"Wake up!" Hermione called from the doorway. "Wake up!" Harry rolled over, not wanting to have to leave his bed. He felt as if he had been asleep forever. He could hear her walking over, and was expecting when she jumped on top of his bed and began to shake him. "Harry wake up right now!"

"Wha-!" He yelled. But Hermione kept shaking him.

"Harry they're almost here!" She jumped off of him and ran back down the stairs. Who? Harry stood up slowly, not exactly sure of what was going on. It was still dark outside, the moon was his only source of light as he stumbled to find his robe and made his way to the hall. He tripped off the bottom stair and nearly fell face first into the kitchen. Everyone was up, well except George had fallen back asleep at the table. Mrs. Weasley was waiting in the back door way, looking out to the black horizon and Ron and Hermione were standing behind her looking anxious.

All of a sudden the entire kitchen was set aglow in a familiar blue hue. Someone must have just arrived by port key. Molly rushed into the night, her aim direct. Ron and Hermione followed suit. George moved more sluggishly, turning to Harry, who was still at the staircase, and tossing him a very distinct look, that Harry knew well. It was the look he always makes at Ron and Hermione, or Bill and Fluer. It was the look that told him who the guests were. He had just walked down the back steps when he saw her. The port key had landed some 90 meters away from the house and the everybody had already greeted the new arrivals.

Molly already had her hands pinched at Ginny's solid face, but Ginny looked beyond her mother. Her eyes met Harry's naturally, and he saw the most amazing passion in them. Ginny stepped away from her mother and in the same instant she was running towards him. She didn't look away from him and her eyes had the most blazing look in them. She didn't even blink as she threw herself into his arms, which opened automatically to allow her in. She wrapped her trembling legs around his waist and dug her face into his couldn't feel the world around him, he couldn't think of anything but her, and it was the first moment of peace he had experienced in a while. He hadn't seen her in three weeks, not since she had walked him back into the great hall.

Time stopped as he held her. Everyone around them didn't matter anymore, not her parents or his friends, it was only the two of them. He could feel her beating heart against his, and he knew that he loved her. He loved her with such a intense passion, that he could never love anyone the way he loved her. He leaned into her ear and whispered "I am so sorry." He was sorry for all he had done to her, all the death he has caused, all the loss, for dying. She lifted her head and looked directly into his eyes, in which she saw herself, and with such an consuming rage, kissed him.

"Why don't you loves get a room?" George laughed though Ron didn't seem to find it so funny. Ginny let the kisses fade, but she didn't let go of Harry.

"Can we talk?" she asked sincerely. Harry nodded and she hopped down, grabbed his arm, and dragged him over to the wall on the perimeter of the burrow. She sat down in the grass in-front of the wall and he sat next to her and waited for her to speak, but she didn't. He knew what this meant, she wanted to know.

"No," Harry said simply. Ginny looked down, but she wasn't giving up so easily.

"I just, I want to know, it will help ease my mind," She ran her fingers through her hair, "I need you to tell me. I need to know how close I really was."

"How close you were to what?"

"To losing you." Ginny looked up then, showing a face that was laced in tears. That was it, she won.

"How much do you want to know?" He said leaning back to look at the stars. She leaned back too and put her head on his chest.

"All of it." And so he told her, all of it. From the moment they got to Hogwarts that night all the way up to when he and George left. He told her in even more detail than he had to Mcgonagall, as he spoke, images of memories surpassed for weeks danced before him. He felt that night, recalled it with such delicate accuracy. He hadn't spoken about it since. He didn't hold anything back from her, not the smallest detail was spared. She didn't move a muscle, didn't make a sound until she was sure he was done. He almost forgot she was there, or where he was all together. His mind completely escaped him, venturing off into a past world. It didn't even feel real. None of it did, not anymore. All if seemed like was a very bad dream, something he thought of one night. He still had to remind himself every morning when he woke up that it happened. After all, it becomes very easy to take such an event for fiction when it takes up all your dreams at night anyway.

Some people think that when something so catastrophically horrid happens, it would be impossible for anyone to ever forget it, but it is quite the opposite actually. He does forget it, constantly. He has found that because it was something so catastrophic, it seems to fictional to actually be real. Like when he learned he was a wizard, he would still wake every morning not sure as to why he wasn't looking up at the underside of a staircase.

When a life changing thing happens, your mind sometimes needs adjusting to the new life. It is a little slower, you see. When he was done, all she did was tilt her head so that she could see his face. She was beautiful. The moon caught her skin perfectly, giving it life. There was something about her that stunned him, he couldn't quite figure it out. They could hear the faint sounds of someone calling their name, perhaps from the kitchen, but they didn't respond immediately. "I like to think sometimes," she said quietly, "That none of this past year happened. I like to pretend that Fred never died, and the battle never took place. I like to wake up in the morning and not remind my self right away that I live the life I do. I sometimes try to convince my self that I am in 5th year again, and we just won the quiditch match, and I kissed you for the first time. I think that is the last time I was truly happy." She laid her head back down on his chest, he heard her murmur silently, "you died." before the one who had been calling them finally located them, it was Hermione.

"They are literally about to kill you both, come on!" Ginny got up and once and looked back at Harry who didn't exactly feel like going in. She looked at Hermione who nodded and sat down next to Harry. Ginny left the two of them to go inside. "Oh, so she gets to know and I don't?" She said jokingly.

"Who said she knows anything?" Harry sat up but didn't meet Hermione's eyes.

"Oh shut up, you told her, I am not stupid." No, she definitely wasn't stupid, he couldn't argue that.

"The curses backfired, we fell to the ground, I saw an opportunity to play dead, to trick him, it worked." He said sharply. She wasn't convinced, he could tell. But if this was what he wanted to go with, she would back him up, she wouldn't argue either. Though he could also tell she was let down that someone else knew something she didn't.

"I have been meaning to tell you, I am going to be staying in Australia for a while, with Mum and Dad, just for a while. Until things here begin to return to, well, settle down."

"Seems fitting," he told her honestly. Hermione deserved time with her parents, after what she had gone through to ensure their safety."

Hermione beamed at his response, "okay," she acted as if she was relieved, "well I supposed, now that Ginny was home-." she stopped there, before the sentence was over. Now that Ginny was home, he wouldn't need her as much. Harry found that he relied on Hermione a great deal, and she on he. With Ron here, of course, she didn't need him so much, but Harry had no-one else to lean on. Of course, there was always Ron but he never needed Ron like he needed Hermione, she was his sister, they understood each other perfectly. "Now, really come on, they want us all back in bed. It's two in the morning, you know." She jumped up and grabbed his arm and pulled him up too. They trotted back in the house where a very cross Mrs. Weasley was waiting by the back door, looking very annoyed with Harry.

"Bed!" she ordered them, and they obeyed, not missing a beat as they hurried up the tight stair case, Hermione to Ginny's room and Harry to Ron's.

Harry found Ron sitting on his bed, readily awake. "Hermione in too?" He asked. Harry was still getting used to Ron and Hermione being a couple, even though it was bound to happen eventually, and he had seen it coming for almost two years now. He nodded and went to sit on his own bed. "And Ginny?" he nodded again. Yes, everyone could rest now.

***The air was cold, but not too cold, or not really cold at all. Really it shouldn't have been cold, she shouldn't have been shivering. And yet she was. Her very bones rattled uncontrollably. The air was warm, like it had been set afire and was just now left in smolders, but everything else was damp. In front of her was a never ending sea of black robes, figures with hoods that blocked everything from her. Everything apart from the sky, which was so black it might not have even existed. All around her, the sound of a very high pitched and menacing voice was laughing unceasingly. She was on the ground, her hands supporting her, laid in a pool of thick blood.

"Dead!" she heard the laughing voice say, as if the word itself possessed great amusement for it. "It is over! Set him down," it demanded. "It's over!" the line repeated over and over in the thickness around her. All of a sudden, the sea in front of her parted, revealing her to be in a forest. It was oddly familiar to her, though she couldn't place it's name. On the ground, just before her, a body lay face down in the mud. She waited for him, to stand up and brush off the dust from his hands, but he didn't move. She felt a cold hand come onto her shoulder, and turned to find it was right behind her, the laughing one. He leaned down toward her, so close that their noses would have been touching if he possessed such a feature, "You, girl," he snarled, "I remember you. I own you, now, like always. You silly, little, girl." His voice was snake like, his words slithered across her mind.

"No!" she screamed out in pain. She reached out to the body in-front of her, his hair was a mess and his glasses were snapped nearly in half. He looked like he could be sleeping, like if she just touched him he would wake up. Before she could wake him though, the scene changed again, she was now in a stone room. The boy in front of her had sat up, but it wasn't him anymore. "I win," Tom hissed at her. "Let's play a game." she could hear him taunt her, though his lips were sewn shut. She took off running, down a long passage, she didn't know where it lead to. But what was at the end didn't matter after all, her foot caught on something under her, and she went sliding down on her stomach, the whole earth shook.

"Ginny!" someone was shaking her awake. Good, she thought, it wasn't real. She opened her eyes to find her brother, one of the twins, she didn't think of which, standing above her. He was dressed in a black suit, very somber. " Come on, you need to get dressed, it is almost time to go."

"Go where?" she asked sitting up on her bed. She looked around and found a black robe hanging on her dresser. "Is there a funeral?" she asked confounded. "I thought they had all finished."The day had yet to truly catch up with her. She had trouble thinking, had trouble moving.

"Gin," he sighed, "come on, everyone has already gone, I'm to bring you." He left the room and left her to dress. She got up and got dressed like she was told. And hurried downstairs to meet the her brother. Upon seeing her he held out his hand and she took it willingly, glad to have his comfort, though she couldn't figure out why exactly.

"Who?" she whispered silently to herself.

"Hm?" He leaned his head over and placed his ear right at her lips.

"Whose Funeral?" she asked just as silently.

"Look Gin," he stood straight again, "You don't have to come, we understand. It'd be hard for you, to see him again." She shook her head and turned with him on the spot. The funeral was packed, though Ginny couldn't find a friendly face anywhere. Finally she spotted Hermione crouched down in the middle of the aisle. She was hunched over, her head in her lap, her back moving very quickly as if she was sobbing irrationally. The body was in front of her, Ginny couldn't quite make out whose it was. Whoever it was, they were gone. She tried to remember, Fred's service, Tonks and Remus' service, Snape, Lavender, no everyone had already had their funerals, days ago. There must have been someone she was forgetting, the very idea of which made her sick. Who then was so unimportant that she couldn't even remember their passing?

She went over to Hermione and reached out to lift her off the ground. Hermione took her hand and stood up so slowly. She turned to Ginny, and upon seeing the girl before her, her tears worsened. "Oh Ginny," she sobbed. Ginny felt the need to cry, to join in the emotion, but she still couldn't really figure out what was going on. She turned bravely towards the body, now fully visible, and instantly wished she hadn't.

"No!" she screamed out in pain, true pain this time. Pain that would never end. "No, you didn't! No!" she let go of Hermione and stumbled towards the boy. He looked like he could be sleeping, like if she just touched him he would wake up. She put her hands to his face, but he didn't react. She moved them down to his shoulders and shook him lightly, but still, nothing. "No! Wake up! Wake up! No, you need to," she couldn't breathe, "you need to wake up!"

She couldn't take her eyes off of him, she couldn't let him go. She leaned down into his chest, still keeping her eyes on him, waiting for him to jerk awake. "Harry," she called to him as a tear streamed carefully down her face and onto his still body, "I love you." Saying the words aloud made them real all of a sudden, but she was too late. Her brother came and grabbed her, and began to drag her away, but she fought him. She didn't want to let Harry go, as if taking her eyes off of him for even a moment would make everything suddenly real, force her to remember. To remember his death, remember Voldemort dangling him in front of all of Hogwarts. Of course, Voldemort was dead, Ron and Hermione killed him, she remembered. He was so close, so close to surviving, to keeping his life. She screamed so loud that everyone in attendance turned to look at her, to find what was wrong. She fell to her knees before his body, still screaming, unable to control the tears and horrible sounds that were coming out of her. Hands kept pulling her, tugging, trying to get her away from him, but she was stronger.

How had she not remembered? It was like she was learning of his death all over again for the first time. Had she really convinced herself that he had lived? "I win," she could hear Tom Riddle's voice echoing from her nightmare. Eventually, she knew, she would have to let go, say goodbye. Maybe she would move on. George came forward, along with Bill, and together they lifted her completely off the ground. Kicking and still screaming, they dragged her to her seat and held her down forcefully. She couldn't listen to the service, to the words being said. All she could do was look at him. Wait for him to wake up. The service was short, no one really wanted to go into detail, she wasn't alone in wanting to pretend it never happened. When it was over, they allowed her one more moment with him, before they would take him off for his burial. She walked up to him much more sturdily this time. Her heart racing like it did the first time she kissed him, when she ran into his arms after the match. How she wished she could be in that moment now.

She was still crying, and he was still sleeping. She reached out to him one last time, held his head in her hands. She leaned down to him and kissed him guardedly on the lips. "Wake up," she begged him once more. He didn't listen.

They took her away again, only this time she obeyed. She fell into the arms that had taken her and let her comforter hold her like she was young again. "Wake up," she kept repeating, over and over, hoping maybe Harry would hear her, maybe it would decide to give up this cruel game.

"Gin!" She looked up at Fred, who was also crying, "wake up."***

Her body was shaking uncontrollably, which may have been worse than the screams that had woken them all. Harry was kneeled down next to her bed, smoothing back her hair, trying to get her to wake up. Hermione was crouched in the corner crying, Molly was at the door in shock. The other's Ron and Arthur, stood at the foot of the bed, meaning to be helpful. It was George who acted the most, he was leaned over Ginny, shaking her calling to her to wake up. It seemed a hopeless fight, the screaming had started almost thirty minutes ago. Harry had gotten to the room first, perhaps because while everyone else had to take a moment to wake up, he never fell asleep. He came into the room, not caring that it was supposed to be off limits to the boys, and he found Hermione was standing staring at Ginny utterly speechless. Ginny was incoherent, as if she was seizing. She was mumbling things, like dead, and at one point she yelled out "I win." It was looking as if at one point she was finally calmed down, as if she had fought off the nightmares which plagued her, but it only lasted a moment before things got much worse. It was then that it became clear the subject of which she was dreaming of, and Harry instantly regretted telling her everything. She belted out his name so loud that it shook the entire house. Her screams until her eyes swung open. The screaming halted instantly, though still no one calmed down.

"What now, Fred?" she gasped awkwardly. At Fred's name, George let go of her and tumbled back towards the wall, now in shock like his mother. It was Arthur who stepped forward now. He sat down and took his daughter in his arms. She submitted and cried into his shoulder.

Harry couldn't handle another second of it, he rushed out of the room before anyone could form together what had happened, but Ron was already getting there. He followed Harry out into the hall, and they were far enough away so that Ginny's cries no longer flooded their ears, Ron grabbed Harry by the arm. "What the bloody he-" He stopped when Hermione grabbed his arm, "What did you tell her?" He demanded. Hermione pushed Ron out of the way and went to hug Harry, but he backed up. He couldn't speak or even think. He kept backing up, though it only took about three steps before he was finally at the wall. At which point, Hermione pulled him into her embrace.

Mrs. Weasley came out of the room looking more distraught than anyone. She couldn't meet Harrys eyes. She looked down at the floor, as if maybe there was a speck of dust she hadn't caught while dusting earlier. Mrs. Weasley cleaned incisively now days, from the moment she woke up until night fall, she always found some new mess to tidy. "She's not calmed down yet," she informed their awaiting looks, "she's convinced herself-."

"What?" Ron asked harshly.

"Harry, maybe it's best if she could see you, maybe it would help her remember," She took a very deep breath but didn't go on.

"She's thinking I am dead, isn't she?" Hermione let go of Harry and looked at him, trying to figure out how he came to this conclusion. Mrs. Weasley snuffled, as if to confirm his question. Harry went past all of them and the looks he was now receiving from his two best friends, into the room. George was back on Ginny's bed, sitting near her head, and Arthur remained where he was by her side. Upon seeing Harry come in, they both stood up, nodded intuitively, and left the room sharply.

Ginny laid down staring intently at the ceiling. Her entire body was absolutely drenched in sweat, or was it tears. Her hair was the most disheveled Harry had ever seen. Her light rose colored tee-shirt had shrunk to blend with her skin and all of her sheets were thrown off of her. She didn't look around to see where everyone had gone, or who was now approaching. "Ginny," his voice came out softly, though if voice croaked as if it hadn't been used in a long time. Upon hearing him, she instantly fell back into sobs. HE couldn't bare it. In one fluid motion, Harry lifted her up in his arms, slid under her, placed her in his lap, took her face in his hands, and forced her to see him. "It was only a dream."

But she refused to hear him. She shook her head violently, not wanting to hear. "No, it happened." he couldn't reject what she had said, it was true, after all he had died. And yet, he hadn't died. It was complicated convincing someone of a truth, that wasn't fully true at all.

"Yes," he agreed, "it did happen, but it's over now, it's not true anymore." she stopped shaking, and instead opted for a brief nod. That was completely true at least, it was over. "Ginny look at me."

"I am too tired," she insisted. He didn't speak then. He began to let her down, to give her rest, to leave. "No," she begged, "please don't leave me again. Stay with me."

He pulled her in as close as he could, letting her cocoon herself in his arms. "Always."