Ginny's POV

He had been gone for four months; it'd been four whole months without the messy black hair, the trademark grin and earnest eyes. She stayed up late at nights, such as these, and wondered why it'd taken such a toll on her seeing as she'd never been that awfully close to Harry. They'd been friends —good friends— but the horrible feeling that she'd felt ever since he'd been gone was nothing she expected to feel. It was like she'd lost a finger; something unnoticeable to the average eye but to oneself it was a struggle to get used to. As if... a piece of her was gone. A small piece but a piece nonetheless.

Ginny groaned and switched side in her bed. The room was quiet except from the subtle snores from her roommates and once again she felt stupid for being awake so late and losing sleep over something she could prevent. Sleepless potion would be an easy solution but her admittance over the fact that she'd been affected so severely over Harry's disappearance was humiliating. Everyone already thought that she still had her school girl crush on him and this would only push those rumors further. She wasn't good enough in potions to be able to make a sleepless potion herself either.

Ginny sighed. May that bloody pride be damned, she thought infuriated at herself.

Glamour charms could only do so much to hide the bags under her eyes. Her loss of sleep was affecting her mood; making her snappier and angrier than usual. It was making her performance in classes and Quidditch worse. How could Harry, of all people, do this? She didn't understand. Ginny was sure she no longer felt anything but platonic feelings for him. That train of pathetic one-sided crushes had passed back in her fourth year. So what was it then? Mere friendship didn't explain it.

They became close friends during her fourth year which was when she realized that she'd painted him to be the illusion of something way different than he truly was. Harry wasn't her white knight in shining armor, he was grey and tainted with something she'd recognized herself from her second year when she'd encountered the diary. He was complex and different to approach but somehow she'd gotten along well with him despite his dark mood in his fifth year. He still was bright, funny —but in a more sarcastic, menacing way than she'd expected— and independent. They'd bonded exceptionally over Quidditch and maybe that was when he'd crawled into her life; during the last two summers. With him always being with Ron and hanging around the Burrow it was simply natural for her to have gotten close to him too as she always engaged in their conversations and the two sometimes spoke alone. But that still didn't explain the feeling she had left. Friends didn't affect you in such a way. Family? Sure, but Harry Potter was most definitely not family. Ginny needed to dig deeper.

She couldn't go longer without any sleep. She needed to bring Harry back from whatever damned place he had ended up. Wherever he was she'd found out and she'd be the one to bring him back.

That way, she convinced herself, that way I'll be able to sleep.

Frustrated, she yelled into her pillow and then threw it away across the room.

''Ginny?'' a sleep drowned voice called that belonged to her roommate Fatima.

''Yeah?''

''Shut it and go to sleep,'' her roommate ordered and then threw a silencing charm around Ginny's bed poster.

After a good amount of time had passed Ginny finally fell asleep. It was later in the morning with the horrible neck pain that it dawned on her that she'd slept without her pillow. Oh, she growled furiously as she stomped to the restroom, when she found Harry she'd make him realize she was famous for far worse hexes than the Bat-Bogey one.

Harry's POV

Harry put on an innocent expression as he questioningly quirked his eyebrow up at the figure in front of him. Even though he'd recently had come in terms with it, he quite liked playing the mind games with Tom. Well, at least when he wasn't at the receiving end of the schemes that they came up with. Both of them had their goals with one another and while Tom's intention was as clear as day Harry still struggled to know exactly where he stood with the other boy. Tom wanted him over at his side —or more accurately, as his little toy to break and fix whenever he pleased— and even though Harry had wanted him dead at first and in some bickering moments he encountered with the other still did, he realized he was stuck in 1942. That was the time before Tom had become Voldemort and if there was any time at all to prevent Voldemort from ever existing it was now.

Even if it meant erasing his own existence Harry would do it. It was his friends existence that held him back. What would happen to Ron and Hermione if Tom Riddle never became a Dark Lord? What would happen to the other random people he'd encountered? Would it throw off some type of time regiment? He didn't know and as he'd learn at his time here in 1942; knowledge was power and without the knowledge he couldn't act blindly. He couldn't when it wasn't his own life that was at sake now, but others. Innocents.

''Are you going to continue to stare off with that blind gaze like a doofus or are you going to respond to what I said like a person with an IQ above four?'' Tom insisted with that charming tone that so many were fooled by. However it now held an impatient edge to it that nearly caused Harry to grin.

It was unhealthy how much he enjoyed to annoy the other boy.

''Excuse me,'' Harry answered with a plastered surprised face, ''was I supposed to act right then like I give a care about anything you say?''

Tom smiled tightly. It was unusual for the boy to lose his temper but Harry guessed that he willingly speaking to the headmaster for that many hours behind Tom's back was also under the category of 'unusual'. Tom didn't like Dumbledore which wasn't surprising. Harry had found himself watching the old man in a clearer light now than he had before. Now that Dumbledore only saw Harry as a time traveler and not the Boy Who Lived he was treated and seen a lot differently in the elder's eyes. Dumbledore didn't hold as much of a pleasant tone, patience or what he'd now learned to identify as a manipulative streak towards him. He still could tolerate Dumbledore at times, but a lot of what he had have with the old man before had faded away.

Harry often wondered if it was the headmaster that had changed or just he himself.

''You're testing my temper,'' Tom pointed out matter-of-factly as he sprawled down on the sofa in front of Harry. They were in the Slytherin common room and it hadn't been many students there when Harry had first came but they'd all gathered up their things and quickly left as soon as Tom came in and cast them a look of irritation.

He quirked his head at the side as if he were observing the other boy and then in the most indulging tone he could muster he said, ''oh, you have a temper? Since when?''

Harry managed to draw out his wand as he realized that the other boy had quickly pulled out his. Even though he had been quick enough to have his wand out Tom had gotten a lead and got close enough to tilt his head back and have the end of his wand pointed at him; having it pressed to his chest.

''What did the old man want?'' the Slytherin Heir demanded in a soft voice that only annoyed him further.

''He probably wanted to catch me in some sort of trouble so that he could give me detention. It's quite strange how much disliking he holds against me.''

Tom frowned as a puzzled expression crossed his face before it darkened and the wand he held against him was pressed further that it was now causing him pain. ''Try that again?''

Harry grinned despite the slight discomfort of the wand.

''Well, you never specified what old man you were referring to,'' he retorted cleverly. ''I was talking about the school's caretaker. That old man has always taken a special liking in finding a way to make life miserable; reminds me a lot of you now that I come to think of it.''

The other boy's face was blank for a second before it cracked into a smile and a melodic laughter escaped the Slytherin Heir's lips. Harry despised that laughter; it always made him feel like he'd missed the pun on some sort of joke even if it were him that had told it in the first place.

Tom withdrew his wand and retreated to his seat with an amused expression. ''I don't know whether or not I should be flattered that you compared me to the caretaker seeing as you seem to take a certain interest in old men – ah, especially one old man named Albus Dumbledore that you saw earlier today. Now, darling, what was that little meeting about?''

Damn. He was trapped. Harry glared at the satisfied boy sitting in front of him.

The Slytherin Heir shot him a dazzling smile. ''And don't spare me the details.''

Ginny's POV

She felt like she was to drop dead any second. Flying with intense speed in the middle of the rain with sleep deprivation wasn't one of her brighter ideas but she knew that if she continued to make up reasons for why she couldn't show up for Quidditch Practice that Katie Bell, the seventh year Captain for Gryffindor, would eventually have to kick her out. Even if Ginny was one of their best players now that her twin brothers, Alicia, Angelina and Harry were gone it still didn't make up for how her flying skills were lacking without sleep.

Ginny was frustrated, mostly at herself but also over the fact that she hadn't come near a resolution of where Harry had ended up. She knew that Dumbledore, her parents, the ministry and even the Order of the Phoenix were working on where he was but she felt agitated that with so many people looking they still hadn't found anything yet. Weren't some of these people the most powerful amongst us? If they hadn't figured it out in four months' time, who would?

I will, she promised herself fiercely. She'd done the most she could without getting Ron or Hermione suspicious of what she was up to. Ron, being caught up with worry about Harry, was too distraught to see through her glamour charm. If she was acting too on edge he just assumed that it was the OWLs coming up this year that caused her mood switch.

She scoffed miserably to herself as she flew higher up in the air and Katie yelled out instructions for the days practice. Ron's oblivion to how she worked as a person was one of the reasons of how she'd nearly ended up dying at the Chambers of Secrets in her second year. Nobody really knew who she was or how to read her; they still seemed to see her as that fragile, shy little girl from before. They didn't see the cunning, out-spoken and athletic woman she was growing to be. The closest to her was her twin brothers. Fred and George seemed to truly see her for who she was and they accepted whenever she was going through phases of developing her character. For two enthusiastic, crazy-looking and wild people they were incredibly gentle and patient with her.

A teeny tiny bit of her hoped that maybe it was for their absence this year that explained that feeling of a lost finger and not Harry. But Ginny wasn't foolish enough anymore to dwell on that false hope, she knew better. Somehow the Golden boy had done something to her and she'd figure out what it was.

''Oi, Weasley!'' McLaggen yelled and a bludger was sent her way in the highest of speed.

She managed to avoid it just in time and shot the boy a nasty look in which he responded with an obnoxious smirk. She would get him back for trying that.

SPSPSP

At the end of practice both she and McLaggen were halting to the changing rooms; their bodies were covered with bruises and broken nails. They'd gone to extreme with hitting each other with bludgers and knocking the air of each other as soon as they'd gotten the opportunity. Ginny wouldn't lie, it'd been a relief to somehow take the anger and frustration she'd felt out on something. The boy himself just saw it as some type of competitive game and Ginny would let him think of it as he liked. At the end of the day she'd gotten herself a personal piñata.

''Ginny!'' a voice called on her as she emerged from the changing rooms with Katie and the new Seeker that had replaced Harry; Amanda Cynebald. The girl was fairly good and classified as a talented player. They'd been lucky to have found her in his absence.

She recognized Hermione's wild curls bouncing as she ran towards her and Ginny turned instantly alarmed as she had been avoiding the others company. The only ones that seemed to have caught on to her behavior was Hermione and Dumbledore. On occasions when she were sitting in the Great Hall for dinner she noticed a pair of eyes analyzing her and as she looked up she caught those twinkling blue eyes of the headmaster. The old man would always brush it away with a polite smile and she'd respond with one of her own but she couldn't help but find it a bit unsettling at times, especially when it'd seemed to happen a lot more often these past weeks than it had earlier.

Hermione —to no one's surprised— had noticed something was off with her right away. Ginny hadn't known what the girl knew so she'd made an effort to keep her distance. At last Hermione made a comment about how it was okay to grieve someone you still loved; insinuating that Ginny was still head over in heels in love with Harry but was still 'hiding' it. It was disappointing. Hermione was intelligent but she, like everyone else, was stuck under the impression that she was still infatuated by the boy. A pity, since if it had been someone to figure out what Ginny was going through it would probably have been Hermione. Maybe the girl's own grief was clouding her judgment to see clearer.

Now as Hermione was running up to her she just felt like hiding. It wasn't that she didn't like the other girl, she truly did love her like a somewhat sister, but the annoying routine of sympathetic looks and comforting smiles made Ginny want to tear her hair out. Why not put that brain to use and see her for who she was? Had she truly been that pathetic, that flat for people to be treating her like they did?

It was tiring to constantly have to try and prove yourself to people who thought they had an established sense of who you were because as soon as you showed them your true characteristics they would think it was unlike you when it's indeed the true you.

''Hi, Katie,'' Hermione greeted the Captain and then turned to Amanda Cynebald with a warm smile. ''I'm glad you made the team, Mads. How did it go today?''

The younger girl spoke enthusiastically in response to the older girl and Ginny couldn't help but smile. She was usually a bit quiet on the field as opposed to now.

When Amanda and Hermione had finished talking the curly haired girl turned towards her. ''Ginny, could you follow me to the library? I think I need a book you could help me find.''

Inwardly Ginny groaned. The library? She couldn't stay there for five minutes without tapping her feet, procrastinating or whatever that could make her get kicked out. And she didn't buy it for one second that there was a book in the world that Hermione 'couldn't find'.

''Of course,'' she replied despite her suspicious thoughts and followed Hermione back warily.

They made small-talk on their way back speaking of general things like school and what an asshole McLaggen was. Ginny noticed how they were both tip-toeing around things like Ron, the Order, Dumbledore and whatever that could lead to the subject of Harry. It was an unusual atmosphere she'd never had with Hermione which only made her tense more. Something was off; there was no logic in Hermione Granger —the brightest witch of her year— to ask Ginny Weasley, dyslexic short-tempered red head, to find a book in the school's library (which Hermione probably had read every book there was in there, anyway).

The grass was oozing with leftover rain which caused slippery mud upon the road back, making their shoes muddy and dirty. The librarian would kill them for entering like this and ruining the carpet inside.

'''Mione, would you mind doing that cleaning spell before going in?'' she asked, too lazy to pull out her wand with the aching pain from practice all over her body. She'd rather stay in her dorm and attempt sleep but Hermione had been awfully insistent.

The curly head shook her head and gave her an apologetic glance. ''I forgot my wand up in the Tower,'' Hermione responded sheepishly. ''I'm sorry.''

Ginny fished up her own wand. Ugh, what was that spell now again? The sleep deprivation was really getting to her. She sighed and without a second thought she transfigured their shoes into temporary slippers, making the mud disappear.

She felt curious brown eyes stare up at her and she responded at Hermione's gaze with a raised eyebrow in question. ''What?''

''You did that so effortlessly,'' the older girl pointed out.

The conversation made Ginny uneasy so she attempted a lighter atmosphere. ''Oh, I'm sorry,'' she said in a joking manner. ''Would you have rather have me stand there for an hour with such a concentrated look on my face it appeared I needed the restroom?''

Hermione, not buying it, pestered on as they walked into the library. It was comfortingly warm inside and it smelled of different warm spices; probably from students hauling tea, coffee and whatnot.

''It's a complicated spell,'' the older girl insisted as they walked around the bookshelf's. Hermione appeared to be looking for that book she had yet to tell her what it even was.

Ginny sat down on a chair nearby, observing the other girl tiredly. This was tiring. If Hermione was with her every night talking like this then these sleep problems might fade away.

''I transfigured our shoes into slippers,'' she emphasized, ''it wasn't like it was brand new Witch Weekly's new designer shoes. You're overthinking it for some dumb reason I'm too uninterested to figure out.''

The older girl fixed her with a glare before she seemed to have found the book she'd been looking for amongst the shelves. Strangely enough, Hermione hesitated before approaching her.

Ginny regarded the other girl and she didn't know why, but she felt the need to say it. ''It was Harry who taught me the spell.''

It came out a lot more softly than she had intended. Hermione's head sharply turned to her and her eyes seemed unreadable for a bit. Now more surely, the girl approached her with confident steps before dumping the book she'd held in front of the table. Ginny peered forward to read the title.

The Arts of Glamour.

The redhead felt as if she had choked on air but quickly concealed any type of reaction from the bright Witch in front of her. Damn.

''Is this your way of saying I'm ugly?'' she joked once again in an attempt of escaping the horrendous situation she were in.

Hermione scoffed and slid into the stool in front of her. The older girl now held a small smile on her lips and a certain glint onto her eyes.

''You thought I hadn't noticed?''

She sighed, annoyed at where this would probably lead. She had probably figured out that Ginny was using glamour but it didn't mean she hadn't made wrong assumptions like she had earlier.

With an unnecessary soft tone, she spoke to Hermione slowly. ''Look, I know that this seems—''

''Don't patronize me in my own home,'' the curly head interrupted her with an arched brow, though a small smile quirked up on her lips. ''We're in the library, you ought to show more respect.''

There was a teasing tone with how she said it that only interested Ginny further.

Hermione quickly glanced around before throwing several charms around them that would protect whatever she was going to say from intruder's ears. Hadn't the girl just claimed that she'd forgotten her wand up in the Tower?

''I know that you've been using a glamour to cover up the side effect of your appearance from the sleep deprivation,'' Hermione said bluntly without any introduction or explanation.

Ginny's eyes widened in surprise but stayed quiet, observing the other girl as she did. She was taken aback and didn't know what to reply; here she'd been talking about people underestimating her all the time when she'd done that exact same thing to Hermione.

''I know the reason behind the sleep deprivation as well,'' she continued, although this time a bit more hesitantly.

The red head's eyes narrowed but decided to think now before responding. She had started doing that lately after being called out by Fred for being quick to judge people and always jumping to conclusions. It was something she was working on and luckily now she decided to act upon it.

Her first thought had been that Hermione probably still thought she had unrequited feelings for Harry and had brought her here to talk about how unhealthy it was to 'hide' her grief or something along those lines. But that didn't explain the tension Ginny had felt earlier. Hermione had spoken to her plenty of times about Harry thinking the younger girl were love with her best friend and she'd never felt the loaded atmosphere that was taking place now.

Something else was happening.

''Okay,'' Ginny then responded calmly. ''Tell me the reason behind my sleep deprivation.''

Hermione held her eyes steadily at the younger girl in front of her; she was clearly going to analyze however the redhead reacted to her claim.

''Harry.''

Maybe Fred was wrong after all, Ginny thought to herself. Her conclusions and judgements did turn out to be right for this instance.

Amused, the read head tilted her head to the side and regarded the girl in front of her. ''Okay.''

Confusion spread across Hermione's face and a few seconds later she found herself agitated.

''What do you mean by that?'' Hermione bit out and made no effort in hiding her frustration at the other girl's response. ''Ginny, I just found out what you've been hiding for the past four months and you don't have any other response to it than a mere 'okay'?''

Ginny moved her hands from her neck where she'd been massaging it from the neck pain as a yawn escaped her lips. ''I think my sleep deprivation is healed because I'm utterly tired of these claims of me being in love with Harry. You know what? I actually feel like sleeping now — excuse me.''

She made an attempt to get up from her chair but Hermione quickly moved up to grab a hold of her arm.

''I don't think you're in love with him anymore! I did, but I was told otherwise,'' the curly headed girl hissed desperately as she glanced around nervously for anyone to hear.

They weren't in a very secluded area in the library as there were a few students wandering around the shelves but because of the charms Hermione had put up they didn't seem to give them any attention whatsoever.

Ginny raised her eyebrows in question but didn't continue her attempt at leaving.

''Who told you otherwise?'' the younger girl asked curiously.

''There's a reason behind why I put up these charms.''

The Gryffindor Chaser leaned back on her chair patiently as if to say 'I've got time'.

''Well, seeing as if you did your job right with the charms there is no reason not to tell,'' Ginny pressed.

Hermione nodded grudgingly, her eyes betraying that she didn't like where this conversation was going. ''I was informed by Professor Dumbledore that my, er, assumptions of your feelings for Harry might've been wrong after all.''

A/N: I'm not used to writing these characters so bear with me. I was desperate for some fanfiction with Tomarry including Ginny as Harry's love interest in it where she wasn't described as weak or whiny. Isn't it annoying how much people underestimate and misjudge Ginny's character? Do people forget that Ginny was written to be Harry's soulmate and equal? I feel like if people are to write Harry well it's an unwritten law for you to do the same for Ginny.

Also, before I get any comparisons — yes I adore Fate's Favorite and this was 100% heavily influenced by it. I just finished reading it and I might have that story too stuck in my head for it to be good for me to write anything else, but I don't care.

I love that story. I want to marry it. I didn't like how Ginny was written, though. I don't like how Ginny is written in most fiction to be honest, but maybe it's just me who view her too differently. I'm taking it upon myself to try and write her as I'd want to read her. Wish me luck :)