At the very beginning of the battle, she had told herself, it’s do or die. This is it. It all ends here. Being strong had seemed so easy at the time. As Death Eater after Death Eater had fallen, she had begun to feel invincible. None of her friends or family had died yet. Now, as the second round of the battle had come along, they had lost Lupin, Tonks and… and…

 

Fred, she thought miserably.

 

Fred, the funny one, the one that never underestimated her, the one that had protected her… She felt a slight twinge in her nose and blinked back tears as she Deflected another Stunner, hitting a Death Eater who had been fighting against a sixth year Ravenclaw. She had to be strong. She had to make it through. A flash of green light went flying past her head.

 

Outside, coming from the direction of the Forbidden Forest, she heard someone’s ringing cry of, “BANE!” and paused in moment of confused curiosity, giving the Death Eater with whom she was dueling the split second that he needed.

 

“Sectumsempra!”

 

Ginny felt the pain of the spell slice through her right cheek, and felt the warm stickiness of her own blood running down her face. Not even bothering to wipe it away, she twirled her wand towards him and shouted, “Reducto!”

 

The ground in front of him exploded at the force of the spell, sending him flying backwards and knocking him unconscious. As Ginny turned to face the next enemy, a voice rung out across the grounds, sufficiently stopping all of the fighting in its’ tracks.

 

“Harry Potter is dead.”

 

Ginny froze solid. The booming voice continued.

 

“...while you lay down your lives for him. We bring you his body and proof that your hero is gone.”

 

She could hear more words booming across the grounds, but she could not, for the life of her, make out what they were. Harry. Harry was dead. Voldemort had killed him. He was gone.

 

No, she told herself. He can’t be. I need him. He can’t be gone.

 

She started to frantically look around, trying to find Ron and Hermione. She saw them standing together at the top of the stairs leading down into the Entrance Hall. So quickly that she may as well have Apparated, she ran to stand with them. They were standing silently, hand in hand, stone-faced, looking towards the Entrance Hall’s doors. Ginny turned slowly to see what they were looking at; the sight made her stomach clench painfully.

 

Voldemort was walking into the Entrance Hall with Nagini around his shoulders, surrounded by Death Eaters in their pitch black robes, their hoods pulled up and over their heads. And, in the midst of them, Hagrid, who usually towered over everyone, seemed unnaturally small for his size, like he had crumpled in on himself. Ginny’s eyes flicked down to what was in his arms; a limp mass of Muggle clothing on a body with pale skin, and an unruly mess of black hair. She could hear Hagrid sobbing in the distance, “Oh, Harry… Harry…”

 

The pain became physical. She couldn’t think, she couldn’t breathe. The pain of loss was crushing in on her from all sides, ripping viciously at her chest where her heart used to be. She found herself kneeling on the ground, her arms wrapped around her chest as she tried to hold in the anguish.

 

“NO!” someone shrieked, almost sounding like a banshee. Through her pain, she looked up and saw Professor McGonagall, pale as a ghost, her mouth still open from her outcry, before the professor brought her hands up to her face and began to sob in earnest.

 

As her eyes were drawn back to Harry’s body, she noticed that the people who had been fighting out on the grounds were starting to come back inside to see if it was true. All was silent.

 

Suddenly, Ron and Hermione simultaneously screeched, “No!” “No!”

 

Ginny gave into the pain as her eyes began to fill with tears, and Harry’s figure blurred; “Harry!” she cried, “HARRY!” She crumpled under the weight of the agony, tears streaming down her face, never taking her eyes off of the body of the boy that she had loved since she was just ten years old.

 

Around her, everyone on the battlefield began yelling and screaming at Voldemort, the Death Eaters, and anyone else who had ever opposed The Boy Who Lived, who was now dead.

 

“SILENCE!” cried Voldemort, and a bang followed by a flash of light that reminded Ginny of lightning stopped everyone’s ability to use their voices.

 

Voldemort’s voice boomed across the grounds once more; “You see?” he said, “Harry Potter is dead! Do you understand now, deluded ones? He was nothing, ever—“ Ron stiffened visibly beside her, and both Ginny and Hermione looked up at him with mild curiosity. “—but a boy who relied on others to sacrifice themselves for him!”

 

Ron’s face had turned bright red with effort, but he broke Voldemort’s charm and managed to yell out, “He beat you!” and everywhere on the grounds, the yells of abuse began again, until an ear-splitting bang silenced everyone once again.

 

The irritation was visible on Voldemort’s face as the tears continued to streak down Ginny’s, and his booming voice continued to speak. “He was killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds, killed while trying to save himself—“

 

He stopped talking as Neville broke the lines and started running directly at him; he cursed and disarmed Neville in a split-second. Ginny saw Hermione bring her hand up to her mouth to cover up her quivering lower lip before turning back to watch the scene unfold in front of them.

 

She observed the unmoving frame that had fallen on the ground with tears streaming silently down her face, and whispered, “Oh, Neville…”

 

Bellatrix’s gravelly voice brought her mind back into focus. “…who has been giving the Carrows so much trouble! The son of the Aurors, remember?”

 

Fury began to replace the agonizing sorrow in her veins, filling her with the usual Weasley temper as Voldemort began to scrutinize her friend while he scrambled to get up, saying, “…you are a pureblood, aren’t you, my brave boy?”

 

Ginny couldn’t help but smile at Neville’s response; “So what if I am?” he burst out loudly, each word dripping with unsuppressed hatred that continued to fuel her own.

 

Her anger reached a peak when Voldemort told Neville that he would be a very valuable Death Eater, to which he responded, “I’ll join you when hell freezes over.” As loud as he could, he yelled, “Dumbledore’s Army!” Ginny, along with the rest of the crowd, cheered at full volume.

 

Through her fury, she could barely hear when Voldemort said, “On your head, be it.”

 

She turned somewhat nervously to Hermione and Ron, who had a furrowed brow. “On his head be what?” she whispered.

 

Hermione’s lips thinned, and the crease in Ron’s brow deepened further. After a moment’s hesitation, he said, “I’m not sure. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” and nodded his head towards the small mass of brown flying through the air and into Voldemort’s hand. When he unfolded it, Ginny’s eyes widened in surprise. He had summoned the Sorting Hat. But why?

 

Once again, his voice rung out. “There will be no more Sorting at Hogwarts School. There will be no more houses. The emblem, shield, and colors of my noble ancestor, Salazar Slytherin—“ a vicious grin touched his visage, “—will suffice for everyone.” He proceeded to shift his gaze to a stony-faced Neville, hissing, “Won’t they, Neville Longbottom?”

 

Angry tears stung Ginny’s eyes as she watched Voldemort petrify her friend and force the Sorting Hat onto his head, pulling it low over his eyes and ears. Their fighters were being held back by the Death Eaters, up until Voldemort set the Sorting Hat on fire.

 

All of the girls and women were shrieking, the boys and men roaring in fury. War cries broke out; Grawp started screaming, “HAGGER!”; before Ginny knew it, the fighting had begun again. Giants, centaurs, and wizards alike.

 

In her surprise, Ginny almost didn’t notice that Neville was moving again; he threw the Sorting Hat off of him and pulled out a glint of silver and red, bringing it down upon Nagini, slicing her head clean off. Voldemort let out a scream of rage as the body fell to the ground, and for the first time that day, Ginny let herself laugh. According to Hermione and Ron, that was the last Horcrux. This was it. Voldemort was mortal. He could be killed. She let the laughter consume her, halting all of her thoughts of Harry and allowing her to focus on the chaos that had begun.

 

Above all of the shouts, though, Hagrid’s voice was easily heard. “HARRY!” He bellowed. “HARRY—WHERE’S HARRY?”

 

Just as Ginny was about to turn and look at where he had once laid, she felt Hermione’s strong grip at her elbow yank her away from the path that, just seconds afterwards, a thirty-foot giant had trampled through.

 

She let out a breath and turned to Hermione. “Tha—“

 

Hermione cut her off, screaming, “WATCH OUT!”

 

Turning, she saw a bright purple light coming directly at her face. Before she even had time to react, the spell was deflected, cracking part of the ceiling, which fell upon one of the giant’s heads. An airy voice next to her called out, “Stupify!” shooting the curse back at the person who had tried to hit Ginny. She thanked Luna before turning to see who had tried to curse her.

 

Bellatrix was looking at the three girls with a look of upmost loathing on her face.

 

Ginny was furious, but she smirked, saying, “You know, I think we could take her…” Beside her, Hermione snorted and raised her wand, shouting, “Reducto!” and Luna started humming the school song to herself. And so the duel commenced.

 

Beating Bellatrix was not as easy as Ginny had thought; her power and skill matched that of all three of the girls put together. Spell after spell, and curse after curse was shot back and forth, deflected, and dodged. Bellatrix made eye contact with Ginny, and hissed, “Avada Kedavra!” The curse missed her by less than an inch and she froze.

 

Before she had the chance to collect herself, she heard a familiar voice screech, “NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!”

 

She looked up to see her mother, furious as ever, throwing her cloak off and catching Bellatrix’s attention.

 

Bellatrix laughed as Mrs. Weasley roared, “OUT OF MY WAY!” and began to duel with her. Hermione, Luna, and Ginny stood for a moment, stunned at the look of blood-lust on Mrs. Weasley’s usually soft and smiling face, before being forced back with the other hundreds of people watching the two fights going on in the middle of the room; Bellatrix fighting Molly, and Voldemort fighting Kingsley, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Slughorn.

 

Ginny couldn’t take her gaze off of her mother; the skill with which she fought was something that she had never seen before. She was graceful for her age and size, twisting and twirling and slashing her wand through the air with unparalleled vigor.

 

Bellatrix smirked at Mrs. Weasley, cooing, “What will happen to your children—“ she jerked her head at Ginny, “—when I’ve killed you? When Mummy’s gone the same way as Freddie?” Ginny saw red, and went to take a step forward.

 

Rage burst forth from Mrs. Weasley as she roared, “You—will—never—touch—our—children—again!” Bellatrix began to laugh.

 

Suddenly there was a blinding flash of green, zooming directly towards Bellatrix, hitting her right above her heart. Both Ginny and Bellatrix froze; the Death Eater’s eyes widened in surprise, and, almost in slow motion, she fell backwards, collapsing on the floor. Voldemort’s scream of rage was louder than that of the hundreds of bystanders who had watched the fight.

 

Ginny looked over just in time to see the force of Voldemort’s curse knock McGonagall, Kingsley, and Slughorn into the air, sending them flying back at least a dozen feet, before he turned to face her mother. She panicked. He raised his wand, and opened his mouth, and then—

 

“Protego!” Ginny stood frozen as a statue. She knew that voice. She loved that voice. She turned her gaze slowly from Voldemort to the figure that had just appeared in the middle of the hall, his wand held at the ready in front of him. Her breath caught as everyone around her rejoiced; messy, black hair. Pale skin. Vibrantly green eyes alive with malice. Worn, dirty, and tattered clothes. Invisibility cloak in hand.

 

Harry was alive.

 

The heaviness that had settled in her chest lifted in an instant; she knew that he and Voldemort were talking, but she couldn’t hear the words. She couldn’t see anyone else in the room but Harry, and tears began to stream down her face. He was alive. He was here. He was still fighting. He was going to defeat Voldemort.

 

She finally came back to her senses just in time to hear Harry whisper, “…if it does… I am the true master of the Elder Wand.”

 

In an instant, the room was washed in a burning, golden glow from the Enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall, combined with the sudden sunlight bursting through the windows from the sunrise. Less than a second had passed before Voldemort and Harry cried out at the same time:

 

“Avada Kedavra!”

“Expelliarmus!”

 

Everyone in the room instinctively covered their ears when the two spells collided; the reverberation through the room was near-deafening. Ginny watched silently, hardly daring to hope, as the Voldemort’s wand went soaring through the air before it was nimbly caught by Harry. The green light was shot backwards, hitting Voldemort straight in the face. Ginny’s stomach swooped as she saw his body fall down, down, down…

 

A moment of shocked silence passed, and cheers louder than anything she had ever heard before broke out. Harry was swarmed with people, Ginny included. Tired but happy green eyes met warm brown; her heart burst and love flooded through her entire body.

 

It was okay. Everything was going to be okay.

 

Fin.