Potter47 Part Three
The Circle's End "Are you falling, are you faking,
Are you healing, are you breaking,
Am I burning, am I only melting,
these diamonds in the making?"
Jason Wade Chapter Twenty
Falling Through
Harry opened his eyes. He had been dreaming. Dreaming. Just dreaming. Dreaming ordinary dreams that he'd likely forget by morning. He smiled. It had been nice.
Why had he had to wake up? He took the pillow that had somehow made its way to his feet and hugged it, closing his eyes again and hoping to fall right back into his dream. Perhaps he wouldn't even remember that he had awoken...that was always fun.
Harry felt suddenly cold. He shivered — but it had been warm only a moment ago. He opened his eyes once again, reluctantly, and his thoughts turned immediately to Dementors. Not the thought he wanted to think of, in place of the sweet dreams he had
wished to return to.
Willing himself to sit up, Harry reached for his wand on the bedside table. He felt instead his glasses, and thought that it wouldn't be the worst idea he'd ever had to put them on, too. He did so, and then reached further to clasp his wand.
"Lumos!" he muttered, quite frankly annoyed at the supposed Dementor — if indeed that was what had caused the sudden cold — for making him wake up; really wake up, not just stop being asleep. He didn't even remember that he wasn't supposed to do magic.
He saw nothing in Percy's old bedroom, save his trunk laid open on the floor before the bed. The mirror — Sirius's mirror — shone inside it, and Harry felt the sudden urge to walk over to it.
"Harry..." a voice said suddenly, harshly. "Harry, please wake up."
Placing his feet on the hardwood floor, Harry walked slowly and as quietly as possible towards the mirror. He held it in one hand and his wand in the other.
"Sirius," whispered Harry, a bit surprised to see his godfather's face reflected in the glass. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing—Harry, nothing's really wrong, but...are you all right?"
"I'm fine," said Harry. "Was it you that woke me up?"
"Probably," said Sirius, blinking his eyes several times. "You wouldn't mind lowering that, would you?" He pointed to Harry's wand.
"Oh," said Harry, and he did as Sirius asked. "Why did you call?"
"You see, Harry, something happened—"
"You said nothing was wrong!"
"I didn't say anything was wrong; just that something had happened!" .
"Will you stop yelling?" Harry heard a familiar voice hiss, from behind his godfather. "Do you want to wake your bloody mother?"
Suddenly Sirius was gone, as if the mirror had been yanked out of his hands. Snape's face appeared before Harry.
"Potter, something has happened, and not even Dumbledore knows what. Your life may be in danger. Just don't do anything stu—"
"That's my mirror!" Harry heard Sirius say, and the view from the glass jerked about, and Harry felt that Sirius was trying to tug it back out of Snape's greasy hand. He couldn't help but grin as Sirius's face was restored to the frame.
"Sorry 'bout that, Harry," said Sirius. "Snivellus here's a bit desperate for attention if you ask me..."
"These are serious matters!" Harry heard distantly.
"That's why I'm dealing with them!" Sirius whisper-yelled at Snape, out of Harry's view. He turned back to Harry, and started moving; Harry sensed he was walking with the mirror in his hand. "Just be careful. Dumbledore will tell you more as soon as we can, I'm sure of it.." He grinned mischievously. "If Dumbledore doesn't, I certainly will."
Harry sat back on his bed, mirror still in hand.
"Sirius," he said, "what's been happening?"
"That's what I'm trying to tell you—we don't know exactly. But Snivellus is right about one thing—your life may be in danger. And like he was saying, don't do anything stupid, like run off and eat rats for a month; it's horrible for the digestion, believe me."
Harry smiled. "I won't."
"But seriously, don't go into the house without permission—wait. Don't leave the house without permission. Tired, sorry." He yawned, as if to prove the point.
"You look as if you haven't slept for a week," said Harry.
"With good reason," said Sirius, and Harry wasn't quite sure what he meant by that. "Though sometimes I can nap during the day. Just can never seem to sleep at night."
"I'll talk to you tomorrow, Harry, I promise. If you'll excuse me, I have to beat Snivellus over the head with something pointy, and maybe even nap for a bit. Good night." He grinned at Harry, and his picture disappeared. Harry let out a breath he hadn't noticed he'd been holding.
"What was that about?" he wondered aloud, and he restored the mirror to its place in his trunk. He lay back down on the bed and fell into an uneasy sleep.
Ginny opened her eyes. She had been dreaming. Dreaming. Just dreaming. Dreaming of Harry. She smiled. It had been nice.
Why had she had to wake up? She took the pillow that had somehow made its way to her feet and hugged it, closing her eyes again and hoping to fall right back into her dream. Perhaps she wouldn't even remember that she had awoken...that was always fun.
Ginny felt suddenly cold. She shivered — but it had been warm only a moment ago. She opened her eyes once again, reluctantly, and her thoughts turned immediately to Dementors. Not the thought she wanted to think of, in place of the sweet dreams he had
wished to return to.
Willing herself to sit up, Ginny reached for her wand on the bedside table.
"Lumos!" she muttered, and her eyes widened in horror. She had been right; it was a Dementor, and it was just above her. Right there, its horrible mouth seemingly glowing in the darkness. Futilely, Ginny tried to do something, to move, to cast a spell, but she could not move.
The Dementor lowered its hood, and it leaned over towards her mouth and it began to suck, and—
Suddenly it was Harry, kissing her, and they were atop the Astronomy Tower and the rainbow was there, in the sky above them, glittering with colour, and Ginny leaned into Harry, clutching at him, hoping he would stay with her forever.
And then he pulled back, and it was Tom, and he smiled and smiled and laughed and laughed and she fell back in horror. She landed on her pillow and her eyes snapped open.
Breathing heavily, Ginny stared at the ceiling above her. Nightmare, she thought. Only a nightmare.
"But nightmares are reality," hissed a voice by Ginny's ear. "Whether you think they are or not."
Ginny rolled to her side, falling off of the bed and catching a glimpse of Tom, now smirking on her pillow, as she fell.
When one is falling, it is the ultimate feeling of helplessness. You cannot do a thing to prevent the inevitable crash.
Ginny was in the air, in the sky, and she was soon no longer sure whether she was falling down or the sky was falling up. Her eyes tried to close, but they could not. They stung painfully from the wind, and Ginny felt them watering. When was she going to land? She could not see anything but clouds...
But then she was on fire, it seemed. She was melting...melting, but at the same time she felt drenched with water. Or was it sweat? No, it was cool, like water; she was swimming, and melting, and dying and breathing, all at once.
And then she was floating, no, flying. She was on her broom, flying high above the grounds of Hogwarts, and it had just rained, because there was the rainbow above the school, and she flew without knowing where she was going. She was above the Astronomy Tower now, and Harry was there, but it wasn't her he was kissing, it was Cho Chang. Ginny charged her broom down at them, and without realising it she had hit them and they went flying without brooms, right off the edge of the tower.
Panicked, Ginny swooped around. She couldn't care less about Cho, but Harry was falling as well, and she sped as quick as she could to try to catch up. She was level with him, and his eyes were open, and he spoke to her, and the whole world was gone except for his voice. It chilled her to the bone, and it seemed they were no longer moving.
"You can't save me, Ginny," he said. "You could never save me. I'm gone. And you can't do anything."
"No!" said Ginny, trying with all her might to catch hold of him. She couldn't. "I can save you!"
He shook his head. "You could never save me. I'm dying, and it's all your fault."
"No!" said Ginny again, reaching as far as she could reach, but she could not grab hold of Harry. He closed his mouth and his eyes and suddenly they were falling again and he hit the ground, and he was gone.
"NO!" screamed Ginny, and she fell once again, over the edge of her bed, and awoke with a loud thud. Her eyes opened once again — but now they really were open. She was awake, really now, and she took a deep breath before getting to her feet.
"Only a nightmare," said Ginny aloud, and though no voice answered her this time, but Ginny knew that she was wrong. It hadn't been only a nightmare. It had been much more than that.
Ginny felt her face was wet, and wiped her tears. She hated crying in her sleep. She had no way of preventing it and she always felt even more tired afterward. But she couldn't go back to sleep. She couldn't.
And she couldn't save him...
Ginny stopped attempting to wipe her tears; it was futile anyway. She thought of her dream, and he cried.
She let the tears fall.
Harry awoke suddenly. He'd been having the strangest dream...he'd been falling, and he watched himself fall at the same time. It was the oddest sensation, like being a different person, yet himself, all at once.
He had been talking in the dream, but he couldn't hear what he'd been saying. It had been like someone had turned the sound off of a television...he just watched.
And now he was awake, again. He could never fall asleep again now. He stood, and reached for his glasses. Oh; they were still on his face from when he'd woken before. Now that he thought about it, they were at a rather uncomfortable angle, and he adjusted them. Putting his wand in his pocket — just in case — Harry walked as silently as possible towards the door of Percy's room.
Once out on the landing, he tip-toed down the stairs and walked into the living room.
Why? he thought, and he could not answer himself, could not explain why he was walking into the room...
But he was glad he had. There, curled up on the couch like a cat, watching the logs in the fireplace burn dimly, was Ginny. She was not looking at him, but somehow knew to say "Hey," just as he entered the room.
"Hey," said Harry, sitting down next to her on the couch.
"Why are you awake?" said Ginny.
"Couldn't sleep. You?"
"Nightmares."
They were silent. Ginny had her arms wrapped round her legs and she shivered.
"Are you cold?" Harry asked.
"Aren't you?" said Ginny. "It's freezing tonight."
"Yeah," said Harry, blowing into his fist to warm it up. "It is a bit chilly."
"Doesn't feel like July, that's for sure," said Ginny surely. She hadn't looked at him; she was still gazing at the small fire. Harry put a hand on her shoulder, and she leaned into his touch.
"Something feels wrong," said Ginny, and she finally looked at Harry. She had a very concerned look on her face, and Harry could see she'd been crying.
"How do you mean?" he asked. He wiped a tear from her cheek, and then they both looked back towards the fire.
"I mean...something's just...off. Don't you feel it?"
"Sort of," said Harry. "I feel a bit twitchy."
Ginny leaned her back against his side, and he put his other hand on her hair, stroking it. It felt very...soft.
"I talked to Sirius," said Harry abruptly, and Ginny twisted her head around, making his hand fall from it.
"What did he say?"
"He said that..." Harry shook his head. "I'm not exactly sure what he said. But he said that something had happened."
"Something bad?" Ginny's voice had taken on a worried tone and she turned round fully so that her whole body was facing Harry. "What did he say?"
"He said nothing was wrong, just that something had happened...Snape said I was in danger."
"Snape?" questioned Ginny, tilting her head.
"Yeah," said Harry. "Greasy hair, hooked nose, bad teeth..."
Ginny slapped him on the arm. "I know who Snape is," she said. "But I thought you were talking to Sirius."
"Snape was with him. They were at Grimmauld Place, and..." Harry shook his head again. "They didn't really tell me anything. They said they didn't know anything. But...they knew more than they said, I think. Don't they always?"
"We have to be careful, then," said Ginny. "Don't do anything stupid."
"Like eat rats for a month?"
Ginny furrowed her brow. "What?"
"That's what Sirius said. Rather odd, now I think about it. But he hasn't gotten any sleep for a long time, so he probably just said whatever came to mind or something."
"Right," said Ginny.
They were silent. Ginny turned back round to face the flames, and Harry rubbed her shoulders, either to keep her warm or just to rub her shoulders.
"What do you think happened?" said Ginny after a while.
"I dunno...I was thinking, well...we haven't seen Ron all day, and..."
"Oh, he's fine," said Ginny assuredly.
Harry leaned forwards to look her in the face. "How would you know? Where is he?"
Ginny smirked. "I am not authorised to disclose that information."
Harry leaned in and kissed her, and looked into her eyes.
"But you'll tell me anyway, won't you?" he asked.
Ginny shook her head. "Nope. And no amount of snogging will change my mind."
"Hmph," said Harry, leaning back to where he had been before. They were silent for a while longer, and soon both had sobered. "So what do you think happened?" he asked.
"Maybe...maybe Sirius got your OWL results by mistake, and you failed and Snape said your life was in danger because he was going to kill you."
"Oh, right, I failed my OWLs..." said Harry. "That's sure to be it." Of course, neither believed this was true.
They sat there for a long time still, and soon it was not so dark anymore, and light shone in through the windows.
"Here comes the sun," said Ginny, and she put her feet down on the floor. They ached from being in such a position for so long. "Mum's sure to be up soon—"
"What are you two doing up this early?" said Mrs Weasley's voice, standing in the living room doorway. "It's not even six o'clock."
"Couldn't sleep," said Harry.
"Me neither," said Ginny.
"You're lucky your brothers didn't find you first," said Mrs Weasley, smirking and taking a sip of the tea or coffee or whatever was in the mug in her hand. "You two looked pretty cosy..."
Harry and Ginny both turned red, and Mrs Weasley smirked again.
"Come on," she said, gesturing for the two to stand. "I'll make you some eggs."
Well, that's nearly the end. Only one to go—the epilogue, and then we're off to the third part of the Sequence, Yesterday's Tomorrow. Lucky for you readers, I have already completed the epilogue (which is why this one's up already) and it will, as this one was, be posted in only three days. Therefore, mark your calendars for 7 December (which also happens to be the one year anniversary of the start of writing Living inside Yesterday).
Yesterday's Tomorrow will, I assure you, be posted under the Harry/Ginny category on , and hopefully actually get some reviews on Sink into Your Eyes. However, I do not plan on posting at HarryPotterFanFiction any longer, simply because it is too much work to post on three websites and a Yahoo! Group every time, and the number of times I have forgotten to post on HPFF, I can hardly count—it's always been last in my rounds. However, if you are so very loyal to HPFF, and you feel like waiting a very long time, I may well post the whole fic, once it is done, on that site. I just can't do the whole chapter by chapter thing anymore.
So, the epilogue's coming soon for BiY, and then we're finished here—it's taken me a whole lot longer than it did for LiY, which took from 7 Dec to 30 March, but oh well. I got stuck many a time, writing these twenty chapters, and I hope that the result was a more quality story than it may have been otherwise. I do believe that YsT will not take nearly as long, and I hope to complete it by the end of March (though I'm not saying I will).
Also, to readers, expect another, non-Yesterday novel length by me, coming soon. I don't believe it will interfere with my Yesterday writing, however, and it should appear soon after the epilogue goes live. It is to be called Auguries of Innocence, and of course that's the most original title in the world.
And Sink into Your Eyes readers — I know there are some of you — look out for my Boxing Day challenge entry, coming soon.
Yes, I do realise I have an awful lot on my literary plate these days, but alas! A new HBPP (for those of you that read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince — my fic, of course) should also be coming soon — expect it round the fifteenth.
On top of it all, my website Polyjuice Parodies (www.polyjuiceparodies.tk) should also experience an update one of these months. I haven't posted on there since August, but I assure the next update shall be a major one.
And now I shall end this author's note before it becomes more lengthy than the chapter itself. However, if any of you are dreadfully confuzzled still, you may converse with other fans at the Yesterday Sequence Yahoo! Group, called YesterdaySequence, at groups.yahoo. com/group/yesterdaysequence. There is a desperate need of discussion there, I assure you.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it. (Doesn't everybody say that in author's notes? I mean...everyone? It sure seems that way.) Review. And stick around for the epilogue, of course. And review that too. Three days and counting.
Epilogue "Reflection, you may come tomorrow,
Sit by the fireside with Sorrow.—
You with the unpaid bill, Despair —
You, tiresome verse-reciter Care—
I will pay you in the grave."
Percy Bysshe Shelley Coming Soon