It’s the summer before Harry’s sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was a late night on July 1st when Harry arrived at The Burrow accompanied by Professor Dumbledore who had unexpectedly gathered up Harry and his things. He went with the Professor to a little house to talk to an old Professor friend where Dumbledore unabashedly used Harry as a bargaining tool to convince this old colleague to come back to teach at Hogwarts for the upcoming school year.
Harry sat silently at the dining room table as Mrs. Weasley bustled about the kitchen getting hot tea and biscuits out for him.
“Are you sure I can’t get you a hot cup of tea or some biscuits, Albus?” Molly asked eagerly as she wiped her hands on her apron. The professor smile softly and shook his head.
“No thank you, Molly. I daresay I have taken up enough of young Harry’s time for the night. I take it Arthur is out on duty tonight, please let me know if there is anything you shall need. I will be in touch, and Harry, I will see you at the beginning of the term.” His eyes twinkled as he walked himself out the door. As quickly as Dumbledore had left Mrs. Weasley whipped around with a soft smile on her face.
“Why don’t you finish up here dear, and then head on up to bed. You’ll be staying in the twins’ old room. And not to worry, they have ensured there are no pranks left behind. Arthur and I have both also done a thorough inspection. Ron and Ginny are already in bed for the night and they don’t know that you are here so it’ll be quite the surprise to them when they wake up.” She gave Harry small squeeze on his shoulder as she bustled about the kitchen as he finished his little snack.
Harry stood quietly while saying, “Thank you for everything, Mrs.Weasley.” As he moved to grab his dishes they were whisked away with a quick wave of her wand. He smiled warmly at her and said, “I think I will go get settled in for the night now. Goodnight, Mrs. Weasley.”
“Goodnight. Dear.”
With that Harry quietly trudged up the stairs and cautiously entered into the twins’ bedroom. His trunk and Hedwig already there waiting for him. Harry laid in bed and let his mind wander. At first he let his grief come to the forefront of his mind. His heart ached, he missed his godfather. But Harry knew he had to move past it, he had a bigger role in this war than most people knew and he had to focus. Eventually his mind drifted to the red head across the hall, Ginny Weasley.
It wasn’t really until the end of the school year that he had really begun to notice her. Her blazing fierce look as she faced Lucius Malfoy and the other death eaters at the Ministry still burned in his memory. And over the last month she had been his reprieve in a dark world. Of course Ron and Hermione had sent him countless letters, more Hermione than Ron. But both sent much the same letter. Always filled with little aspects of their summer, asking how he has been and reassuring him that Sirius’ death was not his fault. Ginny, on the other hand, sent letters filled with humor and genuine care.
Unlike his other friends, Ginny never pressured him to talk and were never too heavy. He loved hearing all about Ron’s silent celebrations when he received letters from Hermione or how he had ripped apart his Viktor Krum action figure. She often talked about the different products the twins had created and tested on Ron. And she always made light of his brooding grumpy behavior over the last year. Ginny had been his light, and he had recently realized how smitten he was with her. With thoughts of Ginny floating through his head, Harry finally drifted to sleep.
Across the hall Ginny lay awake in bed staring at the ceiling. She couldn’t sleep, she couldn’t stop thinking about the troubled black haired boy. The one she had so desperately tried to move on from. She had been doing great, that is until she had accompanied him and their friends to the ministry. Now her heart beat again for him, she doesn’t think it ever truly stopped. But now instead of loving The Boy Who Lived, she loved Harry…just Harry. She had helped him over the summer and was hopeful he would be coming to The Burrow soon, She had no clue the boy was already settled in the room across from hers. As her eyes finally grew heavy, she couldn’t help but picture his brave face, the one that was burned in her memory from when he faced the death eaters at the ministry.
Harry could feel a familiar damp and cold feeling in his feet. As he looked down he could see he was once again in the Chamber of Secrets. This time however he was there as his almost 16 year old self. A chill went down his spine as he started to survey his surroundings. He vaguely remembered his way through the tunnels, as he slugged through the water he wondered what he would find in the chamber.
As he turned the corner he saw the main room where he had once slain a basilisk. There on the cold floor was a young girl with red hair. His heart stopped and he ran forward kneeling beside the cold body of Ginny Weasley.
“Ginny! Wake up, please!” Harry shook her hard. Without any luck he started to feel tears escape. Behind him he head a beautiful trill, and as he turned he saw Fawkes flying above them. Somehow he knew what he had to do to awaken the girl. He bent his head down and placed a gentle kiss to her cold lips. As he let the kiss linger he felt her face start to warm up. He felt the kiss be returned and a warm hand caress his cheek. As he pulled away his eyes met warm brown ones.
“Harry, you saved me yet again.” Ginny took a look around, “thank you so much!” She wrapped her arms around his and kissed him again.
As they parted he said, “how did we get down here? Or am I dreaming?”
Ginny giggled, “no silly, this is my dream.” Realization dawned on both of them, they stared at each other with wide eyes. “Harry?” Harry audibly gulped and nodded. He shut his eyes and grew red with embarrassment. The next thing he knew he was sitting up in his bed and pressing his fingers to his lips. Ginny was startled awake much the same in her bed, and they both wondered what the hell had just happened.
Looking at the clock it was already 3 am. As both teens started to relax, they both thought to themselves that what they thought just happened could never have happened. They both shut their eyes and were quickly back to sleep. A new dream started as quickly as the last one had ended.
Ginny could feel the warm sun on her and the wind in her hair. After a brief moment she realized she was on her broom in the middle of a quidditch match. The quaffle was passed to her and she zoomed towards the opponents goal posts. As she threw the quaffle and scored a goal the crowd went wild. “Harry Potter has captured the snitch! Gryffindor wins 300-20! Weasley better watch out for the rogue blunger hit by Slytherin beater Crabbe!”
Ginny realized the announcer was talking about her so she peeled her eyes away from the celebrating dark haired boy and her wide eyes met a blunger zooming too fast for her to dodge it completely. She braced herself for the impact moving as fast as she could when she heard a sickening crunch and watched as Harry started to fall to the ground. She realized he must have moved at neck breaking speeds to reach her in time. She raced through the air to catch him, what felt like the longest seconds of her life passed and just meters above the ground she was met with her brother Ron as they both grabbed an arm and softly guided him to the grass. Everyone around her disappeared and she focused her sight on Harry.
“Harry, wake up. Come on, Potter. Can’t throw yourself like an idiot in front of a bludger and not wake up for me to make fun of you about it.” Ginny held his head in her lap and he began to stir.
“I’m just glad it wasn’t you, Gin. You are far too beautiful to get smacked in the head with a bludger.” Harry smirked and tried to sit up.
“Oh no mister, lay back down. Don’t move, please.” She threaded her fingers gently through his messy black hair. “My sweet prince, you’ve saved me yet again.” Their outfits changed and Harry was wearing a fancy suit, fit for a prince, Ginny wore a torn dress, similar to that of the muggle princess Cinderella. Ginny bent down to place a soft kiss on her prince’s lips when she froze,
“Harry?” Ginny said cautiously, “are we in another dream together?”
“Um,, yeah sure seems like it. The quidditch dream I have had before but this uh fairytale stuff is new…” Harry blushed.
Ginny looked around and noticed they were in a fantasy like forest with a brilliant white horse grazing beside them. She turned as red as her hair and said, “well no…this one is rather familiar to me. But how do we keep ending up in each others dreams?”
“I’m not sure but when we wake up we can try to figure it out. Maybe Hermione will know something, or Dumbledore.” Harry pondered.
“You really want to ask them and share what happened in these dreams? I’m embarrassed enough that you saw them!” Ginny exclaimed. In the background they could faintly hear,
‘Ginny dear, time to get up! I need your help this morning.’ The teens recognized the voice as Mrs. Weasley. They both felt a turn in their stomachs as they were transported back to the darkness of their own minds. Ginny popped her eyes open and relaxed slightly at the sight of her bedroom. The walls adorned with her normal posters, the faint smell of bacon wafting in from downstairs. She wondering nervously if what had happened was real. Little did she know the subject of her thoughts was wondering the same thing across the hall. “Coming, Mom!” She jumped out of bed and got dressed before making her way downstairs for breakfast.
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