Disclaimer: See previous chapters. Author's notes will be at the end.
Chapter 4 - Of Gnomes and Lessons
That evening, Ginny and Harry sat on the porch composing the letter to Dumldedore while the twins de-gnomed the garden. Ginny looked up to see Fred hurl a gnome over the fence and down the hill. She grinned when she saw a small army of gnomes marching up the hill to attack the offenders. She laughed aloud at the twins when they realized they were about to be attacked. Her laughing disrupted Harry from writing the letter and he looked up just in time to see George jump up from the ground covered in gnomes. He laughed with Ginny as the twins began pulling the little brutes off themselves and hurling them as far as possible. Eventually the twins got the situation back under control and went back to throwing the gnomes the way they were before the attack started, only now, with a little more force.
"That has to be the funniest thing I have ever seen," Harry said while he tried to catch his breath.
"It's certainly the first time the gnomes retaliated against us. Before long, we're going to have to keep the doors and windows locked when we sleep at night or they will attack us in our sleep," Ginny said through her laughter. "What? Did I miss something?" She suddenly noticed that Harry had quit laughing and was just smiling, staring at her.
"It's good to hear you laugh again. I told you, you would feel better once you mentioned the problem to someone else."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Just make sure you remember that yourself when you have a bad dream, Mr. Potter."
"Okay, I will. From now on, I won't tell anyone else about my dreams until I tell you. And, you will now be forced to hear each and every dream I have. Starting now. Last night, I dreamt of Ron and Hermione standing by the gate, professing their undying love for each other and sealing it with the most passionate kiss I have ever seen."
"Ugh! Harry! You know what I mean," Ginny replied, making gagging noises and punching his arm. "Ok, we need to get back to the letter so we can finish this up and get on with the evening. I have absolutely no intention of spending the last two days of the summer holidays writing a letter. Especially since the longer we stall, the less interested I am in writing and sending it." She saw Harry give her a look that plainly said she wasn't writing it. She merely stuck out her tongue in response.
Both returned to what they were doing without any more interruptions. Harry wrote the letter, and Ginny watched her brothers. They quickly finished in the garden and ran back in the house, probably to work on their next big project. She sighed and looked out over the land, enjoying the orange and purple hues that splashed over everything as the sun sank behind the hills. She enjoyed the peace and quiet and a smile graced her lips once more since moments like these were so rare. In fact, not more than three hours ago, it was quite a different story when she and Harry returned to the Burrow after their talk in the clearing.
Harry had his arm around her shoulders, though careful that he didn't hit any of her cuts, and her arm was slung around his waist. As they walked up the path, Molly Weasley's voice rang out through the countryside.
"RON! GINNY! HARRY! HERMIONE! You had better be here somewhere! Kids? This isn't funny. Answer me!" she hollered with a slightly panicked tone. Harry and Ginny looked at each other and ran up to the house hoping they wouldn't be in too much trouble for worrying her so.
"Mum? We're in here," Ginny called out. Suddenly, Molly came around the corner and scooped up Ginny into a strong hug. Ginny used all her will power and strength to refrain herself from crying out in pain as her mother seemed to hold her on all her new injuries. She closed her eyes and fervently hoped her mum would be distracted enough to allow her to deal with any blood that she was sure had begun running again. Just before the pain became unbearable, she felt a warm, comforting sensation engulf her body and, with a glance over at him, discovered that Harry was lending her a little power and comfort as he controlled the blood flow. Finally, Molly let go of Ginny and grabbed Harry. Ginny took the opportunity to double check that she was clean.
"I was so worried about you kids when I heard of the attack in Diagon Alley. Where are the other two? Did they make it back yet? Are they okay?" she asked them frantically.
"They're fine, Mum. They're out walking and stuff."
"You should have come straight back and stayed here. I didn't know what had become of you. It really is a mother's worst fear to come back to a horribly empty house after such an attack. You do realize what could have happened if you hadn't had those port-keys, don't you?"
"Yes, Mum, we know and we're here now, safe and sound. Don't worry about it anymore," Ginny had told her. Finally, her mum let them go, deciding, apparently, to get a hold of the other two kids and her voice rang out across the land.
"There. Done. You better read it and let me know what you think. Did I leave something out or is that it?" Harry's voce cut through her wanderings and brought her back to reality.
"Huh? Oh, yeah," she responded as she read through letter. She had to admit, he had done a nice job with it. All the events were spelled out as well as reactions and any actions taken for Professor Dumbldore. "Looks good. Then again, it would with all the practice you get with this stuff, wouldn't it?"
"Alright, alright. I'll get Hedwig and we can send it off," Harry answered, smiling.
"Okay. You do that, and I'll get Ron and Hermione to quit snogging so we can play a game or something."
Harry laughed as he walked off and Ginny sighed and set out on her mission. The rest of the evening was uneventful, luckily, as the whole Weasley clan came home and settled in. Harry found amazing, maybe even a little disconcerting, that in only a two days time, he would be on the train bound for Hogwarts for the last time. He lay in bed that night with those thoughts running through his head for the umpteenth time. But he was interrupted by the door to Ron's room squeaking as it opened.
"Harry? Are you awake?" Ginny head popped in and whispered. Harry sat up and grabbed his glasses.
"Yeah, I'm up. I'll meet you downstairs." Without another word, the door closed and Harry carefully meandered over and snuck out.
Creeping quietly, so as not to disturb the other people slumbering, he crept down the stairs only to witness a very anxious Ginny pacing the room. Harry scanned her body, looking for any new cuts that would signal another dream but, thankfully, he couldn't find any.
"What's wrong, Gin?"
"Harry! We're thieves!"
All he could do was stare at her in complete confusion. Of all the things he thought she might say, that certainly wasn't one of them. "What do you mean?"
"We left Flourish and Blotts in such a hurry that all we did was grab our friends and our books. We didn't even pay for them! That's called stealing! I can't believe we did that!"
"You got me out of bed for that? Just send money by owl tomorrow or something. I really don't think that's high on their 'concern' list since the attack."
"I guess that would be fine. I never thought of that. But I think we should get it to them as soon as possible. I mean, with everything going on, don't you think the owners would appreciate the money and a small explanation when they open the shop tomorrow?"
"Sure. If I was in their spot, yeah, I'd like to have a the little bit of money owed them and the satisfaction that there are honest customers out there, but how do you propose we do this since an owl needs them to be there to take it?"
"I wasn't talking about owls." At Harry's inquisitive look, she continued. "Didn't you say I had a lot of unused power that needed to be trained? Isn't there a way for us to do it by magic? Like banishing it or something?"
"I guess so but do you really want to start the training tonight? Maybe we should work tomorrow. You really need to be rested to exert this kind of power and be able to control it. It will take a lot out of you."
"Harry. We both know I'm not going to get a whole lot of sleep tonight or any other night but if you would prefer to do this some other time, that's fine with me but just say so."
"Alright, I'm up for it but does take a lot of energy when you begin and you look a little tired. But if you want to try it, we will." He stopped and watched as she got that determined, stubborn look on her face. Realizing he would not be able to dissuade her, he sighed and put up a barrier to shield their activities from any sensors or monitors. "Alright. It will be good to go through the exorcises again. Anyway, we may not get to send the money and a note tonight, but let's get started. We need to start small and work from there. Start by trying to summon a pillow without your wand."
Ginny concentrated and tried to will the pillow to her. The pillow twitched fell still. "Okay, I think I need a little more instruction."
Harry chuckled. "You have to funnel your power to your hands. It might help if you think of your hand as a wand. Wands really are only amplifiers and a focus point for your magic to come out. Like this," Harry demonstrated and the pillow flew into his hand. Then he sent it back to the couch for Ginny to try.
Ginny closed her eyes and concentrated her power. When she opened her eyes, she released it and called the pillow toward her again. This time, the pillow shot across the room and slammed into her face. Harry burst out laughing at her so she took the pillow and launched it at his head. Only his Quidditch reflexes saved him from the offending pillow which he caught and sent back over to the couch.
"Okay, now we need to work on the right amount of power," he said, still chuckling. They spent the rest of the night working on power control, summoning, banishing, and transfiguration. By morning, both were rather worn out and Ginny was relatively successful with everything. Transfiguration was still her best area, as it was in school.
"Let's call it a night. The rest will probably be dwon soon and your brothers have a tendency to kill first and ask later. I would like to graduate, personally," Harry said, letting out a huge yawn.
Ginny laughed and bolted up to the bathroom, proclaiming her dibs on the room. Harry grumbled as he remained, forced to clean up the room before everyone came down and remove the shield.
Half an hour later, Ginny went into her room feeling relatively refreshed. She knew she needed sleep but she hoped she could get through the day. Looking around the room, she enviously spied Hermione sleeping peacefully in her bed. Shaking her head, Ginny knew she had to continue on with the day. Once she was dressed, she left her room just in time to see Harry walk into the bathroom to take his shower. She smiled mischievously as she stood in the doorway. She waited until she heard the water starting in the bathroom and Ron coming down the stairs and concentrating her power, she held up her hand and focused on the soap, transfiguring it.
"GINNY!!!!" Harry's voice echoed through the Burrow and the door to the bathroom flung open as Ron came up to it. Suddenly, through the open doorway and missing Ron's nose my mere inches, a garden gnome flew and slammed into the wall opposite the door. The whole time, it screeched and screamed until it landed on the floor. With a grunt from the bathroom, the gnome turned into a bar of soap and slid back into the room, door slamming firmly behind it.
Ron looked completely stunned as he stood frozen in place and Ginny couldn't hold it back anymore. "I'm not even going to ask," he stated firmly as his sister doubled over in laughter, clutching her sides. Shaking his head, he continued down to the kitchen where he could smell his mum cooking breakfast. While Ginny tried to regain control, Hermione came out of her room, rolled her eyes, and joined Ron at breakfast. Finally, Ginny was able to gain enough control to walk down to breakfast, herself, chuckling as she went.
The breakfast was wonderful, as usual, and eventually everyone arrived to enjoy it. Harry glared at Ginny when he arrived and received only an innocent smile in return. He grumbled something about ungrateful and gnomes as he scooped out the eggs onto his plate, but no one caught it.
"So, Harry, get up on the wrong side of the bed, today?" George asked.
"I wish," he mumbled. Before they could get any further, a brown owl flew in and dropped a letter in Ginny's plate. She picked it up and, after removing residue from her breakfast, put it in her lap for later.
"What is it?" Ron asked
"A letter, silly. It's none of your business so don't pry," she replied deftly. Ron just shrugged and went back to his breakfast.
Later that morning Harry and Ginny lay in the clearing going over the letter. It was from Dumbledore, as they had expected, and it offered just a little bit of insight.
Dear Mr. Potter and Miss Weasley,
I thank you for informing me of these events, as they are quite helpful and enlightening. Miss Weasley, I have talked to Madame Pomfrey and we both feel that the dreamless potion may help you and you may pick some up when you arrive tomorrow. Usually, we don't like to give it to people with chronic nightmares but yours are of the nature that could cause you much more harm than depriving you of sleep occasionally. As such, I must insist you ask your parents for some to get you through the remainder of the holidays. Your safety is our first priority in this matter. I agree with Harry on the reason behind your dreams. It is a very big probability that these dreams were born of the connection that was created between you and Tom Riddle. I must ask you to keep me informed if Voldemort mentions any plans in your dreams, should they occur.
Harry, I believe you were able to sense Voldemort's activities when you were sleeping but since he is not acting in this realm, his actions were shielded from you and you were unable to see or recall what he did that caused your scar to pain you. That is an unfortuneate side effect for us. Effort is being put into finding an end to his dream world, but nothing has turned up yet. I recommend enlisting the help of a certain Gryffindor with the knack for research to aid you.
As far as the last item in the letter, keep it hidden! If that knowledge should reach the wrong ears, it could be extremely dangerous. I fervently hope Voldemort does not know yet and it needs to stay that way as long as possible. I expect you have begun to train and learn how to control it. I encourage this but insist you keep it sheltered. Do not worry if you have not begun as we will address this as well when you arrive at school.
Enjoy the remainder of your holidays and I will see you on the second.
Headmaster A. Dumbledore
Harry folded it up again and looked at Ginny.
"Okay. So that didn't help us a whole lot," he said, grimly.
"I know. We came up with most of that on our own. The only good thing we received was the okay for the potion at night. That's certainly a good thing in my book," Ginny stated firmly. "Well, I think I'm going to go inside before my skin matches my hair. Um, maybe you should consider taking a nap. You look pretty dead on your feet."
"Hm, I wonder why," Harry replied lying back on the grass as Ginny retreated, giggling as she went.
Half way back to the house, she paused and looked above her to the sky and feeling the heat of the sun beating down on her. She sighed, as she knew she was bound to get burned before she made it back home. Eventually, she resumed walking and went through the gate and into the kitchen.
Any plans she may have had left her the minute she walked in. Molly stood in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips, giving Ginny a very stern look.
"What? I didn't do anything," she said trying to evade her mother.
"Exactly my point. You didn't sleep in your bed last night and you didn't put on any sunscreen, did you? Honey, you can't let these things go. You're going to get sick and I'm sure you don't want that for the beginning of the school year." Molly sighed and shook her head at her daughter. "K, now help me with the dishes."
Ginny spent the rest of the morning in the kitchen cleaning with her mum. Eventually, it sparkled like the dew in the sun on an early summer morning, and Ginny felt like a zombie. Her mother released her and she shuffled into the family room and flopped down on the couch. She picked up a book so she could rest without sleeping, but she was too exhausted. Before she turned the third page, the book slid to the floor and Ginny stood in the entryway of the manor, listening to the voices as they drifted through the hall. She heaved a sigh and walked forward, unwillingly but unable to stop it.
A/N: So what did you guys think? Let me know if you prefer the chapters to be lighter like this one or if you think this chapter was too light and you prefer the other chapters with more action. This chapter took so long because I had a bit of writer's block and didn't know how to get to chapter five from chapter three. Please forgive me for taking so long between updates. The good news is that I have started chapter five and it is going much better. Please read and review so I know you do want the next one; otherwise, I just may not post it. ^_^
Chapter 4 - Of Gnomes and Lessons
That evening, Ginny and Harry sat on the porch composing the letter to Dumldedore while the twins de-gnomed the garden. Ginny looked up to see Fred hurl a gnome over the fence and down the hill. She grinned when she saw a small army of gnomes marching up the hill to attack the offenders. She laughed aloud at the twins when they realized they were about to be attacked. Her laughing disrupted Harry from writing the letter and he looked up just in time to see George jump up from the ground covered in gnomes. He laughed with Ginny as the twins began pulling the little brutes off themselves and hurling them as far as possible. Eventually the twins got the situation back under control and went back to throwing the gnomes the way they were before the attack started, only now, with a little more force.
"That has to be the funniest thing I have ever seen," Harry said while he tried to catch his breath.
"It's certainly the first time the gnomes retaliated against us. Before long, we're going to have to keep the doors and windows locked when we sleep at night or they will attack us in our sleep," Ginny said through her laughter. "What? Did I miss something?" She suddenly noticed that Harry had quit laughing and was just smiling, staring at her.
"It's good to hear you laugh again. I told you, you would feel better once you mentioned the problem to someone else."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Just make sure you remember that yourself when you have a bad dream, Mr. Potter."
"Okay, I will. From now on, I won't tell anyone else about my dreams until I tell you. And, you will now be forced to hear each and every dream I have. Starting now. Last night, I dreamt of Ron and Hermione standing by the gate, professing their undying love for each other and sealing it with the most passionate kiss I have ever seen."
"Ugh! Harry! You know what I mean," Ginny replied, making gagging noises and punching his arm. "Ok, we need to get back to the letter so we can finish this up and get on with the evening. I have absolutely no intention of spending the last two days of the summer holidays writing a letter. Especially since the longer we stall, the less interested I am in writing and sending it." She saw Harry give her a look that plainly said she wasn't writing it. She merely stuck out her tongue in response.
Both returned to what they were doing without any more interruptions. Harry wrote the letter, and Ginny watched her brothers. They quickly finished in the garden and ran back in the house, probably to work on their next big project. She sighed and looked out over the land, enjoying the orange and purple hues that splashed over everything as the sun sank behind the hills. She enjoyed the peace and quiet and a smile graced her lips once more since moments like these were so rare. In fact, not more than three hours ago, it was quite a different story when she and Harry returned to the Burrow after their talk in the clearing.
Harry had his arm around her shoulders, though careful that he didn't hit any of her cuts, and her arm was slung around his waist. As they walked up the path, Molly Weasley's voice rang out through the countryside.
"RON! GINNY! HARRY! HERMIONE! You had better be here somewhere! Kids? This isn't funny. Answer me!" she hollered with a slightly panicked tone. Harry and Ginny looked at each other and ran up to the house hoping they wouldn't be in too much trouble for worrying her so.
"Mum? We're in here," Ginny called out. Suddenly, Molly came around the corner and scooped up Ginny into a strong hug. Ginny used all her will power and strength to refrain herself from crying out in pain as her mother seemed to hold her on all her new injuries. She closed her eyes and fervently hoped her mum would be distracted enough to allow her to deal with any blood that she was sure had begun running again. Just before the pain became unbearable, she felt a warm, comforting sensation engulf her body and, with a glance over at him, discovered that Harry was lending her a little power and comfort as he controlled the blood flow. Finally, Molly let go of Ginny and grabbed Harry. Ginny took the opportunity to double check that she was clean.
"I was so worried about you kids when I heard of the attack in Diagon Alley. Where are the other two? Did they make it back yet? Are they okay?" she asked them frantically.
"They're fine, Mum. They're out walking and stuff."
"You should have come straight back and stayed here. I didn't know what had become of you. It really is a mother's worst fear to come back to a horribly empty house after such an attack. You do realize what could have happened if you hadn't had those port-keys, don't you?"
"Yes, Mum, we know and we're here now, safe and sound. Don't worry about it anymore," Ginny had told her. Finally, her mum let them go, deciding, apparently, to get a hold of the other two kids and her voice rang out across the land.
"There. Done. You better read it and let me know what you think. Did I leave something out or is that it?" Harry's voce cut through her wanderings and brought her back to reality.
"Huh? Oh, yeah," she responded as she read through letter. She had to admit, he had done a nice job with it. All the events were spelled out as well as reactions and any actions taken for Professor Dumbldore. "Looks good. Then again, it would with all the practice you get with this stuff, wouldn't it?"
"Alright, alright. I'll get Hedwig and we can send it off," Harry answered, smiling.
"Okay. You do that, and I'll get Ron and Hermione to quit snogging so we can play a game or something."
Harry laughed as he walked off and Ginny sighed and set out on her mission. The rest of the evening was uneventful, luckily, as the whole Weasley clan came home and settled in. Harry found amazing, maybe even a little disconcerting, that in only a two days time, he would be on the train bound for Hogwarts for the last time. He lay in bed that night with those thoughts running through his head for the umpteenth time. But he was interrupted by the door to Ron's room squeaking as it opened.
"Harry? Are you awake?" Ginny head popped in and whispered. Harry sat up and grabbed his glasses.
"Yeah, I'm up. I'll meet you downstairs." Without another word, the door closed and Harry carefully meandered over and snuck out.
Creeping quietly, so as not to disturb the other people slumbering, he crept down the stairs only to witness a very anxious Ginny pacing the room. Harry scanned her body, looking for any new cuts that would signal another dream but, thankfully, he couldn't find any.
"What's wrong, Gin?"
"Harry! We're thieves!"
All he could do was stare at her in complete confusion. Of all the things he thought she might say, that certainly wasn't one of them. "What do you mean?"
"We left Flourish and Blotts in such a hurry that all we did was grab our friends and our books. We didn't even pay for them! That's called stealing! I can't believe we did that!"
"You got me out of bed for that? Just send money by owl tomorrow or something. I really don't think that's high on their 'concern' list since the attack."
"I guess that would be fine. I never thought of that. But I think we should get it to them as soon as possible. I mean, with everything going on, don't you think the owners would appreciate the money and a small explanation when they open the shop tomorrow?"
"Sure. If I was in their spot, yeah, I'd like to have a the little bit of money owed them and the satisfaction that there are honest customers out there, but how do you propose we do this since an owl needs them to be there to take it?"
"I wasn't talking about owls." At Harry's inquisitive look, she continued. "Didn't you say I had a lot of unused power that needed to be trained? Isn't there a way for us to do it by magic? Like banishing it or something?"
"I guess so but do you really want to start the training tonight? Maybe we should work tomorrow. You really need to be rested to exert this kind of power and be able to control it. It will take a lot out of you."
"Harry. We both know I'm not going to get a whole lot of sleep tonight or any other night but if you would prefer to do this some other time, that's fine with me but just say so."
"Alright, I'm up for it but does take a lot of energy when you begin and you look a little tired. But if you want to try it, we will." He stopped and watched as she got that determined, stubborn look on her face. Realizing he would not be able to dissuade her, he sighed and put up a barrier to shield their activities from any sensors or monitors. "Alright. It will be good to go through the exorcises again. Anyway, we may not get to send the money and a note tonight, but let's get started. We need to start small and work from there. Start by trying to summon a pillow without your wand."
Ginny concentrated and tried to will the pillow to her. The pillow twitched fell still. "Okay, I think I need a little more instruction."
Harry chuckled. "You have to funnel your power to your hands. It might help if you think of your hand as a wand. Wands really are only amplifiers and a focus point for your magic to come out. Like this," Harry demonstrated and the pillow flew into his hand. Then he sent it back to the couch for Ginny to try.
Ginny closed her eyes and concentrated her power. When she opened her eyes, she released it and called the pillow toward her again. This time, the pillow shot across the room and slammed into her face. Harry burst out laughing at her so she took the pillow and launched it at his head. Only his Quidditch reflexes saved him from the offending pillow which he caught and sent back over to the couch.
"Okay, now we need to work on the right amount of power," he said, still chuckling. They spent the rest of the night working on power control, summoning, banishing, and transfiguration. By morning, both were rather worn out and Ginny was relatively successful with everything. Transfiguration was still her best area, as it was in school.
"Let's call it a night. The rest will probably be dwon soon and your brothers have a tendency to kill first and ask later. I would like to graduate, personally," Harry said, letting out a huge yawn.
Ginny laughed and bolted up to the bathroom, proclaiming her dibs on the room. Harry grumbled as he remained, forced to clean up the room before everyone came down and remove the shield.
Half an hour later, Ginny went into her room feeling relatively refreshed. She knew she needed sleep but she hoped she could get through the day. Looking around the room, she enviously spied Hermione sleeping peacefully in her bed. Shaking her head, Ginny knew she had to continue on with the day. Once she was dressed, she left her room just in time to see Harry walk into the bathroom to take his shower. She smiled mischievously as she stood in the doorway. She waited until she heard the water starting in the bathroom and Ron coming down the stairs and concentrating her power, she held up her hand and focused on the soap, transfiguring it.
"GINNY!!!!" Harry's voice echoed through the Burrow and the door to the bathroom flung open as Ron came up to it. Suddenly, through the open doorway and missing Ron's nose my mere inches, a garden gnome flew and slammed into the wall opposite the door. The whole time, it screeched and screamed until it landed on the floor. With a grunt from the bathroom, the gnome turned into a bar of soap and slid back into the room, door slamming firmly behind it.
Ron looked completely stunned as he stood frozen in place and Ginny couldn't hold it back anymore. "I'm not even going to ask," he stated firmly as his sister doubled over in laughter, clutching her sides. Shaking his head, he continued down to the kitchen where he could smell his mum cooking breakfast. While Ginny tried to regain control, Hermione came out of her room, rolled her eyes, and joined Ron at breakfast. Finally, Ginny was able to gain enough control to walk down to breakfast, herself, chuckling as she went.
The breakfast was wonderful, as usual, and eventually everyone arrived to enjoy it. Harry glared at Ginny when he arrived and received only an innocent smile in return. He grumbled something about ungrateful and gnomes as he scooped out the eggs onto his plate, but no one caught it.
"So, Harry, get up on the wrong side of the bed, today?" George asked.
"I wish," he mumbled. Before they could get any further, a brown owl flew in and dropped a letter in Ginny's plate. She picked it up and, after removing residue from her breakfast, put it in her lap for later.
"What is it?" Ron asked
"A letter, silly. It's none of your business so don't pry," she replied deftly. Ron just shrugged and went back to his breakfast.
Later that morning Harry and Ginny lay in the clearing going over the letter. It was from Dumbledore, as they had expected, and it offered just a little bit of insight.
Dear Mr. Potter and Miss Weasley,
I thank you for informing me of these events, as they are quite helpful and enlightening. Miss Weasley, I have talked to Madame Pomfrey and we both feel that the dreamless potion may help you and you may pick some up when you arrive tomorrow. Usually, we don't like to give it to people with chronic nightmares but yours are of the nature that could cause you much more harm than depriving you of sleep occasionally. As such, I must insist you ask your parents for some to get you through the remainder of the holidays. Your safety is our first priority in this matter. I agree with Harry on the reason behind your dreams. It is a very big probability that these dreams were born of the connection that was created between you and Tom Riddle. I must ask you to keep me informed if Voldemort mentions any plans in your dreams, should they occur.
Harry, I believe you were able to sense Voldemort's activities when you were sleeping but since he is not acting in this realm, his actions were shielded from you and you were unable to see or recall what he did that caused your scar to pain you. That is an unfortuneate side effect for us. Effort is being put into finding an end to his dream world, but nothing has turned up yet. I recommend enlisting the help of a certain Gryffindor with the knack for research to aid you.
As far as the last item in the letter, keep it hidden! If that knowledge should reach the wrong ears, it could be extremely dangerous. I fervently hope Voldemort does not know yet and it needs to stay that way as long as possible. I expect you have begun to train and learn how to control it. I encourage this but insist you keep it sheltered. Do not worry if you have not begun as we will address this as well when you arrive at school.
Enjoy the remainder of your holidays and I will see you on the second.
Headmaster A. Dumbledore
Harry folded it up again and looked at Ginny.
"Okay. So that didn't help us a whole lot," he said, grimly.
"I know. We came up with most of that on our own. The only good thing we received was the okay for the potion at night. That's certainly a good thing in my book," Ginny stated firmly. "Well, I think I'm going to go inside before my skin matches my hair. Um, maybe you should consider taking a nap. You look pretty dead on your feet."
"Hm, I wonder why," Harry replied lying back on the grass as Ginny retreated, giggling as she went.
Half way back to the house, she paused and looked above her to the sky and feeling the heat of the sun beating down on her. She sighed, as she knew she was bound to get burned before she made it back home. Eventually, she resumed walking and went through the gate and into the kitchen.
Any plans she may have had left her the minute she walked in. Molly stood in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips, giving Ginny a very stern look.
"What? I didn't do anything," she said trying to evade her mother.
"Exactly my point. You didn't sleep in your bed last night and you didn't put on any sunscreen, did you? Honey, you can't let these things go. You're going to get sick and I'm sure you don't want that for the beginning of the school year." Molly sighed and shook her head at her daughter. "K, now help me with the dishes."
Ginny spent the rest of the morning in the kitchen cleaning with her mum. Eventually, it sparkled like the dew in the sun on an early summer morning, and Ginny felt like a zombie. Her mother released her and she shuffled into the family room and flopped down on the couch. She picked up a book so she could rest without sleeping, but she was too exhausted. Before she turned the third page, the book slid to the floor and Ginny stood in the entryway of the manor, listening to the voices as they drifted through the hall. She heaved a sigh and walked forward, unwillingly but unable to stop it.
A/N: So what did you guys think? Let me know if you prefer the chapters to be lighter like this one or if you think this chapter was too light and you prefer the other chapters with more action. This chapter took so long because I had a bit of writer's block and didn't know how to get to chapter five from chapter three. Please forgive me for taking so long between updates. The good news is that I have started chapter five and it is going much better. Please read and review so I know you do want the next one; otherwise, I just may not post it. ^_^