When he returned to Hogwarts, Harry found it was harder than he thought being around Ginny. Over the holidays he'd been more than happy to agree to let Hermione handle the redheaded witch, even though he'd known it was going to be a long term plan that would take months to come into fruition. However, back at school he was overwhelmed by how angry he was at Ginny and just how hard it was to ignore her and pretend nothing had happened. All he wanted to do was lash out and let everyone know that she'd played a part in his kidnapping.

Knowing just how much Hermione wanted to be the one to orchestrate revenge on Ginny, Harry had taken to spending as little time as possible in Gryffindor Tower. When he wasn't with Draco and Hermione, or Daphne, he was studying in the library or organising extra quidditch practices. Basically he was doing anything he could to avoid being anywhere near Ginny.

On the night of January's full moon, when Hermione would finally get a chance to see if her plan was going to work, Harry spent the evening down in the Slytherin dungeons with his girlfriend and the other Slytherins. Partly it was to make sure none of them ventured up to the head dorms, but mainly it was just a perfect excuse to stay away from Gryffindor Tower. In fact, when it was time for him to leave he persuaded Daphne to join him, and instead of them going to bed in separate parts of the castle, they used the magical-changing room and spent the night together.

Despite an evening of carnal pleasures with his girlfriend, Harry still didn't get much sleep and it was still pretty early when he woke properly. Not wanting to disturb Daphne, Harry lay quietly in bed wondering how things had gone with Draco and Hermione. Part of him hoped everything had gone as they'd hoped, so that Hermione's plan could be utilised, but another part of him hoped that it failed and that they would have to find another, quicker way to deal with Ginny for the part she'd played in his kidnapping.

"You look thoughtful," Daphne said quietly, suddenly jolting Harry from his thoughts.

Harry looked down in surprise, caught totally unaware that Daphne had woken up. However, she seemed wide awake and she was scrutinising him with a concerned look in her beautiful eyes.

"I was just thinking how lucky I was to have you as my girlfriend," Harry replied, offering Daphne a smile.

"Really?" Daphne raised a sceptical eyebrow at Harry, letting him know she didn't believe him. "You look more as though something's bothering you. What is it, Harry? You know you can tell me anything."

"I know," Harry replied with a sigh, wondering if she could confide in his girlfriend.

"Then tell me," Daphne urged, sitting up and wrapping the bed covers around her naked body. "I won't let this lie until you tell me what's wrong."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're very stubborn?" Harry questioned with a wary smile as he also sat up and leaned back against the headboard.

"I prefer the term persistent," Daphne countered with an elegant shrug. "So out with it Harry, what's wrong?"

"It's just harder than I thought," Harry confessed.

"What is?" Daphne asked with a frown.

"Being around Ginny," Harry replied. "I thought I would be able to deal with it. I know she's going to get what's coming to her, but I'm finding it hard to wait. I just can't stand that she's still walking around as though nothing has happened."

Daphne nodded sympathetically, understanding Harry's predicament. Even though she didn't know what sort of revenge was being planned for Ginny, she did know that Harry's family had plans for the redheaded witch.

"Can I ask something?" Daphne questioned warily.

"Anything," Harry replied.

"Why did your family never bring charges against Ginny after your kidnapping?" Daphne asked. "We all know she was the one who lured you to her brothers."

"To do that we would have had to take Bill and Charlie to trial, and Dad and Grandpa didn't want to put me through that," Harry replied. "Bill and Charlie were caught red-handed, so they couldn't get out of it, but they were insistent that they acted together, just the two of them. To force them to take veritiserum and implicate Ginny, they would have had to stand trial."

"What about you, would you not rather have gone down that route?" Daphne asked.

"At the time I would have said no," Harry answered. "In fact, I fully supported not pressing for a trial. I was more than happy to let Hermione take care of Ginny."

"But now it's taking longer than you thought and it's harder than you expected to sit back and do nothing," Daphne summarised.

"Something like that," Harry said.

"Can't you speak to Hermione and get her to move her plans forward?" Daphne questioned.

"Not really, her plan is a long term one," Harry confessed. "I guess I'll just have to carry on avoiding Gryffindor Tower."

"You'll just have to spend more time with me," Daphne said with a seductive smile as she let the covers slip away from her body. "I'm sure we can think of plenty of ways to occupy our time."

"I'm sure we can," Harry readily agreed as he reached for Daphne and pulled his girlfriend into his arms, connecting their lips in a searing kiss.

As Harry lost himself in his girlfriend's embrace, he vowed not to let Ginny get to him. She would be dealt with soon enough, and in the meantime he could focus his attention on Daphne. After all, it was hardly going to be a hardship to spend more time with his gorgeous girlfriend while Hermione worked on bringing Ginny down.


C.O.T.D.


"Draco, get up," Hermione yelled, roughly shaking her boyfriend.

Hermione had been up for an hour, and she'd tried several times to raise her fiancé. Draco had already missed breakfast, and Hermione had resorted to eating in the head dorms as she tried to get Draco out of bed. It had been an exhausting weekend for the pair, following Saturday's full moon and Hermione could understand why her boyfriend was tired. After spending all of Saturday night running around in his wolf form, he'd then spent most of Sunday in bed with Hermione. Still, it was now Monday morning and if Draco didn't get up soon he was going to be late for the first lesson of the week.

"Draco," Hermione hollered, yanking the covers off her fiancé and glaring at him.

"I'm up," Draco grumbled, burying his head under his pillow.

"You've got fifteen minutes before the start of Potions," Hermione warned.

"Plenty of time," Draco replied, still making no move to get out of bed, despite the fact he was lying naked with no covers.

"With how long it takes you to get ready, I don't think so," Hermione laughed. "And if you're late, I'm not covering for you. I'll tell Narcissa that you're still in bed, refusing to move your lazy arse."

Finally throwing the pillow off his head, Draco sat up and glared at Hermione. "You wouldn't."

"Try me," Hermione challenged. "And if she asks, I'll tell her why you won't get up. I don't mind telling the entire class that I've worn you out and you don't have enough stamina to keep up with my sexual appetite."

"I have the stamina," Draco argued as he rolled out of bed and stretched his aching body. "If I remember correctly, it was you needing a rest last night."

"Yet I'm still wide awake and raring to go," Hermione shot back as she wandered over to the mirror and double checked there was no evidence of bite marks on her neck. Thanks to the potion Narcissa had whipped up for her, Draco was able to bite her without restraint, and he certainly had the previous day.

Muttering to himself, Draco wandered into the bathroom. He got ready in record time, and the pair left the head dorms in just enough time to get down to the dungeons before the first lesson of the day started. In fact they only just made it into the classroom before the bell rang. Their almost late entrance caught everyone's attention, including Narcissa, who gave the pair a questioning look before she started her class.

"Exams are fast approaching, and as you all know these N.E.W.T.S are not easy," Narcissa began. "You're all going to have to buckle down and work hard if you want to pass your exams. This morning we're going to brew a very complex potion, and you're going to have to concentrate to get it right."

Narcissa flicked her wand and the instructions and ingredients for the potion appeared on the blackboard in her neat writing. After reminding the class to read every instruction thoroughly before they charged in and made a mistake, she let them start their preparations. As she watched the class jump up to get their ingredients, she noticed her son was half asleep and didn't look at all focused.

Narcissa knew that things had gone swimmingly when Draco had been introduced to Hermione in his wolf form, and she was guessing that her son and Hermione had spent the rest of the weekend acting on Draco's animalistic urges. Narcissa didn't want to dwell on Draco's sex life, but she was now worrying that it was starting to interfere with his school work. After all, her son was wandering around like a zombie and she wasn't sure he entirely knew what he was doing with the potion.

Narcissa didn't want to make it too obvious she was worried about Draco, so she began to walk around the class, checking on the students. Slowly she made her way to where her son was working on his potion and peered over his shoulder.

"Do you know what you're doing, Draco?" She checked.

"Yes Mother, I'm fine" Draco replied sleepily.

The words had no sooner left Draco's mouth when laughter broke out throughout the classroom. Despite everyone knowing both of Draco's parents were Professors, he never acknowledged them as such during lessons, just like Harry never referred to Severus as Dad.

"That's Professor Malfoy, Draco," Narcissa corrected, a smirk creeping over her face.

"Bugger," Draco swore, annoyed with himself that he'd slipped up.

"Language," Narcissa cautioned.

"Yes, behave Draco or Mummy will get cross," Blaise joked, causing more laughter in the classroom.

"Yes she will Blaise," Narcissa said, turning her icy glare on Blaise. "Do you want to get in trouble?"

"With you, anytime," Blaise replied with a flirtatious wink.

Narcissa gave Blaise an amused look, before she raised her eyes to behind him and smiled. "Hello Professor Malfoy."

Blaise's eyes widened comically as he whirled around. Luckily there was no sign of Narcissa's husband, but the rest of the class broke into even more laughter at Blaise's panic.

"Be careful Blaise, you never know when my husband could be lurking behind you," Narcissa said with a smirk. "In future save your flirtations for your lovely girlfriend."

"I will," Blaise vowed, turning back to his potion.

Hoping that her son wasn't too tired after his weekend's exertions, Narcissa returned to her desk for the rest of the lesson. Thankfully Draco managed to get through the lesson, and although his potion wasn't the best, it was passable and Narcissa could give him a decent grade. As the class filed out, Narcissa headed off to speak to Lucius over break. She wanted her husband's advice on whether they should step in and make sure their son didn't mess up his education thanks to his sex life.

While Narcissa was consulting Lucius about Draco, their son was spending his break time with his friends. Of course everyone had noticed how tired he was, and Blaise and Theo were having a great time teasing him about his wild weekend. Harry meanwhile, took the opportunity to pull Hermione to one side and check that the weekend had gone well.

"It did," Hermione replied with a smile. "Saturday night was perfect."

"So everything's on track?" Harry checked, wondering if he should tell his aunt how hard he was finding it waiting for Ginny to be dealt with.

"It is," Hermione confirmed. "I know it can't be easy for you, Harry, but I promise you'll get your vengeance. Just have patience, and Ginny will get what's coming to her."

"How did you know I was finding it hard?" Harry asked.

"I've known you forever, and I know how you think," Hermione replied with a smile. "Besides, in your shoes I would hate it if she was still walking around free and untroubled."

"I'm not sure I would describe her as untroubled," Harry chuckled. "She got one dead brother, and two more in Azkaban."

"And very soon they're going to be the least of her worries," Hermione predicted with a wicked smirk. "Very soon, she's going to have her own issues to deal with."

"I can't wait," Harry said, sharing his aunt's devious smile. "Bring on the revenge."