Chapter Three: There Is No Happily Ever After Anymore
Harry remained with Mrs. Weasley in the Great Hall waiting with baited breath for any word on the two missing Weasleys. Around nine p.m. the three brothers came in, tears streaming down their face, and in his arms, William Weasley, the oldest of the siblings, carried his one and only sister, Ginny Weasley, dead in his arms.
The wail that came from Mrs. Weasley caught everyones attention, and Harry and Hermione started crying as well. Molly ran to her children, taking Ginny in her arms and falling to the floor holding and rocking her baby girl.
"Nooo!" she had shouted. "Why?"
It was an absolutely heart-wrenching sight to behold.
Harry, while crying, felt oddly numb. Here before him, was the lifeless corpse of a girl with who he had once envisioned a furture with. He had already processed so much death and loss in the last 48 hours that he wasn't sure he could handle any more.
"Ginny!" Hermione had breathed.
"How?" Harry ground out.
"She was in the Shack. In the room Remus used to hide in. We checked the whole place. No one else was there," said George softly.
"That makes no sense. Ginny wouldn't just run and hide. There has to be a reason she was there," said Harry.
"I dunno. Maybe we can go back and look around in the morning. It was getting dark..." Fred trailed off.
Harry just nodded his head and fell into silence.
Another day passed with very little word on survivors. With very few Department Heads alive, or capable of holding office due to their injuries, what was left of the Ministry and the Wizengamot declared emergency rule and appointed Kingsley Shacklebolt the interim Minister of Magic. He immediately held a press conference, ensuring that the Ministry was sound, and that the search and rescue efforts were continuing 24 hours a day until everyone, dead or alive was recovered. He sent out his condolences to everyone who had lost someone, his well wishes for speedy recoveries for all those injured, and promised that any rogue Death Eaters would be rounded up and punished accordingly.
Molly Weasley had been given several calming and sleeping droughts, Hermione alternated between sleeping and helping with the injured, and Harry spent most of his time sleeping, an unfortunate side effect of all of the potions he was on.
Three days later he woke up to the feel of eyes on him.
"Remus!" he shouted.
"Hey Cub," said Remus tiredly.
"Moony. I'm so sorry," said Harry, a more subdued tone to his words.
"It's okay. She went down fighting. It's what she would have wanted."
"But what about Teddy? I mean..."
"Teddy and I will be alright. We have some amazing friends, and Kingsley has assured me that Teddy will not be taken away from me just because of my...condition."
"I'm glad," said Harry.
"How are you doing Harry?"
"I'm okay. Voldemort's gone. That's the important thing right?"
"Yes. And no. Your well-being is the important thing. So...how are you?"
"I'm not sure," said Harry honestly. "I don't know what to do. Or think. I spent the last year on the run. Hiding; not sleeping. Not eating. Being Tortured. Killing someone piece by piece. Endangering all of my friends. Getting people killed. Some of my best friends are gone, and I'm to blame."
"Harry," Remus warned.
"Ginny is dead! Because of me! Because I didn't protect her! I left her on her own and went off to face a mad man, and I never even stopped to ask if she would be alright. I didn't make sure anyone was around to protect her!" he screamed.
"Harry, that isn't your fault. I'm sure Ginny had her reasons, whatever they may have been."
"Why was she in the shack?"
"We don't know. I searched the shack myself. There was no blood. No sign of a struggle. I thought I smelled someone else but...they must have apparated away. I am truely sorry."
"Where's Ron?"
"We still don't know that either. Did he give any indication of what he was doing?"
"No," said Harry shaking his head. "He just said there was something he had to do, and that he would meet us in the Great Hall. At least that's what Hermione said. He should have been back by now."
Remus just sat by Harry's side lost in thought.
It would be three more days before anyone found out what had become of Ron, and two more after that before anyone figured out why he was there. A week after the final battle as recovery teams were clearing the last few floors of the Ministry the body of Ronald Weasley was found in what had once been the Department of Mysteries' Death Chamber. How he had gotten there was a complete mystery, and why he had gone was even more mind boggling. The only clue anyone had was the twisted diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw that lay mere inches from his body, just inside the ominous Veil. Even stranger was the body of an unidentified young male, several years older than Ron, who appeared to have been knocked out by the blast, but who was still only mere inches from the Veil on it's other side. How the Veil and its dias had survived intact when all else had crumbled was a mystery, but even bigger was the tale of these two wizards.
Both were taken back to Hogwarts, Ron to the morgue and Johnny Wizard, as the recovery team had named him, to the Infirmary for evaluation. Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys were all notified of Rons tragic passing, and the Great Hall was once again filled with the heart wrenching wails of Molly Weasley, but also with the absolutely shattering screams of Hermione Granger. While Molly simply mourned the loss of her baby boy, Hermione ranted, and raved, and demanded to know why. Why had Ron been so stupid? Why had Ron gone off on his own? Why did Ron have the diadem? Why had Ron left Hogwarts? Why had Ron gone to the Ministry? Why had he gone to the Department of Mysteries? What had called him to the Veil? Why was the other wizard there and who was he? What did Ron know that no one else did? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? A thousand thoughts ran through Hermione's head, but the largest and loudest was that her Ron, the man she had just started to really fall in love with, was gone.
It seemed to her there really would be no 'happily ever after' after all.