Disclaimer: Okay, this is why it gets the M rating kiddies! There's gory descriptions in here, so be warned, okay? I'm sorry it took me so long again, but here it is, as promised!
But first…
Many thanks to my beta, Kittykat for all of her editing! Though it takes us about a week for editing, since I only see her three days a week and she never checks her email. Oh, and yes, Snape (or "Sewy," as you like to call him) will appear later in the fic.
Response to reviews:
Comet Moon: Dunno if Harry learns lessons in respect, but Ginny will definitely not be a tag along!
Stylin' Fire: You know, I was going to do that, but it makes for a much better story if Harry's still a blind idiot. At least, maybe he'll wake up for short instances.
Kalari: …someone misses me. And I would email you, if I knew your email. I'll call you later.
642 hits and I only get Nine reviews! Come on people! With only a rating, I think I need to get something good going for me. Well, at least I'm on the C2 Classics list. I hope I can still meet their expectations! I hope this'll be a classic, since I'm planning a big future for this one.
On to the story!
Harry Potter and the Daughter of War
By Ashura
Chapter Five: Aftermath
"Well?" Ron asked when they all huddled together, "Don't keep us in suspense here!"
"Well…" she began, taking a deep breath, "I was looking around to find out information on R.A.B., but I couldn't find anything about that. So I started to look for information on the four founders to see if any items that belonged to them that exist."
"I take it you found something?" asked Harry, immediately liking where Hermione was taking this.
She smiled and continued, "Yes, I did. But no specific details," she said with a sigh, "See, each of the founders had one object they treasured above all else. And each of them hid it somewhere within Hogwarts."
"Oh, that's just great!" exclaimed Ron, "So now we have to go on a bloody scavenger hunt at school!"
"It's not any different than searching the globe for the two remaining objects and a locket, is it?" Hermione shot back.
"Yeah, but I bet it's hidden so that only a true member of the house can find it or something, right?"
"Not necessarily, Ron. What if…"
"He's got a point, though Hermione," Harry agreed, "If I was them, I would have done the same thing. We can't just ask the Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs to give us a tour of their dorms."
"Yes, but we do have someone that can do it for us," said Hermione, beaming.
"Who's that?" asked Ron, confused at why Hermione was giving him such an angry look.
"Luna, of course! Have you forgotten she's a Ravenclaw?"
"Ohhh!" he said, only now remembering, "I forgot about her!"
"You inconsiderate prat!" she yelled at him, "I can't believe you…"
Harry rolled his eyes and backed off a little from them. He wasn't in the mood for another one of their senseless rows. Trying to block them out of his head, he started to think about what they had just went over.
The items were at Hogwarts. Great. No matter how much he tried to leave Hogwarts, there always seemed to be something to pull him back in. But the search for the items might just be in vain, after all. Voldemort already had gotten a Slytherin item, and Harry guessed the Gryffindor sword was the item hidden in Hogwarts. And Voldemort had already hidden the cup elsewhere. That left Ravenclaw.
He thought about using Luna to get it, as Hermione suggested, but he doubted even that would work. Somehow Luna just didn't seem Ravenclaw enough to pull it off, whatever "it" was. They needed a plan "B," just in case she wasn't able to do it.
Then he thought of Cho, which made him shudder just thinking about it. But she was in Ravenclaw…
No. It wouldn't work. She was too embarrassed to look at him now, and he didn't quite trust her after that incident with Maria. The only Ravenclaw he could think of at the moment was Padma, Parvati's sister, but since her sister was Gryffindor, he didn't know just how Ravenclaw Padma really was.
Perhaps someone else he knew had a friend who was in Ravenclaw. Ginny, after all, hung out with different people than he, Ron, and Hermione. Maybe she knew someone else besides Luna who…
He looked around the streets, searching for her. But to his surprise, she could not be found. But she was just there with them! She had gone to meet Luna…
He had seen her run to meet a girl that looked like Luna to him, but they had not returned. She had gone awfully far to meet her, too…
"Hey Ron, have you seen Ginny?" Harry asked him curiously, but Ron shook his head.
"I thought she was going to meet Luna," he said, "You don't think she's…"
"She's not back yet," Harry stated, looking around the streets worriedly, "She might be…"
"No!" Hermione retorted, "She just has to be around here! Ginny!"
"Ginny!" shouted Ron down the streets. Harry and Hermione continued to do the same. But there was no answer. Only the sounds of shuffling feet and idle chatter as those around them continued shopping obliviously.
They searched every shop they could think of. Even the Leaky Cauldron. Harry once thought he saw her, but it was just another redhead. Other than that, there was no sign of Ginny anywhere.
"Where could she be?" asked a frantic and worried Hermione, "I've looked everywhere!"
"I think I've seen every inch of Diagon Alley now," said Ron, "But she's not here."
"M-Maybe she's somewhere else," said Hermione, "like another alley, or…"
"Either way, she'll be alive," said Harry, trying to make sense of the situation without going completely insane over worrying, "The only reason the Death Eaters would want her is to get to me. They'll keep her alive for as long as possible."
"But if they have got her," said Ron, thinking the same thing, "Wouldn't they have sent you a ransom or something?"
"Just what are you kids talking about?" asked Mr. Weasley, "you kids are really starting to worry your mom and I, not to mention Hagrid."
"Just what do you think you've been doing!" yelled an angry Mrs. Weasley, "Running all over Diagon Alley like a bunch of 5 year-olds!"
"Well, you see…" said Ron, trying to come up with an excuse.
"We thought we saw Malfoy," Harry said immediately, "I'm sorry I got Ron and Hermione into it, but I couldn't stop myself from…"
"It's okay, Harry," said Mrs. Weasley, patting him on the shoulder with the usual motherly smile she always gave him, "We know. Now, come on, let's go. If you can chase Death Eaters around, you must have gotten your books already. Now where's your sister?"
"Ummm…"
Before anyone could think of an excuse to give her, they heard a loud explosion in the distance. They whippedtheir heads towards the direction of the blast. Harry could see smoke rising rapidly above the shop roofs, not too far from where they were standing.
"Harry, you don't think…"
But Harry didn't have time to answer Hermione and raced past them towards the source of the explosion. He felt himself bump into several people, but ignored their cursing and he raced onwards. He turned left. He turned right. Right again. Darting this way and that through every street, searching for even the tiniest sign. He didn't know where he was going, but the smell of smoke was getting stronger, so he knew he must be close.
He just hoped Ginny was alright. Even as he used all of his energy to sprint down the narrow pathways, he could feel a slight pain in his heart he knew wasn't from all that running. He didn't know what he would do if Ginny had died in that blast. Ron, Hermione, Ms. Weasley, and everyone else would know he was to blame for this, and they would be right. He would deserve it, too.
The sky was getting darker, and he suddenly felt very cold. The streets seemed familiar somehow, like he'd been here before, but still he had no idea where he was. It wasn't until he came across a battered torn away sign of a shop that he realized where he was: Knockturn Alley.
At that moment, several screams suddenly knocked him out of his shock. He noticed Ron and Hermione were catching up to him, but he had no time to wait. He sprinted onward, the screams settling in a dark place in the pit of his stomach. He had a bad feeling about this…
And then, he left the dark, narrow streets to come across a clearing. He stopped suddenly, and felt Ron and Hermione bump into him.
"Hey Harry, why did you—" Ron began to ask, but fell silent at the sight that greeted him past Harry's shoulders.
Harry's eyes widened. The once dark, gloomy streets of Knockturn Alley were now glowing in red and yellow flames. Everywhere he looked he could see people either wounded or dead. Most of them dead. Bodies were thrown up in unusual and haunting positions that he knew would be in his nightmares for years. Limbs were lying on the ground, some of them still burning. Could Death Eaters really do all this?
He desperately looked around for some form of life, hoping someone could tell him what had happened. Aurors were already hard at work doing the late cleanup. He wondered if they found anything worth…
Then he saw it. Lying in a pile of rubble across the clearing a blaze of red hair that looked unmistakably like…
"Ginny!" he yelled and raced over to the spot. He madly began tearing off pieces of metal, wood, and who knows what else off of her, before he finally unearthed Ginny from the debris.
"Oh no…" Hermione cried, and found herself unable to stand as she sank to her knees and stared at the horrific scene before her. Ginny was in pretty bad shape. There were deep cuts and bruises all over her body, small shards of glass still jabbed in them. Her clothes were ripped and torn badly, her breasts slightly exposed to his eyes, but he ignored it. Her arm and a third of her chest was covered in blood, but there were no large open wounds there. He noticed her hand was bleeding severely. She was also bleeding slightly at the back of her head, and Harry immediately cried for a doctor.
Finally, one came, and they levitated her onto an ambulance (they muttered something about anti-apparation wards and this was the only way). They told Harry she should be fine, that she had a blow to the head and several cut wounds, and they could have her back to normal if she didn't suffer any lasting brain damage, but it wasn't the blow to the head that worried Harry. All of those injuries seemed like she was tortured. Like they beat her until they…
He turned his head away, afraid to look at her now. It was all his fault. Because he was in love with her, the Death Eaters decided to have a bit of "fun" before they held her as ransom. But what was that explosion? What on earth really happened…
"Hey, I found someone!" exclaimed one of the Aurors, and pulled from the wreckage the limp body of Luna Lovegood.
She only had minor injuries, a few cuts from fallen debri, nothing more. But no matter how much they tried, she would not wake up.
"Look at the spell remnants on the walls," Harry heard an auror whisper to another, "It's almost like…"
"Yes, there's no mistaken it. It's the killing curse."
"What!" shouted Harry, not caring if they knew he had overheard them, "You're saying Ginny's dead!"
"Calm down, lad. Now, who's Ginny?"
"The redhead girl who just…"
"Oh, no. She's fine," said the doctor next to him, "But the blonde…"
"Luna?"
"Yes, I'm afraid she might have been hit. I'm sorry for your…"
But Harry wasn't listening. He just stood there, trying to take all of this in. He couldn't believe it. Another one of his friends had fallen. Cedric. Sirius. Dumbledore. And now Luna. It seemed everyone around him died. And all because he hadn't been there to save them. It was all his fault. All of his…
"Hey! You there, kid?"
"Huh? Sorry, I…"
"I asked if you wanted to accompany the two girls to St. Mungo's."
"Um, yeah. Thank you."
The ride to the hospital seemed long and quiet. Ron sat with Hermione muttering how he should have done this, or done that. Harry wasn't listening. All he could hear was his own conscience ranting on how he shouldn't have even wanted love; that he should have known nothing good would come out of it.
Would have. Should have. None of that mattered. The present and future did, and Harry knew that as long as he still felt the way he did about Ginny, she would only continue to get hurt. Somehow, at least until Voldemort was defeated, he had to stop caring about her at all. It was the only way.
Ginny was rushed to extensive care, and Harry and the others weren't allowed to watch, so they decided to see Luna instead. Though she was hit with the Avada Kedavra curse, there was too much confusion back at Diagon Alley to figure out what to do with her, so for now she stayed in a bed next to Ginny's.
That could have been Ginny. The thought repeatedly went through Harry's mind as he stared down at Luna's lifeless body. He couldn't look away. He felt he needed to see this. He had always avoided seeing the dead after they died. He tried to forget Cedric. He never saw Sirius's body afterwards. He let Dumbledore lie in his coffin. No, he thought. This time he would force himself to look. He needed to see the reality of what might come.
"And I always made fun of her," Ron blubbered, I still called her 'Loony,' even when…"
"I know, I know. I always thought she was a bit strange, too," Hermione cried with him, "Ginny was the only one who saw…"
Ron and Hermione continued to mourn the dead and injured, but Harry found no words coming out of his mouth. Not a single tear fled down his face. The feelings that should come naturally from a moment like this weren't coming. Those kinds of emotions were unreal, like love. He had seen so much that even death did not seem to affect him. Would Ginny's death be like this, should she die? Is this who he really was?
He stared down at Luna. Or was it this change in him that was bringing so many deaths. It was true. There had been numerous deaths each year since he hit puberty and began his path to kill Voldemort. Death seemed to follow him now.
No! That couldn't be true. It was just the wrong time for him. This was war. There would be casualties. Shame it had to be Luna.
Beep.
Harry snapped out of his stupor. What was that noise?
Beep……….Beep.
There it was again. That sound, familiar somehow…
Beep………. Beep…..Beep….Beep…Beep.
He looked up towards the contraptions hooked to Luna's body. He didn't know why the doctors put them there, since she was dead. But the machine that measured her heart rate was…beeping.
"Hermione, Luna's…"
"ALIVE! She's alive! Oh my god!"
The doctors, hearing the noise, immediately rushed in. Sure enough, Luna's heart rate was returning to normal. Her eyes flickered a bit before she finally opened them and gave a small yawn.
"Is Ginny alright?" she asked them.
"She got pretty beat up, but she should be all right," said Ron.
"But you looked like you were hit with the Killing Curse," said Hermione, "How in the world did you—"
Luna went quiet for a second, and Hermione thought she had forgotten the question when she looked back up and said, "He missed me."
"But your coma—"
"The curse was very big. It hit the ground, but I guess it was so strong it knocked me and Ginny backwards and I fainted, or something…"
"That could explain her head injuries," said one of the doctors, "and the rest of her wounds might be from fallen debris. She could have landed on top of you and so you weren't hit with the rubble."
"Yes," she agreed, "That must have been what happened."
Just then, Harry felt someone push him aside and soon found himself shoved out of the room by a horde of Aurors. Immediately, they began to ask Luna questions about the attack, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were unable to listen in.
"I don't think that's what happened," said Hermione, "How could she have got into a coma just from hitting her head?"
"Maybe the curse killed her temporarily since it didn't really hit her," said Ron, "Who knows? We weren't there."
"I don't think so," Harry muttered half to himself, "She looked like she had to think a bit before answering."
"You mean she was hiding the truth? Why?"
"Dunno. Maybe we should ask Ginny what really happened then."
"Yeah, good idea."
It took a few days before Ginny woke up. First thing she said was, "Bloody hell, it hurts!" so they had to wait another day before she got over the stinging pain.
"I don't know what happened," she told them when they asked her, "I remember the Death Eater pointing his wand at me…"
"At you? But Luna was—"
"Yeah, it was the one I dueled at Hogwarts where you came in and took care of him for me," she told them, "Apparently he didn't like that, so he cast the curse on me, but Luna shoved me out of the way and she got…"
"LUNA!" she cried, "She got hit! Is she alright, I…"
But then she froze up and clutched her head violently, screaming in pain. Harry and Ron tried to calm her down, but it was no use. The pain was too great, it was filling her up.
"F-fire…burning…burning it all…bodies…everywhere…stop…"
"Ginny! Snap out of it! Ginny!" Harry cried, but Ginny was too lost for his words. She couldn't stop what was happening. The room seemed like a haze, distant memories she didn't know she had came back to her, and then all went black again.
But not for long. She woke up a minute later, perfectly fine once again.
"I'm sorry. That was really weird."
"Yeah. What happened?"
"I dunno. All I could see was fire and a lot of screaming…"
"You must have witnessed what happened, then!" exclaimed Hermione, "Can you…"
"No. I don't remember. But is Luna alright? Is she…"
"I'm fine, Ginny," she said, sitting in a corner next to her, "He missed, actually," she told her, and winked at Ginny, who nodded.
"I'm glad," she said, "I'm sorry I can't remember what happened. I'm guessing something did happen, then?"
"Well, there was definitely fire when we got there," said Ron, "and the bodies were still…" but Hermione nudged him again when Ginny tensed up at the mention of them. But the topic seemed to be still being discussed…
"40 dead, 12 wounded," Harry heard an auror whisper behind him, "30 of the dead were Death Eaters, and 8 were wounded Death Eaters, at least those we recovered."
"I'm guessing there were a few that managed to get away with minor injuries, but we can't be sure," said another, "But it's weird that they would attack each other like that."
"Perhaps there's a breaking in the ranks," the other one wondered aloud, "A secret group against You-Know-Who?"
"Maybe it's not a secret Death Eater group," Harry said without thinking, "Maybe someone out there is fighting them."
The two aurors spun around, shocked to discover that their seemingly private conversation had been heard. But when they saw it was Harry, they relaxed a bit.
"Yes, that is a possibility, but think about it," the first said to him, "What decent wizard would destroy an entire section of Diagon and Knockturn Alley while killing both Death Eaters and civilians alike?"
"Maybe it was an accident," Harry argued, "You never know with magic. Sometimes when I fought Voldemort, weird stuff happened that I couldn't control, either."
The Aurors winced at Voldemort's name, but still took in what Harry said. They nodded a bit before answering, "You could be right, but we should consider every scenario."
"Either way, it could turn out to be a good thing," said the second, "If Death Eaters are splitting, we could ally with that group for the time being and destroy You-Know-Who from within. And if it's a different group entirely, we would have a strong ally nonetheless."
"You'd want to join forces with Death Eaters?" questioned Harry, "Since when did it become okay to kill innocent people for a handful of Death Eaters?"
The two of them laughed, and shook their heads at Harry, "My boy, a lot of stuff has happened with these two ministers. You learn not to care that much very quickly."
"Besides, we would make sure they are controlled," he reassured Harry, "We not that apathetic."
The two Aurors smiled at Harry and patted him on the shoulder, "You ever thought of being an auror, Potter? You seem to have the mind for it."
Harry's heart suddenly lifted. After all that had happened, it felt good to hear someone praising him for something. This was just what he needed.
"Actually, yes," Harry told them excitedly, "I was hoping to receive Auror training when I graduated from Hogwarts."
"Is that so? Well," he laughed and poked Harry in the arm, "just build on those muscles a bit and I'm sure you'll get in."
"Muscles?" questioned Harry, "Why would I need muscles if I use magic?"
They laughed again, but for some reason it didn't seem like they were laughing at him…much.
"You've got to be fit in our field. You never know what Death Eaters will throw at you. Sometimes your wand just isn't enough to—"
"Sir! One of the Death Eaters is awake!" a man shouted in the doorway, "We're awaiting your orders on the questioning."
"Excellent, just what we need. Why don't you join us, Potter? Might give you some taste as to what you should expect."
"I really couldn't—"
"Nonesense, you'd just watch, okay?"
With a nod, Harry was lead by the head Auror down the hallways of St. Mungo's to a small room at the end. On the bed, he saw a man with burns all over his body, being treated constantly by two nurses. He guessed they were using a spell to block the pain, for he couldn't see how he would be able to talk otherwise.
"Your name, if you please?"
"," the man croaked out.
"Good, now can you tell us what happened early this morning?"
"N-no."
"Pardon?"
"I cannot. See, I cannot remember what happened. I've tried, believe me."
"If you are lying, I have Veritaserum right here in my pocket."
"It's not necessary—ah!" he cried, for the pain now seemed to be too much for him and he screamed in agony. The nurses tried to calm him down and strengthen the spells, but it didn't seem to be working.
"Can't you do anything?"
"I'm sorry, sir. He has internal injuries, and we were waiting for the doctor, but he hasn't come yet. I—"
But before they could try anything else, the man stopped screaming and fell back onto the bed. Harry heard that horrible sound of a loud, constant beep.
"Dead. Pity. He was our last shot, too."
"What do you mean?" asked Harry, "Didn't you say there were 12 wounded?"
"Yes," he said, "but the results were the same as this one. Memory wiped clean."
"Ginny seems to be like that, too," said Harry, "she said something about fire, and a lot of screaming."
"Hers must have been a bit rushed, then," the second Auror said, "Still, I doubt she remembers much else."
"Not entirely. It might still be there, somewhere," the leader disagreed, "but she won't remember it now. She might later, though. I'd keep an eye on her, Harry. Let us know if you find anything. Name's Arnold Reindold. Your owl will find me."
"I'll tell you if there's anything," Harry said, and left the two Aurors with their "witness" and left to join Ginny and the others once again.
A/N: There, no cliffhangers here! Next chapter'll be Hogwarts, or at least the train ride. I dunno, I'll have it when I write it! Read/Review please!