I am really, truly apologetic for not updating for such a long time. I am horrid, I know. But life is worse. But that is not good of an excuse, is it? I hope you will forgive me. And I am sorry if the characters are OOC; from now on, expect things to be that way. Yet I am trying my best to keep them in character (even when the situation expects me to shape them into unrecognizable creatures). But that's is what I will always fail at.

Here is the product of the long gap.

Chapter # 6

Ginny stared at the doorway which Hermione and Ron just walked through. She was confused. And she was terrified – for Harry, and for what might have happened. She knew that there was nothing too serious that could have occurred, really, because a much bigger help would have been needed, not Ron and Hermione's assistance.

She shook her head slowly, and got up from the bed. Her legs were shaking pathetically. Sweet Merlin. What was up with her? Why was she so excited and anxious? She really did not know that such a moment could heighten her emotions to such extent. But then almost everything seemed to be odd recently. And not to mention how her anger seemed to ignite at things. She had always been the feisty one.

She shunned all the nervous thoughts that seemed to slow her pace. When she entered Ron's bedroom, she was not surprised to see what she saw.

Harry tossed and turned as Ron and Hermione stared at his sleeping form helplessly. They shook him, splashed droplets of water on his face, but he was too stubborn to respond.

Ginny intervened: "What's happened? Why is he not responding?" She had not realized this, and now she did, that her face had reddened, her chest heaved up and down in short breaths, and she was scared. Possibly more than she was before. And she traced the same emotion on both their faces, which had turned to face her in mild surprise that quickly ebbed away as soon as it came.

Ron gave a shrug of his shoulder and frowned. "We don't know." Then he looked back at Harry and attempted again to awaken him from his fitful slumber.

"This has happened before, has it not? Many times, actually; then how can you not know?" Ginny eyed them doubtfully.

"What he means is that we don't understand why he is being this way, now that … that everything has ended," Hermione elaborated. "This could have been any normal nightmare, but he has always woken up from them easily, right, Ron?"

Ron nodded. And Ginny shook her head. So he had been having nightmares after the war, and she had been unaware about them.

Hermione seemed to have read her thoughts. "It's not what you think, Ginny. He hid this from us as well. It was just an accident that we found out."

Ginny just nodded her head, and observed them for a few seconds more as they continued from where they left off. Then she tried to help them herself, and she noticed that her own hands shook as she clasped Harry's sweating, quivering, cold hands to steady them.

"Oh Lord. He is not breathing," Hermione whispered in a panicked voice, her eyes watering. "This only happened after we both came back from Godric's Hollow, Ron," she added in a low whisper. "It was a vision … And the locket …" Ginny knew the whisper was meant only for Ron's ears to register, not hers, but she heard her nevertheless, and she felt once more as if she had missed a great part of his life, of his mission. She should have been there. (Her chest hurt, for her mind wandered in such unwelcome places.)

Ginny felt her own eyes burn at Harry's state (and, perhaps, her eyes also teared up at her self-pity – though it was just a small reason that made her miserable, she was convinced), but she shut them tightly to stop herself from crying. Her eyes opened wide when a gasp reached her ear, and a strangled moan escaped in the air. She was too shocked to move an inch, when she saw Harry's emerald eyes wide open, with beads of sweat streaming down his temple. The next thing she saw was Hermione furiously hugging Harry. (She almost tackled him.) And Ron's lips broke into a relieved smile; he was too happy, because he had his arms around his two best friends in an instant.

And Ginny … When her mind registered the fact that everything was fine now, the taut facial muscles relaxed, and she found herself joining them all, though she still had questions. About his nightmares, or what Hermione called them, visions, and about the locket, which was meant to be kept secret, it seemed.

Oh, and (she knew she should not look too much into things, but she was) did not Hermione say, "When we both came from Godric's Hollow." That meant Hermione had been with Harry during much important times. She had shared something with Harry which nobody else could – not even Ron, his best mate – at the time when the world had abandoned them …

Or they had abandoned it.

"What did you do, Ron?" Ginny asked him. After Harry and Hermione had left, she had sat herself down in her room, and had seen Ron taking a stroll in their garden; she had many questions to ask him, so why not do that when he was without company?

"What do you mean, Gin?" he asked her, his eyes flashing with confusion.

Ginny did not want to beat around the bush. "Did you leave Harry?"

Ron stopped in his tracks, and slowly moved his head to the side to gaze at his sister. There was uncertainty in his eyes, and shock stamped itself on his face. "What … What did you say?"

"You heard me," Ginny said slowly.

Ron sighed. "It doesn't do well to hide things now, eh?"

She nodded her head, and gave a slight lift of her chin, then lowering it, indicating for him to proceed.

He took a deep breath, and plopped himself on the ground covered by wet, cold grass. Ginny followed suit. She stared at his suddenly tired self.

Ron had changed. So much. And it was now that she saw it. (Had she become that blind?)

He sighed. And I was hard for him to admit his faults to Ginny. She should have known her brother to be a Hufflepuff to his best mate, but she had found out otherwise. "How d'you know?" he inquired; he wanted to do that before he spilled out his heavy heart.

Ginny bit her lower lip in embarrassment when she informed him that she overheard Hermione and him arguing. She expected his ears to flush red in anger, and him to burst forth in anger.

"So it was you. And I was thinking that I had gone delusional, hearing footsteps." Ron chuckled. She was surprised by the calm reaction. Who are you and what you done to Ron?

They let silence take over then.

"Erm, so … Do you want to tell, or …" Ginny trailed off, wary of what his reaction.

Ron's head shot up. "Oh. Yeah. That." He paused for a few moments. He frowned, looked down (in shame, she understood), and opened his mouth slowly (and that was because it was difficult to form words). "I left them. There. I said it."

Ginny raised her eyebrows. "That's not answer enough, Ronald."

He looked up with a sigh, as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. (Was admitting to his mistakes that hard for him?) "Look, Gin, I wasn't the best of mate, all right? And I got angry that I left you guys behind for him, and I was jealous of him and Hermione, I'll admit, 'kay? I was a right git. I never deserved Harry's forgiveness, not Hermione." He chuckled here, forgetting his growing anger. "Did you know she gave up everything to help him defeat Voldemort … She has always been loyal. She didn't come with me when I left. She always did what was right." His head tilted downwards again (possibly because of his failure to be loyal). And then he scrambled up, intending to hurriedly leave.

Yet Ginny sat there, her mouth a gaping hole; she did not – could not – believe what he said. And it was not because of the story only; it was because of why he did it. And then Hermione … Why was it that more she knew about the depth of her friendship with Harry, the more she perceived her own relation with him as shallow. They had shared their stories with each other in the grounds of Hogwarts, they had got closer – then they drifted; then he left; and when he came back, he had changed, and she witnessed themselves become somewhat of strangers, but not as such.

And, for a concise point in time, she wondered once again: Had she been coming in-between something special all along? And did she have the courage to step away, perhaps?

Was she Gryffindor enough to let the things she held dear to her heart go?

Yes, I think things will be wrapped up in a few chapters. Let us be happy for that. I am sorry for any mistakes; please, feel free to point them out. Now, I will answer the anonymous reviews:

Katherine1373: Thanks. And you're welcome. I hope you will like the future chapters.

Guest: You just read the chapter. :) Hope that you will continue reading this.

Guest: Thanks for the review. :)

I hope I will update soon. And I hope I have not lost my readers. :) God bless. Here is me hoping you liked this chapter, which seemed to be a filler, really. Anyway, see you soon. :)