Ginny stared around her, her eyes wide as she took in the horror and unimaginable tragedy that had taken place around her. So many bodies, strewn left right and centre, from the elderly who'd never had a chance to flee to the poor young children who had been crushed under the masses of everyone trying to escape.
It had all started so innocuously.
It was the first big Diagon Alley event since the ending of the war. Decorations had been hung up and tinsel streamed across the rooves of the buildings. It looked like a cinematic masterpiece that was sure to be remarked upon many years down the line as one of the most beautiful Christmas markets in Wizarding Britain.
The stalls had all been packed into the small areas at the sides and people were free to wander to and fro about the place as they took in with amazement and wonder the delicacies being sold there; from the sweet treats that had been baked through the early hours of the morning to be sold there as fresh, to the small trinkets and toys that had spent months being crafted to perfection to ensure that each speck of paint shone out brilliantly.
It was perfect; it had been perfect.
The stalls had been bustling and fit to burst as it seemed that everyone and anyone had taken the chance to see the beauty of Christmas on Christmas Eve. Ginny had watched from the window of Leaky Cauldron where she was enjoying a warming hot chocolate after having already braved the crowds earlier that morning when it had been slightly less busy.
It was so nice to watch as the community came together and rejoiced after the horrors of the war. So good to see some smiling happy faces instead of the grim frowns that were a permanent fixture for so many during the harsh months and years.
She hadn't realised that it was all going to turn into a scene that replicated the horrors that had just gone by so few months ago.
It had been the shouting at first that had drawn her attention away from the discussion she was having with Harry to look out the window once more. Turning to try and figure out what the sudden noise was about. It hadn't taken long to then witness the mass of bodies swarming, shoving at one another as they moved in one jumbled mess trying to get from something she could not see.
Her mouth had dropped open in shock, at the complete lack of clarity and the mass panic that was a crowd stampeding.
She hadn't been able to do much from the inn, Harry and herself only managing to pull in a few people rushing past in panic into the relative safety of the inn, both of them trying to heal broken bones and bruises whilst still not knowing what the real danger was.
It had been such a rush then all over in less than half an hour. With Aurors apparating in to restore order and assist with the mass casualties that had occured. Within minutes of them arriving they had also drafted in the emergency healers from St Mungos to assist as well to try and minimise the deaths.
Ginny had been stuck at the inn with Harry as they tried to stay out of the way, yet assist as much as possible with any walking wounded who could stumble their way to them.
They helped to floo anybody who could away from the situation and lessen the amount of people still milling about in the area as yet more and more Aurors and healers were apparating in.
Ginny couldn't remember a time as busy as she had been that day except for when she had last been in the midst of the battle at Hogwarts where every second was life or death and there was no time to breathe.
She had floo'd home that night with Harry desperate for a shower then bed. She was exhausted and wanted to pretend everything she had seen was just a small figment of her imagination that had all been dreamt up in some nightmare scenario.
But she'd woken up the next day to discover that it wasn't a horrific situation that her mind had made up to torment her with, but was actually a grim reality that had occurred.
It was plastered all over the front pages of the papers. It was where she finally learnt the truth of what had happened. That a dark arts fanatic had stood at one end of the alley and started screaming curses and hexes and how the dark lord would rise once more after they had rued enough death and destruction on the world to bring them back through blood magic.
Everyone had panicked and ran. Except in Diagon Alley there was nowhere safe to run, everyone had been so packed in and it had turned into a stampede as people shoved at one another and desperation overtook and they clambered over the fallen with no care for them.
15 were dead. Hundreds more injured.
What was supposed to be a day of celebration and triumph had turned into nothing more but another tragic event that would be marked down in history for years to come.
Christmas day that year was not a happy day for many.