Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it is the property of the brilliant J.K Rowling. This story is the product of her marvellous characters and world and my imagination.

Any reviews are loved very much. Enjoy this chapter.

Dreams, Fears and Occlumency

She was in some kind of room, but couldn't see any walls or floor, only the inky darkness surrounding her. Though there was no noise or sign of any other living being she couldn't help the feelings of panic and dread. She darted her eyes around, in an attempt to discover where she was, but was unsuccessful. Deciding that standing there would do no good she attempted to move in a random direction, hoping in vain to find some sort of door or a way out of the darkness. But she found nothing.

Suddenly she paused, thinking she'd heard the whisper of a man's voice, but dismissed it. She was just hearing things she decided. But then the whispers got louder though she could not discern what they were saying. But she knew the voice … Tom Riddle. He haunted her even in her dreams.

She started running, everywhere and anywhere in an attempt to escape the voices. But they followed her, growing louder and louder until she could hear what they were saying.

"Ginevra, where are you. I'm coming for you my little Ginevra, very soon. Then we can be together forever. You can't hide forever and you know I'll catch up sooner or later."

The voice repeated the words over and over while she held her head screaming in an attempt to block them out. "No, you're gone Tom, you were gone over 4 years ago. I won't go with you, you won't find me. You can't." With a last scream she felt sucked out of the world of darkness and was suddenly standing in front of Tom, who was beckoning to her. She shut her eyes tightly …

She woke with a scream, covered in sweat and panting. The door burst open and Ron, Harry, Hermione, Charlie and Remus all surged in to find her sitting on her bed in tears and shaking violently. Immediately sensing something was wrong they all converged on her, all speaking at once until Remus had the sense to silence them all, "ok quiet you lot, no one can understand a word we're saying." He turned to Ginny, "Ginny, what happened?"

She stuttered a bit, her voice thick with tears, but after a few moments she began, "It was so dark, so very dark, no sound or anything. But then there was whispering, all around me, I couldn't get away from it. Then I realised who it was. It was Him." They all exchanged worried glances, knowing exactly who 'Him' referred to. Ginny began sobbing harder, "he kept telling me he was coming for me, that I couldn't hide forever. You can't let him get me, you just can't …" She broke off here, her tears overwhelming her. Remus sighed and turned to look at Hermione, Charlie and Ron, "you three stay with her for a while. Hermione can stay in her room once she's asleep."

He turned to Harry and motioned for the boy to follow him out the room. He got straight to the point, "we could have a problem here Harry, with the apparent connection between Ginny and Voldemort, however thin, he could be attempting to give her these dreams, perhaps to make her easier to locate or capture. It could be something similar to what happened to you, but on a smaller scale." Harry looked worried at this, he cared greatly about Ginny. "You'll talk to Dumbledore about this won't you Remus?" He nodded, "yes, I'll talk to him tonight and we may get Ginny to start studying occlumency for her safety." Harry nodded and set off for his room. Remus sighed, he had to speak to Albus, it was going to be a long night.

Back in Ginny's room, Charlie, Ron and Hermione were still attempting to calm Ginny down. They had managed to calm her sobs to some sniffling, but she was still very fearful. Hermione sat on the bed with her, hugging her close and trying to reassure her. Charlie and Ron looked grave, murmuring what they hoped were reassuring words. About an hour later, once Ginny had fallen into a semi - peaceful sleep, the two boys left for their own rooms, leaving Ginny asleep and Hermione watching over her.

The next morning Ginny awoke from a semi - restful sleep, luckily no more dreams of Tom had haunted her. He was always Tom, not Voldemort. Voldemort was not the one who had enchanted her at the tender age of 11, it was Tom she was truly afraid of. Voldemort was the nightmare, the evil looking being, whereas Tom was perfectly normal looking, though with an aura of danger and evil surrounding him. It was this that made him all the more dangerous and frightening to Ginny. People did always say that the things you fear the most are the more realistic.

Shaking the overly depressing thoughts out of her head, Ginny swung herself out of bed and pulled on her dressing gown and slippers. Padding down the stairs she checked her watch and saw it was already almost midday, no wonder she felt so well rested. She pondered the idea of going back upstairs to get dressed, but in the end she couldn't be bothered and proceeded to the kitchen where she was sure much of the Order would be.

Opening the door, Ginny saw the entire room full of people turn to stare at her. Her whole family were there, along with Harry, Hermione, Remus, Sirius and strangely enough, both Snape and Dumbledore. She went as red as her hair under their gazes, especially when she remembered that she was still in her pyjamas and dressing gown. After a moment of awkward silence, her mother turned to her, "Ginny dear, Professor Dumbledore would like a word with you if you don't mind." Snapping herself back to reality, Ginny spoke, "sure mum, I'll be right back, I think I better get dressed first."

With those words she left the room and flew back upstairs to her bedroom. She was annoyed, everyone obviously knew about her dream, they were all looking at her like she would break any second and she hated it. It reminded her of the few months after she had been possessed in her first year. Damn Tom Riddle to the depths of Hell. Deciding she better hurry up, she picked the first clothes she could find, her jeans and blue t-shirt and scraped her long red hair into a messy ponytail.

Running back downstairs, she entered the kitchen to find it empty save for Professor Dumbledore. He motioned to a seat with his hand and she sat down obligingly. He began speaking immediately. "Miss Weasley, I'm sure you know am now aware of the dream you had last night. I will not ask you to reveal the particulars as it would be a difficult ordeal for your and I have already heard the gist of it from others. It is my belief that Voldemort is using legilimency to break into your mind and plant dreams there in order to weaken and scare you, eventually leasing to him succeeding in capturing you. It is for this reason that I wish you to begin learning occlumency."

He took a pause here, allowing Ginny to process the news. Her first thought was who her teacher would be. She remembered Harry's complaints about occlumency lessons with Snape and her expression turned horrified at the thought of being taught by Snape, having him run through her memories. But once again Dumbledore showed his astute observation with his next words; "No, Miss Weasley, you will not be being taught by Professor Snape. That, I'm afraid, was a disaster when he taught Harry and he would not do it willingly again. Your teacher shall be myself, you will have lessons twice a week with me, here of course, for you shall have to remain only here for the foreseeable future I'm afraid."

Ginny zoned out a little there, Dumbledore himself was going to teach her, what an honour. But when she thought about it more, she realised Dumbledore would probably only do this if she was in serious danger. Fear washed over her again and she turned her mind back to Dumbledore's words, " … you will learn not only occlumency but also some powerful mind shields, as well as practicing some strong magic like your patronus." She nodded to him, not trusting herself to talk, lest she should reveal her many fears. Dumbledore looked at her kindly with his bright blue eyes, "I shall see you at noon tomorrow for your first lesson Miss Weasley. Good day." She pulled herself out of her reverie in time to speak, "thank you Professor. See you tomorrow."

He swept out of the room and she stood still for several moments before everyone came hurrying back in to see how her meeting with Dumbledore had gone and what she would be doing. Feeling more than a little overwhelmed by the people and the noise she gave some short answers, denied any hunger and hurried off to the silent solitude of her room, reverently hoping Hermione would use that famed intelligence and leave her alone for a few hours.

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In Malfoy Manor Voldemort was fuming. He had been looking into Ginevra's mind, gently so as not to alert her to his presence. He was merely checking up on what she was doing. He was greatly displeased by her meeting with Dumbledore. The girl was intelligent and would pick up occlumency fast - it would make it much more difficult for him to get her.

But he had hoped to try invading her mind with a dream tonight, as he had done the previous night. But he had suddenly found himself blocked and Ginevra had not even learnt occlumency yet. He could only assume that Dumbledore had placed some mental barriers in Ginerva's mind to temporarily prevent him from invading her mind. He assumed Dumbledore would remove these once she had learnt occlumency as they were fairly weak shields. He was only unable to break them due to the distance between himself and Ginevra. Damn Dumbledore, as soon as he could get the fool out of the way he would, the quicker the better.

Bringing himself back to reality he could hear muffled voices outside the door, Lucius and one of the new death eater recruits, Halloway, who was muttering quietly. "You said this Voldemort was fearsome, a great leader and powerful wizard. He looks about twenty-five and seems obsessed over some insignificant teenage girl. I'm not gonna stick around if this is who I'm supposed to serve."

Lucius was whispering back, "the Dark Lord is a great wizard and despite his youthful appearance he has almost a century of experience, much more than your sorry self. As for his obsession over a teenage girl, there is no such thing, he is merely thorough about his work." Voldemort smirked at this, Lucius always was loyal, annoying and with too many personal vendettas, but he was loyal and that was why he wasn't dead. Plus, it had been his giving the diary to Ginevra that enabled them to meet. Still, the man was still walking on thin ice, especially if he didn't get Ginevra soon.

But taking his mind off the many flaws of Lucius Malfoy he turned his attention to the second problem, Halloway. No one could be allowed to disrespect him and he would make an example of Halloway just to show he was still the same wizard they bowed before previously. Summoning both Lucius and Halloway with the dark mark he waited a few seconds before both appeared in front of him, clearly trying to give the impression that they had not just been arguing right outside the room. Both immediately knelt before him until an imperial wave of his hand indicated that they could stand.

He decided to be succinct and simple. He addressed both men with cool authority, "no matter what my looks or interests I am still the same wizard I was before and you would do well to remember it." Then he turned his cold glare on Halloway. "I do not accept criticism lightly." before the man could even speak there was a flash of green light and his form lay crumpled on the ground. He turned then to Lucius, who looked positively terrified, thinking he would be next. "Get rid of the trash Lucius and please remember my warning. It would be prudent to pass on my message to the rest of the incompetent fools I call servants." Lucius gave a stiff nod, vanished the body and bowed before practically fleeing out of the door.

Lounging back in his green and silver armchair, Voldemort's mind once again turned to the red haired girl who constantly haunted his thoughts.

Next chapter should be up in a few days.