The End
Ginny and Ron walked hand in hand into the castle. They were greeted by bewildered students, the bodies of dead Death Eaters, werewolves, and even a giant that had made it through the front door during the second attack. Ginny was relieved that it was over. She was relieved that she would not have to hide the inky Dark Mark from her skin for the remainder of her life. She was relieved that she was still alive and didn't have to worry about Voldemort anymore. She was relieved that Ron was alive and seemed to have forgiven her.
She mourned, though. For the dead and the families of the dead. For the innocents who died in the battle. She mourned for Fred and George too, because a George without a Fred wasn't much of anything. She mourned for all of the people who she had to deceive to get to this point. Most of all, she mourned for Draco. No one had seen him anywhere. She didn't see a beautiful blonde man striding toward her across the Great Hall, reading to assure her that all was well and everything would be okay in the end.
Ron and Ginny walked towards their family, which was gathering at the far end of the Great Hall. Everyone was there, even the body of Fred, lying on the ground where they had left him before finishing the battle. He looked so peaceful amid the despair and tragedy of the Great Hall, an island of calm in the storm of life. Someone had closed his eyes and wiped all the blood and dirt from his face. Fred could've just been sleeping. Though with him, Ginny thought it was more likely that he could be faking sleep to surprise her even more when she sat down next to him.
He wasn't asleep though. Ron and Ginny had reached their family and Ginny sat down next to Fred, holding his hand. The heat was draining out of his body at a rapid pace. He was no longer a family member. He was slowly becoming a corpse. "We have to give him a funeral."
Molly burst into renewed tears upon hearing Ginny's voice, but Arthur nodded.
Ron and George carried Fred's body to the lake, the rest of the family trailing after them in a slow procession. No one else joined them, being too busy caring for their own dead or searching for their missing loved ones. Ginny leaned up against the tree that she and Draco had sat under together so recently and watched dumbly as Molly said her final goodbyes and Arthur set Fred's body alight. Her tears wouldn't come, and she found herself unable to join her family in a giant, tearful hug as they watched Fred's body become ashes and dust.
She touched George's shoulder as she wandered away from the family. She couldn't bear to be around the sadness, but didn't know where to go to find something happier. Her feet mindlessly led her into the Forbidden Forest, or the remains of it. The trees were still smoldering from the fight, but Ginny didn't seem to notice the heat. The grass beneath her feet was not on fire, and she wandered deeper and deeper into the forest, not knowing what she was looking for.
She wandered for several long minutes, not paying attention to the surroundings, before something caught her attention. The sun was starting to set, and Ginny wasn't sure if what she was seeing was a rock or something else. She let her feet lead her closer, not feeling terribly curious, but grateful for some sense of purpose.
The rock moved.
Ginny stopped dead and got out her wand, ready to kill if she had to. It was just like her, to go wandering in the forest and find the last remaining Death Eater. Just her luck.
The rock moved again.
Ginny raised her wand, not really wanting to give the figure a chance to attack. She still had too much adrenaline from the fight. Instead of casting a spell, Ginny ran at the rock, ready to jump on it, stopping short only when she heard her name.
She lowered her wand and took a step closer, bending down to better see this figure lying at her feet.
"Harry?"
The figure grunted.
Ginny reached around Harry's arms and helped him sit up. He didn't look terribly much worse for wear. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Harry grabbed onto Ginny's arms and pulled himself into a standing position. "Just a slamming headache."
Ginny looked around, finally taking in the scene around her. The trees had been blasted away from the sight, forming a ring of grass where there had formerly been thick, old forest. A couple bodies were at the outskirts of the ring. "Is this where…?"
"Yeah."
"Where's his body?"
"It burnt itself up." Harry took a step forward and winced. "D'you mind?"
Ginny let Harry put an arm around her shoulders and together they slowly walked out of the forest.
"Ron?" Harry asked.
Ginny nodded.
"Hermione?"
"We don't know."
Harry didn't say anything for a long time. After several pained steps, "Draco?" he asked.
Ginny shook her head, willing herself not to cry. "We," she paused. "We don't know."
Harry squeezed her shoulder. "I'm sure they're both fine."
Ginny nodded, tears gathering in the corner of her eyes.
They walked silently back to the castle. Students, Order members, elves, centaurs, and ghosts all kept approaching Harry to give him congratulations and their thanks. One figure in particular, was well received: Hermione Granger. She ran up to Harry and Ginny from the steps of the castle.
"I've been looking everywhere for you!" she proclaimed. Hermione had one of her arms in a sling and there was a wicked cut reaching from her eyebrow to her cheek, still leaking small drops of blood.
Harry broke off from Ginny and gave Hermione a hug. "Are you alright? Have you talked to Ron?"
"Yeah." Hermione squeezed Harry's hand. "The family is inside. I'm okay. Just got into a bit of a mess with a werewolf."
Harry looked at her sharply.
"It's okay. No bites." She turned to Ginny. "I'd have expected you to be with Draco. Haven't you found him?"
Ginny stared at Hermione for a moment and stalked away from the pair. She heard Harry whisper that Draco was missing before she moved out of earshot. She looked over her shoulder, not being able to help the jealousy that was building up in her system. Of course the Golden Trio had survived and were going to live happily ever after. What about her though, could she survive with Draco missing, or with, Merlin forbid, Draco dead.
The answer was yes, of course she would. There was no chance that she would ever give up on life or ever give up looking for him. Ginny punched a tree, just adding to her other injuries. It wasn't fair. He promised that he would come back to her. His father was dead. He had to have beaten him. There wasn't anyone worse than Lucius, no one with more hatred and anger directed directly at Draco. If he could survive Lucius, he could survive anything.
And yet, he was nowhere to be found.
Ginny couldn't help it this time. The tears came. She fell back against the tree and sank to the ground, hugging her knees to her chest. She cried until there was nothing more to let out. She didn't feel much better. He face was puffy, her teeth hurt from the pressure of her sinuses, there were tear tracks running down her face, and she turned blotchy. "Pull yourself together, Ginny," she mumbled to herself.
As she was standing up, the ground beneath her feet began to shake. She turned around and found herself face-to-face with Draig, who had not a scratch on him. He shoved his face into her arms, licking the salty tears off of her face. Ginny managed a giggle.
Draig used his face and long neck to push Ginny around so that she was standing beside his back.
"You want to go flying, boy?" she murmured. Ginny clambered up onto Draig's back, situating herself between two large scales and missing the feeling of Draco on the dragon's back with her. "Alright." She patted Draig's scales and wiped the remainder of the tears away from her eyes.
Draig took off, soaring just over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest, landing quite soon, near the back of Hagrid's hut.
Ginny slid off his back, looking around.
Draig nudged her gently with his nose, in the direction of the pumpkin patch.
There, shining in the light of the setting sun, Ginny saw the familiar gleam of white blond hair in the dirt. She ran over, relieved to see that the hair was connected to a head which was connected to a body. "Draco!"
The body didn't move.
Ginny slid to her knees, turning Draco's body so that he was facing up and placing her ear to his heart. "Please be alive, don't do this to me," she pleaded. After a moment, she heard the familiar thump, thump of Draco's heartbeat and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Enervate."
Draco blinked.
Ginny conjured a cloth and dampened it, rubbing the dirt and blood off of Draco's face, murmuring sweet nothings and brushing the hair off his forehead. She revealed two large cuts, which had thankfully scabbed over, by the time she finished cleansing his face.
"Ginny?"
Ginny let out a strangled sob and pulled Draco into a sitting position, holding him close to her body. She kissed his forehead and his cheek, being careful to avoid the cuts on his face.
Draco blinked and looked at her gently. "Ginny, I'm okay," he said, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Everything is going to be okay."