POV Ginny W.
The Pull
"You have fought valiantly," a voice echoed through the halls causing pain to Ginny's ears. "Lord Voldemort knows how to value true bravery."I continued and as Ginny quickly glanced away from her opponent she saw the other Death Eaters had also lowered their wands some very reluctantly. "Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste. Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my farces to retreat immediately."
Ginny watched in amazement and fear as the Death Eaters disappeared in columns of black dust. Only one thing came to Ginny's mind as to why Lord Voldemort was calling his forces to retreat… she quickly pushed the thought from her mind it was too unbearable.
"You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured. I speak now to Harry Potter," Ginny's heart lifted only to sink again, "directly to you. You have permitted your friends to for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then the battle recommences. This time, I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."
Ginny shivered. She had never known how deep the connection between him and Harry had been until now. Voldemort knew exactly how to get to Harry. All she could do was hope Ron and Hermione would be able to keep him from doing anything all of us would regret in the long run.
"Defenders of Hogwarts quickly help gather the dead and wounded. Converge into the Great Hall where assistance will be provided." This time the booming voice was wary and welcomed. It belonged to Professor McGonagall. Ignoring the first command Ginny slowly walked into the Great Hall.
When she got to the entrance the noises coming from inside made her hesitate. The hall was quiet save for the sound of low murmurs and loud weeping's. When she found the tiniest bit of courage left inside of her she crossed the threshold.
She was able to see that someone had already found Tonks and Lupin and they lay side by side so close their fingers touched. She refused to look at any more bodies there were too many and even more were coming in behind her.
"OH, GINNY!" she turned at her mother's shout only to be smothered by her clinging arms. "OH, MY BABY! WE SAW YOU FIGHTING! WE THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO LOOSE YOU TOO!" she wailed in utter agony. Ginny's heart sank even lower into her stomach as she realized what her mom had just implied.
"Too?" she crooked fearfully.
No response came from her mother other than even more hysterical sobs. All of a sudden even though she was ripped from her mother's grip and pulled into that of her brother George. In the 16 years that Ginny had known her brother she had never seen him cry. Not once. When she found the source of his tears she thought that her heart and everything else in her stomach was going to come up again.
His hair matched hers perfectly. His were closed but the wrinkles around them and his legendary mouth suggested the ghost of a smile. The only reason the contents of her stomach didn't reappear on her brother was because her lungs were too busy competing for air. Her mother dropped to her knees and laid across his body like Tonks had done to Lupin. George let her go and dropped by his twins head in shock after losing half his body, sole, and smile. Her father gave her a quick tearful hug before he consolingly stroked his wife's back.
Ginny was partly aware of three things; that her face grew warm and wet, that there was a slight commotion around her as everyone seemed to calm down for the slightest moment, and that Ron and Hermione had just appeared. Harry. That was why the crowd had calmed. They found their flicker of hope. She was expecting and hoping different arms would have embraced her but still clung to Hermione anyways.
Hermione tried to lead her in the direction of her family but as she caught sight of Fred's body she turned and left the Great Hall. She found Neville and Luna and they all went to find more bodies. Anything was better than staying in front of her disintegrating family. The fight was over for at least a quarter of an hour, they had no reason to keep her there.
As Ginny walked past the entrance way the entire small part of her brain that still worked registered that Harry had not been in the Great Hall. She tried to keep her mind off of it. She knew Harry and even though he was a selfless noble git she knew he would need a greater cause than the one that Voldemort had given to commit suicide… right?
Luna went her separate way and Neville moved to help Oliver Woods with the task of bringing a lifeless underage Colin Creevey into the Great Hall, leaving her on her own. She heard a sniff coming from not too far away. She started heading in that direction thankful that she had found someone alive.
"Mommy? MOMMY!" a girl cried. With one look at her she could tell that like Colin, and herself, she was underage. She was hugging her knees and rocking back and forth trying to calm herself.
"Are you hurt?" she asked as she came into the girls view. She knew better than to ask if she was alright nobody was.
"M-my shoulder." The girl stuttered. Sure enough the girls shoulder shown in the dim light underneath her clutching hand. The damage didn't look life threatening just painful. "I want my mommy, I want to go home." She cried and squeezed Ginny's hand.
"It's all right." She said in the best imitation of the calming Molly Weasley, "It's okay. We're going to get you inside."
"But I want to go home," she protested softly. "I don't want to fight anymore!" the girl seemed to be ashamed for admitting it.
"I know. Everything is going to be alright." Ginny's voice broke and she too almost felt ashamed that she didn't either but she would never stop fighting. Not until everything really was alright.
The girl nodded and gripped her hand tighter. Ginny felt a chill fun down her spine for the countless time. She felt someone watching her but when she looked around she didn't see any one. "Come on lets go."
As it turned out the girl had lost more blood than was apparent at first. When Ginny was able to convince the girl to stand it lasted as far as the front door. After the stairs she was practically carrying her until they were noticed by Hermione and she rushed over to help. Together they were able to get her to the Great Hall and to a mediwizard.
"Hermione, have you seen Harry recently?" Hermione didn't need to answer. The look on her face said that she hadn't.
"I assumed he went with you…" she let her voice trail off in panic. Ron passed them and he claimed that he had not seen Harry after sharing a worried look with Hermione.
"You don't think..." she choked out before Hermione cut her off.
"No! No he wouldn't! I know he wouldn't!" she frantically looked a Ron. "He would at least help us finish de- the job first."
"What job? The one that Dumbledore sent you three on?" Ginny asked with the slightest bit of hope in her voice before she choked it down 'don't get overconfident Ginny' she thought to herself.
"Hey guys," a glum Neville said before either Ron or Hermione could answer.
"Neville you haven't happened to see Harry have you?" asked Ron.
"Yeah," he replied as Ginny's hope peeked, "he said that he was going to be away for a while. So he told me to kill Voldemort's snake and to tell you two," he gestured to a now frantic looking Hermione and a shocked Ron. "That he is taking care of the 6th the snake is the 7th. He told me you two would know what to do but just in case you were busy I had to do it."
"No…" Hermione said in a small voice before bombs in the distance interrupted her.
"It has yet to be an hour!" McGonagall yelled storming out of the Great Hall with a herd of desks following in her wake but before she could even reach the door Voldemort's voice echoed through the halls once more.
"Harry Potter is dead." McGonagall stopped in her tracks the desks forgotten along with the pull on Ginny's heart that had started with Fred's death. There was no heart for it to pull on.
"Ginny," Ron whispered. She must have fallen because he was supporting all of her weight. Hermione was gripping Ginny's arm so tight that if Ginny had any concept of pain other that of her heart stopping unwillingly it would have hurt beyond all the cuts she sustained during the battle. "Ginny, he is lying. He has to be"
Ginny wasn't listening to him, or the voice that was crashing on her eardrums. After a while she subconsciously heard were she could find him and, if he was not trying to deceive her, were she would kill him. She raced after Ron, Hermione, and McGonagall to the front entrance to the castle.
The three shrieks that came in front of her went in one ear and out the other. She had seen him. He was hard to miss in Hagrid's arms she wrenched her way past the others as his name clawed out of her thought. She now felt the overpowering need to throw her arms around him and protect him like Tonks and her mother had.
"Silence!" yelled the thing that clawed her un-beating heart out of her bruised chest. A forced silence was shoved down upon her and kept her from moving. Ginny didn't dare listen to a word that Voldemort said. She somehow knew that no matter how much she thought she could never be hurt at that moment any word he said would just be lemon juice on a twisted dagger wedged in her gut.
She felt the imprisoning silence taken away as Ron yelled something, but before Ginny could join in the bashing of this monster the silence was forced back. Ginny also noticed that during her trance Harry had moved from the platform of Hagrid's trembling arms to the ground that had been poisoned by Voldemort's feet.
That sight broke her. The man that she loved deserved so much more than anyone could offer. Such a disgrace to his name moved her to action a moment too late. Neville rushed past her with the sorting hat and his wand drawn ready to destroy Voldemort. Just as he got past her he was disarmed and thrown to the ground by a curse. Voldemort made a noise that resembled laughter.
"And who is this? Who has come forward to demonstrate what happens to those that continue to fight when the battle is lost" he said snickering.
Bellatrix cackled humorously. "It is Neville Longbottom my Lord! The one that gave the Carrows…"
Her voice was drowned out at the name of Ginny's tormentors. All of the countless tortures that she had suffered throughout the year came barreling back to her with that single name. The searing pain behind every curse in Dark Arts class, every stab from the muggle knife in Muggle Studies, and every sting from the poison poured down her throat in Potions class. All of it would be done again and again gladly if the excruciating pain of losing Harry would STOP!
When she opened her eyes she saw a horrific sight in front of her. Neville was ripping the flaming Sorting Hat off of his head and (thankfully) with minor burns he tore the sword of Gryffindor off out and ran toward Voldemort. Meanwhile giants fought giants and house elves and flying creatures all accompanied by the centaurs. Then a piercing shriek of rage escaped Voldemort as Ginny saw Neville slice the head off of the huge snake that was coiled around his shoulders.
Voldemort's bloodcurdling shriek put enough satisfaction in her un-beating heart that Ginny was able to turn around and fight. She would fight until her last breath. When Ginny turned she came face to face with Bellatrix Lestrange.
In that moment she had a sudden fear she would die but then it hit her. One word. Harry. So what if she dies. It only meant an eternity with Harry Potter. The only thing she refused to do was to stop fighting she would die fighting. So she fired the first spell but Bellatrix deflected it with ease, Ginny on the other hand was having a hard time countering hers. Then two spells from either side of her caused Bellatrix's smile to falter in the slightest, but she soon regained her composer and was firing curses at full force.
Ginny caught a glimpse of two different shades of blonde on either side of her. One dark and bushy the other bright and smooth. Hermione and Luna. All three witches fought their hardest, but even three to one Bellatrix was gaining the upper hand. That became apparent when a streak of green flew so close to her that her hair whipped behind her as id a large gust of wind had been produced by the wand not the killing curse.
'So close.' She thought to herself disappointed that she was forced to still live with the ongoing pain.
Suddenly she and the other two girls were pushed behind her mom. She had her wand drawn and a look on her face that would scare Voldemort senseless, (If he already hadn't been).
"Not my daughter you bitch!" Molly Weasley screamed at the top of her lungs, and with that they began to duel. "No! Get back! She is mine!" her mother yelled when others ran to her aid.
Curse after curse was fired and neither woman wore a grin as the dueled. Bellatrix still teased and pestered Ginny's mother until finally Molly Weasley hit home. Bellatrix fell to the floor as a triumphant roar came from the on viewers and a frustrated scream came from Voldemort. With one swipe of his wand all three of his opponents fell to the floor and Voldemort turned his wand to her mother. Ginny was the first to act as she prepared to duel him but right before she was able to reach him she felt herself slam into an invisible wall.
Then right before her eyes he appeared out of thin air. For the first time in what felt like forever she felt her heart shudder like it was trying to restart itself. It was painful but this pain was welcomed. For a moment she wondered why it was not beating entirely. Harry was alive and now she could fight and die the way that she wanted; hand in hand with Harry Potter. Then she listened to what he was saying and understood.
"I don't want anyone else to try and help. It's got to be like this. It's got to be me." His voice was void and distant through the bloody protective charm that kept her from taking any of the hits for him like he always did for her.
She toned out everything and if she hadn't it wouldn't have processed. Harry must think her to be a lot stronger than she was if he was going to put her through all of this. First Lupin, then Tonks, Fred, Colin, and… she couldn't even think of his name in that list without the image threatening to bring tears to her eyes and knock her off her feet. Growing up with as many brothers as she did made her strong and hardheaded, she knew that, but it did not prepare her for what she had gone through today.
As she watched it pained her to not hear his sweet husky voice wash over her but she couldn't make herself listen because she could see that every word infuriated Voldemort and brought Harry closer and closer to his near and certain demise. Even though she could not listen she had to watch and that just proved her theory right. She saw multiple expressions flash over Voldemort's face; fear, shock, joy but these were all shadowed by pure rage.
The two curses collided into a golden fire that blended with the rays of morning sun just starting to peek through the window. The struggle between the two wizards did not last long to Ginny's surprise. She watched as if everything was set, not in slow motion but, in fast-forward. The curse that was meant to kill Harry miraculously kicked the conjurer instead.
The castle itself was holding its breath as the realness of it sank in. the first ones to get it were Ron and Hermione as they raced to embrace their best friend. Then it hit her
It was over.
No more fear.
No more worry.
Ginny was going to be ok the scars would fade the tears would dry it was finally over!
As these thoughts raced through every head in the Great Hall she ran to embrace the only one that had been able to finalize these thoughts. The Boy who Lived. The Heir to Slytherine. The Chosen One. The Hero. The Man She Loved. Harry Potter.