Waiting
Summary: "They all said the war would make things better, and they lied." Weird little Ginny story whose ending is kind of bad. Reposted.
Disclaimer: Don't sue. I own nothing.
Author's Note: This is an older fic I fixed and reposted. I changed one word: "Virginia". What if her name isn't Virginia? Oh, no!
Waiting
Everyone said the war would make things better. They said that good would triumph and everyone would be happy and the world would continue as usual, only better. They all said the war would make things better, and they lied. They never saw the homes where sad widows were waiting by windows for husbands who would never return, or where mothers and fathers waited for dead children, or lovers waited for boyfriends or girlfriends who would never again be seen on earth. No, they never saw the real world-never saw the small home where a sister sat waiting for her brothers to come running up that hill-alive-and hug her and tell her everything was fine. And she never saw that she was waiting in vain.
No one dared tell her that only one of her brothers had survived. They all knew-they had gotten the letter weeks ago and had read it over and over until tears had smudged the ink so it couldn't be read, but they knew the words by heart and could have told her, all of them, but they never did. There was never a right time, or it was too hot or too cold or too late or too early or too something, so they never got around to it. And I guess they never meant for her to hear about it. They wanted her to stay there the way she was-brown eyes staring through the thin glass, shining with tears-happy or sad tears, no one knew-the only remnant of life they had known before-before this. So they left her there, sitting by the window day and night, waiting for something that just wasn't meant to be. Besides, they were too busy with their own problems to worry about one misguided girl.
But, one day, the last one-the last survivor-came over that hill, carrying a long sheet of parchment and not much else, and his sister ran out and hugged him and dragged him into the house and they both cried, both of them, even though he never did because he was too tough, after all. And he told her that they had won, but barely, and here-here was the list of the people who had died, and see? There were Bill, Charlie, Ron-yes, Ron, but he died fighting-no, you mustn't cry-but she did, anyway-she didn't care what he said, because they were her brothers! They couldn't be dead! But they were.
Some people say that no one ever really dies if you keep them alive in your heart. Ginny Weasley had always said that that was a bunch of bullshit. She didn't see why anyone would want to keep someone "alive" after they were dead-why would you want to remember something as horrible as a death? But after that day-after the worst day of her life-she lived in memories-memories of them. It was all over. And she sat, and she cried, and she waited for the day that she could join them in death.
-End