AN: Well, this is my very first fic. I can only hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. Reviews are welcomed for purposes of constructive criticism, flames welcomed, but hated ( Ironic I know). Curtain up!

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER, OR ANY RELATED TRADEMARKS THEREOF. This is the only point in the story you will find this disclaimer.

Harry Potter and the Apocalypse

Chapter 1: Premonitions

It was dark. Pitch black. Silent. Peaceful. Suddenly, small blue flames pierced the dark with a dim glow, barely illuminating the black marble of a circular room Harry knew only too well. The Department of Mysteries.

All at once, Harry was flooded with memories around 2 years old. He and his companions standing impatiently as the ministry lift descended, storming the deserted corridors of the ministry, rushing into this very room, desperately searching for Sirius, falling into the Death Eaters' trap, the arrival of their cavalry, the fighting, screaming, flashing, breaking, destroying, ducking, dodging...and falling. Sirius.

An inconsolable pain erupted in Harry, and he knew what he had to do. Harry sprinted the radius of the room at the nearest plain, black, handle- less door, threw his weight against it, and crashed into the exact room he was looking for. The great limestone amphitheatre, complete with raised dias and curtain of death. The only problem, he was not alone.

Lord Voldemort stood before the curtain, blocking Harry's access to it, holding Ginny Weasley around the throat from behind with one pale, bony arm, wand drawn on her throat with the other.

Voldemort was trying to say something, but no sound was coming out...the world had gone silent. After Harry's initial headrush of fear had subsided, and the blood stopped pounding in his ears, the sound came, and words were distinguishable.

"Give it to me Harry. I KNOW you have it. Don't try to hide it. Give it to me now and I'll let Ginny live...nobody needs to die now Harry!"

Curious, he seemed panicked. Voldemort's horrible red eyes, two coals from the fire of Hades itself, now held a new, alien look deep inside them. This was a look that had never, ever been there before, and it was a look Harry had never before witnessed. That look was fear. Unmasked, primal, raw, fear.

Then Harry did something he did not understand, something horrible. He refused Voldemort his mysterious request. He forfeited Ginny's life, preferring rather to clutch at something cold and heavy that hung around his neck.

For a moment, Voldemort was stunned, but then his expression turned icy and evil. He threw Ginny in his rage, past the curtain. It rustled as she passed through it, her face frozen forever in Harry's memory. She wore a shocked expression, her eyes wild with fear and pain, her face and skin pale, her hair, in its gorgeous molten copper whipped fiercely about her face, and her mouth open in a silent scream... "Harry", she had said, "Harry".

The curtain whispered as she disappeared behind it. Harry was unsure whether that was from the wind she created passing through, or the countless other she had joined muttering their thanks to Voldemort, and their laments to Harry.

Either way, Harry heard Ginny's last words echo inside his head, growing louder with each reverberation until...

"Harry!"

Harry's eyes snapped open, and he nearly fell out of bed in his haste to sit up. His heart rate calmed as he slowly came to terms with his surroundings. The one window directly across from him, the pink wallpaper, the plush queen size bed, the sheets of soft Egyptian cotton sticking to his bare chest in his sweat...Ginny's room. The Burrow, safety, and his home...assuming you believed that home is where the heart is.

Then, for the first time he noticed Ginny, in bed beside him on his right, a small hand of comfort on his shoulder, a look of concern written deep into her chocolate eyes. "Harry, are you alright? You thrashed around for a good thirty seconds there!" The caring worry of a tender love caressed his ear, and all was well in the world again.

Still panting, Harry slowly lay back down, allowing Ginny to do the same across his chest, burying her face between the side of his neck and his shoulder. "No love, no worries. Just a bad dream."

As Ginny fell back asleep, Harry brooded over his nightmare, praying it had been just that. A shiver ran through Harry as he recalled Snape's Occlumency lessons, and he pulled Ginny a little bit closer because of it, all the while silently reassuring himself, "It was just a dream...just a dream...just a dream..."

AN: Alrighty, there you have it. My first every fanfic chapter. Not too shabby, eh? Review please, lemme know what you think. Bachomann out...for now.