Disclaimer: I do not own HP. I repeat, I do NOT own HP. But, of course, you lot know this, right? If not, whack yourself repeatedly in the head with a blunt object until you do.
Chapter 32 – Goodbye, Bye"Dead," said an Auror as he combed through the bodies of the Death Eater's and those Hogwarts students that were littered about. It was half an hour after the battle had ended. The first thing the Aurors had done when they had arrived at the castle was to help get the wounded inside to the Hospital Wing.
The next was to comb the grounds for survivors. As of yet, they had had no luck.
"Hey! I found two!"
Two Aurors ran to join the third, who was standing a few feet from a bushy-haired seventeen-year-old girl. She was covered in blood – most particularly on her hands – and had a staff pointed at them.
"Easy now, miss," said the first Auror. "We just want to help the two of you."
The girl narrowed her eyes at them then she saw their navy robes and gasped, "Aurors. Aurors!"
"Bloody good show for them," groaned the dark-clad figure on the ground.
The girl lowered her wand and hurriedly said, "I'm sorry. Please help me get him up to the castle. He's losing blood fast."
"I am not," defended the figure on the ground, causing the girl to turn and brush a lock of green streaked black hair from his sweaty forehead.
"Hush, Sev." She then turned to the Aurors and snapped, "Come on!"
The three men nodded and moved forward, gently lifting Severus' limp form up off the ground that was now stained with his blood. Hermione squeezed his fingers gently and started to move along with them.
"You'll be okay, Sev."
"I…know I'll be," mumbled Sev. He looked around as well as he could then hissed, "Go find Harry, Mione. Don't you worry 'bout me. I've had worse."
"Don't you die on me, Sev," growled Hermione, glaring at him.
Severus forced an annoying smile and whispered, "Never."
Hermione smiled at him then pulled back so the three Aurors could carry him up towards the castle. Then she turned and studied the field of the dead. With a shudder, she oriented on the place where she'd last seen Harry and headed towards it.
She found Neville on her way there, cold as a tombstone. He had an odd smile on his face and Hermione smiled grimly as she knelt to close his eyes, murmuring a little prayer as she did.
Rising, she continued on her search, tripping over the leg of a Thestral (which she could now see). She landed hard on the ground and found herself lying in grass that was stained with dried blood. Looking up, she saw the still form of Ginny, a dagger buried in her stomach.
A sob welled up in her throat as she crawled towards her friend, placing her hand on the jacket she recognized as Harry's. At this she began to look around. Wherever Ginny was, Harry had to be close.
"Heya, Herm," croaked a voice from behind her suddenly and Hermione whirled about, leaping to her feet.
Harry stood there, swaying drunkenly. Slytherin's sword was held limply in one hand while the other was pressed to his stomach. Blood dripped from the wound and Hermione gasped, "Harry."
The dark-haired young man gave her an odd smile, the same sort that had been on Neville's face, before he started to collapse. Hermione rushed forward and caught him, feeling hot blood spurt over her as his hand slipped from his wound. His sword clattered to the ground as she gently lowered him down beside Ginny.
"Oh my God, Harry. Oh God, oh God."
"S'alright, Herm," mumbled Harry, reaching up with a blood-stained hand to touch her cheek. His emerald eyes were dazed as he continued, "I got him. I got the bastard."
"Don't talk," urged Hermione, looking around for something to staunch the blood flowing from his wound. She finally reached over and tugged his jacket off of Ginny, revealing her blood-stained shirt. Trying to ignore that sight, she balled the jacket up and shoved it against the gaping hole in her friend's stomach.
Harry grunted as she put pressure on it and whispered, "Don't…let…go…"
"I AM NOT LETTING YOU DIE!" screamed Hermione. "DON'T YOU DIE ON ME, HARRY! I WON'T HAVE IT!"
"Gin…" mumbled Harry, eyes staring blankly at the night sky above.
"Would she want you to give up?" demanded Hermione. "WOULD SHE WANT YOU TO STOP LIVING!"
Harry slowly shook his head and Hermione nodded.
"Then don't you dare die on me, Harry Potter."
"K, Hermie," mumbled Harry in a childish tone, his head falling over. His eyes stared blankly at Ginny's body until Hermione reached up and gently turned his face away.
When the Aurors arrived to carry him up to the castle, she walked behind them with Slytherin's sword and her staff gripped in her hands, blocking his view of the redhead's body.
* * * *
Dumbledore was standing at the castle entrance when the Auror's carried Harry in. He stopped Hermione and asked in a gentle tone, "Miss Granger? Hermione?"
The bushy-haired girl looked up at him with haunted eyes and said, "Neville's dead, sir. And Ginny. Oh God, Ginny…" She began to sob uncontrollably, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Dumbledore, a grave look on his face, gently removed the sword and staff from her hands and pulled the distraught young woman into his arms. She clung to his robes and buried her face against his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Hermione," he murmured. "If I hadn't done what I did to Harry perhaps this would have never have happened."
"It would have happened anyway, Albus," said McGonagall suddenly from his left. She had just come in from the grounds apparently as she had an extremely grave look on her face. "Voldemort was going to be after Harry no matter if he were an Heir or not. This battle would still have happened."
"But perhaps not with the same results," said Dumbledore sadly. "Will you please contact that parents of the students who were killed, Minerva?"
"Of course, Albus."
As McGonagall walked off, Dumbledore gently wrapped an arm about Hermione's shoulders and said, "Come, child. Poppy will take care of you."
All the bushy-haired girl could do was nod and let the old wizard lead her away from the doors that only showed a field of the dead.
* * * *
End of Term Feast…
"We have lost many things this year. Alliances, friends, siblings…lovers. But we have gained peace. Peace for the Wizarding World. Peace from the Darkness that Lord Voldemort spread. It will never make up for the lives lost this year – lives that will never be lived out. But…we will pull through."
As Dumbledore sat down, Hermione leaned against Severus, who clutched her close. On her other side, Harry looked blankly down at the table. Medusa (who had also been in the battle but only near the end) sat beside his plate, almond eyes focused on her master. Across the table Draco gave the dark-haired young man a sympathetic look.
"Harry," he began only to be interrupted at the Slytherin blooded Gryffindor stood up hurriedly.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled before he turned and ran out of the Great Hall. Every eye followed him as he made his way out, every soul there knowing why he did so.
Severus and Hermione rose as well and followed him out, Medusa trailing along in their wake. Draco rose a few seconds later, the huge black dog that had been underneath the table follow him.
The five of them found Harry out on the grounds crouched on the spot where Ginny had died. He had two fistfuls of grass in his hands and was shaking, fine tremors racing up and down his body. Tears spattered on the still blood-stained grass.
"Harry," began Severus, only to be interrupted as Harry whirled about and hurled a fistful of grass at him.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
He tried to get up to run but slipped and fell back down onto the grass, tears streaking his cheeks silver. Looking up at his friends and godfather, he hissed, "I miss her. I miss her, I miss her, I miss her…"
"We all do," murmured Hermione, lowering herself down into the grass beside her friend. She started to reach out to take his hand but stopped. He hadn't wanted anyone to touch him after Ginny's death. If she did it now, in the place where Ginny had died, he'd scream. "You aren't the only one, Harry" she continued.
"I loved her," gasped Harry as though he hadn't heard her. "I loved her and I never told her."
"She knew you loved her," insisted Severus. "We all saw it. She knew, Harry."
"That's not the point, Sev!" cried Harry, slamming his fist down on the grass. He turned teary eyes on his friend. "I never told her! I never said it to her face! I never even admitted it to myself till after she was dead!!"
"Harry," murmured Hermione as tears flowed anew down her friend's face.
"She knew though," whispered Draco. "It doesn't matter that you didn't tell her."
"Yes, it does," said Sirius, speaking up for the first time. He slowly settled himself down on one knee in the grass in front of his godson. "Even if a person knows that you love them, you've got to tell them. After all, they might not know. And it helps you know."
"You speak as though from experience, Siri," said Severus softly.
Sirius looked at his twin for the first time without anger. He slowly nodded and said, "Yeah, I do. There was a girl once. I tried to tell her a load of times but every single time by tongue got tangled up in itself. So I never told her. Sure she knew I was mad for her – everyone did. But I never told her. And I lost her."
"What happened?" asked Hermione, leaning against Severus' side.
"She joined the Death Eater's," replied Sirius. "Spying for her father. I never knew till after she had been killed in a raid." He sighed heavily and continued, "I've always that maybe if I'd told her…maybe she wouldn't have joined them. Maybe…maybe she'd still be alive now."
"Kat," mumbled Severus. He stared at his twin and breathed, "Oh Merlin, Siri, don't tell me…"
"You've got it, Sev." He leaned back and looked up at the stars spiraling high above them. "Oh Merlin, why didn't I tell her?"
"Who?" said Draco.
"Mischa Katherine Alexi-Dumbledore," said Severus. "Albus' grand-daughter."
"That'd be her," mumbled Sirius. "'Queen of Slytherin' we called her. And Merlin help me, I fell for her."
"Hard?" said Harry.
Sirius only nodded and said, "Very hard. I never told her and she went and got herself killed."
"Looks like I went and did the same thing," mumbled Harry.
"No!" hissed Hermione. "Don't you ever think that!"
"If I hadn't been out here fighting Ro…Aubrey she wouldn't have come out here! She wouldn't be dead!"
"Harry," said Severus in a serious but gentle tone, "you can't keep blaming yourself for things. The world isn't on your shoulders, no matter how much people say so. Stop trying to take the blame for everything. Ron's turning wasn't your fault. And Ginny's death is most certainly not your fault."
"I wish I could go back," murmured Harry, drawing his knees up to his chest. "I'd kill the bastard before he got her."
"You can't change the past, Potter," said Draco.
"You think I don't know that!" bellowed Harry, leaping to his feet. "I know I can't go back! And it hurts like hell! It hurts to know that I can't go back and save her from that. She shouldn't have died! She had her whole life ahead of her! Her whole life…an entire lifetime…gone. Oh God, Gin…"
He fell to his knees and began to slowly rock back and forth. Hermione pulled herself to her feet and slowly walked over to him, kneeling down in the grass beside him. And carefully, ever so carefully, she wrapped her arm about him.
His entire body stiffened at the touch and she could feel him shaking under her fingertips. Just when she thought he was going to go off, he sagged against her with a sigh of release.
"Maybe it was her time," murmured Hermione, laying her head against his. "You don't know that it wasn't that."
"I know," mumbled Harry. He pulled back slightly and looked up at her with eyes that had dimmed to green-gray. "There's one thing I'm happy about though."
"What's that?" asked Hermione.
"The last thing she saw…the last thing she saw was me." Tears pooled in his eyes and Hermione pulled him close as they began to fall again. "I was the last thing she saw."
"And I'll bet she loved it," whispered Hermione into his ear.
"Yeah," agreed Severus, Draco nodding in agreement with him.
Sirius smiled slightly and said, "We'd better get back before they send the cavalry after us."
Harry laughed and pulled away from Hermione, brushing the tears from his face. "Don't you know, Sirius?" he said with a shadow of a grin. "We are the cavalry!"
Severus, Draco, and Hermione all smiled at that and Sirius threw an arm about his godson's shoulders.
"Yeah, you are. Now come on, let's head back."
Harry nodded and they slowly started towards the castle. Severus and Hermione looped their arms about each other and tagged along behind them, Draco slouching along behind them.
A little ways in their walk, Harry stopped and turned around, peering back through the dark. Sirius frowned and turned to look at him, saying, "What?"
"Dusa's still back there."
Severus and Hermione stopped and turned back with frowns on their faces. Draco sighed and said, "I'll go get her. You lot head back without me." With that he began to job back the way they came.
Sirius started to continue on but Harry stayed where he was, staring back into the dark. His entire body was tensed, taught as the string on Draco's bow. After a moment his hands began to shake and he stuffed them in the pockets of his robe.
"Harry?" said Severus, reaching out a hand towards the young wizard.
"Potter! Potter, get over here!"
Harry instantly cut into a sprint at Draco's yell, leaving the others to stare after him.
"What is it…" began Harry only to trail off when he saw the figure standing beside Draco. Her russet hair reflected the light of the moon slightly and Medusa rested in her arms, purring contentedly. Harry's heart swelled in his chest as he recognized her.
"Gin?" he gasped, eyes wide and staring.
Ginny smiled shyly and said, "Hey, Harry."
Harry let out a sob and ran forward, grabbing her up into a rib-crushing hug. "I love you," he murmured into her hair as she wrapped her arms about his neck. "I love you, I love you, I love you."
"I know," breathed Ginny.
Severus, Hermione, and Sirius had come up in the meantime and all three were gaping at the redhead in Harry's arms.
"How?" gasped Hermione.
Ginny smiled as Harry set her back on the ground but didn't remove his arms from about her waist or his face from her hair. "There was a note on my bed this morning…well, that morning to all of you. It told me that I was going to die in the battle."
"You knew?" breathed Draco. "You knew you were going to die if you went out there and you still did?"
"Well, I didn't. Your Ginny did."
"Now I'm confused," grumbled Draco.
But Hermione had a look on her face like a child who's gotten their first Christmas present.
"I get it. Someone went back to that day and gave you a note saying that you were going to die if you went out to the battle. But our Ginny didn't get that note or ignored it, so she did go out there."
"Now I'm really confused," grumbled Draco, running a hand back through his hair.
"It's best if you don't think about it," said Ginny.
"I don't care if you're the Queen of England," said Harry. "You're alive."
Ginny smiled and leaned back into his embrace as Sirius asked, "But who wrote the note?"
"I don't know," replied Ginny. "It wasn't signed and I didn't recognize the handwriting."
"This is going to be extremely hard to explain, you know," said Severus. "And the Ministry is going to have field day, what with a sixth year using a Time Turner."
Hermione smiled a sly little smile and murmured, "What would they have said about a third year?"
Severus just gaped at her and Sirius reached over with a chuckle to push his jaw back up. "C'mon," he said to them and Draco. "Let's head back inside."
"Good idea," said Hermione, wrapping her arm about Severus' waist. "Come on, Malfoy."
"Huh? Oh, yeah, coming."
As they walked off and got out of earshot, Harry turned to Ginny and said, "You were lying."
"About what?"
"That note. About you wrote it."
Ginny bit her lip and Harry dipped his head down to look her in the eyes. "Gin, please," he said, "don't keep me in the dark."
The redhead slowly nodded and whispered, "It was Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore? Why…"
"There was something else on the note," said Ginny, laying her fingers against his lips. "Something I didn't tell them. He said he was sorry – about what he did to you. About his distrust of you and Sev. He thought…he thought this could make up for it."
"Then why…why did Gin…you…die? I saw you die. You died in my arms."
"Time travel's a tricky mistress," said Ginny with a smile. "I don't know why she…I…died. I got the note and I stayed out of the battle. Unfortunately…"
"What?" asked Harry.
"You died. I stayed out of the battle and you died. Ro-Aubrey killed you."
"So," mused Harry, "we both lost each other."
"Yeah. But now we're back together."
"And I am never letting you go," hissed Harry, pulling her close again. "Never."
Ginny laid her head against his chest and murmured, "And I never want you to."
FIN
A/N: Whatcha think? Good? Anyone want to kill me for making everyone believe I killed Gin? ME! Shut up, Atra. You have no say in this. Why's that? Hmmm. Maybe b/c you helped kill her? Shh! No one's supposed to know that! Now they do. *smirk* WHAT ARE YOU SMIRKING FOR! THEY KNOW IT WAS OUR IDEA NOW! Wasn't mine. I objected to the 'Ginny Killing' Plot. She did. *nods* *scowl* I hate all of you. Feelings mutual. OI!
*wrestles mic away from muses* Anyway, what'd you lot think? Am I evil b/c I killed Neville? *dodges rotten tomato thrown by Atra* ATRA! *looks innocent* Whaaaat? Oi. 9_9 Heng. Moving on…reviews are welcome ways to say how much you love me, hate me, or are completely neutral in all matters. Or are simply angry that I finished the story. And if you must thrown things, please… THROW WEIGHTS! *hits Atra with a frying pan* Go Mel! *grin* That's my girl! Woot woot! ^_^ …throw everything at Atra. HEY!