Broken Emotions

"Why can't I help you?" Ginny cried.

"Because you can't, Gin!" Harry yelled roughly.

She tried to side step him and go on, wand in hand, but Harry sidestepped her in motion. Left. Right. Left again. She let out a frustrated sigh but tried once more to get passed him, but he grabbed her arm.

"Ginny stop it," he said desperately. "I'll never let you get hurt and this isn't going to fulfill my promise to Ron by letting you duel with us tonight."

Ginny frowned. "Why should you care?" she spat venomously. "You never gave a damn about me."

"That's not true, I --"

"All you cared about was Ron and Hermione and now they're dead!" she interrupted. "You lost your parents, Sirius, my brother and Hermione. You loved them so much but you'd risk their lives if you had to. You risked it, Harry! Who do you have left Harry? Who?" she shouted, her Weasley temper flaring.

She was angry beyond words, beyond shouting anymore, beyond fighting. Not until then did she realize what she'd said aloud, how harsh her words had been. Her chest hurt with guilt. "Harry..." she said quietly. "Harry, please, forgive me, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."

She tried to read his face but it wasn't feasible. "You meant it," he said defiantly. "And you're absolutely right. I didn't care about you enough to let you fight last night. So many people died to save me and I refused to risk your life, Ginny." She realized that he wasn't apologizing (not that she expected this) but he was making a mockery of what she had said.

"How selfish of me..." he trailed off. He looked away into the distance, as though he were thinking. "How dare I try to keep you alive because you were all I'd ever --" He trailed off again and there was a pregnant pause.

"Ginny, I thought about letting you fight last night. I almost considered it." He laughed. "But then I saw Hermione..." His words were cut short by his lack of self-control of his own emotions. Thinking about her dead corpse made him sick to his stomach. It hurt to think about her. Tears filled his eyes. "And I thought to myself, 'I won't subject Ginny to this. I won't let her get hurt. She's all I have left and I won't let her get killed like the rest of them.'"

Ginny made a noise between a sob and a laugh. Harry wasn't sure, but he saw that she was near crying herself. "Harry, don't talk like that," she said, touching the side of his face. He sighed and closed his eyes. "You never had to worry about me. What makes you think you need me alive? I'd rather fight off V-Voldemort." The wind soon picked up and it began to drizzle. "I won't stop until he's dead, Harry."

"It's my responsibility to kill Voldemort and I won't lose you!" Harry said, grabbing her arm and pulling her close to him.

"It wasn't just you he's tortured, Harry!" Ginny sobbed, yanking from his grasp. "Do you know how many days a week I've dreamt of the day when he would return, far passed the memories of his damn diary? Beyond his bodiless form! How long would it be, I used to think, until the day he came back? How long would I wait before he returned? What would happen if he returned to kill me?"

"But he hasn?t," Harry said weakly. "Ginny, his sole purpose was to get me into the Chamber of Secrets."

"And I was the bait, Harry!" She stomped her foot for emphasis. "He used me to get you there. Merlin only knows why you came to rescue me, but you did."

She trailed off again, looking down at the ground, then back at Harry's eyes. He opened his mouth to protest, but she continued to speak.

"Harry, I have to do this! It's because so many years ago that you saved me! I owe you and we have a magical bond! I owe you my life because you saved mine." She stopped again, closing her eyes. Again, there was a pregnant pause.

"Harry, you remember how your mother saved you. She sacrificed herself for you. I'm willing to do that for you." She felt the tears slip passed her eyelids and down her cheek.

"No!" Harry said immediately. "Ginny, you can't! You can't do that!"

"Harry, it's the only way," she said. "What choice do you have? If Voldemort attempts to murder you tonight (and he will) with Avada Kedavra, you could die and that'll be it for the entire Wizarding World, Muggle as well. My small, pathetic life isn't worth the millions of people that will die without you."

"Dammit, Ginny! I won't allow you to do this! I won't lose you this time!" he shouted in his frustration and desperation.

"What do you mean? You never lost me," Ginny said with an air of humor in her voice.

"I need you back at Hogwarts, safe and sound! I'm not going to die."

"But what if --"

"Ginny, why do you think I risked so much to save you in that damn chamber? I almost died myself and I won't let you die in vain!" he said urgently. "And your life is important to me. What you said was I lie."

"What?" she said, her voice dripping with emotion. He held her meek hand in his and caressed his thumb over her palm.

"I do care about you, more than you'll ever know, I loved you after a while, but I knew you didn't feel that way anymore. I'm sorry if you ever thought different."

"Why did you never tell me?" she asked shyly. She felt like the small eleven year old on Platform 9 ¾ again.

"Because everyone I love gets hurt." He leant down and kissed her, gently holding her chin upward. "I love you. You can't die for me. There has to be another way." Wormtail, he thought suddenly. He owes me, not Ginny. She won't have to die because of this...

"Harry, what can I do?" she asked desperately, clutching the sleeves of his robes.

He sighed and held her close, closer than he'd ever done, in a very non-platonic way. "You can run for me. Can you do that, Ginny?"

She looked up at him looking slightly dazed and confused. "Wha- Harry I don't understand," she said quietly.

"I want you to run from this place as fast as you can. Run back to Hogwarts." She could see the look of determination on his face. He wasn't backing down. "I'm begging you to run and not look back, Ginny."

"Is this what you want?"

"I need you alive so I have someone to return to." He pulled his Invisibility cloak from his pocket and draped it around her shoulders. "Promise me you won't be seen."

"I... I promise, Harry," she said slowly. "I'll be there for you when you get back. You'll be alright. I'm sorry I didn't have faith in you."

He kissed her again, more passionately than before. "I'll be fine. You'll be here in spirit. That?s all I need."

Ginny began to look weepy again. "I love you, too, Harry."

"You should go now. Run. Get going," he said. He feared something would happen if she didn't leave soon. "I'll be back before you know it. Now go!"

"I can't," she whimpered sadly. "I can't leave you here..."

"You have to! If you love me as much as you say, run. Don't stay here. Please, go!"

She nodded mutely, disappeared under the cloak and ran. He waited until he was sure she was gone, where he sank to his knees. All he could do now was wait for Voldemort to arrive.

He didn't have to wait long. The navy blue sky had covered the previously orange sky. A bang was heard up above and Harry looked to the sky. There was a swirl of bright, glowing green clouds that spiraled to the ground, causing a great wind to pick up that knocked Harry off his feet and onto his back.

He grimaced as he sat up quickly, fixing his glasses that had gone askew and grasping for his wand. Finally he stood, turning as he searched his surroundings. The bright cloud was swirling around him within an area of a football field, maybe two. He kept spinning, looking for Voldemort. What trick was he playing?

Lightning stuck over head and Harry's head snapped up again. He couldn't believe his eyes. There in a black silhouette was whom Harry could only assume to be the Dark Lord. His cloak fluttered dangerously around him and he fell to the ground, to his feet nimbly. After touching the ground, he brushed off his cloak and Harry watched with baded breath, as he removed his hood. His heart leapt in his throat and he forced himself calm. He shook himself and wiped the sweat off his forehead. The bright light made him shade his eyes.

Voldemort smiled cruelly as he revealed himself, walking forward with diligent steps. His face was less hollow and he looked much stronger than he had three years ago. Harry saw no wand in his hand, no Death Eaters in his wake. What would Voldemort do first?

I'm ready for anything he may throw at me, Harry thought, giving a last thought to Ginny. He took a step forward to show Voldemort he wasn't afraid. On the outside he looked steady and calm, but on the inside he was never more scared of losing his life. The fate of the Worlds (Muggle and wizard) depended on him. Good, he thought sarcastically, so there's no pressure.

Harry grinned slyly at this thought.

"So, it's Harry Potter," Voldemort began in the same voice that gave Harry nightmares. Harry fought the urge to shiver.

"We meet again."

Harry quickly glanced left and right for oncoming "visitors".

"Ah, you have noticed the lack of my fellow Death Eaters," his smile faded to a frown. "I was foolish to bring them along before. They did nothing but get in the way ."

"I'm ready for you," Harry said darkly, his face set with courage, heart with fright. He gripped his wand even tighter.

"I'm sick of your games! Let's finish this!"

"Are you that eager to begin? Or end, I should say," Voldemort said, still never reaching for his wand.

Harry let out a cry as he felt his scar burn painfully. He clutched at his head. The white hot pain had returned. He closed his eyes. He suddenly remembered the cry of his mother dying.

No! Not my Harry! Don't kill him! Kill me instead!

In the back of his mind, he felt himself fall onto his knees, and cry. The pain stopped abruptly and Harry opened his eyes, the floating irritation in his head evaporating like mist.

Voldemort's laugh pulled him back into reality. It was a high, cruel laugh that made Harry stand up again, and point his wand at him. He saw Him laughing with his head back and put his wand to his side before he could see. The longer I prolong this, he thought desperately, the longer I get to live.

"That memory hurts, doesn't it?" he said. He'd finally stopped laughing and glared back at Harry. "You hate remembering your mother's voice before I ended her life. Stupid woman. She couldn't save herself from death and now neither can her dear son."

"Fuck you!" Harry yelled, outraged. It took all he had to not charge at Voldemort than and there and tear him apart with his bare hands. Don't do anything stupid, he thought. "You killed my parents!"

"Of course, I could spare your life," Voldemort said aprehensively, with a fake rise in his voice.

Harry glared back at him with hateful eyes. He didn't dare speak.

"You wish to not answer me?" he yelled, his eyes ablaze. "Answer me or suffer dire consequences, Potter!" He raised his wand and pointed it at Harry. Somehow he managed to keep his brave stature.

The room grew feint and the green glow stayed bright enough for Harry to see clearly. He noticed the cave surrounding them now. It was large and hollow and the light swirled and bounced off the high walls.

"Tirotravios!!" Voldemort cried. The dark teal string of light shot from his wand and before it hit, Harry felt himself being thrown across the room where he hit the wall just hard enough to hurt. He felt something crack in his back. He slid to the ground and stood as tall as he could. He was out of breathe and his back was killing him.

Voldemort strode calmly and slowly to Harry's wall of the dark, dank cave. He reached Harry and shoved him back into the wall. Harry felt his back snap back and watched as Voldemort held his chin to look at him.

"You can join me in my league of Death Eaters and I will spare you. Otherwise I can't promise that I won't," he whispered.

Harry struggled beneath Voldemort's bone crushing arms that were pressing him to the wall. "You don't have any of them left do you? Are you that desperate for followers?" said Harry coolly.

Voldemort ignored Harry's foul comment. "Think about it. You'll rule the world," he continued in an excited whisper.

"With me we'll (Harry, Voldemort, and his followers -- the ones that were left) have more fortune than any man alive and all the women at our beck and call."

"I don't think so," Harry said angrily. He was disgusted at the idea. He only wanted one woman in his life... if he lived to see tomorrow.

"What do you have to lose?" Voldemort asked, releasing Harry and stepping back. "Everyone you love is dead; the Weasley's, except for their daughter whom you never cared for, your friends, your godfather, and your parents. What's stopping you?"

"Ginny and my dignity," Harry said suddenly, raising his wand and yelling, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"