Harry had turned to see Ginny fall. He had tried to catch her but she had already hit the ground. He sunk to his knees beside her just in time to watch her eyes close. Suddenly everything seemed emotionally too much and Harry was overwhelmed with sadness. He was exhausted, his determination seemed to die quickly, and his hope of escaping was gone. Harry couldn’t understand what was happening to him. He felt defeated and broken. He began to sob uncontrollably. Tears streamed down his face like never before. The feeling of looming darkness filled his soul, it was a different feeling that he had ever encountered with Dementors, but a hopelessness took over him.
As Harry’s mind was only filled with despair, a grey three foot shadow crept out from behind him. The demon had a large smooth grey head that looked like one of the rocks in the cave. With a smug look, the demon darted forward and climbing up Harry’s back. It’s sharp teeth prepared to sink hungrily into Harry’s neck. The demon’s grey eyes lit with excitement as it swung it’s head forward to feast.
Harry had felt the little demon climb his back, but the despair had a huge grip on his heart all he could do was sob. As the demon bit into his neck, the pain jolted him into reality. He looked at the creature on his shoulder and realized that the Pogrebin had caused the despair. Harry grabbed the demon by the neck and wretched it off his shoulder. He threw the Pogrebin onto the ground and quickly pointed his wand at the grayish demon.
The Pogrebin’s eyes grew wide with fear. Its small rock like features held a look of horror. Harry saw a small grey frightened child before him. He tried to remind himself that the creature was dangerous, but the demon’s charm kept working on him. In the end Harry couldn’t hurt the poor little creature, instead he lowered his wand. Just as he did that the creature smugly smiled again as it charged at Harry.
Words came into Harry’s mind as he remembered what his text book had said about Pogrebin. The best way to deal with a Pogrebin is with any attacking hex or a good kick, were the words that came into Harry’s head. He smiled as he prepared to kick the little monster. As the Pogrebin came closer, Harry began to swing his leg. At the last moment the Pogrebin changed directions, heading for Ginny. His leg swung through the air with force, but never connecting with anything. Harry cursed as he saw the Pogrebin’s jaws close in over Ginny’s arm.
Ginny’s eyes opened wide with fear as the pain awoke her from her depressed sleep. Her eyes seeing the demon latched on her shoulder caused her to scream with fear. In reaction she hit the creature on the head with her fist. A keen pain shot through Ginny’s fist as she knocked the Pogrebin’s hard head. In response the creature took a chunk out of her flesh and quickly swallowed it and moved in to take another bit. Ginny’s arm was burning with a searing pain. Her eyes filled up with tears as she sat up trying to escape the Pogrebin. It was faster than she could think and the creature was coming at her again, it’s bloody jaws and mouth open with anticipation. Her mind didn’t react fast enough and she waited for the pain.
Angrily Harry stepped between the Pogrebin and Ginny. His eyes filled with a raging storm of anger. The Pogrebin had forgotten about Harry and did not anticipate this move. Harry’s foot quickly collided with the creature sending it across the cave. With his wand ready, Harry yelled out, “Incendio.” But it bounced off the ground, for the Pogrebin had wasted no time in disappearing around a cave corner.
Ginny ripped off a corner of her pajamas and pressed it against her wound hoping to stop the blood flow. She looked around anxiously trying hard to figure out what she could do. Before she could worry anymore, Harry knelt next to her and began to bind her wound with cloth from his own pajamas. As Harry dressed the wound, he looked up at Ginny every now and then to stare for a moment into Ginny’s eyes. His concerned face filled her eyes and her heart and each look held her captivated. She didn’t move or take her eyes off of Harry.
“Are you okay?” Harry asked as he finished tying her makeshift bandages. His heart was beating fast as her eyes didn’t leave his. He swallowed hard as he thought of the last time he had felt this way. It was when Cho was crying in the room of requirements. Harry felt lighter than he did then, his heart seemed full and he felt happy. Yet at the same time he was very concerned and worried about Ginny.
“I’m…I’m fine,” Ginny mumbled out, her eyes still locked with Harry’s. Her heart was beating fast. She hoped that all of this wasn’t a dream; Harry in front of her and that look of love radiating from him. Ginny didn’t want to move afraid that she would break the spell around them. Her body trembled slightly with excitement.
“Good, let’s keep moving. I don’t want Bellatrix catching up with us. Besides I don’t know when that Pogrebin will return,” Harry spoke urgently breaking the spell. His concern had pushed away all the other feelings he had felt. All he wanted was to return Ginny, Ron and Hermione safely back to the Burrow.
Ginny’s face fell slightly as Harry helped her to stand up. She had hopped too much. It was only concern she had seen in his eyes, not love. Ginny tried not to let him see that she was disappointed, instead she forced herself to nod in agreement. “I don’t think we will have to worry about the Pogrebin,” Ginny answered, trying to sound normal, masking her pain. “When we feel that despairing feeling again, we’ll know that it’s around.”
Harry nodded thoughtfully. He looked down the path through the cave that led before them. His eyes scanned the wall. There had to be a trick to this place as there were the others. Harry thoughtfully lifted an eyebrow as he looked down the passageways.
“What are you thinking?” Ginny asked, still trying to ignore the disappointment that had set in. She looked passed her own pain and noticed Harry’s quiet worried face.
“There has to be a trick to escaping from this place. Bellatrix purposely made it this way. What is she trying to hide? Why is it that she let you go so easily? And what did she want from me?” Harry asked thoughtfully, looking at Ginny. He wondered why he hadn’t thought to ask her before.
“I thought I knew what Bellatrix was up to, but now I’m not sure anymore. I thought that she just wanted to capture you, but she could have done that already. As for the trick to this cave, I don’t know,” Ginny replied, looking around the cave skeptically. “I know a few things but nothing too useful.”
Just as Ginny finished her sentence a bell rang, startling Harry and her. She swallowed hard as she recognized the bell. Her face was pale as she looked to Harry and told him in a whisper, “Bellatrix is coming!”
“What do you mean?” Harry questioned intently looking from Ginny’s face to the cave passages around them.
“When I was with Bellatrix that bell sounded every time you were coming. We had to leave the room through the next door,” Ginny whispered intensely.
“Where’s the next door?” Harry nervously asked as his adrenaline continued to course through his veins. When she her answer came in the reply of a frightened face, he quickly took a hold of her hand and lead her down the passageway of the cave. He couldn’t let Bellatrix capture Ginny again. This time he would protect her from Bellatrix. Harry was going to save her this time.
Harry ran down the cave passages with Ginny closely following behind him. He didn’t really have a plan, Harry just hoped that by some strange chance or luck that he would run into the door that would lead them from this place and further away from Bellatrix. His eyes searched the walls as he tried to figure out exactly how to figure out the trick to the caves. Quite often as he ran forward, Harry glanced over his shoulder waiting to see Bellatrix’s form behind them.
“Harry!” Ginny cried out breathlessly in a whisper. “She’s coming! I can hear her!”
Harry had just turned the corner into another dead end. His mind worked fast, Ginny didn’t have her wand, and they wouldn’t stand a chance in fight with Bellatrix. He needed to hide. Harry looked around the cave didn’t seem to have any nooks or crannies wide enough to hid them both. As Ginny squeezed his hand tightly his eyes fell to the dead end. As he ran forward with Ginny behind him, he could see there was a space large enough for them both to hide behind a boulder that jutted out from the side of the wall. Harry brought Ginny around and squeezed her against the wall and then hunched over her protectively as he could hear the echoing footsteps of Bellatrix coming closer.