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Now Comes the Night
By Emmeline Vance

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Category: Post-HBP
Characters:Harry/Ginny, Other, Ron Weasley
Genres: Angst, Drama, General
Warnings: None
Story is Complete
Rating: PG
Reviews: 1
Summary: The night of the final battle has come at last, and Ginny is left waiting anxiously. Harry and Voldemort have both disappeared--but what is the fate of them both? Will Harry return to her?
Hitcount: Story Total: 4540



Disclaimer: Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R. Note the opinions in this story are my own and in no way represent the owners of this site. This story subject to copyright law under transformative use. No compensation is made for this work.





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Now Comes the Night

They hadn’t found him.

They hadn’t found him.

As many times as Ginny told herself this, she still couldn’t accept it. She held on to a centimeter, or, really, a couple hundred yards, of hope that maybe he hadn’t died, that they just hadn’t searched enough. But where could he have gone? The battle had been raging long before she and the other Order members had gotten there. From the first sight of the fighting before them, they knew this was the battle. The one that would be the defining point of the rest of their lives. They saw the great blast of light encircling the finally mortal Tom Riddle and Harry. And when the fog lifted, they were both gone.

The Death Eaters had fled as soon as they realized their commander was gone for good. Meanwhile, half the Order rounded up those scurrying Death Eaters, and half of them began a frantic search for their, in a sense, commander. Ginny’s mother had shoved a portkey into her hand that had brought her back to the Burrow.

Which was where she was now, sitting under her favorite tree, looking out at the sun setting behind the forest top and the mist rolling in. No one was home except for her. She wanted to help them search for him, but she had no way of getting out. Her mother had put a lock on the gate that everyone in the family except Ginny knew how to lift, and their whole property was cloaked with an anti-apparation barrier. Even the Floo powder pot was empty. Ginny had tried every way of getting out of her house and yard, but finally resigned herself to sitting under the tree and waiting. She desperately wished that her mother wasn’t so protective of her. Her mum still didn’t want to face the fact that her youngest, her only daughter, had grown up.

It was a miracle, really, that the Burrow had survived the war. But not all that had once lived inside did. Charlie had died three months ago. Bill had survived. Ron, who had been gone with Harry and Hermione, was still whole–or at least physically. The twins, unlike what their mother had predicted, had not been murdered in their beds, although they were forced to make their business mail-order only in the past few months. Percy still hadn’t reconciled himself with the family, but Ginny suspected that would be coming soon. If anyone from this family had deserved to die, Ginny thought venomously, it was Percy, not Charlie.

Ginny had been stuck at school the whole time. She had tried to get Harry to take her with him, but he had just left her with a short, bittersweet kiss after Bill and Fleur’s wedding. She decided, now that the war was over, that she wasn’t going to be the one sitting on the sidelines anymore. Perhaps she would become an Auror, and finally do something useful. She quite liked the taste of battle she had gotten at the Department of Mysteries and during the recent final battle, and she wanted more.

The sun was now even farther down in the sky, and the shadows around her were growing. And Harry was still missing. How long would it be until they gave up searching and declared him dead? She knew Ron and Hermione wouldn’t give up searching. But wouldn’t they have to, eventually?

Harry had a suspicion this would happen, Ginny thought, he told me, “I may not come back, Ginny…I don’t want you to wait for me.”

“I am waiting!” Ginny shouted to the empty yard. She exhaled loudly and held in a whimper. Her yelling was all nonsense anyway; he wouldn’t hear her. But that surge of emotion brought forth tears she couldn’t hold in any longer. She gave into herself and allowed the tears to streak down her face. An owl hooted nearby, and she was reminded of Hedwig. Will it always be like this? Ginny wondered bitterly. Will I be reminded of him everywhere I go?

The clicking of the lock at the gate alerted Ginny and she stood up as fast as she could. She pressed her back against the tree and grabbed onto it like a lifeline. A figure slipped through the gate door and looked around the yard. It was covered in the black of the shadows, and Ginny couldn’t tell who it was. Its head turned towards Ginny, and froze. The figure began to glide towards her, and came into the pool of light from the appearing moon. Ginny’s breath caught.

It was Harry.

From what she could see, his hair was as messy as it had ever been, but it was caked with mud, and, although she wished she were imagining it, blood, in various spots. There was a gash on his forehead, right next to his hair line, that had gleaming blood in the process of drying. Another cut went across his wand hand. Little marks adorned his face, arms, and legs. He looked, Ginny thought, exactly like a hero that had been to hell and back. And, in many ways, she supposed, he had.

Ginny’s first emotion was elation, but uneasiness began to creep into her. This couldn’t really be Harry; it couldn’t be that simple. She had been waiting for him to come back for a year...perhaps she was imagining things. It seemed too ideal, too easy for him to be here, just standing in her yard, when he had just fought the battle of his life. Somehow she had always dreaded, but expected, to see him lying in a bed, unconscious, after Voldemort's defeat. No, she told herself, no, it can’t be.

As he came nearer, she whispered under her breath while she shook her head. “No. No, no, no. Not real. No.”

And then he was there. Right in front of her. Close enough to touch, but Ginny couldn’t trust that it was really him.

“You’re not real,” Ginny whispered, tears pooling in her eyes, but staying still as she refused to let them fall. “You can’t really be Harry.”

He looked at her with sadness and happiness combined into one. “Gin, it’s me.”

Ginny gulped. The real Harry had called her Gin. She just shook her head in reply.

“Ask me something only the real Harry Potter would know.”

Ginny thought for a moment. “Where was the old Order of the Phoenix headquarters?”

“12 Grimmauld Place. It was Sirius’ family house.”

That was a stupid question, Ginny told herself, a Death Eater could have found that out, and they could be impersonating Harry.

She tried again. “What did you kill in the Chamber of Secrets to save me?”

“A basilisk,” he replied simply.

No, Voldemort knew that was in the Chamber, he could have told one of his followers.

This time she knew a question only Harry would know the answer to. She said quietly, “Where did we go to snog when we were going out?”

Harry smiled woefully. “The Room of Requirement. It was always Gryffindor colors and had pictures of us playing Quidditch and of our families. There was a velvet sofa in the corner.”

Ginny gasped. Emotions conflicted inside her. She wanted to, wanted to with all might, believe that it was Harry, but it seemed too surreal and good to be true. “Well, then, you–you’re a ghost!” She stammered.

Harry smiled sadly again. “I’m alive. And solid.”

In one step he moved closer to her, grabbed her arm, and kissed her with so much emotion that Ginny felt as if some of it transferred to her. When he drew away Ginny gazed into his eyes and said, unbelievingly, “It’s really you. You’re alive.”

“Yes, Ginny, I am. I hope you can have me back.”

For the first time that night, Ginny smiled. “Of course.”

Suddenly Ginny remembered the reason why she was alone at the Burrow. “Everyone’s looking for you. Where did you disappear to?”

“I guess Voldemort just wanted to get me one last time. I ended up in the graveyard that has his grandparents’ and father’s gravestones. But it didn’t take me long to figure out where I was and to come back here. Why aren’t you looking for me?”

Ginny tried not to look offended. “Mum.”

“Oh.”

“She doesn’t want to let me go. Why can’t she understand that I’ve grown up?”

“I think you were her only child that wasn’t completely involved in the war. She wanted to keep it that way, didn’t she?”

“I guess you have a point with that. But it’s over now, isn’t it?” Ginny asked, with an unsure and hopeful tone to her voice.

“Yes, it is.” Harry said confidently. He looked over across the lawn and, for the first time for at least two years, looked at peace. Ginny calmed down when she saw his expression. It really was over, then.

“What did you, Ron, and Hermione do to get rid of him? Can you tell me now that it’s over?”

“I expect I’ll explain this in more detail many times. We destroyed parts of his soul he had left scattered over the continent. The diary had been one of them, but that had already been destroyed years ago.”

“So it wasn’t just his memory inside of me…it was his soul?” Ginny said, a weight growing in her stomach.

“It doesn’t matter now, Ginny,” Harry told her. He took her hand and pulled her gently down so they were sitting side by side against the tree.

“But it does, Harry. I feel…tainted.”

“Well, you’re not. I’ve had his soul inside me before, too, but it doesn’t make us any worse people. Besides, he’s gone now.”

“How can you be sure? If you just disappeared could he have gone somewhere else, too?” Ginny asked.

“I felt him die. My scar burned horribly, but then it was done hurting, and there wasn’t any trace of the pain left. I felt different then. I’m sure he’s really gone for good.”

Ginny looked at him intently for a moment. The sight of him, sitting with her on the night of Voldemort’s death, still whole, was incredible. She had been sure he wouldn’t make it through the whole ordeal without getting injured in some major way, or dying. Yet here he was.

“I thought you were gone for good,” Ginny said in a barely audible whisper, her head down. “All this happened because of that prophecy, didn’t it? Why’d it have to be you?”

Harry gently pushed up her chin so her eyes met his. “No. I told everyone before I left that it was just something I had to do. And it was. No prophecy decided this for me, it was my own choice. If for no one else in the wizarding world, I did this for you and your family. I couldn’t just let a war go on around me. It’s over now, and I made it through, didn’t I?”

“Yes,” Ginny replied, “but you’ve changed, and so has everyone else.”

“It was a war, Ginny. What do you expect?”

“I expected you to never come back. At least not to me. Are you sure you want to? I’ve been here while you’ve been out saving the world.”

Harry was silent for moment. “We’ve all changed, you said so yourself. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be with you anymore. You’re the only person I could and want to be with, Gin.”

Ginny looked up; more confident. “You really mean that?”

“Would I have said it if I didn’t?” Harry let go of her hand and wrapped his arms around her. She welcomed it and held him, too.

Ginny knew, when she sat content in his arms, that her fears were pointless. Harry was the only person she would want to be with, also. She felt safe with him, but she also knew she was capable of bravely facing, alongside him, whatever the aftermath of the end of the war would bring. This was the beginning of the rest of their lives.

A pop! came from the other side of the fence. Ginny looked over Harry’s shoulder and saw Ron in the light the moon provided. She started to draw away, but Harry held on, almost as if wanting this moment to last forever. Ron began talking loudly and walking through the gate without looking around to see where his sister was.

“Ginny! Mum sent me back to check on you. We….we haven’t found Harry yet. But--”

He caught sight of Harry and Ginny and stared at them for a moment. “Harry?” he said hoarsely. He looked at Ginny as if asking for confirmation. “Ginny? Is…”

Ginny simply nodded.

Harry drew away, looked at her closely, and kissed her. He stood up and walked the short distance to where Ron stood.

Ron stared at him unbelievingly for a second. Harry pulled him into a brotherly embrace. After a moment they both backed away. Ron cleared his throat and said, “Merlin, Harry, everyone’s looking for you, I’d better tell them.” He thumped Harry on the shoulder, gave him one last slightly-teary eyed look, and walked out of the gate so he could apparate away. When he had left, Harry walked back over to Ginny.

Ginny took both of his hands and looked up at him. “You won’t leave us again? Not for a long, long time?”

“No, I won’t. You won’t be alone anymore.”

Ginny smiled up at him sincerely.

Harry returned the smile.

The world seemed a different place now that Voldemort was gone, and the two of them stood on the brink of a new and much brighter day. But for now, the moon shone over a night that was finally peaceful and quiet. Until the sun rose, that was more than enough.



Author's Notes: I wrote this right after HBP came out but never posted it anywhere--but now I finally did. The idea behind this was that it's a little more subtle that my other fluffy one-shots (I don't know if I succeeded), but I still think it's still romantic, though, overall. It was probably pretty predictable, and not my best, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless! Thanks for reading!

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