Another Chance

Chapter 4: Nightmares

AN: Thanks to all those who reviewed the last chapter! I just wanted to make one thing clear, though: I am NOT adding certain sub-plots in the original GoF, such as the Hagrid vs. Rita Skeeter fiasco. Dealing with them would make the story far too dragged out, and I have no desire to regurgitate GoF as it was. I'm sure you don't want me telling those events exactly as they took place in the book either, so if I don't mention them, just assume that they're the same here as in canon. Oh, and thanks to the fantastic Gabrielle for beta-reading. I owe her big time.

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Ginny's ghostly face appeared in front of Harry's eyes. She was pearly white and he could see through her. He tried reaching out for her, but his hand went right through her and the sensation of falling in ice-cold water went through him. Horrible, dreadful realization filled him: she was a ghost...

... The scene changed. He and Ginny were racing through a dark, dense wood, dodging trees, branches and undergrowth. Behind them, they could hear the laughter of Death-Eaters, as they shot curse after curse at the masked men. They Death-Eaters responded with volleys of sickly green Avada Kedavra, interspersed with the occasional bright red Cruciatus Curse. Harry's eyes widened as Ginny pushed him aside and took a Cruciatus Curse that would have hit him otherwise. Her screams echoed in his ears, but he found himself unable to move. He struggled, but all he could do was watch as the love of his life suffered pain upon unimaginable pain...

... Harry found himself face to face with Voldemort. He gripped his wand tightly, determined to get rid of the snake-like man once and for all, but Voldemort's face twisted into a sick sort of a smile. He raised his wand, but instead of firing a curse, he summoned Ginny. Harry nearly dropped his wand in shock. He yelled, demanding that Voldemort free her, but the Dark Lord just continued to smile nastily. Avada Kedavra, he hissed. A bright green light left Voldemort's wand, and Harry heard the all-too-familiar sound of speeding death as it took his beloved's life...

Harry woke up with a gasp. Beads of sweat were trickling down his forehead and his shirt was drenched. He pushed aside his blankets, and went to his dresser to get a fresh shirt to change into. It was a familiar dream. He had had it many times in the last war after Ginny had died, but not since he had returned to his Fourth Year. He wondered what could have triggered it.

Sighing, he navigated down to the Common Room, and made his way to the couch. But to his surprise, it was occupied by someone with red hair, who was busy scribbling away in what looked like a journal. Harry cringed. He wasn't sure he wanted to face he so soon after his nightmare. He was debating whether to turn back or not, when the choice was taken out of his hands.

"Harry?" asked Ginny, craning her head. "Is that you?"

"Yeah," he answered. He was surprised by how hoarse his voice was. Ginny, too, must have noticed, for she sat up straight peered at him anxiously.

"You okay?" she asked, patting the newly-created space besides her in an invitation to sit down.

"Nightmare," grunted Harry, plopping down besides her. Ginny looked at him sympathetically and slipped her hand into his.

"You want to talk about it?" she murmured, stroking the back of his hand in an attempt to set him at ease. He wished he could. He wanted to tell her about it, so that he could get it off his chest. How could he, without convincing her that he was some kind of psychopath? He sighed and squeezed her hand.

"Not particularly."

"If you want to be alone, just let me know."

"Okay."

She returned to scribbling in her journal, and Harry saw a small smile grace her lips. He hoped she was writing about him! Fighting the urge to kiss her then and there, he swore he would never let anything happen to her this time around. Voldemort would never survive his own Welcome Back party, he silently promised himself.

"Ginny, do you still have nightmares about your first year?" he asked, suddenly.

Her quill snapped.

"Nigh… nightmares?" she asked, startled. He nodded, wondering if he had been too insensitive.

She took a deep breath to steady herself before answering. "I used to, quite often. That summer, after my First Year, I had nightmares almost every night. I would wake up screaming. Mum and Dad would come into my room and look at each other nervously. I hated that, Harry. I really hated that. I mean, I know my family loves me a lot, but… but that wasn't what I needed right then."

"What did you need?" He knew what she meant. He hated worrying people too. Nobody had any idea how much nightmares really plagued him; he had taken to putting silencing charms around his bed as early as Third Year.

"I needed someone to talk to. Someone I could tell about my nightmares. Bill was that someone, Harry. He helped… he helped a lot."

He nodded, and they lapsed back into silence. Harry noticed Ginny was still holding his hand, squeezing it occasionally. He looked over at her, fondly. She always knew what he needed and when.

"Do you want to know what I dreamt about, Ginny?" he asked. Ginny put away her journal, using her broken quill as a bookmark, before turning to him and giving him her undivided attention.

"Yes, if you want to tell me," she answered. Of course he wanted to tell her! This was Ginny, his Ginny… his closest friend and confidante from the previous timeline. But how could he?

"I dreamt about someone I care for very deeply," he said, choosing his words carefully. "She… she was running through a forest when… Death-Eaters attacked. They tortured her, using the Cruciatus Curse. And then, Voldemort… Voldemort killed her…."

Before he could go any further, Ginny had engulfed him in a warm hug. He let himself go in her arms, sobbing into her shoulder while she ran her fingers through his hair and whispered words of comfort into his ear.

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The sun rose finally on Boxing Day, bringing with it a new set of problems for Harry. While his talk with Ginny had calmed his more irrational fears, he still had to deal with the pending problem of how to make sure that the imposter Mad-Eye Moody got his hands on the Marauder's Map.

The trouble was that Harry had no idea exactly when he had gone to the Prefects' Bathroom in the previous time-line. He knew it was sometime towards the end of January, but he couldn't remember anything specific. That date had to coincide with the day Barty Crouch Jr. would be sniffing around in Snape's private stores, or there would be no point in going. And even if he did manage to pinpoint the day, there was a considerable chance that he would mess us. One step out of line could mean Snape getting his hands on the Map instead of Barty Crouch, and he definitely did not want that to happen. As he headed down to the Common Room, Harry decided that he would have to find some other way to get the Map to Crouch.

Hermione and Ron followed him soon after, yawning. Once they had regained full control of their faculties, Ron apprised him and Hermione of his espionage in the Rose Garden.

"So in short, Hagrid is a half-giant, Karkaroff is worried about something and you saw Fleur snogging Roger Davies in the Rose Bushes?" asked Harry. Ron nodded in the affirmative.

"What's wrong with Hagrid being a half-giant?" asked Hermione in her matter-of-factly voice. "He's still the same Hagrid."

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe that half-giants like to snap human bones into tiny little pieces for fun," said Ron sarcastically.

Harry shrugged, "C'mon Ron. Aren't you being a little unfair? You're being the same as Malfoy, with his anti-Muggle-Born Crusade. Hagrid's our friend. His parentage doesn't really matter."

Ron did not look too convinced, but he decided to drop the subject.

"And Karkaroff?" he asked. "Something is going on there. You can't deny that."

"I'm not," Harry said grimly. "But somehow, the fact that two Dark Wizards are consorting together doesn't surprise me."

"Professor Snape isn't a Dark Wizard, Harry," responded Hermione, frowning.

"'course not, 'Mione. He's just an evil git."

Hermione glared at them both and returned to her book, 1001 Stupendous Seeker Moves. Ron, too, noticed the title of the book.

"Reading up to impress Vicky, are you?" he asked savagely, before leaving without waiting for a response. Hermione made no indication that she had heard him. But once the door to the Fourth-Year Boys' Dorm had slammed shut, she lowered her book and turned to Harry.

"So?" she asked in a teasing voice. "Did you have a nice time last night?"

Harry's face remained steady.

"The very best," he answered smoothly, examining the back cover of her book. Viktor Krum had a special chapter in it to himself, he noted.

"I heard the Rose Garden was very beautiful," smirked Hermione. "Although I'm sure, you had your eyes on something else."

"I did," acquiesced Harry. She looked surprised at his admission, so he quickly shot back a counter-attack. "But you tell; did the mistletoe come in handy?"

The effect of this simple statement on Hermione's countenance was spectacular. She went from red to purple to puce and back again to red in record time. Harry burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked Ginny, coming up behind them. She looked incredibly cute, he thought, as she rubbed the sleep out of her chocolate-brown eyes. Hermione didn't look like she trusted herself to speak, so Harry responded.

"I asked Hermione if the mistletoe came in handy," he sniggered. "Turns out, it has."

He was immediately treated to deft thwack on the back of his head.

"What was that for?" he protested.

"For being an insensitive idiot," she answered primly.

She suddenly looked very unsure of herself, as if she had taken some liberty she had no right to. Harry realized she may have been worried that he was still upset from the night before, so he hastened to set her at ease.

"It's my job. Over-protective brother and all that. I've even been taking lessons from Ron," he said brightly. "How am I doing, Gin?"

Looking somewhat relieved, she slid down next to him and stole the chocolate frog he had been unwrapping.

"Terribly," she informed him. "You didn't blow your head off when Hermione told you she was going with Viktor and you didn't threaten to eviscerate him when you met him last night."

"Ah," said Harry glumly. "I don't have much practice, you see."

"Don't worry Harry," she said, patting the back of his head. "You'll get better with time."

She bit off the head of his chocolate frog and offered him the rest. He opened his mouth and she fed it to him, while Hermione watched on in amusement.

AN:I know it's been a huge while and this chapter is kinda short (2000 words), but I've been so busy lately that it's been impossible to write. It still is, since I have my A-Levels in about a month, but after those I'll be freeee! With regards to chapter length, I'm afraid that this is going to have to be the approximate length for future chapters too. The idea of writing 5000 word chapters (like the last one) is just too daunting for a procrastinator like me and probably a major reason for the excessively slow updates. Thanks a lot for reading, and please review! More reviews mean more motivation for the author!