Echo in My Mind

Chapter 7: Harry's Plight

"You can't continue to run away

And leave behind all your yesterdays-"

Anonymous

~*~

"Professor Snape will be supplying you the ingredients for the potion. It's a complicated potion, one that could kill the victim if not brewed properly. Be careful, Blaise," Dumbledore's words from two days ago after training echoed in Blaise's mind

Couldn't I at least get some help with this? Blaise thought as she scanned the list of steps for brewing the potion. This was more advanced than seventh year N.E.W.T. potions. Leaving it to simmer a second too long could cause the death of the person who drank it. There were also illegal ingredients involved and Blaise didn't want to think of how Professor Snape had obtained them.

The outcome of this potion was that an hour after it was drunk, the drinker would fall into a deep sleep. To an outsider they would appear dead. The pulse would be there, but very faint, even though the sleeping person was very much alive. An overdose of the potion would kill the drinker.

Dumbledore thought that it would be best if the potion were brewed in a disused dungeon room so as not to raise suspicion. Also it would make it seem as if Dumbledore himself didn't know about what was going on. That was exactly what the Order of the Phoenix wanted it to be like.

Blaise pocketed the instructions so she had her right hand free. These parts of the dungeons, because they were so rarely used, were dark and a dank place. Cobwebs hung from the walls and Blaise swore there was one in her hair. She stuck her right hand out in front of her.

"Lumos," she said.

Light flared from her fingertips, illuminating the corridor. The walls were devoid of all portraits, which was odd seeing as the rest of the castle was covered in them. None of the dungeon rooms were labeled except for one, which Blaise was told had been labeled so she would know which room to use. She came to a halt before it and cautiously opened the door.

On the other side was a nearly spotless room. Blaise frowned as she saw why.

"Harry, what are you doing here?" she asked the raven-haired teen that was scrubbing the floor.

Harry whipped his head around to see her. He hadn't been expecting her to come during dinner to start the potion. He had wanted to be out of here and done with his work by the time she came.

"Professor Snape gave me detention for 'being an arrogant prick like my father', remember?" Harry answered. "Though I know he did this on purpose because he gave Ginny detention too. I had to clean this without magic, no doubt so you could use it. Ginny had to gather certain ingredients, the ones you needed, and bring them down here by hand and organize them into the order you needed without using magic. She should be back down with the next load of them any second now."

"Oh," Blaise said, sitting down on a stool. "He shouldn't have given you detention just for my benefit."

Harry rolled his eyes. "It's fine, really. He's been looking for an excuse to throw me in detention all year ever since I snooped in his Pe - er - ever since I messed up a potion a while back. Snape still thinks I'm exactly like my father. I think he thinks my presence is torturing him just as my father did when they went to school."

Blaise stayed silent, not wanting the voice the question that was in her mind. An eerie silence filled the room as Harry went back to his cleaning of the floor with a filthy rag. Blaise began to wonder when Ginny was getting back.

"I'm not my father!" Harry suddenly yelled, flinging the rag into the wall. "I'm not my father and I don't want to be him!"

He scrubbed a dirty hand over his eyes and bit his lip. Stretching his body forward he grabbed the rag. Blaise swore she heard a small sniff.

"I - I'm sorry. I didn't mean to just yell out like that. Bloody emotional roller coaster," Harry said.

"Harry! Language!" came a voice from the doorway that was unmistakably Ginny's. "Come here and help me with these."

Harry dropped the rag at once, going over to take some of the ingredients from Ginny's arms. He kissed her on the cheek before turning to put them on the table. Ginny flashed him a grin.

"Hey, Blaise. What are you doing here so soon? I thought you were going to come later, like say you were going to the library and sneak down here," Ginny said in a way of greeting.

Blaise shrugged. "I couldn't stop thinking about the plan and I wasn't hungry at the time. Now I am, though. I'll be back later, I'm going to go snag some food before it's all gone."

With that Blaise slid off the stool and left shutting the door behind her. Harry took the last of the supplies out of Ginny's arms and placed them on the table.

"What's so bad about my language? You've used quite a few colorful words yourself," Harry said with a slight grin.

"I don't like to kiss a dirty mouth," Ginny said, turning around to go back for the last batch of ingredients.

Harry grabbed her arm as she began to walk out. Out of curiosity she turned back to him to see what he wanted. Ginny watched, almost entranced, as Harry licked his lips.

"All clean," he said in a low voice.

His head came closer and closer to hers. He did it slowly, however, building up anticipation until it drove her crazy. All rational thought left from her mind and Ginny pushed Harry up against the table that the supplies were on. She began to kiss him, unable to wait any longer. He deepened the kiss instantly.

They didn't break apart until two minutes later when Harry heard footsteps. He barely managed to get his lips away from her, partially because she wouldn't let him and partially because he didn't want to stop. However, common sense kicked in and Harry knew it could be Snape coming down the hall to see why Ginny wasn't back yet.

Harry shoved Ginny off of him and practically dove for the floor. He picked up his rag and began cleaning just as the door opened. Just as he suspected, Snape walked through. He eyed Harry but didn't say anything.

"Weasley, get the rest of the ingredients," the potions master ordered.

Ginny, who had just regained her balance, stood there staring at Harry. She didn't seem to have heard Professor Snape.

"Now!"

Ginny snapped back to her senses and rushed off. Harry kept scrubbing the floor as if he was oblivious to it all. He didn't see Professor Snape narrow his eyes in suspicion before he left.

When Ginny returned she dumped the remaining ingredients on the table without any regards to how they landed. Harry didn't look up from his scrubbing but Ginny knew just how to distract him. She was well aware that the old shirt she was wearing in case she got dirty was very tight on her. Slowly she lowered herself down next to Harry.

"You deserve a break, Harry. You've been working yourself hard all day. Take a little break, would you?"

She heard Harry suck in a breath as he turned to stare at her. Involuntarily his eyes fell to her chest but quickly snapped back up. Ginny caught the look.

"Kiss me, Harry," she whispered.

Harry didn't have to be told twice. His lips were on hers in a fraction of a second, the rag left on the floor. The kiss was passionate, more so than before. Harry leaned her back until Ginny was lying on the floor. It was still wet from where Harry had cleaned it a few minutes before but Ginny didn't care. All thoughts had left her mind once more. Dimly she realized that his hand had gone under her shirt to caress her breast. Her hands were running paths on his chest and back.

Neither of them heard the door open. The loud cough that came seconds later managed to get them off each other, however.

"Professor Snape was coming behind me so you two had better get back to work," Blaise said with a smirk. "Also it's just not right for me to see you two practically shagging on the floor."

Harry gave Ginny a lopsided smile before getting off her and grabbing his rag again. Ginny found it amazing that he could go back to his work so easily. She could hardly breathe when Harry was done kissing her like that, let alone move. She was barely controlling her blush from spreading all over her face.

"Weasley, get up this instant!" came Professor Snape's cold voice from the doorway.

"I'm sorry, sir," Ginny said as she pushed herself up, slipping a bit. "I just slipped and fell. I didn't even realize the floor was wet."

"Save it and get back to work; twenty points from Gryffindor for you constant stopping."

Snape's robes billowed around him as he left. Blaise got up from her stool and shut the door behind her. Then she retrieved the two packages she had put on the table, which were napkins filled with food.

"Snape won't be back for a while," Blaise said. "So take a break and eat some dinner."

She unfolded the napkins to reveal two rolls, chicken, and cookies for dessert. She set one out for Harry and pushed the other one down the table to Ginny.

"Thank you," Ginny started. "But you really didn't have to do this."

"I agree, but thanks a bunch. It saves me from hoping Ron and Hermione would have nicked anything for me," Harry said, leaving out that he could just go down to the kitchens because he didn't know if Blaise knew about it.

He pulled up one of the extra stools and sat down on it, pulling his meal towards him. He ate it silently, yawning every once in a while. Harry was exhausted; it had been a very trying day for him. He was still a little lost in his lessons and wasn't performing spells at his normal standard. Also there had been training which seemed brutal to him since he was slightly out of shape from all the time in the hospital wing. Since the floor was done and that was the last thing he had to do, Harry laid his head in his arms and closed his eyes. He heard things shifting on the table, indicating that Ginny was finishing up the last part of her detention.

Sleep overcame him quickly but his dream was far from pleasant. The battle had begun to haunt him again, ever since Ginny and Hermione had helped work the duel from his mind. Once again his head was filled with echoing screams.

"Don't touch my son! Take me if you have to but let my son live!" a woman in her late thirties shouted at a Death Eater, holding her son close to her.

The Death Eater remained unfazed. "I'll kill you both," he yelled.

Not to Harry's surprise he did just that.

An overwhelming sense of guilt filled Harry as if he had killed the woman and her child himself. A low sob escaped his throat though Harry was unaware of it.

"Yes, Professor, they're all in order. Would you like me to go through it again?" Ginny was saying.

Harry barely heard her as screams engulfed him, blocking out any words that were being said. He was sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness. The screams were growing louder and they seemed to be calling to him. There was nothing he could do...

"Potter!"

Harry opened his eyes and stared up at his Potions Professor. He was on the floor and he had no recollection of falling off his stool. Harry suddenly felt like his first-year self again, terribly afraid of his Professor.

"Get up this instant," Snape snapped.

Shakily, Harry pushed himself off the ground. He sat down on the stool again, unable to hold himself up on his legs.

"Did you finish your job?"

"Yes, sir," Harry replied quietly.

Snape surveyed the room with narrowed eyes. Though he would never admit it to anyone, Harry was actually a good cleaner.

"You may leave," Snape said shortly. "You too, Weasley."

With a final glance at Blaise, they left.

~*~

Nervously Harry sat in his seat in Transfiguration waiting for Professor McGonagall to hand out the tests. He hadn't studied very much for this test and he knew he wasn't going to do as well as he could have. After detention and a warm shower he had gone to study, but as Hermione said when she woke him up two hours later when she went up to bed, he had fallen asleep about half an hour after he started studying. He began to chew on his lip.

A hand came to rest on top of his on the desk.

"You'll do fine, Harry," came Hermione's voice.

Harry turned his head to face her. "Easy for you to say," he said with a slight grin.

She returned the smile. Harry took the tests from Professor McGonagall as she handed them to him. He took the top one, passing the second to Hermione. She gave his hand a quick squeeze and then grabbed her quill and wrote her name at the top of the paper. Harry followed her lead and picked up his quill as well.

"You may begin," said Professor McGonagall.

Quills began scratching across the parchment quickly. Harry set his quill down to answer the first question when the words started to change. He froze, quill in hand, as he read the words on the parchment.

They were the words from his dreams about the battle, the screaming, the hexes, everything. Harry shook his head. Surely his eyes were only playing tricks on him. He blinked a few times and then set his eyes on the parchment again.

The same words remained on the parchment. This time, however, the words and the screams will always echo in your mind were written along the edges of the parchment.

Harry's fingers went slack around the quill and it dropped to the floor. His breathing sped up.

What the bloody hell is going on?

He couldn't tear his eyes away from the words on the page. It was everything from his nightmares, come to life as words on a piece of parchment. It made everything seem so much truer. He didn't even notice he was crying until a tear splattered onto his test.

"Harry, here's you quill," Hermione whispered as she placed his quill back by his hand.

Another tear splashed onto the parchment and this time Hermione saw it. She looked up into his face, bewildered. He was still staring at the parchment. Confused, Hermione looked down at it and began to read. The words were still the ones from Harry's nightmares.

"Professor McGonagall!" Hermione called, not taking her eyes off Harry's paper. "Something's wrong with this!"

Professor McGonagall came over to the desk with a stern look on her face.

"Miss Granger, I will give you no credit for cheating regardless of your answers."

Hermione shook her head. "I'm not cheating. Harry dropped his quill and I gave it back to him. I saw him crying and staring at this and I looked to see what was on it. Please, just take a look at it."

At this time the entire class had stopped writing and looked on with a mix of fear and excitement to see what was going on. Professor McGonagall leaned down to have a closer look at that parchment.

"Dear lord," she gasped. "Mr. Potter, what is this?"

"Get it away from me!" Harry yelled suddenly, pushing back his chair. "It's not there! It's just another dream!"

Hermione stared at him, seeing the terrified look on his face for the first time. No one moved the parchment.

In a quick movement Harry jumped out of his seat and ran out the door.

~*~

During lunch, a very distressed Professor McGonagall showed the parchment to Dumbledore.

"I was testing my sixth year N.E.W.T. class last period and all the tests were exactly the same. Miss Granger, who sits next to Potter, worked diligently as always until she saw Potter drop his quill. She picked it up and gave it back to him, and saw that he was crying. Miss Granger glanced at his test, that he seemed to be staring at, and saw this!" she said, waving the parchment in front of the headmaster. "She called me over instead of trying to deal with it herself, smart girl. I saw the parchment and asked Potter what it was. He suddenly yelled 'get it away from me. It's not there, it's just a dream'. Then, before we could do anything else, he ran out of the class and hasn't been seen since."

Dumbledore stared at the parchment. The words looked oddly familiar to him but he couldn't place where he had heard them before. He frowned as yelling shattered the sounds of students' conversations.

"What do you mean you don't know where he is?" Ginny Weasley screamed, rising from her seat. "No one went after him? You do realize that the words on that parchment have been haunting him since the end of September! I've heard them before!"

"Get Ginny," Dumbledore ordered McGonagall.

"How could you be so stupid to just let him go!" Ginny continued to rant. "And you call yourselves his friends!"

A hand on her shoulder caused Ginny to stop yelling. She took deep breaths trying to calm herself as McGonagall took her outside the Hall. Once out of the view of the students and teachers, the hand came off Ginny's shoulder.

"Professor Dumbledore would like to speak with you about the current situation concerning Mr. Potter."

Ginny nodded; secretly glad she wasn't in trouble for the outburst. She wanted more than anything to find Harry but knew it would have to wait. Dumbledore joined the two women mere seconds later.

"What do you know about the words on this parchment, Ginny?" said the aging wizard, handing her the item in question.

Ginny scanned it, her eyes widening as she read over the words she had heard and those she hadn't. Then she flipped the parchment over and read the back.

Don't tell anyone anything until you find me.

Ginny flipped the parchment back over quickly and handed it back to the professors. Dumbledore turned the parchment over, wanted to see if what Ginny had just read was a clue to this mystery. His surprise showed on his face when he didn't find anything there.

"What were you just reading, Ginny? I see no words."

Ginny looked scared. "I can't tell you anything without Harry here."

"Harry cannot be located right now. It is a simple question. What are you hiding?"

More defiantly came the answer this time. "I can't tell you anything without Harry here."

"I will be forced to give you detention or worse if you do no cooperate, Ginny," Dumbledore said in a gentle but firm voice.

Tears sprang to Ginny's eyes. "Please don't send me away! I'm only doing what Harry said. He doesn't want me to tell you anything without him here." She sniffled. "I... I would tell you if I could but I... Please don't do anything to me or Harry."

"Ginny!" came Ron's voice from behind the professors, "What's going on?"

Ron moved closer to her and Ginny fell into his arms, crying outright. Hermione stood off to Ron's side, watching silently.

"Please don't let them send me away," Ginny got out between sobs. "I'm only doing what Harry asked."

The parchment vibrated in Dumbledore's hands. A red arrow appeared in the middle of the text and Dumbledore followed it, flipping the paper over to see a message.

Give this to Ginny now!

Without wondering why, the Headmaster handed the parchment to Ron who pried Ginny away from him and handed it to her. Ginny rubbed a hand over her eyes and looked down at the message.

When you come to find me, take Ron and Hermione with you. They deserve to know what's going on, at least the part about the parchment. Don't bother Blaise and Draco, they have enough problems as it is. If I don't turn up for dinner, come look for me then.

Then the words disappeared. Ginny clutched the parchment tightly and leaned back into Ron. It was times like these when she was very happy to have her brother around. Putting an arm around his sister, Ron led her a little ways away from the group.

"Can you tell me what was on the back of the parchment?" he asked gently.

Ginny shook her head against his chest. "I wish I could but you have to wait until after dinner." She paused and continued in a near whisper. "I love Harry so much, Ron. I love him so much it hurts when he just leaves like this. I mean, what if he actually leaves and doesn't come back? I don't think I could live without him anymore."

"Stop crying, Gin. Everything's going to be okay. You know, Harry told me you've been getting really emotional over things that normally wouldn't have set you off. I've noticed it too. Is something wrong?"

Ginny took a few deep, shaky breaths before speaking again. Ron held her with one arm. His other hand stroked her hair. Ginny found herself missing Ron's comfort. He had done it so much after her first year, when she would wake up from nightmares thinking that Tom Riddle was in her room, haunting her. She would tiptoe out of bed and up the flight of stairs to Ron's room. She loved how Ron was simply just there when she needed him.

"I don't know why," Ginny said finally. "I just can't stop thinking about the war and our family and our safety. I suppose I'm just more on edge than I used to be."

Ron nodded. He was a little jumpier these days than he had been in the past as well. It was all side effects of a war looming over their heads.

"Stay strong for us, Gin. Stay strong for Hermione and I. Most of all stay strong for Harry. He needs all the support he can get right now. Don't be afraid to come to me if you ever want to talk."

Ginny hugged Ron tightly. "Thank you."

~*~

"Harry never turned up, did he?" Ginny asked, sliding in next to Ron at dinner.

"I'm sorry, Ginny, but he didn't," Ron said.

Ginny sighed. It had been a trying day for her. Her last class of the day had been Transfiguration and that hadn't gone well at all. She couldn't keep her mind on her task since her thoughts were constantly drifting to what had happened in this room hours before. McGonagall had threatened to dock points from her and Ginny knew it wasn't just because she wasn't paying attention.

"Ginny?" Hermione said, bringing her out of her thoughts. "Do you want to go now?"

"What?"

Hermione seemed to realize the other girl hadn't been paying attention to the conversation. Hermione herself hadn't been concentrating very well today either. She kept thinking back to her conversations with Harry, trying to remember if he had dropped any hints to what was wrong.

"Ron said that he's done and that we could leave to find Harry now unless you want to stay and eat," Hermione said.

Ginny nodded. "I don't feel hungry so let's go."

The three stood up from the table and left the Hall. Ginny led them to the base of the stairs before stopping.

"If I were Harry where would I hide?" she said.

Hermione frowned, deep in thought. Her first idea was that he would be in the dormitory. Ron looked out the window. Knowing Harry as well as he did, he figured that the teenager might have gone flying to cool off a bit. Hermione and Ron voiced their ideas at the same time. Ginny, though she knew it was inappropriate, giggled.

"I think we should check the dormitory first," she decided. "That way if he's not there we can use the Marauder's Map to see where he is."

Ron and Hermione nodded their agreement and the three teens set off for the dormitories. When they arrived, no one was in the common room. Hermione decided to wait in the common room in case Harry came in while Ron and Ginny went upstairs to see if he was there. Ron reached the door first and pushed it open; only to reveal an empty room. Ginny's face fell.

"All right," she said with a sigh. "I'll get the Map."

Ron stood by the door and watched his sister. He found it oddly comforting how at least one of them knew where Harry hid all of his private stuff. Ron used to be the one who got told everything but now that Ginny was so close to Harry she was the one who knew everything. Ron found himself wondering if Harry's favorite color was still a Gryffindor red. In the past few months he'd been showing more and more Slytherin traits, whether from hanging around Draco so much or because it was just how he was reacting to his life. He wouldn't be surprised if Harry's favorite color was a dark green, a Slytherin color, and one that matched his eyes.

"Got it," Ginny said.

She walked back over to Ron to show him the Map. Ron could see the outlines of the castle and the people moving inside. Ginny had said the words to unlock the map while he had been lost in thought.

"There he is," said Ron, jabbing a finger at the dot labeled Harry Potter.

"The Room of Requirement," Ginny said after looking at his location. "I should have known."

"Let's get Hermione and go," Ron suggested.

Ginny nodded and they left to get Hermione. Five minutes later they reached the Room of Requirement. Ginny tested the doorknob and surprisingly it twisted and allowed them into the room.

Inside it was pitch black except for a few stars and a crescent moon. Light flared from Ginny's fingertips with the thought of it. The light illuminated the lake that looked identical to the one outside the castle only this one was much smaller. Ginny moved her light around and it fell on a large rock. The figure sitting on it didn't move as the light fell on him.

"Harry," Hermione breathed next to her.

Harry sat with his left leg drawn up a little and his arm curling around his knee. His right leg lay flat with his lower arm resting on his thigh. His hair had fallen into his face, hiding his expression. The moon shone on him, and it had the effect of turning his hair a silver color.

Without thinking, Ginny ran to him. Harry's head turned as he heard the footsteps. As Ginny neared him she began to slow, taking in his appearance. It looked as if he had been crying all day. His eyes were red-rimmed, puffy, and bloodshot, his face blotchy.

When she reached the rock Harry was sitting on Ginny stopped. Harry slid down and stood facing Ginny. For a moment it seemed as if time had stopped. Hermione and Ron had frozen halfway across the room to Harry. Ginny's hand stopped midway to his face. Then with a jolt Harry realized that he had frozen them.

This is out of control, he thought, trying to get some sense of this new power flooding through him.

Then, without a thought or a spell, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were unfrozen. Hermione and Ron both fell to the ground since they had been in mid-step of a run when they were frozen. Ginny's hand connected with a sharp crack to Harry's face, bringing fresh tears to his eyes.

"Don't you ever do that again!" Ginny yelled. "If something's wrong you are going to tell one of us, if not all of us, instead of running off! And what was with that parchment?"

Something wet hit her face, then a few seconds later another drop. Looking up she realized it was raining.

I thought to change something in the Room of Requirement all the persons' minds that were inside it had to agree on the same thing, Ginny thought, confused. I certainly didn't want it to rain.

Lost in thought, Ginny didn't notice Harry sink down onto the ground sobbing. The wind picked up, blowing leaves off trees and whipping Ginny's hair around. For the first time she realized that it wasn't winter in this room and that somehow she was trapped in the middle of a dangerous storm.

Hermione dropped to her knees next to Harry as a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the group. It became pitch black again as the light faded and Ginny saw that her light had gone out.

It began to hail on them and now Ginny was scared. She had definitely not wanted any of this.

How is it happening?

Though that wasn't what she spoke.

"Get it to stop!" she screamed as a good-sized chunk of hail hit her in the head.

As suddenly as it had come, the storm stopped. The clouds cleared and the ground dried up when the sun peeked out. Ron, who was kneeling on the other side of Harry, was looking around, bewildered. He caught Ginny's eyes and shrugged, indicating that he had no clue what was going on either. Both of them looked back at Hermione and Harry, both of them seeming to know exactly what was going on.

"This was what you were talking about before," Hermione was saying. "This is your full potential."

"I think so," Harry said with a raspy voice.

"How did you unlock it?" Hermione wondered aloud.

Harry glanced at Ginny and then back to Hermione. He had a theory but he wasn't sure if it was right.

"My mum passed this power on to me when she died to save me, right? She died to save me because she loved me. Last night during detention when it was just Ginny and I, we -" Harry faltered at that point and Ginny tried to pick up for him.

"We kissed, twice. That's it," she said, not yet understanding.

"Yes but what I... I..." Harry said, trying to find the right words and failing.

Ron and Ginny were giving him looks that clearly said they thought he was going mad. Hermione's face held a thoughtful look, as if she was piecing together a puzzle.

"That's it!" she exclaimed after a minute. "The love you must have felt from Ginny matched - or nearly matched - your mother's. That unlocked the power. Did you feel any different after the kiss?"

Harry frowned. "Yeah, it was this really odd tingling sensation. It went away after a minute though and I didn't think anything more about it."

"When was the first time you used the power?" Hermione asked.

"This morning during Transfiguration. It took me a while but I realized that I had done something to the parchment because it was the only way it made sense. It was the only way the things from my dreams could get on to the parchment because no one else knows about them - except Ginny heard part of it once but she wasn't there."

"What about the messages on the parchment later on?"

Harry stared at her with a confused look forming on his face. "Messages?"

Hermione looked back with an equally confused expression. "Yes, messages. On the back of the parchment there were messages. The first one told Ginny not to say anything without you there and the second was for us not to come and find you until after dinner."

"That was what I was thinking," Harry said, looking a little scared now. "I was hoping Ginny wouldn't say anything yet and I just wanted to be left alone until later so I could try to figure all this out. I have no clue how it ended up on the parchment. I've been doing accidental magic like that all day. I caused something like a mini-hurricane earlier when I got really frustrated with all this. I know it wasn't the Room of Requirement doing it because I certainly didn't want a hurricane just then. When I was thinking about the words on the parchment the grass bent to form the words and I know I didn't require that. Later I requested something I could throw and I got a tennis ball. The third time I threw it the ball exploded in mid-air. The freezing and the storm that just happened was another thing. I can't control any of it! I wanted to talk to you guys all day but I was afraid I'd do something to you. I ran off so that if I did any more of this magic no one would be around to get hurt."

Ron and Ginny's mouths hung open. No one could think of anything to say after that revelation. Ron closed and opened his mouth a few times but couldn't get a word out. Ginny was the one to finally break the silence.

"I'm really sorry, Harry. I wish I had known what was going on before slapping you like that."

Harry waved off the apology. "It's fine."

Ginny began to say something but she was cut off as the door burst open.

~~**~~