Mourning.
Ginny awoke painfully on the bed of rubble. A gentle rain had
started to fall and she rolled over and almost had a heart-attack: her head had
nodded over the edge of the broken balcony and looked down to the ground far below.
Muggles down there were milling about, minding their own business. She screamed
down to them, but they did not respond. Ginny felt angry. They were only three
floors below her, but they did not even glance up. Black smoke billowed from
below and Ginny realised she had to escape.
Staggering to her feet, she realised how injured she was. A cut in
her thigh and two in her arms, bruises up her back, on her bottom and back of
her legs. She was deaf in her right ear and her eyes and nostrils stung from smoke.
Her chest felt awful and she kept coughing up black, sooty phlegm. But she was
alive. Then she remembered Draco and collapsed again. Tears flooded her face
and she shook. Rage and disbelief flooded her, but she vowed not to let it
conquer her. Resolute once more, she wiped her eyes and prised open the damaged
balcony doors and into the Ministry once more.
Far below, the Ministry seemed perfectly fine to the muggles
outside. The powerful spell around it gave it an aura of respectability, though
they did complain about the extra military traffic during the early afternoon
in London. And that it was raining again.
Rexil and D-Mob had secured the Ground floor without incident.
Civilian fatalities had been horrendous inside, but they had not been the cause
nor had they yet to find the culprits. One team had been dispatched to the
basement floors whilst the others went further upstairs. Rexil found the smoke
quite choking, but realised that SMS wizards were dousing the flames remotely
to save their precious building. He sneered at this, realising where their true
priorities lie.
Ginny staggered along the corridor and realised the smoke was
clearing. The walls were soaked and up ahead she noted a large globule of water
floating along the corridor. It was approximately six feet across and was
homing in on a small fire at the far end. She cheered as the fire was doused
and realised that help was on it's way. As she stepped over a charred corpse
she froze. Ahead of her slumped against a wall was Dumbledore. He looked dead.
Ginny approached slowly fearing the worst but was delighted to find that he was
still breathing.
"Professor Dumbledore? Are you okay? Can you hear me?" whispered
Ginny running her fingers through his silvery hair. He drowsily came too and
looked up into her eyes.
"Ginny. Oh thank heavens you're okay," he sighed.
"I'm fine. Now we've got to get you out of here, sir."
Albus winced. "I cannot leave Ginny. I am hurt. You would be
better off getting out of here." Ginny noticed that the water had washed away a
lot of Dumbledore's blood, but it was seeping back across the floor now. Tears
flooded her eyes.
"No! I'm not losing you too, sir. Tell me how we can sort you
out." Ginny looked for her wand but it was nowhere to be found. Albus stared at
her and nodded.
"Okay Ginny. Here, you can borrow my wand." Albus smiled as Ginny
gingerly took it from him.
"Right. I have been stabbed. No vital organs have been hit, but a major
artery has been severed. You must fix it. So you must repeat what I say,
exactly."
Ginny nodded, but her partial deafness made it hard to understand
totally. After a few moments carefully repeating his words his bleeding had
stopped.
"Thankyou Ginny, but the spells cannot give me back my lost blood.
I need rest. Help me into that small records room there and I'll be safe whilst
I recuperate. You should stay too. You look like you need the rest."
Ginny wordlessly helped him into the room, grappling him with both
hands and dragging him helplessly into the room. He was snoring when she
finally laid him out in the narrow aisle between the rows of paperwork. She
used a pile of papers for a pillow and hugged him. His wand was still in the
corridor so reluctantly stood up and wearily snuck out of the room again.
As Ginny retrieved the wand she noticed six dark robed silhouettes
marching towards her, red eyes blazing. She floundered and wanted to run yet
feared the group might find the snoring Dumbledore. How she wished she had shut
the door behind her now. Realising that she could not retreat Ginny yelled at
them, ensuring she had their attention. As soon as they turned towards her she
ran the opposite way as fast as she could. The many footsteps closed in behind
her as she descended once more into the smoke-filled ruins of the lower floors.
Ginny ran blindly down the stairs and through many ghastly rooms.
She was soaked by a floating water-spell and tripped over many bodies before
she dared to look back. Exhausted as she was Ginny realised she must push on or
die at their hands. Behind her the cloaked figures closed in.
It was then that Ginny's right leg disappeared through a weakened
part of the flooring. Blood oozed from the gash in her thigh and she was stuck
fast. Resigned silently to her fate Ginny waited as the robed figures
surrounded her.
One of the hooded figures raised a blazing hand to kill Ginny. She
collapsed in a tearful fright as the four wizards bore down on her.
To be continued... perhaps…
Disclaimer:
The characters and setting are all thanks to J.
K. Rowling. I claim no ownership of these characters, though the events I put
them through are all mine. Mwah hah ha.