He woke with her in his arms. He took a deep breath, breathing her in, then opened his eyes. Blurry darkness was all he saw. He recognised the clinical bedsteads around him, and realised for the hundredth time that night that he was in the Hospital Wing, lying on his side next to Ginny, who was asleep on top of the sheets. She had obviously never moved since they lay down there together hours before. The monotonous night surrounded Harry, who had already woken several times since he had first fallen asleep what seemed like centuries ago, and now the humid air pressed in on him, threateningly suffocating. Darkness seemed like a fatal being which was now draped over the world; escape impossible, and happiness even further out of reach. The only thing sustaining Harry was that Ginny was back in his arms where she belonged, and that he was back at Hogwarts, where he belonged. But could it really protect him now like it always had done? Harry shuddered at the thought of Dumbledore “ the only wizard that Voldemort had ever feared “ some day being gone. Until then, there would always be hope.
Ginny suddenly started to shake, and her breathing quickened. Harry squeezed her hand and kissed the back of her neck, and she slowly relaxed. She had been on and off like that all night, and Harry knew that she was having nightmares just as he was. Harry finally fell back to sleep at the crack of dawn…
She woke in his arms. She could feel the deep rise and fall of his chest against her back, and his fingers intertwined with hers across her tummy. Trying to slow her breathing down from its panicky pace, Ginny took a deep breath and sighed a long, calming sigh. She opened her eyes. Hazy daylight was starting to creep through the long windows and across the bed sheets, the tip of the blinding sun just visible above the horizon, reaching towards the pale blue sky. The queasy contradiction of the weather and the world seemed like a spiteful reminder of the happy times that had once existed what was now so long ago; that sun was now just a measly souvenir of that life she had lived, when the only thing she had had to worry about had been a couple of ridiculous exams and the occasional stupid argument.
She needed everyone in her life at the moment, especially Harry, but the fear of someone she loved being taken from her had only been strengthened by what had happened over the past week or so, and now it was more likely than ever. She shook convulsively at the thought, and squeezed Harry’s hand tighter. She finally fell back to sleep once the sun’s rays were shimmering across the lake…
“LET GO, HARRY!” Ginny screamed, absolutely terrified of the mere thought of it.
“NO!” he shouted down at her. “I WON’T LET GO, GINNY! I WILL NOT LET YOU GO!”
The wind raged and a huge gust of air swept around them, blowing Ginny’s flaming red hair about her face, and causing her to clutch tighter to Harry’s hand.
“It’s the only chance we’ve got!” she yelled. “Let go and you can finish the battle! We can win, Harry! You can win! I know you can!”
“NOT WITHOUT YOU! I CAN’T DO IT ALONE, GINNY! I CAN’T “ I can’t “ “
Harry’s voice seemed to give up on him, and he just stared down at her hopelessly.
“I’ll still be with you, Harry,” Ginny called above the weather, her voice more gentle than before. “I’ll never really leave you…”
Both sets of eyes snapped open in unison.
“You awake?” he whispered.
“How could I not be “ I just relived that night again,” she replied.
“Me too…”
“Hanging from the tower?”
“Yup.” They lay in silence for several minutes, then: “Gin?”
“Yeah?”
“I “ I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“Sorry? What for?”
“For everything,” said Harry. “For dragging you down with me and for putting you in danger and for letting you go after I’d promised I wouldn’t. I’ll never forgive myself for letting you down.”
Ginny turned over so that she was facing Harry and stared into his green eyes determinedly. “Harry, you have never let me down. There may have been times when we did not see eye-to-eye, but believe me “ if you had let me down I wouldn’t be lying here now. You have been braver than I could ever have expected you to be over the past few weeks, and even though for a lot of the time you were not with me, I could not have got through that time without the thought of you keeping me going. You have not let me down.”
Harry stared at her, lost for words. Then, not knowing what to say, he nodded slowly. Ginny smiled and kissed his lips gently.
“I’ll always be with you,” she whispered in his ear, then she lay her head on his chest and fell back to sleep…
A/N: I hope you enjoyed Always Stick Together and can now enjoy this story. I know that this Prologue was incredibly short, but it was really just to get me back into the story before I carried on. Please watch this space for upcoming chapters!