Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the plot and characters not in JKR's books.
War.
It isn't just about winning or losing. People die. Some, more horrible deaths than others, and some with inadvertent, indirect pain.
What we were planning wasn't a war, it was a revenge. There is a big difference. As Draco pointed out, we have nothing left to lose. If we die, so what? Our parents (and brothers) are already gone. My friends will understand I died for the right cause; and his allies have already shunned him.
Why do people cause each other pain? Draco said it didn't bother him that his allies have already lost faith in him. That wasn't enough for me. I knew he cared more. I knew it bugged the daylights out of him, but I would have to bypass his cool demeanor to find out anything. I would break his shield of ice. I knew it would just take enough warmth.
Our nightly planning came to a halt when soldiers came to join us in the tower. The battle was getting closer on the Hogsmeade front and a conflict was certain to happen with in days. The light side was bringing in troops from all over, it was rumored that platoons of Russians were staying in Hufflepuff tower.
If only there were more troops in the castle.
The next day, all hell broke loose.
As I lay in my bed a long echoing siren broke through my thoughts. Looking around I saw Hannah wake up along with Sara and Marietta.
"What's going on?" Marietta asked turning to Hannah while she rubbed the sleep away from her eyes.
"I dunno," Hannah whispered as she stroked Sara's hair. The little girl's eyes began to close from exhaustion. It had been a long day with the arrival of the troops.
"EVERYONE UP!" A female solider stood in our doorway carrying a lit candle. Her uniform looked as though it had been pulled on in haste and her hair stood out wild around her face.
"What's going on?" Marietta asked again looking at the solider this time.
"We are under attack! Get a move on," With that the soldier turned to leave, probably to bang on the next door.
As the sickening realization sunk in, I sprang to my feet and began pulling on some clothes. A pair of jeans, a tank top, and my Weasley sweater. Grabbing my wand, I went out in the hallway to see various girls in all states of dress being directed to a slide behind a tapestry.
I didn't want to take the cowards way out. I wanted to help fight.
Silently I walked down the stairs towards the common room. Soldiers crowded in as their Corporal screamed out instructions.
"…in the Great Hall! Now we can get around them by using passage number 365. Red Division, you will be our distraction this time going through the doors. Blue team, you will secure all other entrances. Yellow Division, you will go to Gryffindor tower and close the portal. Black Division, you take the passage way this time. GO GO GO!" The petite woman with sleek blonde hair issued out tasks and now everyone reacted. Soldiers began running in many directions and occasionally a high-ranking officer would ask the Corporal something.
Stealthily I joined a team with yellow bands on their gray uniforms. Their Sergeant assigned specific jobs to each member.
I watched in awe as nineteen-year-old kids took tasks with out flinching. They were the true war heroes. True Harry will get more publicity because he is the Boy-Who-Won't-Die, but these everyday people……damn.
"Move out!" I followed the woman who had awoken me from my dorm. She had an unreadable battle expression. My heart beat harder with each step closer to the Gryffindor tower.
What was I doing? Did I even know what I was doing?
I didn't know what I was doing, and that is the scariest feeling in the world. It was, and still is, worse than the fear I got knowing death eaters were in the next room while my parents held them off.
To not know what you're doing during a battle is like the ultimate suicide.
In the back of my mind, I hoped that this was someone's sick idea of a joke. These people were too young to die. How could a nineteen-year-old enlist in the army during wartime was beyond me. How could someone cause so much pain?
Slowly the fat lady portrait creaked open revealing an empty common room. Two scouts went forth looking for the portal. It should be obvious. A portal is like a tear in reality connecting two places together. It requires immense energy and gives off a bright iridescent glow.
As soon as the scouts reached the threshold of the common room, time stopped as the ground exploded underneath them. I could faintly hear people yelling, `Magic mines,' and `Holy shit! This is a trap!'
Clouds of dust and smoke began to cloud my vision as bodies bumped into me all over.
I was terrified. Indeed, I had come to help. But I was expecting war to be…different. Not this. This was mindless killing.
"What are we going to do?" I heard some one ask over the loud booms.
"Go back to the orphan tower, regroup and decide where to go," I did something I hadn't done in months. I wished I had gone down that slide, and I prayed that I would get back safely.
I broke the moral code that I created for myself the second I stepped into the orphan tower. I was just so scared. I never thought…. I really don't know what I was thinking. As silently, as I had prayed for my own safety, I prayed for the safety of my remaining brothers, and for some odd reason the safety of Draco Malfoy.
The orphan tower was a wreck; dorm rooms had collapsed into the common room. Dust was beginning to settle when we arrived. The fear that had been occupying the pit of my stomach multiplied itself one hundred times over as I saw small lifeless bodies. Walking over I choked back a sob as I saw Sara and Hannah Abbott next to Marietta Edgecombe.
"What happened here?" The woman who told us to escape a few hours ago knelt in front of me trying to extract information.
"I don't know," I began to say. "I went with you to the Gryffindor tower." Slowly tears began to escape my eyes as a knelt over to smooth Sara's hair as Hannah had done so many times before. They were gone and they were never going to come back.
Sobs began to erupt from my stomach as the woman soldier pulled me away from the corpses.
They weren't people anymore, they had no more spirit.
She roughly shoved me down the hidden slide and I felt myself land on a cushioned floor. A flickering fire lit the room as the orphans uneasily walked about.
"Where's Marietta?" Lorena briskly asked as soon as I had stood up. How was I supposed to tell her that her sister was now with her parents?
"Lorena, leave her alone," Draco walked over and looked at me. Without thinking, I sprung forward and rushed toward him, and cried against his chest. He was surprised, I knew he was, but he did not push away, instead he pulled me into a tight hug. Letting go of all control I have left, I sobbed unrestrainedly into his shirt.
I cried for Marietta, Hannah, and Sara. People I knew who lost their lives too early. I cried for my parents who were never given a proper funeral. I cried for the light side because I knew we were losing.
I cried for myself because I was never going to be the same.
"Ginny it's going to be ok." I looked up and stared into those gray eyes of his. "We were so worried about you," he whispered. Draco rubbed small comforting circles on my back. Why did he suddenly care? When did it start feeling so good just to be held? When did it start feeling so good just to be held, especially by him?
"Gin!" Ron ran over and pulled me from Draco's arms. "Never do that to me again!" He crushed my body in an over protective hug. I felt a tear fall on to my face and I realized Ron was crying.
He was scared. He thought I was dead.
It was that moment I decided to either enlist Ron and the twins in the Giant Revenge or quit the rebel group. The remaining Weasleys had to stick together, if not for ourselves, then for our parents. They would want us to remain true to the fact that we were a family.
"Gin you had us freaked out," The twins pulled me from Ron's grasp and smothered me all the same. Fred first, then George.
"What's going on up there? We heard a lot of explosions," Draco asked his question from an offset part of our group. He was hunched over, hands jammed in his pockets. A total reverse from what he used to be.
"The tower is destroyed. Death Eaters," George squeezed me a little tighter to him.
"You mean Marietta, Hannah, and Sara…." Ron trailed off at my nod. Tears filled my eyes again as I cried on to George's shoulder.
"We need to get revenge…" My eyes grew heavy as I fell into the land of unconsciousness. The days of not sleeping were beginning to take their toll.
That day the Giant Revenge recruited 10 new members. Apparently, all we needed was something to bring the battle home.
The light side won the battle of Hogwarts at the cost of 27 lives including the girls. Hogwarts would still be opening in a few days, but the Gryffindors and younger orphans would have to find a new place to stay.
Lorena Edgecombe fell apart after her sister died. It was said that she had to go to St. Mungo's to deal with the stress, I never found out for sure.
At night, I imagine Sara Abbott asking me to tell her a story about my parents as Marietta braids her hair. I still expect that Hannah will drag me out of my bed and ask me what she should wear tomorrow.
At night, I hope that this is all a dream, and I will wake up from it tomorrow.
I don't believe in fairy tales, and I never thought that nightmares existed during the daytime. I thought those were reserved only for nights. Those disturbing images which continue to cloud our minds with fear and other emotions.
But my life has proved it wrong. It has shown me that pain comes by the bushel and peace is far between. It has shown me that nightmares sometimes come to life in many forms. Through pain, distress, agony and misery. Through war.
War is the living proof that nightmares do exist in the real world.
This is war, and I often wonder if it will ever end.
AN: Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews my story. I always find enjoyment from hearing what you have to say. I want to thank my Beta (bookish_gurl024) again because she just does a wonderful job. This chapter isn't one of my favorites, but it is pivotal to the plot.