Thanks very much to xxaishiteru, light barrer, icemicearenice, Emilie, bella, Hyper Squishy, and TrippyGirl20051.

Disclaimer: MERLIN I DISCLAIM! Cheese and rice, you'd think the police did this on purpose, just to fill up their jail cells.

the slythindor room

issalee

Ginbug!

How are you?

She's fine, Gred, otherwise we wouldn't be writing to her.

But she may have hurt herself while the letter was on its way, and we'd only just know.

Ah, good point there, Gred. So, Ginbug, anything new happening at Hogwarts?

We heard from Lee that his sister sent him a letter saying you flooded Hogwarts with glitter.

We're so proud!

Would you happen to know if Snape was caught in any of it? He'd have to wash his hair then, right?

Wishful thinking. Anyways, I bet you you're getting a letter from Bill soon. Says he and Fleur are getting married, and in June too! That means I win the bet.

What? I was the one who said they were getting married in June, Forge, not you!

What a tangled web of lies we weave, Gred.

Burn in hell.

Language! Mum would be very upset to know we were letting Ginny hear any of this. She thinks we're a bad influence. Us, I say, us!

I agree totally with you, Forge. So, Ginbug, d'you have the pictures of the results of Objective: Revenge on The Redhead? Forge and me are waiting…

I hope it turned out nice. Lee mentioned his sister said something about a giant bird thing in school today. If it's not Ron, maybe it'll abduct him then.

And Malfoy.

Yes, definitely Malfoy. Speaking of which, Gin-Gin, you haven't told us about what the Mal-Ferret's done.

We're tired of waiting

And we need ideas for the shop; it's another twenty Galleons if you can come up with a bestseller.

OI! Ruddy stupid owl, Errol's gone and launched himself into that case of Itching Lotion. New product, don't you know.

We'd better fish him out. Bye, Ginbug!

Love,

Gred and Forge

Ginny smiled as she tucked the letter away into her robes. She'd have plenty of things to inform her brothers about this year…

"What are you so happy about?" Tessa stole her friend's food and smiled widely. "The post owls only just gone and left you with two letters."

"One of them's from Gred and Forge. I think I know what the next one is, though." She opened the fancily decorated envelope, and a little bugling noise came from the inside, drawing the attention of the people closet to her.

You are cordially invited to the celebration of union between

Bill Weasley

And

Fleur Delacoeur

On the 31st of June.

Ginny read the first part out loud, then glanced over at Hermione, Tessa, Ron, Colin, and Harry, who had all gotten the same letter. "I suppose you're going too, guys."

Hermione scanned the letter quickly. "It says you have to bring a date, and you have until February 20th to RSVP." She flushed, and glanced discreetly at Ron, who was attacking his spaghetti. "I wonder who I'll go with?"

Harry sighed, and found his mind wandering to Ginny as a date…but she was starting to put him off now. Especially with the upcoming hilarious (and somewhat violent) pranks they were planning, she was beginning to fade more and more from the recesses of his mind.

"Harry! Woohoo!" said redhead waved her fork in his face, her nose wrinkled cutely. "I was asking you when we'd put Part One of Objective: Capture the Flag in place."

Fred and George had always told Ginny that she out to codename her plans, as if they were found out, no one should be able to decipher what she was plotting to do. She had told Harry this, and he had incorporated it into his idea.

"We'd better do it before our first lesson after lunch, which is…Potions. Crap," he said, placing emphasis on the last word. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Come now, Snape isn't all that bad. All you have to do is be a lower grade genius in his Advanced Potions class, and you'll be fine!" Harry gaped slightly, and she smiled back. Advanced Potions was taken in the same period as normal seventh year potions, although they were put in a separate room, and left to themselves for most of the period.

"So you'll talk to Snake One and Snake Two, then?" Harry said, as nonchalantly as possible while Hermione and Ron looked on with interest. Ginny nodded fervently.

"Oh yes, and Tessa too. I'm sure the Snakes will say yes, although we may have to do a bit of convincing first." She looked over to the Slytherin table until she caught Draco's eye, and gave him a wicked grin. He shriveled, a little.

"And I've got Carina Zabini in on the plot too. She's a great gal, I know you've heard of her. The odd one out in Slytherin, but her looks make up for it."

Harry steepled his fingers, leaned back, and said in a low voice. "Eeeexcellent."

Ginny wasn't surprised that Draco and Blaise were avoiding her like the plague, and she knew Tessa wasn't either. But she was surprised to see that as soon as Snape had left them with the name of a potion and secured the room, the two boys had basically huddled in a corner of the room.

"Are they plotting, d'you think?" Tessa whispered. Ginny shook her head.

"No way. I think Snake One and Snake Two are freaked out by me, but Snake One is a pompous airhead and is just trying to convince Snake Two that no, I will not blow their heads off and hang them from a ceiling by their thumbs."

"Would you?"

"…Pass me the St. Mary's wort, would you?" Ginny grinned as her friend sighed in exasperation. "Come now, Tessa, we're supposed to be preparing an Anti-Aging Potion from memory, and we certainly can't do this if you won't trust me."

Tessa raised an eyebrow. "Thirty Galleons says you aren't going to make the potion now, because you've got it all made." Ginny pulled a face.

"That's not fair! Gah, you know me too well!" She pulled out four flasks from her robe, and poured the contents of two of them into the cauldron she and Tessa were sharing. "Come on, now, let's go bargain."

The two made their way across the room, ignoring the looks they were receiving from the six other pairs. They stopped in front of Draco, who was looking at them with disdain.

"Where's Zabini?" Ginny asked cheerfully. Draco glared at her, with his very best Go-Away-Before-I-Avada-You-Without-A-Wand look. "Under the table."

Ginny didn't flinch. She bent down and peered at Blaise, who tried to stand up but ended up hitting his head on the table. As he swore quietly under his breath, Ginny edged closer to him.

"Zabini, I need your help. Before you say no, it involves pranking, torturing all of Hogwarts-kind, and a whole bunch of sneaking. Which you're good at." She added the last part for accent. Blaise stared at her.

"You strung me from a gargoyle."

"Not my fault. Magic." She said brightly.

"You made me run through Hogwarts like a madman."

"Not like you broke a sweat, you lucky, lucky Sna—er, dog. Anything else?" Blaise sighed and shook his head.

"Merlin, you really should have been in Slytherin. But it involves sneaking, you say?" Ginny laughed and backed out of the table, then stood; Blaise followed shortly after. Now this part was going to be really hard…Ginny turned to Draco and switched on her best Oh-Gods-I'm-So-In-Your-Debt look.

"Mal-Ferr—er, Malfoy, I need your help, please. Harry, Tessa, Colin, and a few others and I are planning to wreak some havoc in this little school, and seeing as I wasn't exactly the best person ever I was thinking this could be a gift, you know? I know you'd think it fun to do what we're planning to do."

"No." There was no hesitation in his voice, and no cutting undertone. Draco remained emotionless, and Ginny decided to use other tactics.

"Malfoy, I don't want to have to beat you to a bloody pulp, ok? So just say yes and then everyone will be happy, and you can go off and sulk to your mother about it later."

Draco crossed his arms. "After that, there is no way in all seven hells that I'm going to join you on this doomed adventure of yours, Weaselette." He sounded as though he was bemused, though, and that got Ginny even madder. Tessa drew her aside.

"Gin, I don't think it's working."

"I know, Tessa. When did you realize this?"

"About the time you started off calling him Malfoy. You've got to do what you've got to do, Gin." Ginny looked up quickly, startling her friend. "You mean I've got to—" Tessa nodded her head quickly. Although she had no idea what her friend was babbling on about, she decided it would be better to just agree.

Ginny took a deep breath and walked past her friend, back the two Slytherin boys, both of whom were sitting on chairs and staring expectantly at her. She smiled sweetly at Draco and let her voice lower a few notes.

"Draco." Her voice surprised even her, but it was worth it to see Draco's cool mask be thrown off. His face registered pure shock, before he quickly tried to fix his masquerade back on. Before he could, however, Ginny slid into his lap and grabbed one of his hands.

"Draco, it would mean so much to me if you could please, please, please help us on our fervent endeavor." Said boy let out a little 'eep' and flushed bright red. Ginny had to try hard not to grin and ruin the moment, but Blaise and Tessa could be heard giggling madly in the background. A few gasps from her other classmates were scattered around, too.

"Please, Draco?" Ginny found that she didn't detest the whole pretending-to-like-Draco thing. In fact…he had very nice features from up close, and he didn't look at all like a ferret. She found herself leaning closer, and closer to—examine his eyes! "Draco?"

The aforementioned boy seemed to have frozen stiff and was watching her with rapt attention, and for once, Ginny found she could see behind the facade. There were swirls of emotion dancing in his eyes—such beautiful eyes too. A sudden shock passed through her, and her eyes grew wide. Draco came back, then.

"Yes." The word was whispered, but the whole world must have heard it, as several low gasps resonated throughout the class. Ginny let a grin go by, a real one, and she directed it to Draco. "Thank you."

The redhead laid a small kiss on his cheek and slid off his lap, dumped the contents of two flasks into his cauldron, grabbed her friend, and sauntered back to her desk.

"Mate? Could you at least put a bucket under your mouth or something? You're drooling." Blaise snapped his friend's jaw shut, and with it came Draco. He shook his head and muttered something under his breath about 'know-it-all girls taking over the world', but Blaise noticed he was smiling as he said it.

Ginny met Harry in the hallway after class, and offered him a fleeting grin. "The Snakes are in. Can you send the notice around during your next class about what we're supposed to be doing for the plan? It's Divination, and I don't have that."

"Where're you going afterwards?" Apparently, he had noticed the glazed look in her eyes. She shook it off and glared at Tessa, who had pinched her.

"Nowhere important. But all I have afterwards is Arithmancy, and then I've got to check out the library. I have a lot of homework to do so I don't fall behind while we do this." He didn't believe her, of course, but he let it go by.

"Right. Great job, on getting Zabini and Malfoy—" he stopped. Ginny had obviously drifted off again. He sent a confused look to Tessa, who firmly shook her head, and steered her friend away. Harry stood for a moment, and then searched through the crowd for Draco.

The blond Slytherin was slumped against the wall as Blaise fended off a gaggling group of girls. Harry followed Draco's gaze, and found it to be following a certain redheaded young girl.

Harry's eyes narrowed. If there was something going on here, he'd definitely want to be the first to know.

"…Twelve inches, on the theory of universal involvement." The bell rang, signaling that students could leave. Ginny gathered up her things, and nearly sprinted out of the room. Hermione was sure to want to talk to her, especially after she'd zoned out during most of the class and had to rely on the older girl for help when called on.

"Ginny!" The voice faded into the background of the other noise in the hallways, and with it went Ginny's guilt. She had no time for such things now. The redhead hurried up flights of stairs and down hallways until she got to the library. Madame Pince regarded her suspiciously under her glasses, but soon went back to surveying the rest of the student body inside of the library.

Ginny rustled inside of her knapsack for a moment, and pulled out an index card sized slip of parchment. On it was the signature of all her teachers; it was a slip informing Madame Pince that she could go into the restricted section at any time. She showed it to the librarian, who looked a bit miffed that she would have to let the girl in, but motioned her through anyways.

Ginny quickly found a place in a window seat, and pulled some random book from a shelf. When she was sure no one was there, she dropped the book to the ground and pulled her knees into herself, and her head turned to look outside.

A single, salty tear fell slid down her cheek, making an indention that seemed to be marking her skin forever. Many followed it, and yet the girl crying didn't make sound. There was no intake of breath, or loud, ragged sobs. She was crying.

And just crying.

"He's human…" she said quietly. And Draco was human. Like her, and her family, and her friends, and like she had believed him to be—Tom. For one moment, even if it was a fleeting one, she had seen Tom again.

Someone's arms slipped around her, and she stiffened before recognizing the person holding her. She gripped them back, and cried harder.

Luna Lovegood rocked her friend back and forth, uttering low cooing noises every few moments. "It's ok, it's ok…"

Ginny clung to her. "I saw Tom—and he was smiling at me, instead of Malfoy, and I couldn't help but think of him."

Luna's pale blue eyes swept over the distraught figure, and in a moment of rare clarity, she firmly took hold of the redhead's hand and knapsack. "Come on. We're going somewhere."

They left quickly; even Madame Pince didn't see them leave, as she was busy berating a first-year for eating and reading at the same time. Luna led Ginny down hallways that were obviously not used; no one was there.

They were going into a much older part of Hogwarts, and Ginny noticed the portraits on the walls seemed like they were peeling off right before her eyes. A sallow-looking wizard with sunken cheeks and yellow teeth snapped at her. "Chin up, weakling!"

She turned her head away and followed Luna, missing the wizard's calculating look and smile. The Ravenclaw led her friend to a tapestry that depicted two wizards lounging on a chair. They looked comfortable with each other, like the best of friends.

Ginny recognized the both of them. "Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor?" Luna didn't say anything. She lifted up and edge, revealing a tarnished oak door behind it. She opened it, and ushered Ginny inside. She gasped.

Beautiful, pure white carpeting covered the floors. The wall was a pale, creamy eggshell white, with streaks of emerald along the top and bottom. A four-poster bed stood at the far wall, with satin black sheets. A glass table was centered in the middle of the room, with four white chairs made of some unidentifiable material. A fireplace crackled warmly on the right side of the room, and plush white beanie bag chairs were lying scattered in front of it. Ginny forgot her tears for a moment.

"Merlin, Luna, what is this place?" Luna smiled, seeing that she had made her friend happy.

"Salazar and Godric needed someplace to relax, as did Rowena and Helga. The latter could be seen together, but Salazar and Godric had—reputations to uphold, so they had to meet in secret. This is their meeting room. No one but the headmaster knows it's here, and sometimes I doubt if he really does."

"But the furniture is so modern!"

Luna shrugged, although her eyes twinkled merrily. "My dad proved the existence of Knock-Kneed Mertorks, and even though it was a sort of minor discovery, he got a reward for it. I found this room, and with some money he'd given me and the help of the house-elves, I managed to do some work on it."

"It's beautiful." Ginny turned around suddenly and hugged her friend. "Merlin, Luna, it's beautiful. I swear I won't tell anyone about it, ok?"

The Ravenclaw seemed back to her dreamy self again. "Yes, yes, but that other person may know. You know, the other one." Ginny seemed a little irritated now.

"What other one?" But Luna had settled herself into one of the beanbag chairs, and Ginny only just noticed the bookshelf behind the fireplace. Luna summoned a book and began to read.

Ginny sighed, and walked over to the shelf. Most of the books were really old, and all of them seemed interesting, so she ended up picking one with her eyes closed. It was titled Curses To Die For. She shivered slightly and put it back, and picked another one. This one was A Guide To Everything Bad And Beautiful. Now that seemed interesting…

Ginny took the book, sat down in the beanie bag and began to read. She didn't come out of it until Luna stood and stretched. "The Deckle-Kneed is still on the loose, and I've got to find it. See you later, Ginny."

Ginny managed a goodbye before she was once again immersed in the book. Some of the hexes in there—well, she could put them to good use.

It was almost midnight when Ginny thought to look around and realized that the fire had nearly burnt out, and she should have been back in her dormitory quite a while back. She knew Tessa and the others wouldn't worry (much) but Ron would explode. Even if she did so love to torture him…She eyed the bed longingly, but decided maybe she should at least inform everyone she was still alive. And do her homework.

With a groan, Ginny took out a quick quotes quill she'd nicked from Gred and Forge and a piece of parchment, and then snuck out of the room. She looked back at it as she stood outside of the tapestry. With what seemed to be a sudden burst of inspiration she rummaged through her sack, and using a handkerchief, she found the phoenix feather from the pile of objects on Saturday.

She held it over the tapestry and, giggling slightly, whispered into the dark. "I dub thee, Slythindor Room, in honor of Godric and Salazar's great friendship." Then, laughing like mad, she tucked the feather back into the bag and began dictating to the parchment as the quill zipped across it. She started walking towards Gryffindor Tower.

Had she stayed behind, she would have seen the tapestry flutter, and the two men portrayed smile broadly. Behind them was a door, very similar to the one behind said wall hanging, and above that door new words began to weave themselves into the needlepoint. On the real door, the same words seared themselves into the stone above the entrance, to remain there as long as Hogwarts stood.

It was written:

The Slythindor Room