Special thanks to Singing-My-Song, Enjambed Caesuras (I assure you, they will NOT be together by Valentine's Day. I want to make this as difficult as possible for them) and just some random girl.

Disclaimer: Merlin, standard disclaimers apply, ok? (What are the standard disclaimers anyway?)

the method to her madness

issalee

"I feel pretty, oh so pretty, oh so pretty, and witty, and—not gay!" Ginny whirled around the Head Boy's room, her arms stretched out in front of her as though she were holding a partner.

Draco watched her from where he was sitting on his bed next to Blaise. "I pity her brothers. They have to listen to this for an hour straight."

Ginny smirked, and Draco was surprised to see that she was rather good at doing it. "There are only two things in life that are unexpected." She said suddenly.

Blaise was the first to cave. "And what are they?"

She quickly leapt onto the bed, forcing them both to the floor, where they gazed at her in surprise. "Me! And glitter!" Her hair was still full of the stuff, but she had managed to get most of it off, so that her skin only shimmered a little and her clothes—well, they shimmered a lot.

"She should have been in Slytherin," Blaise said, awed by Ginny's manic ways. Draco nodded dumbly in agreement, and they both started as Ginny's face appeared over the edge of the bed. She giggled.

"Oh, calm down you two. I'm only like this because Ron has been acting a little crazier than usually, and I needed something to take my temper out on. Thus, your little impotence problem. Sorry about that, by the way."

Draco's words were a bit sluggish as he pushed himself up. "S'okay, as long as it's temporary. Don't you have to get back to your friends, Weasley?"

Ginny sighed. "I suppose so. And they'd never believe I spent the time being helped by the two supposedly awfullest Slytherins in the world, so I guess I'll have to tell them I was being molested." She jumped off the bed and sprinted.

Draco and Blaise took a moment to react, but when they did it was with shocking speed. Robes were forgotten, wands were tucked into jean pockets, and loud curses were uttered.

Ginny found that she had been running quite a lot that day, and it was hard to keep her balance when there were mounds of glitter everywhere and she was wearing knee-high boots. Despite this fact, she kicked up the glitter and ran like hell.

Now would be a really good time for her best friends to show up and take her away…

"Oi! Weasley!" Blaise and Draco were catching up, and she sighed.

"Some friends I have!" Ginny called to no one in particular. She decided now would be a good time for her to disappear, and looked around.

"Excellent!" she whispered. There was her landmark; a picture of one of the founders of Hogwarts, Salazar Slytherin. They were far enough into the Slytherin dungeons for her to see this, and as she glanced down at the glitter, she wondered vaguely where the cloud was.

Stopping, she turned to Salazar's portrait and flashed him a smile. "Sal, ole buddy ole pal of mine!"

"Go away, girl. I've told you already, I don't like you." He stated dryly, his (she thought to be) waist length black hair shaking slightly. But he was smirking.

Ginny glanced down the hallway, and saw she could make out the wands of the two following her. "Sal, but I love you, really I do, so I guess we'll talk later. Godric Sucked Eggs!" Salazar rolled his eyes, but his portrait whizzed upwards. Ginny scrambled through the hole, and pulled it down, just as Draco and Blaise appeared. She knew they wouldn't dare rip this portrait apart, and so she sat back on her heels.

Ginny had used this portrait and many others of the founders' sometimes. They were located in odd places around the school, and she enjoyed talking to them. She'd even managed to forgive Salazar for the Basilisk, as soon as he told her he'd only put it there to protect the school and hadn't meant for her to get hurt.

"Why was the Mal-Ferret chasing you?" The portrait was double-sided, so that only Salazar could see both inside and out. He had also managed to pick up a few of her—endearments for certain people, and as he was The Slytherin Prince, he would use them regardless of their house.

"I said a few things about molesting, and Ron."

"Ah." Salazar nodded. "And do you plan on going out there anytime soon? The exit here is still blocked, as that Headmaster of yours hasn't gotten round to cleaning out those Chizpurfles. I'm sure as soon as they chew through his wand, he'll notice."

"Be nice, Sal." Ginny mused over her situation. "You know, I think this would be much funnier if I didn't think Malfoy and Zabini might actually hex me. And I can't even go to the common rooms, seeing as Ron might curse me into oblivion, so Luna will have to sneak me into her room tonight."

Salazar leaned back, and Ginny fancied she could see his almost pointed goatee quiver. "I think you would have been much better suited in my house."

Ginny frowned. "I'd like to think that my cunning was over-shadowed by the awesome amount of bravery I have." At Salazar's disbelieving look, she crossed her arms. "Oh, and having the nerve to sneak in Slytherin dorms and hex something almost every night isn't showing bravery?"

"Not impressed." Salazar waved his hand in an airy motion, and Ginny bristled.

"How about the time I managed to slip that Curly-Q potion into Snape's drink and he had to walk around with curly, bouncy, blonde hair for a month?"

"That, I can let slip on the argument for."

Ginny leaned an ear against the wall, and smiled. "I think they're gone now. Probably heading to find Tessa or Colin and force my whereabouts out of them."

"And doubtless, they will give it up."

Ginny gave him the evil eye. "I'm sure it was you that enchanted the mirrors in the Wizarding World, you know, the cruel ones." Without another word, she pulled the portrait up and peeked out. There was no one there, and she grinned as she hopped out.

"Freedom!" Salazar's portrait closed, and he smirked lightly.

"Don't be so sure, girl." Ginny turned in time to see the beam of blue light coming towards her, and ducked. The magic bounced harmlessly of Salazar's portrait, but he scowled nonetheless.

Blaise was heading for her, and Draco was nowhere in sight. Ginny took a position like a runner's starting one, and was off again. This time it was harder to maneuver, as she wasn't sure if Draco was hiding somewhere or not and she couldn't slow done long enough to have a look with Blaise just behind her.

"Weasley, slow down!" he called.

Ginny came to a staircase, and glanced behind her. Blaise was too slow to hide the triumphant smile on his face, and Ginny jumped on the banister.

"EAT ARSE, ARSE-HOLE!"

Blaise stared in undisguised fear as the redhead slid down the balustrade, giggling madly.

She came to a stop, and tumbled off the railing, saved from injury only by a mound of glitter. At least, she thought it was a mound of glitter, before it gave a muffled "oof!"

Ginny sighed. Her clothes were ruined, and now she was going to kill her hair again. She stuck her body from torso up inside of the little hill, and slid down it. Out came a first-year…then another…and another…

"Why, you've made a chain!" Ginny exclaimed, as they all came tumbling out. The little glitter-kids (that's what they looked like to her) gave her gap-toothed smiles.

"Weasley!" Blaise was running down the stairs as best as he could, and Ginny spared a smile for the children. "Be safe, stay in school, don't get Dark Marks, now run off and scrub off that glitter!" And she dashed off again.

This time, it was much harder to get rid of Blaise. He was too close to her, and she couldn't see any upcoming stairways. She only hoped she could outrun him, but he didn't seem to be getting any tired.

"Are you using magic?" She called back. He shook his head, and she thought for a moment. "Steroids, then?" She said, as she noticed the hallway was leading to a four way split.

"Hah!" Draco leapt out a few feet in front of her, and Ginny knew she was doomed. There was no way to go besides forwards or backwards, and she suddenly had a brainstorm.

"Going down!" she fell to her knees and due to the amount of glitter (which is slippery, trust me) went through Draco's legs, which had been planted firmly apart. Unfortunately, she hadn't accounted for him grabbing a hold of her arms, which had been above her head. This ended up very, very badly.

"Get off me!" Ginny spat out a mouthful of her hair and glared irately at the Slytherin boy, whose clothes seemed to be tangled with hers. Draco smirked.

"Not a chance, Weasley. I'm rather comfortable here." Blaise arrived beside then, and had amazingly not broken one sweat.

"Alien." Ginny muttered, and shoved Draco off her. She sat on the ground cross-legged as the boys looked coolly down at her.

"That wasn't a very nice thing to do, Weaselette." Draco said finally. "And after all the decent things we'd just done for you." Ginny's eyes widened.

"Decent things? Holy—" She was cut off as the band on her wrist began to glow brightly, and she slid a few inches across the floor. Blaise and Draco exchanged a glance, which went unnoticed by the redhead, who was currently scrabbling for one of them as the magic dragged her backwards.

"Don't just stand there! Help me!" She managed to latch onto Draco's left leg before the magic erupted full force, and as she began to speed down the corridor, Draco fell down and swung his arms about wildly, looking for a hold, and ended up grabbing Blaise's leg. The black-haired boy yelped as he too was pulled down, and they began to race down the hallway.

Even going at what had to be seventy miles an hour, Ginny had to laugh at the look on Malfoy's face when he turned his head back. "You should be surprised more often! You look cute!" she informed him.

Draco clung to Blaise a little. "Cute—is not in my vocabulary." He had just realized if he let go, he would probably end up spinning into something very, very hard. "Where are we going?"

She managed an awkward shrug. "I suppose to where Tessa is! She and I had a bet—and it's just been fulfilled." Her face fell a little as she looked up at him, and Draco felt a pang of sadness which he quickly brushed away. She peered over his shoulder and administered a very odd wave to Blaise, who looked as if he was going to throw up at any second.

"Brace yourself!"

"Why?" Both boys called back.

She looked sick. "Well, I've always wanted to fly without a broomstick, although…not in this way." They soon found out what she meant as they were hurtled into space by the impetus of the magic. Ginny let out a squeal of undisguised glee as they were separated.

Blaise let out a very unmanly shriek; he instantly grabbed a hold of a large gargoyle jutting out from the wall, and was clinging to it like mad. Draco braced himself for an impact, wondering dimly why Ginny didn't seem worried and was laughing rather hard.

It never came.

He looked down and was surprised to see the floor coming up slowly. They were floating gently downwards. The young Gryffindor tweaked his nose as soon as they touched ground, almost affectionately. "See? No harm done."

He growled. "Don't push your luck, Weasley." He looked up at the stairs they had just bypassed as he straightened up. "Nice ride."

"Hi guys!" Ginny waved, and as he turned he could see what seemed to be a wave of Gryffindors hurrying towards them. All were covered in glitter, and Draco couldn't be bothered to make them out. One of the glitter-people ran forward and clutched at Ginny's hands.

"Ginny! You do not flood half of Hogwarts with glitter, ok? " It was Hermione, and by the looks of it, she hadn't escaped much of the Glitter Cloud's attack. "The teachers are going mad! You are so lucky no one but us knows it was you?"

"I did it!" Ginny let out a little gasp and looked around. "Me? And who is 'us', Hermione?"

Someone shook themselves and after a moment, it became apparent that it was Tessa. The corners of her mouth were crinkled in a smile, and she winked at Ginny, motioning at the also-glowing band on her hand.

"It seems you've been spending time with Malfoy? And seeing as he's always around B—Zabini, he should be here too, right?" Her eyes held a hint of worry, but Ginny nodded cheerfully and pointed a finger up. Every head followed—and every jaw became slack.

"You did that to him?" Colin's muffled voice emerged as they all watched Blaise struggle to hang onto the head of the stone statue. Ginny nodded happily, and they all looked at her again.

"When did you become so mad?" Someone she recognized as Justin said. At this, Ginny became upset. "I am not mad!"

Then Ron decided to show up, covered in glitter and squawking.

Draco's eyes bugged out of his head and he stared for a long, long time. He seemed to be having trouble breathing, and when Ginny tried to use Accio to summon out whatever he may have been choking on, he collapsed into laughter. Real, flat-out laughter, which left everyone else shocked. Everyone but Hermione, that is.

"Oh, and turning your brother into a bird/wizard hybrid is not a sign of madness?"

"I'm only trying Harry's approach on life, jeezus!" Ginny yelled crossly. "You all don't have to throw a nervy b about it!"

Harry, the Boy-Who-Actually-Reveled-In-Glitter, stopped off from where he was excitedly eyeing his glittery body and looked at her in shock. "My approach in life? What's my approach of life?"

Looking for all the world like a schoolteacher dealing with less than average kids, Ginny explained. "Someone makes you mad, get your revenge through either homicidal ways, or near-homicidal ways."

Draco began laughing even harder at this, as Harry's mouth dropped open. "What? I do not use that method!"

Ginny sighed. "So then what the hell was killing Voldemort about? Was it an accident that your wand decided to spew off the exact curses needed to kill him?"

"No!" Harry sputtered. "That was planned! But what—" Ginny interrupted him.

"And that time when Fred and George turned some of our makeshift summer quidditch team into bats just before our final match; was turning them into Barbie dolls that couldn't say anything besides 'I still don't know Ken's cheating on me with Malibu Brad' a mistake?"

"No, but—"

"—Face it Harry." Ginny shook her head. "You're mad, and I've just decided to follow in your footsteps. Your manic, crazed, blood-smudged footsteps."

There was a small silence, before Harry let a slow smile creep across his face. "You're right. You're absobloodylutely right!" Ginny grinned as well, and Harry took her hand.

"Shall we go plot new ways to scare the world together?" There was a gleam in his eyes that had always been hidden, but now everyone shrank back as it became apparent. It reminded them of Dumbledore's twinkle, one that had brought many brave men to their knees. Ginny accepted the hand.

"Surely, we must have our share of sadistic pleasures!" And they skipped off, pulling at Ron's feathers on the way.

"My God." Tessa muttered. "She is mad. Or that Cheering Charm I put on her this morning still hasn't worn off." Draco wheezed as he sat up, and the Ron-Creature turned to him, beak clacking.

"Why were you with my sister?" He looked ready to kill, and Draco decided it was best to lie and get it over with—and avoid a very imminent death by beak slaughter.

"I wasn't. She ran into me, and Blaise, who I must be getting down now, Weasel." He snorted lightly. "I suppose I should change it to Birdbrain. Even as a bird, you still don't have style." He eyed the pink wings disdainfully, and took his wand from his back pocket.

"Wingardium Leviosa," he drawled, and even though Blaise refused to let go of the hulking rock at first, he finally got him down, and the two walked off, Blaise totally red in the face. After a moment, Ron looked down at his friends and blushed.

"I know I should have asked Ginny this, but does anyone know how to turn me back to normal?"

Sunday had been surprisingly quiet and peaceful day.

But that was mostly because Problem A and Problem B, also referred to as Ginevra Teresa Weasley and Harry James Potter had been missing all day. First years were delighted that they only had to worry about the Slytherins killing them now.

Their friends had been very worried, although they had a lot on their mind with the recent Massive Glitter Cleanup Operation. The Glitter Cloud of Death and Demolition (yeah, I know I changed the name, but I'll be doing that a lot) had managed to slip away and no one really knew where it was. Although the big piles of glitter had been cleared away, everything in Hogwarts now had a…sparkly look to it.

But now it was Monday, and as Tessa filed into her first period Charms class (which was also for seventh years) she worried. Neither Ginny nor Harry was in sight, and she was sure they wouldn't miss classes. Not because they wanted to, but because Hermione was probably holding something of theirs hostage until the end of the week.

"Hey, Tess, why the sad face?" Said girl looked up and smiled in relief as Ginny sat down next to her. She could see Harry doing the same thing across the room next to Hermione and Ron.

"I was worried, Gin!" Tessa whispered. "Where were you yesterday? What were you and Harry doing?"

"Snogging and stuff." At Tessa's near comatose look, Ginny giggled. "Just kidding. But do you know how boring weekends in this bloody school can be without mayhem? Whatever did we do last year?"

"Er, cause minor chaos?"

"Exactly." Ginny nodded. "But me and Harry are going to cause major destruction! We've been plotting. And lurking about in the kitchens and in the Restricted Section of the library and the Room of Requirement. Junk like that."

"Lurking?"

"Yes." Ginny smiled evilly. "Lurking. Let's just say that weekends—and a few weekdays—will be much more exciting here at Hogwarts." Tessa shook her head in despair.

"And I suppose you and Harry have it all planned out?" She was surprised when Ginny said no. "So what's wrong?"

Ginny traced her desk's frame. "We need help. You will, I know, and so will Colin. Ron and Hermione will need to be convinced, and we don't have time. Justin, of course. And we need some people who can easily get access to places that could be very hard for us to get to. Someone that it would be hard to pin as part of our plan."

"Why are you doing this again?" Tessa asked, as Ginny's eyes roamed the classroom.

"Because Harry says he wants to go out with a bang, and I don't want to be bored this year." Tessa followed Ginny's gaze, and found that the redhead was looking at two very handsome Slytherin's, both of whom looked bored as they waved off Pansy and another gaggle of girls.

"So, who are these people you're going to use?"

Draco tilted his head slightly, and in doing so, caught Ginny's eye. He smiled, of all things, and it quickly changed into a smirk as he turned back to the girls. Ginny shook herself and looked to Harry, who was already grinning broadly and looking in the same direction. Ginny turned to Tessa.

"My friend, it is time to bring the snakes into the lion's den."