A/N: Welcome back to the story! I just wanted to mention that this is my favorite chapter up until now. It is also the longest yet, so that should make everyone happy. I really hope you enjoy it, and I hope you'll let me know if you do! -GhostCoon
Chapter Fourteen: The Broken Tower
Harry sat back in his desk with a sigh as his last class let out for the day. It had been another busy week, and Harry was looking forward to the weekend, even though it was still three days away. Training was becoming more interesting, as Harry became more adept at feeling his way through a duel. Remus had been continuing to come for practices, and Harry enjoyed spending more time with him; it gave him a sense of connection with his parents and Sirius.
“Ready for dinner, Harry?” came Ginny’s cheerful voice.
“Absolutely! I think I could out-eat Ron right now,” Harry answered, as he allowed her to help him to his feet and lead him from the room.
Dinner was excellent as usual, and Harry enjoyed the time spent talking with his friends. It seemed that he got to do that less and less, as training and teaching took up more of his time. Still, all three were very active in helping him with his class, and they lived together, so they did spend a lot of time together. Unfortunately, most of the time seemed to be spent in discussion and research concerning the Horcruxes, and so just having fun together was always a pleasant change.
Tonight, he and Ginny were going to spend more time working on the Animagus transformation. Harry was certain she was close to making it, and was hoping that tonight they would be able to do it together.
Since the argument after the Quidditch match, Harry had been trying to let her do more things on her own, and trying to give her recognition for things she accomplished. She also seemed to be more accepting of the help he did offer, so they had been getting along better than ever.
***
“That’s it! I give up! I’m never going to make this stupid transformation, and it’s time I stopped wasting my time on it!” Ginny shouted, hurling whatever book she had been reading onto the floor.
“Ginny, calm down…” Harry began.
“I’m perfectly calm! I’m just finally coming to my senses. I was stupid to think I would be able to do this anyway,” Ginny continued to shout, obviously anything but calm.
Harry felt his way to the couch she was sitting on and sat next to her, putting his arm around her, and ignoring her attempts to shrug it off.
“You’ve already made it further than practically everybody that tries; giving up now, when you’re so close, would just ruin all of your effort.”
Ginny finally reached up and pushed his arm away.
“I’m done, Harry. I’m going to bed.”
Harry sat stunned as she stomped off and slammed the door to her room. He heard Ron emerge from his room and enter the sitting room.
“What did you do to her?” he asked suspiciously.
“Nothing!” Harry answered, trying to come up with a way to change the subject. He didn’t think Ginny was quitting for real, at least he hoped she wasn’t, and they had agreed not to say anything until they could announce it together.
“Well, if it was nothing, why is she so upset?” Ron pressed.
“I don’t know. We were working on something together and she just blew up and said she was quitting, and left.”
“Well… Ginny’s always had a temper three times as big as she is. I’m sure whatever has her upset now will go away, and she’ll forgive you tomorrow. I’m going back to bed.”
Harry hoped Ron was right, and went to bed himself. The next day, however, Ginny adamantly refused to work on the transformation again, and although she acted like she wasn’t angry, he could almost feel the anger and frustration rolling off of her. The situation concerned him, because he knew she would feel inadequate if she didn’t accomplish the goal, and she would never do it if she didn’t try.
Finally, Harry came up with a plan that would either help her make the transformation or get him killed; in the absence of any other plan he decided that it was all he had. At dinner that night he cornered Ginny.
“Ginny?”
“I’m not going to do it, Harry, so stop bothering me about it!” she stated firmly.
“No, this isn’t about that. I was going to ask if you wanted to have lunch alone with me on Saturday, you know… like a date,” he trailed off uncertainly.
“Of course I would, Harry, that would be great!” she answered, her voice softening immediately. She seemed pleased that he wasn’t going to push any more. Harry flinched inwardly at the trouble he was sure to be in, but steeled his resolve. It was all for her own good.
***
Ginny chatted cheerfully while she led Harry down the corridor. He had said that they were going to have lunch, which Dobby had prepared and was going to bring up, in the Room of Requirement. She was happy that he wasn’t pushing about the Animagus training anymore, and excited about having a date with him, without Ron and Hermione hanging around.
They arrived at the right spot, and Harry walked up and down the hallway three times, with a look of concentration on his face. The doorway appeared and they entered the room.
Ginny’s first thought on entering the room was that it was a strange setup for a lunch date. There was a table with romantic place settings and candles and two chairs, but the room was very large with a high peaked ceiling and open rafters. There were also a few shelves of books and a comfortable looking sofa in front of a merrily blazing fire.
Before she could turn to Harry and ask him about the strange setup, however, he muttered a spell while waving his hand at her, and she felt her wand pulled out of her pocket and watched it zoom to his palm. He then used it to shoot some spell at the door, over which she noticed Fawkes was hovering as though telling Harry where it was. The door melded with the wall until it disappeared, leaving no exit to the room. Harry then turned into a hawk and flew up to the rafters where he landed next to Fawkes before turning back into himself. He looked somewhat ridiculous, just sitting in the rafters with his legs dangling down, smiling uneasily in her general direction.
“Harry! What in Merlin’s name are you doing up there? You could get yourself killed if you fall from there, and anyway, what’s going on?” she questioned him angrily, confused by his strange actions.
“I think I’ll be safer up here than down there in just a second,” Harry answered cheekily. “And what’s going on is this: you are an incredibly talented witch, and you have the ability to become an Animagus and you’re throwing it away. I know for a fact that you want to do it more than almost anything, so I’m not letting you give up. You’re staying in this room until you make the transformation, and I don’t care if it takes a week!”
Ginny had begun growling the second he started talking about becoming an Animagus, and when he reached that last bit about not leaving, she blew up.
“YOU CAN’T KEEP ME HERE AGAINST MY WILL! YOU LET ME OUT THIS INSTANT HARRY JAMES POTTER, OR SO HELP ME…” she shouted with as much venom in her voice as Harry had ever heard. She watched in manic glee as he almost fell off the rafter at the anger in her voice, but he caught himself and squared his shoulders.
“I know that you’re feeling really angry with me right now, and I understand that. When I come down and give you your wand back, I expect I’ll live to regret it, but that isn’t happening until you make the transformation. You’ve been close for weeks now, so it might not even take long. But you’ll find that I very much can keep you here; no one will know what I needed so they won’t be able to find the door, and if they did somehow manage it, I don’t think anyone except perhaps McGonagall could unseal that door besides me, and it would take her a very long time to do it. I’d get to work.”
With that Harry changed back into a hawk and sat in the rafters staring down at her impassively.
Ginny raged on for quite a while longer. There was shouting, threats, and finally tears of frustration and anger. She saw Harry shift uneasily when she threatened to leave him for good, and when she started crying she saw him flap his wings and almost fly off the rafter. Both times however, he seemed to deepen his resolve and remained where he was. When she started yelling at Fawkes, asking him to carry her out of the room, the phoenix vanished leaving her alone with Harry, though she had no doubt that he was still in the room watching.
Finally, Ginny had nothing left to yell. She was incredibly hurt and upset, and wasn’t quite sure what to do. It seemed like the only thing she could do was begin to work on the transformation. Part of her wanted to take more than a week to do it and see if his resolve lasted, but she really wanted some time apart from him right now. Stomping heavily over to a bookshelf, she grabbed a book on the topic that she hadn’t yet read and threw herself into the couch, occasionally glaring at the hawk that sat watching her so intently.
At first all she could think about was trying to turn into something that enjoyed eating hawks, but she knew that really wasn’t in her nature, and wouldn’t help her at all. She started reading this new book, and found one specific passage that reached out to her.
To make the final transformation, the subject must find and understand their deepest aspirations. They must focus on their heart’s desire and become that which could best embody those qualities they most long to achieve. This, above all, makes the transformation so difficult, because so few can sift through the petty wishes and empty dreams that keep us from realizing our own true character.
Ginny knew that she knew all of the details of the transformation, and what she was supposed to do, but suddenly realized that she couldn’t transform until she knew what she most wanted. She closed the book, and sat back in the couch, folding her arms in front of her, and crossing her legs. She began to sift through her mind and heart, weeding out what she didn’t want, to try and discover what she truly needed.
***
Harry watched as Ginny read from the book for a while before sitting back in the couch and closing her eyes. He began to grow nervous that she wasn’t going to try at all, and leave them both sitting here in the room. When Harry had said that no one knew how to get in, he hadn’t been completely honest. Dobby could get to them and bring them food, and Harry had been sure to include a bathroom in his list of needs for the room, so he wasn’t concerned about surviving here. He just knew that eventually he would have to come down from the rafter and when he did, Ginny would most likely pummel him. If she got her wand back she would also probably curse him into oblivion.
Harry pushed these thoughts aside; he had started this, so he may as well finish it. He would help her make the transformation, and hopefully when she accomplished it, she would be so happy that she forgave him. Or at least become something that didn’t regularly eat hawks.
After several hours, Harry had fallen asleep. He was completely comfortable perched on the rafter, and just sitting there watching Ginny sit on the couch with her eyes closed was boring enough that he couldn’t keep his eyes open. After some indeterminable time, Harry was awakened by a strange noise, and opened his eyes quickly. Looking down at the room, he couldn’t see Ginny anywhere. He had just come to the conclusion that Fawkes had broken her out, even though the phoenix had promised not to, when he heard the sound again, a scratching noise, like something scraping against a wooden rafter.
Harry turned to his side and found himself looking into the very fierce eyes of a magnificent black and white falcon that was only slightly smaller than him. Harry knew in an instant that the bird was Ginny and panicked; he let out a shrill cry of alarm and threw himself off the rafter diving to the floor to get away. He didn’t get very far before he felt the falcon slam into his back, and they became tangled together. She pushed him into the ground roughly and turned back into Ginny, holding him down with her hands. Not wanting to accidentally hurt her with a misplaced talon, and knowing she deserved her revenge, he turned back into himself as well and found himself being pinned to the ground with her straddling his waist. It was only slightly less intimidating not to have to look at her angry face.
Sure enough, the first sensation he experienced while pinned underneath her on the floor was a full armed slap that left his face burning and his ears ringing. He was barely beginning to register the pain, however, when that sensation was replaced by a much more pleasant one. Unless she had given him a severe concussion, he was quite certain he was being kissed very thoroughly. He decided that it was real and began kissing her back, pulling her down closer.
After some time he felt her pull back while breathing heavily, and grinned towards where he knew her face would be, struggling for air himself.
Another full armed slap wiped the grin from his face.
“Ginny! I’d hoped you were past that!” he exclaimed, reaching up to rub his face gingerly. “I’m sure I have a hand print on each cheek!”
“It serves you right, Harry James Potter! It’s the least you deserve for doing this to me…” she began, but then trailed off and allowed her voice to soften considerably. “But I think you’ve been suitably punished now, and I won’t have to go through with any of my other threats.”
Harry sighed with relief. When she had threatened to leave him, he had nearly panicked completely. He was positive he would never be able to handle that.
“I need to thank you too, Harry,” she continued, as she pulled him up and sat him in the couch, and then sat in his lap and put her arms around him. “I did it.”
Her last words were spoken in a whisper full of emotion, and Harry smiled proudly as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight.
“I knew you could; you don’t give yourself enough credit, Ginny,” he told her.
“Well, thanks for not giving up on me. Now you’ll never leave me behind again,” she stated fervently, and Harry’s heart gave a giant leap that that was what she wanted, “Though if you ever do anything like that again, I’ll personally end your life. What kind of bird was I exactly? I was almost as big as you.”
“You are the most beautiful falcon I have ever seen. I think my hawk self has an even bigger crush on you than I do now,” Harry laughed, as she slapped his arm playfully. “I think we should go flying to celebrate.”
Ginny thought this was a wonderful idea, and Harry unsealed the door and returned Ginny’s wand. It was quite late in the evening, as she pulled him through the corridors by his hand, almost running with the anticipation of experiencing flight as a bird.
They reached the cold night air of the Astronomy Tower without being caught, and Harry took his hand from hers.
“Remember to get used to it before being too enthusiastic with the diving. Pulling up isn’t as easy as it is with a broom, and the ground isn’t soft.”
With that he turned into a hawk and took off from the tower before circling in time to see her take off as well. She let out a beautiful piercing cry that he imagined was full of love and excitement.
***
The evening was very cold though it hadn’t yet begun to snow, but as she transformed into the falcon, Ginny felt quite comfortable. As she spread her wings and leapt from the tower she felt an incredible surge of excitement and saw Harry circling back to watch her, and let loose a cry of happiness. She flew towards him, and together they winged off into the night, taking turns flying in the other’s slipstream, swooping and wheeling about, happily enjoying their time together.
When she felt like she had a good feel for her abilities, Ginny climbed to a considerable height above the school, and went into a steep dive. She angled her wings back sharply and felt the air whistle past her feathers at an incredible speed. Harry had followed her into the dive, but his larger frame couldn’t move through the air with the same ease, and he fell behind. He cried out in alarm as Ginny spread her wings very late, and then again with pride as her talons merely brushed against the grass, before she banked up and back towards him.
After playing for a long time, she followed him to the top of the highest tower of Hogwarts and perched there with him. Fawkes appeared and joined them singing happily that all three were together, and Ginny was completely taken with the surreal beauty of the grounds, bathed in cold clear light from a waxing moon, with mist from the cold lingering about the edges of the lake. She felt the warmth of Harry’s feathered body at her side, and felt a peaceful happiness well up within her.
As the first rays of sunlight broke through the darkness, they made their way quickly back to the Astronomy Tower, where they became themselves again.
“Thank you so much, Harry!” she whispered as she launched herself into his arms and kissed him fiercely. That went on for some time, before he pulled back.
“Thank you for being here with me,” he finally answered, “but we need to get back. Ron will kill me if we walk in together in the morning without ever having been in our beds.”
Ginny laughed, but agreed completely. Harry had Fawkes transport her to her bed, before doing the same for him. She snuggled into her blankets, exhausted but extremely content with everything, and quickly fell asleep.
***
Harry was asleep almost the second his head hit the pillow… and was awake again minutes after that as Ron shook his shoulder and directed him to get ready for breakfast.
Harry groaned, but got out of bed, knowing Ron would make him get up anyway.
“What are you doing still asleep anyway?” Ron asked, suddenly recalling he hadn’t been the one to wake Harry up since before school started.
Harry tried to think up an excuse while choosing clothes that Ginny had helped him lay out and color coordinate.
“I guess I was just really tired last night,” he mumbled, hoping that would be good enough for Ron.
Apparently it was, because Ron said nothing as he led Harry out into the sitting room where they waited for Hermione and Ginny.
“Good morning Ron, Harry,” came Hermione’s disgustingly cheerful voice, and Harry could hear one set of light footsteps and one slow shuffle.
“Morning… Harry,” Ginny mumbled around a yawn, as she wrapped her arms around Harry. Harry loved the feel of her warm body snuggled up next to his, and hugged her back.
“How’d you sleep?” he asked playfully.
“Brilliantly, thank you,” she said, slapping him on the stomach, and not very gently.
They were able to perk up somewhat over breakfast, and were happy to discover that snow had begun falling while they were eating, and it was falling fast and thick. They rushed back to their rooms and grabbed all of their warm clothes, bundling up against the cold so they could spend the rest of the morning outside. By lunchtime, there was enough snow that several snowball fights were raging, and Ron and Hermione were in the thick of it, while Ginny sat next to Harry telling him what was happening, and both of them laughed at everyone’s antics.
Suddenly, Harry felt something very cold and wet smash into his face, and was momentarily stunned as he spat out snow, and tried to get his bearings, while Fawkes was laughing hysterically in his mind.
“Who threw that?” Ginny demanded angrily.
There was a pause followed by the sound of hesitant footsteps, and a small voice answered.
“It was me. I’m sorry Mr. Potter, it was an accident… I was aiming for someone else…” the terrified student answered.
Harry recognized the voice as one of his first year students.
“Samantha, isn’t it, from Ravenclaw?” Harry asked.
“You’re not going to take points from me, are you?” the girl asked fearfully.
“Of course not! In fact, I think Ravenclaw deserves five points. I’ve been waiting for someone to invite me into a snowball fight all morning, and no one else has.”
Ginny and the little girl both laughed gleefully as Harry got up out of his seat and walked hesitantly onto the grounds. Someone nearby asked if he was really going to join the fight, and Harry responded with a wave of his hand that magically packed a snowball and sent it whizzing toward the kid’s voice. Harry was rewarded with a wet smacking sound and an exclamation of surprise. After a brief pause, Harry received a brief warning from Fawkes, and raised a shield, blocking an incoming snow projectile. From there, the battle was begun.
It took no time at all for word to spread throughout the school among the first through third year students that one of their teachers was currently involved in a snowball fight with the students, and everyone wanted to see it, and maybe take part. Harry stood unmoving, in the center of a large ring of students, who were dodging frantically as he magically sent snowballs flying at anyone who made the slightest noise. Dozens of snowballs were flying towards Harry at any given moment, and he would raise a shield to block them as they came, though occasionally one would get through. Whenever that happened, Harry would award the student a house point, and there was soon a mad competition to see who could hit Harry the most.
After about an hour of intense play, Harry held up his hands in surrender.
“Alright everyone, I give up! If anyone else hits me with a snowball I’m going to take points away instead.”
The students groaned in disappointment, and Harry chuckled.
“Okay, maybe we’ll have a class devoted to winter defensive maneuvers sometime soon.”
The kids were happily dispersing while they discussed this possibility, and Harry was waiting for Ginny to come and lead him away as well when he was knocked over by someone running into him. Harry had time for a moment of confusion before snow was being rubbed into his face, and Ginny’s familiar voice was giggling madly.
“Are you going to take points from me, Mr. Potter?” she asked playfully.
Harry grabbed her arms and rolled over until she was pinned beneath him. He reached out and grabbed a handful of snow, and held it threateningly over her head.
“I don’t need to take points. I can take revenge!”
Ginny shrieked, as Harry rubbed snow in her face, struggling frantically to get away. Before long, the struggling had ceased and they had moved on to more exciting recreation, before being interrupted.
“Harry! Ginny! You can’t be snogging like that in public on the grounds! As Head Girl I can’t let behavior like this slide, there were first years around. Ten points from Gryffindor!” Hermione scolded, while Harry and Ginny scowled.
“You can’t take points from me, I’m an instructor,” Harry protested.
“I know. Those points were from Ginny,” Hermione answered smartly while Ron chortled.
“Well, ten points to Gryffindor then, for excellent snogging,” Harry answered.
Ginny and Ron laughed while Hermione complained about Harry’s abuse of his position, while Harry smirked and threatened to take points from Hermione. They continued the discussion as they went inside and went to the Great Hall, where they received a late lunch and plenty of hot chocolate.
***
Ginny sighed tiredly as they reached their sitting room. They had had a busy day already, and she was running on no sleep. All of them returned their winter clothes to their rooms, and then came back to the sitting room where they all sat down. Ron was about to begin recounting the better moments of the snowball fights, when Harry interrupted him.
“I think we need to start discussing the Horcruxes, and where we might be able to find the last two.”
“Are you ready to go looking for them, Harry?” Hermione asked. “From what you told us about the cave, it’s going to be really dangerous wherever they are.”
“I’m as ready as I can be while I’m blind, and I won’t be leaving any of you behind anyway, so I’ll have help. We need to make sure to keep quiet about what we are doing, though. Somehow the Death Eaters knew we were outside the school last time, and maybe they even knew where we were going, though they might have been able to guess that.”
“No one but McGonagall knew, though, did they?” Ron asked thoughtfully. “I mean, we only told her, and no one else would have seen us leaving. D’you think McGonagall might be under the Imperius or something?”
“No, I’m certain she’s been too well protected for that. I’m not sure how they found out; we’ll just have to be careful.”
“Well… I was thinking about what you told us, and I’m thinking that the Muggle orphanage that Voldemort lived at would be a good place to look,” Ginny suggested.
“That’s a good idea,” Harry said, thinking carefully. “How could we find out where it is exactly?”
“I think there should be records here at the school about where Tom Riddle lived,” Hermione threw in, eager to talk about anything to do with research. “I can check the library, and if there isn’t anything there, I can go to McGonagall and get her to let me look into the official school records.”
“Good, though you can’t let her know what we’re researching. Any other suggestions?” Harry asked them all.
“I was also thinking we would need to research any items that belonged to Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, and find out where they came from. We might want to check Hepzibah Smith’s house, since that’s where he got two of his Horcruxes; he might have considered that a victory,” Hermione added, thoughtfully.
“We should find out where Voldemort went after Tom Riddle disappeared for all those years, find out where he trained and learned all of his dark magic,” Ron said, impressing everyone with his sudden insight.
“Alright, this is fantastic,” Harry said, “This is probably enough to go on. Let’s learn as much as we can, and we’ll start visiting these places as soon as we know where they are.”
They all felt a renewed sense of commitment to the goal of destroying Voldemort as they all set about their own specific tasks.
***
Ginny lasted until just before dinner time, before her head slumped down on her arms.
“I can’t stay awake anymore,” she mumbled exhaustedly, “I’m going to bed.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Ron asked as she went to her room.
“She said she didn’t sleep well last night,” Hermione informed him.
“So… Harry and Ginny both get up this morning exhausted, both claiming to be really tired…” Ron’s voice trailed off as his anger grew.
“Relax, Ron, we didn’t do anything,” Harry said shortly, angered that they would be suspected and not feeling this was anyone else’s business anyway.
“You’d better watch yourself, Harry,” Ron snapped back, “All it would take is one word to Fred and George, or worse yet my mother.”
“I hope you won’t mind if I enter into correspondence with Mr. and Mrs. Granger then!”
“Okay, that’s enough!” Hermione interrupted, “I’m sure we can all trust each other and mind our own business, can’t we?”
They mumbled apologies to each other and all of them made their way down to dinner. As they were eating, Hermione nudged Harry and whispered “Professor Lupin is here,” seconds before Harry could distinguish the sound of quick footsteps.
“Harry, could I have a word with you outside?” Remus asked, and Harry could hear tension in his voice.
“Okay,” he answered slowly, as his stomach sank. This can’t be good.
When they were outside the Great Hall, Remus turned him into a deserted hallway and stopped him.
“Harry, I was just here to check the wards I left when I sealed the tunnels. All of the wards are still in place, but in one of the tunnels I found a small hole that went around the ward. It wasn’t big enough for a person, and it could just be mice…”
“But it could also be a rat,” Harry said, catching Remus’ meaning. “What do we do?”
“I need to look at the Marauder’s Map, and we’ll see if there’s anyone here that isn’t supposed to be.”
“Right. It’s in my rooms,” Harry said, allowing Remus to lead him through the corridors.
As they came around the last corner in the hallway, both were stopped short by a familiar voice.
“That will be far enough, Remus. Hello, Harry. My master wishes very much to speak with you.” Wormtail’s voice was obviously nervous, but not nearly as nervous as Harry felt it should be with this kind of confrontation. Clearly, he had some kind of reassurance that Harry would cooperate with him.
Both he and Remus made as if to reach for their wands, but he interrupted them again.
“I wouldn’t if I were you. I currently have my wand ready, and while I’m sure either of you could defeat me in a duel, Remus will remember that I have a considerable talent with Blasting Curses. Any wrong moves and I’ll blast this entire tower to oblivion.”
“You’d never get through my shield,” Harry told him, trying to sound confident.
“Perhaps not, but the tower will be destroyed along with anyone in it.” Harry could hear the evil smile in his words, but tried again.
“Everyone’s at dinner, so you’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you’ll take those risks.”
“Everyone, except perhaps a young red-headed girl that has some considerable value to you Harry. My Lord has decided that sending Death Eaters to take you by force might not be the best way; despite the fact that I was able to tell them exactly where to go to find you, they have been woefully unsuccessful. Instead, he has asked me to obtain some leverage against you, and I have watched closely enough to know what you care for most. Now, you’re going to take hold of this Portkey and we’re going to go talk to the Dark Lord, or your girlfriend is going to wake up to her room collapsing on her and falling with her to her painful death.”
Harry’s mind was suddenly screaming in panic as every fear he had ever had concerning Ginny became an instant reality. She was being used against him, and if he went with Wormtail now, he would certainly be killed and the war would be lost. If he let Wormtail kill her now, he would be broken completely and the end result would be the same. Still, he knew what he must do, the only real choice he had.
“You win,” he whispered. “I’ll do anything for her.”
“You can’t, Harry! Ginny wouldn’t want you to do this; you’ll throw everything away for nothing!” Remus shouted, horrified that Harry would concede.
“Shut up, Remus!” Wormtail snapped, “His decision is made. The Dark Lord knew his love would destroy him.”
“I can’t lose her, Remus,” Harry said, his voice utterly devoid of hope.
“And I can’t let you throw everything away. If the war is lost, she’ll be killed anyway, along with everyone you love… I hope you’ll forgive me someday.”
As Remus said this last part he drew his wand with incredible speed and blasted the Portkey out of Wormtail’s hand. Harry had half of a second to scream in terror as Fawkes screamed for him to raise a shield, before the Blasting Curse was fired.
Harry’s shield was raised in time, protecting both himself and Remus from the shockwave of destruction. He heard snapping beams and falling stone, and knew without doubt that the tower had been severed from the rest of the building and was falling to the lake below.
Harry didn’t even think about Wormtail, and ignored Remus’ screams for him to come back as he ran full tilt down the hall. Suddenly the ground was gone from beneath him and he was falling, until he transformed into the hawk and could suddenly see the tower below him. His reaction had been fast enough that it hadn’t yet hit the lake, and he was somewhat relieved to see that it was largely intact; she could still be alive. The tower made a huge splash as it impacted the lake, and sunk to half its length into the water before coming to a rest. Harry arrived seconds later and dove into a hole in the wall.
He stayed in his hawk form so he could see, though he found it somewhat difficult to maneuver around the fallen furniture and collapsed walls. Hopping and flapping around the debris, Harry made his way to where the girl’s bedroom was in ruins. It was filling with water quickly and there were bricks and support beams everywhere. Finally he caught sight of a lock of red hair, and his panic intensified to the point where he had to act completely on adrenaline and instinct.
Ginny was wedged beneath a large wooden beam and the floor, covered in rubble, her body bent at angles that shouldn’t be possible. What he could see of her body through the rubble was broken and bloody, and her face, thankfully free of debris, was so battered that Harry would not have recognized her had it not been for her hair. He knew this image would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life.
He wasted no time on horror, making his way to her side and becoming himself again; the water had already risen to the level of her chest and was continuing to rise rapidly. He waved his hand through several rapid spells, vanishing the beam and rubble around Ginny, and used a spell that kept her stable while levitating her. Harry cast several more spells blasting holes in the ersatz ceiling and shielding the two of them from falling bricks and mortar. He then levitated the two of them out of the sinking tower, his spells carrying them to the shore.
Harry laid Ginny’s body down gently and frantically began waving his wand in Diagnosing Charms. He almost collapsed himself as he found a pulse and discovered she was breathing, although both vital signs were faint and fading. Harry screamed for Fawkes to make sure Madame Pomfrey was ready in the hospital wing; he couldn’t heal everything here himself, but he needed to do what he could to keep her alive immediately, and he didn’t dare transport her to the hospital wing until some things, including her shattered ribs, were fixed enough so that they wouldn’t cause more internal damage if she was moved.
Harry worked frantically, mending more damage than he cared to quantify, when Fawkes was suddenly back, somewhere above him, and calling out in fear. Harry’s mind filled with an image of a beam breaking free of the wrecked side of the building that Harry was currently under. He could see himself over Ginny’s broken body under the falling beam and knew they would be hit.
He threw out a spell to try and stop the beam, but all of the intense spellwork he had been doing, combined with the day’s physical exertions done on a night without sleep were catching up to him. His spell was insufficient to stop the beam completely, but it did slow it down. Harry threw himself over Ginny protectively, and the beam hit him in the back hard. He felt something break in his own body, but ignored the pain and growing numbness in his limbs, forcing himself to remain in place over Ginny despite the incredible weight that was pushing him down into her. He knew if even the slightest weight was put on her in the wrong places she would die.
His muscles were slowly becoming numb and Harry could feel himself beginning to shake uncontrollably. He also found himself slipping steadily into the familiar realm of unconsciousness, and refused to succumb while Ginny’s life was in danger. He pulled deeply from within himself using his magic to push new strength into his muscles, exerting control over the raw power and energy that was available to him. He felt an incredible tingling as the shaking stopped and he was able push himself back against the weight of the beam.
He yelled for Fawkes, and felt the power crackling into his voice, radiating command and urgency through his words.
Though it seemed like a lifetime, a very short time had passed since Fawkes had shown Harry the falling beam, and the phoenix had been quickly winging towards them when it happened. Fawkes landed next to Ginny and cried out in alarm; Harry was treated to a vision of himself, holding up the beam with his body, crouched over Ginny on his hands and knees. His face was pale, but glowed with an unearthly light, and Harry knew that if he had drawn so much of his magic that he was showing an aura, he would be unable to maintain his strength for much longer.
“Take her to the hospital wing, Fawkes, and then come back for me,” Harry said, his voice once more filled with power and certainty.
The phoenix complied, knowing Harry placed more value in Ginny’s life than his own, and Harry felt his heart soar as he felt the flash of flame that meant Ginny was safe. His joy was soon claimed by exhaustion as his magical power was finally drained, and his limbs went numb. Harry had a fleeting moment of confusion, wondering why his face was being pushed into the ground, before welcome oblivion claimed him.