Angels Path

Chapter Two: Dreamspeaker

Ginny fell onto her knees and clutched her side, her breathing was hard and her heart was beating wildly. Her brown eyes looked back the way she came as she gathered herself back together. A sly grin formed on her lips when she didn't see the start of the path, which meant she had been running for quite a while. Taking one last deep breath, she heaved herself back up and began walking, taking in more of the sights than she had been.

Unlike the Forbidden Forest, the trees were a brighter shade of green with vines growing up the bark helping small flowers make a trail up toward the sky. Stopping once again, she stared up at the clouds: they were much whiter here and the sky was just a little bit bluer. This place was much like a paradise, the beauty of it took away all the pain Ginny had been feeling for days.

A rustle up ahead made her jump slightly and her gaze traveled deeper into the path. She could see what looked like a clearing up ahead. The soft sound of a desperate call echoed to her tiny ivory ears. At first the thought of this being a trap crossed her mind, but the power of her curious mind took hold of her once again. Slowly she crept, finally coming to the other end of the path. The clearing was beautiful with lush grass and a small pool off to the side, but over to the right of the clearing stood something Ginny had never expected to see.

The body of the creature was stained, around its off-white neck was a rope that was tightening with every pull she gave. Silver blood ran down the rope dripping to the ground. The creature looked to Ginny, her eyes showing great fear and she reared up on her hind legs with the rope yanking her back down. Ginny cooed to the young unicorn not to sure of what else she could do to help her. The (what appeared to be a yearling ) unicorn's small ears perked forward to the sound of the gentle calls that escaped the human's mouth.

Though she wasn't letting her guard down, the sound of the human's voices was music to her ears. The unicorn danced around a bit still warning Ginny to stay away, but she didn't think much of that as she walked closer. Ginny could see the welts that the rope was making on the young-one's neck. Ever so slowly she made it to the unicorn's side and, after jumping back a few times and almost being hit in the head with the young-one's hooves, she removed the rope from around her neck.

For a moment the unicorn stood there, breath coming in huffs out from her nostrils as she took in the youngest Weasley's scent. Shaking her now free head, she turned around and charged away from the clearing. Ginny gathered the rope into her hands and sat beside a tree, sighing in relief now that that was over. Closing her eyes once again, Ginny fell into a light slumber.

Once again Ginny thought she was awake, when she jerked and saw that she was still in the clearing, but she wasnt alone: the little girl was standing there watching her. Her head cocked to the side, letting brown curls fall over her shoulder. Ginny got a good look at the girl this time, she had sweet aqua blue eyes that sparkled with just a hint of curiosity. Her small, rosy cheeks were what Ginny's mother like to call 'pinchable'. And the soft, white summer dress she was wearing made her seem like an angel.

The little girl giggled and took a hold of Ginny's hand, once again pulling at her to get up. Ginny was more then happy to follow the girl, but they didn't go far- onlyt to the small pool that she had seen earlier. The little girl kneeled down, touching her finger to the water. Ginny stood there waiting for something to happen, and in the ripples she saw that beside her was someone else besides the little girl. She looked over her shoulder and before she saw who-- she woke.

The sun was setting and the sky was a light shade of gold. Ginny hopped up and began making her way back to the grounds. She felt like she was being followed, and sure enough, once she turned around, the little yearling unicorn was standing there.

"Now, you dont think you can come with me to Hogwarts... um..." Ginny thought for a moment. "You have no name."

Ginny's mind traced back to the dreams she had been having about the path before, the little girl's eyes were the same color- along with the hint of curiosity- as the unicorn's. She laughed to herself a bit thinking about it.

"I believe young one, I'm going to call you Dreamspeaker," she said in the softest tone she could.

Dreamspeaker showed no signs of really caring that she now had a name, but Ginny was happy all the same to finally have given the little girl and the unicorn a name. Gin turned around and kept walking with Dreamspeaker following close behind until she reached the end of the path that brought her back to the real world. When Ginny turned around, Dreamspeaker had already run back down the path.

Ginny headed back to the tree where she had laid her things, only to find that sitting with them was none other than Draco. He smirked up to her as he held one of her school books. He slapped it against his hand and shook his head.

"I was beginning to wonder about when you were going to come and collect your things... Miss. Weasley," Draco said sarcastically. "I mean, after sitting her for about and hour and a half, I figured you would be back sooner."

"And you had nothing better to do for that hour and a half than sit here and wait for me to gather my things? I'm shocked Malfoy... truly I am," she said, thinking about him sitting there.

Draco glared at her, and Ginny tried to keep from bursting out into laughter. But he could tell that she was mocking him, and he stood up hovering over her.

"You know Weaselett, I wouldn't be laughing right now, I could so easily have you expelled for being in the Forbidden Forest all day, and skipping classes."

"I wasn't in the forest, and I'm sure you've skipped a class or many," she replied in the Weasley's famous hot tone.

"Well if you weren't in the forest, where were you?" Draco asked

"That, Malfoy, is none of your business," she said, grabbing for her things and walking off.

"Hey you can't get off that easily!" he said, running after her and grabbing her hand.

Ginny jumped, remembering the feeling from the dream she had up in the infirmary. She turned and looked at him, his face was screwed with anger, but his touch was soft. Gin yanked her hand back from him.

"Yes Malfoy I do believe I can." And with that, Draco backed off, leaving her to walk back to the castle.

When Ginny reached the common room, no one seemed to care that she had been gone most of the day. Rolling her eyes at Ron, Harry and Hermione who were doing their 'homework', she stomped up to her dorm. No one was up there, so it made it easy for Ginny to rest.

Ginny was walking down the path once again, this time more leisurely then the times before. She was taking in what she hadn't seen the last time and searching for Dreamspeaker. And like magic, the little girl came running from the clearing toward her. Like the times before, she took her hand and dragged her to the clearing. Ginny laughed at Dreamspeaker until they got to the clearing. There, standing in the middle of the clearing, was a male with silvery blonde hair. He began to turn around... and Ginny woke up.