FULL SUMMARY: Dream after dream, Harry Potter sees a girl that just give him butterflies in his stomach; he is thoroughly convinces that this girl does to Hogwarts with him. His only problem with her? Every time he comes close to seeing the face of this girl, he wakes up from his dreams. So when he tells his best gal pal Elaine Port, she laughs and tries to convince Harry that maybe his so-called "dream girl" really is just in his dreams. Is Elaine right? Or is Harry's dream girl a reality?

DISCLAIMER: Though I find this completely unnecessary, I feel somewhat obligated to state that the Harry Potter franchise does not belong to me. Also, as you read the story, keep in mind that this is simply a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of their rightful owner's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

STORY DEDICATION: To swiftscout – the girl who used to mock my obsession for Harry Potter until she read the books cover to cover – this one's for you.

Chapter Twenty – Hermione & Ron's Say

"Tell me again," Hermione said with a small sigh. "Why?"

Hermione and Elaine were in the sixth year girls' dormitory alone. While Hermione sat on her own bed, Elaine was banging her head against Parvati Patil's bedpost. The two friends were skipping dinner because Elaine was worried about running into Harry. Hermione watched as her friend continued to beat herself up; she had listened to Elaine's story about what happened earlier.

"I dunno," Elaine cried. "I guess I just lost it! I wanted to tell him-."

"How you feel about him?" Hermione guessed.

Elaine stopped hitting her head and stared at her best girl friend in shock.

"Elaine, your crush on Harry hasn't exactly been the biggest secret," Hermione said matter-of-factly.

Trudging to Hermione's bedside, Elaine continued to gape at the girl. "Hermione," she started, "you're lying."

Hermione smiled. "Calm down, Elaine. It wasn't that obvious; it's just the power of female intuition… that and I saw the doodles you scrawled all over your Transfiguration notes. You don't have to hide it from me anymore… I think it's cute."

"You don't understand, Hermione!" Elaine groaned. "Harry is taken by Ginny. He's the girl of his dreams nonetheless! My confession would have meant nothing… That's why I lost it."

"Is that why you burst into the boys' dorm the way you did?"

"No… I did that because after I read the letter that Ginny gave me, I assumed that the reason she blamed me was because Harry identified me as the girl of his dreams… So when I read the letter and saw that I was mistaken, I was furious that Harry was unclear!"

Hermione's smile grew wider. "Elaine, did Harry ever tell you what occurred in his dreams?"

Rolling her eyes, Elaine stared back at Hermione. "Um, Hermione… that's not important anymore. We're talking about my feelings here…."

"But Elaine, I'm serious! Has he?"

"… but Hermione, how often do I ever talk about my feelings?" Elaine exclaimed. "Can we please not make this about Harry and his stupid dream girl?"

Opening her mouth and then closing it quickly, Hermione sighed. She knew that unless Elaine understood where she was going with the conversation, she would never get to her point. So how could she make Elaine see her point now if she couldn't even mention the dream girl?

"Maybe you should try talking to her," Ron suggested. "I'm sure Ginny will understand."

Harry groaned as he repeatedly hit his head against his bedpost. "Ron, you don't understand. Ginny blames Elaine just as much as she blames me. If I try talking to Elaine, Ginny will think I'm leaving her… for Elaine."

"What makes you think that?"

"That stupid note I wrote to her makes her believe that!" Harry scolded himself for even writing that day. "I wrote her this tiny note the day I told Elaine that Ginny was the girl of my dreams, but looking back, I was so… vague…"

"Is that what your whole fight was about?" Ron wondered. "A stupid letter?"

"It… was more of a note," Harry said. "I didn't want to tell her that she was the girl of my dreams through a letter! So I wrote her a quick note to tell her that we needed to talk."

"But Harry," Ron said, "we went over this earlier: Ginny's not that girl."

"Because that girl is a fantasy," Harry sighed, finally hopping off his bed. "My subconscious created some make-believe girl. I was wrong the whole time!"

"Actually, Harry, I think your subconscious was onto something."

"What are you talking about?"

Ron shrugged. "Think about it. You start having these dreams about your ideal girl a little into this year, the same year Elaine decides to grow her hair out and start caring about how she looks. Your dreams stopped when you stopped talking to Elaine… and then they started up again when you start talking to her again.

"I don't think that's a coincidence. There's nothing coincidental about any of this – well, except for my sister. I mean, it was a coincidence when she quoted the girl of your dreams. It was coincidence that we went on break the same day your dreams reappeared. Do you understand what we were trying to tell you earlier, Harry?"

Massaging the bridge of his nose, Harry shut his eyes tightly. What was Ron trying to say?

"And then, earlier today!" Ron remarked. "You said she didn't want to believe this dream girl because of how she felt for you, right? Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"It just doesn't make sense, Ron! Elaine's like my best friend… she can't have feelings for me. We're just friends!"

Ron rolled his eyes before replying. "Hermione and I were friends before we started dating."

"What about Ginny?" Harry retorted. "She's still my girlfriend, you know."

"Yeah… but that doesn't mean that you didn't have feelings for Elaine too."

Harry stared at Ron in confusion.

"Mate, I hate to be the one to say it, but did it ever occur to you that you forced yourself into liking Ginny?" Ron sighed. "You were so hung up on finding the girl of your dreams that when you linked my sister to her, you immediately swooped in to ask her out.

"You've spent months with her, but something tells me that you only took an interest in her because you thought there was a chance she could be the one. Harry… be honest: how do you feel about Ginny?"

"I don't know anymore… is that bad?"

"… how do you feel about Elaine?"

"If I don't know how I feel about Ginny, what the bloody hell makes you think I know how I feel about Elaine? I mean… you and Hermione are suggesting that she is the girl of my dreams. Elaine – the very girl that didn't even believe in the girl of my dreams. Elaine – the very same person who once claimed that relationships were just a way to weigh someone down, but apparently has feelings for me!

"Ron, she's one of my best friends! She's the not the girl of my dreams."

"Neither is Ginny," Ron reminded. "She's my sister and I love her, but Harry… the fact that you don't know how you feel about Ginny now that you believe that the girl of your dreams doesn't exist says everything about the future of your relationship with her."

"And what's that?"

"There isn't one," Ron replied. "If you were only dating her because you thought she was the girl of your dreams and nothing else… then, I think you should go talk to Ginny and sort things out with her. It's better to do that than have her believe that you want to break up because of Elaine."

"She'll hate me."

"Harry… most of the girls at this school hate you now," Ron stated simply. "It's your own fault for running off to find the girl of your dreams when she was right in front of you the whole time."

Harry ran a hand through his hair before looking down at the floor. How was he going to explain all of this to Ginny? More importantly, how was he going to fix his strained relationship with Elaine? Ron insisted that she was the girl of his dreams, but Harry was slowly losing faith in the idea of his dream girl. After all, Elaine could not be the girl of his dreams. She couldn't be, right?

Author's Note: This chapter of the story was written and published on March 5, 2014.

Part of me can't wait to finish this story, but another part is actually really sad that the ending is drawing nearer. This is like the longest story I've written on here. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the update. I'll see you guys in the next one!

Thanks for reading! And don't forget to review :)

- May