Talia, her boss, was the first one who found Ginny. It was the Texan who broke the wards and unbound her. Ginny was about to protest, but Talia spoke quicker.
"Shite Gin," Talia said, pulling him in for a hug. "When you didn't show for your shift, and didn't answer any of the messages I sent to your iMag I thought— and then Pertha didn't show either so I was down both employees."
"I'll make it up-" Ginny said, shaking her hands free.
"You better. But not now. The old Cagail's gone to shite. There was a massive outbreak yesterday. You'll never believe it. Death Eaters."
"I believe it," Ginny said solemnly.
"I've been whipping up some cocktails when the sky turned green and the Dark Mark reared its ugly arse in view." Talia went on about the news. "Potter and his Auror team came just in the nick of time to see the entire place absolutely destroyed. No survivors."
"No-" Ginny turned white. "I need to go-" Her hands frantically searched her pockets for her wand "Take me?"
"Gin I've stayed up all night. Bar's been crazy. Besides, you shouldn't be there."
"I need to go. Side-along me to the warehouse with you. Please, Talia," Ginny begged.
"You need rest."
"I need to go and make sure he's okay. Please, take me!"
Talia's eyes filled with a silent understanding. In a flash, the three of them, Talia, the Texan and Ginny Apparated to the warehouse, the scene of the crime.
-xxx-
"Hadn't seen anything quite so gruesome since the Austin shootings last summer," the Texan said, frowning.
The entire warehouse was unearthed and shattered to pieces. Wood and plaques of tin from the roof lay over burning, grim grass. Masses of Aurors as well as Ministry officials ran around the perimeter, dressed in head-to-toe black suits and masked to avoid the massive smoke and dust that filled every inch of the air. Sections of heavy materials lifted into the air and bodies were eased onto stretchers.
Severus. Lucius. Marcia.
She looked at every severed body laying in the rubble, examined every limb for something that resembled either a pale hand with long fingers. She looked for the blond hair, the clothing—ones of Death Eaters—that Lucius wore. She searched for a speck of red among the gray.
There had to be some survivors. Someone had to be alive.
The entire place was covered in a blanket of smog and reeked of Dark Magic. Ginny held her hand to her nose, wishing desperately that she had her wand to clear the air before her. Her eyes stung and watered and the further she crept into the decay.
"Accio wand." Ginny extended her hand. Where was Lucius, where was he?
A grunt came from the mountain of ashes and old scraps of equipment. Ginny climbed the hill, her hands stinging from contact with sharp debris. Severus? Marcia?
"Oy! You shouldn't be there!"
Strong hands clasped Ginny from under the arms and pulled her down.
"I need to see him. Severus Snape, have you seen him?"
"That man needs to be in Azkaban," the Auror hissed, dragging Ginny behind civilian lines. "Stay out. Ministry crime scene."
"You don't understand, he's with us- he's innocent-"
"Witch. Stay back."
Ginny's body banged against the wards set before her. She hit the magical barrier with her fists, yelling for someone to let her pass, or at least tell her where her friends were.
"Gin?" She whipped her head around to see a familiar figure.
"Harry? Harry! I need to-"
"I know," he said, tight-lipped.
"No. My wand. Malfoy has it. And Severus? Marcia? Have you seen them."
"Wait here."
Ginny tried to follow, but her body was absorbed by the wards and bounced back. Harry disappeared into the dust and crowd of Aurors. When he re-emerged, he had Ginny's wand in his hand, snapped in half like her brother Ron's had been back in his second year after a failed protection spell.
"Oh gods, is he?" Ginny clutched the wood.
"He's in stable condition. The team is transporting him back to Wiltshire to a private clinic."
Of course, Lucius Malfoy of all wizards would have access to private and immediate medical care. Ginny wondered if any other casualties had been present at the warehouse today and where they were now? Were they receiving the help they needed.
"And Marcia?"
"Marcia?"
"She's got red hair and…" Ginny struggled to explain that she may have transformed into her Obscurial form during the fight, but Harry's expression remained blank.
"Sorry Gin, there're so many casualties."
Ginny's eyes began to fill, she wiped at them, furious at herself for being so weak and useless. If only she had been here earlier.
"I'm so sorry," Harry's hand ran along her backside.
"Y-you tried to warn me." Ginny allowed Harry to walk her back to the medical tents and carriages at the edge of the ruins. She sat on a floating cot, taking deep breaths, drinking the water given to her by the passing medi-witches and keeping her hopes up when the passing cots carried patients under blood soaked white burlap sheets.
Suddenly, her eye caught a head of black hair peeking out of a passing cot. Ginny's eyes followed the floating patient, and her heartbeat heavily in her chest. It's him.
Jerking herself up, she stepped firmly into the ground and walked after the disappearing figure. Inside a small tent, surrounded by other wizards with severed hands and broken limbs, Ginny recognized him.
"Severus."
Weakly, the wizard turned his head towards her, a fleeting smirk on his lips before he slipped into unconsciousness.
"Severus!"
Ginny ran to his side and grabbed his cold hand betweens hers. "Please don't leave me, please." She held his knuckles to her lips and held them there tightly, begging whatever forces existed beyond the world to spare his life. He didn't deserve to die, not after all he had been through. She muttered incantations and spells of healing, hoping one of them would make his eyes open and his chest rise again. Among her words, Ginny whispered, I love you, Severus— and whether by wishful thinking or sheer luck, she swore his lips whispered something back.