Ginny could not make herself leave his side. When the owl had come to their house she'd refused to believe it. She'd kept saying it was some sick joke. She'd told herself that until they'd arrived here. When she'd seen the look on Remus's face and the tears in Tonks's eyes she knew. Harry was dead. The boy she'd loved since she was eleven years old was dead. She sat by his side now holding his icy hand in her own. It was so unfair. They'd had so little time together. She'd known going in that this was a possiblity. She knew that Harry would always have enemies. She'd known the risk, but she hadn't cared. And now he was gone. His body was here but he was gone. His eyes would never open and look at her again. He would never kiss her or hold her again. Never again would she hear his voice telling her that he loved her.
"It's not fair," she whispered. "You're not even fifteen. We had so many things we wanted to do. Finish school, get jobs, you wanted to be an Auror like your parents, I don't know what I wanted to do. I hadn't decided. I thought I had time to decide. I expected us to grow old together. Have children together, grandchildren. I knew there would always be danger, but I always thought we would survive it. As long as we had each other, I thought we would be okay. Oh if only I had been with you. If only I hadn't gone to Luna's this morning. I could have been with you. God, I never even got to say goodbye." The tears were threatening to choke her. She leaned her head against his stomach.
"I'll love you till the day I die Harry," she whispered. "There will never be anyone else. You're it for me. I knew it from the first time I saw you on the platform, that there'd never be anybody else. I love you Harry Potter. I always have, and I always will." She leaned down and kissed him.
Lucy was not asleep. Oliver was a great Quidditch player but he didn't know the difference between a dreamless sleep potion and a skin clearing potion. She sat on her bed staring at the picture Sirius had taken of her and Harry the day they moved in here. He was tickling her while she had him in a headlock. They looked so happy. She had been happy because she was with Harry. From the moment she learned the truth about her origins she had been determined to protect Harry at all costs. In the beginning it was because she knew it was what her mother would have wanted. But the closer she and Harry had grown to each other it had become less about her mother and more about Harry. Harry was her blood, her flesh, he was a part of her. She looked at the picture of her mother. Sirius had given it to her when she'd moved in. His way of welcoming her to the family, she thought. She picked up the frame, her mother smiled at her.
"I failed you, Mom," she said. "Harry's dead because I failed." Tears fell from her eyes as she clutched the portrait to her chest.
"It should have been me. I'm the one that should have died. Not Harry. He was the best. He was so wonderful and so young. He was too young to go through all this. If I'd only been faster, or smarter, or better." She buried her face in her hands.
"Oh god Harry, I'm sorry." she whispered.
'Lucy help me!' She jumped several feet. Did she hear what she thought she had heard.
"Harry," she whispered. "Harry is that you"
'Lucy!' the voice said again. 'Lucy please! Help!' Lucy jumped up and ran downstairs a surge of hope coarsing through her.
"Harry's not dead," she announced to the living room. Several pairs of eyes turned to her in dismay.
"Lucy," Oliver said coming toward her. "I thought you were asleep"
"You gave me the wrong potion," she explained. "Fortunately I won't have to worry about acne for the rest of my life. Did you hear what I said"
"What makes you say this Lucy?" Dumbledore asked her.
"I heard Harry's voice. He was crying out for help." The adults in the room exchanged skeptical looks while the younger people looked hopeful.
"Lucy," Remus said gently, "we all know you're very upset about losing Harry"
"Don't patronize me Remus," Lucy said sharply. "This was not a hallucination brought on by grief, it was not wishful thinking, and I am not insane. I heard Harry's voice"
"Lucy," Molly said. "How can you know what really happened"
"Because it's happened before," Hermione said standing up and looking at Lucy. "Hasn't it Lucy?" Lucy nodded.
"It has. The night my father tried to kill Harry, I was following Harry because his scar had been hurting him in my class. Hermione detained me and as I was standing there I heard Harry's voice in my head. When I got to the roof he was under the Cruciatus Curse, and he was being attacked by dementors"
"Were there any other times, Lucy?" Dumbledore pressed her. Lucy took a deep breath. This was something she'd never told anyone, not even Wood.
"There were. Three others," she said. Everyone looked at her in surprise, especially Oliver.
"When?" Tonks asked. Lucy ran a hand through her rumpled hair.
"Once when I was eighteen. I was living in this flat in Cheapside. I was working on the Felanam potion when I heard a boy scream in my head. I ran outside to see who was screaming but the street was silent. I didn't understand it at the time. It wasn't until after we defeated my father that I realized it was Harry's voice I was hearing"
"Think Lucy," Dumbledore said. "Do you remember the date when this happened"
"It was June. The fifth I think"
"That's the day Harry and us went after the Sorcerer's Stone," Ron said in shock.
"The second time it happened was when I was giving a lecture at Beaxbaton. Almost a year later"
"You could hear Harry in France?" George said a bit astonished.
"Yes," Lucy said as she remembered. "I'll never forget it. The Headmistress thought I was having a fit. It was May 25th"
"That's the day Harry rescued me from the Chamber of Secrets," Ginny said trembling at the memory.
"Let me make a guess when the third time was," Sirius said standing up. "June 12th, last year"
"Yes," Lucy breathed.
"The day Harry saved me from the dementors," he said.
"So it seems," Dumbledore said, "that whenever Harry's life is in danger, he is able to call out to the only blood relative he has. Rare but not impossible"
"What does this mean Albus?" McGonagall said.
"It means that Lucy is quite correct. Harry is not dead." Everyone's eyes lit up and a wave of elation swept across the room.
"I am not sure what can be done," Dumbledore said. "But I will find out. Until then, I advise everyone to stay here and watch out. If the death eaters realize that their target is not dead, they may come back to finish what they started." With a pop the wizard was gone.