“You OK?”

“No.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No. Go away, Ron.”

“I loved him too, you know, Gin. He was my best mate for seven years. I know how you feel. Talk to me.”

“You don’t know. No one knows how I feel. I just lost the man I loved more than life itself. You’ve got Lavender, and all I’ve got is a body and a name.”

“I want to help my little sister.”

“My heart just shattered into a million pieces. He told me a million times he might die, but I just... I never really believed it. Thought it was his stupid hero personality taking over and he was being all noble in case something bad happened. I didn’t think it would. I didn’t think he’d really d-,” she stopped unable to say it.

“Someone must know how you feel. Others have died. Maybe someone who loved one of them could help.”

“Just go away, Ron.” Sighing sadly, he left.

Ginny walked down the corridors in a daze, still not quite able to believe it. She found herself in the dungeons before she knew what was happening. She was about to turn around when she heard a soft sobbing. Needing something to do, she followed the sound.

Sitting with his face in his knees, arms wrapped around his legs, was the dark and feared Potions Master and head of Slytherin. He was crying. “Sir?” she asked softly. What could be wrong? He was free at long last. He didn’t even move, but she heard a muffled “leave” from him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Everything. Go away, an annoying Gryffindor girl trying to reach out to me was what got me into this mess. I don’t need another.”

“Hermione,” she whispered softly. How could she have forgotten?

“Well done, Miss Weasley. Now leave me.”

“Talk to me. I think I know what you’re feeling. I’m going through the same thing.”

“Potter.” It wasn’t a question. She answered anyway.

“Yes.”

“What would you like to talk about?” he asked hesitantly, still not lifting his head.

“Anything. Anything has to be better than this.” He was silent for a moment.

“Why did you love him?”

“What?”

“I always wondered why Hermione loved me. She insisted she did, and once she made a list of things she liked about me. And it lead me to wonder why you would love him.” He lifted his head to meet her gaze.

“He was handsome. And brave. And noble. And perfect. We both adored Quidditch. Just, well, everything about him made me love him. Why did you love Hermione?”

“She is- WAS the only light in my life. She believed in me. She lay in my bed to wait for me, and when I came home with blood on my hands she washed it off. She didn’t judge me, she just told me how brave I was to do it, and reminded me how many lives I saved. She was so intelligent. She used to help me with me research. She was beautiful. She was everything I’d ever wanted.” Ginny was silent for a moment.

“Harry was smart, too. And he was famous, but he was never big headed about it. You hated him, I know, but I loved him for all the same reasons, from a different angle.”

“I never hated him. James Potter, I despised, because he married Lily, and he didn’t deserve her. He was an idiot. I hated him for taking my friend away. My best friend.”

“You were friends with Lily Potter?”

“No. I was friends with Lily Evans. Lily Potter looked away if she saw me on the street. Lily Potter wouldn’t have stayed up all night in my room, talking to me, ignoring what the others said about a girl spending the night in a boy’s room. Lily Potter wouldn’t have helped me revise for my O.W.L.s in exchange for help with Potions. Lily Potter betrayed all the times Lily Evans told me that we were best friends. Lily Evans would never have believed I’d joined the Death Eaters for real. She’d have realised I wasn’t that stupid. And she certainly wouldn’t have turned her back on me without a word, because James didn’t like me.”

“Oh. Harry wasn’t like that.”

“He may or may not have been. It does not matter now.”

“Of course it does!”

“Not really. He is gone. I can’t waste time on what-ifs. I will go mad.”

“I’m already going mad. He’s been gone a few hours, and I miss him already.”

“It will get easier.”

“How?”

“With time. And chocolate. Hermione gave me dark chocolate when I came back from Death Eater gatherings.” Ginny smiled softly.

“She loved you too.”

“I know. I just don’t know why.”

“Can you really see a time when this doesn’t hurt? When weren’t in so much pain we could die and feel nothing but joy at being free?”

“Not really. I’ve never been free. But mourners get along. They live. We will do the same.” Ginny nodded. It made sense.

“But you are now.”

“What?”

“You’re free now. No one to serve but yourself.” His face brightened a bit and Ginny smiled.

“I suppose I am…”

“What might you do?”

“Leave.” It was delivered instantly.

“What? Why?”

“I have lived here for far too long. Hermione and I had made plans to leave anyway, once it was all over.”

“Where to?”

“America, perhaps. It is a good place for wizards and muggles to get along.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Didn’t you? Half the population know about magic. They don’t speak of it openly, but they know.”

Ginny looked at her Potions Master. He was different like this. Not happy. How could he be happy with the woman he loved dead not a day before? But… there was something there, kinship perhaps.

He was no Harry. But he would be a confidant, and a shoulder to cry on. Maybe they could help each other. She smiled and held out a hand to help him up. It was a start.