“But I want to go home. I don’t want to fight anymore!”
-- injured student, whispered to Ginny (DH34)
This Hogwarts student had been badly injured during the Battle of Hogwarts. Ginny Weasley found her out on the grounds and comforted her as she lay in pain, whispering for her mother. Ginny told her it was going to be alright and that they would get her inside. Her fate is unknown.
Commentary
Notes
Harry, under the Cloak of Invisibility, sees and hears Ginny's exchange with this injured student. The deep longing for comfort and for home fill him, mirrored in this injured student.
Ripples of cold undulated over Harry’s skin. He wanted to shout out to the night, he wanted Ginny to know that he was there, he wanted her to know where he was going. He wanted to be stopped, to be dragged back, to be sent back home. . . . Ginny was kneeling beside the injured girl now, holding her hand. With a huge effort Harry forced himself on. He thought he saw Ginny look around as he passed, and wondered whether she had seen someone walking nearby, but he did not speak, and he did not look back.
The emotions of this moment are staggering even now, on the 50th read-through of the book, just like they were the first time on the exciting July night in 2007 when I read the book at a Harry Potter convention in London along with 600 other fans.
