Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, propaganda, etc.

A/N: I tried to get this on .html, but no-can-do. Help, please?

Ginny breezed through Quidditch with a goofy grin on her face, only stopping from her fantasies to tease Ron about his upcoming date with Hermione. She shouldn't really be one to tease about dates, she supposed, but it was too hard to resist. Quidditch just wasn't doing much to keep her mind occupied either; the wind buffeted her tiny form around to achieve anything, and nobody else seemed very enthused.

"All right, I can see that no one's quite into Quidditch today, but we'll be making this time up! I want you all here at 6 A.M. sharp!" Angelina's sharp voice sounded through the wind. Ginny winced; she had never been an early-morning person, and 6:00 was way too soon to abandon her bed.

After feeling her toes touch the ground, Ginny lightly hopped off her broom and dashed towards the changing room, calling to Harry that she'd meet him in fifteen minutes. Once inside, she grabbed her duffel bag and frantically began applying Muggle make-up. She had never been very great at applying it, but she was worse when she tried to use her wand. She had just poked herself in the eye with her mascara bottle when Katie Bell came in.

"Makeup troubles?" Katie asked, taking in Ginny's appearance. Before Ginny could confirm her comment, Katie had swiftly pulled out her wand and removed the mess she had made on her face. She then began taking out her accessories and applying them faster than Ginny could blink. Ginny was just wondering if she was perhaps applying them TOO fast when Katie said "done" in a satisfied voice. Ginny inspected herself in the mirror-true, it wasn't the most drastic change in the world, but she didn't look quite so pale and her eyelashes did look a bit longer. She changed from her Quidditch robes into a pair of jeans and a shirt under her school robes, and gave Katie a quick hug.

"Good luck with Harry," she said, smiling.

"How did you know?"

"I guess you're pretty blind about how much he likes you, huh?"

Ginny chose not to answer, and instead gave her a confused glance and dashed towards Hogwarts. Harry was waiting for her, looking nervously at his watch.

"Hi!" she said breathlessly. "Sorry I took so long, but-"

"Sorry Ginny, but I think we've missed the carriage. It left at exactly 1:30."

Ginny felt a lead weight in her stomach. "I'm so sorry, I should have."

Seeing the crestfallen look on her face, Harry decided he'd have to show her one of his best-kept secrets.

"There's another way to get there, though. C'mon, I'll show you." Harry led her upstairs to the Gryffindor Common room and disappeared into the Boys' Dormitory, returning a second later with a worn but blank piece of parchment clutched in his hand. Ginny followed him back out of the Common Room and into another with a statue of a bent-over witch.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," Harry said quietly, tapping the parchment. Lines sprawled across it, forming a complete map of Hogwarts and the words 'The Marauder's Map.' Looking closer, Ginny noticed tiny- labeled dots moving through the castle.

"Wow," Ginny breathed. "That's the most amazing map I've ever seen."

"Your brothers were actually the ones who gave it to me, but my dad, Sirius, Pettigrew, and Professor Lupin made it." Ginny noticed the way he tried to keep his voice neutral at the mention of Sirius, and he nearly would have succeeded if his voice hadn't cracked on the second-to-last word.

"Must've been tough for the twins to give it up," Ginny said, thinking of how much the map had probably meant to them.

"Yeah," said Harry. "If they'd never given it to me we'd probably still think Peter was Ron's innocent rat."

She decided to try to steer the subject away from where it was headed.

"So, how's this going to help us get to Hogsmead anyways?" she asked, tearing her eyes away from the map.

"Watch and learn," he smiled. He tapped the statue of the witch on the hump and whispered 'dissendium'. Just as he said it, they heard voices coming towards them. Harry looked at the map, where two dots labeled 'Filch' and 'Snape' were heading towards the ones with the names 'Ginny' and 'Harry.' The witch's hump opened into a passage, and the two of them disappeared inside. The passage closed a split second before Filch and Snape entered the room.

Harry felt himself collide with Ginny as they slid down the stone passage- it was really only built for one person at a time. With a jolt they finally hit bottom, Ginny stumbling and falling as he hit her with the domino effect.

"Lumos," he said as his wand tip ignited.

"Well that was fun," Ginny said, brushing dirt off of her robes as Harry pulled her to her feet. "Where are we though?"

"Secret way to get to Honeydukes. Great, isn't it?"

"Yes, this is amazing! I wonder who built it... anyways. Shall we go?" Ginny stopped herself from ranting. Harry seemed to realize that he was still grasping her hand, and he let go, blushing furiously.

"It's okay," Ginny said before she could restrain herself. "I mean, you'll have to lead the way anyways, won't you?"

"Yeah, I 'spose so." With that, he reclaimed her hand and started down the tunnel, Ginny comfortably letting him show the way through the dim light.

A/N: Thanks to my reviewers, I updated faster than even I thought I would!

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