AN: Back again! Here's the next installment!
xXx WARNING!! WARNING!! If you are any of the following:
. . . Prone to cry very easily
. . . A die-hard Ginny-fan
. . . Hate anything angsty
Then I would highly recommend that you leave this story immediately. If you feel brave enough, then carry on, but don't say that I didn't warn you . . . xXx
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Later that night, as Ginny walked around her room, de-robing and changing into a nightgown, she thought about all that her and her brother had talked about that evening. Mostly just catching up on each other's lives, but as they were leaving, Ron had asked her if she would come to Fred and George's birthday party the next evening. She said that she would be delighted to, and was expected at the Burrow at 6:00. She was very excited about seeing her whole family together again, and found herself humming as she turned out the lights in her house except for her bedroom one with a flick of her wand. With a second flick she locked all of her outside doors. She was just about to climb into her bed when she sensed something . . . something very strange. She quickly turned around and gasped.
"What the . . .?!"
xXx (next day) xXx
Fred and George Weasley both rolled their eyes as they watched their mother bustle about the kitchen.
"Mum, we're only turning 25, there's no need to make such a big deal out of it," complained Fred.
"Yeah, you must have invited everyone we know and some we don't know, plus their entire familes, to this thing," groaned George.
'Now, you two well know that turning 25 is a milestone age! It shows you're well into society, that you've matured," she said, giving them both a hard glare. The twins exchanged glances. She had never truly gotten over the fact that they currently owned a joke shop.
"Hello, all!" The three occupants of the kitchen turned to see Ron striding cheerfully through the kitchen door. Mrs. Weasley stopped monitoring the charmed knife cutting vegetables and the charmed sponge that was doing dishes and rushed over to Ron, giving him a huge hug.
"Ron, oh, how've you been?" she asked, letting go of him after a few seconds.
"Just fine, Mum. I invited Ginny, like you asked, and she should be here around 6:00," replied Ron.
"Hey Ronniekins!" chorused the twins. Ron answered with a rather menacing look, and then dropped his cloak by the stairs.
xXx
By 6:30, everyone at the party (which, to Fred and George, seemed to be half of the wizarding world) was slightly worried about Ginny. She was never late. Mrs. Weasley was currently kneeling by the fireplace, her head in the fire, seeing if Ginny was at home. A few moments later she pulled back out again.
"She wasn't answering my consistent yelling for her, so either she's not home or she's preoccupied with something else. I'm apparating over to see what the trouble is," stated Mrs. Weasley. Ron, however, had a strong feeling in his stomach that his mother shouldn't be the one going over there. He didn't know where it was coming from, but he objected nonetheless.
"No, Mum, you have to stay here and keep watch over the party. I'll go," he offered.
"I don't know Ron . . ."
"Really, Mum, I have no problem with it. Let me go instead, all right?" pleaded Ron. That feeling in his stomach had just gotten much stronger.
"Well, I suppose so. Go ahead, then," said Mrs. Weasley, and Ron apparated on the spot.
He appeared outside Ginny's front door, and he rang the doorbell. When no one answered, he tried to open the door, but it was locked. He then unlocked the door with the charm that Ginny had created for it, opened it, and stepped inside the house, now more nervous then ever. Although he tried to tell himself that she might have forgotten about the party and was off somewhere else, something in his mind told him that wasn't so. He walked into the foyer and lightly closed the door behind him.
"Ginny?" he called loudly. No answer. He walked into the kitchen, neat and prim as it always was.
"Ginny?" he tried again, louder. Still no answer. The house was very quiet. Too quiet. He wandered over to the staircase and again called her name up them.
"Ginny!" he shouted. Still, again, no answer. He jogged up the steps and looked in each room, and with each one found no one inside. He looked to the end of the hallway and saw that there was a light shining from underneath her closed bedroom door. He walked up to it, and, with a hand shaking with relief of the fact that she must be home, knocked on the door.
"Ginny? It's me, Ron, can I come in?" But, as with every other time, she did not answer. He gulped and opened the door. He looked around the room. The overhead light was on, and the bed was turned down. It looked as if she was about to go to bed, even though it was only 6:30 in the evening. He looked over towards her connected bathroom, and saw that the door was open and the light was off. He strode over to it and turned the light on, but there was nothing out of the ordinary in there. Now totally puzzled, he turned around, looking at the floor. He thought he saw something at the very edge of her closet door which he knew to be a walk-in closet. He couldn't make out what the substance on the carpet was, though, and walked over to it to get a closer look. He looked down at it, and noticed it was a very dark red color. He gulped.
The color of blood.
He breathed in and out, very quickly, very heavily, and very raggedly. His mouth had suddenly gone dry. He knew that there was nothing else to do but open the door, and that is why, with a hand shaking so badly he could hardly direct it, he gripped the doorknob, turned it, and pulled the door open. The sight that met his eyes made him drop to his knees and start sobbing uncontrollably.
There, sprawled on the floor, lying in a pool of blood, and very clearly dead, was Ginny.
"No . . ." he sobbed. "No! No, no, no, no, NO!" he shouted. "No, Ginny, please, come back!" he ranted, although knowing perfectly well that no amount of chanting and tears would bring her back. He sat there a few minutes, his head in his hands, bawling like a baby.
"Damn it, Ginny!" he cried. "When Harry and I saved you in second year I promised to never let anything happen to you again! I swore it!" he yelled through sobs to her corpse as he took his hands off of his face. This time he noticed things that he hadn't noticed before. There were dark bruises on her neck, her face was wrapped in some sort of plastic substance, and there were two large stab marks in her chest where at least a 12-inch long knife had plunged through her flesh. Ron could scarcely breathe as he helplessly pictured what must have happened to her. Someone had tried to strangle her, but when they couldn't do it by hand they wrapped her face in plastic so she would suffocate, and then, just to make sure she was dead, they had stabbed her, then shoved her into her own closet. If Ron had been thinking clearly enough, he would have been able to deduce that either a serioualy deranged wizard without a wand had killed her, or, more likely, a muggle. However, he wasn't thinking very clearly at that moment, so all he did was kneel there and cry until he could cry no more, and even then he simply sat there, and even worked up the courage to hold her stiff hand, and while he wasn't crying, he was making loud, dry sobs. Something, however, interrupted his grieving.
"Ron?" called a female voice. Ron recognized it to be Hermione's, and jumped up from the floor with a start. He could hear Hermione coming up the steps, and he quickly dashed out of Ginny's bedroom to meet her in the hallway before she could get to Ginny's bedroom door.
"Ron, oh there you are! We were all getting worried at why you and Ginny hadn't come back yet, so Mrs. Weasely sent me over to see what was going on." Hermione paused, looking at Ron's tear-stained face. "Is everything all right? Where's Ginny?" she inquired. Ron struggled to hold back new tears as he spoke.
"No, Hermione, no, everything is not all right," he said, as calmly as he could, which wasn't very. "And Ginny -" he stopped in mid-sentence to take a few raggety breaths, "Ginny - won't be coming back to the party."
"Heavens, Ron, what could have happened to make you this upset?" asked Hermione, now sounding extremely concerned.
"Ginny - Ginny -" Ron couldn't seemed to get the words out of his mouth.
"Ginny what Ron?" demanded Hermione, now very worried herself.
"Ginny - Ginny's - she's - she's dead!" exclaimed Ron, and broke out once more into hysterical tears.
"She's - are you sure, Ron?" asked Hermione in a shaky voice, and he noticed tears coming to her eyes, as well.
"Well Hermione, why don't you come and see for yourself?" he asked, although it was very incomprehendable, because of how loud his sobs were. He then stalked into the bedroom, Hermione behind him, and pointed in the direction of the closet. Hermione walked over to it, but Ron couldn't bear the thought of seeing Ginny again, so he stayed a fair distance from it with his back turned. He heard Hermione scream out "NO!" just as he had, and then he heard her loud sobs. He mustered up the bravery to turn around and go comfort her. He knelt by her side and put his arms around her shoulders, and they both simply sat there, both sobbing for several minutes, until Hermione spoke.
"I - I suppose we should go back and - and - and tell the others, be - before they send someone else over," she said, trying to regain her composure and wiping away her tears, Ron doing the same.
"Right," was all he said.
"I - I don't think I have enough concentration to apparate, though . . ." she said worriedly, sniffling.
"Here, take my hand," said Ron, wiping away what were, hopefully, the last of his tears, and taking out his wand. Seconds later, they were kneeling not on Ginny's bedroom carpet, but floor of the Weasley living room, surrounded by worried guests.
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AN: I'll have you all know that I was sent to tears writing this chapter - I certainly didn't enjoy it one bit. But I feel as if I have to write it, for a couple reasons. Firstly, I was feeling a calling to write a mystery, and secondly, this experience of Ron's actually happened to one of my mom's friends, and when she told me about it I couldn't get over it, so I figured the best way to get it out of my system was to tell others about it. So, this is BASED ON A TRUE STORY. I'm terribly sorry if I made anyone cry, but remember, I DID warn you. R&R everyone.
Oh, and also, I have added and "Announcements" section in my bio, so I would suggest you check on that every once in a while. And check out my new Xanga account, too! My user name is SpicySugar9590.