Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter Series, no matter how much I wish I did.

Heroes

By: Bluewater7

Ginny pushed her red hair out of her face as she yawned. She was sitting next to Neville in the Great Hall for breakfast. Ron and Hermione were still in the hospital wing from the battle at the Ministry two nights prior. She looked around for Harry.

"He's not here, Ginny." Neville muttered. "He left already."

"Again?" Ginny groaned. Ever since the battle, Harry had been doing this disappearing act where he vanished from everyone's sight. Ginny had been hoping to catch him to talk him into joining her, Neville, and Luna in the hospital wing to visit Ron and Hermione. "Why is he avoiding us? Out of everyone here, we should be the ones that he can talk to."

"I think he's having a hard time with Sirius Black's death." Neville said. "He looked really upset when it happened."

Ginny nodded. She understood that Harry was devastated that Sirius was gone. She had really enjoyed his company during the summer and Sirius's support when Voldemort's snake had attacked her dad. "I'm going to try and find him. Don't wait for us. I'll go and check on Ron and Hermione later."

Neville nodded. Ginny immediately left the Great Hall and headed down towards the lake. There was a tree that Harry usually sat under with Ron and Hermione. Ginny had a feeling that he would seek refuge under that tree. She was right.

"Harry?" Ginny said as she approached. Harry didn't answer, so she sat down next to him. "Harry, please, talk to me."

Harry continued to look out at the water. Ginny didn't move. Finally, he turned to her. "What do you want me to say? How I was wrong and that if I hadn't gone off to the Ministry, Sirius would still be alive?"

"No!" Ginny said. "I just want you to know that I'm here for you if you want to talk. You should know that we all are. You can't keep blaming yourself for something that was out of your control! This is just like when you saw Dad get attacked. You held it all in because you thought that it was your fault since you had seen it from the snake's perspective."

"Don't you dare bring that into this!" Harry said, glaring. "You don't know what that was like! To see your dad hurt and feel as if I had done it! To see Sirius being tortured to the point where you had to save him in order for him to survive!"

"I can not believe you just said that to me, Harry Potter!" Ginny shouted back at him. "How dare you say that I don't know what it's like to see others attacked and feel as if it's your fault! As if I have no idea what that's like! I have attacked people and had no control over it! I knew that it was me, but I could only guess. When Riddle took me over, everything was black, to the point where I thought I was falling asleep everywhere and sleepwalking! Don't pretend that you're the only one who knows what it's like to have him in your head constantly because you're wrong!"

The two of them sat there glaring at each other. Ginny didn't care at this moment that she was yelling at the boy who had always been her hero and her crush. She didn't care at that moment that he had once saved her life. And she especially didn't care if he was furious with her for attacking him like that. It was true and he needed to be reminded of that.

"Are you done yelling at me, Ginny?" Harry asked suddenly. Ginny thought for a moment.

"I guess that depends on you." She said. "Despite what happened at the Ministry, you know that Sirius wouldn't want you to mope around like this. There's nothing I can do about it if you want to continue to do so." Ginny stood up to leave. "We're going to visit Ron and Hermione in the Hospital Wing if you want to join us. And one more thing, Harry."

"Yeah?"

"You're still a hero that we can all be proud of. You dealt with all of that crap from the Ministry and people lost faith in you. But you still haven't given up. That's what makes you one of the heroes of this war." Ginny turned on her heel and headed up to the castle before Harry could respond.

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