Someone Like Me

Harry snatched his wand from the bedside table and was across the room in seconds. Parvati was sitting straight up in bed.

"Stay here." Harry ordered, charging out of the room and across the hall.

Harry flung Ginny's door open with a force that he didn't know he had. As he crashed into the room, he quickly stowed his wand in a secret pocket in his sweatpants. Ginny was thrashing around in bed, screaming into the night, but she wasn't awake. Kyle was desperately trying to soothe the flailing girl, but to no avail. He looked up at Harry terrified at the menacing frame that stood in the doorway. Harry was at the side of the bed in an instant. As Kyle was trying to smooth Ginny's hair in comfort Harry bent over the bed and pried Ginny out of it, and out of Kyle's desperate arms. He guided Ginny's head toward his chest with one hand, and almost instantaneously she became still and silent and her breathing slowed to its regular pace. Kyle had moved to a sitting position on the edge of the bed and was about to say something when Harry wrapped an arm around the front of Ginny and raised a finger to his lips.

"Shhh." He whispered, motioning with his head to Ginny's slumbering form. He jerked his head toward the door, as he carried Ginny out of her room, down the hall and to the living room across from the kitchen. He laid her gently on the sofa so that her back was pressed up against the back cushions of the couch so she would feel like she was pressed against someone's back. He placed one pillow under her head and another under her arm, so she felt like she was clutching someone's arm. He drew a blanket over her, so she felt safe all over. Harry had found her lying on the couch like this many a time when he came back from on the road quittich matches. He hoped that it would work tonight.

Kyle was gaping at Harry, as he led him to the island counter in the adjoining kitchen.

"Coffee?" he asked in hushed tones as he was brewing it. "I think we both need some coffee."

"What the hell just happened?" Kyle demanded.

"I will inform you in just one second. At the moment I have to ensure my date for the evening that everything is okay. I will be right back. Help yourself to the coffee." He said, pointing at the machine.

Harry crept quietly down the hall to his room, where Parvati was still sitting up in bed.

"Everything's fine." Harry explained. "Ginny was just having a nightmare and Kyle didn't know how to control it. I have her safely tucked into the couch. I'm just going to explain everything to him and come back to bed. Go back to sleep, get some rest. I promise everything is fine." Harry added the last sentence at the look of worry that was still plaguing her face. He placed a small kiss on her forehead and left the room.

Harry strode out to the kitchen once more to find Kyle in the living room staring down at Ginny intently. Harry beckoned him over to the kitchen as he poured two cups of coffee. He then sat down so he was facing the back of the couch. He would know if Ginny stirred even an inch. Kyle sat across from him and clutched his mug with both hands.

"What the hell just happened?" Kyle repeated with force.

Harry sighed. "It's a long story. I'm assuming, and I think that I'm correct, that this has never happened before?"

Kyle shook his head.

"Then you need to know the truth." Harry paused for a moment to think about how he could twist the horrifying tale of the waste and destruction of Tom Riddle into a story suitable for muggle ears. He took a deep breath. "About seven years ago Ginny and I witnessed a horrific event. We saw her brother brutally murdered for his money. The police caught the man, but ever since Ginny has been plagued with terrible nightmares, reliving the scene over and over again. She found out a little while ago that if she was sleeping in the same bed as someone a source of comfort was provided and she could sleep peacefully through the night. This is why Ginny was so eager to have you stay over on the first night that she met you and each of the nights that you have gone out so far. You have been her source of comfort for the past week, except for last night." Harry said the last sentence slowly. "Last night when you didn't show Ginny began to panic. She needed to find someone to go home with. She is so terrified of her nightmares that she'll do anything to keep them at bay. She's even slept with me in my room on occasion." Jealously flared in Kyle's eyes. "But alas last night, I had already found myself a tall leggy blonde to bring home for the evening. She came home with Evan." Harry struggled to say these next words. Saying them to Hermione was one thing, but to a complete stranger was another. "Evan tried to rape Ginny last night." He said cautiously. He quickly spat out the next sentence to keep Kyle's rage from boiling over. "I stopped him, before anything could happen, but Ginny was still terribly upset. Obviously I stayed with her last night, lest she dream of those terrifying events seven years ago on top of everything else. And tonight…"

Kyle had cut him off. "But I was here tonight. I was here in the bed, and still…" he trailed off. "She just started thrashing and screaming. I didn't know what to do. But all I was supposed to have to do was be there? And you?" Kyle was stammering now grasping at straws to make sense of the situation.

"I believe I have a solution. You see, while I'm sure that Ginny trusts you when she is awake, I do not think that her body trusts you in her most vulnerable state. She can't distinguish you from someone like Evan. Her body can only sense those that she has known and trusted fully with her body and mind for years."

"But, but how do I get her to trust me in her sleep?" Kyle inquired quickly.

"You'd have to gain it, I suppose. You'd have to spend every night trying to gain Ginny's bodies trust." Harry said carefully.

Kyle was glancing from Harry to the back of the couch where Ginny lay very quickly.

"I'm… I'm…" he stuttered. "I'm only twenty-four. I've only been seeing her for barely a week. How am I supposed to? I really like her; she's wonderful but, everyday for the rest of my life? And how long would it even take? How long before she stopped screaming in her sleep every night? How long have you now her?"

"I've know her since I was twelve year old, thirteen years."

"Thirteen years!" Kyle exclaimed. "I don't know." He stammered. "I don't know." He muttered over and over again. "I can't do this." He decided, placing his palms on the table to stand up. "I'm only twenty-four. I can't decide to spend my entire life with someone that I've only know for a week, let alone spend every night trying to console her. She's a great girl but I just can't commit to something like that. Besides," he said trying to reason with himself, "You'll be here to take care of her, won't you. You'll make sure she's okay?"

Harry nodded his head slowly.

"She'll understand right?" Kyle inquired quickly.

"I think so." Harry said as he continued to nod his head slowly. "Ginny would not expect you to throw your life away for her. She is not unaware of her nightmares."

"Good." Kyle said hastily. "Good, I'll just be going then." He ran out of the kitchen and into Ginny's room. He emerged seconds later fully clothed. He was standing at the door when he decided to allow himself one final look back. He gazed longingly at Ginny, as if he were going to change his mind in a fit of passion. Finally he tore his gaze from her and focused on Harry, who was also watching over the form on the couch. "Take care of her for me." He said, and he was out the door and gone, without another word.

Harry sighed and put his head in his hands like he had done so many times that night already. Evan had made Ginny's nightmares worse, and it looked like he was the only one able to stop them. He stood slowly and made his way back to his room. Parvati was not only sitting up in bed but she had the light on and was getting dressed. Harry looked at her in utter confusion.

"I heard everything." She said with tears in her eyes. "Well I know the truth about the cause of the nightmares, but you couldn't have said that to him could you?"

Harry shook his head solemnly. "Wait." He said holding out an arm to stop her.

"Don't worry Harry, I won't say anything. I promise this will stay between us." She pulled her tank top over her head. "Ginny needs you right now. Merlin knows she needs you more than I do. I'm just glad that I was able to help you." She placed a loving hand on his cheek. "Because I have a feeling that Ginny isn't the only one with nightmares." She said looking knowingly deep into his blazing green eyes. She shrugged her blazer over her shoulders as Harry followed her out of the room.

She stopped in front of the fire place and turned to look back at Ginny, lying on the couch. She stirred in her sleep and Harry was at her side. He placed a soothing hand on her forehead and smoothed her hair out of her face. Ginny stilled instantly. He walked back to Parvati and she enveloped him in a strong hug.

"I just hope that she realizes everything that you've done for her." Parvati whispered in his ear. "I hope one day she realizes that she's just as in love with you, as you are her. I hope that one day; she will hold you like I am right now."

Harry smiled at her weakly. This time, she kissed him gently on his forehead. She threw floo powder into the fire place.

"Good bye, Harry Potter." She said, before she stepped into the grate and disappeared.

Harry quickly turned to Ginny. She had stirred again, and Harry picked her up and carried her carefully to his room where he tucked her into bed, and then curled himself around her, keeping her nightmares at bay.

Ginny awoke peacefully to find herself in Harry's bed, in Harry's arm. She flipped around waking him up in the process. He watched her carefully, waiting for her to speak first.

"Harry? I know I had nightmares last night." she stated slowly. "How did I get here? And where's Kyle?"

"Kyle couldn't keep your nightmares away." Harry explained, hoping that she would realize why herself. "When I found you he was desperately trying to sooth you back to sleep, but it wasn't working. As soon as I touched you, although, you were fine."

Harry looked into Ginny's confused brown eyes, trying to follow the calculations that she was making in her head.

"So Kyle?"

Harry shook his head. "No, I'm sorry. Kyle didn't stay after I explained. He told me that he wasn't ready to commit to spending every night with someone that he had only known a week. It seemed that he did it out of care more than fright. He wanted to make sure that you were cared for, and he wasn't sure that he could do that for the rest of his life."

Ginny was nodding slowly, in the same fashion that Harry had just hours ago as he had listened to the same speech.

"So you don't think?"

Harry interrupted her, reading her mind. "No, I don't think just anyone will do anymore. It's got to be someone that not only you know and trust, but that your body, without your mind knows and trusts fully."

"Like you." She said softly, it was not a question.

Harry nodded. "Like me."

"Will you Harry? I mean every night?"

"Every night that I possibly can. You know I would. You don't even have to ask."

Ginny nodded again. She could feel her eyes growing heavy again. She was not ready to be awake. Harry noticed and moved her head to his chest once more with a gently hand.

"Go back to sleep Gin. Don't worry. I'll be here in the morning." He kissed her on the forehead as she nodded sleepily. Soon her breaths became the slow and even breaths that Harry had come to recognize. "I love you, Ginerva Weasley." He whispered as he kissed the top of her head. Harry thought she nodded her head slightly through her slumber, but there was no way of telling if she had heard him or not.

A few hours later, Ginny ambled into the kitchen with the smell of banana nut muffins wafting through the air. Harry was on his customary stool reading the Daily Prophet.

"Morning darling." He said absently. "I didn't think you'd be up this early. Even I only got up to make the muffins for breakfast with your parents and Teddy."

Ginny let out a large yawn. "The smell of those muffins lured me out of bed."

"I just put them in a few minutes ago. You've got a true Weasley nose if you could smell them all the way back in the bedroom."

Ginny nodded sleepily. "Go back to bed. Don't worry; I'll put a warming charm on some muffins and a plate of breakfast for you. And I'll be home for lunch. I'm bringing Teddy back for lunch after the interviews. Go get some more sleep. You're going to have to be at work for twelve hours straight starting at three this afternoon."

Ginny groaned. "Oh Merlin, I'd forgotten it was twelve hours."

"Go back to bed Gin," Harry said softly with a kiss on her forehead.

With that she obeyed and ambled back to the bedroom the same way she had come out, groggy with sleep. Harry chuckled to himself at her unusual obedience and went back to reading his paper.

Soon enough the Weasley's were there and along with his godson Teddy they were enjoying a smorgasbord of a breakfast before the interviews.

"I just want to thank you both again, so much for doing this for me." Harry said for the sixth time as they walked through the hall to the press room at the quittich stadium.

"Don't you mention it again." Mrs. Weasley chided again. "We're happy to do it, aren't we Arthur."

"Yes, quite happy." He said absently as he watched Harry hoist the seven year old Teddy onto his shoulders. Teddy was gazing around intently, amazed to be on the inside of a quittich stadium other than Puddlemore United's.

"This is the Tornado's stadium" he explained to the child. "It's the newest stadium of them all, so this is where all of England's home games will be played this summer."

"Do I get to come to them?"

"You bet buddy! You get to come to them all!" Teddy squealed excitedly at the prospect of going to every home match. Then suddenly he shrieked and he was lifted off of Harry's shoulders by an invisible force.

Harry whipped around and pulled his wand from his robes in one motion, only to find himself pointing his wand into the face of Oliver Wood, who had plopped Teddy upon his own shoulders. Teddy was twisting around wildly as Wood tickled him under his knees while keeping a firm hold on them.

Harry took a deep breath and let out a sigh of relief. He stowed his wand back in his robes and smiled awkwardly at Wood, as Teddy proclaimed, "Chill out Uncle Harry, it's just Wood!"

A smile stretched across his face as he realized that Teddy could rightfully say the words 'chill out' to what had been one of Harry's most frightening experiences in a long time. The thought of losing his godson was unbearable.

"Yeah mate," Wood said, clapping a hand down on Harry's shoulder. "Don't worry so much."

"Easy for you to say," muttered Harry.

The interviews went off without a hitch. The reporter even took a shot of Harry and Teddy to put in the paper with a comment that Teddy had willingly shouted at the reporter. "My Uncle Harry is the best seeker ever!"

Harry thanked the Weasley's again before the apperated back to the Burrow. Harry instead made his way over to a large bank of fireplaces into which he and Teddy stepped into and reappeared in the living room of his flat.

"Stinky Ginny!" Teddy yelled as soon as he stepped into the living room. "Oh Stinky Ginny!" He yelled again, peering around the corner of the couch.

"I thought I smelled something!" Ginny yelled in reply as she appeared in the hall. "It's Stinky Teddy!" she yelled as she picked him up in a hug and spun him around. She set him back down on the floor and they proceeded to do their secret handshake, ending with both of them holding their noses and shouting "pee you!" as if a skunk had just walked in front of them.

Harry took his time preparing lunch while Ginny played with Teddy in the guest bedroom that had become more his than anyone else's. As soon as he announced that lunch was ready he heard a great clamoring through the hall and saw them both come bursting out into the kitchen. Teddy crawled up onto his stool.

"I won Stinky Ginny, I won!"

Ginny stuck her tongue out at him and plopped down on her stool as Harry pushed plates of turkey sandwiches in front of them.

"Here you are children." He said putting emphasis on the last word, staring at Ginny as he did so.

"Hey Stinky Teddy told me it was a race. Who was I to back down and dash the dreams of the stinky boy?"

Teddy let out a snicker.

"Oh you think it's funny do you?" Harry asked a mock stern tone on his voice.

Teddy nodded dynamically.

"Well I do too!" Harry exclaimed, as he wrapped Teddy in a one armed hug.

It was two thirty and the giggling trio was just finishing lunch when a head popped in the fireplace and called out Ginny's name. Ginny was bent over at the grate for no longer than a minute when she stood and announced that she had to go into work early. Their newest Medi-Witch in the maternity department had just fainted at the sight of her first birth and they needed someone to come in so another Medi-Witch could look after her.

Ginny stormed back to her room, and threw on her blue Medi-Witch robes. Harry handed her two thermoses of coffee and two banana nut muffins as she came back through the kitchen. He gave her a peck on the cheek, and after another round of the secret handshake and a rather forceful "pee you!" Ginny was gone.

"Come on, Ted man. Let's go get some ice cream and visit Uncle George at the joke shop. You look like you need some sweets."