Wings

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/43405.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: F/M
Fandom: Harry Potter - Rowling
Relationship: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley
Characters: Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley
Additional Tags: Madness, Cunning, What's In You?
Language: English
Series: Part 4 of switchverse
Stats: Published: 2002-07-20 Words: 457 Chapters: 1/1
 Wings
by verity

Summary

Ginny will never be entirely over Tom, but Harry will never be entirely over him, either.

Notes

"And the stars came out around him - He was thinking of his sins - And he's looking at his
song-bird - And he's looking at his wings" - PJ Harvey, The Garden
"Hello, Harry," she says without turning around, for the sunset over Ottery St. Catchpole is a
lovely thing to behold. The gate squeaks closed behind him.

"How did you know..." Ginny turns around, watches him silently, and he decides not to finish
his sentence.

"I got your letter."

The garden's lush green grass bends beneath her feet as she walks over to him. "And?"

"You have never loved me."

"Tom never loved you."

"And how can you say that? He used me. Hermione used us. Does that mean anything? Does
that mean she loved us any less? There were orders higher than ours to which she bowed."
Ginny turns away from him for a moment, leaning down to pluck a single flower of Queen
Anne's Lace, which she tucks into a small plait of her hair.

"Hermione did a lot of - unspeakable things. I would think that you'd have tried to forget her."

"No... I think about her quite a lot. I wonder where she is now. We never asked... She at least
did what was right. For Tom."

"...Tom is dead."

"No, he's not." She lifts her right hand, presses the tip of her index finger to her temple. "He's
in here. And he's in you. Are you afraid of that?"

She looks different - as if she's grown wiser, sadder, in the three years that have passed since
he's seen her. "Yes," he answers her honestly. "I have always been terrified of that. The
Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin."

"The Sorting Hat put you in Gryffindor. You always won."

"I never won. He always came back. Hermione won! If anyone did! And what did she give
up?"

"Her sanity. Her humanity. Out of love. Don't you have any faith, Harry? I know all about
faith. I can keep it."

"How could I not be afraid? After what he's done?" He stares at his shoes, scuffed black
dragon hide against the bright slivers of green underfoot.

"He needed me. He always needed me. The rest doesn't matter."

"How can nothing else matter? He killed, he raped, he laid waste to every shred of human
decency to ever cross his path-"
"Would you be afraid to let me believe that he lives on in you? Would you be able to do that?
He was always so bright, and clever. Like you."

And suddenly Harry remembers: little Ginny Weasley in the dungeon, betrayed and rescued.
Then betrayed again; she whose loyalty is her brightest star, her only armor against the world.
And oh, the depths of the seas that he owes her. "I would be afraid. But courage is going forth
in the face of terror, isn't it?"

"You needn't be courageous," she whispers. "Only cunning."

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