Ginny paced the room non-stop. How could she stop when she didn't know what was happening within the rest of the castle? Her feet itched to run up those stairs and join the fight. She couldn't even hear anything from within this room to give her an inclination of what was going on! It was the most frustrating, nerve-wracking experience ever.
Around ten she found a book case in the room and tried to find a book she thought she might like to read. She took one and sat down on an armchair, but her foot twitched from anxiety and she groaned as she couldn't concentrate. She got up and began pacing again. How was she supposed to know who was injured and who wasn't? At the very least she could be helping those who were hurt, and yet she was stuck here in this room…knowing nothing. And then Ginny heard a voice booming from an invisible source- but even though that voice was invisible, she immediately knew whom it belonged to. The voice echoed in her ears, "Give me Harry Potter and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you'll be rewarded." Ginny glanced at the grandfather clock. It was now eleven thirty!
Within the stony cold silence of the empty room, Ginny felt like she had just heard a time bomb go off, the voice had been so loud. She felt her stomach squirm and she felt nauseous. Harry being Harry, would surely risk his own life to save everyone else. His nobility would come into play now, and she could almost see him choosing to go and meet his death. It was only a matter of time now. Maybe Ron and Hermione could delay him from making that decision. Maybe they could save him…because if Ginny knew anything about Harry, it was that he would never try and save himself first. The odds of him surviving this battle was becoming increasingly unlikely with every second that ticked by, and Ginny fretted over his safety.
Suddenly the door from the Hogshead opened and in walked Aberforth and a women Ginny didn't know. She frowned at the old lady and then realized from Neville's description of her who it was. She nodded briskly, "Right then, who are you dear girl?" Ginny paused in her pacing and said slowly, "I'm Ginny Weasley. You're Neville's grandmother." She nodded and said proudly, "What gave it away?"
Ginny couldn't help but smile, even at a time like this. She wasn't going to be honest and say it was the outlandish clothing. So instead she whispered, "Just a hunch." Neville's grandmother looked at her beadily and she said sternly, "You, Miss Weasley, are causing my grandson some serious heartache."
Ginny raised her eyebrows and she couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Excuse me, Mrs Longbottom but I…"
Ginny was happily interrupted when the door opened and in walked the figures of an excited looking Ron and Hermione. Harry followed them and Aberforth ran out of the room as quickly as possible. Harry asked them, "Is anyone else coming?" Ginny shook her head and Mrs Longbottom said, "No, Mr Potter. I sealed it when I came in just now. Do you know where my grandson might be?"
Harry nodded and landed on the flat landing, "I think he's fighting." Mrs Longbottom's face lit up and she replied proudly, "Naturally! I must go and join him!" She rushed off at an alarming pace. Harry turned to Ginny again and she questioned, "What are you doing here?" He looked like he didn't want to tell her something. But then he inhaled sharply and replied, "Ginny, we need you to leave for a bit."
She couldn't quite believe her ears! Her grip tightened on her wand and she asked in an excited whisper, her voice rising, "Really?" Harry stared at her and nodded, "Yes, but then you have to come back in, do you understand?" Ginny couldn't have been more delighted! Now was her chance to leave her sanctuary! She walked up to Harry, took his hand and kissed his cheek, before staring at his green eyes for possibly the last time. The thought struck her and she whispered, "I'll stay here if you can promise me you won't turn yourself in." Ginny knew him too well. She knew he wouldn't accept her terms, and this made her smile. He whispered throatily, "You can't ask that of me Ginny! It's not fair!"
Ginny forced a smile and whispered, "Life isn't fair Harry. That's just it. And I'm going to do my duty to my school and fight for it." Ginny turned to her brother and Hermione and said, "I hope you guys can keep him safe." They glanced sideways at each other before Ginny hurried from the room, not giving Harry another moment to change his mind.
XXX
Once she was out in the hallway, she breathed a sigh of relief! The hallways were relatively intact so far. As she hurried past a window, she saw a silver shield being placed around the school boarders. She had a feeling she just might know where Neville might be. For some reason, she felt like she wanted to fight with him.
As Ginny hurried down to the forest she felt her bones become alive and she ran at full tilt. Once she reached the bridge she saw a crowd gathered there and she heard Neville's voice instructing them, "Alright guys, we've got a crowd of them on our tails. We'll fight them until we can't anymore. Just do your best! DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY!" There was an almighty cheer and Ginny squashed through until she reached him. He grinned at her and said, "Ginny! I thought you'd never join us!" Ginny shrugged and grinned, "Couldn't miss out could I?"
That's when she turned and looked beyond Neville- at the sea of Death Eaters behind him. She gulped and realized now was the first time she was feeling scared. Scared that someone could die. Scared that Harry would….Ginny shook her head. She couldn't think those thoughts. Mrs Longbttom was standing not to far away, somewhat glaring at Ginny. Ginny turned to Neville, "What's the plan?" Neville shrugged and replied in a whisper, "You see the end of the bridge down there?. They've placed a protective barrier around the school. I'm going to walk up to it to tempt them to try and come through it. They'll get a shock. Then as the shield falls apart, I'll run back and cast a spell on the bridge. Hopefully it will collapse as they're running after me. Voldemort is currently trying to break the shield. Look." He pointed above their heads towards the main entrance of the school. Sure enough, little pieces of silver were floating down from the sky.
Ginny shivered and Neville grimaced, "Yeah so as soon as this thing comes down, we're fighting them." Ginny turned to see the thousands of Death Eaters and Snatchers surrounding the boarder. The Hogwarts crowd was busy chanting: DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY! as loud as possible. Ginny noticed Cho Chang was with them, and Colin was leading the chants. The Death Eaters and Snatchers were sneering at them from the other side of the bridge.
Then suddenly, without warning, Neville hurried towards the end of the bridge as the shield started to disintegrate. He shouted at them, "Yeah! You and who's army?" Ginny couldn't see much past that point. She turned to the group and said, "Everyone shush! Wands out! Be ready!"After a few minutes there was a massive stampeding noise coming from the forest, Ginny tensed and was ready, wand out.
She saw the bridge collapsing and Neville was running for his life from a bunch of unfriendly spells. Ginny worried he wouldn't make it in time. The Death Eaters had started falling along with the bridge. Finally, the bridge stopped falling and suddenly Neville disappeared with it. Ginny yelled, "NEVILLE!" She stared, panicking at the empty space below. Then she saw his arms appear from under the wooden flooring. She ran forward and sighed in relief when he appeared to be clinging from the floorboards, a mass of bodies lying below. He smiled at her, "Well, that went well," he said as she helped him up.
The Death Eater's who hadn't yet been on the bridge hurried towards them and once Neville was on his feet again, they began firing back their curses as often as they were coming. However, there were so many Death Eater's that they encroached on their space and began forcing them back into the hallway. Ginny felt her heart pounding furiously in her chest. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so alive…even on the brink of possible death.
As they were backed into the school, Ginny saw Tonks and she sighed in relief, "Tonks! We need help! Where's Remus?" She wasn't even looking at her friend as she flung spells back and forth, stunning every single one she could. Tonks said in a panic, "He's on the other end of the castle I think! He told me I need to go home, but I can't! Ginny let me help you!" Ginny nodded eagerly, "We need all the help we can get!" She stunned a man in black overalls, who collapsed on his back. There were only fifty or so left of this crowd and they were heading back towards the Room of Requirement.
Ginny said to Tonks in a yell, "We need to make sure they don't get to the room I was in earlier! The trio are there right now!" Tonks nodded and beamed, "Leave it to me!" At lightning speed, she somehow managed to stun and disintegrate at least thirty Death Eaters in a row. Ginny yelled at her, "Thank you Tonks!" Tonks grinned at her and then as she was about to kill one last Death Eater, Ginny heard Remus' voice echoeing down a hallway to her right, "Tonks, ENOUGH! I told you to go home!"
Tonks spun around to face Remus, and then as if in slow motion, Ginny saw two flashes of green light flash before her eyes. She screamed and this caused Neville to jump. Tonks lay on the floor…dead. Ginny felt tears in her eyes that were blurring her vision. Ginny's heart stopped as she saw Remus lying on the floor. He was also gone, his mouth open in shock- mid-scream. Ginny could barely keep her eyes open as she finished off the last of the few Death Eater's remaining in this crowd. She had seen some Hogwarts bodies collapse earlier, and only now was her brain slowly starting to process this.
Neville got the last of them and then she hurried over to Tonks' still form, her eyes open in surprise at seeing Remus. Ginny felt her heart ache and split. It was the first time she had seen someone she loved die right in front of her. She shook her head and moaned, "No…no no no, Tonks, you can't be dead. You can't be!"
Neville came towards her. There was still a group of Hogwarts students behind her and Ginny shook fiercely. She felt anger seeping in to every bone of her body-pure white hot rage. She shouted angrily, "NO! You're not dead! Get up! Tonks, we're going to fight! You're like a sister to me! I know you won't give up!"
She felt big, strong arms wrap around her and she was shaking. She couldn't help it. She moaned and she felt hot, angry tears spilling from her eyes. She couldn't help it. So many emotions were coursing through Ginny right now that she couldn't focus on anything else. Ginny choked out, "What about your son, Tonks? What about Teddy?!" She felt broken for the little boy. She felt broken that he wouldn't have any parents.
Ginny kissed her friends lifeless hand, closer her eyelids and then she turned towards the Room of Requirement. She looked at the crowd of students standing there and realized that Colin was no longer with them either. He must have fallen too. Her heart ached for her friend. Ginny moved because she knew if she stayed there with Tonks' dead body, she wouldn't get up. She had to get up. She had to keep going. For Tonks, for Remus and for Colin. But most of all she wanted to keep going for Teddy. She wanted this battle to be over.
A/N: Hey guys. I'm sorry this took so long but I was kind of dreading writing this chapter. And maybe the next few. I also wanted to reread parts of this book just so I can be accurate so the next few chapters might take a while because of that. Anyway, I know it's sad, but I hope you guys think I did it justice. And have a happy Easter weekend! N.B: What do you guys think about keeping Fred alive? Please give me your thoughts because it is a thought/ suggestion by a reviewer.
Torchy22- I don't particularly like Percy. I mean, who does? So writing that part of it was more difficult than I expected it to be.
AbbyD: I thought about keeping Fred alive. I'll ask and see what others think. I just update whenever I can/ whenever I feel like writing.
Azoma J: Thanks so much for such a wonderful review! Always good to hear from new people and thank you for taking the time to read my story! Truly appreciate it! To answer your question: well JKR in my opinion does that all the time. She says "Harry, Ron and Hermione…" even though it's from Harry's P.O.V (kinda in the third person.) Hope that answers your question