Authors Notes
Surprise! I know I usually upload my chapters Friday nights but once I read through my chapter 3 after uploading it I did not like the way it came out, misspelled words and the likes, also I felt like ch3 didn't "draw you in" per say. So I worked overtime and got chapter 4 written and I did a much better job editing my own writing as well as taking advice from a certain person mentioned at the end of the chapter. I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I feel it "draws you in" more. Also I will still be on schedule to upload chapter 5 Friday night. Please enjoy!
Ginny watched as Ron and Hermione entered the room, she made eye contact with Ron who immediately averted his eyes from her.
They are definitely hiding something, Ron is a terrible liar so I can probably get something out of him.
I doubt I can get anything out of her. Ginny thought to herself as she turned her attention to Hermione.
"Where were you two?" inquired Ginny, pretending that she didn't already know. Even though the statement was aimed at the both of them she looked at Ron waiting for him to answer...and hopefully slip up.
"Well you see...we ummm...we went to see professor Dumbledore to ask." Ron stammered but was mercifully interrupted by Hermione
"We went to ask Professor Dumbledore about classes next year." replied Hermione unknowingly endorsing what Madam Pomfrey had said.
Damnit! Of course Hermione had to come to my brother's rescue.…. At least I can get him alone at the burrow and hopefully get something worthwhile out of him.. Ginny thought to herself.
Ginny then watched as Hermione went to Harry's side and sat down next to him as she reached out her hand and held Harry's. Ginny's hand which was at her side twitched slightly while watching this, a slight bit of jealousy took her over for a split second.
Calm down Ginny, it is perfectly normal for Hermione to hold Harry's hand...but how I wish that was me.. She thought bitterly to herself.
A few hours had gone by and Madam Pomfrey had informed the three that it was time to exit the hospital wing and that they should head to bed. Ron and Hermione took one last look at Harry before leaving. Ginny was about to follow in their footsteps but was stopped by Madam Pomfrey.
"Ginny dear, I'm sure you are still somewhat in shock from all that you have been through. As such, I would like you to stay in the hospital wing so I can keep an eye on you.
That means that I can stay close to Harry! Ginny thought to herself, almost unable to contain her excitement.. "Of course Madam, I understand." she said.
Madam Pomfrey gave her a small nod of approval and proceeded to her office. Ginny, without hesitation, picked the bed closest to Harry's and pulled the curtains around for privacy and laid down. It donned on her just how tired she was, not ten seconds had passed since she put her head to pillow she was fast asleep.
Ginny might have fallen asleep fast, but her slumber was anything but peaceful, instead she was plagued with nightmares. Inside her nightmare, she opened her eyes and looked around and her eyes widened in fear. As her eyes scanned the room, and came to find that she was back in the chamber.
She got up and felt a slight shiver whether that be from fear, the cold, or a combination of both, she couldn't tell. She wrapped her arms around herself while shaking and began to walk to the center section of the chamber. As she timidly walked closer, her footsteps echoed off the chamber walls. She could see three distinct figures coming into view. She gasped when she figured out who they were...it was Tom Riddle looking at Harry while Harry was kneeling besides….Ginny?
She watched as Harry tried to talk to the Ginny that lay unconscious in the chamber, the real Ginny began to inch her way towards them, shaking uncontrollably. Just as she was about ten feet away, a shriek came out of nowhere and made her blood turn to ice, she knew that sound all too well. She watched in horror as the basilisk appeared and began to attack Harry.
She wanted to do something, say something, anything to help Harry, but she couldn't. It was as if she had looked into the basilisk's eyes though...she was petrified and couldn't move a muscle, only being able to watch. She watched as Harry battled the snake and to her horror, the basilisk sunk its teeth into Harry.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she then heard Harry let out a blood curdling scream before he fell to the ground and ceased moving. Ginny was still cradling herself in her own arms as tears began to run down her cheeks. She then heard a voice inside her head.
YOU DID THIS TO ME! The voice in her head boomed in Harry's voice. IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU I WOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN DOWN HERE! I SHOULD HAVE LET YOU ROT IN THIS CHAMBER FOREVER! Screamed the raging voice inside of Ginny's head.
"Please stop….PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!" Ginny shrieked while Harry's voice kept ringing in her head.
"PLEASE NO MORE!" Ginny wailed as she sank down to the cold cobblestone floor, curling up into a ball as she continued to be traumatized by the malice of Harry's voice in her head. For what seemed like an eternty passed before Ginny finally opened her eyes and woke up from this nightmare.
She sat bolf up right, drenched in sweat, her heart racing. Ginny quickly hopped out of bed and opened her curtain, she shielded her eyes from the sudden pouring in of sunlight. She was about to make her way to the bathroom to wash up when she was stopped by Madam Pomfrey.
"Ms Weasley! What happened to you?" Ginny looked over at Madam Pomfrey still very much shaken up by her nightmare.
"Im sorry Madam Pomfrey..I...I had a nightmare." Ginny stammered, not able to look at her in the eyes.
"Dear, please go take a shower and wash up and I will have something for you when you return."
Ginny only being able to nod slowly walked over to the bathroom. She opened the door and stepped inside, taking off her drenched clothing, and went into the shower to wash up. Even with the hot water pouring over her, she still couldn't seem to stop shaking. As she exited the shower and put on warm clothes Madam Pomfrey was waiting for her.
"Here, drink this my dear, this is a calming drought." Explained Madam Pomfrey. Ginny, with her hands shaking, reached out and drank the entire thing almost instantly. She then felt a warmth enter her body and calmed her down in a way even a hot shower never could. Ginny walked back to her bed,but as she was walking by Harry, she shuddered and recalled his voice in her nightmare…
"It seemed so real." Ginny said aloud to herself as she climbed back into her bed that had new sheets on them. Madam Pomfrey then walked over to Ginny
"Ginny...would you like to talk about your nightmare?" she asked as soothingly as she could.
"Im sorry but...i can't...just not yet." Ginny said barely above a whisper.
Madam Pomfrey looked at her with caring eyes and said "I understand, please know that I'll always be here if you wish to talk.."
With that, she went back into her office. Ginny wasn't hungry for breakfast which at the thought made her chuckle darkly, there's a first, she thought to herself.
Not as soon as she had thought that though the doors to the hospital wing flew open once again, and once again entered Ron and Hermione. She watched as instead of Harry, they both came right over to see her.
"Ginny, when i got up this morning i went to go wake you up so we could go down together to see Harry." Started Hermione. "But when I looked in your bed you weren't there, I figured you had just stayed behind for a few more minutes to stay with Harry." "Then I thought maybe you had already come down to see him, but when we came down here... you are laying in a bed, are you ok? What happened?" asked Hermione with genuine concern in her voice.
"Im ok...really, Madam Pomfrey asked me to stay here overnight so she could keep an eye on me after… you know."
Ginny let that sentence hang in the air, everyone knew what she was talking about. Hermione then noticed the empty bottle next to Ginny and picked it up. Hermione put the bottle up to her nose and sniffed it.
"Is this a calming drought?!" "Ginny, what happened? Please tell me the truth!" Hermione asked again this time with even greater concern in her voice.
"Hermione…. How in the bloody hell were you able to tell what kind of potion that was by simply smelling it?" Ginny asked.
Hermione's face lit up "Well first of all, watch your language, and second of all, you see it's rather simple once you think about it." Hermione began, very proud of herself for knowing. "You see all potions have a different smell to them no matter how subtle it might be."
Before Hermione could go into a full length potions lesson, Ron butted in.
"Mione, Ginny is avoiding the question by having you go on and on about how you knew."
Ginny glared at her brother in her mind. Of course the one time Ron is perceptive is the one time I DON'T want him to be.
Hermione blushed at this "are...are you sure...maybe she wants to learn how I knew?" Hermione tentatively asked. Ron just stared at her for a bit.
"Mione...really?" Ron said, shaking his head slightly.
"Ok! Ok! I get it!' Hermione responded indignantly.
This time Ron began speaking "Ginny, tell me the truth, what happened? I am your brother, please let me in." Ron said pleadingly.
Ginny let out a sigh, fine I guess I will have to tell them, once Ron has his mind set there's no persuading him. She thought to herself. "I had a nightmare last night, and when I woke up I was breathing hard and covered in sweat." Ginny answered truthfully, leaving out the horrifying details of this nightmare.. Ginny looked up into the faces of Ron and Hermione and saw the look of concern grow in their eyes.
"What was your nightmare about?" Hermione asked once again with concern in her eyes.
"I...I don't want to talk about it." Ginny said before picking up her pillow and placing it over her face so nobody could see the tears starting to well up.
"Ginny please, we just want to help you." Hermione said in a soothing tone, but Ginny wasn't budging. No matter what she said she couldn't get Ginny to remove her face from the pillow. Hermione and Ron watched as Ginny fell back asleep due to the calming drought….and back into her nightmare. Hermione and Ron watched as Ginny's body began to convulse, her breathing becoming heavier and heavier while sweat began to run down her face.
"Ron quickly get Madam Pomfrey!" cried Hermione.
Ron was back not ten seconds later with Madam Pomfrey running beside him. Madam Pomfrey took one look at Ginny and said
"Did she tell either of you what her nightmares were about?" She asked calmly as only a trained professional could in this situation. Hermione once again was the first to reply
"I'm sorry, we tried to get her to tell us but she refused." Hermione said not once looking away from Ginny.
The conversation lulled as they all listened as Ginny began to moan in her sleep
"No...No..Please….No." They all heard her say at barely a whisper.
"I wish we knew what's going on inside Ginny's head." Ron said sadly.
"Inside Ginny's head….RON YOUR A GENIUS!" cried Hermione as she wrapped Ron into a hug. Ron looked at her taken aback
"Thanks Mione...but do you mind telling me why I am a genius?" Ron replied not knowing what Hermione was thinking. Before he got his answer though Hermione quickly whispered something into Madam Pomfrey's ear and was surprised to see Madam Pomfrey's expression light up before running out of the room.
"Mione?" Ron said again, feeling like he missed something.
"Ron you said "Inside her head" then that got me thinking, we can look inside her head!" replied Hermione very optimistically.
"What are you talking about Hermione? How can we see inside Ginny's head?"
Hermione looked Ron in the eye's patience and said "Ron do you happen to know what a...pensive is?" Ron said nothing back, if anything he looked even more confused.
"A pensive" is a device that lets you see into someone's memories, so i was thinking that while Ginny is asleep we take a copy of her memory of the nightmare so we can then see what's going on!" Hermione explained. Ron simply stared at her in awe.
"That's bloody brilliant Mione!" exclaimed Ron as he finally understood Hermione's plan. Not soon after that the doors once again opened to the Hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey returned holding a round dish with liquid in it...the pensive.
"Wait Hermione...How did you know there was a Pensive in Hogwarts?" Ron asked with a raised eyebrow.
Hermione lit up once again happy to explain. "Well you see Ron before I even got to Hogwarts my first year I had memorized a book called "Hogwarts, A History." inside that book there is an entire chapter about the headmaster's chambers." supplied Hermione as she went on. "One of the things I found out was that in the headmasters office there is a pensive for use of the headmasters of Hogwarts." Hermione beamed as she explained.
"Wow maybe books aren't so useless after all." Ron said but with a quick glance to the stare he was getting from Hermione, hurriedly added "Just joking Hermione." Ron and Hermione watched as Madam Pomfrey placed her wand to Giny's temple and extracted a wisp of a grey substance which she hurriedly put inside the pensive. They watched as the grey wisp began to circle in the water as the water grew dark and darker.
"Are you two ready?" asked Madam Pomfrey "If you don't want to go in that is perfectly fine, after all it's not your job." began Madam Pomfrey.
"Ginny is my sister." Ron said looking over at the still distressed Ginny. "I was not there for her when she needed me most this year… so you better believe i am going to be there for her now." Ron said with pure determination in his eyes.
"Well said Ron." Replied Hermione, giving him a slight hug from behind.
"Alright then, if you two are ready...lets begin." replied Madam Pomfrey. Then simultaneously all three placed their heads into the pensive… and entered into Ginny's nightmare.
I hope you all enjoyed chapter 4! I know I enjoyed writing it! Also the pensive in my version will act similarly to the time turner in the fact that they can not be seen so they have to hide during the memories.
A special thanks to NightWing2013 for helping me improve the structuring of my story!
Please let me know if you (the readers) prefer the new way I organized the dialogue compared to what I was doing before, I read every comment!
Scrappy8: Thank you for your continued support in reading my story and reviewing it, it helps me keep motivated!
Thank you to H1dd3nRush for proofreading this chapter
