xXxEDITING PROCESS 7/15/09xXx


Chapter 6: Deep Sorrow

His scar burned. And burned. And burned. He woke up with a start from the intense sensation ripping through his skull. He cried out and banged his head against the low beam above his bed, and it barely registered. Harry fell onto the floor in a crooked heap of limbs and blankets. He moaned and shuddered as scrapes of a vision came along -

- A gloomy ivy-coated house on a hill - An old moldy dark room - A fireplace downstairs with a huge claw-feet chair - A flash of red hair on a girl -

Harry gasped, eyes fluttering open, and he silently willed himself not to vomit.

"...Ginny?"

Pounding footsteps and the shrieking of Mrs. Black's portrait in the hall downstairs. Shaking, Harry changed into a loose nightrobe and followed the noises. He was nearly barreled into by several running wizards and Ministry officials. He spotted the Weasleys crowding in the drawing room. Mrs. Weasley was sobbing on Ron's shoulder though it was more like his arm because of her shortness.

Before Harry could speak up, Hermione breezed past him as if he were invisible, "They haven't found anything yet-!" She hesitated. "Oh. Harry, you're up."

All of the Weasleys looked at him and he frowned, asking "...What the bloody hell is going on?"

Bill blurted out, his dragon-fang earring flashing by the lamplight, "Ginny's been taken, Harry. Earlier this morning she pulled Fred aside and said she was taking a walk around the neighborhood. No onehas seen her since. They think the Dark Lord has got her. We're not sure but it... all points..." Mrs. Weasly started howled and Charlie touched her shoulder comfortingly.

Harry's mind processed what he was saying as the flashes from his vision rushed through in his head. Ron asked, "Harry, mate, what is it?"

"I know where she is."

Mrs. Weasly abruptly stopped sobbing and Harry gripped Ron's arm, whispering, "Come on. We're going to Diagon Alley."

.-.-.-.

Without permission, both boys Flooed and landed in a pile of ashes in Flourish and Blotts. Ron picked himself up, shouting, "What the bloody-?" Harry was already on his way out the entrance and the his reluctant companion sighed, following him. Harry guided the way into Knockturn Alley, walking through the sloping shadowy streets until they stopped in front of a solid brown brick wall.

"They'll come after us, you know," Ron explained as Harry took out his wand and examined it calmly.

"For their sake, I hope not. You want to go back, mate?"

"...This is my little sister. I'm not going anywhere."

Harry nodded and glanced at the wall in front of them. "Magic isn't going to get us in," he said with a definite tone. Ron threw up his hands.

"You're not making any sense, into what?! What are we looking for?"

Harry inspected the bricks closer.

"Ginny is somewhere behind this wall..." he explained, "I just don't know..." A small engraving of a cobra snake caught his eye. The body curled around in a circle and reared back its head, posing as if ready to strike. Harry narrowed his eyes. "In the name of Tom Riddle, of decay and dark... I renounce those who will not obey the Sssacred Mark."

A bang, a flash, and there stood a maplewood door in front of their eyes. Ron gaped.

"Bloody hell! How did you do that?" Harry dismissed his question with a wave of his hand. He clamped his hand over the doorknob and winced, backing away to shake his hand frantically.

"What? What happened?"

Harry grimaced, flexing his blistering palm, "The doorknob is hot like an oven." He took in a breath and swung open the door fast. They jumped into pitch black and the door closed behind them, leaving in their wake total darkness. Ron crawled along the wall to flip on thelight switch and a dull overhead light shone down. Fresh blood dripped onto the floor from the popped cuts on Harry's hand.

Harry heard him order, "Give it over." He extended out his burnt hand and Ron eyeballed it at a close distance, confirming, "...Goods. You'll be fine. It is weird... it looks similar to a burn a Welsh dragon would give. I've only seen these on Charlie." Harry cradled his hand close.

"Must have known we'd take this way. Let's go." They crept to the only door in the room and stepped out into the plum carpeted hallway, down the stairs. Harry cautiously peeked into the living room.

There, sitting in front of a roaring fire, in a luxurious chair, was the Dark Lord Voldemort. His slitted, blood red eyes traveled over the room and landed in a corner where Ginny Weasley was tied to a solid-looking and wooden chair. She struggled against her ropes aggressively. Her beautifully hazel eyes enveloped with a jumble of anger and terror.

Ron murmured beside Harry, "Gin-" He covered up his mouth with one hand quickly and listened in the shadowy hallway. Voldemort got off his chair.

"Now... Ginny, my dear, I do not wish to harm you. I just wish for your cooperation in telling me where Harry Potter is. He obviously lived in the area you were wandering in..."

She snarled, "Like hell I will! You'll have to kill me first!"

Harry shook his head, heart leaping...

'Ginny, don't give him any ideas'

His chalky white face broke into an evil smile as he said gleefully, "Crucio!" Her screams pierced Harry's ears and he held Ron back as her brother lunged forward. They remained in the shadows, breathing hard as Ginny's yells turned to tiny whimpers. Lord Voldemort spoke up once again, cruelly mocking, "Let's try this again..."

Ron broke out Harry's grasp and ran out with his wand held up high. Harry shouted, "Ron!" and chased after him but they had already been seen.

The Dark Lord chuckled, gesturing to her trembling form, "My, my, it looks as if you have some saviors, my dear. One of your brothers, and the famous Harry Potter."

Harry realized that he didn't have his wand with him. Cursing himself in his head, Harry said, feeling his scar burning, "Let her go. You have no use for her. This is between you and me."

Voldemort smirked , looking back at Ginny as her ropes undid themselves. She stared at the boys as if they were mad for being here. He replied, "Oh... I suppose there are a few that could be presentable if circumstances were right." Ginny gasped at the cut of Voldemort's fleeting glance.

"You'll regret that remark," Ron spat.

"Ron, don't!"

Ginny shot them a fearful gaze as Harry yelled this and as she slowly inched across the room, pressing herself on the wall.

"A stubborn Weasley, are you? Potter's right. It is just between us." He drew himself to his fullest height and boomed, "Avada Kedvra!"

Harry had no time to act, no one did, except for the one person who already knew the right path. The blinding green light exploded with its luminosity. When it weakened, the scene unfolded. Three bodies on the floor. One Dark Lord Disapparated. On the floor, Harry Potter wheezed, very much alive. On the right, staring at him were the dead glassy eyes of sixteen-year-old Ginevra Weasly.

"Life does suck, but we have to deal. Or else we'd be walking basket cases. Get what I mean?"

.-.-.-.

He didn't know how they got back. He didn't care. He entered Headquarters with a blind mind. The residents of Headquarters rushed around like mindless insects, too busy, too stupid to notice him at first. Finally, they began to take notice of his dusty and paled visage. The Aurors came running out of the hallway along with the Weasleys and Hermione.

"We found her," his voice cracked in the middle of his sentence. Harry turned away as Ron burst past him, carrying Ginny's dead body in his arms. He was sobbing.

"She's dead! She's dead!"

Hermione lost all her color as her two best friends, staggering back. Mrs. Weasley cradled Ginny into her arms, falling onto the floor to clutch the body against her chest and hysterically shrieked. As the mass of wizards, witches, and Ministry officials crowded around; Harry, disregarded, slid back on the wall and slipped onto the floor.

It was his fault... Ginny sacrificed her life selflessly in order for him to go on. Harry took off his glasses, covered his eyes with his sleeve, and wept. No one bothered to get him. Until that evening.

Hermione appeared out of nowhere, kneeling down beside him mindlessly staring off into space. "It's time for dinner Harry," she said flatly. His shoulders jerked as if he had been surprised. His dulling eyes were unsure, unsure of who she was. Harry brushed his fingers on her cheek softly to test if she was real. Hermione lowered them, a bit unsettled. "H- Are you coming to dinner?"

He nodded after a moment and got up, pursuing her into the kitchen. The Aurors and Weasleys inside sat eating with only Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gone. Everyone purposely stared at their own plates and Harry looked at them all, hardly believing that they could all be acting like Ginny wasn't. . . . wasn't. . .

Ron glanced at him with wide and blank eyes, holding out a basket of rolls. "Want some Harry?"

"I've lost my appetite." Harry ran up the staircase with no reply. He sat on his bed and ran his fingers into his hair, pressing his palms against his forehead.

After a few minutes, his door cracked open and a meek voice whispered, "Harry? Harry, are you alright?"

He murmured as Hermione entered, giving him a sympathetic smile, "Go away, I'm fine." She sat beside him and glanced at his gloomy form.

"You're not fine."

Harry snorted sarcastically.

"How did you guess?" He removed his hands from his face, disregarding the tears glistening on his chin.

Hermione reached out.

"Harry..."

"I'm not a child!" he snapped, and she withdrew from him shamefully, "I wish everyone would stop treating me like one!"

"No, you're not a child... You have grown up."

Harry sighed, pulling his knees to his chest and placing his chin on them.

"What do you think this year going to be like?"

Hermione shook her head.

"I don't know."

He breathed, "...Liar," and met her shocked brown eyes, "You know. I know that you do." Hermione exhaled, biting her lower lip.

"It will be... hard. Harder than last year especially from all these deaths. Ginny's..." Harry's emerald eyes grew very wide behind his glasses. He looked at her with those wet eyes.

"Say it again."

She asked nervous, shaking her head in confusion, "Harry...?"

Harry took hold of her shoulders roughly.

"Say it!"

Hermione said fearfully under his teary gaze, "Ginny is dead."

He said evenly, "Say it again."

"Ginny is... dead."

Harry let the words wash over him and let her go, staring off into space. After a moment of silence, he murmured, "That's the first time I've heard someone say it..."

"Harry, are you okay?"

Harry did not respond and began giggling into his hands, "Ginny is dead. Ginny is dead. Ginny is dead!" He began hysterically laughing and Hermione grasped him up by the jumper collar and slapped him across the face. Harry stopped dead and she covered her mouth slightly, horrified.

"Oh..." His body sank a little. "I'm so sorry, Harry..."

Harry gasped, "I'm so tired, 'Mione. So tired-" He pitched forward and felt her tug him up, her anxious and kind face clouding his vision.

"Harry, should I go get some help?" He shook his head faintly, his vision clearing.

"No, I just need rest."

She asked again, "Are you sure?"

Harry forced a smile.

"Yeah. G'night, Hermione."

She smiled back uncertainly and left the boy's bedroom with one last, lingering gaze on him. Harry closed his eyes when she exited the doorway, whispering to himself, "...I'm sorry, Ginny."