Unofficial Portkey Archive

"She died…she died and it's all your fault."

The accusation ran through him like a sword, leaving him speechless as he stared at the person who had just spoken. There was nothing he could say, nothing that could make what had happened right. And he knew that if he tried to speak, he would only end up screaming at his friend. Yet, the words escaped his mouth before he could help it. "You think I wanted that to happen?"

A pair of amber eyes darted his way, and he shifted uneasily on his seat. He could take it from him, but not from her. "If I could go back in time and die instead of her, I would. But I can't." But that wasn't exactly true, he had tried, had gone back in time using Hermione's time turner, but everything he had done had failed. He couldn't tell them that, he knew this would only end up in more blame and he wasn't sure he could bear it.

"No you wouldn't. You wouldn't because you're a selfish bastard.", Ron finished, standing up and turning his back to them to leave the Grand Hall. Harry looked after him, feeling more guilty than ever before. It truly was his fault His first instinct was still to stand up and rush behind his best friend to talk this through, even comfort him, but he knew from experience that it only made things worse. A hand weighted on his shoulder, startling him out of his thoughts, and he turned to lock eyes with Hermione. "Harry, don't listen to him. It's not your fault…"

He only looked at her, confused as to why she was trying to comfort him while the one who truly needed this treatment was walking out the doors. Her eyes seemed to seek something in his, eyes that were still red from all the tears she had cried and the ones she would still cry. "It's not your fault, you need to understand that.", she finished before bending forward and kissing him softly on the cheek. He closed his eyes at the warmth of her lips on his cheek and didn't see her standing up slowly with one last look at him and leaving the room. He was left alone, sitting with the rest of the Gryffindor students. Some of them had turned to look at him, and some of them were still missing, too affected by their grief, mostly fifth years. He sat there as the grand hall emptied, remembering the look in Ginny's eyes as she had died in his arms.

He couldn't feel anything but the bite of the poison as it made its way towards his heart, rushing through his veins, burning like acid, didn't even realise he was convulsing on the muddy ground. All he knew was that this was the end. No victory, no revenge. He would die at the hand of Voldemort like the rest of his family.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Hermione's unconscious body laying next to him, and behind her, Ron, in the same state as he was. His vision was blurred by tears of pain and frustration, and all he could see as he looked up were two red blurs looking down on him. But he could hear Voldemort's laugh and his words. "So Harry Potter, this is your great victory? Your prophecy?"

Blood poured from his mouth as he parted his lips to reply, to curse at his enemy, but nothing but a gurgle came out. He saw the light catching the blade of the sword as Voldemort raised it above his head, intent on bringing it down on the Potter child that he had feared for so many years and had proven to be so little a threat. "This is your prophecy".

As the sword began its descent towards his chest, the only thing he could think about was Sirius. How he had failed him, how he had failed all of them. This was the essence of who he was. They had placed such high hopes in him: Dumbledore, his parents, Sirius, the Order of the Phoenix, Hermione, Ron…and he had fallen without even putting up much of a fight. Down in the chamber of secrets, surrounded by the people he had failed the most, he would die and darkness would prevail. Tears now ran down his face, mixing with the blood and sweat that already covered it, and he shut his eyes, unable to look into the eyes of the Dark Lord. Voldemort would not get to look at him in the eyes, see his life leave him slowly. He would never get this privilege.

But the pain never came. Instead came a scream and a frustrated groan as something rushed past him. He heard the clatter of the sword as it hit the rocky ground next to him and he opened his eyes. The scene before him was confusing at the very least, and he rolled on his side to get a better view, causing an unspeakable pain to erupt in his chest. Pushing the pain away, he looked on as Ginny hung onto Voldemort's neck from behind him and he clawed at her hands and arms to get rid of her. Her hands were bloodied and he could see the pain this was causing her by the grimace that twisted her beautiful features. Yet, she never lessened her grip. Harry forced himself onto his knees, remembering how four years before, Ginny and him had found themselves in the same room, remembering the pain of the Basilic's poison. This poison was different, much less lethal, yet he knew it was drawing him to his death. Hermione had already fainted from the pain, and Ron was fighting it the best he could, which given the strength of the poison, didn't add up to much. "Ginny..", he whispered, wondering how she had made her way there. They had left her, Neville and Luna to guard the entrance, but he suspected that her worry for her brother and her fiery nature had driven her to follow them at the first sign of trouble…which most likely had been Hermione's scream as the arrow had hit her in the leg, forcing her to the ground. She had been the first victim of the poison and from her pale lips and features, he knew it was only a question of minutes before she faded from this world.

Twisting his body and lowering his back, Voldemort finally reached out for Ginny and caught her, throwing her across the room and onto the wall. She hit it with a moan and fell onto the ground, a deep cut on her forehead seeping blood. Powered by anger, Harry dragged himself up, his legs shaking as he looked at Voldemort. For a moment they only stared at each other, then Harry launched at him, crying out with rage. He had no weapon, no plan, but he wouldn't allow himself to simply stand there as his friends died around him. If he had to die tonight, he wouldn't die laying on his back, he would do so fighting his lifetime enemy.

One blow sent him flying before he was even aware of Voldemort's violent punch hitting him on the jaw. The copper taste of blood filled his mouth again as he landed face down, one of the lenses of his glasses shattering on impact. The pain forced him to remain grounded even though he wanted nothing more but to stand back up and charge again. But his broken body simply wouldn't allow him to. He simply laid there, panting and wheezing, fighting to breathe through the blood. He looked over his shoulder as Voldemort approached, the victorious grin he had wore only moments before back on his face.

"Impressive little display. Suicidal, but impressive", he paused, standing over Harry, then reached out and grabbed him by the throat, pulling him up roughly and keeping him a feet inches above the ground. "But now, it's time to die"

Without Harry realizing it, probably while he was struggling against the pain being throw against the rocky ground had caused him, Voldemort had picked up the sword again and as he held him by the throat, he pulled it back and brought it forward against Harry's chest.

The following seconds were a blur. A blinding pain, the cold ground and a scream. In his confusion, he wondered if the scream had been his own, but reaching down to his stomach, he found no blood or wound. What he saw when he looked up horrified him. Impaled on the sword, clutching at Voldemort's dresses in a desperate attempt to keep herself from the bite of the sword's blade was Ginny, her eyes wide. It was not what she had expected, not what she had thought when she'd jumped in front of Harry, freeing him from the evil wizard's grip but putting herself in the way of the sword. Pushing on her chest, Voldemort slid her off the blood stained sword, and her body fell next to Harry with a soft moan. Harry glanced to her, then back at Voldemort as he backed a few feet. He seemed just as confused as Harry was, as if everything had gone too fast for him to comprehend. He didn't look horrified, taking a life wasn't new ground for him, simply shocked. And when a grin finally lifted the corners of his mouth as he realized the consequences of his action on Harry's psyche, a sudden lighting bolt split the air, striking him in the middle of the chest and projecting him in the pool at the base of the statue. Without a care for whom had attacked Voldemort, Harry turned to Ginny and pulled her limp body over his legs as he sat on the ground. Simply doing that was a pure torture, but he couldn't care less.

"Ginny! Ginny!", he called out, caressing her face softly. Her eyes flickered open, but they were different. Not the pure green they had always been, darker, as if the light behind them was slowly fading. And he realized it was…she was dying. "Harry…", she finally said, her voice faint. He smiled kindly although he couldn't keep tears from rolling down his cheeks. "It…It hurts…", she said, her voice breaking as she pronounced the last word. She breathed in loudly, biting her bottom lip so hard it bled. "I know…"

He was vaguely aware that people hurried around him, surrounding the pool where Voldemort had sunk, but he didn't care. "I…I can't breathe Harry…", she started, breaking into a long moan as she lifted her head to look at him in the eyes. Silently, he prayed for Fawkes to suddenly fly in, cry over Ginny's wound and heal her like the bird had done for him years before, but he knew hoping for such a happy ending was beyond foolish. "I'm scared", she finished, her words ripping his heart apart. Ginny was never scared, she always stood strong, proud and courageous, sometimes foolishly so. But down there, in the chamber of secrets that had seen her so close to drawing her last breath twice, with death closing in on her once again, he witnessed the façade fade away until all that was left was the little girl he'd first seen. The colour of her lips offered very little contrast with her pale skin now and she shivered violently in his arms until he realized her shivers had transformed into spasms. She took in a few short breaths as he caressed her face softly, then let out one long sigh, almost a moan, before her body went limp in his arms, and her head rolled against his shoulder.

He didn't care when Voldemort rushed out of the pool and, finding himself surrounded by the entirety of the Order of the Phoenix, was forced to disappear. Didn't care when people surrounded him. Barely noticed when they took Ginny's body away from him, or realized they were taking him to the infirmary. All he could hear was a deafening buzzing sound in his head, all he could see was a blur.

"Ron, wait!"

Ron stopped dead in his tracks, the voice he had heard not the one he'd dreaded to hear, yet no one he completely unexpected. Turning around slowly, he faced Hermione as she finally reached him, her long dark locks falling back against her shoulders as she came to an halt after running to catch up with Ron. "Look, whatever it is, I don't want to …"

"I don't care, you're going to hear it anyway", she interrupted, without any hint of humour or anger in her voice. But he could see in her eyes that deep down, she was boiling with rage. He could tell it wasn't directed at him nor at anyone in particular. It was like the poison that had affected all of them that terrible night, making its way into every part of her being until it made one with her. She remained the composed Hermione he had always known, but he knew that one day, no amount of self-control would cut it anymore and all that anger would come crashing down.

"Then speak fast, 'cause I'm in no mood for any sort of accusation or reproach. My sister died Hermione…"

"Yes, and Voldemort killed her. Not Harry."

He was shocked at the bluntness of her words. There was no hinted subtext, no delicacy, just the flat out truth. For a moment, he was at a loss for words, before the response came, almost instinctively. "He might as well have, if it wasn't for him…"

He knew he had pushed the wrong button when she interrupted him, her voice loud and angry. "Might as well have? Do you think Harry asked for this? Think he wanted his parents, Sirius, Cedric or Ginny to die? You're demented if you can even think that for one second. You're as guilty as he is in all this. You were down there too. You couldn't save her anymore than he could."

"She died saving him", he pointed out, his voice calm even though he wanted to explode right back at her. He just didn't have the strength anymore. Weeks of crying and insomnia had worn him out, all that was left to power him was his anger.

"As she could have died saving you…Don't you see Harry's gone numb over this? Don't you see he's completely cut off from everything? He quit Quidditch, he's failing all his classes. He doesn't sleep at night and he doesn't even talk to me anymore."

"Ah! Finally, it comes out. You. See, what you're really sad about Hermione, is that before Ginny died, Harry and you had this bizarre start of a relationship and now he won't even look at you anymore. Or kiss you or acknowledge you exist really. You couldn't care less that Ginny died."

The slap came like a brick wall, leaving him speechless as he pressed his hand against his throbbing cheek. When he looked back at her, he caught the light reflecting in her eyes as they filled with tears. And he realized then that he had gone too far. "I'm so…"

"Don't you dare! Don't you dare say you're sorry. It's been two weeks Ron, and we all feel incredibly sorry for you, but we all miss her. We all mourn her. The fact that she was your sister gives you no right to destroy other people simply to make you feel better. I am done being your punching bag Ronald Weasley. I listened to you, I held you in my arms while you cried, and this is how you repay me? Do you think there's a second that passes where I don't wish I'd saved her or died trying? She was my best friend Ron, she was…"

But it was all too much. Her voice gave in and tears came pouring down on her face. She couldn't look at him any longer and before he could say anything, she turned around and ran, leaving him standing in the middle of the alleyway as a large crowd came out of the Grand Hall doors, heading for their first class of the day.