A/N: My thanks again to Ginny Guerra at SIYE for beta reading this chapter. I hope you enjoy.

Breaking The Silence

Chapter 2 - Recovering

The weather since the chamber had been a perfect way to end the term after the turbulence of the rest of the year. All of the students had been revived successfully, to the relief of staff, children, and Hogwarts' reputation. Exams had been cancelled, to the relief of the entire student body (except Hermione), and Ginny was happy again, to the relief of anyone who knew her.

In fact, happy wasn't the right word to describe Ginny's feelings. Lighter would probably describe it better. The ordeal that she had been through during the year would haunt her memories for a long time, but the simple things like catching up on a year's worth of lost sleep, having people around her who made her smile, and not having a Dark Lord possessing her at random intervals did wonders for her demeanour. Perhaps she wasn't entirely happy, but she was certainly alleviated of many problems she'd had, which was enough to make her put up with the nightmares.

The nightmares were bad. During her sleep she had relived the worst moments time and time again, often coupled with many things that never happened, and never would. The worst was always the last moments she could remember, watching the boy she'd been writing to all year pulling himself from the pages that she'd spent so long staring at, and laughing; a cold, sinister laugh that didn't suit his handsome features. She remembered him coming closer to her, looking at her almost lovingly, but with a certain hunger that made her sick, and his hand slowly moving up to her face, and touching the skin gently as she fell into unconsciousness…

Ginny jerked awake with a gasp, and instantly had to squint against the sunlight overhead. She could feel the grass beneath her, brushing against her bare arms, and her Hogwarts robe bundled underneath her head as a pillow. Panting slightly, she started to raise her arm to keep the sun out of her eyes, but was saved the trouble when it was blocked by someone sitting next to her, who had a concerned look on his face.

"You alright?" Harry asked in a soft voice, as he shuffled so he was more comfortable as he looked down at her. Ginny considered nodding and claiming she was fine, but spending the past two weeks with him as she had, she knew he wouldn't take that for an answer. He hadn't every other time she'd tried it anyway. So, instead, she shook her head and allowed herself to show a little weakness for once.

Ginny watched as Harry's face hardened a little, before he looked around, presumably for the others, who they had joined down at the lake to relax together before they took the train home for the summer. Sitting up, Ginny saw what he must have been looking for, the rest of the group down at the lake, playing with the giant squid. When she turned back to Harry she found him staring intently at her already, a worried look on his face.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, still in the soft voice. It was something he'd asked so many times over the past few days, and she'd always replied that she didn't need to, whilst casually eyeing the rest of the group. Harry must have noticed these subtle glances.

Instead of answering, Ginny moved so that she could bury into his chest, and allowed herself to cry softly. She felt Harry's arms wrap tightly around her, and revelled in his embrace, feeling warm and safe, similar to the protected feeling of her mother's arms wrapping around her when she was sick. He began to stroke her hair gently, like he had in the chamber when he'd calmed her down so well. Slowly, the tears began to dry up, and she found her voice.

"I was just thinking about the chamber," she started slowly. Harry didn't make a sound; he just continued to pay his soft attention to her hair, so she carried on, "and what Tom did to me"

Admitting that Tom had done something caused the memories to flood back, and she broke into a fresh wave of tears, but not before she felt Harry's breath hitch at the revelation. She felt a new wave of attraction to him at his obvious reaction. Again, he said nothing, and let her crying subside a little before she carried on.

"I see him, coming out of the diary, hear him laughing at me. It's so real."

For the first time since she started, Harry spoke, "I know Gin, I know"

Ginny had to smile again, like she had down in the chamber when he'd used the shortened name to comfort her. She liked it from him, like it had some personal touch to it. Nobody else was allowed; it was Harry's name for her. She knew that he thought this too, because he used it only occasionally, so that each one was special.

Soon, the smile faded from her lips when she thought of the next part of the dreams. It took a few minutes to brace herself to say it, but finally she built up the courage.

"I feel him – touch me."

Harry's reaction was instant. His body tensed completely and his breath stopped half way. Again, the reaction brought fresh waves of fondness for him to Ginny, and she snuggled closer into him. She felt him slowly release the breath he held, as though clearing his head, but she knew he felt as sick as she did.

They sat in silence for several minutes as he resumed stroking her hair. A few times Ginny felt his breath hitch as though he was going to speak, but the words died before they reached his mouth. She already knew the question he was going to ask.

"Did he –?"

Ginny shook her head and muttered "I don't know," before succumbing once more to the wave of emotion through her. Harry's body began to shake slightly, and his hand struggled to stay steady as he pulled her closer to him and cradled her head tightly.

"He touched my face, stroked my cheek, and then – I don't know. I passed out then"

Harry's grip tightened around her once more, and she felt his lips press against the top of her head softly. She closed her eyes tight, and revelled in the feeling of it. A month ago, she'd have thought that Harry kissing her head would be something that only ever happened in her dreams, where the two of them were snuggled together in bed, enjoying each other company in their own world. But he'd been doing it so often recently, and each one sent shivers down her spine.

He'd been perfect to her. Giving her space, letting her come to him when she needed him, paying attention to her, even noticing some things about her that some of her brothers didn't see, like how she bit her tongue when doing homework, or stared into space with her fingers entwined in her own hair when she was thinking about something. He'd commented on her looks, been attentive about the clothes she'd worn, even told her she looked cute.

It was these reasons that made Ginny feel she could open up to him a little bit more every day. Maybe that was his plan, but it didn't matter, because for the first time in years, Ginny felt special.

"Is there any way to… check?" Harry's voice brought her back to the conversation. She smiled at his concern.

"Yeah, I'm sure Pomfrey could," Ginny said, hesitating for a second, before finishing, "but I'm scared."

Harry nodded gently, urging her on, "I always wanted – it – to be with the man I loved. And someone who loved me back. It's supposed to be special, isn't it?" She felt Harry nod again, "but I might have had it taken away from me when I'm just eleven years old. I wanted everything to be perfect."

Slowly, Harry went back to stroking her hair, easing away the worries in a few gentle touches. Again he pressed his lips to the top of her head, before he said "but if you don't check, you might never know. You might still be able to have that special moment with the man you love."

Ginny smiled, but shook her head softly, "and what if it turns out I can't? My first kiss might have been Tom, my first everything might have been Tom. I don't think I could take that"

She felt his arms move from their positions around her body and slowly pull her away so she was looking directly at him, and touched his hand to her cheek. His touch was so different from Tom's. It seemed to burn, but in a way that made her feel so alive. She closed her eyes and leaned into his hand, allowing herself a moment where she could believe that there was more than friendship between them.

"You know you can always talk to me about things, Gin," Harry said softly, causing Ginny to smile to herself as she considered what to say.

"And here's me thinking you weren't comfortable with crying girls," she said, opening her eyes and chuckling at the embarrassed look on Harry's face. She heard him mumble something about 'only trying to help' and burst out laughing.

"Harry, you're so adorable," she said between the laughter. "You don't have to make yourself uncomfortable for me, I understand."

She watched as a blush slowly crept up Harry's face, and couldn't help but laugh again, burying herself once more into his chest and taking a deep breath, making herself at home. They stayed liked that for a few minutes, in comfortable silence, before Harry spoke again.

"I want to," he muttered simply. Ginny's eyes snapped open, hardly daring to believe what he'd said.

"What?" she asked, moving again so that she could look back at his face. She found him staring across towards their friends, but his eyes were glazed, as though he couldn't see them at all. She gave the others a quick glance, making sure that there was nothing amiss, and saw one of the twins get splashed by a torrent of water.

Ginny returned her eyes to Harry, who hadn't shifted his gaze. He looked contemplative, as though trying to put something he didn't fully understand into words. She stayed silent, giving him the time he needed to sort his thoughts out. Finally, he took a slow breath, and said, "I want to make myself uncomfortable for you."

She frowned at the confusing statement, and the expression seemed to break him out of his trance. He looked down at her and smiled, before simply saying, "I want to help."

Shaking her head, she snaked an arm around him and brought him into a brief hug, which he returned tentatively. As she did so, she said, "But you don't have to make yourself uncomfortable. There's no need for you to feel bad –"

"I don't care about myself; I just want to try to help you get through things. I know you're still not Ok, and I know you've been through more than I could possibly understand, but I want to try."

His eyes met hers with an intense stare, and he slowly reached up and touched her cheek with his hand, before saying, "besides, you're worth it."

Ginny's heart skipped a beat in that instant. It was amazing what three simple words could do to change everything. It was no profession of love, nor was it a promise of a future, but it felt like something much more. Over the past year she'd almost convinced herself that she would never hear anything that was heartfelt and sincere, and yet there it was, coming out of Harry's mouth of his own accord, and sounding like the easiest thing in the world.

Perhaps the mind of an eleven year old girl runs away with her sometimes, but she couldn't help but think of a future, right there and then, between her and Harry. The idea had run through her head so many times before, but never with such solidity as this. It almost felt real in her mind, as though she could reach out and touch it.

Blinking away her thoughts, she noticed Harry was still staring down at her, a small Grin playing over his lips.

"Get lost in there?" he asked cheekily, and she swotted him playfully, before wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, pouring all her feelings into that one embrace. No words were needed, and she knew that he understood her emotions completely at that moment. She wasn't sure if he'd done it on purpose or whether he truly meant it, but for the moment, she allowed herself a glimmer of hope.