Harry Potter 1. I Believe in Her

I've seen fake gods and bad gods and demigods and would-be gods; out of all that, out of that whole pantheon, if I believe in one thing... just one thing... _I believe in her_.

-"The Satan Pit" _(Doctor Who)_

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><p>At this point, he's seen so much that he just wants to stop.<p>

Give up now. Just stop fighting altogether.

Because that was a kid. She was a kid. And she was dying. And she wasn't the first.

And Hermione—she had nearly died, too.

And Ron—

Everyone. Everyone was in danger.

It had all just been happening, and it just is happening now, and it's too much for him.

Tonks and Sirius and Lupin.

His parents.

Dead.

This has been his life. Seventeen years he's lived. And for sixteen of them, this is all there is. Death. Only ever death. It's been with him for that long. Sixteen long years.

But he can't give up-just for that reason. He can't stop fighting, because he can't let this continue.

Because there don't need to be any more like him. Teddy—his parents are dead now, and he could so easily—so, so easily—end up like him. Fighting in a war he was born into.

But he can't let him.

So he fights.

But he's seen so much—too much.

Torture. Murder.

And there's guilt—so much guilt.

Cedric and Dobby and so many more.

But he's still fighting.

Because he's been through it all, and he's seen it all, and he's lost almost everything.

But he believes in one thing, long after everyone else has been taken from him, after everything else is gone, destroyed.

He believes in her.

Her fiery hair and her blazing look. He believes in her.

Nothing else.

And so he thinks only of her—of her smirk, of the ever-present glint in her brown eyes-and tries to be brave.

(Because really, that's all he can do.)

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><p><strong>AN: So if you hadn't gathered from the summary, I'll be taking quotes from various shows, books, etc. and twisting them to fit my writerly needs. So, like songfics, but not songs. Quotes. And here's the bit where I'm awkward: I hate asking for reviews, honestly. I mean, I just hate it. But I'd really appreciate it if you left one with a quote you like. Because this will sort of suck if I haven't got more quotes. Because all of mine are either from Doctor Who or Percy Jackson. And because one person chose them all, they aren't going to really have any variety. So I'd very much appreciate if you could help me. Thanks for reading.<strong>


	2. None of the Bad

When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad.

_- The Lightning Thief_/Percy Jackson and the Olympians

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><p>Maybe she's changed, or maybe it was you, but you wonder—oh how you wonder—just how sane you would be without her.<p>

Without her believing in you.

Because she's not looking at you the way they do.

Because in their eyes, you're that hero again, you're the famous Harry Potter.

And every time you hear that name—that stupid name, that _cursed_ name—Harry Potter—your name—you think you're going to go insane.

But then she'll pick up the paper, and she'll read whatever headline it may be, and she'll laugh.

"Harry Potter," she'll say in a voice nothing like her own.

And she'll laugh, and you'll laugh, because by now it's something of a joke.

Because as she reads some article describing your nonexistent life filled with scandal and mystery, she'll smile to herself and her brown eyes will sneak glances toward you.

And when she's finished you just talk, and she jokes about what a rebel you are, and it's nice.

Because everyone else—they either worship you or hate you.

But she's Ginny, and when she looks at you, she's not seeing Harry Potter at all. She's not seeing any of that stuff you hate. Not The Chosen One or The Boy Who Lived or any of that. She knows that it's complete nonsense.

It's weird, the way she's like that.

But it hardly matters, because weird or not, that they way it is with you. And you wouldn't change it for the world.

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><p><strong>AN: I swear, these are all going to be exactly like this. But this is an excellent example of how I'll twist the quotes. Thanks for all of your help, by the way. I was hardly expecting three. But you nearly doubled my list, which was fantastic. So thanks very much for that, and as always, for reading. Hopefully you enjoyed.<strong>


	3. Try to See

Try to see what I see. We're so lucky we're still alive to see this beautiful world. Look at the sky. It's not dark and black and without character. The black is in fact deep blue. And over there! Lighter blue. And blowing through the blueness and the blackness, the winds swirling through the air. And there shining, burning, bursting through, the stars! Can you see how they roll their light? Everywhere we look the complex magic of nature blazes before our eyes.

-"Vincent and the Doctor" _(Doctor Who)_

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><p>When you first met, it was at some sort of Ministry thing. Some nonsense about "The Most Important Wizards of the Century" or something. None of them had really taken it seriously, but they'd shown up anyway.<p>

There were all of the expected ones, of course. Harry Potter and Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley. Minerva McGonagall and all of them.

But it wasn't just heroes and such. Even though she was one, too.

You weren't. You were there because the rest of your family couldn't make it. You were there for Newt Scamander. Really, you're a nobody.

But she's a bit of an outcast, too, really. Even though she's one of those heroes, she's always drifting away from them, even though you're well aware that they're friends.

She's looking over toward you and all of the others that are known for making discoveries.

And you realized then why her name sounded familiar before. Luna Lovegood. Lovegood. As in Xenophilius Lovegood.

And suddenly she tapped you on the shoulder, and asked if you'd like to sit down.

You said yes, and you talked for a bit about normal things before conversation drifted—as it always did—toward the accomplishments of Newt Scamander.

"You said you were called Rolf, right? That's a nice name. Scamander, you said?"

"Yeah," you said, but you began regretting it almost immediately.

"Related to Newt Scamander, I suppose," she decided. "I think he needs to update his book."

It wasn't the first time someone had said it, really, but there was something about the way she said it that was rather different. Then again, there was something about the way she said everything that was rather different. "Why's that?" you asked, because now you were genuinely curious what contributions she had.

"Well, he's left out some very important creatures," she said matter-of-factly. "I mean, wrackspurts even." She said this as though it were positively scandalous to leave such a common creature out.

"Sorry," you said, "but what are those exactly?"

And she told you that this was exactly her point, and then went on describing the way they made you brain all fuzzy and all of that, and you were left wondering whether she was positively insane or if she was a genius.

And she really fascinated you, actually, the longer you talked, so just as she got up, you stopped her. "Luna—" you said quickly, before she could leave. "D'you want to talk again sometime?"

"That would be nice," she said. "I'll send an owl."

And two days later (on a rainy Tuesday), she did, and you wrote back immediately, asking if maybe she would want to do something—maybe get ice cream at Diagon Alley or something.

And you got her reply the next day, saying yes she would love to and how was Sunday for your schedule and you said it was great and the next thing you knew you were standing outside of Florean Fortescue's waiting for her to appear.

You talked quite a bit, just as you did before, but it still surprised you, for her drifting through the chattering crowd as though in a dream had not told you she would be nearly this talkative nor nearly this clever.

And in the blink of an eye, it was dark, and you found yourselves staring at the stars, and you pointed out all of the constellations.

And she—she told her own stories of the stars, made her own pictures.

And you listened to her, and you stared up at those stars, and suddenly you could see exactly what she meant.

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><p><strong>AN: So here we have some lovely RolfLuna for you. I maintain that the lack of appreciation for it is the only reason that lack of appreciation exists. Which hopefully makes sense. This is my last day of break, so I'm not quite sure about how long it shall take me to update, but if I don't by the tenth, I'll promise that I won't read _The Fault in our Stars_ until I do. Sorry if you prefer shorter things (even though this is still pretty short), but a) this is my favorite episode of Doctor Who (and there will therefore be several quotes from it) and b) as Rolf/Luna doesn't really have anything established other than the fact that they're eventually married, it takes more for it to make sense. Thank you for reading!**


	4. She's Like Sunshine

She's like... like sunshine. Everything is better when she's there.

-Reed Bennett, Valentine's Day (thanks to whispered touches)

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><p>Metaphors and similes and all of that—<p>

He hates them. To the ends of the earth.

Honestly, it would be a lot easier to just say what you mean, wouldn't it?

(But he knows from experience that it isn't.)

But really it's just sort of a fact—she's like sunshine.

And it sounds cheesy. Merlin, it sounds _really_ cheesy.

They never really got along, to be honest.

But just then—just for that second—it was all perfect.

And everything is broken—he knows it, she knows it, _everyone_ knows it. But it's all perfect in their twisted minds, because they had that moment of happiness, didn't they? And that is all that matters—just this moment, when everything is perfect. It doesn't matter years from now, months from now, weeks from now, or even days from now. Because just for this shining moment, everything is okay.

And her hand is in yours and both of you are smiling—albeit somewhat awkwardly—and it's just right.

Maybe not picturesque with all the destruction. There's too much destruction for that. Too much buried just underneath the fragile golden second of perfection.

But everything's better, with that infinite light of hers.

Even if just for a second.

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><p><strong>AN: Once again, thank you to whispered touches for the quote. And if you didn't pay attention to the characters of this chapter or didn't work it out, it's about Ron and Hermione. Because apparently a whole drabble collection isn't enough. Thanks for reading. Hopefully the next update shall come within a week.<strong>


	5. A Pile of Good Things

The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice versa the bad things don't always spoil the good things and make them unimportant.

-"Vincent and the Doctor" _(Doctor Who)_

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><p>Your thoughts are the same. Exactly the same. Just for this moment. You know it. You know precisely what he's going to say, how he's going to say it, and you know he's thinking right now how he can explain all of this.<p>

But you don't need him to. You get it.

And then something appears in his eyes that understands.

He says it all anyway.

And even though you know it won't make any difference, you try to stop him anyway. You tell him you don't care about any of it, that you can handle all of it, that you're more than willing to help.

And it's not awkward, and you're looking each other right in the eye, and it's all so very matter-of-fact that all you can do is try to maintain the normality for just a second.

And suddenly he says that one thing you weren't expecting.

You don't talk for what feels like a very long time, because what he said…

Well, you can't argue that it isn't a possibility. It's pretty likely, actually, that your own funeral is approaching rather more rapidly than one would generally hope, so long as you're with him.

But when you do speak, you're oddly nostalgic, and there's a small, bitter, twisted smile on his face, and somehow you're laughing, and you tell him, at last, that you've always known, and he walks away, and you're almost grateful, because neither of you could stand to look at each other much longer.

But you think, at the same time, that it's maybe okay.

Because those glorious days of happiness are just as real as they ever were, those days of Hermione's "She's trying to study, Harry"s and Ron's rather obvious disgust when the two of you would so much look at one another. All of that, it's real.

Okay, it's not like you've never been better, and it's not like those things just make you forget.

But nothing can get rid of them.

And that's all you can really hope for.

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><p><strong>AN: Sorry for not getting this up quite as soon as I'd hoped. Nevertheless, thanks very much for reading, and, as always, I hope you enjoyed.<strong>


	6. Have a Good Life

And if you wanna remember me, then you can do one thing, that's all, one thing. Have a good life. Do that for me, Rose. Have a _fantastic_ life.

-"The Parting of the Ways" _(Doctor Who)_

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><p>It's only a matter of time, now.<p>

It's always been like that really. This was always going to happen. You were always going to die. This is what's been planned since before you were even born.

But now… Mere minutes.

That's all that stands between you and your death.

The death to which you must surrender yourself; the death to which you must willingly walk.

And they—they have time. They will have time. Time that you yourself could not, cannot, will not, ever dream of. That is what you tell yourself. Because they will survive, they can survive, and they have not been forced to confront this horrible fate.

One of them will kill Nagini, kill Voldemort. The last tattered bits of the Dark Lord's soul shall be killed, just as you are to be.

And all of them—they will all be safe.

Happy. They'll be happy.

They'll have their own lives. They might get married, have kids, have a _future_. One without Voldemort or Horcruxes or any of that.

Ron and Hermione… Maybe they'll stop fighting. Luna… She'll be able to see the world. And Neville… He could be a Herbologist or even an Auror, if he wanted to.

Ginny—

She could do anything she wanted to do, Ginny. She could play for the Harpies. She could do anything, and you wouldn't be there to put her in danger or to keep her from having a normal life.

And you're so sure they'll be okay, you're so sure they'll be brilliant—_she'll_ be brilliant—that you can't worry about them, even if you had time before your final thoughts of Ginny were interrupted by a blinding flash of green light .

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><p><strong>AN: As a reminder: beginning in February, I will be including quotes from John Green's latest novel, <em>The Fault in Our<em> _Stars._**** While there will be no real spoilers (Hazel kills Dumbledore, for example), I will be using quotes from _anywhere_ in the novel, so long as I don't find it too spoilery. Thank you for reading. (:**


	7. Adjectival Version of the Word Pedophile

That's why I like you. Do you realize how rare it is to come across a hot girl who creates an adjectival version of the word pedophile? You are so busy being you that you have no idea how utterly unprecedented you are.

-_The Fault in Our Stars_

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><p>It's a bit weird, actually.<p>

He's never seen her as much of an actual person before, which is ironic considering all of those years he just wished she'd see him that way—as a real person.

But now…

She's a friend. Just the same as Ron and Hermione. Well, maybe not. There are certainly a few of his thoughts pertaining to Ginny he had never really had about either of them.

But… She's not Ron's little sister, or a friend of Hermione's.

She's Ginny Weasley, and she's _extraordinary_.

She's funny and clever and a fantastic Quidditch player. And her looks don't exactly hurt…

(Though admittedly, there's something of a pain brought on by seeing her with her fellow Chaser, which makes him even more anxious for Katie's return.)

And she doesn't at all seem to notice the way he finds himself searching the corridors for her far more than searching the field for the Snitch. She's so busy being _Ginny_ that she simply doesn't notice any of that.

And while he certainly doesn't miss her days of being so very self conscious and so very concerned about what he thought about her, he would not exactly mind it if her fondness for him returned.

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><p><strong>AN: Ughhh long wait and short update. I'm sorry. (Now, if I'd done that rather memorable quote from Kaitlyn in this same book, I do wonder how long it would have taken me to write this.) Also this is not my best, so I'm sorry for that as well. Hopefully the next one will be better. I'm thinking that'll either be "keeping the promise anyway" or "a shout into the void" and likely RonHermione or even Neville/Hannah but no one actually likes that as much as I do, so... Thank you for reading, and hopefully you haven't given up on me.**


	8. Keeping the Promise

"Sometimes people don't understand the promises they're making when they make them," I said.  
>Isaac shot me a look. "Right, of course. But you keep the promise anyway. That's what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway. Don't you believe in true love?"<p>

_-The Fault in Our Stars_

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><p>"I don't want to do this, you know," she whispered, even though it was just the two of them.<p>

"I know that," Ginny told her. "And you think I do?"

"But you-" Hannah protested. "Ginny, you're a Gryffindor. And, well, I'm not. I'm not brave, not like you or Neville. Not like—"

"Harry?" Ginny asked immediately.

"Y-you don't mind me saying?"

"You think I'm going to turn into a sobbing mess at every mention of Harry? The Giant Squid would've become less accustomed to water by now."

"Well, and Ron, and Hermione—I mean, your brother..." Hannah said nervously. "And one of your best friends, too."

"They're fine. But you seem awfully..." Ginny let her voice trail off, smirking slightly. "Oh, I don't know... A bit concerned about Neville?"

"Well... Yeah. He's sort of... Why I'm here. You know? I had a bit of a crush on him... Back in fifth year... Joined the D.A. And well... I'm kind of stuck with all of you now. Loyalty and all."

"Hold on, Hannah. Had a crush on him? Past tense?"

"I'm still here, aren't I?"

"Well," said Ginny, "best of luck."

"Oh—and, Hannah—?" she called

"Yeah?"

"He and Luna—she's fine, by the way, I know it—there's nothing going on between them. Romantically, I mean. They're just friends. Really good friends."

Hannah did not bother to say that Neville didn't seem to quite agree with that.

"It hardly matters," she told her. "It's not exactly the right time to be, well, you know... Of course you know..."

"Talk to him," Ginny said. "Trust me. It'll work. And it'll help."

"Fine," she said, but regretted it almost instantly.

"Neville?" she called, the second she entered the Room of Requirement, which was actually probably the worst timing one could possibly ask for.

It was, however, successful in getting his attention, though whether this was good or bad was debatable.

"Er, I just sort of wanted to thank you for everything-starting up the D.A. again and all of that... All of that—it's really brave of you."

"It's not just me. Ginny and Luna and everyone—they're great. It's really not all me."

"And, er, if you ever needed help or something, I'd be willing to help. Because, I mean, that's what the D.A.'s about and all, so, well, that's all really."

"Yeah," Neville said, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Just stay here, keep doing what you're doing, what we've all been doing. Stay safe. And try to be smart-which I know is a real joke coming from me, but really... Well, this is all we can do."

"Okay."

The advice didn't last long. Maybe it was because when she had spoken with him before, there were others or maybe it was because he realized just how much they needed the help, with Luna gone (though he, like Ginny, insisted that she was safe, despite sounding more and more doubtful with time). Within a week he had walked up to her as she was heading toward her common room, telling her to come to the Room in an hour, telling her there was something they needed her for.

"And don't bring anyone," he added hastily, walking off in the opposite direction.

"So much for staying safe," she told him once there.

"Sorry. But we needed someone to help... And you had offered before..."

"No," Hannah told him quickly, for fear of sounding like she didn't want to help, "it's fine. Ginny here?"

"She's coming," she said, as though he had expected the question and rehearsed the answer. "I got here half and hour ago. We can't all go at once or it'll look like we're up to something."

Hannah almost smiled. "We are up to something."

"But we don't need Snape knowing that—or the Carrows, for that matter."

"Right. So what is it we're up to exactly?"

"Same as usual—graffiti and all of that. Harmless. But it gets the point across. We're still here, fighting."

"I," Hannah stuttered, turning pink, "I don't want to fight."

"I know. You—er—you talked about it with Ginny earlier, didn't you?"

"Oh. Yeah."

"It's fine," he said without hesitation, though his voice dropped considerably. "I'm scared, too. I don't want to kill anyone either. But we've got to do this."

"I know. Just... Promise me—promise me that you'll... That you'll be fine."

"I can't. No more than you can."

"I promise," she said, taking a breath. "I promise to be okay."

Neville bit his lip, but at last spoke. "I promise."

"Okay?" he asked her, once it had started to be over.

"Okay," Hannah told him, because Hannah Abbott was not one to break her promises. "You? Are you okay?"

"Almost," he said. "I will be. I promised."

"You—you don't have to be. But… Thank you."

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><p><strong>AN: I am assuming you do not wish to hear my complaints about how this would have been up yesterday afternoon had it not- Well, you would be if I went on, wouldn't you? So in short, I've concluded that I very much enjoy writing canon ships that no one really thinks much aboutcares for. (Also that with one TFiOS quote comes half the book.) So yeah, I guess I could go on about the reasons I chose to include the entire quote rather than just "That's what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway." but I figure you're smart enough and I'm tired enough not to bother. Thanks for reading!**

**Edit 3/8/12: I thought I posted this on Monday. Apparently not. Sorry!**


	9. An Advantage

**Sherlock Holmes**: Look at them. They all care so much. Do you ever wonder if there's something wrong with us?  
><strong>Mycroft Holmes<strong>: All lives end. All hearts are broken. Caring is not an advantage, Sherlock.  
>-"A Scandal in Belgravia" (<em>Sherlock<em>)

You don't know when it started, but it's scaring you-what you're thinking, what you've been thinking. Because you don't want to anymore, you just want to give up. You don't want to care. Not after all of this. You want to stop. You want to become entirely detached before all of this destroys you.

It might've begun years ago, years and years ago before you had any sort of idea that magic existed. Maybe you'd gotten so tired of all of it that you'd wanted nothing more than to simply become numb.

Or maybe it had started with Sirius's escape, just the way his death had undoubtedly intensified the longing for indifference.

You know that's when you became aware of it, in your fifth year. When he died. Because it was just so unfair, so wrong, so impossible to grasp. One moment he was there, and the next... The next he was gone. You did not-could not, did not want to-understand. Not at first. But you did. Some part of you knew. And with that came the most awful feeling-indescribable and horrible and so very foreign.

And it almost felt good then, the hatred. In that moment, it felt almost wonderful. Immediately after, you were disgusted—absolutely disgusted—with yourself.

And Dumbledore, he told you it was okay, that it was good, that it was healthy to feel like this.

You didn't believe him, didn't want to. But you realized in this distant way, in the same way the you realized Sirius was not coming back, that this would not be the last time. Others would die. Everyone would die, and you would watch it all happen. And you would just keep on feeling that awful, awful feeling and there would be nothing you could do to free yourself from it. Not unless you stopped yourself.

But you keep on caring, don't you? You can't bring yourself to stop.

They're going to die. Ron, Hermione, Ginny. Luna, Neville.

They'll all die, because of you. Because you care about them.

And you'll just keep on caring, won't you, even after everything—everyone—you've ever been stupid enough to care about it long gone, no matter how much you want to turn it off.

And you don't know which part of that disgusts you more.

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><p><strong>AN: Sorry for the lack of updating lately. Just finished the school year, so hopefully that'll mean more updates, but June means Camp NaNo, so I don't quite know. However, during July and part of August, I'll likely be posting quite a bit, especially considering that I'll be attending LeakyCon and in a very Potter-y mood. Hopefully this wasn't too bad, though, despite the gap? Anyway, you can see more about my lack of posting, replies, etc. on my profile. Thanks for reading!<strong>


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Harry Potter, Angst, Friendship