Cho spun her bottle quite heavy-handedly. It spun for just long enough to create the kind of dramatic tension that – when one looks back on it – is only achievable during a good game of spin the bottle.

Harry seemed to lose himself in the spinning of the glass. As it continued on its centrifugal course, Harry looked up at the faces around him. They all seemed to have the excitement, mixed with apprehension, mixed with tipsiness. Everyone that is, except Malfoy, who seemed smugly unfazed by the teen-pheromone-soaked environment in which he was situated. But Harry's thoughts were interrupted by giggled and gasps, and he realized that while he had been in his own thoughts, the bottle had halted.

On Ron.

A bit awkwardly, Cho crawled across the large circle toward him. As she was doing so, Ron gave Harry one glance, as if to say "sorry, but not too sorry!" Ron and Cho had never been extremely fond of each other, which comforted Harry's slight pang of jealousy, as Cho's clearly inebriated eyes focused on her target. But the way she fell into him, and the way they carried on, you wouldn't know it. Cho had quite tipsily put most of her weight on Ron, knocking him back slightly. She seemed to dive onto his face a bit more enthusiastically than anyone expected. Her lips moved across his for a few seconds before Ron got over the initial shock and put his hand on a bit of bare skin on her waist, and began to respond. For what seemed a lifetime to Harry, they carried about, growing more and more intense. Though the surprising enthusiasm and skill of the two caught Harry off guard, and altogether confused him about how comfortable he was with Cho being with another bloke, he found something oddly erotic about it. He noticed his temperature rising slightly, and for the first time noticed the condensation on the windows of the common room. And then, as quickly as it had begun, Cho pulled away just as the ten second mark went by. It seemed almost as if Cho had been keeping a close count. Perhaps she was more cognitive than she seemed. And completely drunk or not, she had had to be aware of the dirty looks Hermione was casting her way, quite amplified by her "state."

Now it was Ron's turn. Much to his disappointment, it would seem, it landed on Marietta Edgecombe, Cho's friend, sitting next to Hermione. They exchanged a somewhat less steamy kiss than the previous, Marietta remaining quite log-like and Ron seeming underwhelmed. But clearly the bar had been set by Cho and Ron. Inhibitions were no longer mandatory. And this became apparent after Marietta had finished her second lack-luster, and giggle-accompanied, kiss with Ginny.

"Ugh, I can't watch," said Ron loudly, when Ginny reached for the bottle at the center of the circle. But he did continue to look, perhaps out of protectiveness, or pure curiosity at whom of his friends had donned a hopeful expression once the bottle began to twirl.

"Ginny, I just want you to know, whatever you do, I'm so happy for you!"

"Good to see your can hold your liquor, Granger," muttered Draco.

"Hermione, you're ace!" laughed Dean. Hermione released something between a sigh and a raspberry, and curled up on a cushion on the floor quite like Crookshanks. No sooner had she finished, than the fourth encounter was about to begin. But there were no girlish swoons, or laughter, but a dead silence. The bottle had landed on Malfoy.

Stares from everyone in the room went from Draco, to Ginny, to Ron, back to Draco again. Not everyone seemed entirely convinced that Ginny would carry through with her turn. Every girl in the school since third year had noticed that Draco Malfoy was exceedingly nice to look at, but would either of them really be able to even feign affection, with all the hatred between their friends and family? But for the first time, Ginny didn't seem befuddled or shy. Something very slightly seemed to shift in her. And clearly to her, it had nothing to do with anyone but the two of them. Before Malfoy could crack out a one-liner that would make Ron haemorrhage, Ginny had retorted "Oh everyone get over it, he's nothing special," and grinning ever so slightly, made her way to his side of the circle.

A bit taken aback by her collectedness, all Draco could manage was a "We'll see about that Weasley," and they were off.

They shared a fleeting stare about an inch apart. Something about the brightness of Ginny's eyes so close to the penetrating blue of Draco's set off that confused arousal in Harry, and in most everyone. Harry didn't dare look at Ron, but could imagine the look on his face.

Echoing Ron's earlier move, Draco pulled Ginny into him by placing a hand on her waist. Ginny brushed her lips against his, and Draco responded with a forceful, full on kiss that grew to lustful and penetrating, and set the collective pulse of the room up a few notches. Harry heard from his slightly entranced voyeuristic state Ron humming to himself, and could imagine his eyes tightly shut and his fingers in his surely crimson ears.

But Draco and Ginny continued. As Ginny bit at Draco's bottom lip, his hands ascended to her rib cage, and he was clearly battling to remain decent. His kisses deviated to her jaw and part of her neck, but no one seemed to think that was against the rules. The ten second mark came and went, but no one – especially not the two at the center – took notice. It wasn't until Ron got up to pull them apart that the pair separated, Ginny flushed, and Draco looking, above all else, shocked.

This was becoming a night of surprises.