AN: This was written for the Story Beginnings Challenge and round 9 of Quidditch League. The prompt I was give was, "What if Harry Potter had died in the forest at the end of DH?" So this is obviously AU.

In my mind, even if Harry was killed, I still think they would have won since all of the horcruxes would have been destroyed.

Prompts: An undelivered letter, Dialogue: "Look it doesn't matter – forget it, okay?" and Sentence: s/he's too quiet these days.

Word count: 1,206

All She Lost

Not all fairy tales have happy endings. Maybe she should have realized this when her relationships with Michael and Dean ended before they really started. She never really understood why though.

She had never had a problem with making new friends or attracting guys. But none of that had mattered to her – at least not anymore. In fact, nothing really mattered to her lately. She just didn't care and didn't know if that would change.

She's too quiet these days. That's what everyone around her has said, but she's never noticed. Maybe it's because she hasn't been paying much attention – to anything. Not even in class and she's been yelled at by many teachers because of it.

She hasn't been interested in anything she used to either. She's even quit the Quidditch team. She can't bear to stand out on the pitch because all it does is remind her of him.

She knows she's being ridiculous, but she can't help it. She's feels broken and lost and confused. And being out at the pitch just makes that worse.

It's her final year of Hogwarts. She should be happy but she's not. She's hasn't been the same since that day. The words still haunt her mind.

The war's finally over and their side won but she lost so much more.

Her brother's gone and she'll never hear his laughter again or be the victim of one of his practical jokes and George will never be the same again.

And those words still haunt her nightmares.

Harry Potter is dead!

She never believed it – she couldn't believe it. But in the end, she had no choice.

"He's gone."

"Ginny, are you alright?" she hears a familiar voice say.

It's only then that she realizes she had spoken the words out loud. She turns her head to find Luna standing in front of the table, staring down at her.

"Yeah," she replies, slowly. "I'm fine."

"You're not," Luna says, as matter of fact as only Luna can be.

Ginny shakes her head, closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She simply shrugs her shoulders, not wanting to say anything more.

Luna walks away, leaving the other girl in her sorrow, muttering something about the nargles and how they must be bothering her.

A small smile appears on Ginny's lips at Luna's mention of the nargles.

Same old Luna.

She sighs. In some ways, she wishes that it was just the nargles clouding her mind. Then maybe it wouldn't hurt so much. Maybe then she could still feel normal – inside of this empty, walking shell.

She glances down at the blank parchment in front of her. She rubs her eyes and runs her fingers through her hair.

She can't even concentrate enough to bother working on her potions essay.

It's been four months, Ginny. Get yourself together, she scolds herself. You're a Weasley for Godric's sake – what the bloody hell is wrong with you?

A soft groan escapes her lips as she finds herself moving her gaze towards the window next to the table. Glancing across the vast grounds, she wishes nothing more than to be anywhere but here.

"Wallowing in guilt and despair won't do you any good," she hears another familiar voice say from behind her.

She jumps a little and silently curses herself. She's never been this jumpy before.

Why can't everyone just leave me alone?

Her visitor takes a seat across the table from her but Ginny doesn't even acknowledge that she's there. "It's not healthy, Gin."

"Look it doesn't matter – forget it, okay?" Ginny replies. She finally pulls her gaze from the window to look her in the face. "I know you mean well Hermione, but—"she trails off.

Hermione sighs. "I know…you don't care."

"It's not that I don't care – it's just," she stops and takes a breath. "It's…I've never felt like this before and I guess that I don't know how to handle it."

"You're not the only one who's still hurting Ginny," Hermione says. "Harry was like a brother to me and now that he's—"

Ginny solemnly nods. "Life never was fair, was it?"

Hermione shakes her head. "Have you taken up my advice from earlier? Ridiculous as it was, it could help." She adds before she stands up and walks away.

Ginny watches as she walks around out of the library before letting her gaze drop to the blank parchment that still sits in front of her.

Giving up on her essay, she closes the textbook that sits off to the side and picks up her quill, slowly dipping it in her ink bottle.

It couldn't hurt, could it?

She's kept all her emotions bottled up inside of her for four months now which wasn't real healthy. Maybe Hermione was right – she did need to find some way to release all her pent up emotions.

She lets her shoulders relax before placing her newly inked quill to the top of the parchment and beginning to write...

Dear Harry,

It's kind of bloody insane and ridiculous that I'm writing a letter to you. It's not as if you'll actually ever read it. But Hermione suggested I do it to get my mind off of everything. It may not be the most perfect suggestion but I mean, it can't hurt, can it? It's better than constantly being bitter and confused.

Anyway, I do miss you even if we weren't in an official relationship anymore – or were we? I guess it doesn't matter anymore since …well, you know.

It's been four months and everyone around me is slowly returning to normal or so it seems. I know that I should be moving on with them, but I just can't. Things are different now – they were different the second after your death was announced.

I thought for sure that our luck was gone after that. That Voldemort would win and we'd all be screwed. But somehow we came out victorious. Although, I don't feel victorious – I've lost you and Fred and so many other innocent people were killed.

It's not bloody fair.

But isn't that life?

I can imagine you up there; watching Fred playing pranks with Sirius and Tonks with Mad-Eye screaming at them – while Remus snickers in the background…I guess you're in a better place now with your parents.

You're probably happy up there. But I selfishly wish that you were still here with me and Ron and Hermione and mum. We all miss you. It's just not the same.

Life isn't the same anymore and I don't know if it ever will be again.

Maybe it will, though. One can hope.

Ginny.

She folds the letter and places it in the front of her journal. Obviously, she isn't going to send it – there is no one to send it to.

Writing it did help her, if only for a little while.

Maybe I'll write one every few months.

Life would be hard without Harry – for everyone, but she knew that she would get along just fine, eventually. In time, the brokenness in her heart would hopefully heal into a dull ache and she would be able to move on.

Not all fairytales have happy endings and this is no exception