Chapter Thirteen
Of Malfoy, Mistletoe, and Discoveries
"Well, maybe it has a hidden message in it somewhere." Ron said, his brow furrowed in concentration.
He had, of course, chosen to stay in Marigold. Now that Ron had adjusted to life here, he decided that until he could find a way to still be with Harmony, it was Marigold where he would live.
He, Harmony, and Sirius were studying the crumpled poem written by Slytherin. It was quite comfortable, the three friends sitting near the fire with hot chocolate and cookies while snow fell gently outside and they listened to the Christmas carols that had been bewitched into the air.
"I give up for tonight." Harmony declared, standing up. Ron looked into her clear blue eyes, still finding it hard to believe that his beautiful Harmony could be in any way related to the Dark Lord, but you COULD consider them half siblings.
"Let's do the study tonight," Sirius suggested. Since the first of the month they had spent each evening decorating one of the rooms, and Ron was all for making the serious study look festive. As they walked in, Harmony walked over to the calander and marked off another day.
"Only two weeks until Christmas!" She grinned.
"Only a week until Christmas holidays!" Ginny gibbered to her friend, Gabby. Unfortunatly, Gabby was going home for holidays while Ginny was going to stay in the castle while her parents did nothing at home but mope about Ron.
She turned and saw Hermione and Harry coming out of the corridor to her left, holding hands, talking, and laughing. Ginny smiled, it was good to see them back to normal.
"Ginny, look out!" Gabby said, but it was too late. She collided head on with someone.
"Oh, sorry," Ginny said, kneeling down. They both started grasping for fallen books and papers, and not until their hands grabbed for the same book did they look up at one another. Draco Malfoy looked back at her. They stood up and glanced away awkardly. Suddenly Harry and Hermione burst out laughing.
"What is it?!" Ginny and Malfoy demanded in unison.
"Oh...it's just that..." But Hermione was laughing so hard she could hardly breathe and Harry had to explain.
"You're standing under the mistletoe." Harry said, sending Hermione into another fit of giggles. Ginny looked at Draco and became bright red, and she saw Draco tinged pink.
"Bug off, Potter," He mumbled, turning around to leave. Gabby led Ginny away, tears of mirth flowing down her cheeks.
Draco Malfoy sat in Potions on the last day before Christmas holidays, quite bored. He had finished his Glory Stopper, and was rather impatiently awaiting the bell.
"Are you finished, Mr. Malfoy?" Came Snape's voice from behind him. Draco jumped and turned around to face the Potions master.
"Yes sir," He replied. Snapes lips curled.
"Excellent, 10 points to Slytherin." He said. Draco suddenly got an idea.
"May I go to the bathroom, sir, since I'm finished?" He asked. He had no intentions whatsoever of going to the bathroom, but he was willing to do anything to get out of the class early. Snape granted him permission, and Draco sprinted out the door.
As he made his way quickly down the corridor, he suddenly collided with something. He bent down to pick up his stuff, and realized that this was last week all over again; for there, bending down over her books, was Ginny Weasley.
As she stood up, Draco realized once again how different she was from the red head, freckled, eleven year old he had first seen six years ago. She was only a few inches shorter than him, with a figure that showed because of the way her robes clung, long, silky, firey hair and large, imploring, fawn-like eyes. They were searching him now. At the same time Draco and Ginny looked up, and saw hanging above them the little green plant that Potter had pointed out a few days ago.
For a moment, they just looked at the mistletoe, and then at each other. Then, as if in slow motion, Draco kissed her.
Ginny suddenly felt the cold corridor rush away from her, and the warmness of Draco instead, which was strange, as she had always imagined him as being cold. Not that she was thinking about that, she was thinking about the only thing on this earth that was important; this moment, here and now, with Draco. His arms, his touch, his mouth...they were a sensation never before imagined by Ginny. It only after a minute of this new found bliss that something else crept into her mind.
What about your brother? The one who was tortured by the boy in your arms? Her mind screeched, interrupting the sheer ecstacy of kissing the son of her family's arch enemy. What about Ron, who would never let this happen? Does he no longer matter? This boy, who you are kissing, this boy probably HELPED in his kidnap! Are you KISSING one of the people responsible for your own brother's death? TRAITOR!
At her senses final plea Ginny tore away without warning, leaving Draco standing in the corridor, alone, confused, and insulted, with nothing but Ginny's forgotten spell books to console him.
"There has GOT to be a pattern somewhere!" Sirius cried out.
"A lot of rubbish if you ask me." Ron grumbled. He had basically given up on the jibberish that Slytherin had written.
"I've got a question for you." Harmony said thoughtfully. "If you had to guess, who would you say that's our age that could possibly be the heir of Gryffindor?" Sirius thought for a moment, but Ron answered immediatly.
"Harry, no one fits the description better." He said, while Sirius nodded in agreement.
"Hmmm...." Harmony said. "Interesting...." They sat for a while longer, before Harmony gasped.
"Look!!" She exclaimed, pointing to the second verse.
Yonder lies the lion
Hark his words as well
Relinquish old hate
Above all else
Resist the call of the Snakes
"What about it?" Ron asked.
"The first words are yonder, hark, relinquish, above, and resist. The first LETTERS of those words are YHRAR." Harmony said excitedly. "Reanrange them and you get--"
"Harry." Sirius said in understanding.
"Look at this!" Ron said, pointing. "The first verse letters are OHANYRM, which turns into Harmony."
"And verse four spells Ronald." Sirius said, all three of them now jibbering in excitement.
"What's number three?" Harmony said thoughtfully, as she didn't know the people of Hogwarts. They studied it for a moment. Then Sirius and Ron looked up at each other.
"Hermione," They said in unison. Harmony raised an eyebrow.
"Hermione?" She asked. This set Ron off, telling her all about the adventures of the Hogwarts trio. Harmony was intrigued.
"Tell me the one about your second year and your sister again, that was fascinating." She said. Sirius cleared his throat.
"Back to the matter at HAND!" He said, tearing Ron and Harmony away from their story telling session.
"Sir Black?" Came a voice from outside.
"What?!" Sirius shot back.
"There's someone here to see you." Was the reply. After looking at each other quizzically, Ron and Harmony followed Sirius toward the main hall. They got to the top of the flight of stairs where the could see the Entrance Hall, and Sirius went FLYING down the stairs toward a pretty woman with short, brown hair.
"Sirius!" Crystal exclaimed, throwing her arms around him. He picked her up, twirled her around, set her down and kissed her fiercly. Ron gaped. Sirius let go and, grinning, lead her up the stairs.
"Ron, this is Crystal Jenkins, the current Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. Crystal, this is Ron Weasely."
"Yes, I know." Crystal said as she shook Ron's hand.
"How did you know THAT?" Sirius asked.
"Well, he's only been in the paper about a hundred times!" She said sarcastically. "Speaking of which, I want to hear how the Missing Child of 1997 got to be in Marigold anyway."
"Missing Child of 1997?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, everyone's buzzing about the disappearence of Ron Weasley." Crystal said. As they talked they walked back to Sirius's room. (Which, in Hogwartarian, was the Transifguration classroom.)
"Really?" Ron was genuinly surprised that his disappearence had made any impact at Hogwarts. Crystal nodded.
"Everyone in your year has taken it really hard. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and, of course, your sister, have taken it especially hard. They're just starting to come out of this...how should I put this...comatose state. They've been numb and aloof. Potter and Granger, according to popular student belief, are turning to each other--"
"Hang on, Harry...and, and HERMIONE are, like, an item?!" Ron said, and Crystal nodded. Ron started laughing so hard he fell down. "Now THAT is funny," He said, getting himself back together. They continued to talk all the way up the seven flights of stairs.
Harmony felt extremely seperated from the other three. They were talking about a place she had heard so much about, but never experienced. They all had something in common that she had never experienced.
"At this rate, I'll never get to know the other three." Harmony whispered.
Christmas Day dawned bright and early. Ginny jumped out of bed and headed for the presents. She found the norm from Mum, a box of chocolate from Gabby, among other things. She spent the day with Harry and Hermione, avoiding Dra--Malfoy's stare at dinner.
Damn him! She didn't even know him and she was unconciously calling him by his first name! She looked at him, then quickly away. She didn't need him. Really, she didn't!
But after tea she knew she was just lying to herself. What was that Shakespeare had said? "To thine own self be true." Pretty smart for a Muggle, that Shakespeare.
She was walking out of the Great Hall, not really paying to where she was going, when a hand shot out, grabbed her arm, and pulled her into an empty classroom. Ginny slowly looked up. Not Draco, not Draco, not Draco, PLEASE not Draco!
It was Draco.
"What the hell was that?!" He demanded, his voice almost a hiss. Ginny looked down to get away from the silver gray eyes that seemed to be boring into her.
"It's your brother isn't it?" He said, looking at her. "You think I had something to do with his disapearence." Ginny turned her head guiltily.
"Well, I don't deny that my father planned the Weasley kidnapping for a loooong time." Draco said. "I can tell you everything I know about it." Ginny looked up again.
"Really?" She breathed. Draco peered into her brown eyes, they were pleading with him.
"It never happened." He said.
"WHAT?!" Ginny said, caught completly off gaurd.
"He had it all scheduled, and he was getting ready to leave when we got a message from our Ministry contact." Draco said, looking at Ginny in a way that made all her logical notions that he was lying drift away. "He said that there had been a missing persons report filed to the Ministry. Ron Weasley had disappeared, and my dad was pissed off as all hell."
"Oh," Ginny said, looking up into Draco's eyes. "I'm sorry." Draco didn't respond. "What?"
"I was just thinking that I would like to continue last night." He said, his eyes twinkling. Ginny giggled, and was leaning forward when she heard something.
"Ginny? GINNY?!" Hermione and Harry were searching for her.
"Draco, I've got to go!" Ginny said. She pecked his cheek. Draco gave her a half smile as she ran after her Gryffindor friends.
Ginny sat in an armchair near the fire. Harry sat across from her with Hermione on his lap. She was leaning against him, leaning her head on his shoulder. Ginny was thinking about how very comfortable it would be if she were sitting like that with Draco....but she also had something else on her mind.
If You-Know-Who hadn't kidnapped Ron, what had happened? A million possibilities wandered through her mind, each more unlikely than the next. She finally gave up and began daydreaming about Draco, the whole common room a warm and comfortable haze. She jumped about a foot in the air when she heard an owl tapping at the window.
She ran up and snatched the letter, expecting to sit down and hand it to Harry. But it was for her. Intrigued, she opened it and read the note.
Ginny,
Meet me on the grounds tonight near the forest. Bring something warm, I want to go for a walk.
~Draco
Ginny smiled as she sat back down, daydreaming until Harry and Hermione turned in and Ginny could change and run downstairs unobserved. Mr. Filch had taken a Christmas holiday to Sweden to see his mother, who was rumored to be ill. She only had Peeves to worry about, and luck was on her side.
"Hey," She said, coming up to Draco, her cheeks already turning red from the cold. Draco kissed her, and then took her hand. They walked down the stretch, talking. They both came to the conclusion that their family feud sounded like something stupid and irrelevent. They were very comfortable until Ginny suddenly stopped.
She had gotten a gut feeling. This didn't happen often, but Ginny had had the feeling on Halloween in second year that something that didn't belong was in the castle. Sirius Black attacked the common room. In third year she KNEW something was fishy about Moody, and so on. And now she had the feeling that there was something in the forest, something they needed to find.
She explained this to Draco, who immediatly objected. He had been in the Forest once, and that was more than enough for one life time. But Ginny's feeling got stronger. It had something to do with Ron. She half dragged Draco into the Forest.
"I don't like this," He said. The moon wasn't quite full, so werewolves weren't the problem. But there were plenty of other dangers in here. Oh shit.
Christmas night found Harmony and Ron sitting together in their clearing, singing Christmas Carols, laughing, kissing.... whatever. Harmony's cheeks were a rosy red, and Ron couldn't take his eyes off her. Finally they started to go home.
"I love you," Harmony said.
"I love you too," Ron said, quite startled. They kissed and continued, until Harmony put out an arm to stop Ron.
"Do you hear that?" She asked. Ron strained his ears, which weren't as sensitive as Harmony's pointed ones. The only thing that really seperated them. Ron shook himself mentally and listened. Footsteps. Without speaking they scrambled up the nearest tree and waited, hardly breathing.
Ginny and Draco continued walking, ducking under low hanging branches and stepping over logs.
It was at the same moment that they got that instinctive feeling that there was something watching them. They stopped, looked at each other, and then ahead. Ginny, scared to death but determined, gripped Draco's hand and stepped forward.
She screamed as something jumped out in front from above them, blocking the path. It rose slowly and dramtically. Ginny shrunk back against Draco, who held her protectively. No matter how afraid, Ginny couldn't take her eyes off the figure. Then it spoke.
"Get your fucking hands off of her."
The clouds suddenly seperated, sending a burst of moonlight onto the path. Standing there was a boy dressed in a fine silk robe of red and green. He looked furious and superior. Draco's jaw dropped and Ginny screamed again.
It was Ron.
Of Malfoy, Mistletoe, and Discoveries
"Well, maybe it has a hidden message in it somewhere." Ron said, his brow furrowed in concentration.
He had, of course, chosen to stay in Marigold. Now that Ron had adjusted to life here, he decided that until he could find a way to still be with Harmony, it was Marigold where he would live.
He, Harmony, and Sirius were studying the crumpled poem written by Slytherin. It was quite comfortable, the three friends sitting near the fire with hot chocolate and cookies while snow fell gently outside and they listened to the Christmas carols that had been bewitched into the air.
"I give up for tonight." Harmony declared, standing up. Ron looked into her clear blue eyes, still finding it hard to believe that his beautiful Harmony could be in any way related to the Dark Lord, but you COULD consider them half siblings.
"Let's do the study tonight," Sirius suggested. Since the first of the month they had spent each evening decorating one of the rooms, and Ron was all for making the serious study look festive. As they walked in, Harmony walked over to the calander and marked off another day.
"Only two weeks until Christmas!" She grinned.
"Only a week until Christmas holidays!" Ginny gibbered to her friend, Gabby. Unfortunatly, Gabby was going home for holidays while Ginny was going to stay in the castle while her parents did nothing at home but mope about Ron.
She turned and saw Hermione and Harry coming out of the corridor to her left, holding hands, talking, and laughing. Ginny smiled, it was good to see them back to normal.
"Ginny, look out!" Gabby said, but it was too late. She collided head on with someone.
"Oh, sorry," Ginny said, kneeling down. They both started grasping for fallen books and papers, and not until their hands grabbed for the same book did they look up at one another. Draco Malfoy looked back at her. They stood up and glanced away awkardly. Suddenly Harry and Hermione burst out laughing.
"What is it?!" Ginny and Malfoy demanded in unison.
"Oh...it's just that..." But Hermione was laughing so hard she could hardly breathe and Harry had to explain.
"You're standing under the mistletoe." Harry said, sending Hermione into another fit of giggles. Ginny looked at Draco and became bright red, and she saw Draco tinged pink.
"Bug off, Potter," He mumbled, turning around to leave. Gabby led Ginny away, tears of mirth flowing down her cheeks.
Draco Malfoy sat in Potions on the last day before Christmas holidays, quite bored. He had finished his Glory Stopper, and was rather impatiently awaiting the bell.
"Are you finished, Mr. Malfoy?" Came Snape's voice from behind him. Draco jumped and turned around to face the Potions master.
"Yes sir," He replied. Snapes lips curled.
"Excellent, 10 points to Slytherin." He said. Draco suddenly got an idea.
"May I go to the bathroom, sir, since I'm finished?" He asked. He had no intentions whatsoever of going to the bathroom, but he was willing to do anything to get out of the class early. Snape granted him permission, and Draco sprinted out the door.
As he made his way quickly down the corridor, he suddenly collided with something. He bent down to pick up his stuff, and realized that this was last week all over again; for there, bending down over her books, was Ginny Weasley.
As she stood up, Draco realized once again how different she was from the red head, freckled, eleven year old he had first seen six years ago. She was only a few inches shorter than him, with a figure that showed because of the way her robes clung, long, silky, firey hair and large, imploring, fawn-like eyes. They were searching him now. At the same time Draco and Ginny looked up, and saw hanging above them the little green plant that Potter had pointed out a few days ago.
For a moment, they just looked at the mistletoe, and then at each other. Then, as if in slow motion, Draco kissed her.
Ginny suddenly felt the cold corridor rush away from her, and the warmness of Draco instead, which was strange, as she had always imagined him as being cold. Not that she was thinking about that, she was thinking about the only thing on this earth that was important; this moment, here and now, with Draco. His arms, his touch, his mouth...they were a sensation never before imagined by Ginny. It only after a minute of this new found bliss that something else crept into her mind.
What about your brother? The one who was tortured by the boy in your arms? Her mind screeched, interrupting the sheer ecstacy of kissing the son of her family's arch enemy. What about Ron, who would never let this happen? Does he no longer matter? This boy, who you are kissing, this boy probably HELPED in his kidnap! Are you KISSING one of the people responsible for your own brother's death? TRAITOR!
At her senses final plea Ginny tore away without warning, leaving Draco standing in the corridor, alone, confused, and insulted, with nothing but Ginny's forgotten spell books to console him.
"There has GOT to be a pattern somewhere!" Sirius cried out.
"A lot of rubbish if you ask me." Ron grumbled. He had basically given up on the jibberish that Slytherin had written.
"I've got a question for you." Harmony said thoughtfully. "If you had to guess, who would you say that's our age that could possibly be the heir of Gryffindor?" Sirius thought for a moment, but Ron answered immediatly.
"Harry, no one fits the description better." He said, while Sirius nodded in agreement.
"Hmmm...." Harmony said. "Interesting...." They sat for a while longer, before Harmony gasped.
"Look!!" She exclaimed, pointing to the second verse.
Yonder lies the lion
Hark his words as well
Relinquish old hate
Above all else
Resist the call of the Snakes
"What about it?" Ron asked.
"The first words are yonder, hark, relinquish, above, and resist. The first LETTERS of those words are YHRAR." Harmony said excitedly. "Reanrange them and you get--"
"Harry." Sirius said in understanding.
"Look at this!" Ron said, pointing. "The first verse letters are OHANYRM, which turns into Harmony."
"And verse four spells Ronald." Sirius said, all three of them now jibbering in excitement.
"What's number three?" Harmony said thoughtfully, as she didn't know the people of Hogwarts. They studied it for a moment. Then Sirius and Ron looked up at each other.
"Hermione," They said in unison. Harmony raised an eyebrow.
"Hermione?" She asked. This set Ron off, telling her all about the adventures of the Hogwarts trio. Harmony was intrigued.
"Tell me the one about your second year and your sister again, that was fascinating." She said. Sirius cleared his throat.
"Back to the matter at HAND!" He said, tearing Ron and Harmony away from their story telling session.
"Sir Black?" Came a voice from outside.
"What?!" Sirius shot back.
"There's someone here to see you." Was the reply. After looking at each other quizzically, Ron and Harmony followed Sirius toward the main hall. They got to the top of the flight of stairs where the could see the Entrance Hall, and Sirius went FLYING down the stairs toward a pretty woman with short, brown hair.
"Sirius!" Crystal exclaimed, throwing her arms around him. He picked her up, twirled her around, set her down and kissed her fiercly. Ron gaped. Sirius let go and, grinning, lead her up the stairs.
"Ron, this is Crystal Jenkins, the current Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. Crystal, this is Ron Weasely."
"Yes, I know." Crystal said as she shook Ron's hand.
"How did you know THAT?" Sirius asked.
"Well, he's only been in the paper about a hundred times!" She said sarcastically. "Speaking of which, I want to hear how the Missing Child of 1997 got to be in Marigold anyway."
"Missing Child of 1997?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, everyone's buzzing about the disappearence of Ron Weasley." Crystal said. As they talked they walked back to Sirius's room. (Which, in Hogwartarian, was the Transifguration classroom.)
"Really?" Ron was genuinly surprised that his disappearence had made any impact at Hogwarts. Crystal nodded.
"Everyone in your year has taken it really hard. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and, of course, your sister, have taken it especially hard. They're just starting to come out of this...how should I put this...comatose state. They've been numb and aloof. Potter and Granger, according to popular student belief, are turning to each other--"
"Hang on, Harry...and, and HERMIONE are, like, an item?!" Ron said, and Crystal nodded. Ron started laughing so hard he fell down. "Now THAT is funny," He said, getting himself back together. They continued to talk all the way up the seven flights of stairs.
Harmony felt extremely seperated from the other three. They were talking about a place she had heard so much about, but never experienced. They all had something in common that she had never experienced.
"At this rate, I'll never get to know the other three." Harmony whispered.
Christmas Day dawned bright and early. Ginny jumped out of bed and headed for the presents. She found the norm from Mum, a box of chocolate from Gabby, among other things. She spent the day with Harry and Hermione, avoiding Dra--Malfoy's stare at dinner.
Damn him! She didn't even know him and she was unconciously calling him by his first name! She looked at him, then quickly away. She didn't need him. Really, she didn't!
But after tea she knew she was just lying to herself. What was that Shakespeare had said? "To thine own self be true." Pretty smart for a Muggle, that Shakespeare.
She was walking out of the Great Hall, not really paying to where she was going, when a hand shot out, grabbed her arm, and pulled her into an empty classroom. Ginny slowly looked up. Not Draco, not Draco, not Draco, PLEASE not Draco!
It was Draco.
"What the hell was that?!" He demanded, his voice almost a hiss. Ginny looked down to get away from the silver gray eyes that seemed to be boring into her.
"It's your brother isn't it?" He said, looking at her. "You think I had something to do with his disapearence." Ginny turned her head guiltily.
"Well, I don't deny that my father planned the Weasley kidnapping for a loooong time." Draco said. "I can tell you everything I know about it." Ginny looked up again.
"Really?" She breathed. Draco peered into her brown eyes, they were pleading with him.
"It never happened." He said.
"WHAT?!" Ginny said, caught completly off gaurd.
"He had it all scheduled, and he was getting ready to leave when we got a message from our Ministry contact." Draco said, looking at Ginny in a way that made all her logical notions that he was lying drift away. "He said that there had been a missing persons report filed to the Ministry. Ron Weasley had disappeared, and my dad was pissed off as all hell."
"Oh," Ginny said, looking up into Draco's eyes. "I'm sorry." Draco didn't respond. "What?"
"I was just thinking that I would like to continue last night." He said, his eyes twinkling. Ginny giggled, and was leaning forward when she heard something.
"Ginny? GINNY?!" Hermione and Harry were searching for her.
"Draco, I've got to go!" Ginny said. She pecked his cheek. Draco gave her a half smile as she ran after her Gryffindor friends.
Ginny sat in an armchair near the fire. Harry sat across from her with Hermione on his lap. She was leaning against him, leaning her head on his shoulder. Ginny was thinking about how very comfortable it would be if she were sitting like that with Draco....but she also had something else on her mind.
If You-Know-Who hadn't kidnapped Ron, what had happened? A million possibilities wandered through her mind, each more unlikely than the next. She finally gave up and began daydreaming about Draco, the whole common room a warm and comfortable haze. She jumped about a foot in the air when she heard an owl tapping at the window.
She ran up and snatched the letter, expecting to sit down and hand it to Harry. But it was for her. Intrigued, she opened it and read the note.
Ginny,
Meet me on the grounds tonight near the forest. Bring something warm, I want to go for a walk.
~Draco
Ginny smiled as she sat back down, daydreaming until Harry and Hermione turned in and Ginny could change and run downstairs unobserved. Mr. Filch had taken a Christmas holiday to Sweden to see his mother, who was rumored to be ill. She only had Peeves to worry about, and luck was on her side.
"Hey," She said, coming up to Draco, her cheeks already turning red from the cold. Draco kissed her, and then took her hand. They walked down the stretch, talking. They both came to the conclusion that their family feud sounded like something stupid and irrelevent. They were very comfortable until Ginny suddenly stopped.
She had gotten a gut feeling. This didn't happen often, but Ginny had had the feeling on Halloween in second year that something that didn't belong was in the castle. Sirius Black attacked the common room. In third year she KNEW something was fishy about Moody, and so on. And now she had the feeling that there was something in the forest, something they needed to find.
She explained this to Draco, who immediatly objected. He had been in the Forest once, and that was more than enough for one life time. But Ginny's feeling got stronger. It had something to do with Ron. She half dragged Draco into the Forest.
"I don't like this," He said. The moon wasn't quite full, so werewolves weren't the problem. But there were plenty of other dangers in here. Oh shit.
Christmas night found Harmony and Ron sitting together in their clearing, singing Christmas Carols, laughing, kissing.... whatever. Harmony's cheeks were a rosy red, and Ron couldn't take his eyes off her. Finally they started to go home.
"I love you," Harmony said.
"I love you too," Ron said, quite startled. They kissed and continued, until Harmony put out an arm to stop Ron.
"Do you hear that?" She asked. Ron strained his ears, which weren't as sensitive as Harmony's pointed ones. The only thing that really seperated them. Ron shook himself mentally and listened. Footsteps. Without speaking they scrambled up the nearest tree and waited, hardly breathing.
Ginny and Draco continued walking, ducking under low hanging branches and stepping over logs.
It was at the same moment that they got that instinctive feeling that there was something watching them. They stopped, looked at each other, and then ahead. Ginny, scared to death but determined, gripped Draco's hand and stepped forward.
She screamed as something jumped out in front from above them, blocking the path. It rose slowly and dramtically. Ginny shrunk back against Draco, who held her protectively. No matter how afraid, Ginny couldn't take her eyes off the figure. Then it spoke.
"Get your fucking hands off of her."
The clouds suddenly seperated, sending a burst of moonlight onto the path. Standing there was a boy dressed in a fine silk robe of red and green. He looked furious and superior. Draco's jaw dropped and Ginny screamed again.
It was Ron.