No one spoke of Ginny's running off when she returned home that evening. Her family had a quiet stilted dinner where the only conversation revolved around asking for someone to pass the chicken. Every single person seemed lost in miserable thought. Even the twins, who would take this occasion to prod at Ron over the Cannons latest defeat, ate in silence.

"Well, this food must be good if everyone is so quiet." Her Mum tried to force some cheerful banter into the room. "Everyone seems to be enjoying and eating it."

"Mhm dear."

"Do you boys like what I did with the parsnips?"

"Yes, Mum" they replied in automatic unison.

"Very well, Ginny dear, do you like your chicken?"

"May I please be excused?"

Songbirds warbled through the open back door of the kitchen. Everyone stopped eating and stared at Ginny. Exhaustion from the day rolled over her.

"I am tired. I want an early night."

"Of course dear. You are excused."

Ginny walked up to her room as the family continued their meal in silence. Knives and forks scraped against the pottered plates. Ginny walked into her room closing the door behind her. Nervous energy pulsed through her veins as she readied for bed in her small space. She waited. She needed everyone to go to sleep before she would be able to shut her eyes. Lying curled in her bed she counted footsteps as the passed her door in the hall. She crawled under her covers and placed her head on her pillow listening to the sounds of the house. Hearing the twins stampeding up the stairs she turned out her light and feigned sleep.

A few more hours passed as the house settled. Her Mum checked on her twice. The squeaky floor boards creaked back and forth as her brothers prepared for sleep. Like clockwork, her Mum opened her door to check on her a third time. She walked over to Ginny's bed, smoothed the hair away from her face and kissed her forehead. Shaking her gently she called her name.

"Ginny, darling, do you want the potion?"

Ginny continued feigning sleep. Her Mum shook with a little more vigor.

"Love, do you want me to take the nightmares away?"

Ginny rolled over turning her back to her mother without response. She pulled the quilt tighter around her shoulders as her Mum sighed.

"Alright Ginny, we can skip a night. But if the nightmares return come find me."

Her heart raced with anxious anticipation. She hated the potion. For one morning she wanted to wake up knowing how much time had passed. She wanted to know where she had been. The anticipation of an empty night filled her with more dread than waking up screaming.

Her Mum rose from her seated position freeing the side of the bed from her weight. She left the room closing the door behind. Ginny crept out of bed and dug in her trunk. She knew the rules at Hogwarts. She knew she promised her Mum she would not use magic over the summer. She also knew if she made a noise she would have to take the potion the rest of the summer. She had to prove she was healed. That she was normal regular Ginny.

"Silencio."

Ginny felt the magic leaving her core vibrating through the wood of the wand. She cast the spell over her bed as she had hundreds of time during the school year. Ginny was free for an entire night. Pulling the covers tighter around her small body she fell into a deep sleep.

The morning rays reflected off her bright yellow walls. Birds chirped loudly outside greeting the new day. The sounds of early morning bustle rose from downstairs. Ginny stretched her body feeling strong and refreshed after a deep night's sleep. Unlike her previous nights, she felt the hours that passed. She gently woke from easy dreams and peaceful slumber. Smiling to herself, she survived the worst of it. She was healed. Tom was gone. She was able to start living again without everyone treating her like she was breakable.

"Things are finally turning around for you."

Harry stood at the foot of her bed. He was holding his hand waiting for her to follow him. His emerald eyes sparkled in the light.

"I hope you are right," She replied taking his hand and following him into the hall. They were back in the hall outside of the Gryffindor dorm. A cold blast of air bounced off the stone floor and walls.

"I need to show you something." The warmth of Harry's hand vanished. He walked further ahead towards Myrtle's bathroom. Ginny ran, struggling to keep up. Every corridor she passed he wandered further and further ahead. Panting she struggled to breathe. Harry turned away from her leaving her gasping for breath in front of the Queen.

"Your Lancelot left Ginevra." Harry's back was too her but it wasn't his voice she heard. She knew this voice. Her heart pounded in her chest as her blood ran cold. Her stomach flipped as her pulse raced. Ginny's eyes darted around the hall trying to find him.

Tom stood in front of the Queen. He pulled a sledgehammer back and slammed it into the face of the knight in the third panel.

"Did you think you were safe?" He taunted swinging the hammer in circles as he spoke.

"Did you think I will stop pursuing him? That I would allow him to rescue you without a reason?"

He slammed the hammer into the knight in the second panel. A glass version of Harry in a knight's helmet shattered, his glass body ricocheting around the hall. The Queen opened her mouth as the song of the phoenix echoed around the hallway. Glass flames traveled up from the pyre catching the hem of the Queen's skirt.

Instead of screams of agony the phoenix song rang louder from her mouth. The fire hopped from the hem to the Queen's side. Ginny could feel the heat rising on her robes. Her skin burned melting into the fabric surrounding her. The acidic smell of burning flesh rose to her nose turning her stomach. She opened her mouth gagging but red feathers came out instead of vomit. She tried to scream. Nothing came out.

Glass knight Harry lay broken on the ground. His emerald eyes glittered in the morning light. His lightning scar fractured throughout his face splitting it in two.

"Ginny. Why did you do this to me? Why did you tell Tom about me?" Harry said.

Ginny jerked awake in her bed. Her screams muffled by her spell. Drenched in sweat and panting, everything felt so real. Harry in her room, Hogwarts, the Queen, her skin burning. She took her shaking hand and gingerly touched her side expecting to find raw and angry flesh. Instead, her skin felt smooth and clammy drenched in sweat instead of burns.

She had to get out of here. She needed to feel something real. She crept to her door avoiding the squeaky floorboards. Walking down the stairs she scurried through the kitchen. The house was dark and still. She opened the back door and slid through the small crack trying to prevent the moonlight spilling into the kitchen. Cold night air laced with honeysuckle blew onto her face.

The grass lost the warmth of the afternoon sun and chilled her bare feet. Moonlight shifted between clouds illuminating a narrow path of light. Rushing forward to the broom-shed, she reached into her hair to pull out a pin to pick the lock. To her surprise, the lock was already open. Ginny's heart quickened as she looked around. An owl hooted in the distance. Crickets chirped. There was no breathing, no other person to be found outside.

Maybe her Mum forgot to lock the shed after they cleaned it this morning? But she remembered her locking it. The clangs of the iron lock hitting the wooden door. The brass key reflecting the mid-morning sun. No, she definitely locked the shed.

Ginny looked back to the house feeling eyes watching her. The curtains of her room fluttered behind the open window. What looked like her Mum, her red hair released from her braids falling on her shoulders, vanished behind a curtain. A gust of wind whirled past Ginny's head moving her plait into the direction of the Burrow. But her curtains stopped moving. Rather than fluttering horizontally from the wind going through an open window they fluttered vertically. As if someone had quickly pulled them back.

Standing indecisively, Ginny felt frozen in her space. She knew she wasn't supposed to ride her brother's brooms. She knew her Mum would think she was too small and delicate to handle flying. It was the middle of the night. Did she care?

No. Not tonight. The suffocation of the day surrounded her. Her father's anger. Her Mum's overbearing constant presence. Her brothers' mournful regret filled stares at the silent dinner. No. Tonight she needs to be free. Tonight she needed to fly.

Ginny slinked in through the shed's threshold and grabbed Fred's Cleansweep. The air smelled of broom polish and dirty Quidditch robes. Earlier that day, she removed several pairs of mildewing robes and molding socks. Left rotting long-forgotten with teenage boy sweat infusing every available space. While the culpable articles of clothing were hours removed, the residual smell lingered.

It didn't matter. Bad smells or suspicious locks aside she was free. Standing over the broom she called it up to her hands. Mounting the wooden handle she felt her feet leaving the ground as she ascended into the clear night air. She removed the remaining pins and ribbon from her hair. Long waves of copper locks cascaded down her back. The wind blew her long locks behind as she accelerated reaching the tree tops.

For the first time since last summer, Ginny felt the tension diffuse from her shoulders. Tension she didn't register holding until feeling it's absence. Breathing heavy from exertion, she blew the last of her burdens away from her body.

She changed course and accelerated towards the ground. Pushing the broom faster until she could feel the handle shaking in her hands. She leaned her weight towards her left and fell seamlessly into a barrel roll. She spun three times and then accelerated back to the tree tops. Her mind stopped racing. She focused on her grip and her aerobatics. Turning she flew a series of figure eights like an ice dancer. She adjusted her hands so her non-dominant left was steering. She pulled her weight right and barrel rolled breaking into an upside down figure eight.

Sweat dripped down her face. Her grip loosened under the accumulating moisture. Ginny flew lazy circles around the top of the apple tree and caught her breath.

Harry was safe. She wasn't burned. Tom was gone for good. "He Who Should Not Be Named" was destroyed twice by Harry. Once as a baby and once when saving her. Hogwarts was safe. She was safe.

Ginny felt fatigue return to her eyes. Her body relaxed as she lay forward on the broom closing eyes. She flew easy descending circles in a funnel around the large apple tree. She reached out her feet until they brushed the grass blowing in the moonlit breeze. Gently landing, she descended from her broom and laid in the cold dew filled grass. The cold dew dampened the back of her nightdress. The coolness was a relief to summers heat and her late night excursion.

She was safe. She has nothing to fear. Tom was gone. Harry was safe. Her heart slowed returning to normal. Sleep threatened to overcome her lying in the grass under the tree. But she couldn't get caught out here with her brother's broom. Her Mum would lock her away for the rest of the summer. Begrudgingly, she sat up, replaced the broom in the shed and returned to her bed.