Firefly

"Miss Weasley," comes Professor Snape’s smooth, cold voice. "Professor Dumbledore requests your presence in his office."

I look over at my brother, who quickly fixes his gaze on his plate that is heaped with double servings of everything. Then at Hermione, and Harry, who immediately become very engaged in conversation. Confused and suspicious, I get to my feet and begin following Snape.

He leads me to a statue of a Gargoyle, and says, very clearly, "Cockroach Clusters."

The next thing I know, I am on a spiral staircase that is acting as something my father once told me about called Escalators.

And then I am in his office. His desk is large and important looking, laden with various silver gadgets. And there he is, regarding me with kind eyes over his half-moon spectacles.

"Miss Weasley, please have a seat."

I hesitate before doing as I am told.

"I’m sure you are wondering why you are here."

I nod.

"You know that Mr Malfoy has been in hiding for the past three months."

I nod again.

"Well, somehow, his hiding place was discovered. It was attacked by a group of Death Eaters."

 I feel my stomach twist in knots. "What – What does that mean?" My voice is very small.

"Mr Malfoy is dead."

He continues talking, something about Draco being out numbered and having an inferior knowledge of dark magic, but all that I am hearing is that simple, four word sentence. Over and over again.

"Draco Malfoy is dead."

And then he is sliding something to me across his desk. I look down and find that it is a folded piece of parchment. Bearing only three words on the front.

Ginevra Molly Weasley.

"As you can see, it is very clear that he wanted you to have this."

I nod again, this time numbly.

"I shall escort you back to your common room."

--

He walks by my side to Gryffindor Tower, appearing completely unruffled. Now I understand Harry’s anger toward him. It is maddening to be in the presence of such calm when it feels like your whole world has just come shattering down.

And then I am in the common room. And I am looking around.

And then I find them. My brother, Harry, and Hermione, sitting on the scarlet couch. When they see me, they walk over.

"Are you okay?" Ron asks, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"We’re so sorry, Ginny," Hermione adds. When Dumbledore told us, we –"

"What?" I ask, her words having a shocking impact on me. It feels as though all the sadness has flooded out of me, replaced with white hot anger.

"Well, we –" Hermione sputters, but it is no use.

I shrug out of Ron’s "comforting" grasp, and move so that I am staring down all three of them.

"You knew? You knew and you didn’t tell me?"

"Dumbledore thought it would be best," Hermione says quietly.

"And since when is Dumbledore omniscient?" I ask, my voice getting shrill. All over the room, people are turning to regard the action.

I turn my eyes and anger on Harry. "You, of all people, should have understood. You know what it feels like to have secrets kept from you."

"Ginny, it wasn’t my place."

"Oh, I get it. When it’s someone else being kept in the dark, it doesn’t matter. But when it’s the great and powerful Harry Potter, we should all bow down and submit."

"That’s not true and you know it!"

I roll my eyes. "No, the only thing I know is that the man I love is dead, and none of you even thought to tell me."

And with that, I race up the spiral staircase and into my dormitory. And the award for best dramatic exit goes to Ginny Weasley.

I know they are following me, so I turn my wand on the door and perform a locking charm.

Within minutes, they are at the door, pounding on it and begging to be let in.

I close my eyes and try to drown out their voices.

And then Dumbledore’s words are coming back to me again.

And I am crying.

I haven’t cried like this since my first year. Since I found out the truth about Tom. And it is horrible. I had almost forgotten how much.

I am startled when the lights begin to flicker. But then I recall something Harry once said, that Dumbledore had told him that magic could be affected by emotion. But only be very strong emotion.

I find myself staring down at the parchment in my hand. And I wipe away my tears

But when I open it, there is nothing there. I feel the anger rising within my chest again. Is this some kind of joke?

But the anger subsides when I think of Tom’s diary. Is there some way that Draco could preserve him memory in this parchment?

"No," someone says from behind me. "It doesn’t work like that."

My heart begins to race as I realize just who that voice belongs to. I look wildly around.

"Draco?"

"Yes."

"Where are you? I can’t see you."

"No," his voice says, sounding sad. "No, you can’t."

"Well, why can’t I?"

"Because that’s against the rules."

"What rules?"

"The rules of Life and Death."

The anger is rising again. "Like you ever gave a rip about the rules! Break them! I want to see you one last time."

"Gin, I can’t break these rules. I literally can’t."

"Well then why are you even here?" I ask, suddenly furious. "Is this some sort of a game for you? Let’s see how many times you can break Ginny’s heart?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, first you leave to go into hiding. Then I find out you’ve gone and gotten yourself killed. And now you’re teasing me with this disembodies voice bullshit. I can’t stand it, Draco! I can only take so much!"

"Ginny, I didn’t come back to you to break your heart. I came back because I have something I must tell you."

"Tell me, then. Tell me and then leave."

"I love you."

I feel my heartbeat stop. The words ring in my head. "Wh– what?"

"I love you. I always have."

I stare down at the parchment, feeling like I am going to start crying again at any moment.

"I have to go now," he says suddenly, sounding very sad.

"What? No! You can’t!" 

"I must. I don’t want to, but I must."

"Then I’ll go with you," I say, determination welling up from the ashes of emotions in my chest.

"You can’t," he says, the sadness in his voice now stronger than before.

"I want to! I want to be with you!"

"Ginny, you can’t. It’s not your time."

"It wasn’t yours, either."

"No," he admits. "It wasn’t But sometimes these things happen. But your death would be a tragedy, and a senseless one at that."

"I don’t care," I say, struggling to hold back tears.

"Well, I do. And I want you to promise. Promise that you won’t try to join me."

"But – "

"Promise me," he says, sounding very much like his old, bossy self.

I nod numbly. "I promise."

Then I look down at the parchment in my hand.

"Does it – "

"No. It works only once."

"That’s not fair," I say poutingly.

"No," he agrees. "It isn’t. But Life and Death don’t care about fairness."

I feel something touch my cheek. Something like the whisper of a touch, sending a chill down my spine.

"Goodbye, my Firefly."

And then he is gone. I know, because the room suddenly seems much colder. I stand in the center of the room, rubbing my arms in an attempt to warm myself and letting the tears flow down my cheeks like steady-falling rain.

After what seems like an eternity, the tears begin to subside. The weight on my chest is still strong and almost suffocating, and I am still trembling slightly, but the lights have stopped flickering and my head has stopped spinning.

And then I hear Ron’s voice.

"Ginny, please, please come out. I just want to know you’re alright."

I cross to the door and mutter "Alohomora." Once it is open, I find that my legs are like jelly, and I collapse into my brother’s open arms.

He strokes my hair and mumbles about how sorry he is, that he knows he should have told me but he just didn’t know how. He couldn’t find the words, and he didn’t want to be the one to break my heart.

Then he pulls back to look me in the eyes. Brown locked on brown. He pushes the hair off of my face, where it is sticking to the salty trails the tears have left.

"Are you alright?"

I nod numbly, but inside, my mind is screaming no.

It will never be alright again.