Chapter 8: Afraid to Love

Ginny woke to hear Harry screaming again. This time she could hear words: "No! Please! That was all I had left! Everything in the world that meant something...You took it away!"

Ginny raced up the stairs to silence him.

"Harry!" she whispered urgently as she shook him awake. He opened his eyes with a look of pure terror.

"Ginny!" he hugged her, "Oh thank God..."

"Harry?" Ginny was painfully confused. What did he see?

Harry proceeded to tell her everything as he'd witnessed it.

"It was so real. Almost like I knew it was going to happen someday..."

"No. It can't. It just – can't happen," Ginny assured him.

"Everyone was gone, Gin," he said, the original terror reflected in his emerald eyes, "We found no one. Not even Buckbeak."

They sat facing each other on Harry's bed, still close from their embrace. A sort of awkwardness was growing between them. Before she could stop herself, Ginny spoke her mind.

"I probably shouldn't be thinking about this when you've just predicted my parents' deaths..." she paused, drawing a shaky breath, "but before, when you were screaming, you said that everything that meant something to you had been taken away. What about Hogwarts and Ron and Hermione?" she hesitated, "And me?"

"Come on, Ginny, I was delir–"

"Don't avoid the question," she snapped.

"Of course you guys mean something to me."

That was not the answer Ginny had been hoping for. Then again, a confession of undying love wasn't exactly Harry's style. "Earlier today you said you really liked me," she urged, "Tell me the truth," she looked directly at him, "How do you feel about me?"

"Gin, I –" he wanted to tell her how much he cared about her, but what if that just made her a new target for Voldemort? He wouldn't be able to live with himself if she ended up like Sirius...

Ginny saw the answer in his eyes so she decided to make it easy for him. "I've always been here, and I always will be. Voldemort's already tried to take me, and he failed. So you don't have to push me away...Do you want to kiss me or not, Harry?"

He smiled slightly, then leaned forward and pressed his lips firmly against hers. He felt a jolt of powerful magic surge between them. Ginny realized that with all his heart, Harry loved her. He wasn't one of those idiotic guys who was only in love with her looks. She couldn't believe it. Harry Potter had chosen her.

"I love you," he whispered.

They shared another kiss, this one longer and deeper. They pulled away to find Ron giggling joyfully to himself, looking at them with a satisfied grin.

"Shut up, Ron," they both said, and Harry threw his pillow at him.