He was always too heroic.
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Ginny had put it off for as long as she could. She'd been arguing with herself about it for months now. It would've been humiliating to admit that she was scared of the diary. It was just a book, everyone would think. An empty book at that. There wasn't anything to be afraid of.
She was more convinced than ever that the diary– that Tom– had made her attack the Muggle-borns. She had nightmares of snakes for some reason. There were times when she looked at her hands and still saw blood on them, like at Halloween. Most damning of all– ever since she'd gotten rid of the book, the attacks had stopped.
But the nagging voice in her head– Tom's voice– told her that it was only a matter of time before the attacks started again. And since Harry had the book now, he'd be responsible for it. She was more scared about that happening than about Tom revealing to Harry everything she'd said about him. Okay, she was terrified of both those possibilities, but the idea of Harry causing the next attack was worse. If an attack was going to happen again, she couldn't let Harry take the fall for it.
And besides, there was a chance she was overreacting. It'd been so long since she'd actually written in the diary. She'd probably overexaggerated everything in her memory.
So, while everyone was at dinner, she snuck into the Gryffindor boys' dormitory. She knew Harry's bed was next to Ron's, and she immediately recognised Ron's mess, which meant the bed she was standing in front of had to be Harry's. If this hadn't been so important and risky, she probably would've been petrified or blushing as she rifled through everything in Harry's trunk, looking for the small black book. She finally found it at the very bottom and snatched it up, racing out of the dormitory without bothering to clean anything. There wasn't enough time. She returned the diary to her trunk and, as calmly as possible, went downstairs for dinner. If anybody had asked, she would've told them that she'd been doing homework and didn't notice the time. But nobody asked.
After dinner, Ginny resolved to not even bother writing in the diary again. If she didn't write in it, it couldn't cause her any more problems. She was satisfied with that decision until she was lying in bed that night.
Thrum.
Thrum.
Thrum.
It was like the diary had a heartbeat, and it was growing louder by the second.
Thrum.
None of her roommates had reacted to it yet, but she was positive they'd hear it if she didn't stop the noise.
Thrum. Thrum. Thrum.
Quickly, she scrambled to the trunk and opened it, grabbing the diary and getting back into bed. The pounding stopped.
Ginny exhaled with relief. Somehow though, without her even realising it, the diary had opened. Her wand was lit, and there was a quill in her hand. She didn't even remember grabbing a quill. It felt like she was an outside spectator, watching as she wrote in the diary: Hello, Tom.
Tom's reply came immediately: I was wondering when you'd come back to me, Ginny. I thought I warned you about what would happen if you got rid of me.
Ginny wrote furiously. I'm not going to do what you tell me to do. You can't control me!
She thought she heard laughter in her head as everything went dark.
When she came to, sunlight was pouring into the dormitory. Ginny blinked and rubbed at her eyes. The diary! Where was it?
She stumbled out of bed and threw her trunk open. It was there, sitting on top, where it had been last night. Had she dreamed that she'd written in it again?
Ginny turned around as footsteps pounded up the stairs outside. Her door was flung open, and Mia stood there, sporting Gryffindor attire. The Quidditch match! Had it already happened?
"Did you hear?" Mia asked, apparently not noticing that Ginny was very clearly still in her pyjamas.
"Hear what?" Ginny asked hesitantly.
"Oh my gosh! You slept through everything? There was another attack, and Quidditch was cancelled!"
Ginny released the lid of her trunk, and it slammed shut. "Who– who was attacked?"
"A Ravenclaw prefect and Hermione Granger," Mia answered sadly. "It's awful."
Ginny suddenly found it incredibly difficult to breathe. Somehow, Tom had made her attack again, and this time, one of her only friends was the victim. Hermione was always so nice to her, and she was one of Ron's best friends too. What had she done?
She didn't hear if Mia said anything more before leaving the room again. She sat on the edge of the bed, staring at her hands. To her, they seemed to be covered in blood. There was no way out for her. If she confessed, she'd be expelled and probably sent to Azkaban. And if she didn't, more people would get hurt. She'd thought she was strong before all this happened, but now… she just felt helpless.
Ginny hated feeling helpless. She'd hated it before everything had happened in her first year. She'd hated it even more after all that. After she'd had her ability to think for herself stripped from her, she swore to never let herself be helpless again. Yet she seemed to find herself in that position with somewhat alarming regularity when Harry was involved.
Harry had defied all logic for her for practically her entire life. She didn't think she seemed like the kind of girl who would've been hung up on a boy for years. But she was, even if logic suggested that she should've moved on because he wouldn't ever feel the same. Logic probably suggested that it was perilous to fall in love with someone who seemed to be followed by danger, but she'd fallen impossibly hard for him.
Logic definitely suggested not taking back a boy who had dumped her and ran away for nine months, but she took him back the second he offered. And logic suggested that, given their history, it would be foolish to hope for a safe and happy future. But with Harry, she'd damned all logic and dared to hope.
She saw where that got her. Sitting on the floor of a corridor, staring blankly at a wall because she didn't have any more tears to cry. People had probably walked past without her noticing. For all she knew, her family had tried to get her to come back inside their private waiting room. She didn't really know what was going on. She felt numb. She felt scared. She felt helpless.
The mission had seemed reckless and dangerous from the start. Six teenagers flying to London to fight Voldemort and his Death Eaters defied all logic. But none of them were going to let Harry go alone, and she had a score to settle with Voldemort anyways.
It seemed even more reckless and dangerous once they learned that Sirius wasn't even there. It had been a trap, and they were surrounded by Death Eaters. Harry, as usual, was being stupidly brave, but she supposed they all were today. She was still pissed off at him for trying to keep her from coming, but they'd settle that after they made it out. Besides, he redeemed himself a bit when he stepped directly in front of her, protecting her from Bellatrix's threats.
Ginny's brain was on high alert, her eyes darting around wildly. Harry was doing his best to delay while they waited for help from the Order, but it was becoming apparent that the Order wasn't going to make it in time. Hermione whispered to her that she needed to smash the shelves when Harry said. Ginny's breath sped up until he shouted the signal.
"Reducto!" Ginny cast, causing the prophecies to their right to explode. She didn't need Harry's encouragement to run. She sprinted ahead, following Ron and Luna as they turned left at the end of the row and burst into a room that looked like an ordinary sort of Ministry room, except for the planets floating in a seemingly cavernous space above their heads. It was a bizarre contrast, seeing the darkness of space overhead and lamps shining brightly on desks, like two worlds had collided in the same room for some strange reason.
Ginny tried to calm herself by watching the orbiting planets, but it didn't work. Harry, Hermione, and Neville were supposed to be with them, but they'd gotten separated somehow, which was terrifying and dangerous.
"Where are they?" Ron asked, pacing worriedly moments after Ginny shut the door. They were all anxiously waiting for that door to open, thinking it more likely that foes would be there than friends.
"They must've turned right," Luna replied, sounding calm despite the danger.
Suddenly, they heard low voices outside the door. Without saying anything, they all ducked behind the nearest piece of furniture: a large wooden desk.
"They're in here somewhere. Pull that lever," a harsh voice instructed. A second later, they heard a click, and somehow, everything in the room, including desks, chairs, and people, began floating. And their cover was blown.
"Stupefy!" Ginny and Ron both cast as they were revealed, hitting a Death Eater square in the face and throwing him against the wall. He crumpled even as his body continued floating.
The Death Eaters seemed to have a better understanding of how to navigate the floating space than they did. Ginny, Ron, and Luna were all sort of bobbing around uncontrollably, while the Death Eaters were very steadily moving towards them, firing streaks of light past them.
"Expelliarmus!" Luna cast, catching another one of the Death Eaters by surprise. His wand floated far away from him, but he decided to keep chasing them instead. They were trying to get to the door on the opposite side of the room, but flying desks and orbiting planets kept getting in the way.
Ginny pushed off Mars, propelling herself forward as it shot back into the face of a Death Eater. She turned around. "Stupefy!"
Two Death Eaters were stunned, one was disarmed, and one was still very much armed and awake. He slashed his wand through the air, and Ron was hit with some blue jet of light as he tried to get past Uranus.
Ginny gasped in horror, but Ron just started giggling. "Look. Look! It's Uranus! Get it? Uranus!"
"Stupefy!" Ginny cast, knocking out the last armed Death Eater. She pushed off of Neptune, sending it crashing into Saturn, and floated over to Ron. He just kept giggling as she started dragging him to the edge of the room. Luna had already made it and was standing in the doorway, where gravity apparently started working again.
Ginny pushed Ron down to the ground, and Luna caught him, standing him upright next to her. "Hurry, Ginny!"
Ginny was about to dive to the ground when she felt a hand grab her ankle. The unarmed Death Eater had caught up. She reared her leg back to kick him in the face, but as she connected, she heard Luna shout, "Reducto!"
She was blasted to the ground, landing roughly, but she felt okay. "Thanks," she said to Luna as she stood up before a searing pain shot up her leg from her ankle and she crumpled to the ground. "Damn," she groaned, briefly seeing spots.
"I'm sorry, Ginny! We need to go now though!"
Ginny gritted her teeth and nodded, pushing herself back onto her feet and putting much more weight on her strong leg. "Get Ron," she instructed before hobbling along, as fast as she could. Every step brought a new wave of agony over her, and she was out of breath after twenty feet. She kept going, following Luna and Ron as closely as she could, down one corridor and through a door Luna opened.
It was a relief to see Harry, but Ginny thought she was going to black out if she stayed on her ankle any longer.
"Ginny? What happened?" Harry asked, sounding terrified for her.
If she opened her mouth, she thought she might scream, so she just shook her head as she slid down the wall. She tried to catch her breath and covered her ankle with her hand so she wouldn't see just how bad the damage was. Although, she could feel that a piece of her bone was moving in ways it was not supposed to be able to move, which didn't help at all with not thinking about it.
She closed her eyes and desperately hoped that the pain would stop. She thought Luna was explaining what had happened, but she wasn't fully aware of anything until Luna tried to help her up.
"It's only my ankle, I can do it myself!" Ginny snapped, pushing Luna away, wanting to be independent, to be an asset rather than a liability on this mission. The second she put weight on her ankle though, it completely gave way and she slumped into Luna, who helped her remain upright. She was a helpless liability now.
Everything was a blur after that. She thought she almost fainted with every step she took with Luna, unable to help but put some weight on her legs as they rushed away from the pursuing Death Eaters. She wasn't sure if she was hallucinating or not when they entered a room that held a tank of brains. Luna had helped her down in order to seal the doors, but it was no use. The Death Eaters had caught up to them. The only thing keeping them from death was… Ron summoning a brain.
Ginny watched, convinced she was hallucinating now, as tentacles sprouting out of the brain began to wrap around her brother's chest and face. Just in case it was real, she shouted, "Harry, it'll suffocate him!"
Then there was a flash of red, and everything went dark.
Ginny woke slowly, groaning in pain from her ankle. She had no idea what had happened, how long it had been. She could hear Luna somewhere nearby, groaning too. And Ron was on the other side of her, still giggling weakly.
She tried to stand, but the pain was overwhelming. She'd never felt anything worse than this before, shocks shooting up her leg, dragging her to the ground. She had to stand though. The rest of her friends could still be in danger. She couldn't be helpless here on the ground, hoping they'd survive and come back for her.
She tried standing again and, once again, fell to the ground with an involuntary cry, cracking her knees on the hard floor in the process. She gritted her teeth against the pain and willed herself into a seated position, at least, so maybe she could be of some use, even though every part of her wanted to slip back into unconsciousness.
When she heard footsteps, she looked up hopefully and recoiled when, of all people, Bellatrix Lestrange burst through the door. Bellatrix fired a curse backwards, causing the tank of brains to tip over, and Ginny scrambled for her wand. By the time she grabbed her wand, Bellatrix was gone, and… Harry was covered by the contents of the tank. Ginny gasped and tried to help, but Harry had already taken care of the problem.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry cast, making the brains float to the ceiling before he ran off, following Bellatrix.
"Harry, what's going… on?" Ginny finished to herself since Harry had already left the room. "For Merlin's sake, be careful," she muttered, shaking her head and keeping an eye on the door in case any more Death Eaters came through.
"Wingardium Leviosa," she cast as the brains started floating back down, making sure they stayed far away from her, Ron, and Luna. At least she was doing something here, even if she was completely and utterly helpless with Harry, Hermione, and Neville. And it kept her mind off the pain that made her wish she was still unconscious.
"They say that staring at blank walls is a sign of madness, you know?"
The deep voice broke Ginny out of her memories. She looked in the direction of it and flinched, not expecting to see someone sitting next to her. And she certainly wasn't expecting that someone to be the Minister for Magic.
"I was just–"
Kingsley nodded. "I know. I've been staring with you for a few minutes now."
She must've been even more out of it than she'd thought. "So you heard about Harry?"
Kingsley inclined his head slightly. "You did send me a Patronus."
Ginny had completely forgotten about that. The beach in Weymouth seemed like ages ago.
"When I got your Patronus, I asked our Auror Office to check around their stations for him. But then we got word of a disturbance in Diagon Alley, and I had a pretty good idea that Harry was involved. I would've come sooner, but I was informed that Harry had already been brought here, and I wanted to aid Eamon in the investigation and cleanup."
"So you know what happened then?" Ginny asked, not sure why it even mattered. It wouldn't change anything with Harry, and that was all that she cared about.
"We have a fairly reasonable picture of what happened. If you want, we can go in that room, and I'll tell you and your family everything."
Ginny nodded, but before she stood up, she looked back at Kingsley again. "Have you heard how bad his condition is?"
Kingsley cleared his throat. "Officially, no because I am not his next of kin, and you haven't told me."
"And unofficially?"
"People talk when the Minister for Magic asks them questions."
Ginny might have smiled under different circumstances. Instead, she just felt a dull ache. Harry would've thought that was funny. "You used to be an Auror. I guess you saw injuries all the time… have you ever–"
"I'll be honest with you, Ginny, because I know just how strong you are. I don't think I've ever heard of injuries this severe that an Auror survived."
Ginny exhaled slowly, desperately telling herself that it didn't mean anything for Harry.
"However, I would also say that I'd never heard of someone surviving the Killing Curse until Harry did. Twice. Even beyond that, Harry's done and survived things that most would've considered impossible. I'm not counting him out. In fact, I'd be more surprised if he didn't pull through because he seems more determined than anyone I've ever met to keep living."
Ginny pressed her lips together and nodded, wiping her eyes before she stood up. Kingsley was right behind her when she opened the door to the waiting room. Everyone still seemed to be silent, reeling from everything that had happened. At least nobody was crying at the moment. Ginny wondered if that would change when Kingsley talked to them.
They all sat up a little straighter when Kingsley entered, until he took a chair and sat by the door. Ginny returned to the spot between Hermione and her mum and looked back at Kingsley, who seemed to be struggling with what to say.
"I'm sorry that you're all going through this right now. I'm sorry for Harry more than anyone. I know how much you all love him, and I hope you know that I do love him too. And I promise I'll tell him that when he wakes up," Kingsley said, exhaling a puff of air as a feeble attempt at laughing.
"I've just finished investigating the scene with Eamon and his team of Aurors. I'm not technically supposed to be telling you any of this information while the investigation at large is still ongoing, but you all have a right to know, so I'll be as honest as possible, even though it won't be easy to hear."
Ginny nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat that wouldn't go away.
"We've spoken with eyewitnesses and examined all the evidence we could find, so we feel like we have an accurate idea of what happened. Harry was in a store in Diagon Alley–" Kingsley's eyes darted to Ginny for a brief second "– for around an hour. After he left the store, he was ambushed by four Death Eaters."
"Death Eaters?" Ron exclaimed at the same instant that Charlie exclaimed, "Four?"
Kingsley nodded. "I've been keeping Harry posted on the status of our hunt for the remaining Death Eaters. Before today, there were six still at large. And yes, Harry was attacked by Travers, Rookwood, and the Carrow twins."
It didn't seem like it should've been possible for pain to get even worse, but it did. The Carrows had come back to haunt her one final time, and in the worst way possible. She would've withstood a hundred rounds of the Cruciatus if she didn't have to bear this hopeless agony and waiting. And, more importantly, Harry wouldn't have been in any pain either. Instead, they'd moved from tormenting her physically to emotionally, while nearly killing the love of her life. She wanted to kill them.
"They chased him down a side street, where he stunned Amycus Carrow. Then he ran back the other way and turned onto the main thoroughfare of Diagon Alley when he was confronted by Florean Fortescue, who attacked him under the influence of the Imperius Curse."
Ginny already couldn't believe what she was hearing. Florean? Under the Imperius Curse? Had he cursed ever since he'd returned from allegedly being in hiding? Harry must've been so confused, being attacked by someone he considered to be a friend.
"Harry stunned him as well. Then it becomes a little less clear exactly what happened. There's a lot of evidence of curses being cast around Diagon Alley in front of Florean's shop– broken windows, cracked stone– but somehow, Harry put some distance between himself and the remaining three Death Eaters. Soon after that, he threw a cart and hit Travers with it, simultaneously being hit in the stomach with a Cutting Curse. The shop owners who had been with Harry earlier saw it happen and stunned Travers before he could stand back up. Then Harry cast a Shield Charm between them and Alecto, which launched them back into their shop. They're very old, and they did their best to come to his aid again, but they simply didn't have the strength. They watched everything else that unfolded though from inside their shop, so everything from here on is completely accurate."
Even though Ginny knew how the story ultimately ended, her pulse was racing. She wasn't sure she wanted to know how Harry had ended up like this. But she had to know.
"When Harry cast the shield, Rookwood was able to hit him with some curse that weakened Harry greatly. He tried to stand when Alecto hit his leg with a Cutting Curse. The witnesses and the evidence on the scene shows that they threw several projectiles at each other, and Harry used transfiguration to protect himself as well as hit Alecto in the shoulder with a knife."
Ginny felt a burst of pride for Harry, hurting her former tormentor in that way, despite how things turned out.
"Harry was hit with a Cutting Curse to the chest, but he stayed on his feet as Alecto ran at him. At the same time that she cast the Cruciatus Curse on him, he cast some curse that caused several cuts along her body, including one that severed her wand hand, breaking the curse on Harry."
Nobody was moving or even daring to blink. Ginny almost couldn't believe he'd held his own, as injured as he was, against four Death Eaters at once. Of course, she knew him, and she could believe it, but still, it sounded impossible.
"The witnesses reported that in the fight, Rookwood used a… highly dangerous, volatile, mysterious type of magic. Essentially, he harnessed electrical power to shoot lightning bolts at Harry, even though we have no idea how he managed that."
Her mum gasped next to her as Ginny's mouth opened slightly, her eyes widened in horror. Amelia had said that he had three burns that looked like they'd been caused by lightning, but it hadn't seemed possible until now.
"We suspect that when Harry protected the shop owners, the curse he was hit with was this lightning, on his shoulder. Harry was hit in the chest by Rookwood with another bolt as he stood up. Then… Ron and Hermione showed up, at the entrance to Diagon Alley."
Ginny glanced over and saw Hermione's cheeks shining with silently shed tears. Ron's face was pale and his eyes closed, as if he was trying to block out the memory.
"In an effort to buy time, Rookwood transfigured stones into knives that were launched away from him. Harry wasn't able to deflect all of them, and one hit him in the stomach."
Kingsley was visibly shaken at this point, like the rest of them were. But he was obviously at the end of his story, so he took a breath and finished. "Rookwood seemed to realise he was out of time. He shot one final bolt of lightning at Harry, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione all cast stunners at him. Harry was hit and… hasn't woken up yet. Rookwood, with his age, the three stunners, and what we can only assume was a massive amount of effort to create the lightning, was dead when we arrived. Ron and Hermione apparated with Harry here, and Aurors arrived in Diagon Alley minutes later."
The silence was deafening. Ginny couldn't decide which was worse– knowing how much pain Harry must've been in or knowing how heroic he'd been in the end. He was always too heroic. She felt like she might be sick. A terrible thought came into her head suddenly. If he hadn't protected those shop owners, he wouldn't have been hit by the lightning the first time. Kingsley said that weakened him. He may have won if not for that. But he was too good a person to possibly consider letting innocent people get hurt, and she loved him for that, even if she was almost certainly going to be sick now.
"You did catch the other Death Eaters?" Charlie asked several moments later.
"Travers and Amycus were still unconscious when we got there. They're being held for questioning and then will be sent to Azkaban to await trial."
"And the other one? Alecto?" Bill pressed, looking angrier than Ginny could ever remember seeing him.
Kingsley sighed and looked down at the ground. "Alecto was able to disapparate away. We found her hand, but her wand was gone."
"He fought four Death Eaters by himself," Charlie whispered, shaking his head. If it hadn't been so quiet, none of them would've heard it.
"He fought better than any Auror on the force would've," Kingsley replied solemnly. "I know that knowing doesn't make things easier, but–"
"He was a hero," George said dully. "Again."
"He is a hero," Ginny corrected before she realised she'd spoken. "He's not dead."
The sad looks everyone was giving her made her feel like she was the one in the wrong.
Kingsley nodded. "He is most certainly a hero. I'm doing everything I can to ensure that he's receiving the best possible care, and he'll be protected around the clock. And I promise, we're going to find Alecto while the trail's still hot. We'll crack Travers or Amycus."
"You said there were two more Death Eaters out there. Why weren't they there too?" Charlie asked, somehow managing to keep the clearest head out of any of them. "And are they gonna show up now that they know he's been attacked?"
"We have reason to believe the Lestrange brothers have fled the country and may be hiding in France. We're still trying to coordinate with the French Ministry to search for them, but it's slow going. After the battle, the Death Eaters broke up into several small groups. We almost always caught multiple Death Eaters together. This group was just better at hiding, likely because Rookwood was with them. He was a terrible, evil man, but he was incredibly intelligent too."
"Is Florean okay?" Ginny's dad spoke for the first time, with a raw voice. Ginny hadn't even thought of that, and she felt the tiniest bit of relief when Kingsley nodded.
"We revived Florean, who actually had memories of his entire time under the Imperius Curse. He said that he'd been captured by Rookwood and kept in a dungeon for months. He had no idea what was going on in the outside world, but one day, Rookwood Imperiused him and told him to go back to his life and say that he'd been hiding in France."
"But why?" Bill asked. "How much help could he be to this plan of theirs?"
"He was told to watch for Harry and report any time he saw him in Diagon Alley," Kingsley answered grimly.
She almost couldn't believe it when Hermione spoke, sounding like she was still holding back tears as her voice shook. "That's completely illogical. The odds of Diagon Alley being the best place for… this was incredibly low. Why would Mister Fortescue be the only… oh."
Kingsley nodded. "We came to the same conclusion."
"What conclusion?" Charlie asked.
"Mister Fortescue wasn't the only spy," Hermione whispered, and Ginny felt a chill sweep over her. Harry had been watched all year. Likely by people he thought were his friends, like Florean Fortescue, trapped under the Imperius Curse and incapable of thinking for themselves.
"The Imperius Curse on Florean broke when Rookwood died. We expect that whoever else he Imperiused will be aware of it now that it's broken on them, so hopefully they'll let us know. And we'll be sure to bring that up in our interrogations of Amycus and Travers. Actually… if there aren't any more questions I can answer, I'm going to go and attend those interrogations now."
None of them had anything left to ask. Ginny had no interest in learning anything more about what had happened in Diagon Alley. She was horrified enough.
"Thank you, Kingsley," her dad said. "I know this is difficult for you too."
Kingsley nodded, and for an instant, Ginny saw how much pain he was in. He truly saw Harry as a friend, and he was torn between wanting to be there for him and having responsibilities of his position that required him to be impartial.
"Absolutely. Please let me know– send a Patronus– if you find out anything. I'll be back to check in soon and give any updates I have on the investigation."
He stood up and looked at them again. "Have faith. Harry's a warrior. He's going to fight through this."
Unbidden and maybe embarrassingly, Ginny stood and hugged Kingsley for a brief moment. He hugged her tightly. "You're a warrior too," he whispered to her. She nodded, pressing her lips together to keep from becoming overly emotional, and returned to her seat as Kingsley left the room.
Ginny sat down again, looking down at the ground. She couldn't bear to look at anyone else.
Her mum sniffled next to her. "Some of us should go back home and get some sleep," she said shakily.
All their voices rang out in unison. "No!"
It must've been well past midnight, but there wasn't a chance any of them were leaving tonight.
"Arthur…"
Her dad cleared his throat. "Your mother's right. We're not going to do Harry any good if we're all exhausted. Some of you should go back home and rest, and in a few hours, you can come back and relieve the ones who stayed. If anything happens…"
"We'll set up cots, then." Ginny looked up, surprised to hear Percy speak for the first time since she'd arrived at the hospital. He still wore a shellshocked look on his face, but there was steely resolution in his eyes. None of them were leaving tonight.
"We'll transfigure the chairs," Bill agreed.
Their parents didn't try to dissuade them anymore. They knew better than anyone how stubborn the Weasleys were, particularly when it came to the people they loved. They were all going to stay for Harry. If they got news, they all wanted to be there right away.
Minutes later, the room was filled with ten cots and no room to step between them. As part of an unspoken agreement, Ginny was given the cot closest to the door. Once everyone was as settled as they could be, Ron put out the lights, and they were plunged into darkness.
As soon as the train pulled out of the station, Ginny began drinking the horrid-tasting Hair Growth Potion. It had been a painful, embarrassing month since Alecto broke her nose, knocked out some teeth, and shaved her head to make her an example to everyone. Nobody outside of Slytherin made fun of her for how she looked, and even some of them looked horrified at what had been done to her. Astoria Greengrass could barely look at her when they were in class together, seeming like she might cry when she did.
"It's working," Neville said a moment later.
Ginny nodded and ran her tongue over her teeth again. Madam Pomfrey had just fixed them before she left Hogwarts, and it still didn't feel real, like at any second, her teeth were going to fall out again.
"You didn't look bad without any hair," Luna offered. Seeing Ginny's dubious look, she admitted, "You will look much better when your hair is back though."
Ginny snorted. "No kidding. So we need to start talking about what we want to do next term. I know we got under the Carrows' skin this term, but I really think we can do more to mess with them."
As soon as she said that, the door to their compartment slid open, and Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle stood there.
"Fuck off, Malfoy," Ginny growled.
"What's the matter, Weasley? Missing your boyfriend? Must be hard for you, knowing that he picked that Mudblood Granger over you. Although it's not like either option was any good, really."
Ginny inhaled slowly.
"Leave us alone, Malfoy!" Neville commanded, pointing his wand at them.
"Right, what are you gonna do about it then, Longbottom?" Malfoy spat derisively. When Neville hesitated, he sneered. "That's what I thought."
"You don't have to be like them," Ginny said shakily, holding her anger in as best as she could.
She thought she saw the faintest flicker of doubt on his face before he smirked. "I don't have to win? Because that's what this is. You've all lost."
"As long as there's still good in the world, we haven't lost," Luna replied simply.
"Right. About that…" Malfoy began, and then Crabbe and Goyle were in their compartment, grabbing Luna and pulling her out of her seat.
"Wha– hey!" Neville exclaimed, standing up from his seat and brandishing his wand before Crabbe brutally punched him in the face and he fell back, unconscious.
"Put the wand down, Weasley. Or you'll be hearing Longbottom's screams all the way back to London."
Ginny was shaking with anger, red-faced and genuinely considering trying to fight anyways. But then Luna spoke up.
"I'll be okay, Ginny. Remember, we haven't lost."
"Shut up," Goyle growled, pulling Luna forcefully out of the compartment with Crabbe.
Malfoy looked back at her and narrowed his eyes. Ginny stared back at him with contempt until he turned and followed his cronies. The train slowed to a stop a minute later, and she saw two men in dark hoods standing outside the train.
She couldn't bear to watch the exchange. Why had they taken Luna, of all people? And why had Ginny been helpless to do anything about it? Yet another person she cared about was gone. Her heart hurt. Surely there had to be a limit to how much pain they could endure. Ginny was sure she was past that limit, as, once again, she'd been helpless to do anything to protect someone she cared about.
Luna had said they hadn't lost. And she was right. They were still fighting. Ginny refused to allow herself to be helpless while more people she cared about got hurt. The time had passed for pranks to annoy the Carrows. There wasn't a lot she could contribute to the war effort, but she could make life much harder on them at Hogwarts. She would fight, for Luna, to give them as much hell as she possibly could. She was done being helpless.
Ginny couldn't sleep. She guessed that nobody around her was sleeping, either. Not knowing what was going on was eating her alive. Everyone was acting like Harry was dead or on the brink of death, but she refused to believe it. He had to fight.
If she could see him, she'd know. All she wanted was to be by his side. Well, she also wanted to hunt down Alecto Carrow, but Kingsley seemed to be taking care of that, and Ginny wouldn't have known the first place to start. But she did know how she could find Harry. He'd be on the fourth floor, where patients with spell damage stayed. She wasn't supposed to go there, but she had a way of getting around that.
Ginny slowly pulled herself out of the cot, trying to keep from making any noise. If asked, she'd say she was going to the loo. Thankfully, nobody asked her, even when she slowly eased the door open and slipped outside into the corridor she was all too familiar with at this point.
She withdrew Harry's mokeskin pouch from her pocket. A long time ago, they'd charmed it so that she could get into it if she needed to, just like her mokeskin bag was charmed so he had access. Ginny hadn't ever had a reason to open it before, but currently, there was a very important piece of her plan inside the pouch.
She opened it and pulled on the Invisibility Cloak until the whole thing was out of the pouch. She was about to put it over her head when a faint sound caught her attention. On the ground, there was a small, crumpled up piece of paper. Ginny wouldn't have paid it any mind except that she thought it had come out of Harry's pouch, so she crouched down to pick it up.
Smoothing it out, her breath hitched when she saw that it was an envelope with a single word written on the outside of it. Her name. Ginny.
Instantly, a painful struggle broke out within her. Harry hadn't actually given this to her. Considering where it was, he almost certainly hadn't intended for her to find it on her own. But it was a letter to her. From her boyfriend who was in a coma and maybe still being operated on right now. She couldn't possibly not read it. She was positive that Harry would've been the exact same way if their roles were reversed, so she tried not to feel too bad when she unsealed the envelope, making the paper crackle as she did.
Her hands were trembling, and her heart was racing uncontrollably as she carefully withdrew the folded piece of paper. She took a shaky breath, and then she unfolded it, feeling a pain in her gut, seeing Harry's familiarly messy handwriting. And then she read.
Ginny,
I don't really know why I'm writing this to be honest. I don't know that you'd want to hear from me, even if I could find a way to get this to you without putting you in danger. I don't think I'd want to hear from me if I was in your place.
I wish I could say that we're doing well and have been staying safe. We've run into Death Eaters a couple times, but that wasn't anything too out of the ordinary. But last night, we were seconds away from being killed by Voldemort, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared, even if I wouldn't say it to anyone but you.
I'm not scared of him. I don't think I'm actually scared of dying, either. I'm sure you've guessed that I don't expect to make it through this alive. I'm doing my best, but nights like last night make me think it might not work. The only thing I'm scared of is the people I care about being hurt by him before I can do what I have to do to defeat him.
Today's Christmas. I don't know how long this will all last, don't know if this is the last— well, you know. I've always liked Christmas. It seemed like the one time in the year when anything could happen, even if everything else around was total hell.
I know a lot of last Christmas seemed rough, but I'd give anything to be there again. I still remember making those paper chains on your porch and playing in the snow. I think about that a lot now. Merlin, I was so stupid for taking so long to realise how much I liked you. I wish we had more time together. But even if we never get that, the time we had will always be the best time of my life. I'm doing everything to get more of it though. More than anything, that's what I'd like for Christmas.
I'm trying my best not to tempt myself with fantasies like that though. If I survive all this somehow, I promise I'll find you and never leave again if you'll let me. I hate that I had to leave in the first place and hurt you, but honestly, knowing that you're okay is keeping me going. You're at home now, but when you're at Hogwarts, I watch you on the Marauder's Map, just to know you're okay. Bloody hell, that sounds so pathetic, but it's the truth. I'm sure things are hard there, but as long as I see your dot on the map, it helps a little.
I don't know if you've moved on from me. It'd probably be smart of you to have already moved on, considering everything. I know I haven't though, and I really hope that you haven't if we make it through all this somehow.
But if things don't work out that way– if you survive and I don't– I want you to be happy. I dream about your smile more than I should probably admit, and I don't want you to ever lose that. Everything about all this is miserable, but if we win, do what you have to do to be happy, even if it means forgetting about me. You deserve it more than anybody.
I miss you, Gin. I hope you never have to see this letter, and I don't know how it'll get to you if— anyways, I wanted to write it just in case. If nothing else, I don't want you to think that I wasn't thinking about you every day. Because I haven't stopped. And I won't stop thinking about you, but that's why I can't come back or contact you. I just need you to be safe. You're what matters. If I don't make it, I want you to be happy, but I swear I'll do everything I can to make it back to you. I still owe you our forever.
Love,
Harry
Ginny stared at the paper for a long time after she finished reading. Her heart had been completely wrung out again. It took her a while to realise that the spots of moisture forming on the paper were her own tears. It felt like she was seeing Harry's hand pointing to mortal peril all over again, but even worse because she knew just how mortal this peril actually was.
He'd written this letter to her over a year ago, when he'd been on the run and afraid for his life, and somehow, because the world couldn't ever allow them to have peace, it was just as applicable and painful now as it would've been if she'd received the letter the day it had been written. They hadn't even had a year of peace. What on earth had they done to cause so much danger and heartache to follow them wherever they went?
The door creaked open to her left. Ginny didn't acknowledge that anyone had come out until Hermione sat next to her.
"What's–" Hermione started quietly, but Ginny just pushed the paper into her hands. There wasn't any point in hiding it, and she didn't have the words to summarise it. Hermione read it silently, faster than Ginny had.
"Ginny…" Hermione began before reaching out and taking Ginny's hand in hers. Ginny bit her lip and leaned her head back against the wall. Tears were drying on her face, but she didn't see a point in wiping them off when more would take their place.
"Why does this keep happening to us?" Ginny asked in a low voice.
She couldn't believe it when she heard Hermione's least favourite sentence ever. "I don't know."
But of course, she could believe it. Because there was no explanation for why fate had cursed them. Ginny wouldn't trade the life she had, with her family, her friends, and Harry, for anything. But was the price of that happiness suffering life-threatening attacks and heartbreaking loss at every turn?
Hermione's voice was shaky. "Do– do you know when I knew Harry had feelings for you?"
Ginny looked warily towards Hermione, whose eyes were swimming with tears. She didn't answer.
"I started thinking it when you argued with him that Christmas and he didn't get upset at you. He would've been upset at any of us, but… not you. But that wasn't the biggest hint to me. After the Department of Mysteries, you made him laugh in the Hospital Wing. It sounds stupid, but– but that's when I knew. Cho never made him laugh. But you did. It was… much more obvious to me later that summer, but I knew then, probably before he even realised it."
"He– he said he figured it out when we went back to school that September," Ginny responded.
Hermione tried to smile. "Nobody's ever accused him of being the brightest."
"I wish he'd told me sooner. I know I was with Dean, but… you know it's been almost three years since that summer? And we've barely even been together, like together together, for a full year. And now…"
"I know. I'd give anything– and I do mean anything– if it would help him get better. But this letter… it's a gift, Ginny."
Ginny pressed her lips together in a tight line. "It really doesn't feel like it," she whispered, her voice breaking slightly.
Hermione squeezed her hand. "It is though. Because it shows you just how hard Harry's going to fight to be okay. Just like he always has. I mean, with how he looked…"
Ginny looked at her and saw tears running down her cheeks again. "How– how bad did he look?" Ginny asked. She had a pretty gruesome image of it in her mind, and she didn't really want to think about it, but, like with everything else, she had to know as much as she could.
Hermione shook her head and blinked the tears away before breaking into louder sniffles. Ginny put her arm around Hermione, who was trembling now, knowing there wasn't much she could do to comfort her.
"I– I thought he was dead when– when we got to him. There was… so much blood, and the burns… I lost my head. If– if it hadn't been for Ron, we never would've gotten him here. He kept calm, knew what to do when I didn't," Hermione finally said, fighting against her tears as much as she could and losing the battle. She slowly calmed down and wiped her eyes. "The fact that he's still alive… he's already made it further than most people could've."
That didn't surprise her at all. "He's going to be okay. He has to be okay," Ginny said, to herself as much as to Hermione. Hermione sniffled again and nodded before resting her head on Ginny's shoulder. Ginny closed her eyes and tried to think of something better than what they were dealing with right now.
Ginny didn't even want to think about where she'd be without Quidditch. When she was in the air, her problems and worries disappeared. And the best parts of her life seemed even better up here. Today was one of those really good days when nothing could go wrong. She, Katie, and Demelza were all working together brilliantly, but Ron was doing a great job making things tough on them.
Ginny had just taken a pass from Demelza, faked left and cut right before firing the Quaffle across her body through the middle goalpost that Ron had just vacated. She spun around and grinned at her fellow Chasers, pumping her fist. Behind them, Harry was grinning at her too.
She shrugged nonchalantly, like it wasn't a big deal, and he shook his head but smiled even wider. "Heads up!" Ginny called out as a Bludger rocketed towards him. He barrel rolled out of the way before straightening out and giving her a lopsided smile that made her heart do a somersault.
"Smooth!" Ginny shouted, and it was Harry's turn to shrug casually before going into a dive after the Snitch, which he'd somehow managed to see while they were joking around.
A few seconds later, he pulled out of his dive with the Snitch in his fist without celebrating at all. While the Chasers set up their next drill, he released it again.
Now, they were taking turns on 2 on 1 counterattacks. They started with Ginny and Demelza rushing towards Katie, with Ron manning the goals behind her. Jimmy and Ritchie hit Bludgers at them, but Ginny was able to make a pass for Demelza to get open, and her shot just barely clanged off the hoop.
"Damn it!" Demelza yelled in frustration.
"No problem. Let's go again. You two against me," Ginny said before getting into position.
Katie and Demelza flew towards her, passing the Quaffle easily between the two of them, trying to force Ginny into committing too early. She kept flying backwards, waiting on one of them to slip up. Suddenly, they accelerated, and Ginny had to spin around and fly with them instead of going backwards to have a chance. Ron came away from the posts to cut off Demelza, who had the Quaffle, and Demelza lobbed a pass over her shoulder to Katie. Ginny put on an extra burst of speed and lunged desperately, barely touching the Quaffle with her fingertips. But it was enough to knock it out of Katie's reach.
"Nice one," Katie said, giving her a fist bump.
"Thanks," Ginny replied, panting a little with the effort. She turned around when she heard a thud. There wasn't anything apparent that could've made the sound, but Harry was rubbing his leg like he was in pain as he took off to fly a lap around the pitch in search of the Snitch. He really seemed to be having an off day, but at least her day was going pretty well.
Practice started winding down shortly after. The Chasers had decided they were good for the day and were cooling off by tossing a Quaffle around with Ron. Jimmy and Ritchie were practising their aim by hitting the Bludgers across the width of the pitch at each other, and Harry was supposed to be catching the Snitch one final time.
Ginny laughed when Ron had to juggle the Quaffle in order to catch it and almost fell off his broom, and she saw, past him, that Harry seemed to only be pretending to look around for the Snitch. To her at least, it looked like his eyes were fixed on her, or them, even if his head was moving around.
Whatever Harry was looking at, it certainly wasn't his surroundings. She winced when a Bludger clipped his shoulder, almost throwing him off his broom.
"Ouch," Demelza said as they all flew over to him.
"You alright, mate?" Ron asked once they arrived and saw Harry grimacing and holding his shoulder.
"Yep. I'm good, just didn't see it. I think that's gonna be it for practice. You all can take off if you want. I've gotta get the Snitch though or Hooch will pitch a fit about me losing it."
"I'll help," Ginny quickly volunteered.
Harry hesitated and then nodded. "Yeah, okay. We'll see the rest of you up at the castle."
While everyone else returned to the ground, she and Harry continued flying around the stadium in search of the Snitch. It occurred to her that if they were trying to be efficient with their time, they'd be better served separating rather than flying next to each other, but she wasn't going to point that out if Harry wasn't.
"Did you get hit by another Bludger earlier?" Ginny asked suddenly.
Harry exhaled, annoyed with himself. "Took it off my thigh. Not my day apparently."
"You can't see Bludgers now? Then how are you supposed to find the Snitch next week against Slytherin?" Ginny teased.
Harry rolled his eyes. "I guess I got a little distracted," he admitted while steadfastly looking away from her.
She could feel her cheeks reddening slightly as she tried to hold her smile in. "Interesting. Did you see anything you liked?" Ginny asked, feeling rather daring and wondering if this was the moment she'd been hoping for.
"I– uh– yeah," Harry replied with great difficulty, and Ginny saw how red the tips of his ears were in the light of the setting sun. Her heart sped up. "I always like to see the team having good practices."
She could've ripped her hair out or strangled him. Could she have been any more obvious? She'd already broken up with Dean and removed the last possible obstacle to him asking her out. She couldn't think of a single reason that he wouldn't ask her. By this point, she felt positive that he wanted to. He'd taken two Bludgers and almost gotten hit by a third because he couldn't stop watching her. Or, at least, that was how it seemed to her.
Ginny wasn't sure how she could be more obvious, short of yanking him off his broom and kissing him until he got the idea, which didn't sound like a terrible idea, honestly. But she'd already decided that Harry had to make the first move, to show that she wasn't seeing things that weren't really there like she had when she was younger. There was something real between them, and she thought they both knew it. After all the time she'd been chasing and pining, it was his turn. And she was stubborn enough to stick to that decision even though logic would suggest that she just do it since she wanted it.
"Well make sure to keep watching me… I mean us. Wouldn't want you to miss anything," Ginny said, so obviously flirting that he had to see it. But this was Harry. She truly adored him, but he was certainly a little dense from time to time. He probably thought she was just trying to help him coach the team.
"Er– yeah, I guess I will. Can't complain about watching you."
He said it so quickly and abruptly that Ginny didn't even notice what he said until after he'd shot off, apparently having seen the Snitch. She grinned and rocketed after him, thinking this was one time when she was willing to be the one chasing him instead of the other way around.
"Ginny. Ginny, wake up."
Ginny blinked her eyes open slowly. She must've fallen asleep on the floor of the corridor. She stretched her neck, immediately feeling the effects of such an uncomfortable position. And then her heart sank as she remembered why she was on a floor instead of a bed.
Hermione held a hand out to her and helped her up. "We both fell asleep," she said. "But someone just told me Harry's Healer was going to come by in a moment."
That woke Ginny up completely. "Seriously? Let's go wake everyone else up then!"
It turned out to not be a difficult task at all. Only a few of them were actually sleeping, and none were sleeping heavily. In just a couple minutes, everyone was awake and watching the door expectantly until they finally heard a knock.
Amelia walked in, looking totally exhausted. Ginny felt a wave of appreciation for her. She'd apparently been working all night, relentlessly, and she didn't seem to be bringing them bad news.
"I hope you all got some sleep," Amelia said, clearly fighting off a yawn. When nobody answered– their bleary eyes were answer enough– Amelia continued, "We've completed Harry's operations. If– when he wakes up, he will need to rest a lot. His stomach is still very raw, and it'll probably be a while before he's able to eat solid foods. We'll also need to run diagnostics on him soon to determine how effective our efforts were at repairing the organs in his chest."
"So does that mean he's going to be okay?" Ron asked, his voice sounding remarkably scared and fragile.
Amelia exhaled slowly and her expression became a little sadder. "I hope so. Harry's done tremendously to make it this far. We've started him on Blood-Replenishing Potion, and his condition is better than it was last night. You did great bringing him in when you did. Another minute or two would've been too late. But he is still unconscious, and we're working on determining the best course of action for dealing with that."
"He's done with operations though?" Hermione asked.
Amelia nodded. "For now at least. I'm going home for a few hours of sleep, but I'll be back this afternoon. We have plenty of Healers who are going to take great care of him while I'm gone. And… we can allow two people to stay in the room with him now."
Everyone looked at Ginny, who felt more happiness in that single moment than she would've thought possible. She was finally going to get to see Harry again.
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A/N: First of all, congratulations to you all on surviving an extra day without an update and being the first ever readers to experience the elusive PotterSloth Saturday release! There was an outage with FFN's account/publishing services yesterday when I tried to post, and this is the first chance I've had to post since then. So thank you all for your patience, and at least now there's only six days to wait until the next chapter! That's definitely an upside... right? Now, on with the regularly scheduled Author's Note!
I feel like it can't be a surprise by now that I will absolutely drag things out as long as I can… it's one of the benefits of writing a story that's hundreds of thousands of words long! And it's definitely a personal thing for me, but I prefer the slower pace, even though that's easy for me to say when I do know how everything unfolds from here. But trust me, the slow pace is worth it!
This arc has a lot of things that are very appealing to me, and one of those was getting this chance to focus solely on Ginny's emotions. I wanted to take advantage of this time with only Ginny's perspective by leaning into her memories and questions about why this was happening and if they'd ever get peace. I've been rather constantly coming up with ideas for memories for Ginny for the past year and a half, and she has a ton of really sad memories to pull from. All three of the sad memories in this chapter involve events that we know had to have happened, and we see some ramifications of them, but we never get to see how Ginny felt during them. And for me, I had to think about the overarching theme of helplessness.
I feel incredibly familiar with Ginny's character at this point, and I think that, aside from losing Harry, being helpless is one of her greatest fears. She's someone who takes action, and when there's nothing for her to do, it's infuriating and terrifying. So, as she's forced to wrestle with this awful feeling of helplessness where Harry's concerned, she relives some of the lowest moments in her life, when she was helpless and people were getting hurt. It's a low point for her, and it's going to continue being a struggle for now, but, like with most of my writing choices, it will make her better.
Way back when I was first brainstorming ideas as a young and naive fanfic writer, I sort of fell in love with the idea of both Harry and Ginny writing a letter to each other during the darkest time of their year apart, even though they couldn't ever send it. Ginny's is already written, but we won't see it for a while. Harry's comes in what had to be the worst time for him, after the disaster in Godric's Hollow but before Ron returned and they destroyed the locket. This letter was set up at the very end of SoR, when Harry is packing to go back to Hogwarts, finds the envelope in all his stuff, and decides to hide it instead of burning it or giving it to her. That was definitely needed for the letter to be as heart wrenching as it ultimately is, but I also think it makes sense for Harry as something that he doesn't want to get rid of. It matters to him, even if it's from a time he'd rather not remember, because it's a testament to just how much he loved her back then, before he'd even said it out loud. But because of when it was set up, I felt like it was appropriate to write it then, so the letter is actually the very first thing I wrote in ToG, right after I finished the final chapter of SoR. The only real difference is that he references the Christmas in HBP that we saw in Ginny's memory, and, at the time I wrote it, I didn't know what that memory would be yet, so I wrote [insert Christmas memory] because I'm eloquent.
Additionally, at the very start of SoR 33, I established that Harry and Ginny had charmed their mokeskin pouches to open for the other. That scene was one of the last additions I made to SoR, around the time I was writing this chapter, because I felt like I needed something more than it just being stated as fact that they could open each other's. I'm well aware that nobody would really notice or care if I didn't call it out, but I do try to be as consistent as possible, even if it's just for myself!
And since this A/N is really just turning into callbacks to earlier chapters, I really did write the scene where Fortescue comes back in SoR 34 with the intention of him being under the Imperius Curse. His story of escaping is more than a little convenient, and he's very intentional in verifying the rumour that Harry was going back to Hogwarts. So… yeah, that's a real thing. And like Hermione and Kingsley said, he probably wasn't the only one…
And that'll bring us to the end of another wonderfully cheery chapter of ToG! I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas that made up for the sadness of these current chapters, and I'm wishing the best for your end of 2024 and beginning of 2025! I promise, this year will be even happier, both for you and our favourite couple! (Just ignore the teaser for the next chapter)
Coming Friday: Don't Give Up- Ginny didn't have any more tears to cry.
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Guest: Wow, thank you so much! That feels like incredibly high praise to me! Writing that battle scene was something I'd looked forward to for a very long time, and it was so, so fun to write!
KidChaos69: Yep, I like to think that Dean is very in touch with Muggle sports in general, even beyond his favourite teams, and any real football fan would be eager to see a match between the late 90s Man United and Arsenal teams, especially with players like Beckham on the pitch!
NoodleMan12: Thank you so much! It's absolutely crazy to me every time I hear how quickly a new reader binged the series, and I'm so grateful that you've grown so attached to this story! Although, you're absolutely right, you picked a brutal time to catch up hahaha! In the interest of full transparency, I did briefly consider gifting you all this chapter on Christmas, but I kind of felt like it wasn't exactly the most joyful chapter to be publishing on Christmas, and I also figured that a lot of readers would be preoccupied with their own holiday celebrations and wouldn't have the time to read on Christmas itself. Plus, as much as I love and am wildly passionate about this story, it does take me close to an hour to get every chapter published, and I didn't really want to take the time out of my own Christmas for that lol, so I hope the extra two days wasn't too unbearable! And, of course, now there's another week long wait for the next one!
Dust1423: Aww, thank you! I'm both sorry and grateful for the emotional reaction you had to the last chapter... it really feels like the highest of compliments to have affected you so deeply, and I don't ever take that for granted. It was difficult to write this without there being something convenient like Ron and Hermione showing up at the right time to save Harry, but they did get there in time to get him to the hospital at least!
Finnspa23: Haha, maybe I should've consulted you for research since you have more experience with engagement rings than I do! You're totally right though- there's so much to learn about the 4 Cs that it kind of feels overwhelming, and I say that as someone who only ever browsed online for the purpose of making Ginny's ring. Honestly, I knew I wanted something with their birthstones in it, and I had to pick a design that I felt like I could easily describe to people who had absolutely no familiarity with rings, so I went with the halo over something maybe more complicated largely for that reason. And Harry's absolutely loaded so he can afford all the extra gems haha! As always, thank you so much for your support and encouragement! I'm really glad you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope you had a Merry Christmas too!