Merry Christmas Mr. Malfoy (Book 1)

Chapter 17 : Temporary Loss of Control

Horror and shock sent tremors through his body; violent, uncontrollable spasms that shook him to the core.

"She left me....left me for him...so they deserved it."

Drip, drip, drip.

What was that noise?

"I...I killed them, Harry, and I can't let you tell anyone."

Ron's hands opened and a violent wave of blood burst forth, a massive tidal wave that soaked everything and began to fill up the room.

Harry couldn't move...it was up to his chin...he couldn't do anything...

It was in his mouth, filling his nose, the thick, coppery taste of blood flooding his body as he struggled to breathe and survive.

'Help,' he tried to moan, to scream, to cry...

He was choking on it, swallowing it, drowning in the blood...he couldn't....he had to...

"Harry! Harry!"

Harry jerked into an upright position, panting loudly for air as his eyes darted about the room, searching for the faintest remains of his nightmare.

Nightmare...it was just a nightmare.

He felt Ginny wrap her arms around him and basked in the comfort of her embrace. If only she had been there every other nightmare.

"Are you okay, Harry?"

He glanced towards her, saw the concern in her eyes, and the unspoken question that was nothing but a sharp reminder of their past. "Don't worry...he won't be back. Ever. It was...it was just a nightmare."

He hated lying to her, hated not being able to tell her truth. But he knew that it would worry her; she would grow tense and impatient, become as much of a worrywart as her mother, and she would not leave him alone.

"It was a pretty bad one," she replied, rubbing against his sweat-soaked back for emphasis.

"I think George probably snuck something into my drink last night. I had heard that he was trying these new aphrodisiac pills and I suppose he wanted me as a test subject." He managed a grin. "I'll have to tell him that they do the opposite."

He watched Ginny's eyes pry and search, trying to find some flaw in his lie and point it out to him. It was an easy enough lie to prove true, however, since George had been considering aphrodisiac pills, more to pull pranks on people in public situations.

"Imagine, the Minister gets up for a meeting and he has a huge stiffy. Wouldn't that be brilliant?"

Hopefully the act of Ginny tracking down George and berating him for sneaking Harry the pill would last long enough for Harry to sneak out of the Burrow, find Hermione, and ask her if what she was doing was really worth dying over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ She just couldn't get herself to move. One part was the excuse that she felt too groggy to be able to get up without falling over, and the second part was pure selfishness in that she felt too comfortable to move.

She still couldn't believe that they had fallen asleep like that, wrapped around one another as the tears dried on her face and his laughter faded into heavy, relaxed breathing. A part of her still couldn't believe how secure and warm his embrace was, how much she enjoyed the tickle of his breath on her throat , the way his hand was protectively pressed against her hip.

Somehow, at some point in time during the night, one of them - most likely her - had woken up and shut off the laptop. But that was the most movement either of them had made throughout the night. She had woken up with her face against his chest, inhaling his scent as he held her close.