Dreams

Chapter Six: It´s All Coming Together

Ginny took a seat alongside Harry and looked out over the Hogwarts´ grounds. She could not bring to mind the last instant that she actually sat down and took in the splendor of Hogwarts. The trees in the distance swayed in the gentle zephyr, along with the ripples of water in the lake. Flocks of birds flew back and forth across the sky. It was magnificent. It was tranquil. It was staggering.

To sum it entirely up...it was the ideal Sunday at Hogwarts.

Ginny sighed peacefully before looking back over at Harry. She found that he was gazing attentively at her. Ginny´s cheeks reddened at his open stare.

"How long have you been looking at me?" Ginny asked tentatively. Harry lingered and seemed to mull over her query for a moment prior to answering.

"Including the elapsed few minutes...I´d say more or less two years now," Harry said, a feeble and playful smirk forming on his face. Ginny snorted in laughter.

"Why, Harry Potter, when did you turn into such a cheese-ball?" Ginny asked. Harry put his hand to his heart in mock distress. He then smiled, and put his hand back down. He shrugged and then answered.

"It comes with the scar I presume," he said. Ginny shook her head in amusement.

"You brought me out here to discuss your scar? I hate to tell you this Harry, but," Ginny paused to lift her hand up and tenderly glide her finger down his brow to outline his scar. "I already know more than I could ever have wanted to know about your scar."

She let her hand fall back down to her lap and she smiled at Harry. He looked down at his hands and a frown touched his lips.

"Yeah, who doesn´t?" Harry asked rhetorically. Ginny´s eyes widened in astonishment at his response to what she had said.

"Harry, I didn´t mean it in that way. I meant it as saying that generally, at the end of each day I am content in that I know so much about you. Because, when I first met you, I only knew what everyone else knew. I sought after so much more than that. And now, I have it," Ginny explained. Harry looked up at her. Taken aback and yet, pleasingly satisfied by everything she had said, he positioned his hand on her cheek before slanting over and kissing her swiftly. Harry pulled back and Ginny opened her eyes.

"Ok, before this goes any further, we need to have that tiny discussion of ours about what happened in Hogsmeade yesterday. I will not lie and say that I did not like it. I did," Ginny admitted, then paused to blush. Harry smiled modestly and continued to pay attention to Ginny. "But I will say that with everything that happened yesterday, I am pretty baffled right now."

Harry nodded in comprehension. Ron had been right.

"Ginny," Harry started, but reached out to take hold of Ginny´s hands. "I do like you, a lot. I truthfully did not plan on kissing you yesterday though. Do not take that the wrong way, I enjoyed it too. It is just, I know I hurried into it and I entirely understand why you are confused."

"So what do we do now Harry?" Ginny asked, then she unexpectedly burst out laughing.

Harry watched in disorientation as Ginny covered her face with her hands and continued to laugh uncontrollably.

"Um, Ginny? What is so amusing?" Harry asked. She took a few more minutes to compose herself before responding.

(A/N: I know the subsequent portions of dialogue are HP fiction cliché...but I don´t care!)

"I´m sorry, it is merely, this whole chat we are having...sounds so...so corny and drawn out. It is reminding me of this Muggle novel Dad had brought home for mom. She did not put that book down for a week straight. Finally, when she had finished, I had snuck off and took it. The cover had this woman showing way too much flesh, being held by an overly beefy man. This conversation sounds like it came straight out of that book," Ginny explained, bursting into fits of giggles once again.

Harry´s eyes widened. By the portrayal of the book, he had known precisely what kind of novel Ginny was speaking of. He had stumbled upon one a long time ago while doing his morning chores. He was making Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon´s bed when he had found the book under Aunt Petunia´s pillow. His inquisitiveness got the best of him, so he opened up the book to a random page and read a few paragraphs:

Abigail put her hand over Luke´s and turned her head slightly so she could kiss his callused palm. "What was so different about last night?"

"You filled a whole inside me that I didn´t even know was there."

Abigail took Luke´s hand in both of hers and brought it down to cup her breasts.

"Touch me, Luke. Take what you need."

Harry then slammed the book shut and never opened it again.

From that day on he could not look Aunt Petunia in the eye without blushing.

Now both Harry and Ginny sat beside one another with blushes on their features.

(A/N: Romance Novel cliches are the best!)

"I´m sorry Harry, go on," Ginny said, trying to remove the wide smile off of her face. Harry had to reflect for a moment to try to get his head straight. Ginny giggled once more then shook her head.

Harry reached out to grasp Ginny´s hands once again. She subdued instantaneously.

"I can´t pronounce that I grasp where any of this is going Ginny. For the life of me, I can´t."

"I think about you and my mind goes numb. You are quickly becoming my best friend, and that scares me. I don´t believe either of us is prepared to be rushed into something intense right now. I know, for one, you don´t deserve that. You deserve some one who will take his time to earn your admiration, your faith, and.." Harry paused.

"...your love. If you give me time, I want to earn all of that from you Ginny."

Ginny´s breath caught up in her throat and she watched Harry´s face for any indication of deceit. As far as she could tell, there wasn´t any. She turned her head and looked over the lake. Harry´s words touched her. They touched her deeper than anything anyone had ever said to her before. She looked back at Harry and then nodded her head.

"Okay."

~^*+:~^*+:~^*+:

Draco´s cloak rustled behind him as he made his way into the dungeons. Approaching the granite serpent, he promptly muttered the Slytherin password and made his way into the common room. He had left the Great Hall after viewing the repulsive spectacle between Ginny and Harry.

He sat down in one of the armchairs and shivered slightly at the frost the dungeons brought. In all truthfulness, he did not know what was going on between Harry and Ginny. But even if there was something, why should he be bothered about it?

"I don´t care. It is as easy as that. Why should I take the trouble to care about Weasley and Scar-Face? There is no explanation why I should get all damn agitated. My existence does not orbit around Weasley. If she wants to snog with Potter, I don´t see why I should care. I am a Malfoy, I don´t get emotionally attached," Draco scowled audibly in the vacant room. He then seized a glass pitcher and furiously hurled it into the flames of the fire. The echo of glass shattering bounced off the common room walls.

Somewhat taken aback by his own outbreak, Draco looked around and made sure no one else was in the common room. After seeing he was still alone, he reached into his cloak and pulled out a minuscule vial. The vial, was full of an electric cobalt liquid. He eyed it soberly. His facial expression gave nothing away of the internal conflict he was fighting.

"I can do this."

Sighing, he put the vial back into his cloak. Tonight would be the night.

Tonight...he would end it all.

~^*+:~^*+:~^*+:

After much excitement, Ginny reluctantly went up to her dormitory to go to sleep. She did not want to abandon her cozy seat next to Harry, but she knew better than to stay up late when she had classes the next morning. Harry did a job trying to persuade her to stay with him, but in the end, she had won and even convinced him to go to bed also.

Ginny smiled as Harry´s pleading and sulking entered her thoughts. She dressed in her pajamas and climbed into her bed, pulling the covers over her. After several minutes of lying in bed, sleep overcame Ginny.

~~

Ginny stared around her. The recognizable atmosphere struck a nerve.

She was back in the Great Hall again, dancing with Draco. But this time, instead of leaning down to kiss her, he reached out and unclasped the Rose pendent from her collar. He placed the necklace in his cloak and stepped away from Ginny. Uncertainty flickered in her eyes as he grabbed her hand and led her towards the edge of the crowd.

She gasped as she saw Draco was bringing her directly to Harry. Draco paused, looked at Ginny, and then halfheartedly took hold of Harry´s hand and placed it in Ginny´s.

Then suddenly, Ginny was back on the dance floor. No longer with Draco, she noticed Harry´s arms were wrapped around her. She looked over Harry´s shoulder and watched as Draco walked out of the hall with an expression on his face that she had never seen before.

Remorse.

~~

Ginny woke with a start.

"What in the bloody hell is going on?"

~^*+:~^*+:~^*+:

Ginny made her way to Snape´s classroom in the dungeons quietly. She was trying to figure out how she was supposed to act in front of Draco. What if he asked to meet up again? What if he found out about herself and Harry. Wait, why should she care?

Ginny thought about the dream she had the night before and then took a deep breath and entered potions. There he was, his back to her, sitting in the seat beside her own. She slowly walked and sat down beside him. After setting her things down and pulling out a quill and some parchment, she glanced at Draco out of the corner of her eye. He was looking forward as Snape began to lecture, but Ginny could still get a good look at him and she was stunned at what she saw.

There were dark circles under his eyes, and his unexceptionally immaculate cloak was crumpled and in disarray. He looked exhausted, yet he seemed to keep all his focus on Snape. She looked back up at Snape herself and tried to pay attention. But for the life of her, she couldn´t. She drowned out Snape´s words and noticed when Draco tensed at something Snape had said.

Regrettably for Ginny, Snape took abrupt notice in her lack of attention.

"Ms. Weasley, could you possibly humor me and tell me the affects of the Mutatio Mens Mentis potion?" Snape asked loudly. Ginny flushed and looked down at her hands. She now wished she had been paying attention.

"I do not know Professor," Ginny said softly.

"Well, well, well. I think I shall tell Dumbledore that from now on, he should be more stringent about picking the school´s Prefects, because the ones we have now, surely are not worthy. I suggest you stop staring at Mr. Malfoy here and pay more attention," Snape sneered. Ginny felt her cheeks redden ever more and she awaited the snide and rude comment from Draco. But one never came.

"Mr. Malfoy, could you tell me the effects of the Mutatio Mens Mentis potion?" Snape turned. Draco hesitated and once again tensed up.

"Yes sir. It is a effortless, yet very valuable potion. It is used to alter ones´ dreams. Also, if the potion for one person is taken by another, then that other person has the power to enter and alter the other´s dreams," Draco said softly. No hint of pride or arrogance in his voice.

"Good job Mr. Malfoy. Ten points to Slytherin," Snape exclaimed. He went back to showing the class the steps to making the Mutatio Mens Mentis potion, but Ginny, once again, paid no attention. She was curious as to what was making Draco so rigid and tense.

At the end of the lesson, Draco hurried out of the classroom. Ginny, knowing something was up, ran after him.

"Malfoy!" Ginny yelled. He continued to stalk along to dungeon corridors, ignoring her yells.

"Malfoy, hold on I need to talk to you," she yelled again. She was catching speed, but he was still ignoring her.

"Draco!" she exclaimed. In both Ginny and Draco´s shock he stopped abruptly and turned around, causing Ginny to run right into him. The collision knocked both of them to the ground. Ginny noticed some things had fell from Draco´s cloak, unknown to him. Draco groaned as he tried to get up and steady himself. Ginny reached over and grabbed the fallen items.

She looked at the items in her hands. An empty vial, which obviously once had some sort of potion in it. And then, Ginny gasped when she picked up a silver chain with the familiar Rose pendent on it.

Ginny´s head spun as she thought back to the potions lesson they just had.

"Mr. Malfoy, could you tell me the effects of the Mutatio Mens Mentis potion?" Snape turned. Draco hesitated and once again tensed up.

"Yes sir. It is a effortless, yet very valuable potion. It is used to alter ones´ dreams. Also, if the potion for one person is taken by another, then that other person has the power to enter and alter the other´s dreams," Draco said softly. No hint of pride or arrogance in his voice

Draco, having heard her gasp, grimaced and looked up. For he knew what she found.

He saw Ginny, a look of harsh realization on her face.

He had been caught.