Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; not the plot, not the setting, not the characters. I'm just making a few changes. You should be able to recognize them. =D

A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks for still reading! But, really people, where are the reviews? Right now the chapters almost outnumber them. I know there are way more than eleven of you reading, so if like this story enough to make it to chapter eleven you should like it enough to share your opinion. Please review!!!

Chapter 11

The train was surprisingly quiet for how crowded it was. Ginny sat by the window listening to the rushing of the cars through the underground, the only sound louder than a whispered conversation. There wasn't much to see, but she stared fixedly through the glass without taking her eyes away until the sound of someone sitting next to her caught her attention. She turned to look at her new companion but quickly returned to gazing out the window when she saw who it was.

"Are you sure you don't need to talk about it?" Harry asked softly, keeping the quiet of the train virtually undisturbed.

"What's there to talk about?" she sighed. Her eyes remained focused on a fly sitting on the glass. "Like I said, nobody can help me with this. This is my burden to bear."

"And mine," he pointed out. "I'm having these dreams too."

"The difference is I haven't told anyone and you have," she said levelly.

He was silent for a moment, and Ginny was afraid she'd offended him. But when he spoke again his voice was even and unaffected. "Agreed." He shifted in his seat. "And you might have noticed that that got something done."

"It's also going mean that Dumbledore will be watching you extra carefully now," she insisted. "You might even get special protection or some other unnecessary precaution because they don't know what's wrong with you."

"I've already got special protection," he said bitterly.

She gave no reply. Her hands twisted in her lap while she watched the fly clean its two front legs. Its wings fluttered uselessly, twitching like two pieces of tissue paper in the wind. Someone at the back of the car cleared their throat and it sounded like an explosion compared to the silence of the other passengers.

"Can I make you a deal?" Harry asked suddenly. "Once it's over I promise to leave you alone about the subject."

She frowned, but turned to face him, interested despite herself. She gave a short nod and Harry continued.

"If I find out what's happening to me and I can figure out a way to make it stop, you have to try the same thing." He let the proposition hang there for a moment before saying anything else. "Deal?"

For an instant, she was tempted to say yes, but she caught herself before she let the word leave her mouth. "No deal," she whispered, turning to face the window again.

"What? Why?" he demanded in disbelief.

"Because I don't know what that method might be—it might be anything!" She was angry at herself for being so afraid, but knew somehow that it was the best choice. "It might work for you, but who says the same thing will work for me? We don't even know if we're having the dreams for the same reason." She bit her lip and took a deep breath. "In fact," she said slowly, "excluding the dream about my dad, I don't think we're dreaming about the same things at all. They might be totally unrelated." Though she didn't entirely believe it, the words did make sense to her. It was possible that this was just a huge coincidence. Likely? No. But possible.

Harry's reflection in the glass was frowning, a crease forming in his brow. "But what if it is happening for the same reason? If I find a way to stop all this, wouldn't you want to use it too?"

She sighed and shook her head, leaning back against the seat as though trying to disappear into it. "Maybe. I'll have to think about it. If you find a cure…I'll think about it." She turned her head but otherwise stayed facing the window. "Okay?"

Still frowning, he nodded. Then, after another long pause, he stood and moved over to sit by Ron.

*****

All too soon they were on the Night Bus headed back for Hogwarts. For the first time in her life, Ginny dreaded returning to school. The holidays, though stressful, had been a break from the routine she'd gotten herself into over the last few months and it had been a real relief. She'd still had nightmares and she'd still been worried all the time, but at least she could keep herself busy with things that weren't the DA and her "The OWL Exams and You" book. And, though she still wasn't sure she was happy about this, she no longer had to keep the secret entirely to herself. But would that change when she went back to school? She doubted Harry would have time for her problems after they got back into the flow of Hogwarts. He'd be too busy with too many other things to remember her. That was both comforting and disappointing. On the one hand, she was glad to know that he wouldn't be on her case all the time. On the other, it might have been nice to have someone she could share her troubles with.

It was harder to get back into the routine Ginny had created for herself than she had expected upon arriving at Hogwarts. She was exhausted in a way that she had not been before. Instead of simply feeling her lack of sleep she was now struggling to get her mind and body to obey her commands at all. Before her grades had soared because of her late night studying and she had been the top of her class. When she first got back to Hogwarts her grades were plummeting so fast her teachers didn't know how to respond. She felt lost and confused. The dreams were less intense than those she'd had over the holidays, but they were still frequent and frightening enough to keep her awake at night. She struggled to keep herself afloat in her classes and after a while things began to level out but it was no longer a simple task. She even began risking going to sleep at decent hours; the amount of sleep she was getting did not change.

The DA was no longer much help either. Her performance there had always been good but it was steadily getting worse. Every practice she was less alert, less capable. And—to her great annoyance—Harry could tell. It wasn't until after she was paired with Neville and he repeatedly was able to disarm and hex her that Harry took notice, but from that point on she had to avoid him to keep from being interrogated about how she was doing. That wasn't too hard to do. They had no classes together, she spent most of her free time in the library (Harry, on a normal day, would not choose to be caught there), and she ate so little that she was out of the Great Hall before he was even in it on most days. She also had Quidditch practice which helped her stay clear of him. But even there she was clearly doing worse. Angelina would have fired Ginny if they hadn't been so desperate for a Seeker; and since no one else in Griffindor (aside from Harry, who was out of the question) could play the position anywhere near as well, she had no choice but to keep Ginny on the team.

Her life was falling apart around her and she had no way of knowing how to put it back together.