A/N: Well, I'm back and really sorry about the delay! I've just been so caught up in trying to get ideas for future chapters for this story. Plus, with the added distraction of school, I lose my daylight hours.

Anyway, here's chapter four!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter! J.K. Rowling does and she bloody well bring Harry and Ginny back together!

Ch.4

It had not been but two weeks since, what the Gryffindors had dubbed, "The Bat-Bogey Incident" occurred, that the morning sun found Harry, Ron, and Ginny entering the Great Hall of Hogwarts, and sitting down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast.

After serving themselves, the trio began eating.

"Has anyone seen Hermione yet?" Ron asked while shoveling a rather large spoonful of cereal into his already full mouth.

Ginny nodded, "I spoke to her this morning before I met up with you two," As she was talking, Ron flinched and almost unconsciously swatted the air around him.

Ginny and Harry rolled their eyes, "Really Ron, it has been two weeks since I hexed you! Can you please get over it?"

Ron flinched again but prevented himself from swatting at nothing.

"Ignore him," Harry said with a shake of his head, "You were saying Ginny?"

Ginny threw him a brief smile before she continued.

Harry could not stop the rather profound flip-flop that his stomach performed at this. Inwardly shaking it off, Harry decided he would ponder later and listen now.

"Anyway, when I saw her, she said she had something to do at the Hospital Wing this morning, and that she might not be in class today." She bit into a piece of bacon, which Harry was afraid to admit, was kind of sexy.

'Oh Merlin! Stop Potter, STOP! You're talking about a piece of bloody bacon!'

'That Ginny is eating in a very, very, VERY… "interesting" way…for lack of a better word.'

'Blimey,' Harry thought, 'my hormones must have finally woken up! I'm fantasizing about Ginny….eating a piece of bacon!'

'I bet you wish…'

'DOWN BOY!' Harry shouted mentally, aghast at what he was just about to think.

"Harry?"

He was shaken from his thoughts at Ginny's concerned voice.

"W-what?" he stuttered.

"You tell us mate," Ron said, "You just went kind of, well…blank there and started staring at Ginny."

Harry tried to hide his blush, "Uhh…nothing, it was nothing…I just got erm…distracted."

Ron smirked. Ginny looked as if she was debating whether or not to run.

"What? About the piece of bacon…or my sister?"

'Both actually.' Was Harry's inner response, however, "No, I was just wondering why Hermione would willingly miss classes. It's odd isn't it?"

This seemed to get Ron and Ginny back onto the Hermione topic.

'Oh good save there Potter, bloody good save!'

"You know, now that you mention it Harry," Ginny said, "That is kind of strange. I mean, the only reason she would miss classes on purpose would be because she was told to by a teacher, and even then they'd have to force her."

"You've got a point Ginny," Ron said, "But whatever she's doing, she's going to be a pain when she comes back!" Ron scrunched up his face and said in a high, falsetto voice that sounded more like Umbridge than Hermione, "Ron I can't believe you! I've only been gone for a day and already you've slacked off your N.E.W.T. studies!"

Harry smirked at this. Ginny's hand went to her side; almost as if she was going for her wand and in response, Ron flew under the table faster than a speeding Snidget.

Harry and Ginny looked at each other and burst out laughing. People were starting to stare at them, seeing as they were holding onto each other for support and were both by now an unhealthy shade of purple due to lack of oxygen.

By now Ron had reemerged from under the table and joined the others in staring at Harry and Ginny, who were now in a rather…awkward position.

Harry's head lay on Ginny's chest and Ginny, whether unconsciously or not, was holding his head and pulling him closer.

Ron smirked and shouted, "Oi Potter! Get your head off of my sister's chest!"

Immediately, the laughing ceased and Harry and Ginny sprang apart as if they'd been violently shocked by the other. The whole of Gryffindor table was now at the two bright red faces; some laughing, a couple scowling, and the rest utterly confused.

When it looked like Harry was about to say something Ron beat him to it, "What Potter? "Soft" was it?" This only caused Harry to glow an even deeper shade of red which in turn was now enabling him to radiate heat.

Ginny was thankful that none of the other students knew what Ron meant, but of course it hadn't been too hard to figure out. Snickers were heard from the male population of the table and gasps from the female half.

"Ron Weasley," Ginny hissed in a low and severely deadly voice, "If you EVER want to produce children, be free of Bat-Bogey's, and continue to be afraid of spiders for the rest of your life, continue. I DARE YOU!"

Ron paled to an extremely dead looking white and got up from the table quickly, "Uhh…um…I'll see potions later….in lunch meet you!"

Ginny, satisfied with how she had dealt with Ron, now turned her wrath on the other occupants of the table.

"What're all you lot looking at?" As one, the table turned and looked the other way, trying desperately to make it look like they hadn't heard a word.

Harry looked at Ginny, "Ginny, I'm sorry…" However when Ginny turned to him there was no sign of anger in her chocolate brown eyes.

"Harry it's alright…it was an accident. You weren't the only one involved," she blushed slightly, "I was holding your head where it was."

They laughed nervously and when they stopped there was an awkward silence as they struggled to think of what to say next.

Then in unison,

"Harry."

"Ginny."

"What?"

"What?"

They both realized what they'd done and laughed again, this time their laughter not forced. When they stopped, Harry glanced at his watch.

"Blimey Ginny! We've got to go or we'll be late for Transfiguration!" Grabbing his bag, Harry got up waiting for Ginny to do so as well, and the two left the Great Hall together on their way to McGonagall's class.

"Do you think Ron will be there?" Ginny asked with a smirk on her lips.

"Well," Harry muttered considering this thoughtfully, "It depends, whose wrath would he rather face? On the one hand, he's got McGonagall's for skipping, or he's got to deal with yours for going to class….hmm. To be completely honest, I'd rather take McGonagall than you Ginny, no offense."

"None taken," Ginny said with a smirk, "I like to strike fear into the hearts of people that deserve it."

Harry raised his eyebrows, "So what have I done?" He saw Ginny's face fall for a second, but then she recovered.

'For still not noticing me.' She wanted to scream, but instead opted for the silent smirk.

As they entered the classroom both saw Ron sitting in the corner with Neville trying to look as small as possible. And seeing as he was the tallest one in the class, and had extremely violently colored red hair, he was failing miserably.

Quickly they sat at one of the tables in the front of the class, not wanting McGonagall to snap at them.

"Good morning class." McGonagall said crisply, as if she'd been up for hours, which Harry thought, she probably had.

There were a couple muttered attempts at "good mornings" and scattered "mm-hm's" but neither was successful.

McGonagall shook her head but continued anyway, "For the rest of this year, this class, the best of the best, my N.E.W.T. students, will be learning how to become fully fledged Animagus."

That did it.

Immediately several students' head shot up and McGonagall winced at the slight sounds of "pops" she heard. It was kind of disturbing when students' necks cracked like that. However, she continued undeterred,

"Becoming an Animagus takes time, and is very strenuous. While every wizard or witch can become one, many choose not to because of the amount of work required to put into it."

There were a couple of groans at this.

"However, this class, is not like most common witches and wizards. You, as I said before, are the best of the best, the brightest Transfiguration class that Hogwarts has to offer. Where others would simply quit after getting bored, you have an astounding amount of tenacity, which I'm sure is helped along by Potter and those D.A. meetings, correct?"

This warranted a chuckle from the students. McGonagall continued,

"I expect each of you, by the end of this semester, to be able to at least have a basic understanding of the art." She looked around the classroom, she still had every one's attention, all twelve of them, two missing but would be caught up soon enough.

"And that is only going to be if you are lazy and slack off. If you put effort into this, then I should be seeing one or two of you able to transform around Christmas."

There were a few raised eyebrows at this, but McGonagall continued,

"Now, before we start going too far into depth, I want to dispel a common theory about transforming. There is in fact, no limit on the number of forms one can have, with the exception of the body's limit."

A raised hand, "Yes Banks?"

"Professor, what do you mean by the body's physical limit?"

"That's exactly it Banks, your body's threshold for pain. You see, when a person transforms, they are reshaping their skeletal structure, their bones either compacting or extending to coincide with their form.

"But when a person wants to have another form and the form finds them, their skeletal structure must again reshape, except this time, due to their other form, it is much more painful.

"Having already been changed once, the skeleton begins to take on certain characteristics of one's Animagus form. For example bones will be lighter and more easily broken when a person is a bird or small creature, however in exchange, that person will become faster and more agile; while a person who transforms into a bear or a lion will have stronger and bigger bones and will have markedly increased strength, but will be slower and stockier.

"There is one exception to this however, the multiple forms anyway, if a wizard or witch with great ability is able to transform into a magical creature, such as a Phoenix, their bones can only, and will only reshape for that one form and will not allow themselves to even attempt to change to another form.

"The characteristics of all magical creatures are just so potent, that changing to another form is simply impossible."

At this, the bell rang signaling the end of the class.

"Homework! I want a foot of parchment on the basic theory of becoming an Animagus! Due tomorrow!" McGonagall shouted over the bustle to get to the door.

"You know," Harry said to Ginny as they made their way toward Defense Against the Dark Arts, "I never thought that they would teach us how to become Animagus here. I thought that was something you had to do on your own."

Ginny nodded in agreement, "This war must be a lot more dangerous than we thought it was if they're going to teach us this stuff." She stopped as she finished, looking around as if searching for someone.

"Have you seen Ron?" she asked.

Harry smirked, "Not since we left Transfiguration. You must have really scared the crap out of him Ginny!"

Ginny smiled, "Yes, I can be rather intimidating when I want to be. Serves him right, trying to humiliate you in front of your own house!"

It was a rather long, but swift walk to the Defense classroom, which allowed them time to talk, "So what do you think Vimes'll have us learn today?" Ginny asked, as they turned down the long corridor where the classroom was situated.

"Don't know, I just hope it's something I can use against Voldie!"

Ginny giggled. She was glad Harry was able to joke about Voldemort and the situation he was in with him, it gave her confidence.

"I hope it's something I can use to hex Ron into next week!"

Harry chuckled at this,

'Typical Ginny,' he thought as they reached the classroom and opened the door, 'Bent on getting revenge….on….'

Harry's inner monologue was cut short as he caught sight of the man sitting behind the desk. The aura of raw power, magical or not, that Harry could feel surrounding him was mind boggling. If he was the only one who noticed this, he would be shocked.

Harry's eyes met with those of the stranger. Harry gasped.

The man's eyes were an alarming electric blue. But what had made Harry gasp wasn't the color, but rather, what they looked like.

The eyes themselves looked regular, or rather, they would have been had the iris's not held a blue cloud like fog instead of the usual colored ring around a black center. It was like looking at the light at the end of a very, very, very long tunnel.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, Ms. Weasley glad you could join us. Let's see, you're two minutes late so, forty points from Gryffindor. Now please take your seats."

Without any sort of argument, both Harry and Ginny made their way towards the only two empty chairs in the front of the classroom.

"So that's every one except Malfoy and Granger then." Although neither Harry nor Ginny showed it, both were deeply disturbed by the stranger's eyes.

They needn't have worried as half the class was seemingly huddling as far back as they could to get away from the man.

"Right, so as I was saying, I'm your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lee."

Here Lee paused, Harry wondered why but then Lee asked, "Yes Longbottom?"

"S-sorry sir but I was just wondering…what happened to Professor Vimes?" was the shy response.

This caused Harry to think. What had happened to Professor Vimes? Just yesterday they had been having fun while learning to prolong the shield charm.

There was a visible sag in the new Professor's stature as he replied, "Professor Vimes…well I'm not supposed to tell you….Oh bloody hell! Personally I don't give a damn about what the Headmaster thinks should be kept quiet from you all, so I'm going to tell you the truth."

He sighed heavily, "It was only a minor attack, so I doubt there will be anything in the Prophet about it. Yesterday night, Professor Vimes was at the Hog's Head meeting an old friend. When they were done, it was well past midnight and they went their separate ways. But Vimes never made even made it to the Three Broomsticks.

"He was murdered in cold blood at exactly one twenty five a.m. this morning. According to witnesses, it was two Death Eaters that got him, one of which he managed to stun before he was hit in the back by the other with the Avada Kedavra. Before Aurors could even make it to the scene the two Death Eaters were gone and Sam Vimes had been dead for thirty minutes."

After he finished there was a stunned silence, punctured by a few stifled sobs from a couple of girls.

Harry merely stared hard at his new Professor. A new respect was growing inside of him for this man. That he was willing to tell them the truth put him in better standings with Harry than Dumbledore at this point.

Although Harry showed no external signs of grief or anger, he was a little shaken up. This had really hit home and had brought the full gravity of the war along with it. The attack had happened in Hogsmeade, not more than a ten minute walk from Hogwarts.

Another minute of silence passed before Lee spoke again,

"Professor Dumbledore was able to come up with me so quickly because he had long ago found that he should always have a backup in mind.

"With that said, I want to tell you what I will be going over with you this term. For one, we'll be studying and learning physical combat, muggle fighting if you will. Another thing will be the on the psychological front; how to use your mind and your opponent's mind to your advantage."

This intrigued Harry and from what he could tell, Ginny as well seeing as she sat up at attention.

"My goal is to have every one of you, by the end of this year, to be able to utilize both of these things in combat as well as a way to hone your dueling skills. Now seeing as we have only ten minutes left, I'm going to give you all a quick quiz. How this is going to work is, when I ask you to say something, you do it, no matter what it is alright?"

There were several nods. Professor Lee walked up to Harry and said, "Mr. Potter, I want you to say the name of the Dark Lord."

Harry looked up at the man, and immediately wished he hadn't as his pupil less eyes stared back at him.

"Voldemort."

A pause and then, "Good, forty points to Gryffindor. Ms. Weasley, now you, say his name."

"Voldemort." Ginny said coolly unaffected by the stupid fear that affected every other student in the class.

"Very good, another forty points to Gryffindor." As Professor Lee moved on, Harry and Ginny looked at each other as they realized they'd just gotten back the forty points they'd lost at the beginning of class…and then some.

"Ms. Abbott, say Voldemort." Harry and Ginny turned in time to see Hannah Abbott, a seventh year Hufflepuff, gulp. "V-V-He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!" she muttered.

Professor Lee's cloud like eyes darkened, "Ten points….from Hufflepuff for attempting Abbott."

Hannah gasped, but quickly shut her mouth. Professor Lee's face would only continue to grow darker as his scowl grew.

He went through four Hufflepuffs, six Ravenclaws, eight Gryffindors, and seven Slytherins before he came to Ron.

By this time every house had lost points and not one had earned any, meaning that they were all worse off than before.

"Mr. Weasley, say Voldemort." Ron, who had already lost a lot of color from his face, went completely white as he closed his eyes.

"…"

"Mr. Weasley?" Ron looked up.

"I c-can't sir, I j-just can't!"

Lee shook his head, "One hundred points from Gryffindor Weasley, for the most pathetic attempt all day." Professor Lee turned and walked back to the front of the class.

"What you people are going to have to learn is that this is war, and that right now, if you were to go into battle, you would lose in seconds. You must learn to accept your fears! You must learn to cope with them and be able to move on, to continue.

"The only two people who managed to say it were Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley! The rest of you are too pathetic to say a name." He scanned the room intently with his eyes, "What's funny in that right now you fear a name. And you're going to continue to fear it until it's too late.

"You'll realize that you should have feared other things, things that are out there as well as Voldemort, things that will kill you, things that you should have been paying attention to instead of cowering in a corner at the sound of a name."

Silence filled the room, an eerie and disturbed silence. The bell rang signaling the end of class and the start of lunch.

"Homework, I want a foot and a half of parchment on why you think we should or should not incorporate muggle fighting into this class along with dueling. Due Wednesday though, seeing as it might be harder for some of you than for others. Dismissed!"

It was a somber and subdued group that made its way out of the classroom walking towards the Great Hall.

Each student seemed deeply immersed in his or her own thoughts. Sitting down at the Gryffindor table, Harry Ginny, and Ron were probably the first to recover.

"So what do you think?" Harry waited for Ginny to respond.

She blinked, "Well…I…did you feel…?" she asked trailing off.

Harry nodded, "All that power? Yeah, that and his eyes are what freaked me out. He didn't have any pupils Gin!"

Ginny shuddered, "Yeah, don't remind me. What about his test?"

Harry smirked, "It was the easiest test I've ever taken in Defense, you?"

Ginny laughed, "Same here. And I get what he means, Professor Lee I mean, it really is pathetic how none of the others could say Voldemort. Out of all of them, the closest was Neville with Voldemo! Honestly, it's just a name!"

"You don't know what you're talking about!" said Ron cautiously approaching, "That was the worst class I've ever had since…ever! I almost passed out when he tried to get me to say it!"

Harry shook his head, but it was Ginny who spoke, "Why do you fear the name Voldemort Ron?" Ginny asked, ignoring Ron as he flinched.

"Because….because…Oh what does it matter why I fear it?" Ron growled frustrated.

"Professor Lee was right Ron," Ginny said softly, "You are pathetic. You don't even know why you fear the name Voldemort!"

Several other students overheard her and shuddered.

Ginny growled in exasperation, got up, and left the Great Hall.

"What's her problem?" Ron asked.

Harry sighed at his friend's stupidity. The rest of lunch was spent discussing the benefits of muggle fighting, or in Ron's case, insulting it, seeing as it was below his standards.

"Merlin come off it Ron!" Harry said in annoyance, "Do you really think it's going to matter what you consider below you when you're fighting for your life against the Death Eaters and Voldemort? Save it for your bloody essay!"

Ron flinched again. Harry was gritting his teeth in anger, "For Merlin's bloody sake Ron! It's a name, a bloody anagram! Get the hell over it!"

With that, Harry now sped out of the Great Hall.

"Blimey, what is it with people today? They're just blowing up in my face for no reason! I mean really!" Ron said disbelievingly.

Out in the hallway, Harry was still fuming as he made his way toward the Gryffindor Common room. After giving the Fat Lady the password he stormed into the spacious room and flung himself onto the empty couch.

Ignoring the small "Off!" that the inanimate object made, Harry continued to rage, "Bloody idiot, can't even admit he's scared…..stupid git thinks….stubborn ass!"

A small, slightly muffled, "Ahem!" jarred him from his one sided rant.

"Wha…GINNY! I'm sorry! I didn't see you there!" Harry apologized, jumping off of her small form. "How did you get under me anyway?"

"Well, like you I was more than a little pissed off at Ron and came back here to vent. I was sitting here and cursing him out just like you were when I heard the portrait hole open, saw you coming, tried to get out of the way but ended up getting sat on."

"Ginny I'm sorry I…"

"No worries Harry! You were just mad at Ron! I can understand you ignoring little, insignificant me."

Harry started, "No Ginny I wouldn't…I didn't…I can't ignore you! I can't even get you out of my head!"

'Whoops, went a little too far there Potter. But no better way to confess you undying love for her than by accident.'

Harry smacked himself, angry that he had said that, Ginny probably though him to be a pervert now.

Ginny stared at him with a light blush tinting her cheeks, "What did you say?"

Harry turned an extremely dark shad of red which was undoubtedly visible from outer space.

"I…uhh…that is…I…um…" Harry couldn't form a sentence, "Um…IshouldprobablybegoingtoclassandIdidn'tmeanthatinapervertedwayIloveyouGinnyWeasleybye!"

Harry then ran, well, he actually flew out of Gryffindor Tower on his way to potions.

Ginny couldn't help it; she had heard every word of his rifled sentence. She grabbed a pillow and screamed into it in excitement.

"He said he loves me! He said he loves me!"

If a new prophecy and the "Soft" incident on the train weren't enough to make this year more interesting, this, in Ginny's humble opinion, certainly was.

A/N: Well there you go people! How'd you like that as a change of pace? Please tell me if I've misspelled any of the characters' names so I can fix them!

Oh yeah, and please drop a review! Much love to all those of you who have reviewed, namely GoldenWing and Us Two Squibs!

This chapter was a bit delayed due to the fact that my father made me get off the computer every time I got on to type it up so that he could do his own stuff!

Oh, finally, I'd like to recommend a good book I read over the weekend. It's called The Thief Lord, and it's worth it! Trust me!

'Til next time, HakushoRurouni out!