by FIRE
Grief's Torment
Early the following morning, Harry returned to his bungalow to find Ginny silently weeping into a cushion.
"You are grieving for your brother," Harry said quietly.
Ginny looked up, startled.
"Yes," she said.
Harry took a few strides towards her and knelt down at her side.
"You should be with your family to mourn," he said. "You have your freedom."
Ginny's eyes, red from crying, gazed up at Harry in surprise.
"But it's…" she whispered.
"I know," Harry replied. "But your family deserve to know that they have not lost a daughter as well as a son. I've sent an emissary to your family, telling them to rendezvous at a point far from here to collect you."
"Thank you, Harry," said Ginny, softly.
"I never wanted to harm a Weasley," he said.
When darkness fell that evening, Harry led Ginny from the bungalow to the gates of the compound. The skies were clear and the crickets could be heard, chirping in the grass. Two lone figures were waiting to greet them. One had a broomstick in their hand and smiled briefly when he saw Harry.
"Ginny," said Harry, upon approaching the people. "This is Maximillian. He will fly you out to the meeting point."
Ginny reached forward to shake Maximillian's hand.
"You must listen very carefully," said Harry.
He handed Ginny a small pendant, containing a red stone, on a length of black leather.
"This is a portkey," he continued. "It will remain active only for the next two hours. To activate it you need to press the stone in the centre."
"Why would I need a…" Ginny interrupted.
Harry placed a finger over her lips.
"Riverstein's goons cannot be trusted," Harry said. "This is in case of an ambush. Ten of my knights are already hidden at the rendezvous point. The rest, along with the first unit of Brothers and myself wait just beyond the boundary of the wards. If there is an ambush, the portkey will transport you to where the support army awaits. Maximillian will stay and fight. If you arrive, the support armies will leave immediately. This is Scoseia."
Harry indicated the young girl who stood beside Maximillian. Ginny shook her hand.
"She is the chief messenger for the ground staff. She will escort you back to my bungalow before alerting Commander Tonks and Commander McGonagall of the battle. The second unit, who are assembling behind us as we speak, will move out to guard the compound in case the enemy break through. Scoseia is the most trusted member of the ground staff. She is only sixteen, but you could call her the Hermione Granger of her year. She is the brightest witch of her age and the only one who I would trust to return you to safety."
Scoseia smiled proudly. Harry took Ginny's right hand in his left.
"I am sorry for the pain that I have caused you," he said quietly. "I never wanted to hurt you."
He dropped a ring into the palm of Ginny's hand.
"This ring," he continued. "Was given to my mother by my dad, the day that I was born. Remus gave it to me two years ago, and I want you to have it. Please don't take it to mean anything specific. I just want you to have something to remember me by. And to remember that I will always love you whether we are together or not."
A silent tear slid down Ginny's cheek.
"Harry, I…"
"Maximillian," Harry said, cutting her off. "Time is short."
"Yes sir," Maximillian replied.
He allowed Ginny to climb onto his broom, and then he sped quickly away. Harry watched as Ginny disappeared from view, her fiery red hair flowing behind her. In that moment he made a silent vow, that when the Brothers entered the city, he would find her and return her to him, because he knew that he could no longer survive without Ginny Weasley at his side.
"Come, Scoseia," Harry said to the girl. "We must join the others."
It took a little less than an hour for Ginny and Maximillian to reach the rendezvous point. As they landed, Ginny strained her eyes to find Harry's knights, but she could not see them. What she did see, however, were her brothers, Ron and Percy.
"Ginny!" said Ron, looking startled. "We thought it was a trick."
"Yeah," said Percy. "We'd never have…"
He never had a chance to finish, for at that moment, at least fifty of Riverstein's supporters apparated in. The Knights leapt up and gallantly began their fight, but they were hopelessly outnumbered.
"Come on, Ginny," said Ron, with an outstretched hand.
"The portkey, Ginny," said Maximillian, climbing off the broom and shooting spells in all directions. "You must send help."
Ginny nodded numbly and pressed the red stone. Instantaneously, she appeared in front of the assembled reinforcements and dropped to the floor.
"Scoseia! Forward!" she heard Harry shout.
Next thing she knew, she was being helped out of the dust and loud cracks were to be heard as the army disappeared.
"Come, Miss Weasley," said Scoseia urgently. "We must return to the safety of the compound. The second unit must be alerted."
Ginny nodded.
"I saw my brothers," she whispered, almost in a daze. "I've not seen them in so long."
The next few moments passed in a blur as Scoseia helped Ginny back to the compound. She took Ginny back to Harry's bungalow.
"You must wait here, Miss Weasley," said Scoseia. "Commander Potter will return soon. He will look after you."
Scoseia left. Ginny sat down on the edge of the bed, her mind swimming with images of her brothers and the remorse on their faces when they realised what they had done.
The battle was thick and fast. Harry had experienced battles like it before, but not since the dark days of Voldemort. Riverstein was not there, and to his relief, he did not come face to face with either of the Weasley brothers who had come to collect their sister. After almost half an hour of fighting, Riverstein's men seemed to realise that they were losing and apparated away, taking their injured with them. Harry and his army returned to the compound with haste.
Ginny waited for what seemed an eternity for Harry to return. Then, suddenly, she heard noise outside and she knew the troops had returned. Harry entered the bungalow and was immediately engulfed by Ginny, as she threw herself at him in a fierce hug.
They stayed in their embrace, silent for a few moments. There was a knock at the door.
"Come in," said Harry.
A pair of identical redheads entered the bungalow. Harry tightened his grip on his wand.
"Fred, George?" said Ginny, stepping away from Harry. "How did you…?"
"Come on, Ginny," said George. "We're taking you home."
"You think I'm going to let you do that?" said Harry. "After that ambush we just faced?"
"We were told that Ginny was killed by your army ten months ago," said Fred. "We thought it was a trap."
"We couldn't trust you," said George.
"Not after what happened to Bill," added Fred.
"Do you know what happened?" Ginny asked them.
"Minister Riverstein told the family last night," said George. "Right after it happened."
"He said that Harry had stood face to face with Bill, snarled at him, then cast the killing curse," continued Fred.
"Almost lazily," said George. "He told us that Harry killed our brother in cold blood."
"We didn't believe it," said Fred. "Most of what the minister has told us has been easily acceptable, but not this."
"We knew Harry," said George. "And we knew that killing was not in his nature. We knew it had to be an accident."
"Still, you offered us our sister's freedom, Harry," said Fred. "Let us take her home to her family."
Harry nodded.
"You are free, Ginny," he said. "Go and be with your family. You have longed for it for many months. Go and grieve together."
Ginny looked at him, then looked at her brothers. Harry closed his eyes in sadness as she stepped away from him. She walked towards Fred and George and took the latter's hand.
"Goodbye, Harry," she whispered. "And thank you."
Fred and George guided Ginny from the compound as Harry watched from the roof of his bungalow as she walked out of his life once again. She did not turn around once, although many of the army stopped to watch the Weasleys leave. Neville and Dean climbed up onto the roof to join Harry.
"You let her go?" Neville asked. "Even after the ambush?"
"Even after they failed to trust you?" asked Dean.
"Yeah," said Harry. "She wanted to go. She deserved to be with her family, even after everything they've done. Everyone deserves a family. She would only resent me if I stopped her. Besides, I'll get her back. We're making a big attack on the ministry soon. We've been planning it for a while but after they killed Remus…" He paused. "I think it's time to accelerate those plans. We just need a little bit more information."
He jumped down from the roof and disappeared among the crowd.
A/N Thanks to Bill for the beta, although by his own admission, it didn't need a lot of work.