10: Extrasensory Input

Some fifteen minutes later, Harry and Ginny came down from the tower looking as though both of them had gotten hit by supercharged Cheering Charm. Harry's expression only clouded when he remembered the conversation he had to have with Oliver. Ginny looked over at him, curious as to what could make him sad, and Harry sighed.

"I need to talk to Oliver."

Ginny's confusion increased. "Wood?"

"Yeah." He turned in the direction of the common room, already trying to psych himself up for the looming disaster. He'd been so sure when he'd told McGonagall that he would sit out, that he wouldn't needlessly endanger anyone's safety by going out and practicing in the evenings, but now he realized exactly how much he was going to miss flying.

"Why?"

"I'm quitting the team."

Ginny stopped and grabbed his wrist, causing him to spin around. "You're what?!" Her voice was enough to handle by itself, but with the mental weight she threw on the word he had to take a moment to gather his thoughts.

"I'm quitting the team."

"Why?!"

Harry winced. There were already people from three houses looking at them in the halls, and he didn't need any Slytherins to walk by and see him arguing with Ginny – he could only imagine what they might say then. "Because McGonagall said that it's not safe with Black running around and I –"

Her eyes flashed into that hard chestnut – Harry would have sworn that her eyes changed with her mood – and she marched off in the direction of McGonagall's office. Well, there were a hundred things in that direction, but Harry knew exactly where she was going.

"Ginny wait! It's not worth it!"

She ignored him and continued to march, and Harry wasn't about to tell her the real reason why he agreed to stay off the team. He knew he'd get the cold shoulder for that, and after the breakthrough they'd just made in their relationship, Harry didn't want to do anything to jeopardize it.

They arrived at McGonagall's office entirely too quickly for Harry's taste, and Ginny knocked entirely too loud. When McGonagall appeared at the door and after her eyes passed over Ginny and himself, Harry would have sworn he saw a faint smile on her lips, but it was gone as fast as he'd imagined it and they were invited in. Harry sat as he was offered a chair, but Ginny declined and waited for the stern professor to sit behind her desk.

"I heard an amazing story this morning, Professor. I heard that Harry Potter is quitting the Quidditch team. I was wondering if you could confirm that for me."

Harry buried his face in his hands. He knew Ginny wasn't really that angry, more shocked and appalled than anything, but she was still determined to make this as embarrassing as possible for him.

"Miss Weasley, I assure you this was a decision not made lightly. Mr. Potter and I agreed that it would be safer for him to remain inside in the evenings."

"Safer? From what, an army? Because surely you're not suggesting that Sirius Black could break into this school. And surely you're not suggesting that anyone could harm Harry with my brothers and two bludgers around."

Harry's head snapped up at the mention of bludgers and the twins. She did have a very good point – Fred and George could probably play professionally after Hogwarts if they wanted to, and were quite dangerous with bats. McGonagall paused, thinking, and then straightened in her chair.

"You make some valid points, Miss Weasley, but it is not a chance we are willing to take."

Ginny turned to Harry and gave him a withering glare. "Of all the bloody chances you've taken with your life, you're telling me you're afraid to practice Quidditch?"

"Miss Weasley, language please."

"Sorry Professor," Ginny said, but to Harry she didn't look the least bit sorry, and McGonagall didn't look like she had the least bit of sympathy for him. He took one look at the burning coals that were Ginny's eyes and nearly curled up into a ball.

"I want to play, it's just not safe."

Ginny rolled her eyes and turned back to McGonagall. "Professor, do you think that anyone in this school could catch Harry on a broom?"

McGonagall's lips thinned as if she was forcing back a smile. "Mr. Potter's flying skills are hardly relevant, Miss Weasley. It wouldn't be difficult for an accomplished wizard such as Mr. Black to attack with magic."

"Where would he get a wand?" Ginny felt as though she was insulted by such a suggestion. "You could have a teacher supervise practice, if you're that worried about it." Her expression made her feelings clear, but even so, McGonagall took a moment longer to think about it.

"I suppose Madam Hooch wouldn't mind supervising the Gryffindor practices. I'll ask her sometime today if she wouldn't mind."

Ginny smiled, and Harry felt her indignation settle down. "Thank you Professor. I'm really sorry about taking up your time."

McGonagall nodded curtly. "Any time, Miss Weasley. Mr. Potter, I daresay we have a cup to win – do not make me regret this decision."

Harry nodded before being dragged out of the room by Ginny, her hand around his wrist as he threw a helpless glance at McGonagall. Once again, he got the impression that she was forcing down a smile, but Ginny was too quick for him to get a good look.

Surprisingly, Ginny let his wrist go as soon as they were out in the hallway. He got about two seconds of freedom before she pinned him against the wall with surprising strength.

"Harry Potter, if I ever catch you doing something that bloody stupid ever again, I will not hesitate to rearrange your brain for you."

A passing group of Ravenclaws gave them a very strange look, and Harry had to do his best not to laugh. It was a very strange comment unless you were one of three people who knew about their Innate Occlumency. Fortunately, all he had to do was look into the fire that was in Ginny's eyes and the urge to laugh ceased.

"Ginny, it's really not worth it. Life is about more than Quidditch and having fun. You – I could die out there."

He knew the moment his tongue slipped he was in for it, but that didn't help him one bit when she turned her accusatory gaze on him. He quailed under her fury.

"So this is about me?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably, but the way she was standing made it impossible to even think about getting away, despite her smaller size. A few more students walked by, but he tried to ignore their pointing and focus on not digging a deeper hole for himself.

"No. Mostly no. I mean, I just realized that there are a lot more important things I can be doing than practicing Quidditch."

"Like what?" Her curiosity held off her anger for the moment.

He paused, wondering how to answer that. "Lessons. You know, we came here to learn."

Ginny stared blankly at him for a moment, and then shook her head, confused. "Who are you?"

Harry slumped against the wall, no longer looking for a way to break her hold and run. "It's just that after you were attacked, I realized that there are a lot more important things in life than flying around on a broom. It's fun, but it's not going to do me any good if Black comes to kill me or Voldemort comes back."

She let her grip on him soften and he felt her anger fade into even more confusion and bewilderment. "You love Quidditch, Harry. Why would you give it up? You can't study all the time."

"Maybe I'll be able to play when someone doesn't want to kill me."

Her grip tightened once more, and Harry felt his back being flattened against the stone wall behind him. "You're not going to live your life in fear, Harry. I won't let you. You already have enough things to worry about in life, and I'm not going to let you be miserable because you won't let yourself have fun."

"Do I have a choice?"

"No."

Harry sighed. He knew she only cared about him, and he knew she was probably right, but it didn't stop that nagging feeling that something bad was going to happen and he wasn't going to be ready because he'd be out having fun. It wasn't his job to have fun – it was his job to protect people, especially Ginny.

"I really don't like this."

"Too bad."

"I should be doing other things."

"But you want to play."

"Yes, Ginny, I want to play, more than anything. But –"

"No buts, Harry. Do you want to wind up like Hermione? That's what happens when you work too hard."

Harry felt a moment of indignation on Hermione's behalf, but he realized that Ginny was right. "No, I don't."

She held him against the wall for a moment longer, and then him down and brushed her hands off. "All right, now that you've stopped being an idiotic wanker," she eyed him warily, "I think we'll go back up to the common room and find Ron and Hermione. I think they wanted to talk to you."

After seeing Ginny on a rampage, Harry wasn't about to disagree, though talking to Ron and Hermione was one of the last things that he wanted to do at the moment. He walked with Ginny up to Gryffindor Tower, which was surprisingly relaxing, given the recent turn of events. It seemed Ginny was quick to flare up but also quick to cool, and by the time they were halfway there, he could hardly tell she'd been worked up about anything in the past few minutes. When they entered the Tower, he caught Ginny's eye and they shared a look of understanding – Ginny wasn't about to let him take away something he loved for a stupid reason, and Harry wasn't going to be hurt by the forceful way she went about it. The small smile they shared was quite enough to express every word they might have said.

------

Ron and Hermione were already doing homework when Harry and Ginny found them in the back of the common room. It was Sunday, after all. Harry slipped off to get his bag from the dormitory, but when he returned both Ron and Hermione looked as though they'd reached stopping points and were ready to talk. Harry had hoped that they would just let it go, but he figured the chances of that happening were slim to none. Ron took the initiative and asked the question on both his and Hermione's minds.

"What did McGonagall want?"

Harry shrugged. "She wanted me to quit the Quidditch team."

"WHAT?!" Ron looked as if someone had suddenly disbanded the Chudley Cannons and he'd lost at chess to Harry in the same day. "Why would she want you to do that?!"

"Because it's not safe for me to be out there while Black is running around the castle," Harry said, doing a halfway decent job of keeping his voice monotone.

Ron wasn't satisfied. "You told her you weren't quitting, right?"

"Eventually," Harry evaded, with a glance at Ginny. The smirk on her face wasn't helping.

"What do you mean, eventually?" Ron pressed.

Harry sighed. Ron probably wouldn't understand, but he had to try anyway. "McGonagall is right. It is too dangerous for me to be out there in the evenings and in the open. I'm surprised he hasn't already killed me."

Ron didn't seem to have an answer to that, so Harry glanced over at Hermione's face, which was calculating as usual. He raised an eyebrow at her, prompting for her input.

"I think Harry's right, Ron," Hermione said. "Quidditch isn't nearly as important as Harry's safety."

Ron looked over at Harry, his gaze almost pleading in nature. "But you're still on the team, aren't you?"

Harry shook his head. "Madam Hooch is going to supervise practices just in case. McGonagall didn't force me off."

Ginny coughed, as if to prompt him to tell them the whole story, but he would never divulge that information. It was bad enough that he agreed to be kicked off at first – but having her be the one to fight for him was downright embarrassing. Unfortunately, she wasn't about to let her part in it go.

"You better watch him though; he might sneak off the team when you aren't looking. He was about to go talk to Oliver and quit before I knocked some sense into him."

Ron gave him an incredulous look. "You were?"

Harry nodded as Hermione fixed him with an unreadable gaze that brought vague feelings of discomfort. "I was about to come back here to find him when Ginny found me." He hoped that she wouldn't go into detail, but apparently his embarrassment wasn't quite over with yet.

"He means I had to drag him back down to McGonagall's office and talk some sense into both of them."

Ron looked vaguely impressed, and the unreadable expression from Hermione never changed. Harry was dying to have her interrupt the conversation with something sensible, but she only made it worse.

"It must have been quite a conversation to take that much time."

Harry's eyes snapped over at Ginny and met her gaze head-on. They held each other for a moment, and then looked away with pink tinge to both of their cheeks. Harry couldn't help but glance up and notice that Hermione's smile looked rather smug. Silence hung in the air, the obvious question silently ticking like a bomb nearing detonation. Finally, Ron asked it.

"So where were you two?"

Luckily, Harry was good at thinking on his feet and laid the burden of explaining onto Ginny. "I was at the top of the Astronomy Tower when Ginny found me. I don't know where she was before that."

Oh, that was nice, Ginny said indignantly as Ron and Hermione's eyes turned to her. "It took me a while to find him – the Astronomy Tower was the last place I was going to look before going down to the dungeons."

Ron laughed and Harry forced a passable impression of amusement, but he could tell that Hermione was in research mode. He needed to say something now, before someone figured out that he and Ginny had been up in the Astronomy Tower, alone, for a relatively long period of time. While he wasn't afraid of being accused of anything indecent, both he and Ginny had tried their best to keep exactly how close they were a secret from everyone, including Hermione. It would be disastrous if either of his best friends caught wind of the word Soulmate. After a long silence, Ron spoke up again.

"Why do I get the feeling that there's something they're not telling us?" he asked, looking over at Hermione. She gave both Harry and Ginny a wicked grin, then turned to answer Ron in her best innocent voice.

"Because, Ron, I think there is something that they aren't telling us. I think there's something that they would be rather embarrassed for us to find out, actually."

Ron's eyes widened. He was a bit thick, but he wasn't thick enough to miss how Hermione was playing with his best friend and his little sister and suggesting something that he didn't want to think about. His eyes bounced between the three of them, obviously confused, so Harry took the chance to get away.

"Well, I'm going to write over by the fire. It's a bit chilly in here." With that, he picked up his bag and moved quickly over to the couch, pulling out his copy of Numerology and Gramatica before anyone could protest otherwise.

Really sneaky Harry. Ginny didn't sound all too pleased with him, and Harry didn't bother to keep the victory out of his voice.

Don't come over here, or they'll really know something's up.

Ginny scoffed silently. And what if I want to be with my Soulmate? She loaded all the affection and caring she could muster into the last word, nearly overwhelming Harry with good feelings, pride, and joy. It took him a moment to work out the warm shivers that were involuntarily squirming through his body.

You just like saying that.

Saying what? Harry couldn't imagine how she pulled off innocence, but her voice would have been a perfect example of it if he didn't have an inside connection to her real feelings.

Soulmate.

Ginny smiled internally, so that they both could feel it. I'm sure Ron and Hermione would be very interested to hear it.

You wouldn't dare.

Wouldn't I?

Harry hesitated. As much insight into her feelings as he had, this was one thing he could never pin down about Ginny Weasley. She always had this devilish side that he couldn't figure out. When she got that mischievous tone to her voice and playful glint to her eye, his guess was as good as anyone's as to what she was up to.

Instead of rewarding her with a response, he went back to his Arithmancy homework and tried to focus. He knew it would be pointless if Ginny made any more efforts to distract him, but surprisingly, she fell silent and was content to ward off Ron and Hermione's questions on her own, and then start in on her own homework. He wondered vaguely what she'd told his two best friends about him to get them off the subject, but he found that it didn't matter once he'd waded into the frustrating world of numbers. He was starting to get it better and his and Hermione's study sessions were getting shorter, but there was still something vexing about the subject that just didn't want to go into his brain.

------

Ginny, much to Harry, Ron, and Hermione's consternation, took almost no time to finish her homework. It seemed that she'd grown another brain over the summer and was even faster than Hermione to get things, even if she hadn't even touched the book before class. There were some of the more obscure things that she didn't get so easily, but it seemed that she was rapidly becoming the smartest witch in second year. Harry noticed that she didn't seem to have the same aptitude for the third year material he was trying to work on, but that could be expected, given that she still had most of her second year to build the foundations for the things he was trying to learn.

Fortunately, she left Harry (as well as Ron and Hermione) alone to do their work and wandered to destinations unknown. Actually, Harry knew she was in the library, but how he knew that he hadn't a clue. He had gotten the feeling that even Ginny didn't know where she was going before she left the Tower, but there was no doubt in his mind that she was perusing the massive bookcases in the Hogwarts library. It was almost as if he could feel the bookcases themselves, as if he could see the books resting on the shelves, as if he could hear the silence that Madam Pince demanded of the students.

He shook off the odd feelings and sensations as an overactive imagination and returned to his Potions essay, which refused to be completed. He'd decided to tackle it last, hoping that putting it off would somehow make it easier, but it hadn't and here he was, digging through Magical Drafts and Potions for an answer that didn't seem to exist. He had until next Thursday to complete the assignment, but he wanted Hermione to check over it with all of his other work and truth be told, he didn't want to be worrying about it at the last minute. He could work on it during the week, but that time was usually reserved for easier subjects like Ancient Runes or Defense Against the Dark Arts. Those he could do in his sleep.

After another fifteen minutes of futile searching, he threw down his quill in frustration and leaned back into the couch, prompting a questioning feeling from Ginny. He nudged her back with a splash of reassurance, one she returned with an inward smile and a nod.

The rest of the day was pretty much normal. Hermione worked hard into the night just to get all of her work finished while Harry and Ginny kept her company. Once again, Harry wanted to pull the books away from her and force her to go to bed, but after a nasty fight with Ron about Crookshanks and Scabbers, she didn't look like she was in the mood for anyone to contradict her in the slightest. Truth be told, Harry didn't feel much like upsetting her anyway.

With Ron off sulking somewhere, Harry and Ginny sat with Hermione, though they didn't speak aloud in hopes of not breaking the older witch's concentration. She'd told them that they didn't have to sit in silence, but Harry had sheepishly admitted that they weren't. That had been the only point where Hermione's frown softened since their morning conversation.

So where did you get the idea for Soulmate? Ginny asked.

Harry thought about it, and he couldn't come up with a clear answer. I don't know, really. I just felt you come out to find me, and I felt that a piece of my soul was looking for me. I know it sounds really cheesy and cliché, but that's what I felt.

Ginny reached out to assure him mentally, comforting him like she was so prone to do these days. She'd taken to the openness of their bond faster than Harry had, and there were times where even he wondered how she projected her feelings so well.

It's not cheesy, Harry, it's perfect. When I woke up this morning, I wondered why you were sleeping next to me, but I knew my Soulmate had been watching over me. I don't know how I knew, I just did.

Harry thought about that for a moment. Do you think the bond was telling us?

I don't know. I thought it was just Hermione's name for us, and it felt so right.

He shook his head, physically as well as mentally. There still were times he had trouble separating the two. No, she never called us Soulmates. This came from us. This is special.

Yes. Feelings of complete agreement flowed through them. We're special.

No one else can completely understand us.

No, they can't. They were in completely harmony on that thought – there was something between them, something so amazing, something so special that no one else could even pretend to feel what they felt, or become as close as they had. They wore matching lopsided smiles on their faces, a meld of the innocent curves of Ginny's lips and the lopsided grin that Harry so favored.

Silence was enough to get them through to bed, after ensuring that Hermione made it up to her dormitory without falling asleep on her feet. Harry shot a concerned feeling at Ginny, but neither of them could figure out how to help their best friend even when it was clear that she'd bitten off more than she could chew.

After saying their own goodnights, Harry and Ginny crawled into bed in tandem, almost as if they could feel each other's movements. Each smiled at the warm feeling of their blankets, but they smiled even more at the warm feeling of each other that never quite left their skin. It was as if they each felt each other under their own skin, and it was the most natural thing in the world.

------

I'm dreaming.

Harry knew it from the moment he woke in his dormitory. There was that ethereal feeling he'd felt only twice before, and he knew it to be the feeling of a shared dream he was going to have with Ginny. He sat up in his bed and threw off the covers, looking around and noticing that none of the other beds were present. That meant he was inside of his mind, and not dreaming about the real world.

He slid out of bed and let his feet fall to the cold stone as he rubbed sleep from his eyes and grabbed his glasses from his nightstand. The world became much clearer once he had the spectacles on, allowing him to stand and walk toward the place where the door to Ginny's mind always appeared.

Except there wasn't a door. In its place, there was an archway that perhaps two people could have fit through side by side, rounded at the corners and with nothing blocking his view into the Chamber. Before, there had always been a door there and he'd have to pass through it to enter Ginny's mind, or she'd have to pass through it to enter his. Now, as Ginny's vibrant red hair came into view on the other side of the arch, the lack of a barrier was slightly disconcerting.

"Harry?"

He nodded. "We're dreaming again."

"I thought so."

He was rooted to the spot, trying to figure out what it all meant. The two dreams he'd shared with Ginny had coincided with new stages in their bond. The first dream had come just before they discovered their mind-speaking ability, and the second one had come after they had started feeling each other's feelings as their own. He watched as Ginny approached the archway and felt her confusion as well, but she tossed it aside and stepped through.

Suddenly, Harry was assaulted by a thousand sensations that both were and weren't his own. He could see himself standing there as well as see Ginny step through the arch, he could feel the cold stone under his feet, and he could also feel the chill in another set of feet. He could smell the change in air between the cool, dry dungeon and the warm, comfortable dormitory, as he could hear both Ginny and himself yell in surprise from two entirely different places, and two entirely different sets of ears.. He felt all this in and instant, and in the next instant, he turned away from Ginny, closed his eyes, put his hands on his ears, and threw up from the sense of vertigo that assaulted his senses.

It was a long few moments before he opened his eyes again and thanked Merlin the feeling had passed. He turned to look at Ginny, who was as pale as he felt, and he noticed that she had gotten sick as well. Their eyes met in alarm as Ginny brushed her hair back and stepped away from the arch.

"What the bloody hell was that?"

Ginny stared at the archway for a moment, obviously lost in thought. Finally, she blinked and turned her gaze toward him. "Do you really want to know?"

Harry stared at her. "You know what it was?"

She nodded, albeit a little hesitantly. "I think so."

"What then?"

She took a breath and steadied herself. "I think we were seeing through each other's eyes and our own at the same time."

Harry's lips opened to tell her how absurd that idea was, but no sound came out. When he thought about it that way, it made perfect sense what he's seen and felt. It had almost felt like that, and he hadn't been able to take it because it was so much information that he couldn't process it. His lips parted again.

"I don't think it was only sight."

Ginny nodded in agreement. "I thought I felt something really weird. It was like I was in two places at once."

Harry smiled grimly. "Exactly."

Silence reigned for a few moments as they looked each other over, and then Ginny turned to remove the vomit from her mind. Harry copied her and flushed a little pink with embarrassment even though she'd done the exact same thing. She didn't seem to have the same feelings; he saw her eyes looking over the archway with an intense curiosity and nearly ignoring him.

"So what do you think caused this?"

She pointed at the archway. "It happened when I stepped into your mind."

That made sense. If she was inside his mind, it would make sense that she would be able to sense everything he did. He supposed it was a two way connection in that Ginny's mind-self served as a connection between the two minds, and that's why he had the same reaction she did. The only question was, why now?

"Something like this happened the night you were attacked," Harry suddenly remembered. "I've just realized what happened. I had a vision of Black attacking you, but I couldn't see you in it. I must have been looking through your eyes, because I knew it was you that he attacked."

Her eyes turned sharply toward him. "You saw that?"

He nodded. "And felt it – I knew once I saw him, and I felt how scared you were, it had to be you that he was attacking. I ran as fast as I could from the Great Hall."

"So that's how you found me so fast..." She trailed off as her hand reached out and moved through the archway. Harry immediately felt something very odd on his hand, though it was barely noticeable. It was as though he had two hands where one should be, and he felt each of them independently, and one was smaller than the other. He raised his own hand to look at it as Ginny spoke.

"You feel that?"

"Yeah."

She stepped to the side relative to the door and put her hand on the wall on the other side of the archway. The odd feeling extended its way partially up Harry's forearm, and suddenly he felt the cool stone wall under his hand, except it wasn't his hand. He wasn't sure how he knew it, but he knew one hand was touching cold stone and one hand was still in front of his face in midair. His eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"The wall is cold."

Ginny nodded. "It is."

Harry raised his own hand even further, letting it touch the side of his face. He felt Ginny's gaze lock onto his own as a soft smile ran over her lips.

"Your skin is soft."

Harry flushed pink as Ginny ginned in amusement. He felt her hand move backward through the arch and the feeling subsided as he let his own drop to his side. That confirmed his suspicions. Obviously whatever Ginny had inside of his mind, both she and he could feel that part of the other's body as if it was their own. He stepped forward toward the arch and stood in front of it, feeling a bit unnerved.

"This happened today, too. I knew you were in the library while you were gone."

She raised her eyebrow. "I didn't tell you that."

"I felt the books. I could almost see them, but I didn't know what it was. I thought I was just imagining things."

A look of surprise darted across her features, quickly followed by understanding. She was about to respond when Harry reached his hand out to touch the archway, and suddenly the feeling returned, only this time in the parts of his fingers that were on Ginny's side. He looked up at her and she nodded in agreement.

"Works both ways," Harry observed unnecessarily.

Ginny suddenly blinked rapidly, and Harry felt an irrepressible urge to yawn. He knew this feeling – the sleep was dragging him back under. It seemed the dreams had their limits, and whenever they figured out what they were supposed to know, they were dragged back into their unconsciousness.

"'Night, Harry." Ginny said, smiling sleepily as she turned back toward her mind-bed.

"'Night, my Soulmate." Harry grinned cheekily, but the effect was ruined by a huge yawn as he turned back toward his own bed. He heard Ginny echo his words behind him as they shared a feeling of warmth that was better than any blankets could provide. His mind was still spinning with wonder at what had happened between them, but he was too tired to worry about is he crawled back into his bed and was out like a light.

------

The next morning, Harry woke and opened his eyes, and then promptly shut them again. No, this is not happening. He hesitantly let them flutter open again, and sighed in relief. For a moment, he'd thought that he was looking through Ginny's eyes and into her dormitory, but it must have been his imagination after that crazy dream he'd had with her. There were still remnants of the dual sensory input, but it was subdued to point where he didn't notice it if he didn't look for it. It was like what he'd felt when she was in the library, but he knew what he was feeling now and it was more of a constant connection than intermittent. He showered and changed without incident, making it down to the common room as he felt Ginny getting out of the shower. It was probably a good thing he couldn't see out of her eyes – as much as he'd noticed that she was growing into a very pretty young lady, he didn't think watching her while she took a shower would be very comfortable for him, much less her. He plopped down into a comfortable armchair to wait.

A few minutes later, and after Hermione had told him quite unnecessarily that Ginny would be down soon, he felt her exit her dorm and get ready to head down the stairs. His eyes fluttered over toward the girls' staircase and he nearly cursed as the horribly familiar feeling of vertigo crashed over him and he felt as though he was both at the bottom of the stairs and the top. He felt one of their feet (it had to be hers, but he couldn't tell just by feel whose it was) miss a stair, and as his senses returned to normal and he clamped his mouth shut to keep from getting sick, he heard a squeal and felt dull pain form in random spots on his body.

"Ginny!"

He said it aloud before he thought about where he was, and dashed over to the girls' staircase just as a mass of red came tumbling off of it. Ron and Hermione appeared at his side once they realized what had happened, but Harry didn't notice as he was blinking the stars from his vision as Ginny hit her head on the final stair. He knelt by her side as she moaned in pain, though she was able to make it up onto her hands and knees before Harry could stop her.

"I'm all right."

The hell you aren't! Harry literally screamed in her head, causing her to whimper in pain. He felt a pang of sorrow, but she brushed him off and tried, almost unsuccessfully, to stand under her own power. By the time she'd made it to her feet, she felt strangely dizzy and collapsed again. Harry almost fell with her as he felt her dizziness wash over him as if it was his own.

"What's wrong with her?" Ron asked. Harry looked over at Hermione for help, who immediately took the hint.

"She probably is still haven't dizziness from her head injury. Harry, do you think you could help her to the Hospital Wing?"

"I don't need his help!" Ginny nearly screamed, throwing a venomous look at Harry. Hermione's eyes shifted uncomfortably, obviously wondering what exactly had happened between the two.

"Okay, then Ron can take you."

"Fine."

Harry watched as brother and sister headed out through the portrait hole, hoping that Ginny would be all right but afraid to even touch the bond because of what had happened. He could still feel things he shouldn't, but as long as he was ignoring it, the feelings moved to the back of his head and he was able to ignore them too.

"What happened?" Hermione asked anxiously as soon as the portrait hole closed.

"Don't worry about it, it's between Ginny and I," Harry replied curtly before setting off toward the portrait hole himself. A huge crowd of students sounded exactly like what he needed right now to get his mind off of Ginny and to get Hermione off his back.

"But something had to happen to make her fall down the stairs, and I think you know what it was!"

Harry banged open the portrait, much to the Fat Lady's disgust. "You were actually right. She felt dizzy and she missed a stair on the way down. How do I know that? Because I'm inside her bloody head!"

Hermione apologized to the Fat Lady behind him and scurried to catch up, speaking at him rapidly and in a hushed voice. "Harry! Do you want the entire school to know what's going on between you and her?"

He rolled his eyes in exasperation, but he at least took her point and put his frustration into harsh whispers instead of shouts. "Trust me, Hermione, there is nothing going on between us. We just have this stupid mind connection that is more of a bother than anything else and now Ginny is hacked off at me and I have to deal with it inside my head. That sound like a picnic to you?"

"No, Harry, but if you'll tell me what's wrong, I might be able to help."

"What are you going to do? Go look it up in a book? Feelings aren't something you can look up in a book, Hermione. There's no section of Hogwarts: A History that tells me how to deal with angry Weasleys screaming at me in my head for something that I didn't even do!"

"Harry, calm down! The last thing Ginny needs right now is for you to be angry at her too!"

"Yeah? Well someone needs to be angry at her because no one else seems to be able to stand up to her. It's not my bloody fault!"

"Stop cursing for Merlin's sake! And maybe she is wrong, but it doesn't matter because she's the one in the Hospital Wing and you're the one going down to the Great Hall for breakfast. How do you think she feels?"

Harry had nearly gotten through the huge doors when he whirled on Hermione and pressed her against the nearest wall, his face reddening with rage.

"How do I think she feels? I don't think she feels anything! I know exactly what she's feeling! Most of what she's feeling is anger at me, but when she stops to think about it, she realizes that she's not really angry at me but she's angry at this godforsaken bond between us and how it made her fall down the stairs. And then she feels a bit of guilt at telling me off for caring about her, even though she gets a little satisfaction from it, and she even feels guilty about that! And that's before MY feelings get into it!"

For the first time, Harry noticed the look of raw fear on Hermione's face and how pale she'd become. He also noticed how his hand had grabbed the front of her robes and pinned her against the wall, which he released immediately. He took one look at the Great Hall and shook his head, finally taming his voice into something resembling a plea.

"Please, don't follow me. I don't want to talk to you, and you don't want to talk to me. Go eat breakfast, and I might see you in Arithmancy." With that, Harry turned and headed out toward the grounds, off to destinations unknown and looking for a place to crash and burn.

------

He wound up at Hagrid's place, mostly because he knew he had an unconditional friend there and Hagrid wouldn't ask too many questions if told to back off. But for whatever reason, Hagrid was absent when Harry arrived, though Fang greeted him at the door with an enthusiastic licking. At least some things never changed.

Happy to be alone (sans Fang), Harry sat at the table he'd drank so much tea at and learned not to sample Hagrid's cooking. He didn't want to think about what had just happened, but he knew it was impossible, especially with the whirlwind of feelings running through him. It was bad enough just dealing with his own, but Ginny was in even worse shape than he was, and even under the influence of a calming potion, she was feeling more things than he could ever comprehend.

He tried to separate out her feelings and leave them alone, but he quickly found that it was impossible. Everything he felt was somehow tied to her, and upon closer inspection, he realized that a lot of her feelings came back to the way he felt. It was an odd paradox as the feelings really had no beginning or end, they just swirled around inside of him faster and faster until he wanted to either tear something to pieces or have a nice long cry. Eventually he settled for the latter, and that was how Hagrid found him a half hour later, still sniffling with reddened eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

"Harry! How are yeh?"

He turned and the joyful look on the gamekeeper's face disappeared in an instant. For once, Hagrid seemed speechless, and even though Fang was demanding attention at his feet, his eyes were locked onto Harry like he was a complete stranger. Eventually the spell was broken and Hagrid let out a loud cough.

"So, yeh up fer some tea?"

Harry nodded, more to appease his friend than anything. He really didn't feel like anything at the moment, but he had time to kill until Arithmancy was over. He'd already missed the start of class, and he knew it wouldn't do him any good to show up late, especially in his current state. He could only imagine the barrage of questions Hermione would throw at him, and he wouldn't have any answers for her, mostly because he didn't know, and partially because he didn't want to talk to her. Ginny was the girl he went to when he had any kind of emotional difficulty, either with friends or himself, but obviously that wasn't an option at the moment.

"So yeh want ter talk about it?"

"Not really."

Hagrid gave him a minute of silence, and then apparently decided that Harry needed to talk about something, even if it wasn't himself.

"Yeh know, Hermione's been down here a couple o' times 'erself."

Harry looked up, mildly surprised. He didn't know Hermione was that close to Hagrid. "She has?"

"Yup. Seems mighty depressed. I think she's been overworkin' 'erself, if yeh ask me."

Harry shook his head. "I don't know how she does it, Hagrid. She has more classes than all of us, she doesn't miss any of them even though they're overlapping, and she still is top of our class. I don't know when she sleeps."

Hagrid stroked his beard a moment, as if contemplating an answer. "Are yeh sure she does?"

Harry blinked, wondering if Hagrid knew something that he didn't. "We try to make her go up to her bed every night but I can't exactly check on her. Besides, it's not my job."

"Isn't it? Shouldn't yeh be lookin' after yer friends?"

He shook his head. "No, the more I try and look after them, the more they seem to hate me. Hermione can look after herself. And besides, do you really think I'm the best person to be doing it in the first place?"

"I can't think of any better." Hagrid paused. "What're you on abou' now? O' course yer friends don't hate yeh."

"Yeah, because friends really attack each other in the Entrance Hall," Harry said bitterly. "As if she didn't have enough to worry about before, now she's got to worry about her best friend having a go at her."

"Whoa, hold on. What did yeh do ter Hermione?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "I said I attacked her."

"Why?"

He was surprised by the question. "Does it matter?"

"Yeh had to have a mighty good reason to go an' cross Hermione."

Harry shrugged. "It's not really important. I'm just unstable. See?" He pointed at his face, and the last word was loaded with a self-loathing unlike anything he'd ever experienced before.

"Yer not unstable, Harry, just a lil confused."

That didn't help at all, and he shook his head after making a show of checking his watch. "Thanks for the tea Hagrid, but I've really got to get to class."

There was a look of understanding in the bigger man's eyes, and Harry was grateful the subject was dropped. "All righ' Harry. Take care gettin' back to the castle."

"Thanks again," Harry said as he left. He had no intention of going back to the castle, mostly because that was closer to Hermione. He knew Ginny would avoid him as much as he was avoiding her, so she wasn't a problem, but he didn't know where Hermione would be and that was a problem. He considered sneaking back up to the dormitory and crashing there, but he didn't want to risk running into her on the way. The first classes were letting out, but he had no intention of going to Transfiguration. Instead, he walked toward the lake, making sure to stay as out of sight as possible and wishing he had his Invisibility Cloak.

In fact, that wasn't a bad idea. He took his time coming around the lake, making sure that his Transfiguration class had started before he headed back to the castle. He might not be there, but he knew Hermione wouldn't miss Transfiguration just to go looking for him. The only thing he had to worry about was a talkative portrait, but by now, he knew which ones to avoid. The wildcard was Peeves, but luck was with him and he was able to make it up to Gryffindor tower without incident.

Once he'd donned the Invisibility Cloak and relocked his trunk, Harry felt safe and secure. The only person who could find him now was already avoiding him, and by the time he got out to the lake, she would have to find a good reason for going to look for him out there. He slipped through the castle once more, taking shortcuts he'd learned to shorten the journey and heading back out to a place he'd noticed on the other side of the lake. It was a place where the lake bordered the Forbidden forest, and there was a comfortable looking tree shielded from sight of the castle by numerous shrubs and bushes. Still with the cloak wrapped tightly around him, Harry settle in and slipped off to sleep, catching up for time lost to the nightmare he'd begun the night before and that had dragged into his waking hours this morning.

------

Some few hours later, Harry was awakened by a wet nudge to his cheek. He instinctively swatted at it to go away, but it was insistent and finally forced him to open his eyes. When he did, he would have jumped to his feet if an enormous black dog had not been standing over him. Instead, he bit back a scream of terror and stared at the dog. It looked thin, too thin to belong to someone, and besides, the school would never allow a student to have a pet this huge. Harry suspected the dog would come up to his belly button if he stood up.

Whoever it belonged to, the dog seemed to be friendly. Harry thought he looked vaguely familiar, but as he reached up to scratch the dog behind the ears, he couldn't figure out anywhere he might have seen him before, and really, he would have remembered meeting a dog this friendly if it had happened before his eleventh birthday. Back in those days, he remembered if anyone or anything was friendly to him, including Dedalus Diggle, who once bowed to him in a shop.

The dog seemed to like the scratching, because he lay down next to Harry and enjoyed the sun raining warmth down on the both of them. The fact that everything below Harry's head was still invisible didn't seem to bother the dog, because he (Harry assumed it was male) laid against the side of Harry's body without a second thought. Harry wondered if it could somehow see through Invisibility Cloaks, but there didn't seem to be anything special about this dog except for its size.

Eventually, the dog flopped over and made Harry chuckle as he began to rub its stomach, watching with interest the look of pure contentment that washed over the dog's face. He wasn't sure how a dog could look content, but with closed eyes and his tongue hanging out, this dog certainly did. Eventually, Harry's hand slowed and he fell back asleep, much more peaceful than he had been only ten minutes ago.

------

Ginny Weasley was getting impatient. She had only told Madam Pomfrey that she felt dizzy and fell down the stairs this morning, and told her nothing about the bond or seeing through someone else's eyes. Somehow, she thought that as much as the knowledge might have helped the medi-witch, it would bring a lot more trouble that it was worth. So instead, she sat for an army of tests to verify that her brain wasn't permanently damaged in any way, and also ensure that she wasn't doing anything to aggravate the problem. Ginny didn't like leaving someone who was supposed to be healing her out of the loop, but she had a suspicion that the bond had nothing to do with her medical health.

She knew that Harry had gone down to Hagrid's hut, and though she'd tried her hardest to ignore it, she could still hear the soft sobbing, and then two voices to which she couldn't make out the words. She knew instinctively that it was Harry crying, though the idea was so odd to her that she had to check and recheck to make sure she was hearing it right. They both were a whirlwind of emotions, and when she felt him reach for her to try and understand what was going on, she felt a flare up of irrational anger at him because it was him that she was bonded to. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that it wasn't his fault and was probably just as distressed by the bond as she was, but that was an easy fact to ignore when she needed someone to blame.

He was more distant than she ever remembered him being when he faded into unconsciousness, but she shoved thoughts of him from her mind as Madam Pomfrey waved her wand to collect the results of a potion-based test she'd given Ginny when Ron had brought her in. By that time, she was feeling fine, but she knew better than to tell Pomfrey that. Instead, she focused on ignoring Harry and how miserable he was feeling and tried to work out her own feelings. She was happy with the bond as it was; why did it have to go and do something like this? Sharing a mind-to-mind connection was great because it meant having her best friend always around, and sharing feelings, while scary at first, had become something of second nature to them and it was nice not having to explain a lot of things she could never find words for. It also worked well with the way Harry liked to take care of her, because he knew when she wanted to talk and he also knew when to back off. The last couple weeks, and especially yesterday, had been fantastic.

So why had everything changed? She didn't want or need to be able to see through Harry's eyes, or hear what he was hearing – they were just fine the way they were. She'd thought they had everything under control, but apparently her fall down the stairs was a painful reminder of how out of control they really were. The bond seemed to have its own agenda, and they were simply caught up in its wake and trying to survive. It didn't escape her notice that her feelings were never entirely her own anymore. There was always a little bit of Harry in everything, making her wonder if she was losing herself to the bond. She didn't want to be Ginny Weasley mixed with Harry Potter. She wanted to be Ginny Weasley, full stop.

She pulled an empty piece of parchment from a stack on a desk that was made for visitors to leave homework for the patients on and shredded it into a million tiny little pieces. If Madam Pomfrey noticed, she didn't say anything as she came back with the results and told Ginny that she was fine, though if she felt anything even slightly wrong she should come back for a check up. Ginny knew it had to be vexing to the medi-witch that she couldn't figure out what was wrong, but somehow she couldn't have much sympathy for anyone else at the moment. They weren't the ones that had a boy invading their mind.

Ginny was released just in time for lunch, which initially excited her, but when she saw Ron and Hermione's eyes lock onto her in the Great Hall, her entire mood died. She did a quick check and noticed that Harry wasn't even inside of the castle, let alone in the Great Hall, and then trudged over to where Ron and Hermione were sitting.

"Did Harry come to see you?" Ron asked straight away.

"No." Of course not.

"He didn't show up for Arithmancy or Transfiguration," Hermione said, her fingers drumming the table and playing with her fork worriedly.

"You might know something about that," Ginny snapped without thinking before piling her plate with food. She didn't know what Harry and Hermione had argued about, but whatever she'd said had infuriated him and caused him to go stomping out onto the grounds.

"How...how do you know about that?" Hermione asked, confused. Ginny gave her an 'are you stupid?' look, and then rolled her eyes.

"Hermione, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that you probably hounded him all the way to the Great Hall with questions and advice. I probably would have run away too." That wasn't exactly why he'd run, but that was the gist of it, and it really hit home if the look on her face was any indication. Surprisingly, she wasn't the one to defend herself.

"Ginny, stop having a go at Hermione. She didn't do anything wrong."

Both girls froze where they were and looked over at Ron, whose ears immediately turned red as his eyes fixed to his plate and he mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like an apology.

"Since when do you stand up for Hermione, Ron?" Ginny asked. It was a mean question, and she really just asked it to get the subject off of her and Harry, but again, she wasn't feeling too much sympathy for anyone but herself at the moment. And possibly a sliver for Harry.

"You try and sit next to her alone for an hour in Transfiguration after Harry goes off at her. It's bloody depressing."

Ginny's eyes quickly looked over at Hermione, whose face shifted from surprised, so hopeful, to annoyed, and back to unreadable all in the span of about a second. For once, she couldn't think of anything to say and the lunch continued in a very uncomfortable silence where anyone could have cut the tension with a butter knife. Ginny was glad to get away from the pair and back with her own crowd of carefree and ignorant friends as the afternoon classes began.

------

By evening, Ginny was very worried about Harry. At some point soon after lunch, he'd woken and felt better, though the cause of his increased cheerfulness Ginny couldn't say. The only things he knew was he had woken, something big, black, and furry had been somewhere around him, and then he'd gone back to sleep, happier than he'd woken. The problem was, he hadn't stayed happy. He was still asleep, but Ginny could sense his emotions darkening at an alarming rate, and not for the first time, she wondered if he was having nightmares, wherever he was.

In any case, he was very good at remaining hidden because none of the teachers or students had stumbled across him anywhere. She knew he was on the other side of the lake, but surely someone had walked past him at some point? He'd woken only once, and that had been for a very short time, so he wouldn't have been able to elude them. Mystified, Ginny finished off her dinner and was about to head up to Gryffindor Tower when Hermione and Ron sat down on either side of him.

"Have you seen Harry at all?"

Ginny shook her head. "He doesn't want to be bothered. You'll never find him."

"So you've seen him?" Ron asked, accusingly.

"No, I just know better to look for him when he doesn't want to be found. Even if I could find him, he would probably bite my head off."

"We're really worried about him, Ginny," Hermione said, a tone of pleading in her voice. "So if there's any way you know how to find him, we need to make sure he's all right."

Ginny knew what she was really asking, but because of where Harry was, she couldn't just stumble upon him and not have to explain a great many things to Ron.

"Like I said, Hermione, he probably doesn't want to be found. I know what kind of temper he has, and trust me, you don't want him to get even angrier at you."

"But Black could be after him right now!" Ron blurted. "He could already be dead!"

"He's probably safe and warm, wherever he is, Ron." By now, Ginny was feeling quite exasperated and just wanted to be left alone. "And besides, even if Black had him, we wouldn't want to lead more people to the slaughter, would we?" She shot a very significant look at Hermione, who furrowed her eyebrows, obviously not understanding.

"But the more of us there are, the more chance we have to save him," Hermione said. Ginny almost smiled. Having a second conversation while still speaking in the words of the first was her game, and she knew how to play.

"Yeah, because Harry would really want more of us to die for him. He already thinks it's dangerous for us to know him and know things about him, why would he want to endanger us more?"

Hermione looked even more confused for a moment, trying to work out what Ginny really said. Ron looked confusedly at Ginny.

"But he needs us!"

"Yeah, you try telling him that. He's got a skull as thick as Hagrid," Ginny replied dryly, and then breathed an internal sigh of relief as comprehension dawned on Hermione's face.

"Ron, why don't you go check all of the boys' toilets again, and Ginny and I will keep searching the castle."

Ron groaned. "Again? I've already checked them once."

"He might have gone there when you weren't looking," Ginny said reasonably. "And besides, a boy has to pee, doesn't he?"

Hermione let out a small laugh while Ron flushed at the last comment. "I suppose. All right, I'll meet you two back in the common room in twenty minutes if we haven't found him by then."

Ron headed toward the staircases and as soon as he was out of earshot, Hermione whirled on Ginny. "Where is he?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Come on, he's fine. He's just sleeping."

"He's sleeping? But Ron checked –"

Ginny pulled Hermione toward the Entrance Hall and headed out toward the Lake. "He's not sleeping in his bed, that's the first place you would look. He's someplace you'll never find him."

Hermione peppered Ginny with questions all the way around the lake, but they were mostly ignored as Ginny honed in on her sense of Harry. It got sharper along with her feelings of his emotions as she approached, making her wish she'd come out here earlier. Back in the castle, she knew he wasn't feeling great and probably would wake up feeling like a dementor was approaching, but there was an edge to his depression that she hadn't felt before. She was glad he was asleep – she wasn't sure what he might have done if he'd been awake all this time.

They approached a tree that had a particularly dense set of shrubbery around it and Ginny knew this was where he was. As she walked around the tree, she smiled grimly as she realized how he'd gone unnoticed.

"Ginny, where are we going? This is the Forbidden Forest!"

"Keep your knickers on, Hermione. He's right here."

Hermione glanced wildly around. "Where?"

Instead of answering, Ginny knelt by Harry's side, which was such a strong presence in her mind that she could nearly see the outline of his body. Her hand reached out and stroked his face gently, trying to rouse him without startling him. Hermione let out a small gasp when Ginny pushed the cloak's hood back from his face, which was resting sideways against the tree with his glasses askew. His hair was a complete mess, as if he'd been running his hands through it and perhaps a dog had been licking it, and his eyes and cheeks still held the evidence of a good long cry.

When he didn't wake, Ginny crawled on top of him and turned his head toward her with her other hand, still stroking his cheek with a thumb, trying to gently bring him back to consciousness. Her anger at him had slowly dissipated throughout the day, and now she just wanted to make sure he was all right and that he knew she wasn't really mad at him. Slowly, his eyes began to open as he looked up at her. Her heart broke when she saw the fear in them, and she couldn't pretend it was at something else because she felt that it was at her, and that he was afraid of her rejecting him. He opened his mouth to say something, no doubt apologize, but she put a finger to his lips and shushed him.

"Shhhh, Harry. I'm not mad at you, and I don't want you to leave."

He closed his mouth and looked up at her, still squirming under her body a bit. She knew the position was very uncomfortable for him, but she didn't want to risk him running off on her.

"I just wanted to make sure you're okay. You've been out here all day, sleeping."

Harry looked around and sighed, as if he'd just realized the time. "I didn't mean to be out here this long." His voice was scratchy and still sounded tired, which made Ginny's sympathy for him overflow its already bursting container.

"Don't worry about that right now. I'm sure Hermione will catch you up on your classes. We just wanted to know that you were safe."

Harry looked over at Hermione, as if realizing she was there for the first time. Ginny noticed a radical change in his feelings as soon as he saw that they weren't alone, and she wondered what it meant.

"I'm fine, Ginny. Now can you get off me?"

Ginny was almost hurt by his roughness, but she knew it wasn't her fault. She looked up at Hermione, hating herself for what she was about to say. "He's fine, Hermione. You can go back to the castle and tell Ron right now." She put a harsh spin on the last two words that she knew hurt the older witch, but there wasn't much else she could do. Hermione nodded and turned smartly, walking quickly out of sight and back toward the castle. As soon as she was gone, Ginny could feel Harry relax once again.

"I didn't mean to sleep this long, it's just...it's just habit, I suppose."

"Habit?"

Harry nodded. "I used to do this all the time when the Dursleys locked me in my cupboard. Sleep all day and all night, I mean."

Ginny saw her own rush of sadness on his face, mostly because he didn't want her to feel sorry for him and it showed, but she didn't care one bit. No one should have had to go through what Harry did in his childhood, and if she could help it, he wouldn't spend one more day with those horrid people.

"I'm sorry for getting angry with you. I... I just wish we could be left alone. I don't know why we can't just stop our bond from doing this. I was happy the way it was."

Harry shook his head. "I was too, but there's no point in trying now. We're just going to have to deal with it."

And that was the truth, whether she wanted to admit it or not. "At least we still have each other. It's hard to stay angry with you when I know how you feel."

"As long as you don't decide to chuck me out."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "You know I would never do that, don't you?"

"I don't know, Ginny. I don't know how you stand me all the time. I feel worthless most of the time because I know what you're feeling and I know you want me to help, but I just don't know how. And then I go and cause you to fall down the stairs and embarrass yourself."

Ginny swatted his chest firmly. "That wasn't your fault and you know it. And I don't put up with you, I love being around you. Maybe not this morning, but if you ever left, I don't know what I would do. I'd be miserable and alone."

Harry tried to smile. "You have Ron and Hermione."

"Not like I have you."

There wasn't much he could say to that, so he just let her win and laid his head back. She finally rolled off of him and stood up, brushing herself off and grinning.

"You don't know how weird it is to sit on someone who's wearing an Invisibility Cloak."

Harry forced a laugh. "I suppose I don't."

"Come on, let's go get you some supper and you'll feel better."

Harry groaned. "You're already sounding like your mum."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "I'll take that as a compliment, thank you very much."

He stood and shook his head. "You make it impossible to stay miserable, you know that? I happen to like being miserable."

"I'm glad I could help, because I can't stand you when you're miserable. Now hand over the Cloak. I don't trust you."

Harry gave it to her without a fight. "I don't know why, you'd always be able to find me again."

"I suppose. But I'd rather not have you get any ideas."

"Fine."

Ginny smiled winningly and grabbed his arm in hers and began walking back toward the castle. She loved how Harry grudgingly accepted her control, even though deep down she could feel that he was comforted and warmed by it. She supposed that's what Harry needed most of the time – someone to take care of him and love him without overstepping their bounds. He'd gotten his time alone today, and now it was time to come back and face the world. She performed a quick spell on his face, and much to his surprise, he looked almost normal. The glamour wouldn't stand up to any type of counterspell, but Ginny had done her fair share of crying last year at school and she'd learned to put on a face for everyone else, even if she'd looked up the magic to do it.

As they walked back to the castle together, Ginny finally felt that small sliver of happiness slip into Harry under all of the darkness and depression, and given the circumstances, that's all she could ask for.

------

A/N: Hello! I'm so sorry for taking this long to get things out - moving away from home takes up a lot of time and saps a lot of inspiration and energy. I actually wrote one and a half chapters to get this one out, because there was about half a chapter I edited out because it wasn't where I wanted to go (yet). I do want to thank all of the kind reviews and I hope you'll keep telling me what you think. A fanfiction writer's best tool for getting better is feedback, and there's nothing I appreciate more than a review.

Anywho, I'm hoping this will be the longest between any two chapters, but no promises as I'm now in school and my workload is increasing.