I was surrounded by nothing else than complete silence.

It was dark, and I stood on the platform of Hogsmeade station. Around me, hundreds of students talked and tried to press their way forwards, towards where the carriages stood, waiting to bring the students up to Hogwarts castle. And yet, despite the noise all the people made, I heard nothing of it. I could only hear the silence of the night.

A strange prickle ran down my spine, and I had the sudden feeling of being watched. I turned around to spot who was staring at me, but all I saw was the grey smoke of the train. Misty waves of this smoke wafted around me; it was an eerie feeling. The smoke was warm, and yet everything around me was cold.

Suddenly, laughter caught my attention. The sound was contorted, and another prickle ran down my spine; I had goosebumps on my arms, too. Squinting my eyes to see in the swirling misty smoke, I saw feeble shadows moving around. They looked like figures gazing at me, their eyes shining in a haunting yellowy red.

A breeze blew the smoke into my direction, and I noticed one of the smoky figures coming right towards me. But before I could even act and side-step the oncoming figure, it went right through me, like one of the ghosts once did. And yet, it felt different. It wasn’t as if I’d been drowned in icy-cold water. It was… warm and still cool.

I shuddered.

‘Ginny? Are you coming?’

I turned around and looked at Luna and Neville. His eyes showed confusion, and he looked from her to me, his eyes moving rapidly, as if it was he who was being haunted. Luna’s eyes instead were wide open, her pupils shimmering in the lanterns’ light. They mirrored the ghostly scene I’ve just witnessed myself.

Had they seen it? Had both of them experienced the same thing I had just mere seconds ago?

Wondering, I one more time glanced back towards where I had seen the ghost riders before answering, ‘Let’s go.’ And I never looked back a second time.

School was lonely without him. Everything was dark and empty. No warmth radiated from Hogwarts’ walls, and everyone was tight-lipped. I felt like I was moving without my own accord; it felt as if I was a mere puppet who walked, ate and slept only because she was guided by a puppet player, steered through invisible robes.

Have you ever felt it? When nothing was there – although you were surrounded by hundreds of people?

I hated this loneliness. I desperately wanted him back, my Harry. I wanted to hold him in my arms, kiss him, walk with him, talk to him. I just wanted to be with him. But he was not here with me. He was out there with my brother and Hermione, searching for a way to end this war. A war which no one was really sure how it would end. I hated him for it – and yet I could never hate Harry Potter, the man I loved.

Clatter echoed through the silent common room when my quill slipped of my fingers and rolled off the table and onto the stone floor.

‘Ginny? Is everything all right?’

I turned around and saw Neville coming towards me. He cared; his eyes told me he wanted everything to be all right. And he was determined to make it right – the glitter in his eyes told me this much.

He had changed a lot in the last years. He had been a silent and withdrawn boy when I vaguely got to know him. He had been eager to learn and to prove that he was not fool nor an idiot. But nonetheless, he didn’t have much luck. There were many small accidents caused by him, and everyone could witness them in the Great Hall. The Slytherins, especially, took entertainment in his embarrassment. Only when Harry started the DA did Neville get a chance to finally change and prove to everyone he wasn’t the weak baby everyone made him out to be.

I missed the DA. It had been so much fun and great for learning about defensive spells and techniques. And, of course, Harry taught it. My Harry.

‘Do you want to talk about it?’ Neville asked softly, bringing my attention back into the present.

He sat down across from me, his eyes catching my own. It was hard to look away, but it was even harder to hold his gaze. I found myself not able to look away or stay calm at all. So I did the only other possibility I had: I started crying. And Neville was great about it; he changed seats immediately and came to me, hugging and soothing me until the worst was over. I felt like I was a small child again, crying over nothingness. But my feelings weren’t nothingness. Harry wasn’t nothingness.

Nothing was nothingness.

‘I miss him so much,’ I sobbed into Neville’s shirt.

He laid his chin onto my head, hugging me even closer to him. I wished it was Harry soothing me, being here for me.

‘You know, I thought about helping him.’

His whisper was nearly drowned in my sniffling, but I caught it and wiggled away from his embracing hug. I looked at him. ‘What do you mean? He would never have let you go with them.’

He smiled, a mixture of sadness and mystery. ‘I know. That’s why I’ve been thinking of other ways of how to help them.’

I didn’t reply, but the curious look in my eyes must have given me away because Neville continued.

‘Would you like to bring back the DA? I already asked Luna; she’s deliberated starting it of her own already. We three could make it. We gather the old members and start fighting from within. The Carrows or Snape are easy play for us once we’re strong again. Think of how we got through our exams; Umbridge was never able to stop us.’

‘That’s not quite correct, Neville. She did catch us in the end.’

‘But only because this Edgecombe girl sold us to her.’

We talked about for the rest of the night. Neville had some really great ideas: what to change, what we could improve to have a more active and lasting effect. It didn’t dry my tears entirely though. There were still moments I thought of Harry and started crying again. But they were silent tears, and Neville understood. He never asked me to let it rest and stop being so emotionally, no. He supported me with everything he had to offer, and finally I was able to live with it.

This night, I couldn’t sleep. The whispered conversation with Neville repeated itself over and over again in my head. And each time it started from anew, I remembered something else I missed when down there, in the common room, with him talking about it. I saw new dimensions of how to help Harry – if not out there, actively doing whatever he was doing, then at least I was here to help protect Hogwarts and everyone living within its walls. It was a sacred place for us, in all our hearts. And it was worth fighting for it.

I had found my strength and peace within. It gave me hope for the coming months, to live through what many called hell in daylight.

And it had shown me that together you’re strong. Standing alone, you’re nothing.