The unthinkable has happened! I was approached by a Beta-Reader! =) Virtual hugs and balloons to LT7 for being kind enough to offer… AND extremely prompt. =)

(LT7 has stories posted at this site under the name "Lord Tiger VII") ;)

Chapter Four

"There lay an Enchanted Forest…"

A/N~ If you haven't already noticed, Italics are used in this story to show Ginny's thoughts…

Ginny opened her eyes upon the most beautiful place she had ever seen… for the second time. The forest was a medley of plant-life; ranging from greens so dark that they seemed almost black, to a green so pale it looked like tinged white. Strange trees with orange colored trunks were scattered amid trees that could pass as normal in the "Real World".

Bushes with fragrant purple blooms thrived together, creating a spongy wall that surrounded the pair, and caused the slight breeze that assailed Ginny's nose to smell sweet and heady.

Flowers were in abundance in this forest, and they varied from every shade of color known to man and to a few that probably weren't. A warm glowing feeling accompanied the slight squeeze from Harry's fingertips as he gazed around in silent appreciation. But silence doesn't last long, especially in a place like the one they were in then- a dreamland in every sense of the phrase.

"Ginny… This is amazing!" Harry exclaimed as a flower unfurled in front of him and a small fairy emerged and fluttered towards them. It landed on Harry's outstretched palm and gave off little giggles that were reminiscent of crystalline bells. Waving a tiny hand; it flew away- leaving what appeared to be gold glitter on Harry's skin. Smiling sardonically, Harry raised the hand in question. "Fairy dust? Someone's been watching a little too much Peter Pan."

Ginny rolled her eyes, but couldn't hide her pleased smile from Harry. Still trying to appear indignant, she pulled her hand out of his and playfully turned her back on him. "Well it just so happens that Dad got his hands on a Muggle entertainment system when I was about five, and the only tape we had to play was Peter Pan. I watched it all the time- but that was before Fred and George stuffed the VCR full of Billy's Bouncing Putty and Mum made us get rid of it."

Harry began to laugh at the mental picture of Fred and George at ten years old and all ready wrecking havoc. Ginny glanced coyly over her shoulder at him; "Oh you think that's funny? Well maybe I should remind you about a certain exploding shoe you've always had questions about…"

"Fred and George?!?" His eyebrows furrowed as he started to piece together the events of the previous summer that had lead up to the moment when his shoe had started to let off pink smoke and then spark like a firecracker before exploding into tiny pieces of black leather.

As realization dawned for her companion, Ginny added conspiratorially, "Got to test the products you know…"

Harry laughed again, and looked directly into her eyes. Time seemed to slow, and Ginny could feel the smile that was lingering on her lips disappear entirely as she lost herself in eyes as green as the forest around them. A strange rustling noise filtered through her dazed state.

Her eyes were already swinging around as she sought out the place the sound was coming from. It was very unusual- like the sound of many different chimes being caught in the wind and striking against each other roughly.

She closed her eyes and tried to remember what happened next. "Of course!" She mumbled as a radiant smile broke out across her face. "Are you familiar with Muggle "Fairytales" Harry? In particular, the one about the "Twelve Dancing Princesses"?"

Harry shrugged. "Yeah, actually I am. Aunt Petunia made me read Dudley to sleep once I learned how."

This interesting little bit of the horrors that Harry had endured living with those awful Muggles distracted Ginny momentarily. Or maybe it was the image of such a large, bully falling asleep to fairytales. Shaking her head clear of puzzling thoughts, Ginny continued, "Well, that particular fairytale wasn't *entirely* based on fiction-"

Harry couldn't stop himself from interrupting… "You're kidding! Some nut actually made those girls dance their shoes to pieces?"

Grimacing, and wiggling her toes thankfully, Ginny continued. "No, not THAT part… most of it was just illusion- the whole dancing and princes bit was at least. The part that was *real* was the garden. The reason their shoes were torn up was because the spell that powered the illusion was a pretty nasty one- as long as they were in the garden they couldn't stop moving."

"Ouch."

"Exactly! I think it was the youngest princess that cast it… She was more than a little jealous of her older sisters and from what I read- they weren't exactly the nicest bunch any ways." Ginny began to trail off- obviously thinking about details surrounding the story she was telling, when Harry broke in again. "Okay, so the forest was real. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Are you kidding me?! That's only the most important part of the ENTIRE story- I thought you said that you remembered it!"

Harry just grinned slyly, "It was quite a while ago- you'll just have to excuse me if I only remember the basics."

Sighing resignedly and mumbling about "Boys", Ginny continued, "The forest was made up of three types of tree- each changing as you got closer and closer to the glade in the middle where the princesses met up with their princes and partied-"

"Partied?"

"Oh, hush! One was of solid gold trees, one was of silver, and one was of diamonds. The price with the invisibility cloak snapped off a piece of each tree to prove to the king that he had followed his daughters." (A/N Well the story changes but there are always three types of precious metals or gems- so for the sake of my tale don't be indignant if these aren't the ones you remember… Thanks!)

Harry scoffed aloud at the description, "Sounds like one valuable forest!"

"It is. Right now it's owned by the founder of the Magical Entities Unlocked Foundation- Gilma Gold."

"I'm going to assume that the reason her last name's "Gold" is because she has quite a bit of it." Harry drawled.

Ginny giggled, "You assumed right… She's one of the richest witches in the entire world… One of her ancestors actually MADE the forest."

"What about the illusion?"

Ginny grinned mischievously, "Once the forest was created it became it's own entity- and it decided that it wanted a little attention…."

"So it lured in the youngest princess and planted an idea in her impressionable young mind." Harry finished.

Satisfied, Ginny nodded. "Got it in one."

"And this forest matters to us because…" He looked expectantly at Ginny as he let the curiosity in his sentence linger.

Ginny grabbed him by the hand and began to drag him towards the chime-like sounds.

Honestly! I think ALL boys are dense! Let's see… It should be through that clearing- Ah yes! The sound's getting louder… Here we are!

The gold of the trees shimmered brightly against their half-closed lids.

"Ah- I see."

"Somehow I don't think you do…" Ginny began as she recalled some of the other things that would make an appearance in this dream. Smiling secretively she looked at the black-haired boy by her side.

"I have the strangest feeling you will soon enough."

"What?!?" Harry called, trying to talk over the cacophony of chiming sounds the branches made when they struck each other.

"We have to keep walking!!" She shouted back. And just in case he didn't quite understand- she gave a firm tug on his hand and began to lead him through the maze of glimmering gold. Okay, maybe I just wanted an excuse to hold his hand…How's HE to know?

Harry let Ginny pull him along, and tried not to become too transfixed on what the glints of gold reflecting off the trees were doing to her fiery-colored hair. "Focus Harry!" he whispered to himself, "This is GINNY. You know RON'S little sister?! The same Ron that's going to pummel you the second this dream is over and you get back to the REAL world?!?"

"WHAT?" She called over her shoulder.

"Nothing!"

She looked at him suspiciously, before smiling and yelling back agreeably, "Okay! Whatever you say!"

So the pair trekked on through a dream that Ginny was only just beginning to remember completely. At least one of them knew what they were in for.

A/N~ Special thanks (AND complimentary chocolate) to all of my lovely reviewers! =) Thanks for sharing everyone!

Punkin~ I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to email you! I'd love to have you look over my fic! =) I'll try to email you ASAP- I promise!

I'm glad that you liked the bubbles… I realized after I had written it that part of the "bubble" idea must have been influenced by "Roswell" The books by Melinda Metz… not the TV show. (The books came BEFORE the show! =)…) And thanks for reviewing for each chapter! =) Very nice of you!

AmaraDragon~ It may take a while before we get the WHOLE dream…. But here's a teaser! =) -LOL-

MoltoBella~ :::Chuckling::: Don't we all? =) Eek… Sorry about the nightmares- I've had my fair share as well! (No WAY you've had that one TOO?!?" =) -LOL-

As for Harry… Well at least he won't have to go into a dream with Voldie trying to play hide and kill…Er, SEEK. Ginny's dream is a little *different* though…. Hopefully it won't be to much for him! -LOL-

Noelle~ I'm really glad that you're enjoying it! =) Pift! Mention smention…. As far as I'M concerned you deserve a gift basket for reviewing! =) Hopefully you'll keep it up!

Slayerjenn~ Well THAT'S certainly a good thing! Thank you…. And well- at least we got to part of it! =)

RogueAngel~ Mwa ha ha! See THAT'S why I waited! So reviewers would come out of the woodwork and let me know that this story is actually being READ! =) Actually, it was because I had to wait until Friday before I could get the story from my new beta reader- LT7 and on Saturday I was rushing around ALL day long. (I kid you not!!!) Sunday was spent trying to catch up on chores, homework, and sleep… So unfortunately I couldn't post! =(

BIG FAT Author's Note!

I have 1, I repeat ONE more chapter of previously written story. Which means that after I post chapter 5 I'm going to have to write everything from scratch…. A terrifying thing I assure you!

So everyone that's actually interested in reading PAST chapter 5… well you better start nagging.

I'm not kidding! There are only 3 things that are sure to get me typing away….

1.) I have an essay or some other type of homework to do so naturally I'll try to put it off until last minute… and HEY- there goes a chapter! =) *FYI~ I wrote more than half of chapters 1-5 when I was SUPPOSED to be writing an essay*

2.) I am struck by a sudden burst of inspiration… (I swear- sometimes it's like a semi! ;)…)

3.) My reviewers make me feel guilty…. Or flattered. =) Both of them seem to work pretty well with me! -LOL-

Now I'm not saying that if you don't beg me to continue that I'll just leave this story as is and never look back- I'm just saying that if it's not Option number 3 then it's going to have to be one of the other 2. Unfortunately- I'm afraid the other two are sporadic and unpredictable in their appearances.

Last AN in a looong list~ This dream sequence is what's going to make up a large chunk of the story… once the dream sequence is up there will be 1 to 2 more chapters and then it's over. DONE. FINISHED.

Yeah. Thought you ought to know. ;)

EVERYONE PLEASE REVIEW!!!!

~Ellie