Once and for All

Chapter 28

Hermione turned to Harry, but he finally understood what had to be done. Keeping a firm grip on Ginny, he sent his stag into the dark cloud, and it began to tremble and crack. With an ear splitting shriek, it finally exploded, the tiny black pieces floating like cotton around the room.
     A moment of stunned silence followed.
     "Is it dead?" Seamus whispered.
      Harry scanned the room. "Think so." He turned to Ginny, who was abnormally pale and limp. "You held it back."
     She nodded wearily. "Had-to give Hermione enough time."
     "Time to do what?" Asked Neville, staring at Hermione.
     "To take down Whiffler's shield," Ron exclaimed, laughing in astonishment. "You gave him what he wanted and used it against him."
     Hermione nodded, looking exhausted, and Ron collapsed her into an embrace.
"He's actually gone," Ginny said slowly, as if she couldn't believe it. "How are we going to prove he's a criminal if he's-"
"We'll get to that later," Harry interrupted, looking around. "Everyone okay?"
There was a mumbling of assurances, before Dean's groggy voice asked, "Wha happened?"
Immediately everyone groaned, and Ron stared at Dean in disbelief. "You slept through all that?"
"I was knocked out, you idiot. Big difference."
"Hardly," Ron countered, shaking his head as he turned to Ginny. "Thank God you didn't pick him. Now let's go before Mum finds out we're missing."
*****
Once they disapperated to Neville's place, they quickly took care of all their injuries. None were serious, save for Dean's concussion and Ron's broken fingers, except for Ginny. Ginny could barely walk on her own, and after Harry helped her to the couch she practically sank into it. She was shivering, and Harry could barely tell she was breathing, which made him nervous.
He glanced at her nervously, but she didn't seem to be aware of anything as she stared off in a daze.
"I don't like this," he muttered to Hermione, who nodded grimly in response.
"We'll have to take her to St. Mungos."
"Are you crazy? They'll have to ask what happened."
"We can request an private room. Honestly, Harry, publicity's the least of our worries."
Still skeptical, he glanced at Ginny, whose eyes were closed. "Alright," he relented. "But only a few of us should go. Someone should go to the Ministry, tell them what happened. Maybe Ron-?"
"He doesn't work there, you do," Hermione pointed out wearily. "You're the auror-in-training, Harry. It's your job to settle this." She noticed his worried glance, and added, "We'll take care of her."
Reluctantly, he nodded. "Just try to keep the story as simple as possible."
"Yes, Harry," she said in an impatient voice, and Harry wisely stopped talking, instead choosing to approach the couch. "Ginny?"
There-she stirred slightly, and her eyes half-opened. He gripped her ice-cold hand and whispered, "We're going to finish this once and for all. I promise."
Her eyes remained trained on his, but he couldn't tell if she truly understood, or if she was in a dreamlike trance. Heart in his throat, he kissed her desperately. Even her lips were unresponsive and frozen. "Hang in there," he muttered before pulling away.
With one last glance at Hermione, who impatiently waved him off, Harry disapperated to spread the news.
****
The next day, the entire Weasley family and Harry, Luna, and Neville were all crowded around Ginny's bed. Ginny was still sleeping soundly, but Harry was relieved to see her skin regain some of its color, and her breathing was clearly visible.
So relieved, he almost zoned out of Mrs. Weasley's scolding, which was mostly aimed towards Ron. "-our own daughter was almost killed, and you only see fit to tell us after she's been brought to a hospital?! She could have died."
    "Mrs. Weasley," Harry finally interrupted gently. Ron look immensely relieved. "We're very sorry about all this, but we had to take care of her as quick as possible. We didn't have a whole lot of time to tell you-"
    "They did the best they could," Mr. Weasley interrupted, placing a hand on Mrs. Weasley's shoulder. Harry had expected her to rise into her usual rant, and was stunned when she seemed to deflate, instead turning to her daughter. "She's not playing on any team until she has at least a week of bed rest," she muttered with a certain finality. "I'll make her stay at home."
     "Good luck with that," Ron muttered, and Hermione aimed a kick at his leg.
     "So Whiffler's been caught?" George finally asked, looking hopeful.
     "Nah, he died. Practically killed him self trying to get that weapon," Ron replied, trying to keep the story simple. They still hadn't told the others what exactly the weapon was, but they were more preoccupied with Ginny, and Harry didn't have the heart to tell them what was inside their daughter. "There isn't a body left."
    George turned to them, perplexed. "If there's no body, how did you prove all of this?"
     Harry turned to Hermione, who stared back apprehensively. "Show them."
     Cautiously, she drew out a wand. Whiffler's wand. "He must've dropped it before he died," she explained to the stunned audience. "We had the aurors do the priori incantam spell, and it showed everything."
    "How in the name of Merlin did you get to keep that?" Percy asked, flummoxed. "Surely that's a hard piece of evidence-"
     "They were going to confiscate it as evidence immediately, but then Harry persuaded them to let me show you first-if you wanted to. It might be easier than explaining."
     "Do it," Bill insisted, and Charlie nodded, so Hermione waved her wand at it, muttering the spell. Yellow wisps appeared from the top of the wand, forming into the figures and staring with Whiffler shouting Expelliarmus.
    It was strange for Harry to rewatch the whole thing, without a throbbing heartbeat or panicked, squeezed feeling in his chest. Or the constant worrying of Ginny. In a way,  the images reminded him of ghosts-figures from the past that would forever haunt his memories, not invoking the exact same fear, but rather a remembrance of that fear, and how easily it could happen again.
     When the final images disappeared and Hermione filled them in on the details on Bluffer and the fight, Harry noticed Ginny was sitting up and had been watching the images as well. Immediately he crushed her into a hug, kissing her fiercely. "You're okay," he muttered, hardly daring to believe it. "You're okay."
     "We all are," she replied, looking relieved as well. "What'd I miss?"
     "You almost passed out after we came back, so we brought you here," Ron explained. "Harry was going berserk, by the way."
     "Really?" She asked, sounding amused. "That would have been fun to watch-"
     Right then Mrs. Weasley pulled her in a hug, her shoulders shaking, and Mr. Weasley joined her. Soon everyone was trying to get in the group hug, much to the embarrassment of Ginny. "Can't-breathe-" she protested, and it was only then that Neville drew away, followed by the rest.
     "Now see here, young lady," Mrs. Weasley said sternly. "You are not going anywhere after this hospital visit until you rest at home-understand?" There was no arguing with the tone used in her voice.
     "But-" Ginny protested, and Mrs. Weasley's eyes hardened further. "All right, just let the team know that I'm not dead."
    "Already did," Bill reassured her.
    Suddenly Percy poked his head through the hospital door, and Harry turned to him, confused. When had he left the room?
     "Someone wants to talk to you," he announced, eyeing the person behind him with narrowed eyes behind his glasses.
       Harry opened the door further, and was surprised to see Draco Malfoy standing before him. Out of all the things that surprised him recently, this took the latter. "What're you-"
      "I'm testifying," Malfoy interrupted. "Against him. He threatened my family, and I won't let that be ignored."
       "Whiffler?" He confirmed in surprise, and Draco nodded, looking uncomfortable. "But this doesn't mean I'm on your side, got it?"
     Harry nodded, almost struck speechless at this. "But we'll have to tell the court that you didn't help," Harry finally said cautiously.
      "I warned you, didn't I?" Draco snapped, his eyes blazing.
       As reluctant as he was to admit it, Draco did have a point. "I guess you did," he relented grimly, trying to fight down the old hatred. "But...why'd you do it?"
        "Because Whiffler needed to be stopped, and I'm tired of my family's accusations," he retorted. Strangely, he was being more defensive than usual. "Are we done with the interrogation here?"
     "You were the one that came," Harry pointed out.
      "Yeah, but I didn't want an actual conversation. Just tell those Weasleys that after this, the Order should poke its nose elsewhere."
     "I'll try, but they're not that good at following orders," Harry admitted.
Draco glanced at the door, and Harry saw a strange look on his face. Was it...wistful? A few seconds later, his posture slumped, and suddenly he seemed weary. "You're lucky to have that, you know. Even if it's a bunch of muggles and blood traitors."
Harry opened his mouth to reply-he honestly wasn't sure if that was a compliment or an insult-but Draco's threatening glare shut him up. Despite the mutual consensus, it was clear that Draco was not interested in becoming any closer. Wordlessly, Harry watched him walk down the hall, thinking of how strange it was that friends could turn into enemies and enemies into friends.
    Lucky. The word fit his situation pretty well.

Alright, the climax is FINALLY over😅Thank you guys SO MUCH for all the reads and support. Two more questions before I move on:
1) a commenter recommended on changing the name of the story, which I kinda agree with. I have another title in mind, but just wanted to ask if there's any suggestions before I change it?
2) since the last chapter is coming up soon, does anyone have any new character appearances you'd like to recommend? Last call!

Last thing: I'm FINALLY on Thanksgiving break, so I have much more time and I promise the next chapter will come much quicker ;) Again, thanks for everything!