Swordless Battles

Prologue

Some Things are Lost

The fields were running by, green, yellowing, outside the window. Ginny leaned her forehead against it and watched her breath fog the cool glass. She was alone in a compartment - all others were occupied, stuffed with first years or taken by one or two Slytherins whose scowls were enough to make the compartment seem full.

All Ginny had to do was leave for the bathroom, and her precious place between Ron and Harry was taken by Lavender Brown. Ginny knew she would look like a complete dolt if she argued over the matter, so she simply smiled, said it was okay, took her trunk and went searching for another place. What had really hurt, though, was what Lavender had said when she followed Ginny to apologize. She had offered to give Ginny her seat back, claiming she won't mind sitting on someone's lap, and when Ginny refused (yeah, like she didn't know whose lap will Lavender choose), she told Ginny she had asked if the seat was taken before sitting down, and everyone said it was empty.

Figures, because every seat with me in it is always empty. Ginny shut her eyes. Was she meant to spend her life following everyone around like an invisible shadow? Why did this have to happen to her? She was 15, she had gone through almost as much as Ron or Hermione, and still she was treated like an annoying younger sister.

Another part that struck Ginny was that she still cringed at the idea of Lavender making herself conformable on Harry's lap. Ginny couldn't believe herself - after over a year of dating Michael, she still felt jealous of any girl that came near Harry. What was wrong with her? And besides, Ginny was dating Dean Thomas now. She hadn't been only teasing Ron last summer in the compartment (though that was a side benefit as well) - she and Dean had gotten together at the end of last term and wrote back and forth a couple of times throughout the summer. Ginny wasn't taking the relationships seriously - she didn't love Dean, when it came to thinking about it - but she enjoyed his company, and he could make her laugh once in a while.

Although the idea of Lavender flirting with Harry made Ginny feel nauseous, she ding feel attracted to Harry very much either. She didn't really like him as a friend any more, either. During this summer, things have changed between the two of them.

Ginny thought back to the summer at the Black Manor, when Harry first noticed her. Ron and Hermione had been away on some sixth-year prefects' training, and Harry had poured his heart out to Ginny. What she had found out still troubled her. The Prophecy, for example. Or the Cruciatus Harry had done on Bellatrix Lestrange. Or the way Harry was so sure he was the only one who ever suffered, the only one who missed Sirius, and how he said he wished he could switch lives with her. And how, when she refused to pity him, he gave her the cold shoulder.

Ginny felt like crying. For years, she had loved Harry for his bravery, for his heart, for his capability of risking his life for others - but here was the famous Harry Potter, egoistic and bitter, as only he could be. Last year, Ginny had hoped it was only a momentary phase, just hormones and growing up - but Harry hadn't changed.

Ginny felt as if he had died. The Harry she had liked so much was gone, replaced by this being who was no longer capable of seeing anyone else than himself. Was this what Voldemort had done to Harry? Will everyone Ginny knew or loved turn into a shadow of their former self, driven by evil into becoming like the evil itself? Wasn't love and friendship, not hatred and revenge, the way to fight Voldemort?

Ginny didn't know what was happening to her - the female hormones kicking in, she suspected. She simply felt like she wanted to cry, cry for all those lives lost to Voldemort even if he didn't claim them with his wand. But she restrained herself, mostly. After all, any horrible Slytherin prat could walk in at any moment. . . and speaking of the devil. . . .