Chapter 6: Getting Through to Harry
Ginny, back to the door, slid down onto the floor and continued to cry until there were no more tears to cry. She rolled over onto her side and fell asleep due to the exhausted she had cause herself.
Harry, sitting on his camp bed in Ron's room, looked off into space. Where was bright and bubbly Ginny? Where the was the stubborn red-head who would fight until the end? Where was the girl he loved?
Hermione and Ron walked in and sat down across from him. He shifted his gaze downward and waited for one of them to talk.
Hermione broke the silence, "Are you all right?"
Harry looked up and simply, but honestly answered, "No."
He ran his hands through his jet-black hair as Ron spoke up.
"We heard screaming, but we couldn't make out what was being said."
"Ron…why is she so scared that she is going to lose me? I have never seen her so upset. She was hysterical! Why won't she believe me?"
Hermione looked at Ron and nudged him in the side to tell Harry the truth.
"Well first of all, she's still in shock about Fred. And secondly she's been having nightmares…well night terrors actually."
"What about?" Harry asked.
"You. Being tortured, killed, taken away from her. She knows Voldemort is gone, but she's still so petrified about loosing you because of all she saw this past year. You have had a lot of close calls mate."
Harry closed his eyes as he talked, "She said she feared me dying senselessly…like Lupin, Tonks, and all the others."
"Excatly," Hermione broke in. She loves you Harry…if anything did happen to you she wouldn't know how to handle it. I bet she would even feel guilty."
"I tried to tell her I love her, but she freaked. She was screaming 'Do not say that to me' and when I reassured her nothing would happen she said, 'You don't know that.' Then she threatened to jinx me if I didn't leave the room."
Hermione gently said, "Harry, she's afraid of loving you, because of all the hell Voldemort put the Wizarding World through. She's seen husbands taken from their wives, mother's from their children, her brother from her. But you have to let her realize that is over. The hell is gone."
"How do I do that Hermione?" Harry asked, knowing she would have an answer.
Only he was wrong.
"I honestly don't know Harry. That might be something she needs to find on her own."
"So I'm just supposed to wait? How long? Days, weeks, months, years; I need to help her!"
Ron spoke next, "Harry, if you pressure her too much, the longer it will take for her to heal."
Harry opened his mouth to argue, but he knew that they were both right. Running his hands through his hair again, he stood up and embraced them both in a hug.