Ginny and Dustin seemed to be frozen in place. They kept glancing back and forth between the pillow and Harry, unsure of what to do. Finally, Ginny crept over to the couch and placed her hand on Harry's shoulder. But instead of having the calming effect she had hoped for, the action caused Harry to start tossing even more. She tried to grab hold of him and make him stop.

"Harry, please wake up!" she pleaded. She gasped as it felt like her hands were burning. She released her grasp on Harry. "Harry!" she cried.

"Harry, wake up," Dustin said forcefully, while keeping his distance from Harry's body. Ginny let out a helpless sob as Harry's body began to shake. Dustin put a comforting arm around her, also accepting their helplessness in the situation. They stared at Harry until they heard a loud noise. The pillow Harry had been levitating had exploded and there were feathers everywhere. And as soon as Harry's fit had started, it stopped. Ginny rushed over to his side and tentatively brushed her hand across his sweaty forehead. When she received no pain, she began to stroke Harry's hair.

"Harry, wake up. Please wake up," she whispered into his ear. Harry sleepily opened his eyes as if nothing had happened.

"Gin? What's wrong?" he asked lazily. He looked in her eyes and saw fear. "Oh shit," he murmured. "I fell asleep down here. I can't believe I was so reckless."

"Harry, mate, what the hell was that?" Dustin asked wearily.

Harry looked surprised to see someone else in the room and noticed the feathers for the first time. "What happened exactly?" he asked hesitantly.

"Well, you were tossing and turning," Ginny began slowly. "And then you started to levitate the pillow. You were thrashing around, so I tried to wake you up, but when I touched you it felt like my hands were on fire."

"Oh Merlin, I'm so sorry," Harry whispered.

"Shush," Ginny said sternly shaking her head. "And then the pillow exploded and you woke up," she finished.

"So again, what was that?" Dustin asked.

"Is there somewhere private we can go?" Harry asked nervously.

"We can go to my quarters," Ginny offered. Harry nodded, and he and Dustin followed Ginny up the second set of stairs to her room. When they entered her room, Ginny sat down on her bed and Dustin sat down at her desk while Harry nervously paced the room.

Dustin rolled his eyes at Harry's antics. "Any day now."

Harry sighed, looking like he was going to fall asleep standing up. "First and foremost, what happened downstairs was entirely my fault. I know better than to fall asleep in a public place like that."

"So, this has happened before?" Ginny interrupted.

"Unfortunately," Harry replied. "While I can't explain exactly why it happened, I can tell you a few things. I've always had nightmares; I mean, I don't think you can see everything that I've seen and not. When the war was over, they started to get worse. I wasn't sleeping through the night and the images in my head were enough to make me want to kill myself. The only way I could avoid them was just getting completely pissed, and even then I still had them, I just didn't remember them."

"Why didn't you just take a dreamless sleep draught?" Dustin asked.

"Well, I had heard before that you could become addicted to them," Harry began.

"Yes, but you could have at least gotten one good night's sleep a week," Ginny interrupted again.

"But as I was about to say," Harry continued, "was that no one ever told me your body could build up an immunity to it." Ginny's mouth formed a silent 'oh.' "I had been taking it fairly regularly since sometime sixth year and by the end of seventh it was no longer affective."

"So you took to getting trashed all the time. Nothing wrong with that," Dustin said. "Most young blokes go through a phase in their lives where they drink more than they should."

"That's what I thought at first, too," Harry said dryly. "Until I started to wake up in the morning to find my bedroom completely destroyed. I would feel more tired than when I went to sleep, but I had no recollection of what happened to my room. I went to see my healers and they discovered that I had relaxed my body to a certain point that I began to react to my nightmares with my magic and once I started doing it I couldn't stop… At least, that's the simple version of it."

"And we're not getting the complicated version, I'm assuming?" Dustin asked. Harry shook his head in response. "Well then, I'm going to bed. I'll get one of the house elves to clean up downstairs. I won't say anything either; so don't worry Harry." Dustin left the room, leaving Harry and Ginny alone.

Harry collapsed tiredly into the chair Dustin had just vacated. He looked at Ginny warily. "I didn't hurt you badly, did I?"

"No, I pulled away before any damage could be done," Ginny replied softly, examining her hands. "Is there anything more you can tell me?"

"Well, now you know why I redecorated my room and was sneaking out at night," Harry said with a chuckle. "That should make you happy."

"Yes, but I have a feeling that there's more to what caused this than alcohol."

Harry's shoulders slumped. "You know I can't tell you what that is."

"Because you don't trust me?" Ginny asked, sounding harsher than she had intended.

"No, because it's a ministry secret," Harry replied.

Ginny sighed. "Will you come sit over here with me? I hate talking to you while I'm looking at your back." Harry obliged and sat down on the bed with Ginny. They both leaned against the pillows next to the headboard, keeping a good foot of distance between them. They sat in silence for a few moments while Ginny tried to gather her thoughts. "So does this happen every night?" she asked finally.

Harry shook his head. "Most of the time it only happens when my body is really relaxed. That's one of the reasons why Quidditch is so good for me; my body is normally sore and achy."

"So has it been happening more or less since you've been here?"

"More. I just can't figure out why. My body is barely keeping up, especially with my lack of sleep," Harry explained.

"And not eating properly," Ginny added.

Harry glared at her but sighed in defeat. "I'm working on it." He looked at Ginny as if he were studying her. She self-consciously tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"What?"

"Why are you so easy to talk to?"

Ginny blushed. "I don't know. I think you're easy to talk to. That is, when you're not brooding or complaining or fighting with me," she teased.

"I'm serious!" Harry exclaimed laughing. "For whatever reason, ever since Sirius died you were the one person I always felt like I could talk to."

"Excluding this past year, of course," Ginny said bitterly.

"We'll never get anywhere if we can't forget about the past," Harry said, closing his eyes.

"So you can forget about it, you just can't forgive the things that happened during it?" Ginny asked accusingly.

Harry opened his eyes and looked at her in defeat. "Gin, can we not do this again tonight? I'm too exhausted to do this now. My entire body is throbbing. I promise if you want to fight with me about it you can yell at me all day tomorrow when I'm not in practice," Harry said sleepily, sliding down on the bed so he was laying down.

Ginny looked down at him. "Do you get any rest during your dreams like that?" she asked quietly.

"No. When it happens it's like I might as well have stayed up all night. The worst part is they completely wear out my body." Harry yawned. "Actually, I should probably go to my room now where it's safe. I could pass out right now; your bed is comfortable." He was faltering and Ginny couldn't help but notice that Harry made no effort to move out of her bed, despite his words. He was fighting to keep his eyes open. Ginny instinctively began to run her hands through his hair. "Gin, you should stop. I'm too comfortable, it could be dangerous," he mumbled groggily.

"It's alright, Harry. I don't think you'd ever do anything to hurt me," Ginny replied tenderly. Harry's eyes fluttered shut; Ginny's ministrations had succeeded in putting him to sleep. Ginny gently pulled his glasses off and set them on her bedside table. Without them he looked so young, so innocent. When his eyes were closed, you couldn't see the haunted look that resided there. The only sign of his encounters with Voldemort was the fading scar on his forehead. Ginny had been watching him sleep for a few moments when she saw his right hand begin to tremble. Hoping she could prevent another incident like the one downstairs, she took his trembling hand in her own. She pulled it up to her mouth and gently kissed it. It took a few minutes, but his body seemed to go back to normal. Ginny smiled before leaning down and placing another light kiss on his forehead. She slid down so she was lying beside him. She closed her eyes, unable to keep a silly grin off her face. No matter what Harry might say, he must trust her somewhat to be able to fall asleep with her like this. Ginny's grin broadened when she felt Harry move behind her and slip an arm across her waist. The logical part of her brain was screaming at her to wake him up; telling her that it was wrong. Her heart, however, was much too content to move an inch, much less wake Harry up. Her inner debate did not go on for too long; soon she was fast asleep.

ZZZXXXZZZXXX

The next morning Ginny woke up feeling strangely refreshed and comfortable. She felt safe, protected, and warm from the body she was tangled up with. "What the…" she mumbled sleepily. Her slight movement seemed to wake Harry up. He opened his eyes slowly, a look of pure content on his face. Well, he looked content for all of three seconds before he realized where he was.

He jumped out of her bed quickly. He saw his glasses and hastily put them on. "Ginny!" he cried angrily. "How could you let me fall asleep here? You saw what happened earlier, I could have hurt you!"

"But you didn't," Ginny said calmly, sitting up. "You started to have another reaction thingy." Harry shot Ginny a venomous look at her description of his condition. "Anyway," she continued, "I took your hand and you calmed down and drifted back into normal sleep. I had complete control of the situation."

Harry's expression softened. "That's the first time I've actually gotten sleep on a night that I've had a terror," Harry admitted.

"Good."

Harry looked at her gratefully. "Actually, that's the best night's sleep I've gotten since, well, ever." He managed to get the words out of his mouth before his face turned crimson.

Ginny couldn't help but giggle. "It was good for me, too!"

Harry's face paled at her joke. "Do you think any of the guys know I stayed here?"

"I don't know. It's doubtful, as long as no one sees you coming down in the same clothes you were wearing yesterday," Ginny said thoughtfully.

Harry groaned. "How is it that something so innocent will get us in a world of trouble if we get caught?"

"They may tease us a bit, but it wouldn't be that bad," Ginny said, enjoying Harry's discomfort.

"That's not what I meant," Harry said. "Us, well um, being an us, is against the rules. You could lose your job and I could get kicked off the team."

It was Ginny's turn to start to panic. "This isn't good. I don't want to lose my job!"

Harry closed his eyes and appeared to be deep in thought. "It's simple. I'll transfigure my clothes. If anyone sees me, I had a question to ask you."

Ginny sighed in relief. "I don't know why I didn't think to use magic. Sometimes I feel like such an idiot."

"At least I was raised muggle, what's your excuse?" Harry teased.

Ginny smiled at Harry's lighthearted joking. "I've only been legal for less than a year. I'm still not used to being able to do magic all the time." Harry chuckled. "But you should head downstairs before everyone is up."

"Right." Harry looked at Ginny awkwardly and walked over to where she was still sitting on her bed. He leaned over and kissed her on her cheek. "Thank you for last night," he said hurriedly before running out of her room with red cheeks.

"Harry Potter, you surprise me every day," Ginny said aloud as she fell backwards onto her bed, rubbing the spot on her cheek that Harry's lips had just touched.

ZZZXXXZZZXXX

By the time Ginny made it downstairs everyone but Harry was there and almost done eating.

"Well if it isn't Sleeping Beauty," Tank teased as Ginny took her place at the table.

"What in Merlin's name are you talking about?" Ginny asked as she poured herself a cup of juice.

"It's a muggle fairytale," Tank explained. "My wife loves them, so we got a bunch for our kids. Basically, Sleeping Beauty was cursed to sleep until true love's kiss woke her up. Or something like that." Ginny fought back a blush.

"Aww, Tank, you're such a softie," MJ said laughing.

"I think he must be a wonderful father," Ginny said.

"He is," Dustin added. "My kids love to go play with his. Our wives have gotten to be friends, and they help each other out when we're on the road."

"That's smart of you," Wesley said. "I'm going to have to find someone for Lori to tag team with, especially if we have more kids."

Jacob grinned. "Well if Chloe and I ever get there I'm sure she'd love to have someone to help her out."

"Are kids on the horizon?" Jeff asked.

"We hope so," Jacob said happily. "But I think we're going to wait until the World Cup is over and I'm living at home again. Plus, she's a little overworked right now at the Ministry."

"With the preparations for the Cup?" Ginny asked.

"Well, yes, but apparently there is something else fairly big happening right now as well. She can't tell me what, but I can see even through her letters that it's stressing her out," Jacob answered.

"And you're okay with your wife having secrets from you like that?" Dustin asked incredulously.

"Well, if your wife was Junior Undersecretary to the Minister you'd accept the fact that she was going to have secrets, too," Jacob said defensively.

"Your wife is Junior Undersecretary to the Minister?" MJ asked.

"Didn't I say earlier?" Jacob asked.

"No," Ginny said quickly, her mind racing.

"Oh, well, she is," Jacob said with a shrug. "I guess we should head out to the pitch."

"Are you guys going to go without Harry?" Ginny asked.

"Well, if you hadn't slept so late you'd know that he was the first one down this morning. He said he needed to think about some things, so he went outside to fly," Wesley replied.

"Oh. Well, have a good practice," Ginny said lamely. They all said their thanks and headed out to where Mason and Harry were waiting on the pitch. "You've left me with a lot to think about, too, Harry."

ZZZXXXZZZXXX

Later that night, the team was gathered in the living room awaiting their letters. Ginny had disappeared up to her room to retrieve them, and she was purposefully taking an extra long time reappearing. Finally, she reemerged from her room and strode into the living room carrying a large bundle of letters.

"About time!" MJ exclaimed.

"You know patience is a virtue," Ginny said sweetly.

"Well, who said I wanted to be virtuous?" MJ asked. "Give me my letters!"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright. Here are your three letters." MJ snatched them out of her hands and slumped down in a chair to read. "Tank, here you go. Wesley, Jeff, here are your letters." Ginny turned to Jacob and handed him ten letters. "You've got a lot of mail," she commented before turning to Dustin. "Here are yours." Ginny sat down on the couch next to Harry.

"Are you forgetting someone?" Harry asked.

"Oh yes, your two letters," Ginny said innocently, pulling two letters out of her pocket.

Harry quickly took them from her hand. "Thanks," he mumbled before ripping open his first letter.

Ginny, who had recognized the handwriting on both of his envelopes, peered over his shoulder. "And what does Tonks have to say?"

Harry sighed. "Just the same old mess." He looked at Ginny. "Stop reading over my shoulder." Harry put aside the first letter and opened the second one.

"How's Hermione?" Ginny asked sweetly, but Harry didn't respond. She saw his face redden as he quickly read the letter. "What's wrong?" she questioned nervously.

Harry glared at her. "A bit of bad news for you, I'm afraid."

Ginny's eyes widened. "And what is that?"

"You're request for clearance for my file has been rejected. Thanks for asking me if it was okay to apply." Harry suddenly seemed to remember that they were in a room filled with people. He jumped up from the couch and stalked outside, slamming the door behind him.

"What file?" Wesley asked.

Ginny sighed. She didn't know how being honest could hurt her now. "It was a file that would let me know all of the details of his case."

"And you did this behind his back?" Tank asked, shaking his head. Ginny nodded. "Don't you know better than that with him by now? If there's anything he hates it's someone who isn't truthful with him."

"Well, he isn't being truthful with us, either," Jeff said in Ginny's defense.

"It's all just a mess. Every time I think it's getting better, something happens to make it worse. And unfortunately, this time it is my fault. I should have just told him when I got back from the Ministry," Ginny said dejectedly.

"If it makes you feel any better, Chloe was just asking me about you and I was going to tell her how wonderful you are. I bet she would have approved you," Jacob informed her.

"So, Chloe knows what's in Harry's file?" Ginny asked.

"Well, I'm assuming that's why she was asking about you. She does work directly for Minister Bones, so she's probably involved in whatever this is," Jacob said with a shrug. "I still don't see what the big deal is; so he has some secrets. We all have secrets."

Tank noticed the hurt look on Ginny's face. "Guys? Can I speak with Ginny alone?" The rest of the team got up and went up the stairs to their bedrooms. "I know how you're feeling right now."

Ginny shook her head. "Unless you've been in love with that impossible, egotistical, self-involved, emotionally retarded boy since you were ten, I doubt it."

Tank chuckled. "Not exactly what I meant. You remember I didn't tell you that I knew Bill when we first met, right?" Ginny nodded. "Well I did the same thing to Harry."

"Harry wasn't that close with Bill. I don't think he would have cared much one way or the other," Ginny commented.

"Again, not what I meant. I was also at Hogwarts with Harry's parents."

"You were!?!" Ginny exclaimed.

"Yeah, they were sixth years when I was a first. When I finally realized how important trust and honesty were to Harry I took him aside and told him."

"How'd he take it?" Ginny asked curiously.

"He was furious with me for not telling him right away. He was yelling at me, so I cast a silencing charm on him."

"Oh, I know he didn't like that," Ginny said, completely shocked that Tank would do such a thing.

Tank shrugged. "Well, I knew what I had to say would only upset him more, and I needed him to hear me out. So why he silently fumed, I talked. I told him that the only reason I had ever talked with them at all, outside of them being Head Boy and Girl and being in my house, was because my dad and Remus Lupin's mum were like second cousins once removed or some other rubbish like that."

"You're related to Moony?"

"In a very distant way, yes. I did attend his funeral. Shame how he died that day in Hogsmeade."

"I was there," Ginny said softly. "I saw it happen."

"Oh," Tank said lamely. He forced a smile and continued with his story. "But anyway, my family pretty much alienated Remus's after he was bitten. They thought he was too dangerous; I don't really know, it happened before I was born. Despite all that, when I first started Hogwarts, Remus made sure that I was okay. It wasn't like we were friends and hung out, but he knew I was family and he looked out for me. Plus, he felt like it was his duty as a prefect. So, from his periodical checkups I met Harry's parents."

"And how did Harry handle all of that?" Ginny asked.

"Well, when I finally took the silencing charm off, I think he was more interested in learning the little bit that I knew about all of them. After he got his anger out, he was okay. He's told me about how he grew up, and I can honestly say I'm surprised at how well adjusted he is."

Ginny looked at him curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Well, he was brought up in a home where they despised him. Even forgetting all of the Voldemort stuff he went through, that's enough to damage any child. The example that the Dursleys set for him was one of anger; anytime he did anything wrong they yelled and screamed. It's only natural that that is his first instinct now when he's upset. I don't even think he realizes how much they affected him," Tank explained.

"When did you get Harry to tell you all of this?" Ginny asked.

"We've taken to talking late at night. Ever since I told him about his parents, I think he's trusted me enough to talk to me," Tank said smiling.

"So you think I should come clean, even though it's technically too late?"

"Can't hurt anything to explain yourself. By now he's probably calmed down some. Your biggest problem is going to be getting through the walls he's put up."

"I'm glad you're here, Tank. Not just for me, but for Harry too. He needs someone like you in his life," Ginny said gratefully.

"You mean like a father figure?"

"Well, yes."

Tank smiled proudly. "I've always said being a dad is the best job in the world. I'd have a thousand kids if Marissa were up to it. But enough about me, why don't you go track down Harry."

Ginny nodded and nervously followed Harry's path outside.

A/N Okay, well this chapter and the next could have been one big chapter, but the next chapter isn't quite ready yet. I think though that it'll be worth the wait. I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season, I know I did. As always, thank you for your reviews… if you haven't noticed by now I don't answer many questions from my reviews in my chapters, but if you ever have a question you really want answered feel free to email me. I'll do my best to try and answer. And my beta raised this question so I thought I would go ahead and address it here… The second time Harry started to tremble Ginny was able to calm him down before he got too far into his dream. The first time he was too far gone before she noticed what was going on. I hope that makes everything clear!

And after I tried to load this once I've discovered that I'm having problems with my horizontal line breaks again, so that is what the XXXZZZs are for. I just wanted to go ahead and get this chapter up!