Chapter Thirteen
"Deliverance"
"Have another one, mate."
A third bottle of butterbeer passed beneath Harry's eyes, and he stared at it dully. His scar still hurt too much. Voldemort was seething and alive. So was Dumbledore, but the great wizard was injured.
"Go on, Potter. It'll clear your head."
"Yeah . . . go on. What happened after the tunnel collapsed?"
Harry stared blearily at the four faces pressed around him. He grappled to remember everything he had seen and felt, but it was all in a muddled mess. "I . . . I don't know . . . Voldemort said something . . . probably a cackle or hex or something . . . and then he was gone and Dumbledore didn't get clear of the stones . . ." He squeezed his eyes shut and took a long drink from the bottle.
"But Dumbledore's alive, right?" persisted Edgar, clutching his own butterbeer.
"I . . . think so. And Voldemort. He's definitely alive."
No one said anything for a long moment, and finally Ron croaked, "And Ginny?"
Harry shook his head. "I don't know." It felt terrible to say it, but he honestly didn't know. Throughout the past few days, he had told himself over and over that he would know if Voldemort . . . if he killed her . . . But now he wasn't so sure. She had to be alive . . . but Dumbledore was injured, Voldemort had escaped, and anything wrong seemed possible.
Pop!
Harry whirled around, upsetting his bottle. It crashed to the floor. He blinked as Remus Lupin shrugged off his stinking rain slicker and Banished it from the hovel. He looked tired and without triumph.
"What happened?" Ron demanded, standing up.
Remus sighed wearily. "We've captured everyone but Voldemort, Lucius, and Bellatrix. They escaped down the dungeon tunnels after we entered the manor. They must have already been down there when we attacked. We had Smith and Johnson sending the Stink Squirters down all the exits, but it didn't do any good. We think they Apparated after—" He paused and sank into a chair. "Dumbledore was dueling with Voldemort and was caught when it collapsed. Voldemort escaped after that."
"And is he all right?" asked Hermione in a tiny voice. She squeezed Harry's shoulder, but he didn't notice, he was too afraid of the answer.
"Yes. He's alive. McGonagall took him straight to Hogwarts with Fawkes." Remus paused again and rubbed his forehead. "Everyone that isn't explaining to the Aurors about what happened and why they have so many criminals and prominent wizards tied up are searching the dungeons for Ginny. They . . . they haven't found her yet."
"The diary," said Harry quietly, "did they find the diary?"
"Dumbledore told us to make sure we destroyed it," said Remus, frowning. "Sirius managed to trip up Malfoy, who was carrying it. It was given to me and it is no more."
"Good," Harry breathed, and he closed his eyes in relief. But it was short-lived. Where was Ginny? Would the Order find her in time? "Remus," he said suddenly, "can't we go to the manor, now that the Voldemort is gone?"
"I'm afraid not, Harry. It's crawling with Aurors and the Order, but that doesn't mean it's safe. They have enough to worry about without having to count more heads. In fact, I have instructions to take you back to Hogwarts immediately."
"No!" Harry paused to calm himself. "Please, Remus. Let us stay a little longer. Until more people get back."
"Well, we need Fawkes to do it, anyway," Remus relented. "But then you leave."
~*~*~
Ginny had lost track of how far they had flown, not that she'd ever been good at measuring distance and time on a broom. Clinging to Draco Malfoy, she buried her face in his back, too frozen by the whistling wind and too exhausted to do anything else. She didn't think much, her mind as numb as her body. To stay awake she concentrated on physical things, like the scratch of the wool cloak against her skin, the tenseness in Draco's thin body, and how his gloved hand was warm and secure over locked arms. It was her sense of safety that she wouldn't fall off the broom into the dark fields below.
Every so often Draco would change direction, but Ginny had no sense of where they might be heading. Once she thought she saw several people on broomsticks rush by from where they had just flown, but it might have been her imagination.
The sky was starting to lighten when Draco began to descend again. Forcing her frozen eyelids open, Ginny saw the dark shapes of houses and a light strip of road. It appeared to be a small village surrounded by farm fields. Draco landed about a mile away by a cluster of trees at the edge of a field.
"Get off," said Draco, his voice like a sharp crack in her ears. He'd been silent for so long.
Stiffly, Ginny released him and sank weakly to the ground. Her whole body trembled and she felt her breath coming short.
"This is where I leave you." Draco had not dismounted. "If you follow this field and road, you will get to Wedgrass. On the other side of it is an old livery stable with a shed behind it. Go in the shed."
"What . . . is it?"
"A hide-out for Dumbledore's little army." Draco started to kick off, but Ginny lunged and caught his cloak.
"You mean, you're not coming with me?" she asked, staring up at his expressionless face. The gray light was pushing away the dark of night. It would soon be dawn. He looked very pale against the lightening sky.
"I can't exactly go back to Hogwarts, can I?"
"You could," Ginny argued. "Dumbledore would pardon you, since you . . . well, you saved me."
"I'm not about to fight on his side," snapped Draco, jerking his cloak from her hands. "I'm not like Snape. I don't want to be on either side. Get that?"
Ginny nodded, feeling suddenly very sad; not for herself, but for Draco Malfoy. "I'm sorry. Good-bye, Draco."
Draco paused before kicking off. "Good-bye, Ginny," he said softly. And then he was gone.
~*~*~
"They're not giving up," Mr. Chang said wearily, sitting himself down on the floor, "but they've searched everywhere. She's not in Malfoy Manor."
"You-Know-Who must have taken her with him," said Mrs. Johnson with a sigh. "And to think, it was almost all for not."
"Well, you did capture twenty-six Death Eaters," Edgar pointed out optimistically. "That's quite a blow. And Malfoy Manor is rendered useless. At least, some of it. I don't think they'll set up there again."
"Yes, but Dumbledore is injured, Miss Weasley is still missing, and now we don't know where the Dark forces will be reforming," Mr. Change argued.
"What's happening at Hogwarts, anyone know?" asked Mrs. Johnson.
There was a pop! and McGonagall appeared. Fawkes burst into the crowded hovel behind her and immediately found Harry, who had tucked himself away in a corner. The bright bird perched on the young man's lap, and Harry reached up to stroke the fiery feathers.
"The Death Eaters have fled Hogwarts and the barrier is down," McGonagall announced. She waved her hands to silence the cheers. "The Ministry deployed seven Aurors to bring it down, and two have been stationed permanently on the grounds."
"What about Dumbledore?" someone shouted from somewhere near the floor.
McGonagall's mouth was thin. "He is being treated by Madam Pomfrey and is expected to fully recover. Now, would all of you that are injured please go topside so medi-wizards can treat your injuries?"
The crowd began to thin. McGonagall approached Harry as Hermione and Ron made their way back towards him. Harry barely glanced up from Fawkes to acknowledge them.
"Potter," McGonagall said quietly. "It's time to go."
But Ginny isn't here yet, he wanted to say, but his throat remained closed.
~*~*~
It was a mile. Only a mile. It should have been easy after everything else, but now that Ginny was alone, she felt as if she would never reach the village. The frosty ground was cold and sharp on her feet, so she'd used her wand to Sever strips of cloth off her cloak and wrapped them around her feet. But wool couldn't stop her legs from shaking, and more than once she fell to the ground, sat still for a moment, and then determinedly heaved herself back onto her feet.
The sky was a definite gray now, but it might as well have been a never-ending night. She stumbled through a thicket along a frozen creek. Branches lashed her cheeks and arms. It occurred to her to simply curl herself up along the thin strip of ice and let hypothermia take over her trembling body. She would be asleep before death settled in.
But then she heard noises, and more out of curiosity than anything else, Ginny climbed the creek's bank and saw the edge of the village of Wedgrass only yards ahead of her. More than that, wizards were swooping into the air on broomsticks, the popping sound of Disapparation filled the air, and Ginny saw the unmistakable cloak of an Auror pass between two houses.
With her last ounce of strength, Ginny limped forward onto the road that cut straight through the village. The November morning air sliced painfully through her throat and lungs, but she gulped it and pushed onward. It was suddenly very quiet as she entered the edge of the village, passing the first house, but it wasn't an eerie quiet. Just the quiet of a place left empty.
Empty.
Ginny realized with horror what it meant. All the wizards had left! With a cry of despair, Ginny sank to her knees and began to sob uncontrollably.
It was the end. Truly the end. She was going to die here, in some tiny village called Wedgrass, where no one knew her. Her death would have no meaning or impact. Voldemort could not have her sacrifice, but no one would ever know what happened to her. Part of her knew she could just get up and find a resident and ask for help, but the other part, the one that had given up back in the cold cell, did not want to seek help. She had wanted death hours ago, and here it was, so she would just accept it.
"GINNY!"
The shout was her imagination. A cruel trick to bring her hope just before the cold claimed her as she knew it wanted to.
"GINNY!"
Catching a sob in her throat, Ginny looked up the street to see a redheaded figure racing straight towards her.
~*~*~
Harry felt numb. Completely, totally numb. It was freezing outside, but he couldn't blame the weather for his lack of feeling. All he could absorb was the fact that they were leaving Windy Top to return to Hogwarts . . . without Ginny.
She was gone.
Harry's eyes fell on Ron's back as his friend walked ahead of him, hand-in-hand with Hermione. He knew his friend was just as miserable and angry, just as lost. But there was nothing to be done. Harry told himself he would not cry, would not show what he felt. Ron did not need to witness Harry's guilt and pain, not when he was grieving. And yet Harry couldn't help but envy Ron. Ron had Hermione for comfort, Hermione to hold.
McGonagall led them out from behind the livery stable into the high street. They would take Fawkes back to Hogwarts once they reached the outskirts of town, away from any waking Muggle eyes. Nearly everyone had left Windy Top, except for Edgar and Mundungus, and Remus was following only a step behind Harry, making sure no one was left behind.
"Wait," Ron said suddenly, halting in the middle of the street. "Listen."
Harry did, but at first couldn't hear anything but a lone bird singing a mournful song in a nearby field. Then he heard something else, something he couldn't identify.
"Ginny," Ron breathed.
Harry's heart jumped. He turned and followed Ron's gaze down the street. At the very end of the village he could make out a slumped sort of figure.
Ron took off running. "GINNY!" he shouted.
"Mr. Weasley!" McGonagall called sharply. "Be careful! You don't know—" but she stopped and began running as well.
Harry couldn't move, couldn't breathe. He stood at one end of the village as everyone else raced to the other. Ron was screaming her name all down the high street, and Harry saw curtains fly open and heads peer out at the spectacle. And then Harry saw a head of red rise up from the black lump, and Ron was scooping her up. Slowly, Harry walked down the street towards them, his chest pressing hard against his ribcage. Any moment it would burst out and he would trip over it.
"Ron! Oh Ron!"
Harry heard her throaty, raspy sob as she flung her arms around her brother and clung to him. Ron's sobs mingled with hers, both of them muffled against each other as they clung desperately to one another. Hermione was sobbing into the back of Ron's neck, her arms flung around him and Ginny. McGonagall stood a few spaces away with Remus, the two adults watching the reunion with shining eyes.
No one looked at Harry.
"God, Ginny!" cried Ron, pulling himself an inch away so he could look her over. "What happened? How did you escape? What did the bastards do to you?!"
Ginny only shook her head, refusing to lift it out of Ron's chest. If anything, Harry thought she burrowed herself in deeper, as if to hide forever. Harry's breathing came faster and shallower as he watched Ginny shudder against Ron, her sobs becoming more and more hysterical and ragged. All he wanted to do was rush over and wrap her completely in his arms, kiss her passionately, and tell her everything would be all right.
But he couldn't. This was a Weasley reunion. And he had put Ginny in this state.
"Let's get you back to Hogwarts," said Ron quietly as her sobs began to quiet. She nodded slightly, and without another word, he scooped her legs up and turned towards the other end to carry her out of town.
For a heartbeat, Harry met Ginny's glistening eyes. She turned away. All the way up Wedgrass high street, Harry fought hard not to cry.