When I open my eyes, everything is dark around me, and all I can make out in the blackness is the little light coming in from the window. The rain is pouring outside, and it takes me a few seconds to remember where exactly I am, that I am not at Hogwarts and that things have changed so much in the last few days.

I turn on the narrow mattress and I see the dark shadow which is Harry, curled up in a ball at my side. We've fallen asleep together after our conversation earlier, and I realize that, strangely, Mum hasn't come up again to check on us or to try and have us eat something.

Harry is sleeping for now, but I can tell he's not at peace; his face is contracted as if in pain and as I look at him, tears start leaking from his closed eyelids. It is only now that I realize that he's been mumbling in his sleep for a while, and that's what has woken me up in the first place. Taking my wand from the bedside table where I'd tossed it, I whisper "Lumos", and a ray of light erupts from its tip, allowing me to see the tray with sandwiches and a pitcher, which is waiting for us on the desk in the opposite corner of the room, so I glance at my old watch; it's a little past one in the morning. I don't want him to wake up in the dark and panic because of the nightmare.

As soon as I speak his eyes shot open, and Harry frantically looks around, trying to understand what is going on.

"Harry, it's alright" I whisper, and he looks at me, his hands shaking and his shoulders tense.

"Ginny… You need to go…" he gets up from the bed, placing himself between me and the door. "If they see you here…" Harry's voice breaks, and I'm at a loss, my heart shattering in a million pieces when I realize that, even in his nightmare, he tries to keep me safe, to shield me from harm.

I take his face in my hands, gently, and he raises his wide, terrified eyes on me.

"We're at the Burrow, Harry, no one is going to hurt us… Voldemort is dead, it's over… We're safe, I'm not going anywhere…"

At first, I think he's going to fight me, try to convince me I'm wrong, but then he closes his eyes for a moment and when he reopens them, I see I've got through to him and he's really awake now.

His eyes focus on the floor immediately, and his shoulders slump, his whole body closing up, as if waiting for a physical blow. "I'm sorry", he whispers, and I tell him it's nothing, kissing his cheek and offering him my hand, palm up.

Harry takes it at once, his fingers still trembling from all the tension and the adrenaline of the nightmare, and I pull him to sit with me on his bed.

"You had a nightmare", I murmur, and it is a plain affirmation, not a question. He nods, still not looking at me, and I just squeeze his hand. I don't want to push him, not when he's this shaken and fragile, but he needs to know I'm willing to listen if he feels like talking about it.

He inhales, shakily, and I already think he's going to ask me to go back to sleep when he starts talking, quietly, holding onto my hand as if he's afraid I'm going to disappear.

"Right after Christmas, we understood that we could not pronounce Voldemort's name without it breaking all our protective spells… We tried to be careful about it, we knew that there were Snatchers around and… well, we were on the run, we couldn't risk being caught… One evening we were talking really animatedly, Ron and Hermione tried to stop me, but I pronounced it anyway… At once we heard noises of Apparition, they'd become really quick to detect the infractions… Hermione hit me with a Stinging hex, tried to render me unrecognizable, but still… The Snatchers put two and two together pretty quickly, Fenrir Greenback was with them and…" He pauses for a moment, and I am sure, at once, that this is something which truly happened, not just the recount of a horrific nightmare. "One of them found the sword of Gryffindor in our tent, and it all went downhill from that point. They brought us to Malfoy Manor, and there were… The Malfoys, but also… Bellatrix Lestrange, an when she saw the sword she got completely out of control,she was convinced we'd been in her fault at Gringott's… She had Ron and me thrown in the dungeon, with Luna and Mr. Ollivander, and kept Hermione in the hall, for interrogation… She tortured her… Dobby rescued us from that dungeon, he got all of us out of there… But he got killed when we escaped… When I saw you down there, Ginny, I was… It was my worst fear come true…" He shudders, violently, and I hug him, trying to tell him all things words couldn't express right now. I'm too horrified right now to be able to talk, too shocked at hearing, first hand, that those rumors running around school last spring were true.

He hugs me back, sneaking his arms around my waist and holding me tight against him, and I follow the line of his shoulders with my hands, up and down, slowly and soothingly, following a path that, a lifetime ago in the grounds of Hogwarts, was familiar and soothing for both of us.

I can feel a thick scar under my fingers, a scar that wasn't there a year ago, right around his neck, almost hidden by his t-shirt, but I bit my question back. Now isn't the time.

"Can I ask you something?" he whispers against my neck, surprising me. I nod, kissing his cheek again, and I murmur "Sure" on his skin. I think I know where this is going, but I know I can't hide from him, not if I want us to heal together.

He lets go of me, taking my hand and looking straight at my face for the first time since I've woken him. His voice is strained when he speaks. "The night we came to Hogwarts, Neville told me the Carrows had been… Torturing students, beating them… I can't help but…" I see he doesn't know how to ask me if I were among those who had to go through that, and I really hate that he is going to know, but I don't want to hide from him, so I squeeze his hand gently, stopping his verbal fumbling.

"I'm a Weasley, Harry… Of course they gave me detentions" I whisper. His eyes darken, and his expression becomes tortured. "It was my…" he starts, but I interrupt him, fiercely. "No, please, let me finish. They knew we'd dated, and I tried to act as if I was furious with you, as if… I didn't care anymore… But after two days at school I couldn't stand it, Harry, I simply couldn't… It was like Umbridge all over again, only a thousand times worse… And we couldn't just be there and not fight back… They never hurt me badly, just a few detentions, a bit of Cruciatus curse, but… I was among those who got lucky, Harry, really… Neville definitely got it a lot worse… Mum and dad pulled me out in time". As I try to tell him how bad Hogwarts was this year without making it seem like I'd got anything too harsh, I realize how lucky i really have been when compared to other girls I know.

"Thank God", he whispers, and pulls me into a hug again. "I was terrified something was going to happen to you, I tried to keep an eye on you with the Marauder's Map all the time when school was on… As soon as I found out Snape had become headmaster and that the Carrows were going to teach I…" he pauses, then snorts. "I've been such an idiot, haven't I? Thinking that Hogwarts would keep on being a safe place… Breaking up with you, trying to shield you from that kind of…"

"It wasn't your fault" I whisper, running my fingers through the unruly hair at the bak of his head. "You did everything you could, and even more… There was nothing wrong with what you've done, Harry, believe me. When you left, I knew perfectly well the reason why you did, what you were going to do. I had already told you, I understood, I was with you on it… And I've never hidden the fact that I despise the Dark Arts, that I'm not the kind of witch who would resort to that kind of magic… I wasn't fighting for you, or because of you… I was fighting with you, Harry, because the principles I was defending were the same you were defending… that makes all the difference, you know?"

He leans back, and looks at me with an expression of sheer fascination, bringing his hands up to enclose my face.

"I love you, Ginny" he whispers, his green eyes locking on mine, swirling with emotion and shiny with tears.

I smile, his words warming me up from the inside. "I love you, too", I answer, and he kisses me, his lips sweet and warm on mine, pulling me in his arms, making me feel precious and cherished and free for the first time in what feels like forever…