Harry woke up, gasping. He often had nightmares about his childhood, whether it be his time at school or the Dursley's. This one had been the latter, and a particularly foul one at that. He looked over at Ginny.
They had recently bought a flat together, and Harry was enjoying every minute. But his worst fear was her being woken up by one of his nightmares, and being the stubborn woman she was, demanding to know what it was. In this particular dream Harry was locked in his cupboard, bound to the floor and walls by ropes tied around his hands and feet. He had tiny spiders crawling over every inch of him, which was terrifying in itself (even if he was used to them), and Aunt Petunia was rapping on the door, demanding that he make breakfast. Harry tried to open his mouth to say he couldn't, but the moment it opened spiders crawled into it, choking him. He choked for several moments, and just as he was at the point of suffocating to death, he woke up in cold sweat.
Apparently this night wasn't a good one, as Ginny mumbled something and rolled over, her eyes stuttering open.
"Harry?" She mumbled.
"Go back to sleep, it's fine," he whispered soothingly. But that seemed to not have been what should have been said, as her eyes flew open.
"What's wrong?" She asked, boldly this time.
"Nothing," said Harry. "I'm fine, go back to bed."
But, of course, Ginny, having dealt with his 'fine' answer too many times to count, knew that by saying that, he wasn't fine.
"Harry," she said. He sighed but stayed silent.
Now Harry was still not an experienced Occlumens. Even in Auror training, he had passed with the bare minimum, and only after seeking help from former Order members. So he knew what was going to happen before it did, and had no way to prepare fast enough.
He suddenly saw himself, being thrown in his cupboard. Himself, being chased up a tree by Ripper the dog. Himself, when he had attempted to call Aunt Petunia 'mummy' and been screeched at for a half hour. Himself when he tried the same thing to Uncle Vernon, calling him 'dad', and been thrown headfirst into his cupboard. Himself, failing dismally to heal wounds he shouldn't have. These repeated for a while, and Harry sat back letting it happen, feeling– relieved? To have shared the memories with someone?
Finally, after Harry witnessed himself being beaten one last time, and when he was debating fighting back, it all stopped. He looked over at Ginny frowning. She was in tears. He reached over and took her into a hug.
"Ginny, it's fine," he said softly.
"No, it's NOT fine!" She said, pulling away. He noted that there was an inner fire in her eyes, something that only he could see most of the time. "They abused you! You were a pawn in their lives, according to them!"
Harry looked at her, deep in the fiery eyes.
"But now I have you." He said, with a tone of his voice that said he didn't want to talk about it right now. She looked at him with determination, but seeing his sadness, she backed down.
"I love you," she said.
"I love you too."