A/N: Hi guys, I'm not dead! So erm, yeah... life happened and this fic got put on the back burner for an extended period of time. Enjoy the update, I'll try to get back on some sort of schedule as to when updates will occur, but it's my Junior year in high school and something always manages to pop up at the most inconvenient time. I apologize in advance for the inconsistencies in capitalization as they occur throughout the duration of this story and this chapter.
Ginny's screams tore through the abandoned dormitory and shook Hermione out of a deep sleep. Hermione sat up in her bed and gazed around the room, bleary-eyed, looking for signs of distress. In the bed on the other side of the room was Ginny, her body engaged in a futile struggle against her sheets that only managed to twist tighter around her body the more she tried to kick them off.
Hermione sighed. This was becoming typical behavior of her friend since the Death Eater attack. Every night for a week, Hermione awoke in the middle of the night to hear the other girl sobbing, screaming Hermione's name, begging for the pain to stop. Whatever was left of Gryffindor tower had long since abandoned their rooms, including Hermione and Ginny. After she had gotten out of the Hospital Wing, Hermione had followed Ginny to Ravenclaw Tower to keep an eye on her. The layout of the common room and the dormitories was similar with the exception of the color scheme which took a bit of getting used to after sleeping under banners of red and gold for years.
Sometimes I wish she wouldn't make so much noise, Hermione groaned as she threw back her sheets and walked over to Ginny's bed where the girl was still in the middle of a nightmare. A whole week without more than two hours of sleep each night. She pulled a loose strand of hair back behind her ear and knelt at Ginny's bedside. Careful not to startle her any further, Hermione slowly rested a hand on Ginny's shoulder and nudged her gently. "Gin?" she whispered. "Ginny, it's me."
Ginny stirred a little. "Can't be you..." she slurred, barely awake, "you're dead."
Hermione faltered. She's still asleep, she doesn't know what she's-- "Ginny, you're dreaming. I'm right here, see?" she ran the back of her hand across Ginny's face lightly brushing against the skin as the other girl's eyes opened.
Ginny sat bolt upright and scanned the room, frantically, disconcerted by the sudden change in her surroundings. She was breathing heavily and Hermione didn't need to see her face to know that she was crying. "Hermione?" she asked. Nervously, she pulled an arm from the constraints of her sheets and gripped the sleeve of Hermione's nightshirt tightly. "Don't leave me," she whimpered, "please don't leave me."
Hermione nodded and ran her hand through Ginny's hair, "It'll be ok, everything will be ok. Just go back to sleep, alright?" Why do I have so much trouble believing that?
She nodded wearily and eased back into her bed. She kicked herself free of her sheets and beckoned, half-asleep, "Stay with me?" Hermione let out a deep breath and agreed. She settled into a position and wrapped an arm around the other girl protectively, prepared to keep watch over her until the sun rose, what do I have left? Three hours? Four? Ginny relaxed into Hermione's touch, the steady heartbeat and slow breathing informed her a few minutes later that Ginny had fallen asleep. Hermione sighed and leaned her head on Ginny's shoulder, feeling the warmth and nearness of the other girl's body. I could fall in love with her, the thought drifted through Hermione's mind moments before she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
Hermione awoke the next morning to an empty bed. She wanted to avoid embarrassment. This is the what... fifth time this week that I've woken up in her bed? Their situation was a unique one. After the attack on the school, the majority of the students staying in Gryffindor Tower had fled, either back to their homes or to safe houses in the middle of nowhere. It was becoming clear to everyone that Hogwarts was no longer safe. Hermione, Ginny, Harry, Ron and a handful of Dumbledore's Army continued to reside in the castle; Ginny and Ron because their parents were in hiding where they could not follow, Hermione and Harry because they were not eager to leave their friends behind. Harry and Ron were becoming more scarce around the castle lately due to their unyielding efforts to track down missing members of the Order. They were in the middle of a war, the reality of it was undisputed.
Hermione brushed her teeth and threw on a set of clean clothes quickly, wondering where Ginny had gone off to so early in the morning. She walked over to her own bed and pulled the sheets up, tucked the comforter in and rearranged the pillows before sitting down on the edge. She pulled a hardback novel from in between the mattresses and began to read. She was unaware of how much time had passed before a knock on the open door jolted her back into reality.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Ginny said from the doorway, her voice barely above a whisper.
Hermione set her book down, not even bothering to mark the page, and nodded. Ginny walked into the room and sat on the foot of Hermione's bed, keeping her eyes focused on the floor. "Ginny?" she asked, concerned. Ginny had been acting odd lately, but then, everyone had their own method of coping with a traumatic experience. She saw the bodies of her friends, all dead before she got there, it's enough to drive anyone insane.
Ginny loosened her tie and began fidgeting with the tip. Her eyes were fixed on the ground in front of her. "I need to tell you," she said slowly. She took a deep breath and fought to compose herself before continuing, "That night.. when you were attacked?" Hermione swallowed hard and nodded. "I... walked downstairs right? After I left your room? And I saw all of them, laying there," she paused when she noticed she was shaking, first in her hands and then her entire body. Hermione slid up behind her and wrapped her arms around Ginny's fragile form. "At first I thought there was something I could do to help," she continued, her voice echoing the shakes that wracked her body, "so I ran down there, straight into this man.. this Death Eater. I screamed. I didn't know what to do, I couldn't move.. I just stood there." She choked back a sob, "He tried to drag me into another room, but something just snapped and I... I punched him." She laughed bitterly, "Right in the face, too. Must've hurt like a bitch because he used the Cruciatus curse on me."
Hermione inhaled sharply, alarmed and struck with a surge of guilt, All of this happened before I even went down there to see what was going on. How could I have been so stupid. She noticed Hermione's distress and added, "There's nothing you could have done. I had about a second's worth of a scream before he used a Silencing Charm." She pursed her lips tightly, carefully considering what to say next. A long and painful silence followed before Ginny whispered, "He was going to kill me, but she told him not to." The tears she had been trying to hold back escaped slowly, one by one, "She told him to bind my arms and keep me there. She wanted me to watch her kill you." Hermione's arms tightened around Ginny's waist as gasping sobs punctuated her words, "She... I thought... when she... you weren't moving."
Can't cry, I can't cry, I can't cry.. not now. Hermione was shaking now, in an effort to keep back the tears threatening to escape. "Ginny," she whispered, "Ginny... I--"
"She was walking towards the portrait hole with the rest of them," Ginny said as if in a trance, picturing the scene in her mind. "She stopped. Grabbed me by the hair and made me stand up. Made me look at you," Ginny whispered. She turned around to face Hermione, tears glistening in her eyes, "You were dead, she told me. Made me look at your body, told me that I would join you and the rest of my House if she ever saw me again." Her eyes snapped back to the floor, "But she was running late, she needed to leave... she left me there. I couldn't move, I couldn't speak. It was hours before anyone found me, before someone realized that I wasn't another dead body."
Hermione held her from behind tightly, protectively, as a tear slipped slowly down her cheek. There was nothing I could have done, she thought. Nothing could have saved all of those dead students, nothing could have spared Ginny the sight of their mangled bodies... my mangled body. "Ginny," she whispered, pleading with the girl sobbing in her arms, "it's over. I'm alive and she can't hurt you here."
Ginny looked up at her. "How do you know," she snapped angrily through her tears, "how do you know she won't be back to finish us all off?"
Hermione sighed and pulled a loose strand of hair back behind Ginny's ear, "I don't. You're right, she probably will be back with hundreds of Death Eaters and You-Know-Who." Ginny made a noise that sounded like a mix between a whimper and a groan, Hermione tilted her head so she was looking Ginny in the eyes, "But I will die before I let any of them hurt you."
Ginny turned around to face her, startled by Hermione's statement. The sadness plastered across Hermione's face was enough to make her start crying again. Ginny smiled weakly and pulled Hermione into an awkward hug, shifting her body so that the two faced each other. They sat there for what seemed like an eternity, holding each other close. Hermione let go first, but Ginny remained close to her, the two of them just inches apart, eyes locked in a gaze that neither of them wanted to break. It was that moment that Ginny chose to kiss her.
Their lips had barely brushed together, but Hermione jolted back, startled by the sensation and Ginny's behavior. Her eyes were wide with panic as she surveyed Ginny with her eyes, "What--?" She just.. did that really just happen? Does that mean that she's...
Ginny jumped off the bed, obviously as shocked as, if not more than, Hermione. "I- I'm s-sorry," she stammered as she moved towards the door, "I don't know--. I'm sorry!" Ginny was out the door in a flash, slamming it shut behind her before Hermione could process what had just happened.
It was only when Ginny was long gone that Hermione realized that she had just blown whatever chance she might have had with her.
A/N: Oooh, the suspense! If you enjoyed it, please leave a review.