Title: Silent Tears

Author: Roeschen

Summary: After Harry defeated Voldemort, Harry and Ginny struggle to cope with their past, yet Ginny thought that they finally could be happy and that nothing could ever rip them apart. But not only her family is in their way, finding it hard to accept Harry. As Ginny and Harry attend Hogwarts, Ginny is soon caught up in a nightmare; a nightmare which could destroy their love forever…

This story is a Sequel to 'In the Darkness.' I recommend that you read that first.

Disclaimer: Though Harry Potter doesn't belong to me, my story does!

Prologue

Listening to the faint noise of the waves branding against the shore, Ginny sat motionless and stared at the lake. The water was sparkling in the sunlight. Some birds chirped and to her right, various butterflies flew from flower to flower. It was a beautiful warm summer day, but Ginny couldn't have cared less.

Her hands dug into the soft earth. She felt so hollow, so forlorn, that she hadn't even the strength to cry anymore. As much as she wanted it, no tear escaped her eyes. If only she had the skill to turn back time. She would give anything to make that wish come true.

One year, she thought. It had been exactly one year to the day that she had been as happy as anyone could ever be. Now, she could hardly believe that such a time had ever existed.

As the memories assaulted her, she rose to her feet. She didn't want to dwell in the past any longer; she couldn't take it anymore. Her movement was so sudden that she knocked over the little basket her mother had persisted she take with her.

Ginny looked down at the basket, kneeled and, reaching for an apple that was rolling away, she shook her head. Recently, she was rarely hungry. She wouldn't have taken the basket with her, but she hadn't been able to refuse. Her parents and brothers were worried enough. Though she understood, it nevertheless made her seething with rage. If they hadn't behaved as they had, perhaps everything would not have happened the way it had, perhaps…

Ginny closed her eyes. No, it wasn't fair to blame her family, not if the entire fault lay with her. Helpless fury, desperation, and the heavy burden of guilt threatening to shatter her seemed to be the only feelings she was capable of these days.

And suddenly she realized that she embraced those feelings, even yearned for them. They prevented her pain, the sorrow, and the love she so desperately didn't want to forget and yet didn't want to remember.

Forcing herself to think of her parents, she felt the anger rise in her. How dare they still treat her as if she were nothing more than a little child who you couldn't lose sight of? When she had told them she would spend this day here, alone, they had only reluctantly let her go. Yet, she was seventeen years old. She was an adult.

"They love you, and they worry so much about you," a quiet voice whispered inside her and Ginny nearly laughed.

She clearly remembered the image the mirror had showed her that morning — a white, emaciated face that she had barely recognized as her own. She had become too thin over the last months. Dark shadows lay under her eyes. Every sparkle her eyes had once held had vanished.

Her bright, shimmering red hair had become dull, darker. No, it shouldn't be a surprise that her parents and brothers were beside themselves with worry. But somehow, this left her cold. Startled, she realized that even that didn't bother her. She simply didn't care. And, that lack of feeling towards her family frightened her.

The worst, however, was that she couldn't bring herself to speak with her family. Though they probably knew by now more or less what exactly had happened, she just couldn't confide in them.

Trembling, Ginny pushed all thoughts concerning her family away. It wasn't difficult. She had gotten plenty of practice in the past months. Looking at the basket, she sighed. Hopefully, some children would come to the park today whom she could give the basket to.

She drew her knees to herself and gazed again at the water. She knew that she could not go on like this. If she did, she would break. And had she not come here to find a way to live again – to break through her desperation, the incredible hollowness that wouldn't let go of her?

It was time to face her memories, the past. Perhaps it was even time for her to forgive herself, though she knew that this was something she would never be able to.

She turned her head to the side and looked at the flowerbeds, which had been strewn with hundreds of white lilies. The once headquarters of the Dark Lord was now the Park of Lilies, a place of memory, to remember those who hadn't survived the war. It had been the house-elves who had planted them last year at Harry's request.

Her eyes wandered to the wall surrounding Lily Potter's rose garden, lingered there a moment, and turned back again to the lake. Suddenly she saw herself lying in Harry's arms, and the image was so graphic that her breath quickened. This memory was no longer weak and far away, and it hurt her to the core.

This one memory in particular made her aware of what she had lost. And she had lost everything: Harry's love, her happiness, and her laughter.

Icy coldness enveloped her as the memories assailed her and swept her away. She had not the strength to suppress them. Here, at this place which held so many memories and where everything had begun, she wouldn't and couldn't.

She leaned back against the tree, stared into the distance and let herself be consumed by them. How could that have happened? How could it have come to this? she silently cried, not knowing that someone else, not very far away, whispered the same question.