CHAPTER 6: WAKING UP
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When Ginny finally woke up from her long forced sleep, her head felt like it was going to explode. The room tilted and blurred for a moment, before she blinked sleep from her eyes and tried to sit up. She was in her own room. She pushed the covers off herself and stepped out of the comfort of her bed. Walking over to her window, she noticed it was already dark out. When she had been at Colin's, it had still been morning.
She frowned in the darkness. The moonlight streamed into her room; shadows of leaves danced across her carpeted floor. She tried to remember what had happened. Bits and pieces floated back to her, as she stared out over the grounds. Then in an instant she remembered: Ron, Harry and Hermione had found her. Harry had grabbed her and Ron.Ron. her brother.had forced her to sleep.
Icy fury began to race though her veins, and she felt her blood freeze. Her eyes narrowed in anger. Sometimes he went too far. God forbid I want time to myself. What is this, a prison?
She tried to push the window open, but it wouldn't budge. She tried harder, but it still wouldn't budge. She banged it hard with her fist continuously; the sound of clanging glass encompassed her small room.
"Damn it!" Ginny muttered. They don't even trust me enough to get some fresh air. She shook the thought out of her head. They're just worried. Who wouldn't be? She sighed, and slumped her shoulders. She would have to face her family soon. She was dreading having to face them, seeing the worry lines on her mother's face and the concern her brothers would give her. She cringed and rested her forehead on the smooth cool surface of the window, gripping its edge until her knuckles turned a ghostly shade of white. She hated troubling her family like this. She wanted them to go about their business and not worry about hers.
Suddenly the doorknob was turning with the effort of someone on the other side forcing entry. Ginny lifted her head to the door, and bit her lip. Oh not yet! she inwardly pled.
The door flung open, and Hermione stepped in. She stopped in the doorway and regarded Ginny with worry.
Ginny's initial fright and nervousness ebbed away as she caught sight of one of her captors. A fresh wave of fury settled in.
"You're awake," Hermione finally managed to find her voice.
"You're observant. How long was that nifty little charm Ron put on me supposed to work?" Ginny said it more harshly than she meant to. It wasn't her fault she was locked up.
Hermione flinched, but closed the door behind her.
"Only twelve hours."
"Oh, only," Ginny said, allowing a drop of sarcasm into her reply.
Hermione walked slowly over to Ginny's bed and cautiously sat down. "Gin, I'm sorry about what Ron did. He reacted too fast, before Harry and I had time to do anything."
"Yeah," Ginny said, now reaching the height of frustration.
"Ginny, what's going on?" Hermione asked softly. "You have to talk. Everyone knows something's wrong, but you won't talk to anyone. We are all really worried."
"Why should you be worried? I honestly don't need everyone's pity, especially yours and Harry's. That's not what I'm after," she said softly.
"It's not pity, Ginny. We just want to help you because you're our friend."
"Friend?"
"Of course."
"Herms, can I ask you a question?" she asked curiously.
Hermione nodded nervously.
"Would you be my friend if I wasn't Ron's little sister?" Ginny truly didn't know where all this bitterness was coming from, but there it was. Maybe it was close to being that time of the month..
"Of course," Hermione burst.
"I don't know, it took you pretty long to finally realize that I existed. Exactly 3 years."
"Ginny! You're one of my very best friends."
Ginny just shrugged and looked out the window. She knew that Hermione was telling the truth. She wanted to go back to feeling normal, without these crazy mood swings (mostly crabbiness) from lack of sleep and hopelessness. She hated those feelings, especially the last one.
"Ginny, it's true!" Hermione insisted, her eyes misting over with unshed tears.
Ginny watched the tears form and instantly felt guilty.
"Oh, Hermione, I'm sorry.. I know that that's not why you're my friend," she said weakly. "I'm going to go to my tree, I'll see you tomorrow morning."
"Ginny, it's midnight!" But Ginny was gone; the door shut softly behind her.
"Ginny.?" Hermione called desperately.
Ginny ignored her and hopped down the stairs, thinking about her confrontation with Hermione upstairs, only to meet Fred, George, Ron, and Harry, talking in low voices in the living room. She took a deep breath and tried to sneak across the expanse of the living room without them noticing.
Fred and Harry, who were facing her, unfortunately looked up.
"Ginny?" Harry's eyes met hers. She quickly diverted her eyes to Fred, who was already getting up. Ron and George swiveled around and looked at her, as Fred swept his sister into a bone-crushing hug.
"God, don't ever do that again! Mum went crazy! You had us worried sick about you!" Fred said in her ear. He pulled back so George could hug her.
Ron stood hesitantly in front of her; she made sure that she kept at least a foot distance from herself and him. "Gin, seriously, what's the matter?" he asked his eyes full of concern.
"What's the matter? WHAT'S THE MATTER?" Ginny shrieked, her rage building again. "Ron, you cursed me, or hexed me, or charmed me, I don't even know which, to cooperate with you! I told you I wasn't ready to leave yet, so what do you do? You put me to sleep so I couldn't put a word in for myself!" Ron shook his head.
"It was a charm, and I'm really sorry, I wasn't thinking. You know me, Gin! Sometimes I get ahead of myself. And that wasn't what I meant before, I meant what's wrong with you in general? What made you run away?"
Fred and George watched the exchange between their sister and brother. She glanced at their curious eyes, and narrowed her eyes angrily at her brother for interfering. If she were going to tell anyone it wouldn't be her overly- protective brothers. She REALLY didn't need them to watching her like she was going to just keel over, especially Ron.
"Look, can you just leave me alone for awhile?" she asked.
"Ginny?" Harry asked from the same position on the couch, a nervous expression settled on his face. "Are you mad at me, or something?"
Ginny didn't answer; she just shook her head, and walked out of the room. Just as she was about to open the back door, a hand reached out, and grabbed her wrist. She was spun around, and was suddenly looking into hurt emerald green eyes.
"WHAT, Harry?" she said strongly.
He stared down at her with a hurt expression.
Ginny felt immediately guilty, and fidgeted from foot to foot, trying to get an apology across with her facial expressions.
"Ginny! Seriously! Can you please tell me what's wrong? I thought we were good friends. Then you blow me off during the summer, and don't even come to see Hermione and me. Are you trying to avoid us?" he asked quietly.
Ginny gave him a pained look. "No."
"Did you really mean what you said earlier? About me not being your friend?" he asked his eyes swimming with obvious hurt. "Because I don't just think of you as a little sister. You're my friend, one of my best friends."
Ginny couldn't handle it anymore. She finally cracked and promptly burst into tears.
"Oh Harry. No! No! No! Of course you're my friend! I was just angry," she said shaking her head. She turned her head to glance longingly out the window at the dark sky. "This bloody stinks," she muttered beneath her breath.
"What's going on? I want to help." His eyes bored into her head. She tried not to look at him, but it was so very hard when he was staring at her so intensely, with those beautiful, probing eyes.
Ginny kept her gaze locked firmly at the dark sky outside the kitchen window. Colin's words rang in her head. Tell Harry, he'd be more help. She sighed. How much she wanted to tell him, but she was afraid. "Look, you wouldn't understand," she whispered, knowing it wasn't true, he'd understand better than anyone would. But she wanted him to remain happily unaware. He had too much to worry about without her problems weighing him down. Danger is his life. He won't be in any more danger than he already is. Just tell him, you probably won't regret it. Colin's words flashed unexpectedly through her mind. She shivered involuntarily, and kept her gaze fixed out the window.
She felt a hand reach up under her chin, and she felt her head being turned to face his. He placed both of his hands on each of her shoulders, leaning slightly over and looked into her eyes.
"Try me."
That was it.
"I." she managed shakily.
Just then, Ron walked into the room and looked at them, an unreadable expression plastered on his face.
Harry's hands fell to his side, and he straightened up, turning to Ron, who stood in the doorway to the kitchen.
Ginny took a step back and looked wide-eyed between her brother and Harry, before turning and running out the back door.
As Ginny stepped outside of the Burrow, she heard Harry address Ron.
"Why'd you have to come in now?"
"What were you doing in here?" Ron's voice inquired.
"Don't follow, Ron," Harry warned, before he disappeared into the darkness.
Ginny's pace quickened toward her tree as she heard Harry's footsteps getting closer to her. She could hardly see a foot in front of her, but she didn't care. She flung herself against her tree, and crawled to the other side, away from the side where Harry was approaching. She pulled her knees up to cradle her head, and reached her hands up to cover her face. She leaned her back against the rough bark. God, what's happening to me?
She heard the soft patter of footsteps stop in front of her. She began to feel the presence of someone crouching in front of where she was sitting.
"Ginny?" She glanced up, then dropped her head in embarrassment. He sat down on the soft earth next to her, as close as she would let him. Their shoulders brushed, as he leaned in to nudge her into looking at him.
"Harry.You don't have to comfort me. Just go up to bed, tell Ron that I'm fine."
"Now, Ginny, stop that! I came here of my own free will. I can't just go up to bed while you're down here crying and I don't know the reason." An indefinable emotion passed through his green eyes, and despite herself, Ginny was intrigued to find out what it was.
"Well, I'm fine." She stood up, brushing off the seat of her trousers.
"No, you're not. You were just about to tell me before Ron came in, so what changed?" Harry pleaded. He reached up, grabbing her wrist, and pulled her back down. She fell with a thump back on the ground and glared at Harry.
"Harry." She gave him a glare.
"Ginny, you need to tell someone."
Colin's voice popped into her head again. Tell Harry! Tell Harry! And she wanted to, to tell him everything. Besides, it wasn't like he was going to just let her go now that he had her sitting down next to him, and she knew he would understand, and maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't have to deal with this alone.
She ran a shaking hand over her eyes, before looking back at a pleading Harry. She felt her resolve break.
"You can't tell Ron."
Harry frowned, "Unless it's serious."
She gave him a stern look. "No, Harry, you can't tell him at all, or Hermione, or anyone else for that matter, not my family, not Dumbledore.no one." Harry frowned, but didn't say anything. "God, I can't believe I'm telling you this." She took a deep breath, and plunged on.
"To start, I'm having nightmares."
Harry's eyes widened, but he didn't look overly shocked.
"I knew it had to be something. Must be a pretty bad one."
"Yea, well, it's only one recurring dream. It's a battle at Hogwarts. Everyone's eating dinner, when." she took a deep breath, and continued, visibly shaken. "When Voldemort shows up. You push me under the table, while Ron pushes Hermione under the table, you and Ron go off to face him by yourself, and he says something to you, but I can never hear what. Finally near the end of my dream I hear him yell 'Crucio', and I wake up." She'd left out a lot of the details, but he didn't need to know every single moment of her dreams.
Harry stared at her. The silence stretched for a moment; only the leaves rustling in the trees could be heard. Ginny was slowly beginning to regret telling him all of this. It just made her seem more helpless. Her stomach began to churn with dread. What had she done?
"Ginny, we have to tell someone!" he said. "That could mean a number of things. We should contact Dumbledore."
Ginny's stomach dropped, and the blood quickly left her face.
"NO! Harry please! He'll tell my parents, and they'll tell Ron to look after me. I can't do that. I don't think I will be able to stand it, I don't want to be thought of as helpless. I can take care of myself."
"Doesn't look like it," he said looking her up and down.
The implication of his words sunk in and her Weasley temper flared up. She hastily stood up, and glared down at him.
"Well excuse me, Mr. Potter! I'm a big girl, and I can handle myself. If you don't believe me, then sod off. I'd rather not worry my family with my stupid nightmares."
Harry quickly shook his head, his face panicked. "Look Gin, I didn't mean it like it came out. I know you're a big girl. I'm just worried, that's all, and besides, it's not stupid, it could very well be a warning, and you should contact Professor Dumbledore," he said strongly.
Ginny shook her head.
"Look, I'm really tired, Harry. We'll talk about this tomorrow."
"Are you going to be okay?" Harry asked with concern.
"Yea, I'll be fine. I've gotten this far haven't I?" Harry frowned, but kept his mouth shut.
"Ok, look, I won't tell anyone, but I think that you should! Don't think I'm not going to convince you!"
"Goodnight, Harry." Ginny threw over her shoulder, before disappearing into the dark Burrow.
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**I love you guys! Review!
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When Ginny finally woke up from her long forced sleep, her head felt like it was going to explode. The room tilted and blurred for a moment, before she blinked sleep from her eyes and tried to sit up. She was in her own room. She pushed the covers off herself and stepped out of the comfort of her bed. Walking over to her window, she noticed it was already dark out. When she had been at Colin's, it had still been morning.
She frowned in the darkness. The moonlight streamed into her room; shadows of leaves danced across her carpeted floor. She tried to remember what had happened. Bits and pieces floated back to her, as she stared out over the grounds. Then in an instant she remembered: Ron, Harry and Hermione had found her. Harry had grabbed her and Ron.Ron. her brother.had forced her to sleep.
Icy fury began to race though her veins, and she felt her blood freeze. Her eyes narrowed in anger. Sometimes he went too far. God forbid I want time to myself. What is this, a prison?
She tried to push the window open, but it wouldn't budge. She tried harder, but it still wouldn't budge. She banged it hard with her fist continuously; the sound of clanging glass encompassed her small room.
"Damn it!" Ginny muttered. They don't even trust me enough to get some fresh air. She shook the thought out of her head. They're just worried. Who wouldn't be? She sighed, and slumped her shoulders. She would have to face her family soon. She was dreading having to face them, seeing the worry lines on her mother's face and the concern her brothers would give her. She cringed and rested her forehead on the smooth cool surface of the window, gripping its edge until her knuckles turned a ghostly shade of white. She hated troubling her family like this. She wanted them to go about their business and not worry about hers.
Suddenly the doorknob was turning with the effort of someone on the other side forcing entry. Ginny lifted her head to the door, and bit her lip. Oh not yet! she inwardly pled.
The door flung open, and Hermione stepped in. She stopped in the doorway and regarded Ginny with worry.
Ginny's initial fright and nervousness ebbed away as she caught sight of one of her captors. A fresh wave of fury settled in.
"You're awake," Hermione finally managed to find her voice.
"You're observant. How long was that nifty little charm Ron put on me supposed to work?" Ginny said it more harshly than she meant to. It wasn't her fault she was locked up.
Hermione flinched, but closed the door behind her.
"Only twelve hours."
"Oh, only," Ginny said, allowing a drop of sarcasm into her reply.
Hermione walked slowly over to Ginny's bed and cautiously sat down. "Gin, I'm sorry about what Ron did. He reacted too fast, before Harry and I had time to do anything."
"Yeah," Ginny said, now reaching the height of frustration.
"Ginny, what's going on?" Hermione asked softly. "You have to talk. Everyone knows something's wrong, but you won't talk to anyone. We are all really worried."
"Why should you be worried? I honestly don't need everyone's pity, especially yours and Harry's. That's not what I'm after," she said softly.
"It's not pity, Ginny. We just want to help you because you're our friend."
"Friend?"
"Of course."
"Herms, can I ask you a question?" she asked curiously.
Hermione nodded nervously.
"Would you be my friend if I wasn't Ron's little sister?" Ginny truly didn't know where all this bitterness was coming from, but there it was. Maybe it was close to being that time of the month..
"Of course," Hermione burst.
"I don't know, it took you pretty long to finally realize that I existed. Exactly 3 years."
"Ginny! You're one of my very best friends."
Ginny just shrugged and looked out the window. She knew that Hermione was telling the truth. She wanted to go back to feeling normal, without these crazy mood swings (mostly crabbiness) from lack of sleep and hopelessness. She hated those feelings, especially the last one.
"Ginny, it's true!" Hermione insisted, her eyes misting over with unshed tears.
Ginny watched the tears form and instantly felt guilty.
"Oh, Hermione, I'm sorry.. I know that that's not why you're my friend," she said weakly. "I'm going to go to my tree, I'll see you tomorrow morning."
"Ginny, it's midnight!" But Ginny was gone; the door shut softly behind her.
"Ginny.?" Hermione called desperately.
Ginny ignored her and hopped down the stairs, thinking about her confrontation with Hermione upstairs, only to meet Fred, George, Ron, and Harry, talking in low voices in the living room. She took a deep breath and tried to sneak across the expanse of the living room without them noticing.
Fred and Harry, who were facing her, unfortunately looked up.
"Ginny?" Harry's eyes met hers. She quickly diverted her eyes to Fred, who was already getting up. Ron and George swiveled around and looked at her, as Fred swept his sister into a bone-crushing hug.
"God, don't ever do that again! Mum went crazy! You had us worried sick about you!" Fred said in her ear. He pulled back so George could hug her.
Ron stood hesitantly in front of her; she made sure that she kept at least a foot distance from herself and him. "Gin, seriously, what's the matter?" he asked his eyes full of concern.
"What's the matter? WHAT'S THE MATTER?" Ginny shrieked, her rage building again. "Ron, you cursed me, or hexed me, or charmed me, I don't even know which, to cooperate with you! I told you I wasn't ready to leave yet, so what do you do? You put me to sleep so I couldn't put a word in for myself!" Ron shook his head.
"It was a charm, and I'm really sorry, I wasn't thinking. You know me, Gin! Sometimes I get ahead of myself. And that wasn't what I meant before, I meant what's wrong with you in general? What made you run away?"
Fred and George watched the exchange between their sister and brother. She glanced at their curious eyes, and narrowed her eyes angrily at her brother for interfering. If she were going to tell anyone it wouldn't be her overly- protective brothers. She REALLY didn't need them to watching her like she was going to just keel over, especially Ron.
"Look, can you just leave me alone for awhile?" she asked.
"Ginny?" Harry asked from the same position on the couch, a nervous expression settled on his face. "Are you mad at me, or something?"
Ginny didn't answer; she just shook her head, and walked out of the room. Just as she was about to open the back door, a hand reached out, and grabbed her wrist. She was spun around, and was suddenly looking into hurt emerald green eyes.
"WHAT, Harry?" she said strongly.
He stared down at her with a hurt expression.
Ginny felt immediately guilty, and fidgeted from foot to foot, trying to get an apology across with her facial expressions.
"Ginny! Seriously! Can you please tell me what's wrong? I thought we were good friends. Then you blow me off during the summer, and don't even come to see Hermione and me. Are you trying to avoid us?" he asked quietly.
Ginny gave him a pained look. "No."
"Did you really mean what you said earlier? About me not being your friend?" he asked his eyes swimming with obvious hurt. "Because I don't just think of you as a little sister. You're my friend, one of my best friends."
Ginny couldn't handle it anymore. She finally cracked and promptly burst into tears.
"Oh Harry. No! No! No! Of course you're my friend! I was just angry," she said shaking her head. She turned her head to glance longingly out the window at the dark sky. "This bloody stinks," she muttered beneath her breath.
"What's going on? I want to help." His eyes bored into her head. She tried not to look at him, but it was so very hard when he was staring at her so intensely, with those beautiful, probing eyes.
Ginny kept her gaze locked firmly at the dark sky outside the kitchen window. Colin's words rang in her head. Tell Harry, he'd be more help. She sighed. How much she wanted to tell him, but she was afraid. "Look, you wouldn't understand," she whispered, knowing it wasn't true, he'd understand better than anyone would. But she wanted him to remain happily unaware. He had too much to worry about without her problems weighing him down. Danger is his life. He won't be in any more danger than he already is. Just tell him, you probably won't regret it. Colin's words flashed unexpectedly through her mind. She shivered involuntarily, and kept her gaze fixed out the window.
She felt a hand reach up under her chin, and she felt her head being turned to face his. He placed both of his hands on each of her shoulders, leaning slightly over and looked into her eyes.
"Try me."
That was it.
"I." she managed shakily.
Just then, Ron walked into the room and looked at them, an unreadable expression plastered on his face.
Harry's hands fell to his side, and he straightened up, turning to Ron, who stood in the doorway to the kitchen.
Ginny took a step back and looked wide-eyed between her brother and Harry, before turning and running out the back door.
As Ginny stepped outside of the Burrow, she heard Harry address Ron.
"Why'd you have to come in now?"
"What were you doing in here?" Ron's voice inquired.
"Don't follow, Ron," Harry warned, before he disappeared into the darkness.
Ginny's pace quickened toward her tree as she heard Harry's footsteps getting closer to her. She could hardly see a foot in front of her, but she didn't care. She flung herself against her tree, and crawled to the other side, away from the side where Harry was approaching. She pulled her knees up to cradle her head, and reached her hands up to cover her face. She leaned her back against the rough bark. God, what's happening to me?
She heard the soft patter of footsteps stop in front of her. She began to feel the presence of someone crouching in front of where she was sitting.
"Ginny?" She glanced up, then dropped her head in embarrassment. He sat down on the soft earth next to her, as close as she would let him. Their shoulders brushed, as he leaned in to nudge her into looking at him.
"Harry.You don't have to comfort me. Just go up to bed, tell Ron that I'm fine."
"Now, Ginny, stop that! I came here of my own free will. I can't just go up to bed while you're down here crying and I don't know the reason." An indefinable emotion passed through his green eyes, and despite herself, Ginny was intrigued to find out what it was.
"Well, I'm fine." She stood up, brushing off the seat of her trousers.
"No, you're not. You were just about to tell me before Ron came in, so what changed?" Harry pleaded. He reached up, grabbing her wrist, and pulled her back down. She fell with a thump back on the ground and glared at Harry.
"Harry." She gave him a glare.
"Ginny, you need to tell someone."
Colin's voice popped into her head again. Tell Harry! Tell Harry! And she wanted to, to tell him everything. Besides, it wasn't like he was going to just let her go now that he had her sitting down next to him, and she knew he would understand, and maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't have to deal with this alone.
She ran a shaking hand over her eyes, before looking back at a pleading Harry. She felt her resolve break.
"You can't tell Ron."
Harry frowned, "Unless it's serious."
She gave him a stern look. "No, Harry, you can't tell him at all, or Hermione, or anyone else for that matter, not my family, not Dumbledore.no one." Harry frowned, but didn't say anything. "God, I can't believe I'm telling you this." She took a deep breath, and plunged on.
"To start, I'm having nightmares."
Harry's eyes widened, but he didn't look overly shocked.
"I knew it had to be something. Must be a pretty bad one."
"Yea, well, it's only one recurring dream. It's a battle at Hogwarts. Everyone's eating dinner, when." she took a deep breath, and continued, visibly shaken. "When Voldemort shows up. You push me under the table, while Ron pushes Hermione under the table, you and Ron go off to face him by yourself, and he says something to you, but I can never hear what. Finally near the end of my dream I hear him yell 'Crucio', and I wake up." She'd left out a lot of the details, but he didn't need to know every single moment of her dreams.
Harry stared at her. The silence stretched for a moment; only the leaves rustling in the trees could be heard. Ginny was slowly beginning to regret telling him all of this. It just made her seem more helpless. Her stomach began to churn with dread. What had she done?
"Ginny, we have to tell someone!" he said. "That could mean a number of things. We should contact Dumbledore."
Ginny's stomach dropped, and the blood quickly left her face.
"NO! Harry please! He'll tell my parents, and they'll tell Ron to look after me. I can't do that. I don't think I will be able to stand it, I don't want to be thought of as helpless. I can take care of myself."
"Doesn't look like it," he said looking her up and down.
The implication of his words sunk in and her Weasley temper flared up. She hastily stood up, and glared down at him.
"Well excuse me, Mr. Potter! I'm a big girl, and I can handle myself. If you don't believe me, then sod off. I'd rather not worry my family with my stupid nightmares."
Harry quickly shook his head, his face panicked. "Look Gin, I didn't mean it like it came out. I know you're a big girl. I'm just worried, that's all, and besides, it's not stupid, it could very well be a warning, and you should contact Professor Dumbledore," he said strongly.
Ginny shook her head.
"Look, I'm really tired, Harry. We'll talk about this tomorrow."
"Are you going to be okay?" Harry asked with concern.
"Yea, I'll be fine. I've gotten this far haven't I?" Harry frowned, but kept his mouth shut.
"Ok, look, I won't tell anyone, but I think that you should! Don't think I'm not going to convince you!"
"Goodnight, Harry." Ginny threw over her shoulder, before disappearing into the dark Burrow.
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