Butterfly.
A/n. Hey everyone! Ok, yeah, maybe this is a week later than I hoped –blame homework! This is basically chapters 6 & 7 rewritten! Yeah…I have no idea why but hey; it made me write again, so it's got to be good. Right?!
(Flashback –chapters 6 & 7)
He said he loved you, a voice echoed in her heads, repeating itself until Ginny wanted to scream so it would disappear.
"I love you Ginny." Harry's voice started echoing through her head, pulling her bare frozen hands over her ears she tried to stop it. Stop these voices rushing through her head, refusing to be ignored until she acknowledged them.
An image of Harry came into her mind, only a few minutes ago. His dark hair was untidy as always, still slightly wet from being out in the blizzard. His glasses still hiding his emerald eyes, his face slightly red from both the heat of the fire and the tears that had been leaking from his eyes.
II love you Ginny…/I.
The expression on his face had been so desperate, so pleading, yet in his eyes had been a look of truth. He hadn't been lying. And yet, she'd left. She'd left to come out here and he'd just admitted the words she longed to hear.
Maybe she didn't want to hear them anymore. Maybe even if she had the admiration of Harry Potter himself she just didn't care. She just didn't care, as long as she managed to achieve the easiest thing she could do – freeze to death.
A crazed smile came to her lips, as she removed her hands from her ears. Harry had disappeared, and an image of Cho Chang had come into her head. Harry loved Cho. Not her, just Cho.
Her escape resort in front of her, the lake could barely be seen. If he found her, she'd just run into the coldness of the lake and refuse to return.
God, it was cold. She huddled her body closer; dimly aware she couldn't feel many parts of her body. Her hands felt as though they were frozen, she could barely clench or unclench them. Her feet weren't there for all she knew.
The wind, the wind was so cold, so bitter, so strong, lashing at her body recklessly. It agreed with her, she needed the pain of that wind. The blizzard was still raging, raging uncontrollable. She couldn't see anything but snow. The snowflakes weren't floating gently, there were billions getting swept places by the wind. Some were swept viciously against her body, stinging where they hit bare skin. Her robes were soaked, dripping with snow.
The snow was gathering thickly and quickly around her. She had been sitting on grass the first time she came out, and the second time she was sitting in ankle deep snow. But now the snow was high, around knee length. If it kept falling at this rate, it would have covered her body soon and that's all she cared. At that point she'd fall into an uneasy sleep with her body thinking it was warm. After sleeping for a few hours she'd stop breathing. And that's what she wanted.
She'd read enough books to know that would happen.
Another smile came to her dry, cold lips. She'd be gone. No one would particularly miss her; her family would turn to each other and then forget her. Erased from time: the youngest & only girl Weasley of the Weasley family. Hermione would turn to Ron; Harry would find comfort from them and Cho Chang.
Her hand slipped from beside her robes and hit the snow. It was warm. Another grin hit her face, although her eyes were tight shut, her eyelashes and hair full of snow. She must have looked like a snowgirl, with snow starting to gather on her body and soon she would be a pile of snow.
Warm snow, so warm it seemed to be roasting her body. Warm…her mind stopped thinking as her head sank to her knees. She opened her eyes fleetingly before she collapsed, and although her mind wasn't functioning, she was sure she could see a dark figure in the distance that wasn't snow.
~*~*~*~
"Ginny? GINNY?" Harry yelled, starting to feel this was hopeless. He was already ploughing his way through knee deep and growing snow and he could barely see in front of him, his body starting to go numb with cold. He'd probably just walked out to his death when he was trying to save Ginny.
II've got to keep going, I can't give up…/I.
"GINNY?" he screamed, rubbing his glasses swiftly on his robes. He pulled his robes around him, shivering.
It was so cold. He could barely see, snow was everywhere. He continued stomping through the snow, he knew where she was, and he just had to get there. Easier said than done: despite the fact snow was everywhere and practically the only thing he could see, and that it was knee length and gathering, the wind was blowing so forcefully against him and it was dark with no stars or moon because of the clouds.
"GINNY!" he yelled suddenly, a streak of hope rushing through him. He could see something, a dark figure even though he could barely see in front of his face. Even as he stopped for a moment, feeling hopeful again, he could see her hand drop to her knees and her body collapse. "NO!" escaped his lips, and he started ploughing through the snow again, desperate to reach her.
Ihe had to reach her./I.
After struggling valiantly for five minutes through the wind and snow, he finally reached her. He looked at her intensely for a few minutes, feeling afraid, as she looked so ghostly. Her face was completely pale, not a trace of flushed pink anywhere and she looked so peaceful.
IAs if she had already died. A rising angel./I
He snapped his mind out of it, and carefully picked her up and was instantly shocked by how light she was. She'd told him, but she'd never told him how much she lost or how little weight she carried on her body. Turning around with her in his cold arms, he started to walk back the way he had ran. He thought it might have been easier as he'd made a big trail, but the snow was falling so fast it wouldn't make it much easier and he had to get her inside quickly. She was frozen; the touch of her hand on his made him shudder with the coldness.
It was always quicker to go back, and he thought it would be as he had left a trail when he left to find Ginny, but even though there was a trail, the snow was quickly filling it.
He'd been carrying her in his arms for ten minutes, trying hard to keep upright as the wind battered him from behind, his strength almost gone. He couldn't go on for much longer, he bcouldn't/b. He'd used most of his energy battling the wind, and even Ginny seemed to be heavier in his arms. Walking was becoming harder, and the slower he was, the more snow filled the path he had made on his way to find Ginny.
Groaning, he tried to keep walking, walking fast, but he found his pace slowing. He started walking so slowly; it could hardly be called walking, the wind battering him relentlessly. He could hear it howling in triumph as he felt himself swaying, swaying dangerously.
Smoothing Ginny's hair off her frozen face, he whispered, " We're going to make it, even if we're not here but somewhere else, k? You'll get better and you won't run away when you hear me speak the truth, cos I do love you-"
Another strong gust of wind hit him, and he tried to stay upright but he fall into the cold snow.
IMust get up…/I
Shivering, he hauled himself into a sitting position, trying to pick the sleeping Ginny up. He managed to move her onto his knees, but no matter how hard he tried to get up, he couldn't. They were going to die.
"Least we're together," he muttered to the unresponding Ginny. She was so cold; her face was deathly pale, maybe he'd been too late.
IOnce a failure, always a failure/I Malfoy's voice echoed through his head. Comforting last thoughts…
"POTTER!" he heard a yell and as he looked up bleakly, he saw McGonagall rushing over the snow lightly, he feet barely touching the ground. Some kind of enchantment…if only he'd knew that one, Ginny might have a chance of living.
"My Merlin…" he heard her mutter, a spasm of shock cross her face, as she waved her wand over Ginny and Ginny was lifted out of the snow, so she was floating above the ground.
"Come on Harry," she pulled him up, and chivvied him back to the castle and when they got there, they were both admitted to the hospital wing.
~*~
"It's Sasha," Ginny protested, hardly able to believe what she was hearing, or seeing after that sudden flashback she'd just had.
"It's you Gin!" Harry looked deeply serious.
"Sasha."
"You!"
"Sasha!"
"Not Sasha," Harry answered firmly.
"You wouldn't like me," Ginny frowned. "You said you loved me, but that was just a dream. Just a figment of my imagination."
Harry sighed. "It wasn't your imagination Gin. Believe me, it wasn't your imagination. Go ask Snape if you're that desperate to prove I'm right."
"What?" she asked confused. "Snape hates you! What the hell did you say to him?"
"Just used floo powder to get back into Hogwarts, landed in the potions room, bashed into an angry Snape who was looking for me, and then went flying out into the snow again," Harry answered, looking at Ginny. She had looked confused, but a sprinkle of amusement fell onto her face.
"You went to Snape – the guy who kills Harry Potter's?" she said, trying to keep a straight face and failing as small giggles erupted from her mouth.
"Yes. It was where the floo powder brought me."
"Reckon he'll kill me if I ask him?"
"Yep."
"So I've got no other choice but to believe you?"
"Yep."
"What if I didn't want to believe you, and said Cho is obsessed with you?"
"Many girls are, but I wouldn't really care," Harry shrugged nonchalantly.
"Did I ever thank you for saving my life?" Ginny asked randomly, her skin flushing red slightly as she pushed the other sentence she was about to say to the back of her head.
Harry shrugged.
"Thanks for saving my life," Ginny started solemnly. "And for being one of the best friends I've ever had."
Harry blushed furiously and started muttering something about not being a good friend, but Ginny cut him off again.
"And for always saving me and for being there. And I'll try and repay you by believing in myself…" Ginny flushed scarlet. "And I know I've been a stupid cow in here for the last two weeks cos of my…illness… but Madame Pomfrey says I've recovered enough to get out of here & back to class in two days," a small smile came to her face, her skin going even more red and taking a deep breath she stuttered out the sentence she'd been longing to say. "And in another way to thank you, when I get out I'd love to take you to Hogsmeade cos I like you too…" her eyes were cast downward and she waited for an answer.
"That'd be great," Harry grinned ecstatically, "as long as I'm paying."
"Harry!" Ginny's red skin flushed to a warm pink. "That's hardly fair on me, I'm trying to thank you here!"
"No, I'm paying cos we're going to be celebrating you recovering," he insisted.
"No!"
"Yes Gin! You deserve it after what you've been through & what you've just beaten," he explained truthfully.
"You deserve it for saving me!" Ginny protested strongly.
"Anyone could have done that," he shifted uncomfortably. "Okay…we're make it both then? A celebration for you & you thanking me as long as I pay?"
"Fine!" Ginny gave in. "If you want to so badly." She stuck her tongue out at him teasingly. Her face started flushing again. "And I didn't mean I Ijust/I like you…I love you Harry…" her voice faded off and this time she gathered enough courage to look him in his green eyes.
Harry didn't even bother replying. Not caring who was watching, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against Ginny's.
A/n. Happy yet? :P It's the chapter we've been waiting for…yipee, Harry & Ginny finally get together! Aha, you should see me now; I've got this huge grin on my face!
Eek! Sorry, a week late! It took a while to write…and get an idea…forgive me…? Well, hope it's good enough to make up for the lateness!
And yep, review if you've got this far because I need feedback! Thanks all ya reviewers, you totally make my day!