Stand Tall Together
Chapter one: Getting Through the Past
The blistering hot day seemed to be cooling off nicely as the sun melted into the horizon. Not wanting to talk about what had happened only the week before, the group of four friends had been eerily silent since they came up to the astronomy tower to get away from all of the stares after dinner.. Four friends. It wasn't that long ago that there were six in their tightly knitted group. Voldomort had seen to that though.
"We'll be fine guys! We learned well from all of those extra defense lessons Harry!" said the boy who had slowly come into his own through these last years.
"Seriously guys, standing guard can hardly be as scary as looking for the Strikey-toothed Bigion with my Daddy last holiday! We were in the middle of muggle Brazil and the natives had warned us of these fish type things that had sharper teeth than the Bigions…."
A sob escaped the young red headed witch that was remembering her fallen friends. The other three in the group grimaced with stolen glances that proved they were all feeling the same things. Whether or not they talked about it, not one of them could stop thinking about it. The whole thing seemed so pointless now. Who cared if Voldemort was defeated, if they couldn't rejoice with all of their friends?
"Okay guys, just remember the communication charm. If anyone gets in trouble.."
"We know Hermione! Now please, go help Harry save the world," the usually dreamy witch had made her point. The rest of the group had taken one last look at their friends, and had proceeded into Malfoy Mannor.
"Do you think we could have done anything differently? I could have stayed with them and helped them fight…"
"No! No Ginny you couldn't have," said the boy with the haunted green eyes that were darting around to all of his friends. "We needed you inside. All of you did what you could. Please don't think that way! Neville and Luna wouldn't want us agonizing over them!"
"But Harry, don't you wonder…"
"Of course I do! I blame myself every day for what happened to them! If you all would have just bloody well let me be and do it myself, none of you would be in this much pain," screamed Harry. Harry Potter, the boy who lived. The boy who had to defeat the dark lord or die trying. The boy whom would constantly blame himself now until the end of time. He never wanted his friends to get hurt. That's why it had taken him until the end of his seventh year just to admit that he needed their help.
"If only they weren't all so bloody noble," he thought, wishing they'd stop looking at him with such love and understanding. "Just once I wish they'd blame me for everything! I wish they'd hate me as badly as I hate myself!"
"Knock it off Harry," exclaimed Hermione, trying to get a grip on the situation. "I know what you're thinking, and it's too bad. We don't hate you, and we never will!"
"Whatever Hermione," he grumbled, more frustrated than angry that Hermione could read him so well. She seemed to know what he was thinking even before he thought it.
"Anyway, even if you hadn't told us about the prophecy, we would have followed you. We just wouldn't have known what we were getting ourselves into."
"Okay Hermione, I get it! You're a Gryffindor, you're brave above all stupidity!"
"Enough Harry," exclaimed Ginny, looking like she was ready to throw him off of the astronomy tower. "Every one of us has regrets about that night! I just wish that your regrets didn't seem to be over whom you've chosen as friends," she said in almost a whisper, desperately trying not to strangle him as she did so.
Harry looked at her sadly. "Gin, I don't…it's not that I…."
"Forget it Harry, I know, okay?"
He sighed. "Anyway, I just meant that without you in there, I would never have had the chance….." He let his thought go unfinished.
"I can't believe it's all over," exhaled Ron. "It's like everything that's kept us going for the last seven years is over and done with. Kind of like a let down, but in a good way."
"I know what you mean," breathed Hermione. "Our lives should really just be starting, but now that V-Voldemort's gone, we have nothing left to fight for," sighing heavily she realized that she was the first to bring up his name since that dreadful night last week. The group lunged back into an uncomfortable silence.
Creeping into Malfoy Manor under his dad's old invisibility cloak, Harry had decided that the four of them should split up. Ron and Hermione had gone up the stairs towards the bedrooms, Harry and Ginny took deep breaths and started down towards the dungeons. He needed Ginny with him to act as a decoy. All they had to do was find the Death eaters having their weekly meeting. Harry knew from the pain in his scar that they were getting closer. Looking over at the girl who was about to risk it all for him, he grasped her hand and kissed it softly.
She looked up surprised, then smiled and shook her head. "I know what I'm doing Harry. Don't worry about me." The truth was, he did worry about her, and not just because Ron had threatened his life if anything happened to her. Funny really, Ron frightened him more than the most evil wizard of all time. He chuckled. Ginny, looking at him strangely, squeezed his hand, took a deep breath and entered the room Harry had known they had reached by the blinding pain in his forehead.
'What happened in that room will be in our children's history books,' Harry thought grimly. 'Everything we did will be summed up by thousands of future Hogwarts students. None of them will be able to feel the pain though. Not that I'd want them to of course.' Scrunching his eyes with the pain of that night, Harry took a good look at the people sitting around him. Catching Ron's eye, he shrugged. What can you say when you know you let your best mate down? Ginny did get hurt, and that was his fault for letting her come. If only Ron had kept his promise of beating him to a pulp when he found out about Ginny. Instead, he had thanked him.
"Bloody hell," Harry screamed! He jumped up and raced from the tower, not paying any attention to where he was going until he had made it all the way to the room of requirement. He paced three times and when he walked in, he was shocked by what he saw.
This is what he required? No way! How in the world did he walk into this room? Inhaling sharply, he looked around. Everything was just as he remembered. Why would he require to come back here? He never wanted to see this place again!
Those steps…that dial…and there it stood….the veil. Harry crouched down, holding his stomach. The sobs retching from him made no sound, yet the whole room seemed to cloud over with his grief.
"They died…because of me! Why did I have to survive? If I had gone with them, it wouldn't be so painful! I wouldn't hurt every day! I . Just. Want. To. Die!" and with that, he collapsed on the ground, shaking violently.
Not exactly surprised by Harry's outburst, the three remaining friends took a collective breath. "Well, should we go after him?" asked Ron.
The two girls looked at each other, and shrugged. "I guess we could," whispered Hermione. But, she was looking at Ron with questions in her eyes.
"Or, I could go look for him and you two could stay here," suggested Ginny who knew that something strange was going on with her best friend and her brother.
When she didn't receive an answer, she rolled her eyes and gingerly stepped to her feet. "Ouch!" she sucked in.
Her brother looked at her with worry in his eyes and shook his head. "This isn't fair! We should be jubilant and proud. Instead, we're depressed and miserable, and in pain."
"I'll be fine Ron," she muttered. "Really. My leg's just a little sore is all, and as for not being overjoyed, I'm sure the time will come when we can celebrate with the rest of the world. But what they don't realize, is what great people have sacrificed themselves for our happiness…they don't know about Sirius, or Neville or Luna. I mean, they know they died of course, but they don't know what assets they would have been in our world. They don't know what they're missing just because of some stupid power hungry man who would stop at nothing!" She heaved with grief and relief for finally getting to say all that was on her mind.
"I know what you mean Ginny," Hermione shook as she started talking. "We need to find a way to remember those we've lost as well as celebrate the lives they lived."
Ginny shuddered in the now cool night breeze. She looked across the castle grounds and smiled. She could almost see what it would have been like if Voldemort had never been an issue. Neville would be there, running to make it to Herbology before anyone else so he could work on all of his plants for extra credit. Luna would be sitting by the lake, starring dreamily into its depths looking for some creature that only existed in "Luna World."
Shaking her head, she looked towards the quidditch pitch. There was Ron and Harry, practicing for the next big game. Hermione was on the ground with books spread everywhere studying for her N.E.W.T.S. Where was she though? Where did she fit in? Hanging her head sadly, Ginny realized that she didn't know. Would she even be….."Forget it." She told herself. Looking up at Hermione, she gave a half smile and followed the stairs down to find Harry.
Looking around the room she just entered, she gasped at what she saw. They were waiting for her! She turned back to find Harry, but he must have put his invisibility cloak on. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" drawled a low and somewhat amused voice. "Thought you'd come save the world without all of your little friends, did you?" he egged her on. "Or did they get lost on their way to save the world? You know little girl, you've been more trouble then I'm sure your filthy parents had ever imagined you could be when your mum added you to the litter. Your entire family is a disgrace to wizard kind! My master will be pleased to kill you before he starts on your famous friend. If for nothing else then to see the legendary Harry Potter squirm!"
Ginny knew what she had to do. She opened her mouth and..... "Hello? Umm guys it's Neville." She started shaking. This couldn't be good. Looking around, Ginny saw that the Death Eaters were still laughing at what the ringleader ( who had to be Lucious Malfoy)said. "Guys? We're under attack! They've got Luna and…"
Silence. She heard a gasp and knew it had come from Harry. Looking at the laughing, horrible excuses for wizards surrounding her, the youngest, and arguably the bravest Weasley child took one last deep breath and….
Not knowing what had possessed her to find their old D.A. room, Ginny paced three times like her vulnerable friend had just minutes before. "Harry?" She called, and taking a jagged breath, the winded witch looked down at the boy (man?) on the floor. His shoulders were still shuddering with all of the heartache and sorrow he had endured since he was a year old.
She ached for him. For everything he'd been through, and everything he'd lost. Her heart shattered when he looked up at her grimacing and moaned. Leaning down to reach for him, Ginny thought, "I need a place to lay him." When she looked back up, the room had changed to look like the living room of the Burrow.
Ginny lifted Harry's chin and looked into his eyes. The anguish she saw reflected in his gaze was that of someone's much older than the seventeen years Harry Potter had survived. "Harry, please come lie down on the couch." Watching his face, she gently led him to the squishy, comfortable couch. Ginny remembered plenty of times she'd lay on this couch at home and cry herself to sleep when her brothers were being mean to her.
Looking at a true friend, the emotionally drained wizard gave a weak smile and lay down with his head in her lap. She put her hand to his hair and ran her fingers through it a few times. He gasped softly and anxiously drew in a gulp of air. Noticing his uneasiness, Ginny grasped his hand and squeezed firmly. Within minutes, his ragged breathing turned into slow shallow breaths.
"Neville? Luna? Oh Ron! What happened to them?"
"I don't know. I'm sure they're fine."
"Do you think Harry and Ginny heard them?" she asked anxiously, "Harry! Ginny! Are you there?" she paused, "Nothing! Neville said they were under attack! We need to keep everyone else away from Harry and Ginny!"
"I don't know Hermione! I just want this whole damn thing bloody well over with! I cant take this any more! We need to find that git Draco before we go after Neville and Luna. You remember Harry's plan, right?"
"Of course I do! But how can bloody Draco be more important than our friends?" she was screeching now.
"This is war Hermione! We need to stick to our mission."
"Well, why doesn't the Order take over? Where are they anyway?"
"Concentrate on our part, okay? If we get through this then we can worry about everyone else." At that moment, their part of defeating the dark lord came walking towards them with a vicious sneer on his face. Ron was ready for him.
"Expelliarmus!" Draco Malfoy was standing there, now unarmed and looked to be scared silly.
"Are you bloody crazy? My father will kill you for this! Not until after he kills Potter though! Oh yes, Potter will be killed. The Dark Lord will make sure of that!"
"Stupefy!" The silence was a nice change. Hermione cast the spell that tied him up, and levitated him to bring him with them.
"That. Was Too. Bloody. Easy" cried Ron.
"No, we took him by surprise is all. Malfoy has never been the sharpest tool in the shed…."
"Or the brightest crayon in the box?" joked Ron. Hermione just rolled her eyes.
When they passed by the front door, they agreed to check on the friends that they had lost contact with. What they saw when they opened the door was a sight that neither one would forget as long as they lived. It took everything in Ron not to scream, and he had to hold onto Hermione so she wouldn't drop to the floor. Draco wasn't as lucky though-Hermione dropped him when she collapsed. After regaining their composure, they continued their way to Ginny and Harry…
"Do you think Harry's alright?" Hermione asked quietly.
"Ginny'll take care of him." She looked at him questionably. "Well, she's a lot like my mum you know. She can calm him just by sitting there. It's a good quality that every Weasley woman has," he smirked in her direction.
Smiling back, Hermione laughed. "I feel so guilty whenever I start feeling happy again, you know?"
"I know," he agreed. Taking a deep breath, he scooted a little closer to one of his oldest friends. "We really have been through a lot, ya know?"
She leaned her head on his shoulder. "I know," she whispered.
Twenty minutes later, they were broken out of their thoughts by a large, snowy owl descending towards them. Hedwig swooped down with a letter addressed to all of them. "It looks like it's from my parents!" Ron exclaimed! "Let's go find Ginny and Harry so we can read it!" And with that, they were on their way down the tower.
It didn't take long to find the room with the Death Eaters. Ginny's strangled cries were enough to send her enraged older brother anywhere. It took Hermione holding onto his robes to keep him from busting into the room. Ron shook his head, as if to clear it, and reached into his robes. "I forgot Harry told me to use this if the Order wasn't here in time," he said, bringing out a spell-o-taped hand mirror. "Remus! Mum! Dad!" Three faces appeared in the mirror. "We need you guys. Now! It's happening!" Seconds later, "pops" were all around them as the members of the Order of the Phoenix appeared, ready to fight.
Harry rubbed his eyes and looked around. 'Why am I at the Burrow?' he thought, 'the train doesn't leave school until tomorrow.' Then it hit him. He looked up at Ginny and noticed her crying. Breathing deep, he touched his hand to her cheek. She gasped and then, coming out of her thoughts, smiled at him.
"Are you ready to go to the feast?" she asked quietly.
Nodding, he stood up and stretched. Noticing that she was having trouble getting up, he grabbed her under her arm and lifted. "I am sorry you got hurt you know."
She nodded and blushed at the feel of his breath so close to her ear. "I know Harry. And just so you know, I would do it again in a heart beat." With that, they began the long walk to Harry's last dinner at Hogwarts.
A/N: Whew! The end of my first chapter! Let me know what you think-in other words, review!