Nightmares and Tea
A/N: Although it begins with Lily, this one-shot is set during Order of the Phoenix. Hope you enjoy reading it!
"Daddy, tell me the story of yours and Mummy's first kiss!" Four-year-old Lily Luna Potter grinned cheekily up at Harry. She regularly asked for a bedtime story, but it generally wasn't about her parents' relationship.
He blushed a bit, and looked over at his wife with a glance that asked, is it okay to be telling this? She nodded her approval with a remembering smile and he launched into the story, so many years ago, when the war against the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters was raging.
"Is that you, Ginny?" Harry peered into the dining room of number twelve Grimmauld Place. He had woken a few hours before dawn with a particularly terrible nightmare about the Dark Lord, and intended to go downstairs for a cup of tea. He didn't want to wake Ron, who was staying in the same bedroom as him, but was surprised all the same to see someone else awake at this ungodly hour. He walked further into the room and sat down beside his friend.
She looked exhausted, but smiled at him. "Wouldn't have expected you down here in the middle of the night. What's wrong?" She frowned a little with her question, worried about him.
"Nothing's wrong," Harry lied, a little too quickly to be truthful.
Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Come on, Harry. Something's troubling you. You'd normally crack a joke or something! Did Fred and George pull a horrific prank that you can't bear to think about? Did Ron's snores keep you up? Was Luna right about the Nargles?"
At her last remark, Harry grinned. "Nothing of the sort," he said, then paused. He didn't want to sound weak, but he trusted Ginny, so he told her the truth. "I, er, had a nightmare. About the night Voldemort killed my parents."
"Harry! That's awful. I'm sorry," she rubbed his arm affectionately. "Do you want to talk about it?" When he winced, she nodded in understanding. "Can I get you some tea?"
"That'd be great. Thanks, Ginny," he replied.
Ginny stood up from her seat at the long dining table and started pouring two cups. She hadn't been downstairs for much longer than five minutes when Harry joined her. Ginny was silently grateful that it was Harry who had arrived, not one of her family members. Harry, too, had nightmares about the Dark Lord. He understood her when no one else could, and always knew the precise thing to say to make her feel better.
Harry's caring voice snapped her out of her reverie. "You know, Gin, you haven't told me why you're out of bed yet." He rose from his seat and started helping her with the tea, grabbing the teacups from a cupboard that the current inhabitants of number twelve Grimmauld Place had cleaned a few days prior.
Accepting the cups from her friend, she sighed. "Similar reason to yours, actually. You know I've been having nightmares ever since the Chamber of Secrets. This one, though, was one of the worst I've had." She saw Harry look at her expectantly, wanting her to go on. So, she did. "I dreamt about that particular night, when you saved me from Riddle," they both blushed furiously, and she continued slowly, "but this time, it was different. Tom Riddle told me that if I didn't... If I weren't to kill you myself, then he would. After that, he said he'd torture each of my brothers, and..." Ginny trailed off, very upset. Her body began to shake with silent sobs. Harry put his arm around her shoulders and told her that everything would be fine, both he and all of her brothers were alright. After a while, she said, "I know it's just a stupid nightmare, Harry. I'm sorry to do this, but it just really got to me."
Harry felt a large pang of guilt, that she was worried about him. Sure, he was worried about her, too; more worried than he'd let on. At that point, he realised that maybe he and Ginny cared for each other than either of them realised. Did he really fancy Cho? He looked at Ginny, really looked at her, and noticed the dark colour under her wet eyes. She mustn't have had a proper, long sleep in days. He handed her her tea, which she gratefully accepted and began to sip at.
"You look exhausted," Harry noted after a comfortable silence in which they both sipped at their now lukewarm cups of tea.
"I've been up with similar nightmares to tonight's," Ginny admitted. "Sometimes, though, it's other things. Like Charlie getting scorched by a dragon, Bill getting hurt at work, or one of my other brothers getting seriously injured. I don't know why it's been happening so often recently."
Harry considered this for a while, then, acting purely on impulse, wrapped Ginny up in a hug, and said some things that sounded rather unlike his fifteen year old self: "These are dark times, Gin. You've been possessed by Voldemort himself in the past, and I'm sure that's not something easily forgotten. Just remember, if you ever want to talk about something like this, I'm here for you, alright?"
She smiled into his shoulder. "Thanks, Harry. Me too, you." After that, they both agreed to try to go back to sleep. "Good night," she smiled at her friend, a little bit sad that their companionable encounter was coming to an end. "Thanks for this. I hope you can get some sleep!"
"You too, Gin. This has been nice," he told her truthfully. Whether it was the atmosphere or the weight that had been lifted by telling someone who understood about his nightmares acting, he took a step closer to her, and kissed her gently. "Good night, Ginny Weasley." At that, he turned away from the girl and proceeded up the staircases to his and Ron's room, trying very hard not to rouse the sullen, highly opinionated portrait of Mrs. Black which resided in the hallway.
Ginny stared after him, not believing what had just happened. Did Harry just kiss her? She had been crushing on Harry for years, but never imagined that he could possibly feel the same way. Maybe he didn't. She told herself not to overthink it; it was just a small kiss. He instigated it! Her conscience shouted at her. Maybe there was hope for them yet.
By this time, both Harry and Ginny were telling the story, each of them interjecting with extra details occasionally while the other was speaking. They both remembered that moment as clearly as it were yesterday.
Lily smiled contentedly at both of her parents. "You both seem to remember that day well," she noted.
If only she knew how important that day was to them, Harry and Ginny thought. If only she knew.
A/N: That's it! Pretty please tell me what you thought. Reviews are most welcome!