The next morning Ginny woke up. Well, she couldn't wake up, per se, as she hadn't slept more than five minteus put together after she woke form the dream.
She had made up her mind. She was going to tell Dumbledore. So, she got up, washed her face, pretended she didn't look like a ghost and headed to the Headmaster's office. She muttered the password and went up. She realized she could hear voices. Familiar voices.
All she could hear were fragments.
"You see professor,"
"Can't say yes,"
"Wanted to let you know,"
But Ginny knew who the voices belonged to. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and her brother, Ron Weasley. Dumbledore's replies weren't heard. She heard the door opening and, not wanting Harry, hermione and Ron to know she was here, she ducked behind a cabinet. A few minutes later, they were gone.
"You can come out now, Miss Weasley." said Dumbledore, sounding slightly amused.
"Thank you Professor." Ginny crept out from behind the cabinet. Dumbledore's office was alive, like always. The shelves were lined with their little whirring instruments, and the portraits of head masters and msitresses were still sleeping.
"So, what can I do for you?" He asked pleasantly, his face in that smile which at times, could be the most reassuring thing in the world.
"I need to tell you soemthing sir..."
Dumbledore ushered Ginny into his inner office. "Take a seat then." he said, leaning onto his desk. "What do you wish to tell me?"
"Well sir, I'd been having horrible dreams... And, well, Hermione gave me a dreamless sleep draught, but... it only made the dreams worse, sir."
He scowled slightly. "Do you mean to tell me that they are Prophetic, Miss Weasley?"
"That's what I'm told it means if dreamless sleep potion doesn't help, sir."
"That is what they are." He said, grimly. "Would you like to explain them to me?"
Ginny went on to describe what had happened in her dream last night. "That's usually what happens. The ending, with the flashes of things, that was new."
Dumbledore thought for a few moments. "Miss Weasley, the flashes, of the events, are that of the past. What you are seeing, is that of the possible future." he said. "How long have you been having them?"
"A month and a half, almost, sir."
"If they have been continuing on this long, I think it advisable for you to stay within the school this Christmas."
"Alright, sir. What will you tell my parents, and Harry, and Ron, and Hermione?'
"To your Parents, I will explain what has happened, leaving out the dream, to Harry, Ron and Hermione, they will not need to know until I feel it nessesary." He replied
"They'll want to know why I'm staying though, sir."
"Indeed they will." he thought. "You have been chosen for prefect duty over the Christmas break, along with a few other who will be staying here."
She nodded. "There's one more thing sir. I saw, day before yesterday, that Harry got his letter. The one I saw in the dream... Did he come to talk to you about that?"
Dumbledore nodded. "Mr Potter did come to see me about it, yes."
"Sir... may I ask what the letters are about and who they are from?"
"You may. Miss Weasley, they are letters from Voldemort and deatheaters. They are trying to recruit Mr Potter.."
Ginny bit her lip. "I thought they wanted to kill Harry, not recruit him." she said softly. The prophecy, though ahrdly common knowledge, was knwon to Ginny.
"That's what confused me at first." Ginny waited. "But there are many reasons that they may want to recruit Harry. He is a powerful wizard, afterall."
Ginny nodded. "Is it really safe for him to go home? If they're recruiting him and he says no..."
"I have advised him stay at school aswell."
"He said no.. Oh... and because he's seventeen, legal age... You can't stop him."
"Indeed." Dumbledore sighed.
"Thank you Professor. I'll tell you if the dreams change." said Ginny.
"Alright Miss Weasley, thank you." Ginny left, after having Dumbledore give her a pass that said she could skip her classes for that day. He knew he shouldn't, but she was exhausted.
Ginny went to the library, enjoying the quiet and the peace, reading silently in a window seat, curled in on herself. Students came and went, throughout the day.
Finally, it was time for classes to let out and Ginny swiftly left the library, not wanting the noise. She saw a few people she knew well, including Harry, but avoided them. She didn't want to answer questions about why she hadn't been in class. She knew Professor Dumbledore had owled copies of her pass to the other teachers, so she wouldn't be in trouble with them. For everyone else, she would just tell them she'd had a bad headache and had gone to Madame Pomfrey, who had gotten a pass for her from Dumbldore. But she simply didn't want to explain anything.
Not knowing where she was going, she ended up in the owlery. Realizing that she'd been carrying her bag all day, even though she hadn't needed it, gave her an idea. She scribbled out a quick note on a torn peice of parchment, tied it to the leg of a school owl and sent it off.
The school soon emptied out of classes, and congregated int he dinner hall. Draco Malfoy, who had been worrying all day, but not showing it at all, was in his usual place with Blaise.
"Draco, maybe nobody else can tell you're worried, but you kept twitching your knee, and it's drving me fucking crazy." said Blaise quietly as he grabbed some food.
Draco glared at him. "Oh dear." he said sarcastically.
The school owl which Ginny had put the note on came soaring through the upper windows and landed neatly infront of Draco and held out it's leg. Everyone turned and looked, people almost never got owl post in the great hall except at breakfast. Draco looked at it curiously, and carefully took the note off. The owl flew upwards and disappeared. He unfurled the rolled up not, and read the few words that were scratched onto the parchement.
Blaise waited, drumming his figners on the table less than patiently. "Well?"
"She told." Draco said, looking like a ton had just been lifted up off of his shoulders.
Blaise blinked, looking surprised. "She's not as stupid as she looks, then."
"She doesn't look stupid." Draco said, annoyedly.
"She looks like a doe, doe are stupid." Now Blaise was just pissing Draco off on purpose.
Draco rolled his eyes. "Shut up."
"Make me." said Blaise smugly, sipping his pumpkin juice.
Draco pulled out his wand. "Silencio." Pansy, who was watching, although she had only heard peices of the conversation, laughed.
Blaise shot a pleading look don the table at Daphne Greengrass, who laughed. "I rather like you this way, Blaise, maybe we should get a gag." she said, eyes sparkling.
Blaise waggled his eyebrows and mouthed 'kinky'. Draco shook his head, and began eating, not intending on taking the charm off until after dinner.
Later that night Draco and Blaise were down in the dungeons when they heard shouting.
"Ron, god damn it, you are going to wake upa ll the Slytherins! This is stupid. I'ms taying back for Christmas. You KNOW why, Dumbledore asked me to patrol over Christmas."
"Gin, mum's going to be so disappointed, and sicne why do you give a fuck if the Slytherins wake up, Gin?!"
"Since now! Ron, Mum's proud of her prefect youngest daughter, she'll be ok with it!"
Draco scowled slightly, and turned round a corner to see Ron and Ginny talking incredibly loudly.
"Ginny, I don't believe you! Are you cheating on Harry, is that why you're staying?"
Ginny gasped and glared at Ron. "You fucking bastard! I don't cheat!"
Draco raised an eyebrow. "Nice to know you have faith in your sister." Draco said wryly.
"Malfoy, fuck off." hissed Ron.
"No, YOU fuck off, Ron!" said Ginny fiercely. Ron gaped at her.
"Are you siding with this prick over me, Gin-gin?"
"First of all, don't CALL me that. Second of all, no, I'm telling you to get out of here before I curse you into jello!" screamed Ginny, red in the face.
Ron turned and left quickly, disappearing around a corner.
Draco watched, his eyes following Ron and boring holes into his back. "Accusing you of cheating." he shook his head in slight disgust.
"I've never cheated on Harry." Ginny said with a quiet firmness. it had obviously bothered her a lot though.
"I know." said Draco, not letting the annoyance, that he hadn't managed to win her over yet, come through.
"Much to your disappointment." added Ginny blandly. Draco nodded, not hiding it.
Ginny sighed. "I don't cheat, though. It's not right. Not that I don't do things that aren't right. Like scream. Or lie. Or steal all Percy's underwear and throw it on the pond at home so all my other brotehrs can see they have duckies on them." Draco snickered. "Not that it was me who did that. And I didn't try and use my mum's best bra as flower pots either."
Draco laughed. "No, you'd never do that." he stressed the never sarcastically.
"Nope, never." said Ginny, glad he'd let the subject of her cheating on Harry drop. Draco looked around, wondering where the hell Blaise had got to.
Blaise stepped out from behind a pillar. "Seemed like a private moment."
"So you hid behind a pillar and watched?" asked Ginny wryly.
"But of course."
"He's always doing that." said Draco, his stare turning to Blaise.
Ginny's eyes narrowed. "Was he in there the day you trapped me in the bathtub?"
Draco hesitated. "No." he finally said. Ginny glared at him.
"Yes, I was." said Blaise.
"What!?!" said Ginny.
"I didn't look and Draco had no idea."
Ginny looked a bit placated, but then she turned on Draco. "Why'd you lie?"
"Because I thought you'd have castrated me."
"Not if you told me you didn't know." said Ginny. "Have you lied to me before?"
"No." replied Draco.
Blaise just had to add. "How do you trust what he says now? He lied to you once, he could lie to you agian!"
"Blaise, Shut the fuck up."
"Yeah, shut it, Blaise. Draco, I'm serious. I've never lied to you. I'm omitted certain truths, yeah, but I haven't lied. Have you ever lied to me?" All of a sudden it was desperately important for her to know.
"No, never." replied Draco, meaning it.
"Lie, he jsut lied to you a mintue ago, about me." said Blaise triumphantly.
"We all know what I meant Blaise, now SHUT IT!" said Ginny.
"All right, all right." said Blaise, laughing. "I wouldn't be quite so obnoxious, but Daphne's been busy lately."
Draco rolled his eyes. "You can't be sexually frustrated like the rest of us can you?"
"Me? No. Sexual frustration and me. No. Definitely bad."
"I agree definately." Draco said coldly.
"Yeah, well, I'm suppsoed to be actually patrolling, Draco." said Ginny with a slight smile.
"Me too." He replied, the edge of his mouth curling into a slight but attractive smile.
"Wander around together, then?"
"Sure." replied Draco.
"Well, I know a dismissal when I hear one. I'm going to go tie Daphne to her bed." said Blaise, disappearing. Ginny giggled.
"Don't forget your gag!" He called back.
"Lucky Daphne." said Ginny, looking sideways at draco, wondering if he'd get jealous.
"Lucky?" her instincts were right on the button, he automatically thought she liked Blaise.
"Because he's popular. All the girls are half in love with Blaise. Sorry, I shouldn't have done that. Like I said, I do lots of things that aren't right, like messing with people without letting them know I'm messing."
"That's generally how you do it." Draco pointed out, refereing to the not telling them part.
"Not when it's friendly teasing."
"I've never friendly teased like that." said Draco, trying to think back to if he had or not
"Well, it's like the way Blaise fucks with you. Most of the time, you know he's fucking with you." It felt funny to explain something simple like that.
"Ah." said Draco, understanding. They continued walking on.
The next day was the twenty first of December. Everyone who was going home for Christmas went, early that morning. Ginny was the only Gryffindor who stayed. The rising threat of Voldemort made people want to be clsoe to their families while it was still relatively safe to travel.
Ginny, who was bored, was wandering around in the corridor near the library. She was mentally debating whether to read in the library or go take a bath. Or go somewhere else entirely. Draco had stayed as well. His father wasn't at home much anymore, and his mother was very fond of disappearing for long lengths of time.
Besides them there were only four other students, Blaise and Daphne in Slytherin with Draco, Blaise because his parents were away on business, Daphne because she detested her parents. Luna Lovegood had stayed, wanting to keep Ginny company 'only when you feel like it' Luna, who had become far less kooky, though still very ethreal and dreamy, had told her. The only other person staying was Eloise Midgen in Hufflepuff. She had lost her parents last year and her aunt, with whom she stayed, preferred her to stay the holidays at school.
Draco was wandering aimlessly about the castle, he had no plan to go anywhere, he was just wandering. Ginny was looking at the floor, not where she was going, and ran into him, rahter hard.
He was knocked back into the wall, hitting with a thud.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." said Ginny. Then she looked up. "Oh, Draco. Hi. I'm sorry I bumped you."
"Don't worry." replied Draco curtly, brushing himself off slightl, the wall was dusty.
"Mad at me?" asked Ginny.
"No, why would I be?" replied Draco.
"I don't know." said Ginny.
Draco shrugged. "I see you stayed here for the holidays then."
"Yeah. Only Gryffindor that stayed back."
He raised an eyebrow, "Would've expected your brother to be here."
"No. He went home, Harry and Hermione did too."
Draco nodded. "There's just 6 of us then. Students I mean." Ginny nodded.
"I should get back to the common room, I want to change for dinner."
"See you later." He said, beginning to head off again towards where ever his feet were taking him.
"Bye Draco." said Ginny. She went back to the common room. The strangest sight met her eyes. Eloise Midgen was on the couch... and she was kissing Harry Potter. "Oh my god! Harry, what are you doing here?! How COULD you!?!" without another word, Ginny turned and fled. Draco had got to the library, and was poking around in the potions section. He heard the sound of pounding footsteps and somebody sobbing. He looked round for who it was, perhaps to rub a little more salt in their wound. All he saw was a flash of bright red hair.
"Ginevra?" said Draco, his low voice questioning the blur. She was already well past the door, lost from sight. He walked quickly after the blur, working out that it probably was Ginny.
She had slid down the wall at the point where the corridor turned and was sitting, just visible, slumped over, sobbing. Draco walked over to her and crouched infront of her. "Ginvera?" he said, looking at her.
"Draco?" said Ginny, looking up, sniffling.
"What's wrong?" asked Draco, a slight scowl on his face.
"H-harry. He, he cheated on me. With... with- With Eloise Midgen!" said Ginny, sobbing again.
Draco looked at her, his face contorting strangely into a rather confused and shocked look. "How dare he!"
"I walked into the common room and he was, they were... Kissing." she buried her face in the front of his robes and sobbed.
"And your Brother accused you of cheating on him." replied Draco, threading his arms around her. Ginny snuggled closer to him, feeling comforted.
"You smell good." murmured Ginny. Her mind was clouded over in a haze of tears and feeling betrayed and upset. So when she turned her face up and started kissing Draco, you really couldn't blame her.
Harry smiled at Eloise. "Congratulations! I'm so happy for you!"
"It's your doing, I would never have gotten full marks on that test without your help." said Eloise, smiling. She leaned in and wrapped her arms around Harry, kissing him on the cheek.
Harry watched Ginny walk in, see them, and misconstrue what she saw.
"I'm sorry, Eloise. I need to go find her and explain. Congratulations again."
"Thank you. Bye Harry!" said Eloise, with a slight sigh.