Harry Potter awoke, with a searing pain in his scar
Disclaimer: This story includes characters and situations that are part of the Harry Potter universe, which is copyright J.K.Rowling, Scholastic, Warner Brothers, Bloomsbury, etc. No copyright infringement is intended and no money is being made in the production of this FANFICTION. Not many outside resources were needed this time, but I (as always) made extensive use of the Harry Potter Lexicon when writing this chapter.
Author's Note: I am a firm believer in Strong!Ginny, Harry's-Equal!Ginny, and hence Awesome!Ginny. I also think that most sixteen year olds don't grow up or demonstrate their maturity until they're forced to. Hence, for the first time in this fic, and in the penultimate (!) chapter, we see Ginny's true colours. Thank you The-Quoi for your review.
Expectations of Grandeur: Chapter 38: The Battle
It can be said in Tom's defence that he was a quick study. Ginny was almost losing herself, forgetting that they were in a hallway some short distance from the Slytherin dungeon, when Professor Snape rushed around the corner to see them.
Strike that. Ginny had completely lost herself, and forgotten that Tom had her pinned to the wall of a hallway some short distance from the Slytherin dungeon when Professor Snape rushed around the corner to see them and shouted, in a disgusted voice, "What are you doing?!"
They jumped apart; or rather, Tom jumped away from her. There wasn't really anywhere she could go, so she just stood looking rather shocked and rather guilty.
For a moment, she was disappointed it was over.
Then the circumstances sunk in, and she was more than just rather guilty. She stared at the floor. "There's been an attack! Get to your common rooms!" Snape shouted, perhaps temporarily forgetting his hatred for the two students he had found snogging in the hallways. They, however, hadn't forgotten that quite yet, and stood waiting for him to take points away from Gryffindor or assign detentions. "Immediately!" he shouted instead, and then rushed away.
Ginny stood rooted to the spot for a bit longer and then what Snape said hit her. "Attack?" she said.
She could hear distant shouting and explosions. It sounded like it was coming from upstairs. There was an attack; a real attack, with real fighting. Voldemort was attacking the school. Voldemort was attacking the school and she had been hiding in a dungeon and snogging Tom Riddle! "Oh no," she gasped, "Harry!" and she rushed towards the ominous sounds.
There were footsteps behind her. She turned to see Tom chasing after her. Well, at least she knew for absolute certain now that he wasn't up to anything; he had an alibi for where he was when Voldemort attacked the school. Of course, it wasn't quite an alibi that she was sure she wanted to share with anyone just yet. She was almost in shock over it herself; appalled that she would do something like that. She didn't want to know what Ron or Harry would say about it. Or her mother, for that matter; Mrs. Weasley would have a fit. Best not to think about that, Ginny decided. There was a battle; Voldemort was attacking the school, and if Ginny didn't hurry she would be too late and Harry would be dead and she would be no help whatsoever. Ginny reached the Great Hall, but the shouts and explosions were still coming from above her. She paused for a moment, and Tom had caught up with her. "They're coming from the Chamber!" he shouted, rounding the corner and running to another staircase, and she followed him.
The corridors on the second floor were in disarray. The walls were pockmarked with signs of curses gone awry, some of them crumbling and covering the floor with dust and pebbles. Doors hung on single hinges, portraits were slashed and singed, and groups of students crouched against the walls, clustered around injured friends and sobbing or cringing out of fear. There had obviously been a fight, but it had moved. "Where did they go?" Ginny asked, now hearing the sounds of battle all around her.
One first year held out a trembling finger, and another mumbled "Towards the girls' bathroom," fearfully. Ginny didn't even stay to comfort them, just shouted for them to go to the Hospital Wing as she raced towards the battle. Of course the girls' bathroom. That had been what Tom said; they were coming from the Chamber. He was probably already there. She ran as fast as she could down the corridor, paying attention only to avoiding clusters of students and not tripping as she ran, and reached the battle just as Harry noticed Tom at the periphery.
The invasion party was small. Apparently Voldemort thought only a few Death Eaters were necessary to take Hogwarts – or maybe he didn't want to take Hogwarts in its entirety but simply kill Harry or Dumbledore with only minor casualties. Maybe this was supposed to be mostly covert. For much of the year, Ginny reasoned, it had been. Who knew how many times Voldemort had wandered the halls in secret and not left a gloating message? Probably more than Ginny cared to think about. But however many times he had gotten in undetected before, this time the staff been forewarned. And whatever his plan, the Hogwarts Profesors found him and his Death Eaters, and he had not been successful. At least, not yet. Snape was absent, predictably, but the rest of the heads of house were present and joining in the fray. Ginny couldn't find Hermione or Ron in the battle and figured that most heads of house had sent prefects to gather students in their dormitories, but Malfoy and Parkinson hadn't been forthcoming. It would figure for Malfoy to hide like a dog when his father invaded Hogwarts under Voldemort's banner; or at least not to help with the resistance.
Ginny couldn't blame him, though: it would be horrible to fight against your own family. She couldn't imagine opposing her mother, at least not about something like being a Death Eater. In the corner of her eye she could see McGonagall stun a woman with long black hair and sallow skin, but she was too lost to move. A curse rocked the floor underneath her feet and shook Ginny out of her reverie as Hagrid pounded in, sounding for everything like an elephant, curses bouncing off of his skin as though he were as tough as a dragon. "Professor!" he bellowed, and Ginny ripped her eyes away from his huge frame and turned her attention to what he was looking at.
It was where Tom was staring as well; Voldemort facing both Harry and Dumbledore at once. Ginny should have expected that. Harry was hardly doing anything, to be honest, and as Voldemort and Dumbledore set up flames and sparks in their battle, Harry looked more dumbstruck and concerned than fierce and determined. It figured. Harry wasn't any better at duelling than the rest of them; although he put up a valiant front and had his wand pulled and trained on You-Know-Who, his disarming curses and stunning spells weren't hard for a wizard like Voldemort to dodge. Harry was behaving in a typically Harry manner. But when she looked at Tom, struck stupid with fear and loathing, she frowned. Tom was too clever and too proud to be caught with that look on his face, and too quick not to notice the thick-set Death Eater a few yards to the left of him who had stunned Professor Flitwick and was turning to him.
Ginny ran up and pushed Tom out of the way of the curse, wand ready, rolled on the floor to dodge the curse herself and then turned to Tom's attacker and shouted the first thing that came to her head: "Stupefy!" The Death Eater was caught by the stunning spell, and fell to the ground. Tom didn't even glance back to see who had saved him or thank her; he rushed towards Voldemort and Harry and Dumbledore.
Ginny didn't have time to notice what he was doing or follow him; she was surrounded by battle. She narrowly dodged a curse she had never even heard before, and turned on her opponent, a tall, reed-like man with scars on his arms and hands. "Reducto!" she shouted, and missed, blowing apart some of the wall behind him; it came down in crumbling bits. She felt someone grab her from behind and called out a revulsion jinx. With a flash of purple light, the second Death Eater was thrown behind her, and she took the moment to shout "Petrificus Totalus!" and freeze the Death Eater in front of her before whirling around and casting a much darker curse on the burly Death Eater that had grabbed her. She turned to the Professors, who were conjuring ropes to bind defeated Death Eaters. She followed suit.
And then there was a horrible cackle from some distance down the hallway. Ginny froze, not quite done with her conjuring. It hardly mattered. "Even the three of you together are no match for me!" Ginny turned slowly to see Voldemort cornering Harry, Tom, and Dumbledore. Everyone was wary, everyone had wands drawn, but Tom looked like he was drowning in his own fear – no Gryffindor, that one – Harry was clutching his side in pain and Dumbledore looked much greyer than usual, his eyes had lost their usual sparkle. "And now I get to decide which of you dies first," he said, and cackled with an abnormally high-pitched laugh. Tom gulped. He actually gulped. He was breaking out in a cold sweat, his wand shaking in his hand. Harry stood up a little bit straighter, ready to face death. Dumbledore had no reaction.
Ginny froze, only for a moment, caught by Voldemort's too-high cackle. It wasn't an old man's laugh. It was an eleven-year-old girl's laugh, she realized, twisted. That wasn't Tom's laugh; it was hers, although almost unrecognizable through the malice. Everyone else was transfixed by the sight before their eyes, Voldemort about to kill Harry Potter, but Ginny was struck not by the fear of what was going to happen but by the single thought, "He stole my laugh." As Voldemort laughed again, Ginny flinched and shuddered and sprung into action. That man, that evil monster, had stolen her trust, and her innocence, and her childhood, and her laugh. And, just like everyone else in the school and the world and perhaps the universe, he thought she was just a foolish little girl who could be robbed and abused and forgotten and wouldn't come back to get her revenge. Or would be far too weak to even try.
She didn't see Harry or Tom or Dumbledore or any of the professors, didn't see McGonagall try to stop her as she stalked towards Voldemort. She only saw the monster that had stolen her childhood and her laugh, taken her innocence and twisted it into malice and hatred, and forced her to open the Chamber of Secrets her first year. He hadn't finished his next word when she bellowed out, "Sectumsempra!" and jerked her wand in a slashing motion. The word bounced and echoed around the hallway, and Voldemort actually stumbled forward, a slash appearing in the side of his robes, dark blood dripping from pale skin beneath. He whirled on her and trained his wand on her, but she didn't allow herself to think of her impending death, she just shouted "Expelliarmus!" as loud and as forcefully as she could, hoping that if she drowned out his killing curse it wouldn't take effect. Then she dropped to the floor and rolled to the side, head up and eyes wide with the vague hopes that he would miss but ready to face her death bravely.
But the green flash never came. Instead, Voldemort's wand shot out of his hand and she reached up desperately and caught it. Everyone was staring at her, in various parts awe and disbelief. Her heart was racing. That was impossible, even for someone with the bravery and stubbornness and gall of Ginevra Molly Weasley. She heard rapid footsteps behind her, and decided it would be wonderfully ironic if a junior Death Eater killed her after she had disarmed the Dark Lord, but she heard her brother's voice. "Ginny!" he shouted, obviously terrified for her. Snape returned, and immediately went to the weakened Dumbledore's side. Ginny wished one of the boys would finish the job, but Harry and Tom were both just staring at her, Harry's mouth hanging open in shock. She was just staring at Voldemort, who was staring at her, and all of a sudden it felt like her head was going to explode.
He's a Legilimens, she reminded herself, and thought back to the sickening moment in the Department of Mysteries last year when he had possessed Harry. She closed her eyes and shut off her mind, focusing only on holding on to the two wands in her hands and standing up. It proved difficult enough, holding on to her wand and rising to her feet while fighting a sheer war of willpower with Voldemort himself, but she reminded herself that Harry had been more stubborn than the Dark Lord when he duelled out Priori Incantatem in the graveyard at the end of the Triwizard Tournament, and she would be damned if Harry Potter was more stubborn than a Weasley. She could feel him pushing, trying the same trick he had tried on Harry last year, trying to make her release her grip on the wand, but she pushed right back, as hard as she could, and there was one important difference between Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter.
Ginny Weasley may have been possessed by Lord Voldemort when she was eleven, but at age sixteen she was much older, much stronger, and damned good at Occlumency.
She pushed. She focused; held on to both her wand and the Dark Lord's. She stood up. She looked him straight in the face, and the pain was almost too hard to bear, but she focused through it and gritted her teeth and said, through them, "Not this time."
And the pain began to lessen. She held out her wand with shaking fingers. She knew what she was supposed to do. She knew what she had to do; what Harry had to do, really, because that was what was prophesied, but he was staring and gaping like a small child and there was Voldemort, standing in front of her, without a wand and unable to use his Legilimency, and it was obvious, painfully obvious, distressingly and terribly obvious, what she had to do. She formed the words on her lips: Avada Kedavra.
She opened her mouth, ready to say it, and then closed her mouth at the last moment and closed her eyes in fear and shame and resolution. She had won, but even if she had won, or perhaps because she had won, she just couldn't do it.
No matter how horrible he was, no matter that he had killed so many and ruined the lives of so many more, no matter that he wasn't even rightly human, no matter any of that – she simply couldn't do it. Couldn't raise her wand and utter those words.
They may have been necessary, but they were unforgivable for a reason.
But fortunately, or unfortunately, she didn't have time to try a second time. While Ginny stalled, Lucius Malfoy (he was unmistakable with his long blonde hair) was at his Lord's side, and both of them disapparated.
The rest of the Death Eaters, or those that were conscious, followed suit. It should have been impossible – there was no apparating to or from Hogwarts grounds. The Professors exchanged worried glances, but no one said anything. "You can't apparate on Hogwarts grounds," Hermione said from behind her. "What just happened?"
"It would appear," Professor Quinn said from beside the door to the second floor girls' bathroom, "That some of the wards have been disrupted. I would guess the problems are localized to this immediate area, as I have made examinations of the perimeter wards and they are all functional."
Hermione seemed to accept this. Ginny finally began breathing again. She had disarmed the Dark Lord. She was holding his wand. She had refused to let him possess her. And somehow, miraculously and impossibly, she was alive. She didn't believe it. She sunk to the floor, knees buckling, and she let both wands clatter to the floor beside her. "Ginny," she heard Hermione's voice behind her, confused, "Why do you have two wands?"
Harry was still gaping. Tom was trying to school his expression, but failing. Dumbledore looked at her, and a bit of the old twinkle was back in his eyes. Snape's head snapped up and he looked at her for a moment in complete and total awe before he turned back to tending the Headmaster's wounds. No one, least of all Ginny, could turn to Hermione and Ron and explain to them what happened. McGonagall slowly walked up behind her and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right, Miss Weasley?" she asked. Ginny nodded, feeling tears of relief or shock or whatever it was she was feeling coming to her face. "That was very foolish of you," she said a bit sternly, "But incredibly brave," she added, "And certainly the best display of duelling strength I have ever seen in a fifth year student. I am confident the rest of the Professors would agree," she concluded. More than a little bit of pride came through in her voice.
"Did she..." Ron trailed off; he couldn't form the words duel You-Know-Who. "Is that You-Know-Who's wand?" he said, after a few moments of incoherent babbling. Ginny mutely nodded her head.
"Gin..." he began again, and then looked to Harry and to Hermione and to McGonagall and Dumbledore, stuttering and mumbling. "My baby sister just beat You-Know-Who in a duel?" Ginny nodded again. "Merlin," he said, the realization knocking the wind out of her, "Just wait until mum hears about this!"
McGonagall jumped into action then, whirling on Ron and Hermione and ordering them to get the other prefects to help transport wounded students to the Hospital Wing. Hermione grabbed Ron's wrist and they disappeared down the hall, but as they passed her Ginny could see Hermione look down at her with an amazed expression. "You should go to the Hospital Wing as well, Miss Weasley," McGonagall said gently. "Are you wounded?" Ginny shook her head. "Well, just in case then." She held out a hand for Ginny to take, and Ginny grabbed both wands from the floor before she accepted McGonagall's hand and stood. "Also, Miss Weasley," McGonagall said in an undertone, "I don't believe, after that display, that anyone would deny you a job as an Auror, regardless of your Potions marks."
Ginny barely heard her Professor through the rushing in her ears.
She slowly walked towards the Hospital Wing, still numb and shocked. Madam Pomfrey dropped everything she was doing when she saw Ginny with a dazed expression standing on her threshold, and shuttled the exhausted and shocked Gryffindor to a free bed, wrapping her up and telling her sternly to stay where she was before leaving in a flutter. Ginny didn't even think about moving.
Tom was the first one to appear by her bedside, followed shortly by Harry. "Why didn't you kill him?" Tom asked. "Why did you stop at the last moment?"
Ginny couldn't quite answer him, she just stared. "Have you ever killed someone?" she asked. Tom shook his head blankly. "Neither have I," she said bluntly. "I didn't want to change that. Besides," she said quietly, "It's unforgiveable for a reason."
Tom rolled his eyes. "He's a monster," he said. "He deserves to die."
That's when Harry chimed in. "But that doesn't mean she has to be the one who kills him," he said softly. "You okay, Gin?" he asked.
Ginny nodded. "A little shocked, is all."
Harry laughed. "I think we all are." He shook his head and put a hand over hers. "You were amazing," he said, and looked at her meaningfully, glancing sidelong at Tom.
Tom crossed his arms over his chest and scowled. "I certainly didn't expect you to overpower the Dark Lord," he said sourly. "But you should have killed him."
Ginny ignored Tom's latter comment, but Harry bristled. "Look, it was prophesied that I would kill You-Know-Who; it's not Ginny's job. You should be happy she came to rescue us."
Tom snorted. "You sure were doing a bang-up job of killing him back there."
"You were worse, Tom," Ginny said matter-of-factly. "Stop fighting, both of you. I would think that fighting You-Know-Who and surviving was the sort of thing that you can't go through without becoming friends." She sighed. "Or at least forming a sort of grudging respect for one another. Harry, stop trying to be all strong and heroic. You're making a fool of yourself. And Tom, stop trying to be ruthless and cold-hearted. You were shaking so hard you couldn't cast a single curse in that battle, and I don't believe you could kill someone if you tried. You only stayed because You-Know-Who had you cornered." She pulled her hand out from under Harry's, and Tom's expression softened minutely. "Now, Harry, you see Madam Pomfrey about your side. And both of you leave me alone; I'm on strict orders to rest until Madam Pomfrey comes back."
The two boys shuffled away, not without a few glances back towards Ginny, and Ginny was alone. She closed her eyes and tried very hard not to think about what had happened. Madam Pomfrey appeared a few minutes later, and declared that she was mostly healthy, but didn't give her permission to leave the hospital wing until a healer from St. Mungo's had come and examined her head and given her a clean bill of health. Ginny nodded and fell back against the pillow and just drifted off into her own thoughts.
She had proved herself, she thought. It was conclusive; she had done what Harry and Tom and even Dumbledore couldn't; she had brought You-Know-Who to his knees. Admittedly, she had only been able to do so because he had let down his guard, ignored her, dismissed her as a small girl and a child and incapable of doing anything to harm him. It was mostly luck. But she had done it nonetheless. And that was something to celebrate and to rejoice, and it was certainly a reason to let herself relax.