Potter47
Part One
Living Inside
"Now he would have given all he had or ever might have to hold her warm in his arms, both of them wrapped in one blanket, and sleep. All hopes of eternity and all gain from the past he would have given to have her there, to be wrapped warm with him in one blanket, and sleep, only sleep. It seemed the sleep with the woman in his arms was the only necessity."
D. H. Lawrence
Chapter Three
Ready or Not
"Mum, could I have some eggs?"
Molly Weasley, who had been furiously directing the dishes in the sink the scrub themselves, nearly dropped her wand and turned round in surprise.
"Why, of course, Ron."
She seemed suddenly alive, flurrying here and there to prepare the food for her son. Ron watched her go for a minute, and then shook his head and sat down at the table.
"So how is Ginny doing?" asked Molly, as the eggs sizzled in the pan.
"She's doing exactly the same as she has been, why do people keep asking that?" Ron snapped. "She's unconscious, I think you would have heard if she woke up--"
Molly blinked. "Right then," she said. "I'm going to choose to ignore the tone you just took with your mother, is that all right with you?"
Ron sighed. "I'm sorry, Mum," he said, and he meant it. "It's just... I don't even know..."
"It's all right," she said. She retrieved the eggs from the pan and deposited them in front of Ron. She smiled, and to change the subject, asked, "How was Luna's?"
"Fine."
"Doesn't sound very fine. Did something happen?"
"No, nothing happened... well, yeah, something happened, but nothing bad or anything."
"Then what's wrong?"
"Well, my sister's kinda laying unconscious on a bed upstairs--"
"Yes, I know that, thank you," said Molly, a sabre-tooth showing at the side of her mouth. "And I don't know what's got your bee in such a bonnet, but I am trying to help, you know that? We're all in a right state right now about Ginny, but you know what, Ron? We've all been in right states before and normally those are the times when this family actually manages to get along."
Ron looked down at his eggs and tried to will himself to start eating them.
"So... if you don't want to talk about it, then go right ahead. I'm here if you change your mind. But please do not get snippy at the rest of us because of it, whatever it is."
"Sorry," said Ron.
"It's all right," said Molly. "Now eat your eggs."
Ginny emerged into the light and it was so very strange to see it. It felt like she'd been in the Chamber for ages and ages, but really, it must have only been... what, an hour? It seemed so insignificant now, in the light of the girls' bathroom.
Now, was this real? That's what she wondered... Was this the real bathroom, in Hogwarts, or was this merely more of her own mind? She wanted to believe it might be the former, but that didn't seem very likely. After all, how would she have gotten to Hogwarts...? She was in her kitchen, with...
Harry...
She had to get back there. A rather selfish part of her was afraid that he'd tell somebody about their relationship while she wasn't there, and that she'd miss their reactions... and a less selfish part of her kept seeing Harry's worried face, seated by her bedside and sulking. He'd be sulking up a storm without her there to tell him not to. She had to get out of this place...
Rather unthinkingly, she slapped herself in the face in an attempt to wake herself up. But this only succeeded in stinging quite a bit, which didn't help matters much.
She was pacing and pacing the girls' bathroom before she suddenly realized she might as well go on out into the rest of the castle, and see what was going on. Just as she headed for the door, however, she heard a high-pitched voice that nearly made her fall over.
"Hello, Ginevra," said the voice, and she spun around, unsure of who it was.
Then she saw: it was Moaning Myrtle. Her heart gave a little flying leap when she saw her, that first moment. If Myrtle was here, then that surely meant that this was the real Hogwarts and she was out of her mind after all...
...but Myrtle had never called her "Ginevra" before, had she? Did Myrtle even know that was her name...?
"Hi, Myrtle..." said Ginny.
The ghost shook her head. "I'm not Myrtle. I'm you."
Oh no...
"What do you mean?"
"I think you know what I mean," said Not-Myrtle. "I'm a little part of you that you like to forget about." She smirked: "I'm the Ghost of the School-Girl Crush."
Ginny closed her eyes and sighed. What was going on? Sure, she had gotten out of the fire--but she'd jumped straight into the frying-pan. When could she just get off the damn stove?
"I'm gonna go see how my parents are doing," said Hermione. "I don't want Mr. Weasley scaring them too badly..."
"OK," said Harry in a rather listless sort of voice, still watching Ginny's still face.
Hermione frowned. "Are you gonna be OK, Harry? I mean--"
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said.
Hermione looked from his face, to Ginny, and back again, and quirked an eyebrow, thinking to herself. But all she said was "All right, then," and she left to find her parents.
Harry stood, took a breath, let it out, and took another for the road. He looked round at the empty room, wondering if Ron was going to come back soon and realizing he didn't care all that much.
Not quite sure what he was doing, he kneeled on the carpet, took Ginny's hand in his own and rested his arms on the edge of the bed. Squeezing her fingers between his hands, he closed his eyes and pressed the hand-sandwich to his forehead.
"Please," he said, not sure who he was talking to. "Please, let her wake up..."
The words hung in the air strangely for a moment. He glanced up at Ginny's face, half-expecting her eyes to pop open. They didn't.
"Gin..." he said, kissing her hand, "come on. Talk to me. What's wrong? What happened, hmm?"
She didn't answer, and he let out another breath.
Keeping her hand tight in his, he buried his head in the mattress, not sure if he wanted to sleep or cry or just lay beside this girl. It felt like she'd been gone for ages, but what had it been? An hour? Two?
He knew he should move, that he should sit back down in the chair in case Ron or Hermione came back, or the twins, or anyone else, but he couldn't. He couldn't move an inch. True, his knees were aching--but so was his heart.
"I couldn't help overhearing your thoughts a minute ago," said Not-Myrtle, smirking a school-girl smirk, "and I was wondering... do you really think... that he misses us that badly...?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you were saying that... Harry... must be very upset about you not being there and all... and... do you think?" Her cheeks blushed silver.
Ginny blinked. "Well... I hope he misses me, we're kind of..."
"Going out...?!" said Not-Myrtle excitedly. "I know, I heard, I can't believe it, can you? I mean, you must feel so lucky... Harry Potter and all..."
Her whole face was silver now. Not that it had been very different beforehand...
"Well... I guess so..." said Ginny. Something felt very strange about this, other than the obvious things. She didn't like something about the way Not-Myrtle was saying what she was saying...
"You guess...?! It's the Boy-Who-Lived for crying out loud, I would be on the floor praising the heavens that he even glanced at me..."
"It's not like that," said Ginny defensively. "I mean... I don't care about all that stuff anymore, that's stupid, he's just... he's Harry..." Ginny shook her head. "Why am I even talking about this with you? Do you know how I can get out of--"
"Oh, sure you don't care, uh-huh, I believe that," said the Ghost.
"I don't--"
"I heard you." Not-Myrtle smirked her annoying little smirk again, and then changed the subject: "I'm not sure how you get out of here, no... but I can take you to someone who might know."
"Who?"
"The Wizard of Hog," she said.
"Who?"
Not-Myrtle laughed. "You'll recognize him when you see him," she said. "But he's the brains around here, if you know what I mean."
Ginny shook her head. "I don't, really..."
"Don't you get how this works by now, Ginny? He's a part of you--your wisdom, if you must know. It's certainly clear that you haven't met him..."
Ginny glared at her. "Where can I find him?" she asked.
"I'll bring you to him, like I said," said Not-Myrtle. "Let's go," she said, zipping over to the doorway of the bathroom. Ginny followed, and emerged into the corridor--which looked just as it did normally in Hogwarts, except the flagstones shone quite golden.
"Follow me," said Not-Myrtle, zooming down the hall. "We've just got to follow the Yellow-Brick-Floor."
Hermione shook her head as she stepped back into the kitchen--she'd just been out in Mr. Weasley's shed, where he was showing off his Muggle collection to her parents. She had attempted to persuade them to come back inside--but her mum and dad found Mr. Weasley's fascination absolutely fascinating. She couldn't believe it, but it was true.
"Oh--hi, Hermione," said Ron from the table. "When did you go out there?"
Hermione raised her eyebrows. "I walked right by you, five minutes ago--"
"Oh," said Ron. "I must've been eating."
Hermione smiled. "Now that sounds like Ron Weasley," she said.
Mrs. Weasley--also at the table--smiled as well, and said pointedly: "Ronald, do you have something to say to Hermione...?"
"Uh, yeah," he said. "Sorry if I was... uh, flippant, earlier... I've been acting stupid today."
"I didn't notice any difference," joked Hermione, grinning, and then, at his face, said, "I'm only kidding."
"OK," said Ron. He stood, then, and said, "I'm gonna go back to Gin. Thanks, Mum, for the talk... and the other one, too, even if that one was kinda... scorchy."
"Anytime, Ron. That's what I'm here for, don't forget it. Put your plate in the sink."
"Scorchy, eh?" said Hermione.
"What?" said Ron.
"Nothing."
Ron furrowed his brow, but Hermione led the way out of the kitchen and up to Ginny's room--Ron followed, but as he got the landing, Hermione turned round and motioned for him to shush.
"What?" he asked.
"Look," she said, pointing in the bedroom. Ron looked. Then he blinked, and kept looking. Harry was kneeling on the floor, gripping Ginny's hand tightly and laying his head against her waist--and snoring softly.
"What the--"
"Isn't that the cutest thing in the world...?'
"No," said Ron. Then: "They're not... they haven't..."
Hermione shrugged her shoulders, and whispered: "I don't know. I wouldn't put it past them... they seemed pretty close at the end of term, didn't they?"
"I guess so, but... bloody hell, what else did I miss when I was at Luna's...?"
"I don't know," said Hermione. Then, she added: "What did we miss while you were at Luna's?"
Ron blinked. "Nothing... just her batty father singing the Beatles."
"Oh, all right then," said Hermione, smirking.
"What?" asked Ron.
"Nothing."
"Why are you smirking?"
"No reason..." said Hermione. "I was just thinking of the lovely lion hat we passed on the stairs."
Ron's ears went pink.
Faces and Hands
"The old clock is a thief
with dirty second hands."
Jonathan Foreman
Coming Soon
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.