And Then He Was Gone

Prologue

"Sometimes it's hard to look back on the past without regretting,

So shouldn't we make sure we have nothing to regret before the future becomes the past?"

~Ashley LeeAnn Fredrick

Outside the leaves clung to the branches of the oak trees as the wind threatened to blow them off. The moon made deep shadows in the already depressing black color of night. The howling of the wind grew louder making even creatures of the night crawl into hiding. But inside an open fire burned in the hearth. It created a soft glow on the walls and deep shadows in the depressing face of a young girl.

She sat absentmindedly twirling a lock of hair around her finger. The fire's warmth kept her aware of the cold night outside. Five years, she thought. Five years since I last ran my fingers through his hair. Five years since I tasted my sin.

Somewhere far away the doorbell sounded. A friendly voice called from the hall and she slowly turned.

"It's freezing in here. Then again, I guess you're used to the dungeons," sighed Ginny Weasley as she moved her petite frame to stand in front of the fire. "But," she said throwing more logs into the fire, "I am not, so if you don't mind...."

"Not at all," she replied warmly and tried to attempt a smile.

"What's wrong? On this day for five years you've been like this, and still you won't tell me why." Ginny sat across from the distraught woman. Her flaming red hair was twisted up on her head and she wore a vacant smile.

"Nothing's wrong, Mrs. Potter," she smirked.

Ginny giggled, "Not yet, he still hasn't popped the question."

"But he will; he absolutely adores you Gin."

"No he doesn't," she sighed, brushing the fact away like a fly. "Really?" she questioned hiding her face in her scarf.

"The Boy-Who-Lived lives for you Virgina Weasley."

"You're getting away from the subject again," Ginny realized replacing the smile with a stern look. "Tell me what has been bugging you for the past five years."

"Can you keep a secret little Ginny Weasley?" she asked.

"Of course," Ginny said, excited now. She leaned closer to her friend and saw the flame flicker on her friend's face. Her eyes were red and puffy and her face was wrinkled with worry lines. In her bright blue eyes there was sadness, a longing, and Ginny felt useless because she wanted the pain to be gone.

"So can I," she whispered.

"Five years ago," Ginny started sitting back. "Five years ago the war started. Two years ago it ended. A lot of lives were taken. So many lives in such a short time. I suppose you could call our side victorious, but we lost so many...." Ginny trailed off, lost in memory.

The young girl too recalled all the lives lost. All the still faces she had seen on the battlefield haunted her dreams. But it was the one face she had not seen that was the ghost of her past.

"Fred," Ginny continued. "Innocent, laughing Fred. Well, maybe not innocent," she sniffed.

"And Blaise," the girl sighed. "Traitor of his family, spy for our side. Dead before the war began. Dead before he could even graduate from Hogwarts."

"Speaking of traitors," Ginny's expression became dark, unreadable. "Percy, I can't say he didn't deserve to die, but he was still Percy to me. Percy who gave me my first doll, and who taught me about goblin rebellions before I was even in school. Percy who watched over me when my other brothers were picking on me...." she couldn't finish, a tear leaked from the corner of her eye.

"None of us expected Percy to be a Death Eater," the girl answered. "Nobody wanted it to be true, but the fact was there plain as day. He had to die, he betrayed us Gin."

"I know," Ginny said. "So many of our classmates died before our eyes."

"But not us," she sighed. "We survived. Why, I don't know. I wish I did. To see so many innocent people fall at my feet. I should have died before half of them!" the young woman screamed.

"No, you had as much a right to live. Just be happy for who is still here. That's what I tell myself every morning when I wake up. I smile at the fact that my Harry is still here. That my favorite, over controlling, brother, Ron is still here." Ginny leaned forward and took the girls cold hand into her own warm flesh, "that you're still here."

"I know, but there's still that void in my heart. In fact, my heart's not even there, it's wherever he is Gin."

"Who?" Ginny asked sincerely.

"Him," she smiled at the memory.