CHAPTER ELEVEN: I'LL BE

It could have been only a moment or an eternity as Harry and Ginny sat facing each other, each probing deeply into the other's eyes, searching for promises of the future.

The strands in your eyes

That colour them wonderful

Stop me and steal my breath

Slowly, Harry raised himself from the floor and carefully took Ginny in his arms, as he had finally noticed that she still trembled with fear, though her eyes never wavered from his own gaze. After a tense moment, he felt her relax and sink into his embrace, her body becoming warm and pliant against his own until the trembling finally ceased.

Pulling back slightly, Harry studied Ginny's face carefully, gently brushing stray strands of hair away from her face. It was still more moments before he realized that he'd once again lost himself in the depths of her eyes and he reminded himself to breath as his heart beat tripped on in an excited staccato.

Resting his chin lightly atop her head, he breathed in her warm flowery scent, exactly as he had smelled it in his dream, Harry thought. Frowning slightly, he realized that something was different and it took him a moment to realize why the smell of smoke overpowered the sweet scent he had come to associate with Ginny.

Closing his eyes, he allowed scenes from the night before to flash before him. Sparks of fire, bright light that could have been day only to be swallowed up by flames, smoke, glass shattering, Voldemort smiling, laughing, draining him of his life – Harry opened his eyes abruptly, unwilling to let the memories send him into another tailspin of terror. It was all over. As a shudder escaped him, Ginny shifted in his arms and he allowed her to comfort him with her soft caresses and accepted the strength she offered.

And emeralds from mountains

Thrust 'cross the skies

Never revealing their depth

"Will it never end, Harry?" she whispered quietly, her voice though quiet, shook with emotion yet her eyes no longer gave the haunted look of defeat and resignation. Though her question seemed dismal, Harry could see dignified acceptance of what was to come and he only hoped that he would be able to match the strength she possessed.

"It will be, one way or another, won't it?" Harry said aloud, though more to himself then in response to Ginny's question. Focusing his gaze on hers, he adopted her look of resolution and knew what needed to come.

"Voldemort isn't going to stop. We just saw it again when he broke into my dreams, or allowed me into his, I still can't even tell. All I know is that he will not stop until he's finished me. He'll chase after me until he's done what he had meant to do sixteen years back and frankly, I don't think I'd like to spend the rest of my life running away from it all," Harry spoke fiercely, unaware that as he did so, his hold around Ginny tightened as well.

Turning in his arms to face him, Ginny broke from his embrace her eyes shining with understanding, though Harry saw flits of apprehension tip-toe beneath it.

"So are you telling me how we're going to be again? You want me to stand by and wave goodbye to you happily while you go and knock on Voldemort's front door?" she asked, valiantly struggling to keep her voice calm and level though hysteria seemed to be threatening to take over her once more.

Harry knew that it was beyond him to argue with her. Though instinctively, he felt that he must protect her, he knew that it would be of no use to her. She was a Weasley. She was Ginny, after all. When had she ever backed away from anything? He knew that this was what he loved about her and also, what he feared most about her. Silently, he searched her gaze and though he saw trepidation, he also recognized the fierce determination. He knew that wherever his tasks and journeys would lead him, Ginny would be by his side whether he accepted it or not.

"My brave Ginny. I should have known you'd be too much for me to handle," Harry grinned weakly, tweaking her nose teasingly.

And tell me that we belong together

Dress it up with the trappings of love

I'll be captivated

I'll hang from your lips

Instead of the gallows

Of heartache that hang from above

With a ghost of a smile, Ginny pulled away slightly and poked him square in the chest with the tip of one delicate finger.

"Don't you forget it, Potter," she growled jokingly. Resting her head on his shoulder, they fell into a comfortable silence, each trying to ignore the battles they would soon be facing, though images and inklings were tugging on their consciences.

"When this is all over, you know you and I will be together," Harry offered to her quietly.

"There's so many things that can go wrong with that plan," Ginny said weakly, her mind already whirling with ideas and situations that had not yet arisen.

With an unfamiliar sense of urgency, Harry turned Ginny towards him so that their gazes collided with each other. After what had just happened, it was more clear to Harry than anything he had ever understood. He needed her to understand as well.

"I promise Ginny, if anything happens to us and we're separated, I'll come back to you. Haven't you felt it yet? When Voldemort had me practically at his mercy in my dream – or in his, it could have been all over for me already." Ginny let out a small gasp, but Harry ploughed on. "I didn't have my wand, I didn't have Dumbledore to help me, but I still managed to escape him."

And rain falls angry on the tin roof

As we lie awake in my bed

You're my survival

You're my living proof

My love is alive

Not dead

Ginny shuddered at the mere memory of that moment.

After she had fallen asleep once again, she'd once more woken up and one moment she had turned in his arms to smile fondly at a sleeping Harry only to find him thrashing wildly and wailing in his sleep – though it did not seem so much like sleep. He had grown paler and paler as his body grew colder and colder in her arms. His wild thrashing had become weaker and it didn't seem like he was putting up much of a fight. She had cried and pleaded to him, calling his name over and over, kissing his cold lips until tears had fallen unchecked onto his pallid cheeks. Almost instantly, Harry had opened his eyes.

"It was you Ginny. You were there in my dreams when I had nothing left. It was only by seeing you there that I could have pulled myself out of weakness Voldemort was weaving into me

And I've dropped out

I've burned up

I've fought my way back from the dead

Tuned in, turned on

Remembered the things that you said

"I was about to give up you know," Harry admitted quietly. "Sirius had come to me in a dream before Voldemort and he was telling me that it would all work out and that maybe Dumbledore had found a way to live, but in that moment, everything he had said didn't mean anything to me. I was ready to go and didn't care what was going to happen until your face came floating above me and you were crying. More than not wanting to die, I didn't want you to cry because I couldn't stand knowing that you wouldn't have me to lean on or take away some of your pain."

I'll be your crying shoulder

I'll be love's suicide

I'll be better when I'm older…

Feeling his cheeks flush and warm with the passion surging through him, he ducked his head and swiftly captured Ginny's lips with his own. Bypassing the shy, tender kissing, he wrapped her in his arms tightly, willing her to feel everything that he couldn't find words to express. Harry tightened his hold around Ginny, pressing his cheek against her own. Her lips trembled as she felt the warm wetness of the tears on his cheek, and her own rushed to mingle with his.

"People call me the chosen one. They keep holding on to the hope that I'll be the one to save everyone from what's to come. They say I'm the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One and who knows what other things they'll come up with. But with you, I know who I am and what I'm fighting for."

I'll be the greatest fan of your life…

It could have been only a moment or an eternity as Harry and Ginny sat facing each other, each probing, seeing the promises of the future reflected in each other's eyes. Seemingly far away, the dull thumps of footsteps echoed and breaking from the spell their gazes had captured them in, Harry and Ginny turned their heads, seeing Ron and Hermione standing together midway down the stairs.

Silence floated ever so serenely, coiling around the group of friends as they regarded each other, understanding perfectly well what the each were thinking though no words shattered the stillness that held them captive.

All at once Hermione straightened and stood tall while Ron nodded his head resolutely.

Voldemort and his Death Eaters had played their hand, it was now their move. They knew what they had to do.