.

.

.

A/N: YOU GUYS… I got so many lovely reviews from the last chapter! I really do appreciate all of you for giving this story with a really crap summary a chance and then sticking with it for so long.

And I'm sorry that I took so long to update. I just needed some time away, is all.

Now, with my excuses and sincerest apologies out of the way, please enjoy this chapter. :)

.

.

.

Chapter Sixty-Two

.

.

.

The thick and bustling wind of the storm impeded the brown, barn owl as it flapped it's tired wings in resistance. The clouds above were dark and ominous. The waters below thrashed with waves that were as black as night.

And yet, everstill, the little owl trudged on - flapping its wings at a rapid rate but still moved slow against the wall of wind.

It just had to get past the peak of the mountain, where the wind would be blocked. Then, a nice, fat mouse to eat and warm shelter would be waiting for it.

It's little wings flapped harder than they ever had before in the owl's short life.

Until finally…

The owl passed over the mountain's peak before it swooped down to get out from the wind. Immediately, the flight was so much easier for the barn owl as it doubled its efforts towards getting to the castle that lay below.

It didn't take long now that the struggle was gone, and it was in no time at all where the owl was approaching a tower…

Swooping in through the open window, the owl found itself in an oval shaped room with a number of magical instruments that littered the room and portraits of sleeping occupants taking up space on the walls.

"Hello there, little one," A light voice greeted it suddenly.

"Hoot Hoot," The owl answered in kind before swooping down to the aged wizard who sat at the large, cluttered desk. And without waiting for any preamble, the owl stuck out it's claw that had a letter attached that was labeled, 'Urgant!' on the envelope.

The old wizard chuckled.

"Impatient, are we?" He asked before he did what the owl wanted by untying the string that held the letter.

As soon as it was untied, the owl left the room immediately, wanting to feed and rest after a long and perilous journey.

Dumbledore chuckled fondly at the bird before he turned to the envelope at hand. With his good hand, he opened the letter.

.

Albus,

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has been spotted in London. The rat was there with the lot of them. They killed everyone in a small, muggle establishment called, 'Wool's Orphanage'. He had the snake with him, as well.

Sincerely,

Auror Fitzbenz

.

Dumbledore's smile slid from his lips.

….

It was the cries of the children that woke him. Their screams as the hoards of Death Eaters mercilessly killed them violently shook him out of unconsciousness. And with a jolt, Harry's eyes snapped open as he flung himself upright in the tiny cot. His eyes darted around anxiously, looking for the threats that haunted him… but there was none to be seen. There was nothing out of the ordinary. He was only sitting in a bed in the hospital wing.

Then why could he still hear Voldemort's laughter ringing in his ears? Still feel his glee towards the vast amount of bloodshed?

"Harry?"

Harry's heart calmed at the sound of her sweet voice, calling him back from the abyss of his nightmares. Because that was all that it was. A nightmare. A horrible, horrible nightmare. It had to be… all those children slaughtered by Voldemort and his Death Eaters… It just had to be.

Harry's gaze turned to look at her. She sat in a chair beside his bed, with one of her ankles up on the chair, resting underneath her other leg. Her red hair was rumpled and there were dark circles underneath her eyes which were looking at him with so much intensity.

Merlin, how long had she been sitting there? She looked exhausted.

"Gin," Harry breathed, as though her name was a prayer passing through his lips. It was at that moment where he realised how much he needed her close, how much he needed to feel her against him. So, he opened his arms to her, his eyes displaying his need for her closeness.

Ginny hesitated for only a moment before she got up and launched herself into his arms. Her entire form was shaking as her fingers grasped tight to the pyjama shirt he was now wearing.

"Oh, Harry…" Ginny breathed from where she buried her face into his shoulder, clutching tight to his body, "I was so worried. So scared. When you didn't wake up, I-I-"

Ginny broke off as Harry wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, pulling her up onto the bed so that she was sitting on his lap, attempting to comfort her in the same way that she gave him comfort.

"Shhh," Harry lulled as one of his hands came up to run soothingly through the threads of her hair. His mind was so foggy... "Everything's alright, Gin. Everything's fine."

Ginny continued to shake as she held onto him and Harry let her, knowing that this was the best way to convince her that he was alright. It took a long while before she calmed down enough to the point where she was merely grasping him tightly. And another beat of a moment before Harry felt it safe to break the silence as he pulled back, so that he could be allowed to see her face.

"So…" Harry began as his fingers brushed her long hair out of her face, some tendrils stuck to her wet cheeks, where silent tears had managed to escape. Harry didn't comment on them, knowing that Ginny wouldn't appreciate it. "What happened exactly?"

Ginny snorted slightly as she wiped away at her face in a way that said that she was rather annoyed with herself for crying. "I was rather hoping that you would explain that."

Harry raised questioning eyebrows at her and Ginny returned his look head on, completely full of bafflement.

"Are you kidding?" She asked, incredulous, "You really don't know?"

When Harry's confused expression didn't change, Ginny let out a grunt of exasperation.

"What in the name of Merlin was that burst of magic?!"

Clarity reached Harry instantly as the memories of what happened flooded back to him. But he hadn't the chance to respond.

"Gin-"

"I mean, I've seen you do magic before, and I always thought that you were powerful. But that. That was something else entirely."

"Ginny-"

"I mean, Harry," Ginny exclaimed as she threw her hands up in the air, her movements completely in stride with her tirade, "You completely absorbed all of Dumbledore's curse yards away from where you stood! I don't think that has ever been done before. It-"

"It hasn't," Harry managed to finally interrupt as he let his arms drop from around her form in order to reach up and grasp tightly to both of her hands. "It hasn't ever been done before."

Ginny's eyes were wide as she gaped at him, his words finally reaching her. "Th-Then, how?"

Harry dropped his gaze, instead choosing to look down at their clasped hands as he ran his thumbs smoothly over hers. "I forget that I haven't told you this before. I didn't intentionally set out to not tell you, it's just that it has only become a priority recently that made me even remember that it was an issue before…"

Harry peaked his eyes up at her to see that she was staring at him, urging with her gaze that he continue.

"You know of my… upbringing. The way that my Uncle Vernon would... beat me and call me a freak. Well, he would do this whenever I showed signs of accidental magic. Which my parents said was powerful even when I was only a one-year old." Harry broke off, holding her hands tightly as he explained everything, needing to gather strength from her for a moment before he could continue.

Harry sighed. "But I had subconsciously made myself ashamed of doing magic as a result. My uncle's hatred and abuse had made me block my magical core."

Harry looked up at Ginny again, to see her staring at him with genuine grief and sadness in her gaze as tears gathered in her eyes once again. "But when I saw Dumbledore's curse headed towards you… and you had no time to stop it… Gin, something inside of me just… snapped. All that I knew was that I desperately wanted to protect you. And because of that, my magical core was unblocked."

Ginny looked at him, flabbergasted beyond belief. "Harry… that was so much more than your magical core merely getting 'unblocked'. You- Merlin - you were amazing."

Harry flushed before he looked away from her awed expression. For some reason, he felt that he didn't deserve it. Not with the way he had been treating her, lately. It was in that moment, the overwhelming need to apologise overcame him. He needed to repent, atone for his mistreatment of her. Because he was weak without her. He needed her forgiveness.

"Gin, I'm sorry for how I've been treating you," Harry whispered, throwing her off guard as he deliberately changed the subject. "It's difficult for me to explain the reasons why I was treating you that way. All I can ask now is, did you really mean what you said in the library? That you understood that I have to keep secrets?" His eyes lifted then, peeking up at her with searching eyes. Looking for any amount of sincerity he could see in her eyes as she answered his weighted question.

Ginny blinked a few times in rapid succession before she swallowed heavily. "That - I mean, of course I understand your need to keep secrets. I may not like the fact that you have to keep things from me, but I do understand that there is probably a reason for it."

The breath that Harry had been holding released from the tightness in his lungs, leaving behind a light feeling. Harry smiled up at her shyly as he brought his hand up to cup her cheek. "It's not that I don't want to tell you, Gin. You are the first person I want to run to when I learn something new. It's just that… I can't tell you."

A brief flash of disappointment came to her eyes before she forcefully shut them, leaning her face more into his hand as she sought comfort from his touch. "May I ask why?"

Harry swallowed heavily as his heart sank at the downcast expression on her face. "First, I need to explain a few things. I just, I need you to understand."

Ginny nodded, her eyes still closed.

Harry took a deep breath. "Something happened… after you left Potter Manor. Something that has motivated me to start getting involved in the war."

Brown eyes snapped open, looking up at him fearfully, "Harry-"

"Yes," Harry answered the unspoken question in her gaze, "The war is about to begin. I can feel it in my bones, Ginny. So, I've been preparing. Training. Trying to better myself so that when the time comes to face Voldemort, I will be ready."

A flash of pained understanding came to her beautiful gaze. "And this preparation… it included cutting ties with me, didn't it?"

Harry swallowed and had to look away. There was no way he could deny it. "I'm not going to lie to you, Gin. But I did consider it…"

The sound of her breath leaving her caused Harry's gaze to snap back to her. Both of his hands grasped at hers, squeezing tightly in his urgency for her to understand. "But not because I don't want to be with you! I do! I can't stand the thought of not being with you! The mere idea of having to spend time in the same room as you, but not be able to hold you, or kiss you, or even hold your hand…"

He brought one of the hands in question up to his lips so that he could press a lingering kiss to her palm. "It's just that… I can't stand the thought of you being hurt even more than that."

Ginny tore her hand away from his grasp, "So, you think that I can't take care of myself, is that it?!"

The colour drained from Harry's cheeks. "What? No! Of course n-"

"Think that 'Little Ginny Weasley' is incapable at magic, hmm? That I can't defend myself when it comes down to it?!"

"No, Ginny!" Harry interrupted, feeling just a tad bit of frustration. But not with her. More towards himself. For not explaining this to her right. "That's not it at all. You're one of the most capable witches I know! It's just that, I realised now that it doesn't even matter anymore."

Ginny, who had looked like she was gearing herself up for an argument, blinked in apparent shock. "W-What? What do you mean that it doesn't matter anymore?"

Harry let out a long sigh before he smiled slightly at her, reaching out to grasp her hand in his, once again. He was grateful that Ginny let him do it. "With my magical core now unblocked, I've come to realise a few things. The most important of which is that I have to be with you, Gin. It's just too painful to pretend that I don't care about you, when I can feel my heart beating with the need to be close to you, always."

It was the closest he had ever come to telling her that he loved her without words. He wondered if she could sense it in the weight of his words.

Ginny gaped at him, completely immobile in her state of shock. He knew that she probably hadn't been expecting him to say anything remotely close to what he just said. She probably expected him to double-down on his reasonings on why he thought they shouldn't be together.

Harry smiled nervously at her as he squeezed her hands in his suddenly clammy palms. "I miss you, Gin. These last couple of weeks have honestly been torture, the way that we've tiptoed around each other. The worst part is, I know that it's been entirely my own fault. But I want to fix things between us. I want things back to the way they were. Can we do that? Can you forgive me?"

Harry waited on bated breath for her answer as she stared at him, her gaze boring into his with such intensity. It was difficult to distinguish what she was really thinking from her expression alone, however, and Harry thought that he just might go barmy mad if he didn't find out soon.

Then, she did the unexpected.

Ginny leaned forward and kissed him.

Harry let out a gasp of surprise, which Ginny swallowed with her moving lips.

It didn't take long for his surprise to melt away to the tingling sensations her pillowy, soft touch gave him. It was really euphoric, being able to experience kissing her again when they haven't kissed since Christmas Day, two weeks ago.

Harry's eyes fluttered closed as his one hand came up to frame her face, holding her steady as he deepened the kiss.

It was slow. Sensual. But oh, so magical.

Everything else fell away.

His tongue invaded the hot cavern of her mouth, taking his sweet time to really explore her. To imprint onto his memory of what she tasted like, what she felt like, even what she smelled like.

The truth of the matter is, she was a drug to him in that very moment. And he found himself glad to be addicted.

"Ahem!" An abrupt cough caused them to break apart.

They both flushed scarlet as they turned to see a very disapproving look on Madam Pomfrey's face as she faced them with her hands on her hips. Not only were they caught snogging, but Ginny was also sitting astride his lap, straddling his thighs. Not quite the position they would want to be caught in by an adult of authority.

"Mr. Potter is on the mend, Miss. Weasley," She said in a very stern tone of voice, "I think it's best you return to your dorm before you upset his health even more."

Ginny scrambled off of his lap in an effort to comply and Harry mourned at the loss so much that he couldn't help but blurt out, "I think that Ginny is very good for my health, actually."

Ginny gasped and whacked him on the shoulder as a response to her mortification. Her cheeks were blazing red, which caused a rather… healthy reaction to rise up in Harry.

Madam Pomfrey frowned but chose not to comment on his poor word choice. Instead she turned her gaze on Ginny. "Goodnight, Miss. Weasley."

Ginny mumbled a goodnight before striding out of there fast, leaving Harry alone as Madam Pomfrey went back into her office.

Harry sighed as he settled back into his pillows, feeling both unsettled yet satisfied in a way he hadn't felt in two weeks.

He grinned, thinking of how they were now right back on track. Their relationship was headed in the right direction, though he may have to backtrack a couple of steps… he doubted that Ginny would want him to just pick up where they left off when it came to their explorations.

But Harry was willing to do whatever Ginny wanted him to do. So, if she wanted him to wait, he would wait with no questions asked.

Because Harry was euphoric that he found a way around the issue that had been plaguing him since Death's visit.

Harry had successfully unblocked his magical core. He was more powerful than he could have ever imagined! And because of that, he felt that he can better protect the ones that he loves. Especially Ginny.

He now felt a sense of comfort in being with her again. Her safety was really no longer a concern. Not when his love for her was fueling the power within him that would protect her from any threat that dared to touch her.

Even now, he could feel the power of his magic tingling underneath his skin, bursting to shine through.

Harry grinned.

He felt invincible.

.

.

.

A/N: Sigh… Getting a little too confident there, Harry? Please let me know what you think of the chapter! :)

.

.

.