A Place in Your Soul

Summary: For ordinary humans, afterlife was a relatively simple matter; you went there, existed there for your allotted time and then had your spirit particles recycled, much like the makeup of the physical body is recycled after death. For witches and wizards, however, things weren't quite that simple.

A/N: I realised that I probably should mention that I wrote this for Nidaime Otokage – Yoko no Oto's zanpakuto challenge. I forgot to do that last chapter… Sorry about that, but now you know.

Chapter Two: In Which Ginny Arrives in Her Afterlife

Ginny was by many considered a though one. She not only outlived six brothers and a husband; she outlived all three of her children as well. Many were those who marvelled at the tough old woman who seemed to greet her grandchildren with the energy and enthusiasm of a woman the quarter of her actual age. When she finally passed away at the impressive age of 182, it was in her sleep.

The ceremony was small and private, with only the closest still living family attending. Ginny Potter had been quite the unremarkable woman as far as the world was concerned, and would only be remembered for two reasons; that she was the wife of the "saviour of the wizarding world" and because she had set a new age record.

No-one would remember the thrifty young woman who had played with the Hollyhead Harpies for a few years and who had declined an offer to play for the national quidditch team because she wanted to spend all her time and attention on raising her children; nor the woman who had spent over twenty years raising said children and watched them grow with pride and love. They wouldn't remember the woman who had picked up a part-time job after the youngest left home, only to end up with two different ones that she both liked enough not to be able to decide and who had worked both those jobs until a bad fall that wouldn't heal properly because of her age had to retire from one of them at the age of 92. She had then switched to working full time at the other job until her final retirement at 122. The last 60 years of her life she spent as the administrator of a non-profit organisation in the spirit of her long-dead friend Hermione. She also spent quite a bit of time with her living descendants, watching more than one generation of Potters grow into astonishing young witches and wizards.

She had been the undisputed matriarch of the Potter family, and she had been a good one. She had lived up to the superstition of red-heads having a fiery temper and over all she had tried her very best to lead a fulfilling life. Many, Ginny herself included, would say that she had succeeded in that at least. She had gone her own way about things and had come out all the better for it. So, when the time came and death wanted to claim her she had no regrets about life. She had long since made peace with the thought of death and thought she knew what she was in for. How very wrong she was…

After her very dramatic and confusing encounter with what dying meant for a witch or wizard she found herself in the vast empty space of an inner world that had yet to take on a solid shape. It was a very lonely place to end up, but it was also very precious. She would get to see this through from the very beginning, from the very first notion of shape. She would get to watch this girl grow into an independent woman. She was absolutely certain that the soul she had latched on to was a girl; a strong, stubborn little girl.

She smiled to herself. The afterlife would have been boring without a purpose. She was going to look after this strong little girl, now she just had to learn how. She would have to watch over her somehow, and she needed to learn whatever it was she was supposed to teach the girl one day. She knew instinctively that she'd be visited by this little girl one day, when her girl was ready to face her.

Unbeknownst to Ginny, she was already laying the most basic of outline for the world she was to live in. It would have to have a place where she could watch her girl's life and a place meant for diligent training. What she did notice, though, was that somehow the vast darkness seemed a little lighter.

This still shapeless place was very different from what she was used to, so as something of an experiment she sat down. To her mild surprise and delight she found that the darkness seemed to have understood what she wanted and provided support in the right places. So there was a definite advantage to it not having formed yet; she didn't need to think about getting to a specific place to sit comfortably. She suspected this also held true for whatever else she decided to do.

Suddenly curious, she stood back up and started walking around. It felt pretty pointless as there was nothing to see anywhere and therefore felt like you weren't getting anywhere. Which she supposed was technically true. There wasn't anything there yet, after all. All the same, she moved a little bit more. There was something; something was definitely different. She felt different. She didn't feel like she was 182 years old. No, she felt – she felt young. She felt energetic. She felt like she could just jump onto a broom and re-joint the Harpies. It felt amazing, though she had no idea if it was a natural side-effect of dying, or if it was something that had accidentally happened when she had tried to cross over.

She said "tried to", even in her own mind, because she doubted anything that felt like that could ever have been successful. Besides, she had been too unstable for it to have been a complete success anyway. While she didn't mind this arrangement, it meant that she had done something wrong.

It didn't interest her too much right now, however, as she couldn't do so much about her current situation anyways. And besides, she was very curious about her apparent new youth, and about the rules of this not-yet-formed world. For example; was there an up and down here? She would have to try that out, although she didn't think there should be. Logically, since nothing had formed yet, there shouldn't be an "up" or a "down".

Experimentally, she flipped herself around – only to start falling. It was certainly a different sensation, falling in a vast nothingness. But it wasn't really going to be nice when she hit a newly formed ground. Not at all, so she figured that she needed to stop falling. The question then was, obviously, how to do that.

A memory came to her, a memory connected to the quidditch analogy she had made earlier. Maybe it would even work. She remembered the feeling of a steep dive, the ground rushing up to meet her. Then came the feeling of levelling out, coming to hover just above the ground. She remembered the movements and her body followed them with the same skill and grace that she had once had. Who would have thought?

As she levelled out and felt the nothingness rise up to support her once more, she noticed something. A stretch above her, and to one side, was a speck of something that differed from the endless nothingness. It was a hint of solidity. It was the very first piece of ground in this place. She wanted to get back up there, to see it up close. But she had fallen quite some way, so how would she get back up? Well, she supposed that the easiest way would be to just walk there. It would take a while, but with a goal the walk wouldn't feel as pointless as before.

Slowly, steadily she walked towards the little spot of ground, rising with each step like a staircase. Each step took her closer to her goal, but the walk was long. She had fallen so far before she had figured out how to stop. But she was pretty sure she had her current surroundings figured out. They would change when her girl grew up, but right now she felt sure that she would be able to adjust. She would learn the rules; no, she would master them. She didn't really have anything better to do, now did she?

It took a long time, but she did reach the spot of solid existence. It seemed to be some sort of stone or rocky surface forming. It was considerably lighter in colour than the vast darkness surrounding it. She reached out to touch it. The surface was rough and hard, just like she remembered stone to be.

Realising that, for all intents and purposes, she was petting a rock caused her to shake her head and chuckle in mild disbelief. This wasn't exactly how she pictured her afterlife to be. That thought sent a sharp sting through her chest. Her afterlife… She had imagined that she would get to see them all again when she died. Her brothers, her parents, her husband, her friends… For the first time it really hit her how lonely an existence she was really condemned to, and all because she had somehow not managed to get to the afterlife in a stable state. A single tear slid down her cheek. Were they there, she wondered, safe and sound? Were they laughing and enjoying their afterlife together? Were they waiting for her?

She wanted to imagine they were. She wanted them to be safe, happy and together. She wouldn't be there, but she hoped that they would.

"I'm sorry," she spoke into the silence. "I won't be able to make it. Something came up, but you should go on and have fun without me."

Sighing, she lay her head against the rough, recently formed surface. It was warm, like it had been in direct sunlight for several hours. She didn't cry, not like one might have expected, and she didn't throw a fit. She just felt very, very lonely. The anger would come later, she figured, when her mind had processed it enough, when the longing and loneliness weren't quite so overwhelming anymore. Then she could throw a fit and display her infamous red-head temper. Besides, she consoled herself, she wouldn't be alone forever. She just had to wait for a little girl to grow up and realise that she was there, waiting inside her soul. It would probably be a long wait, years and years, but it wasn't forever. Maybe if she kept telling herself that she wouldn't feel quite so lonely anymore.