Chapter three

(A/N - Wee I'm writing this pretty quickly, eh? Not that anyone reads this anyway, but I sort of do it for myself. Yay.)

In the morning, Ginny woke up and memories of the night before rushed into her head. Who was that? She threw some clothes on and made her way down the stairs, crashing directly into Harry.

"Augh...I'm sorry." Ginny said, picking her wand up off the ground and brushing her robes. Why did that feel strangely familiar? Ginny looked up at Harry. He hadn't said anything, but was looking down at her very curiously.

"What?" She asked him. He jumped out of his stupor.

"Uh...nothing. Right. I think Ron and Hermione already went to breakfast, wanna go down with me?" Harry looked at her, maybe even a bit of hope in his eyes.

"Yeah, sure, let's go." And they went together, Ginny's heart beating uncontrollably, and Harry's palms sweating.

* * * *

The rest of the day Harry or Ginny didn't see each other much, but Ron and Hermione sure did. They were whispering to each other all day, about something Harry didn't know, but he had an idea it was just so they could get close to each other. They liked each other. Harry accepted it. Were they ever planning on telling him? He, instead, distracted himself by fiddling with the hair that fell around his scar, like he always did. He nearly jumped out of his skin when someone tapped him on his shoulder.

"Hey," said Ginny. "It looks like your friends left you here. What are you doing?"

"Ah...nothing. Just...thinking."

"Well it's almost 10:30, are you going back up to Gryffindor Tower?"

What? You want me to go to the Astronomy Tower with you? Harry cringed. I really need to stop thinking about her like this. But she's just so...so...

"Harry! Snap out of it! Are you coming up or not?"

Harry's eyes jerked up in surprise. "Yes." He said. "Yes, I'm going up now; I have something to do."

Ginny eyed him suspiciously. "What?"

"I can't tell you." He said flatly. Harry got the idea Ginny knew what he was talking about, and sped up his walking speed a bit. Ginny looked at him, and followed.

"Were you out of bed last night?" The question surprised Harry. He put on what he thought was an innocent face.

"Uh...no. Why would I be out of bed?" He pretended to be puzzled. Ginny shrugged.

"I just thought I heard someone, that's all."

Harry ignored her question. "Plaid Moon," he said to the Fat Lady, and she opened up. He sped across the room with out another glance towards Ginny's direction, and slammed the door of his dormitory closed. He looked at his watch. It was 10:40. There was hardly anyone in the common room when he was down there, and he just realized now that Seamus, Dean, and Ron were asleep in their beds beside him. He smiled to himself. I'm definitely using that invisibility cloak tonight. He needed to know if his suspicions about Ginny.

An hour later, Harry slipped out of his room, completely invisible. He would wait at the bottom of the stairs for her. No, someone. You don't know that it's Ginny yet. It was true, he didn't. He checked his watch impatiently for the next ten minutes, convinced the hands were moving slow just to get on his nerves. It was just when he decided to turn around when he heard feet padding through the hall.

Ginny stood at the top of the stairs, peering right through him, seeing only the couch behind him. Harry grinned and breathed a sigh of relief. This could be lots of fun.

She slowly made her way down the steps, biting her bottom lip to the point where Harry thought it would bleed. He smiled to himself. She was adorable. He watched as, while looking in the other direction, her foot almost slipped. She grabbed hold of the railing tightly, and watched her step as she made her way down the last bit of the staircase. Harry's heart jumped. He was standing right below the staircase, and it was so quiet that if he moved he would surely be heard. He froze. Maybe if I don't move, she won't walk into me. He thought better of it. Yeah, right.

Harry's assumption was correct. Ginny's shoulder grazed his chest, sending a row of goose bumps down his leg. She stopped. Harry swore he could hear her heart thumping - or was it his own? He didn't care. Please, ignore that. He thought to himself. And then, You're an idiot. She just felt something solid and can't see anyone here. She won't ignore it.

He was right. Ginny put her hands out in front of her and onto Harry's chest. They roamed his shoulders, his neck, making his hair stand on end. He sucked in his breath. Ginny's brown eyes were wide with shock and confusion. Her hands went back to his chest, hardly touching the silky, watery fabric of the Invisibility Cloak. Harry guessed that she knew it was some sort of fabric, because she began to tug at it. He could feel it going up his back, slow, and slower, until he was sure that the back of his hair was sticking up. It must have not been, because Ginny didn't make a face.

Okay, so maybe she did. Because a second later, Harry's eyes were revealed.

"AHHHH--" Ginny's eyes were wider than Harry had ever seen them, her mouth still open against Harry's hand he had pushed across her mouth.

"Promise not to scream if I take my hand away?" Ginny nodded vigorously. Slowly, Harry removed his hand to see her lips parted in shock.

"You - you didn't even say anything! That whole time! You were--Oh, god." Ginny now put her hand over her mouth, blushing at the way she was touching him. "Oh, my god, I'm sorry." Her eyes darted all over the place.

"What were you doing down here?" Harry asked her, his eyes narrowing.

"More like what were you doing down here, and what is that thing?" Ginny put her hands on her hips. She's still adorable. You git, answer her!

"It's an invisibility cloak. And I'm not telling you what I was down here for. Not unless you tell me first." Oh, hell, I'll tell you either way if you keep looking at me like that.

"Uh...well...you see. There was this, uh, game going on last night...and I sort of got distracted last night, so I couldn't do what I was supposed to do. You should know what I mean, because if my guess is correct that was you that I knocked into last night?" Ginny's eyes narrowed. That's never good.

"Yes, it was. And I, too, was on a, ah, mission, you might call it. But it's over now, I'm going to bed."

And he did just that, despite what he really wanted to do, which consisted of him stunning Ginny and taking the time to inspect her in her nightgown. The one that he was supposed to steal. He had a feeling that this wasn't even involved with Ron and Dean and Seamus anymore - this was between Ginny and him.

~****~

Ginny crept through the corridor out of her bedroom, peered down the stairs to see that no one was there, and put one foot on the first step. The first three were okay, but on the third she had looked the other way and nearly fell flat on her face. Gripping the railing, she made it down the rest of the steps until--

When turning, she thought she distinctly heard in intake of breath and something hard on her shoulder. She looked where she felt it. There was nothing there, but she was sure...

Turning to face the spot, Ginny put two hands out in front of her and felt a solid muscle under her palm. It quivered when she touched it, and she drew back a bit. This was someone she knew. She ran her hands up a thin neck, defined jaw line, and down to the shoulders. It felt like liquid silk under her fingers, and she tugged at it a little to see that it was, indeed, a fabric. She continued to pull, a strange feeling that there was something, someone under here.

Oh, but there was. Brilliant green eyes poked through this invisible fabric, wide with shock. Holy. That's Harry Potter.

"AHHHH-" Ginny started to yell before Harry put his warm hand over his mouth and pulled the rest of the cloak off with the remaining hand, revealing his thin tee shirt and boxers. Ginny was sure her eyes were wide. How the hell do I keep catching him in these situations? When she promised not to yell, he took his hand off of her mouth and explained himself.

Ginny didn't say much. She just sort of threw insults about, and before she knew it, he had gone off to sleep. Hmph. We'll catch up tomorrow night, then. This time, I'll surprise him...