A/N: Here is Chapter five for you all! To all my reviewers, I hope you like it! And to all you lurkers, I hope you like it too
HarryEstel- Yes, Ron and Hermione are a little slow on the uptake, you know, you'd think someone as intelligent as Hermione would be a little swifter! Thank you so much for your reviews.
Nixtear- Wow! Very flattered! I am so glad you liked my story! Hope you like this chapter as well. Thank you for your kind reviews.
Hermione found herself sitting talking with Ginny absolutely unable to focus on any type of normal conversation pattern in the slightest. Her thoughts constantly seemed to shift from Ginny to oddly enough her brother. Ginny didn't seem to mind the lapses at all, in fact she seemed to get more and more cheerful as the afternoon progressed.
Why am I thinking about Ron all of a sudden! It's not like I haven't seem him enough today after all.
Ginny smiled inwardly, she knew that her best friend wasn't paying any attention to her at all. Now normally this would cause a bone of contention, but if she wasn't very much mistaken Hermione was thinking about Ron and that was exactly what this excruciatingly painful conversation had been solely intended for.
"What are you thinking about?" Ginny asked in a completely innocent voice.
Hermione snapped out of her daze and stared at the red head in front of her who was not the same red head that was bouncing around in her mind. "Oh, no one" she said in what she hoped was an offhanded manner.
"Oh, so it was a boy then" Ginny replied triumphantly
Hermione looked alarmed "What makes you say that!" She said hurriedly
"Well, you said it no one, not nothing" Ginny said smoothly, "and, I know that you wouldn't talk in that tone of voice over a girl" Hermione was stuck and she knew it.
"Yes, well, if you can think about boys, than so can I" She said triumphantly. She would like to see her rather nosey best friend get out of this one
"So what you mean by that is if I can think about Harry all the time, than it's perfectly reasonable for you to have Ron on your mind constantly," Ginny said conversationally.
"I'm thirst, do you want anything?" Ginny said nonchalantly as thought they had not been discussing anything more interesting than the weather outside. Hemione just stared at Ginny at a loss for words; which of course was the reaction the Ginny had planned. Hermione was annoyed, as she knew she had given Ginny more than enough ammo to be getting on with.
Mid afternoon was hot and sticky as ever, so Ron and Harry could be seen in Ron's room, Ron sprawled out on his bed, and Harry on the mattress that had been raised on wood blocks for him for the summer.
Hey, Ron what did you do with that poster from the World Cup two years ago?" Harry asked, an ingenious idea formulating in his mind.
"I got tired of it" Ron said forcibly.
Harry chuckled to himself. "How lucky is Krum, he's got an awesome job and he's really smart and a cool girlfriend." He said goading Ron, all without Ron knowing it.
"Hermione is not going out with that toad. She can do loads better." Ron said hotly.
"Chill out mate, people may think you're jealous or something." Harry said.
Ron shot him a look of pure venom, but found that Harry was staring absentmindedly out the window at the garden below.
Some nerve he's got! Telling me I'm jealous, jealous over what! Hermione! That's ridiculous. She's just your pretty best friend. I mean witty, yea witty best friend. Bloody hell, I'm glad Harry can't hear my thoughts right now, or he'd never let it go. But she is rather pretty, especially today, and she's real…what am I doing! This is Hermione we're talking about! Ok, changing the conversation.
Harry watched Ron's internal struggle with a barely concealed face. It was so fun to watch his best friend squirm. He couldn't wait to tell Ginny about this.
Dinner that night was something to be remembered. It was one of the most awkward affairs ever taken place under the Burro's roof. The evening consisted of Ron and Hermione trying very hard not to touch, talk or even look to one another. This sight pleased Harry and Ginny very much.
Mrs. Weasley was staring between the Harry and Ginny, who both wore cat-who-ate-the-canary grins, and Ron and Hermione who were acting like each one had the plague. She shook her head and cleared the dishes. I'm better off not knowing. She thought to herself with a sigh.
Harry stared out the window at the countless stars that dotted the evening sky. He was more than pleased because he hadn't had a nightmare at all that evening; no something much better was keeping him awake. He lay in his bed just thinking about the day and about Ginny. She was a really nice girl, if she wasn't Ron's sister, he would even consider going out with her, however she was, and until Ron had a girlfriend too, Ginny was off limits.
He carefully and silently made his way across the room. He wanted to take a visit to the kitchen; it was a habit he had gotten into over the summers with the Dursley's. If he ever wanted food, he had to find it himself after they had all gone safely to sleep.
On the way to the second landing, he stopped dead. He thought he heard and slight squeak from the door on his right, but he knew that couldn't be correct, because Bill wasn't home, and that was his room. He noticed the door was slightly ajar and he slowly peered inside. In the darkness he could make out the form of a person huddled on their side in the middle of the bed, a quilt wrapped around her frame. Harry sucked his breath inwards, Ginny was crying, silently, but crying nonetheless. He padded across the room and carefully sat down besides her. She didn't even know he was there. Harry looked carefully at her and noticed she was still asleep. Harry gently moved her arm, knowing from personal experience that waking from a nightmare was not always the most pleasant of feelings. Ginny's eyes flew open. For a horrifying moment before her eyes accustomed themselves to the darkness that enveloped her she thought she was still there, in the department of mysteries, watching Voldemort kill Harry. Then the one voice that she had screamed for to answer her in the dream whispered softly to her.
"Shhh it's alright. No one is here, we're in your house everything is okay." Harry whispered softly and slowly so she caught every word over panic he thought she might be feeling.
Ginny looked up at Harry with her large eyes, the fear was slowly draining from them as she studied his very much alive face.
"I'm sorry" she said, embarrassed that he had seen her like that.
"Don't be, I have them all the time," he said consolingly.
"Who died this time?" Ginny asked, Harry looked at her with appraising eyes. People severely underestimated this girl.
"Different people each time, sometimes it's my parents, sometimes it's Sirius, or Ron and Hermione, Your parents, but most recently it's been you." He said frankly.
"Yeah, it's the same with me." Ginny said softly, her eyes averted downwards.
"Well, it's obvious that nether of us are going to get much sleep, so why don't we just go for a walk instead." Harry suggested.
Ginny smiled. " It just wouldn't be a night unless we went for a stroll out in the orchard now would it," She said.
Harry followed Ginny down the steps, noticing that she stepped all around the creaky spots. I guess she wasn't kidding; she does do this a lot. Harry thought dryly. He still couldn't believe that her family hadn't noticed the nightmares, or if they had, maybe they just didn't say anything.
"Gin, does your family know that you come out here every night?" Harry asked quietly
"No, they think that I come here once in a while, but they don't know the extent of my nightmares."
"Why don't you tell someone?" He prodded, Ginny looked up sharply
"Why don't you?" She chided Harry looked at his feet. "Ron knows, after all, he does sleep in the same room as me at school, and now."
Ginny felt badly the moment the words left her lips, she hadn't meant for that to come out the way it had, she only wanted to know.
"Yeah, Ron knows I have nightmares too. He came down to the kitchen one night and saw me at the counter." Ginny remembered that night clearly; it had only been a month ago.
Ron had come into the kitchen when she had been pacing, trying to get the fear to leave her before she went back to bed. She usually went outside for that, but it was pouring. He looked at her and asked immediately, "What did you see?" Ginny's head shot up at that comment. How did he know that! I didn't even open my mouth yet. Ron, seeming to read her mind looked into her still scared eyes. "You have the wild look," He stated simply. Ginny was surprised, she knew exactly what he was talking about, but she didn't know how he could tell that.
"I don't know what you are talking about." She had said, hands on hips.
Ron had rolled his eyes "I have woken more nightmare ridden people than you could ever imagine. You just look like he does after them."
Ginny's mind froze. Ron was talking about Harry, she was sure.
Harry looked at Ginny for a minuet; she was clearly lost in a thought far from this meadow. "Gin?" he spoke softly. She looked up at him and smiled. I can think of worse people to know I have such childish nightmares.
They made to the log and sat down. They talked for a long while about the 'plan' and it's success and how funny they had acted together. They were both laughing by the end. "Tell me how Dudley's diet is going?" Ginny laughed. Harry grinned and launched into a story about how he had been caught by his aunt trying to smuggle doughnuts into the house one Sunday, when he stopped laughing to himself at the memory, he noticed that Ginny was asleep on his shoulder.
Harry felt a strange feeling he couldn't quite place, all he knew was that he didn't want to wake her up after she had finally gotten back to sleep.
Carefully he placed his arm around her back, and one under her legs. He stood up slowly, surprised at how light she was. He steadily made his way back to the house. Opening the doors and climbing he stairs had been a bit tricky, but somehow he had managed it without waking Ginny too much. Laying her in Bill's bed he covered her up and went upstairs himself.
Hermione smiled as she walked up the stairs a few minuets later. She had been looking for Ginny, having woken up to find an empty bed next to her. She had walked down to the kitchen only to see out the window Harry carrying a sleeping Ginny inside.
Hermione walked lightly, she knew he liked her, but as always, it felt good to be right.
A/N: Hee Hee Hee, thought I'd make it a bit more interesting, Hope you liked it, and see you all in a week or so. As always any reviews will make me very happy, any flames will be used to roast my marshmallows.
