AN- A little more stolen from HBP here :)

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Chapter 18

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It was after Halloween by the time Ginny was officially allowed to go on outings again by her parents (mother). Ginny's mum and dad had gone pretty mental on her after the flyer in the Daily Prophet had been released, but they didn't have proof that she had been involved. None of the people involved had owned up to it, not even the guy that they bribed to insert the flyers at the Daily Prophet. His name turned out to be Jacob and he and a bunch of others from the circulation department wound up getting sacked over it, but Tonks and the twins had talked to Jacob about who had gotten punished and they managed to get them settled into other jobs, plus discretely slip them some Galleons for the trouble.

Her parents may have told her she was grounded, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them, because Sirius and she had still been sneaking out every other weekend to prank the Dursleys and take a picture. Last Tuesday they'd put elastic bands all over their yard, these items were particularly difficult to clean up because if you tried to rake them or sweep them up they would simply twist over on themselves and stay on the ground. If only she and he had a way to capture a picture of the Dursley's dealing with the mess afterwards. There was something called CCTV that the Dursley's had installed on their house as a security system to try and catch them in the act, but Ginny and Sirius had both been completely covered up and disguised.

Thus far there had been two other attacks that the Death Eaters had been blamed for on the isle since the flyer went out, but they were still Muggle residences and there hadn't been any casualties. Their reasoning behind the attacks still wasn't evident.

The morale of the Magical community had picked up after the flyer had gone out so Ginny had a hard time feeling bad about it. Harry and Ron had told her that the students at Hogwarts had been in high spirits as well. The two of them had been making a point to chat with her at least once a week, and Harry had been writing to her as well. Hermione and Luna too had been writing, but theirs weren't the letters that she read through two or three times parsing for subtext.

Grimmauld Place was still quite the busy place and she'd started stashing food in the basement and her bedroom. There was one incident where she'd been stuck in the basement for four hours after a never ending stream of visitors had to come through the Headquarters. She was nearing the point of not caring if the rest of the Order knew she was alive, it could hardly make a difference to them at this point, could it? Ginny knew that they still wanted to keep Riddle from finding out about the Chamber's discovery, but all that they'd learned from the notebooks had already been used to destroy a few Horcruxes.

Riddle never having found out about the treasure that had been down in the Chamber meant that Bill could start handing things off to the Goblins for auction, the Weasley family was doing very well for themselves financially now. Ginny loved how it hadn't changed anything for any of them though; mum didn't want to re-do the kitchen or anything, dad wasn't out buying the best of anything and Ron wasn't asking for new clothes and other foolish items.

Bill had discussed any financial decisions with her and they'd been funneling half of the proceeds into the Orders efforts. People had been taking time off work for travel and research and they'd been compensating the twins for any products that had been used, such as Darkness Powder and their Blind Bowler Hats. Invisibility Cloaks had been purchased as well and more emergency Portkeys. There was extra set aside as well for any war reparations that could be donated as the need arose too.

Sirius had offered to cover a lot of the expenses also, so the Order of the Phoenix was well very funded all around.

It was the first proper weekend in November now and Ginny awoke very excited, as today was a special day for her, she was going to be seeing her first Quidditch game in three years!

The Gryffindor versus Slytherin game was today and she and Sirius were going to get to Hogsmeade and then sneak into Hogwarts to watch it. They'd have to be disillusioned the whole time and because of that they couldn't actually sit in the stands, but she didn't care, it had been months since she'd even looked at a broom.

Percy had really thrown a wrench into her life.

Straightening out her jumper as she finished up smoothing back her hair she smiled at her reflection. There was very little chance that anyone, let alone her friends or brother, would be seeing her today but she couldn't help herself; she wanted to look good. Just in case.

There was a knock at the bathroom door, "you about done in there?" Sirius asked on the other side.

Checking her reflection one last time she pulled on the handle. "All set," she grinned.

"Gryffindor Pride?" he looked down at her scarf.

"Always and forever," she twirled the end of her scarlet and gold scarf around. "You ready?"

"Let's do this thing," he led the way to the entrance hall.

There wasn't anyone else in the house today, her mum wasn't due over until dinner, but they'd always left a note on the door to her room, just in case someone did come looking for either of them. It hadn't happened yet that they'd got caught sneaking out of the house, but this was their first day time excursion.

She disillusioned herself before they reached the landing, it had been a much nicer foyer since Kreacher removed Sirius' mum. The Elf had really turned around since the whole Locket incident happened. He's been cleaning and making meals and everything else that House Elves were supposed to be doing. He still sneered at the sight of everyone, but he was silent about his loathing at least.

Holding onto Sirius' forearm they went to the door and he Apparated them to the woods just outside Hogsmeade.

"So that's it, is it?" Ginny looked down at the village. She couldn't make out any of the signs on the shops, but she could tell from where they were which one was the Three Broomsticks given the size and style of the building.

"One day my little Spitfire," he patted the back of her hand that was clasped in his.

"Yeah, one day," she repeated to him sadly.

The war couldn't go on forever. Tom Riddle had yet to do any major damage thus far since he'd been exposed back to their society, but everyone knew he was trying to rally his followers and gain allies in the other Magical beings. Things would come to a head soon enough, their side was just working to minimize the loss this time and cut off the Death Eaters at the head, which the incident at the Ministry had really managed to assist with.

"Harry's been following Malfoy Jr.," she told Sirius as they started walking to the school.

"He told me. Apparently young Malfoy has been acting a little odd, and not just because of his dad being thrown in Azkaban. Isn't just his ego that took a hit, he's been seen around the school with a multitude of different girls, but is in different area's of the castle at odd hours."

"Not just snogging in broom cupboards, I know," she nodded. Harry had told her that as well in one of his letters. He was convinced that Malfoy had taken the mark over the summer, but had yet to see it for himself. Harry and she were sure he had some kind of assignment from Tom, and wondered if Draco Malfoy was looking for the entrance to the Chamber, and if so, why Tom wouldn't just tell him. It might have been a test though.

They made it to the pitch as the rest of the students were filing into the stands, Sirius disillusioned himself before they came through the tree's to the yard, Ginny had remained disillusioned their whole walk.

There had been a debate about whether they would try to find a spot in front of the stands, or if they should stay outside of the actual pitch to watch the match. It was agreed that they'd sit down in the middle of the pitch on the inside of the stands and watch from the ground, no one should have been able to hear them if they talked quietly there either.

Ginny was glad that Sirius couldn't see the grin that came to her face to see Harry again in person. He looked so proud in his uniform, the 'C' emblazoned on his chest. Ron was beside him, surprisingly not looking like he was going to throw-up on himself, considering it was his first proper Quidditch game playing Keeper.

"I thought that Malfoy Jr. was the Seeker for Slytherin?" Sirius asked.

Ginny looked over at the green and silver team and couldn't see a blond head in the bunch of them. "That's odd. It's the first game of the season, and he's the Captain."

"Bet he's taking advantage of the nearly empty castle to get up to something," Sirius guessed.

Ginny looked in Sirius' direction warily, "you don't want to go into the castle and try finding him, do you?"

"If we had the map then maybe we could, but it could take hours to try and locate him otherwise. The match could be over by then. May as well stay and watch what we came for."

Ginny let out a relieved breath at hearing that. Whatever the mini Death Eater was up to could wait, she wanted to watch Quidditch.

The teams kicked off and Madame Hooch tossed the Quaffle in the air, releasing the Snitch.

Ginny's face was set in a smile as she watched the Chaser's battle it out. Every time there was a goal for Gryffindor she only just managed to bite back a loud cheer, each solid hit by their Beaters had her fist pump the air. It was exciting to see a real game again. She'd listened to a few games on the wireless but she missed being there for the crowd commentary and seeing everything in action. It was invigorating.

Harry had done a few passes and feint's as he searched for the Snitch. Ginny wished he could have known that she and Sirius were coming, but they hadn't known if they were going to pull it off until the last minute.

It was forty minutes before Harry saw the Snitch and easily captured it by the middle hoop on the Slytherin side before the other teams Seeker even realized what was happening. The roar of victory from the three houses in the stands above them easily covered up the celebratory yells that Ginny and Sirius let out. The two of them watched as all of the Gryffindor players landed. Harry and Ron gave each other a victory hug as the Chasers and Beaters landed by them. Ginny wished she could have run over to them as well, been one of the Chasers that were running towards the two of them.

Or maybe just have been that one that just launched herself at Harry and kissed him full on the lips!

Ginny stared in shock as she watched this girl kiss Harry on the pitch. It had only been for a few seconds, but it was complete lip contact. Not a peck on the cheek or a congratulations kiss. That was an 'I really like you and hope you respond in kind' kind of kiss.

It knocked the wind out of her to see and she just stood there gaping and replaying the image in her head even as Harry and the girl moved in different directions to continue their celebrating. The rest of the Gryffindor's from the stand had rushed the field and blocked her view of the team then, she wasn't able to see what Harry's reaction to the kiss was.

"Right then," Sirius must have known that she wouldn't have been reacting so well to that. "Let's get back to the house, hopefully we won't have been missed."

"Sure," she hoped she'd managed to sound as normal as possible, "it's a nice enough day too, maybe we can get some food and go up on the roof. Enjoy more of this sunshine. Merlin it feels nice on my cheeks."

She could picture the unconvinced look on Sirius' face from her forced calm, but he mercifully didn't say anything about that. "Sounds like a plan."

()()()

"What am I supposed to do?" Harry asked Hermione desperately. He hadn't been in this situation before.

"Just tell her," she stated like it was obvious.

"I can't do that! What if she… cries?" he was in a panic. Katie Bell had kissed him. Properly kissed him. "It was probably just because we'd won and she was excited about that. It wasn't because she fancies me, right?" He wished that had been the case, but when they got back to Gryffindor Tower for the victory party Katie had followed him around a bit. She'd gone off to talk to her friends too, but every few minutes he would find her right beside him. He tried moving around the party as much as possible too, but then she'd just be there.

"Well, why don't you at least try dating her?" Hermione asked honestly. "She's nice, pretty, and she plays Quidditch. Wouldn't she meet any criteria for a potential match for you?"

"Yeah, Cho was all those things too and look how that turned out," he pointed out. "I like Katie as a person and all, but I've never looked at her like that." It hadn't occurred to him until that very moment that there were only two people that he had looked at like that; Cho and Ginny. Cho was just a naive mistake, but Ginny. Well, Ginny he felt could be an eventuality. He knew her, it wasn't just a superficial interest.

Hermione managed to resist giving a roll of her eyes at that. "Why not try opening your eyes now and looking at her like that then? We've got the Slug Club Christmas get together coming up and you'll need a date for that. Katie would probably love to go with you."

Harry looked at Hermione like she had two heads. He didn't know he'd need a date for that. "Well, what about you? If we both have to go, then why don't we just go together?"

Hermione blushed prettily, "I, um, I was actually going to ask, um." She looked over at Ron who was chatting with Dean Thomas and Justin Appleby, a seventh year.

Ron was in exceptionally good spirits after his first successful game. He hadn't looked so great that morning, but the kiss Hermione had given him for 'luck' before they headed into the change room had certainly turned his spirits around. It had only been a kiss to the cheek, but Harry hadn't received one from her.

"Oh," Harry grinned and raised an eyebrow at her. "Wondered which of you would make the first move."

She blushed even more at that but smiled wider when Ron caught her eye and smiled back.

"Better go over there and stake your claim before some fan girl comes along and realized he's 'dishy' or whatever," Harry said, giving her a push in their friends' direction.

"You're right, we've been dancing around it long enough," she said determinedly and went over to Ron.

Harry was glad for them, those two had been fancying each other more and more over the years. He would guess it started some time around third year when they were trying to help Ron through his grieving, Ron had really matured since then. As he was watching Hermione head over to Ron, he caught sight of Katie making her way over to him. Glancing around he searched for someone else he could talk to or an escape route that wouldn't be too obvious.

"You can relax, Harry," Katie said when she came upon him. "I'm not going to jump you or anything. I took a shot, I was wrong. We can move on, you don't have to keep dodging me."

"Dodging you? What?" he played off. She gave him an unimpressed look and he caved, "yeah, sorry."

"Don't worry about it," she shook her head. "Wish I hadn't done it in front of the whole school though," she smiled sadly.

He felt relieved that she didn't seem too broken up about it, just a little embarrassed. "Can I ask you something?"

She simply raised her eyebrow, asking him to go ahead.

"Why did you?" he wondered. "I mean, I hadn't been getting any hints that you liked me like that or anything, and I'm just a specky git with a knack for getting injured."

She gave him an adoring smile, "you're also a great guy. You're kind and smart, and a damned good Quidditch player. I don't think you're a specky git at all." She reached up and adjusted his glasses which had slid down his nose. "You can be quite funny too."

"So, it wasn't just the whole 'Chosen One' thing?"

Katie laughed. "We've known each other for over five years now Harry. I'd like to think I know you better than the Daily Prophet reporters."

"And me not, um, liking you back that way, it won't be awkward? For you, or us?" he wanted assurances. They still had to play together on the same team after all.

"No," she gave him a kind smile. "Like I said, I took a shot. You're a good guy and I like you, but I'm not exactly scribbling your name in my diary or anything."

"Cool," he grinned. "Friends?" he held out his hand.

"Friends," she laughed and shook his hand before going back to her girlfriends.

Harry looked around at everyone having fun and enjoying their Butterbeers and felt loads better now that the air was cleared. Everyone was in a great mood, but rather than continue joining in on the merriment he just wanted to share the Gryffindor victory with one or two more people.

He went up to his empty dorm and climbed into his bed, pulling out the two-way mirror, "Padfoot."

It was only a moment before the glass reflected the sky back at him then shifted around so he could see Sirius' face. He was out on the roof of Grimmauld, Ginny was visible over his shoulder and the two of them were grinning at him.

"Hey Captain!" Ginny called out. "Calling to tell us of your triumph?"

"230 to 30!" he told them, feeling even more proud of himself.

"We know," Sirius told him in a sing-song voice.

"What do you mean you know?" Harry asked in confusion.

"We may have been there," Ginny dragged out. "And you did a fantastic job with your team Captain Potter."

"You were there? Both of you?" he asked, astounded. "Where... how?"

"You didn't think we'd miss your first game as Gryffindor Captain, did you?" Sirius teased him. "I had to see it, regret it the rest of my life otherwise."

Harry felt his face growing red, but it wasn't from embarrassment. They'd snuck out, the two of them, to come and see his first game of the season. He didn't think something like that would illicit such and emotional response from him, but it meant so much that they'd done that. Having Sirius there was like having his dad come and see his game. Sirius had been there to see them in his third year, but that was before Harry knew the truth.

And Ginny.

Harry had to look away from the mirror and out the window, he'd heard that if you looked into the light then it would stop any tears from forming properly.

"Harry?" her voice came through, sounding concerned.

He let out a small cough to clear his throat, "yeah. Sorry. Just really surprised me is all." He desperately wanted to blow his nose but settled for trying to wipe it inconspicuously on his sleeve. "What was your favorite part of the game?"

It didn't escape him how the two of them exchanged a look, but he was grateful that they didn't press him about his reaction. They did a five-minute play by play and touched on how Malfoy hadn't shown up for the game.

"Do you know if he's been going to his practices?" Ginny asked him.

"Haven't heard anything saying otherwise, but I, uh, haven't been checking. I kind of, just, assumed. I um…" he didn't know how he was supposed to admit this to them.

Ginny cocked her eyebrow at him momentarily before she started laughing and slipped from view. Sirius looked down to where she'd gone and started chuckling. "What am I missing here?" he asked her.

"He," she was catching her breath and came back into view, settling back in her chair. "You couldn't fathom it, could you?" she asked Harry directly, the mirth bringing tears to her eyes.

"What?" he asked innocently, trying to play it off.

"You couldn't possibly imagine skipping Quidditch practices for anything, so you didn't bother following the Slytherin practices and making sure he was going."

Harry grimaced. That was exactly it. His shoulders sagged and he admitted it, "alright. You got me. I'm pretty sure if Voldemort told me he'd duel me this afternoon I'd reschedule it because of the game."

The three of them had a good chuckle over that.

"Ah, we love you, Pup," Sirius shook his head at him. "Now, you have a party to get back to, and I have to go to the loo." He handed the mirror over to Ginny.

Harry watched her eyes follow Sirius to the roof's exit before she turned back to look at him. There was a moment where neither of them did anything other than simply enjoy looking at each other, it was his favorite part of their chats really, just looking at her. "You did really good today, Harry. Sirius was hoping you'd give him a call, soon as you could," she told him softly.

"Yeah. I was at the party, but it felt like I couldn't quite enjoy it 'til I told the two of you about it," he admitted.

"Ron did really well too," she said happily. "You did a good job training him for it. I was almost convinced he'd be puking out there. It's why we didn't sit under the goal posts," she gave a chuckle.

"Ha! Yeah, he did well. Actually, when I left downstairs I believe Hermione was about to invite him to this Christmas get together we have to go to." He gave her a conspiratorial look. They'd had a few conversations about how it was inevitable that Ron and Hermione would wind up together, Ginny was more taking his word for it, never having seen the two of them together outside of her first year and the Ministry incident.

"Ah yes! The 'Slug Club'," she gave a shiver, "horrible name."

"I agree. Anyways, she pointed out to me that we're supposed to take dates. Oh joy," he said dryly.

"Not taking that girl on your team then?" she asked carefully.

His eyes locked on hers then and his heart dropped into his stomach. She'd seen that. Oh bugger! She'd seen that!

"No," he breathed out trying to keep his nerves calm. "You mean. No. Katie, she. Well, I just told her down in the Common Room that I wasn't interested. She," he swallowed and gave a nonchalant shrug, "she seemed alright, you know? Not gutted about me not wanting to…"

"That's Katie Bell then?" Ginny asked, tugging the corner of her bottom lip between her teeth.

"Mhmm," he nodded. Why was his mouth so dry? It hurt to swallow. Does it normally hurt to swallow? 'Why are you acting so weird?' he asked himself. 'Get it together!' "Really wish you were here, to be honest." That was safe enough. "Bet we'd have a laugh at least at the party."

He was sure that her eyes were holding more of a sparkle now than they were a minute ago. She looked pleased.

"Didn't you invite Luna to one of these things before and she turned out to be a laugh? Maybe you can ask her to go with you again," she suggested.

"It wouldn't be the same as with you," he said automatically. "I mean," Merlin he had no idea what he was doing with her anymore. "Yeah. Luna is a good time, but, you know, I'm not…" he coughed. "I'll ask her."

"Hey, Harry?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"I wish I could go with you too." There wasn't any hint of teasing behind her expression. "You should get back down to the party though. I'm the one stuck in isolation, not you."

The party wasn't holding much appeal for him anymore though, he would have much preferred to sit here and stare at her for longer. But Sirius would be back soon and Harry didn't need him doing any razzing in front of her. "Thanks for coming today," Harry told her sincerely, "it really... it means a lot."

"I'm glad," Ginny smiled. "And I loved it." She chewed her lip for a second, "well, most of it."

Harry grinned brightly at her then.

()()()

Harry and Ron were both tilting their heads as they watched what was going on before them. It wasn't unusual for one to have that response to something that Luna was doing, but this time it was more because of what Blaise Zabini was doing.

He was dancing with her. And he had been the one to approach her and ask. Apparently he found her ways charming.

"Really you two," Hermione scoffed at them. "I know she's a bit… different. But she is rather pretty, surely even the two of you can see that."

Harry and Ron exchanged a look with each other before turning back to the dancing couple and squinting at Luna, trying to see her objectively. She had a pretty face, big blue eyes and her hair was rather nice and long. Harry could see now that she had put some effort behind her appearance too; her eyebrows weren't naturally groomed like that and her cheeks had more color on them.

He glanced over at Ron again, who was looking as surprised as Harry felt. Luna was rather attractive, it had just been hard to see through her loud personality.

"Honestly," Hermione stomped off away from them.

"You going to ask her to dance at all?" Harry wondered aloud to Ron, nodding in Hermione's direction. Ron and Hermione weren't official or anything, but they'd been trading more sappy looks than ever lately.

"Are you mad?" Ron asked him, a small look of panic on his face. "I'm doing what I can to help my chances, I'm certainly not going to bungle it all up by stepping on her feet all night!"

Harry let out a single bark of laughter, Ron hadn't danced at all during the Yule Ball, and Harry himself had only done the mandatory opening number. "She might appreciate the gesture though," he explained to him. "Maybe just give her some forewarning and apologize ahead of time."

Ron sighed, "yeah, you're right. It would be the thing to do, wouldn't it? For a 'date' type situation?" He was looking more nervous now than he had before the first Quidditch game.

"Go on," Harry nudged him towards Hermione's direction. She was now chatting with a few of the seventh year Prefects. "I should probably go and 'schmooze' Slughorn anyway," he used Sirius' term for it.

When Dumbledore had asked him to get let Slughorn get a little familiar with him, he hadn't really asked any more questions about it. Harry had, however, consulted Sirius about it. Sirius admitted that it couldn't hurt and assured him that it should be a far sight easier to get information from Slughorn about Tom Riddle than it had been for Harry to go into that cave in September. This of course, was told to him with bitter resentment. It seemed Sirius had still not forgiven Dumbledore for doing that.

Thus far Slughorn was simply eager to show off Harry like a trophy to his other invited guests. Apparently getting into Slughorn's inner circle would hopefully loosen the bulbous man's lips about any information large or small that he would know about connections Riddle had as a school boy the Dumbledore didn't know about, there was a chance that he'd seen something at the events Riddle had attended when he worked for Borgin and Burkes.

Harry felt dirty being used like this, but it was supposedly for the greater good and all that. The part he really didn't understand is that if they had Riddle's notebooks from when he was in school, then what could Slughorn tell them really that they didn't already know?

Harry started making his way over to the Professor when Draco Malfoy was dragged in by the caretaker, Argus Filch.

"Professor Slughorn," wheezed Filch, "I discovered this boy lurkin in an upstairs corridor. He claims to have been invited to your party and have been delayed in setting out. Did you send him an invitation?

Malfoy pulled himself free of Filch's grip, looking furious. "All right, I wasn't invited!" he said angrily. "I was trying to gatecrash, happy?"

"No," answered Filch, with glee on his face, however. "You're in trouble you are! Didn't the Headmaster say that night-time prowling's out, unless you've got permission?"

"That's all right, Argus, that's all right," said Slughorn. "It's Christmas, and it's not a crime to want to come to a party. Just this once, we'll forget any punishment' you may stay, Draco."

Filch was looking put out over missing the opportunity to dole out a detention, but Malfoy wasn't looking overly enthusiastic about having to stay at the party now either. It was as Malfoy was composing himself and thanking Slughorn that Harry realized Snape had come over too. Thus far they hadn't seemed to notice that Harry was there and observing it all.

"I'd like a word with you Draco," Snape said suddenly.

"Oh, now, Severus," said Slughorn, hiccoughing from too much drink, "it's Christmas, don't be too hard on the boy."

"I am his Head of House, I shall decide how hard, or otherwise to be," Snape said curtly. "Follow me, Draco."

Harry waited for the door they'd gone through to close before he went towards it and followed them into the corridor, staying in the shadows the whole way, following their voices, but not catching what they were saying exactly. It was three corridors over that they stopped, close to the Slytherin Common Room, and Harry was able to hide himself from their line of sight and catch what they were conversing about.

"So put me in detention! Report me to Dumbledore!" Malfoy dared Snape.

"You know perfectly well that I do not wish to do either of those things."

"You'd better stop telling me to come to your office then."

"What is your plan?"

"It's none of your business." Malfoy said in a dangerously low voice. "I've got all the assistance I need, and he knows I'm capable enough to pull it off, otherwise he wouldn't have marked me."

He did have the Mark! Harry's eyes grew wide.

"Crabbe and Goyle are hardly worthy," Harry could picture the sneer on Snape's face as he said that. It would be similar to the one on Harry's upon hearing it. "You still have options, Draco. You don't have to follow in your father's footsteps. Look where that has led him."

There was a pause. "I have my orders," Malfoy said.

"And I am here for any help that you might need. Guidance as well."

Harry frowned. He knew Snape was playing both sides, and he knew that he played favorites with his House, but he sounded very concerned for Malfoy then. He must have known he already had the Dark Mark, and that he'd been assigned a task by Voldemort. Why hadn't Snape told the Order?

The two Slytherin's continued on their way, Snape leading Malfoy back to the Common Room. Harry didn't imagine he'd get any more information from them by following, so he headed back to the party.

"Hello, Harry," Luna greeted him with a happy smile once he was safely back in the middle of the party.

"Sorry for monopolizing your date," Zabini said to him.

"Totally fine," Harry assured him. "Looks like she had more fun with you than she would have with me. I can't dance to save my life."

"And it gave you the opportunity to follow Professor Snape and Draco Malfoy while still having a cover story," Luna added.

Harry stared at her a moment then his eyes flickered over to Zabini. He shared a dorm with Malfoy and had done for the last six years. They could easily be friends. Harry didn't need Malfoy knowing he was following him.

Zabini raised an eyebrow at him. "We aren't friends, if that's what you're worried about."

"The Zabini's are notoriously neutral," Luna informed Harry. "That way they can stay out of conflict altogether. The last war they simply fled to their villa in Italy until it was all over." She turned to Zabini, "were you born there?"

Zabini's generally placid expression turned into a grin, "I was. I summer there as well. I'd have some photo's I could show you of it, sometime."

"I would very much enjoy that. I like looking at pictures," she told him. "If you'll both excuse me a minute."

She headed off in the direction of the toilets, leaving the two of them standing there staring at each other. Harry had really never taken the time to get to know what Zabini was like, he was a Slytherin and that was all he knew about him.

"You aren't messing her about, are you?" Harry asked him.

"Excuse me?"

Zabini may have looked slightly offended at the ask, but Harry had to be sure. Luna was one of the few people in the school that had been unwaveringly there for him. He owed it to her to at least ask the questions of some bloke that was showing her interest. "Look, she's a good friend of mine, and she gets bullied enough by her dorm mates. If you're messing her about or having a laugh-"

"What? I'll regret it?" Zabini asked him dubiously.

"Yeah, you will," Harry said with determination.

"I'm not afraid of you, Potter. And I'm pretty sure she can take care of herself."

"I know she can," Harry defended.

Zabini rolled his eyes at him, "look, Potter, I happen to like her, okay? She isn't full of the usual bullshit I get from most people around here. It's refreshing. And I happen to think she's rather good company. You don't have to be going all Gryffindor about this, I'm not setting out to intentionally hurt her."

Harry nodded it was probably the best he could hope for. "Right, well. Have fun then," he turned to look for Ron and Hermione, who were now dancing, poorly, but with smiles on their faces. "Who did you come here with?" Harry turned back to Zabini and asked out of curiosity.

Zabini gestured over to the corner where three men were clearly fighting for the attention of a beautiful brunette woman in a slinky silver dress. Harry's eyes went wide as he noticed her for the first time.

"She's my cousin," he told him. "She was invited as well. She's two years out of school and a model for Haute Cosmetics. Slughorn was her private tutor a few years back for a summer."

Luna joined them again, "It looks like Marissa will have her pick of males to warm her bed tonight."

"She always does," Zabini nodded, looking back towards Luna fondly. "Shall we refill our drinks?"

"I'd love to," she turned to Harry, "will you be joining us? You rather look like you would prefer to slip off and talk to Matilda."

"Matilda?" Zabini asked him. "I didn't know you were seeing someone."

"Oh, it's unrequited and rather long distance," Luna explained to him breezily.

Harry's face colored. "Yeah, I'm going to head back to Gryffindor," he told them. "If Ron or Hermione come asking, will you tell them?" he asked Luna before making for the door, remembering to say a farewell to Slughorn.

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