Watching Harry Sleep

Summary: Ginny watches Harry as he sleeps.

The stars shined brightly in the night sky over the city of London. Sirens rang out and horns from taxis were blowing, filling the air with the sounds of London. In Soho, in a flat in a brick building, in the master bedroom, was a man and a woman. The moon shined through the windows of the bedroom, through the sheer curtain, bringing light into the dark room, giving the room a slight glow.

The man was asleep, snoring softly, while the woman was not. She was wide awake.

Ginny liked watching Harry sleep. She lies on her side, watching Harry sleep like she has done many times in the past. She couldn't remember the number of times she had watched Harry as he slept. He looks younger when he is asleep. The lines of his face from the stress of his job, his past, and the leftovers from the war smoothen out making him look younger than his twenty years.

She remembers one of the first times she had watched Harry while he slept, not long after they started dating. It was in her fifth year, Harry's sixth. Harry had fallen sleep on the couch in the Gryffindor common room. She was sitting on the couch and he was lying down with his head on her lap with a pillow, while she ran her fingers through his hair. She noticed, even back then, how young Harry looked when he was asleep.

In his sleep, his face loses its haunted look. The lines of grief and horror, from the war and the stress from his job, smoothed out, and Ginny recognized the boy she fell in love with. His lips, usually grimly pressed together, but tonight they were parted, allowing breath to escape, along with a small snore.

For once he looked his twenty years. This was how it was supposed to be.

She was surprised to learn that Harry often slept shirtless. She was even more surprised to learn that he slept in just boxers, especially in the summer months. Thankfully, Harry's flat was among the newer flats in London and it had air conditioning. She was surprised he actually slept in just his boxers because she thought he would be too shy and modest for that.

She wasn't surprised though how he slept. Always on his side, he didn't have a preference on which side. Sometimes, he laid on his stomach or either in a combined position of half on his side and his stomach. She knew he rarely slept on his back, but tonight, he was sleeping sprawled out on his back. It was very rare that he slept on his back. His arms were curled around a pillow, his face half buried into it.

She loved watching him sleep, which was one of many things she loved to do.

She loves running her fingers through his hair. She couldn't quite understand how something that usually looked like a rat's nest, would be so soft. His hair was soft and thick, and it was a rarity that it was ever neat and tidy. She loved helping him wash it when he was too tired to do it himself. It didn't matter if the untidiness is caused by her fingers or by nature, Harry still battled with it. Sometimes he would just choose to wash it, combing it while it's wet and then drying it and not doing anything else to it, making spraying some hairspray. At least he didn't go to work looking like he rolled out of bed.

He had a habit of running his hands through his hair when he was frustrated or stressed. This usually made his hair even messier, if it wasn't already.

If there was anything that she never had to question, it was that Harry loved her. He showed her his love in many different ways and she loved the many ways he showed her his love.

She loved was how his hands always found excuses to touch her skin. Since after they were reunited following the war, the physical side of their relationship took off like a rocket into space. She didn't jump anymore when she felt Harry's fingers on her skin. It didn't matter if he was moving a lock of hair from her face, skirting his fingers across the bare skin of her back or adjusting the strap of her bra, regardless if he asked her to or not.

She loves how he listens intently to every word she says, smiling at her, his head cocked to the side, and watching her closely, his eyes shining brightly at her.

Speaking of his eyes, she loves them. They were one of the first things she noticed about him when she saw him for the first time on the platform that year before she started Hogwarts. She loves his eyes when he wakes up, especially when she wakes him up. They light up at the touches in the night and thankfully, she didn't see any pain presence in them. She loves them when they are bright and sparkling. She could get lost in his eyes. She loses herself in them as if she was sinking into a dark green forest where it was just Harry and her.

She loves his pale skin. The sun hardly touched it. She loves how she can see and feel the planes of muscles underneath the skin. She loved watching the muscles in his back shifting when he moves in his sleep or when he bends over, which also gave her a good view of his backside. While he wasn't really muscular, he was buff enough for her without looking like the bodybuilders the girls on the team fell over for.

But then again, many girls on the team also said that she had a hot boyfriend. She would smile every time some said that while thinking, "Tell me something I don't know."

She loves his kisses and loves that she's the only one he kisses. Now and days they came with more intensity than they did when they first started dating, and more than any other boy she had ever known. It was like his lips and tongue spoke a language of their own. He seemed to be always hungry for her taste. She loves it when his lips dwell on her own.

She loves it even better when he buries his face in her neck. He usually did when they were snuggled together on the couch, cuddling in bed, and he especially buried his face in her neck when he was sick as she rubbed his back. Sometimes his arms would wrap around her waist as if she was the only way for him to find some peace.

She once said that when she was in his arms, she felt like she was safe from the world in the cocoon that he made by wrapping his arms around her.

She remembers when they were first dating. She watched him sleep if he fell asleep on the couch in the common room. The first time it happened, she gently moved him to a more comfortable position and kept an eye on him while he slept, mainly making sure no one woke him. Ron had told her once in that time that Harry had trouble sleeping sometimes at night and she wanted him to get some rest.

Ginny quickly learned that Harry could fall asleep anywhere, which was proven once when he fell asleep when they were sitting under the shade of the oak tree. He laid his head in her lap and soon was sleep. She couldn't figure out how Harry fell asleep until he told her that when she ran her fingers through his hair, he found it so relaxing that he would fall asleep.

She noticed how much younger he looked in his sleep, even then. Like now, the stress seemed to leave him when he was asleep.

She remembers when he woke up that first time he fell asleep in her lap. He asked if she watched him sleep. She said that she did.

Harry didn't find it creepy like Ron did, but rather, very sweet, almost like she cared.

Even now, at night while Harry sleeps, she'll lie awake and watch him breathe. It was a reminder to her that he was here, alive and well. She could see the scars on his chest from the locket and the killing curse. Thanks to creams, they were not nearly as noticeable, only in certain light, like the pale moonlight like the one shining through the white sheer curtains on the window made his skin look milky white, making the scars on his body stand out.

The one benefit of watching him sleep, she could wake him when he had nightmares and before they made him wake up, screaming.

But tonight, his face is peaceful. There was no evidence of his rough past, the things that had both damaged his soul and made him the man he was today.

Sometimes, Ginny is in awe of Harry. She sometimes feels like she's in a dream and one day she's going to wake up to find that everything that has happened in her life over the last five years wasn't true, but a dream. While she wakes up beside Harry every morning with the relief that he's still there, Harry wakes up and upon seeing her in bed next to her, he smiled. He told her once that when he sees her first thing in the morning, he feels relieved that she's still there.

He admitted that he also feels like he's living a dream, a dream that he hopes he never wakes up from. He's happy and a lot of it is because of Ginny.

She knows that at any minute, like anytime she had watched him sleep, he'll wake up, catching her in the act. He never told her not to, but rather, found it amusing at times, especially when they happened multiple times in a row.

As if on cue, he yawned and stretched, and he blinked a couple of times before his eyes opened, going unnoticed by Ginny, and he focused on her, looking at him.

"Watching me sleep again?"

Ginny jumped, making Harry chuckle. "Harry James, don't do that."

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting to wake up to see you watching me sleep."

His right hand moved to rest on her waist, for just a second before he began caressing her side, then her back, her shoulders, her neck, and finally stopping at the back of her head. Then, ever so slowly, he leaned forward and gently brushed his lips on hers. Ginny kissed back, leaning into his touch.

"How long have you been watching me sleep?" He asked when they broke apart.

"I'm not sure," Ginny admitted.

Harry turned on his side, propping his head upon his hand. "Have you always watched me sleep?"

Ginny didn't know if she wanted to admit that she's has always watched him sleep. But she knew that Harry might already know.

"Not to sound like a creep, but I have. Most of the time, I've watched you sleep, if I woke up in the night."

"And when we were still at Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"Wait a minute," Ginny said, sitting up. "Are you telling me that you've known that I watched you?"

"I have," He admitted. "Granted, Ron told me once, but I didn't pay any attention to it."

"Back then, a lot of was I felt like I was living a dream. I couldn't believe that you and I were dating and plus, I don't know if you realize it or not, but you seem to be relaxed when you're asleep. The stress is gone and you look younger when you're asleep."

"Well, that I didn't know," Harry said, repositioning himself to lie on his side as his arm was getting tired. "You're usually looking at me when I wake up."

"There is usually a reason for it," Ginny whispered.

"What's the reason?" Harry inquired.

Ginny sighed, "A lot of it is because I've dreamed about you and I don't mean good, dreams. I sometimes dreamed that we're back at Hogwarts and the battle is going on and you've died this time. Or something happens to you and you're gone. Or that everything that has happened in my life was all a dream."

Harry reached over, pulling Ginny close to him.

"First off, I'm not going anywhere. When you have dreams like this, I want you to wake me. Second, I'm still here and I plan on being here for a long time. This is real life, it's not a dream. I love you, I'm marrying you in June."

"I love you too."

Harry leaned over and kissed her firmly. Ginny cupped the back his head, her fingers sliding through his hair. They kissed, almost full on snogging for five minutes before they broke apart.

"What time is it?" Ginny asked, suddenly.

"I don't know," Harry replied.

Ginny sat up to see the alarm clock on Harry's nightstand and seen that it was three in the morning.

"Should we go back to sleep?" Ginny asked.

"You mean I go back to sleep and you watch me sleep?" Harry corrected.

Ginny whacked Harry with her pillow. "No, I mean both of us go to sleep."

"Okay," Harry chuckled. "Good night, Ginny."

"Good night, Harry. I love you."

"I love you too."

They kissed once more before they moved down further in the bed and drifted off to sleep."

Even though Harry now knew her secret, she continued to watch Harry as he slept. There was something therapeutic about watching Harry sleep. It helped her relax and realize that if she had a bad dream about him that was all it was, just a dream. Yes, she continued to watch Harry sleep, as it was while he was asleep that she fell in love with him all over again.