Chapter 41 – Where Creatures Awake

Harry still wasn't feeling quite himself. He knew that it seemed right to follow where he was being led, but the only part of his body of which he was truly sure was the hand that could feel Ginny's locked around it.

They were climbing. To where, he could not tell, and why, he didn't ask. She led him swiftly up each staircase, pausing only when the stairs decided to move, the two of them being keenly observed by the portraits that lined the walls. Harry was willing to trust in her sense of direction, but it was only as he was on the point of questioning this that he realised they could only be heading for the seventh floor. This floor, to the best of his knowledge, held only one claim on their interest, and he was desperately hoping that Ginny didn't wish to commence duelling practice while he was in this state. His suspicions were confirmed when she stepped off the final stair and made for the Room of Requirement.

"Ginny, I don't want to be a bother, but would you mind telling me what we're doing here?"

This enquiry was greeted with silence, and as they reached the familiar stretch of wall, she slowed down the pace and started muttering under her breath. Harry was just about to repeat the question, when he noticed the door materialise before them. Finally, she turned to him and beckoned.

"Come, please," she said, turning the handle and pushing the door open.

Harry followed slowly, curiosity etched into his face. As he walked in through the doorway behind her, he stopped short in astonishment and stared about him. The room could take whatever form and serve whatever purpose anybody wished, but never would Harry have thought he would have seen it like this.

Outside the castle, it was nothing more than a dull and cloudy winter's day, but the ceiling of the Room of Requirement was now enchanted to appear like the clearest night sky he had ever seen, almost like the ceiling of the Great Hall could be. There were oil lamps lining the emerald green walls in decorative brass holders, and at each end of the room, two golden lion figure heads were hung with water flowing from their mouths into large marble basins below.

Even with his shoes on, Harry could feel how deep and soft the carpet was. On one side of the wall facing him, there was an elegantly framed portrait of The Burrow, and on the other, a depiction of the local countryside with Hogwarts castle almost silhouetted against an early morning sky. In the centre of the room, with a curtain of silk hanging down the sides of its sturdy frame of oak, stood by far and away the largest and most comfortable looking bed Harry had ever seen in his life.

"I hope you like it," said Ginny at last, her eyes twinkling at him distractedly, "I can't tell you how restless I've been recently. Sometimes I wouldn't sleep at all. There were times when I thought that if I made myself too comfortable, my mind would slow down, and I just couldn't let that happen. But even when I was lying on tables, or just curled up on the floor, I was still thinking of you."

This was almost making Harry feel ashamed for having even enjoyed the comfort of a hospital bed. To think that witch he loved so dearly had been reduced to such a state was too much to bear. He took off his shoes, as though it were a matter of common courtesy and took a walk around. This must have been the result of a great deal of thought, as Harry had never seen the room appear to grant such a detailed request. Ginny was standing in the middle of the room shuffling her feet around hesitantly, and quite obviously very unsure of herself.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I don't know…" she breathed, "I just…I've thought about this happening for so long, and…now that I have you here, I don't know where to…how to…begin. I…I...need you, Harry."

She looked at him with a sort of pleading panic in her eyes. Harry could feel his face growing hotter. He dared not speak, at the risk of making a complete fool of himself. This wasn't good. Where to begin? How to…?

As his hand wandered by his side, it hit upon an object in his pocket. Reaching inside, it closed around a small glass bottle, and all of a sudden his face began to cool down once more. Insignia Skyclad, he thought. This had better work.

He brought the bottle out of his pocket and held it up to the light as he uncorked it. Ginny was staring at it with great curiosity and wondering whether Harry was simply trying to change the subject. He stepped forward and took a deep breath, then gave the bottle a quick shake, sending a small shower of the sparkling crystals down Ginny's front. She quickly closed her eyes and flinched, wondering momentarily if Harry had gone mad.

"Harry, what are you…?"

She was driven into a stunned silence as she looked down. Her robes, her t-shirt, her jeans, her socks and shoes, and even her underwear were now lying in a neatly folded pile at her feet. For a few seconds, she could barely speak, and quickly folded her arms across her chest as a desperate gesture of modesty.

Harry, meanwhile, was in a state of equal shock. He wasn't prepared for this, he didn't know where to look, and was now afraid that she would never speak to him again.

"You…cheeky git!" she exclaimed, amusement slowly spreading across her face, "Do I even need to ask where you got that stuff?"

Opening his mouth a little to attempt an explanation, Harry immediately thought the better of it, and now his face was approaching melting point. Even the creature inside him was struck dumb, though still capable of making his heart thunder along faster than he could handle. After taking a moment to examine the situation, Ginny came to the conclusion that shock and embarrassment wouldn't do them any good in the end.

"Well, Harry," she said, allowing her posture to relax, "I have to say I'm very flattered that you were that impatient to…um…see me."

She then let her arms fall to her sides and walked slowly towards him. This, Harry could hardly deny, was the most magical sight he had ever beheld. He couldn't look away even if he had wanted to, and now found himself studying intently the beautiful creature that approached him. The light from the oil lamps danced on her skin, and reflected in her stunning green eyes that complimented the colour of the room so perfectly. Her flowing waves of fiery red hair, though tangled in places, was more entrancing than he had ever seen it, and the glow from the wall behind gave a glorious definition to her shapely form.

Harry was so bewitched by the body he so longed to caress that he barely noticed her hand reaching out and delicately removing the bottle from his hand. His eyes were now helplessly imprisoned in hers, and Ginny was perfectly prepared to take advantage of his temporary hypnosis.

"Hardly fair though, is it?" she smiled, raising her eyebrow and sprinkling the crystals over him.

Feeling the warmth of the room directly on his skin was enough to shake Harry back into reality. Before he could even express his surprise or embarrassment, she threw her arms around his neck and commanded his full attention once again. She was all but fighting back tears of happiness as she gazed dreamily into his eyes.

"Come here, you idiot…"

With these words, she pulled him into the deepest, most passionate and loving kiss he had ever experienced. Every one of his senses was set ablaze at the firm and sensuous touch of her lips. He could hear the subtle fizzing of the flames that lit the lamps, the soft sound of Ginny's breath, and inside his head, he could hear the creature that lay in the pit of his stomach singing anthems of celebration. As he inhaled, he caught all the sweet aromas she always carried with her, but stronger than ever before, and even more so than he remembered when smelling the Amortentia potion in his previous year.

The taste of her mouth was like the most exquisite strawberries he had ever known, that somehow satisfied a hunger and quenched a thirst at the same time. As her tongue curled gracefully around his own, he could almost feel her hunger, as if she too had a creature of desire inside her.

The feeling of her body being held so closely against his, however, was something Harry would never be able to describe in words, not even if he could outlive the world itself. Like poetry that could never come to an end, and never so much as scratch the surface of sensations he felt. The Imperius Curse could not possibly compare to the spell under which she now held him with her touch alone.

As for his sight, it was now something that he could almost take for granted. She was there in his eyes whether they were open or closed.

When their lips finally parted, Harry felt her take him by the hand and lead him across the room. His feet were moving as normal, but all his mind could feel was that he was floating forward, led by his guardian protector. Everything seemed to be happening so slowly and yet so suddenly. He savoured the sensation on his fingertips as he traced the smooth line of her neck and delighted in her soft gasps of pleasure as he planted kisses along the same path. He closed his eyes as he felt her pull him on to the bed.

"Harry, look at me," she whispered.

Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes. He was looking down on her. All of a sudden he began to tense up and struggle to disguise the note of panic in his breathing. During their brief conversations, the creature inside him had told him that this was something for which he should be prepared. The truth was, he knew he wouldn't be, no matter what kind of advance warning he had been given. One thing of which the creature hadn't reminded him was that Ginny Weasley was among the kindest, most understanding witches he had ever known.

"Shh, it's alright," she whispered soothingly, "It's me…"

At the sound of her voice, his anxiety melted away and a slow, steady calm spread through him from his neck downwards. She gave him a warm, reassuring smile as she reached down and gently guided him inside her.

"Oh…!" she breathed ecstatically as Harry leaned down and marked a trail of his affections that started on her lips and carried on downwards beyond the base of her throat.

A moment later, she arched her neck and winced slightly in a gesture of farewell as she parted ways with her innocence. In the same instant, several things happened. The oil lamps on the wall exploded into raging beacons of fire that roared towards the starry ceiling. Every one of the school owls suddenly took flight from the Owlery and circled the rooftops of the castle, shedding feathers in panic as they flew.

For the space of a few seconds, the voice of every other witch and wizard in Hogwarts was silenced, as though the sound had simply been stolen out of the air. The only voice to be heard, strangely enough, was that of the Fat Lady in the portrait that guarded the Gryffindor common room. Never renowned for her vocal talents, she had suddenly been roused from a daydream, and found herself singing a passage from an eighteenth century opera in such dulcet tones that many within close earshot had to stop themselves from weeping.

Ginny's head was lost in a cloud of euphoria. She had lost all track of time when she breathlessly laid her head on Harry's shoulder and placed an arm across his chest. Feeling her arm reach over and tighten around him, Harry stopped caring about the heat in the room, and held her as tightly as he could. Nothing could possibly be wrong with the world, he told himself. How could it be? If this be a dream, so let me sleep, the creature inside him agreed.

All there was to be heard in the room was the air of the flames in the lamps as they settled themselves at last. It was Ginny who finally broke the silence.

"Harry?" she said.

"Yes?"

"I don't want to leave here," she continued after a pause, "I know there is so much we must do, but I just feel like I could stay like this forever."

Harry sighed.

"You don't have to tell me that," he replied, "I don't think life has ever felt this wonderful. We can stay here as long as you want."

He took a few moments to savour the atmosphere, when a question came out of nowhere and charged to the front of his mind.

"Err, Ginny, do you think I could ask you something?"

"Anything," she smiled, curling one of her legs around his.

"It's been a long time since I've been taught about this at school, but I…since we've just…you know…" he began, completely unsure about the best way to broach the question, "I thought that would, well, make you…"

Ginny hardly needed to make use of her powers as a Legilimens to see what he was driving at, and lifted her head as she put him out of his misery.

"Oh, Harry!" she giggled, "You know, I just forget sometimes that you grew up around muggles."

Noting how genuinely uncomfortable he seemed, she straightened her face.

"Okay, here's how it works. When witches are about eleven or twelve, after they've been taught the obvious facts of life, their mums usually teach them the proper, well, precautions. It's a bit difficult to explain. We have this way of 'choosing' if we want to have a baby or not."

"Some kind of spell or something?" he enquired.

She leant her head to the side and whispered conspiratorially in his ear.

"Just a little something I uttered in my head while we were kissing…" she said, before quickly adding, "Not that I wouldn't want to one day, it's just…"

"A little too soon?" Harry suggested.

She nodded at him and smiled back at him before sighing and sinking happily back into his arms. Harry, meanwhile, was casually turning the idea of parenthood over in his mind, and was half-wishing that he was able to ask his own parents what it was like. He was grateful when Ginny interrupted his thoughts.

"I'm serious, Harry, couldn't we just stay in here?"

He gave this matter careful consideration.

"Well…" he replied slowly, "I suppose we could schedule a D.A meeting for some time next week and tell them the redecorations just took longer than expected."

Both laughing at the absurdity of the idea, they proceeded to thoroughly tangle each other up in the bed covers before calming themselves.

"Promise you won't hide yourself away again?" asked Harry.

"I promise," she replied, without a moment's hesitation, "It's been painful enough already. You're stuck with me now."

He kissed the top of her head and absent-mindedly played with her hair until they both surrendered to the welcome call of sleep. This was the most blissful rest Harry had ever known, if only for the fact that he found himself dreaming of what had just happened. This was what he wanted in his life, he decided. This was worth fighting for.