When Harry finally regained full consciousness, the Hospital Wing was pitch black and silent. He fumbled for his glasses and wand on the bedside table, half expecting Madam Pomfrey to come bustling out of her office as soon as he whispered Lumos.
What he did not expect was a muffled thump immediately to his left or to suddenly see the sleepy and rather disgruntled figure of Ginny Weasley appear on the floor from underneath his Invisibility Cloak. Harry couldn't help but grin at the cranky look on her face as she contemplated the fact that she had, apparently, fallen out of the chair where she had been sleeping.
"What are you doing here?" he whispered.
Ginny's head whipped up and her grouchy expression evaporated when she saw that Harry was awake. "Finally, you're up!" she whispered back. "It's taken longer than even Dumbledore thought for you to come round." She peered at Harry's face. "How do you feel?"
Harry thought about that for a second. "Okay, I think," he finally replied. "But I don't have any idea why I'm here." He looked at Ginny's face. She looked tired, and even in the weak light from his wand, he could see the dark circles under her eyes.
"How long have I been asleep? And have you been here the entire time?"
"You've been out about two days," Ginny said quietly. Her hands picked restlessly at the Cloak still in her lap and she suddenly became very interested in folding it. "And I've been sneaking back in when Madame Pomfrey's not looking, but . . . I've also been in the library and the Room of Requirement. Looking for things." Her voice took on an odd timbre.
"Like what?"
Ginny didn't answer him, but instead climbed back into the chair next to Harry's bed. Automatically, he reached out and took her hand, turning sideways to face her. She lifted her head enough so Harry could see her face, but her eyes were guarded.
"What is it, Ginny? What did you find?"
Ginny took a deep breath. "Maybe I'd better tell you about the Vow first," she said.
Briefly, Ginny told him about the problems caused by him and Malfoy almost making an Unbreakable Vow. Harry was gratified that she kept her description short and objective; Hermione would have undoubtably added a lecture and Ron would have been sidetracked with ideas about how to get back at Draco. When she got to the reasons Dumbledore suspected the Horcrux had stopped the Vow, Harry frowned.
"So Malfoy is up to something more. Neville was right."
"That's not all, Harry, I overheard Malfoy talking the day they brought both of you in here. To Snape."
Harry turned to look at her. "Yeah? What'd he say? He was pretty mad that day he found Malfoy and me outside the Room of Requirement."
"He was furious now," Ginny agreed. "And Draco tried to hide it, but I could tell he was terrified – he started crying after Snape left."
"The ferret actually cried? I can't believe it," said Harry. He thought for a second. "No. Actually, I can, if he's really a Death Eater like we think he is. We know his mission, or whatever he's doing for Voldemort isn't going well. I'd probably cry too. But . . . wow. He's really in deep."
"Do you feel sorry for him?" Ginny was looking at him seriously. "He sounded absolutely pathetic."
Harry thought about that. "No," he said slowly, "not sorry for him, so much. Maybe sorry for his situation. I mean, it's all about choices, right? He offered me that choice my very first day on the Hogwarts Express. If that's the path he's chosen to go, well, then, I can't feel sorry for him."
"Well, look at how he was raised," said Ginny fairly. "Maybe it's not so much of a choice as following what he's always heard was right."
"Maybe," agreed Harry. "But he chose the easy path, not the right one. I can't respect that." Then he grinned. "And don't worry. I won't breath a word to your brother that you were actually defending Malfoy."
Ginny swatted him. "Prat."
Harry leaned back against the pillows. "So what exactly did Malfoy and Snape talk about?"
All at once, Ginny's face turned grave.
"It sounded like Voldemort has given Malfoy two different tasks," she began slowly. "And the key to both of them was getting you to make the Vow and go into the Room of Requirement."
"Does Snape know what the tasks are?" asked Harry.
"I think so, but it sounded like Malfoy isn't telling him everything," said Ginny. "Snape was really mad about something . . . something to do with you. He said that Malfoy knew that you are not to be touched until . . . until after, whatever that means."
"I guess Malfoy's mission has to happen in a certain order to work," considered Harry.
"Mmmhmm," agreed Ginny. "But he was . . . well, this is where he wouldn't tell Snape everything. He was adamant about it . . . about getting you into the Room and then everything would be okay." She was quiet for a moment. "It sounded bad."
"He was probably bluffing," said Harry. He felt a strong need to protect Ginny from the truth. Even though he thought Ginny was probably right, that Malfoy had been planning something big, he didn't want to let her know it. It had been bad enough to see the pain and sadness on her face when she'd found out he was a Horcrux. Learning that he was a marked man in some Voldemort-inspired plot was too much to ask her to handle.
"I don't want you to worry about it," he said firmly to Ginny. "You look exhausted. Have you slept at all since I've been here?"
Ginny bit her lip. "A little," she said in a small voice. There was something beneath her words and Harry sat up straighter and took both her hands in one of his. With his other, he brushed the hair away from her face and cupped her chin with his palm.
"What's going on?"
Uncharacteristically, Ginny broke out of Harry's grasp and looked away. He saw her take several deep breaths, but still, she didn't speak.
"Ginny?" Harry said, more sharply than he intended. He grabbed her hand again and could feel it shaking. He pulled back just a little. "Sorry. But, you're really scaring me now." Harry was unnerved. He'd never seen Ginny so distressed – the discovery that she'd been possessed by Voldemort's soul was the worst he'd seen and she'd recovered fairly quickly. He'd become used to the idea that Ginny was a rock, his rock, in all this mess. But she was barely holding it together now.
Without waiting to ask, he pushed back the blankets that still covered his legs and pulled Ginny into his lap. She sat there stiffly for a minute and then her resolve seemed to crumble and she melted into him, burying her head in Harry's shoulder. A second later, he felt hot tears on his neck.
Harry didn't try to question her again, just rocked her back and forth and waited. Finally she took a ragged breath and sat up a little, wiping at her eyes. Silently, Harry handed her a tissue.
"I've been in the Room of Requirement," she began in a halting voice. "When I wasn't here. Reading those books on Horcruxes it gave us."
"Was Hermione helping you?"
Ginny shook her head and gave a small, watery smile. "No. Ron thought that he should probably be keeping an eye on Malfoy and Hermione decided she should help him."
"Good for them," said Harry, but he was too distracted to focus on what his two best mates might be getting up to. He squeezed Ginny lightly around her waist. "So what did you find out?"
"How to destroy a Horcrux," she said quietly.
"Ahh." Harry understood immediately what she meant. Ginny looked at him, surprised.
"You have to put the container beyond all magical repair," she said, urgency in her voice. "Like when you stabbed the diary with the Basilisk fang. I didn't harm it at all when I tried to flush it down the toilet, remember?"
"I remember," said Harry heavily. He'd reached an understanding of what it meant to be a Horcrux days ago. He just hadn't considered that Ginny – or anyone else, for that matter – would get there too.
Which was silly, really. If it had been one of the others, he would have been doing everything he could to figure out how to fix things.
So Ginny knows.
"I know what it means, Ginny." Harry was gentle, but direct. She looked up at him with scared eyes. "You mean, you already know that you . . .?"
"Yes," Harry interrupted. He didn't want her to have to say it. "I have to die." He sighed. "I actually can't believe I didn't see it sooner, I mean, look at the prophecy – Neither can live while the other survives – what else could it mean?"
"Maybe," began Ginny in a small voice, "maybe there's a way, you know, for him to . . . to . . . well, instead of you."
"I really don't see how, Ginny," said Harry gently. He'd spent those first several nights after he'd realized laying awake in his bed, desperately trying to come up with some alternative to death. There wasn't one, he knew.
"Have you asked Dumbledore? He might know something we don't." Ginny's voice held an air of desperation in it and Harry understood far too well what she was feeling. He too had become used to the idea that the Headmaster could fix everything, that there was nothing Voldemort could do that Dumbledore couldn't make okay. Harry stroked Ginny's arm gently as he replied.
"He would have told me, I suspect. If there was any way around it. So I'm guessing that there isn't." Unconsciously, Harry's hand traveled down to Ginny's waist until it found a patch of bare skin underneath her untucked uniform shirt. She shivered with his touch, but Harry was too far into his musings to really pay attention to what he was doing.
"He didn't even want to tell me I was a Horcrux yet, you know? I guess it didn't matter as long as there were all those other ones still out there that needed to be destroyed first. If there was a way to get it out of me easily, or at all, even, he would have just done it." Harry kept his voice as matter-of-fact as possible. He was determined not to let any of his own panic seep out and upset Ginny. Luckily he'd had a couple of days to try to come to terms with his future; if this had really been the first time he'd learned he had to die – if Ginny had actually been the one to tell him, Harry didn't think he could have stood it.
As it was, comforting her was a welcome distraction. He couldn't help but admire the fact that Ginny had taken it upon herself to try to give Harry the devastating news, and the fact that she couldn't do it without breaking down only increased his love for her.
"Do the others know?" he asked.
Ginny wiped her eyes. "I don't think so," she said. "Hermione will probably figure it out pretty soon – she was the one who first read about destroying Horcruxes, and I'm sure that once she manages to pull her brain away from ways to get my brother to snog her, she'll remember what she learned." Harry could tell that Ginny was attempting to make her voice light and playful as she mentioned Ron and Hermione, and he could only guess the effort it was taking. He pulled her closer and began stroking her back more purposefully.
"We should tell them we already know," he said. "Neville and Luna too."
"And Dumbledore?" asked Ginny uncertainly.
"I'm sure he knows already," replied Harry. "And he was probably going to tell me once he knew I realized I was a Horcrux. But it's not the kind of thing he'd share with all of you in his office too. It would be his way to let me be the one to tell my friends."
In the light from Harry's still-lit wand he could see that Ginny was still crying, but silently, and he could feel the deep breaths she was taking trying to control it. She sat up a little straighter in his lap and nodded to herself, as if deciding something.
"Well then, we'll just have to find a way that no one has thought of before." She spoke so matter-a-factly that Harry almost laughed. If it was only that easy, he thought. To wish it hard enough that we could make it so.
He didn't want to dash her hopes. "Okay," he whispered. "Let's." It was easier to just sit there in the dark and pretend that everything was going to be just fine. And sitting there, with the warm weight of Ginny in his lap, and no immediate danger in sight, Harry could almost believe it would be. Her cheek was resting against his chin and when Harry turned his head, he was able to kiss her lightly on the forehead.
Another quiet minute passed. Harry stroked Ginny's hair and then let his lips brush against the soft tresses, moving slowly down her face. Neither of them spoke.
He turned Ginny in his lap and brushed away her tears with the pad of his thumb. Another soft kiss on her cheek and then he was able to look her fully in the face, taking it between both his hands.
"It's going to be fine," he said resolutely. It was a lie, he was sure, but at that moment, a lie was exactly what they needed. "Fine," Ginny echoed, reaching up to trace Harry's jaw with her hand. She tilted his chin towards her and kissed him lightly on the mouth.
Harry shivered, and suddenly, lightly wasn't enough. Without really thinking about it, he kissed her back firmly, pushing his tongue against her lips until a second later, she opened her mouth. Harry stopped for the briefest second to think are we really doing this? until Ginny gave a tiny whimper of need and he stopped thinking completely. She needed it – he needed it, and just then, nothing else mattered.
Harry leaned back against the pillows of the bed, pulling Ginny with him until she sat straddling his waist. Some small part of his brain catalogued the fact that they were in the Hospital Wing, for Merlin's sake, and he wondered vaguely what Madame Pomfrey would say if she came out and found them like this, with Ginny's shirt undone (because it was, already), and Harry's hands on her bum as she gently rocked above him.
Ginny must have been thinking the same thing because she looked towards the closed door at the end of the ward that led to the matron's office and suite of rooms. "Do you think she's asleep?" she asked.
Harry had become an expert in the last minutes at stating what he wanted to be true. "Definitely," he said, taking one hand off Ginny's bum to stroke the underside of her breast.
"Does your head hurt?" she asked breathlessly. Her hair had fallen all around her shoulders and for a long moment, Harry could only stare at her – she was so beautiful. This is what I'm going to lose, when I die. He couldn't control the thought that jumped, unbidden, into his head. But he could ignore it.
"I feel fine." He thrust his hips up and at the same time, pulled Ginny down to lay flat on top of him. From this position he could go back to kissing her mouth, her jaw, the hollow of her neck. Ginny shivered and pushed insistently down against Harry, her kisses becoming more desperate. He suspected her thoughts had gone where his were – and it was confirmed when he felt another tear splash onto his nose.
None of that, now. The narrow confines of the bed made it difficult, but Harry managed to flip Ginny over so that she was beneath him. "So tell me," he panted, letting his full weight rest on her for a minute before he pushed up on his arms and began teasing her by rubbing himself lightly, up and down. "Did you ever think you'd be making out with your boyfriend in the Hospital Wing?"
Ginny took a shuddering breath. "Well," she finally said. "Given that my boyfriend is Harry Potter, and he spends so much time in the Hospital Wing that they may as well name the bloody place after him – then, yes. Why not?"
Harry grinned, glad Ginny was matching his attempts at levity. "As long as I have you to come visit me, being in the Hospital Wing isn't so bad, actually." Harry kissed her again. "At least I don't have to try to sleep through your brother's snoring."
Ginny giggled. "Fred and George tried to banish his nose once. Instead, they just managed to flatten it so that it spread across half his face. I really thought my mum was going to explode, especially when Fred looked at her with a perfectly straight face and said 'at least he doesn't snore anymore.'"
Harry snorted loudly, then froze as the sound echoed off the high walls. Across the ward, Madame Pomfrey's door squeaked and the doorknob turned.
"Quick, where's your cloak?" Ginny whispered, sliding off his lap. She fumbled around on the floor and then suddenly disappeared. Harry had one last glimpse of her face, still swollen with tears, before she was gone. A second later he saw one of the beds near the door shake a little as Ginny rushed past.
But then Madame Pomfrey was in the ward, bustling towards Harry's bed. "Good, you're awake," she said briskly, picking up his wrist and feeling his forehead. "And alone, I see. Finally." She huffed as if to express her opinion of Harry's nearly constant visitor.
Harry was certain he could hear Ginny breathing, much too loudly, by the door she didn't dare open. He grabbed at the blankets, hoping the matron hadn't caught sight of the last of his arousal and instead pulled something white onto his lap.
Shite. Ginny's shirt. Harry shoved it underneath him and lay back against the pillow.
"What time is it? How long was I out?" he asked, trying to sound confused and yet, speaking rather loudly. He was certain then that he heard a chuckle from the air.
Luckily Madame Pomfrey didn't seem to notice. "About two days," she replied absently, now waving her wand around him in a complicated pattern. After a moment, she nodded to herself. "Well, that's that. I'll just floo the Headmaster and tell him that everything's put to right, okay?" She patted his hand and turned back to her office.
As soon as the door closed a hand reached out of nowhere and grabbed the shirt from under Harry's bum. He grinned and kissed at the air. A smacking sound returned.
"Love you," he called out.
"I love you," Ginny said. Then the door to the Hospital Wing opened and closed and she was gone.
Harry rolled over in his bed, smiling to himself. Despite everything, he felt oddly okay. Tomorrow, they would tell everyone else. He closed his eyes, determined not to think about it until then.