Last Hope

Chapter 1

Ginny Weasley was standing over a Death Eater's corpse. At some point during the battle she has lost count of how many lives she took, a part of her didn't care and she couldn't really deal with the other part; the part that wanted to throw up and cry in a corner somewhere. She's been keeping everything in check for over a year, not feeling anything, trying to survive, making sure that her friends stayed alive and trying to keep Hogwarts from burning to the ground.

Glancing up from the dead body she could see her best friend Neville in the distance fighting two of them, barely hanging on trying to duck and fire spells at both of them. She knew he could handle it, they made sure of it. They've been training, they were all ready but Ginny couldn't help but worry because Neville didn't want to cross the line. He didn't want to kill any of them, he believed they were misled. There's been arguments among the DA about the right and wrong of it all. And Ginny just wanted to save her loved ones no matter what she had to do.

She closed her eyes briefly. Fred. She couldn't save him, she felt suffocating sadness trying to overwhelm her but she had to push it down, she couldn't stop and process anything that was happening; she had to be all action and logic. She couldn't take a moment to think about the fact that she'd just seen Ron for the first time in a year and their reunion included witnessing their brother's death. They both knew they couldn't sit, cry, and deal with the trauma; they had to keep going. That was the hardest part; wanting to give up, wanting to just lie down and die but not being able to because people depended on you, because you had to be strong even though nothing seemed to matter anymore. And it was really messed up that all she wanted was to immediately hug Ron and thank the heavens he was okay but instead they had to watch their brother take his last breath. Ginny felt panic beginning to settle in again as she though of Fred, she knew she was about to lose herself in a dark bottomless pit if she didn't control her thoughts and emotions, she had to set everything aside once again, she had to keep fighting; she had to make sure his death meant something.

Behind the wall next to Neville she spotted a Death Eater sneaking up on him ready to fire a curse. Her body sprung into action as she sprinted towards him, jumping over bodies and leaping over bricks as she raised her wand with perfect aim.

"Reducto!"

The Death Eater went flying back from the force of the spell, a hole appearing in his chest where his heart used to be. Neville turned around at her voice, sweat dripping down his face. They nodded at each other once she reached him as they both started to fight the Death Eaters in front of them.

"Ginny! Neville!" They were both too busy fighting the two scumbags to turn towards Luna's voice, but Ginny knew something was wrong. Luna rarely, if ever, raised her voice. She let out a grunt in frustration as she fought; until finally disarming him and quickly using a stunning spell before turning to Luna she was covered in blood the color mixing morbidly with her dirty blonde hair.

"What is it?"

She could see Neville was still fighting his guy from her peripheral vision.

"I tried to stop them...but they got them- two second years! I was supposed to protect them...I tried Ginny."

Shit. Knowing that Neville finally dealt with the Death Eater, she grabbed both his arm and Luna's and dragged them running until they crouched behind a big brick that has fallen from one of the towers.

"Who took them?" Ginny immediately asked.

"I don't know. They were wearing masks."

"What are we going to do? We can't leave in the middle of battle." Neville said looking at her, waiting for her agreement.

He was right. They were under their protection, but Ginny had to be logical here. They were most likely dead and it wasn't like the first time they had lost kids. People needed them here, it was war and their place was in the middle of it. For a minute Ginny couldn't believe her thoughts, she was knowingly giving up on two kids. She knew they were in danger and they might already be dead or they were trying to recruit them, she knew it wasn't the right thing to do. But it was the tactical and tough decision that she had to make.