Chapter 3 – Memories
The sun was filtering through the curtains the next morning leaving a shimmery pattern over Harry's bedroom carpet.
"Ew Harry, you getting up? Breakfasts ready!" shouted Ron throwing Harry's bedroom door open.
Harry yawned and turned over in bed, putting his back to Ron and with a swish he flung the covers over his head.
"Mate?" Ron mumbled with a look of confusion, he was sure Harry was alright last night when he went to bed.
Harry huffed "What?"
"What's the matter? Breakfasts getting cold!" Ron complained.
"Is that all you think about?" he grumbled back.
"Most of the time, I do think of other things aswell." He replied while gazing around the room.
"Just go, I'm not hungry!"
"Mum will go spare, you know how she gets over you and food." Ron said worriedly.
"Ron I don't really feel like it, I just want to be alone at the moment."
Ron looked over at his friend's body nested against the bedroom wall, his brow began to crease while he tried to think what had happened to make Harry act like this. Deciding he would respect his best friends wishes he quietly moved out the room and gently closed the bedroom door, he would leave him for now but he would have to approach him later.
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Harry though back to the past about his friendship with Ginny. He thought of all the times she'd supported him, especially when she helped him through the Triwizard Tournament and the death of Cedric Diggory.
Ginny had believed and supported him when he had become a Triwizard Champion and when Ron had felt betrayed by Harry.
Harry had tried to shut everyone out after seeing Cedric being killed, he had felt so guilty about the whole thing as he was the one who had told Cedric to grab the Triwizard Trophy. Ginny had caught Harry walking off on his own through the grounds of Hogwarts and the corridors where he usually ended up in the astronomy tower, huddled in the corner staring up through the skylight.
She had followed him many times and just walked or sat with him, sometimes he wanted silent company and other times he needed to get things off his chest and she would quietly listen to him and offer words of reassurance.
Harry knew that when he needed her she would be there; she would hold his hand and rub her thumb along it trying to soothe him. Just Ginny's presence helped him relax and loosen the tension that swirled inside him.
Harry was not the only one who had needed someone either, he had discovered over the summer as he spent the majority of it at the Weasley's home that Ginny would distance herself for a few days at random times.
He started to become really concerned about her since they had became extremely close friends, but Harry being Harry found it very difficult and awkward at first to comfort her.
However one night at the beginning of the summer holidays after everyone had retired to bed, he had walked over to his bedroom window to shut the curtain and noticed a fiery streak of red hair swirling in the breeze in the old oak tree where they occasionally sat.
He had sighed as he had noticed a change in her behaviour that day, he quickly redressed and walked downstairs. He walked straight outside and focused on his destination to the old oak, he felt nervous and curious about what was upsetting Ginny. But had never pushed her to tell him, he didn't feel like it was his place to ask, although he wanted to try and help.
He had reached the base of the tree and looked up towards Ginny, he knew that she could feel his presence but didn't respond till he reached their branch. He placed a shaky hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.
She didn't speak for a moment, words weren't needed. She reached up and held his hand a moved it down and around her as she snuggled into his chest he brought his other arm around her to hold her securely.
Harry was very surprised to realise how natural this felt to him, how easy it had been to touch her and be this close to her. She sighed contently being wrapped in his arms, it made her feel so safe and sane.
"Ginny?"
"Mmm hmm."
"It might not be my place and you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he had said quietly. "But you've helped me so much this past 2 years and I don't think I would've getting through them the way I have without you."
"It was nothing, I just didn't like seeing someone I care for in such a state!" she replied.
"It's just, I've noticed that you've been different today and I'm worried that's all." He stuttered.
"I'm fine, just having a bad day."
"Ginny, it's not the first time I've noticed you like this! I just didn't want to upset you further by asking you to tell me."
"ALRIGHT!" she burst.
Harry jumped with the explosion of her voice that erupted from her and wondered if he should remove his arms from her, but she held his arms tightly in place.
"Sorry I didn't mean that, I shouldn't have shouted it's just, ah!" she sighed. "He's screwing with me Harry, he keeps finding me and reminding me that he's still here, just lurking around the corner waiting to strike!"
"Sorry to ask Gin, but who?" he asked.
Ginny sighed again but in defeat, "Tom!"
"What!" he shouted. "He's still with you!"
"Sometimes, I think he keeps testing me to see if he can get into my mind again! He only seems to affect my dreams though, I think it's the only time I let my guard down! I wake up screaming but no sound escapes my mouth and the sound is ringing in my ears!" she replied.
Then memories came flooding back to him, was he that stupid not to notice. He realised that the screams he had heard in the middle of the night at Hogwarts and the Burrow were Ginny's, he had always awoken to screams that he thought had come from the nightmare of his mother being murdered. However nobody else in the dormitory or the Weasley family had been awoken and Harry began to feel very uneasy.
"This has been happening alot hasn't it?" he asked.
She nodded, even though he could not see her face he knew the horrors that lay in her eyes. He had seen the same look in the Chamber of Secrets and when he had looked at her before passing out at the Ministry of Magic after being possessed by Voldemort mere months ago.
"I hear you scream!" he whispered.
"What do you mean?" she questioned.
"I thought the scream I heard in my head at night was that of my mother before she was killed, it sounds so similar to the scream I hear when dementors are close!" He admitted.
"I don't understand!"
"Well I'd be in bed asleep here or at Hogwarts and I would suddenly spring out of bed hearing a women's scream, I thought I was having nightmares myself but it's you! I heard you last night, that's why your upset now"" he said as everything began falling into place in his head.
"But I still don't get it, nobody else hears my screams!" she said puzzled.
Harry looked thoughtful for a moment, letting everything settle in his head.
"I wonder if it's some weird connection between us." He thought out loud.
"I wonder. It just gets me so worked up. He'll tells me what he wants to do to my loved ones and how he's going to kill them, he sometimes shows me and that's what makes it real for me!" she admitted.
Harry rested his cheek against the top of her head and kissed it briefly, as she shuddered with the extra closeness.
"Harry?" she asked
"Yes!"
"I feel horrible and so soft for asking and could properly lose my reputation for being strong willed, but next time you hear me scream from the nightmare. Will you come and see if I'm ok?" she asked him quietly
"Of course I will." He said squeezing her tighter.
"It's so hard to shake the images out of my head and get back to sleep, and you would be a good distraction."
"No problem." He replied smiling.
"Harry, thank you for listening and helping I feel so much safer now."
He kissed her head again and whispered. "Shall we get back to the burrow its getting cold."
"Yeah I suppose we should get some sleep." She agreed.
They slowly made their way down to the moist grass below and trudged back to the burrows holding hands, they arrived in the kitchen and went straight to Ginny's bedroom door.
Ginny was just about to leave go of Harry's hand when she asked. "I feel like such a baby for asking but I was wondering. Would you stay with me till I fall asleep?"
"Yeah, of course I will." He said as a smile tugged at his lips.
Ginny opened her door and pulled Harry in behind her, her bedroom was very small with a single bed pushed up against her bedroom window, a dressing table slash desk stood against another wall along with a tall wardrobe and a soft looking rocking chair in the corner near her bed. Her walls were painted a mint green colour and the walls were littered with pictures of friends and family.
Ginny left go of his hand and asked him to turn around as she changed into a pair of tight shorts and a stripy vest top and crawled into bed.
"It's safe to look now." She announced. "Come lie down for a little it won't take me long to fall asleep hopefully." As she scooted over to the other side of the bed making room for Harry.
He hesitantly walked over and lay on his side looking at her beautiful face as her eyes difted close. He reached his hand over to her forehead and brushed back a strand of hair ad placed it behind her ear and briefly kissed her forehead.
She smiled contently as she slowly fell into slumber, her breathing became heavy and Harry realised moments later that she was sleeping deeply.
Harry carefully lifted himself up off her bed and walked silently to her bedroom door, he turned around with his hand on her door knob and looked at her sleeping figure. He felt butterflies swirling in his tummy and realised he would do anything to keep Ginny in his life, for he knew there and then that he Harry James Potter was falling in love with Ginerva Molly Weasley.
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He fell back to the present and realised he needed Ginny in his life more than ever but he didn't know if he could just accept being friends with her. He wanted so much more but he knew the dangers that would put her in.
Groaning in frustrated he flung the covers from his body and headed for the bathroom to take a long hot shower, before contemplating what he was going to do.