I am so, so, so sorry. I had no intention for this chapter to be late. I actually finished it on tuesday but my beta had time issues, as well as computer issues. Trust me this was not my choice and i really hope you don't feel as if this will be a regular thing. Once again my apologize. The next chapter should be on time as long as my beta pulls through.

Oh yeah! Thanks for the support, I recieved over a hundred reviews i am so happy! I also beat out the reviews for my old story, Hurray!

The week had been one of the most peculiar Harry had ever experienced. He found himself itching for the end of classes, but not for his usual reasons. Every time that bell rang it meant that he was just moments away from being cornered in the hall and shoved in a broom closet.

Despite what one might think, the things that went on in those broom closets were far from dangerous. As a matter of fact it was down right pleasant. Harry couldn't think of a better way to spend his passing periods then with Ginny Weasley in a broom closet.

Harry shuddered to think what Ron would do to him if he could hear the thoughts running through Harry's head. Though it seemed Ron had enough on his mind. The trio rarely saw each other after classes any more, for each their own reasons, which Harry could not explain.

He hummed slightly under his breath as he walked down the well-lit corridor to Defense. He and Ginny hadn't really talked about becoming official; they both just seemed to do what came naturally.

Neither of them had said anything about telling Ron or Hermione yet; Harry wasn't sure if Ginny was hesitant, all he knew was that telling Ron was not something to look forward too and so far no one seemed to have noticed.

His life had taken a pleasant turn; Harry just hoped it stayed that way for a while.

"Harry!" Harry turned and saw Ginny trotting up to him. He stopped for her and his eyes darted to several empty classrooms. She came up beside him and he slipped his arm around her waist.

Ginny smiled up at him with those full and quirky lips. She must have noticed his far off staring because she patted him lightly on the cheek.

"Keep your mind out of the gutter, Potter," she reprimanded, but she was still smiling. Harry blinked at her and tried to think of something to say that would most certainly inform her that his mind was nowhere near forming such a complete thought as that. His mind had just gone blissfully blank.

He did however manage a small, "Uh…" She smiled at him and he knew all was forgiven.

"Do you want to meet me by the lake after class?" She asked. They had continued their stroll down the hall.

Harry was about to reply with an immediate yes, and then remembered. "Ugh," he groaned, "Can't I've got Occlumency."

"Ah well, you just can't get away from us Weasleys, can you?" Harry smiled at her. The bell gonged signaling to get to class. Ginny looked down at her watch.

"Ah, shite I better head off."

"Ok." She started to walk off but he caught her wrist. She looked at him in surprise, but that quickly melted away as Harry caught her with a quick kiss on the lips. Ginny smiled at him, brushed a lock of hair away from his face, and left.

Harry watched her go wishing time could hold off just a little bit longer.

Of all the times to choke, why did it have to be now? Images were flooding through his mind, images Harry would prefer to keep buried. Vernon was looming towards him in all directions… He was in a dark little room…

Harry pictured the rainstorm with all his might, trying to bring forward the powerful thunder to make enough force to get Bill far away from these memories. He had never pictured the storm more clearly but still the memories persisted.

"Stop!" He yelled. Bill immediately pulled back his wand. Harry just prayed silently that the things Bill saw were not so obvious to an outside observer. He just didn't understand it, what was the point of choking now? He'd been doing brilliantly and now here he stood stiff as wood.

By the expression on Bill's face he was equally perplexed. Harry couldn't help but wish Ginny were with him, she always made things seem much simpler. In that second Harry had a moment of clarity.

"Bill, is it possible that my centre could have changed?"

Bill's eyes widened in realization. "You might be bang on there, Harry. It is possible that a person's centre can change Though it is very rare, it's the only thing I can think of that might explain your um…" He seemed to be searching for the words to explain Harry's inaptitude without offending him.

"It's okay, I know what you mean. Do you have the centre with you?"

"Right here." Bill went back to his office and Harry heard him rummaging through a cabinet. Bill emerged moments later with the centre in his hand. "Here you are."

Harry took the glass ball in his hands and held it far from his body. He closed his eyes. Harry felt the magic stir beneath the tips of his fingers. Harry opened his eyes when he heard Bill make a strangled sort of coughing noise.

Bill had a look on his face that seemed to be torn between amusement and brotherly protection. Harry discovered why when he looked down to the glass sphere. Inside was a muddled sort of portrait of Ginny Weasley.

Harry could never in his existence recall being more hot in the face or more embarrassed. It would have been humiliating enough if it was anyone else, but sweet Merlin, why did have to be Ginny's older brother?

Bill seemed to be bizarrely sympathetic to Harry's situation; Bill clapped a hand on to Harry's shoulder. He flinched away partly because of some of his unhealed wounds and partly because of his fear of what Bill would do to him.

The professor chuckled and pulled away. He took his usual seat on the edge of his large desk.

"You do know, Harry, that anything that goes on in these sessions remains confidential?" Bill was looking at him quite seriously now. "So long as it doesn't endanger anyone's safety, of course."

Harry sighed and nodded his head. He couldn't stop that annoying little voice in his head that kept whispering but what if you are endangering someone? What if you endanger her? He shook his head and tried to banish such thoughts from his mind. It was no easy task.

You are so bloody selfish Potter. What sort of person are you? In this broom closet with a beautiful girl, and knowing what this relationship could cost her. For neither can live while the other survives, isn't that right, you stupid fool? Or have you forgotten?

That was about the farthest thing from the truth How could he ever forget anything that happened that night? Especially when it haunted the dreams during what little time he slept.

One would think that all the Occlumency practice would put him a bit more at ease, but in fact it just made him more restless. His mind was swirling, he wasn't sure what to think, all he knew was that the reality of war was beginning to set in and he had this heavy feeling dragging him down.

Yet, still here he stood snogging Ginny Weasley, because at the present time this was his only sense of relief. He almost felt guilty that he used these times with her to help him relax, and he was ditching study hall to do it.

All thought was driven from his mind when he brought his lips to Ginny's once more. The only way he could think to describe this feeling was simply being lost in her.

She pulled away and smiled up at him as she gently brushed a lock of his hair out of his eyes. Harry never thought he had seen anyone with such rich, warm eyes in all his life. Ginny leaned up toward him once more and all coherent thought left his mind once more.

Harry wasn't sure what Hermione would say about behaving in such a manner, but as it was a free time for students and it wasn't past curfew he didn't think he was breaking any rules.

He wasn't really certain why they were even here in the first place. He supposed they assumed this was the only place they could snog in private. What sense is there when what appeared to be two platonic friends went at each other in the common room? So as long as Harry and Ginny's relationship remained out of the public eye, they would remain in dirty broom closets.

Harry's moment of serenity was broken when a bright light flooded into the dark room. He and Ginny broke apart in confusion. Someone had opened the door into the corridor, and that certain someone was standing directly in front of them.

It was probably the last person Harry wanted to see when snogging Ginny Weasley, or anyone for that matter, but who else would be better to walk in on them then Draco Malfoy? Well at least he wouldn't have to worry about being in dirty broom closets anymore.

The remainder of Wednesday and into Thursday Harry spent little time thinking about anything other than the fact that Draco Malfoy had caught him snogging with Ginny Weasley and the worst part of all was that Harry had no idea what he would do with this information.

He and Ginny had mostly avoided each other since their unfortunate incident in study hall. He knew that this probably wasn't the best course of action for them to take; they needed to figure out a plan before Malfoy took it out of their hands.

That was the exact reason why Harry was leaving Double Charms and trying to cut off Ginny before she got to the common room. Harry walked quickly through the corridors until he bumped into something quite solid.

Sorry was at the tip of his tongue until he realized who exactly it was he had run into. Malfoy smirked at him and Harry wasted no time in going right on his merry way. Yes, he decided, this anticipation was the worst torture Malfoy could invoke.

A flash of red hair caught Harry's eye, he picked up his pace. Harry took Ginny's hand in his own and led her back towards a deserted corridor. When they were certain no one was within listening range, he looked down into Ginny's worried eyes.

It gave him some relief that he now knew he wasn't the only one worried about what consequences Malfoy's knowledge of their relationship could cause.

"What are we going to do?" She asked in a pleading whisper. Harry caressed her cheek.

"There's only one thing we can do," he told her, "We have to beat Malfoy to the punch." They both flinched at his poor choice of words. "What I mean is that, I know Ron and Hermione need to hear about this from us, not that ferret."

Ginny nodded her head in agreement. "How about we tell them Friday evening?"

"That works I'm a bit worried about Ron's reaction, though."

She smiled at him, "You're only worried about Ron? What about my other five brothers?"

"Yeah, well I don't sleep in the same the room as your other brothers."

"Well how about I cover Hermione and you can do Ron? You'll have enough on your plate without having to add to the stress of Hermione's reaction."

He let out a sigh of relief, "Good. I just can't wait for all this to be over."

Ginny's face was slowly moving closer to his own, she kissed him softly. Her mischievous eyes looked up at him. "What you mean this?" She kissed him again.

"Oh, no, I never want that to end." He kissed her back with a bit more vigor.

"Well I'm afraid it will have to, because I'll be damned if I'm going to be caught by someone else." With that Ginny walked into the blackness of the long corridor.

Harry had worried about arriving in the common room to Ron and Hermione's suspicious gazes, as if they already knew his and Ginny's secret. He needn't have gotten himself worked up though.

When Harry came back to the common room after his rendezvous with Ginny, he found there was no one to greet him. With Ron and Hermione absent Harry went up to his dorm to get a head start on his homework.

Fortunately with all his anxiety over how he was going to break the news to Ron, Harry was able to drown out most of Professor Binns' mantra on the summer after his first year.

Harry could tell that Ron was trying to look modest as the ghost went on about the escapade to break Harry free from his aunt and uncle's house, but he was failing quite miserably. He didn't mind that Ron seemed to enjoy some of the attention he was receiving on Harry's behalf. Harry was worried, though, that Ron would be sick of all his attention coming from Harry's shadow.

He didn't know where Binns matched up his information, but the ghost was doing a fairly poor job at it. He wasn't certain how his professor could come off saying that the Dursleys' were loving people at the start of term, but now describe, in detail, his rescue from house arrest.

Ron gave him a sympathetic glance while Harry rolled his eyes in response.

Binns continued his mantra, "After leaving his guardians home, Harry was escorted to the Burrow in a flying Ford Angelica. This flying car would be the beginning of many great adventures to come."

Harry began to feel physically ill at the cheesy and dramatic lines being put into his life. He didn't understand what Dumbledore was thinking. This class would do far from humanizing him; in fact Harry thought it would do the opposite.

The thought most prominently controlling his mind was that if and when the prophecy became public, he would have the pressure of the wizarding world on his shoulders.

"Harry, are you all right?" Harry looked up into Hermione's perplexed eyes. "Class is over," she said.

Harry blinked and quickly gathered his things trying to shake the cobwebs from his mind.

"Sorry, guess Binns' voice was putting me to sleep." Harry hoped he smiled convincingly enough. His friends looked at him curiously but made no further inquiry.

Harry and Hermione tried to keep up with Ron's quick pace on his way to lunch. It never ceased to amaze Harry and disgust Hermione how much food Ron's stomach could hold.

Ron hadn't been sitting for more than a second and his plate was already piled with food. Harry chuckled at the horrified look on Hermione's face.

Harry took a seat next to Ginny and gently squeezed her hand under the table. She smiled at him a worried look in her eyes. He understood her anxious behavior, he was just as nervous about telling Ron about their news.

Harry wasn't so scared about actually giving the news as he was in fear of any bodily harm that might come to him.

As he looked back Harry realized he shouldn't have wasted his precious energy worrying.

"Potter!" Harry's head automatically turned towards the sound of his name being called and immediately wished he hadn't.

Draco Malfoy was striding across the great hall from the Slytherin table. His eyes showed no mercy. Ginny's hand tensed in his own, Harry gave it a gentle squeeze and let go.

"Malfoy why don't you go spend time with people who can actually tolerate your presence, and your stench." Harry went back to his food and hoped with all his might that for once in his miserable existence that Malfoy would leave him be.

Malfoy smirked taunting Harry with the information he held. "My aren't we cocky today Potter? Don't know if I would be myself considering…"

Harry was beginning to wish Malfoy would just get it over with, stop baiting him.

"But the Weasels always have served a purpose for you haven't they?" The ferret continued.

Most of the Gryffindor table had stopped eating their lunch and were now watching the spectacle before them. Harry could feel the heat rising in his face.

"They've taken you in, rescued you. Of course, they could be hoping for something in return. The Potter family fortune perhaps?"

Both Ron and Harry were on their feet now, each barely maintaining their composure.

"But for all their loyalty to you, Potter, you still take advantage of them." Harry didn't like where this was going or the way Ron was looking at him. "Most obviously the littlest Weaselet. Tsk, Tsk, Potter I thought your Gryffindor valor would prevent you from taking advantage of your best mate's sister. Very Slytherin of you."

Harry stared at him in shock Malfoy made it sound like he and Ginny had been shagging or something, but that was Malfoy for you. Ron was looking back and forth from Harry to Ginny. Malfoy had gone and Ginny soon followed running out of the hall.

The bell rang, Harry was still standing in shock, Ron was still looking confused, and Hermione was sitting quietly staring at her now empty plate.

The sound in the hall was deafening as students whispered about the recent gossip.

Someone suddenly slammed into his shoulder, hard. Harry pulled back and had to bite his lip to keep from losing his tongue. Harry looked behind him to see who had run into him and he saw the back of Seamus' head fading into the crowd.

The abrupt action broke Harry out of his daze, and Ron's too apparently. Ron seemed to immediately realize what happened and quickly ushered Harry out of the Hall.