A/N: sooooo, hello again! THANK YOU to all who reviewed! I love reading what you have to say! You guys make my day every time!
Now onto the story stuff...there are two ways I can take this after this chapter, both of which lead to the end, I'm sorry to say. It's just that time. I just don't know which way to go, which fits with the story better. Does anyone think this story's strayed too far from the fluffy beginning? or do you still like it? please let me know what you think!
Chapter Fourteen, A New Dawn, A New Life
"What do we do now?" He asked her. Almost everyone was on the ground. Lying, sitting, rolling around - almost no one was standing.
The fight had continued for a few hours, until finally the Death Eaters had hesitated - all at the same time, grabbing their left arms - this was the opportunity the Order had been waiting for, and they struck with force. The attack was so successful, almost all of the Death Eaters had been knocked down and were out. A few stragglers were easily caught by the alert and assertive Aurors, and that was where they all were now. In the darkness of the early morning, lying on the ground.
"We search for the wounded, dead and captured." Ginny said in a flat tone, not even bothering to look at her boyfriend, who'd been holding her close for only a few minutes. Hand in hand they got up, and never letting each other go, they searched through the masses to find their families, friends and allies. They came across stupefied Death Eaters, and injured Order members. Although the Order had been above the use of the Killing Curse, the Death Eaters hadn't, and death plagued the cold street. It didn't matter which side you were on, one stray curse and you were dead. The couple found everyone they were looking for, and joined a few adults who were left, all helping Hannah, Parvati, Padma and Lavender levitate and heal people. Many trips to Hogwarts were conducted, and the Hospital Wing was filling up quickly. McGonagall started instructing them to take the Death Eaters straight to Azkaban, and the rest of the injured to St. Mungo's.
Ginny and Draco searched around for their loved ones, and found more death. So many lives had been lost...and then they turned the corner. Ginny's grip tightened as she took in the sight. Harry Potter's lifeless body laid on the cold sidewalk, while Voldemort was nowhere to be found. They ran to Harry as fast as they could.
"Oh, God...please don't die, please don't die..." Ginny pleaded, hoping they'd found him in time. She scolded herself for walking so slowly through the battlefield, which was actually just a suburban street, but she wasn't about to make that distinction.
"C'mon, Potter, you've been through worse! You can defeat a giant, evil snake that'll kill you with a glance, and not that piece of --" Draco's words were interrupted by a quiet moan from the ground. Both pairs of eyes widened in shock,
"Harry?" Ginny asked tentatively. She was answered with another quiet moan. She looked at Draco in alarm, "we have to get him to St. Mungo's...or Hogwarts...somewhere...now!" Harry moaned again, a little louder this time.
"We did it..." he whispered. Any sound coming from Harry automatically silenced both Draco and Ginny.
"What?" Ginny asked softly and calmly. Without giving any signs of being ok, or of even moving, Harry repeated himself.
"We did it...He...s...gone..."
"Who's gone? What'd we do? Did you kill Voldemort?" Draco interrogated, but with a swift smack from Ginny, he shut up. She levitated him back to where everyone else was, and they all stood still in shock.
"He's still alive!" She screamed, as McGonagall rushed over.
"Oh my goodness..." the professor gasped. She immediately took over for Ginny and took him to St. Mungo's for intensive care.
"Hopefully we found him in time..." Draco breathed. The couple kept searching - for familiar faces, good and bad. They were met with death under every hood. It seemed like the only two curses used by any Death Eater the whole night were the Cruciatus and the Killing Curses.
When Ginny saw Luna, sitting against a wall next to Angelina, she ran to her.
"Are you guys ok?" she asked, worriedly.
"I guess so..." Luna answered meekly.
"Hey, Luna? When we saw you...I mean...when you were attacked..." Ginny was afraid to continue, to dig up bad memories that were still fresh in the poor girl's mind, but there was something she needed to know. "You were alone." she stated. Luna nodded solemnly. Ginny was afraid now more than ever to continue. "Where...where's Susan?"
A tear fell out of Luna's eye and down her cheek. "She...she was hit...we didn't even see it coming..." she whispered. Ginny gasped as Angelina put an arm around Luna, who was now sobbing freely. "I didn't know what to do! And now she's...she's...she's dead!" Luna choked and coughed, trying to get a hold of herself, Angelina just held her and let her cry.
"You're lucky..." Ginny said seriously.
As the morning went on, and everything was sorted out, Ginny and Draco took a toll of who'd survived...and who hadn't.
"We lost a lot of people tonight..." Tonks said soberly.
"We can only hope that they lost more," Draco said sincerely.
"Where is my family? Where is everyone who's hurt? Who...who died tonight?" Ginny asked, not sure if she wanted an answer. Draco let go of her hand and held her around her waist - he, too, wanted answers...but didn't want them at the same time.
Tonks' head fell, and tears began to fall down her face. The trio sat down on a charred lawn, the fires had been put out by the few who were left standing.
"Too many..." Tonks whispered.
"Who?" Draco asked, trying to sound forceful, but he was just as choked up as she was.
"Kaestner, Dawlish...Moody...Hagrid..." With every name she spoke, a sob escaped. They knew that these were people she loved, worked with and cared for. They may not have known every name on Tonks' list, but they knew they were losses. When Tonks was too choked up to go on, Remus sat down and put a comforting arm around her shoulder.
"Ginny...Draco..." he began seriously, "There are things you two should know..." This scared the wits out of the two kids more than anything that had happened yet. Remus' tone conveyed dread, doubt, grief and hopelessness.
"Is it really that bad?" Ginny asked meekly.
"I'm afraid it is..."
"Who made it?"
Lupin sighed, and began rattling off a list of names. "Fred and George are over there with Ron and Hermoine, they're all ok, save a few battle scars. Bill, Fleur, Dennis Creevey, McGonagall, Kingsley..."
"It sounds like you've made a list." Even Draco wasn't sure if that was meant as a joke. And it had come out of his mouth. Remus looked at him seriously.
"We did...we're in the process of it now."
"Professor?"
"Please, Ginny, call me Remus. Lord knows you've earned it."
Ginny squirmed a bit, uncomfortable with calling an adult by their first name. "Ok...Remus?" she continued, "you didn't...you only mentioned a few people. Who else made it?" She asked, hoping that his list was longer.
"Not many people...us, Luna, Angelina, McGonagall - but you've seen them already. Katie, Harry, and a lot of others are at St. Mungo's and at Hogwarts, getting treatment. I don't know who thought of it, but those girls saved the day tonight." Tonks gave him a curious look, "The ones running around healing people. Lavender, Parvati, Padma and Hannah? I remember them from when I taught." He clarified. Draco and Ginny smiled a little...so their plans had done some good. "Did you two have something to do with that?" They just smiled knowingly at each other, before turning back to Remus with serious expressions on their faces.
"Where are my parents?" Ginny asked, and a look of sadness crossed Remus' face.
"Your dad went to the Ministry...to see if they'd gotten anyone else. Like Scrimgeor or somebody...he's still out, but he's fine..."
"And...and my Mum?" Remus looked away from Ginny, not able to face her with the news.
"Is she at St. Mungo's?" A tear fell from his eye, and Tonks was sobbing loudly. "Somebody tell me!" Ginny said alarmed. Draco tightened his arm around her and pulled the scared girl close to him.
"She...she...I'm...I'm sorry, Ginny..."
"Sorry? Sorry? Why are you sorry? She can't be...she's not...is she...she's not! ...dead?" Ginny choked out the last word, waiting for someone to tell her she was wrong, that her Mum was off helping Madam Pomfrey heal people. That she was fine and healthy...and alive. But there was no such luck. No words of comfort came, no denial...nothing. Ginny was too stunned to think. To stunned to comprehend, or even cry.
Draco was the one who broke the silence. "And my Mum? Where did you take her before the fight? To Grimmauld Place?" he asked curiously.
Remus took a deep breath before answering, "No...she...she refused to go back. When we all got here...she insisted on fighting with us..."
"You should have stopped her! Taken her back! Where is she?" he demanded. Remus looked at him with even sadder eyes than before.
"She was with Molly." With this statement, Draco's walls broke. Every defense he'd every put up crumbled, everything he'd ever learned about hiding his emotions was forgotten in that one simple statement. And he cried. Ginny, who was still too stunned to cry, held him close, and he cried into her shoulder for a few, long minutes.
"Who else?" Ginny said seriously, Remus looked at her, silently pleading with her to not make him go on. "Who else?" she responded with more force.
"Susan Bones...Colin Creevey...Ernie MacMillan...Percy..." Every name was like a knife in the heart. She and Draco and Hermoine were the ones who'd brought them there...and Percy was her brother.
"Anyone else?" she asked, and Remus' eyes only said 'yes'.
"Charlie."
"Charlie...as in, my brother, Charlie?" She asked in horror, and Tonks nodded.
The group sat in silence for another hour, not knowing what to do, or where their help was needed. Slowly, other pairs joined their circle of mourning. First came Ron and Hermoine, then Bill and Fleur, and later on the lone Dennis Creevey joined them.
With a CRACK, Arthur Weasley apparated right next to his eldest son.
"DAD!" Ginny shrieked and ran to him, "Oh, Dad! I'm so glad you're ok!" He hugged his hysterical daughter, who'd finally been able to calm down enoguh to cry like the rest of the group. Bill and Ron stood up as the twins joined the group, and the remaining Weasleys embraced in one big group hug, trying their best to comfort each other. After a long moment, Arthur broke them all up, and looking each one in the face, and with tears in his eyes said, "I'm so glad you're all ok..."
He cleared his throat and looked at the rest of the group seriously.
"How bad is it, Arthur?" Remus asked.
"I'm afraid it's pretty bad, Remus. There must have been a separate attack squad with a list of names..."
"There was," Ginny said, looking up at her father, "That's why we went to the Granger's and Dursley's before coming here. They set the Durselys house on fire." She said, and Hermoine gasped. Ron ran to her and they apparated away. She'd been so caught up in the remains of the battle, she hadn't checked on her parents' safety yet.
Professor McGonagall had since made her way over to the group, to see Arthur Weasley and inform them of what she knew. Arthur looked at her sadly, and all she could do was return his glance. He took a deep breath before continuing.
"After they went after anything that could break Harry...they wanted to break the Ministry." Another CRACK produced a very relieved Hermoine and Ron. Everyone looked, but immediately turned back to hear the worst.
"And what happened?" McGonagall prodded.
"Fudge, Scrimgeor, Umbridge, Crouch...they're all dead. A few other high-ranking officials were murdered, too. It seems as though they really wanted to hit the Ministry hard." Arthur let the silence hang in the air, no one knew how to continue.
Draco stood up, finally having stopped his crying, and walked away. Ginny pulled herself reluctantly away and followed him to the end of the block. When she came up behind him and took his hand, he didn't even flinch.
"Happy New Year..." she quietly whispered.
"What are we going to do?" He asked hopelessly.
"About what?"
"Everything. Our Mums, your brothers...our friends...Potter...the Ministry, Voldemort... Gin, our entire lives were destroyed in one night."
"So we build new ones." She said with quiet resolve. He looked into her eyes, searching for the strength she obviously had found. His curious silence lingered in the air, and she smiled at him. A small, sad smile, but a smile nonetheless.
"How can we rebuild the entire world? Our whole lives? How can you look this strong?" he asked, she smiled at the memory of the night. Just hours earlier she'd been the one breaking down in hopelessness.
"I don't know. I was so hopeless earlier, but it turned out ok." She said innocently.
"Ok? You think this is ok? You think I'm ok?" He asked, getting hysterical again.
"Yes. I do. And I'm ok. I'm sad, too, Draco, don't you look at me like that. But I'm alive, and so are you. Ron, Fred, George, Bill, Dad, Tonks, Remus, McGonagall, Hermoine - they're all alive." Draco found himself feeling even worse at this. "What?" she asked, noticing the change.
"I just...you still have almost your whole family...I...I've got no family left..." She paused for a moment. He was right, all he'd ever had were his Mum and Dad, and they were both gone now.
"Did you know you have a cousin?" She asked, and he looked at her, confused.
"No, I don't."
"Yes, you do. Your mother's sister --"
"Aunt Bella didn't have any kids."
"Maybe not, but I've seen the Black family tree - your mother had a sister named Andromeda."
"She did?" he was more confused than ever. Ginny just nodded, "Why didn't I know that?"
"Remember Tonks?" He nodded slowly, "Her Mum married a muggle-born...she's your family." Draco turned slowly to look at the pink-haired Auror and decided he needed to find out for himself. He walked over to where she and Remus were still seated.
"Who was your mother?" He demanded.
"What?" she asked, utterly confused.
"Ginny says my Mum was your Aunt. Who was your mother?" Realization crossed Tonks' face.
"You never knew?" she asked, dumbfounded. He shook his head as she stood up and embraced him. They hugged for a minute, and then she told him about her dad, and about being disowned and ignored by her Mum's family. Draco found some comfort in having a blood relative alive, but then Ginny whispered.
"But even if you weren't related, you can still join my family. Everything's ok now...Voldemort's gone."
"Those Death Eaters that attacked the Ministry officials are still out there." He said seriously,
"We'll get 'em." She looked out at the huddled mass of people, "Happy New Year, everyone." She said sadly. They stood in silence for awhile, slowly gathering the energy they would need to make the trip to St. Mungo's. As they all left, Draco and Ginny walked back to the hedge it had all started at for them, and sat down.
"I can't believe it was only a few hours ago that we got here."
"A few hours? Gin, dawn is breaking." Draco pointed out, she looked over her shoulder to see a light sky, and a few golden rays.
"Ok, so maybe it was more than 'a few'...it just seems like an eternity ago."
"Yeah..." he sighed.
"Isn't it ironic, though?"
"Isn't what ironic?"
"Today. He chose tonight of all nights. With the end of this- er, last year, came the end of the war. He's gone, and dawn is breaking. It's a new day - a new year...and he's gone..." her voice trailed off, as they turned to watch the sun rise.
Draco and Ginny held each other there until the sun had risen, then kissed each other and got up to go rebuild their lives...