Disclaimer: Wow, it's been a while…how do I do one of these things again? Oh yeah…ummm, it wasn't mine the last time I posted, so I guess it's not mine now…darn.
A/N: Well, I am one extremely guilty person. I've neglected this story frightfully. I have one excuse and I think it's a pretty good one. Writer's block. It'll kill ya. I could not think of any way to continue this stupid story until one night, in the shower, it just popped into my head! I love being inspired. Hopefully you nice peoples who were reading it before haven't put me on your hit lists or anything…*looks around nervously*…well, I hope you like it…and sorry about the very, very long wait!
Chapter 6 ~ Starry Night
Harry strode into the boys' dorm, stifling a yawn. With a wary glance at the closed curtains on his bed, he snagged his pajamas and went to change in the bathroom. He was taking no chances, and besides, he was still feeling a little shaky and didn't quite want to face Ginny yet. He needed steady emotions to be able to carry on a coherent conversation with her.
He felt slightly guilty about how he'd treated Ron. After all, Ron had no idea what was going on. Ginny's brother was the last person he'd been about to confide in, especially his reasons for not asking her out. That would have been a sure recipe for animosity! Harry felt he owed Ron an apology, and possibly an explanation, if he could bring himself to do it. But not tonight.
Harry changed distractedly and then wandered back into the dorm. He stared at the red velvet curtains for a moment and then, with a sense of impending danger, opened them just enough to slip in, and then closed them hurriedly behind him, even though no one else was in the room yet.
A pale blue light radiated from Ginny, gently illuminating the cavernous inside of Harry's bed. She looked ethereal and otherworldly, like a manifestation of pure magic.
"Hi," Harry said quietly, taking a deep breath. Now that he was here, face to face with her, he had no idea what it was he wanted to say.
"Hello," she whispered, seeming similarly at a loss for words. After a long pause, heavy with emotion, Ginny finally cleared her throat and spoke. "Well, I guess you probably have a ton of questions for me. I'll do my best to answer them."
"Um, yeah. I've got a few questions," Harry rummaged around in his unsettled mind to find the questions he'd been thinking about since he'd seen her, but which now seemed unimportant. "Well, um...first of all...do you have any idea why I couldn't see you before but I can now? And was it really you who screamed earlier? And..." Ginny held up a hand to stop him, laughing.
"Let's take it one at a time here! Ok, let's see. I have no idea why you couldn't see me before. I was here, but invisible, and most people couldn't hear me. And yes, that was me who screamed. I guess you were the only one who could hear me...but I don't understand why." She cocked her head inquiringly.
Harry shrugged helplessly. "I don't know either. It's one big mystery, but...I'm rather glad I did. You might have saved your brother's life for the second time in as many days." Harry hung his head, remembering with shame the burning anger that had consumed him.
"I don't think you would've killed Ron. Maybe given him a good scare and some bruises, but it was nothing more than he deserved, treating you like that." Ginny tossed her head scornfully. Harry smiled weakly.
"I hope you're right, Ginny," he replied uncertainly.
"I know I am." That got a more definite smile.
"Always the opinionated one, aren't you?" He shook his head with fond exasperation.
"Of course," she replied lightly. "If I wasn't forceful in my opinions, nobody would ever have listened to me!"
"I would have," Harry said forcefully. "I would always have listened to you." There was another long pause, wherein both of them sat in helpless silence, staring at their hands. Finally, Harry jerked himself out of his reverie and said, "Well, here's another question for you. Why are you in the boys' dormitory?"
Ginny giggled with renewed good humor. "I have absolutely no idea. It's pretty ridiculous, but after I died, I just showed up here. What an unlikely spot to haunt! And it wasn't by choice either. Once I got here, I couldn't leave. The doorway wouldn't let me through." Her brow furrowed cutely in perplexity.
Harry frowned thoughtfully. "I don't see why that would've happened. All the other Hogwarts ghosts seem to be free to move around where they want. Except..." His thoughts roved back to the little girl with wings and green eyes. Harry snaked his hand out between the curtains and grabbed his wand. "Lumos" he muttered, and Ginny flinched when the light bloomed over and through her. Harry peered at her worriedly in the fresh light from his wand, and blanched. Ginny's eyes were green.
~*~
Ginny looked at Harry oddly. He looked frightened, confused, and all because he'd looked at her with more light. She should look the same as she had in life, and he'd never been alarmed by her appearance then.
She watched worriedly as Harry put out the light in his wand, and stared at his hands again. Then, slowly, he began to speak. He told her about the spirit sword, and the winged ghost with the green eyes. He told her about Dumbledore's explanation, and about Nearly-Headless Nick's request, which made her giggle. Then in slow stumbling words, he told her about the little girl's apparent enslavement, and the peculiar color of ghost's eyes. And finally, he told her of the color of her own.
Ginny shook her head as she tried to make sense of it. "Harry, do you think there's someone controlling me? Because he killed me with Avada Kedavra? I…don't feel controlled…" She trailed off uncertainly.
"I don't know," Harry shrugged. "I just know that when that ghost's eyes turned green, it meant that she was being controlled. When they were clear, she was an entirely different person. I…don't think you're actually being controlled right now. It's probably more of a sign that you could be controlled than that you are. But Ginny…do you know which one of the Death Eaters actually did the spell? It could be very important."
"I…yes. I do." Ginny licked her lips nervously. "But you're not going to like it. You're not going to like it at all. Promise me you're not going to go out and try to get revenge or something like that." When he hesitated, Ginny frowned and hissed, "Promise!" with such intensity that he acquiesced.
"Lucius Malfoy," Ginny said in a flat voice. Harry gaped, and then shut his mouth with a snap. Really, what kind of surprise was it, when the elder Malfoy felt such disdain for the Weasleys? "I saw his eyes through the mask, and they were just like Draco's, all flat and hard and gray. It had to be him."
"Are you sure?" Harry asked doubtfully. "Eyes are not a lot to go on."
"Believe me. I know. I don't know how, but I'm absolutely sure it was him. If you're right, and he's the one who's able to control me, then maybe the link between us is telling me."
"Ok, I believe you. If I didn't believe things that couldn't be explained, I'd be having a lot of trouble right about now, sitting here and talking to you. Good thing I'm," his sentence was interrupted by a yawn. "…gullible," he finished, mumbling a little.
"You're tired, you should go to sleep," Ginny said concernedly. "I've kept you up too late as it is. Funny how easily I forgot how much sleep someone needs, isn't it?" she commented with a smirk.
Harry grinned, and stifled another yawn. "Yeah, I should get some sleep. I'll talk to you more in the morning, all right?"
"All right. And Harry…" Ginny looked at him shyly and smiled. "Sweet dreams."
"If I have them," he replied softly, "you'll know what they're about, and who I have to thank for them." His smile softened into something she sensed was only for her, and he reached out a hand to caress the mist of her cheek before laying down in his bed and closing his eyes, the ghost of that smile still lingering on his lips. An incredulous smile on her lips, she faded back through the curtains, leaving Harry to sleep in comforting darkness.
~*~
Ginny looked around the darkened room. None of the other boys were here yet. She figured they were probably down in the common room, socializing and doing schoolwork, though probably more of the former than the latter. She looked longingly at the door. Now that Harry was back in his bed, she had nowhere to hide when the other boys came back to the dormitory. It wasn't that she wanted to hide forever, but it was fairly uncomfortable to tell some boys that you were stuck in their room, and had been for a while when they weren't aware of it. It would be so nice if she could just leave the room and go wherever she wanted…
Out of sheer stubbornness and frustration, Ginny pushed her way towards the doorway again. It felt as though she was pressing against a barrier made of thick foam. She pushed through it with all her obstinate will until with a pop! she broke through and flew into the hallway. She giggled triumphantly and floated down the stairs to the common room.
At the doorway, she hesitated. How could she just go in there as if nothing had changed? Could she just float in, sit down on the air, and expect them to be fine with it? She sighed. They were all going to find out sooner or later, so it might as well be sooner. She took a deep breath, although intellectually she knew she didn't need to, and stepped into the common room.
The talk didn't falter at all, and no one looked up. Ginny chuckled at her fears of a melodramatic entrance. Obviously no one even realized she was there. But the chuckle must have attracted some attention, for at that moment, Neville looked up, spotted her, screamed, and promptly fainted. She couldn't help it; she started to laugh.
"Boys. They're such babies," she said between giggles. "Ron did the same thing." The shocked inhabitants of the common room goggled at her in disbelief, no one making a sound except for her slightly hysterical giggles.
"Ginny?" Parvati said incredulously. "Ginny, is that you?"
"Um," Ginny hiccupped. "Yeah. S'me." She felt oddly drowsy and muddleheaded. "M'here." And then all she saw was darkness.
~*~
Harry was awakened by a shrill scream from below. With a bound, he was out of bed and down the stairs, after unconsciously grabbing his sword from beside his bed where he'd left it earlier. He burst into the common room to see Ginny advancing on a group of cowering Gryffindors, glowing a sickly green. With a surge of intuition, he drew the sword, and ran past her to interpose himself between her and her quarry.
"You don't want to lose your tool, do you?" Harry taunted the unseen puppeteer as Ginny was pulled up short. "I have the ability to banish her, and you know it. Don't take one more step forward. Let her go."
The puppeteer lifted Ginny's foot to step forward, as if mocking Harry's threats. He lifted the sword and placed the tip at her throat. If she took a step, she would be skewered on the blade.
Please, please, don't let it come to that. Don't make me kill her more completely than I already have. Please.
Ginny froze in place, and then took a step…backwards. Harry sighed with relief, but didn't lower his sword. Slowly, the green glow receded and the emerald drained from her eyes. The slack, dead look left her features, to be slowly replaced by dawning horror. With a strangled cry, she fled up the stairs and away from the living.
~*~
Harry followed Ginny up the stairs into the boys' dorm and found her curled into a ball in his bed, sobbing transparent tears, which sparkled like crystal in the moonlight. He took a step toward her, wishing desperately that he could hold her. She looked up at his footfall, flinched, and soared up into the air, through the glass of the window, and into the moonlit night air outside. Harry was left an empty bed and an empty heart.
"It wasn't your fault," he whispered to the emptiness, and with a sigh, sheathed the sword and set it down. He heaved himself onto his bed and sat staring out the window at the empty sky, wondering where she had gone, and if she would come back to him. It was only after several minutes that he realized that the sheets beneath his hands were wet with the salt water of Ginny's crystal tears.
~*~
She flew, and her heart exulted in the freedom of it. She amused herself by playing tag with the stars and temporarily forgetting her woes. She gloried in the wind whipping through her and the moonlight illuminating her with a pale shadow of its own luminous light. Here, everything was light and air and wind whipped dreams. Here, everything was simple. She soared in loops and swirls, just another whisper of air in the great wind, miniscule in comparison, but sharing in its glory. It seemed she'd been here an eternity, yet the time was still too short. She celebrated her union with the eternal wind, divorcing herself from humanity.
As she swayed and twirled, another wisp of mist came to her attention. It didn't fly with the wind, but merely floated, watching her. At first, she felt angry that anything would intrude on her solitude, but then she felt a strange urge to greet the other spirit, to invite it to join in her dance. She paused, a dancer caught in a still frame, graceful, poised for flight.
Transparent eyes watched her from under messy bangs. He had no glasses; he didn't need them now. His sight was clearer than glass and sharper than a sword blade. He extended a misty hand, in which she placed her own. They danced with the stars as the moon wafted across the night sky, two nameless spirits, until the first hint of dawn touched the horizon. Hand in hand, they sank from the sky to rest on the dew-spangled grass.
"I have to go now, " he whispered. She clutched his hand fiercely, but he gently freed it, smiling at her. "Until later, my dream-lady," he murmured, taking her face in both hands and brushing his lips against hers. "Until later…." And he faded away, leaving her alone in the early morning sunlight with only the memory of a dream.
~*~
Harry woke up feeling more rested than he had in quite a while. When Ginny had wished him sweet dreams, he'd had no idea it would work so well. He stretched luxuriously and opened his eyes, grinning happily to see Ginny floating at the foot of his bed. She smiled back uncertainly, but worry still lurked in her eyes. Harry's smile faded.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
"Was that real?" she asked breathlessly, as if she was forcing the words out.
"Yeah, I think it was." Harry couldn't remember ever feeling more content or at peace with the world. Now if only Ginny was alive….
The thought doused his happiness like a bucket of water on flames. It was replaced by an icy determination that Voldemort would not take another person he loved from him. If Voldemort could be resurrected, so too could Ginny. Harry had not let Voldemort win in the past and had no intention of beginning now. With new determination, Harry swung out of bed and pulled on his clothes as fast as he could while Ginny turned away, blushing.
As he walked swiftly from the room, Ginny called after him, "Where are you going?"
"To the library!" he said over his shoulder. He caught a glimpse of her confused face before he was out the portrait hole and striding through the hallways.
~*~
Ginny stood in the dorm with a bevy of sleeping boys, not quite knowing what to do with herself. Harry had flown off on some mission and every other Gryffindor was likely to be scared witless of her. Every Gryffindor…except for her brothers and Hermione. And Harry had said that Ron had fallen down the stairs after seeing her. A visit to him in the hospital wing was the least she could do…and the most, as well, in her present incorporeal state. Never the less, she floated out the door, which no longer gave her any trouble, and into the common room, which was blissfully empty at this early morning hour. The portrait gave her a moment's pause until she realized that she didn't have to open it in order to get through. Once she began to float through walls, traversing Hogwarts became a great deal easier.
The hospital wing was unchanged in its pristine whiteness, and Madam Pomfrey still bustled about with the same brisk efficiency. Fortunately, the only thing in her hands when she caught sight of Ginny was a roll of self-cleaning bandages, which immediately cleaned itself, after dropping ignominiously to the floor. She quickly stooped to pick them up, giving Ginny a look that mixed reproof with astonishment. One was obviously meant for the student, and the other for the ghost. Ginny smiled sadly and told her, "I'm here to see my brother."
"Of course, dear," Madam Pomfrey responded, the student apparently having won out over the ghost. "He's right over there." She indicated the direction with a flip of the bandage end she was rapidly rolling up. Ginny nodded her thanks, and floated away, painfully aware of the nurse's inquiring eyes on her back.
Ron was engaged in what seemed to be a rather lively debate with Hermione when Ginny poked her head around the screen that separated him from the rest of the infirmary. Most of it seemed to consist of "Will to!" and "Will not!" Ginny snickered.
"My, you two seem to be getting along just smashingly. How long before we get to the 'I'm going to tell Mom!'s? Because it sure sounds like that's where you're headed." Ginny enjoyed immensely the long shocked silence and the gaping mouths that her appearance elicited. She was certainly noticed now, even if she'd had to die to make it happen.
"G-g-ginny! You were…you are…you're…!"
"Yes, Ron," Ginny said with false boredom, "I'm dead, I'm a ghost, and I'm here to haunt you. Any other questions?"
Hermione giggled, and Ron shot her a nasty look.
"Well, honestly, Ron, you knew she was a ghost. You saw her, for goodness sakes. Don't act so shocked." Ron looked like a thundercloud, but Hermione smiled at him, and he softened visibly.
"Sheesh, 'Mione, how'm I supposed to stay angry with you now?" he shook his head and smiled back at her. Hermione's smile broadened, and she reached out to clasp Ron's hand.
Ginny squealed in delight. "Does this mean you two have finally gotten together?" Hermione nodded shyly, and Ginny jumped up and down and clapped her hands with enthusiasm, partly because she was happy for them, but mostly because she knew it annoyed Ron to no end when she acted like a brainless little ditz. Sure enough, Ron scowled at her, and she grinned back so infectiously that he broke into a smile again.
"It's good to see you again, little sister," he said warmly and then sighed. "I'd like to give you a welcome back hug, but I guess it wouldn't work too well, huh?"
"No, not really," Ginny replied, though her thoughts drifted to the night before, when Harry's spirit had joined her in the sky. He'd had no idea how close she'd been to dissolving into the wind and simply blowing away forever….she shook herself away from the memories. Ron and Hermione both looked at her with concerned faces.
Ron said quietly, "I'd tell you to go to Dumbledore with whatever's bothering you, but we've kind of lost faith in him recently." Ginny looked at him peculiarly and he continued, "You see, when Harry started hearing you and things, Dumbledore informed us and all the staff that he was…unstable. Going crazy, to put it bluntly."
"He what?" Harry stood in the doorway with a painfully betrayed expression on his face. "He told them what?"
"Well, he was obviously wrong. Remember what I told you second year about hearing voices no one else could? Once more, you just have the right set of ears. Of course, I can't quite figure out why you heard her…"
Harry smiled then and stepped forward to stand beside Ginny. "I've got a few ideas about that," he said, and reached out to clasp Ginny's hand in his own, just as firmly as if it was still flesh and blood.
~*~
A/N Well, there it is. I'm ever so proud of myself, and ever so ashamed of myself at the same time. Oh well…it's here now! I'd just like to send out some thanks to the people who reviewed my last chapter…however many months ago that was…thanks you guys…*looks sheepish*
Thanks to Temporary Insanity, Veldan, The White Plume, and Ethan! And…well…sorry!
