They hadn't risked holding hands in the corridor. Hermione was having to satisfy her need to be close to the red-headed second-year by intentionally bumping their arms together periodically and pressing against her slender form on narrow stairwells. She wasn't entirely certain how she had gone from her position of the previous week (which was caution in droves) to suddenly being unable to keep her eyes from her… Well, could she call her a girlfriend? As they approached the portrait hole she blushed at the thought.

Before Ginny said the password she glanced at her. 'What's wrong?'

Fighting it away, she smiled weakly. 'Nothing.' As they entered she tried desperately to cleanse her face- the last thing she wanted was for Harry and Ron, not that Ron actually would, to question her. It was true she was becoming a better liar (of course she was if she'd moved up to moderate blackmail) but Harry could see through her still.

Luckily, the boys were embroiled in an argument over Quidditch. By the time they noticed her Ginny had disappeared up to her dormitory and Hermione herself, having calmed her mind considerably, had taken her usual seat beside them.

'Oh, hi,' Harry said absently. 'Where'd you from?'

'The library,' she replied as nonchalantly as possible. 'I suppose you two have been here since I left?'

'It's Sunday!' Ron objected. 'Anyway, I haven't moved, but Harry did.'

'Yeah,' the bespectacled boy took over. 'It's really odd. I came looking for you in the library, couldn't find you.'

This time she managed to battle any blush away before it reached her skin. 'Really? Well, I was there.'

He looked unconvinced, she realised with a sinking heart. 'Maybe I just missed you then.'

'Unless there's something you're not telling us,' Ron added.

'What, I have a secret life do I?' she scoffed. 'Please, grow a brain.' It was alright saying that to him but Harry, she knew, had one and occasionally did something with it. He might be at the dot joining stage already. 'So, anyone for a game of chess?'

'You want to play chess?' questioned Ron dubiously.

'For some reason it evokes pleasant memories,' she retorted. As she went to get the board form the bookcase she felt eyes on her. Harry's, no doubt.

'May I come in?'

Remus glanced up quickly, allowing Minerva to observe the rings under his eyes- the sure of truthfulness in Albus' tale. His hand on his desk had inched towards his wand and, though his face relaxed at the sight of her, a certain amount of tension remained there. 'Of course.'

Taking a seat, Minerva smiled amiably. 'So, how is everything?'

'Perfectly fine, I assure you.'

'Remus,' she began. 'I should warn you…'

'Yes,' he interrupted, casting his eyes downwards. 'I'm aware of what my house-elf might have said…'

'Then you'll understand my concern,' Minerva said calmly. 'You have a duty to the school to report such incidents.'

'And I would, had there been one. I had a rather adverse reaction to the Wolfsbane Potion this month, my house-elf mistook the symptoms.'

'For a hex? It seems a rather hasty conclusion.'

'If I could've stopped her I would have.'

'I'm sure.' Minerva paused. 'Are you quite positive you've told me everything of relevance?'

He smiled, though it didn't reach his tired eyes. 'Yes, Minerva, I'm quite certain.'

'Well,' she said, standing. 'In that case, I'll leave you to your work.' When she reached the door she looked back. 'What day did the full moon fall on this month?'

'It was Thursday,' he said with no hesitation. 'Goodbye, Minerva.'

'Good day, Remus.'

When Ginny finally went back downstairs it was with her Potions homework. Snape had set them a particularly nasty challenge of designing a new potion to stimulate hair growth and it was suitably difficult for her to have to concentrate- so she wouldn't be glancing over to a certain third-year.

Sitting herself down, she sneaked one look over. Hermione's mouth was pinched in a frown as Ron took another one of her pawns. Ginny was a little lose as to why Hermione was even playing chess- she'd always assumed the game was beyond her interests. Then again, Hermione did hate not being able to win at something.

'Hi, Ginny!'

Snapped out of the day-dreaming, she found Colin looking at her questioningly. 'Oh, hi, Colin. Everything alright?'

'I saw you were doing Snape's essay, have you got any ideas?'

'Nothing apart from dumping it in the Great Lake.'

He laughed. 'Funny. Do you think maybe we could work on it together? It's just I'm…'

'No problem,' she answered quickly. 'That way we might both get something done.'

'Great! I'll go get the essay.'

'You're just a sore loser.'

'Oh, please, Ron! It's just a game.' In truth, she was slightly irritated that she couldn't beat him at this one thing. If there was one thing she couldn't stand it was inferiority. She'd managed to accept it in anything sport-like, mainly because she couldn't care less about Winky Feints or whatever it was that the boys went on about non-stop, but chess was practically academia! It had a logic and reasoning to it, that made it conquerable.

'Course it is,' he answered. 'But I still won.'

'Come on, you two,' Harry broke in. 'Does it really matter?'

'No, Harry, you're right,' Hermione said, beginning to pack up the pieces.

'Well, the loser can say that,' Ron said. Since she didn't dignify that with an answer, he began to look around the room. 'Someone tell me why my sister's flirting with Colin Creevey.'

Hermione lifted her neck so quickly she was surprised it didn't break. She'd been so busy with the game that she hadn't noticed the second-year come back downstairs. What Ron apparently saw as flirting was two people doing homework together. What would he say if he'd seen what she was doing to his sister an hour ago? Then again, she realised, Colin did seem to be a little more bashful than usual. To answer Ron's question, she muttered, 'I think it's him doing the flirting.'

'Does he have to do it here?'

'Why, what's the problem?' she asked silkily. 'It's not doing you any harm.'

'It's not what I wanna watch, okay?' he replied. 'Besides, if he carries on I might have to thump him or something. She'd only a kid.'

Against her will, Hermione felt herself react to that. Blushing, she crammed the chess pieces back into the box and stood. 'Just taking these back.'

'Well, I'm going upstairs,' Ron announced.

When she realised that meant being left alone with Harry, she quickly amended, ' I've actually got to… Yeah. I'll see you later.'

Minerva ran her eyes over the brief note then slipped a treat into Errol's beak. She'd been wondering all day if Molly would want to see her, mainly because she'd felt some unfamiliar yearnings gnawing at her own stomach at various points throughout the day. The invitation was a delightful one and, of course, she wasn't going to decline it. Quickly, she wrote a reply and checked her pocket-watch. It was almost time for dinner.

Though Snape's essay had hardly been a bag of fun Ginny had found it easier to handle with someone to work with. Between her strange behaviour of the first-year and her disappearance of this one she was practically ignored by her fellow pupils. It wasn't helping that she was getting better marks than most of them, but that was only since she had more time to study than them because she didn't have any friends. It was a kind of vicious circle- the less time she spent with other people the more work she had time to do and the more work she did the less time people wanted to spend with her. It was lucky she didn't really care about them.

Still, Colin was a bit of outsider too. Having spent half of last year Petrified and the other half running around with a camera surgically attached to his face, he was seen as a slight joke. It was only now, after spending a little time with him, that Ginny realised she had unwittingly bought into that train of thought. He was actually a very nice boy who wasn't stupid- a rarity.

Anyway, Colin had gone to get a book from the library before dinner so Ginny was putting the finishing touches to her homework when she felt a figure sit down opposite her. Looking up, she smiled. 'Oh, hey, Harry.'

'What's that you're doing?' he questioned conversationally.

'Essay for Snape. Potion for hair-growth.'

'Yeah, I remember that. You do know he'll make you try it don't you? Last year Neville's exploded all over Crabbe. Can't remember how many points we got docked for that.'

'Great, thanks for the warning,' she said.

'You should ask Hermione for advice. She was the only one to pass.'

Ginny glanced up to gauge what reaction was expected of her. Hermione hadn't clarified just what Harry knew; she'd left it a little mysteriously and Ginny hadn't wanted to press the issue. Now, under his gaze, she wished she had. 'Um, I don't want to bother her.'

'Sure she wouldn't mind. You're her friend, after all.'

She still couldn't quite grasp his attitude. 'Well, Colin's helping me out.'

'Good.' He paused. 'Don't suppose you saw Hermione earlier did you?'

'She was in the library. I mean, that's where she said she was going this morning, wasn't it?'

'Course. I forgot.'

'Could you pass the sprouts?' As she took the bowl from Arthur, Molly casually added, 'I'll be going out later.'

Her husband looked up. 'Where to?'

'Oh, just meeting a friend,' she replied. 'I shouldn't be late. Now, what were you saying about Fudge?'

He looked thrown. To combat her guilt, she plunged her fork into the heart of a sprout and pasted on a smile.

It was difficult to concentrate on what she was eating when her eyes periodically shifted across to the left to focus on Ginny and Colin in conversation. Then, of course, she became aware of Harry watching her and then, naturally, Ron would ask what was going on. To put it bluntly, Hermione was feeling a little dizzy.

'Aren't you hungry?' Harry questioned. 'You've hardly touched your food.'

'No, I'm…' Snapping her eyes onto the person she was addressing, she attempted a smile. 'I'm okay.' Glancing to Ron who was eagerly attacking his second helping of roast beef with the vigour of a terrier puppy, she continued, 'Glad to see someone's not losing his appetite.'

Harry smiled. 'He'll stop when he's dead.'

'Yeah, if we're lucky.'

'I am here, you know,' Ron grumbled lightly through a mouthful of carrots and gravy. 'And I happen to be hungry.'

'Well, that's a revelation,' Hermione retorted, looking back towards Ginny and Colin.

Unfortunately, Ron followed her gaze. 'Ew, I'm trying to eat.'

'They're not doing anything,' she answered. 'Besides, Ginny's not interested in him.'

'And how would you know? I really am gonna have to punch his lights out.'

'Ron, leave it,' Harry murmured before adding, 'Anyway, they are getting on well. Ginny said so earlier.'

It was obviously intended for her but she didn't take the bait. 'Terrible essay Flitwick set us…'

'I hope I'm not late.'

Minerva glanced up from the table, unable to keep the smile from her face. 'Not at all. I was early. I took the liberty of getting you a drink.'

'Oh, thank you.' Molly sat down and glanced around The Three Broomsticks. 'It's rather quiet in here tonight.'

'All the better.' Recognising that could be taken in a negative manner, she quickly added, 'I don't particularly want the world to know my business.'

'That's not top of my agenda either,' admitted Molly, sipping her Firewhisky.

When it became clear her companion was not going to broach the subject herself, Minerva reached her hand across the wooden table to touch Molly's fingertips lightly with her own. 'How was your day?'

Molly shook her head. 'I don't feel much up to talking about it. I'd rather hear about your day.'

It was a rather new concept, to discuss her life. The last person who had paid the slightest interest in her daily activities had been her father, and that was an age ago. Still, she had to admit, she was fond of the idea. Something struck her first though. 'Molly, I don't suppose you know when the last full moon was, do you?'

Her companion smiled and answered, 'It was last night. I went for a walk under the stars.'

Minerva smiled back. 'Thank you. I was told it was Thursday.'

'Is it an important fact?'

'It could be,' she replied thoughtfully. 'I'm fairly certain it is actually.'