Harry raced through the Burrow’s back yard and stopped just short of the house. He hesitated, then shouted, “Mr. Weasley! Mrs. Weasley! Ron! Hermione...” He began coughing. “Ginny...”
The fire and smoke were overwhelming. Harry covered his nose and mouth with the hem of his shirt and threw his backpack onto the ground. He was about to charge into the house when a couple people came out the back door.
Harry drew his wand and was about to shoot a hex when he recognized them. A red-haired man with light scars traced across his face was carrying a young woman with silvery hair out of the house. Harry dropped his wand. “Bill? F-Fleur?”
Bill didn’t seem to hear Harry. He staggered across the lawn, coughing all the way, and gently set the unconscious Fleur down on the grass, a few yards away from the burning house. He then collapsed next to her.
Harry ran over to Bill and Fleur and knelt down beside them. “Bill...?” he asked anxiously.
Bill blearily opened his eyes. When he saw Harry next to him, his eyes widened in disbelief. “Harry?” he croaked. “Is it ” Is it really you? What are you doing here?”
“I was coming for the wedding...” Harry said hesitantly. “But Bill... Is everybody all right? What happened?”
Bill closed his eyes again. “They came on us so fast... They set the house on fire and locked the doors... I lost track of everyone... Then I found Fleur lying on the floor in the kitchen... It was all so fast, Harry...”
“Who ” who’s ‘we’?” Harry asked hesitantly, dreading the answer that he knew would come.
“Death Eaters,” Bill whispered. Harry turned pale and put his face in his hands. No... “Five or six of them. We were getting ready for your arrival... then suddenly they were there. We weren’t prepared... There was nothing we could do...”
The effort of speaking so long seemed to be too much for Bill, and he collapsed. Harry stood and stared up at the burning house. There was no way he could put out such a large fire. Then he remembered. Everyone else was still in the house!
Harry shouted, “RON! HERMIONE! FRED, GEORGE... GINNY! Are you in there?” He was about to run into the house and find them himself when the back door swung open again. Harry jumped back to see Fred, Ron, and Hermione emerge from the house. Fred was carrying a semi-conscious Ron. Hermione hovered behind them, sobbing, her hair a mass of knots.
Fred put Ron down on the lawn. Hermione knelt down beside him and started crying all over his face. Once again, none of them seemed to notice Harry’s presence at first. But after a few minutes, Hermione stood up, wiped off her eyes, and looked around for the first time.
She stared at Harry. Harry stared back. She was more of a mess than he had ever seen her. Then Hermione gave a little scream of relief and threw herself onto Harry, sobbing again.
“Harry! What ” what are you doing here? Now? Oh, Harry... I’m so glad ” You wouldn’t believe... Harry, it was so h-h-horrible...”
Harry’s robes were already soaked, but he didn’t pay them any attention. “Hermione... How did they get here so fast? Where is everyone else?”
Fred, who was staring at Harry as if he’d seen a ghost, answered him. He was uncharacteristically grim. “We have no idea how they got here so quick. They didn’t even Apparate, just marched up here like nobody’s business and started hexing everything in sight. Mum and Dad had just gone shopping, and the Death Eaters probably knew it. We were completely defenseless.”
Harry started. They had known that the Weasleys had gone away? That must mean they were being watched...
“Charlie couldn’t get here for the wedding,” continued Fred. “Apparently the war against You-Know-Who isn’t going too well over in Romania, either. And you know that great prat Percy hasn’t even spoken to us since Christmas. Might not even know about the wedding.”
Harry suddenly looked around. Someone was missing... “Where’s George? And Ginny?”
Hermione lifted her head from Harry’s shoulder and exchanged a look with Fred. “You’re not going to like this, Harry...” Hermione said cautiously. “Tell me!” Harry shouted, fearing the worst.
Fred spoke up. “George is alright. He’s still in there.” He nodded his head at the house. “He’s looking for Ginny. We-we can’t find her, Harry.”
“What?” Harry whispered. His blood pounded in his ears as he fought to keep his anger ” and his fear ” under control.
Hermione opened her mouth to answer, but Harry whirled around and made a dash for the Burrow. “No Harry!” he heard her scream, but he ignored her and burst through the door of the burning house.
The smoke was unbelievably thick inside, and Harry had to cover his face to keep himself from constantly coughing. He ran through the living room and glanced around as he went. It was a mess. More of a mess than usual. Harry stopped and stared, his horror growing. Overstuffed chairs were overturned and blasted to pieces. Scorch marks were all over the walls. Everything ” a wreck.
It was almost as bad in the kitchen. The normally neat floors were covered in broken dishes and cooking utensils. Tables and chairs were splintered and overturned. But the worst part, to Harry, lay on the ground by the wall. It was a clock with nine hands. The glass face had been smashed. Each hand had the name of one of the Weasley family on it. George and Ginny’s hands were both pointing to a phrase inscribed along one side of the clock: Mortal Peril.
Gulping once, Harry tore his eyes away from this sight and jogged through the doorway to the hall... where he ran into George.
“George!” Harry gasped, and in the same moment George said, “Harry! What are you doing here?”
Is that all people ask anymore? Harry thought irritably. “Never mind! Where’s Ginny? Have you found her?” he yelled to George.
“No,” George shouted back. “I couldn’t find her anywhere! But I haven’t gone upstairs ” The rooms up there are weakest! I think the fire got started up there!”
That was all Harry needed to know. The second George finished talking, he barreled up the steps. “No Harry, wait!” George dimly yelled, but there wasn’t any time.
Taking the stairs two at a time, Harry plunged into the second floor and discovered that George had been right. The fire was almost completely isolated on this floor. The heat and smoke were even worse in here. Harry could barely see his hand an inch from his face.
He started throwing open doors, desperately calling “Ginny!” But he couldn’t find her.
Then, he flung open the last door, which was so hot he almost burned himself on the knob. Heat rolled off his face like a wave, scorching his skin and forcing him to close his eyes. The fire had obviously begun in this room. “Ginny!” he shouted, one last time... But this time he was answered by a moan, coming from the floor. Harry opened his eyes wide and saw her. Ginny, lying on the ground next to a four-poster bed, unconscious.
Harry leapt over the bed and picked her up in his arms. He fought to keep his balance with the extra weight. The fire came at him. Slowly but surely, the red flames were spreading through the smoky room.
Harry pulled his wand out of his pocket and shouted, “Aguamenti!” A spurt of water came out of the wand, but there wasn’t enough. The fire just sucked the water up. Harry couldn’t put out such a large fire on his own, so he backed out the door and carried Ginny down the stairs, where he found George waiting for him. “You found her?” Fred’s twin looked at Ginny and shook his head. “She doesn’t look so good, Harry...”
“Help me get her outside,” Harry shouted, cutting George off. He didn’t want to think about Ginny’s condition. She had to be all right...
George nodded and hurried outside. Harry looked around one last time at the house he had loved so much, that he didn’t think he would ever see intact again. Then he followed George out to the backyard.
Hermione was staring up at the house, wringing her hands and crying hysterically. When she saw Harry, Ginny, and George emerge from the Burrow, she gave a little shriek, raced up to them and said, “Harry! George! You ” You’re alright, you found Ginny? Oh, Harry...” She had seen Ginny. Harry set her down gently on the grass.
Now that he was out of the burning house, Harry saw just how bad Ginny was. She had a great slash across her forehead, blood was trickling out of her mouth, and her lungs couldn’t be good, lying in the smoke for so long.
Harry swallowed and looked round at the others. Ron, Bill, and Fleur were still unconscious. Fred and George were watching Harry, Hermione and Ginny. The owls, Hedwig, Errol, and Pigwidgeon, were all outside, hooting dolefully. Hermione’s cat Crookshanks was all right, too. The humans were in the worst shape.
Harry looked back at Ginny and whispered, “Hermione?... Can you help her?...”
Hermione felt her pulse. Her eyes widened, tears welling up, and she whispered back, “Harry... I’m so sorry... There’s nothing we can do... It’s... She’s too bad, Harry...”
“NO!” Harry shouted. “Hermione, if there’s anything anyone can do, you can, please, just try to save her! Please! You have to help me save her!” He refused to believe it... She couldn’t be dying, she was just... just sleeping, that’s all, she would wake up and everything would be fine...
Tears began falling down Hermione’s face. She opened her mouth mutely, then closed it again, shaking her head.
Harry looked helplessly down at the one person he’d fallen in love with, the person he had believed would always be there for him. He realized that he couldn’t deny the facts, not this time... “She’s d-dying, isn’t she, Hermione?”
Hermione sniffed and nodded. Behind her, Fred and George had closed their eyes in horror, the reality dawning on them, hard. Tears were now trickling down their eyes as well. Harry felt wet tears of his own stain his cheeks, and he wiped them away, angrily. Why? Why was everything, everyone he loved snatched away from him just when he’d realized that he truly cared about them? “Why?” he bellowed to the sky. He broke down and wept. “Why...”
Hermione sniffed again and took her wand out. Pointing it at Ginny, she whispered, “Enervate.”
Ginny stirred and opened her eyes. They were already turning glassy. Death was fast approaching.
“Harry?” she whispered. She coughed, and more blood gushed from her mouth. Harry’s eyes got wet. He hated to see her like this.
“Hey,” he whispered back. “How’re you ” how’re you feeling?” It was obvious how she was feeling, but Harry felt the need to say something, something normal...
“Not too good,” Ginny said softly. She grimaced and stiffly turned her head, looking around. “Where are all the others? Are they OK?”
Harry couldn’t take his eyes off her. He wanted her so desperately to get better, but knew that that couldn’t happen. Her body was too damaged to survive. Memories flooded his mind as he looked at her, good memories...
“Yeah, they’re OK,” Harry answered. “It’s you we’re all worried about...”
“Harry ”“ Ginny cut him off. “Harry, I’m dying, aren’t I?”
Behind them, Hermione covered her mouth with her hands and gave a dry sob. She turned away and crumpled to the ground.
Ginny’s bluntness temporarily threw Harry off. He took a deep breath and whispered, “Yes. I-I think you are, Ginny.”
Ginny looked up and sighed. Then, looking back at Harry, she actually smiled. “I’m not afraid, Harry, so don’t you be,” she said. “I want you to promise me something.”
“What?” Harry whispered. A huge lump had formed in the back of his throat, making it difficult to swallow. This hurt. It hurt so much, and there was nothing Harry could do to take the pain away.
“Don’t forget me, Harry, will you? Please... whatever happens, don’t forget...”
“I won’t,” Harry promised. A lone tear fell off his cheek. “I’ll never forget you Ginny. I’ll remember you forever, I promise...”
Ginny smiled again, a radiant smile that warmed Harry. For a moment he almost forget the aching loneliness he was feeling, the utter despair. For a moment he almost felt... happy.
“I love you, Harry,” she whispered.
And Ginny Weasley, the youngest child of her family, died.