Harry walked up toward the common room.
Ginny must be done with her essay by now, "He thought."
When he neared the portrait hole he saw something. It was red, small, and on the ground.
"Ginny!" he screamed as he ran to his lover, "Oh my God…"
She was laying there, no movement, no sound. There was no blood but there was definitely something wrong. He kneeled down next to her and checked her heart beat, her head, and her back. Everything seemed absolutely fine, except for the fact that she seemed to be knocked out. Then, he saw a note in precise handwriting.
"Hello Harry,
I'm so sorry about your girlfriend. Everything's fine. It's just a sleeping potion. She'll be up in a few hours. But, let this be a warning to you. A warning of what's to come. Thing's could have been so much worse. I told you not to mess with people like me. You may not know who I really am or what I am capable of, but let me tell you something, I'm very competent of saying those two words. And unless you break Ginny's heart and dump her, I will break her spine, and you will never have her.
I'll love you always,
Cho Chang."
He was shocked, so this is what to come. This is the danger that Dumbledore spoke of. This is the danger that he's been so oblivious to. And that danger was the girl that he could have been with right this moment, if it wasn't for Ginny.
He wrapped his arms around her and brought her into the Gryffindor Common Room. Upon entering everyone gasped.
"Harry, what happened!?" He heard Hermione yell.
"Um, she's just asleep," he told them weakly. Most of the people went back to what they were doing but Hermione, Ron, Neville, Fred, and George came over.
"Harry, what's wrong with her?" Ron asked quietly.
He shook his head, "She's just asleep, I already told you that."
Most of them nodded, and walked away. They were concerned and knew that something was wrong, but they also knew that Harry wasn't about to answer any more questions. That just left Hermione, one of his closest friends.
"Harry," she said softly, "What's been going on?"
He shook his head, "Can you help me bring her to her bed?"
"But boys aren't allowed in the girls dormitory. It's in A History of Hogwarts and it clearly states that—"
"Hermione, there's an exception to every rule."
She nodded and grabbed onto Ginny. She could tell that Harry was just barely holding on, probably in shock. If only she knew what had just happened.
When they got to the door Hermione moved one her hands to the doorknob and opened it up, entering the empty room. It was still quite early so most people weren't yet tired. Hermione guided him to Ginny's bed and they laid her down. They sat on the edge.
"Harry, tell me what happened. What's wrong with her? Really?"
He sighed and then told her everything. He told her about Cho's threats, about what Dumbledore asked of him, about what really happened to Ginny, and then he gave Hermione the not that Cho wrote him.
"Oh, Harry," she put a hand around his shoulders, "Is there anything I can do?"
He stood up and walked away, "No, there's nothing that you can do. I have to help Dumbledore, it can't be anyone else. No one else will defeat Voldemort, it has to be me. It has to be me because of the prophecy. 'Neither can live while the other survives.'"
She nodded, remembering what they learned the year before in the department of mysteries.
"And nobody can keep Cho away from Ginny. She's excelled in all of her classes, especially potions. And nothing can stop her from saying those two words. And… she keeps saying that I shouldn't underestimate people like her. People like what? What is she a death eater!?"
They sat there and then Harry's last words dawned on them.
"She's a death eater…" Harry said.
Hermione cut in, "Harry, you don't know that. Maybe she just has a temper or maybe she's—"
"Hermione, it's possible. And if she's saying 'people like her,' that doesn't that make this all a little suspicious?"
"But Harry, why would a death eater want to date you?"
He shook his head, "Maybe it's all just a lie. It's all a cover-up."
Ginny moved a little.
"She can't know any of this."
"But Harry, it concerns her. She has the right to—"
He turned towards her, "Hermione, we need to protect her from this. I love her." It felt weird saying that, I mean, he's just getting used to the idea of telling people how he feels, "I love her," he repeated, "And nothing can happen to her. Promise me that you won't leave her side. Promise me that you won't let Cho near her. Promise me that she knows nothing about the horcruxes. I don't want her to worry, I want her to think that everything's fine."
Hermione raised her voice, "But everything's not fine!"
"She won't know that," Harry told her sternly. "Please Hermione don't tell anyone. I don't want anyone to know, I only told you because I need someone to keep her safe when I can't."
Hermione nodded, "But what should I tell her when she wakes up?"
"Just tell her that she fell asleep in the common room when she came back from the library."
"Okay," She replied. "Harry, please don't look for Cho, I don't want her to—"
"Nothings going to happen to me; I won't let it." Ginny rolled over, "I need to go before she waked up. Bye."
"Bye," Hermione said as he went through the door to the boy's dormitory.
She sat on the bed next to Ginny's, which happened to be her own, and began to read her Charms book. A moment later Ginny sat up, eyes wide open.
"What happened? Where am I?"
Hermione closed her book and forced a grin, "You fell asleep in the common room after you came back from the library. Harry helped me carry you to your bed." She told her simply.
"Oh," Ginny replied disoriented. "I don't remember falling asleep. I don't even remember coming into the common room. The last thing I remember is walking to the portrait hole and Cho came over and… I don't remember anything else."
"Well, you seemed pretty tired. It's no wonder that you can't remember anything."
Ginny nodded, "What time is it?"
Hermione looked over at the clock on the wall behind Ginny, "It's 1:36."
She gasped, "Already!? I left the library at about 11:40!!! I slept for… an hour and fifty six minutes! Oh my God! That's practically two hours! I was meeting Harry after I was done!"
"Well, we might as well go down to the Great Hall; it's already time for lunch. I guess we're a little late, but I highly doubt that they'll run out of food," Hermione said, completely ignoring Ginny.
"Hermione!" she said shocked. "I need to see Harry!" She jumped up.
Hermione followed her, "Oh, I'll come with you."
She turned to face her friend, "You want to come with me to see my boyfriend…?" She said, stretching out each syllable.
Hermione nodded, "Why not? We're friends and I haven't seen him all day." She was getting worried about whether Ginny was going to always let her come with her. Like Harry said, she needs to watch her.
What's wrong with her today? Ginny wondered. Usually she never wants to leave the common room because she's too busy studying or reading. What's with the sudden interest in having a life?
She then realized how mean it was to think that.
It's not that she doesn't have a life… She's just… Hermione. I love her, she's my best friend. But, she's Hermione… Oh well, she is my best friend.
"Um, okay. Let's go find him," she said, trying to sound happy about the idea.
And then they were off to the common room.
"Look who it is," Fred screamed at the sight of his sister. "It's sleeping beauty!"
"Such a wonderful pleasure to meet thee," George joined in.
Fred knelt down on a knee, "I am not worthy of meeting one with such capability of sleeping for endless hours!" and he bowed his head in mock shame.
"Oh, shove off!" Ginny told them, "It's not like sleep's a bad thing."
They laughed and ran off.
She rolled her eyes at them.
"Hey Ginny," she heard Harry say.
"Harry! I've missed you!" she screamed as she ran up to him, wrapping her arms around his body.
He smiled, "I missed you too," he let out a fake laugh. "Sleep well?" he asked her, trying to act normally.
She nodded, "Yeah, I still can't believe I slept for so long. I feel so bad! I was going to meet you after I was done at the library. I'm so sorry."
He lifted her head, "Ginny, you can't keep yourself from falling asleep. You were tired, there's nothing wrong with that."
"But, we could of hung out longer…"
"Well, we're together now," and with that he put an arm through her hair and pushed her lips to his.
Hermione smiled and left seeing that Ginny was in good hands, literally.
"Oi! Who's that kissing my sister!" he heard Ron yell.
He laughed, "Haha! Ron, it's me."
He moved closer to his sister and Harry, "Oh, carry on then," he said with a smile. "But not in front of me," he added.
Ginny rolled her eyes once again; her brothers could be so annoying.
"Well, since Ron has made it obvious that we are unwelcome here, let's go down to the Great Hall. It's almost lunch." Harry told her.
"Okay," Ginny smiled.
They walked toward the portrait hole and Harry motioned for Hermione to come, she moved slowly behind them. Keeping a good look at Ginny the whole time.
