Chapter 2

Harry sat blot upright in bed; his breath coming in short bursts. Without thinking about the other people in the house who were sleeping, he continued to yell her name.

"Ginny! GINNY!" He threw himself out of bed and was nearly to the door when a redheaded girl of about 16 appeared in his doorway.

"Harry, what's-" but before she could finish, Harry threw his arms around her slight frame as he had not done for nearly a year, tears pouring into her red hair. He pressed his lips against the top of her head, breathing in the flowery smell that he loved so much. As his panic eased, Ginny looked up at him.

"Harry, what's wrong?" He paused, breathing deeply to calm himself, suddenly realizing how stupid he was to be panicked.

"Nothing. Just…just a dream." She reached up to touch his face, and for this one time, he did not pull away as he had felt the need to do so often in the past year. For a long moment, she said nothing, simply looked at him, an expression of worry and concern etched into her face. Harry smiled. For a moment, she looked very like a younger version of her mother. Finally she whispered.

"You promise me it was only a dream?" Harry swallowed hard, trying to convince himself of the same thing, even thought the proof was in his own arms. Finally, he nodded.

"Just a dream." Ginny smiled.

"You look exhausted. Go back to bed, Harry. You need to rest." He suddenly found that he was indeed utterly exhausted. As she turned to leave, Harry found that he could not bring himself to let go of her hand.

"Shall I stay awhile?" she asked gently. Everything in Harry's head, every part of him that wanted so badly to protect her screamed a definite no. But somehow he found himself nodding. He lay down on his bed and she reclined next to him, running her small fingers through his eternally messy hair. Sleep took him almost immediately, and the last words he heard from her were

"Don't worry, Harry. You're safe. I promise."

He awoke the next morning to brilliant sunlight streaming in through the windows. He never ceased to be amazed at the fact that the weather remained cheerfully ignorant of Voldemort's return. He stretched out his arm to where Ginny had been the night before. For a moment, a wave of panic swept over him when he found only empty sheets. He forced himself to keep a slow, steady gait in his walk as he made his way down the hall to her room. He stopped in front of her door and opened it just enough to see her empty bed. Again a wave of panic rushed through him and it was all he could do to refrain from yelling her name again. He bolted through the house, taking stairs two and three at a time before he remembered he could apparate. With a pop, he appeared in the tiny kitchen, gasping.

"Oy! Harry, get off!" In his panic, Harry had forgotten to aim and had apparated right on top of George. At the sound of George's cry, the entire family had bolted upright, wands out and ready for a fight. The war had taken a toll on them all.

"Sorry about that…" The family relaxed back into their seats as Harry looked around frantically for Ginny. With a sigh of relief, he found her standing next to her mother in the kitchen, stirring what looked like porridge. The entire Weasly family was seated around the small, scrubbed table, except of course for Arthur and Percy. Arthur was working overtime at the ministry, and Percy, only weeks after finally reconciling with his family, had been found dead in his London flat, one of many casualties of the war. The reason for his death had never been fully discovered and a black and white photograph had been placed on the mantle in his memory.

The rest of the family however, had crammed itself inside the little house, wanting to be together as much as possible in case of the worst. Bill and Fleur sat at one end of the table, holding hands and speaking in hushed voices. Next to them, Charlie had hidden his face behind a newspaper. The front page proclaimed that Rufus Scrigemore had disappeared, and that there had been more than 50 muggle casualties in a battle only the night before.

The only sound came from Fred, who was laughing hysterically next to an overturned chair that George was busy setting right. Others might find them a nuisance, but Harry was forever grateful for the twins' ability to laugh and goof off in hard times. Hermione sat at the far end of the table, a chair on either side of her, clearly for Ron and Harry. Her face, like everyone else's was pale and strained from the constant fear and lack of sleep. Harry noticed that all the Weasly's were making a pointed effort not to look at him. As Mrs. Weasly bustled in, he understood why.

"Bad dream last night, Harry, dear?" he nodded slowly, saying,

"I didn't mean to wake you. Sorry."

"Oh, pish posh, Harry. You can't help it when you've got bad dreams, and for someone of your situation…" her voice trailed off "Anyway, it's fine, you're fine, we're all fine." She handed Harry a plate of toast, bacon, eggs, and a bowl of porridge. Before going back to the kitchen, she glanced at her clock, where each hand was still pointing to "Mortal Peril"

"There must be a way to fix that." She muttered. "I know we're all in mortal peril. I want to know when Arthur's coming home." She stopped as she stared for a moment at the place where Percy's hand would normally be. She sucked in her breath rather sharply before bustling off to the kitchen.

Harry took a seat next to Hermione, who was absently toying with the band of gold around her left ring finger, glancing furtively at the stairs every few moments. Harry watched her for a moment before asking,

"Where's Ron?"

"Still in bed…He didn't get much sleep last night" Harry grinned at her. She flushed deep scarlet

"Not that…well, we are…so we do…but last night…with you…and well, you understand, right?" He laughed and shook his head.

"I didn't mean to keep you awake." Suddenly a thought came to him "I just thought of something. If I woke all of you up, why was it only Ginny who came into my room? Normally half the family would have been having a meeting on my bed." Hermione looked grim.

"We were all halfway to your room. You yelled for her for nearly five minutes before she got to your door. I imagine you started yelling in your sleep" Hermione took a deep breath "Ginny said that as it was her you were yelling for and you were obviously panicking, it should be her to go to you. Most of us were quite happy to go back to bed. Mrs. Weasly…Molly, I mean" Mrs. Weasly was forever trying to get Hermione to call her Mum, but the closest Hermione could get was Molly "She took a good bit of convincing, but eventually Ginny had even her convinced, although Mr. Weasly had to almost drag her back to bed" Harry nodded as Hermione continued, dropping her voice to a whisper "Are you sure you're alright though Harry? You sounded as if someone was killing her." He shook his head again

"I'm not sure." She still looked worried, but Ron's apparition onto George, who had barely picked himself up from the floor, distracted her enough for him to escape the conversation. Fred burst into fresh peals of laughter as George pushed Ron onto the floor rather roughly, scowling and rubbing his head where two sets of feet had now landed.

"Morning all." He yawned "Mother, Siblings, Wife" Hermione rolled her eyes She leaned over to Harry and whispered, "Sometimes it's very unfortunate that I can't help but love him. Although the word wife does seem to amuse him a great deal" Ron poured himself into the chair next to Hermione and slung his arm across her chair back. After giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, he turned to Harry.

"I keep telling you, mate. St. Mungo's is supposed to have excellent wards for head-cases" Harry threw a roll at him. Ron dodged it and continued, "I'm just saying. And they could charge admission. "Crazy Scar Boy; A Galleon a showing!" The thing is Harry; you're in the wrong business. Revenge doesn't pay well. And St. Mungo's can always use the income." Hermione looked horrified, but Harry grinned at him. Ron was a great person to have around if you needed the mood lightened. Harry leaned over to Ron and whispered,

"I know I told everyone it was only a dream, but we need to talk; just the three of us, later" The two of them nodded and Hermione said,

"After breakfast, then, our room." Harry nodded. He watched as Ginny sat down next to Fred and George. She looked up and met his eye. In that moment, there was an unspoken agreement that no mention would be made of the night before, and nothing would change. Harry loved her too much to let Voldemort use her as bait. But if what he had seen last night was any indication, perhaps Voldemort already knew…