Ginny Weasley sat in her bedroom anxiously awaiting the arrival of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They had been gone for hours now and Ginny was really starting to worry. It wasn’t because they were out destroying Horcruxes, in fact that had become a routine operation for the trio. No, it was more the fact that this was the last Horcrux, and they didn’t know what might happen in the procedure of destroying it. Trying to shake the nervous, tingly feeling in the pit of her stomach, Ginny continued the frantic pacing of her bedroom.

When pacing didn’t work she let out a yell of frustration and collapsed on her bed. She laid in a coma- like state for a while, her stomach doing multiple whirls and twirls. She was worried about him. Of course she was worried, why wouldn’t she be worried about her own boyfriend? It was the way that he hadn’t talked for days before they had found the location of the Horcrux, and the way that he would stay shut up in Ron’s room for days at a time, leaving Ginny to wonder about every possible thing he might have been thinking about or doing. What was the point of them even being together if he wasn’t going to tell her what was going on; she would rather hear it from him than Hermione or Ron.

And then there was the fact that she couldn’t go with them. She was of age now, why was Harry so desperate to hold her back when she so very much wanted to fight? She knew it was because his “noble-ness”... But she could do what she wanted to couldn’t she? She was seventeen. That was what bothered her most about Harry. Of course she loved him, hell; he was the only one she had ever really loved. It could have been the fact that he was always there for her, to protect her. Every time she saw his face, every time someone uttered his name, every thought of him… it all just caused her to smile. But then he was just so damn stubborn. He always said how she was stubborn, but when it came to him and the war he beat her by a long shot.

She began to worry again and soon she started to become restless. Returning to her other position of pacing the floor, she tried to walk her nerves off again, when suddenly the door flew open. Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the room, and Ginny ran toward Harry.

“Finally!” she exclaimed before rushing toward her boyfriend and kissing him lightly (much to the displeasure of Ron), then beckoning them to sit. “What happened and why did it take so long?” she asked fiercely.

“Nice to see you too,” Ron said sarcastically.

“Shut up Ron!” Ginny yelled. “Okay, what happened?” she asked turning to Harry.

“Well, we found Nagini-”

“That only took four bloody hours!” Ron cut in.

“-And then when we killed her-”

“The bloody Death Eaters showed up!” he cut in again.

“Thanks Ron. So the Death Eaters showed up as soon as we killed her and we were stuck fighting them for about two hours before we could get away from them,” Harry said.

“The Death Eaters? But how did they know that you destroyed the last Horcrux?” Ginny asked.

“Well the most logic reasoning we thought of was that Voldemort may have felt it, being one of the two last remaining parts of his split soul… but we aren’t entirely sure,” Hermione explained.

“So then what happens next?”

“Well, everything that this has been leading up to… the final battle, and more importantly, the defeat of Voldemort. We don’t know when he’ll strike, but it’s only a matter of time, and when that time comes, we’ll be ready… or, I’ll be ready. I mean it is what I have to do.”

“Harry if it’s all up to you then what have we been doing?” Hermione asked as she nodded at Ginny and Ron. “You don’t have to do this by yourself Harry. You have friends that’ll be there for you, you have people that will fight beside you no matter what. Harry you don’t have to do this alone.”

“Yeah, but, like the prophecy said ‘And either must die at the hands of the other for neither can live while the other survives.’ So I am the one that has to finish him off.”

“You don’t have to finish him Harry… YOU want to finish him off. YOU wouldn’t have it any other way. But WE,” Hermione pointed at Ron, Ginny, and Herself, “We, will be with you when that happens. Like I said Harry, you don’t have to do this alone.”

“Well off of this happy matter, anyone want to get something to eat?” Ron asked.

“You guys go ahead we’ll be down in a minute…” Harry said referring to Ginny and himself.

“You know on second thought, I’ll stay up here with you guys…” Ron said protectively.

“Oh Ron, c’mon!” Hermione said exasperatedly and pushing Ron towards the door, she smiled as Harry mouthed the words ‘thank you’.

When the door closed Harry turned to Ginny. “So-”

“Harry I’m going to go with you,” Ginny said.

“Go with me where?”

“When the final battle begins, I’m going with you…no matter what. Nothing you do or say is going to stop me, I am of age and you can’t tell me what I’m going to do.”

“Ginny, I-”

“No. I’m going with you, no matter what,” Ginny said seriously. “I won’t leave you hanging. Like Hermione said, WE will be by your side when it happens, that WE referred to ME too. So I’m going with you.”

“Ginny, we’ll talk about this later. Right now there are other important matters. Tomorrows you birthday party and I don’t want you worrying about me all day.” Harry said. “And then after, we can talk… because I have something to ask you too. But right now let’s go downstairs, Ron’s waiting and if I don’t get down there in probably the next minute he will TRY to hurt me. C’mon.” he took her hand and they went downstairs.

~***~

Ginny lay wide awake in bed, Hermione fast asleep in the bed beside her. She didn’t know how long it had been; surely she had been lying there for at least two hours. Millions of thoughts and questions were running through her head right now, and it was almost impossible for her to even try and sleep.

Why was Harry so keen to keep her out of the final battle? Why did he always need to act so brave and noble about these sorts of things? What did he need to ask her tomorrow? And when was this battle going to begin? The last of these were the most important. She knew it was coming soon but she never realized how unprepared for it she was. Maybe Harry was right in thinking that she shouldn’t come. No, no, what was she thinking, she had to come; she had to fight beside him, she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Sighing agitatedly Ginny looked at the alarm clock on her bedside table. 2:30. she had been eighteen for two and a half hours now, and she hadn’t even realized it. Letting drowsiness take a hold of her, she rolled over and entered a sleep haunted with dreams of fields filled with shouts and screams of terror of war, faceless people fighting for their lives, and Harry falling to the ground at Voldemort’s feet, Ginny not anywhere to be seen in the battle… not beside him.

~***~

“Happy Birthday Ginny!” multiple people cried as she walked into the living room. Smiling, she said hello to everyone, entered into tiny bits of conversations, and then settled into quiet corner of the room. She looked down at her hands in her lap and felt the prickly feeling start up in the pit of her stomach again. That sensation was starting to seem way too familiar for her liking, and she tried to think about other things than the final battle, but not before a voice above her spoke.

“Now what are you doing sitting in the corner, when you should be having fun?” someone asked. Ginny looked up to see Remus Lupin standing in front of her “Being unsocial are we?”

“Hello Remus,” Ginny said casually. Remus settled down beside her and handed her a bottle of butterbeer, which she took thankfully. “I was just thinking…”

“About what?” he asked, already having a pretty good idea of the answer.

Ginny didn’t respond, she just looked straight in front of her at the handsome man with jet black hair and the most dazzling emerald green eyes glinting behind his trademark glasses, grinning from ear to ear, laughing and having a good time.

“You don’t have to worry about him you know,” Remus said. She frowned and looked over at him instead. “He knows what he’s doing. You just have to believe in him. He can defend himself, he has a good head on his shoulders, and … he has you,” He added. Ginny smiled slightly.

“Of course I believe in him. I’m just so worried. And I really don’t understand how he can be so calm knowing what lies ahead… and what may happen.”

“Don’t you think on it Ginny. He knows everything about defense. He has the power to do this… he CAN do this,” Remus said. “And whatever lies ahead, it’s going to happen, and we’ll just have to face it when it does.”

“I-”

“Kingsly! What is it?!” some one yelled from the crowd of people in the room, for he had just appeared out of thin air in the middle of the throng, his face full of panic.

“It’s started. THE FINAL BATTLE HAS BEGUN.”

SHOCK. What is it? A sudden disturbance of your emotions, a state of mind, a feeling in your gut that you can’t explain. Shock. Well, whatever it was, that’s what was happening at that very moment in the living room of the Burrow.



“Like I said,” Remus said quietly, “we’ll have to face it when it does.”



“Kingsely, where is it? When did it happen?” Minerva McGonagall asked quickly from the silence.



“Not five minutes ago, at… the… ministry,” Kingsley said panting, his face panic stricken.



“Well, you all know what to do,” Minerva said in a voice of forced calm to the order members, “the final battle has begun, let us go!” and with that the room was suddenly filled with pops as everyone diasapparated, all except for two.



“I’m going,” Ginny said automatically.



“No, Ginny, you can’t.”



“Yes I am Harry. I’M GOING. How many times do I have to say it? You have to let me do this,” Ginny urged.



Harry exhaled heavily, and thought for a minute. “I guess I can’t stop you. But if I tell you to go back, will you do it?”



“Harry-”



“Please Ginny, you have to promise me. I need you to.” Harry said.



“I-I promise.” Ginny said as Harry grabbed her hand.



“And if anything happens, I love you.”



“I love you too Harry.” Ginny said tearfully.



~***~



Ginny ran through the maze of flailing arms and legs of Order members and Death Eaters, amazingly she hadn’t been challenged yet but she had done everything she could to help out. In fact, she had helped save Neville from Macnair and she had helped Luna get out of arms reach of Bellatrix.



Suddenly, she felt a tight grip on her ankle and tripped, her hands broke her fall and she felt her right wrist crack under her weight.



She swiveled around on the ground. “Stupefy!” she gasped, hitting Augustus Rookwood square in the chest. The grip around her ankle loosened and she got up slowly using only her left hand, and she continued to run trying to find Ron, Hermione, or Harry.

She had been separated from Harry within the first minute upon arriving at the ministry; the last that she had seen of him was when he was fighting a Death Eater whose name she did not know. Looking left and right, she found herself lost within the battle, not knowing what to do, she continued on the search for her friends.



~***~



“Hello Ginny, nice to see you again.”



“What the-” was all she was able to say before she found herself within Voldemort’s grasp with his wand pointing at her chest.



“Tiss tiss, a witch caught off her guard? Hasn’t that useless boyfriend of yours taught you anything?”



“You wretch!” she yelled at him, causing the tight grip that was already cutting off her oxygen to become tighter, and he jabbed his wand harder into her chest.



“Now, now no need to get testy little girl… do you not notice the wand right in front of you? Do you not know how much pain I could cause you in one flick of my wand? Not a very sharp one are you? I wonder what that brainless, horrible excuse for a wizard Dumbledore taught you all those years. What a failure he was. Now, be a good little hostage and call for help, preferably for dear Harry, for I would very much love to speak to him,” he drawled.



“I was thinking along the lines of “NO”,” Ginny spat.



“No? Well if you insist, I guess I can use another way to get him here to “save” you… CRUCIO!”



Ginny let out a scream of pure agony. White hot knives were stabbing every inch of her body, her vision was going blank, all the air was leaving her lungs, and all she wanted to do was die. But as soon as is started, it was over. Her vision came back to her, and again the battle around her was raging on, but now Harry was standing in front of her. He had a look on his face that she had never seen before, it was a look of fear; he was scared. Scared for her life as much as she was for his, she wished that he hadn’t come to her aid.



“Let her go.” was all he said.



“No, I think I’ll keep her here with me until we get some things strait.” Voldemort growled. He started to walk in a circle Harry opposite of him; both had a look of anger on their faces. He shouldn’t have even been there, and it was all her fault. She had led Harry straight to Voldemort, to his death, and he had no backup. It was her fault and she couldn’t do anything about it.



Harry and Voldemort continued to stare as they walked in the circle, Ginny stumbling as Voldemort dragged her along, the wand still held up to her chest. “What is this? A chance for Harry Potter, “The Chosen One”, to show his worth? To prove he’s not weak eh? Let me tell you something Potter, I will not go down as easily as you may hope or think, I will not let some foolish teenage boy avenge me. You may be brave or powerful, no doubts about it, but you are nothing compared to I, the most powerful sorcerer in the world! But together, we could do extraordinary things.” Voldemort said. “Join me Harry. What say you? What say you to the offer I gave you eight years ago and again tonight? If you say yes, your little girlfriend here can be spared. What say you Harry? Will we have peace?”



“Yes,” Harry said quietly, Ginny’s eyes widened, he wouldn’t, “we will have peace when the people that suffered at your hands can be at rest, when your evil sorcery is over. When you are dead and your name is no longer feared and you are no more than a memory, then we will have peace.” Harry said, his words getting stronger with every syllable.



“How very touching… are you done now?” Voldemort asked heartlessly.



“Not yet,” Harry said through clenched teeth, “there’s one last thing… its time that we have that peace.” And without warning, he waved his wand and yelled “AVADA KEDAVRA!”



In the midst of naught but a few seconds, Voldemort had thrown Ginny to the ground before he shouted “AVADA KEDAVRA!” and with that, two bodies fell to the ground.



Shock. That’s what Ginny was in. Shock.

Ginny sat on the ledge of the back porch, reading her book. The moonlight guided her eyes as they slid across the page but her eyes quickly disconnected from the book as the back door opened. A pool of light flooded out onto the porch, blinding her.

“Ginny?”

“Harry, what is it?” she asked as she blinked trying to see through the dots floating in and out of her vision. The door closed and the light ceased to exist as Harry crossed over the porch in a few short strides.

“Why are you sitting out here alone?” He asked, leaning his back on the ledge. He looked over to Ginny.

“Why are you standing in front of me asking me questions?” Ginny questioned.

“Because you haven’t talked to me this whole summer and I’m trying to start a conversation.” Harry said casually. “Here, new question… Why haven’t you talked to me this whole summer?”

“Because you broke up with me and it seemed like you wanted nothing to do with me. Admit it Harry, you haven’t even looked my way this whole summer.”

“Or, you just looked at the wrong times. Actually Gin, I haven’t been able to keep my eyes off of you this entire summer.” Harry said, looking down. Ginny noted the use of her nickname from him.

“And yet, you’re looking at the ground right now…” Ginny said.

“I’m sorry. But after all, I don’t want anything to do with you, remember?” Harry said bitterly. Ginny scoffed, shook her head, and looked back down at her book. Lightly Harry slid the book off of her lap. “How could you even think that? Ginny I have done nothing but think about you this whole summer. Everything I saw reminded me of you or of the times we had together. I can’t stand it.”

“Oh, so our times together were unbearable?” Ginny asked bitterly.

“No Gin, the exact opposite. I miss you. I miss everything about you. I miss you waking me up in the morning just so you could have a kiss. I miss spending time by the lake and on the quidditch pitch. I miss dancing under the stars with you. Do you remember dancing under the stars?”

“Of course I do. How could I forget?”

“Well,” Harry stood up straight and stuck out his hand, “may I have this dance?”

“Harry, there’s no music…” Ginny said laughing.

He pulled her off of the ledge and took her hands setting one on his shoulder and taking the other in his hand. Then he wrapped his arm around her waste and pulled her closer. “We don’t need music.” He whispered in her ear. Gently they rocked back and forth for a while when suddenly he stopped.

“I might kiss you now.” He said blankly.

Ginny looked up. “So what’s stopping you?” She leaned forward slightly.

“Gin, I can’t-”

“Oh of course not, you just lead me on and make me believe that we can be together again… but evidently I was wrong.”

“No. I could kiss you now, but I can’t risk losing you. I don’t want to lose you again.” Harry said.

Ginny sighed heavily and brought her hands down to her sides. “Fine. Goodnight Harry.” She turned to leave but was stopped when Harry grabbed her hand.

“Of course, I wouldn’t lose you unless I had you in the first place…” Harry said. He pulled her back to him and kissed her passionately. “Ginny-”

“Ginny. Ginny,” Ron whispered in his slumbering sister’s ear. “Ginny.” He said, shaking her shoulder slightly.

Ginny woke up with a start. Frantically she looked around the hospital room before her eyes landed on Ron. “What is it?” she asked groggily, rubbing her eyes.

“Gin, you’re been here for three days. You’re exhausted. Go home and get some sleep. You need to. He’ll be fine,” Ron said in a worried tone.

“No, I’m not leaving, I’m fine. I-I’m fine. I can’t leave… what if he wakes up and I’m not here? I can’t leave him,” Ginny said, her voice cracking slightly. She looked at Harry who was lying motionless in bed, propped up on many pillows, with a vacant expression on his face. She squeezed his hand lightly.

“At least get a cup of coffee and walk around a little. You haven’t left that spot for thirty-six hours,” Ron said. Ginny whipped her head around and opened her mouth to speak, but Ron cut her off, “Don’t worry, I’ll be here with him. Go.”

Reluctantly, Ginny got up and made her way to the door. Taking one look back, she saw Ron take her seat which was situated next to Harry’s bed. He nodded at her and she left.

She watched her feet as she made her way up the stairs to the fifth floor tear room of St. Mungo’s. It was the first time in days that she had left Harry’s room and she couldn’t feel worse about it.

The trip from the Ministry to St. Mungo’s after Harry had collapsed was a blur. She couldn’t remember much, considering she hadn’t done anything but cry from that time to the time that she had to be checked out by the healers. After mending her wrist and giving her a potion for shock, Ginny immediately asked for Harry and hadn’t left that chair beside him since. Now, she didn’t know what she was going to do. What if Harry never woke up? She couldn’t go on without him, she had never dreamt of it.

Snapping from her thoughts, Ginny found herself in the tearoom and not realizing how she even got there, she went over to the muggle coffee maker and promised herself that as soon as her coffee was done, she would go straight back to Harry’s room.

~***~

Ginny sat in Harry’s room quietly reading her book. It was nighttime now, almost seven to be exact. Sighing heavily, Ginny closed her book and made her way across the room to draw the curtains. She was halfway there when

“Gin…”

She stopped in her tracks, her breath caught in her chest. No, she was dreaming, it was just a dream. She stood there, paralyzed and then again

“Ginny.”

Tears immediately burned in her eyes as she turned and saw Harry, his eyes half open, looking over to her. Letting out half a scream, she rushed over to his bedside and grabbed his hand.

“Harry,” Ginny said tearfully, “you’re okay. I was so worried I would never see you again and, oh Harry I’m so glad you’re okay!” She sobbed as she put her head down on his bed and her tears soaked the sheet.

“Hey,” Harry said quietly, it was hard for him to talk. “Hey, look at me,” he said as he lifted her chin. “I will always be here for you, no matter what,” Harry tucked her hair behind her ear and wiped a tear from her cheek as she continued to cry. “Come here.”

Harry patted the bed and Ginny climbed onto it as he put his arm around her and she laid her head on his chest and cuddled up to him, still sobbing. “Listen,” Harry said, “my heart is beating for you Gin. You are the only reason that I’m still here, without you I’m nothing… I can’t live without you.”

“I was afraid that I was going to have to live without you. But I wouldn’t have been able to Harry, I’m so glad you’re okay.” Ginny said quietly, her tears subsiding a little.

“I promise you, I will always be here for you. I love you Ginny.”

“I love you too.” Ginny said as Harry lifted her chin and kissed her passionately. The laid there for a while, Harry stroking Ginny’s hair gently before he spoke

“So, what happened? I just remember casting the Avada Kadavra and then everything went black.” Harry said.

“Well, Voldemort cast the killing curse too… except he did it a little too late. Right when he cast it, your spell hit him, so his aim got messed up. But the curse still hit you, or skimmed across your arm more like. That’s why you were only knocked out. But there were still some severe consequences… the healers were afraid you weren’t going to wake up.”

Harry sat there in silence for a while before continuing to ask questions. “What about the Death Eaters? Did the Aurors catch all of them?”

“Well-”

“They didn’t catch all of them?! Are you kidding me?” Harry asked angrily. “Who escaped?”

“First of all Harry, you need to calm down, you know how you can get. Secondly… it isn’t that bad.”

“Meaning it’s bad.” Harry said. “Ginny… listen, I’m calm. Just tell me who escaped and I promise that I won’t get mad.”

“Okay… Macnair, Goyle, Malfoy, Amycus, Alecto, Mulciber, Avery… and Snape.” Ginny said getting ready for the worst.

“What?!” Harry asked angrily.

“Harry…”

“Sorry Gin, I just-” Harry took a deep breath, to calm himself. “I just don’t understand how they could let eight Death Eaters escape… including Snape. How could they let the man that murdered Albus Dumbledore escape? They can’t still believe that he’s on our side?”

“Harry, I don’t understand why either. We can figure that out later but Ron and Hermione are going to walk in here any minute so please don’t be fuming when they get here. They would be so excited to see you awake and happy, not bitter. And I’ll answer the rest of your questions later, when we have the time.” Ginny said. Harry couldn’t argue with her when he was just so happy that he was alive, so he lay there with her until his other two best friends entered the room and shared their excitement with him.