A/N: Sorry for this short chapter, but it couldn't be helped. A friend of mine had borrowed my copy of the first book, and without it I cannot continue. So the best I can do is to send you this first half of the fourth chapter and to tell you all that it may be quite some time before you see another chapter, because my friend is not the fastest of readers… Sorry…

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros. Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

What Dreams may come

Chapter 4

Mind-Blend

  As Ginny entered the room, the first thing that she noticed was that this room was completely different from the first room. It was well lighted with touches, set about the small round room. A long flight of stairs reached up into nothingness on the opposite side of the room. A huge mirror, girdled in gold, stood alone in the middle of the room on two clawed feet. An inscription was carved into the gold around the top edge: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. The Mirror of Erised.

  Ginny stepped up to the mirror, expecting to see her own refection. Instead, Harry stood in the mirror, looking back at her, smiling in a way she seldom seen him smile. Not the worry-tainted smile that Harry wore these days, it was a smile full of joy and laughter, an open and honest smile.

  'Yes…to see Harry smile like that again. That's how I want him to be, joyful and free, not laid down with worry and grief…as I had last seen him to be, when he returned from the hospital wing…

  Her musing was cut short when she heard a sound from the stairs. She pulled her attention away from the mirror just in time to see a tall, thin man wearing the black Hogwarts robes and a huge turban on his head, swept his way down the stairs. A sweep of his hand caught Ginny at the side of her head, sending her rolling. He did not apologize or even gave any sign that he saw Ginny at all. He just stood in front of the mirror, motionless, as if caught in a full-body bind, except that he was standing up.

  Fuming, Ginny got up and walked towards the man, rolling up her sleeves as she went.

  "Hey! What's the big idea of knocking me down, then standing there like a statue?!" Ginny shouted, shaking her fist in front of face of the man. The man simply ignored Ginny, and continued to stare into the mirror, as if he was looking for something in it.

  "What's up with you, you stupid git? Apologize now!" Ginny's temper was rising as the man continued to ignore Ginny. Finally, unable to restrain herself, she reached up to grab hold of his robes, intending to pull his face down to her level, since he was so much taller than her. She got a shock, however, when her hand simply went right through the man, nothing resisting her hand at all, as if there was nothing there but air. Astonished, she tried again with the same lack of success.

  "Don't waste your time, Ginny. You cannot touch him." Star said from behind Her.

  "Why not?" Ginny demanded, still trying her best to at least touch the man.

  "Because, he is only a memory. You can't touch a memory." Star explained, an amused look on her face.

  "Isn't it unfair? I mean, he hit me! Can't I at least hit him back?" Ginny asked, finally giving up her futile task. She walked over to where Star was sitting and sat down beside Star.

  "He can hit you because your mind said he can." Star said, slipping into that tone of voice she used when she was explaining something.

  "Huh? What do you mean, 'my mind said he can'?" Ginny asked, perplexed.

  "When someone swing his arm at you in the real world, will it not hit you?" Star asked in return.

  "Yeah… What does that have to do with it?" Ginny replied, still not understanding.

  "It is the same here in Tel'anran'rhiod. When you see someone swing his arms at you, you expect to get hit, so you do. But the difference is that in Tel'anran'rhiod, what you see is but an image, a memory of someone else. In their world, you can't touch or interact with the things here at all. Anymore than you can hit feelings or touch thoughts in the physical term. That's why I asked you to be careful when you first came in here. If that was a sword that hit you, you will be cut. And if you die here, you die in the real world too."

  "So that means that I can only observe in here? Then how am I going to help Harry? I mean, I can't just grab him and run out of the dream, can I?" Ginny asked, a little unnerved by the fact that she could die here.

  "No… not in that way. However, it is possible for you to synchronize your thought waves to match his. That way, you can reach him and talk to him." Star replied.

  "What do you mean, synchronize my thoughts?" Ginny asked, getting confused again.

  "The human brain produces a certain kind of wave pattern. Each person has a different brain wave. It is this brain wave that is present at Tel'anran'rhiod. It is also this brain wave that affects the things like dreams and such things. So, all you have to do is to match your brain wave with Harry's brain wave. This will allow you enter his dreams, to talk to him. It should be easier for you, since you already have a link to Harry." Star answered

  "What do you mean, a link?" Ginny asked. As far as she knew, she did not have any kind of link to Harry whatsoever. Not even friendship links. She was just Ron's little sister to Harry.

  "Did Harry not save you during your first year?" Star asked. "You should know that when a wizard saves another wizard's or witch's life, a bond is formed between them. It was this bond that helped you to connect to Harry's dream about his parents. "

  Oh yeah. She had forgotten all about it… the bond thing, not the saving. She could never forget Harry saving her in her first year in Hogwarts… How he looked when she woke up in his arms, covered in Basilisk blood, a sword in hand, that dammed diary in the other…

  "Hey, you still there?" Star's amused voice cut into Ginny's thoughts.

  "Huh? Oh… yeah. I'm still here…" Ginny said as she tried to shake herself from her moment in daydreaming.

  They sat there for a moment in silent.

  "So…how do I go about synchronizing my brain waves with Harry?" Ginny asked, suddenly all business. 

  "I really have no idea. It all depends on the two of you. But you will know it when you do connect your minds together." Star replied.

  A sudden sound on the stairs prevented Ginny from asking for more details. Harry stood there, on the top of the stairs, a shocked look on his face.