WARNING: This chapter is going to get confusing! But read now, complain later!

Chapter 8

The next week, Christmas vacation, turned out to be a disaster. The force of the blizzard was becoming so strong; there was no escaping the snowbound Hogwarts Castle. Ginny wished she could just go home and see her family again. Charlie and Bill would be home; so would Fred and George. But she and Ron were stuck with the rest of Hogwarts, hoping the snow would clear up.

"Cheer up, Gin," Harry had told her on Christmas Eve. They were sitting by the warmth of the fire in the Gryffindor common room. He held her left hand, entwining his fingers with hers. She let out a weak smile. She was too terribly upset, however, and she could not bring herself to fully smile for Harry. Yet it was not the poor weather that saddened her. Far from it, in fact. It was Draco that had her so depressed.

Ginny sighed and rested her head on Harry's shoulder. He looked at her with a funny sort of expression on his face.

"What?" she asked, "Do I have something on my face?" He laughed and shook his head at her.

"No, you don't. It's just that, well, I had a weird dream last night," he explained.

"Oh?" said Ginny, lifting her head up, "about what?"

"Well, that's the thing… it was sort of a fuzzy dream. It all seemed so clear at one point, and then it was as if I'm not really seeing what I think I'm seeing," he said.

"Well, that's the funny thing with dreams," Ginny said, "So... what exactly did you think you were seeing?"

"Well, you. And me. And I also thought I saw…"

"Malfoy?" Ginny finished his sentence.

"Yes! How did you…?"

"I had the same dream a while ago," Ginny said.

"What does it mean?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. But when you had the dream, could you see our faces?" she asked.

"No. They were blurry, now that I think of it," Harry said.

"It was the same with me at first. But then I kept having the same dream. And the faces kept getting clearer and clearer. And it wasn't us," Ginny explained.

"It wasn't?"

"No. I mean, it looked a lot like us, but… there was something terribly wrong with the picture. It was like a distorted painting of us," she said.

"…Weird. Oh! Now I remember seeing some strange images. Like some people I knew. And a scorpion or something. Oh! And I remember seeing a cauldron, too. But these images were clearer. And I recall hearing a faint music playing in the background. A violin or something…"

"Yeah," Ginny said, "I remember that too."

"I have to find out what it means!" Harry said. Ginny nodded, and then remembered the red book she had. She stood up, letting go of Harry's hand, and said, "I'll be right back," before heading for her room.

She found the book lying in the same spot it had been before, and she picked it up. It had collected dust, so she brushed it off, and then opened it.

The inside cover was labeled:

DREAM INTERPRETATIONS and

DIVINE SPELLS THAT CAUSE NOCTURNAL DISTURBANCES

Draco had picked it out; he must've known it would be useful, right? Ginny hadn't looked at it yet… but something about the book was calling out to her to turn the page.

The next page had a table of contents.

Page 2… PEACEFUL DREAMS

Page 7… NIGHTMARES

Page 13… ENIGMATIC DREAMS

The rest did not concern Ginny. She turned to page thirteen and began to read:

Most dreams are enigmatic; however, these can be made clearer in two ways: one may enter another's enigmatic dream to try and decipher it, or one may look up spells which might be causing their enigmatic dreams. On the next page is a spell on how to enter into another's dream.

Ginny skipped over that page, making a mental note to come back to it later.

If you do not wish to have someone enter into your dream, you may be considering the possibility that your dream is being caused by some enchantment. On the next page is a list of spells that cause enigmatic dreams.

Ginny looked on at the next page and read the list. There were things on how to curse an enemy so that they'll dream of clowns, and their was a counter curse for this. There were thing like how to stop having dreams about crying babies and mooing cows and boiling cauldrons and tapping shoes. Nothing related to Ginny's strange dream of the distorted people and the music and the images that she saw.

But then something caught Ginny's sight:

If you and someone you know are having the same dream, it is possible a curse has been put upon you without your knowing. A curse that in fact involves something the two (or more) of you may have to do. If you are having repeating dreams, then this is almost definitely a curse.

One curse like this has to do with something strange or bad that happened already; for example, if something dreadful happened to two or more people, a curse may be put on two or more other people so that the same thing is bound to happen to them. If this is the case, then there is no counte-rcurse, and you must sit back and let it happen, like a storybook whose ending cannot change.

The word storybook reminded Ginny of something… The Phantom of the Opera! What if someone had put a curse on her, Draco, and Harry so that they'd end up like the main characters in The Phantom of the Opera? If that was the case, would the ending be the same? Would Ginny end up with Harry for sure? For certainly, Harry was the good guy, and Draco was the Phantom. It had to be so!

But Ginny could not be sure that this was the case. For one thing, who on earth would put such a curse on them? And why choose the Phantom of the Opera as a base? She read on, determined to find the answer in that book.

The person who put this curse on you must be one of the persons who that something dreadful had happened to.

The curse couldn't be caused by a fictional character, so that either meant that the book's curse was different from Ginny's curse, or Ginny's curse had nothing to do with the Phantom of the Opera. And, supposing the latter was the case, somebody wanted Ginny, Harry, and Draco to suffer in the same way they did.

If you find, before it's too late, that you are under such a curse, you can control it; you can change the ending.

Change the ending. If Draco knew this, he'd know he didn't have to pursue Ginny, and they could both go their separate ways. But then again… if the curse had nothing to do with the Phantom, then what exactly would that ending be? Ginny needed to know who'd been through the same situation the three of them were now in.

Maybe those three people that they saw were, in fact, those people who'd put the curse on them! Maybe that's why their faces were distorted. Or, what if they weren't distorted… but they actually did look like that after all? But… who looks so much like Harry and Draco? And who was that green-eyed girl with Ginny's gorgeous red locks?

"Harry!" Ginny ran back down to the common room and shoved the overdue library book under his nose. He looked at the passage Ginny showed him.

"Well, I don't know if we're under a curse, but…"

"Malfoy's had the same dreams too," Ginny said rather reluctantly. She was hoping she didn't have to tell Harry about that.

"What?"

"I think this curse business has to do with all three of us," Ginny said.

"But who would put a curse on us like this?"

"I don't know," she said, "but I'm going to go find Malfoy."

"What? Ginny, you can't!" Harry pleaded.

"Harry, he's just as confused as we are. I think he has a right to know why he's been having such strange dreams," Ginny said.

"I'm coming with you," he said, making up his mind.

"No, Harry, stay here!" Ginny said. Harry glared at her, shaking his head. "Harry!"

"Fine, then I won't go!" Ginny said. And then she headed towards the girl's dormitories.

"Ginny!" Harry called after her, but she ignored him.

When Ginny looked out her window, she noticed a figure outside in the blizzard, on a broomstick, flying around in the quidditch pitch. Draco. She grabbed her broom and a heavy cloak, and then flew out of her window towards the pitch.

It was even colder than it looked, and Ginny had to use a charm to keep the snow out of her face. She flew towards Draco, who was flying around the goal posts. He stopped short when he saw her coming towards him.

"What do you want?" He yelled, both because he was angry and because it was hard to hear in the blizzard. The wind was violently blowing against his face, and his hair was covered in snow, making it look even lighter in color. His eyes were narrowed, most likely squinting at her because he could not see very well.

Ginny flew up next to him. She was not scared as she had been at the Yule Ball, even though Harry was not with her. When she looked at Draco now, she saw a man, not a monster. She saw somebody who needed compassion. So she would be kind to him. For now.

"I thought you might like to know more about those dreams," she said.

"I'm listening, go on," he said.

"Well, wouldn't you like to go inside first for a nice warm cup of cocoa?" she asked.

"Does it look like I want to go inside for a nice warm cup of cocoa?" he scowled.

"Well, yes. I mean, seeing how cold you look," she said. Draco did not find this amusing at all.

"Just tell me about the bloody dreams!" he said.

"No! Not until you get your big head inside for a cup of cocoa with me!" she shouted at him.

"Why? Why do you want to spend time with me all of a sudden? It looked like you wanted nothing to do with me at the Yule Ball," he said.

"Look, Draco, I'm not staying out here in a freaking blizzard just to tell you about the dreams!" she said.

"Oh. In that case, fine. I'll go inside with you," he said.

They went inside and snuck down to the kitchens, where one of the house elves gladly served them some hot cocoa.

"Now, remember, the only reason we're sitting together like this is because of the dreams," Draco said. Ginny nodded.

"I, um, I looked at that book we found," she said. Draco nodded.

"I thought it had something to do with dreams," he said.

"It did. It does, I mean. Well, I think, um, that we're under a curse," she said, explaining everything to Draco about what the book said.

"That's absurd! Who'd put such a curse on us?" he asked.

"I don't know, but… Harry had the same dream, just last night," she said.

"Potter? I see. Now your lover's in on it, too. Well, then, I hope you two can figure it out by yourselves, because I'm not interested anymore," he said, getting up.

"Draco, wait! You have to help us figure it out! Then, maybe we could change the ending, whatever it is. Otherwise, something dreadful may happen to us!" she said.

"Like what? If we're truly cursed, then let it happen, whatever it is!"

"What if someone dies?" Ginny asked.

"Then let's hope it's Potter and not me," Draco said.

"You don't care at all? Draco, I think those three people we saw in our dreams were the people who put a curse on us!" Ginny said.

"But they look like us," Draco said.

"I know. I think maybe… maybe they're supposed to look like us. Like, they're related to us, or something…"

"My father," Draco said plainly.

"What?"

"The one who looked like me. He had my father's eyes," Draco said.

"Of course! It was your father! But that must mean Harry and I are… Harry's parents! Something must have happened between Harry's parents and your father!" Ginny exclaimed.

"That's crazy!" Draco spat, "but… it may actually be the truth. In fact, I don't doubt something did happen between my father and Potter's parents that we don't know about."

"But which one of them put a curse on us?" Ginny asked.

"Well, seeing as Potter's parents are dead…"

"Oh. Then talk to your father! You have to!" Ginny said. Draco hesitated.

"Alright. I'll write him an owl or something. Now, you go back to Potter and tell him I've got this whole thing taken care of, and then you can leave me alone," he said.

"Good," said Ginny. She finished off her cocoa and went back to tell Harry what they figured out. She was content now, and she had nothing to worry about and no reason to be scared of Draco. In fact, it almost upset her that he'd told her to leave him alone… almost…

Yes, this chapter makes no sense whatsoever. Can you please let me know if you understood it a little bit? Because it's sort of relevant to the plot.

I have a feeling one of you may complain about the Draco/Ginny action here, that it's not going so well, or going the way you'd like to see it go. Well, that's because this chapter was difficult enough to write. In further chapters, the Draco/Ginny action will get a lot better, so don't fret!