When Harry walked into the Great Hall that evening, Ginny was waiting for him. She glanced at the table, then grabbed his arm and dragged him away to a corner of the room, ignoring the stares from the fellow students.
"I haven't had a chance to talk to you alone all day," she whispered.
He ran his fingers through his hair, and sighed. "I know that, but do you really think this is the best place?"
"Better then most. They're staring at us, but at least they won't over hear. I got another verse last night. And just for the record, this one was definitely female, while all the others I couldn't tell."
Harry nodded. "And what did it say?"
" 'Of Hogwarts founders four, the blood line must remain pure.' So today in history, I asked about the founding of Hogwarts." Quickly she related what Professor Binns had told her in history.
"So what does it mean?"
"Think about it Harry. There's no way that I am making this prophesy. I'm no prophet, so therefore it had to have been made before. Helga Hufflepuff was known to read palms. Then this 'Helga's Last Act' thing, makes me think that it would have something to do with her talents. Where have I heard of Helga's Last Act before?"
"That painting, in Hogsmeade, remember?"
She grinned. "That's right."
"Okay, well like we talked about, I asked about prophesies in Divination today." He relayed everything that he had learned. "I agree that there is no way that you are making this prophesy. They come all at once, and not in dreams. The thing is, Elizabeth proved that one of the ways that the dead contact us is through our dreams. So I think that has to be how you are getting these verses."
"It rhymes because it wasn't to come true for a very long time. That only makes my theory even better."
Harry nodded. "The thing is, these messages come so slowly."
"Good thing they do," she interrupted, "or else I would have bags under my eyes like you wouldn't believe. The message only comes when I'm having a nightmare. Always that grave, and I can't read the name." She shuddered, and Harry laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Well, they come too slowly for my comfort, if there is stuff about me in there. But if this prophesy is already made, there may be some record of it somewhere."
"And under Helga's Last Act is where we should start. We can go right after-"
"No!" he said quietly yet forcefully.
Ginny looked up again surprised, and suddenly took in his appearance again. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he looked stained. "I don't want Ron or Hermione to know anything. And I mean nothing. They don't need to be involved in this." He left the "and I wish you didn't either," off, but he said just as much in the way he looked at her.
"Harry," she said softly, more conscious then ever of the eyes on them. "You haven't been sleeping, is everything alright?"
He shook his head, and Ginny was willing to bet had she been in his position at that moment she'd have been in tears already. "Just nightmares, no big deal. Promise me, you won't let them know. We can do our research at night, or when they are busy."
"I promise," she paused. "Harry, what happened when you snuck into that staff meeting? I know about the dream, and you telling Dumbledore, but what did they say when they thought you were gone that has you so upset?"
Harry looked around, checking that nobody could hear. For a moment, the people watching them suddenly found something else to do, but their eyes returned as soon as he looked at her again. "Rose, do I," he paused, looking for the right words. "Do I, make you do things?"
"What?" she asked, taken by surprise.
"They, they said, that, that I could tell you the sky is yellow, then make you think you were a fool for not knowing sooner."
"Who said that?"
"Dumbledore."
She tried not to laugh at him. He was upset. She shouldn't laugh. She bit her lip before speaking. "Harry, you are a leader. It's built in you. I know what they are talking about. Sometimes when something is important, you get this feeling about you. It makes me feel like you are a lot older then your age. I think it has the same affect on the adults. It would bother them, I'm sure; to have a fourteen-year-old make them feel like children. But no, Harry, you have never made me do anything I didn't want to do, or them. You just don't let them treat you like a child. So that is why every time you make a request you take it back."
"So I don't force people to do things?"
"I'm sure you could, and would if it was important enough, but you don't do it on a regular basis. It's nothing to be upset about. In fact, if you weren't a leader we would all be in very big trouble, I think."
Harry sighed and ran his hand through his hair again. "Come on, if I don't put some food in you, you are going to fall over. You never eat enough." Ginny grabbed Harry by the arm and plopped him beside her.
Ron watched as Ginny led Harry off the corner of the room. Ginny positioned herself so that she would see anybody who came near. "What are they talking about?" he asked Hermione.
She glanced over at them, then turned her stern look on Ron. "I don't read lips, Pawn." As he had started to always use her nickname, she felt it only right to use his.
He sighed before returning to his food. "I don't see why they always have to leave us out of everything. She's my sister, and he's my best friend."
"Well, in my opinion, if Harry doesn't need us, then we shouldn't push it. It doesn't upset me to have a year off for once."
"But what if he does need us and just won't come to us? You know he hates to involve us in anything that has to do with You Know Who. Her name is on that rock! But if I bring up anything about the subject, he gets all quiet and stares of in space."
"Why do you thing Rose is involved in it? She may be your sister, but she has a head on her shoulders too. Even if he didn't come to us, if he needed us, Rose would tell us. She," Hermione changed what she was going to say, remembering whom she was talking to, "cares too much for him to let him get in over his head."
"I still don't have too like it."
Hermione looked up at him. His face was etched with worry and his blue eyes made such a sharp contrast to his red hair that it still made her blink. 'Why does he have to be so damn cute?' She stopped the train of thought before it could continue. "No you don't, but you have to live with it."
When Ginny and Harry sat down, neither Ron nor Hermione said a word about their secret conversation. Harry looked about ready to fall asleep on the table when a giant owl swooped in one of the high windows. It flew to Harry, and with surprise he grabbed the letter off of it.
"It's from Tony," he said with surprise. "Dear Harry, we have a free weekend, if you are not already busy, we'd like to have a practice. We understand if your studies prevent you from complying. Send us a reply, a.s.a.p. Signed, all of us."
"We have a house team practice on Saturday, but you are not doing anything on Sunday, though it is a Hogsmeade trip."
"So much for sleeping in," he muttered. "Hand me a quill Hermione, you always have one." She pulled one from her pocket, along with some ink.
He wrote his response on the back of the first letter. Tony, Tiffany, Chuck, Brad, Chad, Lad. I'll be in Hogsmeade on Sunday; you can pick me up there. I need to tell Professor Dumbledore, but it shouldn't be a problem. Don't blame me if I'm dead on my feet. I have a house team practice on Saturday, and you're stealing my only sleeping opportunity. Rose may beat you with a stick; she's already saying that I don't eat or sleep enough. Your friend, Harry.
He handed it back to the owl, and it took off. Yawning, he stood and walked over to the staff table. They turned and looked at him, but staring eyes didn't bother Harry anymore. It would never stop, so he had better get used to it. "The team wants to practice on Sunday. I told them to pick me up at Hogsmeade. I don't know when I'll be back, but I won't let them keep me from class."
Harry suppressed another yawn as Dumbledore nodded. "I hope you have fun. Try not to work yourself too hard."
Harry walked out of the hall. Maybe he could catch some sleep beside the fire before he had to do his homework.
Ginny felt her necklace cool as Harry walked away. He yawned and Ginny sighed. Maybe she should start making him a sleeping potion more often. "Sal, what's wrong with him?"
"Jussst like he sssaid, Rossse. Nightmaresss. Not unlike the way you have when you get thossse messssssagesss."
"He isn't getting them too, is he?"
Sally shook her head, and sighed. "He'll be alright if we ssslip him sssome sssleeping potion once a week."
"I suppose-"
"Look, if you don't include us in everything," Ron interrupted her, "that's fine, but could you kindly not talk about it while I'm here and make me wonder what the hell is going on with my best friend and sister?" He didn't look angry, more like disappointed and worried.
Ginny grinned to herself. With Fred and George encouraging her to get it more trouble, it was easy to forget how much Ron cared. She kissed him on the cheek, which surprised him. "You're the best brother and girl could ask for, Ronald, even if you do worry too much. See you both later."
Ron stared at her as she left, before shaking his head and returning to his dinner once more, which had long since gone cold. Hermione limited herself to a smirk.
Ginny walked into the common room, which wasn't crowded because most of the house was at dinner. She spotted Harry; already sound asleep on a couch beside the fire. Smiling to herself, she found a blanket and tucked it around him, then removed his glasses. He slept through it all, and she sat down beside him.
She tried not to stare, knowing she was failing miserably. He looked so innocent asleep, like a child. Her necklace was pleasantly warm on her chest. She made herself move to the other side of the couch, putting plenty of distance between them, before picking up a book and attempting to read. However that was very hard to do when the sound of his breathing kept distracting her.
With a frustrated sigh, she resorted to staring at the book and letting her mind wander. 'I could be doing some research now. Well it doesn't need to be done this instant. Really. He is so gorgeous. That has nothing to do with why I don't want to research. It is late, and the library will be cold. It might alert Hermione and Ron to what we were doing. I'm making excuses to myself, how pathetic is that? I know very well that the fact to Harry is asleep beside me is what it keeping me here.'
He stirred, and she looked over at him. He groaned softly, and she sighed. 'Nightmares, just like the ones I get when they leave me a message.' She had her suspicions on who they were, but she never brought it up. 'And now the voice in my head is female, when before I was almost sure it was both. So did one of them leave me to contact him? Then why haven't they? Just nightmares. Wouldn't surprise me if he was fighting him off with everything he had, after Elizabeth.' She blinked. That could very well be exactly what he was doing. She had learned to embrace it, and that had made the nightmares decrease slightly. If Harry were fighting it, even unconsciously, then it would only make it worse.
'He could talk to Elizabeth, she showed herself.' She formed a plan in her head. It might work. That was when Harry began to thrash, and she reached over and shook him.
"Harry, come on, wake up." His eyes blinked open. "You were having a nightmare."
"Rose?" He squinted at her, and she quickly handed him his glasses.
He looked around, seeming have forgotten where he was. Then he looked down at the blanket, and back at her.
Ginny fought the blush with everything she had. "I had hoped you would get some restful sleep. Hoped in vain, it seems."
He yawned. "Thanks, I'll be alright. I'll just rest without falling asleep." He settled back into the couch and stared at the flames. Ginny pulled her sewing out of her bag, and started to mend the hem in an old hat of Fred's. She didn't want to know what had put the rip there to start.
Harry stayed silent, and Ginny didn't push conversation. More people started to filter in, but it didn't bother them. Ron and Hermione sat across from them, and held the silence.
It wasn't too long before Ginny drifted asleep. Harry smiled at her, and took the sewing out of her hands. She reacted by slumping up against him, and he only smiled again. She was one of the few people he knew who looked no different asleep then awake. Seamus was another one, and Harry had an idea that was because Seamus was just as much a troublemaker in his dreams as he was awake.
Harry started to finish the mending where Ginny left off. He had mended enough clothing at the Dursleys' to know something about sewing. Time passed, and Harry let it. With Ginny asleep against him, nobody talking to him, the sound of happy voices in the background, and the mind-drifting task of sewing, he was very peaceful. It was almost good enough to pass for sleep.
He never noticed Ginny's tears until his sleeve was wet.
Ginny sat on knees in front of the grave. She was dreaming and she knew it, that was the sensation that always came with these dreams. Knowing she wouldn't be able to read the name on the grave, she looked around instead. As she did, the sensation of being somebody else faded, and she felt like herself. That had never happened. She didn't even wait for the voice to speak.
"I know you are there!" she called. "I understand now, I know. I will find the prophesy, I will. Talk to me. Tell me who you are."
There was no answer for a moment. "You already know, don't you?" Ginny jerked around to face somebody who looked too much like her for her comfort.
"Lily."
Lily smiled, "Ginny. You are a bright girl, I was almost sure you would figure it out."
"Why all of this?" She went to gesture to the grave, but it was no longer there. "Why not just come to me from the start?"
"We couldn't at first. Ever since that little diary problem, you unconsciously guard you self. That took some time to get around, and once our voice could get through, we decided to just use that. You were figuring it out, and even when we could have gotten in, we saw no need."
"Why me, and not Harry? Even if he is fighting James now, he wouldn't have before Elizabeth."
Lily grinned. "You are a bright one. Which is why I would have thought you had figured that one out."
"Harry had to include me, if I was the one getting them. It was to make sure he didn't take everything on himself." Lily nodded, looking almost proud. "Why am I always at that grave?"
Lily hesitated, than answered slowly. "There is a lot I can not tell you. If you learn too much, you simply will not wake. To contact you, you must be upset, or worked up about something. That grave is what upsets you."
"But I've never seen one like it."
"You don't have too."
"Okay, another question. How is it that you can keep coming back, when Elizabeth could only come once?"
"Simple, really. That young girl had tucked only a tiny bit of her power away for this. James and I tucked all of it. Voldemort didn't drain our power, only killed us. It will run out, which is why if you can find the prophesy, then we will stop coming to you. You will need us later."
"Why is James trying to get to Harry?"
Lily closed her mouth and stared. "I wish you to wake," was all she said.
"Alright then." Ginny calmed her heart, and sorted through her mind what she wished to ask next. "Why can't you just tell me the prophesy now?"
Lily blinked. "I don't know it. Most of our magic went into finding a verse. Otherwise we would have given them in order."
Ginny was sure that there were more important questions to ask, but they failed her at the moment. "Are you happy?"
Lily smiled. "Oh, I do like you. James and I are not in a place of time. You see, it may have been years since our death there, but there is no time here. We are happy, yes, but in a sense, we are not here to be happy. It is too hard to explain."
"I-" Ginny realized there were tears leaking from her eyes. She couldn't say what she wanted to, she couldn't.
"You are upset, Rose, and I would walk foreword to comfort you, but I am not sure what would happen if I touch you."
"H- how did you know my nickname?"
Lily smiled. "Because it is what Harry calls you. I know everything in your head and his."
"Then you know," Ginny said looking at the floor, trying to ignore the fact that there was nothing there. Not just no floor, nothing.
"About what? Your feelings for my son?"
Ginny felt herself turn red, and the tears were falling from her. She couldn't understand why she was crying. "Ginny, listen. He needs you. That's all there is too it. That you love him only makes that easier. He hates the fact that he needs you. It tears him up. But if you love him, it only makes is harder for him to push you away. It's nothing to be upset about. You are too young to be upset about it."
"I know that, but I'm also to young to feel this strongly for somebody."
Lily bit her lip. "I wish you to wake. But do not worry too much about it. Everything will turn out all right. You must go now, and take Harry a message for me. Tell him that I love him more then anything and I am more proud of him then he could ever know. His father too."
Harry was about to panic, because Ginny wouldn't wake up. "Gods, Ginny stop messing around!" Tears leaked from behind her closed eyes and she sobbed, but fell limply when he stopped shaking her.
Suddenly, she gasped, and sat up straight. She looked around, her eyes frightened. She grabbed hold of Harry, and then burst in to tears. Hermione grabbed Ron to keep him from rushing to her.
"Ginny! Ginny what is it? Shush, it's okay." Harry had no idea what was okay, but he would never be able to get a word out of her if she didn't stop sobbing.
"Harry!" Apparently he was wrong. "I called her and she came, I talked to her!" She stopped talking and just sobbed.
That was not a lot of information, but Harry could put two and two together and get four. "C'm on, Rose," he said softly. He helped her to stand. He wrapped the blanket around her; she was shaking from head to toe. "Come on, it's okay, I'm here." Slowly they made their way to the girl's stairway. Harry more carrying her than anything, he led them up to the third year's dorm.
Opening the door, there was already a pair of girls present. Harry knew one by the name of Samantha, but he didn't know much more then that. Their eyes went wide at the sight of him, and wider at Ginny crying in his arms. "Could you please leave?" he asked quietly.
Nodding, the girl that Harry didn't know dragged Samantha out by the arm. Harry laid Ginny down on her bed, and sat down beside her. "Harry, I'm so sorry," she said between her sobs.
"Come on, Rose, whatever it was I already forgive you for it." That was true. If she was this upset he would forgive her of anything short of murder. "Now stop crying, I'm here, and everything will be fine."
She only sobbed harder and crawled over to him. Harry carefully placed his arms around her, wondering why he was afraid to touch her now when he didn't mind her sleeping on him before.
Slowly but surely, Ginny stopped crying. When she pulled away from him, she blushed. "See, everything is fine. Now tell me what's wrong."
"I had the dream again, and before the voice could come, I called out to it." She paused to take a deep breath. "I had already thought I knew who it was. I didn't want to tell you, because I thought it would upset you. But she was there Harry. She came and talked to me. It was so real!"
Harry saw the tears coming again, and grabbed her before they could. "Don't cry, Rose, I hate seeing you so upset. Don't cry."
Suppressing a gasp of surprise at the way he held her, Ginny swallowed the tears again. "Now slow down, Rose. Who came?"
"Your mother," she whispered. He didn't drop her, or push her away, but she felt the shock in the way every muscle in his body went tense. Ginny pulled away to look him in the eyes, which were open and scared. "It was Lily and James talking to me, but James has been trying to contact you, that is why you are having nightmares, but after Elizabeth, you are fighting him. So it was only Lily who talked to me. They only use their voices at first because I was blocking them too, and that was all they could get through to me."
His expression didn't change, and Ginny took the opportunity to tell him everything Lily had said, with some things left out of course. When she had told him almost everything, his eyes still had not changed.
"Why?" he asked, his voice wavering.
"Do you mean why were they coming to me? Because they didn't want you to have to do it all by yourself, and if they came to me, you had no choice. I'm sorry, really. She said that she wouldn't come anymore, because we are going look for the prophesy by ourselves. She said the magic would wear off eventually, and that she would save it for when it was needed."
"I know, I know, you said." Harry looked down, and realized that he was clutching the ring. Forcing himself, he let it go. It fell to his chest, and suddenly seemed to weigh a hundred pounds.
Muttering again how sorry she was, Ginny reached out and picked up the ring. He had never let anybody else touch it, but somehow, it didn't bother him. She took his hand, and pressed the ring against it, then pressed his hand against the left side of his chest.
It was a simple gesture, and an odd one, but it spoke volumes to what Harry was feeling. He wondered how long it had been since he had cried, but suddenly Ginny was comforting him.
It was an hour later when Harry walked out of Ginny's dorm. His lack of sleep showed now more then ever. As he walked down, panic met him. "Harry, something is wrong with that snake!"
Harry looked down to see Sally, coming at him with a speed he did not think possible. She slithered up him, and he enveloped her in a hug. "Harry, never do that to me again! Both of you, in one room, so messed up I thought you would both jump out the window, and I COULD NOT GET IN!! You have NO IDEA how awful that was to feel, and when I tried to tell them to let me in the door, they all started screaming and running. What happened?"
Harry looked up at the common room, which was staring shocked at Sally and him. "Just for the record," Harry said slowly. "If Sally is acting like that, it probably means she needs to get to either Ginny or I, and you have to let her to us."
"Where's Ginny?" Ron asked. "What was she crying about?"
"She is upstairs asleep, and she had a nightmare about Voldemort and me, needless to say I did come out with only a scratch this time." That was the story they had come up with.
Ron saw a lie, but when he looked closer at Harry's eyes, he stopped. Harry had been crying. Ron knew it took a lot to push his friend, and now more then ever, but when he did cry, it usually had to do with one of two things, people he cared about, or his parents. They were related, but it didn't matter. Ron didn't know which it was this time, and he didn't want to. 'Listen to Booky for once you idiot. You are getting a break, and you are not needed. Enjoy it and stay ready for when you are needed.'
Harry sat down on a chair, and started to have a long conversation with Sally, telling her everything that had happened.
Ginny pulled out her diary. She may not have told everything to Harry, but she wrote it all down. She noted that tears were smearing the ink, but she tried to ignore it. 'I'm an idiot. Why him? You had to pick him. The last person on the planet to look at you that way. You know he will always see you as his best friends' little sister. But when he held me, oh it hurts.'
She set the diary down and pushed her face into the pillow. 'He held me, and spoke to me, and everything was all right, or would be. Pull it together! You are only thirteen, and this isn't a bloody romance novel! He is fighting a war, and you are only here to make sure he survives it! Keep your eyes on that goal. It will go away, give it time, and it will go away. Ignore it, and it will go away. It will go away, it will go away. No it won't, I'll die first.' That was the last thought she had before exhaustion took over her.