Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. That would violate anti-slavery laws.
"Harry, Ginny, where were you two? I thought you didn't make it back last night," asked Lee as Harry and Ginny descended into the commons.
Fortunately, Ginny had already worked something out and said, "Don't be silly, Lee. Harry came back early. I decided to drape his invisibility cloak over him, you know, so Fred and George wouldn't decide to play any pranks on him. And I slept in the 7th year girls' room."
Lee looked like he was trying to decide whether Ginny was telling the truth, so Harry innocently asked, "Lee, did you have a fun time with Mandy last night?" Lee smiled guiltily and didn't ask any further questions.
Harry led the students to the Great Hall, and enjoyed the guard duties for once, since it allowed him to talk with Ginny.
"So when do you have to go back?" Harry asked.
Ginny blushed a little. Obviously she was missing some classes. "Well," she slowly said, "I have to get back tomorrow. I can't miss the dark arts class, since I'm so far behind to begin with." Harry blanched. Ginny was learning dark arts spells?
Ginny saw Harry's face and said jokingly, "Don't worry. The professor made me swear that I wouldn't use them except on girls named Lavender or Parvati."
Harry chuckled, but silently wished the two luck when they met Ginny's wrath. "Harry, we need to talk immediately," Snape's voice whispered in his ear. Harry looked at him and saw an unmistakable note of urgency.
Harry quietly said, "Classes..."
"Classes have been cancelled. Now, Potter." There was enough of a nasty tint in Snape's voice to unconsciously remind Harry of the first four years in potions.
"I'll be back, Ginny" Harry promised and followed Snape to an adjoining room.
As Harry entered the room, Snape immediately shut it behind them. Without preamble, McGonagall said, "There has been another attack." Harry gulped, wondering who the victim was. Suddenly, one of the large paintings in the room began to stretch, eventually forming a large hole. Dumbledore walked through, and Harry gasped. Dumbledore's arms were both in slings, and he was walking with a definite limp.
Dumbledore noticed the worried looks and gently said, "I am alright. However, I need to tell you about what has happened. In the daytime, I have slept in the seclusion of my room, which very few know of. To further guard against being attacked by the possessive spirit, I have locked the room with various enchantments, which I had assumed no one would be able to break."
"However," Dumbledore continued gravely, "Hannah Abbott, presumably under Voldemort's control, somehow managed to break the enchantments, and enter. Hannah began cursing me, but I was able to wake up and defend myself before I received lasting damage. I managed to drive Miss Abbott back, but I fear I must give some bad news. I will be unable to guard the castle tonight."
Everyone looked around in silence. Harry knew that the teachers were under as great as strain as he was to perform the wards, and guarding the castle would involve creating a much larger ward. He didn't know what made him do it, but Harry slowly said, "I'll do it."
No one responded to him, but none of the professors objected either. Dumbledore finally nodded, and Harry turned to Snape. "Professor," he asked, "may I get a potion for dreamless sleep?" Snape seemed to understand the reasoning behind Harry's request and left silently.
"There is something else I need to discuss about the attack, but I need my rest. We will discuss it tomorrow."
As Harry left the room, Snape walked up to him, carrying a small vial. Harry whispered to Snape, "Professor, we're meeting again tomorrow. Dumbledore has something else he needs to discuss with us." Snape nodded, and Harry walked back to Ginny.
"What's going on?" Ginny asked, clearly wondering why Harry had to talk with the Ward Wizards.
"I have to go to sleep. I have to do something tonight," Harry explained. He left his answer short though, because he didn't want to worry her with the news that Dumbledore was attacked and injured.
Ginny nodded and silently accompanied him to the Gryffindor commons. As Harry was about to drink the potion, Ginny asked, "What are you doing tonight?"
Harry thought about how to answer. Finally, he decided and said, "Tell you what, you can come with me."
Ginny smiled; Harry emptied the vial and fell into a deep slumber.
Harry was awakened by Professor McGonagall shaking him. "Potter, you have 30 minutes before your duty begins," she said gently. Harry quickly showered and got ready to go. As he came back to the commons, he noticed Ginny sitting by the fireplace.
"Are you ready, Ginny?" he asked. Ginny took his arm, and Harry led her silently to the center of the castle. He stopped, dropped her hand and focused.
"Larva Propulso" Harry intoned, and felt the usual ward come into place around him. Harry closed his eyes and worked on enlarging the ward. Harry shuddered, finding the task extremely difficult.
Ginny saw his expression and asked, "You're… You're guarding the castle, aren't you." Harry nodded jerkily.
"Where's Dumbledore?" Ginny asked, a little alarmed.
"He's ok." Harry croaked, and stumbled a bit, having finally encompassed the castle. Ginny worriedly grabbed his arms and guided him into a sitting position. Harry muttered, "I'm not going to make this."
"Harry…?" Ginny asked, but didn't get a response. "Harry! Come on! You have to stay awake! Er, how long have you been playing your trumpet?" Ginny asked, trying to find some way to keep Harry alert.
"7 months," Harry responded.
Ginny thought quickly, and said, "I thought you sounded pretty good! Why did you start playing it, though?"
Harry said, "I was trapped in my room. I accidentally read a letter for Uncle Dursley from Dumbledore and he found out. So he prevented me from practicing magic, and I had to find something to do. So I conjured up the trumpet piece by piece."
Ginny, grasping onto Harry's conversation, asked, "What did Dumbledore write your uncle about?"
Harry managed to open his eyes and replied, telling her all about the Dementor attack and Lucius Malfoy's encounter with the barrier around his house. And at Ginny's insistence, Harry told her about the Dudley/Harry trading pact, playing with the Creeveys, and even the performance with 'The Big Suits'
Ginny looked sleepily down at her watch. It was 4:00 AM! How long was Harry supposed to do this? She then noticed Harry drooping off in mid sentence.
"I'm glad you care so much for me!" Ginny shouted in a nasty voice, "You're going to leave me vulnerable to Voldemort!" Ginny regretted that it had to come to that, but she had to keep Harry awake.
The plan certain succeeded, as Harry's eyes immediately opened and sat up straight. Ginny ached to say that she was sorry, but knew she couldn't.
"Ok," Harry said, with a tint of heat, "What do you want to talk about now?"
"Well," stammered Ginny, "How did you do the song last year?"
"What song?" Harry asked, clearly confused.
"That song with the leprechaun. The Irish Drinking Song."
Harry laughed, and said, "It's not that hard."
Ginny said, "What do you mean? You have to think of a rhyme at the top of your head? How do you do that?"
Harry thought and said, "Well, I guess a lot of it depends on having an easy word to rhyme with. Here, start a verse up."
"What?" Ginny asked.
"Start a verse up. Just sing something," Harry said.
"Er, Ok. Harry was awake all night" Ginny started.
"He didn't go to bed," Harry replied.
"He guarded the whole castle" Ginny sang.
"Which made him feel quite dead," Harry sang, then said, "See! Bed is really easy to rhyme with. I could've used dead, fed, led, read, said, or wed. Imagine trying to rhyme something with slumber?"
"Makes sense," admitted Ginny. "Ok, you go first."
"Ginny was quite beautiful" sang Harry.
"Ooh, thanks Harry!" cooed Ginny.
"Er, Ginny, that was the start of the song," Harry said, before seeing the smile on Ginny's face. "Ok, you knew that. Let's try again. Ginny was quite beautiful"
"With locks of redish hair," Ginny said.
Harry nodded and sang, "Bet the Durmstrang guys were glad"
"That Harry wasn't there," Ginny sang. Upon seeing the look on Harry's face, she quickly said, "I'm joking, Harry, I'm joking!"
Harry sang, "She got to watch Hermione"
"Trounce the first two tests," replied Ginny.
"Because everyone knows." Harry sang
"Hogwarts is the best!" Ginny finished, and Harry joined her in "Oh, Aye-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di! Oh, Aye-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di!"
"Harry missed his OWLs" Ginny started.
"At the end of last year," Harry replied.
"You can be quite sure," Ginny sang,
"That would make Lee cheer," sang Harry.
"Ron wanted to miss them too,"
"Which isn't a big surprise," Harry sang back
"He told mum he liked them!" Ginny sang
"The man surely lies!" Harry finished.
Harry and Ginny laughed and sang Irish Drinking songs for a long time, before Ginny started messing up due to lack of sleep. "Come on, Ginny." Harry complained, "'Whim' doesn't rhyme with 'Slytherin'."
"You try rhyming something with Slytherin, then." Ginny replied.
Harry retorted, "It's your fault for using Slytherin. You could've used 'jerks', or something." Ginny laughed, but it was clear she was tired. Sure enough, ten minutes later, Ginny was sleeping on the floor, and Harry couldn't find it within himself to wake her. This was his responsibility, not hers, and she wasn't the one who needed to be awake in the first place.
Harry looked at her sleeping form, and noticed how peaceful she looked. Ah, sleep, his mind cajoled. It looked so inviting. Suddenly, Ginny's voice nastily echoed in Harry's head, 'I'm glad you care so much for me! You're going to leave me vulnerable to Voldemort!' Harry looked down at Ginny again, and realized he had been about drop asleep. NO! his mind screamed. I will stay awake!
Harry felt the edges of the ward slipping, and fought with every ounce to keep it up. However hard he tried, he couldn't keep his body from drooping and his eyes sagging. NO! I WILL STAY AWAKE!
Despite his mind's screaming, his body was slowly winning out. Harry's body slumped over on top of Ginny, his eyes trembling to stay open. Suddenly, the door across the corridor was opened and McGonagall and Dumbledore stepped through. Harry immediately fell asleep, a faint smile on his lips.
McGonagall took in the finally sleeping Harry, draped oddly over Ginny Weasley. "We should probably get Miss Weasley to her room. Harry will need to go to the hospital."
Dumbledore smiled and said, "No, leave them. They'll be fine. Although we should probably adjust the meeting time for tonight instead. I dare say Harry will need his sleep."
McGonagall looked a little doubtful, but the two left the sleeping students alone in the corridor.
Ginny woke up with a big headache, and gave a small moan. She felt quite warm, and tried tossing her blanket off her. "Ugh," she grunted, finding the blanket too heavy. She shook her head, and tried again to be rewarded by a sleepy groan. The 'blanket' was Harry!
After struggling for a minute, Ginny managed to get Harry off of her. "Well," she said to herself, "I can't just leave him here." Ginny struggled, but finally managed to get Harry in a fireman's carry, draped behind her neck. "Agh! Who would've thought the boy-who-lived would be so heavy?" Ginny complained to herself, carrying Harry back to the Gryffindor commons.
Ginny finally arrived, and set Harry down on his bed in the 6th year dorms. She was about to leave when she noticed the smile on Harry's face.
"You… You were awake!" Ginny said. Harry sniggered, and Ginny demanded, "You made me carry you all the way up here, and you were awake?!"
After Ginny hit him on the shoulder, Harry joked, "Oh come on! 'Who would've thought the boy-who-lived would be so heavy?' Or how about, 'I'm glad you care so much for me', Mr. I'll-abandon-you-to-Voldemort"
Ginny blushed, and Harry gave her a kiss. Ginny melted into him, until she caught sight of his watch. "Aah! I was supposed to be back at Durmstrang two hours ago!" Harry groaned as Ginny tore herself away. Ginny smiled, and gave him a quick peck before running out the room in a hurry.
Harry saw his watch and said to himself, "It's 5:00? In the afternoon?! I've got to get down to the Great Hall and find out what Dumbledore talked about at the morning meeting!"
----
Ok, it's got the Irish Drinking Song (sort of) – so hopefully those of you who didn't like them in the first story made your way through this chapter...
This is the third to last chapter. I know that means there's only 15 chapters as opposed to the 20 for the last story. But the word count is close – maybe around 33k words as opposed to 40k (several chapters in this story are a bit longer than the ones from the Two Draughts)
Also… next chapter will have the killer cliffhanger. Just a warning.
Thanks for the reviews, AllAboutMe, Ariel, and Seifer!
Please Read and Review!