Ginny sat up in bed. Her wide-open eyes were wet and sent tears down her smooth cheeks. Hermione had gone home to the muggle world for a while before becoming a full-fledged member of the wizarding society. For the first time since Harry had run away, Ginny was trying to survive a night alone, and it wasn't going well. Ginny wiped her eyes with her fists, sobbing gently. It had been only half an hour since Bill had gone back up to bed.

"Oh, Harry, please come home!" she cried softly. It was late and the moon was high in the velvet sky; she didn't want to wake anyone up, again. The dream she had been experiencing had been awful. She dreamt that Harry was lying on his side on the bare ground, his shirt off and under his head. The ground was uneven and rocky, not someplace Ginny could ever imagine sleeping, but Harry seemed to be in a deep slumber, despite his moving lips and an occasional swat at an imaginary being. He was lying in a clearing of a dense forest. The howl of the wind was a bone chilling noise. The trees rustled, as though they wanted to throw the intruder out of their midst. Ginny's wandering eyes found Harry once again. Ginny smiled ruefully at the thought of his chiseled chest moving in a mesmerizing rhythm. The shining scars on his chest had caused her to gasp, but then she realized that these were the scars Ron had talked about. They were probably burn marks from Harry's first year at Hogwarts, the second time he faced Voldemort. That was why Harry never took his shirt off when her brothers did as they played games in the yard. She covered her mouth in horror as she saw a patch of black on Harry's left shoulder. It was dried blood. Apparently he had been wounded in The Battle. The area around the wound was blistered. Ginny guessed it was a curse that did that to Harry. She had seen them in use during The Battle, magically created daggers that both cut and burned the flesh. She hadn't been able to see his face for his hair had grown even longer than it had been in sixth year. It had fallen across his face and hid it from her view. It was matted with blood and looked as if Harry hadn't combed or washed it since he had been at the Burrow last. However, none of that was enough to wake her. As Ginny watched Harry with sad adoration, a dark object moved along the ground. When it came into her focus, Ginny gasped in her sleep. It was a serpent. It crawled onto Harry's shoulder and began to slowly move toward Harry's neck. Ginny tried to scream, but in the dream, no sounds could be heard. Suddenly, recognition flowed into her hazy mind; it was Voldemort's snake. The horrible beast that Harry had said he destroyed. He wouldn't lie about something like that! After all, hadn't it been a horcrux? If Harry hadn't destroyed the snake, then he wouldn't have been able to kill that monster. Maybe the snake was just a random snake that lived in the wood where Harry was? No, the snake had the same green and silver pattern as Nagini had and no snake Ginny had ever seen had the same complex swirling patterns with such vivid colors. Ginny started to cry silently in the dream as the serpent pressed down slowly and carefully on Harry's neck. This snake could not be an ordinary snake. It seemed to be calculating how much it could press down without waking the sleeping boy. Ginny cried out in horror, "Harry!" She watched his chest move less regularly and not as often. No! He couldn't die! Not away from his family and everyone that loves him. She tried to reach out to him, to pluck the gigantic snake from his neck and crush it with her bare hands. Harry's lips slowly began to turn blue. No! Harry couldn't die! She screamed into the night with all her might in hopes of waking Harry to the danger, else he never wakes again.

She struggled to become free of the ropes holding her down and the suffocating pressure on her face.

"Ginny! Stop it!" a hiss came from the darkness. She barely heard it through the muffling presence that encompassed her head. Ginny stopped struggling, too numb to disobey the voice that was slowly killing her. She felt the pillow be pulled away and the sheets that had been holding her down were gently being pulled away. Ginny felt a calloused hand lift her arm up and unwrap the sheet. "Ginny, it's okay, you were having a nightmare, it's okay." The voice was a deep tenor and very reassuring. Ginny blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light given off by the lamp that had been lit by her bedside. Before she could focus her eyes, a weight pressed down on the bed. The man obviously had just sat down somewhere around her hips.

Ginny blinked a few more times, "Bill?"

"Yeah, it's me, sis." Ginny's older brother smiled kindly down at her. When Ginny had screamed, he rushed to her room and tried to wake her up. She had thrashed, fighting him, and yelling Harry's name. For fear of the whole house waking up and giving her attention that she didn't want or need, Bill had covered her face with a pillow, muffling her screams and shocking her body into wakefulness. "Do you want some hot chocolate?" Bill offered.

"Yeah, I'd like that." Ginny smiled at Bill. His hair was pulled back into the typical ponytail, but his dragon fang earring had been removed for bed. He was dressed in nothing more than a pair of muggle sweatpants. Ginny shuddered as she thought of the scars that flickered on Harry's bare chest. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to rid her mind of images from the dream. However, that served her no purpose but to make the images even more vivid. She opened them again, and focused intently on Bill's handsome face. He stood up and bent down to help Ginny to her feet. She pushed him away, but once she was standing, she began to sway, as if she were standing on a boat that was in the middle of a frothing ocean.

Bill wrapped one arm around Ginny and supported her as they made their way downstairs. He had to move to behind her with a steadying hand on each shoulder as they walked down the stairs, as they were too narrow for two to walk abreast. Once they reached the kitchen, he gently set her into a chair while he waved his wand, getting the teakettle to make something new, hot chocolate. Once it was finished, he flicked his wand a few more times and two steaming mugs full of the magical liquid drifted carefully over to the brother and sister and set down on the table; one in front of each sibling.

"Do you want to talk?" Bill offered. He gave his sister time as she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Then, he broke the silence with a gentle suggestion. "Tell me about the dream."

"Alright, well you see, Harry was lying on his side with his chest facing me…" Ginny recounted her dream, telling Bill of all the details. Every now and then, she had to pause and slow her breathing in an attempt to calm down. At these times, Bill took both of her hands in both of his and held them, trying to steady the shaking.

"Are you sure this snake was trying to kill Harry?" Bill asked, genuinely concerned, not only for his only sister, but also for Harry.

"What else would it be doing on his neck? I saw Harry's breath slow! That has to mean something…" She spoke quickly, her voice rising in volume and hysterics with each word. Ginny closed her eyes and tried to collect herself. She took a cautious sip of the burning hot chocolate. Bill scooted his chair next to her, and pulled her into a tight embrace. Ginny let go and began crying.

"That's it, Gin. Let it all go." He started to stroke her messy hair, smoothing it out as best he could. Ginny's hot tears rolled down his bare chest. It had been so long since he had seen Ginny cry, the odd feeling of the tears on his skin was foreign to him.

While he comforted his little sister, Bill's mind was reeling. What if this dream was anything like the dreams Harry had gotten? He quickly dismissed the idea, though. Ginny had no connection to Voldemort! After another few minutes of crying, Ginny finally seemed able to collect herself.

"It's alright Gin, I'm sure Harry's fine. I bet if we give him time, he'll come to his senses and come home."

"Really?" Ginny's eyes shone bright with still more tears, but Bill was happy to notice the glint of hope in them.

"Absolutely." Bill's voice was resolute. He always seemed so sure of himself. Ginny reveled in the steadiness of his presence. That's what she needed now, an anchor in her river of emotions.

"Alright, I think I'm okay now. Thanks Bill." Ginny leaned her head against the man's shoulder. Bill sighed inwardly. She wasn't okay; he could feel that in the way she leaned on him. He could feel the relief Ginny felt by simply leaning on a friend. Bill was only too happy to be the friend that Ginny could come to to talk about everything with. However, he hugged her tight once more and let her go upstairs back to bed, against his better judgment.

Ginny was now sitting on her bed, once again crying to herself. She had heard Bill go upstairs, but she couldn't sleep. The sight of Harry being suffocated was too much for her seventeen-year-old mind. However, she needed to fight these dreams off herself. Waking Bill up once again would do her no good, and he would not want to have to spend his time comforting a depressed teenager when he should be sleeping.

Ginny stood up and walked across the room. She sat down on her school trunk that sat in front of the window. She sat there for hours, staring at the black sky. The first she moved was once the sun had completely risen. She stood up and stumbled as her numb legs tried to work. It was going to be a long day. She had gotten no real sleep. Yawning, she walked down the stairs gingerly on her tingling feet. She sat down at the empty table and poured herself a cup of cold tea from her father's breakfast. Once she was done, she went upstairs and prepared herself for the day ahead of her.

Author's Note: Well, there you go, chapter four. Please tell me what you think about it in a review…feel free to say how awful it is or how amazing! Now, I realize this section of my Author's Notes is getting long, the response to reviews, but I feel that it is important, so if you don't like it, then just don't read it.

Thank you to all of my reviewers!

Chapter three response:

Crush.Summer.Pink.-CONGRATS you are my 25th reviewer! I am very proud of you and all of those who made this moment possible. I hope this is soon enough for you!

SKateforever-CONGRATS you are the first reviewer of chapter 3, thank you very much! I'm glad you liked giolla/nagini!

mistyandken-Thank you, I try to create twists and ideas that aren't commonly used.

Wytil-Thanks, I was hoping the first few chapters were attention getting, because that is usually my worst part, is creating interest.

Chaos023-Like I said to Wytil, I try to create stories that have original ideas, I'm glad you like this one.

harry rukes-Be patient with me, I promise they will meet in future.

The Female Nerd-Thank you very much for the suggestion. I've never heard the term before, so I can't help you out there, but I will try to go back and describe him better, or possibly in a later chapter.

Ketta dragontamer-Oh, you'll see!

Ozbodikins-That's actually a very interesting idea, I admit, I've never thought of it, but it could be fun to play with. I'm glad you like my story so far, I hope this chapter bodes well with your current thinking! Thank you very much for putting me on your favorites list and alerts, that means a lot to me!

the singer-I can do my best, but no guarantees. Just be patient, it may take a few chapters before I can figure out how to add humor…but I'll try, thanks for the suggestion

Phyre's child13-of course it counts for female snakes too! I'm glad you liked my idea!

AneleTiger-Wow, long review! Thank you for all the ideas, I'll keep them in mind. (same response to all other reviews)

LaxGoalie-yeah, Harry is paranoid, but it's to be expected. And I'll do my best to keep Harry not so whiny in the future