Just a Dream

It was a quiet night at the Burrow, in the middle of June. The clock on the wall had just stroked midnight and everyone was asleep in their beds. Well, except for one.

Harry tossed and turned in his bed in Bill's old bedroom that was given to him at the start of the summer. Since the battle, he often dreamed about all those who died in the war coming back to haunt him or the war ended with a very different outcome. But tonight, the dream was different. Tonight he dreamed his life was a lie and nobody loved him.

The words he often heard his uncle say to him echo in his head.

"Who would want you?!"

"You are a worthless freak!"

"Nobody loves you boy, NOBODY!"

With a jolt Harry sat up, the last one echoing louder in his head. Glancing around the room, he found that he was in his bedroom at the Burrow, the only place beside Hogwarts that felt like home.

Since that summer before his second year, Arthur and Molly welcomed him into their home with open arms. Molly made sure he was well fed, warm, giving him the mother's love he desperately wanted and was badly neglected. Arthur filled in the gaps following Sirius's passing as a father figure for Harry.

Despite dating their only daughter, Harry's relationship with Molly and Arthur remained the same.

Harry waited for his breathing to settle, waiting to see if he had woken anyone up. It was then when he realized that he didn't really wake up anyone because he didn't really make any noise, even a squeak as Ginny, who was across the hall, would have heard him and come to check on him. He also placed a charm on his room so that the only person who heard him was Ginny.

Now that he wasn't going to go back to sleep, he reached over on the bedside table for his glasses and stood up on the side of the bed. Picking up his t-shirt he tossed in the armchair, he pulled it over his head and was pulling it down as he opened the door and crossed the hall to Ginny's.

Her door was partially open, for which he was the reason.

Hermione had moved to sleep in Ron's room as she still had nightmares from Malfoy Manor and Ron was the only person who could comfort her following the nightmares. Since they were of age, Molly and Arthur couldn't really say no to them. This prompted Ginny to ask about her Harry.

Upon returning to the Burrow, Ginny had been having nightmares about the battle or rather Harry had really been killed in the battle, either right in front of her or he was really dead in Hagrid's arms. It was following one of those nightmares that Molly had observed Harry comforting Ginny, noticing the tight grip she had on his arm.

He agreed to stay with her, deciding to sleep above the duvet on her bed.

Molly smiled as she watched the young couple. What really made her agree was that Ginny had slept better with Harry following those nightmares. She once overheard their conversation following a nightmare in which she only heard Harry whisper to her, 'I'm not going anywhere.'

When they were both sound asleep, Molly would cover Harry up with a blanket and leave the room quietly.

Since Ginny was going to be of age that year and they would probably do it anyway, Arthur and Molly agreed to let Harry and Ginny share a bed.

He quietly pushed open the door, his bare feet chilly on the wooden floor. The door cricked making Harry wince and hoping he didn't wake Ginny. He got his answer when she turned over and her eyes met his in the pale moonlight in the room.

She sat up, crooking her finger in a come here expression.

Harry obeyed, walking over to the side of the bed, climbing in beside her.

"What's the matter?" Ginny asked.

Harry sat beside, quietly, pulling his needs up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them, resting his chin on his knees. He looked like he was a four-year-old boy instead of a seventeen old man.

"Bad dream," Harry whispered.

Ginny knew from experience Harry's nightmare was either about the battle or about those who died in the battle coming back to blame him for them dying. She remembered the last time Harry had a nightmare, she couldn't get him to go back to sleep and as a result, they had made scones, muffins, and biscuits, and was in the process of having breakfast made when Molly came downstairs.

"What is it?" Ginny inquired, rubbing Harry's back.

Sighing, Harry replied, "I dreamed my life was a lie. That you and your family didn't really love me, telling me I was a burden….."

"Who told you, you were a burden? Who told you nobody loved you?"

Harry took a shaky deep breath before he answered.

"Vernon."

Ginny hugged him tightly. "You are not a burden. I love you. We all love you. My parents consider you an eighth child. My brothers think of you as another brother."

"It still bothers me though."

Ginny pulled Harry to lie down beside her, laying him down on his back with Ginny lying on her side, curling into Harry's side.

"In the dream, I also saw Vernon and Dudley. They were beating me again, telling me they were right, nobody loved me."

Ginny hooked her hand on Harry's chin, turning to look in his eyes.

"Harry James Potter," she began. "You are none of those things your so-called family said to you. Mum and Dad, my brothers, Hermione and I all love you. Especially me, I love you more than you would ever know."

Ginny began to run her fingers through Harry's already messy hair.

"I sometimes dream about life back at Privet Drive. Like my life had been a dream. I'm afraid I'll wake up and found myself back in the cupboard under the stairs or in my small bedroom. When I came home for the summer, it wasn't welcome home, rather welcome to hell. I was a house elf, a slave, and a personal punching bag for my cousin. I didn't have friends because of him. He would scare off anyone who would talk to me. Vernon threatened me not to say anything. I didn't try to. Vernon was careful not to put them in places where people wouldn't see, so he hit me in the back the most. As I got older and went to Hogwarts, his beatings started in other places."

"Like where?" Ginny asked.

"Stomach was one. After I came to Grimmauld Place, Sirius walked in on me when I was in the bathroom and he wanted to know where I got the bruises on my stomach from. I lied and told him Dudley's friends beat me up. They beat up ten-year-olds and for the fun of it they would beat me up."

Ginny wanted to apparate to Surrey and do everything they did to Harry to them.

"Can you promise me something?" Harry asked, suddenly.

"Anything, babe," Ginny murmured.

"Make sure I don't treat Teddy or our children the same way I was," Harry said.

"I will," Ginny promised. "I'm sure though that you won't but I'll make sure you won't."

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too. More than you would ever know."

"Think you can go to sleep?" She asked.

Harry thought for a second before he nodded. "I think so."

"Do you want me to rub your back?" She asked. "Or your stomach?"

Harry answered by laying her hand on his stomach. She smiled and slipped her hand under his shirt, starting to rub his stomach starting in a side to side and then in the familiar circles. She had started to rub his stomach when he got a stomachache from eating too many chocolate frogs when they first started dating. Since then anytime Harry was sick, stressed, or couldn't sleep, she would rub his stomach.

She heard Sirius say that rubbing Harry's stomach was soothing to him and helped him sleep when he was a baby.

"You sure do know to make me relaxed don't you?" Harry murmured his eyes drooping closed.

"I know how to take care of you," She whispered.

She kept rubbing his stomach until she heard his breathing even out, a sure sign he had fallen asleep.

She took off his glasses, laying them down on the bedside table and then laying back down snuggling into Harry's side. She kissed his cheek before settling in his side and fell asleep.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

The next morning Ginny woke up wrapped in Harry's arms. He must have snuggled up next to her sometime after he had fallen asleep. Ginny smiled at seeing Harry asleep.

Ginny moved her arm around Harry's waist, feeling the bare skin of Harry's side. She could have sworn Harry had a shirt on. She looked down, seeing Harry's shirt had rolled up, baring his stomach.

She reached over and kissed his cheek, watching him as he woke up slowly. She smiled at him.

"Good morning sleepy head," Ginny murmured, running her fingers through Harry's bed head.

"Good morning, Gin. I really could get used this." Harry yawned, pulling Ginny close to him. Suddenly last night came back to him.

"Gin, do you really love me or was it just a dream?" He asked.

Ginny kissed his chin, hugging him tightly. "Harry, I love you very much. Your relatives apparently didn't, otherwise, they would have treated you better. One of these days you're going have to stand up to them, not live in fear of them. I'll go with you and prove to them someone does love you. Very much."

Harry smiled. "I love you too."

Later that day, Harry disapparated to Privet Drive with Ginny to go to collect the rest of Harry's things from Number 4 and hopefully will never come back. With his heart pounding and butterflies in his stomach, he approached the front door and knocked.

Ginny squeezed his hand, comfortingly.

The door finally opened and to Harry's relief, Dudley answered.

"Hello Harry," He greeted. "Nice seeing you again. Come in."

Harry shared a look between Ginny and Dudley before walking in. Ginny followed him, stopping short when she saw the door to the cupboard under the stairs.

"How are you?" Dudley inquired.

"I'm good. I thought I'd come and get the stuff I had left," Harry answered.

Dudley motioned to the cupboard. Harry opened the door and pulled out a box that had his name on it, clearly in his aunt's handwriting.

"There's more in your room," Dudley explained. Harry nodded and was heading up the stairs when she saw Ginny looking in the cupboard.

It was small with an old mattress on an old wire bed. Ginny was about to close the door when a drawing on the door caught her eye. It was done in black crayon and was of three stick figures. She tried to keep the tears from coming, but a few escaped her eyes. She wiped them, following Harry to his old room.

Her anger took over when she saw the locks on the door. The room was almost as bad as the cupboard. A worn out desk and bedside table and a bed that looked like it was about to break was all that was in the room in terms of furniture.

Harry collected his old trunk, putting in what few clothes still fit him. Ginny started going through the desk looking for things of Harry's. Apparently, anything that was Harry's was in the room. He and Ginny were putting all the stuff they found in the trunk, thanks the Undetectable Extension Charm Harry put on the trunk.

"We're done," Harry said, looking around the room to check to make sure they got everything. "Let's go."

Ginny agreed and followed Harry out of the door and down the stairs. Harry had shrunken his trunk and places it in Ginny's handbag.

They were almost to the door when the voice of Vernon Dursley was heard.

"Let's leave real quiet and maybe we won't be spotted," Harry whispered. But a voice interrupted that thought, one that made Harry's heart race and his stomach twist into knots.

"YOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? YOU SHOW UP HERE AFTER WHAT YOU'VE PUT US THROUGH BOY!"

Suddenly, Harry, to the surprise of Ginny, cut him off, for the first time standing up to Vernon.

"AFTER EVERYTHING I PUT THOUGH. DO YOU REALIZE I PROBABLY SAVED YOUR SORRY LIFE?"

Vernon didn't have a chance to say anything before Harry continued.

"YOU ALWAYS SAID I WAS UNGRATEFUL. WHAT DID I HAVE TO BE GRATEFUL FOR? YOU DID TAKE ME IN, BUT FOR THE FIRST TEN YEARS OF MY LIFE I WAS THROWN INTO THAT BLOODY CUPBOARD UNDER THE STAIRS WHERE YOU LOCKED ME UP. YOU HIT ME, BEAT ME, STARVED ME, AND I'M SUPPOSED TO BE GRATEFUL?"

Ginny watched as Harry suddenly turned to his aunt.

"You knew about my parents. You knew what I was. You knew I was a wizard and yet you kept it all to yourself never telling me anything. You kept it all to yourself, never once telling me. You could have told me. I know you were jealous of Mum being a witch, but you should have never taken it out on me. You are just as bad as he is." He pointed to Vernon. "You treated me like I was your salve. But the one good thing that came out of this is I know how to take care of myself, I can manage on my own, and cook for myself.

He turned to Dudley, apparently, he wasn't escaping either. "Where were you while I was killing myself to finish all of them bloody chores. With your gang or on your sorry behind, that's where. Keep in mind when we were attacked by the Dementors, it was me who saved your sorry behind."

Turning back to Ginny, he found her looking him, speechless and apparently in shock. He turned back to his aunt and uncle one final time.

"And this woman here, she's proof to me that there is someone who loves me."

There was a slight pause until Petunia broke the silence.

"You look like my sister," she said. "Only different color eyes."

"What was the meaning of this?" Vernon growled.

"I came to get the rest of my stuff. We're leaving now. You won't have to see me again."

Harry opened the door and stopped outside the door when he heard Ginny's voice.

"How could you live with yourselves knowing what you have done?" She asked voice low. Anyone else would have taken cover as when Ginny talked low it means she was beyond angry. Hexes would soon start flying if Harry didn't intervene.

"Ginny?" He said.

"One second Harry." Her eyes never left Vernon and Petunia. All he wanted was to be loved and cared for. But instead, he was beaten and abused. You should be ashamed of yourselves."

She followed Harry out the door, turning back to shut the door. She glanced back at them and smiled.

"It was nice to meet you," She said sweetly, though not really meaning it.

Harry was waiting for her and she took his offered hand. They walked back to the park where they had apparated. As they walked down the street, Harry pointed out some of the places he went to as a child.

"Was it here?" Ginny asked when they entered the park.

"What was here?" Harry inquired.

"Was it here where Dudley and his friends beat you up?"

Harry nodded. "It was. That's why I can run fast. I had a lot of practice."

"I didn't know that," Ginny murmured.

They went to a shaded area of the park and with a soft pop, they disapparated at the apparition point at the Burrow outside the gate.

As they approached the door, Ginny broke the silence asking Harry something that she had been wanting to since they left Privet Drive.

"Did that feel good? Telling them off?"

Harry nodded. "I wished I had done it sooner."

Ginny opened the door to the Burrow, entering the kitchen and headed towards the stairs with Harry following her, calling Molly they were back.

She went into Bill's old room and laid Harry's shrunken trunk down on the bed. With a wave of his wand, Harry enlarged the trunk and started to unpack the stuff he had collected, adding the clothes to the laundry basket. Ginny took it down to the scullery, adding it to the wash in the tub.

Harry cleaned out the trunk, adding some old textbooks to a pile of books to donate to the bookstore or to Hogwarts. He laid the picture frames on the desk and added the loose ones to the photo album. The rest of the stuff either went into the trash bin or in a box to add in the attic of things he wanted to keep.

Ginny came up to check and see if Harry needed any help putting his stuff up. As she entered the room, Harry was slipping his trunk under the bed and sat down on the bed. She approached the bed, sitting down beside him softly, wrapping an arm around him.

"I love you," She whispered.

"I love you too," He replied. "Thank you for coming with me."

"You're welcome," Ginny murmured, pushing some stray hair away from his face. "You need a haircut."

"I know." Harry leaned over and kissed her cheek softly.

"And I hope you always know that I'll always love you. We all do," Ginny explained.

"I will try and remember that," Harry promised.

From that moment on, anytime Harry dreamed about his relatives or the life he had was a lie and he was still in the cupboard under the stairs, he would remind himself that it was just a dream. It was just a dream.