The Loo- Part 3

When we last left our heroes...well, it's several
hours after we last left our heroes...

Ginny was walking out of Astronomy, half-asleep, when
the voice of Wendy Ledford woke her out of her stupor.
"Weasley!" Ginny paused, and hitched her books more
firmly on her hip.

"What?"

Wendy appeared to be overcome by a fit of the giggles.
Not for the first time Ginny wished that she didn't
have Astronomy with the Slytherins. Some of the girls
were sickening. Wendy, in particular, always seemed to
be quoting Draco Malfoy. She suppressed a yawn. 1:30
in the morning was far too late to deal with smug
Malfoy groupies. "Well, what then?" Ginny sighed.

"Do you know where your brother and his bushy haired
girlfriend are?" Ginny stared at her stonily. "Better
bushy haired than mean and stupid," she said coldly.
"What are you on about, Wendy?"

Wendy attempted to ignore the insult, but her cheeks
darkened. "I expect your brother will be expelled
tomorrow. Just thought I'd give you the glad tidings a
couple of hours in advance." She said with poorly
concealed glee. "Draco heard them talking in Potions
this afternoon. Planning to sneak out tonight. Not
exactly behavior becoming to a prefect." She made a
great show of checking her watch. "Filch is probably
dragging them up from the North Tower to the
Headmaster's office about now." A nasty smirk
blossomed on her face. "It's about time that Granger
had her comeuppance, wouldn't you say?" But she spoke
into the air. Ginny was already pelting down the halls
toward Gryffindor Tower.

Ginny burst through the portrait hole and glanced
around the empty common room. She had been hoping
against hope that Harry would be awake, even though it
was a long shot at a quarter of two in the morning.
Her mind went momentarily blank, seized with
indecision. What to do now? She was running out of
time, and she wouldn't be able to find them alone.
Besides, she knew Fred and George had given him that
old map of theirs. Harry would have to help and that
meant one thing. She was going to have to go upstairs
and wake him up. Absolutely against her will, she
blushed. 


Though she'd tried valiantly to think of anything but,
Ginny had been unable to stop Myrtle's voice from
running through her head. She'd been distracted all
day, and had finally convinced herself that Myrtle
must have been mistaken. Of course he liked her. She
was his best mate's little sister. He had to like her.
But he didn't like her like that. And didn't he tell
Ron exactly that? Yes, he had. She'd been determined
to put it in the back of mind and act like nothing was
wrong. 

Ron, of course, could always be counted on to
exacerbate the situation. After Ginny's terrifically
embarrassing disruption of the two of them in the
library, he'd barely spoken to her for the rest of the
day. That is, until dinner when he intercepted Harry
before he could sit down next to her. Ron had
proclaimed loudly that it was because he missed
talking to his little sister and had then proceeded to
ignore her for the rest of the dinner. Harry had given
Ron a look and gone to sit across the table from them.
Had it been her imagination, or had he looked at her
too? She shook her head. The time had long since
passed since she'd been misguided enough to try to
interpret all of Harry Potter's actions. 

She grimaced. What did it matter about stupid Ron and
dinner? Another much more pressing issue was at
hand-and it included a nighttime visit to Harry. She
blushed again, deeper this time, wishing she hadn't
thought of it that way. It was silly, really. All she
had to do was go into the room and wake him up. She
had five older brothers, and it wasn't as if anyone in
there had anything she hadn't seen before. When they
were little, she and Ron used to take baths together
and it wasn't as if you could call Fred and George
shy. And honestly, its not like he was going to be
naked or anything...would he? She tried to push that
mortifying thought out of her head. She was starting
to lose her nerve. Then suddenly, she remembered
Hermione and how humiliated she would be if Filch
caught them. There wasn't any other way, right? It had
to be done. 

She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and
marched over to the stairs leading up to the boy's
dorm. Running up them silently, she hesitated for just
a moment before pushing open the door. The room was
dark and she realized in a moment of panic that she
had no idea which bed was Harry's. She advanced
cautiously down the center of the room, glancing from
bed to bed. The curtains weren't drawn on the first
bed, which contained a sleeping Dean Thomas. She
peeked in the curtains of the second bed to find
Seamus Finnegan snoring loudly and was approaching the
third bed when something soft landed on her foot.
Ginny slapped her hand over her mouth to contain the
scream that rose in her throat and looked down to
discover Neville's toad Trevor gazing up at her. She
picked him and carried him along to the third bed.
Neville's curtains weren't closed either and she
placed Trevor gently on the pillow next to Neville's
head. Ginny tensed as he sighed and turned over,
muttering softly to himself. The last two bed were
obviously Harry's and Ron's. She moved over to the
closest one and pulled the curtains open a crack. 

Harry was sprawled across the bed on his stomach, the
coverlet and sheets tangled down at the bottom. To
Ginny's dismay or delight, she couldn't tell, he was
wearing only the bottom of his pajamas. She'd never
seen him without his shirt on before, and her stomach
gave a peculiarly pleasant lurch. It was so strange to
see him like that, so entirely out of context with the
way she usually pictured Harry. She knew she should
hurry, knew they were running short on time, but she
couldn't stop looking at him. His arms were wrapped
around the pillow that cradled his head, and he slept
silently. A shock of black hair had fallen over his
forehead, completely obscuring the scar. She shivered.
Ginny hated the scar. She'd hated it from the moment
she heard the story of its creation. Ron had told her
once that Harry didn't remember much from the night
his parents died, just a flash of green light and
Voldemort's terrible laughter. When he told her about
Hagrid finding Harry amid the ruins of the house,
she'd started to cry. She cried herself to sleep that
night, unable to get the image of the Potter's ruined
cottage out of her mind. And since then she'd hated
the scar because of everything it had to represent to
Harry. It must be a special kind of torture to wear
the reminder of your parent's death on your forehead. 

A sudden creaking from the far corner of the room
jolted her out of her reverie. She heard the rustle of
bedclothes and then...silence. And then an awful
realization struck Ginny. She was standing in the
boy's dorm in the middle of the night, staring at
Harry Potter. The pleasant feeling in her stomach was
rapidly replaced by a full body freeze. She knew
exactly what it would look like, and she would never
live it down. Especially if Fred and George found out,
which of course they would, and Ron, oh Ron would have
an attack...and Harry. She could imagine exactly what
Harry would think and it was so awful that for a
moment, she wondered if she might throw up right
there. Of course, if she did that, the only recourse
would be to move to America and live as a Muggle. 

Ginny had almost decided to leave when she remembered
Hermione. She knew she couldn't find them without the
Map and she couldn't use the map without Harry
so...she was just going to have to figure out how to
wake him up and do it fast, before someone woke up and
got the wrong idea. Just then a loud bass grunt broke
the silence. Ginny started violently and acting purely
on instinct to elude capture, leapt through the crack
in the curtains, narrowly avoiding landing on top of
Harry's feet. It took her a moment to fully comprehend
that she'd just leapt into Harry's bed, and then
another moment to realize that she'd been flipped onto
her back, hands pinned above her head. 

She heard, "Lumos," and then the small space was
filled with a soft light. Harry was sitting on top of
her, holding his wand in one hand and her wrists in
another. "Ginny?" he whispered, the shock on his face
unmistakable. 

"Um, Harry? Could you...um-" She glowed scarlet, and
tried to move out from underneath him. 

"Oh, god. I'm sorry." He let go of instantly, and
moved toward the end of the bed. "I'm really sorry."
He flushed. "I didn't mean to..." he paused awkwardly,


"or anything." Then his face changed as the obvious
seemed to occur to him. "Hey- what are you doing up
here in the boy's dormitory?" 

"Oh Harry, I'm sorry I came in here, but we have to go
find Ron and Hermione."

His face looked very puzzled. She hurried to explain.
"Malfoy heard them talking today, and he knows they
were planning to sneak out tonight. He's told Filch
already. Look, Harry, I know you have that old map of
Fred and George's- I've known about it for ages. I
just thought-"

Harry was already off the bed and rummaging through
his trunk. Ginny slid off the bed quickly. "I'll just
wait for you down in the common room, shall I?" He
nodded absently, and Ginny silently hurried out of the
room and down the stairs, her heart pounding. Had she
really done that? She couldn't seem to catch her
breath properly. 

**********

Harry rummaged quickly through his trunk, snatching up
the map and his Invisibility Cloak. He turned to run
down to the common room, and was halfway to the door
when he realized he was wearing only his pajama
bottoms. For the first time, he realized that Ginny
had seen him like that. The oddest sensation swept
over him, but there was no time to think about it. He
ran back to his four-poster and quickly pulled on a
T-shirt and jeans before running down into the common
room. Ginny was pacing nervously back in forth in
front of the fire, her face very pale. 

For a long moment, they just looked at each other, and
dull crimson swept up both their faces. Harry seemed
to have more limbs than usual, and he didn't know what
to do with any of them. He shuffled on his feet for a
moment, and then said, "Er, look, Ginny. There's no
reason for both of us to go. I mean, I've got the map
and everything, and I probably know where they're
going, so why don't you just, er.." She let him get no
further.

"I'm not going to sit here and wait!" She hissed.
"You'll need a look out, won't you. I wish everyone
would stop trying to nudge me in the corner until the
danger's over." Harry opened his mouth to say
something conciliatory, but she raised her hand to
stop him. "I'm coming. Now let's go." She swiveled
resolutely, and headed toward the portrait hole. He
had never seen her this resolute, and he wasn't going
to be the one to tell her no. She was apparently
prepared to charge through the corridors without him
if he didn't follow.

"Ginny, wait." She stopped, plainly prepared to
continue arguing her point. "No, it's- You see, I've
got this other thing that comes in useful for stuff
like this." He produced the long silvery cloak from
his pocket. Ginny stepped forward, fascinated. 

"It's an Invisibility Cloak," Harry explained quickly.


"I've never seen one before," she breathed. 

He handed it to her. "We should probably put it on
before we leave Gryffindor tower. It'll cover us both,
no problem." He felt a choking sensation in his throat
as if his entire body was trying to take back those
words. What was he thinking? He couldn't run around
Hogwarts with Ginny underneath the same cloak. He
could barely be in the same room with her without
experiencing a complete breakdown of higher motor
functions. But it was hardly her fault that she was
pretty and funny and Ginny. Besides, she was already
shaking out the cloak. 

"Do you know where they were supposed to be headed?"
Harry asked, pulling out the map.

"Wendy said something about the North Tower," she
offered. 

Harry touched his wand to the map and recited, "I
solemnly swear I am up to no good." Ginny watched the
ink lines blossom over the parchment in amazement. 

"That's the whole castle and everyone in it? That's
the most useful thing I've ever seen." She reached out
to touch the small dot labeled "Virginia Weasley."

"Yeah," Harry agreed. He was scanning it quickly,
looking for Ron and Hermione. They didn't seem to be
in the North Tower, nor to his great relief, Filch's
office. He finally located them in a part of the
castle he had never been in. "D'you know where that
is?" he asked Ginny.

"Sure," she said immediately. "That's the Muggle
Studies classroom. That's a good place to pick,
actually. It's close enough to a couple different
staircases for a quick getaway, but pretty far from
the teacher's offices."

Harry blinked. It sounded as if she had put some study
into this question. Who was she sneaking out in the
middle of the night with? Whoever it was, Harry hated
him. 

"Harry, we've got to hurry. How do you get this thing
on?" She was struggling with the folds of the cloak.

"Here," he offered. He stepped as close to her as he
could get without touching, and swirled the cloak over
them both.

The familiar feel of the swishing fabric fell over his
shoulders, and he felt Ginny give a small shiver. It
gave Harry pause. How many times had he, Ron and
Hermione used this cloak? Probably more than he could
count, it had become such a part of his life at
Hogwarts, and yet it was an entirely new experience to
Ginny. He felt a small pang of regret, but he wasn't
fully sure about what. "Let's go." He started to move
toward the portrait hole, but stopped as he felt the
cloak pull slightly. 

"I guess I'm not as used to walking underneath this
thing as you are," she offered. "Is there some trick I
don't know about?" 

He shook his head. "No, not really. We just have to
stay close together and...um." His voice trailed off.
With a burst of courage that appeared out of nowhere,
he reached over and grabbed her hand. Much to Harry's
relief, she didn't say anything. They moved toward the
hole and clambered out, coming out into the empty
corridor. 

"Which way is it?" he whispered. "I've never been to
the Muggle Studies classroom."

"It's this way," she whispered back, pulling him down
the hall to the left. "It really pleased Dad when I
said I would take it, he's been trying to get one of
the boys to do it for years. I promised him I'd give
him Muggle lessons this summer." Harry smiled;
imagining Ginny in Mr. Weasley's shed teaching him
about plugs and fellytones. His smile faltered a
little as he imagined how Mr. Weasley would feel about
Harry sneaking through Hogwarts at 2 am under an
Invisibility Cloak, holding the hand of his daughter.
He tried to push Mr. Weasley from his mind. He
followed Ginny as she led him down another staircase
and around several turns. 

It did make maneuvering under the cloak easier when
you were holding hands, but Harry was quite certain
that Ginny was the only Weasley whose hand he was ever
going to hold. He found he quite liked having Ginny's
small, strong hand in his, even though it seemed to
occupy most of his attention. His entire body buzzed
pleasantly. 

They turned up a narrow staircase half hidden behind a
squat statue of smug, chubby little wizard. According
to the large plaque affixed to the base, he was named
Humberto the Unbeatable, hero of the 6th Goblin
Rebellion. "This goes straight up to the fourth floor,
and the Muggle Studies classroom is just down the
hall." Ginny whispered close to his ear. Not that
there was much choice. There had never been so little
room under this cloak before, not even when he,
Hermione, Ron and Scabbers had crammed underneath it. 

They had just reached a small landing when from below
them they heard Filch's voice from the corridor below
them. "Peeves! I’ve got you this time! Short-sheeting
the headmaster’s bed! I’ll have you booted out of this
castle by morning!" 

"Not Peeves! Not Peeves!" The poltergeist shrieked.
Harry and Ginny froze. That voice sounded
uncomfortably close. Don’t turn up this staircase,
please, please, Harry chanted in his head. Even if no
one could see them, they could still hear them, and
this was a very narrow stair. 

Peeves was chuckling maniacally, and from the sound of
it, hovering just around the statue of Humberto.
"What’s the fastest way out of here?" Harry asked
Ginny in a barely audible whisper. 

"There isn’t one," she replied in the same hushed
tone. "This staircase goes directly up to the fourth
floor. It doesn’t let off on any of the others." They
were standing side by side now, flat up against the
wall of the landing. If Peeves was coming up this way,
it was the best they could do. There was at least a
chance he’d zoom past if they stayed on landing, but
there was no way they could be missed if they got
caught on the stairs. 

"Peeves!" Filch’s anguished howl reverberated against
the stone walls. "Peeves!" To Harry’s horror, he heard
Filch’s footsteps start to ascend the stairs at a run.
"Ruddy bloody poltergeist," Filch’s muttering was
getting closer. "Every time…every time…just shoots
right up through the ceiling." 

Harry and Ginny were frozen to the wall, as small as
they could make themselves. The clattering of Filch’s
feet was getting louder and louder, and any moment he
would round the corner and be visible just below them.
Just then, Peeves’ unmistakable voice could be heard
back in the corridor below them. "Peeves ain’t up
there, Filchy!" He crowed, obviously delighted to have
gotten one up on Filch. "Peeves didn’t go nowhere!" 

Filch had just come around the corner, panting, but he
stopped abruptly at the sound of Peeves’ voice. He
burst out, "Ruddy bloody poltergeist!" one last time,
and then turned on his heel and clattered back down
the steps. 

Harry heaved an enormous sigh of relief, and next to
him, he could hear Ginny doing the same. As if they
could read each other’s thoughts, they grabbed hands
again and bolted up the stairs as quickly and silently
as possible. They erupted into the corridor at the top
of the steps, and Ginny tugged him to the right. 

"There it is," she said, and moved down toward the end
of a small hallway. The large wooden door was closed
and loomed high above them. They stood there for a
moment, collecting their breath and waiting for their
hearts to slow. That had been very close. 

Harry looked around the hallway and pulled the cloak
off of them both. They stood there for a moment in the
faint light, undecided. Now that they were here, how
were they to go about fetching them? Opening the door
and walking in wasn't tempting in the slightest.

Ginny pressed her ear against the door. She listened
for a moment, biting her bottom lip in concentration,
and shook her head as she straightened. "I don't hear
anybody in here. D'you think that we've missed them?
You'd better check the map again, Harry." He pulled it
out of his pocket, and searched it quickly for two
small dots labeled Ronald Weasley and Hermione
Granger. Sure enough, there they were, located in the
corner of the Muggle Studies classroom, with two dots
just outside the door marked Virginia Weasley and
Harry Potter.

"Yeah, they're in there, all right, " he said a trifle
grimly. She looked relieved, and started to give Harry
a small smile. He tried to return it, but couldn't.
Harry wasn't taking the silence as a good sign at all.
Sure, Ron and Hermione hadn't been caught by Filch
yet. But all that meant was the job was now left to
Harry and Ginny-a task he was not looking forward to.
In fact, he realized that he'd almost rather face
another Hungarian Horntail than to interrupt...that.
He grimaced, and pushed the hair out of his eyes as he
made a mental note to give Ron a good kick to the
shins at the first opportunity. 

Ginny's smile faltered. "What is it?" she whispered.
An uncomfortable wave of awkwardness washed over him
and he suddenly felt very stupid. Harry wasn't exactly
sure how to respond. After all, didn't she realize why
the room was so quiet? She had to have an idea what
was going on in there...didn't she? She couldn't have
come all this way thinking that Ron and Hermione were
somewhere having a nice chat! 

He cleared his throat. "Well. Um, why do YOU think
it's so quiet in there?" He nodded vigorously toward
the closed door. "I thought you knew...what was going
on with them...and...well..." Oh, this was even worse
than anything he'd imagined. There wasn't a shade of
red that hadn't paraded across his face and he felt
his left eye actually begin to twitch. Harry cleared
his throat nervously and stared up at the ceiling. "
I'm not really sure how to explain it..." 

Harry gave up. Perhaps the less said the better, but
he sincerely wished for a convenient trap door to open
up. It wasn't that he had deluded himself into
thinking he was never going to have to see Ron and
Hermione kiss, but to have it happen like this, and
Ginny...she was standing right next to him and he was
thinking about kissing. He was thinking about kissing,
and handholding and absent pajama tops and he couldn't
seem to stop. He rested his hot forehead against the
cold stone wall for a moment. As long as he didn't
actually touch her, he thought, he might be ok. 

"Harry? Is something wrong?" Dimly, he realized that
Ginny had been trying to talk to him for some time.
"Harry?" And she laid her hand on his forearm to get
his attention.

Her touch was light and unexpected and startled him so
much that he whirled around, knocking them both off
balance. His back slammed into the wall as Ginny fell
into his arms. Instinctively, he closed his arms
around her waist. Her hands, which had flown up to
break her fall, were now resting on his chest. She
turned her head up and looked straight at him. Harry's
head was filled with a strange buzzing and somewhere
in the back of his mind he wondered if she could feel
his heart hammering under her small hand. He knew he
should let go, but he couldn't. He wasn't ready to let
her go yet. Of course, he'd imagined this situation
before, but it had never been like this. This...this
was startling. It was as if something inside his head
had switched on. All of the awkwardness and
uncertainty were gone now and all that existed was
Ginny. It didn't matter, any of it, except the two of
them, standing together. 

He stared down into her eyes and wondered how long it
would be before she noticed he hadn't let go. A moment
later, she noticed for the first time her hands
resting on Harry's chest. She pulled them back
quickly, blushing, and attempted to move away from
him. But he tightened his hold around her waist and
pulled her closer. Ginny's head snapped up and their
eyes connected. Her lips parted slightly and he
couldn't stop himself, nothing could stop it now.
Slowly, he leaned toward her, the rushing in his ears
becoming louder and louder until he was almost
touching her lips and SNAP! The noise, whatever it
was, echoed through the hall. Harry and Ginny jumped
apart, startled. He quickly threw the cloak over them,
not daring to look at her. 

He'd run away if he could, he really would, he
thought. He'd never been so intensely mortified in his
entire life. What did he think he was doing? Had he
completely lost his senses? Yes, that was exactly what
had happened. He'd lost his senses, and they might be
gone for good, because all he could think about was
that she was only inches away, still within kissing
range. She was completely motionless underneath the
cloak with him. What was she thinking? He had to know.
But the silence between them was growing longer and
longer, and he didn't know how to break it. Just as he
was contemplating chucking it all and going for it,
her voice broke the stillness.

"What was that? Do you think that it's gone now?

Harry started. It took him a moment to figure out what
she meant. "Er- I guess I should check," he whispered.
He pulled the map back out of his pocket and thrust
his hand outside the cloak. If anyone walked down the
corridor, all they'd see a disembodied hand clutching
a bit of parchment. He peered at it in the
semi-darkness. "It doesn't look like anyone's around.
Filch is still roaming around by the North Tower. " He
unwound the cloak from around her, revealing her
breathless and a bit mussed. He still couldn't meet
her eyes. 

"Should we knock first, do you think?" she asked.
Harry desperately tried to control his breathing. He
thought he might start to hyperventilate. He didn't
know whether to be relieved that she didn't sound as
bad off as he was or deeply upset. How could she act
like nothing happened? He'd almost kissed her, and
he'd thought, just for a moment, that she was entirely
willing to be kissed. 

Suddenly, the absurdity of the situation washed over
him. Here he was, sneaking through the castle in the
middle of the night trying to catch his best friends
making out before Filch did. And to top it all off, he
was being forced to do it with the girl he'd most like
to sneak off and kiss. What a bizarre form of torture-
he began to see the twisted humor in it. 

"What I think is that we should go back under the
cloak and give them the scare of their lives. They
deserve it, making us chase them around the castle at
2:30 in the morning. And them prefects." Harry said.
His sense of humor was returning, and with it, a
desire for a bit of payback. 

"Should we?" Ginny's eyes were sparkling with
mischief. "I don't know, Harry. I mean, it's too late
for me, but your eyes are still innocent. There's
still a chance for you to avoid permanent
psychological damage." The relief Harry felt was
enormous. He could do this if they could just ignore
what almost happened. Maybe she felt the same way-
regardless, Harry was profoundly grateful she was
playing along.

Harry grinned widely. "And how did you sustain this
permanent damage, Ginny?" 

She hesitated a moment. "I walked in on them in the
library this afternoon," she confessed. "I'd rather
not repeat that experience if at all possible." She
started to giggle. "And I'm pretty sure I wouldn't
live through it a second time. I thought Ron was going
to club me." She shook her head and dissolved into
noiseless mirth, obviously reliving the look on Ron's
face. 

Harry started to laugh, too. There was more than a bit
of hysteria mixed with his great, heaving silent
chuckles. It was such a relief, such an outlet for all
the embarrassment and mixed-up emotions he'd been
bombarded with this evening, that he found himself
unable to stop. "Ok, here's what we're going to do,"
he said when he could draw a breath. "We're going to
check the map one more time and see how close those
two dots are from each other." Ginny snorted again,
and they were both swept away on another debilitating
bout of laughter. "And...and if," he drew a lungful of
air with difficulty, "If we can see daylight between
the dots, as it were," he struggled through to the end
of the sentence, "We'll just walk in, ok?" 

Tears were streaming down Ginny's face. "And if we
can't?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Harry
said firmly, and then lost control again. 

Both of them were now leaning against the stone wall,
unable to hold themselves upright. Harry couldn't
remember anything being so funny in his entire life.
"Ok, ok, ok." He said, more to calm himself than
anything, and tried to read the map through the tears
that had gathered in his eyes. Ginny leaned over his
arm to get a peek. He blinked furiously to clear his
eyes, and squinted. 

"Is that one dot or two?" he said finally, and they
both crumpled to a heap on the floor, shaking with
uncontrollable giggles. He had developed a stitch in
his side, and Ginny was doubled up next to him. 

This was bad. He had to get a handle on himself. He
heaved two deep breaths, stood up, and offered Ginny a
hand. She wiped the tears from her eyes, and grasped
it. Tingles shot from his hand through his entire body
as he hauled her to her feet. It sobered him a little,
enough at least to be able to think a bit. 

"All right then," he said. He found himself unable to
let go of her, so he kept talking, hoping she wouldn't
notice. "What if we walk in backwards?" The silliness
of this solution struck him the moment he uttered it,
and they caught each other's eyes as they forced back
another fit of laughter. 

"I guess we'd better," Ginny finally choked. "Ok,
let's go on the count of three, then." They positioned
themselves just in front of the door, and Harry
grasped the handle behind him. Still clasping hands,
Ginny started the countdown. 

"One...two...three." Harry turned the knob, pushed the
door in behind him, and they started backing through
the door. When they had cleared the doorframe, Harry
announced their presence.

"Ron? Hermione? It's just us." Despite all his good
intentions, a tremor of amusement tinged his voice.

"Come on kids, time to break it up," Ginny said in a
dead-on impression of Mrs. Weasley. It was too much
for Harry, and he lost it again. The utter absurdity
of the situation hit him once more, and he was
helpless to prevent the enormous guffaw that broke out
of him. He simply couldn't control it. He felt very
guilty that it was at his best friends' expense, and
he knew that Hermione at least was going to be utterly
mortified, but sod it all, it was funny. The fact that
Ginny was still clutching his hand, wheezing with
shared laughter, placed this as one of the highlights
of his life. He knew there were going to be dire
consequences for this moment of levity, but just
couldn't care.

There was dead silence behind them for a moment, and
then they heard a strangled squeak, obviously from
Hermione. They shook harder. "Is it safe to turn
around now?" Harry managed. Finally, Ron's voice
boomed from behind them.

"You'd better damn well turn around now and tell us
what the bloody hell you're doing here!" Ginny
squeezed his hand more tightly and they both turned
slowly. Harry had never been in the Muggle Studies
classroom before, but he hadn't expected this. In the
center of the room there were desks like any other
classroom, but the perimeter was filled with effluvia
from the Muggle world. Microwaves, televisions and
typewriters were stacked on tables. There was a
refrigerator in the corner, and an entire telephone
booth pushed against the back wall. By far the largest
object in the room was an entire automobile, with the
bonnet removed to show the engine. Hermione was still
sitting in the back seat. For a moment, Harry wasn't
sure he would be able to control himself, although he
knew that more laughter would be the worst possible
move. He looked up at Ron, and Harry's amusement died
completely as he saw the expression on his face. He
looked as if he could easily kill them with his bare
hands, and Harry knew he had to head him off quickly. 

"No, listen. I'm really sorry, but we had to come and
find you," he said earnestly. "Malfoy overheard you
two in Potions, and he tipped off Filch."

"It's true, Ron. Wendy Ledford told me just after
Astronomy." Ginny chimed in. "I'm so sorry, Hermione.
You know I never would have..."

Hermione's face was buried in her hands. Only the tips
of her very red ears were visible. Ginny moved across
the room and crouched by the car door. "Hermione,
please. I don't blame you for being mad at me. That
was mean, what I just did. I just didn't think about
it before I said it."

"We brought the Marauder's Map and the cloak so that
you can sneak back to Gryffindor," Harry said to Ron.
Ginny was now talking very quietly to Hermione, and he
thought it was best to let them be for a moment. He
did feel extremely guilty. "If Filch catches you,
you're done for as prefects."

Ron was still regarding him stonily. Harry was
beginning to feel slightly irritated. Did Ron really
think he got his jollies from wandering around the
castle in the middle of the night to catch his best
friends snogging? 

"Hermione's crying." He said quietly, as if there
would be retribution for this later. "You burst in
here, acting like two year olds, and humiliated her."

Harry swallowed.

Ron's eyes narrowed. "And just what is Ginny doing
with you, roaming around in the middle of the night?"

Harry could find no good answer to this. He didn't
think "I can't say no to your little sister" would
pacify Ron at all. 

"Cozy under that Invisibility Cloak, isn't it?" Ron
hissed. Harry could feel his face getting very hot. He
didn't know where to look. He hoped that Ginny was too
busy with Hermione to pay attention to what was
happening on the other side of the room. "Ah, but you
don't like her, like her, do you?" He mocked. 

Harry was getting very angry. He was sorry they'd
burst in the way they had, and he was very sorry that
they'd upset Hermione, but after all, they were only
trying to save their necks. If Ron was going to be
angry with him, he might as well give him a reason.
"Yes, I do." He said very firmly but quietly. "I do
like her, Ron, and I'm sorry if you don't think I'm
good enough for her, but if she likes me back..." his
voice trailed off. "I don't think there's anything you
can do about it." He finished. He waited with
trepidation for Ron's reply, but at the same time, he
felt a great weight lifted from his heart. It was such
a big thing, his feelings for Ginny- it took up so
much of him- it hadn't felt right that Ron didn't
know. He had always had as few secrets as possible
from his best friends, and this was the one that
weighed him down the most. 

Ron was looking utterly flabbergasted, as if that was
the last thing he expected Harry to have said. He
seemed to have forgotten that his audience included
the person in question. "You want to go out with my
little sister?" His voice rose with outrage. Ginny and
Hermione looked up from the intense conversation they
were having by the automobile. 

Harry's face burned, and he couldn't look over at
them. But he was backed into a corner now, and there
was nothing for it. "Yes." He said simply, and waited
for the punches to start flying. Nothing happened. The
room was deadly silent. He snuck a glance over to
Ginny. She was looking as flabbergasted as Ron.
Surprisingly, Hermione seemed to have regained her
composure. She got up from her seat, and walked over
to Ron.

"Come on, Ron," she said. "We've got to get back to
Gryffindor." She grasped his hand and tugged him
toward the door. "Come on!" But Ron was rooted to the
spot, his gaze moving between Harry and Ginny. 

"Here," said Harry suddenly. He thrust the cloak and
map at Hermione. "Take these- Filch must have realized
by now that you lot aren't up in North Tower. You'll
never make it back without them."

"You want me to leave you here at 3:00 in the morning
with my little sister?" Ron said, incredulously. "Are
you nutters? After you just announced your undying
love and dishonorable intentions? I don't think so."
Harry didn't think it was possible to be redder in the
face than he was right now, but he caught a glimpse of
Ginny and changed his mind. Her face and her hair had
blended together. 

"Listen," he said soberly. "We can't all fit under the
cloak, and we can't all go back together the same way.
We'll get caught for sure. Ginny and I will just get
detention, but you and Hermione..." He didn't need to
finish the sentence. McGonagall would have their
prefect's badges if she ever heard. "At least take the
cloak. We'll take the map, and that way we should all
make it back."

"Ron, please." Hermione looked at him beseechingly.
"Harry will get her back to Gryffindor safely. They'll
be right behind us. Won't you, Harry?"

But it was Ginny who spoke. "Ron, just go. I don't
care if you're cross at Harry- do you really want to
get Hermione in trouble? This was your idea in the
first place, wasn't it? What did you have to do to
talk her into this?"

Ron looked sheepish. 

"Come on," said Harry. He was checking the Marauder's
Map. "Filch is on the second floor now. We've got to
leave soon or we'll all be in his office."

Ron reached out his hand for the cloak, and Harry
tossed it across the room. "Right." He gave Harry a
penetrating look. "But we're not through with this
conversation." Ginny looked exasperated.

"Would you just get out of here, you big stupid git? I
don't need a bloody keeper." Ron looked at her,
shocked. 

"Give me that," snapped Hermione. She wrenched the
Invisibility Cloak from his fingers. Ron was now
wearing an expression of utter bemusement. The girls
had turned on him. A moment later, Hermione swirled
the cloak over them both, and they were gone. Harry
could hear their footsteps heading for the door. 

"Avoid the second floor if you can," he hissed after
them, and then he and Ginny were alone once more.



Harry watched as the door began to slowly close behind
them. The realization of what he’d just done was
starting to sink in. As the door clicked shut, a heavy
silence filled the space between him and Ginny. He
sneaked a glance in her direction and saw that she had
crossed her arms in front of herself. She seemed to be
trying to keep her face as blank as possible. He knew
he had to say something, something intelligent and
witty preferably, but anything to take away the
uncomfortable silence that hung in the air. Harry felt
desperate. He knew that he’d thought at least thirty
different things about Ginny today in Potions alone,
but they didn’t seem appropriate things to say just
now. Maybe he should tell her how pretty she looked
standing there in the moonlit classroom, or how much
he liked it when she wore her hair up and he could see
the fine russet hairs on the back of her neck. Or
maybe he should tell her what he had really thought
after realizing it was Ginny he had pinned to his bed.
His cheeks flushed again, and it irritated him. He
reached under his glasses and rubbed his eyes,
searching for the something to say. 

"Harry?" Her voice cut through the haze in his brain,
and jolted him back into reality. She was biting her
lip again, and when she spoke again her voice was
barely above a whisper. "I’m sorry that had to happen.
We shouldn’t have been so insensitive, I suppose. And,
I’m sorry you had to say what you did. I mean, you
managed to distract him and…I just want you to know
that I understand why you did it. That’s all. You
don’t have to…worry, or anything. " She looked away. 

He was stunned. Of everything Harry imagined she would
say, that certainly hadn’t been it. And then suddenly,
he understood. She didn’t think he’d meant what he’d
said. She thought that it had just been an elaborate
ruse to distract Ron from yelling. And best of all…she
was upset about it. He could tell she was trying not
to be upset, could see the struggle in her face. A
warm tingling was spreading through his stomach. If
she was upset about it, it had to mean that she wished
it was true. And if she wished it was true, then…well,
then maybe this wasn’t going to be so difficult after
all. 

He almost leapt toward her, but stopped. Her face was
guarded again, and he desperately wanted to say the
right thing. "Ginny. I…I wasn’t lying. I mean, I meant
it, you know. About liking you." He felt like an
idiot, the words tangling inside his mouth. But she
had fixed her eyes on him and there was a glint there
that made him take a step toward her. "I didn’t say
anything before because I knew Ron would be upset
and…well, I didn’t know if you liked me." The unspoken
"anymore" hung in the air between them. Ginny arched a
delicate eyebrow at him and looked amused. He grinned
and stepped closer still to her. "Besides, you know
Ron. Protective is the nice way to describe it." This
time she did laugh, softly and twinkling, and it made
him shiver. Harry closed the gap between them. He
wanted so badly to touch her, to hold her again like
he had in the hallway. It must have been obvious
because her eyes widened a little, but they were clear
and smiling as she tilted her head back to look at
him. A stray lock of hair had fallen across her
forehead and he brushed it back, tucking the strand
behind her ear. He heard her small, sharp intake of
breath as he took her face in his hands, and felt her
shiver as their lips brushed. He kissed her harder
then, and she melted against him, entwining her hands
around his waist. The rushing in his ears had returned
but it was more like singing now, and Harry realized
that he’d finally found something he liked better than
flying. 

Ginny was the first to notice that they weren’t alone
anymore. Harry wouldn’t have noticed at all if she
hadn’t broken away suddenly and looked down at her
feet. But as he followed her gaze down to the mouth,
he felt his mouth go dry. Standing in the space
between their feet and looking extremely pleased with
herself, was Mrs. Norris. They jumped apart and Harry
looked around quickly for Filch, who was nowhere to be
seen. Ginny and Mrs. Norris were staring at each other
with intense dislike and Harry got the distinct
feeling that this was not the first time the two of
them had met. He made a mental note to ask Ginny about
it later, and moved carefully around the skinny gray
cat. "Ginny. We’ve got to get out of here before Filch
comes. He’s got to be close", he whispered into her
ear. She nodded and clasping hands, the two of them
began to inch toward the door. The cat moved so fast
that Harry barely caught it. She stretched out in a
pose of feline domination, ears back and ready to
fight. 

"Harry, she’s not going to let us leave! She’s going
to keep us here until Filch comes." 

"This is ridiculous. We’re being held hostage by a
cat", he whispered back. "We’re going to have to
escape. Come on, what’s the worst she can do? She’s
just a cat, right?" Harry hoped sounded more confident
about that than he felt. Mrs. Norris’ great lamp-like
eyes fixed on Harry’s face, and he suddenly wished he
hadn’t said anything at all. Abruptly, the cat’s
posture changed. She sat up and turned one ear toward
the direction of the door. 

"I think she’s listening to something." Ginny said,
after a moment. 


"Yeah, probably Filch", he said gloomily. 

Ginny shook her head, still staring at Mrs. Norris.
"No, I don’t think so. Look!" Harry looked on in
surprise as the cat began grooming herself
frantically. "I’ve never seen her do that when Filch
was coming. I can’t imagine…Wait. Something’s
happening." The door to the classroom was opening
slightly and Harry was amazed to see that it wasn’t
Filch pushing through, but a familiar ginger cat. 


"It’s Crookshanks!" Ginny whispered. Harry nodded,
unable to take his eyes away from the scene unfolding
in front of him. The large ginger cat strolled in a
wide circle around Mrs. Norris, his bottlebrush tail
flicking irreverently in the air. She watched him
impassively, and waited until he had stopped in front
of her to bat a gray paw toward his face. Crookshanks
did the same and sat back on his impressive haunches.
He let out a loud meow, to which Mrs. Norris responded
and for a few moments they were deeply engaged in
conversation. Ginny and Harry were completely silent,
utterly fascinated by the discussion. And then, as
suddenly as she had appeared, Mrs. Norris was gone.
Harry shook his head, not quite sure what had just
transpired. Ginny leaned down and scratched
Crookshanks behind the ears. The enormous cat arched
his back and moved toward the door, slipping out the
way he had come. And for an instant, Harry was quite
sure the cat had winked at him. 

He turned back to Ginny and smiled at her. "This place
is busier than Euston Station. Let’s get out of here
before bloody Malfoy comes prancing through as well." 

"I don’t believe that just happened. I think Mrs.
Norris fancies him." Ginny was shaking her head in
wonder. "I wonder what Filch would say if he knew his
faithful sidekick was corruptible."

Harry held out his hand, and Ginny took it. There was
no hesitation or awkwardness. It was if they’d been
walking hand in hand always. Harry’s heart was very
full, suddenly. He felt tall and somehow more than he
had been a few minutes earlier. Ginny liked him,
really liked him. It was amazing.

They were out in the corridor again, and both of them
stopped to scan the map. Mrs. Norris was now on the
staircase they had taken on their way to the
classroom. "We don’t want to take those stairs again,
anyway," said Ginny. "It’s too easy to get stuck on
them. Come on, we’ll go down the main stairs and cut
through the entrance hall."

Harry knew he should be paying attention to where they
were going, but Ginny seemed to have that well under
control, and his mind was preoccupied with more
pleasant things. It was a very different trip from the
one he had taken just an hour before. He felt almost
giddy.

They ducked into corners a few times to check the map,
and he considered leaning over and kissing her, but
thought the better of it. It was more important to get
back to Gryffindor, he told himself firmly, if
half-heartedly. 

It was a surprisingly uneventful trip back. They had
to double back once to avoid Peeves, and almost walked
into the Bloody Baron, but they stopped just in time
and hid behind a suit of armor. Even so, it was after
four a.m. when they neared the portrait hole. 

"Wait." Harry stopped abruptly. It had occurred to him
suddenly exactly what they would be walking into. It
was too much to hope Ron and Hermione had gone to bed.
No, a showdown was going to be unavoidable, and with a
sinking feeling he remembered the look on Ron’s face
just before he’d left the Muggle Studies classroom.
Surely he’d calm down a bit after a while and get used
to he and Ginny being…he and Ginny. But he knew Ron
too well to expect that to happen for a week, at
least. 

Ginny looked at him expectantly, and he towed her back
around the corner toward the stairs. "I just want to
do something before we have to go in there and get
told off by your brother," he said, and he leaned down
to kiss her. 



Author’s Notes: Well, here we are, at the end of our
epic. (Honeychurch dabs her eyes delicately with a
hankie while Lallybroch looks wan and stoic.) There
will be no sequels to this puppy. We feel we’ve been
fairly kind to them. Well, except that Ron is stalking
around the common room channeling Mrs. Weasley right
now. Aw, but Harry can handle it. He’s a
battle-hardened veteran who sleeps with one eye open
and can soundlessly tackle and pin any intruders.
Erik, be assured that no harm came to Trevor, and he
is out there having adventures of his own. To
Arabella, Zsenya, and the rest of the lovely people at
Sugar Quill: you rock, and there is no more to be
said. Long live W.A.I.L! Thank you and good night.