A/N Okies, everyone. I know I've been saying that this was going to be the final chapter, BUT what I originally had planned as a quicky epilogue became far too long, so there will be SIXTEEN chapters, one more coming. Sorry bout that. Anyway, thanks for reading, and don't forget to review. Enjoy!
For the Love of the Land
~I pledge my Loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~
Part Fifteen
Eleven students and two staff members, thirteen in all, had died in what was quickly becoming known as 'The Battle of the Wall'. The mode was somber as the student body prepared to go down into the Great Hall for 'The Funeral', where they were to honor the thirteen who had died.
Harry and Ron were shocked to discover that Dean Thomas, one of their fellow dorm mates, was among the fallen. It really hit home then. They were walking down silently with Seamus. They had no idea where Neville was.
As they entered, Harry felt like he had just been punched in the stomach. There were thirteen coffins, and the students wandered like lost puppies to those they had known. The sound of sobbing was the only thing to be heard.
The three Gryffindor boys found themselves standing by Dean, saying their final goodbyes. As they walked around, their eyes wide with the reality of death, they saw others they knew. Ernie Macmillan, Madame Pince, Lisa Turpin, Mr. Filch, Colin Creevey...Ron felt his fingers tingling.
"Harry," He whispered, finally daring to speak through the revered silence.
"What?" Harry whispered back.
"I saw these people in my dream. I saw them just like this...dead." He said in an awed voice. Harry's eyes widened.
"Look," Seamus said suddenly. He had hardly moved the whole time, trying to deal with Dean's death. Dean and Seamus had been best friends. "It's Neville, and Hermione, and Ginny too!" The three boys looked up to see a coffin surrounded by four people. All the others had crowds, but this one seemed deserted by everyone but these four. As the boys got closer, they saw that the fourth person was Cho Chang. They circled around the coffin silently, afraid to interrupt the silent state of the four mourners. Harry looked down into the coffin.
He saw the seemingly sleeping Draco Malfoy.
Harry looked up and studies Malfoy's four mourners. Hermione and Cho were both crying freely, the tears stained their robes, yet somehow remained silent. Neville was looking down at Malfoy's face much the same way Seamus had looked at Dean. Ginny was staring at him, her breathing irregular and her eyes wide. The four of them were gripping each other's hands for dear life.
"Ron?" Hermione choked, suddenly realized that they had been joined by three boys. Harry realized that Ron had been staring at Malfoy with a peculiar expression. He looked up and wrapped his arms around a sobbing Hermione. Neville looked up and gave Seamus and Harry a very wobbly smiled. Cho sniffed, then muttered something about going to see Lisa. Hermione and Neville said goodbye to her. Neville walked over and joined Seamus.
Harry continued to stare at Ginny. Her brown eyes were distant and filled with pain. Her beautiful fiery tresses fell limply around her. He wanted to stay, he wanted to comfort her...he wanted to do anything to see her smile. He looked down at Malfoy, wondering why Ginny had loved him. However, from the looks on the faces of Hermione, Cho, and Neville, there was a lot more to Malfoy than Harry knew of.
"Ginny, are you okay?" Hermione asked her softly. Ginny looked up at Hermione and Ron painfully. Draco...she could not comprehend that he would never share a butterbeer with her again, never roll his eyes at the stories of her friends again. She kept expecting to feel his hands around her eyes and hear a quiet 'guess who?' in her ear. Seeing Hermione with Ron was not making it any easier.
"I just...I just need to be alone, I think..." Ginny managed to choke out. Hermione nodded compassionately, and tugged the boys away, trying to smile at Ginny, but finding whatever muscles that allow you to smile not functioning properly. Neville gave Ginny a hug and whispered something in her ear before returning to the rest of the sixth year Gryffindors. Harry was the last to move, unable to tear his eyes from Ginny and her torture until Hermione gently tugged his sleeve. Still, he felt guilty walking away and leaving Ginny to stand all alone. He turned his head, and saw that she had moved from his feet down to his side, and saw her hold his hand, trembling.
"Let her be, Harry," Hermione said gently to him. "Draco and Ginny...they were so close..." She felt her eyes tearing up again, and Neville patted her shoulder. They met back up with Cho, who was wandering around aimlessly, following the flow of the student body.
"Cho," Hermione said, and she hugged the older girl. Harry and Ron, through their shock at the grief around them, still had enough in them to be confused. "Are you okay?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah," Cho replied, wiping tears away. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"You're a terrible liar, Cho," Neville said, smiling weakly.
"I know," She replied.
"Luna!" Hermione said, her eyes lighting up at the sight of her teacher. Now Harry and Ron were REALLY confused as they saw Professor Starlight fighting her way over to the small group.
"Hermione, Cho, Neville," She said, and Harry was shocked to see that she had been crying. She pulled the three into a hug, which they returned. She looked at them fondly, smiling through her tears.
"I am so proud of you," She whispered. They nodded, and Hermione felt her throat tightening.
"Luna, I have to tell you what happened." Cho whispered, raising her eyes to meet her the professors.
"What do you mean?" Luna asked in concern.
"What really happened...to Draco." She gulped. Harry and Ron exchanged looks. Hermione and Neville looked at her curiously. Luna merely nodded.
"Hey," A voice behind them said, and Harry looked up to see Sirius. "Great spout, you two," He smiled at Hermione and Cho, but the smile seemed forced. They nodded anyway.
"Harry," He said in relief. He hadn't been sure if anything had happened to his godson or not, and he felt as if a great burden had been lifted from him. He hugged Harry, feeling somewhat odd.
"C'mon," Luna said, nudging Sirius, "Dumbledore is going to say something." Indeed, everyone was crowding around the podium Dumbledore was standing at. Hermione bit her lip, twisting around to see where Ginny was still standing with Draco.
"Luna...Ginny..." Hermione said, looking meaningfully at the professor. Luna nodded and walked briskly to pull the red haired girl from her boyfriend...finding that her voice was not functioning properly.
Hermione was finding it hard to comprehend Dumbledore's words. His voice seemed to drone on and on...Hermione's thoughts turned back again to Draco. His terrible jokes, the way he raised his eyebrows if he thought you were lying, the way he looked at Ginny... things she had begun to take for granted that she would never see again. She put her head on Ron shoulder, more to convince herself that he was really there. She couldn't imagine what she would've done if Ron had been one of the thirteen...she couldn't imagine what Ginny was going through.
Ron looked down at her, his heart breaking from the sight of her tears. He gently wiped them from her face.
"Hermione," He said softly, so no one but Hermione could hear. "Malfoy...Draco was a good person. He saved Ginny's life, I saw it." Hermione looked up at Ron in surprise, shocked that he would ever say anything good about Draco. She valued his opinion more than anyone else's, and the fact that he called Draco a good person made her smile.
"You don't know how much that means to me, Ron." She whispered, and he smiled at her. Then he looked back through the crowd, spotting Ginny.
"She loved him, didn't she?" He asked, not taking his eyes off his little sister.
"And he loved her, too." Hermione replied. Ron sighed...saying he owed Ginny an apology was like saying water was damp. He wouldn't be surprised if Ginny never forgave him for those things he had said...and he wouldn't have blamed her either.
Dumbledore seemed to be concluding his speech. Hermione and Ron realized that the crowd was beginning to filter out of the Great Hall.
"Guess it's time to go," Ron sighed. Hermione nodded, and they began to walk slowly back to the doors. They were interrupted when Hermione was tapped on the shoulder by Neville.
"Sorry to interrupt," He said, sounding rather embarrassed. "But Luna wants to see us... now."
"Why now?" Hermione whined, but Neville knew she wasn't going to argue. "I'm sorry, Ron, but I have to go." She said, turning to Ron and pleading that he would understand. His eyes held unspoken questions, but he nodded, and Hermione kissed him on the cheek gratefully. Neville tugged her back to the front of the Great Hall where Luna, Dumbledore, Ginny and Cho were waiting for them.
"You four...you five," Dumbledore corrected himself. "Were incredibly brave three days ago. I am so proud of you," He said, but he knew that his words fell on deaf ears.
"I know nothing I say can help you right now," He sighed. "But know this: Draco died fighting evil, and-"
"No," Cho interrupted. Dumbledore, along with everyone else present looked at her in surprise. "No, Draco...Draco..." She suddenly burst into tears. Hermione felt her eyes widen. She ran to Cho and pulled her into a hug, trying to calm her down. Dumbledore came up behind them. When Hermione moved aside, he took Cho's hands and looked at her meaningfully.
"What happened, Cho?" He asked kindly. She sniffed.
"I landed my broom," She sniffed, mumbling almost inaudibly to the floor. "And there was a Death Eater waiting for me. I screamed. Draco was standing right there, and he...he got in the way. The Death Eater killed him. It was his own father!" She cried in anguish, bursting into tears anew. Neville and Ginny watched in shock, but Hermione automatically pulled Cho into a hug again, letting the older girl cry on her shoulder as they rocked back and forth.
"Cho," Luan said after Cho's sobs had began to subside and Hermione had moved away. She put her hands on Cho's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "It is NOT your fault, Cho. No one here is blaming you." She recognized Cho's feelings of guilt immediately.
"That's right!" Neville said, speaking forcefully for the first time all day. "It's not your fault, Cho,"
"Cho, don't blame yourself," Ginny said quietly, hugging her. Dumbledore looked at Sirius, both of them knowing the bond the kids shared and not wanting to disrupt it.
"I think it's time you all went to bed," Dumbledore said gently. "You've had a long week, and you need rest."
Understanding that they had been dismissed, Cho, Neville, Hermione and Ginny turned to leave the Hall, feeling a great hole among them. Luna ran after them.
"Cho?" She said, as the four finally reached the Entrance Hall. "Do you want someone to walk with?"
Cho nodded. She had been dreading the walk to her common room alone. They nodded to the three Gryffindors, who each offered Cho the steadiest smile they could muster. Then they turned and went their different ways.
Neville said goodnight to the girls once he reached the common room and sprinted up to his dorm. He wanted nothing more than to escape the world in the land of slumber. When he got upstairs, he was sharply reminded that his number of dorm mates had decreased. Everyone seemed to be asleep, so Neville changed silently. However, it was several hours before any of the boys entered slumber.
Ginny and Hermione walked slowly up to their separate dorms. They didn't say goodbye when they reached Ginny's dorm, but Hermione touched Ginny's arm and smiled at her. Ginny nodded bravely, and went in alone. Something between them had changed since Defending. Before it had seemed that they were only friends by default, because Ginny was Hermione's best friend's younger sister. Now they were friends because they wanted to be.
Hermione entered her dorm silently. She didn't know whether Parvati was really asleep or not, but Lavender was crying in her bed. It sounded as if she were trying to be quiet, but she and Dean had been going out for a few months. Hermione changed into her pajamas, then opened the curtain around Lavender's bed.
She looked like a mess. When she heard the curtains moving she looked up. Her eyes were red rimmed, and her usually impeccably kept blonde hair was matted all over her face.
"Lavender..." Hermione muttered. In her grief for Draco, she had forgotten how much everyone outside the Defenders was effected by this. She sat down and gave Lavender a desperately needed hug. Although she had never been very fond of her, they shared a moment where they were the closest of friends.
"Thanks, Hermione," Lavender whispered.
"No prob," She smiled the best that she could, then went into her own bed, her head swimming. She didn't fall asleep for a few hours.
Ginny, however, was in a worst state. She changed into her pajamas and sat in bed for a few hours, tossing and turning restlessly. She kept seeing Draco's body lying on the ground at Cho's feet, his limbs sticking out at odd angles. Draco...her Draco.
Finally, she gave up on sleep and pulled on her bathrobe. She walked downstairs like a zombie and fell into her favorite armchair. Her mind was reeling with thoughts and memories of Draco. She felt her throat constrict, and her eyes well with tears.
She let herself cry for the first time in three days. Once she started she couldn't stop. She cried bitterly into her robe. She cried for herself, her friend Colin, Dean, Cho...but most of all, she cried for Draco.
Ron, who had actually been asleep, sat straight up in bed. The clock on his nightstand told him that it was 2:12 AM. Everyone else had finally fallen asleep. His fingers were tingling.
Slowly, he got out of bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Apart from Neville's snores, he could hear nothing but silence. However, something was bugging him. Slowly, he crept down the stair case into the common room. As he got closer, he began to hear it.
Sobbing.
As he got closer, the sobs got louder. It sounded like someone who had their head buried into a pillow. He listened carefully, and managed to distinguish some of the words the person was muttering.
"Why Draco? Why, why, why?" The sobbing voice demanded. Ron stopped in his tracks, remembering when he saw this very situation in his mind's eye. He fled down the stairs to see Ginny curled into a ball in the armchair next to the dying fire, crying into her knees.
"Ginny?" Ron asked, his eyes wide. He had never seen his sister so upset. Ginny looked up, and tried to hide her tears in shame. The last thing she wanted right now was a lecture from Ron about how he was 'Just a Malfoy'.
"Go away, Ron," She said through tears, looking down at her knees. Ron, however, did not go away, he walked over to her, feeling awkward as he tried to work out what to say.
"Ginny...I know you're really upset, and-"
"No, Ron!" Ginny said, not looking up. "No, you have no idea what this feels like."
"You're right," Ron said softly. "I don't." Ginny looked up in surprise. Ron, admitting he was wrong? About Malfoy? Who slipped what into his drink at dinner? "Ginny," Ron continued, sitting down next to her. "I saw Mal-Draco save you out there. Maybe I misjudged him, or he changed, or something. But whatever the reason, he liked you. He loved you, Ginny. And if someone loves you...they can't be all bad." He smiled at his little sister as she sniffled. Her hair was matted around her face, and her cheeks were tear stained. Ron reached over and wiped away a tear as if she were a very small child. "I'm sorry."
Ginny reached over and hugged her brother, not holding back her tears. She felt young and vulnerable, and here was her older brother, offering a shoulder to cry on. She clung onto him, and he just let her cry. And cry she did, cried until she felt like at least some of the loss, the vulnerability, the guilt, the grief, the anger, the helplessness and a thousand other things had been washed from her and onto Ron's shoulders. She sat back and sniffled.
"Feel better?" Ron asked her.
"Yeah, yeah I do." Ginny replied.
"So, what happens now?" Ron asked.
"We go to bed, and tomorrow, we get up and spend our last full day at Hogwarts before returning home for Christmas." Ginny replied, her voice raspy from sobbing.
"Sounds like a plan to me," Ron replied. "Good night, Ginny."
"Ron?" Ginny asked, just as Ron was about to start climbing the stairs.
"Yeah?" He asked, turning around to see his baby sister.
"How did you know I was down here?"
"I don't know." Ron shrugged. "I just...knew."
"Oh, good night then."
"Good night." He replied. Ginny climbed the stairs to her dorm thoughtfully. He just knew...it seemed that recently Ron had 'just known' a lot of things. He was probably the Divinator! If he was, and one of the Defenders had died, and they needed a new one...
Ginny grinned for the first time in what seemed like ages. Next term was definitely going to be interesting!
For the Love of the Land
~I pledge my Loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~
Part Fifteen
Eleven students and two staff members, thirteen in all, had died in what was quickly becoming known as 'The Battle of the Wall'. The mode was somber as the student body prepared to go down into the Great Hall for 'The Funeral', where they were to honor the thirteen who had died.
Harry and Ron were shocked to discover that Dean Thomas, one of their fellow dorm mates, was among the fallen. It really hit home then. They were walking down silently with Seamus. They had no idea where Neville was.
As they entered, Harry felt like he had just been punched in the stomach. There were thirteen coffins, and the students wandered like lost puppies to those they had known. The sound of sobbing was the only thing to be heard.
The three Gryffindor boys found themselves standing by Dean, saying their final goodbyes. As they walked around, their eyes wide with the reality of death, they saw others they knew. Ernie Macmillan, Madame Pince, Lisa Turpin, Mr. Filch, Colin Creevey...Ron felt his fingers tingling.
"Harry," He whispered, finally daring to speak through the revered silence.
"What?" Harry whispered back.
"I saw these people in my dream. I saw them just like this...dead." He said in an awed voice. Harry's eyes widened.
"Look," Seamus said suddenly. He had hardly moved the whole time, trying to deal with Dean's death. Dean and Seamus had been best friends. "It's Neville, and Hermione, and Ginny too!" The three boys looked up to see a coffin surrounded by four people. All the others had crowds, but this one seemed deserted by everyone but these four. As the boys got closer, they saw that the fourth person was Cho Chang. They circled around the coffin silently, afraid to interrupt the silent state of the four mourners. Harry looked down into the coffin.
He saw the seemingly sleeping Draco Malfoy.
Harry looked up and studies Malfoy's four mourners. Hermione and Cho were both crying freely, the tears stained their robes, yet somehow remained silent. Neville was looking down at Malfoy's face much the same way Seamus had looked at Dean. Ginny was staring at him, her breathing irregular and her eyes wide. The four of them were gripping each other's hands for dear life.
"Ron?" Hermione choked, suddenly realized that they had been joined by three boys. Harry realized that Ron had been staring at Malfoy with a peculiar expression. He looked up and wrapped his arms around a sobbing Hermione. Neville looked up and gave Seamus and Harry a very wobbly smiled. Cho sniffed, then muttered something about going to see Lisa. Hermione and Neville said goodbye to her. Neville walked over and joined Seamus.
Harry continued to stare at Ginny. Her brown eyes were distant and filled with pain. Her beautiful fiery tresses fell limply around her. He wanted to stay, he wanted to comfort her...he wanted to do anything to see her smile. He looked down at Malfoy, wondering why Ginny had loved him. However, from the looks on the faces of Hermione, Cho, and Neville, there was a lot more to Malfoy than Harry knew of.
"Ginny, are you okay?" Hermione asked her softly. Ginny looked up at Hermione and Ron painfully. Draco...she could not comprehend that he would never share a butterbeer with her again, never roll his eyes at the stories of her friends again. She kept expecting to feel his hands around her eyes and hear a quiet 'guess who?' in her ear. Seeing Hermione with Ron was not making it any easier.
"I just...I just need to be alone, I think..." Ginny managed to choke out. Hermione nodded compassionately, and tugged the boys away, trying to smile at Ginny, but finding whatever muscles that allow you to smile not functioning properly. Neville gave Ginny a hug and whispered something in her ear before returning to the rest of the sixth year Gryffindors. Harry was the last to move, unable to tear his eyes from Ginny and her torture until Hermione gently tugged his sleeve. Still, he felt guilty walking away and leaving Ginny to stand all alone. He turned his head, and saw that she had moved from his feet down to his side, and saw her hold his hand, trembling.
"Let her be, Harry," Hermione said gently to him. "Draco and Ginny...they were so close..." She felt her eyes tearing up again, and Neville patted her shoulder. They met back up with Cho, who was wandering around aimlessly, following the flow of the student body.
"Cho," Hermione said, and she hugged the older girl. Harry and Ron, through their shock at the grief around them, still had enough in them to be confused. "Are you okay?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah," Cho replied, wiping tears away. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"You're a terrible liar, Cho," Neville said, smiling weakly.
"I know," She replied.
"Luna!" Hermione said, her eyes lighting up at the sight of her teacher. Now Harry and Ron were REALLY confused as they saw Professor Starlight fighting her way over to the small group.
"Hermione, Cho, Neville," She said, and Harry was shocked to see that she had been crying. She pulled the three into a hug, which they returned. She looked at them fondly, smiling through her tears.
"I am so proud of you," She whispered. They nodded, and Hermione felt her throat tightening.
"Luna, I have to tell you what happened." Cho whispered, raising her eyes to meet her the professors.
"What do you mean?" Luna asked in concern.
"What really happened...to Draco." She gulped. Harry and Ron exchanged looks. Hermione and Neville looked at her curiously. Luna merely nodded.
"Hey," A voice behind them said, and Harry looked up to see Sirius. "Great spout, you two," He smiled at Hermione and Cho, but the smile seemed forced. They nodded anyway.
"Harry," He said in relief. He hadn't been sure if anything had happened to his godson or not, and he felt as if a great burden had been lifted from him. He hugged Harry, feeling somewhat odd.
"C'mon," Luna said, nudging Sirius, "Dumbledore is going to say something." Indeed, everyone was crowding around the podium Dumbledore was standing at. Hermione bit her lip, twisting around to see where Ginny was still standing with Draco.
"Luna...Ginny..." Hermione said, looking meaningfully at the professor. Luna nodded and walked briskly to pull the red haired girl from her boyfriend...finding that her voice was not functioning properly.
Hermione was finding it hard to comprehend Dumbledore's words. His voice seemed to drone on and on...Hermione's thoughts turned back again to Draco. His terrible jokes, the way he raised his eyebrows if he thought you were lying, the way he looked at Ginny... things she had begun to take for granted that she would never see again. She put her head on Ron shoulder, more to convince herself that he was really there. She couldn't imagine what she would've done if Ron had been one of the thirteen...she couldn't imagine what Ginny was going through.
Ron looked down at her, his heart breaking from the sight of her tears. He gently wiped them from her face.
"Hermione," He said softly, so no one but Hermione could hear. "Malfoy...Draco was a good person. He saved Ginny's life, I saw it." Hermione looked up at Ron in surprise, shocked that he would ever say anything good about Draco. She valued his opinion more than anyone else's, and the fact that he called Draco a good person made her smile.
"You don't know how much that means to me, Ron." She whispered, and he smiled at her. Then he looked back through the crowd, spotting Ginny.
"She loved him, didn't she?" He asked, not taking his eyes off his little sister.
"And he loved her, too." Hermione replied. Ron sighed...saying he owed Ginny an apology was like saying water was damp. He wouldn't be surprised if Ginny never forgave him for those things he had said...and he wouldn't have blamed her either.
Dumbledore seemed to be concluding his speech. Hermione and Ron realized that the crowd was beginning to filter out of the Great Hall.
"Guess it's time to go," Ron sighed. Hermione nodded, and they began to walk slowly back to the doors. They were interrupted when Hermione was tapped on the shoulder by Neville.
"Sorry to interrupt," He said, sounding rather embarrassed. "But Luna wants to see us... now."
"Why now?" Hermione whined, but Neville knew she wasn't going to argue. "I'm sorry, Ron, but I have to go." She said, turning to Ron and pleading that he would understand. His eyes held unspoken questions, but he nodded, and Hermione kissed him on the cheek gratefully. Neville tugged her back to the front of the Great Hall where Luna, Dumbledore, Ginny and Cho were waiting for them.
"You four...you five," Dumbledore corrected himself. "Were incredibly brave three days ago. I am so proud of you," He said, but he knew that his words fell on deaf ears.
"I know nothing I say can help you right now," He sighed. "But know this: Draco died fighting evil, and-"
"No," Cho interrupted. Dumbledore, along with everyone else present looked at her in surprise. "No, Draco...Draco..." She suddenly burst into tears. Hermione felt her eyes widen. She ran to Cho and pulled her into a hug, trying to calm her down. Dumbledore came up behind them. When Hermione moved aside, he took Cho's hands and looked at her meaningfully.
"What happened, Cho?" He asked kindly. She sniffed.
"I landed my broom," She sniffed, mumbling almost inaudibly to the floor. "And there was a Death Eater waiting for me. I screamed. Draco was standing right there, and he...he got in the way. The Death Eater killed him. It was his own father!" She cried in anguish, bursting into tears anew. Neville and Ginny watched in shock, but Hermione automatically pulled Cho into a hug again, letting the older girl cry on her shoulder as they rocked back and forth.
"Cho," Luan said after Cho's sobs had began to subside and Hermione had moved away. She put her hands on Cho's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "It is NOT your fault, Cho. No one here is blaming you." She recognized Cho's feelings of guilt immediately.
"That's right!" Neville said, speaking forcefully for the first time all day. "It's not your fault, Cho,"
"Cho, don't blame yourself," Ginny said quietly, hugging her. Dumbledore looked at Sirius, both of them knowing the bond the kids shared and not wanting to disrupt it.
"I think it's time you all went to bed," Dumbledore said gently. "You've had a long week, and you need rest."
Understanding that they had been dismissed, Cho, Neville, Hermione and Ginny turned to leave the Hall, feeling a great hole among them. Luna ran after them.
"Cho?" She said, as the four finally reached the Entrance Hall. "Do you want someone to walk with?"
Cho nodded. She had been dreading the walk to her common room alone. They nodded to the three Gryffindors, who each offered Cho the steadiest smile they could muster. Then they turned and went their different ways.
Neville said goodnight to the girls once he reached the common room and sprinted up to his dorm. He wanted nothing more than to escape the world in the land of slumber. When he got upstairs, he was sharply reminded that his number of dorm mates had decreased. Everyone seemed to be asleep, so Neville changed silently. However, it was several hours before any of the boys entered slumber.
Ginny and Hermione walked slowly up to their separate dorms. They didn't say goodbye when they reached Ginny's dorm, but Hermione touched Ginny's arm and smiled at her. Ginny nodded bravely, and went in alone. Something between them had changed since Defending. Before it had seemed that they were only friends by default, because Ginny was Hermione's best friend's younger sister. Now they were friends because they wanted to be.
Hermione entered her dorm silently. She didn't know whether Parvati was really asleep or not, but Lavender was crying in her bed. It sounded as if she were trying to be quiet, but she and Dean had been going out for a few months. Hermione changed into her pajamas, then opened the curtain around Lavender's bed.
She looked like a mess. When she heard the curtains moving she looked up. Her eyes were red rimmed, and her usually impeccably kept blonde hair was matted all over her face.
"Lavender..." Hermione muttered. In her grief for Draco, she had forgotten how much everyone outside the Defenders was effected by this. She sat down and gave Lavender a desperately needed hug. Although she had never been very fond of her, they shared a moment where they were the closest of friends.
"Thanks, Hermione," Lavender whispered.
"No prob," She smiled the best that she could, then went into her own bed, her head swimming. She didn't fall asleep for a few hours.
Ginny, however, was in a worst state. She changed into her pajamas and sat in bed for a few hours, tossing and turning restlessly. She kept seeing Draco's body lying on the ground at Cho's feet, his limbs sticking out at odd angles. Draco...her Draco.
Finally, she gave up on sleep and pulled on her bathrobe. She walked downstairs like a zombie and fell into her favorite armchair. Her mind was reeling with thoughts and memories of Draco. She felt her throat constrict, and her eyes well with tears.
She let herself cry for the first time in three days. Once she started she couldn't stop. She cried bitterly into her robe. She cried for herself, her friend Colin, Dean, Cho...but most of all, she cried for Draco.
Ron, who had actually been asleep, sat straight up in bed. The clock on his nightstand told him that it was 2:12 AM. Everyone else had finally fallen asleep. His fingers were tingling.
Slowly, he got out of bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Apart from Neville's snores, he could hear nothing but silence. However, something was bugging him. Slowly, he crept down the stair case into the common room. As he got closer, he began to hear it.
Sobbing.
As he got closer, the sobs got louder. It sounded like someone who had their head buried into a pillow. He listened carefully, and managed to distinguish some of the words the person was muttering.
"Why Draco? Why, why, why?" The sobbing voice demanded. Ron stopped in his tracks, remembering when he saw this very situation in his mind's eye. He fled down the stairs to see Ginny curled into a ball in the armchair next to the dying fire, crying into her knees.
"Ginny?" Ron asked, his eyes wide. He had never seen his sister so upset. Ginny looked up, and tried to hide her tears in shame. The last thing she wanted right now was a lecture from Ron about how he was 'Just a Malfoy'.
"Go away, Ron," She said through tears, looking down at her knees. Ron, however, did not go away, he walked over to her, feeling awkward as he tried to work out what to say.
"Ginny...I know you're really upset, and-"
"No, Ron!" Ginny said, not looking up. "No, you have no idea what this feels like."
"You're right," Ron said softly. "I don't." Ginny looked up in surprise. Ron, admitting he was wrong? About Malfoy? Who slipped what into his drink at dinner? "Ginny," Ron continued, sitting down next to her. "I saw Mal-Draco save you out there. Maybe I misjudged him, or he changed, or something. But whatever the reason, he liked you. He loved you, Ginny. And if someone loves you...they can't be all bad." He smiled at his little sister as she sniffled. Her hair was matted around her face, and her cheeks were tear stained. Ron reached over and wiped away a tear as if she were a very small child. "I'm sorry."
Ginny reached over and hugged her brother, not holding back her tears. She felt young and vulnerable, and here was her older brother, offering a shoulder to cry on. She clung onto him, and he just let her cry. And cry she did, cried until she felt like at least some of the loss, the vulnerability, the guilt, the grief, the anger, the helplessness and a thousand other things had been washed from her and onto Ron's shoulders. She sat back and sniffled.
"Feel better?" Ron asked her.
"Yeah, yeah I do." Ginny replied.
"So, what happens now?" Ron asked.
"We go to bed, and tomorrow, we get up and spend our last full day at Hogwarts before returning home for Christmas." Ginny replied, her voice raspy from sobbing.
"Sounds like a plan to me," Ron replied. "Good night, Ginny."
"Ron?" Ginny asked, just as Ron was about to start climbing the stairs.
"Yeah?" He asked, turning around to see his baby sister.
"How did you know I was down here?"
"I don't know." Ron shrugged. "I just...knew."
"Oh, good night then."
"Good night." He replied. Ginny climbed the stairs to her dorm thoughtfully. He just knew...it seemed that recently Ron had 'just known' a lot of things. He was probably the Divinator! If he was, and one of the Defenders had died, and they needed a new one...
Ginny grinned for the first time in what seemed like ages. Next term was definitely going to be interesting!