Windows to the Soul
By Caitlin
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and I own no other reference to anything else.
Date: 7/22/04

Chapter 4 The Dusk

Ginny Weasley ran all the way into the dark woods behind the forest. Whatever happiness she had felt during the kiss was gone. Now all she was left to feel was odium. She was disgusted with the fact that she even let him get near her.

She kept running through the misty trees. They held protection and mysteries. They were old and tall, shooting up, far into the grey sky. The mist kept secrets and let no one find the answers. It was just what she needed, condolence in the fact that they couldn't find her.

Where Ginny ended up, she wasn't sure. There was a small murky blue pond and some fallen logs scattered from long past dead trees.

The sun was going down and the dipped rivets of water from a light rain earlier were in tiny puddles splattered among the mud. The clouds were reflected off of the setting daystar and pinks and fiery oranges painted the sky in swirling patterns. That was all Ginny could see with the cool mist springing from the shadows.

She sat down with her back against a tall, looming tree. Its bark was ruff and risen underneath the thin cloth of her damp shirt. She closed her eyes, her eyelids masking the chocolate brown color that resided there. The forest itself gave off a musty smell that she inhaled with a small tip of pleasure.

There, alone in the shady blur of color, she felt two presences of herself. It was confusing knowing that she wasn't what she was, but a mirror image of something else completely. The flame haired girl wasn't sure when she had realized what was happening. It finally sunk deeply into her system when her thoughts turned into silhouetted images of what he once was and is now becoming.

He, being someone she defiled even more than Harry Potter. It took no genius to figure out the object of her horrible thoughts. But what she meant by them only let trickles of the truth through the outer layer of the wall she had carefully constructed around herself.

Recollecting on times of similar substantial in her mind, she recalled that once he had been the thing she was living for. Ginny was appalled that at one time her psyche was so dependent on another being. It was wrong for her to live for such reasons. It was even worse for her to believe everything he had said to her.

At night, late into the settled darkness, deep inside her dreams Ginny could still hear him whispering out to her. Right now, her mind was at the clearest it had been in such a long time. She was separating the two things and distinguishing what was what.

She sighed contentedly and crawled across the soft ground to the inviting pond. She dipped her feet into the blue and let her fingers trail on top creating a disturbance with the crystal clear surface. A smile painted on her lips gave away that her mind was at a long awaited rest.

No nightmares or disturbing thoughts invaded her as the cool water flowed around her gently swishing legs. It was her first peaceful moment and Ginny was going to grasp it and not let go.

Moving her arms upward, the redhead let the water in her cupped hands dribble into her mouth. Looking down at her knees, her eyes spotted the caked mud on her knees. She brushed it away and moved her body over to sit on some dark green moss. She laid her head down at the trunk of a dying tree and dozed off into a comfortable sleep. Fans of dark shapes folded over the lightly dozing figure and melded together as she slept.

--

In the Burrow lay a boy with his thoughts jumbled and his lips still tingling from his recent actions with a certain redheaded witch. Where had the kiss come from? He could still feel the light press of her lips against his. If Harry had to guess, he'd say that Ginny had enjoyed it as well, but then why had she run away from him? Better yet, why did he kiss her?

He remembered thinking about her back during his fifth year. Ginny had been one of the few that he rarely snapped at. And then he went and forgot about her being possessed. Oh how did he do that?

Here was the one girl, the one living being, that he knew of and he forgot about her. She had stood up to him though. That was when he really noticed her.

He got up to write a letter, but stopped. Sirius was dead. A pang of hurt wallowed deep within his chest and heart…Sirius.

Sirius had been haunting Harry in his dreams all summer. In each one Sirius would die in a new way and Harry could only watch. No matter how he tried to reach out and grasp the only father figure he had ever had or known Sirius slipped away.

Voldemort had visited his dreams as well. He was always laughing maniacally at him with a high pitched tone. He would wake up dripping in a cold sweat and not be able to get back to sleep after. He had spent many lonely, cold nights like this. Harry rolled over onto his side, sinking into the old, worn out comforter and let a large breath out at once. He was going to try and take a quick nap and hopefully things would be better for him later.

--

Far away, in an odd circular room with silvery knickknacks littering the wooden tables, an elderly man with a long white beard paced around. The floor boards would become worn at the rate of his worrisome activities.

Horrific things were happening in the wizarding and muggle worlds alike. Voldemort was planning for something. The old man sat down wearily and rubbed his eyes. He was really getting too old for this. Then there was the disturbance in the atmosphere he had sensed earlier.

He bolted out of his reverie as a young woman slammed the door open panting heavily as if she had just run the whole way.

"What it is, Miss Tonks?" Professor Dumbledore asked urgently to the auror standing slumped to one side.

"There's been an attack…on the…Burrow." Albus Dumbledore looked with alarm to the door as he and Tonks walked swiftly out of his office. It seemed as though that he would not get any rest as it was impossible during a war. This would be a long, hard night.


Author's Note: I would first like to thank all of you that reviewed. I would also like to ask if people would keep reviewing. It means a lot to me. And I'd like to say that I am going away on vacation tommorow and won't be able to post for at least three days.