His dreams were of the horrors of last night. He saw bursts light as far as the eye could see. He saw friends crumple under the waves of enemies. Every time he saw a friend fall, he let out a scream. Finally, he saw a jet of green light miss a beautiful red-head by mere inches.

Ginny.

He pictured her face. Each freckle perfectly placed. Her smile radiant, her eyes piercing, full of affection. Those lips, coming in for a kiss…The thought of never seeing her again was very real about 24 hours ago. Never being able to hold her small, slender frame in his arms again. He marched to his death, with his last thought being of the girl he first met, when he was 11 on Platform 9 ¾. Everything about her was perfect to him. But then his dreams turned back to the horrors of his adventures.

It was nearly 2am when Harry Potter awoke. He looked around wildly, forgetting where he was. Finally he pulled his glasses out from under the sheets to find he was in a familiar place: his bed in Gryffendor Tower. It was then that he remembered the horrors of the past 48 hours. His shoulders immediately were weighed down by stress of what was sure to come. He knew that since he had finally vanquished Voldemort that his life should be simpler, but he knew that wouldn't be the case. As he made it to his four-poster bed earlier in the day, he had to fight through the throngs of well-wishers and reporters who all just wanted a piece of 'The Chosen One'. But Harry had nothing to give at this point. All he wanted was sleep, and to be alone. He needed time to collect his thoughts upon everything about the end of Voldemort. His heart weighed heavy with the losses of battle. He couldn't imagine seeing George without Fred. Or his godson Teddy without Remus and Tonks. So many were lost, fighting this battle, and now that it was over it was just surreal.

As Harry pulled the curtains back from his bed, he noticed he wasn't alone in the room. Laying on what was usually Ron's bed, was Ron and Hermione, fast asleep, wands-in-hand. It was obvious to Harry that they had refused to leave his side, to make sure he was able to sleep undisturbed. Noticing a large pile of clothes at the foot of his bed, Harry realized that Hermione had folded them and left them there for Harry to wear. He pulled on a pair of jeans and a tshirt. He found his invisibility cloak on the bedside table, and grabbed the pair of wands from underneath it. Harry had another mission to complete. He silently crept down the stairs, came into the Common Room and as he was about to throw on his invisibility cloak, he was awestruck by what he found. In sleeping bags, the remaining members of the Weasley family were asleep in a large group, huddled together. All of them were sleeping except one. Harry saw her puffy bloodshot eyes meet his and Harry's heart melted. He hadn't really seen her properly since Bill and Fleur's wedding, many months ago. He stood there, not moving, staring into her eyes for at least five minutes, not knowing what to do. It wasn't until tears began to roll down her cheeks that he said something, in whisper.

"Would you like to come?"

Ginny had been laying there awake for the past two hours, nowhere near being able to sleep. Her thoughts raced. After the defeat of Voldemort, Harry belonged to everyone. People hustled to be by his side, to shake his hand, to give him a hug. Ginny just watched all of this from a distance, still not believing he was alive. Just hours ago, she saw his lifeless body laying at the feet of Voldemort. At that moment, she was beyond crushed. Her heart had broken, the person she had never stopped thinking about, the person she worried about over the past year, the person she had loved as long as she could remember, was dead in front of her. She shuddered at the thought. Once Harry was able to get to Gryffendor Tower in the early afternoon, he was ushered straight upstairs to his waiting bed. Ron and Hermione never left his side. He was jealous of them. When she tried to follow them up the stairs, she was buffeted back by her mother, who didn't want her to leave her side. One look into her mother's face told her she couldn't go anywhere. Molly Weasley had just lost a son, and didn't want to be apart from any more family. Molly had allowed Ron to stay by Harry's side because Harry had finally needed a protector, and Ron wanted to ensure Harry was safe and able to sleep. So Ginny stayed in the common room, and after taking a potion, she fell into a dreamless sleep, only to wake up at midnight, her mind racing. Her tears fell freely, thinking of Fred, and thinking of Harry's lifeless body. Two hours later, the only person she wished to see, the only person who could make her feel better, the person she thought she lost, just the night before, came down the stairs. They stared at each other for what felt like eternity to her. She didn't know what to say, she was frozen by fear, desire, and a cocktail of numerous other emotions. She thought he was leaving, heading out the door, to escape, to leave her again, when finally he said what she had been hoping to hear:

"Would you like to come?"

She had no idea where he was going, but it didn't matter. He wanted her with him, they would finally be alone. She silently rose from her sleeping bag, tiptoed around Percy's sleeping body, and made towards Harry. He held out his hand to her, and with a moment's hesitation, she took it. Warmth flowed from the tips of her fingers throughout her body. She hadn't felt this feeling in months, she felt alive. Hand-in-hand, they walked through the portrait-hole, into the still-smoldering corridors of Hogwarts. Just the two of them.