[HP translation] Hope

Dinner was a dismal affair.Ginny told her father about saying goodbye to George and not going back, and surprisingly, he took it well.Ginny's dinner -- a parody of Molly's perfect stew -- weighed heavily on her stomach as she thought of George lying alone in the hospital.No one should be alone, she thought, but there was nothing left to support that belief.

After the dishes were done, they sat quietly by the fireplace, Arthur holding the latest issue of The Quibbler, and Ginny looking at Hermione's old notes.Ginny didn't finish her sixth year after Hogwarts, an ancient and huge castle, was destroyed.There's comfort in reading Hermione's neat italic handwriting; it's as if Hermione isn't far away, perhaps looking for useful spells in the Black family library, while Harry and Ron play chess nearby.

"Ginny."

Her father's voice startled her.When she mentioned George, he hardly spoke to her, lost in his own thoughts.In the past few years, he only opened his mouth when he had something important to say to her.

"What's the matter, Dad?" she said.

He was watching something on The Quibbler. "You can't stay here anymore, Kim," he said softly.

"what?"

Arthur closed his eyes. "I can't let you stay here and live like this. You're still young and you've got years to go."

"Dad." She put Hermione's notes aside and leaned over in her chair. "I belong here, with you. We only have each other, and we have resistance to support—"

"Resistance forces?" He let out a cold laugh. "Ginny, the Order of the Phoenix and its allies are wiped out. Do you understand? Every week the Quibbler reports new deaths and disappearances, and we can't keep up with the increase in Death Eaters. We're defeated, Kim. We Lost."

"No, no," Ginny whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. "As long as there is hope—"

"They got Moody last week, didn't I tell you?" Arthur said, looking at her through his reading eyes. "Killed five Death Eaters, but he died too. Nobody heard from Lupine for years, and they began to suspect he was dead too. McGonagall, Mundungus, Scrimgeour, most The Wizengamot. All of our senior officers are dead or missing, Ginny, and the rest are hiding like us. But—but what kind of life is that?" He shook his head, watching the flames . "You're almost 20, Ginny, and you've lived here for three years. Do you want to live like this for 100 years? Don't you want to ride a broom again, go swimming, and breathe fresh air again?"

Ginny turned away, casually wiping the tears rolling down her face.Thinking of those lazy summer days when she played Quidditch with her brothers, almost watching other people's lives.The sun is a memory, and the shadow is also a memory, for she has lived in darkness so long.flowers?What do they taste like?What was it like walking barefoot through the grass around the Burrow?

"I want you to live your life, Ginny," Arthur said. "Live as much as you can, so that when you look back, it's worth it."

"What about you?" Ginny wept. "So are you going to send me away and stay in this house alone?"

"I'm not alone," he said. "And George. I've been thinking of sending him here, and calling a doctor—"

"No, Dad. No." She ran her trembling hands through her hair. "Who's going to cook you dinner? Who's going to clean the house—"

"Ginny," he said, smiling indulgently. "I can take care of myself. Do you think being Molly Prewett's husband for over 30 years can't learn a thing or two?"

"What do you do? Are you here?"

"I can provide beds for those who are hiding," he said wistfully. "A safe place for those travelers. A headquarters for the Resistance."

"We can do these things now," said Ginny firmly. "I will not hinder you. I am also a member of the resistance now."

"No, you're not," Arthur said, a hint of irritation in his voice now. "Do you know what the Resistance is, Kim? Wizards and witches like me who have nothing to lose? We've seen life, we've seen the two wars of Voldemort's rise and his fall, we're too old to die Regrets. Every mission fails and we lose more and more wizards and witches every day. I can't let you get involved, Ginny. I want you to go somewhere safe, get married, start a Family. I can't give you much, I never can, but I can give you a real life."

Ginny felt like her heart was going to break.He doesn't want her here.Isn't it about staying together, staying strong, bringing people together?On the one hand, she knows it's all for her own good, and maybe one day, she can find true happiness again.On the other hand, she stubbornly refused to agree to leave her father alone here, but she didn't listen to her stubborn side very much.

"Then what's your plan?" she said resignedly. "I think all international apparition points are heavily guarded and blocked by Death Eaters."

"Yes." Arthur agreed. "At least the public ones are." He leaned down and handed her "The Quibbler," telling her to look at the half-page ad on the right.

British witches!Do you dream of being the girl at a wedding?

Have you sketched out a beautiful and elegant ceremony?

Is your prince charming an American wizard?

This is no longer a dream!

Spearman's speed-dating represents the very best of the American wizarding community pining for the cute British witches they've always heard about!

Just send in a recent photo of yourself and your dream wizard will be in touch within two weeks!

Ginny couldn't read any more. "You want me to be a mail-order bride?" she called.

"I've seen it," said Arthur. "They're the only company in England with a secret apparition site still operating. If there's another option, I'll take it, but it's the only way to get you out of the country safely, Kim."

"But—but—a mail order bride, Dad!"

He watched her patiently. "Do you want to marry a wizard who will take care of and protect you, or live here and pretend everything is fine?"

"Dad, I—I can't." She handed him the magazine back and stood up. "I wouldn't even think about doing that. I'm sorry. I'm going to bed." She kissed the top of his bald head and went upstairs to her room.

A mail order bride!Those words echoed in her ears as she walked up the stairs.With tears still on her cheeks, she walked down the corridor, and when she passed the mirror, it said absently, "Cheer up, honey, no one likes red, puffy eyes." She was going to go straight to her room and curl up on the bed up, but the first bedroom on the left stopped her.

Live your own life, Ginny.

Molly would have cleaned these rooms months before, and everything was boxed, neatly labeled and put away.But Molly wasn't there, and every time Ginny or Arthur tried to clean the other bedrooms, they would immediately come up with excuses for leaving the stuff alone.

"It doesn't get in our way either," Arthur said after their last attempt two years ago. "We don't need anything here."

"Just leave it there," agreed Ginny, and they let it go.

Ginny walked into the first room, holding back a sneeze as she stepped over the threshold.The dust was an inch thick and cast a fuzzy gray blanket over everything, but even then she could recognize that it was Bill and Fleur's room.

Ginny reached out and wiped away a dark poster that was still magically attached to the wall and saw that it was the skyline of Paris.Of course, it is Fleur's masterpiece.The bed was unmade, the cotton sheets were wrinkled and faded, and the bedside table next to it was full of bottles of potion that Bill used to suppress his wolfishness.Cosmetics were strewn across the dresser, a shirt in need of darning was draped over a chair, and several pictures of a little blond girl were tucked into frames: Fleur's sister, Gabrielle.Their clothes still hang in the closet, dirty laundry piled in a bucket never to be washed.If there's no dust, it looks as if they'll be back any minute.

"Hey, Gingin," Bill would say, pulling at her hair like she had been a kid.Bill was the only brother who always took her seriously, not just as a sister.He was the one who listened patiently when Ginny believed a monster was hiding in her closet, it was Bill who defended her when Ron and the twins bullied her, and it was Bill who taught her how to fly for the first time.

Why didn't she feel it when he died?Why didn't the sky crack open, why didn't the ground tremble under her feet; why didn't his dying scream echo in the wind and never end in her ears?Even though he, Charlie, Percy, Fred, Ron and Mom were dead, why did she still feel like the old Ginny?

Black House is a dollhouse, with empty rooms devoid of any life, yet carefully furnished as if waiting for their occupants.It waits expectantly, but only the reflection of life.Sometimes at night, when she and her father were in bed, she could close her eyes and imagine that they were still alive and sleeping.One night she was walking up to the room Ron and Harry had shared, and when she pressed her hand to the closed door, she swore she could feel them inside, in their respective beds.

She left Bill and Fleur's room, closing the door behind her.Lupine and Tonks' room was just across the corridor, but she never entered it.Unlike Bill and Fleur who were dead, Lupine might still be alive, Tonks just never came back to take her things.

Her room was still the one she shared with Hermione, at least until Ron and Hermione returned from a mission one day and suddenly announced that they had been joined by a Ministry official.Molly was furious at first, and her yelling at Ron could be heard throughout the house, but Ginny remembered him standing in front of his mother, holding Hermione's hand, jaw raised and eyes brave.He's not a little boy anymore, Ginny thought.He is a man now.When Molly herself realized this, she burst into tears and took Hermione into her arms, welcoming her into the family.

They all died a few months later.

Ginny rubbed her eyes and walked into her room.Hermione's things were the only ones in the entire house that had been moved; Ginny and Arthur moved them into Ron and Harry's room.Without Hermione's precarious stacks of books, the room looked eerily naked, her bed covered in simple red sheets, and a Muggle photo of her parents sat between them on the nightstand. "I told them about Ron, of course," she said the day after their wedding. "I wish they could meet him, they keep asking if we can have lunch or dinner once, but I keep telling them we're busy looking for Horcruxes. I don't think they understand. It's hard."

"They're Muggles," said Ginny. "Of course they don't understand that sort of thing."

"They're my parents too," said Hermione, looking at their picture. "I don't like the thought of not being able to talk to them about anything anymore."

Ginny brushed her teeth slowly and put on the faded pajama bottoms that had once belonged to Charlie and Ron's Charlie Cannons T-shirt.She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Strange dreams tormented her all night, werewolves, the Killing Curse, her friends being tortured by Death Eaters.She ran, ran as far as she could, but they kept on, around the next corner, black eyes grinning at her from behind a white mask, black cloak fluttering in the wind—

But when she rounded a corner of the maze, what she saw was not Death Eaters, giants or Voldemort, but Harry.

"Harry?" Ginny sobbed, and she threw herself into his arms.

"Hey Kim," he said, and his voice was beautiful.

"Come back, Harry," she said, leaning against him. "I can't take it anymore, I miss you so much—"

"I'm fine, Kim," he said, pulling her closer to him. "We're all fine." No one was around before, and now she could see everyone she knew standing behind him: Ron and Hermione, hugging each other; Percy, Fred, and Charlie, Bill and Fleur, Dumbledore and McGonagall, Sirius, Molly and more.

"Mom," she cried, running to her mother and hugging her.

"Oh, baby Ginny," said Molly, fighting back tears. "We're fine. We're fine, honey."

"But George?" said Ginny, looking from Molly to Fred. "George isn't—?"

"He's somewhere in it," said Fred. "Not dead, but not alive either."

"Please let me go with you," Ginny begged. "It's me and Dad, let's—"

"I give you permission to say that, Genevieve Molly Weasley!" snapped her mother, her hands on her hips. "You're alive, and you should be grateful for that."

"Grateful?" Ginny called. "We've got nothing, Mom! Everyone's dead, everyone here, and you! Dad doesn't even want me around anymore—"

"You know that's not true, Kim," Charlie said. "Daddy would never—"

"I hate that," said Ginny, her eyes burning with tears again. "There were very few people left who couldn't risk coming to see us, so it was just me and Dad, and we barely spoke."

"Gingin," Bill said, and he let go of Fleur, and Ginny threw herself into his arms, sobbing. "Hey, it's okay. We know how you feel. It's okay."

"I sometimes think, why am I even waking up in the morning," says Ginny, relieved by the familiar comfort of her family. "Nothing. Nothing."

"And love." She looked up to find Dumbledore's twinkling blue eyes watching her. "Love has always been what wakes us up in the morning. Love gives us strength when we think we have nothing."

"But I—" She looked at Harry, who blushed under her scrutiny, and said something she would never have had the courage to say before. "I just want you, Harry."

"I'm, uh, honestly, pretty high," he stammered, and Ron snickered until Hermione poked him in the ribs. "But Kim, I'm dead."

"Well said, Harry," said Fred cheerfully.

"What I'm trying to say," continued Harry, glaring at the two of them, "is that you still have important things to do, Ginny."

"important things?"

"Everyone controls their own destiny." Dumbledore said with a smile, "However, it must be admitted that some lives are more worth fighting for than others. For example, we are here to help you make the right decision."

Ginny frowned, trying to follow his train of thought until suddenly the puzzle piece came together. "Speelman's Speed ​​Dating," she whispered.

"There was a reason that ad was in the Quibbler," said Dumbledore. "There was a reason it caught Arthur's attention, Miss Weasley. You were meant to see it."

"You want me to send myself to some strange American wizard?" Ginny screamed, letting go of Bill. "Are you all crazy?"

"Think about the possibilities," said Harry, stepping forward. "Would you really rather be morose in Sirius' house and feel sorry for yourself?"

"I do not--"

"Think about it: America!" said Percy, eyes twinkling behind his glasses. "I've always wanted to go there. I've heard their chances of a magical government promotion are great—"

"America hasn't been attacked by Death Eaters," Bill said. "It's still safe there, and it's likely to be safe there for a long time while Voldemort gathers his supporters, because America is such a big place that there aren't even pure bloods there."

"There's no other way of leaving England," said Hermione. "Look, Ginny," she continued, when Ginny was clearly about to retort, "I know what you're thinking, and I know I'm thinking the same. I gave up my freedom because of the strange wizard I met."

"Don't worry, I'll come after him if he treats you badly," Ron growled, and everyone booed him.

At this moment, Ginny thought of something, and she blinked. "You know that," she said softly. "You already know who will choose me if I say yes."

"Great, knowing the future," Fred said with a smile.

"Then why can't you tell me and help me decide?"

"You just need to know that if you decide to become a mail-order bride, you won't regret it," said Hermione.

Ginny bit her lip, looking at them all.Her family, her friends, everyone she loves in the world.Surely they wouldn't lead her in the wrong direction and make her life worse than it was now?

"Will that help Dad?" she asked.

"In the long run, yes," said Molly.

"Will I be happy?"

"Better than you were in Grimmauld Place," said Charlie.

She opened her mouth to ask the third question - will I find love? — but decided not to ask.She couldn't speak when Harry was standing next to her.However, Dumbledore looked at her with a smile in his eyes, and when she raised her eyebrows at him, he nodded slightly: yes.

"Okay," she said, blinking away angry tears. "I thought, if that would help Dad—"

"Follow your heart, Miss Weasley, it always knew what it was doing," said Dumbledore, and they all disappeared into the darkness.

The next morning, Arthur was sitting in the kitchen with a cup of tea in his hands when Ginny came downstairs.She sat across the long table. "Daddy," she said, "how the hell am I going to be a mail-order bride?"