Chapter 2 Dream Catcher
Ginny stood there frozen and her mind went to a blank. Her arm slid off Harry’s waist and she opened her eyes widely only to see him flash a slight smile at her. Then he proceeded to reach down and continued checking out the other packages next to them. At that moment, she thought she was going to die, like her heart had stop beating and crashed into her stomach. Her shaking body had now gone into an icy cold shiver.
“I’m heading upstairs now. Goodnight,” Ginny called out abruptly to them.
She took one last glance at Harry and then hurried upstairs so they wouldn’t see her tears, which by now were all over her face. Struggling to open her door, she stormed inside her deserted room and crashed onto the side of her bed, of which she retrieved Harry’s present and her diary from under it. Her hair was now all over her face as she clutched the present and her diary in her hands tightly across her chest.
“How can I be so stupid?” she screamed to herself, pushing her hair out of her eyes and flipping through the pages of the diary. She was disgusted to see that almost every single page was about Harry.
She threw the diary across the room and yelled across the room, ”He considers me only like his little sister, like Ron and Fred and George think of me, nothing more, nothing less!”
She tore the bow and wrappings and ripped open the box to pull out a pair of snow-white doves. There was a note in which she wrote, “To Harry, I hope you will find peace. Love Ginny.”
“Nothing more, nothing less,” she cried, pulling the doves tightly to her chest.
For the next week, Ginny spent more or less all of her time in her room hiding from Harry. This was more difficult than before because school was almost deserted now that most students, including her roommates, went home for the holidays.
Harry wasn’t feeling any better either. He didn’t need a cast anymore but there was no Quidditch because of the holidays. For many nights now he had been having nightmares about his parents. He sensed Ron and Hermione trying to include him in their gatherings but even he knew when was best to say no, so he didn’t tell them about his nightmares. Ron and Hermione were now like a couple and he didn’t want to be the third wheel. He felt bad that he sneaked out of the hospital that night and barged in on them. Nevertheless, Christmas at Hogwarts was definitely better than being at his Uncle’s, but there was still a terrible feeling of emptiness inside him. The feeling of being different from other fourteen year olds was underscored by seeing everyone else having so many friends, families, and relationships to busy with.
It was Christmas Eve and Harry was tossing and turning in his bed after another nightmare about his mother’s death. Her screams were still vivid in his mind. He turned to Ron’s bed, which was empty. This was not a surprise to him. After all, Hermoine was staying at Horwarts to be with Ron. He decided to get out of bed and strolled down to the common room to enjoy the fireplace and tree.
There were many presents under the tree. Harry had already stacked his presents under it. He sat down next to the fireplace and admired the beautifully decorated common room, which was deadly quiet except for the whistlings of the fire. He began to think about his parents and godfather and how much he wanted to be with them and to know them better. As his eyes scanned across the room, they stopped at the mistletoe above the staircase. Harry still felt sick from the nightmare but he smiled at it and thought of Ginny. Suddenly, he heard a few slow footsteps from the upper staircase.
“Ginny, is that you?” Harry called and opened his eyes wide, thinking it couldn’t be anyone else. In fact, he was hoping it was her because he wasn’t ready for any unexpected surprises since he was still a bit shaken from the nightmare.
“Oh…Hi Harry…I thought you went to bed already,” Ginny’s voice echoed, trying to sound friendly. She was carrying many boxes of presents.
“I already stacked mine next to Ron,” Harry kept his gaze on her and he noticed her really focused on the presents she was carrying, “Let me give you a hand.”
He got up, walked toward the tree next to Ginny, and stacked the presents around it. The whole time Harry noticed her very focused on the presents, like she was in a trance. It was also very quiet because no one was saying anything.
“Ginny, it is past midnight so it is Christmas now. So why don’t you open my present?” Harry asked as he retrieved a light blue box from the pile and handed it to her.
Her head suddenly looked up at him and her mouth was half opened as their eyes locked.
“Come on, open it,” Harry smiled, still gazing at her brown eyes.
Ginny broke off her gaze and her eyes were at the gorgeous light blue box. The color somehow made her feel at ease. She had just realized that she wasn’t blushing at all, but her heart was still pounding fast.
She opened the box. It was a dream catcher.
“Hang this in your room. I want you to have the best dreams in the world. Don’t be like me, always having nightmares all the time,” whispered Harry.
After another silent pause, she muttered, “Thanks, it is beautiful.” Her mind was very confused and full of emotions right now. She felt like she was going to explode. As she did not know what to make of this, she looked at the light blue box and suddenly she remembered the light blue ribbon that she ripped off Harry’s gift last week.
“OH, NO, Harry’s gift. What do I do now…”
My Guardian Angel by gossipweaver
Chapter Notes: After another roller-coaster ride of emotions and disappointments, Ginny again allows Harry into her heart.