Strange Magic (REWRITE)

Chapter 10: Strengthening

Ginny's POV:

The day after the First Task, Dumbledore called Harry and I to his office. He, the other officials and Headmasters wanted to know how I had seemingly apparated to Ginny's side within Hogwarts wards. Our response was simple: we just informed them of the soul bond. After talking with us for a time about some of the ramifications of the bond (such as the clause in the school rules that would allow Harry and I to share a room if needed, and guardians no longer needed to be informed of our grades, etcetera) before we were left to go about our day.

The bond had grown more powerful in the time after the first task. Before Ginny and I had been able to sleep peacefully alone, but now nightmares and insomnia plague the two of us if we attempted to sleep separately. By the end of the first week of trying to sleep separately, and Harry and I were at our wit's end. Both of us were exhausted and cranky. It took a toll on not just us but our friends as well. While we still hung out with our friends, we're weren't engaged with them. Mostly, we just finished our homework and went straight to bed.

In the end, it was by complete accident that we figured out how to solve the issue. One Saturday morning, Harry and I had just finished our workouts and we cuddled up on the couch together. As we lay there, we both succumbed to our exhaustion. For the first time in weeks, we both easily drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

When I opened my eyes, I saw a field of bright flowers stretched out before me. Harry lay just off to my left as we stared around. It took me a second, but I realized we were in our collective mind-scape. Smiling, I grabbed his hand. Thankfully, we were both still asleep.

After a few minutes, Harry and I heard the soft trills of Lily and James. The magnificent, golden birds swooped circles around our heads before perching on our shoulders. Lily landed upon me and James claimed Harry's shoulder as a perch. I gently reached a hand up to softly stock Lily's golden plumage while she gently nuzzled my hair.

"Hello, you two. I see you've had quite the past couple of months. Neither of you can sleep well lately, can you?" Harry and I both shook our heads, "it's actually a function of your bond. Harry was nearly seriously injured. Both of your magic realized that and is reacting strongly to the bond being stressed."

"But how do we fix it?" I asked feeling a small amount of panic as all the possibilities floated through my head. I softly shook myself out of my worrying about the nightmares before continuing morosely, "I can't keep this up, we're almost at a breaking point as it is."

"Thankfully, the solution is fairly simple for the two of you," James chimed in with a puff of his feathers, "your bond needs more physical contact, reassurance, from both of you. The bond perceived danger from Harry being attacked. Keeping the two of you together will help all the nightmares and insomnia."

"Looks like we are going to need that room after all," Harry murmured before pressing a kiss to my lips. We were both relieved at the simple solution to the problem. Now we just had to implement it.

After Harry and I woke up, we both felt refreshed. Our nap had lasted nearly five hours. All we need to do now was a request for the two of us to share a room. Once the request was made, Dumbledor begrudgingly told us that the room would be ready by the next day at the latest. He also informed us that a house elf would come to collect us when it was ready. When all was said and done, Harry was fairly happy to be moving out of the room he had to share with Ronald. For weeks, he had to deal with Ronald's constant snide comments and dirty looks. Losing a close friend still hurt, it was a dull throbbing pain that Harry could ignore most of the time, but the looks and comments made it worse. Now, we were moving into own room.

As we had befriended some of the house elves, they ended up finishing the room very quickly. Dobby was the one who came to collect us when it was finished. Happily babbling away, he led Harry and I to our new room. The room was still in Gryffindor tower, but it was just off a hidden passageway. A tapestry of a golden lion on a scarlet background indicated concealed our room.

Though the new room had the same general colour scheme as the rest of the tower, everything else was quite different. The most glaring difference was that a single, fourposter, king bed draped in gold coloured bedding was at the center of the room. The dark oak columns supported the scarlet velvet curtains. On either side of the bed, two oak dressers were waiting. Upon closer inspection, I found all my folded clothes were in the dresser to the left of the bed; all Ginny's folded clothes were in the dresser on the right. All of our clothes that needed to be hung up, like dress robes, were contained in a small closet off to the side of the bed. Both Harry and I were grateful that all of the clothes were already moved into our new room by the elves. An enormous window bay curved around the far wall letting the soft, late autumn light filter into the room. Cushions covered the seat and allowed a person to sit and read. Peering out the window, I saw the sprawling lawns, quidditch pitch and forbidden forest spread below the tower window. Next to my dresser, was a door that led to a spacious ensuite bathroom. There were an elegant marble bathtub-shower combination and a set his-and-hers of sinks. Even when the sun started to slip below the horizon, the bedroom was still brightly lit by several golden sconces.

After we finished looking around the room I walked over to the window. Gently, I ran my hand down window frame as Harry came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "This is nice," I thought as I leaned back against him and closed my eyes.

"Yeah, but I'm so tired. I don't know about you, but ready to go to bed again," Harry responded before pressing a soft kiss to the side of my head.

"Same here, I'm going to get ready in the bathroom. I'll meet you in bed in a couple minutes," I smiled before I detangled myself from Harry's arms, went to grab my pyjamas and headed off to the bathroom.

After I was ready for bed, I walked out of the bathroom and saw Harry waiting for me in the bed to go to sleep. Clad in a pair of navy blue sleep pants, he stretched out his arms for an embrace. Smiling, I crossed to the bed and crawled into Harry's arms. Just after we were settled, Harry said a spell and all the lights were extinguished.

"'Night, sweetheart," was the last thought I heard before I slipped into a peaceful sleep wrapped in Harry's protective embrace.

N/A: This chapter is kind of a filler but it is a needed chapter. Thank you so much for commenting and voting. I hope you like the new chapter

-Sarah