Wow!! I had ten reviews by the time I woke up this morning. I guess that means you all get that second chapter I was bribing you with…

Oh, and responses to reviews are at the bottom. Thanks!!

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Chapter 9

After that particularly disturbing discussion with Professor Snape, Ginny did not feel like doing homework. Instead of working on her Charms essay like the good little student she usually was, she dug through her drawers (and Cara's) and finally came up with something more appealing. Nail polish.

Ginny held one of the little bottles up to the light and smiled as the color inside shimmered. Perfect. A nice, girly distraction that you had to concentrate on in order to keep from making a huge mess. She was rummaging for those little toe-thingees that Cara had to keep your toes separate when the door opened, and the girl in question came in.

"Hey, who said you could go through my things?" Cara demanded, setting her hands on her hips and glaring.

"You did," Ginny said over her shoulder.

Cara considered for a moment. "Oh yeah," she said, and then flopped down on Ginny's bed. "Hey, nails? That sounds like fun. Maybe I'll do mine, too."

Ginny had her head inside Diana's trunk now, trying to find that nice shade of pink that made her skin look nice and glowy… "Ahhah!" she exclaimed as she plucked the bottle from the inside of a shoe. She pulled her head out of the trunk and tossed the bottle at Cara. "You're doing yours?" she said.

Cara wrinkled her nose. "Yeah. I think it's time for a break from schoolwork. I mean, we've been back two weeks, and haven't had a girl party yet."

Ginny grinned. "We should have one tonight." Cara raised an eyebrow. "Seriously. It's Saturday night, there's no classes tomorrow, we can nick some food from the kitchens and get a whole bunch of girls in here."

Cara grinned. "Slumber party!" she squealed, bouncing on the bed.

Ginny raised an eyebrow and smirked. "How old are you, five?" she teased. "Come on, lets go find ourselves some fellow female Gryffindors."

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Harry was not at all pleased to be going back down to the dungeons. It was a Saturday night, and he'd far rather be loosing a game of chess to Ron than spending more time with the Cranky Old Bat. Although right before he'd left, Ginny and Cara had come sweeping down from the girls dorms, sputtering something about a slumber party and had whisked Hermione and pretty much every girl fourth year and up into their room. The sounds coming down the stairs had been intimidating, to say the least. Harry shivered. That many girls, giggling, was never a comforting sound.

He glumly pushed the classroom door open and stepped inside. Once again, the room was on the dark side. The better to ambush you, he thought with a twist of his lips.

"Mr. Potter. Finally on time, I see," came the low silky tones of the Potion Master from the corner of the room.

Harry nodded his head and dropped into a seat. Let's just get this over with, he thought with a sigh.

Snape seemed to be taking his time, however. "Tell me something, Potter," he said, as he leisurely made his way to his desk.

"Sir?" Harry asked, raising one eyebrow when the question didn't come.

Snape surveyed him with rather enigmatic, probing eyes, and sat in a swoosh of black robes. "How is it you are not dead yet?"

Harry blinked. Well, that wasn't out of the blue or anything. "I'm sorry sir," he said, biting down the impatience.

Snape sneered at him. "You should have been dead any number of times in your life. When you first defeated Voldemort. Your first year of school. Your second. Every year since then. How is it you've managed to stay alive throughout it all?"

Harry gaped a little before he remembered just who this was, asking him. "I'm sorry, I can't explain it sir," he said and couldn't resist adding a sarcastic, "sorry to have disappointed you."

"Hmm." Snape was steepling his finger now, face impassive. "You are an arrogant fool, Potter," he said. His voice was remarkably calm, considering the words.

Harry tried not to bite his tongue as he gritted his teeth. He didn't say anything.

Snape went on. "Did you imagine you could hide your changing skills from your professors? Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick have been teaching for decades. They've seen every trick in the book, Potter, and your piddly attempts to hide your abilities are nothing new." Snape's voice was becoming taunting. "And your little trick last night with the fire? Really, that was just showing off. Not the wisest decision if you're trying to hide. "

Harry was really having to hold onto his temper as Snape snorted. "But then, what else should I expect from the great Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived? I do believe you're believing your own hype, you overconfident Gryffindor twit. Do you really think that you're going to win this war all by yourself?" Snape was standing now, voice a menacing rumble as he stalked to lean over Harry's desk. "Can you possibly be so big headed as to think that you're the only thing that will save the world from the Dark Lord, that you're that important?"

Harry finally couldn't take it anymore. He'd been hanging on to his temper by a thread from the moment he'd sat down, and now Snape was towering over him as if he was some kind of god?

"Enough!" Harry gritted out, and let loose. He let some of that tightly wound magical energy free, and Snape went staggering back a few feet. Harry got to his feet slowly, still fighting to stay in control. He'd have to go to the Room of Requirement and beat the crap out of some dummies before he went back to the common room. "Are we done, Professor?" he said through his teeth as the Potion Master straightened up.

"Oh, no, Potter," the older man said softly, eyes glowing weirdly in the firelight. "We're just beginning." Part of Harry wanted to just walk away, the other part wanted to stay and get the chance to perhaps knock Snape's block off. Potions grade be damned.

Snape leaned back against his desk and crossed his arms. "Do you know why I got married, Potter?" he said.

Harry blinked. Okay, that was weird. He shook his head, more than a little disoriented at the abrupt and complete change of subject. "What?" he said, still struggling with containing the pulsing magic that his anger had brought on.

Snape's face was eerily serious. "Why I married, Potter. Keep up, even with your dim brain. Do you know why?"

Harry was still completely thrown by the topic of conversation. And that he was having it with Snape, of all people. "No," he managed.

Snape tilted his head, eyes boring into Harry. "Because one cannot face the world alone and win," he said.

"And you'd rather take other people down with you?" Harry said sarcastically, the words slipping out beside himself. "Other people who matter?"

And then Snape smirked. "You've got that backwards," he said. "No great surprise, I suppose." He straightened and leaned close, until he was right in Harry's face. "They are the ones that keep you from falling." And then he nodded at the door. "Now get out. I won't expect to see you again until class." And with that, the man simply walked away.

Harry was left standing, struggling with what he wanted to shout and with what that cold voice had drawled at him. Finally, he managed a deep breath, and some semblance of calm. Magic and emotion still roiled within him, but he figured he could handle a chess game with Ron, at least.

Harry turned and headed for the door. As he strode through the quiet halls, his footsteps ringing against the stone, Snape's words echoed in his head. Do you really think that you're going to win this war all by yourself… one cannot face the world alone and win… They are the ones that keep you from falling.

Harry growled softly to himself. Bloody Snape. What was he playing at? He reached the Fat Lady, and had to pause a moment to shove it all down, out of site and into one corner. He let out a breath. "Hornswaggle," he told her in a nearly normal voice, and stepped inside.

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The sixth year girls dormitory was nearly overflowing with girls in their pajamas. Ginny was ensconced on her bed, doing Hermione's toes a lovely shade of pink, while Hermione returned the favor with a purple polish.

Cara leaned over from her spot on the nearby floor. "So Gin, are you ever going to tell us what happened after Potions?" she asked.

Hermione looked up from her careful brushstrokes. "Something happened?" asked the Head Girl.

Ginny groaned. "I don't want to talk about it," she mumbled.

"Too bad," Diana said cheerfully from the other side. "This is Girls's Night. There are no secrets." Pavarati and Lavender gave a ragged cheer from Diana's bed, where their faces were currently covered in a rather frightening green paste.

"It was nothing, Professor Snape just wanted to talk to me," Ginny mumbled, hoping to dodge the question. Because she was fairly sure there were enough people in the room to hold her down and force it out of her, if they decided to do so.

Hermione arched one eyebrow. "About what?" she asked sweetly.

Ginny tried pouting, but it didn't work. It usually didn't on girls, it was the boys that she could get to back off with the glare or the pout. After all, she'd been using it on her brothers for years. She finally caved, realizing that they probably wouldn't give up, and that she was risking rather embarrassing injury given the number of spells the people in the room knew.

"Fine, she wanted to know about Harry," Ginny said, rather glumly.

Hermione looked up again and frowned. "What did she want to know?" she asked, rather sharply. "And why was she asking you, not him?"

"That's what I said," Ginny said quickly. "Well, I said it really nicely and didn't get hexed or anything." And then her face turned beet red and she once again wished she didn't have a redhead's complexion.

"Ahhah, I know that look," Cara said craftily, now doing a fourth-year's nails bright red. "Come on, spill, what happened next."

"Uhh…" Ginny really wished she could run for the bathroom, but Hermione had a good tight grip on her foot. Besides, she might smudge the polish on her toes. She sighed. "Shetoldmetocornerhimandkisshim," she muttered really fast.

It was almost comical the way all activity in the room came to a complete halt. So much for hoping that no one had heard her. "A teacher? Told you to kiss Harry?" Hermione said, sounding stunned.

"Wow," breathed Diana. "I knew Professor Snape was cool, but… Wow."

A wave of chatter broke out then, and Ginny once again contemplated the bathroom. Surely she could make it running on her heels, although she wouldn't be able to move that fast…

"Ladies, LADIES!" Cara's voice cut over the noise. "This is serious. This situation now calls for action." All eyes turned on Ginny again. "So what are you going to do, Gin?"

Ginny gaped at Cara. "What am I going to… what are you, nuts? Have you seen Harry this year? He has no interest in me, in fact, he goes out of his way to make that point. The guy doesn't even pat me on the back anymore." She capped the pink polish with an angry twist. "He's so damn 'I can't let anyone close to me', it's like he's trying to be the worlds oldest male virgin."

Lavender and Pavarati giggled at that, and even Hermione rolled her eyes. "Harry's… in denial," the Head Girl finally decided on. "And I bet there was something else Professor Snape said, along with just kissing him."

Dammit, this was why Hermione was Head Girl. She knew too much. Ginny narrowed her eyes. "You don't happen to have my pair of extendable ears, do you?" she demanded.

Hermione smirked. "No. And quit stalling."

Ginny sighed, suddenly more than a little depressed again, and sat back against her pillows. "She said that strong men need to be reminded that they're not alone, and that they don't have to do everything themselves." Heads nodded solemnly.

"Hello, can I say 'Draco Malfoy'?" Cara said from her spot on the floor. "Merlin, getting that boy to admit he needed a friend was worse than skinning flobberworms." A couple of fourth years immediately let out a chorus of 'ews', and Cara ignored them. "And that whole mess last year, with Bellatrix… I won't tell you how many times I had to tell him, I wasn't letting him face things alone."

"I never heard that story…" started Lavender.

Cara waved her hand. "Yeah, remind me another time. Anyway. The point is, she's right, Gin. Harry's a guy. A particularly important wizard, a particularly smart and talented one, and he's spent pretty much his whole life having to take care of things himself." She looked at Hermione. "Right?"

Hermione nodded. "Pretty much. I mean, before Hogwarts, he was with those awful Dursleys, and you know they didn't care about him, and even here at school with Ron and I, Harry's always taken most of the responsibility for things. He blames himself when things go wrong, and thinks someone else should get the credit when they go right." Hermione sighed. "He's really the most annoyingly noble boy alive," she grumbled. "Sometimes it's a pain in the ass."

Dead silence greeted her words. She looked around the room. "What?" Then Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh, get over it. I've been friends with Ron for seven years, you think I don't slip sometimes?"

Ginny smiled a little. "What I'm worried about is that Harry will cut us all out if I try," she said quietly. This was her biggest fear, her biggest worry. "I know Draco tried to do that to you, Cara, but lets face it, Harry would cut off his wand arm if he thought it would make people safer."

Hermione leaned forward. "Ginny," her friend said quietly. "Harry cares. Can't you see that?"

She shook her head slowly. "I just don't think it's enough," she said quietly.

Cara snorted rudely. "Bull," she said rudely. "Honest to god, Gin, you're an idiot. You're so used to your brothers telling you it's a silly crush that you're believing it." Her eyes lit up with a gleam. "I'll tell you what. You go downstairs, just like you are, and walk up to Harry and kiss him. And then see what he does."

Ginny's jaw dropped. "Are you mad?" she said in a horrified voice. She looked down. "I'm not going down there like this!" Her pajamas were far too skimpy, and her toes were still wet, and dammit, she wasn't going to just throw herself at Harry Potter and lose!

Hermione pulled out her want from her bun of hair, and did a little swish-flick, taking care of one of Ginny's unvoiced excuses. "There, your toes are dry," she said. Then she crossed her arms and eyed Ginny. "I really think you should do it," her former friend said.

"Are you MAD?" Ginny shrieked, scrambling up on her knees. "Do you know how much I'll hurt when he pushes me away? Do any of you have any idea what it's like to love someone for years, YEARS, and know that they're never going to love you back? I'm not going down there, I'm not kissing him, and dammit, stop trying to make me!"

There was dead silence for a moment, and then Diana sighed glumly. "Well, I owe you three galleons, Cara," she said. "You were right, she is in love."

Ginny stared at her. "You don't get it," she said, getting a tight throat. "It's bad enough that he won't even touch me as a friend, right now. If I go down there and kiss him, he'll completely push me away, and it'll be ten times worse."

Cara got up and came over to wrap an arm around Ginny's shoulders. "I know," she said quietly. "But Gin, if you don't make the moves, if you don't teach him exactly what it is he needs, then he'll never know."

Hermione suddenly spoke up from her other side. "I'll make a deal with you, Ginny," she said, face a little pale, but eyes determined. Ginny looked over at her. "You will teach Harry. And I," she gulped a little. "I'll start teaching Ron."

Lavender squealed at that. "Oh, this is great!" Everyone else was still glued to Ginny and Hermione, who were looking at each other with one fearful face, and one determined one.

"Do you really think this will work?" Ginny said quietly to Hermione.

Her friend lifted her hands in the air. "I don't know," she said quietly. "But I've realized this, if we keep waiting, we'll never know. And if I never know how it can be," she paused, "I'm going to regret it the rest of my life," she finished softly. She reached over and grabbed Ginny's hand. "We need them," she said. "And they need us, whether they realize it or not. And that's really all that matters."

Pavarati and Diana were sniffling, Ginny dimly realized. Cara was still sitting with her arm tight around her shoulders. Ginny looked at Hermione, and their gazed locked for what had to be a very long minute.

Finally Ginny let out a shuddering breath. "Dammit," she said. "Dammit, dammit. Why are boys so dumb?"

"All the blood goes to their little head," some fourth year supplied, and was treated to a round of nervous giggles, everyone else still concentrating on the scene on the bed.

Ginny closed her eyes and swallowed. Harry needed his friends. He needed to be loved, he needed to know that he was never going to be alone in his fight. She opened her eyes again, and this time, matched Hermione's look of determination. "You're right," she said quietly. "You're right."

There was a chorus of squeals and babbling voices, but Ginny ignored them and leaned close to Hermione. "So the plan is to chase them down, tie them up, and snog them to death?" she asked.

Hermione giggled, blushing a little. "Have you got a better idea?" she asked.

Ginny grinned, feeling lighter than she had in months. "Nope," she said. "Sounds good to me."

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Harry had settled himself into a nice game of chess with Ron, and was already off to a loosing start. He scratched his head. "How did you manage to take my queen, three moves in?" he asked.

Ron grinned cheekily. "I'm bloody brilliant, that's how." He grinned even bigger as he sent his bishop to decapitate Harry's knight. "I think this'll be a short game."

Dean wandered over and dropped down to sit on the arm of the couch next to Harry. "I dunno, mates, it's awfully quiet up there," he said in a worried voice.

Harry looked at him, a bit confused. "Huh?"

Dean nodded at the girls staircase. "Up there. It got quiet about fifteen minutes ago, and that's really starting to scare me."

Ron paused and looked at the girls stair as well. "You're right," he said, brow furrowing. "They were making a whole lot of noise before, Harry, and right before you got back, it got really quiet." He shook his head. "It's never a good thing when girls get quiet."

Harry shrugged. "Maybe someone's telling a ghost story." Heads turned and looked at him. "What? Isn't that something girls do?"

Dean heaved a sigh. "I just hope that's all it is," he said glumly. Just then, there was a wave of female squeals and voices yacking and Ron heaved a sigh.

"I don't know if I'm relieved, or more scared," he said, motioning for Harry to make a move.

Harry was down another knight, a bishop and three pawns when the sound of feet made him and Ron look up. His jaw promptly dropped despite himself. Ginny and Hermione were stalking down the stairs and straight for them, determined looks on their faces and wearing… he tried rather unsuccessfully to jerk his eyes back up, and got a tighter grip on that dark spot he'd shoved away earlier.

"Uh, Hermione?" Ron was saying in a rather dazed voice, eyes wide and looking completely bewildered. "Did you know you're in your…"

SMACK! Hermione slapped him across the face. "That's for being an idiot," she told him. Ron was still staring dumbly at her, a shocked look on his face. Then she reached out and grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked. Harry's jaw about hit the floor, along with every other person in the room as the Head Girl proceeded to snog the living daylights out of the Head Boy, who was standing there rather dumbly.

Hermione finally stepped back, leaving Ron looking even more confused, and even more aroused, Harry thought with a grin. She pointed a finger. "You think about that," she ordered. And then spun on her heel and stalked back toward the staircase.

Harry was still grinning at his gobsmacked friend, when there was a tap on his shoulder. He turned back and looked straight down at Ginny. A wave of last night's leftover lust from his dream ran over him and it was with great difficulty that he pushed it away. "Yes?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as coolly as he could. Don't look down from her face, don't look down from her face, he mentally chanted. There was just so much skin showing…

Ginny was giving him a look, one that he wasn't quiet sure of. "You're an even bigger idiot," she said. "In fact, probably the biggest one in the school." And then Harry was grabbed and yanked down as well, two soft lips smashing into his and kissing him with the ferociousness of a ruffled kitten. Harry had to clench his fists to not put his hands on her, to not bury his hands in her hair, to keep his fingers from trailing to those silky, scented places he'd dreamed about.

And then he was shoved backward, and Ginny was pointing a finger at him. "I'm not letting you run, anymore, Potter," she said fiercely. "I'm tired of it. You're going to wake up and realize that you're not in this alone, and if you try to be, I'll tie you up, feed you to the Great Squid, and then dance on your grave."

And then she was stomping back off after Hemione, and he and Ron were left to stand and stare after them in the dead silent common room.

The quiet was finally broken by Seamus clearing his throat. "Right then," he said, reaching into his pocket. "I've got the list, time to settle all bets, people."

As the room started to buzz around them with students exchanging coins and chattering excitedly, Harry turned back to Ron to find his friend staring at him with bug eyes.

"What just happened?" Ron asked in a croaky voice.

Harry opened his mouth and then closed it. He licked his lips. Shit. He could still taste her, like strawberries and cinnamon. Sweet and spice.

Ron sat a little heavily. "We are so screwed," he said.

Harry swallowed. "Yeah," he said.

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MrsSakuraPotter – "Mrs. Snape" is Sonora Stone, now Sonora Snape. See my story "Hidden Intents" for her and our favorite Potion Master's story.

Edril – Thanks! You may have noticed I fixed that little detail…

Child-of-scorpio – (holding out hand) Ahem. Cookies, please?

Ferggirl99 – Damn straight. I'm guilting you into writing more. Heh heh heh. And don't worry about Ronniekins, as you can see, he's about to get his…

SweetDevil623, gallandro-83, Crookshanx, hawkeye, MusicMonkey88, A Harry and Ginny Dreamer, java, Shahrezad1, Moonglaze, vipera-veneficus, MetroDweller, obsessed87, cherryblossom08, Jlatmil1, ArianaEvans, Zoe, christophe – I LOVE you guys! All those reviews, all that encouragement, all that curiosity and eagerness for my little story… This chapter's for you. (blowing kisses)