The Battle of Hogwarts lasted three days. Ginny spent those three days locked in the hospital wing with Madam Pomfrey, helping to care for the wounded, the sick, and the dying. Her family had prohibited her from participating in the battlefield in any capacity, even to carry the wounded to treatment. She spoke with her patients and gleaned what information she was able to, but it could hardly be called enough.

The fallen were taken elsewhere, to a makeshift morgue in the dungeons. Ginny did not see Percy or Charlie when they were brought in from the field. She would learn of their stories later.

At the end of the third day, the shutters on all the castle windows flew open. Shouting was heard below. Harry had killed Voldemort. The wizarding world was liberated. Ginny flew from the hospital ward into the endless corridors and down the shifting staircases onto the battlefield.

She gasped at what she saw. The grounds were littered with fallen bodies, decked in full regalia, crimson for the Order, black for Voldemort's Death Eaters. It was as though the ground was a river of black and red for as far as the eye could see. There was moaning, screaming, and muffled cries for help amid the chaos. Ginny saw a slow march of witches and wizards stepping out from hiding and onto the field to look for loved ones, to help tend to the sick, to carry the corpses away.

Ginny ran as fast as she could, scanning the field for some sign of him, that pale skin, that platinum blond hair, that regal bearing. She turned over corpses, ripped away Death Eater masks. She was frantic. Ignoring cries for help and the agonizing smell of death, she went further and further into the blood and the darkness that was the battlefield.

Several hours later, her heart was pounding from fear and from the exertion of the search. Sweat was pouring from her brow as she went from body to body. Death and the dying were everywhere. She was almost hysterical with the dread of the unknown. The sun was on its last legs. The cover of darkness was beginning to envelop the world. Her hope was a mere flickering ember.

Then she saw something. She saw a solitary figure, sitting forward, head bent. The mix of sunset and moonlight turned his hair a fiery silver blond and his body into shadows. She recognized the bearing, that tilt to his head, the fallen locks against his forehead.

Ginny ran to him, falling to her knees with exhaustion and exaltation beside him. He made no movement, no acknowledgment of her presence. She stilled her breathing and placed a steady hand upon his shoulder. He looked over at her with glassy, vacant eyes. Then he threw his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him. She felt the steady, comforting beat of his heart as she closed her eyes and let her head rest against his shoulder, the panic and hysteria slipping away. Sometime later she would recognize the severity of his injuries, the bleeding, the bruising, the broken right leg and shattered kneecap. There would be time for the hospital wing and treatment, but for now he held her close as darkness fell all around.

Author's Notes: This was my first fan fic. Thanks for reading. - fallenwitch