Thanks to everyone who keeps reviewing. Oh, and I promise, the epilogue for Starting Over is coming. I'll get it up next week.
CHAPTER 6
Ginny woke from a restless sleep before the sun rose. Hermione and Harry were already up. Ginny climbed out of the bed and pulled on her robes, then leaned over to wake Draco. Everyone dressed silently, and then crept down to the Great Hall at Hermione's insistence.
Luna was the only one who ate. "We're going by broom," Harry told them finally, his palm pressed into his forehead. "It's not really that far away. And he's waiting."
They followed Harry to the broom shed, silently mounted brooms, and kicked off. Ginny threw one final look over her shoulder, wondering if she would ever see Hogwarts again. There was a flash at one of the windows in the tallest tower, and she could have sworn Dumbledore was watching them.
The graveyard was silent and eerily lit with the colored light of the rising sun. They left their brooms in a pile and followed Harry and he walked determinedly towards his parent's grave. They had barely reached it when Ginny heard a voice that made her blood freeze.
"Brought your little friends, did you, Potter? They're willing to die with you?"
Ginny reached up and tugged the hood of her cloak over her face. Hermione had suggested that they wear them so that the Death Eater's would not know exactly who they were. Ginny liked the idea, because she thought it would be best if Mr. Malfoy did not know Draco was fighting.
"Avada Kadavra!" Harry screamed, wasting no time and causing a tombstone to split down the middle.
Voldemort's laugh filled the morning air, and six Death Eater's began to apparate around them. It only took seconds for the curses and hexes to begin flying. Ginny was trying her hardest not to use any unforgivable curses, but the Death Eater's were, and out of the corner of her eye, Ginny saw a shape crumple to the ground. Harry and Voldemort were fighting each other like Muggles, beating each other with their fists, while using their wands to fight off those around them.
The fighting went on for hours, since the Death Eaters were all ready well practiced at curses and hexes, and willingly used the Unforgivable Curses. Draco had warned them - as if they really needed it - that they should use the same curses in return. Ginny wasn't so sure about that though; at least, not until she ducked behind a tombstone to catch her breathe, a Death Eater screamed "Crucio" at her. She glimpsed pale hair under the cloak and knew in her heart it was Draco's father.
"You wear my son's ring, little girl," she heard him hiss. "And for that I will kill you!"
The stone she was hiding behind cracked and broke into two pieces, and as she scrambled away, she saw Draco charge his father. Mr. Malfoy glanced at him and shouted a curse Ginny had never heard before. Draco staggered, clutching his side. Ginny ducked as Mr. Malfoy's wand shot deadly green light at her. "Avada Ka-"
She watched in horror as Draco tackled his father. "Crucio! Crucio! Crucio!" Mr. Malfoy fell backwards, hitting his head against a thick headstone and stopped moving. Draco didn't watch; he moved forward, attacking more Death Eaters with a new ferocity.
Her body grew weary and she wished she had eaten breakfast that morning. Despite all the curses and hexes, the crackling of spells in the air, Ginny was rather proud of her mates. None of them were dead, none of them were seriously injured, and they still fought on. The sun had shifted in the sky, but the battle was far from over. She could see Draco hold his side as he battled, and nearly forgot to protect herself as she saw Neville use Avada Kadavra on a Death Eater. As the body fell, the hood slipped off, and Ginny saw Bellatrix, her eyes wide with shock.
Somehow they managed to live, and with just Voldemort left standing, Harry's strength seemed to renew its self. The graveyard was silent as they watched in fear, and Harry screamed, "Accio wand!" Hermione lay on the ground, her arm crumpled underneath her, and her wand flew towards Harry. He caught it before Voldemort had a chance to recover from Harry's last blow. "Avada Kadavra!" Harry's voice echoed several times before fading away.
"Is he dead?" Neville pulled off his hood and stared down at Voldemort's body.
"I doubt it," Draco said grimly. "Not if Harry didn't use his own wand. No magic is ever fully powerful if you use someone else's wand."
Ginny stepped closer and pulled back her own hood. Her entire body ached with a pain more fierce than any she had ever known, and she pointed her want at Voldemort. "Avada Kadavra!"
She was surprised to hear other voices join her own, and she watched in horrified fascination as Voldemort's body rose off the ground and then flopped limply back down. Ron, Draco, Neville, and Dean had cursed him also.
"We've got to get back," Neville said finally. "Hermione's out cold and Luna's arm is broken."
Ginny stared disbelievingly down at the pale, evil body that was crumpled below them. She could hardly believe it. This was it? It was over? She hadn't seen what happened between Harry and the Dark Lord, she had been too busy fighting off Mr. Malfoy, but one look at Harry's blank, empty face told her there was much, much more which had happened.
"We can't fly," Dean said finally. His robe was torn down the side and there was a vertical cut across his face, slowly bleeding and he held out a splintered piece of a broom. "The broom's are destroyed."
"The Knight Bus," Ron said softly, his eyes flicking back and forth between Hermione and Harry.
Neville nodded. "We need to go. Before any more Death Eaters come. We need to tell Dumbledore." He helped Luna to her feet. Dean and Ron picked up Hermione, and even though Ginny knew there was an unseen injury on Draco, he helped her escort Harry to the road.
Neville and Luna arrived first, and when Neville stuck out his wand, the bus appeared as though it had been waiting for them.
"Well, let's go," Stan began to chide them, and then stopped short. "Wha' `cha been doin'?"
******
This is a short chapter, again, I know. Also, I wanted to note that I don't think Harry's final battle will be
anything like this, it's just that the battle it's self isn't so important to my story, but just an event
that happened at the battle, which you will see in the next chapter!
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