Gone/Ghost of a Memory
Gone
By Kinsfire
You’re Gone
(Song performed by Diamond Rio)
I said hello I think I'm broken
And though I was only jokin'
It took me by surprise when you agreed
I was tryin' to be clever
For the life of me I never
Would have guessed how far the simple truth would lead
You knew all my lines
You knew all my tricks
You knew how to heal that pain
No medicine can fix
"How did you put up with my being a clown?" Harry asked the beautiful redhead in his arms. They sat on the couch staring into the fire; him relaxed against the arm of the couch, and her half sitting, half laying across him. He gently stroked her hair. "I kept making jokes at all the worst times, and still you were there. Why?"
"Because I love you, Harry," was all that Ginevra Weasley said. "Hermione put me onto the fact that the only time you were a clown was when I was around. I then noticed that it always got worse when you were either trying to draw my attention, or when you had actually gotten it, and I was getting closer. You’re scared of intimacy, Harry."
"I’ve lost everyone I ever loved, Ginny, and I was afraid of admitting it about you, because I knew I’d lose you too."
"What are you saying, Harry? I ask because I don’t think you realized what you almost told me right then," she said, trying to keep the excitement from her voice.
He laughed and kissed her forehead. "What, the fact that I just glossed past the fact that I can’t hide that I love you anymore?" She looked up at him, and he could read her thoughts in her eyes. He actually said that he loves me! In the Gryffindor common room! He grinned and looked around. "Guys, I have an announcement for you, although I’m sure everyone here has already figured it out. I love Ginny Weasley, and I’m proud of it!"
"’Bout bloody time you admitted it," came a familiar voice from behind them. "You do know that I’ll have to kill you if you break my sister’s heart though, don’t you?"
"Get in line," Harry said. "You’re third — Ginny gets first shot at me."
"Who’s second in line then?" Ron asked, puzzled.
"Harry," was Ginny’s simple response. Harry simply smiled and looked down at her. He tightened his arms around her shoulders, pulling her up to him, and her arms went around his shoulders. The kiss actually caused conversation to stop in the common room, and Lavender Brown was heard to say, "Oh my God — she’s curling her toes! I wish I’d kissed him at some point, if he’s that good."
"I love you, Ginevra Weasley, and I think I have for a few years," he whispered in her ear.
"I know I’ve loved you for years," she breathed back.
He grinned as they broke apart. "What do you think of a summer wedding after you’re done with Hogwarts, then?"
Her eyes went wide. "Did you just …"
"This is my seventh year, and next year is your seventh. It’ll be tough, but I think I can live happily knowing that you were waiting for me."
"I think a summer wedding would be wonderful, Harry James Potter. I will gladly consent to be your wife." They sealed the bargain with another kiss.
Lookin' back it's still surprisin'
I was sinking you were rising
With a look you caught me in mid-air
"I now pronounce you man and wife," said the minister. "You may kiss your bride." Harry took the new Mrs. Potter into his arms and kissed her. He poured all the love he felt for her into the kiss; all the happiness he felt at knowing he would spend the rest of his days with this beautiful woman he held in his arms.
When the kiss broke, the hall was filled with faerie lights, and the minister breathed quietly, "Truly God has blessed this union."
Now I know God has His reasons
But sometimes it's hard to see them
When I awake and find that you're not there
You found hope in hopeless
You made crazy sane
You became the missing link
That helped me break my chains
The final battle was truly horrendous. The loss of life was minimal, somehow, but the sheer physical destruction at the meeting of the two unstoppable forces known as Voldemort and Harry Potter was of the type that referring to it as holocaust-like devastation didn’t begin to describe it.
It had come when Voldemort had made the mistake of kidnapping Harry’s wife. He had felt that he could wrestle concessions from his nemesis, and intended to threaten her before Harry for just this purpose. What he hadn’t realized was that he had provided the catalyst for Harry’s final breakthrough, and the meeting was titanic and brutal — and utterly a given as to who would win the day. Harry walked from the rubble, broken, bruised and battered, but carrying what was left of Voldemort’s body. He dropped it roughly before Dumbledore and the gathered Death Eaters, who gasped and fell to their knees before him.
"Harry, I have some bad news," Ron said, almost crying. "The building Ginny was in has been destroyed. No one made it out alive. The anti-Apparition charms are still up around the building. We’ll keep looking, but there are no signs of life in the building." Ron could handle it no more, and fell to sobbing on his best friend’s shoulder.
"We are gathered here not to mourn, but to celebrate the short life of Ginevra Molly Weasley Potter," the minister was saying. The same one who had performed the marriage ceremony six months ago was now speaking at her wake, tears flowing openly. "She was truly a gentle, beautiful flower, whose life was blessed by God. I remember performing the ceremony, and those lights that came from the couple as they kissed, truly proved that God had seen fit to bless them. Further …"
Harry tuned out the speakers as they went to the podium, and openly cried through the speeches, until it was nearing his time to speak. He dried his eyes, and walked to the podium. Looking out over the assembled crowd, he suddenly laughed, drawing shocked looks from them. "Ah, Ginny, you’re still with us," he laughed. "I look out over this group, crying as I was, and all I can think is her voice saying, ‘Hey, this is a party! Let’s enjoy ourselves! We all die someday, so let’s just get on with living. Enjoy it while you’ve got it! Eat, drink, and be merry, and enjoy tomorrow’s hangover!’ That’s the Ginny I love, and the Ginny you should all remember. So let’s honour her properly, and party like mad!"
As some of the crowd began to mutter, "Well I never!", Molly Weasley stood. "Her husband is right! My baby girl would want us to enjoy ourselves! So let’s enjoy ourselves!"
The wake ‘degenerated’ into a party that did Ginny’s memory proud.
And I bless the day I met you
And I thank God that He let you
Lay beside me for a moment that lives on
And the good news is I'm better
For the time we spent together
And the bad news is you're gone
"Harry? It’s time to go," Hermione said from behind him. He was visiting Hogwarts after the ceremony, looking out over the cliff that he and Ginny had enjoyed cuddling on any number of times.
"I know, Hermione. Just wanted to say goodbye one last time."
"Don’t go all morose on us now. Don’t forget to live, Harry."
"If I did that, she’d come back and kick my arse from here to America. Besides, sitting around moping wouldn’t do her memory proud. I’ll live, knowing that for one brief, shining moment in my life, the world was perfect, because she loved me."
And the good news is I'm better
For the time we spent together
And the bad news is you're goneGoneGhost of a Memory - 1Ghost of a Memory - 2Ghost of a Memory - 3Ghost of a Memory - 4Ghost of a Memory - Epilogue