Harry Potter and the Mind Mage

By James Milamber

A/N: Big news this chapter…I HAVE A BETA!! WOOT! Many, many thanks to Creative Quill. Hopefully she can plug all the bigger plot holes that keep cropping up (you lot might not notice them, but I do – and wince). If you haven't read her fics yet, why the bloody hell are you wasting time on my crap? Go read them now!

That evening, when Harry had made his goodnights in the common room and was heading for his dorm, Ginny shocked everyone by following him.

'What are you doing?' Harry hissed at her as she closed the door behind her.

'Following you,' she said calmly.

'Oi, what are you doing up here?' Dean demanded, poking his head out through the curtains on his bed.

'It's quite simple,' she said in that same calm tone as Seamus and Neville's heads also appeared. 'My presence wards off Voldemort, and Dumbledore won't let us have a private room. Since that leaves either my dorm, the common room, or here, and Harry can't get into my dorm, that means I'll have to sleep in here from now on.'

Harry, Ron, Dean and Seamus were all gaping at her like she had three heads.

'I don't mind,' Neville broke the silence, once again coming to Harry's support. 'If it helps Harry, then I don't care if she stays here.'

'Yeah, but…' Dean spluttered.

'There are hangings on the beds,' Ginny pointed out. 'You won't even know I'm here.'

'You know, I'm pretty sure this is against school rules,' Alex said in an amused tone as he entered the dorm.

'Since when do you care about rules?' Ginny retorted. Alex raised his hands in surrender.

'Hey, I'm not arguing against it or anything,' he said placatingly. 'Just thought I'd point it out, is all. If you're going to do this, though, you'd best make sure McGonagall doesn't find out. She'll have you back in your own dorm faster than you can say "Holy hell, what was that".'

'Ginny…' Harry spoke up. 'It's too dangerous, what if…'

'I'm staying, Harry, whether you like it or not,' she said in a steely tone. 'I'm not having you suffering just because of some stupid school rule.'

'We are going to get into so much trouble,' Harry said resignedly as Ginny disappeared behind the hangings on his bed. 'You won't tell anyone, will you guys?'

Dean and Seamus exchanged a long glance, and finally Dean sighed. 'Nah, mate, we won't tell anyone. I just hope Ginny's dorm mates don't say anything.'

'They won't,' Ginny's voice came from behind the curtains. Dean and Seamus' heads vanished back within the confines of their own beds.

'Don't even bother asking,' Alex said flatly as Harry's gaze turned to him. 'If you really think I'd betray a friend like that, you don't know me very well.'

Finally, Harry's gaze came to rest on the only person in the room yet to speak. Ron's gaze was alternating between Harry's bed and Harry himself, and conflicting emotions flickered across his face. Finally he sighed heavily and gave Harry a wan smile.

'Go on, then,' he said in a resigned tone of voice. 'I'm not going to tell anyone.'

'Good,' came Ginny's voice again. 'Now come to bed, Harry.'

Harry turned beet red as Alex grinned at him. Muted snickers could be heard from the direction of Seamus' bed.

'This could be interesting,' Harry muttered to himself as he climbed through the hangings on his own bed. His face burned even more when he saw Ginny, having shed her school robes, now clad only in an old, too-short nightdress, scratching Padfoot's ears.

'Silenco,' Harry flicked his wand at the hangings.

'That wasn't really necessary, you know,' Ginny smiled at him. 'It's not like we'll be doing anything…wrong.'

'It makes me feel a lot more comfortable,' he muttered as she slipped beneath the covers.

'Stop being such a prude and get over here,' she pointed at the bed beside her.

'Yes ma'am,' he said obediently, slipping into the bed beside her.

'There now,' Ginny giggled lightly. 'That wasn't so hard, now was it?' She leaned over and kissed him. 'Goodnight Harry, I'll see you in the morning.'

She snuggled up against him, and within minutes was sleeping contentedly. Harry lay awake for a long time, feeling very unequipped to deal with the unfamiliar sensation of Ginny pressed against him in bed. It was very different to the few times they'd slept together on a couch in the common room – this was in his bed. Although he knew nothing untoward was happening, he shuddered to think what McGonagall would say if she ever found out. He knew Ginny well enough by now, however, to know she wouldn't take no for an answer. He only hoped it didn't land them in massive trouble.

In the early hours of the morning he finally gave up, contenting himself to lay there with Ginny in his arms, and sleep eventually claimed him.

'Haaarry…Haaarry…'

Harry mumbled something incoherent and turned over in bed, barely registering the quiet words in his ear. He heard voices holding a whispered conversation, but really didn't care what they were saying. It was Saturday, his bed was nice and warm, and he had nowhere to be. He fully intended to sleep for at least another few hours.

His plans were cut violently short when a pitcher of ice-cold water was dumped over his head. Harry sat bolt upright in bed, his wand clenched tightly in his hand, only to see Ginny, Alex and Cassie rolling on the floor, tears of mirth streaming down their faces. From the amount of light coming in through the window, it was already mid-morning. A quick glance around the room told him that Dean, Seamus and Neville had already left. He panicked for a brief moment that they had gone to tell McGonagall about the new "sleeping arrangements", but shook the thought off.

'Very funny,' Harry grumbled, shaking his head in a vain attempt to dislodge some of the water in his hair. From the end of his bed, Padfoot watched him with his tongue lolling out in canine laughter.

'Sorry Harry,' Ginny gasped for breath, trying hard not to break out into a fresh bout of laughter. 'But it was the quickest way we could think of to wake you.'

'What's so bloody important?' Harry tried to glare at the trio. Ginny put on her most angelic expression, while Alex and Cassie wore identical looks of pure innocence, and he eventually gave up.

'We figured everyone could use some cheering up,' Alex grinned at him. 'And I reckon the Marauders are just the one's to do it, don't you?'

'Couldn't it wait for a few hours?' Harry cast a quick drying charm on his soaked clothes, mentally thanking Hermione for teaching it to him, then turned his wand on his bed.

'No,' Alex and Cassie said together.

'These two have some master plan that they want to implement at lunch,' Ginny explained. 'They haven't told me what it is yet,' she added, shooting the twins a resentful look.

'Hey now, wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, now would we?' Alex grinned at her.

'Absolutely not,' Cassie confirmed. 'Trust me, you won't be disappointed.'

'Alright,' Harry said, resigned to the fact he wasn't going to get any more sleep. 'What do we need to do?'

By the time the four sat down to eat lunch, they were all trying very hard not to burst out laughing. Ron looked up suspiciously from where he was sitting with Hermione as they took their seats.

'Where have you lot been all day?' he demanded.

'Oh, nowhere of any great importance,' Alex said with an airy wave of his hand.

'Translation: what you don't know can't hurt you,' Cassie said with a chuckle.

'You can hope, anyway,' Ginny added.

Ron just stared at them in bafflement. 'What the hell is that supposed to mean?'

'Oh, Ron,' Hermione said in exasperation. 'What does it matter? They're just trying to confuse you.'

'Trying?' Alex said with one eyebrow raised. 'I thought we were succeeding, myself. I can't imagine where I got that impression.'

Ron's retort was cut off abruptly when Dumbledore stood from his place at the Head table, and the Great Hall fell silent.

'It pleases me to announce that, in the interests of training for a repeat of the attack on Hogwarts a few weeks ago, we will be holding a duelling tournament in the week before the holidays.' The Hall broke out into excited whispers, and Dumbledore waited patiently for it to quiet again. 'This tournament will be open only to those students fifth year and above, and there is a limit of ten students per house, for a total of forty students competing. The winner will receive one hundred house points, and the right to test their skills against a Duelling Master.'

At this, the whispers broke out again ten-fold. Dumbledore waited patiently for quiet to return, a slight smile on his face.

'Indeed, this is something to be excited about. All students who would like to enter themselves into the tournament will find a sign-up sheet in the Entrance Hall. The first matches will take place a week from Monday, and the sign-up sheet will remain until Saturday afternoon, when the first round of matches will be drawn, so make sure you have your entries in before then.' Dumbledore clapped his hands sharply, signalling the beginning of the meal, and re-seated himself.

And promptly changed into a goat.

Harry, Ginny, Alex and Cassie collapsed into the couches in front of the fire in the deserted Gryffindor tower, all four howling with laughter.

'Did…you see…the look…on McGonagall's face…before she changed,' Cassie managed to get out between fits of laughter. 'Absolutely…priceless…'

'I liked Hagrid, myself,' Alex grinned. 'I don't think I've ever seen a bear quite that big before – or one wearing a moleskin coat, for that matter.'

'What about Flitwick?' Ginny giggled. 'I thought he made a darling little rabbit.'

'Not as good as your Dad,' Harry said, grinning back at Alex.

'He's going to be so pissed at us,' Alex chuckled. 'Still, it was worth it.'

'And what about Snape?' Cassie smirked.

'Very appropriate,' Ginny smirked back. 'He already looks like a bat most of the time, wasn't much change really.'

The Fat Lady suddenly burst open, and students began to pour into the common room.

'Nice work,' Seamus grinned at the four as he passed.

'What makes you think it was us?' Alex asked innocently.

'Sure, like we'd believe it was anyone else,' Dean snorted as he passed, then flashed a quick smile. 'Still, it was a great prank, I'll give you that. You might want to steer clear of Snape for a while though, he looked absolutely livid when he changed back.'

'Thanks for the warning,' Cassie smiled as he and Seamus disappeared up the stairs to the dorms.

Neville caught Harry's eyes and grinned, giving him a thumbs-up. Harry returned the gesture with a smile. It seemed the prank had done its job – the common room was alive with excited chatter in a way that it hadn't been for quite some time. It was good to see that everything had returned to normal – for a while, at least. Harry wasn't naïve enough to believe it would last, but a brief respite was better than nothing at all.

'Harry? What's wrong?' Harry looked up to find Ginny's face inches from his own, all traces of laughter gone from her eyes as she gazed at him. From the corner of his eyes Harry noticed Alex and Cassie making themselves scarce, giving the couple some privacy.

'Nothing, I guess,' Harry sighed as Ginny sat next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. 'This reminds me so much of last year, when Fred and George would pull off their latest prank. I'm glad we could make everyone forget for a few days, but I know it won't last very long.'

'Well, there's nothing we can do about it,' Ginny said softly, craning her neck so she could look up at him. 'It's not your fault Voldemort is out there killing people, and at the moment there's nothing you can do to stop him. You know that, so stop beating yourself up over it.'

Harry winced – deep down, she'd hit the nail on the head. He did feel like it was his fault, even though he knew it wasn't, and he felt guilty for staying within the safety of Hogwarts when he should be out fighting Voldemort and his Death Eaters. 'How do you do that? Read me so well, I mean?'

Ginny turned an interesting shade of crimson as his question. 'Well, I spent years watching you, when you never noticed me, and I got to know you quite well.' She bit her lip. 'Actually, I have a confession to make. After my first year, and the Chamber, I used to follow you around between classes.'

'Really?' Harry asked, surprised.

'Yeah,' Ginny giggled. 'Actually, I nicked your timetable and made a copy of it so I'd always know where you'd be, and I'd follow you to your next class. I did that right through my second and third years.'

'How did I never see you, then?'

Ginny laughed a little painfully. 'If you had, would you have noticed?'

Harry felt the sudden urge to curse himself – all that time he could have spent with her, and he'd wasted it all by being too thick to see what was right there in front of him. For the hundredth time, he asked himself how the hell he'd managed to overlook her for so long.

'I'm sorry, Gin,' he said quietly. 'I must be blind, to have missed you for so long.'

Ginny smiled up at him. 'Don't be sorry, I know you have a habit of overlooking things that are right under your nose.' She laughed at Harry's mock outraged expression. 'I just want to enjoy our time together now that we have some,' she finished, snuggling closer to him.

Almost of it's own volition Harry's arm went around her, and they stayed that way for quite some time, even when a wryly amused Professor Milton entered the common room and, for the third time in four months, the twins ended up with electric pink hair.

Review Responses:

Silver Warrior: You know, I hadn't thought of that. Thanks for pointing it out.

Evansk: Someone hasn't been paying attention. Andrea was a Muggle, mate.

Athena Dumbledore: Cassie isn't with anyone, for a very specific reason. Tonks and James? You'll just have to wait and find out, won't you?

Dree: That is indeed a compliment, my friend.

siriusfanatic: I think you need a name change, fudgefanatic…

gpotter: Hmm…a sequel to Colours of the Forest could be cool. Or you could try a new fic, I suppose it's up to you. Either way, if you send it to anyone else to Beta, I'll be extremely offended. ;)

MsMissProngs: I'm sowwy, find me a corner! ;)

Whimsical Firefly: Soon enough, Miss Patience?

jwhit-moony: Actually, when my muses are involved, it usually equals 3,967 or so. It's kinda cool writing in correlation with WF, I just have to make sure the events match up between the two stories.

KirbyChirby: From the amount of comments similar to yours, I get the feeling I'm going to have to hide from hoards of rampaging Reviewers wielding pitchforks in the not-too-distant future…

Dark-PhoenixX1988: I don't think I want to know…

GiGiFanFic: Oh yes, we still have a LONG way to go. At this rate, we'll have another OotP on our hands…

sunni07: You could probably get one pretty cheap, if you're really keen on living under someone just as bad…(shakes fist in Johnny Howard's direction)

siriusblack08: I thought you might like that one. As you probably gathered, action aplenty soon enough. I can't wait to do a Harry/Draco duel…

shotgunn: James doesn't really stand anywhere. Right now, he has a vendetta against ol' Voldemort, so he's working with Dumbledore. In the last war, he worked for both sides. Read "Sirius' Choice" by Whimsical Firefly if you want more of an insight into James' personality – it shows him during the first war. Besides, it's a good story.

Cynthia: Good grief, that's a lot of reviews! I can't answer all the points you raised, or we'll be here all night! Thanks for the comments though, you reminded me of a few things I'd been meaning to put in but had forgotten. Cheers!