Despite all of the things in the war Ginny had lived through, she quickly decided that she had never been more terrified than she was at that moment. She had no control over what was going to happen to her, and if she somehow managed to survive this there was a good chance that the rest of her family wouldn't. She knew she was crying as she clutched to her father with all she had, but she didn't think anyone would blame her for doing so. She could hear Lily crying behind her, as well as several screams she couldn't place. It felt like they had been falling for hours, but it had only been a few seconds.

Ginny had been told that your life flashed before your eyes before you died, and she had never before believed it to be possible. But now, as time seemingly stood still, she was faced with images of those she loved. Instead of seeing the people inside the falling box with her, she saw her mother dressing her up in old fancy clothes… her father telling her a bedtime story about a princess named Ginevra… Bill giving her piggy back rides in the back yard at the Burrow… Charlie giving her a stuffed dragon for her birthday… Percy helping her after she skinned her knees chasing after their other brothers… Fred helping her pull her first prank at Hogwarts… George teaching her how to dance before her first ball… Ron treating her like his equal and including her with his friends… and then she saw Harry.

Just thinking about him made her realize how much she would be missing if she died right then. They would never get the chance to get married and start their own family, never even get the chance to make love. She would never get to kiss him again, never get to wake up in his arms again… Her body was trembling but she didn't know if it was from fear or from heartbreak at everything she knew she would be missing.

And then as suddenly as the fall had started, it stopped. The screams around her faded, and then quickly started again. Ginny realized that while the people in the box had stopped falling, the box itself had continued plummeting to the ground. Now, all of the people who had been in the box were floating in the air, obviously being held by some kind of charm.

"Ginny, are you okay?" her father asked.

"Daddy, I'm scared," she whispered, holding on to him like her life depended on it. She realized that for all she knew, her life did depend on her grip on her father's shoulders.

"Dad, Ginny, are you okay?" Charlie called.

Ginny slowly turned her head, afraid any sudden movement would mean she would fall from the sky. "I think so," she called back, seeing Charlie and Tonks in a similar embrace as she and her father. "Ron? Fred?"

"We're both here," Fred said. "You'll see us if you look over your left shoulder."

"What happened?" Angelina sobbed.

"I don't know," Tonks replied. "But nobody panic… Oh, Merlin. Nobody look down either."

Ginny couldn't resist the temptation and stole a quick glance and the ground below them. They were suspended a good hundred feet above the normal stands, but it looked like their box had crashed into the stands below them. Ginny let out choked sob. "All those people," she whispered, burying her face in her father's shoulder. Suddenly they lurched towards the ground again before stopping fifty feet closer to the stands. There was another scream, but this time there was more crying than screaming.

"We're all going to die," some cried. Ginny was starting to lose track of who was who as her mind began to drift back towards all the things she'd miss if she died.

"Lily! Does someone have Lily?" Ron exclaimed. Ginny's attention snapped back to reality and she thought of Hermione who could only helplessly watch her daughter stuck in the sky.

"I've still got her," Padma replied shakily. "I'm not sure she's under the effect of whatever charm is holding us up though, I can still feel her entire wait in my arms."

"Don't let go!" Ginny pleaded.

"I'm trying," Padma called back. "I just hope they get us down from here soon."

"I don't know if I ever want to go on a broom again," Angelina sobbed.

"Shush baby," her aunt comforted her. "You're going to get down to the ground and fly like you always have."

"If I don't make it out of this, tell my family I love them. Tell Taylor I'm sorry for letting him down," Marissa sobbed. Ginny remembered for the first time that Tank and Marissa were expecting another child. She had completely forgotten with all of the drama going on in her own life.

"We are all going to be fine," Luna said calmly. "Look, Harry's holding us up."

Ginny turned her head to the pitch and saw Harry floating on his broom, his face screwed in concentration, holding his arm out towards them. She hadn't thought it was possible to love him anymore than she already did, but in that moment she felt her love for him grow. She gasped as she saw Harry's broom drop towards the ground as they fell simultaneously. As he regained control of his broom they stopped falling.

"Merlin, someone help him," Fred urged.

"This isn't exactly typical Auror protocol," Tonks snapped.

"Luv, he's not blaming anyone, he just wants to make it out of here alive," Charlie assured her. Tonks broke into tears and her voice was soon muffled against Charlie's shoulder. "I love you, you know that, right?" Charlie asked quietly.

"I love you, too," Tonks sniffed.

"Is everyone okay?" Ginny looked up and saw several Aurors on brooms surrounding them.

"What do you think?" Fred retorted.

"Calm down, we're here to help you," the Auror replied calmly.

"Took you long enough," Fred muttered. Before the Auror could reply, they all dropped another ten feet. "Get on with it already!" Fred yelled.

"If you would all put a hand on the broom closest to you were going to first pull you over the pitch," the Auror instructed. Ginny and her father both reached for the Auror closest to them and grabbed on tightly to the end of his broom. Slowly, they were pulled onto the middle of the pitch and it occurred to Ginny that they were all actually farther away from the ground now.

"Why can't we get on your brooms?" Charlie asked.

"Because that would require releasing whatever spell is holding you in the air and we're not sure how that will work," one of the Aurors explained.

Ginny glanced over at Harry and she could see the pain in his face. Whatever he was doing to keep them suspended in the air was obviously taking a lot out of him. Harry's broom dipped again and they all fell closer to the ground, this time bringing the brooms they were holding onto with them.

"So the spell is more powerful than the brooms," Tonks commented dryly.

"Just get us down!" Angelina exclaimed.

"They're going to try and slowly lower Harry to the ground now, so just hold on to us and hopefully we'll have you all on the ground in just a few minutes," the Auror assured her.

"Hurry," Padma pleaded, "I don't know how much longer I can hold the baby and the broom."

Slowly, Ginny felt her body being lowered towards the ground. She kept an eye on Harry, and wished there was some way to make him hurt less. They found themselves level with the top layer of the stands and Ginny heard a loud crash behind them.

"Oh no! Michael!" Ginny exclaimed. "Tonks, did anybody grab Michael?"

Tonks's face paled. "No…"

"Then that loud crash…"

"Was probably him," Tonks finished, sounding mortified.

"I'm on it," one of the Aurors on a broom called as he zoomed towards the direction of the crash. Ginny felt guilty for not remembering that Michael had been under the invisibility cloak sooner, but she knew that she had to focus on getting to the ground in one piece first.

"We're almost there," Luna said cheerfully.

"The sooner we can get you down the better," her Auror replied. "Someone thought to cast some kind of privacy screen over the stands so the fans wouldn't watch you all plummet to your death. Keeps it out of the press, too."

"How thoughtful," Ron said sarcastically. "You know, keeping our deaths out of the press and all instead of trying to save us!"

"So the people who were crushed by our box had no warning it was coming?" Ginny whispered.

"Probably not. We have a team sorting through the rubble as we speak. There was nothing we could have done to stop it, it happened so fast," an Auror explained.

"But you had time to cast a privacy charm?" Ron snapped.

Ginny tuned out their argument and looked at focused all of her attention on Harry. He looked pale and weak, like he was going to pass out from exhaustion at any minute. Ginny glanced down at the ground. Only a few more feet, she silently urged him. You can do it, love.

Harry's eyes fluttered shut and his body began to convulse. "Oh no!" Ginny cried as Harry's arm dropped limply by his side. She barely had time to register what had happened when she felt her body collide with the ground, her father half on top of her. She was too sore to move, and she didn't think she had the strength to open her eyes. She gave in to the darkness that was calling her and passed out.

It was dark. She was moving with stealth so no one would hear her coming. Her wand was drawn and waiting for any attack that may come her way. She heard a rustling in the bushes and turned around, pointing her wand at them.

"Show yourself," she said, but the voice was not her own. The rustling continued, and she whispered a spell she did not actually know. The bush was blown to pieces and a man wearing a mask was cowering before her.

"Don't kill me," the man pleaded.

She wanted nothing more than to spit in his face, but she used all of her restraint to keep her cool. "Where are they?"

"They're dead. I didn't do it though, I swear!" She felt her stomach roll and she thought she was going to be sick. They were too late. She knew, though, that she couldn't afford to lose her cool now. It took every ounce of self-control she had to not let her face reveal her emotions. She only hoped that he would forgive her.

She shot a spell towards the man and he was bound with invisible ropes. She began to walk down the road towards the smoking plot of land where a house had once stood. She hated this. She wasn't prepared to deal with this. If only they had gotten a little more notice they might have been able to stop it.

"The dead bodies are in what's left of the bedroom. It's not a pretty sight."

"Try to clean them up the best you can. We'll have to prepare for the muggle authorities… we don't have much time before they'll be here," she replied calmly, able to keep her voice from betraying her raging anger.

"We put out a fire when we first got here."

"Salvage what you can. She'll want whatever we can offer her." She knew this would destroy her. She always hated when it happened to those so young.

She walked around the house, trying to sort through the wreckage. Most of the photos on the wall were damaged by the smoke, but a few simple charms cleaned them up. There was a large bookcase, filled with things she'd love to read if the circumstances were different. Most of them were ruined beyond repair.

She felt her lips being pried open, but she didn't see anyone around her. A cool liquid dripped down her throat and everything turned black again.

"She needs to wake up. He needs her."

Ginny recognized the voice, and she could hear the urgency in it. She just couldn't seem to open her eyes, no matter how much she wanted to. She was lying down, but she didn't know where she was or how she got there.

"Will the dreamless sleep draught cause her to sleep longer?"

Ginny recognized the second voice as well, but she didn't know who the "he" was they were referring to. The more she thought about it, the more her head hurt and the less she actually wanted to open her eyes.

"I don't think so. That must have been some nightmare she was having, though. She was really flailing around when the healers got here."

Ginny vaguely recalled her dream, but it didn't feel like one of her normal nightmares. She felt like she had been someone other than herself.

"We really need her to try and help him. We don't know of any other way to calm him down."

"What are they going to do with him?"

"They couldn't get close enough to move him so they took as many things out of his room as possible and locked him in. They have someone watching him through the window at all times to see if he'll wake up. I would have thought he'd be magically exhausted, but somehow he's still reacting to his dreams."

Ginny barely registered someone taking her hand. It felt cold and clammy and it sent a shiver up her spine.

"She moved. I just felt her shiver." This time the voice seemed comforting to Ginny, like she had heard it many times before. "Do you think she needs another blanket?"

"What she needs is to go help Harry."

Harry. They said that Harry needed her. Ginny focused all of her energy on opening her eyes. She was able to crack them open, but the room was so bright she quickly shut them again. She let out a moan, and tried to sit up.

"Ginny, are you okay?"

Ginny tried again to open her eyes, and she was able to make out her father sitting next to her bed. "Harry," she said weakly.

"You aren't any help to Harry if you can't even open your eyes," her father reminded her.

Slowly Ginny was able to open her eyes and she looked around the room. Tonks was standing by the door with Charlie. There was a window that was leaking in sunlight, and she was sitting on a bed with bright white sheets.

"That's a good girl," Arthur said smiling.

"What happened?" Ginny asked as she started to feel more normal.

"We don't know yet. There are Aurors investigating the scene… they won't tell us anything," Charlie replied, only glaring at Tonks momentarily.

"They don't want to tell you until they are sure what happened," Tonks explained patiently. "As soon as they can be sure they'll let us know."

"What about Harry?" Ginny asked.

"He's magically exhausted… we can't seem to get him to wake up," Tonks said quietly.

Ginny closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "He's having nightmares, isn't he?" She looked at Tonks and the other witch nodded slowly. "I have to go to him."

"Not until we're sure you're okay," Charlie insisted.

"I'm fine," Ginny lied. Her head was still throbbing and she was dead tired, but she knew she wouldn't be able to get any rest until she knew Harry was okay. She threw her legs off the side of the bed and stood up slowly. Her legs were slightly wobbly and she had to reach out for her father for support. "Help me?" she asked quietly.

Her father stood up beside her and offered her his arm. They slowly walked towards the door and into a long, straight hall filled doorways. Everything looked white and sterile, and Ginny wanted nothing more than to leave this place behind her. At their slow pace it took them several minutes to reach the end of the long corridor, but when they got there Ginny realized they had reached some sort of waiting room. There were chairs and couches lined along the walls, and about half of them were filled with tired looking people. Ginny spotted Fred sitting on one of the couches with his arm around Angelina's shoulders. Angelina had rested her head on Fred's shoulder and it looked like they were both asleep.

"Did they make up?" she asked her father quietly.

"We're going this way," Arthur said, leading her away from the waiting area and down another long corridor. "And while they didn't get back together, I think their near death experience renewed their friendship. Angelina's aunt was still with the healers last I heard… I think she had several broken bones."

"Oh." They continued walking until Arthur stopped in front of a door about half way down the hall where two burly looking men stood in front of window.

"This is Harry." Ginny left her father's side and peeked in the window between the two men. Harry looked like he was struggling against some kind of binding, and there was hardly anything in the room that hadn't been destroyed.

"I have to go in there," Ginny said firmly. She tried to open the door but found that it was locked. "Will you please let me in?" she asked one of the men standing watch politely. The man looked towards Arthur and he gave a slight nod. He then pointed his wand at the door and it gave a slight click. Ginny pushed the door open and slowly walked into the room.

She hesitantly approached Harry, trying to make sure that she wasn't going to be hit by some kind of spell. She was able to get to him without any real problem, but she wasn't sure what to do once she got there. She placed a hand on his forehead but had to immediately remove it when it almost burned her. She weighed her options carefully before slowly climbing on the bed with him. She started at the end of the bed, where his legs were pinned down, and crawled her way up so she could straddle his waist. She didn't feel any pain with their only contact being through clothes, but she wasn't stopping his thrashing either.

"Harry, love, you have to wake up," she said forcefully. "You're only hurting yourself and I need you in one piece. I love you and I refuse to let you get hurt." Ginny placed her hands on Harry's shoulders before leaning down to kiss him. She couldn't maintain the kiss for more than a few seconds because of the pain it sent through her lips, but Harry's thrashing calmed down considerably.

Ginny wrapped her hand in the sheet on Harry's bed and began to caress his forehead again. The longer she stroked the less heat she felt radiating from his body and before long she was able to touch his skin with her own. He stopped thrashing and she quickly lay down in the bed beside him, wrapping her arm across his chest possessively. She felt his breathing return to normal and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

Ginny let out a sigh of relief. She had managed to end his nightmare, and hoped that he was now sleeping peacefully. She snuggled closer to him in bed, simply enjoying being able to breath in his sent. Her mind traveled back to all of the thoughts she had when she thought she was going to die. She realized that she had to take advantage of the time she had left. If living through a war had taught her anything, it was that life was short.

Harry's hand began to caress her back, effectively distracting her from her thoughts. She stole a glance at his face, but it looked like he was still sound asleep. His hand began to travel farther south, and when it came in contact with her bum he let out a low moan. Ginny was very tempted to wake him up and enjoy herself properly, but she remembered that there were three men outside the room, one of which was her father.

She scooted up farther in the bed so her head was at the same level of his. "Love, I think you need to wake up for a bit," she whispered into his ear. Harry let out a low, guttural moan and wrapped his arm tighter around Ginny. "My dad is out there watching us, Harry," she added.

Harry's eyes shot open and he pulled away from Ginny quickly. He looked around the room frantically, and then let out a long sigh. "I thought… I mean, your dad… and we were… Oh, Merlin that was scary."

Ginny giggled and kissed Harry on the tip of his nose. "My dad is right outside the room. I had to come in because you were having a nightmare."

"I was afraid of that when I saw the room," Harry replied sullenly.

"It'll be okay. But I have to go get the healer so they can check you out," she said as she hopped off the bed.

"Don't leave," Harry pleaded with her.

Ginny smiled sadly. "I actually haven't had my own healer check up yet, and they're going to hunt me down if I don't get back to my room. I'll be back as soon as they'll let me come, I promise."

"I'm going to hold you to that," Harry said.

Ginny blew him a kiss goodbye and walked out of the room. "He's ready to see a healer, now," she informed the two men standing guard over his room.

"And so are you," her father added. "I'm taking you back to your room right now, no arguments."

"Fine by me," Ginny replied, taking her father's arm. "I'm exhausted and my head is killing me."

"I shouldn't have let you come before you got looked at," Arthur said regretfully.

Ginny shook her head and put more of her weight on her father. "I wouldn't have cooperated until I saw Harry. Let's just get back to my room." They walked slowly and soon they had reached the waiting area again.

"Ginny!" Fred exclaimed, getting up from his seat. "No one's told me anything!"

"I'm fine," Ginny assured him. "I just have to go get checked up by my healer and then I should be good to go."

"Good. Dad, why don't you let me help her the rest of the way. You're looking tired yourself." Fred took Ginny's other arm and she released her grip on her father. She glanced at his appearance and realized he did look fairly run down.

"Are you okay, Dad?" she asked as they started walking again.

Arthur waved his hand in the air dismissively. "I'm fine. I'm just not as young as I used to be… I don't rebound as quickly from these things. In all honesty, I just feel terrible that the reason you got hurt as much as you did was because I landed on top of you."

"Well, it was my fault for clinging to you so tightly," Ginny said with a grin. "It was like I was holding on to you for dear life or something."

Arthur chuckled. "Yes, I suppose so. Here we are." He pushed open the door to her room and they all walked in. Charlie and Tonks were gone, but there was a young healer looking at what Ginny assumed was her chart.

"You're finally back," the woman said. She set down the chart and put her hands on her hips. "Don't just stand there, come here and get on the bed so I can examine you." Feeling suddenly like a small child, Ginny hurried over and sat down on the edge of her bed. "I'm Healer Brown, and I just need you to sit back and close your eyes for a moment." Ginny did as she was told, and felt a strange tingling sensation covering her body. It then went on to feel like her entire body was wrapped in a cold, damp cloth. Ginny began to shiver, and the feeling of being wrapped disappeared but the coldness stayed.

"All right, I'm done. The cold feeling should go away in a few minutes," Healer Brown said. She conjured a blanket and covered Ginny with it. Ginny opened her eyes to see the healer leaving the room.

"Where'd she go?"

"She said something about needing to check on some of your results," Arthur replied. "I guess she'll be back soon." The door to the room opened again and Tonks and Charlie walked back in.

"Is everything okay?" Charlie asked, looking concerned at Ginny.

"I think I'm fine," she replied. "The healer just wanted to check on some of my results." Ginny glanced over at Tonks, and realized that she looked like she was going to be sick. "What's wrong?"

Tonks took a deep breath and turned her attention to Ginny. "They found out why the box fell."

"Oh," Ginny said softly.

"The poles supporting the box had been eroded all the way through," Tonks said sadly. "It looks like a potion was applied to them sometime last night, and it took all day for it to take on it's full affect. In all the security precautions we took, we never even thought of checking the supports to the boxes…"

"How many people died?" Ginny asked quietly, looking down at the sheets on her bed. She felt a hand on her shoulder and felt comfort in her father's presence.

"Twelve were crushed under the debris. There were another twenty injured by it. Out of all of us in the box, Michael fared the worst… he's still out and he has a lot of broken bones. Marissa was the luckiest, she broke her arm, but her baby is fine." Ginny felt tears roll down her cheeks, but she made no effort to stop them.

"And Lily?" Arthur asked shakily.

"Isn't even acting like anything happened," Tonks said with a small smile. "Hermione, on the other hand, is a complete and total wreck. It took a lot to get her to stop sobbing, from what I've heard. I also heard that she was spotted talking with Ron and Padma."

"How are they?" Ginny asked unsteadily.

"Ron's fine, just a couple scrapes and bruises. Padma broke several ribs from where Lily landed on her chest and she fractured her ankle, but it wasn't anything a good healer couldn't fix."

"I spoke to Ron for a minute," Charlie spoke up, "and he was really shaken up by the whole thing. Padma was surprising calm, but Ron looked like death."

"Is Angelina's aunt doing better?" Ginny asked.

"She'll be fine. It's just a matter of time for her. She's not as young as she thinks she is," Charlie replied with a chuckle.

The door opened again and Healer Brown walked back into the room, smiling tensely. "Well, I have your test results."

"And?" Ginny prompted her.

"And you're going to be fine."

Ginny could tell there was more to it by the tone of the healer's voice. "But?"

"Well, your magical reserves are inexplicably low. I can't find any reason why, but it does explain why you blacked out. Your body didn't have enough left to help heal your injuries. Tell me, did you cast any large spells before the accident?"

Ginny quickly ran over it through her mind before shaking her head. "I don't remember doing anything out of the ordinary."

"What does that mean?" Charlie asked, looking towards the healer.

"It just means that it'll take your sister longer to recover than it would have otherwise," Healer Brown said with a shrug. "You're free to go now, but I have to advise that you try to refrain from doing magic for the next few days, just to let your reserves recover."

"No magic at all?" Ginny asked incredulously.

"Well, just use your judgment. But definitely no big spells." Healer Brown glanced down at her chart before setting it down on the table beside Ginny's bed. "Just make sure you check out at the desk at the end of the hall before you leave."

"Thank you," Arthur said.

"It's what I'm here for," she replied with a smile before leaving the room.

Ginny was more than ready to get out of the hospital, but she didn't think she could leave without Harry. "When does Harry get to leave?" she asked Tonks.

"Soon, but…" Tonks voice trailed off and she exchanged a look with Arthur.

"Tell me," Ginny insisted.

"Well, he had almost completely depleted his magical reserves. He can't use magic for the next week or so, and he's supposed to refrain from any strenuous activity for at least a week," Tonks replied slowly.

"What about practice?" Ginny asked.

"Right now they'll be lucky if he's cleared to play by the next match. They're bringing Caleb in first thing tomorrow for practice," Tonka explained awkwardly.

"Oh my," Ginny said, sinking back into her bed. She knew that Harry would be very upset and grumpy at being stuck in bed. On top of that, she knew he'd be feeling guilty that he hadn't been able to save the people in the stands. She was sure that he hadn't even realized that he wouldn't be stopping the whole box, just the people in it. She wasn't looking forward to dealing with his moodiness over the next few days, especially when she couldn't help the situation with magic.

"So what's the plan?" she asked finally.

"You and Harry are going to return to the hotel, but he's going to move into your room. Your doubles will still be going around as usual, so hopefully no one will realize that you two are recovering." Tonks paused and she blushed slightly, glancing over at Arthur. "But you and Harry are to keep from having any kind of… relations… while you're recuperating."

Blushing to the roots of her hair, Ginny nodded, and looked at the ground. If she never had to have another conversation about sex with her father in the room again it would be too soon.

"So when do we leave?" she asked again.

"Your father will escort you to the hotel as soon as you're ready, and then I'll bring Harry to you in a little while," Tonks replied.

Ginny hopped off her bed and felt dizzy from the sudden movement.

"Are you okay?" Charlie asked, rushing over to her side to help steady her.

Ginny smiled gratefully at Charlie. "I'm fine, I'm just ready to get out of here."

"Well then, let's go," Arthur said firmly.

The room was filled with the sound of impatient fingers tapping on the table top. It was raining outside, and Ginny could hear the patter of rain on the glass of her window. She and Harry had been back from the hospital for only four hours and they were both already going stir crazy.

Harry, who was lying on the bed staring at the ceiling, let out a frustrated scream and pounded his fists on the bed. "I'm going to go out of my mind!" he yelled.

"And yelling is really going to make it better," Ginny replied sarcastically from her seat at the desk. She held her hand in front of her face and examined her nails, noting that she had broken most of them since she had left England. Normally she didn't bother herself with such trivial, girly things, but with nothing to do she quickly found herself examining every possible outlet of activity.

"If we had a chess set, or gobstones, or even exploding snap cards it would be better. Maybe I can run out for a few minutes and pick up something. Even a set of muggle cards would be better than nothing at this point!" Harry exclaimed, sitting up straight on the bed.

Ginny rolled her eyes at Harry. "You know we can't leave this room. If anything, we can ask Tonks to pick some things up for us when she comes by later."

"But what are we going to do in the meantime?" Harry whined.

"Well, we could stop acting like we we're seven, for starters!" Ginny exclaimed.

Glaring at her, Harry got up from the bed and stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

"Real mature, Harry," Ginny muttered under her breath. She hoped that Tonks would be able to give them something to do to pass their time; otherwise she and Harry might kill each other. She knew in her heart of hearts that she loved the boy, but being trapped in a room with him when he was in a bad mood was not on the list of her favorite activities.

A gentle knocking made Ginny jump up from her chair and hurry over to her bedroom door. She pulled open the door, expecting to see Tonks and a relief from their boredom. She was surprised to find herself face to face with Ron, instead.

"Ron! What are you doing here?" she asked, trying her hardest not to sound rude.

"I didn't interrupt anything, did I?" Ron asked hesitantly.

Ginny shook her head. "We're both pretty restricted right now in what we can actually do. No magic, no strenuous activity, and so on and so forth. We've been bored out of our minds. Did you need something?"

Shifting on his feet uncomfortably, Ron gazed at the floor. "I actually kind of wanted to talk to Harry."

"You're not going to hex him or anything, are you?" Ginny asked suspiciously.

"Of course not! Who do you think I am?" Ginny raised her eyebrows and Ron's shoulders slumped. "I've changed since then, Ginny. I just want to talk to him."

Ginny pushed open the door to the bedroom and stepped out of the way. "Then by all means, do come in." Ron smiled gratefully and entered the room. Ginny watched him take a quick survey of the room, but she wasn't sure what he was looking for. She couldn't decide if she thought he was looking for evidence that she and Harry had just been shagging, or some kind of proof that Harry had been treating her badly.

"Was that Tonks?" Harry asked as he walked out of the bathroom. He froze in his place when he saw Ron standing in the room.

"Good to see you're all right," Ron said, wringing his hands nervously.

"I'll be better when they take some of these restrictions off of me," Harry replied tensely, running a hand through his hair.

"I'll bet," Ron chuckled tensely. "I bet you're wondering why I'm here."

"The thought crossed my mind."

Ron glanced over at Ginny. "Would you mind leaving us alone?"

"I would love to," she began, "but I'm not allowed to leave the room and I don't fancy sitting in the loo for however long this takes. So you'll just have to pretend I'm not here."

"Right, well then I suppose there's no point in delaying this anymore…" Ron looked back and forth between Harry and Ginny and began to pace the room. "I'm sorry." Harry looked like he was going to speak and Ron held up his hand to stop him. "Let me get this all out before you say anything." Ginny plopped down on the bed in shock, gaping at her brother like a fish.

"I've been a pretty big idiot, apparently. I was proud and stupid, and I just seemed to forget about our seven years of friendship in one fit of anger. When the box fell, I thought I was going to die. Needless to say, I was pretty much scared shitless. Almost dying tends to do that to a person…" Ron shook his head and chuckled again nervously.

"I made up my mind that I had to apologize to you the second I realized that I was going to be fine, and not just because you saved all of our lives. I couldn't stand the thought of dying without having set things right with you first. I was wrong about you and Hermione, I can admit that now, and I made a right mess of things by sending back all of those letters. I've missed out on a lot because I was angry, and I don't want to do that anymore." Ron stopped his pacing and looked at Harry, his expression turning serious.

"I'm not going to pretend that things can just go back to the way they were, because too much has happened. Honestly, I won't blame you if you want to hold a grudge against me for years to come. But I'm going to try to make things right again. That's all I can do, really." Ron dropped his gaze back to the floor and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I reckon that's all I had to say, so I'll just be going."

The only thing crossing through Ginny's mind was who the imposter and what they did do with her brother. She couldn't believe that her brother would show a rare moment of maturity and actually apologize. She felt like her chin was resting on the floor, but she was too shocked to close her mouth. Ron looked at her and nodded before heading for the door.

"Ron, wait," Harry called. Ron stopped in his tracks and slowly turned around to face Harry. Ginny shivered as the tension between them was thick enough to cut with a knife.

"Yeah?"

"I'd really like to try and make things better." Harry stole a quick glance at Ginny and grinned briefly. "I'm in love with your sister, so I have a feeling we'll be seeing a good bit of each other. I can't pretend that you didn't hurt me, but we all made our own mistakes and it's time to move on."

Ron's eyes lit up. "Really?"

Harry nodded and laughed. "Yeah. Things may never be the same again, but I think we can put a stop to the dinners where we don't say two words to one another."

"That was pretty awkward, wasn't it?" Ron chuckled. "Just so you know, I spoke to Hermione as well, and we're going to try and be, well friends might be too strong of a word, but we're going to try and at least be civil."

"That's brilliant, Ron," Ginny gushed, speaking up for the first time since Ron apologized.

"Well, Padma was the one who suggested I do it. She could tell how upset I was after the accident and thought it would make me feel better," he explained sheepishly. "Padma wants to have her over for dinner sometime. She feels a really strong connection to Lily now."

All of the images of the golden trio being reunited in Ginny's head were destroyed. As long as Padma was in the picture, she didn't think that Ron and Hermione would be able to maintain anything resembling a normal friendship.

"I bet," she managed to reply.

"I should probably be going… Padma's waiting for me downstairs. I'll be seeing you two around," Ron said making his way for the door. "I hope you both make a full recovery soon."

"Thanks, and don't be a stranger," Harry said lightly.

Ginny jumped off the bed and ran over to Ron, hugging him tightly. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear.

Ron put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back slightly. "I didn't do this for you, I did it for me."

"Thank you all the same," she replied with a grin. "I'll see you later."

"Bye," Ron gave her shoulders a slight squeeze and left the room. Ginny turned around and leaned against the closed door.

"Well, how about that," she said with a grin. "And here you though we were going to be bored."

Harry smacked himself in the forehead. "We should have asked Ron to pick something up for us!"

"That would be the point you decide to dwell on," Ginny replied laughing. "We can still ask Tonks when she comes by later."

"So, what do we do until then?"

"Enjoy each other's company?" she suggested. "Purely innocently, of course."

"Maybe a nap?"

Ginny sauntered over to where Harry was standing and wrapped her arms around his waist. "That would be very nice," she said coyly.

"You have no idea how much I wish we weren't under this no strenuous activities rule," Harry groaned, throwing back his head.

Ginny pulled his head back up and kissed him softly. "We'll survive." She pulled him back to the bed and they both got under the covers. Ginny put an arm over Harry's chest and breathed in the scent of him, drifting off to sleep.

As the knocking on her bedroom door grew more insistent, Ginny was starting to think she wouldn't ever be allowed to just wake up in her own time again. She was much too comfortable in Harry's arms to make herself get up and answer the door.

"Harryyy," she moaned, snuggling closer to him. She felt his hand squeeze her stomach slightly and she sighed contentedly.

"I'm not answering your door again," he whispered, kissing her bare shoulder.

Ginny's eyes shot open and she quickly moved away from Harry, clutching the sheets tightly against her body. Harry looked confused for a minute before realization crossed over his face. He sat up in bed, being careful not to move the covers off of Ginny or his own lap.

"Are you?" he asked hesitantly.

Ginny nodded. "Completely. You?"

Harry nodded. Before he could say anything else, the door burst open and Tonks and Susan Bones, Ginny's new guard, came flying into the room, wands out.

"Is everything okay in here?" Tonks asked. She looked around the room for signs of danger before her eyes settled on Harry and Ginny's appearance. She frowned and turned to Susan. "You should resume your position by the door… everything's okay in here."

"Right," Susan said, blushing furiously. Ginny couldn't help but notice that Susan had been staring at Harry, and she could have sworn she saw her eyes flash in anger before she left the room.

"I don't know whether to be happy you're both okay or upset that you've obviously been breaking the rules," Tonks began slowly.

"It's not what it looks like," Ginny said quickly, resisting the urge to hide under the covers. She knew that she was blushing, and she couldn't even as much as look at Harry.

"We actually wanted to talk to you about this," Harry said awkwardly.

"You need advice?" Tonks asked cheekily, starting to look amused by their embarrassment.

"Will you please just hand me my dressing gown?" Ginny asked. Tonks picked up the garment from its place on the back of the arm chair and handed it to her. Ginny carefully put it on, trying not to expose her naked body. As soon as she was sure she was covered she got out of the bed.

"Will you hand me some clothes?" Harry asked. Ginny nodded and starting going through his trunk for something for him to wear.

"Why don't you just put the clothes you had on earlier back on?" Tonks asked.

"Because they're gone," Ginny said patiently. "That's what we wanted to talk to you about."

"I'm confused."

Ginny pulled a pair of underwear and pants out of Harry's trunk and handed them to him. "Ever since my birthday Harry's been having a slight problem," she explained slowly. "It seems that I didn't help him stop reacting to his dreams, but I did manage to stop the nightmares." Tonks still looked confused, but Ginny could bring herself to verbalize what was actually happening.

"I'm banishing our clothes," Harry said simply, getting out of the bed. "We go to bed fully dressed and wake up missing clothes. This is the first time I've actually banished all of them, though."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Tonks asked.

"For one thing, it was embarrassing," Harry said as he pulled on a shirt over his head. "For another thing, I didn't think I'd be able to sit through that meeting with Mr. Weasley."

"And we didn't really think it was that bad until recently," Ginny added.

"And this only happens when you sleep?" Tonks asked.

"Actually, it happened while we were awake on my birthday as well," Ginny remembered. "It was right after we said 'I love you' for the first time," she added softly. "He banished my dress."

"That pretty one we spent forever shopping for!" Tonks exclaimed.

"Nice to see you have your priorities straight," Harry said sarcastically.

"Sorry," Tonks said sheepishly. "But that really was a fabulous dress."

"The point is, this is getting a bit out of control," Ginny interrupted. "I'm losing part of my wardrobe every night right now."

"Do you two, well, I mean, do you, you know, right before you go to bed?" Tonks asked, examining the paint on the walls closely.

"We try to keep all of that away from the bedroom, honestly," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. She was embarrassed by the situation, but they were all started to act like little kids and she'd had about enough of it. "We think of our time in bed as a Ministry activity instead of us time."

"That's probably smart," Tonks replied. "I guess we need to look into this. Probably find some kind of way to monitor your magic when you sleep."

"Can we keep my dad out of it, at least for now?" Ginny asked.

"Definitely," Tonks said. "I don't want to be the one to tell him, either. Until we can work something out, I suggest that you two start conjuring bedclothes instead of wearing what you own."

"What about our magic limit?" Harry asked.

"I think it'd be okay if Ginny did it for now," Tonks said slowly. "I really need to talk to Minister Bones about this."

"Before you go," Harry said quickly, "will you please bring us some games or something? We're both going out of our minds with boredom."

"Not a problem," Tonks replied with a grin. "I'll send some things to you tomorrow. You two behave tonight. I know it'll be hard, but you're going to have to try for just a few more days."

"We will. Bye, Tonks," Ginny said, happy that the awkward situation was finally ending.

"Bye!" As soon as Tonks left the room Harry and Ginny let out a collective sigh of relief.

"I think someone is trying to kill us by embarrassment," Harry said, walking over to Ginny and pulling her into a hug.

"Hopefully she'll be able to help us make things better," Ginny said softly. "I don't think it can get much worse."

"Don't say that, you'll jinx us," Harry teased. He ran his hand along her back and Ginny was reminded that she wasn't wearing anything under her dressing gown. She pulled away from Harry and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Can I be honest?" she asked nervously.

Harry looked concerned but nodded his head.

"It was really nice waking up like that with you but," her voice trailed off and she knew her face was flushing from embarrassment. She wasn't exactly sure what she was trying to say. When the box was falling and she thought she was going to die, she had convinced herself that making love to Harry was what she wanted. But when she had been faced with the reality of it, she had realized she still wasn't ready. She wanted their first time together to be perfect, like her mum's romance novels.

Ginny realized that Harry was staring at her, looking very worried. "I just want everything to be perfect," she said finally.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Harry smiled slightly. "I understand."

"Do you just want to go back to bed and pretend that none of this happened?" Ginny asked.

"That'd be heaven," Harry replied.

"Then I'll just conjure some clothes and we can hit the sack."

"Good." Harry kissed her cheek and walked into the bathroom. Ginny pulled out her wand and conjured two sets of pajamas. She was ready to move on with her life, and she was ready to have to stop worrying about someone trying to hurt her or Harry. She let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes. She would feel a lot better about everything when the World Cup was over.

A/N Well, that was a long chapter… As to why they couldn't apparate, all of those thoughts of Ginny's happened in a matter of seconds, and I don't think anyone would have been thinking clearly enough to not splinch themselves. The other news is that I've started a livejournal, and I'll be posting things there about the story, its status, the revised versions, and other things that I've written. It's listed as my homepage in my profile, so check it out if you want. Thanks for all of your reviews. You guys have really been overwhelming me lately! I have exams this week... one at 6 tomorrow night, actually... so I'm going to try to stay on time, but no promises!