A/N: So...this is our 6th chapter, and I am still surprised to see the amount of reviews that we have. I know, that's pretty lame. Oh well.
Chapter 6: The New Nanny
People travelled from far and wide to attend Harry Potter's funeral. No one had expected such a tragedy to occurfor him to die. They had to face reality, though. The boy who had lived was dead. It was a nice ceremony, to say the least. It was held on a Quidditch field with everyone sitting in the stands. It was, of course, a closed casket. When his body had finally been found, it was mangled and torn and there were still some parts of him missing. There were millions of flowers surrounding the coffin. Harry's broom and wand had even been brought over and placed on the coffin. Most people were so grief stricken that they couldn't think; others contemplated what was to come. Would the dark lord rise? Was this his doing? How would they survive if evil tried to reign supreme again?
Ginny sat on the field with the rest of Harry's relatives and close friends. She was one of those who couldn't think straight. Afterall, she had seen him the night he died. That was when they fought. Oh, that fight! She wished she could take it all back. More tears began to sting her eyes as she thought of how they parted. It was their last parting. She had loved him so much, and now he was gone. Ginny's lower lip quivered and she wrapped her arms tighter toward her body.
"Mommy, you're hurting me," Damien said quietly from her lap.
"I'm sorry, baby," she apologized, loosening her grip.
"Why are you crying, mommy?" He sounded so innocent that it brought more tears to the surface.
"Because, sweety, mommy misses Harry." A tear rolled down her cheek.
"But he was mean to you."
"No, no. We loved each other very much. Very much."
"But he slapped you, mommy. I saw him."
Ginny's eyes widened slightly. "That was an accident, honey," she said softly. "Sometimes when grown-ups get angry, they say and do things that they don't mean. That's all it was. An accident."
"He was a bad man, mommy," Damien replied in a colder, harsher voice. "He hurt you. He deserved to be punished." His eyes burned into his mother's.
Ginny's grip loosened incredibly that her hands could have fallen to her sides at any given moment. Her gaze widened even more. Another tear rolled slowly down her cheek. She looked to either side of where they were sitting to see if anyone was listening to their conversation. Luckily, everyone else was paying attention to the preacher. Ginny looked at Damien again. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to think.
"Don't cry, mommy," Damien said softly, wiping the newly shed tear from her cheek. Then he turned around to face the ceremony.
Ginny stared down at her son's jet black hair. Slowly, more tears started to fall. This time they weren't for Harry. They were for the thoughts that were racing through her mind about her son. They were for the possibilities she was actually contemplating could be true. They were for Harry's involvement in all of this. If it wasn't for her, he would still be alive. Ginny kissed the top of Damien's head and pulled him closer to her.
After the ceremony, the mass of people planned to take the mile long walk to the cemetary to watch Harry's body be lowered into the ground. Before departing, Ginny knew she had to get something straight. She pulled Damien, who was clinging to her hand, off to the side in a little crevice in the stadium wall. She bent down until she was face to face with her son. Her hands gripped his shoulders gently, yet forcefully. Her eyes looked right into the depths of his.
"Damien, I need you to tell mommy something. I need you to tell mommy if you know who caused this," she pleaded.
"Mommy, are you ok?" he asked, studying her face in confusion.
"Yes, mommy's fine." She sighed in frustration and took a deep breath. "Damien, please. I need to know if you are somehow connected to Harry's-" She cut off in midsentence. She took a deep, shaky breath. "-death."
"Of course not, mommy."
"Damien, are you lying to mommy?"
"No."
"Damien!" she half-shouted. She started to shake him slightly. "I need you to tell the truth!"
"Mommy, you're hurting me!"
"GINNY!"
Ginny stopped everything she was doing and seemed to snap back to reality. As soon as her grip loosened, Damien ran off to his Uncle Ron, who had broken them up. Ginny looked around and stood up. She straightened out her black skirt and matching blazer. She didn't have to walk over to her brother because he had made his way to her.
"Ginny," Ron began, "what are you doing?" Damien was up in his arms.
"I...I don't know," she admitted, running a hand through her Weasley red-hair.
Ron looked her over for a minute then whispered something into Damien's ear. The next moment he was running off toward Fred and George. Ron watched him go then looked back at his sister.
"I know you are upset about Harry's death. We all are. But, bloody hell Ginny, that's no reason to take it out on Damien. He's just a child."
Tears started to stream down Ginny's face. She closed her eyes tightly and covered them with the palm of her hand.
"I don't know what I was doing, Ron. Damien said something during the funeral and I thought maybe he had seen what had happened or something."
Ron embraced Ginny, who was now full out crying. She buried her face into his shoulder and wept. Ron lightly petted the back of her hair.
"Shh, it's ok. You're just upset and worn out with everything that is happening. Let's go."
As Ron led Ginny away, neither was aware of the quiet, fast click that had been occuring during the whole conversation.
->
Ginny watched as the coffin was lowered slowly into the ground. After this it would all be over. There would be no more to talk about or to do. Her gaze drifted down to the single crimson rose grasped gently in her fingers and held at her torso. Suddenly, a loud crash was heard, and she looked up just in time to see Harry's coffin tip and plunge into the dug out grave. She screamed as loud as she could. This shouldn't be happening. It wasn't supposed to turn out this way. Harry shouldn't have to suffer anymore. He had done that enough for her already.
She felt her hands slowly becoming encompassed in a sticky liquid. At first she thought it was from her tears, which had errupted at the disturbance. She brought her hand to her face to wipe away the tears. She soon realized that was not the source. She looked down and saw the rose bleeding onto her fingers. The blood matched the rose's crimson color. Ginny, horrified, dropped the rose, which dried up and died as soon as it hit the ground. She backed up a couple steps, staring down at her bloody hands. She looked up and saw a shadow standing in the distance. As if someone had hit the fastforward button, the shadow moved from it's place across the graveyard to right in front of her in a matter of seconds. She screamed as she saw Damien looking up at her with a malicious grin on his face.
Ginny shot up in bed drenched in a cold sweat. There were tears streaming her vision. She gently wiped them away and ran a hand through her messy hair. That's when she felt a droplet, then another. She looked at her hand to see drops of blood on it. Her fingers found their way to her nose before pulling away. It was bleeding. She had a bloody nose.
Ginny quickly cleaned up and checked on Damien, who was still sleeping, before heading downstairs. When she reached the bottom, the doorbell rang. She looked around.
"I've got it!" she called and went to the door.
Oliver Wood stood on the other side of the door. He was holding a small bouquet of wild flowers and looking away. Ginny smiled and laughed slightly.
"Yes?" she said, catching his attention.
Oliver turned around quickly to face her. "Hi," he replied. His eyes looked Ginny over. A small blush crept to his face. She was still in her pajamas.
Ginny saw this and blushed as well. "I'm sorry. Come in. I'll be right down."
After she had changed and washed up a bit, she found Oliver in the kitchen with Ron, Fred, and George. They were pumping him for questions about Quidditch. Now that he was a famous Keeper, he knew most of the teams around the world, if not all, and he could get them free seats if he chose to do so.
"Alright guys, break it up," Ginny said, entering the room. "I'm sure Oliver didn't just come here to listen to all your questions."
Her brothers slowly departed, and she sat down next to the Quidditch Captain. Harry and Oliver had been good friends, and when Harry and Ginny had started to date, they would always hang out together. She wasn't surprised to see him here. Afterall, one of his team members had died the other day.
"These are for you," Oliver said awkwardly, handing Ginny the flowers.
"They're lovely," she said.
Oliver's eyes searched the table. "You must be feeling really lost and alone without Harry." So, he was blunt and to the point.
"Yeah. It just seems so surreal."
"I know. He was a good friend." Oliver, daringly, stretched out his hand to encompass Ginny's.
She smiled slightly, then removed her hand from underneath his and let it disappear beneath the table.
Oliver cleared his throat and decided to go on before this turned into an even more awkward moment. "So, I was thinking, since you are probably really torn up about Harry and still need time to mourn, maybe I could offer my services to you."
Ginny stared at him wide-eyed.
Oliver's eyes went wide after a minute. "Oh, no, not like that. Oh my, I'm sorry. I meant as a babysitter for Damien. Afterall, you're probably going to be really busy getting through this time and I could help with Damien so you could have time alone. You know, be kind of like a Nanny."
"A Nanny?" Ginny asked incredulously, smiling.
"Yeah. Just don't tell people you call me a Nanny." He winked.
