Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the series. I only write for the fun and enjoyment of it, not for profit. Please don't sue me.

Chapter 31

Harry could later only slightly recall waking up to find Professor Dumbledore and several other wizards and witches at his bedside. In a drugged stupor, he told them what all had happened. After he'd answered their questions, Madame Pomfrey appeared with a cup of dreamless sleeping draught for him to take.

Some time later, Harry began to slip out of the darkness that he'd been cocooning himself in. All around him were the sounds of people murmuring.

"They found the boy's body, but not the girl's."

"It's such a shame."

"Yes, it's just devastated poor Harry. He comes to for a few second, then drifts right off again."

"And Ginny?"

Harry's eyes popped open. Looking over, he could see the blurred forms of two figures sitting in chairs by his bed. One of the figures rose, saying, "He's awake again. You alright, Harry?"

Peering around for a second, Harry finally spotted his glasses on the table next to his bed. He slipped them on as he turned back to the person who was talking to him.

It was Charlie Weasley. The older boy smiled down at him. "Hullo, Harry. You've been out for awhile. We've all been taking turns sitting with you. Looks like Matteau and I got the lucky shift."

Harry looked past Charlie to see a man sitting in a chair near another bed. Matteau was somewhere around Bill or Charlie's age and looked not too much unlike his sister, Tilly. The man gave a wave at Harry, however the boy was already looking elsewhere.

In the bed that Matteau was sitting by lay a small form … with long, red hair. In an instant, Harry was pulling himself up to his feet, though somewhat wobbly.

"Whoa there, Harry!" Charlie said as he helped to steady the young man. "You probably shouldn't be up just yet."

"But … Ginny?" Harry stuttered, his gaze never leaving the girl's sleeping form. "There was a green light … the curse … it hit her and she fell …" He paused, shaking his head. "I know I saw it …"

Matteau seemed to grasp the situation better than Charlie as he stood up, moved to Harry's side, and said, "It wasn't the killing curse, Harry. Just a strong stunning spell. I don't know why there'd be a green light, though."

Charlie cut in with, "The floo powder!" Looking at Harry, he asked, "Right before the curse hit Ginny, did you throw the floo powder into the fire?"

Harry shook his head. "No, but Ginny did. I must have seen that glowing around her. It all happened so fast." He paused, looking intently in the direction where Ginny lay. "Is … she going to be alright then?" As both Charlie and Matteau nodded, a rush of relief flooded through Harry and he sunk back down onto his bed. "I thought that I'd lost her, too," he whispered as he gazed across the room. "We saw Collin fall to the curse … then Cho … I thought for sure that they'd got Ginny, too."

Matteau smiled at Harry as he laid a strong hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'd have to say that young Ginny there is a fighter. I can see why my little sister has taken a liking to her. And to you, Harry. You both did good. Kept your heads and got back safely."

Harry knew that Matteau was just trying to help him feel better about what had happened. Still, he felt horrible. "Gin and I made it back, but Collin and Cho didn't. And … and I couldn't even bring back their bodies like I was able to with Cedric."

"We've already recovered Collin's body, Harry," Charlie told him quietly. "I imagine that some people may not want you to hear this, but … I think you have the right to know. Collin's body was portkeyed into Diagon Alley, along with a note saying that he wouldn't be the last of Hogwart's muggleborns to be eliminated." Charlie paused, as if unsure of how to continue. In an oddly gentle voice, he said, "There has been no sign of Cho's body, however. And … they're pretty sure there never will be."

Before Harry could ask why, Matteau explained, "You-Know-Who made a mistake when he killed the Diggory boy. He needs to gain the support of purebloods, not push them away. As long as there is no physical proof that the Chang girl has been killed, then there can be no accusations that purebloods are in danger, too."

Harry wasn't sure why, but that made him suddenly angry. "Most people aren't idiots. They know that Voldemort doesn't really care about blood lines … just about power." He ignored the fact that both men had flinched at the sound of the dark lord's name. "Voldemort will destroy whatever or whoever is in his way … pureblood or not."

Madam Pomfrey strolled into the room just then and spotted Harry half-sitting up in his bed. Tsking loudly, she came over to him. "Now, now, Mr. Potter. You are too weak to be up and about yet. I want you to lie back down and rest." Practically pushing him back onto the bed, she added in a huffy tone, "I knew it was a mistake to let people sit in here with you."

Both Charlie and Matteau looked as if they were trying to politely hold back a laugh as the older woman fussed over Harry. "Come on, mate," Charlie said to the other man. "My family will want to know that Harry's awake. Especially mum." Waving a good-bye to Harry, both men left the hospital wing.

When Madame Pomfrey was done settling Harry into his bed, she went over to check on Ginny. "Is she going to be okay?" Harry asked hesitantly.

The medi-witch turned and looked at him for a moment, as if sizing him up. Finally, she smiled at him. "Of course she will be, dear. Not to worry. The both of you will be up and around in no time at all." She paused as she glanced down at Ginny again. "Although I did think that she'd have awakened before now." With a somewhat puzzled look, the woman left for her office.

Now alone, Harry quietly sat back up in his bed. He waited for a moment before swinging his legs out over the edge and carefully standing up. Slowly, he made his way over to Ginny's side and sat down on the edge of her bed. Gazing down at her, he thought that she looked so peaceful … so pretty. Harry's cheeks warmed at this thought.

A flicker of pain crossed Ginny's face as she made a soft groaning sound. Without thinking, Harry reached out and gently stroked her forehead and down along her cheek. Immediately, Ginny's body seemed to relax. This amazed Harry. It had to be coincidence that she had relaxed the same moment that he'd touched her. With slightly trembling fingers, he reached out and touched her soft cheek once again.

Ginny's eyelids began to flutter open. Harry yanked his hand back, almost as if he'd been caught trying to sneak a cookie. Knowing that he was blushing, he stood up and began to fidget back and forth on his feet. Ginny looked up at him in a dazed way.

"Harry? Wh … what are you doing here?" She glanced around, frowning as she took in their surroundings. A look of confusion, soon replaced by one of sadness crossed her face. "Oh," she mumbled softly.

Gently, Harry sat back down on the edge of her bed. "We're in the hospital wing at school," he told her quietly. She nodded her head just a bit, looking away from him. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Yes," Ginny replied in a soft whisper. "The blanket was a portkey. It took us all to … to him." Tears visibly welled up in her eyes. "Collin is dead, isn't he? And Cho?" She looked up to see Harry slowly nod. "I remember being in Cho's grandfather's cottage. I'd just thrown the floo powder into the fire … then everything went black."

For a moment, Harry just sat there. Then clearing his throat to shake away the unwanted emotions he was feeling, he told her, "You were hit by a stunning spell. I caught you and pulled us into the floo. I believe that we went to the Burrow. It was the only place that I could think of to go to."

"You think?" Ginny asked, giving him an odd look. "Don't you remember?"

Harry shook his head. "I was in, well, shock. I … I thought you'd been hit …" He glanced at Ginny, noticing the confusion in her eyes. "I thought you'd been hit by an unforgivable."

Ginny looked at him with concern, but also still confusion for a moment. Then, slowly, it appeared that she realized just which unforgivable curse Harry had thought she'd been hit by. "Oh Harry," she murmured, sitting up and wrapping her arms around him. "Oh, I'm so sorry. You thought that you lost all of us." She lightly stroked the back of Harry's raven hair as he leaned against her.

Suddenly, Ginny seemed to realize just what she was doing. Harry felt her stiffen as she pulled her hand away. In a nearly inaudible whisper, she said, "I'm sorry, Harry." He wasn't sure what she was sorry for. But he was sure that he missed her soft touch.

Pulling back, Harry looked into Ginny's eyes as he said, "You have nothing to be sorry about, Gin. I'm the one that should be apologizing to you. I'm so sorry that you got dragged into all that …"

"Well, I'm not," Ginny said, somewhat defiantly. It took Harry by surprise. She went on to explain, "It's not that I'm glad it happened. I'm so angry at … at … that evil creature, Riddle … no, not Riddle. Voldemort!" Harry's eyes opened wide as he gave her a startled look. Ginny made a stubborn face as she went on to say, "It's just a name. And he's just a wizard. I'm not afraid of either."

Harry couldn't help smiling at her. He was amazed with her spunk. "That's my girl," he said softly, earning a surprised look form her. He didn't mind, though. The expression quickly faded from her face to be replaced by a sweet smile and blush. Harry felt a bit guilty about feeling this happy, even if it wasn't really all that much. But he felt such a strong relief in knowing that Ginny was safe and there with him.

In a quiet voice, Ginny said, "You probably ought to get back to your own bed before Madame Pomfrey comes out and catches you sitting on mine."

Harry nodded as he reluctantly got up. Carefully, he returned to his bed and laid down.

"Harry?" Ginny called over to him softly. As Harry turned her way, the young girl said, "I'm sorry … about Cho. I … I know that you cared for her deeply."

With a bit of a sigh, Harry felt his heart starting to ache again. "Yeah, I did care about her very much … as a friend." From his bed, Harry was still able to see the look of surprise and curiosity that crossed Ginny's face. He wasn't sure why, but he felt the need to lay it all out in the open. "I was going to break up with her. That's what I was in the process of doing when you … and Collin found us." He paused, then added gently, "I'm sorry about Collin, Gin. I know you two were close friends."

Ginny nodded. "Yeah. Collin could be such a pest. But, he was also such a good friend." Her voice broke slightly as she continued to speak. "You know, he definitely deserved to be in Gryffindor. He was a true hero."

"Yes," Harry agreed, nodding. "Yes, he was."

The two of them were kept in the hospital wing for another couple of days. During that time, they had a variety of visitors. Two of the most difficult visits were Dennis Creevy and Li Chang. Dennis had come in first, accompanied by Lauren Abbott. They hadn't stayed for long. Both Harry and Ginny told Dennis how bravely Collin had fought against Voldemort. Though still incredibly sad, Dennis left the hospital wing with pure pride of his older brother shining in his eyes.

Li had come in alone, rather late at night. He had immediately gone up to Harry and apologized for his sister's actions. "She wasn't as courageous as most in my family. Smart, but not very brave."

From across the room, Ginny stated clearly, "That's not true, Li. Your sister had been manipulated by Voldemort. Believe me, I know what that's like. But she realized she was being used and fought back. She was amazingly brave and we owe our lives to her."

"But the things she did to Harry…" Li started to say.

Harry interrupted. "None of that matters. What does matter is that when Cho finally had to make that ultimate decision, she choose to do what was right … even though it wasn't easy for her. She sacrificed herself so that Ginny and I could escape. In my mind, a person can't get much braver than that."

Li had left shortly after that. Both Harry and Ginny could see that, while he felt better about his sister, he still seemed to harbor some guilt. Ginny had simply told Harry, "Give him some time. He'll stop blaming himself someday." But Harry wasn't so sure about that.

The Weasleys and Hermione came in as much as the infirmary would allow. Both Hermione and Mrs. Weasley cried openly the first time they'd seen the two awake. Even Fred and George seemed more serious than normal. At least they did until they managed to slip a canary cream onto Madame Pomfrey's desk. As soon as the medi-witch was in human form again, she banned the two from the hospital wing.

It didn't matter, though. Both Harry and Ginny got out the next day. A few days later, Professor Dumbledore announced that they would still be playing the last Quidditch game. Li had come up to Harry and told him that he believed Cho would have wanted that. Harry, however, wasn't really sure he was up to play.

The nightmares had returned, worse than ever. From the dark circles under Ginny's eyes, Harry assumed that she was having them, too. The morning of the Quidditch match, Harry sat at the Gryffindor table playing with his food. Ginny sat down next to him silently. She didn't say anything either, nor did she eat very well. But, just as Harry was getting up from the table, she reached over and gently touched his hand with hers. He looked down at their hands, then over into her brown eyes.

"Good luck, Harry," Ginny whispered.

He smiled at her, feeling a bit more energized than he had moments before.

The game went by rather quickly, ending with Harry catching the snitch to give a score of 260, Gryffindor, to 90, Hufflepuff. Gryffindor took the Quidditch cup, as well as the House cup. The End of the Year feast was once again a bitter sweet one as the students held a memorial for both Cho and Collin.

It was a somber group that boarded the train back to London. A number of precautions had been made to ensure the students' safety back home. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all found an empty compartment and sat down. As the train pulled away from Hogsmeade, Harry couldn't help but think about their trip to the school earlier that year.

About halfway back, Fred and George joined the four in the small compartment. Nobody said anything for awhile until George finally blurted out, "Harry?" When Harry looked his way, the boy said, "While you were in the hospital wing, Ron mentioned something to us about a prophecy that you'd found earlier." Harry shot his friend a quick look, noting that Ron was glaring at his brother. George just continued on without noticing. "Do you happen to have a copy of it with you still?"

Harry sighed, but got up and retrieved a bit of parchment from his trunk. He joined the group again, handing the paper over to the twins. After reading it through, Fred asked, "What do you make of it?"

As the trio all shrugged, Ginny took the parchment from her brothers and began to read it over. While she was looking at it, Harry said, "It could be about my parents, though it doesn't seem likely. Trelawney's so off, it could be all nonsense."

Hermione shook her head. "As much as I agree with you about Professor Trelawney, Professor Dumbledore is wrong about things. I think that he believed her on this." A moment later, Ginny handed the parchment back to Harry without a word. She, like the rest, spent the rest of the ride in quiet thought.

Once they pulled into the station and got off the train, the group began to say their good-byes. Hermione was going to join her parents, while Professor Dumbledore believed that Harry would still be safest with the Dursleys. The Weasleys would all be allowed back to the Burrow, which had wards replaced on the whole lot.

Hermione's parents were waiting for her just off of the platform. She quickly went around the group giving each person a hug. When she got to Harry, she gave him a light peck on the cheek. "Take care of yourself, Harry."

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry had seen Ron scowling. That didn't last as Hermione flung her arms around the redhead and hugged him tightly. Then, to everyone's surprise, she placed a light kiss on his cheek … though actually more on the corner of his mouth … before running off to join her parents.

"Oohhh! Ronnekins has a girlfriend," both Fred and George sing-songed together. While Ron turned a deep reddish tint, Harry and Ginny glanced at each other and shared a small laugh.

From across the station, Harry spotted his Uncle Vernon with a large man. Turning to the group, he said, "Well, I better leave, too. Don't want to keep my uncle waiting." They said their good-byes rather quickly, then Harry hurried over to where Uncle Vernon was waiting for him. It was only once he reached his uncle that Harry realized that the other man standing there was actually his cousin, Dudley. His cousin had changed considerably, which made Harry nervous.

"Ready boy?" his uncle said gruffly. Harry nodded, but continued to look at Dudley with amazement. His cousin, however, wasn't even looking at him. He was looking at something just behind Harry. Curious as to what it was, Harry turned to find Ginny coming up to him.

"Ginny? Are you okay?" Harry asked with concern.

Blushing, Ginny nodded as she looked down at the floor. Quietly, she said, "I just wanted to tell you … er, take care of yourself, Harry. Please keep yourself safe." She hesitated only a second, then stretched up on tiptoe and placed a tender kiss on Harry's cheek.

As she ran off, Harry smiled. Then, silently, he turned and followed his uncle and cousin out of the station.

The End of The Prophecy: Heart's Desire (aka: Year 5)

Author's note: That's the end of what I'd long ago written up in four notebooks as my thoughts of how the fifth year might go. I'd started to write up a sequel to this about the sixth year, but never got very far. I'm not even sure if I know where the notebook is with what I'd written up. I wasn't sure if anyone really wanted me to finish this or not. Still at times, I find the story being added to someone's alerts. So, for all of you who have stuck with this story over the many, many years of me trying to get it typed up - I hope that you enjoyed it. I'd really love to continue with the sixth year, but don't know if it is worth my time if only a few people would be reading it. Still, I could possibly be persuaded. J Leave me a reply to let me know what you think, or send me off a private message/email or such. Cheers! Robin