Author's Note: This is just a silly bit of fluff I originally posted in the CatchMySnitch community on Livejournal, for an April Fool's day challenge to invent a Weasley's Wizard Wheeze.
Ginny stifled a yawn; the fire was just a bit too warm for comfort and it was making her drowsy. She would have chosen to sit in one of the corners, but Harry had been complaining about the cold outside all afternoon, and in truth it was unseasonably cool for late spring. Glancing around, she could see that the common room was finally emptying, and she bit back a smile. Tonight, she and Harry were going to win.
Harry said she was silly for thinking of it as a battle, but in a sense, it was. They were engaged in a battle of wills against the other couples in Gryffindor Tower to see who could manage to get the common room all to themselves for some much needed private time. Unfortunately, the hold-outs were usually Ron and Hermione, even though they as of yet had refused to declare their couple-dom. Ginny knew it was imminent, though. She only hoped they admitted it before the term's end. She had five galleons riding on it.
Finally, only Ron and Hermione were left, and as the minutes passed, Ginny silently began fuming, wondering what the opposite of Legillimens was and just what measures she would have to take to get her brother to retire for the evening. He and Hermione were concentrating over a chessboard, though Ginny was amused to see her brother glancing furtively at Hermione when he thought she wasn't looking. Ginny wasn't fooled, though. A faint blush stained Hermione's cheeks, and she was unusually fidgety. It would have been cute, had Ginny not wanted Harry to herself so badly. To her relief, Hermione soon yawned.
"I concede," she said. Her king sputtered indignantly, but at a glare from Hermione he slumped in defeat and threw his sword in front of Ron's queen with a clatter.
"You'll never get them to trust you that way," Ron chided.
"And losing to you in five more moves is going to help?" Hermione protested. "I can barely keep my eyes open as it is. I'm for bed."
Ginny smiled gratefully and Hermione winked. Across the table, Ron stretched hugely, his limbs sprawling in all directions. Ginny noticed he casually brushed Hermione's arm, and the girl's blush deepened slightly. He stood and clapped Harry on the shoulder as he passed by.
"You two will be following shortly, right?"
""Night Hermione," Harry said, pointedly ignoring Ron.
"Good night Harry, and you, Ginny," Hermione replied sweetly. She prodded Ron along when it appeared he would dawdle in front of the fire.
"Can't a bloke get warm before crawling into a bloody cold bed?" Ron groused good-naturedly. He began climbing the boys' staircase.
"Not if it's just an excuse to hassle your best friend and your sister," Hermione replied from halfway up the girls' staircase.
At last, their footsteps faded, and Ginny and Harry were truly alone. Ginny turned to find Harry watching her.
"What?" she asked, disconcerted by the intent look on his face.
"I, er, nothing, really. Just...your hair," he said, softly.
"What about it?" Ginny said, combing through it nervously. "Is it mussed, or something?"
"Well, yeah, sort of, but I like it that way. It's just, I, er, noticed...oh, forget it, it was stupid anyway," Harry said, flushing as he turned to face the fire.
"Harry..." Ginny began, exasperated. Harry's shyness was endearing, but it also made him impossible to fathom sometimes.
"It glows," he said quietly.
"What does?" Ginny asked, confused, wondering if he had switched topics.
"Your hair," he said, turning back to face her. He lifted his arm from the back of the couch where it had been resting lightly against her shoulders and picked up a fiery strand. He ran his thumb and forefinger along it and watched as it fell back into place. "In the firelight. It...glows."
Shivers ran from Ginny's head down her spine, leaving her tingling pleasantly. She caught his eyes, and the intent look she had seen earlier was back. Her breath caught in her throat and suddenly her entire body felt as if she were awash in flames. She thought parts of her must be melting inside, somewhere. If she didn't do something, that heat was bound to combust and maybe burn them both up. She was sure Harry's eyes alone could burn holes into hers as he gazed at her. She pushed aside the Potions text she had been pretending to read for the past half-hour.
"You've a test on Polyjuice Potion tomorrow," Harry reminded her. "You said you really needed to study for it." His voiced sounded deeper than it normally was.
"I know," Ginny said matter-of-factly. She reached over and plucked Harry's Transfiguration notes from his grasp and reached across him to drop them over the arm of the couch to the floor. She heard his sharp intake of breath as her breasts brushed across his arm.
"I've a test in Transifiguration tomorrow," Harry said, his voice now quite husky. "McGonagall's been riding me lately about the quality of my switching spells..."
Ginny twisted her body just so and wound up sitting in his lap, her legs hanging off to the side. She reached up and removed his glasses and set them gently on the back of the couch.
"Harry," she said, trailing her fingers lightly across his forehead, her face less than an inch from his, "do you really want to study? Because I can mo-"
Ginny was unable to finish her sentence because Harry had captured her lips in a kiss at last. More of Ginny's insides melted as his arms came around her and he pulled her in closer, as if he was trying to fuse their bodies together into one being. Ginny could almost feel it happening, as she could every time Harry kissed her. The moment their lips met, everything else-lessons, the castle, Voldemort-ceased to exist and there was only Harry. Most of the time there was a voice at the back of her head reminding her to behave herself, that she was only fifteen and it just wouldn't do to lose her head, or anything else, over Harry Potter...not when their future, along with everyone else's, was so uncertain.
But Ginny was tired of being good. Tonight she stamped on that voice until it was no more than a whisper, and then she shifted her position so she was sitting astride Harry, who had slid down the back of the couch just so that they were-almost-connected.
Harry hadn't bothered to change out of his uniform after classes, he'd simply untied his tie and unfastened the top button of his shirt for comfort's sake. Ginny toyed with the ends of his tie, now, smirking slightly.
"You realize I have you right where I want you, Potter," she said smugly.
Harry nodded. His eyes were slightly glazed, and Ginny wasn't certain he was capable of speech just then. She leaned back down, pulling upward on the ends of the tie just enough so that Harry's lips met hers in another kiss. His arms tightened around her, and his hands, which were pressing at the small of her back, began to travel down slowly until they gently caressed the curves of her bum-
KERAAAAACK!
The next thing Ginny knew, she had been thrown to the floor. Her entire body tingled painfully, the same way her fingers did when she touched a metal doorknob in the winter after scuffing her shoes across the carpet. It hurt.
"Bugger!" she swore. And then she noticed Harry still seemed to be affected by whatever force had separated them. His body had stiffened and his hands were clenched into fists.
"Harry!" she cried, scrambling off the floor. She reached for him but when her hands came in contact with his skin she received another nasty shock.
"Bloody hell!" Harry swore, and whatever the force was finally released him. They stared at each other, mystified. Nothing like this had ever happened before. They heard a set of footsteps hurrying down the girls' staircase.
"What on earth was that noise?" Hermione said. She had donned her nightdress and slippers and had braided her hair for the night. "It sounded like thunder!"
From upstairs, Ginny could hear laughter as another set of footsteps echoed down the boys staircase. Ron appeared, nearly doubled over with mirth.
"It works! Wait 'til Fred and George find out!" Then he straightened, and all traces of amusement vanished from his demeanor. "Just what did you think you were doing with my sister, Potter?" he demanded.
"N-nothing!" Harry protested. "We were just kissing!"
"Nice try," Ron retorted. "The sentry wouldn't have gone off if you were just kissing."
"What sentry? Ronald Weasley, what did you do?" Ginny demanded, her momentary confusion quickly turning to anger as she began to get an inkling of what was going on.
Ron walked over to Harry and peeled a thin disk off of his shoulder, the one he had clapped earlier, and held the object up for them to see.
"What is that?" Hermione asked. "It almost looks like..." she trailed off, a blush rising to her face again. She shot Harry a glance and he shrugged, also blushing.
"It's a Snogging Sentry. It's one of Fred and George's new Wheezes," Ron explained. "They sent it to me and asked me to test it out."
"And you decided to test it on me?" Ginny demanded.
"No, I tested it on Harry," Ron said patiently, as if Ginny were five and he was explaining something that should have been very simple for her to understand.
"What's the difference?" Ginny nearly shrieked. "Wait 'til Mum-"
"Wait til Mum what?" Ron interrupted smugly. "Wait 'til she hears that Harry was groping you in the middle of the common room?"
Ginny flushed and looked away. Unfortunately, he was right. She couldn't very well complain to her Mum without revealing her own behavior. To say that Molly wouldn't approve was an understatement. Ginny could just imagine the Howler she'd receive, screaming in front of the whole school that she had behaved like a "scarlet woman." It wasn't worth it.
"How does it work?" Hermione asked. Ron handed her the disk.
"You just press it onto the intended victim and hope they don't notice," he explained. "See, there are five different settings. Kissing, Snogging, Roving Hands, Vanishing Clothing, and Point of No Return. I set this one to Roving Hands. When the Sentry detected, er, amorous activity, it went off."
"That was the thunder-clap I heard?" Hermione asked. Ron nodded.
"And that's not all. If it worked properly..."
"It threw me about five feet," Ginny said sourly.
"And it hurt like hell!" Harry complained.
Ron grinned. "That's what you get for groping my sister!"
Other footsteps sounded on the stairs, and soon several other students appeared.
"What was that noise?" someone asked.
"It was nothing. One of the suits of armor fell over, that's all. Go back to your rooms," Hermione announced authoritatively. "I think you two should probably be getting to bed, too," she added, looking pointedly at Ginny and Harry.
"Separately," Ron added with a smirk.
"Very funny, Ron. Just wait. When you're least expecting it, that's when I'll strike," Ginny threatened. Some of Ron's amusement faded.
"It was Fred and George's idea," he pointed out.
"I'll get them too, but you're first," Ginny said, smirking. "Hermione, have I ever told you about the time I caught Ron-"
Ron clapped his hand over his sister's mouth.
"I"m sorry, Ginny. I'll never do it again. I'll even do your homework for a week," he promised through clenched teeth.
"No thanks, I prefer to pass my classes," Ginny retorted. "And if I see you with one of those things again..."
"They only sent the one," Ron assured her. "But I think they're sending a proposal to Professor McGonagall."
"The traitors," Ginny muttered, rolling her eyes. "All that gold has gone to their heads. I'm off to bed."
Ginny reached up and kissed Harry goodnight before she began to climb the girls' staircase. Along the way, she mentally began plotting the manner in which she would take her revenge. Her faint chuckle drifted down the girls' stairs to where Ron, Hermione and Harry were still gathered, causing Ron to shudder noticeably before he headed for the boys' staircase, dragging Harry in tow.
"Come on, Harry. I need you to help me pack."
Harry lightly pushed his friend away, grinning knowingly.
"Planning on taking a little trip?" he asked.
"Yeah. Never been to Australia. Think it will be far enough away?"
"Not after I tell her where you went," Harry replied evilly, dodging a poorly aimed blow from Ron as they disappeared from Hermione's view.
Hermione smiled to herself as she began climbing to her own dormitory. The brief moments of levity had been a welcome respite from the dark days looming ahead. She made a mental note to post an order to the Weasley twins for a case of snogging sentries first thing in the morning. She could think of more than a few couples who were on the verge of letting their hormones run away with them.
She was only sorry they hadn't been available last November.