Discovery

Well, this is the end. I'm quite happy with it though it's a little soppier than I usually try for.


Ginny ran from the Room of Requirement, her mind whirling as she tried to work out the best way to influence the battle. Who knew the most about Hogwarts? Someone who'd been here for years? But the corridors were deserted. Not an elderly teacher or pearly ghost to be seen anywhere. Ginny had no delusions about her skill as a witch. She was talented, yes, but against dark magic and amoral opponents? Her quick-thinking mind was her best asset in this battle, so she over-rode her almost overpowering Gryffindor instinct to throw herself immediately into the fray, found a sheltered spot, closed her eyes and thought. Who could help? Someone seemingly omniscient, always with a plan, knowing exactly what to do. With a short gasp her green eyes flew open and she smiled wryly. Of course. Dumbledore. With a cautious glance down the corridor she set off. Sprinting through the dark, smokey castle, Ginny was impeded constantly by rubble, but finally she found the gargoyle. The entrance to Dumbledore's office. She racked her mind for any word that could be the password. Unsuccessful and angered by the wasted time Ginny started back through the smokey corridor. She had hardly moved ten steps when she heard a deep voice behind her shout.


“DUMBLEDORE!”


Ginny recognised Harry's voice and spun to see him sprinting up the stairs to Dumbledore's office. Without a second thought she raced up after him. She reached the top of the stairs, her mouth already half-open to join Harry and Dumbledore's discussion. But neither of them were there. Empty portraits lined the walls, and there on the desk was a stone basin full of swirling memories. Ginny was not raised by muggles. She instantly knew what it was and she was sure Harry was in there, seeing something that would greatly influence not just the battle, but the war. She strode purposefully towards the basin and leaned forwards. Bright sunlight hit her retinas like acid and it took a few moments for her eyes to recover sufficiently to squint around at her surroundings. Harry was in front of her, engrossed in the scene. She did not want Harry to order her to return to safety and so she hid behind a bush to her left. From there she saw an young, oddly-dressed boy and two girls. Her mouth fell open as her eyes adjusted enough to see the details of the playground in front of her. It was her. On a swing set with another girl. She was about seven and had just jumped off the swing, flying through the air gracefully. Ginny smiled ruefully, remembering all the times she had done that. But she didn't remember the other girl, or the playground. And then the shrill voices drifted across the playground to her and her jaw dropped even lower.


“Lily, don't do it!”


The other little girl said to the red-haired witch. It was Harry's mother. Ginny took a good few minutes to recover from the shock, dully watching the scene. Just as she had managed to accept the incredible scene in front of her, a fresh wave of shock crashed over her. The oddly-dressed boy had jumped from behind the bush and after a minute or so of conversation the muggle-girl revealed his identity. Snape. As a child. Ginny looked at his clothes and pitied him, his childhood was obviously less than ideal. Then the scene shifted and Ginny was behind a tree. She looked for Harry, of course he was still engrossed but she moved to a more secure spot. The rapid scene changes were difficult because she desperately did not want to miss anything but couldn't be seen by Harry, especially not now that she was intruding on private memories concerning his mother, that should have belonged to him and only him. Ginny almost wept as the memories revealed more and more, until finally everything was clear. And everything she had known was wrong.


At the end of the last memory she found herself on the floor behind Dumbledore's desk. She could hear Harry breathing heavily somewhere on the other side but she could not focus on that. Tears had sprung to her eyes as she tried to understand the enormity of what she had just seen and heard. And its bearing on her. Snape wasn't evil. Not at all. Those confused feelings she had felt for him suddenly solidified. She realised how much she truly cared for him, how much she truly loved him. Her knowledge of his evil deeds had stopped her from realising them. But they weren't evil. The complete opposite. And now those feelings she had felt radiating from him made sense too. That softness he had always displayed towards her, that slight sadness she had felt in him when he saw her. She must've reminded him so terribly and painfully of Lily. She thought of his patronus and almost sobbed with sorrow for him but joy for them. It was so right now, she felt like she were floating with the knowledge that she could fall into his arms and they would be the arms of a wonderful, kind, good man. She heard Harry get up and stumble out, she vaguely realised he had just heard his death sentence and knew that she should go after him and console him, but she also knew he would need and want to be alone. She was also just too excited. She had to find Snape.


Running through destroyed corridors, now deserted, she burst into the grounds determined to find her way to the Forbidden Forest where the Death Eaters (which Snape was NOT, she thought with another rush of elation) were head-quartered. Her euphoria subsided slightly, however, as she came across an injured girl on the steps. She was tiny and the reality of the battle hit Ginny.


“It's all right,” Ginny stooped down to help her. “It's OK. We're going to get you inside.”


“But I want to go home,” whispered the girl. “I don't want to fight any more!”


“I know,” said Ginny and she was reminded of Fred, lying inside, no longer... no longer here, and her voice broke. “It's going to be all right.”


Ginny took the girl's hand and took deep breaths to calm herself. Another girl came running towards them, her face stained by tears. She seemed incapable of speech, pulling the other girl up to her and giving Ginny a heart-broken look. Ginny swallowed a sob and walked on, steeling herself. She had to find Snape, this was a wrong she could right when so many others were irreparable. She crossed into the dark shadow of the forbidden forest and almost immediately was forced to duck, heart pounding, behind a tree.


“Is everyone there?” A deep voice asked, accompanied by snapping twigs and rustling branches.


“I didn't see Severus. In fact, last time I saw him he was headed to see The Dark Lord in the Shack, but Our Lord told me directly that no one was there now.”


“He may be on an errand, I think we may as well head back. Anyone else not back is likely to be dead or injured where we can't help them.”


The rustling of branches grew fainter as the two men left. Ginny's heart was pounding even faster. The Shack? Of course.... the Shrieking Shack. Was it worth trying there? He was more likely to be alone if he was and that man said no one else was there.With a glimpse towards where she thought the men had been Ginny realised that there was little chance of her finding the Death Eaters, and an even slighter chance of her being able to locate Snape among them even if she did. She cautiously began to make her way towards the whomping willow, quickly darting from tree to tree. She found the tree still, but to make sure she threw a twig at the trunk. Nothing happened and Ginny sprinted, covering her head with her arms, towards the trunk. She knew that Fred and George had bemoaned their inability to get into this secret passage, and had heard their conclusion on the location of the tunnel, and sure enough they'd been right. Crawling painfully through the dirty tunnel, fear made it seem like an age before she emerged into a dimly lit room. Once again it took a few moments for her eyes to adjust. And when she could see she wished that she couldn't.


Frozen with shock and grief, the dawning comprehension of who that dark figure on the ground belonged to was too much for Ginny. She couldn't have had her hopes raised to such heights for them to be dashed like this. It was too painful, too much. Gently kneeling beside the edge of the black cloak, Ginny leaned forward and brushed black hair back from a pale face. The hair was soft and silky, not stringy and greasy as she had imagined what seemed like years ago. This small detail pushed her over the edge and Ginny began to weep, something she had never done before, never lost her composure enough to do. Memories swirled up like bile and cut a new slice out of her heart. Snape pulling her down, laughing, to suck on her neck. Playful, affectionate, loving. The side of him she had almost completely missed. The side she had so joyously contemplated exploring. She sat for hours, covered in Snape's quickly congealing blood. She held his exquisite, long fingers in her palm and stroked his bloodless palms. She was dimly aware of cheering, cheering that signified a victory. She thought from the sound that they had probably won. The good guys. But with this, the most important and the best of all the good people who had fought, dead upon the floor it was no celebration. She couldn't face the reveling, the happiness, without him. And so she sat, silent and unmoving, until hours later when finally Harry, Ron and Hermione, not having forgotten about the body of their drastically misunderstood ally, came to give him a proper resting place. She stood, beyond emotion, and listened patiently to their tale. The retelling of those beautiful memories was almost too much, almost more painful than the tale of his unceremonious death. At the end of the tale Harry put a comforting arm around her, not asking the story of how she ended up in the dark, dank room, but consoling her for Fred's death as he believed that to be the source of her deep grief. With an inward sigh of resolution she returned Harry's hug and parceled away her mixed grief and love, knowing it would leave so little for Harry, but hopefully enough for them to both be happy.


The End

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