A/N: THE RED SOX WON YESTERDAY!!! YIPPEE!! And when the Red Sox win, good things happen, like I get the next part out. Well I think it is good, I don't know about you. Sorry it took me so long. If the word 'forever' appears to much for your liking its not my fault, I wrote this part while listening to the song "Forever and Ever' from the Tigger Movie, over and over. It's actually a good song
Disclaimer: Everything is J.K. Rowlings, not mine
Keeping Harry Sane
Of Missing Persons, Almost Kisses, and Bad Memories
Part Three
Call Me
If one day u feel like crying,
Call me.
I don't promise you I will make you laugh,
But I can cry with you.
If one day you want to run away,
Don't be afraid to call me.
I don't promise to ask you to stop,
But I can run with you.
If one day you don't want to listen to
Anybody;
Call me and
I promise to be very quiet.
But...
If one day you call me and there is no answer...
Come fast to see me...
Perhaps I need you.
"God. What has Dumbledore got against us? Watch duty now this?" Harry said while trying to balance his basket on his head.
"I really wasn't expecting this. When he said a favor I thought something exciting. I really never thought of brining dirty laundry down to the house elves." Ginny placed her basket on her head and slowly brought her fingers away. The basket leaned dangerously to one side so she quickly put her hands back.
"I know, why doesn't he magic them down or something." Harry was striding along with out even noticing the basket on his head.
"I don't know." Ginny stopped walking and tried to get the basket to balance again. How was Harry doing this? Very slowly she brought her hands away. It stayed. Slowly she took a step. CRASH! The basket fell to the floor. "Oops."
Harry stopped a few feet ahead of her, and spun around. His basket didn't fall off his head. Shaking his head slowly with a wide grin on his face he said, "balancing charm, Hun."
"Oh." Harry pulled out his wand and waved it at the fallen cloths. They leapt back into the basket, which was lying a few feet away. The basket flew to the top of her head. "Thanks."
"Du rein," he said starting to walk again
"What?" Ginny ran a few paces to catch up with him. She was pleased to see that the basket didn't fall off her head.
"It means you're welcome."
"Oh. Where are we going?"
"Kitchens."
They walked the most of the way in silence. When they were about the reach up and tickle the pear they heard the unmistakable tap tap of shoes.
"Hold my hand," Harry whispered to Ginny. She didn't need to be told twice. Harry closed his eyes and began muttering words Ginny couldn't pick up. The footsteps were getting closer and voices could be heard.
"Yes we have her." Then someone said something Ginny couldn't hear. "Don't worry she won't see the light of day for a long, long time."
The voice definitely didn't sound friendly. Doing the only thing that came to mind, she prayed. God, uhhh…please help Harry do whatever he is doing. And please let it save us from whatever we need saving from. It sounded so pathetic she almost laughed. Harry opened his eyes. "It's ok," he muttered right into her ear. Ginny smiled, his breath had felt very warm against her ear. He squeezed her hand a little tighter, making shivers go up and down her spine.
Two people rounded the corner. One was Draco Malfoy and the other was Goyle. Draco had his familiar smirk on his face, but his eyes showed something else. Ginny looked hard. Something like triumph. Goyle didn't seem to notice and went on talking. Goyle was the person that Ginny had heard before.
"She was nosing where her big nose didn't belong." Ginny held her breath waiting for them to notice Harry and her. They didn't. Goyle kept on spilling secrets to Draco and Draco kept smirking. Harry squeezed her hand still tighter. She realized that he must have put an invisibility charm on them. But that still made them solid and they were standing in the middle of the hallway.
"Harry!" Ginny whispered as quietly as she could and still sounding urgent. He shock his head. Ginny wanted to protest, but Draco and Goyle were getting dangerously close and she didn't want to risk them hearing her. She took a step closer to Harry. They were getting closer. Any moment they would walk right into them. Three feet, two feet…Why hadn't we gone into the kitchen right away?… One foot and…Ginny waited for the bump. It didn't come. Instead Ginny felt a strange cold feeling, and they were gone. She spun around and saw them walking away down the hall. She also saw Draco turn around and wink.
Dumbfounded she turned to Harry. "What the…? Why didn't they…? How come…?" Harry smiled and placed a finger on her lips.
"Don't worry about it."
Ginny just nodded stupidly, it was all she could do with Harry's eyes looking into her own in that way. And they turned, still holding hands, and went into the kitchen, with the laundry on their heads.
***
"You try." Ginny gave Harry a look showing her confusion. "Say 'Lemon Drop' to the armor," he explained.
They were standing outside the suit of armor that led into the watch duty room. In the whole week they had been on duty Harry had always given the password. Comprehension dawning she said, "oh I see." She turned to the armor. "Lemon Drop."
The armor immediately sprang to life and walked aside. The scene inside had become so familiar to Ginny she didn't even glance at all the screens that at one time she hadn't been able to keep her eyes off. Walking straight to one of the chairs she announced, "I brought Exploding Snap tonight."
"Good. I was getting sick of chess. Get it set up I'll be there in a moment. Just have to inspect." He threw his bag under the desk and starting walking around looking at all the screens. He always did this. Ginny didn't really think it was necessary, if anything in one of them moved it would not have been hard to miss. All the screens were so boringly still that if anything changed it would stick out like a sore thumb. Still he did it every night. So Ginny got the cards out and preformed the shuffle charm.
"Nothing different," Harry said as he sat down.
"There's a surprise."
"I was just thinking with Lisa…"
An idea struck Ginny. "You don't think that Goyle was talking about …about Lisa? But we don't even know that she is missing, I mean she just missed one meeting."
He laughed. "Have you seen Lisa around the school lately?"
"No, but she could have been following Goyle. Couldn't she have been?"
He shook his head. "As much as I want to think that, I am afraid I don't. Do you think I preformed the gasodic charm for nothing?"
"What is the gasodic charm?" Ginny knew what she thought it was, but she wanted to be certain.
"It makes us gas. As in we are no longer solid. Since we aren't solid, we can't be seen, or felt. Of course it is only temporary. At the time I didn't realize that Draco was with him. Hopefully Draco got out information, what we hear didn't really help."
"You mean to say that, we were…we weren't solid?"
"Yeah."
"But then how did we hold hands?" she remembered the warm feeling his hand left.
"We were both gases, so we could see and feel each other, but no one else could. Come on it's your turn." He pointed to the snap cards that lay forgotten on the desk.
"Oh right." They played in silence for a while, until Harry said something very unexpected.
"I'm glad you joined." Ginny looked up sharply. Harry was still looking at the cards. He didn't seem to want to meet her eyes.
"That was totally out of the blue." He still didn't look up. To tell the truth Ginny had thought that Harry didn't want her to join. As much as she had enjoyed being in SID, she had always felt like she was intruding on Harry's private life.
"I mean it." He raised his eyes and looked into Ginny's eyes. She stared back into those deep green pools. He's telling the truth she suddenly realized. She could almost read his every thought just by looking into those eyes.
Ginny suddenly realized how close they were. It made her fidgety, being this near Harry. They had both stood up too, without Ginny noticing. Their faces were barely inches from each other.
"Do you still feel like you are going crazy?" She whispered. She didn't know why she was whispering, it just seemed to be the right thing to do. Something was happening. She didn't know what, but she knew it was important. Harry seemed to realize the same thing. He took awhile in answering.
"Only when I am near you." He whispered this so quietly that Ginny was almost certain that she had heard wrong. He cocked his head to side slightly. Ginny did the same. He leaned in toward her. She only realized what he was going to do a second before he did it. Or almost did it.
"Ahem." Ginny jumped and pulled away before Harry's lips met hers. She turned around and saw of all people to catch them almost kissing. Dumbledore was standing in the doorway. Harry stepped away from her. His back was still to the doorway, but Ginny thought he probably knew who it was. Slowly he turned around. Ginny could see a look of disbelief on his face. She knew how he felt. Of all the times for the headmaster to pay a visit, it had to be the moment when all her dreams were about to come true. Most nights on duty she would have welcomed a visitor. Dumbledore had a very amused expression on his face. "I am sorry if I, er, interrupted something."
"Nothing, Headmaster." Harry muttered. His face said that it was something. "Is there someway we can help you?"
"Uh, yes. I have just talked to Draco. He had some very interesting information. Some involved you two down by the kitchen." Here his smile grew wider. "But the more important has to do with Lisa. They have her." Harry's face paled considerably.
"Do you know where?"
Dumbledore sadly shook his head. "Not at the moment, but we know her destination. That is where you two come in. Screen number 83."
Harry jumped. "83? You are sure?"
"Unfortunately, yes, I am very sure. You see why we need you two. Especially you Harry. Ginny, you came in handy too." Ginny felt like she had missed something. Which screen was number 83? She looked around at the hundreds of screens surrounding them.
Harry was still trying to find some reason to show she wasn't wherever screen 83 was. "But…but how would they get in?"
"They same way Ginny did."
And it clicked. Ginny knew exactly what 83 showed. She also knew she didn't want to go anywhere near there. "No," she said. They both looked at her. She just shook her head, as if she couldn't find the right words. "Where is the screen?" Harry pointed to one at eye level across from them. She had been right. They screen showed an empty bathroom. Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Her eyes wide with fear she turned around. "What do you want us to do?"
Dumbledore looked extremely grave. "Harry is the only person who can open it. And Ginny, you are the only on other than Harry that has been in there. Now I want you two to watch that screen. At the slightest sign of movement run as fast as you can down there. Go by my office and knock on the gargoyle, I'll hear it. When you get to the bathroom, you can wait for me, or go in. Ok? Are you both ok with this?"
Harry nodded mutely, but Ginny didn't react. She sat down hard on the desk. Dumbledore gave her a concerned look, winked at Harry, and left. Harry was left standing there feeling worse then he had all week. There were so many thoughts running through his head. Although they weren't what would be expected having just been informed that a student had been kidnapped by Death Eaters. I almost kissed Ginny. Ginny, my best friends sister. She doesn't have to go down there, does she? I almost kissed her. What will Ron say? I didn't even know I like her that way. What a cheesy line that was 'only when I am near you.' How lame. Do I like her that way?
"So…" He turned around to face Ginny who was sitting curled up on the desk. Her hands were covering her face, but from the small sobs and the way her body was shacking, he figured she was crying.
If Harry Potter had one weakness, it was girls. He never felt perfectly comfortable around them. And when they cried he had absolutely no idea what to do. Ron had always taken care of Hermione when she cried, with Harry standing next to him pretending to help.
"Oh Ginny, uh, don't cry." He went over to her and awkwardly put his arms around her. Seating himself next to her he said, "Don't worry, it will be alright."
"Oh Harry." She gave a big sob on threw her arms around him. "I'm so sorry, I'm acting like a such a baby."
"No honey, you aren't. It's very understandable. You don't have to go down there, if you don't want to, but if you do, nothing bad will happen to you. I promise." Ginny looked into his eyes, and they told her everything. He was telling the truth, he wouldn't let anything happen to her. But what if something happens to him?
Ginny pulled out of Harry's arms and started wiping her eyes with her sleeves. "No, I'll go."
"You sure?"
"Yes. We should probably watch the screen."
"What?" He looked confused for a moment. "Oh right, probably." He got up off the table and extended a hand. "Come on, Lady."
Ginny took it and smiled. "Thank you sir." Harry pulled her to her feet, then picked her up, causing her to cry out with surprise. He dropped her into a swivel chair.
"It will be just like watching television," Harry said as he pushed her chair in front of screen 83. "Except, of course, the fact that things on the television usually move."
"Mmm…"
"Are you sure you're ok?" Ginny tore her eyes away from screen 83 and looked into Harry's. He was seating himself next to her in his own chair.
"Look into my eyes." Harry raised his eyebrows, but did as he was told. "Ok, now I am going to tell you that I am fine. Ok? I am fine. You tell me if I'm ok." He stared into her eyes for what seemed like hours.
"Your not."
Ginny smiled. "Right. But I will be." In a moment of courage she reached out and took Harry's hand. He grinned at her and squeezed it tighter. "You can sleep if you want, Harry. I'm really not tired, and who know how long it will be before we see anything."
"You sure?"
"Well, I could ask you to see for yourself, or you could believe me." She smiled at him.
"I believe you. I think I will take a quick nap. Wake me for anything, ok? Even if you just want to talk, or someone to sit with in silence. Anything stupid is ok. Goodnight."
"Sweet dreams."
"Hopefully." And he was asleep.
Ginny, although she would have wanted to stare at Harry, had no chose but to watch the screen. And to make matters worse, it was a picture of the bathroom that she had avoided since her first year. It still gave her the creeps. So she sat, still holding Harry's hand, watching the unmoving bathroom for two hours. Just when she thought that she could sit no more and would have to get up to stretch her legs it happened. A cloaked person walked into the bathroom. It was quite a shock for Ginny, who had never seen television. It was a picture that was moving, and not in the way a wizard photo does. This was actually happening somewhere, it wasn't a person standing there waving.
"Harry!" She whispered, although she didn't know why. She didn't move. Poking him, she said again louder, "Harry!"
"I'm getting up Aunt Petunia." He squirmed in the chair a little
Ginny giggled. "No Harry, It's me Ginny."
He opened one bleary eye. "Ginny?" He opened his other eye. "Oh right, Ginny."
"Look." She pointed to the screen. Another person, who seemed to be sleep walking, had joined the cloaked man. The first man pointed to the tap against the wall, and the sleepwalker went over to it. The bathroom door opened again and in walked Lucius Malfoy. He hadn't even bothered to wear a hood. In his arms was Lisa, she was out cold.
"Come on Ginny, we got to go." He was already standing up and opening the door. Ginny shot out of the chair with a slight wince—she had been sitting in the same position for two hours. She heard Harry mutter Comme Vent. The running charm, of course. She did the same to her feet. Immediately she felt and incredibly lightness come over her. She had a sudden urge to run and run until she could run no more. This was new to her, she had never been a big fan of running.
"I want to run."
Harry laughed. "I know what you mean, let's go." He ran out of the door at an amazing speed. Ginny followed behind. It was the most amazing feeling. This must be what the wind feels like, thought Ginny. Her feet seemed to barely touch the ground. She didn't care where she ran, she just wanted to keep running forever. Harry, who was slightly ahead of her swerved around a corner and banged his hand on a statue.
"That must have hurt," Ginny called without slacking her breakneck speed.
"It was Dumbledore's door," he called over his shoulder.
"Oh, I see." In no time at all they were at Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. In order to go in Ginny had to stop running, which she did regretfully. She was still jogging in place as they entered the bathroom.
"You know, Ginny, you might want to take that charm off."
"Charm?" She tried to remember what charm. "Oh right the charm. Comme Lingot." The urge to run suddenly left her and she was very happy just to stand and not move. "So do we wait for Dumbledore?"
Harry shook his head while inspecting the tap. "No, I'm trying to figure out how to leave the entrance open until he gets here. Do you think it would work if I told it to stay open."
"Might. It's probably worth a try," Ginny said while walking over to join Harry by the tap. She shuddered slightly when her eyes fell on the engraving of the snake. "I remember that." She pointed to snake. "It still scares me."
Harry gave her a searching look. Then shrugged. "Let's go." He turned back to the snake and started shaking his head to get the snake to look real. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead of words came a series of funny hissing and spluttering noises. The tap slide away, and Harry took a deep breath. "I'll go first," he said in English.
Ginny nodded. Harry lowered himself into the pipe until only his head was showing. "I guess watch duty isn't as boring as I told you it would be," he said.
"No, it's very exciting. Maybe too much. Now go, we can't waste time." Harry gave a small wave and let go. Ginny followed behind. She remembered to clearly when she had done this five years ago. She had much better company this time, and was going in with different intentions. Just when she was thinking that the tunnel would never end, it leveled out and she landed with a bump on Harry. "Oops, sorry Harry."
"That's ok, get out your wand."
Ginny took out hers and said "Lumos." She saw the tunnel that had haunted her nightmares ever since her first year. Shaking they began to trudge down it. The ceiling lowered suddenly, and Ginny didn't see it in time. SMASH! And her world went black.
Ginny Weasley walked towards the bathroom on the third floor. She didn't know why she was heading in that direction, but she couldn't stop walking. Something in the back of her head told her to turn around, but she couldn't. She reached the bathroom, and a little voice in her head said 'open the door.' She did. Inside was the ghost Moaning Myrtle. Ginny meant to say hello, but her mouth didn't want to say the words.
This is scary, she thought. I have to get out of here. But she couldn't. Her legs carried her over to the far tap and strange words came out of her mouth. A large hole opened up, and suddenly she knew why she was in the bathroom, and what was going to happen.
"No," she said out loud even though she knew it would do no good. She tried to force herself to turn around. Bad things will happen if I go down there, she thought. The more she tried to resist, the stronger the bond became. The voice inside her head was louder. 'Go into the hole, go into the hole.'
"NO!" she screamed, but it was no use, her body was already halfway in the pipe. "No…Tom…no… I can't…TOM!" She was sliding down the pipe, it was slimy and wet. Suddenly she remembered something. The Diary! It was in her pocket. When she reached the bottom of the pipe, she reached into her pocket and grabbed the diary.
How innocent it looks, thought Ginny. She tried to throw it far away, but she couldn't open her hand. "No…Tom stop!" she screamed again.
"Stop struggling, stupid girl." This time the voice wasn't just in her head. It was coming for the book in her hands.
"Tom, why are you doing this?" As she talked her feet were steadily carrying her down the long tunnel. "No…I won't…Harry…he'll save me…"
"Oh you think hero boy can save you this time? I think not. He'll come to try save you, but I will finish him off. He cannot possibly think that he can defeat me. I am Lord Voldemort!"
Ginny shuddered and desperately tried to grab onto the smooth walls. "He's much better than you! You're only a book, he's braver, he defeated you once, and…and…" She was losing strength.
The diary gave out a cold mirthless laugh. "I am only a book? Well we will see about that, stupid girl." They reached a set of doors with snakes on them. Ginny winced as the voice entered her head again. 'Open the doors, Girl.' She heard strange words coming out of her mouth, she tried to stop by sticking her fist in her mouth, but it did no good. The doors opened and she walked in.
The voice was back in the diary. "Go over to the statue, and put me down in front of you. I want to show you something." Ginny, very unwillingly, obeyed. She put the book down in front of her, like directed. All of a sudden a wave of tiredness came over her. She felt drained and exhausted, like she had run miles. She put her hand to her forehead, but didn't sit down. That would show Riddle that he was tiring her.
All of a sudden the diary began to shake and a thin line of smoke came out of it. It hovered above the book. It was joined by another and then another, until it began to take the shape of a human being. Ginny screamed. She knew what was happening, Riddle was coming out of the diary. He would be about to hurt Harry. "No…Harry…no…NO!" and she fainted.
"NO!"
"Ginny, Ginny. Wake up!" Someone was shaking her, hard. She could hear a note of panic in the person's voice. Upon opening her eyes she saw who it was. Harry. It all came back. She had hit her head on the ceiling, and must have been knocked out. "Are you ok? Do you want to go back? I'll go on alone."
"No," Ginny said struggling to her feet. "I'm fine." Harry looked at her like he didn't quiet believe that, but didn't say anything. "How long was I out?"
"Only a few minutes, but you kept yelling 'No' and 'Harry'. It was slightly unnerving."
Ginny cracked a smile, which quickly disappeared when they reached the big doors with the snakes. It was exactly like she remember. Snakes, which looked too real to have been carved without magic, were all over the door. Harry took a deep breath and spoke to the door. It opened. He raised his eyebrows at her. She nodded and took his hand, and together they went through the door.
***
A/N: Ok, sorry about the cliffhanger. I supposed I could have made it worse, but whatever. I actually sort of like this part. The next part might not be out for a while, I'm going away in about a week for a week, and it takes me long enough anyway to get these parts out. It's only been twelve days since I put the last part out. It must be a record for me. (I am really slow at getting parts out, sorry!) It was vacation, so that might be why. Please review (I'll love you forever)!
Message to aria* (if she is reading this)—More conversation, I know what you mean about people covering their ears when you say 'Harry'. People are always rolling their eyes at me when I start to quote the books. It's really not my fault. Whenever I hear someone say 'Once or Twice' I just have to say 'A minute, all summer.' (page 96 in Sorcerers Stone, if you didn't know. Don't worry I have my book with me, I'm not that obsessed that I memorize page numbers. Although it might come to that if JKR doesn't get book five out soon.) I have no control over it. Hehe.