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A Dream Unlocked | ||||||
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Category: Post-OotP Characters:Harry/Ginny Genres: Angst, Humor, Drama Warnings: Sexual Situations, Violence, Extreme Language, Dark Fiction Story is Complete Rating: R Reviews: 131 Summary: This adventure begins post 6th year. Harry is suddenly having nightmare's again despite his Occlumency training. He is uncertain of who is haunting his dreams, but knows he must help her. What unforeseen dangers are awaiting Harry in his nightmares and how will he unlock the mystery of the girl trapped inside his mind... A/N: The first 5 chapters have been revised with the development of a new chapter. I'm working with a beta now to improve this story. I hope you like the changes. Hitcount: Story Total: 69309; Chapter Total: 5731 |
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Chapter 4 The Return of Riddle Harry sat up in bed completely speechless as he stared at the ginger haired girl perched trembling at his side. He was utterly stunned at Ginny’s question as he played it over in his mind. 'You found me… didn’t you?' Harry had yet to respond. It was clear she wanted him to say something, anything, but the words simply wouldn’t come. She bit her lip nervously as the moments ticked by in a vacuum of silence. Finally, his failure to acknowledge her question forced her to speak. “Please Harry. Please talk to me. I don’t want to be alone anymore. Tell me you’ve found the chamber.” Ginny begged with her apprehension building. “You’ve found me.” she added in a small, unsteady voice. Her desperation was breaking him as he nodded in response. Harry’s mind was reeling as the cold reality of her words began to flood in upon him. She knew. She knew of his haunting dreams because she lived them. It was her screams in agony, her cries for mercy that he’d been hearing. It was Ginny all along. He raced through the details of the visions, trying to piece together clues that made sense. Nothing fit. Why would he being having nightmares about Ginny? More importantly, why would he be sharing those nightmares with her? Surely he wasn’t flashing back to the episode in the Chamber of Secrets. Although there were some similarities to the experiences, they were really quite different. This wasn’t a memory. He was sure of that, but then what was it? When finally he found his voice he said. “This can’t be Ginny. It just can’t.” But even as the words left his mouth, he knew that Ginny would never lie to him. Ginny exhaled slowly and dropped her eyes from his gaze. “I’m sorry Harry. It is real, at least in a sense.” He studied her features and saw them masked with the fear of rejection. He had to say something to reassure her. “I believe you Ginny. If you say it’s real, then it is. I just don’t understand. How did you know? I haven’t told anyone about my dreams. They aren’t real. They can’t be. You’re sitting right here.” He said in disbelief as if saying it out loud would make it so. “It was me in your dreams, or rather, you in mine Harry. I’ve been calling to you every night, hoping that you’d find your way.” Ginny rushed on. “I just thought that if anyone could do it, you could. After all, you’ve done it before. I’m so sorry.” Harry just stared at her. “Wha…What do you mean you’ve been calling to me? What did you think I could do? Ginny, what is going on?” Ginny looked bone-weary. She focused on the floor as her eyes filled with tears. Harry studied her not knowing what to do. This was not like Ginny at all. She was always so strong, independent, unfaltering. The Ginny that he had grown to admire as a friend was not prone to break down. He wasn’t sure what to do. He reached out and placed his hand on her cheek. Gently he raised her gaze to his. “Ginny? Please, just tell me what’s going on.” A single tear broke loose and slid down her cheek, running over his warm hand and sending an odd tingling up his arm. She shuddered as she held his gaze for a moment before speaking. “It’s…it’s Tom… Tom Riddle.” Harry just gaped at her. “Sorry? I thought you said that Riddle was doing this, but… that can’t be. I…” He suddenly realized he was still cupping her face in his hand when she reached up to cover it lightly with her own and lowered his hand into her lap where she held it. “I know it seems impossible, but somehow he has figured out how to enter my dreams. Maybe it’s because he possessed me before through the diary. Maybe he left a thread of his presence in me and made it easier for him to reenter my mind. I don’t know how, but I do know that it’s happening. He’s…” She paused, unsure of how much to tell Harry about what had been happening. “He’s what Ginny?” Harry asked becoming alarmed as she seemed to turn pale before his eyes. “I’m…I’m more than his prisoner. It’s not enough for him to just contain me; he wants to control me. He’s been… torturing me, and apparently… enjoying it immensely.” She finished in a whisper. “For how long?” Harry asked fearing he already knew the answer. If he was correct, it had been weeks. He could feel his anger mounting. He was angry at Riddle for what he was doing to her again, but he was also angry with himself for not finding her sooner. He could have stopped this if only he’d have gotten to her. “Right after school ended the dreams began. At first, it wasn’t so bad really. He didn’t even speak. He would just watch me over me menacingly and then leave me alone to wonder what he’d do next. As time went on though, he grew bored of simple intimidation. He began to take on a more active role in my dreams.” “But why Ginny? Why didn’t you tell someone? Your mum, Ron, anyone…they may have been able to help.” He held her hand more tightly in an attempt to soothe her. She was quiet for several seconds before meeting his gaze directly. The look in her eyes made Harry ache with sympathy for her. A renewed loathing filled him for Riddle and the grief he had caused. Whatever Riddle had done, it was searing a scar into her heart and she was breaking from it. “Please, try to understand,” she pleaded, her lips trembling and fresh tears forming. “I know telling someone, reaching out for help, seems like a simple thing to do, but I couldn’t. I was embarrassed, scared, confused. I just wasn’t sure what to say or how to say it. How do you tell someone you love that the most evil wizard in existence is invading your dreams? How do you share that with someone who loves you so deeply that your pain becomes their pain? I think the reason I finally came to you was because I knew you could understand what he does to a person. Haven’t you ever dreamed something that you didn’t think you could bear to tell anyone else?” Her eyes begged him for understanding. Harry nodded silently and sighed in resignation, opening up in way to her that he rarely did with anyone. “I’m afraid I have… more than once. Sometimes there are things that our minds show us while we sleep that we either don’t want to believe or simply cannot face. When you have things in your past that are painful; it can open the door to emotions that are already raw.” Her eyes drifted closed at his words and she exhaled in relief. “Harry, that’s just how I feel. At first I really thought they were just nightmares, you know, of my time in the chamber, but as it went on, he talked to me. He told me it was revenge for what I had done to him.” “But, you didn’t do anything," Harry protested. "It was me. I drove the basilisk tooth through the diary. I killed the image from his memory. You were innocent in it all. He was controlling you. You were powerless to hurt him, it was me.” He looked down at the hand she held then allowed his eyes to slowly travel up to meet her gaze. “Ginny … I’m so sorry that he’s punishing you for the things that I did.” “How can you apologize for saving my life?" she said. "If it weren’t for you, I’d have died in that chamber. Don’t you know by now, I owe you my life! Please Harry, don’t be sorry. I couldn’t bare it. You’ve helped me more than you know.” Harry fell silent again. They’d never really talked about what had happened in the Chamber of Secrets. He never thought of it as saving her life, but as helping a friend. Years had passed since that night, but it was now obvious that they had forged a connection that Harry had never considered until now. As if for the first time, he really looked at her. She had changed so much since the first day he met her on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. He felt so close to her at that moment. His breathing became somewhat erratic as he searched her eyes and tried to stop thinking of how her hand in his caused his heart to pound. It was wrong. He just felt drawn to her because she was his friend and she was coming to him when she didn’t feel capable of confiding in anyone else. That had to be it. His body was just responding to her need for him, wasn’t it? Ginny closed her eyes momentarily, searching for the words that would explain how she felt. When she opened them with a sigh she began. “I’m so sorry I pulled you into this Harry. I know it was wrong of me, but I felt so desperate and alone. I tried to handle it on my own, really I did. I thought I could do it, too. I can be a bit stubborn I suppose.” She paused, trying to lift some of the tension. “I told myself that it was only a dream and that I was being weak, but as the nights wore on, I couldn’t take it anymore. I knew I needed help. Thinking of you, somehow gave me hope. I guess I thought that since you came and found me in the Chamber in real life, that you could do it in our dreams too.” “But… how? How did you ‘pull me in?' I don’t understand how I am entering your dreams. That is what I'm doing isn’t it? It’s real…those are your screams I’ve been hearing.” Ginny couldn’t hold her emotions in check any longer and she turned away from him. He watched as she began to shake and knew she was crying. He moved next to her and put an arm around her. “Ginny, I’m so sorry…it’s going to be okay," he soothed. "I’ll help you. You know I will.” Without hesitation she buried her face in his chest, threw her arms around his neck, and sobbed against him. Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. He gently rubbed her back and shoulders as he tried to comfort her. He stroked her hair, suddenly aware of how soft it felt sliding through his fingers. His mind wandered to how good it felt to hold her and his heartbeat quickened. After a few minutes of indulgence he stopped himself. What am I thinking? This is Ginny…she’s come to me as a friend…and I go all ‘male’ on her. He drew back slightly and smiled encouragingly at her. “Let’s start over. Can you tell me anything else? How this happened, exactly?” She looked up at him and he thought he would melt. She had incredible eyes, shimmering with tears. He tried to focus as she began. “When it started, I didn’t know what to do," she said. "At first it seemed like just a nightmare, but it was much more. I hated myself for allowing him back into my mind. I was scared and I felt so isolated.” He reached up absentmindedly with his free hand to wipe a renegade tear as it slid down her cheek. With a small shudder she continued. “Riddle tried to tell me that no one would believe me. He said that they’d think I was mad if I told anyone. Part of me believed him at first. Even I thought I was going mad, so how could I expect anything more from anyone else?” She paused as she worked to shake the images from her mind. “I almost told my mum once, but how could I? I’ve put her and my family through so much already. I love them. I didn’t want to worry and hurt even more than I already have.” “Ginny, they love you. They’d want to help you.” Harry offered. “I know they love me, but I’d decided that it was my problem. I thought I could find a way out on my own,” she said regretfully. “I bolstered myself each night and was determined to do it alone until I began to sense the presence of someone nearby. At first I didn’t know if it was real or just part of my dream. The longer I thought about it though, the surer I became that someone strong and determined was searching for me. In my waking hours, I could think of no one, but you.” She stopped talking with a slight blush to her damp cheeks. “Me? Why did you think of me?” Harry asked. “It made sense. You and he are linked Harry. I guess I was able to call to you in my dreams through your connection with Voldemort.” Harry was slightly taken aback that she used the evil wizard’s name. Other than Dumbledore and himself, he’d heard very few wizards say it out loud. She looked away again before continuing. “I…I could feel you Harry. I could feel your presence surrounding me. The closer you felt…the more I cried out to lead you to me in my dreams. You gave me courage and hope that you’d come for me. It was only a matter of time.” “You knew I’d come?” he asked as she nodded in response. “When I found you, at first I thought you were dead. What has he done to you?” he asked quietly. “I think when you finally found me today," she said. "I looked asleep because I wasn’t in the dream world with you. I mean, my physical body was awake.” She stopped and looked at him. “This doesn’t make any sense, does it?” Harry was quiet for a long moment before answering. “Ginny, not much of what has happened to any of us over that last few years has made sense. You and I have been through more at Voldemort’s hands than probably anyone else. It’s only right that we’d have some type of connection. We’re bonded in a way that really no one else can understand.” Harry reached out and took both of her hands in his. She felt her face heat as the warmth of his eyes and his heart filled her with hope. “Thank you for trusting me Ginny. You’re not alone anymore. Tonight when we go to sleep, I’m going to come for you. I think I can get back again. We’ll face Tom together, I promise.” He said trying to offer a smile of encouragement. Her lip began to tremble again as silent tears slid down her face. This time tears of relief as a small smile spread timidly across her face. “Harry, I don’t know how to thank you.” He smiled back at. “You don’t need to thank me. We’re friends. Right?” She nodded and smiled as he continued. “Then…it’s a date. I’ll see you tonight, in our dreams.” She looked up at him. His words seemed to surprise her. She leaned in stopping briefly to whisper, “Thank you Harry.” Her closeness caused a wave of emotion to flood him once again, but this time it was different. It wasn’t fear or sympathy that engulfed him, but a nervous energy that seemed to fill him from within. He felt her exhale against his skin and time seemed frozen. In those few seconds he found himself wanting to hold her again. He wanted to comfort her and make sure she was really alright. Then before he could register what was to come, she kissed him gently on the cheek and breathed the words, “See you tonight.” In the next moment she rose quietly and left him feeling suddenly quite alone in his bed as his door closed behind her with a small click. Harry just stared at the back of the door. The feel of her soft lips still burned on his cheek as he lifted his hand to the spot in delayed response. What just happened here? he wondered to himself. Did I just say, 'It’s a date'? Where did that come from? Maybe she didn’t notice. No… she noticed you git. He lay back on his bed again thinking of her. Her eyes, her hair, and the way she walked when she left the room. He mentally shook himself for his thoughts. I’ve got to snap out of it. Ginny’s Ron’s little sister,” he argued aloud. “Yeah, but she’s also sixteen. Hell! When did that happen and how did I miss it?” Just then his door opened again, causing him to jump. For some reason he felt very guilty as if he’d been doing something very wrong just now. It was Fred. “Oi! Harry!" Fred called out. "What are you on about? What happened and what did you miss?” Harry was stunned temporarily, “Oh, nothing…I thought I forgot my…” scanning the room his eyes fell on his cloak, “my invisibility cloak, but I see it right over there now.” Looking a little skeptical Fred continued, "Aren’t you ever coming back down? What’s the point of keeping you company if you insist on staying in your room all day?” Harry looked sheepish. “Er, yeah, I just needed a little rest. I’m coming now.” With that he got up and crossed the room to rejoin the others downstairs. As he entered the kitchen he caught Ginny’s gaze from across the room. He wanted to be alone with her again. He wanted to talk about the dream more, to plan their attack, but it would have to wait. She was pretty clear she hadn’t told anyone else. He didn’t want to break her trust. If anyone found out, it would come from her, not him. With a sigh he thought to himself, This is going to be a very long day. Now that he knew it was Ginny suffering in his dreams, he simply wanted the day to end so he could go to her and take care of her. He wanted to end her misery. He didn’t know how he’d do it, but he simply had to find a way. |
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