Author's Note: I am posting this next part in two short chapters instead of in one long chapter (it works better that way). You are really going to hate me at the end of it, but please stick with me – it will all get better at the end, I promise :)

Chapter 22: Destroyed, Part One

It was one of the coldest nights Ginny could remember. The storm had started mid-afternoon, and by now the thick swirl of snow outside was blotting out the moonlight, and the wind cut harshly against the windowpanes. Ginny had pulled her long sofa up as close to the fire as she could and was huddled under a thick checkered blanket, reading. It was some Muggle book Hermione had lent her…some kind of Victorian romance. It was a lot better than she had expected.

A sharp tap on the window startled her, and she looked up to see a small ball of fluff struggling to maintain its position outside against the onslaught of the storm.

She disentangled herself from her blankets and let the owl in. Cold air rushed in from outside, and she quickly shut the window again.

"Poor bird," she said soothingly. "There, go on to the fire," she added, pulling the mail from its leg. The creature shuffled its wings to dislodge some of the ice on its feathers and glided stiffly over to the fireplace. The envelope was dry – a waterproofing spell. Ginny flicked it open and pulled out the parchment. Her stomach plummeted as she read.

Ginny, have you seen H? DE was found dead this morning, and H hasn't responded to any of my owls. I'm worried he's done something rash. Please tell him to contact me, and if you find him, don't let him out of your sight. – Ron

The note slipped from Ginny's fingers. Oh, Merlin, this was going to kill him. Almost as soon as the thought crossed her mind, panic set in. Harry blamed himself for everything; he always had. Especially this case. Who knew what he might do, what crazy suicide revenge mission he might embark on? Right now, this very second, he might be getting himself killed.

Her heart pounding now, she thrust her blanket aside and ran from the room. She took the stairs two at a time. Maybe her instincts were wrong; maybe he was still in his own room. She knocked hard on the door, but there was no answer. She didn't dare just open it…knowing Harry, he had a dozen very nasty wards up.

"Harry, open the door! If you're in there, open the bloody door!" she called, knocking harder. No answer.

Thrusting a piece of hair away from her face, she rushed through the halls to McGonagall's office. The wiry woman was pacing her office. The Floo was high in her grate, but it subsided as soon as Ginny walked in. McGonagall turned sharply.

"I'm sorry to barge in like this, Professor," Ginny said quickly, breathing hard, "But I'm looking for Harry. He's not in his rooms…do you know where he might be right now?"

"I'm looking for him as well," McGonagall said, "I was just speaking with Minister Shacklebolt, who informed me of the tragic death of Danny Eckhart. He was concerned that Mr. Potter was not answering any of his owls. I assume that's what you're here about?"

Ginny swallowed. "Yeah, my brother owled me as well. He's worried Harry might have done something rash."

McGonagall nodded gravely. "Mr. Potter did not attend his classes this afternoon, and several students have reported seeing him leaving the grounds this morning. I think we have every reason to worry."

Ginny's stomach dropped. "Leaving the grounds?" she whispered. She bit her lip. "Is there anything we can do to find him?"

McGonagall shook her head, placing a hand lightly on her shoulder. "Unfortunately, no. As you can imagine, Mr. Potter is very adept at covering his tracks." The older woman sighed heavily. "We will simply have to wait."

Ginny spent the rest of the night dashing off increasingly angry owls to Harry, but she had little hope of a response. She frustratedly paced the hall outside his room for an hour, but he didn't show up, and she didn't hear any movement inside. Finally, around eleven o'clock, she gave up and headed back to her room to Floo Ron and Hermione.

"Ginny! Have you heard anything?" Ron's panicked face filled the fire and Ginny rubbed her eyes.

"No, I just went to his rooms. He wasn't answering. And then I went to see McGonagall, and she said that he was seen leaving the grounds this morning and he missed all of his afternoon classes."

"Damnit!" Ron swore loudly. "I could've used at least one bit of good news after this nightmare of a day. Everyone in the department is completely broken up about this. For a kid to die, and after everything was supposed to be over…we just wanted to bloody prove to ourselves that everything was better again. And now, Harry goes and…," he swore again.

Hermione put a comforting hand on his shoulder and nudged him over so that she could speak. "Ginny? We've been sending him owls all day, but he hasn't been answering."

"I can't believe him!" Ginny fumed, screwing the bases of her palms into her eyes in frustration. "After everything that's happened, he's going to go throw away his life on this one case!"

"The bloody idiot!" Ron said loudly, "I'm am going to wring his bloody neck when I see him!"

"We don't know that he's throwing away his life. He's an extremely powerful wizard," Hermione said, trying to keep them calm, "And I'm sure he could handle a cell of rogue Death Eaters if he had to." She cleared her throat. "Admittedly, that wouldn't be the smartest thing to do, but even if he's gone on some revenge mission, he might still come out of it all right."

"Don't try to defend him, Hermione," Ginny cut in. "There's a whole bloody Auror department that does this for a living. He doesn't have to be the hero every single time."

"It was a kid, Ginny," Hermione said slowly. "It was a tough case for everyone. And Harry…well, you know how he is."

"It's not just that," Ron said suddenly, his voice soft. He looked up at them. "Danny's body. They pinned a note to it…they said they'd keep going after children until Harry Potter either surrendered himself to them or was killed in action."

"Ron…," Hermione whispered, obviously surprised by this news. "You didn't tell him about that…did you?"

Ron exhaled sharply. "I didn't know," he groaned, "He told me to give him all the information! I didn't think he was going to crack up over this!"

"Ron! How could you! You know how he is! You should have know he wouldn't be able to sit back and let that happen!" Hermione yelled.

"I'm sorry, okay!" Ron answered, burying his face in his hands. "I didn't know!"

Ginny swallowed hard and suddenly felt incredibly light-headed. She shut her eyes hard.

"Ginny, are you all right?" Hermione said suddenly. "Ginny?"

Ginny shook herself. "Yeah," she managed.

"Ginny," Hermione continued, lowering her voice. "Why don't you just go to bed? There's nothing we can do at this point. We'll Floo you if we hear anything, all right? And you let us know if you hear from him?"

Ginny nodded. "All right." She sat back and shut her eyes again as the fire died down. Her mind was racing and she felt like everything was spinning around her. Damnit, Harry! He was such a stupid, noble git! And here she was, as always, waiting to see if he would come out of it alive. She pulled herself onto the couch and settled the blankets back around her. And the last thought that crossed her mind before sleep came over her was that she was tired of Harry Bleeding Potter making her feel so helpless.

A hard banging on her door woke her, and she sat up straight, suddenly completely awake. A quick glance at the glowing clock on her wall told her it was a little past two o'clock. The fire had died down in the grate, and she stumbled a little as she went to the door. She pulled it open and light filtered into the room from the hall outside.

Harry stood before her, his hair sticking out at odd angles and his clothes dripping with melting snow.

"Harry!" Her first instinct was to slap him across the face for worrying them all and being a complete idiot, but then she noticed the way he was leaning heavily against the doorframe. "Merlin, are you injured? Come inside," she said quickly, pulling him into the room and shutting the door behind them. She murmered a quick spell and the fire burst back to life in the grate. Illuminated, Harry looked worse than she had feared. There were no visible wounds, but his face was pale and drawn and the rims of his eyes were red. And he was incredibly cold. His skin felt as if it had been out in the storm for hours.

"Harry," she repeated, gripping him hard by the shoulders. "Are you injured?"

He shook his head, and she sighed with relief. When he spoke, his voice came out gravelly and shaky, and Ginny knew that if they didn't act quickly he would come down with pneumonia or worse over the next few days. "I'm sorry, I know I'm not supposed to be here," he choked, and Ginny felt her heart wrench. "But I didn't know…."

"Shhh, shhh, it's okay," she said gently, biting back all of her admonishments for the moment, "I'm just glad you're back. We were all worried sick about you. We've got to get you warm, okay?" she added soothingly. "Take your coat off." She led him slowly across the room to the fire. His fingers were shaking, fumbling at the coat zipper, so she reached over to help him shed the heavy coat. His clothes were soaked through beneath.

"Oh, Harry," she whispered under her breath, "Why didn't you use that rain repellant spell you showed me?"

He exhaled sharply, and Ginny thought that it might have been a small laugh under different circumstances. "Didn't think of it," he muttered through chattering teeth.

She helped him pull his t-shirt over his head. "Take off all of the wet things and wrap the blanket around yourself, okay?" She turned away as he reached for his pants and went into the bathroom. She turned the bath faucet to blazing and soaked all of the towels in her cupboard in the hot water. When she brought them back out, Harry was sitting on the floor in front of the fire and had pulled the blankets up around him.

She unwrapped them from his upper body for a moment and began to wrap the warm towels around his chest and stomach. "Merlin, Harry, you're freezing," she murmered as her fingers brushed his skin. He sighed at the warm cloth on his body, and she pulled the blankets back over his shoulders. "Here, lean back against the couch," she said, pulling the sofa forward a bit so that he could lean his back against it. "Do you feel a bit warmer?"

"Yeah," he breathed, shutting his eyes heavily.

"Good," she said. "I'm just going to Floo Ron and Hermione to let them know you're here, okay?"

He nodded stiffly.

Ron came to the fireplace with dark rings under his eyes, and Ginny knew he had barely slept tonight.

"He's here with me," Ginny said shortly, and intense relief registered in Ron's eyes before they darted to where Harry was sitting beside her, his eyes still shut tight. Ron opened his mouth, but Ginny cut in. "It's probably not the best time for a lecture, Ron. He'll Floo you in the morning. Can you just let McGonagall and Kingsley know that he's safe?"

Ron looked like he was about to protest, but then he swallowed and nodded. "All right. But you better Floo me tomorrow, mate," he said sternly. With one last quick nod to Ginny, he left the grate. Ginny sat back and sighed.

She regarded Harry silently for a moment. The color seemed to be returning somewhat to his cheeks. "Do you want to tell me what happened?" she said finally.

Harry opened his eyes to stare into the fire, but he was silent for a long time. Ginny watched his profile in the flickering light. He sighed heavily and shut his eyes again, and she felt her heart twist for him. She reached across the space between them and put her hand over his.

They sat like that for a long time – Ginny didn't know how long. Finally, she watched his head begin to droop. "All right, let's get you into bed," she said softly, helping him stand.

"I can go back to my room," Harry said, his voice barely a whisper.

"No," Ginny said firmly, guiding him toward her bed. "You're staying here where I can keep an eye on you. I don't trust you not to leave again."

Harry didn't protest, and he let Ginny settle him into the bed. She peeled the damp towels off his chest and abdomen and tucked the blankets firmly around him. "All right?" she said.

He nodded, and she turned toward the sofa.

"I went to see the Eckharts this morning, after Ron told me what happened," he said suddenly. Ginny paused, her hand on the post of the canopy bed. She turned slowly. "Danny's parents," Harry continued. He let out a low sigh. "I wanted to…to tell them that I'm sorry." His breath hitched on the last word, and Ginny got onto the bed and lay down gently beside him. She turned onto her side to look at him, but she didn't say anything.

"They told me it wasn't my fault, of course. That's what everyone keeps telling me. But they showed me pictures of him, from before he disappeared, and I couldn't help thinking that I'm the one they really wanted. They as good as said so in that note that they…that they pinned to his body." Ginny felt him clench him fists around the sheets under the blanket. She put her hand over the blanket to cover his fist, and his chest convulsed a little with a dry sob.

"So then I went after them," he said when he had recovered himself. "I went to where the body was found…the storm was starting, and I knew that as soon as it got bad, we'd have no chance at all of tracking them. I followed the tracks east for about a mile, but then the snow came, and I couldn't go any farther…." He paused and swallowed hard.

"Damnit, Ginny!" he continued suddenly, his voice rising, "It was supposed to be over! All of this – it was all supposed to be over when I killed him."

"Shh," Ginny soothed, "Do you want the truth, Harry?"

He nodded tightly. "It'll never be totally over," she said seriously, "There'll always be dark wizards and bad people out there who will want to do horrible things. Now, because of what you did, we'll be able to stop most of them. But sometimes…sometimes they'll succeed. And it'll be tragic and terrible, like Danny's death. But you will never be able to stop them all, Harry. It's impossible. And you have to accept that. You can't be everyone's hero."

Harry didn't answer for a long time. He just stared at the canopy above, and Ginny watched a single frustrated tear course down his temple. After a while, his fist loosened and his hand lay flat against the bed under her own.

"Sleep, Harry," she said softly. "You need to get some rest or else you're going to get very sick."

Harry nodded and dutifully shut his eyes. She lay there beside him until his breathing slowed and his chest was moving steadily up and down. Then she rose quietly and went to the sofa. She lay down and stared at the ceiling for several minutes, but before long, her eyes drooped, and she fell into a fitful sleep. She dreamt of Harry alone in the snow and of that one tear against his skin.

She woke groggily a few hours later when the first rays of sunlight began to shine into the room. The storm seemed to have cleared in the night. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Harry was lying in the bed, the blankets pulled almost all the way over his face and one arm flung across the bed. She went over and put a hand to his forehead. Damn. He was burning up. He shifted a little at her touch, but he didn't wake, and she stepped back. He needed to rest as much as he could.

She went to the fire, which was low by now. A flick of her wand brought it back in full force, and she Floo'd Ron and Hermione.

This time, Hermione answered. Her hair was a fluffy, curled mess, and she ran her fingers through it self-consciously as she spoke. "How's Harry doing?" she said.

"He's all right," Ginny said. "He went to see Danny's parents yesterday, and then he went to try to track the Death Eaters before the snow came and covered their tracks. He was freezing when he came back last night, and soaked through. He has a fever this morning."

Hermione sighed heavily. "Are you going to take him to the hospital wing?"

"Yeah, as soon as he wakes up. I want to let him sleep as much as he can. But I'll probably go see Poppy before classes to see if I should give him a draught or anything in the meantime."

Hermione nodded thoughtfully. "You better Floo McGonagall and tell her he can't teach today, too."

"Yeah," Ginny said. "Thanks for reminding me."

"He ought to have just joined the Aurors straightaway," Hermione sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"I thought it would be good for him to teach for a while and rest," she replied. "But instead he's just been obsessing about everything he's not doing in the Aurors. It's making everything worse."

Ginny nodded slowly. "Bloody Death Eaters," swore Hermione, who never swore. "Why can't they just know they're beaten when they're beaten."

Ginny didn't have an answer to that, and after a moment Hermione sighed again and looked up. "All right, well I have to start getting ready for work. I'll probably come see Harry afterward, and Ron too if he can get off training for a few hours. He's got a few things to say to that boy," she added. Ginny laughed a little as Hermione left the grate.

She Floo'd McGonagall next, who said it was perfectly fine for Harry to miss his classes today but that she would have to have a stern chat with him when he was well again. "Why don't I have Poppy come by your rooms to check on Mr. Potter a little later? She can let you know if he needs to be brought to the hospital wing," the Headmistress added just before closing the connection.

Ginny stood and brushed the soot off of her knees. She went to the bathroom and splashed some water in her face. She was just drying the water away with a towel when there was a sharp knock on the door. Could it be Madam Pomfrey already? She glanced over at Harry as she threaded her way across the room to the door. He was still sleeping soundly. She pulled the door open, a finger already to her lips to tell whoever it was to be as quiet as they could.

"Draco!" she exclaimed.

"Hi," he said brightly, leaning down to kiss her cheek.

"What are you doing here?" she said, still a little shocked. Somehow, after everything that had happened last night, Draco was the last person she had been expecting to see.

"I got an owl last night from Yarnley. He wanted to know if we were available for dinner tonight. Apparently most of the office is going. But you'd have to leave around four, and I wasn't sure what your class schedule's like today, so I figured I'd drop by on my way to the office…I thought maybe we could get breakfast before I head off to—."

"Mmmm…." Harry's feverish groan filtered out from inside the room.

Draco's smile dissolved in an instant, and before Ginny's mind could even register what was happening, he pressed his palm hard against the door and forced it all the way open. She stumbled back a little, and as she regained her balance, his eyes raked over the scene in one hard sweep – the clothing strewn across her floor, her own disheveled appearance, and most damning of all, Harry, tousled and shirtless, asleep in her bed.

"Draco, it's not what it looks—." He turned on her, and his gaze morphed so quickly from agonized pain to all-encompassing rage that the breath was physically knocked from her body. Then, before she could speak, he turned on his heel and walked away.

"Draco, wait—," she protested, running after him down the hall. He didn't turn around, and his pace quickened until they were outside and crossing the grounds, the wind whipping around them.

"Wait!" She caught up with him and grabbed on to his arm, but he pulled bodily away from her.

"Draco, for Merlin's sake, I didn't sleep with him!" she cried.

At that, he whirled around, his expression acid. "Don't you dare," he spat, shoving her hands away. "Don't you dare pull that bullshit with me, Ginny Weasley!"

"It's the truth!" Ginny insisted loudly. "He—."

Suddenly, he grabbed her by her upper arms, his grip so tight that she winced. "And do you know what really gets me," he hissed, "You let me say all of those things, you let me bloody thank you for staying away from him!" He laughed ironically.

"He was sick, and I—," she protested, yelling now. He had to listen to her.

But with a sharp movement, he pushed her away. She stumbled back, another retort on her lips, but then he thrust his hand into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out a small box. "I've been carrying this around for weeks," he spat venomously, tossing it to the ground beside her, "I thought I was going to need it." He fixed her with one more hate-filled look. "But it turns out you're nothing more than a liar."

"Wait, Draco—," she cried, reaching out to grab his arm. She didn't care if she was splinched. He had to let her tell the truth. But her fingers just felt air, and in a moment, he was gone.

She fell hard on her knees in the grass, unable to process what had just happened. Her fingertips brushed against the box, and she picked it up and opened it. A diamond in a gold setting.

An engagement ring.