.
I lived in lies. My family – all but Bill and Ron – were constantly trying to support these lies. They so desperately wanted to believe that all of us would make it through the war unscathed, and that we would be victorious. We all wanted to believe in our safety, and the safety of those we loved. At the end of the day, however, we would know the cold, bare truth – we weren't safe. We weren't winning. Hope was thin.
We were all broken, all under false pretenses.
Then came the final battle. The worst night of my life. The night everything changed.
Reality has a sick sense of humor. It decided that everyone would have the complete and total truth thrust upon them all at once. We realized that there was no escaping Voldemort, and no escaping this reality we were put in. We were locked in a nightmare that had come true, and no way out.
Everyone saw and experienced things that no person should ever have to see and experience. Pain was in abundance, destruction was everywhere. There were no more lies to hide behind, this was it. There was no looking back, and fighting wasn't optional. We weren't safe in any form of the word. We were in the middle of the biggest battle seen to mankind, and there was no denying or twisting that truth.
The tables turned. We won. All was well.
People were still lying to themselves, though. Usually the ones who hadn't lost much in the war. They say it was just one battle that cleared out the most evil dark wizard in centuries, that it only took a duel or two to end his reign. Either they were really stupid, or they had yet to see and believe the damage and sacrifice caused.
I knew the truth this time. I couldn't lie this time, not to myself or anyone around me. The truth slapped me in the face, and made itself permanently part of me as I walked through the rubble from the battle. After what we had all just been through, there was no denying the fact that we were never safe and secure. There was always a constant threat on everybody and everywhere, and it all came to meet at the one place that was once the safest place on the face of the earth.
I sat down on a stone facing towards the crumbling castle. Smoke was pouring from areas of the building, as some nastier duels ended in actual fire. The castle was broken, as were most of the people inside of it. It would take a lifetime or two to fully accept the truth for what it was, and even longer to heal.
I turned my head, not wanting to be witness to this horrible picture any longer. I spotted Harry walking along the edge of the lake. He looked peaceful, much more so than I had ever seen. His part in the battle against Voldemort was finally complete, and he could now have his own life to live. I stood, walking towards him. He's the one thing I had always believed in, the one thing I knew the complete truth about. I knew he would fight to the death, I knew he would try his hardest to win, and I knew he would never lie to himself just to make things easier. His journey was much harder than the rest of ours, and he was the only one who managed to stay truthful to himself.
I reached him, and began to walk beside him, gently grabbing his hand. No words were needed. We both made it out alive, and we both knew the truth of the matter. No more lies. He would eventually tell me of his journey, and I would eventually tell mine. There would be no more lies, not to each other or ourselves.
The future was finally bright, and that was no delusion. It was the truth.
"It's a beautiful lie
It's a perfect denial
Such a beautiful lie to believe in
So beautiful, beautiful, that makes me."
-A Beatiful Lie, 30 Seconds to Mars
Was it decent? Hope so. It was pretty fun to write because I got to go inside Ginny's head. Yeah, it's a bit depressing, but I think it's pretty realistic. They were in the middle of a war, after all =P
Review please! It would help me to improve my writing skills =)
Until next time,
GrangerDanger112