Why Do We Fall in Love?

Chapter Four: Under the Cloak

A/N: Okay, this story is AU as in alternative universe. I hope that clears things up.

The next day flies by me. Tuesday is my favorite day of the week, but all I can think of is last night and how I have Harry's invisibility cloak at the bottom of my school bag.

I get out of my bed and grab the invisibility cloak, sniffing it just as I had been dying to do when Harry gave it to me. It smells so good, just like him: a mixture of cinnamon and woods. It's enough to distract me from the loss of my green juice.

I have Herbology in the morning and then Defense Against the Dark Arts right before dinner. I was at the edge of my seat through all of class and I couldn't focus on the lesson until we were finally let out of class.

Everyone is already in the Great Hall by the time I get there, so I slid in next to Hermione and looked over at Harry who is chatting animatedly with Ron further down the table. Next to Ron, however, sits the evil Lavender.

Hermione is watching her out of the corner of her eye. "Ginny, you really need to eat before she leaves," Hermione commands. I nod and chow down on the roasted chicken and mashed potatoes sitting directly in front of me.

"So, are you ready for tonight?" I ask, not caring that I'm still chewing.

"Ginny that's so gross! You have to swallow before you speak!" she reprimands in her mothering voice.

"Relax Hermione look, I'm talking right now and there's no food in my mouth," I explain, opening my mouth wide for her to see that I'm not lying.

"Sometimes I wonder why I put up with you," she says, shaking her head in mock sadness.

"It's because you love me, duh," I say with a smile. And because you think I have a hot brother, I add in my head.

She smiles and rolls her eyes at my cockiness. "Yeah, sure that's why. Look Ginny she's leaving! Time to go," she whisper-shouts as she stands up. I look down at my plate that I have barely touched and my stomach grumbles.

But I follow Hermione down a corridor where she stops me and holds her hand out for the cloak which I pull from out of my bag. We stand close together under the cloak and move towards Lavender.

She walks all over the castle, up and down staircases but the route she's taking seems vaguely familiar. But I'm paying more attention to any signs of Draco so I'm almost ready to call it a night when she finally stops in front of an empty wall. She looks at it intently, then squeezes her eyes shut and begins passing in front of it. Of course! The Room of Requirements! That's the perfect hiding place to cheat! I wonder why they didn't use this the time that Hermione saw them….

The wall opens up to form a door and Lavender disappears behind it.

"Should we stay out here?" I whisper to Hermione.

"Yes, of course, unless you'd like to watch," Hermione says with disgust. I wrinkle my nose. That is definitely something I do not want to see. "We'll just wait for Draco or whatever guy she's using, to arrive," Hermione continues, looking up and down the hall. Twenty minutes later and no one has come.

"So Hermione, why couldn't you babysit Ron tonight?" I ask, trying to pass the time.

"Other than the fact that I wouldn't have known what to do with him, I figured you needed a chance to prepare before you got to go stalking with him," she says, smiling.

"Why would I need time to prepare?" I ask, giving her an impatient, confused look. I was looking forward to sharing an enclosed space with Harry for a long period of time.

"Because you need tips! When was the last time you had a stable, serious relationship?" she asks, already knowing the answer. Now that I think of it, I've never been able to pull one off. I've always gotten bored or the guy was a jerk and cheated on me.

Satisfied with my silence, she continues. "You don't want to look stupid and I've got some tips".

I discretely take a sniff of Harry's cloak and looked up expectantly at Hermione.

"Ginny! Don't sniff Harry's cloak! That's so weird!" she whisper-yells at me. My face reddens; at least she doesn't know about me sleeping with it.

"As I was saying, tips. And I guess the first one is not to sniff Harry or his cloak in front of him!" she continues, giving me a disapproving look.

"What makes you think you have all this experience?" I mumble grudgingly.

"Because I do remember what it was like with Victor, the famous Quidditch player, a few years ago," she states. Oh yeah. How could I forget 'Krumykins'. Merlin, do all girls create stupid nicknames for their boyfriends? If I am ever blessed enough to date Harry, I will never give him such a dumb nickname.

"Why'd you two break up again?" I ask.

"I just wasn't ready to take that next step with him. You know. He was always trying to sleep with me and I finally got tired of it and broke up with him," she says, annoyed.

I guess I shouldn't bring Victor up for awhile. I remember Hermione being a wreck for weeks, and then when she came back from summer break she was back to her normal self.

"Anymore of your wise wisdom, Oh Great One?" I say sarcastically, going back to the issue at hand.

"Yes. Next time, eat more. Your stomach is making a lot of noise," she whispers at me.

"You're the one who told me to leave it!" I counter, giving her a glare.

"Next, um don't tell him you love him. That would be very bad. You don't want to scare him," she whispers, ignoring my glare.

"I am certainly not in love with him!" I shout. I clap my hand over my mouth. I had forgotten that we were whispering for a second.

I can't be in love with Harry. I just really like him…a lot. And I think about him for most of the day…but I don't know the real him so there's no way that I love him…yet…right?

"Shhh, I think I hear someone coming," Hermione whispers. I look up and see Harry walking toward us, map in hand.

"Where have you guys been?" he says calmly as we take the cloak off.

"We've been right here, waiting for someone to join Lavender in there," I respond, pointing towards the Room of Requirements.

"Well look at this," he says, pointing to a couple of dots on the map. I see Lavender's name right next to Ron's in some classroom.

"B-but how could that happen?" I ask. "No one ever came!"

"The guy must have already been in there," Hermione grumbles, looking disappointed. "And there must be another exit so we didn't see them leave."

I frown as I think this over. So Night One has been a complete failure.

I look up as Hermione continues talking. "Why don't you guys stalk tomorrow. Maybe I can talk to Ron and find out her schedule," Hermione sighs, not looking thrilled at all about tomorrow.

I, on the other hand, brighten considerably. Harry and me, alone, tomorrow. Harry returns my grin. He probably thinks I'm excited that I don't have to babysit Ron. Which is true.

"So how'd tonight go with Ron," I ask Harry.

"It was cool, I guess. We just goofed off until Lavender appeared out of nowhere. Then they went up into the dormitory and I came here," he says looking disgusted. We all probably did.

We start walking towards the tower while Hermione asks questions about how to get Ron to hang out with her. We assure her that he'll say yes and then I go up to my dorm to do some of my homework.

That's when the nerves kick in and it hits me that in less than twenty-four hours, I'll be pressed up against Harry under the cover of the invisibility cloak. Maybe he'll realize his true feelings for me and act on them. Maybe it will be a magical night.

I'm not entirely sure when I fell asleep, it was probably somewhere in-between my many Harry fantasies. But when I wake up, I have a weird feeling. I just can't place it. Then my nerves come and my day becomes excruciatingly slow. Every second of History of Magic feels like an hour and I go through two whole rolls of parchment, drawing, before the hour is up. If only Mum knew how much parchment I waste.

I don't even try to pay attention in Transfiguration; I just try to master the spell as quickly as possible so that I can go back to thinking about tonight. I really don't want to screw this up.

When McGonagall finally dismisses us, I think of doing a little happy dance but instead I pick up my things and practically run to the Great Hall. When I get there, I see Harry, Ron, and Hermione all in deep discussion. I wonder how Hermione got Ron to agree to hang out with her tonight.

When I slide on the bench opposite Harry, they all looked up. "What," I ask, giving them suspicious looks.

"Nothing," Harry says quickly. I shoot Hermione a look that says You're going to tell me about this, but she just looks away.

"Well, what's everyone doing tonight?" I ask, trying to dispel the awkwardness that's surrounding us.

"Ron and I," Hermione emphasizes the grammar, "are going to work on the paper Snape assigned us," she says, glaring at Ron; he probably got them stuck with extra work.

"I'm not sure yet," Harry says winking at me. My heart flutters. "What about you Ginny, do you have any plans? Maybe we could get some Quidditch in," he continues.

I smile and play along. "Of course we can. I think I might need some practice if I want to become a great chaser." I wouldn't mind Quidditch with Harry, but with the team around, he can get pretty bossy.

Merlin, he smells so good. I remember Hermione's number one tip and stop sniffing the air and try to eat dinner.

I keep an eye on Lavender who is further down the table, chatting with Parvati. Thank Merlin. I don't think I could have lasted through dinner without insulting her if she had been anywhere closer.

Ron is constantly looking over at her as if he's waiting for her to come over and snog him. "Hermione, if you write the paper, I could go play with Harry and Ginny!" Ron pleads.

"No way! You got us this stupid paper and you will help me finish it, even if it takes all night," Hermione snaps. This is probably like heaven for her; getting to force Ron to spend time with her and study. Just when I'm thinking about how all is becoming good in the world, Dragon Dung comes walking over towards Ron.

"Won-Won," she pouts, "are you sure you can't hang out with me tonight?" she simpers.

"Sorry Lavi-poo, but it's a joint paper and Hermione won't write my half," Ron pouts back, laying it on thick as if he's the victim here. Lavender shoots a nasty look at Hermione which Hermione returns right back, triple-fold, behind Ron so that he doesn't see. Wow. I've never seen Hermione be so mean to someone. She must really hate her. And Lavi-poo? Really? Well, she is poo….

"Ugh, alright Won-Won. I'll go hang out with some friends, but I'll be thinking of you all night," she says seductively and then she leans down, practically given Ron a free look at the goods, and snogs him. It's a good few minutes too. We all sit there, not exactly sure of what to say or do.

Then she pulls away and walks off, swaying her hips in what she must think is a very sexy strut, but it just looks like she has to drop a load. How could Ron like that?

I look at Harry and he nods. "Well, I'm full," I say pushing away my half eaten plate. "Plus, I just lost my appetite," I mumble so that only Harry can hear.

"Ready to go?" Harry asks with a chuckle at my previous comment. Hermione just smiles before continuing to eat her food. She's in for a long night with Ron and a paper.

I get up and walk towards the end of the Great Hall. Once we are out, we find an empty corridor and throw on the invisibility cloak. "I guess it's time to go Lavender-hunting," I say jokingly. Harry smiles at my lame attempt at humor.

We find her easily, talking to none other than Draco-the-man-slut-Malfoy. "Come on Draco, let's have some fun tonight," she pleads, dragging him along.

"What's in it for me?" he asks, though there's no way he's going to reject her.

"You know I'll do that thing with my tongue," she whispers into his ear, pushing him to the wall and leaning her body against his.

Draco smiles and says, "Lead the way, m'lady," taking her hand and following her down the hall. I feel myself blush. Me and Harry are sitting under an invisibility cloak, our arms touching, his scent wafting through the air. I can hear my heart beating in my ears and his steady breathing. Suddenly, it becomes very awkward. We are sitting under an invisibility cloak, watching my brother's girlfriend practically have sex with Draco, right in the hallway.

I know where they're going before they even reached the Room of Requirements so I pull out my coin, hold it tight in my hand and think: We're going to catch Lavender in the act. Bring Ron to the Room of Requirement.

I watch as the words scrawl themselves from my mind onto the coin. I squeeze the coin one more time to send the message. Then I hear two very distinct chimes.

Oh crap. What were Hermione's rules with the coins again?

"Type the name of the person you want to send it to first"

Oh crap. I forgot. No, no, no.

Harry pulls out his coin and then looks up at me with wide eyes. We both watch as Lavender pulls her own galleon out. Her face pales when she read it. "Uh, Draco we'll reschedule" she says before running down the hall, leaving behind a confused Draco. She'll probably go to one of her friends, and they'll lie to Ron for her and Ron will be pissed at us. Or more specifically, me.

I hear another chime coming from my own coin and look down to see a message from Hermione that says: Ginny I can't believe you! Will you ever learn? Ron's really pissed and now Lavender knows we're after her. We have to come up with a new plan fast!

I really screwed this up. I hang my head down as we start to make our way back to the common room. "I'm sorry," I mumble to Harry after a long stretch of silence.

He sighs and gives me a small smile that's meant to say 'it's okay' but I can still see the disappointment on his face. We were so close to getting rid of her.

"Hey, I screw up all the time. There are other ways to break Ron and Lavender up," he says with false cheerfulness. I know he's trying to cheer me up but it's not working.

"How could I be so stupid?" I ask, throwing my hands up in the air, then letting them drop back down to my sides as if they are completely useless.

"It'll be okay Ginny, go easy on yourself. I think I might have a new plan," he says, suddenly pulling me into an empty corridor.

"Alright, go ahead," I say, looking hopefully into his green eyes. They are so green in the torch light and the excitement that's swimming in them as his plan evolves in his head is making it hard to pay attention to anything he's saying. But I need to focus on the situation I've just ruined, that he can hopefully fix.

"Yesterday, when Ron and I were talking, we were discussing the girls that got away and he was going on and on about one girl in particular, I don't think he ever got over her," Harry says smiling as if he has a big surprise.

"Well spit it out, Harry!" I say, hoping that the girl is who I think she is.

"Back in our second year, Ron had a crush on none other than Hermione Granger," he announces, making me gasp in excitement.

"He actually had a crush on Hermione! No way!" I say, gesturing for him to continue.

"It's true! He was always talking about her. Remember when she was dating that Victor guy? Ron was so pissed that one night, he got drunk and wrote her a song! And if you've ever heard Ron sing, you'd be thankful I hid him until he was back to normal," Harry says, starting to laugh.

I watch the way his Adam's apple moves as he laughs and feel the sudden urge to kiss it. I shake my head a little, what am I thinking? I look back up at Harry's eyes and laugh along.

"I think Lavender is just a way to get Hermione's attention and maybe it's pay back for the Victor thing. He wants to make her as jealous as he was. But what if we turn this around on him?" Harry continues with a twinkle in his eye. I don't understand so I give him a curious look. "What I mean to say is this. Ron wants to make Hermione jealous. But Ron is impatient. And if Hermione starts going out with someone again, especially someone close to Ron, he might finally crack and tell her how he feels."

"I still don't get it," I say, looking at him with a slight frown.

"What if I start going out with Hermione? It will piss him off so much that she's dating me, that he'll dump Lavender and try to go after Hermione," Harry says, with a huge smile on his face, as if he'd just invented the wand or something. He continued again, "I think this will work out for Hermione too since you can tell she has a thing for Ron".

So I wasn't the only one who could tell. But this isn't right. Hermione can't go out with Harry, real or fake. I called dibbs. She just can't. I feel the smile slip from my lips as the idea sinks in. Harry is supposed to want to go out with me. Not her. Even if it's just pretend, it still hurt. NO, I want to scream. No, that is a terrible, horrible idea!

But it would help us get rid of Lavender. And isn't that what we all want?

"Yeah, it's a great idea," I say with false enthusiasm, trying to plaster the smile back on my face. "Let's go run it by Hermione since she plays a big part in this too," I continue. He grins at me and turns to walk to the common room.

I try to smile back at him, but it turns into more of a grimace. We walk together but I feel cold. I don't like this plan. But it makes complete sense. I'm just going to have to deal with it. No matter how much it will hurt.

A/N: Well hello there viewers! Thanks for clicking on my story and reading up to this point. All reviews are welcome. Don't be a stranger with them now. I really liked writing this chapter and all of the chapters really.

-M